U.S. Senate Saves Us and the U.S. from Boehner The Bonehead Boner's Blunder

When I wrote the October 1, 2013 Roland Hansen Commentary, USA Government Shutdown Is The Product of A Boner!, I had not yet seen the little gem on YouTube entitled, The GOP's little rule change they hoped you wouldn't notice. Here take a look at it for yourself:

And now, we can thank Democrat Harry Reid, Republican Mitch McConnell, and the United States Senate for saving all of us and the United States government from the blunder foisted upon the American citizenry by Boehner The Bonehead Boner.

Here, just read this article, Gov't Reopens After Congress Ends 16-Day Shutdown.

American Government Shutdown Creates American Broadcast News Media Shutdown on Syria

Prior to October 1, 2013, the American Broadcast News Media carried numerous stories daily about the Unrest in Syria that has been going on for over two years.

Then October 1 rolled around and the partial American government shutdown (ref: United States federal government shutdown of 2013) began. As an aside to all the rigamarole concerning this American government shutdown, I have read a couple interesting articles online concerning the shutdown; they are:

• Government shutdown: Most Americans blame Republicans. But will it matter in 2014? (+video)
• Establishment Republicans Assail Tea Party Over Government Shutdown

So, what has been happening in Syria? I sure as heck cannot tell by listening to American broadcast news media; I haven't seen or heard anything from them about Syria since the American government shutdown began. It is as if the only news is this darn government shutdown and nothing is happening in Syria, at least nothing newsworthy according to what is not being reported by the American broadcast media.

Has the American government shutdown shut down the civil unrest in Syria? Not really. But the ineptness of the print and broadcast media in the United States of America in regards to reporting of the news would make that seem likely if one were prone to reaching a conclusion based on conjecture.

Inquiring minds like mine have turned to other media in order to learn what has going on in Syria since the first of October. Here, if you want to find out for yourself, go on over to BBC News Middle East and The Telegraph Middle East Syria News, both of which originate in the UK, and also over to The Guardian Syria pages, US office of the UK parent company the Guardian Media Group.

I say shame on the American Broadcast News Service for doing a half-baked job of news reporting. If you want to know what's new, you cannot depend on American television news programs. It is no wonder that I often turn to news reporting agencies outside of the United States, usually those from UK  (as cited in the preceding paragraph) and from Scandinavian countries.

End This Government Shutdown

Roland Louis Hansen Talks DIRT!

Our adversarial political system in the United States of America has run rampant with name-calling, finger-pointing, laying of blame, and downright nastiness. The end result is nothing gets done for the betterment of our nation as a whole. Well, I have something to say about it.

"The name-calling needs to stop. The personal attacks and belittling of individuals based solely on different political perspective needs to stop. All Americans need to pull together. Divisiveness will not accomplish anything positive. It is time for what I call some real D.I.R.T., i.e. Democrats, Independents, (and) Republicans (working) Together. If we, the American people, set aside the distrust, if we set aside the hostility, if we set aside the verbal tirades, if we set aside the casting of stones, if we set aside pointing out blame, if we set aside pettiness, we just might be able to work together for the mutual benefit of all Americans." - Roland Louis Hansen

USA Government Shutdown Is The Product of A Boner!

NEWS ALERT! NEWS ALERT! NEWS ALERT!
Government Shutdown Is The Product of A Boner!
Well, the normal, everyday operations of the national government of the United States of America have come to a standstill, for the most part - national security, military, and some other aspects of the federal government operations excepted. Here, read this:

Congress misses deadline, sending government into partial shutdown

And now, read this:

"Most people in the body politic are taking a look at this and saying, 'A pox on both of your houses. It should never have reached this point.'" - Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois)

"'We can't win,' said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., adding that 'sooner or later' the House would have to agree to Democrats' demands for a simple, straightforward funding bill reopening the government."

(Re: Budget spending bills)
"Until now, such bills have been routinely passed with bipartisan support, ever since a pair of shutdowns 17 years ago engineered by then-Speaker Newt Gingrich severely damaged Republican election prospects and revived then-President Bill Clinton's political standing. ..... This time tea party activists mobilized by freshman Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, mounted a campaign to seize the must-do measure in an effort to derail Obamacare. GOP leaders voiced reservations and many Republican lawmakers predicted it wouldn't work. Some even labeled it 'stupid.'"

The above citations have been extracted from the article "Congress plunges nation into government shutdown" which you may read in its entirety simply by clicking on its title.

Oh wait!
Did I spell that correctly? Boner, I mean.
Hmmm, let me see -- and you can also, if you take a look over at this!

Barack Obama and The Affordable Care Act, aka ObamaCare

Ladies and Gentlemen, 
The President of the United States of America, Barack Obama:



Now, do yourself a favor, get the facts, click over to:

ObamaCare Facts: Facts on the Obama Health Care Plan
ObamaCare Facts 2013 - We Tell you the Facts, Not The Talking Points

Retail Businesses Shaft Low-income Persons

In today's modern world, everything seems to be going digital as it relates to technology. It has happened with computers, televisions, telephones, etc. Heck the digital trends keep on coming with reckless disregard of unintended consequences.

One of these unintended consequences hits the people who can least afford it. I refer to the people who are low income, those who have less than moderate income. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 146.4 million American citizens are low income; that is 48 percent of the population in the United States of America. That is a lot of people! The poorest of the low income people live in poverty; and, less than a year ago, back in November of 2012, "more than 16% of the population lived in poverty in the United States" as you may read in the embedded link contained in the quoted phrase.

One of the ways that people of all income levels can save money, a way to purchase items and especially grocery items at a lower cost and therefore get the biggest bang for the buck, is through the use of money saving coupons.

Awhile back, I noticed restaurants and coffee shops had started to advertise that you could download (or is that upload?) money saving coupons onto your smart phone or some other such digital device. That did not help me because I have no such device; I do so as a matter of choice. So, because of my choice not to have these farshtunkene technological devices that cost money to obtain and then maintain, I lose out on those potential savings. Gee, I wonder how many digital coupons it would take to pay for the cost of the digital device. I am now reminded of the people who assert one can never really recoup the cost of a hybrid vehicle through the cost savings on fuel. But, I digress. Back to topic.

Well, it now seems that even grocery stores have gone digital with their coupons. Judy, my wife, a coupon diva in her own right, was looking over a very fancy, colorful, probably costly, printed Kroger advertisement and noticed that rather than having a coupon appear in their print advertising, they had this digital stuff.

That which Judy saw and read in the Kroger advertisement infuriated her to the point that she wrote the Judy Hansen Commentary Digital coupons (click on over and read it).

I share Judy's consternation. For goodness sake, the powers that be over at Kroger, not only did not put a print version of the coupons in their high-priced ad, they informed people to "Download digital coupons at Kroger.com" as if everyone in the world had the ability and the wherewithal to do so! How the heck does Kroger (and other grocery stores and retailers) expect low-income persons to benefit from their darn digital coupons???

The people who can best benefit and who need to buy products at a lower price cannot afford the technological digital devices and supporting technological paraphernalia required to realize the cost savings from those freaking digital coupons. That is what leads me to shout out:

Retail Businesses Shaft Low-income Persons

Why You Are In Debt

Have you ever wondered why other people or G-d forbid why you yourself are in debt?

Well, I think I may have found an answer in a YouTube video that has a very interesting explanation. While I like the message, I do not necessarily like the language used to impart the message.

WARNING -- NSFW ...
Watch and Listen to "George Carlin - Why You Are In Debt"


On the other hand, if you do not fault THE MAN, then maybe you really oughta read 28 Ways to Waste Your Money; after all, when examining the reason(s) of why you are in debt, the fault may lay with you.

911, 9/11, 9-1-1, September 11.

You may read 9/11/2001 over at Judy's Jewels.

When I read Judy's Jewels blog entry about 911 of 2001 along with its beautiful graphic image, my response was simply this:

We would like to live as we once lived, but history will not permit it.
John F. Kennedy
Quotes

Oh, by the way, I wrote an entry of the same title as this Roland Hansen Commentary over on my other blog, Roland's Ramblings, back on September 11, 2012. If you would like to read it, just click over to:
911, 9/11, 9-1-1, September 11., Roland's Ramblings, Posted on September 11, 2012.

Don't Waste Words