Tossing It Out

Monday, August 19, 2013

Why Is It Important for the United States to Give Egypt Military Aid?

United Nations "Fight For Freedom" poster (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Since Egypt is the big news item of late I thought I'd add my blog to the mix. Each year the United States gives the Egyptian military $1.5 billion. In the long run Egypt is probably a dubious friend and ally of the United States and it strikes me we are paying out something more akin to insurance or bribe money than actual aid that will benefit the western world overall. Add to that the dollars we dish out to factions in Syria and the governments of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and many other countries who likely are not rooting for the U.S. way of life.

While the U.S. doles out trillions in military aid, our government borrows like amounts from other countries like China, a country that unlikely is hoping that the U.S. will stay at the top of the heap as a world power. The United States has tons of economic problems as we see large roles of unemployed and underemployed, small businesses struggling, and cities going bankrupt. Is it prudent for our country to be borrowing so heavily so we can dish out money elsewhere?

Shouldn't the United States government be thinking more like a business and looking for bigger returns for the questionable investments of aid? Or maybe they are thinking like the mega corporations which are eating up the world's economy and soul. Who is really in charge here and do they know what they are doing?

Personally I think we need to start keeping more dollars at home. I'm not a fan of powering the military machines of most of these countries. Not unless we start getting more back from them to make it worth it for us and I don't see that happening any time soon. And not ever maybe. Let's face it, we have different interests at heart for the time being at least. Rather than nations of dependency, I'm a believer in creating cooperative capitalistic ventures who are interested in developing and sustaining their own economies while productively interacting with others. Or are there some other agendas that governments have in mind?

Should countries like the U.S. be funding the military machines of potentially dangerous governments? How does aid from the United States government benefit anyone in the long run? Can we truly consider countries like Egypt, Pakistan, and others friends and allies? Or are they just taking what they can get with an intent on eventually stabbing us in the back?

Friday, August 16, 2013

Welcome to New Jersey--Providence Isn't Only In Rhode Island

My wife and I recently returned from a massive three week 7000 mile road trip from our home near Los Angeles to the Jersey Shore and Tennessee and many points yon and about. That came down to ten full days of driving that averaged out at about twelve hours and around 700 miles per day. All told it was another great adventure--one that I thought wouldn't happen. Since we had already taken our trip to Ecuador I figured we wouldn't do the U.S. tour, but my wife decided that we should still do it and I have her to thank for this second vacation.

We'd barely been back a week from Ecuador when my wife finished up an obligation to jury duty and then told me to make arrangements for the trip. I planned taking a more northerly route through Utah and Colorado and on across the great interior of the nation. Early Saturday July 13th we hit the road and by the early evening of Tuesday July 16th we were in New Jersey sitting in the living room of one of my daughter's house when we heard what I thought was a loud knock at the front door. It was not a knock at the door.

One of my other daughters who had gone to check it out came back stunned. "Somebody hit your car!" she said.

Her words seemed so unreal that they didn't exactly register with me as I followed her to the front door. The sight that greeted me made no sense at first. A different car was now sitting where I had left ours. Our car was several feet away with its front end bashed against a street light pole that now tilted at a precarious angle.

You Should See the Other Guy!

I must admit that the damage to our car initially didn't look that bad. Looking at the damage to the offending vehicle, a sporty 2013 Toyota FRS, the old fight joke "You should see the other guy!" ran through my mind. I tried to keep a positive frame of mind considering our circumstances.

Next Time Use Your Brakes Instead of Our Car

The young man who was driving the car registered in his father's name was obviously driving way too fast and not paying attention to his driving. Texting perhaps? He had not even tried to use his brakes. His airbags were deployed. He had a broken wrist and was visibly shaken by the accident. He also probably was a bit concerned about what his father would be saying. His mother arrived on the scene shortly after the accident happened. They lived around the corner from my daughter. Two ambulances arrived on the scene, but the mother declined treatment and opted to take her "child" to the hospital herself. The police cited the kid for careless driving.

It's Much Worse Than It Looks

My wife, son-in-law, and myself all made rough guesses that the damage would come to about $5000. The appraiser who came out the next day wrote up his estimate for a couple hundred over that. After the damaged parts were dismantled and upon final investigation at the body shop, the final bill was over $8100. Remember, we had damage at both ends and there was a lot of replacing of parts to be done.

Wrecking the Car at Both Ends

Our car took a forceful hit when you consider how far it traveled after being struck and the damage to the streetlight pole. And talk about service from the power company. They were out on the scene to straighten the damaged pole before the Toyota had even been towed.

An Endorsement for Nissan Maxima

I've always liked my wife's Maxima. It's the second one she's owned. It's comfortable, drives well, and hasn't required much major maintenance. Now I know it holds up well in an accident. Like everyone said afterward, it's good that we weren't in the car when this happened. However, now I feel even more secure driving this car.

And While I'm Handing Out Praise

I was very pleased with the speed with which my claim was handled by my insurance company which is through the Auto Club of Southern California. We were quickly taken care of by Carsmetics of Brick, NJ. Since everyone knew our circumstance of being on vacation, they prioritized the repairs and got us back on the road two days after our originally scheduled departure date. While the car was in the shop we had to get a rental car in order to go to Tennessee as we had planned. Not in our plans was having to return to New Jersey to pick up our Maxima. I can't say enough good things here about the service we received from Carsmetics, but I gave them a good review at Yelp.

It's kind of amazing to consider all the traveling that we did to get to New Jersey with no problems and then to be parked in front of my daughter's house not more than a half hour and have this happen. If something like this was going to happen, what a convenient place and time for it to happen. I guess I could call it providence and I'm thankful for our safety throughout this entire amazing trip.

And as they say, "Stuff happens." Or something like that.

Have you had any experiences of providence like this? What's your favorite car? Is it the car you drive now? Have you ever dealt with a location of the Carsmetics body shop chain?

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Closing My Mind With the Assistance of the U.S. Government

My wife and I at the Equator monument.

I've always had somewhat of an adventurous spirit. Travel is a great love of mine. So you'd think when offered a trip to Ecuador I would have been thrilled at the prospect. But under the circumstances I was not.

Previously I made reference to "My Reluctant Ecuador Vacation" and briefly told about our trip with some photos and a video. That document will suffice as a record of our trip. If you missed that post and want to know about my trip then check it out. In this current post I want to explain a bit about my reluctance to embark upon the Ecuador excursion and how the United States government added to that reluctance.

Yes, controversy Monday comes on a Wednesday this week.

My Summer Vacation Plans

My wife came up with the Ecuador trip plan in May. My reaction to the suggestion was one of disappointment as we had originally planned a trip back east to New Jersey and Tennessee to visit our grandkids and my family. Since we rarely get to see any of them I had been looking forward to this trip. Going to Ecuador was pretty much going to mess up those plans as far as I could see. One trip was probably all we could afford.

My disappointment was very evident as I made it very clear that going to Ecuador was not as important to me as visiting family. Since my wife was now set on making the trip to her home country I tried my best to get into a positive mindset about going. I wasn't doing a very good job at this, but I tried to put it all in the most positive light I could. I began to do research on the internet in order to prepare myself for the upcoming trip.

State Department Deception

The website of the United States Department of State seemed like a reliable place to go for information. What I read there about traveling in Ecuador began to make me have second thoughts about going and my reluctance on taking the trip was rekindled. From the website I gained a perception that Ecuador was not necessarily the best place to go. Not wanting to go probably made me read more into the website warnings than was there, but still I was seeing all sorts of cautionary flags waving before me. Thinking more on the idea of the trip I told my wife I wasn't going to go.

After further consideration, as I was on the web arranging my wife's flight, I decided that it would be wrong for me to let my wife go without me. I booked tickets for both of us. In the end I was glad that I did because it was a great trip. While in Ecuador we encountered none of the problems mentioned on the Department of State site. Maybe there was some fact there, but I think the dangers were greatly exaggerated. I would go to Ecuador again if the opportunity arose and I would highly recommend the experience to anyone.

How Much Are We Being Deceived?

My experience with this trip combined with all of the things that have been coming to light in the news of late makes me ask: Can we trust our government?

Actually this is a question that has been asked for quite some time by many. In the past I've often had a sense of paranoia about our government. Then after 9/11 I got caught up like many others in a certain aura of patriotic fervor. My job loss in 2009 began to send me back into a sense of doubt which has been heightened in the past few years. Government agencies instill fear of travel outside our borders while doling out trillions of dollars to dubious countries like Egypt, Syria, and Pakistan. Government agencies are intruding into lives of individuals and organizations that are not in a favorable light with the current administration.

There is increasing evidence that the government is spying on all of us. For what purpose? The sadder story is that many of us don't care much and even if we do there isn't much we can do about it. Call me a conspiracy theorist and you'll be telling it like it is.

What do you think about the U.S. or any other government for that matter? Can governments be trusted? Are we heading toward one world government domination by powers that are not in the interest of good? What government propaganda hogwash have you fallen for in the past only to discover you've been duped?