Got Attorney?

Yes, it's true - I sleep peaceably in my bed, because a rough man stands at the ready in the dark of night, to visit violence on those who would do me harm - allow me to introduce you to my attorney...

Redundancy revisited...

Redundancy is always a, no-no.

Experts on EVERYTHING ??? (red flag)...

Surely I'm not the only one to have noticed the growing trend in advertising - EPERTISE in EVERYTHING!  This old world works in "mysterious ways", me thinks...

Let's examine whether or not any of this makes sense.

Yep, if there's an Almighty Dollar to be had, there's someone out-there who will lay-claim to having "the expertise" that YOU need (according to them) ...and they'll have no qualms telling you so.  It "sounds" self-serving from the get-go, doesn't it?  RED flag!

Their fine print always says, "trained professionals will assist" you.  Okay.  Was their training all of: one hour, or two?  Training makes a person an "expert"?  I see.  RED flag!

That nonsense has become particularly prevalent in the Financial & Mortgage Industry - where all the "players" (fresh-out-of some brand-name prestige-school) seem to (miracle) KNOW what's best for YOU and your MONEY!  Really?  What BULLSHIT!  RED flag!

If true, and those "trained advisors" know SO MUCH of such great value ...how can it be that NONE of them are (already) MILLIONAIRES ...and retired at age 25-30?  RED flag!

I find it to be more than disturbing that so many companies are getting away with this sort of thing.  The whole of it utterly SMACKS of commercial FRAUD (and flagrant incompetence).  Naturally, and once you've read the FINE-PRINT (you did read it, didn't you?), the "disclaimers" defy all Common Sense (and all sound intelligence).  RED flag!

Trust me, those so-called "experts" haven't got a frickin' clue...

Have you also noticed that GOVERNMENT is comprised of similar "EXPERT" leadership - of which a HUGE proportion are former ATTORNEYS?  Former?  Doesn't "former" usually equate to: "failed"?  i.e. "has-beens" and FAILURES who couldn't "make it" out in the "real world"!

Isn't "government by lawyers" a lot like allowing the "weasel into the henhouse"? 

Hence, attorneys are the ones who are writing the legislation, and are ultimately the ones called upon to litigate it, and (to some degree) also to enforce it - à la "Attorney General" (of something or other).  Is it (thus) any wonder that BIG BUSINESS seeks out those "legislators", to "have 'em" in their hip-pocket? 

We all know that there are payoffs (by the pork-barrel full) to be had - oft' coming from cash-rich Lobbyists (and from well "under the table").  Those same "legislators" get huge Federal salaries, free Healthcare, and lifelong Pensions.  We can be certain that every single scum-bag in the country wants to jump (leap) onto that "bandwagon"!

Take mental note (also) of just how many of those so-called "representatives" of the people, "For the People, By the People" ... have a girl-friend in a foriegn country; or on the campaign-trail; spare children (no spouse required); or "boys" being back-door'ed in back-offices. 

Our leaders, one and all - Governors, Senators, Representatives, and even the occational Judge (indicted for taking lucrative bribes).  Sick and sickening stuff.  But it's business as usual.  The business of good-looks, schmooze, lewd sex, and easy money... 

Shall we contact the French?  (Perhaps borrow a guillotine and a head-basket?)

Some things never change.

So, I ask ...what would happen were the "financial advisors" (experts all, with their 1-2 hours of training)... to take-over the whole of the BANKING and MORTGAGE industry "for us"? 

Seems to me, that they already have.  RED flag!  Slice-off heads.  Vote "no", across party lines.

Me Thinks!

P.S.  An anecdote: the etymology of the word "mortgage" has its allures.  MORT (from the French word for dead, n. death).  GAGE (from the French word for engagement, n. contract).  i.e. "contract with death" (seems especially "apropos", these days)...

COMMENTS submitted from FACEBOOK and via E-mail:

" It's a shell Game that would make P.T. Barnum proud. There IS a sucker born every minute, and Truth is not a requirement, nor wisdom; just parchment. " -DennisD

" The clear message is this: financial advisors make money every time anyone buys or sells (regardless of whether or not - you as the investor, make a dime or lose your shirt). They simply want the would-be SUCKER to sign on the dotted-line (hence the need for parchment), and then they HAVE you! They don't give a "horse's petunia" about whether or not they (cause) you to become involved with crooks! In point of fact, the bigger the crook, the bigger their commission! " -ZoeT (edited by Qmann)

Good and Ideal Husband will be found...

During creation, God promised women that good and ideal husbands would be found in all corners of the world.  And then He made the earth round.

During creation, God left the free will of choice to all men. Men decided that the world is flat; and the center of the universe. Whereas most women are; and believe that they are.

(giggle)

Count UR Blessings: toughest arithmetic to master?

A good and useful memory is one that recollects every blessing of each day, whilst forgetting each tribulation. The toughest arithmetic to master is the common sense to know when or why to start or stop the counting. Prayers go up. Blessings come down. If you have been blessed with great love, value the connection ... and keep it warm.

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” -Acts 20:35

The US-of-A ... I, E, and G...

Ah yes, the US-of-A ...the "Love it or Leave-It" country that can "afford" a MILITARY machine that is LARGER (in budget) than the top 43 "other" richest nations on Earth. We have no qualms about burning-up young lives (and loves) to "protect" our failing oil-based economy - as we toss naïve kids into war-zones (that we created). Unprepared and ignorant, they are mowed-down and returned cerimoniously to the... "Go ARMY", "America's NAVY", "My son is a MARINE" households, for a prompt burial.  (Wives and Mothers get to keep the flag for comfort,  or display. "Semper Fi" in a graveyard, is "forever" indeed!)

We Americans are (almost as blindly) pushing ourselves down the slippery-slopes of an enduring economic oblivion. We're the US-of-I too!  We're a US of, "I don't care" - because our Great Society has a pronounced "me first" orientation. Through all of that, we've stupidly underwritten a "healthcare" system that is (also) ..."all about greed", but not about "Health", and certainly (not about) "Care". To be cared for (genuinely), one must count-on good luck or rely on family, friends, or neighbors...

Yes, We-the-People can "afford" a planetary killing-machine (under the guises of "peace-keeping").  Tell me, how does one "keep" PEACE by "making" WAR? We have the most effective and brutal means to KILL other human-beings ever invented, and yet... We also think of ourselves as Religious, Political, and "Right" - while too many are "right-eous" about both.

How WRONG we are as a people! Is it any wonder that the fundamentalists of other ideologies, political regimes, and religions - want us (the entire "US"), dead?

Meanwhile we "care" for our down-trodden by allowing our legal-social-fiscal-financial system to TAKE everything a person has worked-for - often, simply because they've had the misfortune of falling-ill, or lost a bill-paying job (when some greedy employer "went bust"). Thereafter the credit system "treats" those individuals like losers - the guilty second-rate citizens - that they are not! How many jobs will their be for returning (unemployed) G.I.'s?

We aren't solely the US-of-A, we're also the US-of-E (of Entertainment) - even the ad-media-tized "News" is presented so as to, "make US think about something else" (as we entertain ourselves via mindless TV-programming - while munching butter-soaked microwave-popcorn). We are being trained to avoid doing something worthwhile to help and protect our fellow-man.  Munch. Watch.  Sit.  Don't worry, be happy?  (And was your TV "Made in the USA"?)

We endure a 24 X 7 onslaught of advertising: designed to prompt the sales (and purchases of) tons of "Made in China; Taiwan; Japan; Singapore; Maylasia; Philipinnes; Indonesia " schtuff... which most of us do not need (as MC / VISA / DISCOVER / AMEX lovingly oblige while rubbing their hands-together wryly).

No, the US-of-A is moreover, the US-of-G.  An (us) US, of Greed.

So, don't fall ill. Don't lose your job!  Else, Greed awaits ...you, your freedom, and your free will!

Me Thinks

R-U a fed-up wage-slave? JetBlue 'em!

Do you have a job?  Is yours a SAFE, SANE, and LAWFUL workplace?  If not, have you become a wage-slave inside of dysfunctional employment?  Are you "fed-up"?

Have you lost your "voice"? Perhaps you've never had a "voice"? Does your employer's "Spiel" sound something like this?

‘We hear you; we feel for you; you're right; we’re not going to exploit you; we do our best to treat you with respect.’ 

Unlikely. Yeah, I bet not... 

What an employee should NOT do:
a) “Stay silent.”
b) “Do nothing.”

What an employer should NOT do:
a) “Stay silent.”
b) “Do nothing.”

My advice?  Talk!  Talk a lot, but "document" e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g.  Think, say, and do - nothing that could potentially be used against you. Obtain signed affidavits from every and any witness (to objectionable events).  If a witness lives far away, ask that their documents be "notarized" (by a Notary Public).  Create and maintain a chronological journal.  Align yourself with accredited court professionals.  Consult with an Employment Law attorney, and contact the department of Workforce Development people in your State.  Leave a HUGE "paper-trail" ...("pee" on every post)!

Some employers understand ONLY one of two things:
1) Money.
2) Lawsuits.
3) Losing Money.  (Did I say, one of "two"?)

Rude manners and/or abuse in the workplace can become unbearable.  Don't take it.  If all else fails, hire a talented attorney (a Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated legal expert who won the last case). If you find yourself being harangued, harassed, or threatened (even in veiled forms), don't take it - all are ILLEGAL!  Be prepared to sue at moment's notice. If the climate within your workplace becomes UNBEARABLE.  Then, sue!  Sue until cows come home to roost...

After the graces of "fair warning" (when POSITIVE motivational speaking hasn't cut-it), sue for THREE things:
1) Money.
2) More Money. (Did I say, "three"?)

If that action "costs you" your job (know that any form of REPRISAL is ILLEGAL in all 50 States), sue 'em for that as well!  If you've been slandered, sue for that! Stand up for the Truth!  Demand a Safe, Sane, and Lawful workplace!  It's your RIGHT (all three)!  Ask for $Million-dollar money - the "money thingie" WILL definitely be understood - I can promise you that...

As for JetBlue, their core business is in the NooZ ...free Steven Slater! 

In the meantime, boycott JetBlue! Wadda buncha scumbags. 
Me Thinks

P.S. "Whistleblower" laws apply (should you need to effect legally protected complaints to your employer) about: unsafe work conditions (call OSHA); unstable behavior (contact the local police); and/or unlawful activity (advise the FBI). You may do so without fear of your employer - it's the Law (everywhere)...

Bank fined $200 Million (consumers win)...

Wells Fargo was ordered Tuesday to pay more than $200 million to compensate customers who faced higher fees due to the bank's practice of posting transactions so that checks for the highest amounts clear first, often triggering more bounced checks. How many other banking organizations have being doing the same?

Kick ass!

Your RIGHT to the TRUTH!

Whenever you hold the TRUTH, it is RIGHT to persue it...

Cure-Alls & Snake-Oil?

Coca-Colatm is being sued by a non-profit public interest group, on the grounds that the company's vitamin water products make unwarranted health claims. Okay. So how do you suppose that Big Business is defending itself?  In a feat of skewed logic, lawyers for Coketm are defending the company by asserting this thinking: 

 "No consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking vitamin water was a healthy beverage."

Does that mean that a consumer would have to be "unreasonable" to in order to come to the conclusion that a product named "vitamin water" (products that have been aggressively marketed as a healthy beverage), actually HAVE health benefits?  Snake oil by another name?  

That IS perfect crazy insanity ... Me Thinks!

Old-Young? / Young-Old?

If UR too young to be old, and UR too old to be young, then act your age!

Thoughts on COMEDY & TRAGEDY ...

The words COMEDY and TRAGEDY commonly refer to the ways in which dramatic conflicts are resolved (inside of and outside of theatre)...

Whenever a tragedy occurs, the inherent confusion cannot end until such time as everyone affected has recognized what had taken place ...and has: learned, forgiven, forgotten, and re-established (his or her) identity within a functional social group.  

Whereas a comedy typically ends within a "group celebration" -- e.g. a betrothal or wedding (accompanied by music and dance). The emphasis is on integration inside of the group. It's a recommitment to the sharing of life, together. If there has been a disruptive presence -- a source of anti-social discord, then that person typically has to reform their ways -- else be punished, or banished from all celebration by the group.

Thus, a "comic celebration" is looking forward to a more meaningful communal life, hence the ubiquitous ending for romance novels (romantic comedies) ..."and they lived happily ever after."

Me Thinks

Some people are too darned turbid!

'Tis not my intent to muddy things-up, but some people are so darned turbid, that they don't know their hole from an ass in the ground!



Know wadda mean?


Copyright (c)2010 - Robert C. Kuhmann - All Rights Reserved. (All Wrongs Avenged!)

No more questions...

People are living smaller - everywhere. The economy is bleak and it is going to deteriorate. As an optimist, I do not announce such things as idle talk. Still, I am present and a participant - grateful for the joys of life, big and small. The future is definitely going to be a challenging time.  Meanwhile, albiet that (in general) people do not choose whom they love, they may love whom they choose - and there are many ways to do that. How may I help (love) you? 

No more questions (for today)...

Thinkology of LOVE, the inevitable...

Some authors would have you believe that a good romance is the equal of a marriage of the heart and mind... (AKA "chemistry")?

A "thinkologist" however is busy at rehash, preoccupied by a "theory of everything" (on one's mind and sometimes, below one's belt).

For those of us, for whom, "thinking" is both an inevitability and a part of the daily diet... 

Picture this:

If you toss two really bright people into one room (a male, a female), and then leave them there long enough... The fundamentals of today's theory are: that they WILL mate, fall in love, and that a romance will ensue!  Alas, I've spent time in one or two rooms decorated to those precise "House Beautiful" norms. Somehow, the physical coitus never seemed to supplant or offset the, "cogito, ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am) component of the intellectual copula that was ALWAYS well underway, and first. Does such a "union" make thinkers into part-time lovers, or part-time lovers into thinkers? 

When romance reunites people who have been "thus" united, then separated, and then re-united (after a certain time), is their reunion (also), once too often?

I always try to engage my readers with a tone of sarcasm (nobody ever really believes everything I say anyway)...  Am I wrong (rhetorical)?  ;-)

This sort of amusement invites everyone to laugh at the many easy foibles of our lives and our living.  A "thinkologist" makes observations about the most rigorous, purely formulaic alternatives - as well as the unpredictable nature of LOVE.  The objective being ...to make whatever one thinks about LOVE (thereby), a joy to read (and to experience)? 

Romance is a love story told in such a way, that it appeals to men (stiffened) and it appeals to women (swollen). Love's most primitive allures engage both the naive and the jaded - from Algebraic Number Theorists, to Professional Violinists - and (likewise) all those manic enough to harbor phobias towards either endeavor.  Patience comes to the penitent...

If I'm not being funny or clever here (nor original, in a way that pulls, you the reader, "in"), then blame me - for I am the only farcical, hugely entertaining, and equally as modest author of this strangest of stories.

LOVE is a Greek Classic (and oft-times, as lyrical): "boy meets goddess"; "girl meets a god"; "boy or girl loses the other god". Along the way, the two engage in playful eros romps that out-perform the soggiest TV-soap (and) every made-for-Broadway satirical play, ever written.  Pass the hankies, to wipe my wetted eyes... 

Each of those compositions become somewhat more accursed (as entertainment) than the other (...akin to a trash-talk, romance-novel - composed for, and targeting lonely, generally rather unattractive women whom men date once, at best).  In general, men aren't into romance (no, not even the unattractive guys). 

So, as YOU read this, weep with me...

As YOU become an active THINKOLOGIST yourself...

Soon enough, there will be thunderbolts raining down from your own Mount Olympus, as the gods drink themselves into a carefree stupor on cheap sex ...and cheaper wine.

Align yourself to "thinkology".

Save CIVILIZATION as we never knew it! Lock yourself up in an empty room with someone who thinks the way you do. Do it today!  It's the cerebral version of, "getting laid".

There is a spiritual teacher who states, that "if you fight against reality, you suffer". The object is to "come into acceptance".  Small words, big concept.

Difficult at times,
Me Thinks.

P.S. My next entry will be about "missed opportunities" in life...

MeThinksThinker

MeThinksThinker is also my MATCH and FACEBOOK pseudonym.  And since you've gotten this far: here's my website [link] and email [link].

Me Thinks

R-U the Owner of a Broken Heart?

Sometimes it is hard to identify the dividing line - where just-caring ends, where true love begins - and (maybe) also (and exactly) what that difference REALLY is! Some of us think that we allow ourselves to love, some opt to control who not to love. Some of us have been hurt. Some, burned. Some people just seem to open their hearts more than all others. Some maintain their feelings for a lifetime. Some break-up with those they have loved, because each thought that the other, was the wrong person.

But often, we don't end the feelings nor the sense of connection which comes subsequent to our individual investments of "self" (in such dearly beloved, unique persons).

We were very busy. We were even busier. We are probably always as busy. Maybe each felt it is necessary to terminate the connection (the love, the growing friendship), or to put an "us", on hold? Whatever it was, it sometimes doesn't make much sense.

Most earn their "keep" - by becoming life-long friends - such that they're, "kept"? And doesn't love have much to do with being the BEST of friends?

The loves of one's life tend to remain (live on) in the heart (in the soul). Some loves more than others, some less. As we get older, we might opt to make a habit of telling everyone just how much they mean, and to outline what their contribution has meant to our existence - because (for better for worse) some of us, never seem to stop caring.

Somehow the caring grows more important now. And maybe our mothers (living or gone to the hereafter) would call all of this, "Mushy"? There are an incredible number of lonely hearts out there. What a shame when a LOVE dies.

What a shame.

(An offering to friends, from friends...)

Have a 'good' day at the Office, honey?

These are trying times ...challenging times. As for you and your job - don't let inept company management get you down. Inept management doesn't go away, the badly managed company goes away.  Don't let the riffraff get to you!

Gettin' a Life?

If what others think of you is a constant source of worry, take heart in knowing that they rarely ever do.

Give "pause" to all Importance & teach Humility

"The Place of Mankind within the known Universe"

The Universe comprises everything we perceive to exist physically, the entirety of space and time, all forms of matter and energy.  We live on a blue planet, called Earth.  It is but one of several planets orbiting an average star, our Sun.

Are there extra-solar planets (planets that orbit around other stars)? Yes. As of 19-March-2010, 443 extra-solar planets have been confirmed.

Has life been found on any celestial body other than Earth?
[ Not yet! ]

Mankind is comprised of 6.8 Billion souls who share the blue planet, compared below. We are traveling through Space with trillions upon trillions of other living things.

What is the size of our planet?
The diameter is about 7,926 miles (12,756 KM) at the Equator, see below.

Many stars retain a solar system of orbiting bodies - ranging in size, from dust, to asteroids, to planets.  Almost all the stars in the known Universe have collected or gathered into galaxies.  An average galaxy contains between 10 to the 11th and 10 to the 12th stars.  In other words, galaxies on average, are comprised of between 100 billion and 1 trillion stars.

Astronomers estimate that there are approximately 100 billion to 1 trillion galaxies in the known Universe. So if you multiply those two numbers together, you get between 10 to the 22nd and 10 to the 24th stars in this Universe.

That's 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 lights in our skies. That's more stars than there are grains of sand on every beach and in every desert of Earth.  How many stars?

There are (at least) between 10 sextillion and 1 septillion stars in the known Universe.  That's a large number, yet quite small - compared to Infinity. We live on a speck of dust that orbits but one of those many stars.

Throughout our lives, we are moving (on the Equator) at about 1000 MPH (1620 KMH) due to the rotation of the Earth. The Earth is also moving around the Sun (our star) at about 67,000 MPH (108,500 KMH).  The Sun is rotating within the Milky Way (our Galaxy), at about 486,000 MPH (758,000 KMH).  The Milky Way is moving through Space towards other clusters of Galaxies, at about 667,000 MPH (1,080,500 KMH).

Due to relativity, the speed of the Milky Way varies when compared with different objects in space. The speed of the Milky Way galaxy is actually not one number, its value is relative to the speed of all other objects.

Is the known Universe expanding?

Yes.

Is it expanding at a constant rate?

No, it is accelerating!

How can that be?

No one knows.

And all of this star stuff has been moving and changing ...

For a long, long, LONG time, indeed.

Does everything have a Beginning?

Does everything have an End?

Maybe, yes.  And perhaps, no.

How large is the Universe?

No one really knows.

What is the age of the Universe?

Current scientific thought is that the Universe is 13.73 (+/- 0.21) Billion years old.

How many dimensions are there (height, width, depth, time, and...)?

The scientific community has included 11 dimensions into the attributes of String Theory.

Are we alone?
It is far more likely that we are not alone. Science believes that parallel Universes, exist.

What am I made of?
Star stuff that is as old as the Universe itself.

Why are we here?
No one knows for sure.

What is life?
Self-perpetuating, replicating organisms.

What defines true intelligence?
The ability to inquire.

How much longer will all of this endure?
No one knows.

How large is large?
It's relative.

How small is small?
It's relative.

What it Time?
Answer that question completely to become very (VERY) famous.

Is there life after death?
It is a matter of spiritual beliefs.

And so it is.

-ooOoo-

Copyright ©2010 - Robert C. Kuhmann - All Rights Reserved.