Don't Tread On Me

Frugality

I take care of the bookkeeping in my own business and in my household. The reason may shock some of you. My wife is extremely tight with money, not ridiculously so, mind you, but let's just say that she has never made an impulse buy in her life. She's the one who taught me to be more careful at spending, but it's just not in my nature as it is in her. Let me illustrate.

When my wife's maternal grandmother fell deathly ill, the family needed to rush to Nashville from Tampa. My wife's dad didn't have any cash on hand, so my wife lent him $500 to take the family up there. You see, this was back when there were no ATMs. My wife was only 13 at the time, and the money was part of her stash of $1,600 earned from babysitting.

She is not, however, a ridiculous miser. When we do need to buy something, it has to really good quality or even the best. "You get what you pay for." The point is; I don't have to worry about her spending any money. I keep track of all the spending because I need to be constantly reminded of the necessity of staying on budget. If you don't monitor carefully where your money is going, you can get into trouble. Which explains a lot about that inane disaster called government (public) education,

Education and Wisdom

This post comes to you courtesy of someone who commented on my blog. I won't say who or why because it is not the purpose of this blog to create bad blood among otherwise decent people. Until they prove themselves to be obvious trolls, I will try to give folks the benefit of the doubt.

This particular commenter was a bit upset because a friend of his posted a comment that caused some other commenters to do some mild fisking. I posted a comment to explain in more detail the event in question. Apparently, this commenter was still offended and thought that I needed to get a clue. The basis of his argument? His friend is a lawyer.

Let me tell you a story.

Several years ago, I was living in Tampa, Florida, running the same business I do today. I start to get in my truck to go to a job. A deputy pulls up and after confirming my identity, arrests me on charges of writing bad checks. I'm completely baffled. Did someone steal my identity?

Fast forward to the arraignment, in the next county. Here is what was revealed in court. The perpetrator and I both have brown hair and brown eyes. We both have the same first and last names. That's where the similarities end. His middle initial different. I'm 5'8" he is 6'1". His SSN was completely different. His driver's licence number was different. I hadn't been in the county in which the bad checks were passed in over three years. The judge apologized to me and instructed the baliff to copy the warrant and give it to me, saying, "Mr. Coffman, you might want to keep that copy with you for a while, in case you need to show it to another deputy. You're free to go."

One of the two ADAs at the next table pipes up. "Your honor, we'd like to move for a trial date." The judge starts chuckling. My lawyer and I start chuckling. The judge leans in, interlocking his fingers, sighs heavily and says, "Counselor, where have you been for the past ten minutes? You haven't got a defendant!"

I could relate a few other stories, but that's just my favorite one. Anyway, you get the point. Some of the stupidest people I've ever met had Ph.D. after their name.

Myths That Some Americans Believe

This is not a comprehensive list, and I look forward to any additions you might give me, either through the comments section or email. This means you will need to check back from time to time to read any additions that the great members of the blogosphere might contribute. These are in order of my personal loathing of their stupidity.

1. The United States of America is a democracy. Anyone who believes this nonsense has never read the founding documents, the Federalist Papers or most of the first 150 years of this country's history. We are a Constitutional Republic. We were created as such to protect the smallest minority in the world: the individual.

2. There is no such thing as a stupid question. Ever watch a press briefing with Donald Rumsfeld? Of course, there are stupid questions. This stupid saying is a hold out from the days you quite correctly chastised older children for hurting the feelings of younger children for asking "simple" questions. But when "journalists" ask the POTUS why he won't admit that there never were WMDs in Iraq, it's time to use a Cluebat (TM).

3. Inanimate, non-sentient objects (a.k.a firearms, drugs) cause crime. So illogical is this belief, that (breathe deeply and try not to gag) lawyers will bring suit against legal, legitimate firearms dealers and manufacturers for the actions of criminals who even stole the guns they used to commit felonies.

4. We need to learn what it is about us that makes other cultures and countries hate us.
No we don't. Those of us with intelligence already know. We are prosperous. Our rules and customs make it so that you can come here from Vietnam, India, Russia, Cuba, China, etc. and become a millionaire in a few or more years if you apply yourself. You can walk around in burka, a turban, a yarmulka, or dreadlocks and its nobody's business but your own. You can say (almost)* anything you want, but nobody has to listen. This freedom has made us prosperous and hence, powerful. We can project our power to protect our interests as we enjoy trade with the world. And this trade has carried with it the aroma of freedom, something that despots and tyrants and religious nuts just can't stand.

5. Rich people don't pay their fair share. Before you remotely try to agree with that garbage, go to the IRS website and look at their own charts which show that the bottom 50% of income earners only pay 4% of income tax, and the top 1% of income earners (the filthy rich) pay almost 30% and all the rest of us pay everything else.

6. Earned Income Tax Credit Let me see . . . ? The words, "Earned Income," "gosh, that would suggest an income that was earned, like, you know, worked for. So, you, like, you know, get tax credit for earning that income, right?" No, buffy, but thanks for playing the game. Because you are so inept and useless, spent your time getting high, knocked up or both, you get a check issued by the government out of the pockets of millions of other Americans who actually went to work and paid taxes.

7. If a bill in Congress has a really great name, it must be good. Welcome to Animal Farm by George Bu - - - er, Orwell. "Can you say, Medicare Reform Bill? I knew that you could. We have already increased discretionary spending beyond any year since WWII. But remember, it's for the childr - - er, seniors. You kids can't vote yet. Too bad, an X-Box subsidy might have been cheaper. Also see, "Earned Income Tax Credit" "Patriot Act" "Farm Bill" "NAFTA" Any gun control bill since 1934, etc. etc. etc.