Our friend, Jack H Plymale a Trojan pointyballer forwards these four words from his friend Keith:
Subject: Four words to live by
DRINK, STEAL, SWEAR & LIE
I met this guy while I was in Albuquerque and he has
A motto he lives by every day. He said listen carefully and
Live by these 4 rules : Drink, Steal, Swear, & Lie. I was
shaking my head 'no', but he then told me to listen while
he explained his four rules. So here they are :
1.. "Drink" from the "everlasting cup" every day.
2.. "Steal" a moment to help someone that is in
worse shape than you are.
3.. "Swear" that you will be a better person today than
Yesterday.
4.. And last, but not least, when you "lie" down at night
Thank God you live in America and have freedom.
--
Jack P.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Vicks' Vapo rub... Thanks Luis Flores!
Subject: VICKS VapoRub - cold medicine
VICKS VapoRub - INTERESTING
During a lecture on Essential Oils, they told us how the foot soles can absorb oils. Their example: Put garlic on your feet and within 20 Minutes you can 'taste' it.
Some of us have used Vicks VapoRub for years for everything from chapped lips to sore toes and many body parts in between. But I've never heard of this. And don't laugh, it works 100% of the time, although the scientists who discovered it aren't sure why.
To stop night time coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally), put Vicks VapoRub generously on the soles of your feet, cover with socks, and the heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief. Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely Soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly.
Just happened to tune in A.M. Radio and picked up this guy talking about why cough medicines in kids often do more harm than good, due to the chemicals in them. This method of using Vicks VapoRub on the soles of the feet was found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bed time. In addition it seems to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly.
My wife tried it on herself when she had a very deep constant and persistent cough a few weeks ago and it worked 100%! She said that it felt like a warm blanket had enveloped her, coughing stopped in a few minutes. So she went from every few seconds uncontrollable coughing, to sleeping cough-free for hours every night she used it.
If you have grandchildren, pass this on.
If you end up sick, try it yourself and you will be amazed at how it works.
DON'T SHUN THIS ONE.. TRY IT THE NEXT TIME YOU GET A BAD COLD.
THE ONLY THING YOU CAN LOSE IS YOUR COUGH.
VICKS VapoRub - INTERESTING
During a lecture on Essential Oils, they told us how the foot soles can absorb oils. Their example: Put garlic on your feet and within 20 Minutes you can 'taste' it.
Some of us have used Vicks VapoRub for years for everything from chapped lips to sore toes and many body parts in between. But I've never heard of this. And don't laugh, it works 100% of the time, although the scientists who discovered it aren't sure why.
To stop night time coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally), put Vicks VapoRub generously on the soles of your feet, cover with socks, and the heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief. Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely Soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly.
Just happened to tune in A.M. Radio and picked up this guy talking about why cough medicines in kids often do more harm than good, due to the chemicals in them. This method of using Vicks VapoRub on the soles of the feet was found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bed time. In addition it seems to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly.
My wife tried it on herself when she had a very deep constant and persistent cough a few weeks ago and it worked 100%! She said that it felt like a warm blanket had enveloped her, coughing stopped in a few minutes. So she went from every few seconds uncontrollable coughing, to sleeping cough-free for hours every night she used it.
If you have grandchildren, pass this on.
If you end up sick, try it yourself and you will be amazed at how it works.
DON'T SHUN THIS ONE.. TRY IT THE NEXT TIME YOU GET A BAD COLD.
THE ONLY THING YOU CAN LOSE IS YOUR COUGH.
Walmart Interview Thanks Luis Flores!
WALMART INTERVIEW
Jennifer, a manager at Wal-Mart, had the task of hiring someone to fill a job opening.. After sorting through a stack of 20 resumes she found four people who were equally qualified. Jennifer decided to call the four in and ask them only one question. Their answer would determine which of them would get the job.
The day came and as the four sat around the conference room table, Jennifer asked, 'What is the fastest thing you know of?'
The first man replied, 'A THOUGHT.' It just pops into your head. There's no warning.
'That's very good!' replied Jennifer. 'And, now you sir?', she asked the second man.
'Hmmm.....let me see 'A blink! It comes and goes and you don't know that it ever happened.. A BLINK is the fastest thing I know of.'
'Excellent!' said Jennifer. 'The blink of an eye, that's a very popular cliché for speed.' She then turned to the third man, who was contemplating his reply..
'Well, out at my dad's ranch, you step out of the house and on the wall there's a light switch.. When you flip that switch, way out across the pasture the light on the barn comes on in less than an instant. 'Yip, TURNING ON A LIGHT is the fastest thing I can think of'.
Jennifer was very impressed with the third answer and thought she had found her man. 'It 's hard to beat the speed of light,' she said.
Turning to Bubba, the fourth and final man, Jennifer posed the same question.
Old Bubba replied, 'After hearing the previous three answers, it's obvious to me that the fastest thing known is DIARRHEA.'
'WHAT!?' said Jennifer, stunned by the response...
'Oh sure', said BUBBA. 'You see, the other day I wasn't feeling so good, and I ran for the bathroom, but before I could THINK, BLINK, or TURN ON THE LIGHT, I had already crapped my pants.'
BUBBA is now the new greeter at a Wal-Mart near you!
You probably will think of this every time you enter a Wal-Mart from now on.
Jennifer, a manager at Wal-Mart, had the task of hiring someone to fill a job opening.. After sorting through a stack of 20 resumes she found four people who were equally qualified. Jennifer decided to call the four in and ask them only one question. Their answer would determine which of them would get the job.
The day came and as the four sat around the conference room table, Jennifer asked, 'What is the fastest thing you know of?'
The first man replied, 'A THOUGHT.' It just pops into your head. There's no warning.
'That's very good!' replied Jennifer. 'And, now you sir?', she asked the second man.
'Hmmm.....let me see 'A blink! It comes and goes and you don't know that it ever happened.. A BLINK is the fastest thing I know of.'
'Excellent!' said Jennifer. 'The blink of an eye, that's a very popular cliché for speed.' She then turned to the third man, who was contemplating his reply..
'Well, out at my dad's ranch, you step out of the house and on the wall there's a light switch.. When you flip that switch, way out across the pasture the light on the barn comes on in less than an instant. 'Yip, TURNING ON A LIGHT is the fastest thing I can think of'.
Jennifer was very impressed with the third answer and thought she had found her man. 'It 's hard to beat the speed of light,' she said.
Turning to Bubba, the fourth and final man, Jennifer posed the same question.
Old Bubba replied, 'After hearing the previous three answers, it's obvious to me that the fastest thing known is DIARRHEA.'
'WHAT!?' said Jennifer, stunned by the response...
'Oh sure', said BUBBA. 'You see, the other day I wasn't feeling so good, and I ran for the bathroom, but before I could THINK, BLINK, or TURN ON THE LIGHT, I had already crapped my pants.'
BUBBA is now the new greeter at a Wal-Mart near you!
You probably will think of this every time you enter a Wal-Mart from now on.
FW- Bankruptcy 101 Thanks Alma Nash Holl !
Thanks Alma Nash Holl!
THIS IS BACKED UP BY FACTS. READ AND CRY
Subject:Bankruptcy 101
Easy to dismiss individual programs that benefit
Non-citizens until they're put together and this
Picture emerges. Someone did a lot of
Research to put together all of this data. Often
These programs are buried within other programs
Making them difficult to find.
A
Real Eye Opener
...
WHY
Is the USA BANKRUPT?
Informative, And Mind Boggling!
You Think the war in Iraq
Was Costing us too much? Read this:
We Have been hammered with the propaganda that it
Was the Iraq War
And the war on terror that is bankrupting Us.
I Now find that to be RIDICULOUS.
I Hope the following 14 reasons are forwarded over
And over again until they are read so many times
That the reader gets sick of reading them.
I also have included the URL's for verification
Of all the following Facts...
1.
$11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare
To illegal aliens each year by state Governments.
Verify At:http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=iic_immigrationissuecenters7fd8
2.
$2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food
Assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC,
And free school lunches for illegal Aliens.
Verify At:http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.HTML
3.
$2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid
For illegal aliens.
Verify at:http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.HTML
4.
$12 Billion dollars a year is Spent On
Primary and secondary school education for
Children here illegally and they cannot speak a
Word of English!
Verify At:http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt..0.HTML
5.
$17 Billion dollars a year is spent for
Education for the American-born children of
Illegal aliens, known as anchor Babies.
Verify Athttp://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML
6.
$3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate
Illegal aliens.
Verify at:http://transcripts.cnn.com/%20TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML
7.
30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are
Illegal aliens.
Verify At:http://transcripts.CNN.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML
9.
$200 Billion dollars a year in suppressed
American wages are caused by the illegal
Aliens.
Verify At: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSC+RI+PTS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML
10.
The illegal aliens in the United States Have
A crime rate that's two and a half times that of
non-illegal aliens. In particular,
Their children are going to make a huge
Additional crime problem in the US
Verify At: http://transcripts.cnn./.com/TRANscriptS/0606/12/ldt..01.HTML%C2%A0rense.com/general75/niht.htm
The
total cost is a whopping
$ 338.3 BILLION DOLLARS
A YEAR AND IF YOU'RE LIKE ME, HAVING TROUBLE
UNDERSTANDING THIS AMOUNT OF MONEY, IT IS
$338,300,000,000.00 WHICH WOULD BE ENOUGH TO
STIMULATE THE ECONOMY FOR THE CITIZENS OF
THIS COUNTRY.
Are we THAT stupid?
YES,
FOR LETTING THOSE IN THE U.S. CONGRESS GET AWAY
WITH LETTING THIS HAPPEN YEAR AFTER YEAR!!!!!
If this doesn't bother you then just delete the
message. If, on the other hand, it does
raise the hair on the back of your neck, I hope
you forward it to every legal resident in the
United States AND PLEASE REMEMBER IT AT THE NEXT
ELECTIONS!!!
THIS IS BACKED UP BY FACTS. READ AND CRY
Subject:Bankruptcy 101
Easy to dismiss individual programs that benefit
Non-citizens until they're put together and this
Picture emerges. Someone did a lot of
Research to put together all of this data. Often
These programs are buried within other programs
Making them difficult to find.
A
Real Eye Opener
...
WHY
Is the USA BANKRUPT?
Informative, And Mind Boggling!
You Think the war in Iraq
Was Costing us too much? Read this:
We Have been hammered with the propaganda that it
Was the Iraq War
And the war on terror that is bankrupting Us.
I Now find that to be RIDICULOUS.
I Hope the following 14 reasons are forwarded over
And over again until they are read so many times
That the reader gets sick of reading them.
I also have included the URL's for verification
Of all the following Facts...
1.
$11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare
To illegal aliens each year by state Governments.
Verify At:
2.
$2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food
Assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC,
And free school lunches for illegal Aliens.
Verify At:
3.
$2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid
For illegal aliens.
Verify at:
4.
$12 Billion dollars a year is Spent On
Primary and secondary school education for
Children here illegally and they cannot speak a
Word of English!
Verify At:
5.
$17 Billion dollars a year is spent for
Education for the American-born children of
Illegal aliens, known as anchor Babies.
Verify At
6.
$3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate
Illegal aliens.
Verify at:
7.
30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are
Illegal aliens.
Verify At:
9.
$200 Billion dollars a year in suppressed
American wages are caused by the illegal
Aliens.
Verify At: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSC+RI+PTS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML
10.
The illegal aliens in the United States Have
A crime rate that's two and a half times that of
non-illegal aliens. In particular,
Their children are going to make a huge
Additional crime problem in the US
Verify At: http://transcripts.cnn./.com/TRANscriptS/0606/12/ldt..01.HTML%C2%A0
total cost is a whopping
$ 338.3 BILLION DOLLARS
A YEAR AND IF YOU'RE LIKE ME, HAVING TROUBLE
UNDERSTANDING THIS AMOUNT OF MONEY, IT IS
$338,300,000,000.00 WHICH WOULD BE ENOUGH TO
STIMULATE THE ECONOMY FOR THE CITIZENS OF
THIS COUNTRY.
Are we THAT stupid?
YES,
FOR LETTING THOSE IN THE U.S. CONGRESS GET AWAY
WITH LETTING THIS HAPPEN YEAR AFTER YEAR!!!!!
If this doesn't bother you then just delete the
message. If, on the other hand, it does
raise the hair on the back of your neck, I hope
you forward it to every legal resident in the
United States AND PLEASE REMEMBER IT AT THE NEXT
ELECTIONS!!!
FW- Do you love your computer? Thanks Ronnie Walters!
Thanks Ronald Walters!
Do you love your computer?
For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on.
At a recent computer expo (COMDEX),Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated,
'If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.'
In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating:
If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part ):
1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash........
Twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.
4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.
6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single 'This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation' warning light.
I love the next one!!!
7. The airbag system would ask 'Are you sure?' before deploying.
8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again
because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
10. You'd have to press the 'Start' button to turn the engine off
PS - when all else fails, you could call 'customer service' in some foreign country and be instructed in some foreign language how to fix your car yourself!!!!
Please share this with your friends who love - but sometimes hate - their computer!
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."
--Thomas Jefferson--
=
Do you love your computer?
For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on.
At a recent computer expo (COMDEX),Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated,
'If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.'
In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating:
If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part ):
1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash........
Twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.
4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.
6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single 'This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation' warning light.
I love the next one!!!
7. The airbag system would ask 'Are you sure?' before deploying.
8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again
because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
10. You'd have to press the 'Start' button to turn the engine off
PS - when all else fails, you could call 'customer service' in some foreign country and be instructed in some foreign language how to fix your car yourself!!!!
Please share this with your friends who love - but sometimes hate - their computer!
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."
--Thomas Jefferson--
=
FW-Thomas Jefferson Thanks Sarah DuPuy Rapp!
Thanks Sarah DuPuy Rapp!
Subject: FW: Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was a very remarkable man who started learning very early in life and never stopped.
* At 5, began studying under his cousin’s tutor.
* At 9, studied Latin, Greek and French.
* At 14, studied classical literature and additional languages.
* At 16, entered the College of William and Mary.
* At 19, studied Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe.
* At 23, started his own law practice.
* At 25, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
* At 31, wrote the widely circulated "Summary View of the Rights of British America" and retired from his law practice.
* At 32, was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress.
* At 33, wrote the Declaration of Independence.
* At 33, took three years to revise Virginia’s legal code and wrote a Public Education bill and a statute for Religious Freedom.
* At 36, was elected the second Governor of Virginia succeeding Patrick Henry.
* At 40, served in Congress for two years.
* At 41, was the American minister to France and negotiated commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben Franklin and John Adams.
* At 46, served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington.
* At 53, served as Vice President and was elected president of the American Philosophical Society.
* At 55, drafted the Kentucky Resolutions and became the active head of Republican Party.
* At 57, was elected the third president of the United States.
* At 60, obtained the Louisiana Purchase doubling the nation’s size.
* At 61, was elected to a second term as President.
* At 65, retired to Monticello.
* At 80, helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine.
* At 81, almost single-handedly created the University of Virginia and served as its first president.
* At 83, died on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence along with John Adams
Thomas Jefferson knew because he himself studied the previous failed attempts at government. He understood actual history, the nature of God, his laws and the nature of man. That happens to be way more than what most understand today. Jefferson really knew his stuff. A voice from the past to lead us in the future:
John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the white House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement: "This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."
When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.
Thomas Jefferson
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
Thomas Jefferson
It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.
Thomas Jefferson
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
Thomas Jefferson
No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
Thomas Jefferson
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
Thomas Jefferson
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson
To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property - until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.
I wish we could get this out to everyone!!!
I'm doing my part. Please do yours......
In GOD we TRUST!
Subject: FW: Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was a very remarkable man who started learning very early in life and never stopped.
* At 5, began studying under his cousin’s tutor.
* At 9, studied Latin, Greek and French.
* At 14, studied classical literature and additional languages.
* At 16, entered the College of William and Mary.
* At 19, studied Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe.
* At 23, started his own law practice.
* At 25, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
* At 31, wrote the widely circulated "Summary View of the Rights of British America" and retired from his law practice.
* At 32, was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress.
* At 33, wrote the Declaration of Independence.
* At 33, took three years to revise Virginia’s legal code and wrote a Public Education bill and a statute for Religious Freedom.
* At 36, was elected the second Governor of Virginia succeeding Patrick Henry.
* At 40, served in Congress for two years.
* At 41, was the American minister to France and negotiated commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben Franklin and John Adams.
* At 46, served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington.
* At 53, served as Vice President and was elected president of the American Philosophical Society.
* At 55, drafted the Kentucky Resolutions and became the active head of Republican Party.
* At 57, was elected the third president of the United States.
* At 60, obtained the Louisiana Purchase doubling the nation’s size.
* At 61, was elected to a second term as President.
* At 65, retired to Monticello.
* At 80, helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine.
* At 81, almost single-handedly created the University of Virginia and served as its first president.
* At 83, died on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence along with John Adams
Thomas Jefferson knew because he himself studied the previous failed attempts at government. He understood actual history, the nature of God, his laws and the nature of man. That happens to be way more than what most understand today. Jefferson really knew his stuff. A voice from the past to lead us in the future:
John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the white House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement: "This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."
When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.
Thomas Jefferson
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
Thomas Jefferson
It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.
Thomas Jefferson
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
Thomas Jefferson
No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
Thomas Jefferson
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
Thomas Jefferson
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson
To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property - until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.
I wish we could get this out to everyone!!!
I'm doing my part. Please do yours......
In GOD we TRUST!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
1984 didn't quite make it until 2025... thanks Jackie Brown!
Subject: A good short story worth reading
Thanksgiving Day, 2025
“Winston, come into the dining room, it’s time to eat,” Julia yelled to her
husband.
“In a minute, honey, it’s a tie score,” he answered. Actually Winston wasn’t
very interested in the traditional holiday football game between Detroit and
Washington . Ever since the government passed the Civility in Sports
Statute of 2017, outlawing tackle football for its “unseemly violence” and
the “bad example it sets for the rest of the world,” Winston was far less of
a football fan than he used to be. Two-hand touch wasn’t nearly as
exciting.
Yet it wasn’t the game that Winston was uninterested in. It was more the
thought of eating another TofuTurkey. Even though it was the best type of
Veggie Meat available after the government revised the American Anti-Obesity
Act of 2018, adding fowl to the list of federally-forbidden foods, (which
already included potatoes, cranberry sauce and mince-meat pie), it wasn’t
anything like real turkey. And ever since the government officially changed
the name of “Thanksgiving Day” to “A National Day of Atonement” in 2020, to
officially acknowledge the Pilgrims’ historically brutal treatment of Native
Americans, the holiday had lost a lot of its luster.
Eating in the dining room was also a bit daunting. The unearthly gleam of
government-mandated fluorescent light bulbs made the Tofu Turkey look even
weirder than it actually was, and the room was always cold. Ever since
Congress passed the Power Conservation Act of 2016, mandating all
thermostats—which were monitored and controlled by the electric company — be
kept at 68 degrees, every room on the north side of the house was barely
tolerable throughout the entire winter.
Still, it was good getting together with family. Or at least most of the
family. Winston missed his mother, who passed on in October, when she had
used up her legal allotment of live-saving medical treatment. He had had
many heated conversations with the Regional Health Consortium, spawned when
the private insurance market finally went bankrupt, and everyone was forced
into the government health care program. And though he demanded she be kept
on her treatment, it was a futile effort. “The RHC’s resources are
limited,” explained the government bureaucrat Winston spoke with on the
phone. “Your mother received all the benefits to which she was entitled. I’m
sorry for your loss.”
Ed couldn’t make it either. He had forgotten to plug in his electric car
last night, the only kind available after the Anti-Fossil Fuel Bill of 2021
outlawed the use of the combustion engines — for everyone but government
officials. The fifty mile round trip was about ten miles too far, and Ed
didn’t want to spend a frosty night on the road somewhere between here and
there.
Thankfully, Winston’s brother, John, and his wife were flying in. Winston
made sure that the dining room chairs had extra cushions for the occasion.
No one complained more than John about the pain of sitting down so soon
after the government - mandated cavity searches at airports, which severely
aggravated his hemorrhoids.
Ever since a terrorist successfully smuggled a cavity bomb onto a jetliner,
the TSA told Americans the added “inconvenience” was an “absolute necessity”
in order to stay “one step ahead of the terrorists.” Winston’s own body had
grown accustomed to such probing ever since the government expanded their
scope to just about anywhere a crowd gathered, via Anti-Profiling Act of
2022. That law made it a crime to single out any group or individual for
“unequal scrutiny,” even when probable cause was involved. Thus, cavity
searches at malls, train stations, bus depots, etc., etc., had become almost
routine. Almost.
The Supreme Court is reviewing the statute, but most Americans expect a
Court composed of six progressives and three conservatives to leave the law
intact. “A living Constitution is extremely flexible,” said the Court’s
eldest member, Elena Kagan. “ Europe has had laws like this one for years.
We should learn from their example,” she added.
Winston’s thoughts turned to his own children. He got along fairly well
with his 12-year-old daughter, Brittany, mostly because she ignored him.
Winston had long ago surrendered to the idea that she could text anyone at
any time, even during Atonement Dinner. Their only real confrontation had
occurred when he limited her to 50,000 texts a month, explaining that was
all he could afford. She whined for a week, but got over it.
His 16-year-old son, Jason, was another matter altogether. Perhaps it was
the constant bombarding he got in public school that global warming, the
bird flu, terrorism or any of a number of other calamities were “just around
the corner,” but Jason had developed a kind of nihilistic attitude that
ranged between simmering surliness and outright hostility. It didn’t help
that Jason had reported his father to the police for smoking a cigarette in
the house, an act made criminal by the Smoking Control Statute of 2018,
which outlawed smoking anywhere within 500 feet of another human being.
Winston paid the $5,000 fine, which might have been considered excessive
before the American dollar became virtually worthless as a result of QE13.
The latest round of quantitative easing the federal government initiated
was, once again, to “spur economic growth.” This time they promised to push
unemployment below its years-long rate of 18%, but Winston was not
particularly hopeful.
Yet the family had a lot for which to be thankful, Winston thought, before
remembering it was a Day of Atonement.. At least he had his memories. He
felt a twinge of sadness when he realized his children would never know what
life was like in the Good Old Days, long before government promises to make
life “fair for everyone” realized their full potential. Winston, like so
many of his fellow Americans, never realized how much things could change
when they didn’t happen all at once, but little by little, so people could
get used to them.
He wondered what might have happened if the public had stood up while there
was still time, maybe back around 2009, when all the real nonsense began.
“Maybe we wouldn’t be where we are today if we’d just said ‘enough is enough’
when we had the chance,”
Maybe so Winston...Maybe so.
Thanksgiving Day, 2025
“Winston, come into the dining room, it’s time to eat,” Julia yelled to her
husband.
“In a minute, honey, it’s a tie score,” he answered. Actually Winston wasn’t
very interested in the traditional holiday football game between Detroit and
Washington . Ever since the government passed the Civility in Sports
Statute of 2017, outlawing tackle football for its “unseemly violence” and
the “bad example it sets for the rest of the world,” Winston was far less of
a football fan than he used to be. Two-hand touch wasn’t nearly as
exciting.
Yet it wasn’t the game that Winston was uninterested in. It was more the
thought of eating another TofuTurkey. Even though it was the best type of
Veggie Meat available after the government revised the American Anti-Obesity
Act of 2018, adding fowl to the list of federally-forbidden foods, (which
already included potatoes, cranberry sauce and mince-meat pie), it wasn’t
anything like real turkey. And ever since the government officially changed
the name of “Thanksgiving Day” to “A National Day of Atonement” in 2020, to
officially acknowledge the Pilgrims’ historically brutal treatment of Native
Americans, the holiday had lost a lot of its luster.
Eating in the dining room was also a bit daunting. The unearthly gleam of
government-mandated fluorescent light bulbs made the Tofu Turkey look even
weirder than it actually was, and the room was always cold. Ever since
Congress passed the Power Conservation Act of 2016, mandating all
thermostats—which were monitored and controlled by the electric company — be
kept at 68 degrees, every room on the north side of the house was barely
tolerable throughout the entire winter.
Still, it was good getting together with family. Or at least most of the
family. Winston missed his mother, who passed on in October, when she had
used up her legal allotment of live-saving medical treatment. He had had
many heated conversations with the Regional Health Consortium, spawned when
the private insurance market finally went bankrupt, and everyone was forced
into the government health care program. And though he demanded she be kept
on her treatment, it was a futile effort. “The RHC’s resources are
limited,” explained the government bureaucrat Winston spoke with on the
phone. “Your mother received all the benefits to which she was entitled. I’m
sorry for your loss.”
Ed couldn’t make it either. He had forgotten to plug in his electric car
last night, the only kind available after the Anti-Fossil Fuel Bill of 2021
outlawed the use of the combustion engines — for everyone but government
officials. The fifty mile round trip was about ten miles too far, and Ed
didn’t want to spend a frosty night on the road somewhere between here and
there.
Thankfully, Winston’s brother, John, and his wife were flying in. Winston
made sure that the dining room chairs had extra cushions for the occasion.
No one complained more than John about the pain of sitting down so soon
after the government - mandated cavity searches at airports, which severely
aggravated his hemorrhoids.
Ever since a terrorist successfully smuggled a cavity bomb onto a jetliner,
the TSA told Americans the added “inconvenience” was an “absolute necessity”
in order to stay “one step ahead of the terrorists.” Winston’s own body had
grown accustomed to such probing ever since the government expanded their
scope to just about anywhere a crowd gathered, via Anti-Profiling Act of
2022. That law made it a crime to single out any group or individual for
“unequal scrutiny,” even when probable cause was involved. Thus, cavity
searches at malls, train stations, bus depots, etc., etc., had become almost
routine. Almost.
The Supreme Court is reviewing the statute, but most Americans expect a
Court composed of six progressives and three conservatives to leave the law
intact. “A living Constitution is extremely flexible,” said the Court’s
eldest member, Elena Kagan. “ Europe has had laws like this one for years.
We should learn from their example,” she added.
Winston’s thoughts turned to his own children. He got along fairly well
with his 12-year-old daughter, Brittany, mostly because she ignored him.
Winston had long ago surrendered to the idea that she could text anyone at
any time, even during Atonement Dinner. Their only real confrontation had
occurred when he limited her to 50,000 texts a month, explaining that was
all he could afford. She whined for a week, but got over it.
His 16-year-old son, Jason, was another matter altogether. Perhaps it was
the constant bombarding he got in public school that global warming, the
bird flu, terrorism or any of a number of other calamities were “just around
the corner,” but Jason had developed a kind of nihilistic attitude that
ranged between simmering surliness and outright hostility. It didn’t help
that Jason had reported his father to the police for smoking a cigarette in
the house, an act made criminal by the Smoking Control Statute of 2018,
which outlawed smoking anywhere within 500 feet of another human being.
Winston paid the $5,000 fine, which might have been considered excessive
before the American dollar became virtually worthless as a result of QE13.
The latest round of quantitative easing the federal government initiated
was, once again, to “spur economic growth.” This time they promised to push
unemployment below its years-long rate of 18%, but Winston was not
particularly hopeful.
Yet the family had a lot for which to be thankful, Winston thought, before
remembering it was a Day of Atonement.. At least he had his memories. He
felt a twinge of sadness when he realized his children would never know what
life was like in the Good Old Days, long before government promises to make
life “fair for everyone” realized their full potential. Winston, like so
many of his fellow Americans, never realized how much things could change
when they didn’t happen all at once, but little by little, so people could
get used to them.
He wondered what might have happened if the public had stood up while there
was still time, maybe back around 2009, when all the real nonsense began.
“Maybe we wouldn’t be where we are today if we’d just said ‘enough is enough’
when we had the chance,”
Maybe so Winston...Maybe so.
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