Our News Media, Dog worrying a bone

Everyone in the public eye knows you must keep the press on YOUR side. I never will forget my dad thought we needed a business man as president and George Romney would make a great president, . He was doing great in the poles and appeared to have a good shot at the presidency. He was not sure we should be in Viet Nam.

He pointed out that the French had tried for years and left without making a big dent for a Democratic government. Then he made a tour of Vietnam, was convinced by his handlers while there that we could win this war. After coming back to the USA and doing more study, he said we should cut our losses and leave. He made the statement, “I was brain washed while there.”

His observations were spot on, with our strategy WE COULD NOT WIN, we lost 58,000 good men and women and had to leave with our tails between our legs and not because we did not have a great ARMY and some of the best soldiers in the world, but because we had politicians determined to continue a war using strategy from Washington. You need military minds, if you are going to war. (His Brain Washed statement sunk him.)

Now about the news media, we have heard a lot lately about newsmen who supposedly ‘fabricate’ news.  Wow, did you notice how the sharks circle, they even devour their own, no one is safe if some reporter ‘smells’ a Pulitzer Prizes in journalism (real or in his dreams).
       
I think we all know there are so many real and wanna be’s out there that the ‘allure’ to boost or embellish is always present. I have no idea if what is spewed is true or not, I can remember listening to a radio and hearing Walter Cronkite . saying, “Somewhere in the South Pacific” as he gave the WWII news and we hung on every word.

Cronkite was so popular that when he decided that it was impossible win Vietnam he stated it.  To this report came this historical quote:  LBJ said that “if I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost the country,” he was acknowledging that a single newsman had the power to change a national outlook.

The POWER of the PRESS, they have done well for this country. But, BUT, BUT  when they TURN ON someone I like, I AIN’T TOO HAPPY WITH THEM. (That is fair, ain’t it? That is off the record just in case I run! )

I honestly dread the coming political hassles for the next election. Just going by what I see on the internet, methinks the press has decided it will Be Hillary and Jeb. That is just my interpretation. All it takes is one miss-statement, and anyone can be OUT!
Nite Shipslog
PS:
You have to have a pretty thick skin to run for or BE the president of this great country. We are pretty tough on our leaders. (But that is FREEDOM)
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Bumper sticker time coming…

There are still cars out there with:

Federal Taxes

Yeah, I get slower and slower in filing. I used the IRS website again for the instructions and forms. Friend Jerry out of Shelby sent me the Turbo Tax software gratis, but nothing I had would open it or I didn’t know how (one of the two). I am pretty thick at times.  (Don’t repeat that, my wife thinks I am smart).

Anyway although I do like this computer and the new technology, there are times I miss the paper feel.  Remember when the IRS sent 18 billion forms to Post Offices; then sent you instructions and forms via mail? Shucks, the postage alone would have been millions.

They do not do that anymore. I am afraid to guess, but I would say that the IRS saved several Billion at least, by not printing and sending the forms. So did they give any back to us?  Not that I noticed, did you get a check?

    

Anyway, I did not know how to save the form I was filling out on line, so when I had to go to the ‘cute’ instructions, I lost the form and refilled what I had lost. Fun. I said a few bad words, but I got-r-done. Let me say that I am happy that Florida does not have an income tax so we do not have to file a state form.

I was expecting another huge refund. Last year we started to buy a car with the $39.00 we got back. But no such luck!  We are getting a total of $4 back this year.  Hardly worth all the bad words. Next year I think I will click the box that lets them figure it out.

I was so thrilled about the $4, I woke Sherry to tell her. Anyway if your refund is late, it will because they had to use it to sent us our refund.

I hope you have jumped thru all the hoops and filed. I’d hate for you to be reading the Shipslog from the Slammer.

Thanks for listening,

Nite Shipslog

PS: I no longer have a business so We do not have a CPA anymore to do the taxes. And I am too cheap to hire anyone else.

NOTE: I don’t think anyone in the USA would mind paying their fair share, if our Government could spend it reasonably.

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No joke, this is a Cobra IRS REAREND!

(Not related to THE IRS)

 

Above: Pay your Taxes or they come and get something.

Below is when they only take part!

I am thankful I can see.

I read a head line the other day that drew me to the story. The head line was something like this, “Millions Never see the Most Common Beauty of This Earth.” The percentage was shocking, something like 96-99% will not see it.

(Most everyone has seen the beauty of the day light sky)

What was it? The canopy of stars in the heavens at night. Why is that? Too much man made light here on Earth,  Now it hit me, and and you probably understand. If you are in the city, you cannot see past the streetlights.  Even out in the  highways the car lights are too bright. Even the dash board lights over ride the heavenly sights.

That has been one of the benefits of boon-docking (camping without any electric,gas or battery lighting except the flash light.).  You turn the flashlight off for a few minutes and stare at the sky and realize that it goes and goes, the longer you look the more stars you see. The desert or ocean is the most ideal place for this. As I read the article I thought, “Thanks God I can still see.”

”A few years ago (okay many years ago) when my arm got too short for me to read well, I bought glasses. I could see again.

     

I enjoyed the eye correction for a few years, and slowly I realized driving at night was becoming a confusing problem. All the lights were getting a halo around them.

Eye tests again, but the Doctor says, you need cataract Surgery. I visited St Luke’s Eye Clinic in Tarpon Springs Florida. He was recommended by a dear friend. The surgery went well, I learned a lot. My care giver administered the eye drops a the prescribed times along with a kiss and I got better VERY SOON. I could see again.

Doctors do wonders, I thought it was neat, the old man Dr. James Gill did my eyes. It was unique thinking that the same guy that operated on Billy Graham, was doing my eyes. It is sorta unique, the staff offers to pray with you before surgery. Of course they have heard the joke many times, “WHAT? I thought he was good at this?”

  Dr. Gill at the time had  performed more eye surgeries than anyone in the world. The costs were the same or less than other Drs.

Yes, I am glad I can see.

Nite Shipslog

PS:

There are thousands of eye doctors out there, and I don’t doubt they can do a good. I just had a good experience at St. Luke’s.

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A star-shape car and a car with stars.

And then there is the 1929 STAR pickup.

Money and finances cause more family problems than infidelity.

My dad seldom gave me advice, he taught by example.  But the one bit of financial advice he gave me amounted to this: “Never go in debt and you will always get by.”

Among many things that Sherry and I agree on is finances. She is more frugal than I. Very seldom have we went in debt and when we did we sat down and made sure we could make the payments, and the majority of the times determined to make double payments and pay a debt off early. WE have always paid our debts off early, even on houses. WE have NEVER went in debt for things that we just  “WANTED”, Sherry has never been a ‘Shopper and impulse buyer’.

 

In my lifetime I have seen too many ladies who wanted clothes they did not need and trips they could not afford. Then I have known men who wanted a gun, truck, car or motorcycle they did not need, and most could not afford.

     

Christmas just passed, that is one thing we have always agreed on, never go in debt for Christmas gifts. Up until we could afford to buy a new car and pay for it, we drove used cars and trucks. As the boss, I knew that my $1,000 truck got me to and from work as well the $10-30,000 trucks the guys who worked for me drove. Some of them picked up a six pack every night as they went home. I preferred to just go home, have supper and relax(or work).

I always smiled when I heard guys who did not take care of their money say, “my money don’t last from payday to payday.”

I told one guy, “The best way to double your money, is fold it in the middle and put it in your pocket.”

It is wise to have a budget the family can agree on and STICK TO it, to the best of your ability.  I am smiling, we had a cigar box and little packets we made to hold the money. Each payday the money was allotted to the little packets.  Sherry’s mama had always lived by the rule save something, if it is only fifty cents. We hit on the idea once that when I got promoted, use the increase to buy a savings Bond every months.. That idea got us our first house many years later

It is not fair in a marriage for the husband to decide he needs the Harley Davidson, but tells his wife she did not need the new dress.  It is not wise to spend the grocery money, on beer, a trip,a party or clothes.

Unless a couple can agree on finances, it will split two loving people.

Nite ShipsLog

PS:

Did you know by making one extra payment in the first few years of a 30yr loan, will cut the mortgage by a year? That is saying one payment equals 12.

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Fords 100 years apart: 1910 and the 2010 (at least they are about  the same color, but the 1910 was born black)

Things I did know as a kid.

I knew how to plait leather strips in about 6 ways, using 2 up to 6 strips. I knew how to make a whip and I knew the pop of a whip was it breaking the sound barrier. I loved to Roller Skate. I wore out many wheels.

I knew how to make a minnow jar to catch my own bait to fish with.  I knew how to make a sling-shot and that the best prongs for it was the Dogwood tree.  The best rubber for the one was the red rubber from a car inner tube.

(Mine had a screen wire funnel on the jars mouth)

There was a time people would not chew gum in church. I knew where it went when they forgot, UNDER THE PEW.

On rainy days we played hide an seek in the church, when we didn’t get caught. I was crawling under the benches (pews) a lot.

I could make  a pea shooter out of a reed or a clothes pin.

(This sucker would shoot a pea or match stick, mama wasn’t too fond of these. This one is not loaded.)

I could take any bicycle rear end apart and put it back together. Bendix was the easiest and the New Departure was the hardest.

I knew how to climb a tree!… I was also a water bug, I could dive and keep my legs straight and together. (smile) I loved to climb a tree over water deep enough to dive or jump in. I never owned a bathing suit until I was 12.

I could cook a squirrel, rabbit, bird or fish before I was 10. I once made a 22 pistol out of a Benjamin Pump Air Rifle.

I loved my BB gun, and was good with it. And I liked to play marbles, yo yo, and I could spin a good top.

 

I could make paper airplanes. Ones that would sail a long way, and those that went straight like a dart. I made darts out of a match, pin and paper fins.

 

I fell a hundred times but learned to ride a bicycle backwards. I could tell a story (lie) pretty good, but not enough to fool mama.

I could play the trumpet, I wanted to do the sax but there were too many buttons to work (LOL).

So after all that, I must say, most of my friends could do the same things I could do. I was a pretty normal southern boy. I just didn’t know doodle outside North Carolina.

Nite Shipslog

PS:

I liked hop-scotch and tried to jump rope, but wasn’t good at it. 

(Age is a funny thing, none of the stuff I listed seems so long ago.)

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1939 Chevy & Packard they were new when I was born.

50 years later, the 1989 Caddy