I Love Penny

Penny machines, that is.

Today, with about 200 of my neighbors, I went to Atlantic City.  It must be a year since I was last there.  So there I was, with some cash and my new "system".

When I started going to AC several years ago, I couldn't understand how people could play the penny machines and win.  After all, they were just playing with pennies.  I also couldn't understand the games so I stayed away.

One day, I was having horrible luck so I decided to stretch my money and play the pennies even though I didn't understand them.  Well, bells started ringing and money started coming my way.  I was a convert.  Now, I very rarely play any other machine.

Back to today and my "system".  It's very simple really.  When my credits reach a certain point, usually about $20 more than I put in, I cash out and put the coupon away.  I save those coupons until the end of the day and cash them all in.  Some days there only a few and other days there is a stack of them.

Today was one of those days.  When I cashed in, I realized that I had won a bit.  Then I headed to the Ladies Room and counted my money in the privacy of the stall and discovered that I had won quite a bit - $150 to be exact.  I am so happy.

When can I go again?

Tell It Like It Is

Tonight while watching The Five I was really listening to their words.  They kept talking about "government subsidies" for people who cannot afford health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.  All I heard was that they would receive "government subsidies".  I'd like to hear the truth.  These are not "government subsidies", they are TAXPAYER SUBSIDIES.  After all, the government gets its money from us, the taxpayers.  Let's rename government subsidies and call them taxpayer subsidies.

Later, they were speaking about the latest trend in which groups of young people walk up behind someone and try to knock them out with one punch.  Several of those on the panel tried to say that these crimes should be considered "hate crimes".  I can't stand that term.  After all, isn't any crime a "hate" crime based in hate.  After all, if you have something that I want and I hate that you have it, if I take it, it's a crime based on hate.  Don't bank robbers hate that banks and stores have all that money?  If they take it, isn't it a hate crime?

Maybe I should I start a group advocating honesty in language, particularly as it applies to government's newspeak.

I Told You So

I really hate it when people say "I told you so", but today I have to.  Last year I wrote about my suspicions  about the unemployment numbers.  I doubted the sudden drop so soon before the election and the rise right after the election.  I suspected that someone had "cooked" the books.

Now, it seems that I was right.  Today, the NEW YORK POST has an article saying that the census department made up the numbers.  You can read about it here.

http://nypost.com/2013/11/18/census-faked-2012-election-jobs-report/

You have to wonder if the election would have turned out differently if the true numbers had been released to the public.

The Law of the Land?

All the way up to the October 1 launch of Obamacare (Affordable Care Act), whenever the Republicans tried to introduce or pass a bill that would delay or defund this law, we were told by members of the media and several democrats that it was the "Law of the Land" and nothing could be changed without approval from both houses of congress and the signature of the president.

My thoughts on that excuse were that at one time, slavery was the Law of the Land, lack of voting rights for women was the Law of the Land, segregation was the Law of the Land and they were changed.

Now, suddenly with the prospect of incumbent democrats losing their seats in the 2014 elections, the president feels that he can make more changes in the Law of the Land without congressional approval.

Can someone out there in cyberspace, or at the NSA, please explain to me why Obamacare was the Law of the Land in the summer before it took effect and now why this fall and after it has taken effect is it perfectly permissible to change the Law of the Land.  Or is it just because the president's approval rating is sinking faster than the Titanic and he has decided to change the law, yet again?

'Tis a puzzlement.

Slip of the Tongue or Truth

I have always thought that president Obama was completely wrapped up in himself.  He is so self-centered.  He is always late for televised press conferences or special announcements.  His sentences start with "I".

Last night in an interview when speaking about the website debacle, he said "I was burned", then quickly changed that to "the American people were burned".  That kind of explained how he felt about this whole mess, which he is responsible for.

On another topic, the cancellation of millions of insurance policies which the insured liked, after his statement that "if you like your policy, you can keep it", he "clarified" it by adding that if the policy had not changed, you could keep it. He has now started blaming the insurance companies for changing the policies.  They were changed because the Obamacare Affordable Care Act mandated those changes.  Some of these changes included mandatory maternity and pediatric care coverage for everyone, regardless of age and circumstances.

That was a very sneaky way of getting everyone to sign up for his law - claiming that existing policies were grandfathered into the law as long as they did not change, then mandating that they be changed to include unnecessary coverage.

Very clever.  Nothing is ever his fault, someone else did it.