Sound Off!: November 2008

Monday, November 24, 2008

JFK Given Too Much Credit

Subject: The Day Hope Died

In regard to your comments about John F. Kennedy, I think you give him too much credit. When I heard his inaugural speech about "going anywhere and paying any price," I was a college freshman, and I commented to a friend, "With this guy, we will be definitely be drafted to go somewhere we don't want to go and pay a price." JFK was much too hyperactive and had far too much misdirected energy. From various reports, he could not stand to be alone in a room and could not make it through watching a movie in the White House theater. In his personal life, he was a fraud, pretending to be a devoted, loving husband, which, as we now know, was a total fabrication. He also hid the facts about his health and the fact that he was on heavy doses of steroids, which, as we also know, can markedly affect behavior.

His mishandling of the Bay of Pigs invasion led directly to the Cuban Missile Crisis and brought us to the verge of nuclear war. He was credited with undeserved competence in handling that crisis, which was defused only when he made some undisclosed promises to the Soviets (not to try another invasion of Cuba and to withdraw US missiles from Turkey). After getting the USA into that crisis by his incompetence, he did show SOME savvy in getting us out of it, but then I think he felt that he had to "prove" himself again by getting the nation involved in Vietnam.

One of the more irritating statements made by his associates after his death was that he intended to extricate the USA from Vietnam "after the 1964 election." That means that he realize the mistake he had made in committing the USA to support South Vietnam but was willing to have more US military personnel and many more Vietnamese killed and maimed for at least another year, until he was reelected. I consider this to be an immoral position.

In my own case, I received my draft notice after finishing graduate school. Unlike many who dodged the draft (Clinton, G.W. Bush, Cheney, etc.), I volunteered to serve as a medic and, on the basis of my education and experience, was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Army Medical Service Corps, serving for 3 years in military hospitals. I blame LBJ for expanding the war by a huge amount and Nixon for continuing it after it was obvious that "victory" was impossible, but JFK initiated the fiasco and kept it going after he knew it was a mistake. I really don't think JFK should serve as a role model, not when you look at the whole body of his work.

I voted for Obama and have hopes for him, but I also hope he is not as hyperactive in foreign policy as JFK and can maintain some decency in his personal life.

Keep up your good work. --Chuck L .

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Financial Tips Anyone Can Use

I created this list to help inform women who were pregnant with an unplanned pregnancy of some of their options.

Thank you
Shasta M.

Financial Tips Anyone Can Use

Homemade baby food recipes: click here

Baby Shower Ideas: Grocery shower, diaper shower

Second hand, hand me down, and borrowed baby/maternity clothes

Freecycle: http://www.freecycle.org/display2.php

Save Energy: www.energysavers.gov

Save Up: Buy one small item for baby with each paycheck (each week, two weeks, month, etc.) or figure out the cost of large items over several paychecks and save that amount from each check to buy them.

Pay with cash to avoid paying interest.

Pay with dollar bills and put the change in a baby piggy bank use this money to only buy baby things, learn to do manicures and pedicures for yourself.

Cut out any thing that isn't necessary such as make-up, coffee, tea, tobacco products or buy less expensive off brand items buy yourself a small treat each week so you don't miss it as much.

Pay extra money to high interest credit cards first then when they are paid off pay what you were paying on them on the next highest interest rate.

Pay yourself first! Save 10% from every paycheck even if you can't pay all the bills, call and make payment arrangements telling them you can pay a portion of what you owe each month (they will likely be willing to work with you), I know this seems wacky but it is your emergency money so that if you have any kind of emergency you don't have to have additional credit.

Visit a reputable Consumer Credit Counseling Service (their fee is on a sliding scale) they will help you make those payments on time, in the correct order and they can sometimes have late fees and interest rates reduced to help you.

Freeze your credit card in a bowl of water if it is important enough to thaw it out, then it's important enough to pay for it with credit card.

Wait an extra day (week or month) to make purchases, when you see something you think you want or need wait one day if you still need it then buy it.

Make less trips to town, make a list of what you need and take it to the grocery store, make just one trip to do shopping each week.

Walk where or when you can weather permitting.

Price compare: Know which store carries most of your basic needs for the cheapest price do your shopping there. If you have a Palm Pilot a program called Handy Shopper can help http://www.freewarepalm.com/database/handyshopper-english.shtml.

Buy in bulk when your basics are on sale i.e. buy a case of chili when it is 2 for $1.00, macaroni and cheese when it is 4 for $1.00.

Learn to cook and eat at home, shop your own pantry first remember to use all that food you bought on sale. Eat left-overs for lunch. Try out the free recipes at 30 day Gourmet (http://www.30daygourmet.com/Recipes/Free_Recipes.aspx ) for lots of good freezer meals you prepare ahead and freeze for when you need them.

Monday, November 03, 2008

Subject: America's Shadow Government

Mr. Whitehead should quit using the term "democracy." We are not a democracy but a republic. It might sound picky, but the two political systems are very different. As a Constitutionalist. I hope that Mr. Whitehead is aware that democracy is not even mentioned in the Constitution.

As far as the article about the "shadow" government is concerned, much can be said. But the great fear that is really in our midst is the army of bureaucrats that stay and stay and stay. Regardless of who is elected, government workers are the ones we should be most fearful of. They can make or break any administration or simply neutralize it. The answer? Decrease government substantially. Put time limits on how long an employee can work for the federal government. That is the place to start and it won't happen with liberals in office.

Glen H.