- OBAMA INCENTIVIZED AFGHAN MILITARY DEFECTORS WITH FLAWED FOREIGN POLICY
- STUMBLING ACROSS THE TRUTH: CARTOONIST EQUATES NAZIS, CONFEDERACY, AND REDSKINS -- BUT MISSED THE REAL POINT
- ARE YOU WILLING TO SPEND DOLLARS CHASING PENNIES AT DEALDASH AND OTHER PENNY AUCTION SITES?
OBAMA INCENTIVIZED AFGHAN MILITARY DEFECTORS WITH FLAWED FOREIGN POLICY Posted: 22 Oct 2013 03:24 PM PDT What can you expect when President Obama announces that the United States military will be leaving the region and abandoning any allies we might have had …
What would you do? Looking down the road and seeing an overwhelming armed and hostile that is going to kill you as retribution for any lives you may have taken while representing the reigning government? You have neither the wealth or means to escape the country with your booty as so many high-ranking officials plan – and there is no upside? Your government in an American-supported corrupt kleptocracy that will protect by doing a deal with their enemies. And, all because President Barack Obama aided and abetted our enemies and disadvantaged our allies by providing actionable intelligence – the withdrawal date and drawdown schedule – to satisfy his domestic political agenda. I wonder if he even thought about what will happen as the American leave the country – possibly being ambushed and plagued by IEDs as they leave? But then again, that’s Obama. Corrupt, incompetent, and disdainful of the military. -- steve  |
Posted: 22 Oct 2013 06:33 PM PDT Editorial cartoonists are a rare breed, able to capture an entire subject and range of emotions in a single panel carton. In this case, cartoonist Tom Stiglich fell just one panel short of brilliant. By equating the Nazi symbol, the Confederate flag with the Washington Redskin’s logo, he produced a provocative piece under the title of “Archaic Symbols of Pride and Heritage.” The original cartoon as published in the Thursday, October 17, 2013 edition of the New York Daily News … This is what USA Today had to say about the process …
What is wrong with this cartoon … On the left side of the panel, you have a symbol loathed by most of mankind and representing pure, unspeakable horror that cost millions of lives. In the middle, you gave a symbol that represents America's struggle for state's rights, but has been wrongly co-opted by those who are pushing a racial agenda. And, on the right side of the panel, you have a corporate logo of a sports team that was adopted in a not so far distant time where different political and social processes were in play. Now, that symbol has been co-opted by the grievance industry to manufacture media attention and profits to pursue their self-serving agendas. Not so coincidently, pushed by progressive socialist democrats and mostly white progressive talking heads, rather than those who have a right to pursue a grievance, the native Americans. The first two symbols represent great losses of American lives and a fundament shift in the American psyche, the third symbol is the symbol of a sports team and the silliness of those self-serving hucksters, charlatans, and race-baiters who would exploit it to pursue their own political agenda. But the elemental truth of the cartoon can be preserved by another juxtaposition … Bottom line … The cartoon says it all – three of the most destructive forces in America’s history, two of which cost American lives and represented a true shift in political thinking. President Obama and his cadre of radical progressive socialist democrats and RINO (Republicans In Name Only) represent the same fundamental shift. The potential loss of millions of lives through Obamacare and the corrupt, incompetent central planning of a dysfunctional government that has no coherent or cohesive foreign or domestic policies other than to destroy America and attempt a re-build on the European socialist model. Both cartoons speak for themselves and carry a message. Tom Stiglich’s message of politically correct silliness and mine – a dire warning of the clear and present danger that Obama and his coalition of radical progressive socialist democrats and RINOs presents to America. -- steve P.S. And now a little example of progressive hypocrisy … Blacks routinely use the n-word, but how can Kanye West justify selling Confederate Flag merchandise at his Yeezus concerts?  |
ARE YOU WILLING TO SPEND DOLLARS CHASING PENNIES AT DEALDASH AND OTHER PENNY AUCTION SITES? Posted: 19 Oct 2013 10:08 PM PDT A neighbor asked me what I thought of a site called DealDash.com where it is possible, at least theoretically, to obtain branded merchandise for ridiculously low prices … And look what I found … Some lucky bidder managed to get a great tablet for under $10.00 and an $800.00 gift card for only $62.12. You can’t beat those deals. But, if you made 200 bids to grab that card, the chances are that you actually paid between $60.00 and $120 for the right to purchase the Amazon gift card (exclusive of other charges and fees that may apply) for $62.12. But the real question is how often can an ordinary person grab these deals? Assuming, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, that DealDash is not a scam, and the laws of the universe are not suspended on this site, what is the likelihood of successful bidding. Because there are no published statistics that would allow me to rationally analyze this proposition based on hard data, I simply looked to the Deal Dash people for the answer. Buried in the DealDash “Terms of Use” is this explanatory caution …
Investigating further … As I understand the process, you purchase bids. Each bid cent can cost you up to 60-cents. So, if you see that the $800 Amazon gift card was purchased for $62.12, that means thee were likely 6212 penny bids; costing the bidders say 30-cents. Doing the math means 6,212 x .30 = $1,863.60. Leaving $1063.60 after purchasing the Amazon gift card at full price – a great profit after paying for site operation and management overhead. So while one lucky individual makes out like a bandit – for at least this one transaction – there are 6,211 losers who should be wiser after the experience. But hope springs eternal in the realm of human nature and some people are prone to gamble, even if the recognize that the odds are stacked against them. You might be better off playing in Vegas than on a deal site. There is also the liklihood that some of the name brand merchandise was purchased at significant discounts, are manufacturer's closeouts of end-of-the model or end-of-the season discounted merchanise; thus increasing the profit margin for the site's owner. What does the Federal Trade Commission have to say?
Apparently, it is as legal as the penny arcade where you toss your money at those dishes. And, with the same effect. Bottom line … When you purchase a deal package to bid … chances are you are already a loser and you should consider that money lost forever! Unless you believe playing on the DealDash site is more fun that visiting the mall – and you might be extraordinarily lucky – the probability (most customers over bid) of getting a deal are relatively small, especially since previous losers and newbies might receive preferential treatment. I wouldn’t do it because it appears to be a waste of my time to spend dollars chasing pennies – or in this case spending pennies to chase the chance at dollars. But what really made me curious, is why isn’t this game play regulated as gambling? At least to me, where people lose their bid if they don’t win the product, it appears to me to be a prima facie scam and a waste of time, money, and effort. -- steve |
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