Annoying Things, Budgets, and a Few Thoughts
by Barry Bauer
If you ever come across any device that plugs into an electrical wall socket and works as advertised for more than a year, please let me know. Even if I don’t need the damn thing, I’ll buy one anyway, take it home, and plug it in. I just want to be totally amazed by watching the thing work.
We had a coffee maker that was no more than two years old and it quit. There’s no fixing these things unless you can figure out what kind of screwdriver you need to take it apart. It’s not slotted, not a Philips, and it’s not a Torx. Every time I buy a new screwdriver, they change the screw head.
There is a design for a screw head that can be driven in but can’t be removed. Maybe that’s what I’m dealing with.
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Governor Snyder’s budget proposal has got a lot of people upset. New taxes on the retirees, cutting funding to education while giving businesses and corporations tax breaks is totally unacceptable. On top of this they reported in the news that Michigan can save $250 million if the state would release inmates from prison after they served their minimum sentence. Why have minimum sentences if we’re not going to use it?
As for the federal government, we’re told that General Electric pays no federal taxes! I’m kind of selfish; if I have to pay federal taxes then I want General Electric to pay them too. Corporations in the U.S. are allowed to funnel money offshore to foreign accounts to avoid taxes. That’s because their friends in Washington are looking out for them. Adding to silliness, AARP is tax exempt corporation which seems ridiculous considering they’re a front for insurance companies.
The Federal government isn’t helping the states either. The government needs to admit that they are over-regulating us which adds an untold amount of cost to doing business in this state. Brand new is a regulation that says any restaurant chain with 20 or more restaurants has to add the calories of each dish on their menu. As if we didn’t already know that a double-cheeseburger is fattening.
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I’m confused enough about religion and the date Easter falls every year adds to my confusion. Easter Sunday is based on astrology which means it falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. The vernal equinox starts the beginning of spring.
Because it is not known the exact birth of Christ or his death, one would believe they’d be treated the same . . . not so. The birth of Christ is celebrated on December 25 every year while the celebration of his death varies almost a month.
Is anybody else confused?
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A few thoughts:
As to whether Donald Trump would make a good president I only ask, how much worse can it get?
Why don’t the Jehovah’s Witnesses try to convert some radical Islamist and leave me alone? I’m not the one they should fear.
As of this writing, I’ll be surprised if the Republicans stick to their guns on the budget cuts.
I don’t feel sorry for anybody who bought a ticket to see Charlie Sheen in Detroit. By all accounts it was a lousy show.
Is there a place in downtown St. Johns that sells aspirin?
Until the next time . . .