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When Not to Buy an Airline Ticket

When Not to Buy an Airline Ticket

Politics Today... a random look at the past, babies, Bob Marley and nomadic Israelites

To all Straight ticket voters.... you are fools. Well let me tone that down a little. I say fool when I mean ignorant. I say ignorant because you have ears but choose to not hear and eyes that you prefer to keep closed. I have a mouth and fingers and I am going to use them a little more often. In my opinion, when you vote a straight ticket you are basically saying, "What ever pops out that blue or red door is going to be exactly what I want and need." Try using that same logic when you purchase stocks.

This campaign has really been frustrating. Infact the whole political scene is insane. Can't anyone see that this campaign is like 2 people arguing in the front seat while driving a car whose breaks have just failed?

I have been reading that many Democrats are annoyed that McCain called to suspend the campaign in order to actually do the job that he was elected to do. He had agreed privately with Sen. Obama to work jointly with him on this issue. McCain then made these plans public. Democrats were infuriated and called the move "politically motivated." Of course it was and it just so happens to be what they should be doing. Are the Senators supposed to stay out of the debate or vote without being informed? Are they mad that Sen. McCain was first to publicly announce the plan that he and Sen. Obama had discussed on the phone. Did they feel that this move hurt Obama because it may have given McCain a few leadership points?

We are the kids in the back seat of this domestic vehicle. At a time like this do we take sides in the argument and join the idiocy or do we say, "SHUT UP you fools, look at the road! We lost our breaks and you can resume this argument after you help each other to get this runaway car (economy) to stop. Or their will be no car to stop."

I don't care if you are Chinese American, African American, Euromix-American, or an African-Caucasian (which most African Americans are), it has nothing to do with who can successfully navigate and hit the breaks.

Again I'm sick of this country's ignorance to big problems and their extreme partisan politics. The Democratic party has turned into a pseudo-guilt ridden, patronizing, socialist-like Multi-Level Marketing scheme. Their pandering to minorities with enslaving and social-undermining entitlement programs and their hypocrisy in condemning large corporations is ridiculous.

The African American community is facing a dilemma as well. Do they vote with what they individually feel will be best for the country or do they vote with a spirit of ethnic nepatism stemming from the emotional fire whose coals have constantly been blown by the bellowing extremists and self promoters like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and those public figures and celebrities who are ridden with guilt ex nihilo. Was there slavery? Yes, and it was terrible. Was there racism? Yes, and it was terrible. Is there still racism. Yes, it is terrible, but the difference is it now it runs both ways. The amount of racism inflicted by the historic oppessor is waning while that of the historically oppressed is growing exponentially.

Society and the media (to their credit) have successfully crushed publicly those who have retained the historic mind set. However, the problem is that when you look for balance on this seesaw of equality you often throw so much weight to one side the other gets launched off the seat altogether. In the end everyone ends up on their backside and you return to square one.

We can take a social lesson from the prophet Moses and the Israelites in the Old Testament. Having recently been emancipated from Egyptian enslavement, the God of the Bible could have easily given the land of Egypt to them. According to the account Egypt was basically decimated and would have been easy prey for a nation backed by their one true God.

But what did He have Moses do? He removed them from their situation. Just because they had been emancipated physically didn't mean that they now were free in their mind. By removing them from their captors they were now free to rise or fall based upon their own merits. Moses and the God of the Bible gave them the opportunity to do this immediately with the first set of commandments which basically gave them a shot at small government. They chose instead to retain the entrenched mindset of their ex-captors, even building the sculptures of gods that they had become accustomed to seeing. They were used to their basic needs (food, shelter, protection) being met by their masters and now they were asked to have personal responsibility.

Seeing that they could not govern themselves with a basic set of commandments, God gave them a book of rules that would dictate every facet of their lives. Talk about Big Government!! They made it clear that responsibility was something that scared them and that they wanted to have a master, so they asked and received.

God instituted a Welfare program through a water yielding rock in the desert and some sort of airborne edible snow called Manna. The deal was if they followed instructions that they would get this stuff everyday but the Sabbath. After awhile this became the norm and they felt entitled to it, almost like they deserved it just for living. So they started to push more demands to the leadership. "Hey this free stuff you are giving us just isn't cutting it anymore, we want meat, enough with the bread!" Their request was approved.

Is there any wonder why they wandered around in the desert for 40 years? Or why the entire generation of adults needed to pass away including Moses before they entered the promised Land? They had to wait until they had developed into a group that was truly free in their mind, that understood that government is there as a template, an infrastructure to provide the protections necessary for civilization and personal development. Bob Marley had it half right "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, None but ourselves can free our minds." It's just that you can't have your mind clouded with pot if you really want a freed mind. Our African American leaders need to preach this concept of personal responsibility. If they do, they will do more for their comrades-in-epidermis then anything done previously. The, "HE is keeping you down will change to We (all humans) have the God-given ability to pull ourselves up, adversity what adversity! I'll chop it down and build myself a staircase with adversity, Amen!"

The Republican Party is another story. Somehow other core Republican standards took a back seat to extremely important but very narrow issues like abortion, the definition of marriage, immigration, capital punishment, affirmative action, and terrorism. Both parties love dirty bathwater, where else can you hide a whole lot of pork and earmarks. Democrats and Republicans do all sorts of polling, figure out which issues are their predominant demographic's cutest babies and then they insert the precious little ones amidst the muck. They then hold the tub-ridden infant hostage and will only release the baby if you promise to choke down the bathwater.

There should be strong supporters for these issues in both parties. Where does it say that if you are a democrat you must oppose prayer at school or be a tree-hugger. Where does it say that if you are a Republican you have to deny that any action we take on the environment will have an equal and opposite reaction or consequence to it. Does a Republican have to be Christian? Or does a Christian have to be a Republican? These issues are being taken hostage by extreme elements in both parties. No one today can truly pick a party that completely coincides with the beliefs that they hold deep within their own souls; free from the media, political correctness, and peer pressure.

By targeting the cute infant issues Republicans empowered a sleeping evangelical volcano. Many evangelicals literally believe that God is running the Republican party and that logically the Devil is running the Democrats. They have turned it into a good versus evil fight. Sadly the Democrats played right into it by not having serious internal debate regarding these same issues. As the Republicans targeted, isolated and then held these moral issues hostage, those with an opposing view on these narrow issues increasingly fled their respective parties. Some resided in Independency while other slowly adopted the culture of their new home. Party representatives, instead of standing up for their personal convictions, bowed to the new polls which said that the majority of their remaining supporters were in favor of specific issues.

Investing: live, learn and then live better

We all rely on an occupation to make it in this world. What we spend our hard earned cash on is our decision. However, as with any decision we will reap what we sow. I need to work on sowing because I love to reap.

Now, I will admit that I am no where close to a financial genius, but I do like to hear what the geniuses have to say.

Basically, here are a few quick rules to live by.

1. Spend less than you make.
2. Be generously charitable.
3. Avoid enslavement to Credit Cards and Debt.
4. Enslave your Credit Cards and Debt.
5. Make money work for you.
6. Diversify
7. Give the government what it's due. (Not a penny more, nor a moment to soon)
8. Take advantage of retirement plans, e.g. 401(k)s, Roth IRA's, IRA's, 529's.

Though I'm sure that I will add to this list over time, I hope to write what I have learned and am learning while I try to live by these rules.

Credit Cards can eat you alive. Why? If money burns a hole in your pocket, then a credit card will blow your pocket right off taking a pound of flesh with it to Shylock's delight. Have you checked you rate lately? According to the Credit Card Monitor:

• Average consumer credit card rate (non-reward): 13.01%
• Average reward credit card rate: 14.97%
• Average student credit card rate: 14.84%
• Average business credit card rate (non-reward): 10.83%
• Average business reward credit card rate: 12.16%
  

If you have rates that are at or above these then it is time to call your credit card company. Before you have the pleasure of navigating your creditors automated attendant, make a plan. Ask yourself a few questions. Have you been paying your credit card bill on time? More importantly, have you been paying off the balance in full? If you can't say yes to these 2 questions then you have some work to do.

I would suggest that if you have the funds then pay off the whole card now. If not, work on paying as much as you can afford over the monthly minimum payment. The sooner you gain control of your balance the sooner you gain leverage that you can take to the bank.

When your balance is zero, make your call. Be sure that you talk to a live person ASAP in order to preserve the necessary patience that this process will require. I usually do this by either saying the words; help!, attendant!, agent!, or pressing the # sign and/or the number 0 repeatedly. Next I bypass my cohabitants of this newly flattened world by asking repeatedly for a manger. You may get some resistance, but they will eventually relent. Relent! Recoil! Reverse! The call is now transferred via satellite or undersea cable thousands of miles to someone that you can fully understand and actually has the authority to do something. (Disclaimer: I have actually had great experiences with overseas customer service. 50% of the time)

Tell the manager that you have been making your payments on time and then you have received offers from other institutions. (If you don't receive these offers then you are accessing this blog from either the crib or the grave. In which case I would strongly encourage you to leave a comment) Tell them that you are considering this other offer and though it would be an inconvenience to transfer all of your automatic payments, etc. you are thinking about doing it.

At this point hold tough and wait for them to offer you something you can agree to. Make sure to follow up and ask questions so that you are receiving what you believe they are offering. Make sure there is not a time limit on the offer.

After you have lowered your rate make sure your payments are on time and that you pay off the balance as often as you can. Remember, if you pay off the balance every month you pay no interest. This amazing credit card function will be the focus of my next entry.

Shaping up.

I'm not the worst shape of my life. I am slowly becoming less round and more straight up and down. That said, and to my wife's chagrin, I am far from the Triangle Man I once was.

I once wondered how someone gets fat. I mean is it a conscious decision or does it sneak up on you. For me it was a failure to recognize what was keeping me in shape to begin with.

Let's see, how did I stay in shape all those years? I would have to say that the answer is floating somewhere between the discipline of organized sports, accessibility to exercise facilities, the lack of a full time job or other major responsibility (or in other words "the student life"), and the motivating force of impressing the ladies.

Now, I know that my wife will jump all over me for the last point. Let me just state for the record that, yes, I still do want to impress her and to have her find me attractive, however, to my credit the other elements which were necessary from my shape preservation were a little harder to come by.

I have had the benefit of participating in organized sports since 3rd grade soccer. I can still remember our blue shirts and that Ben Donberg was our star player due to the fact that he kind of knew the rules. We sucked our way through 3000 orange wedges and crushed just as many HI-C juice boxes but sadly we failed to score one goal in the entire season.

As I look back I did get something besides the self-esteem-boosting participation trophy. Each team I have been a part of has made me run until I puked or almost puked. Now, you are thinking to yourself that puking will get you in shape. This is not the case. It is just a side effect which occurs when you have been lazy in the off season.

In my basement (by my basement I actually mean my parent's basement even though it can also apply to our current residence as well) I had a gym. I had everything I needed: a bench, a squat bar, dumbbells, a curl bar, a sweet pull-up bar, a place to jump rope, and a CD player. My brother had all sorts of Death Rock like Metallica and ACDC to get the blood flowing whereas I had one CD, the soundtrack to Chariots of Fire. I still can hum most of the songs and several are in my mental playlist when I sing my son to sleep.

From Junior High to College I was a rat at several gyms, basketball courts, and pools. All of which were within a very convenient distance of my home. I also had the time to go. Looking back at the "student life" which seemed so stressful, I envy the flexibility and spare time that I did have.

Well, I hate to cut this short but I need to be getting to bed. I will have you know that after a long hiatus from the gym I am becoming a morning regular. I hope the next time you see me you'll think more of me while seeing less of me.

My Citizenship in the Pro-Cast Nation and My Desire to Defect

I promised myself that I would post a few times a week. Ha! Well, there is always a fresh start tomorrow. Why do I always make excuses to get out of my goals?

I know that by following through on even the simplest of exercises will bring me a great sense of satisfaction. So why then do I yank the highest priorities from the top of my list and put them somewhere under "surf the internet", "check my stocks", or "scope out the office dining area to see if any gourmet desserts survived the board meeting."

I'd really like to finish this post but I think I should go to the gym.

Up and Running!!

The Pro-Cast Nation is up and running while I, the writer, am sitting down.

My posts will be a running commentary on a wide variety of topics and my off the cuff opinions which I reserve the right to change as I become more aware of those all important facts.

If you have any issue on which you would like me to opine, please let me know.