$440,000 is a Drop in the Bucket

Four out the of the ten Bloggers that I read on a regular basis wrote a Blog today about American International Group’s (AIG) top executives going to the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, California. The executives racked up a $440,000 bill in one week. This comes shortly after the US Government bailed the Company out, to the tune of $85 Billion.

When I first read the story last night on CNN.com, I was appalled. But then I got to thinking, which is a dangerous thing for me to do.

What would I do if the government gave me $85,000,000,000? I would celebrate, of course. This is just human nature.

I never did like celebrating alone so I would have to get 60 or so of my friends to celebrate with me. After all I just got a free ride, so why not share the wealth with others. $440,000 is a drop in the bucket in comparison to $85,000,000,000.

But I wouldn’t have gone to a Spa in California. I’d be on the French Riviera ogling the semi-nude female sunbathers. I’d get high priced Call Girls for my male friends and gigolos for my female friends. Plus I am sure that I am a much better tipper than the AIG crew (Company executives tend to be lousy tippers). The cost of my foray would have probably been more than $1,000,000, which is still a drop in the bucket compared to $85 Billion.

At least the AIG people spent the money in the United States which will help the ailing California Economy.

The Beach Bum

A Gas Problem

I have four groups of people from which I regularly receive email. None of these groups are in contact with any people in my other three groups.

The largest of these groups are my old Army buddies from the 1960’s. The second largest group is my Chicago Family & Friends group. Both of these two groups mainly consist of Old Farts like me. The third group is my friends from Maryland (I lived near Annapolis for 29 years). The final group consists of people that I know here in Florida.

It is not unusual for me to get the same “Forwarded Email” from two out of the four groups. But I cannot recall when, if ever, I received the same forwarded email from 3 out of four of these groups.

The email in question concerns the cost of Gasoline. It compares the cost of Gas per gallon to other liquids that we normally consume. Most of the products mentioned were not necessity items. They also used the smallest size of the comparison product to exaggerate the cost per gallon. In addition some of the products listed would not exceed a gallon of usage per year.

It was a well done layout full of visual effects (graphics interchange format). This leads me to believe that it was done by a professional. We all know that professionals don’t work for free. Who would benefit from this seemingly harmless email joke? Gosh, the first thing that came to my mind was “Oil Companies”.

Big Oil is making a lot of profits. That is why their CEO’s make millions of dollars per year. According to Forbes, Ray Irani (Occidental Petroleum) tops the list of Petroleum Company CEO’s at over $80,000,000 in annual compensation.

In the late 1970’s when the price of gasoline was nearing $1 per gallon, the oil companies told us we were lucky to get it that cheap, Noting what people in other Countries were paying for a gallon of gas. And their profits soared, but we accepted it because the Brits were paying twice that much per gallon.

I don’t drive; I don’t even own a car. But the cost of gasoline affects other aspects of my live. The cost of my bad habits (eating, drinking and smoking) is seemingly increasing on a monthly basis because of the cost gasoline.

The Beach Bum

Super Tuesday

Tomorrow is Super Tuesday and we will probably know who the Presidential nominees are for the Presidential Election in November early Wednesday morning..

I friend recently asked me what I thought about the Presidential Primary results thus far. I told him that I was not surprised at the results at this point and would wait until after Super Tuesday before I drew any conclusions. I also told him that if Hilary gets the Democratic nomination this summer, I would probably be voting for the Republican candidate.

He sez “what are you, crazy or something?” “You’re going to vote for that old man!” He obviously assumes that Senator John McCain is going to get the Republican nomination. So I sez; even though I don’t agree with some of his Senate voting record, I like McCain and believe he would be a good President. He reiterates “are you crazy?”

I am registered as an Independent voter. My voting record for Presidential candidates reflects this. I have voted for the Republican candidate 4 times, the Democratic candidate 5 times and Independents twice. The Independent candidates that I voted for had no shot of winning and I knew this; but it was my way of saying that both major party candidates sucked.

I’m really not too concerned about who will be our next President. I am more concerned about the House and Senate races, my State Legislature Candidates and local judicial races.

The Beach Bum

And Now A Word From Our Sponsor

I just read that a 30 second commercial during the Super Bowl will cost advertisers $2.7 million per showing. There will be at least 63 – 30 second commercial breaks during the game on February 3rd. Do the math, that’s over 170 million dollars spent to tout products and services that less than 10% of the 90 plus million viewers will buy or use.

But those 9 million people will spend a lot of bucks during the course of a year.

I actually enjoy watching good commercials. At times they are better than some of the programming on the boob tube. Supposedly the best commercials of the year will debut on Super Bowl Sunday. Mad Avenue has been working overtime and charging the advertisers top dollars to produce the best Super Bowl commercial.

Now the question is; who is paying for all this nonsense. As Gomer Pyle would say; surprise – surprise, it must be the consumer.

I’m against having Beer, Liquor and Tobacco commercials on television.

Why? Because I use these products and it will ultimately cost me more money to use them. The cost of these commercials is always passed on to the user. The Corporations don’t spend advertising money to lose money. So I must, therefore, avoid the use of these products that are advertised on Super Bowl Sunday. It's simple logic, just ask Mr. Spock.

Are you going to switch from Coke to Pepsi because of a good commercial? Will you buy a Pizza from Pizza Hut rather than Dominos because of a commercial? Will you switch from your favorite brands because you were amused for 30 seconds? I hope not.

I believe that the advertisers deem that we are all just sheep, and we will follow in the direction into which they lead us. That is, if they spend 2.7 million dollars for a 30 second commercial that amuses us or somehow gives us a warm fuzzy feeling.

It’s a bunch of Bullshit!

All television commercials cost consumers money in the long run.

I will watch and enjoy many of the commercials aired during the Super Bowl.

But I will also boycott all the products and services that are advertised on the Super Bowl.

By the way I will be cheering for the Patriots to win!

The Beach Bum

Thinking is Dangerous

I have spent most of the past day pondering. That is, contemplating what makes me the person that I am. I have been thinking about three subjects that I am really not too comfortable conversing about.

Number one is Religion! Number two is Politics! And number three is Bigotry!

My thoughts and feelings on these topics are too in-depth to write about in one Blog. Therefore I will address each issue in a separate Blog during the next week.

I am what I believe to be an honest person. I don’t cheat or steal. I will occasionally lie or omit pertinent data to protect a friend and for the reason of not harming their feelings. People that know me say “He’s a stand up guy”. Although I do not value other’s opinions of me, it is a pleasant feeling to know that others think that I am actually a “good person”. I’m not. I’m an insufferable bastard that is set in his ways.

I am an outspoken miserable old man. My next three Blogs will substantiate this statement. Like it or not, I am who I am.

The Beach Bum

I Scream, You Scream - Simple Pleasures

At times we forget the simple pleasures in our lives. These are the little things that make us happy during our day to day existence. A kiss on the cheek, a pat on the back, a nod of the head in appreciation, a smile or a wink that has just told you that you have “made my day” or perhaps just a simple Ice Cream Cone.

I have always preferred the sugar cones over the waffle cones. But out of a cone is not the way to really enjoy eating Ice Cream. It should be eaten out of a bowl or better yet, out of the Ice Cream container itself. This may be pure decadence on my part. But I believe that this is what eating Ice Cream is all about; satiating our primal wants and needs and enjoying it in the process.

My all-time favorite Ice Cream was produced by a Baltimore-Washington food chain; Giant Inc. It was named Double Chocolate Chip. This was one of their gourmet Ice Creams made with rich dark chocolate Ice Cream and large semi-sweet chocolate chips. This was truly a chocolate lover’s delight. Needless to say, I am a chocolate lover.

My second favorite is Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey. A Banana Ice Cream with large chunks of semi-sweet chocolate chips and walnuts. Nuts are on my “no-no” list, so I have ceased to purchase this product. A few years ago,during my annual visit to Chicagoland, my sister, “the Saint”, bought a pint of Chunky Monkey for me knowing that it was one of my favorites. She had forgotten that I could no longer eat nuts.

There it sat in her freezer calling out to me; “I’m in here, come and get me”. After four days the voice calling me sounded so sweet that I could no longer resist the temptation. I devoured the entire pint in less than 10 minutes. I spit out most of the walnuts. The one’s that did make it to my digestive tract did not harm me. But I am not one to tempt the Fates, so I haven’t eaten Chunky Monkey since that day.

Ben & Jerry's has come up with a new flavor. According to their website; The new flavor is a decadent melting pot of vanilla ice cream with fudge-covered waffle cone pieces and a caramel swirl. It’s the sweet taste of liberty in your mouth. Colbert believes AmeriCone Dream can make a difference. “I’m not afraid to say it. Dessert has a well-known liberal agenda. What I hope to do with this ice cream is bring some balance back to the freezer case.”

Stephen Colbert is donating his proceeds from the sale of AmeriCone Dream to charity through The Stephen Colbert AmeriCone Dream Fund. The Fund will support charities of concern to Stephen such as food and medical assistance for disadvantaged children, helping veterans and their families, and environmental causes.

The helping of veterans and their families is a very important issue to me. Our government, especially the current administration and the current and past House and Senate have treated veterans and their surviving families like garbage. This is a moral shame. It’s a greater shame because private citizens have done more for our veterans than our government has.

I do not support the war in Iraq, as I did not support the war in Viet Nam (and I spent four years of my life in the Army during the peak of the Viet Nam War). I do, however, support our military; the guys and gals that put it on the line for us on a daily basis.

At heart, I am a pacifist. To my way of thinking wars solve nothing and serve only as a means to deplete the world population. We live in a world with finite resources. The greater the population equals the lesser resources per inhabitant of our small planet. Therefore, religious scholars say that wars (as well as pestilence and famine) are a necessity. I just don’t buy into this biblical theory!

I am not fond of Vanilla Ice Cream, I do not like Waffle Cones and I’m a bit iffy on Caramel, However I will be buying Ben and Jerry’s “The Stephen Colbert AmeriCone” Ice Cream, as I now know that part of the proceeds will go to our military Vets and their families.

The Beach Bum

Photo Op

Today a friend from Maryland sent me a link to a porn site. Now, I’m not really into porn unless I can be a participant. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve bought a bunch of Playboy Magazines in my lifetime. I do like looking at naked women, especially of the younger variety.

But looking at Porn really doesn’t do a lot for me. I prefer women that I can hold, touch and then take into my bedroom. If they'll walk around naked, all the better.

Looking at a naked woman on a computer screen or in a magazine, just doesn’t do it for me. It never gets me as sexually excited as does the real thing. To look, but not be able to touch seems to be a worthless endeavor.

The reason my friend sent me to this site was that the girl (woman) in question looked a lot like one of my former lovers. Therefore, I, checked this porn site out.

It’s true that she does look like my old girlfriend when she was 20 years younger than she is today. But it is not her! How do I know this? There is a missing birth mark, high up, on her inner left thigh. Actually it is in the pelvic region. I spent a lot of time in that area and I knew her body well.

The facial and body resemblances were strikingly close to the woman that I had lived with for several years. I spent nearly an hour viewing the photos of the younger version of my former lover. She is a beautiful girl!

I did a Google search and found that the young woman (in the Website photos) is from Germany, is a model and has her own soft porn site. She is now 21 years old, but most of the pictures on her site were taken when she was 18 and 19 years old. Looking at those pictures made me horny for my old girlfriend!

Right now, I just wish that I was 35 years younger and living next door to this "Porn Queen" in Germany.

The Beach Bum