WAR-POW-MIA

WAR-POW-MIA

If you are able, save for them a place inside of you, and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the place they can no longer go.

Be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not have always.

Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying, and keep it with your own.

And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind.

By----Major Michael O’Donald, Jan 1, 1970,  Dak To,  Vietnam

Major O’Donald, a helicopter pilot, went MIA on 3/24/1970 during a rescue attempt.

His remains were returned in 1995 and identified in 2001.

 From: AllPOWMia.com

A friend, who was O’Donald’s Commanding Officer, pointed me to this Poem after reading my Novel The Last American Hero.

I include the poem in my closing when speaking about my novel, at book signings and appearance.

They first dozen times I could not finish the poem.

If you have lost a family member or friend in a war I’m sure you will understand.

Media and Poltical Crap

Ft Myers News-Press opinion page, March 10, 2012

WOW-Five mailbag letters, a guest opinion and a cartoon all with a pro Obama theme.

I’m an independent who observes politics from the right and left. I watch MSNBC and Fox News, read The News Press and follow many bloggers from the left and right. The News Press published my mailbag letter requesting readers to do the same and base their voting on their own conclusions. A recent Dan Warner editorial made the same point and request.

I’m retired, living on a fixed income. During the last 3 years the huge increase in the cost of food and gasoline has been damaging. The cost of my Part B Medical Care Supplement just increased 30%. The appraised value of my home has decreased but taxes haven’t.  The bailout of GM did not help me. The value of my investments in GM went to zero. I didn’t receive a “bail out” for the loss of my investments.

I’m also aware that the President and his staff are frequently disingenuous. When the President declared that if you bought a hybrid car the fuel savings would pay for the car in three years I was amused. Pay for the increase in cost yes, total cost no.

The Government issues frequent report on the number of people filing for first time unemployment benefits. That number, currently around 300, 000 is followed by the “good news”   that 200, 000 new jobs were created. The Media reports the good news. Most thinking people know we have had a net loss of 100,000 jobs in that period. So, how is that good news and how many of the new jobs were government jobs and how many will produce something that can be sold?

Obama’s present theme that Buffett paid a lower tax rate than his secretary is misleading. Define the difference in rates and disclose the $$ paid by both.

His push for Green power has led to financial disasters like Solindra.

His declaration that the Tea Party people (I’m not a member) are misinformed (stupid) and should “let the politicians do their job” was demeaning. So was the president’s statement that he would go around Congress.

The constant declaration that Republicans are doing nothing is misleading; Congress has passed many Bills that the Democratic Senate has refused to consider.

The “Occupy” people and the Gimme Generation irritate me. I served in the Military, worked full time and attended night school for 8 years to earn a degree, worked hard for 2 major Corporations for 30 years and ran my own business for 20 years. Today some young adults think they are entitled to Freebies.

During past presidential elections I had similar opinions about both Republican and Democratic candidates programs and actions.

During this Primary election season both sides have been pointing fingers and slinging mud. The coming Presidential election cycle will be viscous. When the Republican candidate is established I’m sure we will become advised of his similar “failures”.

George Soros, during a TV interview, stated he doesn’t care who wins. That is scary. Think about that!

Many of the voters will not be influenced by political rhetoric or the media. Unfortunately they may not be watching, listening or thinking and just vote based on party.

This, however, may change,. Even the most detached are affected by the obvious steep increase in food and gasoline prices. An empty wallet is difficult to ignore.

Remember the Clinton theme “It’s the economy, stupid”?

This year the Republican theme should be “It’s the high prices, stupid”.


 

How many zeros in a billion

Received this by e-mail

How many zeros in a billion? This is too true to be funny!

The next time you hear a politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner, think
 about whether you want the 'politicians' spending YOUR tax money.

 A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases:

 A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
 A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
 A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes,at the rate our government
 is spending it.

 While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at New Orleans ...
 It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division. After hurricane Katrina

Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D) asked Congress for
 250 BILLION DOLLARS to rebuild New Orleans. Interesting number...
 What does it mean?
 Well... if you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, and child)
 you   each get  $516,528.
 Or... if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787

Or... if you are a family of four your family   gets  $2,066,012.
 Hey Washington, D. C.,HELLO! Are all your calculators broken??

Take a look at this list of Taxes!
Accounts Receivable Tax, Building Permit Tax, CDL License Tax, Cigarette Tax, Corporate Income Tax     Dog License Tax, Federal Income Tax, Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA), Fishing License Tax,
 Food License Tax,  Fuel Permit Tax, Gasoline Tax, Gift Tax,  Hunting License Tax, Inheritance Tax
 Inventory Tax IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax) IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)  Liquor Tax,
 Luxury Tax, Marriage License Tax, Medicare Tax, Property Tax, Real Estate Tax, Service charge taxes,
 Social Security Tax, Road Usage Tax (Truckers), Recreational Vehicle Tax, Sales Tax, School Tax,
 State Income Tax, State Unemployment Tax,  Telephone Federal Excise Tax, Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax, Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax,
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax, Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax,
 Telephone State and Local Tax, Telephone Usage Charge Tax, Utility Tax,
 Vehicle License Registration Tax, Vehicle Sales Tax, Watercraft Registration Tax, Well Permit Tax, Workers Compensation Tax.
 STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
 Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago. and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.
 We had absolutely no national debt...
We had the largest middle class in the world... and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
What happened?
Can you spell 'politicians!'

 I hope this goes around the U S A at least a billion times!!!

Today’s Ponderism:

Ever wonder about those people who spend $2.00 apiece on those little bottles of Evian water?
Try spelling Evian backwards: NAIVE !!!

Politician Tax Proposals

The following was published as a "Letter to the Editor" in my local newspaper following the 2008 Presedential election.
I'm sure you have noticed the massive increase in the cost of food and gasoline. The following will help explain one of the reasons for the increased cost of living.

Politician Tax Proposals

I’m amazed that elected officials who are proposing tax plans don’t understand a business Profit/Loss Statements.

I owned a Dairy Queen Brazier. Every month I prepared a Profit or Loss (P/L) Statement. The first line on my P/L was the amount of money that came into the business. The rest of the lines were money- out expenses for items like material, labor, utilities, government fees, royalty, advertising, my equal payment of Social Security tax, Unemployment Compensation tax, local business taxes, accounting, insurance, etc.

If things went well and my income exceeded expenses, I made a profit. The governments, Federal, State, and local, taxed my profit.

If there was an after tax profit I could pay myself and support my family. Of course the Governments taxed the salary I paid myself.

The “income redistribution” folks may find this dreadful but when any government agency increased taxes or operating expenses, I raised my prices. I hope you understand that my prices had to be competitive, but I was in business to provide an income for my family. My suppliers, utilities and service providers, etc, also had their costs go up for the same reasons.  They passed increased costs on to me, requiring me to further raise prices.

I’m writing to advise that when government agencies raise business taxes or expenses, the cost will be passed on to you. You may not consider it a tax increase but you should.

Please consider my input when listening to politicians who are telling you they are going to reduce your taxes by increasing taxes on business. That is “smoke and mirrors”.

Government Math

Manipulation of numbers by US politicians has been with us for years. It is sometimes called “Smoke and mirrors”. It is best described by the old saw, “Numbers don’t lie but liars can use numbers”.

Currently a “new government math” is being applied creatively by our elected officials and being propagated by the media.

The frequent reports on the number people applying for first time unemployment benefits is an example. The report will state that 300, 000 applied and that was less than the 350, 000 expected. This is reported as a good thing.

My question: When the last person working is layed off and the number of people applying goes to 1, and then 0, will the Media be ecstatic?

A second question: If at the same time the number applying for benefits goes to 300, 000 and the government reports that 200, 000 new jobs were created in the same period, is this progress? Didn’t the number of unemployed increase by 100,000? That can’t be good!

Second example; the selected use of percentage and dollar amounts. During the last State of the Union address the President stated that Warren Buffett’s tax rate was 15%, a smaller rate than his secretary. He didn’t say that Buffet’s rate was a Capital Gains Tax on his investments and the Secretaries was the normal Income Tax rate for her income. This was very deceptive.  Why not compare apples to apples, explain the difference in rates, and then state the taxes paid in dollars?

Our Federal Reps and senators also selectively do the same thing,.

During Senate hearings blasting big companies for making huge profits the Senators were stating profit in dollars and not as a percentage of sales. During the last Gas price increase hearings Senator Dianne Feinstein excoriated a petroleum industry CEO for making obscene profits, telling him he should be sharing profits with the poor. The CEO advised that their profit was 4%. The Senator accused him of playing the victim card. The CEO replied that his company was making four cents on every dollar of gas sales and the government was collecting and distributing 14 cents for every dollar of his company’s sales. The Senator was not happy.

I’m concerned that our schools are so concerned with teaching social science and promoting self esteem that they are not teaching the “Three R’s”. If students don’t learn how to think and analyze they will be ill informed sheep.

Chernobyl Dog Novel First Page

I have been "working" on a new novel (see my website: GBMooney.com "Novels in process) during the past year. The first six chapters of the first draft are on my harddrive.

I plan to finish the first draft  this year.


This is the first page.
Would appreciate your input.

Chernobyl Dog   First draft

Chapter 1a

Sunset, Gulf of Mexico

Southwest Florida, USA

David Nelson carefully lowered himself into his low slung beach chair. Although obviously fit and younger appearing than his advancing years, he was weary from his evening beach walk. As usual, he would rest for half an hour before heading home, allowing his thoughts to wander aimlessly.

           

Just this past week he had read a newspaper column about the dogs of Chernobyl. Shortly after the nuclear accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear plant the Russian government had ordered the evacuation of the city. Civilians had an hour to gather up the belongings they could carry and were loaded onto busses. As the busses pulled away from the neighborhoods the people on the bus could see the family dogs running after the busses. The little ones gave up first but some of the large dogs ran for miles. Finally the dogs had stopped and started to look around and at each other. Why had their masters, the object of their unconditional love, abandoned them? Most of them found their way back to their homes and became the first victims of the nuclear accident to perish.  

            David imagined how the dogs must have reacted. They most likely stayed near their homes, sharply aware of every movement and noise, hopefully waiting for their master’s return. David knew from experience how the dogs agonized and then panicked when they realized they were alone. He had been abandoned at age five. He was a Chernobyl dog

My Facebook Pages URL's

I have two facebook pages.

The personal page URL is:   facebook.com/gerald.mooney3

The business page URL is:   facebook.com/GB.Jerry.Mooney.Novels

I would really appreciate your visiting both of the pages.

The PERSONAL page opens a connection to you and provides an opportunity to post your comments and reach me and my “Friends”.

Input from new friends expands my knowledge and understanding of what is going on in your life. I’m interested in your humor, concerns, achievements and position on US and World politics and leaders. Posting on my page will give you the opportunity to agree or disagree with my positions and most importantly, post “Mind Bogglers” and “Ponderisms”.

The BUSINESS page connects you to my Novels.

The page provides descriptions of my novels (The kind of info you would get in a bookstore from the cover of my novels).

 I also post pages from my novels, allowing you to sample my writing style. On my website, GBMooney.com, my new, in development novel, Chernobyl Dog, is described. I will soon post the first chapter of that novel on the facebook page for your review and comments.

I will also post info on how I research content for my novels and identify items that surprised and created interest on locations, history, world politics and most importantly, people.

Sales and promotions are identified. I recently, during January and February 2012, reduced the price of all my E book Novels to $0.99. It was a “Thank You” for all the people who support my writing.

PLEASE visit my face book pages. If you like (or even if you dislike) the content, comment and press the LIKE button.  That will expand our contact with new and interesting people.

I will Publish Facebook comments on my BLOG.