Awesomeness in the Turks & Caicos!

There are so many awesome things about traveling that I wish everyone in this world could have a chance to experience!   A big part of that traveling experience can be about the people that you get to meet.   Our latest venture to Turks & Caicos (Blue Haven Resort), confirmed what I believe to be true…so many of us in this world have a great deal in common or we have amazing stories to share with the world…or BOTH!   So here are some of the folks that we met.

The Romanians:
There was the young couple from Romania (didn’t get their names) who escaped communist Romania and fled to Germany (well after the wall came down).   They told us of the hardships that they endured and how they were treated and housed in many different German locations…but they were free!   Eventually they were sponsored by their Uncle and were allowed to immigrate to the United States!   Their story was amazing!   They were traveling (on vacation) with their 6 month old son!   In Turks & Caicos with a 6 month old!   The kid was awesome.   Not a peep out of him in all the fancy restaurants!

The Honeymooners!
Then there were the Houston newlyweds, Billy & Holly…married for 5 days!   Their original plans were to honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas (Mexico) but hurricane Odile screwed that up!   So at the last minute…they signed up for Turks & Caicos.   They were awesome too!   Just good, wonderful young people.   We first met them on the resort’s beach and it was instant good vibes.   And…he’s a fan of Crown Royal…which just so happens to be our kid’s new favorite beverage of choice!   The honeymooners don’t know it…but they haven’t seen the last of us.   Just good kids and we wish all the best for them!

The Ladies from Vancouver!
And finally...our new found buddies from Vancouver!   We booked a half day “snorkeling/conch” cruise with “Caicos Dream Tours”.   That’s where we met these two outgoing and fun-loving ladies (Rosemary & Christa)!   “Ms. Rosey” invited us to her home and insisted that we take an Alaskan cruise…originating from Vancouver (her home town). She even said she would pick us up from the airport in Vancover!   And…she invited us to stay with her in her two bedroom condo!   (She may not know this…but we’re going to take her up on this invite)!!!

To us, this is just one of the greatest things about travel.   It’s so much about the people you get to meet from all walks of life and from all over the world and then you quickly realize that we all have so much in common!   Just good people!   Oh…and the beach was awesome too!

Traveling is an awesome experience!   It has ALWAYS been an awesome experience for us!   It’s time to figure out where we’re going next and the wonderful people we may get a chance to meet!   My best friend is trying to talk us into joining him and the Mrs. on a QM2 trans-Atlantic crossing from South Hampton, England to New York!   We may just take him up on it!!!

Ferguson...Shoot to Kill!

"Officer Wilson fired 12 rounds, including two from the car and 10 more down the street, where Mr. Brown sustained at least six more wounds, including at his forehead and the top of his head, which suggested that his body was bent forward at the waist.

Mr. Brown’s body was about 153 feet east of Officer Wilson’s car. Mr. Brown’s blood was about 25 feet east of his body. This evidence supports statements that Mr. Brown continued to move closer to the officer after being hit by an initial string of bullets."

Source: New York Times

C'mon...you had to fire twelve shots and shoot this kid 6 times over some f*ckin' Cigarillos...AND he was 153 feet away from you!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Why/How(?) the Democrats Lost the Midterms!

Needless to say, I'm deeply saddened by the results...but I'm not surprised.   I've long held the belief that the American electorate is stupid uniformed.   It's a sad fact that just over 36% of the electorate turned out to vote and I believe the majority of those that did were older Rethuglicans.   Add to that that the majority of eligible voters don't even know which party controls the Senate or the House!   Just unbelievable.   And...to add icing to the cake...of the 14 countries surveyed by over 11,000 respondents, only the people of Italy proved to be more ignorant than Americans!!!   Need more info...just check below!

The turnout statistic Republicans hate most!
General election voter turnout for the 2014 midterms was the lowest it’s been in any election cycle since World War II, according to early projections by the United States Election Project.

"Just 36.4 percent of the voting-eligible population cast ballots as of last Tuesday, continuing a steady decline in midterm voter participation that has spanned several decades. The results are dismal, but not surprising – participation has been dropping since the 1964 election, when voter turnout was at nearly 49 percent.

The last time voter turnout was so low during a midterm cycle was in 1942, when only 33.9 percent of eligible voters cast ballots."

More details at The Washington Post.

More than half of Americans don't know which party controls the House and the Senate!
A study of 1416 American adults conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center found the following:

• Asked which party has the most members in the House of Representatives, 38 percent said they knew the Republicans are the majority, but 17 percent responded the Democrats, and 44 percent reported that they did not know (up from 27 percent who said they did not know in 2011).
• Asked which party controls the Senate, 38 percent correctly said the Democrats, 20 percent said the Republicans, and 42 percent said they did not know (also up from 27 percent who said they did not know in 2011).
• Little more than a third of respondents (36 percent) could name all three branches of the U.S. government, just as many (35 percent) could not name a single one.

I'm just dumfounded but too many Americans are just f*cking dumb when it comes to the BASICS of their government!

Who's more ignorant than Americans?
Ipsos MORI’s new global survey highlights how wrong the public across 14 countries are about the basic make-up of their populations and the scale of key social issues.

Looking across the full set of questions and how each country responded, we can identify a clear pattern in how close to reality the public in each country are. The image below shows that the country with the best understanding of these population characteristics and social issues is Sweden – and the country with the least accurate view is Italy.

Happy Veterans Day!

ZERO!!!   What a sad fact!   via... 8fact.

Can't wait 'til January 21st 2016!

I never thought I'd think this way...but I'm looking forward to the end of Barack Obama's presidency.   Why?   Because I'm so sick and tired of him being beaten up and blamed for everything that doesn't sit well with the right wing ignorant Americans.   I'm sick of it!

I'm sick of all the talk about taking back America!   Taking it back from who?   Taking it back to where?   Then there's all the criticism about the President's policies!   But they never mention the exact policies that they are criticizing!   It's all the generalities exaxcerbated by FOX news!

President Obama stepped into a bag of sh*t left at the front door of the White House upon Dubya's departure!   Here is what this man has accomplished (in spite of Mitch McConnell declaring that his primary mission was to make President Obama a one term President)!:

• Avoided a full depression!
• Kept alive the American auto industry!
• Oversaw the creation of more jobs in 2010 alone than Dubya did in eight years (with Mitch McConnell's wife as Secretary of Labor)!
• Has the current unemployment rate below 6%!
• Has the Dow Jones above 17,000!   It has increased 121% since President Obama took office!   (I know a whole lotta folks are still hurtin' but there are a whole lotta folks with 401k's smilin'!)
• Got Osama Bin Laden!
• Has provided for the lowest increase in health care cost in the last 50 years because of the Affordable Care Act!
• Has reduced the federal budget deficit from 9.8% of GDP in Fiscal Year 2009 under Bush, to 2.9% of GDP in FY 2014.   We're talking over ONE TRILLION dollars!
• Led the country to 64 consecutive months of economic expansion, eclipsing Saint Reagan’s record, by far.
• Has dragged us out of Dubya's wars that cost the taxpayers trillions of dollars!

And that's just the tip of the iceberg!   If you need more just GOGGLE "Obama Accomplishments"!

But then again here are those "policies" (facts?) that the right wing wackos just can't get over:

• President Obama got rid of DADT (Don't Ask, Don't Tell)   Gays in the military!   OUCH!
• President Obama supports same sex marriage!
• President Obama was born in Kenya!
• President Obama can't verify his birth certificate! (Just ask Donald Trump!)
• ...and last, but not least...President Obama is a NIGGER!!!

This country does not deserve him and I'm counting down to 2016.   After that...this place can go to hell in a hand basket!   I really don't give a sh*t anymore!

Vote!!!

The thought that the Republicans might take the Senate tonight and Mitch McConnell becoming the U.S. Senate Majority Leader makes me want to throw up!   If this happens...it confirms my belief that far too many Americans are "ignant"...and they shouldn't be allowed to vote!

I'm going to be drinking a whole "lotta" rum to get me thru the night!

Christians Can Raise the Dead!

Just can't make this sh*t up!

This Call is Being Recorded. Press 2 for Spanish.

I've had worse scenarios...especially with all the "off-shore" call centers!

Congress versus the Rest of Us!

Most Lawmakers are Worth $1 Million-Plus!

"Of 534 current members of Congress, at least 268 had an average net worth of $1 million or more in 2012, according to disclosures filed last year by all members of Congress and candidates. The median net worth for the 530 current lawmakers who were in Congress as of the May filing deadline was $1,008,767 — an increase from the previous year when it was $966,000."

"Members of Congress have long been far wealthier than the typical American, but the fact that now a majority of members — albeit just a hair over 50 percent — are millionaires represents a watershed moment at a time when lawmakers are debating issues like unemployment benefits, food stamps and the minimum wage, which affect people with far fewer resources, as well as considering an overhaul of the tax code."

SOURCE: Open Secrets

More from Teabagistan!

I forgot! President Blackenstein is from Kenya!

Rock the Vote!

There's a whole lot at stake on November 4th!!!

This is Sad!

We had our grandson with us the other night.   We had on the local TV news network!   The coverage?   Murder!   Killings!   Hong Kong riots!   ISIS/ISL!   Syrian refugees fleeing to Turkey!

He looked at us and said..."I don't like this".   We asked why?   He said...because this is sad!   He is 5 years old!!!

Where Angels Play!

Lesson #2 - The "Coalition" The U.S. & Arab Coalition Against ISIS/ISL!

OK...so yeah...we got The Brits and France and a few others (even Belgium & Denmark...no less) to go after the ISIS/ISL be-heading crazies.   But guess who's also joining this coalition?   Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and a few other Middle East Potentates!   It just so happens that these folks are also reportedly the biggest funders of ISIS/ISL but they are supposedly our allies against ISIS/ISL!

Saudi Arabia:
A Sunni nation that ascribes to Sharia Law and is the only country in the world that prohibits women from driving.   According to the Human Rights Watch Organization, Saudi Arabia has beheaded at least 19 people since the beginning of August!   Yes!   BEHEADED!

Qatar:
Beheading remains legal here.   Most Qatari citizens are Sunni Muslims.   There are claims that some of the very richest Qatari folks are funding ISIS!

Kuwait:
“Everybody knows the money is going through Kuwait and that it’s coming from the Arab Gulf,” said Andrew Tabler, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “Kuwait’s banking system and its money changers have long been a huge problem because they are a major conduit for money to extremist groups in Syria and now Iraq.”

The majority of Kuwait's citizen population is Muslim.   It is estimated that 60%–70% are Sunni and 30%–40% are Shias.

Epilog:
People...if it's one thing I believe...I'm certain that we cannot bring social, cultural (much less religious) change/re-thinking to this part of the world!   Just ask Maureen Dowd!

Lesson #1 - The Kurds! Turkey, Syria, Iraq & ISIS/ISL!

The Mideast 101:

I read a front page article in The New York Times today and my head is still spinning.   Let me try to make sense of… nevermind…let me to try and understand…because none of this makes any sense to me…but I’m just an ignorant American.   Let me try to sort this out…if for nothing else, just for my benefit!   Obviously this is going to require more in-depth research on my part (soon to follow)!

ISIS/ISL:
ISIS is the shorthand for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.   Or, if you prefer, you can use the term ISL, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.   Levant?   WTF?   Check The Washington Post for additional details on who's who.   These are the religious wackos who be-head folks!   I think other mideast nations are also into be-heading people, but that's a whole 'nother subject!   Anyway…these folks are supposedly extreme Sunni militants?   I think they’re Sunni militants?   No?   Wasn't Saddam Hussein (aka...WMD) a Sunni"   I need to dig into all of this.   ISIS/ISL has been battling Kurdish militants trying to defend a town named Kobani, a besieged area in Syria (on the Turkey/Syria border)?

The Kurds:
These folks live in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and a few other places in the Middle East.   Turkey is trying to prevent its Kurdish residents from entering into bordering Syria to help their Kurdish brethren fight ISIS/ISL.   Why?   Because the Kurdish folks in Turkey are considered “separatists” fighting against the Turkish regime?   In the mean time, Syrian Kurds are fleeing (by the thousands) into Turkey to escape the wacko ISIS/ISL folks!

Confused?   I am!

Here’s to add to the confusion!   Turkey is worried that the American efforts against ISIS/ISL will strengthen the position of the Syrian Kurds.   By the way, the Syrian Kurds maintain close ties to the Kurdish separatists in Turkey.   Oh…and by the way…the good ole US of A is allied with the Kurds in Iraq!

Still confused?   Did I mention Assad!   Go figure!   I’m determined to sort through this insanity!   I think religion may have something to do with this!   No?

No Truth in "1400 Pennsylvania Avenue"!

...and 47% of the voting Americans thought she was worthy enough to be the Vice President of the United States!

High on Religion...the "Opium of the Masses"! Low on Education/Intelligence & Much More!

Let's Force ALL Immigrants to Convert to Christianity!
The above minute and a half video is too sick to even think about!

Below is an Introduction to EVEN more Religous WACHO Insane SH*T!

Let's behead somebody!!!
And then let's behead other folks who are innocent of all this Wacko Religious Sh*t!   And then lets do another innocent one!   And then another one!

Here is a link to the incredibly sick action/video depicting the result of James Foley's beheading (as captured in the above still photo).   Please be VERY aware that VIEWER DISCRETION IS STRONGLY ADVISED! You must be at least 18 years or older to EVEN view the video...so that alone tells you something!    My decision to view this was to take a peek..."curiousity killed the cat"...but it is disgusting, repulsive and stomach churning!   How could any sane/educated (even a devoutly religious) person do this to another human being!   I just don't get it and I'm certain...I never will!   If you're offended by this link/video...please let me know and I'll take it down.

But then again...how could any sane/educated person (people) fly a jet-liner into a building!!!   Oh...my bad...I forgot about the 27 virgins!   Terrorism is a bitch...and IMHO...so is religion!   'Nuff said!   Pass the collection plate please!   Reverend Jones needs a new Cadillac!

Hold Your Tongue!

Be careful of what you say and who you say it to…
I’ve always held on to the thought that “ if you don’t have anything good to say…don’t say anything at all!”   It’s probably why I have high blood pressure and consume at least 6 pills a day to combat this...not to mention the Rum (Bacardi Light) & Tonic (Schwepps please)!

My thoughts apply to so many people including my immediate loved ones, extended family and friends.   If I expressed what I really felt at any given moment (during one of our conversations), I’m sure I would have either offended them or I would be misunderstood…so I just shut (the f*ck) up!

I’m not looking for any empathy…but it’s a hell of a burden to carry.   I’m no saint…but I just wish more people would see it my way.

I’m not a big astrology buff…but did I mention I was born under the sign of Cancer?   Perhaps that explains it all?   Maybe?   Who knows!   I'm just sayin'!

A Little Bit Racist - Part 2!

As I posted a few days ago, Nicholas Kristof did a N.Y. Times Op-Ed article entitled "Is Everyone a Little Bit Racist"?   He got an onslaught of comments/responses (some negative...see just a few below).

One response to his Op-Ed was...
“We can’t fix their problems.   It’s up to every black individual to stop the cycle of fatherless homes, stop the cycle of generations on welfare.”

Per Mr. Kristof:
"There was a deluge of such comments, some toxic, but let me try to address three principal arguments that I think prop up white delusion."

The three principle arguments were:
First, if blacks are poor or in prison, it’s all their fault.   “Blacks don’t get it,” Bruce tweeted.   “Choosing to be cool vs. getting good grades is a bad choice.   We all start from 0.”

But look at Asians, Mark protests on my Google Plus page: Vietnamese arrived in poverty — and are now school valedictorians.   Why can’t blacks be like that?

Look, the basic reason young black men are regarded with suspicion is that they’re disproportionately criminals.   The root problem isn’t racism.   It’s criminality.

His follow-up piece is titled..."Whites Just Don't Get It"   To see more and his responses to the above comments, check out his posting on the N.Y. Times.

We will never forget!

"Can we talk?" R.I.P. Joan Rivers

Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014)

"When I die (and yes, Melissa, that day will come; and yes, Melissa, everything’s in your name), I want my funeral to be a huge showbiz affair with lights, cameras, action. I want Craft services, I want paparazzi and I want publicists making a scene! I want it to be Hollywood all the way. I don’t want some rabbi rambling on; I want Meryl Streep crying, in five different accents. I don’t want a eulogy; I want Bobby Vinton to pick up my head and sing 'Mr. Lonely.' I want to look gorgeous, better dead than I do alive. I want to be buried in a Valentino gown and I want Harry Winston to make me a toe tag. And I want a wind machine so that even in the casket my hair is blowing just like Beyoncé’s. - Joan Rivers, from her 2013 book I Hate Everyone...Starting With Me.

I first saw a live Joan Rivers performance back in the mid-1960s in Dubuque, Iowa!   That's right, I said Dubuque, IOWA!   That's a whole 'nother story!   As usual, even in those early days she pushed the envelope and I'm not so sure how many of those mid-westerners appreciated her razor sharp tongue...but that was 50+ years ago.   I however was rolling on the floor!

Is Everyone A Little Bit Racist?

via an Op-Ed article in the N.Y. Times by Nicholas Kristof.

"Let’s start with what we don’t know: the precise circumstances under which a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., shot dead an unarmed black teenager named Michael Brown.

But here’s what evidence does strongly suggest: Young black men in America suffer from widespread racism and stereotyping, by all society — including African-Americans themselves."

This Op-Ed article is a very interesting perspective and a "must read! Take the tests!   I did.   It was an eye opener!   Trust me!

Does Your 9 Year Old Know How to Use an UZI?

So much for the 2nd Amendment!   This dude (instructor) is dead!

United States Should Be 100% Protestant! WTF?

From hate-monger Bryan Fisher!

"Diversity, as the first syllable in the word implies, divides.   It does not unify.   It fractures, debilitates, and diffuses.   Energy that could be harnessed through unity of purpose and values is frittered away.   America became the greatest nation the world has ever known - freer, stronger, more prosperous, more stable - for one reason: an unshakable commitment to common core values and standards.   That’s not diversity, that’s unity.   At the time of the founding, 99.8% of the population of our fledgling nation was Christian.   And 98.4% of the population was Protestant.   It is no exaggeration to say that the Protestant faith, particularly its moral values and its work ethic, made America what it became.   It was this common faith in Christianity and its Savior and our common adherence to a transcendent moral code that made America what it became.   Our strength was not found in our diversity but in our unity."

Ya just can't make this sh*t up!