Potpourri

Isn't It Ironic?
 
The food stamp program, part of the Department of Agriculture, is pleased to announce that it is distributing the greatest amount of food stamps ever. 

Meanwhile, the Park Service, also part of the Department of Agriculture, posts signs in all our national parks requesting us "Please do not feed the animals because the animals may grow dependent and not learn to take care of themselves. " 

Isn’t there an equal danger that the humans on food stamps might also grow dependent and not learn to take care of themselves?

Let’s see if I have this right…

·        J. P. Morgan lost $2-billion for its clients, but it reported an overall profit.  And this requires a taxpayer-paid Congressional investigation?

·        Bain Capital closed the doors of some of its takeover companies while laying off several thousand employees, but it also salvaged far more of its takeover targets and saved or created thousands more jobs. And this requires a taxpayer-paid Congressional investigation?

·        Facebook (FB) went public with an IPO based at $38/share, but in the first few days of trading the price dropped by about 18-percent. And this requires a taxpayer-paid Congressional investigation?

·        Our federal government has lost up to $1.5-trillion of taxpayer-financed stimulus money. And this doesn’t require a taxpayer-paid Congressional investigation?

Well, at least they’re saving some of our taxpayer dollars.  Yeah, that’s about right.

 

I keep hearing talk show finance gurus talk about how to get “the cheapest cell hone service”.  Well, I stumbled upon one that I believe is cheaper than theirs.

When I went on my Portland trip in the fall of 2010 I needed a cell phone that I could use just for that trip and then dispose of it.  Consequently, I bought a little cell phone from my friendly Kroger store. It had no contract, cost only $30 and came with 100 free minutes.  The provider was I-Wireless, a company that doesn’t have its own towers, but uses whatever tower is available.  Therefore, the coverage is pretty much nationwide.

After I completed the trip I still had lots of minutes left, so I held on to the phone.  And then the next time we went shopping at Kroger I received a text message that my recent purchase had gained me 20 free minutes.  That gave me the idea that I might as well keep the phone.

Future trips to the Kroger earned me more and more minutes until I now have over 160 of them, and they never expire. When I buy a phone card (at Kroger) to pay the monthly $5 service fee I get additional points as well.

The long and short of it is that I have a cell phone with non-expiring minutes for the ridiculous price of $5 per month.  And so far I’ve never had to pay for a single minute of usage even though the rate is supposed to be $.10/minute.

If you can find a less expensive cell phone service than that let me know.

I’ve been wondering lately why we make such a fuss over pregnant women drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes.  I read a novel recently where the heroine was preggers, and she kept facing a moral dilemma where she wanted a drink or a smoke, but she was conflicted and never did either. It really irritated me!

Women gained status in the Twentieth Century that they had never enjoyed before, and many of them celebrated their newfound freedom by taking up habits of smoking and drinking along with the men. (Not that they hadn’t ever done it before, but unless they wanted a bad reputation they usually did those things in private)

I have no medical training and certainly don’t consider myself qualified to make medical prognoses. However, I do know that for most of our history pregnant women have done things that, in excess, could harm the fetus.  In moderation those same actions are likely totally harmless to the fetus.

How many of us, born during the middle of the last century, are perfectly normal even though our mothers may have had the occasional glass of wine or beer or even, God forbid, a mixed drink?  How many had mothers who smoked? Were you born with a predilection for drinking or smoking because of it?

You would think that with all of the feminist organizations in just this country alone, we would not have such a huge stigmatism on drinking and smoking during pregnancy.

I have an endorsement for a product I used last week. 

I’ve had a sore on my right earlobe for over two years. It just wouldn’t heal, and it kept scabbing or bleeding.  It itched and caused me to worry it frequently, which I know was counterproductive to healing. I tried all kinds of salves and lotions, bandages, and plain old air-drying.  Nothing worked!

When we get a sore like that we tend to think “skin cancer” or some other deadly malady, but I was reluctant to seek treatment from my doctor, even though he knew about it and would ask about it on my office visits.

Last week my wife bought a small tube of Eucerin skin cream and started swabbing it on the sore 2-3 times a day. We started with a small bandage to cover it, but graduated to just coating it and leaving the covering off.

In less than five days the scab was gone and by the end of the week you couldn’t tell there had ever been any problem.  The skin was a little red, but even that is fading now.

If you ever have the same problem, be sure to try Eucerin. It is amazing stuff!