CAREER UNEMPLOYMENT MONEY RECIPIENTS = POLITICIANS

Let me tell you something about politicians and unemployment insurance.

Politicians could not get paid if they did not have someone else's money to support them.  

Do they think that they DESERVE campaign contributions?  If they had real jobs they would not have the time to go beg for money.

Then they get elected and the citizens pay them still yet for doing nothing productive.

Do politicians consider themselves to be EMPLOYED?

I sure don't.  

They are professional liars and bribe takers on the perpetual dole.

Unemployment insurance?  

Be a politician and make a career out of it.

AMERICA, BEST EVER? GOOD WINTER FISHING FOR LEIF AND NOT MUCH MORE

I received an email A short time back.  I receive a lot of emails.

Every now and then some of my friends forget who it is that they have on their "forwards" list and I get some of their sinfully ignorant scribblings.  Like this one.  It starts off with Obama, but that's only the wick...the bomb comes later.

You said:

The second term of Barack Obama will be the final nail in the coffin for the legacy of the white Christian males who discovered, explored, pioneered, settled and developed the greatest Republic in the history of mankind.

Discovered? Discovered what? They discovered that you could not get to India by sailing west from Europe is what they discovered, or so they thought.  If your white Christian males had talked to the white Christian male fishermen from Scandinavia they would have known what existed west of them from those who had been visiting North American shores for at least six centuries before.  So you call that discovering something, eh.

Explored?  Maybe I can give you that one, but I do know that they were accompanied by the natives who didn’t have to discover anything because they knew where they were going.

Pioneered?  Ha.  Just because they had never been there, didn’t mean that they had anything to pioneer.  Just because they wanted to live in wooden houses rather than something less doesn’t mean that they were discovering, exploring or pioneering anything.

Settled and Developed?  I suppose that if you mean causing natives to walk west for a thousand miles because you want their land settling and developing I guess you can do that.  Most people would call that stealing and persecuting.

If you call genocide and rapacious killing settling and developing I suggest that you buy another dictionary. I also suggest that you ask yourself who was here first.  It strikes me that history shows us that it was the natives, be they whom they may, the Scandinavians and multiple Indigenous Nations…Wasn’t it an Italian guy from Genoa who sold the Queen of Spain into financing his trip west?   Sounds to me like he and the Anglo Saxon Christians who followed were hell bent on wiping out the pagan “savages” who were here first at all costs.  You’re real proud of that, I suppose.  Neither the Spanish nor the Anglo Saxon white Christians have a very glorious history of treating the natives of this great land mass in a Christian way.  A short read of the Bible would show you that.  If you don’t like being turned into the minority, tough.  Just be glad that the non-Anglo Saxon Christians of the 21^st century don’t treat you like your forebears treated theirs.  If they did, you’d be dead in short order…or, if you’re lucky, they’d sell you to someone for whom you could pick cotton.

…greatest Republic in the history of mankind… Yep, greater than Egypt ever was?  Greater than Babylon ever was? Greater than China ever was?  Greater than Rome ever was?  Greater than Greece ever was?  Greater than the Inca Nation ever was? 

They’re all dead now, and so will this nation die just like they did…maybe somewhere in the early 2100’s. Maybe by then someone will figure out how important it is for a great nation to have a single payer health care system.  It will take the successful dictator to install it.

Ah, the New World Order…George HW Bush used to dream about that a lot.  His son was quite a dreamer too.  Dreamed all the way through school, forgot to learn how to speak English but learned how to dodge the draft. 

As to shysters, I would encourage you to look around and see that there are well nigh 1,000 shysters in D.C. alone, and from every corner of the nation.  You don’t have to go to Chicago to find them.  Just take a look next door.

People like me are completely politically irrelevant…That’s right. You are irrelevant, politically, and so am I.  It’s not because the Blacks, Latinos, Homosexuals, Abortionists, Asians, Feminists, Union Members, Environmental Extremists, the Media, Hollywood nor the “Forever Needy” have taken over.  It is because you and I are not politically involved and we don’t do anything but write our opinions for others to read.  These groups, or some like them, have existed in all the great civilizations, many of which I have named above.  If you don’t believe me, read a little more of the Bible and maybe a history book or two.

…or concern myself with the aforementioned coalition which has surrendered our culture, our heritage and our traditions without a shot being fired. 

“Coalition?”  “Surrendered our culture?”  What coalition?  What culture?  Are you disappointed that you are not part of a coalition?  And whose culture?  Norman Rockwell’s front porch culture?  The culture that slaughtered the natives who were here first?  The culture that went to Africa to “rendition” the natives there so that they could be enslaved here?  The culture that wants to de-unionize labor so that workers can be abused and under paid?  The culture that wants to shrink the government so that OSHA, EEOC, NLRB, IRS, SS, FDIC, FNMA, et al would disappear so that the privileged could run rough-shod over the “workers” as the “settlers” and “developers” ran rough-shod over the natives?  Now, that’s culture!

I accept that I am politically irrelevant, but not for the same reasons that you enumerate.  It just so happens that I see a lot of Christianity in our country, but not in your article.  You claim that Christian white people made this the greatest country that ever existed.  They might be white, but they are far from Christian.  They hate Blacks, they hate Latinos, they hate Homosexuals, they hate Feminists, they hate those of the political party that they oppose, they hate the unemployed, they hate unions, they hate government regulation, they hate the needy and they hate the government that takes care of those who need to be cared for, they hate their voting districts so they gerrymander them to suit themselves.  Christ was not a hater.  Christ did not give us a mission to hate, to enslave, to belittle, to abuse, to lie, to judge falsely. 

At least in OUR time, we knew and understood Valor!  Really?  What was your time?  I remember when the Nips, the Gerry’s and the Wops were on the front pages of our newspapers.  I remember when my father hired a black man and was told by the owner of the business to get rid of him, or else.  Valor.

I remember when Japanese Americans were taken off their land and imprisoned. Valor.  I remember when Medgar Evers was shot and killed.  Valor.  I remember when the Atomic Bomb ruined the lives of thousands of human beings by its after effects.  Valor.  I remember when white Christian Americans would do anything they could to not be drafted (I’m talking the 40’s).  Valor.  I remember when boys were old enough to kill and be killed but couldn’t vote.  Valor.  I could go on, but I won’t, because at my age I could fill the page with examples of “Valor” that you are blind to.  Maybe I should not pass up the chance to mention the Valor of a famous white Christian male by the name of Richard Nixon.

The next time you receive a writing full of prejudicial hatred and ignorance think twice before you press “forward.”  I recommend that you answer the original sender and tell him/her to consider whether or not what has been sent to you is of a high enough Christian quality to be sent on.  Short of that, it might be better for your soul if you did not own the sentiments of the piece right from the top and simply press “delete.”

I suggest that because I happen to be one white Catholic Christian who knows his history and his Bible and his moral doctrine and is not afraid to confront people who spread hatred and discontent through the world via the Internet.

Furthermore, as a final comment particular to this case, I for one do not believe that this is the greatest republic [small “r”] that ever existed in the history of mankind as alleged by the author of the original article.  

When you send this forward, don’t forget to mention my name.  I am not afraid to own up to what I have written here. I am not an anonymous blogger or anything like that.  

I am Paul Dion.  And you are ?

USA ON-GOING INSANITY

"Mr. and Mrs. America from border to border, from coast to coast and all ships at sea.  Let's go to press."
[Walter Winchell]

It has been determined by the best minds in the entire country that we have all become irretrievably, invincibly, incorrigibly entrenched in our incurable insanity.  We persist in repeating the same governing behavior over and over again hoping that the more we lurch from 90 day period to 90 day period the closer we will come to solving the perennial and persistent problems that beset our existence as a nation and a people.  These problems are well known to us all...Unrest over our immigration laws and our inability or unwillingness to live by them;  our out of control budgetary situtation; our insidious "campaign contribution" bribery system; our rampant and voracious appetite for gathering private information about our citizenry;  our staunch and militant insistence that every citizen should be armed with the most lethal weapon that exists; our contentious and angry conviction that our health care system is the best in the entire world inflamed by our equally vicious attitude that it is not necessary to make it available to every citizen through a single payer arrangement; our overt rigging of the voting districts of our municipalities in order to assure victory in each and every election; our deeply ingrained conviction that we are bigger and better than any other nation in the world, in every conceivable category of human behavior, despite very clear evidence to the contrary.  I dare not continue because there isn't enough time in the next 90 day governing cycle to fix all these behaviors.  Better that we just continue arguing about debt and taxes and let the rest go to hell in a handbasket.
Lest we exercise our index finger overly much by pointing it in the direction of Washington D.C. it might be good for us to name ourselves as participants in this insanity since we are the ones who insist in electing and re-electing the denizens of that enclave over and over again in the hope of changing the outcome. 
Yes, Mr. and Mrs. America, this is global insanity. 

I'M VOTING NOW, AND HERE'S HOW

CHOOSE BETWEEN OPENING THE GATE FOR HIM AND...

   Paying the federal police

   Feeding a hungry child

   Protecting the country in case of a chemical spill

   Protecting the country by tracking the tropical storm

   Keeping the Dept. of Homeland Security fully functional

   Keeping Federal courts fully operational (they do have a backlog)

   Keeping the EEOC open

   Keeping the Import-Export bank open

   Keeping the FCC open

   Keeping the FederalElection Commission open

   Keeping the NLRA open

   Keeping the Maritime Commission open

   Keeping the Mine Safety Inspection agency open

   Keeping the Federal Trade Commission open

   Keeping the International Boundary commission open

   Keeping the NLRB open

   Keeping OSHA open and running

   Keeping the Office of Government Ethics operational (Really?)

   Keeping the Postal Service Inspector General on the job

   Keeping the USDA fully functional

   

I have noticed one thing over the last three days.  

A steady stream of Republican party, Washington DC humanoid specimens imposing a high, obstreperous, foot stamping, high pitch voice whining, sight and sound polluting infantile foot stomping behavior at the fact that they can't get their poor constituents into the very parks that they, themselves have shut down.

There are two things that twist in my craw about this. First is that none of them seems to give a damn about the financial harm that this situation is inflicting on hundreds of thousands of "simple people" in this country who have a lot more to worry about than the padlocked gate of a federal monument. I, for one have never set foot on one solitary square inch of Washington DC, and I don't consider myself to be any the worse for wear because of it.

Second.  I find myself deeply troubled by the fact that these idiots have time to take the opportunity to make news outside the gates of a park when they should be in the halls of their legislative chambers doing something about relieving the country from this cancer that they have implanted on it.  I wonder where the Democrats are at this time.  I haven't seen a one of them grandstanding for the cameras lately.  Have you?

I am very happy that these humanoid denizens from the sulphuric depths of Hades are on the bricks.  I plan to do what little I can to make them stay there for a long time. 

I have never belonged to a political party.  I have absolutely no intention of ever being identified as a member of one.  I vote in every election and I have never voted a straight ticket in 50 years.  I have decided that in the future I will never again vote for anyone.  The next two times I vote I will be voting against every single incumbent on the ticket...Every one.  Indiscriminately.  I will do that because I have decided to have some fun in my advancing age.  What the hell, we don't have a government anyway, we have a sandbox for children who want rich people to pay them and tell them what to do while they play in the sandbox.  Sometimes I wish that someone would run on the dictator ticket.  That would accomplish a few things. It would make the small government, war mongering wing nuts happy and keep the socialist democrats quiet because more than likely we would then get the single payer health care system that we need and that would really work.

For the time being, I suppose that I am going to have to suffer with our third world version of a health care system called medicare, and live in a country that has one of the most highly sophisticated legal bribery systems on the planet.

Oh, by the way, don't forget to vote against raising the debt limit.  That will really be the seed of the birth of the "Hello there, I'm Mephistophiles and I want to be your first friendly dictator.  Please vote for me."

   

CONSERVATIVE CATHOLIC WRITER: I'M NOW FOR SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

"No Paul we do not have to defend this claptrap article. Nor do we have to for all the others that will come down our pipeline in the future. I sent it to you so you might help me separate the chaffe from grain. It got my attention that's why I sent it to you. BTW 1 claptrap article out of 40,000 for the month do not make for a bad harvest. And believe it or not I do scan through them all everyday, several times a day"

The fact of the matter is, "It is too late."  It is past history.   It appeared.  You read it.  You sent it to me.  I was buried in work. I finally read it.  Told you that it is bad.  So you took it down.  So what?  It's too late.  One article out of 40,000 is a fallacious argument since the following of the one author is more than 1.  I flunked Math, but I did not flunk logic.  Statistics are invalid in the spiritual world where one act of virtue is enough and one immoral act is too much.  They are also invalid in a world where 400,000,000 humans have smartphones.  In a world with 12 or 13 time zones.  You cannot use the statistics argument with me.  I work for an enterprise that works around the clock, in all these time zones, has about 500 contractors and over 1,000 clients, and therefore can, at best, react to the interlocutions that flood the central bureau every hour of every day.  I resent having to be re-active to the world in the Kingdom of God, instead of pro-active.
If that sounds unrealistic, out of touch, quaint, other-worldly, old school, or whatever other adjective you want to use, fine.  I will remind you that it is the stone that makes the waves and the shore, no matter how expansive, can only feel the effects of the stone's act.  I refuse to be nothing but the shore.
It's admirable that you scan everything that comes across every day, but I am not impressed and here's why.  Like Don Quixote, your jousting against how many hundreds of thousands of windmills?  You are not more effective than the farmer who makes his rounds five times every day and closes the barn after the horse has been stolen.  You are nothing but a small protrusion from the shore.

"BTW, Deacon Kendra who posted this is a very conservative Catholic. And is one of the more respected ones. I am of the opinion he posted it to stimulate conversation not to convert to the subject person's position."
I will tell you that in the tradition of the Church, communicating things just to stimulate conversation is forbidden. Especially when you are stimulating conversation in the public at large, a largely ill informed public, I might add.  This is called the "Systematic Doubt."  See, there's even a name for it.  So, don't think you've made any headway on me with that one.  In this case, a deacon floating the position for homosexual marriage to millions of smartphone users is sure to cause the twisting and mangling of the weaker consciences in the audience. Not to mention the glee of those who hate the Catholic church to begin with.

You're going to have to do better than to tell me that our only option is to be re-active.  I am not going on prevent defense in matters of religion.  If that is the life of the 21st century, then I'm glad that my time is measured and my fuse is short.  And if, indeed, we are reduced to nursing our product after it has been bitten, I staunchly and irretrievably refuse to be a part of life in that environment.  I am a missionary, not a nurse; I am a teacher, not a cop.

A NASCENT TINY LEFT WING CONSPIRACY

Stick with me here, you'll see

I want to present a plan that will surely free many people from the devilish dungeon of falling deeper and deeper into debt.

My plan is also sure to rescue many more people from the clutches of the avaricious, loan purveyors who tend to make Shakespeare's Shylock look like a kindly grandfather.

We live in a society that doesn't thrive on logic.  It thrives instead on a well devised system of usury, designed to circumvent whatever laws that could be in place to prevent it.  I, however have discovered how to use the "Shylock-ness" of the system against it.

Remember the two prongs of the proposition:

Rescue borrowers from Debt <<<<>>>>Crush the Debtors

It dawned on me the other day.  A few years back, I received a phone call from a sweet, smooth, youthful female voice, lightly sprinkled with aromatic curry, but mellifluously cadenced.  The voice was explaining to me that if I didn't pay $ X00.00 before 

"0A/0B/CCCC" I would be reported to all major credit bureaux and my credit would thereafter be negatively impacted.  I responded to the sweet cadence with a quick, sharp bistouri monosyllabic ripost that I had no positive credit rating already, so she could go soak her head in the Ganges for all I cared.  I told her that her employer would get his money, and then some because of the penalties, which sums would go toward paying her paltry wages.

Goodbye, sweetie.

But, the conspiracy plan hit me just the other day.  I don't know why it took so long.

The lenders can be killed by their very own "security."

Here's how it goes:

I have 6 outstanding credit accounts that I have to pay into every month.

You have 6 such accounts.

We all have 6 such accounts.

We all behave such that we don't impoverish ourselves by driving up too many late fees, but just enough so that the plan can work and we get "reported" to the credit police.

So now, after a short while, we all have such low credit scores, say 150, for example, that no one will lend to us.

So we have now satisfied all our late fees and we are back on the minimum payment level.  It is important to drag this out for as long as possible.  While we have at least one such minimum payment as an obligation, no one will lend us anything.

So now we are, at best, on a debit card basis, and at worst, a cash only basis.  But, the lenders are making less and less money.  No more late fees, declining interest payments and, by their very own rules, declining loan approvals.  Yeah, the creeps are in trouble and they are dying by their very own criminal tool, the credit bureau.  

Then, here's the great schadenfreude moment.  It starts with the glossy mail offer to raise our credit.  Wwhhhrrrrrrrrr, shredder. After so many of those, here comes the slick snake oil telephone call.  I know, I've had this pleasure a couple of times.  

Oil Can Harry:  "We can get you a credit card rate of 5% plus a 2% rewards program."

Yours Truly, Krusty Kurmujjin:  "Get lost idiot.  Can't you see that my credit score is 150?"

OCH:  "Oh, you have such a wonderful payment record that we can make an exception."

YT, KK:  "Good.  I got only two more payments to make and then maybe you'll get laid off because there'll be no more income."

OCH:  Oh, don't worry, that won't happen."

YT, KK:  "Dream on, Bucko, I got friends.  The fact that you're calling means that we are winning.  Bye, now, Sweetheart."

CLICK!

See, that's how it works.  I think we can win this war.  Kill 'em with their own sword.  

CURSIVE IS A CURSEVORD IN DIS VORLD -- THE PRICE OF PROGRESS -- BANKRUPTCY

                   

 Hi.  Welcome to my retro post, almost totally handwritten, in what used to be known as longhand but now masquerades as cursive...in my very own, arthritically damaged handwriting. Enjoy!

Needless to say...

I was called into the head office and told that my services were no longer desired.
I have subsequently learned that the 
kindergarten teachers can't read long hand writing either.
Maybe we should go back to hieroglyphics...they have such pretty birds on their walls!

DEACON: “I’M THE CLERGY” NOT!

It is always dismaying when the statements of fact become weaker than the declaration of social status.  It happened the other day when the facts lost out to the status and the status declaration was triggered by a reaction to the “ [fill in the blank] Police.”

The world is full of buffoons.  None, or almost none of whom are more massive than those of the clergy, or the almost clergy, or the wanna be clergy.  Deacons are especially good examples of clerical buffoonery.  They have a very decided proclivity to look down on the laity.  Sometimes, dare I say, often more so than the priests themselves.  It seems as though they feel obliged to assert their newly established selves in the role of an “insider” in the life of the Church.  There is some type of pride that kicks in and makes them proclaim to the world that they are no longer “laity” but “clergy.”

This is especially noticeable in the Catholic church of the 21^st century where the mix of highly capable lay people and clergy is fast approaching numbers that favor the laity.  Even the influx of ordained permanent  deacons is not great enough to staunch the trend.  There are many lay people with long term church ministry experience coupled with middle level and even terminal educational degrees who are employed in the parishes to collaborate with the clergy in the mission of the Church.  Few clergy (in the United States anyway) have significant college degrees.  They have spent a lot of time in school but much of the schooling did not lead to a graduation in the secular meaning of the term.  Even fewer of them have degrees that indicate a major in a Church oriented discipline.  So, it is not rare to see a flare of anger from a cleric who is being gainsaid by a lay person.  A paid lay person.  On the same staff.  Yes, a paid professional with as much or even more ministerial experience and education than the cleric. 

Sadly the flare sometimes comes at a moment when a seemingly insignificant item is at issue.  And come, it does and it matters not who may or may not be witnessing the episode. 

Take the case of the deacon and the lay person who got entangled over an issue of ritual correctness.  The deacon was making a clear mistake in the directives that he was giving to a group of people who were to participate in a liturgy scheduled for the Easter Vigil ceremonies.  The deacon was expounding a ritual sequence wildly off the mark.  Now, All communications about this matter have been clear, concise, timely and very, very official.  The lay person in charge of the overall management of the liturgy was present at the time and made an intervention concerning the erroneous nature of the directives given by the deacon.  He took great offense at being called out by the “Liturgy Police” and immediately lost his cool and in a trice, after a quick exchange of cross words he ended the exchange by declaring himself “the clergy.”  It doesn’t end there. 

The lay person sent the clergyman the history of the communications as well as copies of the actual documents now in full force.  No response to that, but a good dose of vitriolic invective as a response.  Through it all, he remains “the clergy” and she remains “the laity.”  He rermains "right" and she, "wrong" and the flash-fast explosion of anger was lit by her.

A quick repartee about the “Liturgy Police.”  First, the only individuals who fear or dislike the police are those who know that they are not doing the right thing and are unhappy that they got caught at it.  Not a very brightly glowing endorsement for the clergyman in this case.  In fact it is as clear a self indictment as one could hope to find. 

This truth makes the tidal wave of self exculpating arguments laughable at best and disgusting at worst.  In this case the overwhelming stream of pseudo theology containing no logic, many reinforcing emotional repetitions and some pseudo psychological assertions are a combination of both, buffoonery and malice.  Just like the person who runs the red light spills out all over the citing officer.  Same attitude, same result.  

A right remains right and erroneous remains erroneous.

The other thought that I have is about the deacon clergy [I know that’s a coined term].   I’m against it.  If married men can be ordained to the diaconate, they can be ordained to the priesthood.  I also believe that the Tradition of how deacons came to be is on my side; at least in the way that I have come to look at the tradition of the diaconate.  I’m not against the diaconate.  I am against the clergy-creep that has come about.  Read the story of how deacons came into existence.  (Acts 6: 1 – 7)  Read it.  In a nutshell, deacons came about so that the Apostles could concentrate on spreading the word to the Jews.  They were neglecting the marginalized Greeks (think Gentiles), so they needed some help to run the soup kitchen.  It says clearly, “it isn’t right for us to set aside the proclamation of God’s word in order to serve tables.”  Why do we as Church allow them to operate as mini-priests?  For the greater part, they do not do it well.  For the greater part they are proud to be clergy, they act like clergy, and, in this one case they hammer people with their status and they forget (as does the Church in the US, at least) what their position is in the Apostolic Succession – table servers for the marginalized.

It is my humble opinion that they should stick to serving tables and stay out of the sanctuary.

MORENO VALLEY, CALIFORNIA - CHAKRA 1

I have decided to be polite and refrain from using foul language on these pages.  For the time being.
I have been living in Moreno Valley, California since January of 2005.  In that time I have discovered that it is the worst place in which I have ever made my domicile.  It is strategically placed on the map of the USA with regards the bodily function for which it is best suited.  Believe me, I feel it every single day.

I have come to the conclusion that there are not 3 businesses in this city that can be trusted to deliver a quality product and/or service on time.  Over the eight years that I have lived here I have learned to take my business to other cities for my made-to-order needs.  Moreno Valley has absolutely no concept of quality and punctuality.  It doesn't matter whether it is printing, household appliance installation services or service quotes, prescription drug delivery, barbers, you name it and I can find you a buffoon within a city block.  Not a soul who delivers these things has any concept of how to deal with customer expectations.  I take that back.  There is ONE soul with whom I have been satisfied over time.  ONE.  How's that for a definition of a great place to live?

Several years ago I was living in Rome, Italy.  It was in the sixties, some fifteen years after the War.  Fortunately, I was a student then and I did not have to put too many demands on the business community outside of the sheer basics of life.  I found out that it was a good thing that such was the case.  Rome was not, it turned out, the most customer oriented city on the face of the earth.  The Romans take care of tourists like hardly any other city I have ever been to.  But to long term residents and to each other, they are not that great.  That being said, Rome is like heaven compared to Moreno Valley.

Today, I put the last nail into another coffin in Moreno Valley.  We went to get a picture framed at an enterprise that had been quite satisfactory for the few times that we have patronized them in the last two or three years. Then they showed the dark side of their environment.  First, they did not submit an order [to their factory] that we communicated clearly was a required artifact for an important presentation we were preparing.  
We then negotiated a delivery date and sealed the deal.  When I went to claim the finished product on the appointed date, it was nowhere to be found.  I left with their assurances that they would have it on Tuesday [in three days].  It turned out that they clean forgot that it had not been outsourced yet.  I found that out when I received a telephone call [a miracle in Moreno Valley] saying that they had forgotten to outsource the job.  They did not say that they had not yet found the work order with the receipt.  I told them at the time that we no longer needed the finished product but that we could find other uses for it down the line.  When I asked for the pickup date I was told that it would be ready for pick-up on Saturday.  Today is Saturday.  I went, and of course, it was not there.  The reason, "We only found the work order yesterday.  It should be here sometime tomorrow."  
"Good," I replied.  "When you get it, sell it for two hundred dollars and send me a check for fifty-five dollars and we'll be even."  
"Just give me your address and I'll bring it to you as soon as it gets here," says she.  "I'll refund you half of what you paid."
"Forget it, keep it.  I don't need it any more anyway."
I left her in her bamboozled state, a blank-eyed and bewildered buffoon.

No, this is not an isolated incident.

I don't need the fifty-five.  It's just another tuition payment to the school of hard knocks.  It's the only school of any kind that is a sure bet to teach you about life in Moreno Valley.  In eight years I have found one good service provider:  my computer guy.  I must confess that I am wondering how long it will take before he implodes.  That's why I have a back-up machine.