Ralph

Ralph is the inspiration for Cantankerous Old Coots and is our Grand Duke of Cantankerousness

Down with Taxes

 Posted by at 14:10  Down with
Mar 312015
 

It’s that time of year.

It ought to get easier eash yera.  It never does.

It ought to get easier eash yera. It never does.

Every year I vow to get the agony over early. There is nothing pleasant about preparing taxes. Even getting money back only means you let the government take even more than they say is proper. It’s still way too much. This year I thought I was ahead of schedule but when I began to dig out all my paperwork, I discovered that I last year’s filing was already off my desk by this time last year. I certainly don’t get any pleasure from seeing that file on the corner of my desk as I focus on more pleasant tasks. I don’t know why I can’t just suck it up and get it done early. Maybe I just enjoy the agony. Continue reading »

Ralph

Ralph is the inspiration for Cantankerous Old Coots and is our Grand Duke of Cantankerousness

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Down with Smart People

 Posted by at 11:03  Down with
Feb 232015
 

Smart People are always wrong
One thing I have learned over my lifetime is that everything we think we know is wrong. And if you don’t believe it, just wait ten years and compare what you know to be true now with what you knew to be true then. After a while it all blurs. I think it was in the 80’s when the smart people were saying that we were headed for a new ice age. If you notice, it didn’t happen. Then recently those same smart people were telling us that the climate was changing and that we were all going to burn up if we don’t go live in a cave. Last year was the coldest winter on record for some time. Then there was the Club of Rome back in the 70’s that said we were running out of resources and that civilization would run into the ground by the 90’s. We haven’t heard much from those folks lately either and it you notice despite the prodigious efforts of our politicians,.civilization is still keeping on.

Education affects their brains in bad ways
It seems that education somehow affects the brain and causes people with too many degrees to believe that they actually know something. And the worst part of it is that once they convince themselves that they are on to the truth, it becomes their mission to make sure that stupid people like you and me don’t mess things up. If they had to rely on their own abilities, the world would be safe, because these smart people, by and large, are not very powerful. They use big words. They write incomprehensible reports and they don’t like to mix with the common folk. Lucky for them, the government is so entrenched in the funding of research that our elected officials buy into their agenda like hogs at a trough.

Politicians are like drunken whores- they bend over
Politicians are not smart, they are canny. They suck up to their constituents and try to reflect the character and opinions of their districts. But they really want to be with the smart people and so they will bend over like drunken whores to get included in the smart people gatherings. This bending over usually involves legislation that forces us to do whatever the smart people think will solve the big problem of the day. The smart people love it when they can make us stupid ones behave and so to accomplish this aim they will put up with the politicians even though they aren’t smart. Tale Al Gore, for example.  Watch him for 5 minutes and tell me that he is smart.

Today too many people think they are smart
In the past, this situation stayed under control because most voters were quick to vote out of office, anybody that went off the reservation. Not so today. Higher education has become so available and so perverted over the last 20 years that everybody thinks they are one of the smart people because they went to college. Nobody tells them that learning to be an accountant is just like learning to be a plumber or an auto mechanic. Accountants are considered special because they went to college while plumbers are just tradesmen. With so many people going to college which has been downgraded to trade school, there are just too many people who now think they are smart. And these pretend smart people no longer use common sense to make judgments. They listen to the real smart people or worse to the bent over politicians. So now there is nothing to check the egos of the smart people and the whoring of the politicians because common sense is considered stupid.

Smart People and Politicians are a deadly combination
What I know now is that unless something changes we are doomed to live in a world where we are required by law to conform to whatever new doom predictions the smart people devise. They will continue to be wrong, although one of the prerogatives of being one of the smart people is that they never have to say they are sorry. They just stop talking about the old problem and start talking about the new one. The problem is the regulations and legislation to save the world from the last crisis will not go away and our freedom and opportunity becomes smaller and the power of the smart people becomes ever more oppressive.

Ralph

Ralph is the inspiration for Cantankerous Old Coots and is our Grand Duke of Cantankerousness

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Feb 232015
 
Official seal of County of Solano

Image via Wikipedia

In short order, I must resolve my speeding ticket with the Solano County Superior Court but despite the thoughtful courtesy letter shown below, many confusing issues remain.  As a result, I sent this request for clarification and I eagerly wait for their courteous response.

Continue reading »

Ralph

Ralph is the inspiration for Cantankerous Old Coots and is our Grand Duke of Cantankerousness

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Up With – Hood Ornaments

 Posted by at 11:03  Up With
Feb 232015
 

“Hood ornaments. They were just lovely, and they gave a sense of respect. And they took ’em away because if you can save one human life- that’s always the argument- it’s worth it, if you can save one human life. Actually, I’d be willing to trade maybe a dozen human lives for a nice hood ornament. I imagine those things really did tend to stick in bicyclists.” Michael O’Donoghue

It is comforting to be a Cantankerous OLD Coot because when you look around at the trivial cultural wasteland of modern day America, you, at least, have the memories of better times. Sick of ugly, look-alike cars? Remember hood ornaments! Back when you used to be able to tell one car from another and all cars weren’t ugly, hood ornaments were totally useless sculptures found on the hood of every car no matter the price or cache. These were not trivial junk but carefully crafted works of art designed to reflect the unique image for the car make itself and quite often the specific model. The hood ornament was just one more way to make a car distinctive. Today most of us will remember the Flying Lady for Rolls Royce or the Mercedes Star because those two manufacturers held out the longest before abandoning hood ornaments. It may have been safety that precipitated the end for hood ornaments but in the long run I think the big reason was cost. Popular priced cars after the onslaught of government regulation in the 60’s couldn’t afford hood ornaments and as hood ornaments became rare, the few remaining became collectors items causing Rolls to go to outlandish length to protect theirs before giving up.

We at Cantankerous Old Coots want to propose a solution to the ugly car problem. We say bring back the hood ornament! Wouldn’t it be wonderful to make your car distinctive again? Now that you can’t tell a Toyota from a Lexis from a KIA and all cars look like a cross-over, think what a hood ornament could do to make your car distinctive. Finally you could stop having to click your key fob and wait for the lights to flash to know which car is yours. Look for the one with your special hood ornament,

Ralph

Ralph is the inspiration for Cantankerous Old Coots and is our Grand Duke of Cantankerousness

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