Last Surviving WW1 Veteran
I found this interview fascinating. Frank Woodruff Buckles discusses The First World War and relates to current events. Though disheartening, it was comforting to hear him say that he couldn’t understand things today either. If he couldn’t do it in 107 years on this earth, it’s no wonder that I can’t either.
Buckles from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.
Arrow Trucking Strands Drivers for Christmas – Hard Smack of Reality
Arrow Trucking “suspended operations” and left about 900 drivers stranded on Christmas Eve. They shut off their fuel cards, which in effect stops a driver’s ability to move past what fuel he has in his truck. Trucks get about 6 mpg, so you’re looking at a cost of about .44/mile to move the truck. Roughly $200 for every 500 miles away from home that driver may be. Should he abandon the truck, it’s a sure thing he will not see his last paycheck and he will not get another driving job in the industry.
Arrow has been around for many years. They have drivers with over 40 years with their company. As the economy has declined, the drivers kept going with the “we’ll recover” mentality. They kept working even though the paychecks were not even worth showing up to work for. Their bank accounts dwindled to nothing. Now here the driver sits with no job and no way home on Christmas Eve. Being a trucker for many years myself, I find this a gut-wrenching thought.
Not only is a Christmas Eve firing bad, but they will not get unemployment benefits for some time. By “suspending operations” Arrow has placed the driver in a position where unemployment benefits will not pay. The company has not filed bankruptcy and the driver is not considered laid off. When they do get benefits, they’ll be calculated off of many months of very low pay. Do you see the situation these hard-working people have been placed?
I have fell victim to the economy and I’ve witnessed others falling one by one. It is sad when it happens to anyone. What I find interesting is that some groups get huge attention, severance packages, favored re-training, and all sorts of benefits while others get next to nothing. Those working the hardest get the least. There’s not much rhyme or reason to it all. It’s just how it is.
We all need to look out for our friends, neighbors, and co-workers in these hard times. Truckers have banded together through OIDDA to get these drivers home. Even though truckers have the worst reputations, they understand hard times and know what to do. I have to question the rest of the country as we all take our hits. We haven’t seen times like these in my lifetime. It is quite clear that the entire country is going to be in a rut for a while and I worry about how people are going to handle the sacrificies that will be demanded of them.
Say a prayer for these folks as you get ready to enjoy your Christmas dinner. Be thankful for what we have and take stock in the things that really matter. Let’s hope for some good solutions and some gained wisdom from these times as we get through them.
Detroit – Why Can’t Others See the Example They’ve Set?
Detroit has always been a shining example of what bad government and union policies are capable of. In my younger years I spent alot of time in this fair city and I would ponder how in the hell it became what it was. I followed it over the years and I easily noticed that there was no influence from the right anywhere. Policies that were in line with the rest of the country just did not exist.
So if it’s all the Liberal’s fault, why aren’t other Liberal cities in shambles as well. That’s the problem, they will be soon. Detroit didn’t happen overnight. It took years of nudging it to the left to make this happen. Blaming this on the auto industry’s decline only points back to the UAW. You can’t find a trace of right wing agenda’s in the decline anywhere. And today, Detroit is still begging for yet more government intervention. Like a drug addict slipping away, they are still begging for more.
There are no examples that I can thing of where the right has hurt an area. West Virginia’s mountains? Try again, the left is all over that place. Senator Byrd’s signature is on everything in the state. I think I’ve seen toilets named “The Senator Byrd Crapper” if I’m not mistaken. Can someone show one totally Republican major area devasted by right wing policies?
I’m not stating that Republicans don’t do harm, but destroying an entire major city along with it’s industry’s, only the left can stake that claim with Detroit.
Top 10 Things I Wish I Never Bought
Remember Andy Rooney? What an annoying SOB he was. Mr. Rooney was a cranky old man full of observations that were many times on the edge of lunacy. I remember watching him say the most ridiculous things when I was younger. You would get ready to hear some wisdom from an old man and then, out of nowhere, he would come up with utter nonsense. The last time I watched him, he was pulling trinkets out of his desk drawer and droning on about them. They probably pulled the old man off the set after that.
I decided to do a long overdue clean-out of my desk tonight and I had an Andy Rooney moment myself. I was pulling out old warranty papers and I was remembering the stuff I had bought over the years. If that’s not an Andy Rooney moment, I don’t know what is. I thought of turning on the camera and trying my own Andy Rooney styled video piece. Probably not a good idea. Instead, I’ve decided to write article I wish I could send back in time about 20 years. If I could I’d be setting on a pile of money right now.
I would guess that all the people who could benefit from this the most don’t care. I know I didn’t care at 20 years old about how to spend money wisely. At 20, you already know everything. It might still be good for us old folks to compare notes.
The Top Ten Things I Wish I’d Never Bought Are -
- Ford cars and trucks. Feel free to replace Ford with any brand you personally don’t like.
- Cars from used car lots.
- High End Electronics
- Software
- Printers
- A House
- Anything I don’t have room for.
- Anything new where used would have sufficed.
- Anything Chinese
- Low End Tools
And here’s why -
- Fords, or any other brand you don’t really care for will not hold your attention for maintenance. Since vehicles tend to keep costing money, you’ll get a sick feeling every time you put money into a vehicle you really don’t like. My biggest regrettable vehicle was a 1997 Ford Ranger Flareside. It had a bed made of fiberglass! Most useless truck every made, and the Firestone tires would blow up for no reason at all.
- I never had a used car from a lot that was a good car. If a car made it’s way to a used lot, it’s there because somebody didn’t want a buyer coming after them for selling the lemon.
- High end electronics that serve no immediate income producing purpose are something you simply don’t need. They’ll be as outdated as whatever you are using now in a few months and they rarely live up to their hype.Go for what you can afford and be happy. Cell phones seem to be replacing computers in this tech race.
- Nearly every software title I’ve ever paid for could have been done on a hacked version or an Open Source replacement. The only exception would be mapping software. Anything Microsoft has been a waste of money.
- Printers suck. I haven’t found a way around this yet. You rarely need one, but when you do, there is usually something wrong with it.
- Houses – I suppose you have to live somewhere, but houses are just to much damned money. Don’t buy one of these things unless you’re really sure about it. Don’t expect anyone else to be on your side in the buying process either.
- Big stuff that doesn’t do much will always be in the way. Don’t buy it, rent it.
- Used stuff is great. You can usually talk the price down and when something happens to it, you’re not out much money.
- I’ve never had anything Chinese that worked out well. The clothes never fit right, the tools break, the motorcycles are dangerously bad, and the list could go on and on.
- Low end tools are only good for loaners to friends. There’s nothing good about them, but you get the obligatory “loaning” thing out of the way. Tools rarely make it back to the house anyhow, so why not give them something cheap and useless that they can identify with as it lays unreturned at their house?
Lady With Gun Defends Against Attacker
Another older woman defends herself with a gun! This is the second attack like this I’ve heard recently.
I feel sorry for her having to deal with the bum, but when I think of the pain, misery, and medical bills she saved herself and the fact she removed any chances of him doing attacking others, I hope it helps ease her mind.
So who’s up for taking HER right to defend herself day? It’s a disgusting thought to think that some feel she should have been left defenseless waiting on the police to arrive.
According to reports, the attacker was in and out of jail his entire life on numerous drug and alcohol charges.
