My dog sleeps about 20 hours a day.

My dog sleeps about 20 hours a day.

He has his food prepared for him.

He can eat whenever he wants, 24/7/365.

His meals are provided at no cost to him.

He visits the Dr. once a year for his checkup, and again

during the year if any medical needs arise.

For this he pays nothing, and nothing is required of him.

He lives in a nice neighborhood in a house that is much larger than he needs,

but he is not required to do any upkeep. If he makes a mess, someone else cleans it up.

He has his choice of luxurious places to sleep.

He receives these accommodations absolutely free.

He is living like a King, and has absolutely no expenses whatsoever.

All of his costs are picked up by others who go out and earn a living every day.

I was just thinking about all this, and suddenly it hit me like a brick in the head.......

My dog is a POLITICIAN

Hat tip to Mike L!

OnTwitter I am Lesabre1

"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.” - William Pitt

"Logic. There is little logic among the cultural elite, maybe because there is little omnipresent fear of job losses or the absence of money, and so arises a rather comfortable margin to indulge in nonsense." - Victor Davis Hanson

How government employee unions work.

As I have noted,  my negative comments have been ONLY about government employee unions. I have no problem at all with private employee unions.

Why do I feel this way?

A union of government employees is just a method for the workers to bribe the managers at the expense of the taxpayers (employers).

It works like this.

a. Workers demand more money and benefits.

b. Managers agree to give it to them.

c. Taxpayer gives money to managers (politicians) because he is forced to pay taxes.

d. Managers give money to workers.

e. Workers gives part of the money back to the managers. (politicians)

Pretty neat. It is called "bribery."

In electronics this is known as positive feedback. And what it always causes is for the amplifier to break into oscillation and produce screeches, screams and howls.

To avoid this the gain of the amplifier is adjusted carefully. In some cases negative feedback is required to reduce the gain and prevent oscillation. That has not been done in the past.

Unfortunately for the unions the taxpayers have ran out of money for the politicians to take from them in taxes and have finally elected some officials with big enough balls to say, "No!"

The gain has been turned down and negative feedback is being applied.

Galaxy Science Fiction

April 1951

Over population and the results of government controls is another theme well explored by science fiction.

One of the more famous stories about this was published in the above magazine. "The Marching Morons," by C.M. Kornbluth foresees a world of 5 billion morons in which a few million elites are working to keep civilization and society functioning.

You can guess which group I identified with in 1951. As an elderly and more experienced person my support has switched.

OnTwitter I am Lesabre1

"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper
“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.” - William Pitt
"Logic. There is little logic among the cultural elite, maybe because there is little omnipresent fear of job losses or the absence of money, and so arises a rather comfortable margin to indulge in nonsense." - Victor Davis Hanson

Buy, buy American Pie

Hat tip to whoever sent me this. A Senior Moment has corrupted my Memory File.

OnTwitter I am Lesabre1

"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.” - William Pitt

"Logic. There is little logic among the cultural elite, maybe because there is little omnipresent fear of job losses or the absence of money, and so arises a rather comfortable margin to indulge in nonsense." - Victor Davis Hanson

A murder story

MURDER AT WALMART

Tired of constantly being broke; stuck in an unhappy marriage, a young husband decided to solve both problems by taking out a large insurance policy on his wife with himself as the beneficiary, and then arranging to have her killed.

A 'friend of a friend' put him in touch with a nefarious dark-side underworld figure who went by the name of 'Artie.' Artie explained to the husband that his going price for snuffing out a spouse was $5,000.

The husband said he was willing to pay that amount, but that he wouldn't have any cash on hand until he could collect his wife's insurance money. Artie insisted on being paid at least something up front, so the man opened his wallet, displaying the single dollar bill that rested inside.

Artie sighed, rolled his eyes, & reluctantly agreed to accept the dollar as down payment for the dirty deed.

A few days later, Artie followed the man's wife to the local Super Walmart Store. There, he surprised her in the produce department & proceeded to strangle her with his gloved hands. As the poor unsuspecting woman drew her last breath & slumped to the floor, the manager of the produce Department stumbled unexpectedly onto the murder scene. Unwilling to leave any living witnesses behind, ol' Artie had no choice but to strangle the produce manager as well.

However, unknown to Artie, the entire proceedings were captured by the hidden security cameras & observed by the store's security guard, who immediately called the police. Artie was caught and arrested before he could even leave the store.

Under intense questioning at the police station, Artie revealed the whole sordid plan, including his unusual financial arrangements with the hapless husband who was also quickly arrested.

The next day in the newspaper, the headline declared...

















(You're Going to hate me for this...)

"ARTIE CHOKES 2 for $1.00 at WALMART!'

Oh, quit groaning! I don't write this stuff, I receive it from my warped friends and then send it on to my other warped friends.

Hat tip to Mike L!

Planet Stories, March 1952

If Astounding was the New York Times of science fiction magazines, Planet was the National Enquirer. It specialized in T&A covers, action packed stories and best of all, it printed many letters from its loyal readers.

It even published some of mine, although not in this issue. The editors then selected the "best" letter and awarded a prize of a original art work. I won one by Kelly Freas but it disappeared at some point over the years.

It took me years to realize that we readers provided a lot of free content.

But Planet did serve as a learning ground for authors such as Ray Bradbury and Poul Anderson, among others.

OnTwitter I am Lesabre1

"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper

 “Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.” - William Pitt

"Logic. There is little logic among the cultural elite, maybe because there is little omnipresent fear of job losses or the absence of money, and so arises a rather comfortable margin to indulge in nonsense." - Victor Davis Hanson

When all else fails, lie.

From the L.A. Times: Ban Ki-moon, the normally buttoned-up Secretary General of the United Nations, swept into Los Angeles during Oscar week playing the role of Hollywood pitchman. His message: Make global warming a hot issue. "I need your support," he told entertainment industry insiders during a daylong forum Tuesday that focused on recent heat waves, floods, fires and drought, which scientists link to human-induced climate change.

"Animate these stories!" Ban pleaded. "Set them to music! Give them life! Together we can have a blockbuster impact on the world."

Link

Of course lying has been the basis of the man made global warming hoax since the beginning.

"To capture the public imagination,

we have to offer up some scary scenarios,

make simplified dramatic statements

and little mention of any doubts one might have.

Each of us has to decide the right balance

between being effective,

and being honest."

- Leading greenhouse advocate, Dr Stephen Schneider

( in interview for "Discover" magazine, Oct 1989)

Link

Natural disasters have long been a theme of science fiction. The above January, 1929 cover for Amazing Stories depicts a new ice age wiping out city skyscrapers. This was carried to the extreme in the late 70's and 80's when the hoax du jour was man made global cooling.

In fact, it made the April 28, 1975 Newsweek. Note the doom and gloom and call for governmental action.

"To scientists, these seemingly disparate incidents represent the advance signs of fundamental changes in the world’s weather. The central fact is that after three quarters of a century of extraordinarily mild conditions, the earth’s climate seems to be cooling down. Meteorologists disagree about the cause and extent of the cooling trend, as well as over its specific impact on local weather conditions. But they are almost unanimous in the view that the trend will reduce agricultural productivity for the rest of the century. If the climatic change is as profound as some of the pessimists fear, the resulting famines could be catastrophic. “A major climatic change would force economic and social adjustments on a worldwide scale,” warns a recent report by the National Academy of Sciences, “because the global patterns of food production and population that have evolved are implicitly dependent on the climate of the present century.”

snip

“The world’s food-producing system,” warns Dr. James D. McQuigg of NOAA’s Center for Climatic and Environmental Assessment, “is much more sensitive to the weather variable than it was even five years ago.” Furthermore, the growth of world population and creation of new national boundaries make it impossible for starving peoples to migrate from their devastated fields, as they did during past famines.

When the above didn't sell, global warming, here to fore undetected, was brushed off and trotted out to frighten the rubes and sell them the UN's redistribute the wealth program.


OnTwitter I am Lesabre1

 "Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.” - William Pitt

"Logic. There is little logic among the cultural elite, maybe because there is little omnipresent fear of job losses or the absence of money, and so arises a rather comfortable margin to indulge in nonsense." - Victor Davis Hanson

Amazing Stories and Buck Rogers

August 1928

In case you don't know, that's Buck Rogers first appearance. I like to think he is a active 83 year old somewhere out there on Mars keeping evil in check in his opera style tights

And for you youngsters you probably don't remember him buzzing through space on a Saturday morning at your local theater while the threatened Earth called "Earth to Buck! Earth to Buck! Come in, Buck!"

The special effects were so bad that even we of the great unwashed in '46 were not impressed but we still hung on as he thwarted evil on a weekly basis and always escaped from the previous week's episode ending threat.

Buck represented all that was good and maybe growing up believing that we were on the side of truth and justice gave the country the moral fiber to ultimately win the Cold War.

This copy is not in great shape, but not bad for an 83 year old pulp magazine. One similar sold for around $700. so it may be it will be worth more than my old NTI shares.

Also in this issue was the first installment of "Skylark of Space," by E.E. Smith, PhD. This was probably the first "space opera" novel using dark villains, daring heroes set among the vast reaches of space and time. Smith would expand the theme in his later novels. I have always felt that Asimov's "Foundation" series was inspired by Smith.

BTW - Smith was paid $70. for his ground breaking novel. Old authors and old pro athletes must both silently groan over being too early.

OnTwitter I am Lesabre1

"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.” - William Pitt

"Logic. There is little logic among the cultural elite, maybe because there is little omnipresent fear of job losses or the absence of money, and so arises a rather comfortable margin to indulge in nonsense." - Victor Davis Hanson

A talking pig.....Amazing

This is a true story, proving how fascinating the mind of a six year old is. They think so logically.

A teacher was reading the story of the Three Little Pigs to her class.

She came to the part of the story where first pig was trying to gather
the building materials for his home.

She read. 'And so the pig went up to the man with the wheelbarrow
full of straw and said: 'Pardon me sir, but may I have some of that
straw to build my house?'

The teacher paused then asked the class: 'And what do you think
the man said?'

One little boy raised his hand and said very matter-of-factly...

'I think the man would have said - 'I'll be a son of a bitch!! A talking pig!'

The teacher had to leave the room.

 Hat tip to Jimmy M.

August 1992

I just thought the story was cute and the cover was cute.

OnTwitter I am Lesabre1
"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper
“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.” - William Pitt
"Logic. There is little logic among the cultural elite, maybe because there is little omnipresent fear of job losses or the absence of money, and so arises a rather comfortable margin to indulge in nonsense." - Victor Davis Hanson