What's YOUR safety worth?

I read a classified help wanted ad today for a Police Chief.   The starting salary was between $20,000 and $26,000, depending upon qualifications.  If you look at the low end of that pay scale, that's less than $10.00 an hour.  This is someone who is going to be responsible for carrying a gun, putting their life in possible danger every time they go to work, to make sure ourselves and our loved ones are safe, and the laws of the country are obeyed. 

That's rediculous! 

We pay athletes millions of dollars annually, and all they do is entertain us.  Would they save our lives if we were in danger?  We'd like to think so, but that's "not their job!" 

So how do we make up the difference?

 Well, for one thing, professional athletics sell paraphrenalia with the name of the team, a particular team member, and other "stuff" to help pay their salaries.  Cheese head anyone?  And we'd never mistake the average Joe for being the athlete whose name he (or especially she) is wearing on his or her back.    But that won't work for law enforcement. 

Someone wearing a t-shirt or hat that says LAPD or FBI or something like that may actually be mistaken for a law enforcement professional.  And, God forbid, they also have a gun which they may or may not know how to use properly, well...you can see the ramifications here.

The most obvious solution is a tax of some sort to insure generating more money to pay for these people.  But then everybody abhors the thought of another tax, even if it were as innocuous as a 1/8 cent sales tax, which has been proposed in some areas.   You'd never miss that 1/8th cent, even when it multiplies (think 1 cent for every $8.00 spent.)  Nope you'd rather save that money, and risk a lack of professional police help when you need it.   

As for me, I'm willing to pay a couple extra cents, or even dollars,  for the priceless gift of safety...Day 199!

The basketball grinch stole Christmas!

Yup, we were doing fine without it!  So what day do they finally devide to get back to playing?  Of course it had to be Christmas!  Thank heavens the folks we had dinner with, were not interested in basketball, and we all watched the History Channel instead.  Very interesting program on WW II and George S. Patton; quite the intriguing individual.  One of our dinner guests even had some interesting stories to tell about him.

If we had to watch sports on TV, we were going to watch the Chicago Bears/Green Bay Packers game, although we knew how that would turn out.  Oh, we really didn't know, but we assumed, since Green Bay only lost one game all year, and the Bears were starting their third or fourth quarterback!  We saw a few minutes of the beginning of the 4th quarter...enough said there!

But no basketball watching for us...on Day 198!

Merry Christmas? Black Friday follow-up...

Did you know you could have regrets over Black Friday purchases?  That all the time spent because you woke up extra early, or never went to bed; stood in line; fought crowds that may or may not have had someone with pepper spray amongst them, may have all been in vain?

Evidently many people got caught up in the hype, shopped until they dropped, went home, added up what they had spent (or charged) and then looked at the monthly bill pile they ignored as they were too busy honing their bargain-hunting skills.  So what does a person do?  Well, you return the stuff you really didn't want or need, which of course means that some of the merchandise has been rendered unsaleable, as it's been opened, or worn, or somehow used.  This is especially true in electronics. 

Who's at fault?  Both the sellers, for putting the idea out there that you need these electronics, and the people who think the only way to get that good deal, is to stand in line, and fight your way into the store of your choice.  There must be a helluva markup that the sellers can put up with this revenue loss.  The buyers have remorse for having to return those products so they can pay their bills, but no remorse for having made the product unuseable for a another customer.

What's wrong with spending within your means?  I also read about a woman who's "$400 toys for her 4-year old" layaway was generously paid off by an anonymous donor.  While I applaud the random act of kindness, I question the woman who buys $400 worth of gifts for a 4 year old who's probably happier with the boxes the toys came in.

When I was a kid, I got a lot of stuff I didn't want...socks, underwear, etc.  But I was happy to at least have a present to open.  If I didn't get the latest rage toy, gizmo, gadget, it was not the end of the world.   Eventually I got to play with one whether it was older and used, or in the posession of a friend.  And now that I'm older, if I see something I missed in my youth, I can enjoy looking at it, and remembering, and even buying it if I'm so inspired.

Not quite Scrooge, but not quite broke either,  on Day 197!