2008 Presidential Campaign
Advise from a retired husband
According to Frank Caine:
ADVICE FROM A RETIRED HUSBAND:
It is important for men to remember that, as women grow older, it becomes harder for them to maintain the same quality of housekeeping as when they were younger. When you notice this, try not to yell at them. Some are oversensitive, and there’s nothing worse than an oversensitive woman.
My name is Jim. Let me relate how I handled the situation with my wife, Terri. When I retired a few years ago, it became necessary for Terri to get a full-time job along with her part-time job, both for extra income and for the health benefits that we needed. Shortly after she started working, I noticed she was beginning to show her age. I usually get home from the golf club about the same time she gets home from work.
Although she knows how hungry I am, she almost always says she has to rest for half an hour or so before she starts dinner.. I don’t yell at her. Instead, I tell her to take her time and just wake me when she gets dinner on the table. I generally have lunch in the Men’s Grill at the club so eating out is not reasonable. I’m ready for some home-cooked grub when I hit that door. She used to do the dishes as soon as we finished eating. But now it’s not unusual for them to sit on the table for several hours after dinner.
I do what I can by diplomatically reminding her several times each evening that they won’t clean themselves. I know she really appreciates this, as it does seem to motivate her to get them done before she goes to bed.
Another symptom of aging is complaining, I think. For example she will say that it is difficult for her to find time to pay the monthly bills during her lunch hour. But, boys, we take ‘em for better or worse, so I just smile and offer encouragement. I tell her to stretch it out over two or even three days. That way she won’t have to rush so much. I also remind her that missing lunch completely now and then wouldn’t hurt her any (if you know what I mean). I like to think tact is one of my strong points.
When doing simple jobs, she seems to think she needs more rest periods. She had to take a break when she was only half-finished mowing the yard. I try not to make a scene. I’m a fair man. I tell her to fix herself a nice, big, cold glass of freshly squeezed lemonade and just sit for a while.. And, as long as she is making one for herself, she may as well make one for me too.
I know that I probably look like a saint in the way I support Terri. I’m not saying that showing this much consideration is easy. Many men will find it difficult. Some will find it impossible! Nobody knows better than I do how frustrating women get as they get older. However, guys, even if you just use a little more tact and less criticism of your aging wife because of this article, I will consider that writing it was well worthwhile After all, we are put on this earth to help each other.
Signed,
Jim
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Jim died suddenly on February 7 of a perforated rectum. The police report says he was found with a Calloway extra-long 50-inch Big Bertha Driver II golf club jammed up his rear end, with barely 5 inches of grip showing, and a sledge hammer laying nearby. His wife Terri was arrested and charged with murder. The all-woman jury took only 10 minutes to find her Not Guilty, accepting her defense that Jim, somehow without looking, accidentally sat down on his golf club.
Religion – In or Out?
We have “In God We Trust” on our money. Most of the country follows Judeo/Christian traditions for our western legal codes and morality.
Most of us do not think that Islamic political figures and countries should be given preference over any other religious persuasions. Perhaps Christian political figures and countries should be granted some preferential treatment as they are our roots. More importantly, most of the President’s support comes from citizens who agree with the section of the constitution which makes a very definite separation between Church and State.
How does that work when their choice for President sends out a message to the Islamic nations of the world as almost his first act as President. He ignores one of our prime allies – Israel. He is disrespectful of British leaders and their Queen. Then he apologizes for our behaviour as a nation – as being overly aggressive, imperalistic, and disrespectful – all this during two wars waged within Islamic nations – one of which he is winding down and one of which he is escalating. Why was Bush’s war so vile? Why is Obama’s war so righteous?
It’s as easy as A, B, C
Our republic was designed with checks and balances. The purpose of this design was to make change take time. Time allowed for a healthy debate with all sides having a voice. Also no precipitous changes could be made in the very fabric of our land except in the case of a dire emergency.
It was certainly not the intention of this design to attack all facets of our republic – finance, environment, major industries (brokerage, cars, insurance), health care, and so on. I understand that President Obama has his vision of our country. Perhaps he forgot that it is not his country, it belongs to all of us. Perhaps he should try to fix one thing at a time. To my reckoning, he has not fixed anything.
Several catch phrase have emerged…
This administration is like the dog who barks at the passing car, when he catches the car he has no idea what to do with it.
Life is made up of 3 steps
- A – identify the problem
- B – present solutions and solve the problem
- C – enjoy life with the problem solved.
Our President needs to work on B.
I guarantee that our Founding Fathers did not envision a speed reader zipping through thousands of pages of legislation so that a committee vote could be called.
Furthermore, tabling over 500 pages of amendments to a bill with numerous place markers (will be filled in later?????) at 3 AM to try to avoid legal and revealing debate on a bill which will cost our country millions of manufacturing jobs in coming decades.
Hope, change, transparency – more like bs.
The Art of Bowing
First – our President is helping out the janitorial staff by picking up something from the floor in front of the King of Saudi Arabia.
Next time around – the White House suggests that our President is bending over to make a two handed handshake with the King of Saudi Arabia.
When video angles show this is not true, the White House asks – why this is important?
What it looks like to everyone who has seen the video and all of those attending the conference is … President Obama bowed to the King and kissed his ring.
As both the King and our President are Heads of State, neither should be bowing or kissing rings.
This is not the end of the world if our politicians would just fess up and be transparent (careful now that word is only allowed during campaigns and as it applies to President Bush or other Republican and their activities.)
The shame is that our White House does not do its home work. Approximately a year ago, the King suggested that bowing and kissing of rings should be reserved for God not mortals. I am only guessing but I suggest that was a shot at the Pope…
Then does President Obama believe that the King of Saudi Arabia is God? Or is this just another pothole in the road of governing – wasn’t campaigning so much easier?
Gibbs calls out Santelli
Gibbs called out Santelli of CNBC for his tirade re the mortgage fix program of the Obama government. Claims he is irresponsible. I guess he did not hear the comments of Senator Dobbs re the nationalization of banks. No comments of the irresponsibility of Dobbs even though Gibbs clearly stated that bank nationalization was not on the agenda of the Obama government.
The campaigning continues, when does the governing begin?
Big 3 auto Beg For Help.
GM, Ford and Chrysler are currently begging for money from your government. If you do not want to give, underscore give, them any money, then write, call or email your congressman and senator.
On a very simplistic plane, we have 3 remedies to failure in this country. Legal remedies which have been in place and served us well for many years.
As an individual you have the right to file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. This allows you to negotiate better payment terms with your personal debt holders – credit cards, mortgages, car loans whatever. The idea is here is time will heal a temporary problem.
As a corporation you have two options. If you just want to quit, then you can file Chapter 7 and the system will sell all your assets and distribute the sale results among your creditors per their ranking. The second option is Chapter 11. This is more of a restructuring. It again is in the vein of time heals all. The system will allow you time to renegotiate both amounts and terms with your creditors, labor supply, material suppliers, customers and so on. After you operate on a stable level, then you can emerge from this type of bankruptcy. This assumes that you believe that your company just made some mistakes and the overall idea and business model is sound.
Excuse me. For 40 years the government and the marketplace have wanted a fuel efficient personal vehicle. For 40 years we have wanted an alternative to the internal combustion engine so that we could escape our dependency on oil or oil related products. Does no one remember the shortage in the early 70′s. How about the one in the 80′s.
Recently a representative of the UAW was on TV telling the country that the UAW developed the middle class in this country. This was said because it looks like the auto companies are going to bankrupt shortly (within weeks or months – not years). It is assumed that it will be chapter 11. It is also assumed the first thing to go will be the UAW contract and pension claims.
There are two very significant points to be made here.
First – if you ever did business as a supplier to the big 3 you know that they were arrogant to say the least. They demanded impossible delivery schedules, lower prices, higher quality components than were reasonable. The good side was volume. There is an old joke about ‘making up for losses with volume’. More and more companies are deciding that the correct volume is ZERO when dealing with the current management and executives of the big 3.
Second. Simple arithmetic will answer the bail out question. The market cap ( the total value of all of the shares of all 3 of the big 3) is less than $7 billion at today’s market prices. Why would you give someone $25 billion when you could buy all 3 companies for $7 billion? Maybe because you can’t run them efficiently and thereby maintain their market presence and the associated employment. Do you think you could do any worse?
Why doesn’t the government just buy all 3 companies and give them to ACORN to run. They seem to be able to get things done and no one dares to bother them.
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