RACISM + BIGOTRY + SEXISM + DISCRIMINATION = MONEY FOR NUTTIN'

Let's "be real". Mass Medias target their marketplace based upon the statistics of MONEY-MAKING. So let's see... The average I.Q. (world-wide) is 100, i.e., that of people everywhere. In the United States the average I.Q. is 98. Switzerland fairs somewhat better, with an average of 104. Whereas, Brazil has an average I.Q. score of 92. Anything under 80 is considered as, "mentally challenged." The majority of any given population, fall into the, 90-to-110 range. But HALF of EVERYONE will score under the "median" of 100. Meanwhile, anything over 110 is considered above average... A result above 130, is considered "gifted". Anyone whose tested result is consistently higher than 145, is considered to be a "genius". Scores which approach 200 are evaluated as being (almost) immeasurable, because there are so few others, to whom their true intellect can be compared. Thus, being that the MEDIA MOGULS are no fools [pun], they know that successful TV programming (including the advertising for: television, radio, and all multimedia) has to be very "dumb-ed-down". And so it is. 

Copyright ©2014 - Robert C. Kuhmann - All Rights Reserved.

NO POLLINATORS = NO POLLINATION = NO FOOD

For 90% of plants - the process of pollination requires pollinators: organisms that carry or move the pollen grains from the anther to the receptive part of the carpel or pistil. That is called, "biotic-pollination". There are roughly 200,000 varieties of animal pollinators are in the wild - most of which are insects - and (by far) most pollination activity, is performed by bees!

Copyright ©2014 - Robert C. Kuhmann - All Rights Reserved.

Freedom Isn't "Free"? But it should be!

Should the entire USA (and the World) rethink the knee-jerk, thunk? Let's be real! The ultra-rich (the ones who OWN the weapons plants and the munitions factories), have no qualms about continuing their GIGANTIC CON - of millions of American families - into believing that it is "patriotic", to send one's son or daughter off to die in a foreign land - because "Freedom Isn't Free"? The parents get to have (thereby), bragging rights akin to, "My Son is a Marine!", or "Go Army!", or "USAF - Aim High", and "My Daughter serves in the Navy" (usually in the form of a bumper-sticker). Yup, "Semper Fi" is indeed "eternal loyalty" - ONCE CONNED - but from inside of an aluminium box - and at a graveyard near to your ("Mom 'n Dad"). Once laid-out "proper" within said container, who's likely to complain? Besides, the grieving parents were given a very nice (brand-new), tricolor-flag, folded-down into a "Boy-Girl Scout" triangle - such that it will "look" quite "nice" inside of a framed-glass case, stood onto the fireplace mantel (as a souvenir)?

The ultra rich got RICHER (and don't care whose life is thrown away)... Freedom? Who does the paying? Wake-up Americans! Don't be duped! The only thing anyone gets for "Free" is the pro-military establishment's line of "Propaganda for Dummies" ... and THAT's the TRUTH! My generation of Vietnam vets learned the hard-way, and then dared to say, "No." to the CONNING of America! Don't get suckered into offering-up YOUR child - as a sacrificial lamb - to the financial machinery of WAR!

Anecdote: just try to get Dick Cheney to acknowledge that he and father-son Bush made HUGE SUM$ of CA$H from their Washington War-mongering while in D.C. "Mission Accomplished", indeed... all the way to the Bank!

Copyright ©2014 - Robert C. Kuhmann - All Rights Reserved.

"FREE" HEALTH CARE?

While Healthcare will never be "FREE" in the strictest sense of the word, it is possible to greatly simplify the way it is provided. We need a system which is able to respond to all citizens! One which can meet everyone's needs - equally. There should be no deductible, no out-of-pocket, and no monthly payment to any business - no boundaries which define (and exclude): persons with pre-existing conditions! The cost should covered as part of taxation (not unlike military spending)... scaled to one's ability to pay (and amortized across the whole of society). I suggest that we KEEP the current "ACA" plan, as a starting point. That plan should evolve (in stages) towards the goal of the total elimination of "for-profit" healthcare businesses! Ask yourselves: "What portion of every DOLLAR paid-in (including: one's deductible, plus all monthly payments) goes straight to greedy SHAREHOLDERS, the fat-cat EXECS, the INFLATED PRICES for med-products, and the INFLATED PRICES for all med-services?" How affordable is a "service or product" which tags-on huge profit-margins - FIRST! The "Affordable Health Care Act" is NOT the problem. Greedy, for-profit healthcare companies (including all pharma companies) are at the root of the upwards-spiraling costs! We need a national, not-for-profit healthcare system! Everything at cost! Costs would remain competitive (and monitored). There would be no shareholders, no fat-cat execs, no pharma rip-offs! Let us work towards having a system inside of which - health and care - are the sole rulers by which success is measured, not MONEY (profits)! How much HEALTH, and how much CARE will there be - when, it is in the vested, "best-interests" of the for-profit provider company - to keep people, SICK - and (not) CARE ?!?! If we can keep America's MILITARY strong, why can't we keep the People healthy (and fed)? Are we no longer. "For the People, by the People"? We are not! And therein lies the rub... take the MONEY out of POLITICS!

Health + Care!

When ill-health or failing health is transformed into a profitable opportunity (i.e. a self-vested interest, "for" the "health-care" provider): we can be certain that they will "provide" sore little prevention, few cures, non-"health" and even less - "care".

[ I favor a NATIONAL HEALTH CARE system modeled after the network that has been implemented in Switzerland (not the abberations being tossed about by US party politics). Moreover, I oppose ALL "for profit" healthcare businesses (yes, all of them). ] Pls post your thoughts in "Comments". Click-on "Like" if you agree that present Amercan Healthcare strategies, are ALL on the WRONG track!

Not Common? Not Sense?

Take your "pick" of almost any topic: Common Sense is not so common anymore.

Politicians lie!

A Democrat, a Republican, and a giraffe go into a bar. After many drinks, the giraffe passes-out on the floor. The bartender (having seen everything before) looks-up from his newspaper and asks, "What's that lyin' on the floor?" The Republican replies, "He's with the Democrat." The Democrat replies, "He's with the Republican." The giraffe (still conscious) mumbles, "I'm not a lion, I'm a giraffe." Moral of the story? Don't ask a politician about lying, ask a Giraffe.

;-)

Copyright (c)2011 - RCK - All Rights Reserved.

Political Correctness (Bah Humbug!)

Sick of the social mandates of, "always" being POLITICALLY CORRECT? Tired of the hum-drum, and the run of the mill? Salvation is here!  A few of my startup-business (website) ideas...

wvw.MisMatch.con 
e-Dating to expose porn, pervs, and players.
wvw.LinkedOut.con  
Networking where loners and losers get hung out to dry.
wvw.twirper.con
Twirps cause all bird species to quit singing, f-o-r-e-v-e-r.
wvw.Coldmail.con
SPAM e-mail never gets read, as Hell freezes-over, for good.
wvw.arsebook.con
Social site for unfriending the other end, of any face.

And others ...

wvw.eDischord.con
e-Dating, where nothing ever works-out harmoniously.
wvw.Mate3.con
Where a Menage à Trois, is infinitely better than 1.

When there's a $1.00 to be had, there's someone to be had with a dollar? Your ideas (giggle) ?

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)

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)...

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!

Once in a Generation...

When the 2008 elections came along, political participation became "trendy", some might say, "cool"....

During a few extrordinary months,  the Democratic primary became the must-watch reality-TV show of the year... The general election tossed-up the very real possibility of an Obama Presidency - literally a new face for the body-politic (a young, liberal, charismatic, African-American man who'd started his career as a community organizer). Incredible!

Suddenly, everyone was talking, living, and breathing electoral politics.

Voter participation sky-rocketed: first the numbers of those "emotionally invested" in the election, mushroomed - then the number of campaign volunteers soared into the stratosphere. And finally (on election day), the numbers of young people and poor people (who stood in line to vote – the very individuals who had "sat it out" in the past), hit levels not seen for generations!

Opinion poll numbers showed large spikes in confidence - indicating that government could "do the right thing by" ordinary Americans.

And yet (now, 15 months after Obama's election), 62% of the US population is convinced that the country is on the wrong track, and most Americans seem to believe that the government isn't looking out for their best interests afterall...

The growing suspicion is perhaps, this: that 2008 wasn't quite the clean break many thought it to be... Would such a notion explain just why so many Obama voters sat-out the recent "special election" (in Massachusetts)? And also - why so many others voted for Scott Brown – and yet bizarrely also, why so many told pollsters that they wanted Brown (a Republican) to "work with" Democrats (to implement some version of healthcare reform)?

The polls of early 2009 indicated that a majority of voters were willing to give Barack Obama "years" (to turn the "broken economy" around). Now, those polls have been updated, and most reveal that increasing numbers of Americans are deeply impatient with, and resentful of, the still-sluggish pace of economic recovery.

Obama's great dilemma is that he used the language of "hope and change" to set the "bar" almost impossibly "high" for his Presidency.

His rhetoric was skillfully used to energize his audience (one that exhibited more enthusiasm than stamina, one that WANTS change to be both: instantaneous and easy). It has proven to be anything but. After all, a President can set the tone, but when it comes to domestic policy reforms - only Congress can pass Bills - not the sitting President!

The compromises made with various Senators (to secure their support on healthcare), has smacked of a political, "business as usual" climate. And the Public reacted accordingly – growing increasingly angry at the "Washington, DC mentality". Some have responded by jumping from Obama's vision of "change" to that indignities of their "Tea Parties". Others reacted by reverting to historical "apathy" and (once more), by removing themselves from the political process altogether.

Now, robbed of a "filibuster-proof" majority in the Senate, healthcare reformers can only watch - as their "moment for change" slips through their fingers....

The combined effect has made the overall political climate all the more unpleasant. Example: the recent Supreme Court ruling eviscerated spending-limits that Corporations can hand-out (to influence elections). That alone means there's going to be a strong likelihood that politics will become even uglier, messier, and more "beholding" to special interests - than it has been in the past.

All of which prompts an observation: commentators told the once-apathetic that they had "no right" to complain (if they weren't going to participate). And so (in 2008), they finally participated. They helped elect a progressive President, and gave the Democratic party the biggest Congressional majority seen, in decades. They put in place a foundation for the sort of across-the-board change - not seen since the "Great Society" years, or perhaps even, since "The New Deal".

And the result?

We're a year into a new administration's rule. We've got political stalemate. Instead, of leadership, we've disoriented Congressional would-be leaders. Moreover, there is no clear leader (especially when it comes to fighting for healthcare reform, some version of which a clear majority of Americans, want). There is a growing sense that the plutocrats -- the bankers, the great corporations, the holders of vast fortunes – will always win, that the political system is fundamentally "fixed", to be stacked-against the "little guy".

That's a dangerous caldron of hot soup...

Too many of the ingredients of the moment in in the mix: anger, rage, frustration, fear of economic calamity (loss of home, loss of job), and in particular ...a sense of hopes betrayed and promises broken, of having been sold a bill of goods! People are bitter, and embittered politics tend to generate two things: apathy and/or authoritarianism.

One can only hope that the Democrats will find their sea-legs soon, and that Congress can follow-through with "genuine promise" (for the transformations that were embodied by Obama's candidacy in 2008). If they don't; if they duck and weave; and hope that small-bore changes will suffice to meet the towering needs of the moment - then politics will likely take some particularly "ugly turns" in the years ahead.

In the election campaign, Obama repeatedly talked of "the urgency of now."

That urgency is still there, as are the transformative ambitions and instincts of President Obama. In 2010, Congressional Democrats need to find a way to harness the "urgency", and to implement "big-picture" reforms akin to those that the Obama election promised to usher-in.

If they can't, or don't - they will have lost a "once-in-a-generation" opportunity.
Me Thinks

That hopey, changey thing...

NPR's "Weekend Edition" (interview aired, Sunday 07-Feb-2010):  a year after the Innauguration of President Obama, Sarah Palin said, "I gotta ask the supporters of all that...", "How's that hopey, changey thing working out for ya?" 

Our (colloquial language) reply, "for ya": FACTUALLY (subsequent to 1-year in office - 25% of his 4-year term thingie): 

• President O has kept, compromised, or has "in the works": 399 (of his 503 announced "promises") - i.e. 79.3% are underway or completed!
• President O broke (might not be the suitable label) his "word", 15 times (2.9%).
• President O has 87 items "stalled" (due primarily to bi-partisan, politically-motivated squables within the House and Senate - "bought" by the lobbyists who represent Big Money).
• President O is a man for The People, by The People?

History will tell the tale...  The political facts? [click on this link]

N.B. It is suitable to mention that the (above) Florida-based website, has [historically speaking] some (very) clear-cut right-wing, Conservative leanings...

And so it is, Ms. Sarah (whacha thinkin'...)?
Me Thinks

TOYOTA "Seppuku" (the historical way?)

TOYOTA Motors chief executive, Akio Toyoda apologized (today) for the company's massive vehicle quality problems, but did not announce another "recall".

Apparently, the days of "falling on one's sword" are in the past...

Dōmo arigatō! (doh-moh ah-ree-GAH-toh)

Me Thinks

Unscrupulous Souls

American business was once riding a euphoric high, but with good times come the bad. Many unscrupulous souls are out there. They prey upon unwitting consumers and are looking for easy "openings" to bilk, swindle, and entrap ...YOU!  Save more, spend less and avoid rip-offs!

Need a source of good advice and great ideas? [link]
 

Healthcare for Everyone (equal risk = equal cost)

No self-focused entity should (ever again) be allowed to "wish away" this GREAT EMERGENCY!

Not by pretending that it does not exist, nor by placing profits over an equal shot at wellness - for every man, woman, and child.

Everyone (also) needs to take care of themselves by living and eating healthy.

Me Thinks

ONE PAGE - Credit Card Contracts

To all CREDIT CARD companies, a WARNING:

Produce fair, common sense, ONE PAGE Credit Card Contracts ... else, we your life-blood, the consumers and citizens of this great land (and the world) ...

We PROMISE to double-up every rule and law (imposed to keep you honest) through expanded REGULATION, by adding peeks, pokes, and (over-your-shoulder) monitoring of your EVERY MOVE (and profit). That will be done so that all financial businesses will be REQUIRED to be "up front" - forced to eliminate ALL deceptive, in-fine-print, gobblty-gook (even the scams that you concoct, in your dreams).

Companies who don't comply will pay HUGE fines ...or be "nationalized" !

We PROMISE.

Don't lose your head (take the 5th)!

Ever notice? How certain people (you know the ones)... "go silent" because they're well-aware of their GUILT! Moreover, those same individuals (usually) don't give a rat's ass about anything (nor anyone), but themselves.

Me thinks that France had it RIGHT all those years ago. Let's roll-out a "guillotine" for use at public executions...

" Vive le pays de Napoléon Bonaparte !!! "