Transitions

I am undergoing a series of transitions in my life.  The whole process should take a couple months.  It could take a lot less time if things break my way.  I am in the process of moving to Maryland.  Below are the reasons:

• My parents are not doing well.  My mother suffered a stroke and has yet to fully recover.  My father becomes lost when he has to cook his own meals.   
• Every time it was my weekend for custody of my daughter, I have been reminded that it is winter.  This weekend is supposed to be freezing rain.
• Cigarettes are cheaper in Maryland.  They’re expensive in New Jersey and I would need a loan to buy a pack in New York City.  If I am doing business in Virginia, I could buy cigarettes for dirt cheap compared to what I currently pay.
• My business is slowing down here.  Many small businesses are closing and few new ones are starting up.  I do not know how I will fare businesswise in Maryland, but most of my current clients are set up that I can work from home with minimal trips back to New Jersey.
• Lottery tickets have a better payout in Maryland.  Funds for the lottery in both states go towards education.  I have always been someone who demands a good return on my investments.  Since our children aren’t getting any smarter, the only other payout is winning on tickets.  Maryland lottery tickets offers more winners than New Jersey does.

For those who are wondering about what the “sequester” talk is in Washington, I think I can make it easier to understand.  The $100 billion in “spending cuts” means that government will increase spending by $100 billion instead of $200 billion.  Programs will be cut so the government can continue to spend money on projects that benefit their friends.

I hope the transition time is short.  I miss blogging and campaigning.  Have a good weekend from the entire Ahmnodt Heare for President campaign team!

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Taxing Day

Filing taxes is (for lack of a better word), taxing.  Despite of all the forms, it basically boils down to two things: 1) How much did you make? and 2) Send it in. (Please enclose an additional $29.95 processing fee.)  Then they get you because they want to know where you got the money for the processing fee and why it wasn’t included with income.

Paying taxes would feel less burdensome if we were getting our money’s worth.  The federal gas taxes are supposed to go for roads and bridges, yet 1/3 of our bridges fail safety codes.  The more we spend on education and health care, the dumber our children become and the sicker we get.  Somebody has to pay for the GSA’s lavish parties.

This is why I am a fiscal conservative.  I only spend money on things I really need (housing, food, water, clothes, auto expenses, nudie bars, etc.)  I will bring that fiscal conservatism to the White House.  I will no longer have taxpayers fund a study on the flow of ketchup or on the mating habits of gay Argentinian men.  Funding will be limited to the essentials of running government, military, social programs, and the National Vanna White Museum.  If somebody needs money for a study, they can raise the money with a cake sale or a magazine drive.

You can vote for Obama or Romney (two men known for spending money), you could vote for Ron Paul (Please don’t.)  You can vote for Roseanne Barr, Lee Wrights, or another third party candidate.  But the best vote would be a vote for Ahmnodt Heare.

Cutting Education Funding

I think funding for education should be cut, but not from teachers’ salaries.  It should be cut in administrative costs.  The problem with education today is that the largest building in many school building is the administration building.  No learning takes place in administration buildings.  Get rid of those buildings and let the principals administer the education in their schools.

Education #gopdebate

None of the candidates mention what I have been harping on for the past three years.  Cut costs by limiting what children are taught to tools they will need and use as adults.

An Addendum to my Education Policy

I was inspired to add to my education policy after reading the latest installment of Just Making Convo.  Fellow blogger Bea Schooled unfairly received an “F” on her viral marketing project.  Anybody who is into marketing for a living who has seen Bea’s excellent work knows that she is destined for greatness.  Her “While You’re Down There” campaign is catchy and reaches along a wide array of products and services.  Her teacher failed to see this.

The reason why her teacher failed to see Bea’s brilliance was obvious to me:  The teacher did not have a talent to get a real marketing job.  Insert, “Those who can’t, teach” here.  The problem with America’s colleges is that the colleges are full of professors who have teaching jobs because they couldn’t get a real job in the business world.

I find this to be unacceptable.  Professors should be experienced in their fields.  Not only should they be experienced, but they should be the best in their field.  The world is more than what is described in textbooks and thesis papers.  It is the experiences one can only learn from people who have fought the battles and won.

My plan is simple:  Get the best people to teach the courses needed in the business world.  Get the CEOs who know how to lay off workers to raise the value of their company’s stock.  Get the people who planned the “New Coke” marketing plan in the 1980s.  It might not have created the sales they liked, but people still talk about it in marketing circles.  Let Bernie Madoff teach investment students how to start their own ponzi scheme social security system investment firm.

Replacing those who can’t with those who can is not enough We need our professors to be those who have.

My Latest Call for Activism

Last year we were successful in getting Volkswagen to pull the “Shoot the Gap” ad that suggested reckless driving.  Before that, we were able to save the Hamptons from becoming a third world community.

The next endeavor will be difficult.  It is difficult because it is a concept we are fighting and not something tangible like a commercial or a community.   What I want to fight is the usage of a word that has no business in the English or any other language.  The word is “Anyhoo.”

“Anyhoo” isn’t even a word.  (Neither is “Anywho” but I am spelling it the other way to make a point, even if I don’t know the point I am trying to make.)  It sounds so dismissive when the rest of the sentence doesn’t.

Just because “Anywhere” and “Anyhow” are words doesn’t mean that “anyhoo” is.  Nobody says “Anywhat”, “Anywhen”, or “Anywhy.”  Anyhoo (and Anywho) show up as misspelled words when using a spell checking programs.  This is because THESE ARE NOT WORDS!!!

I don’t have many pet peeves, and there’s no room for presidential candidates burdened with pet peeves.  This is different though.  I am fighting this because people who use this word sound stupid.  I have no qualms about adding new words to the English language.  Although Sarah Palin is a political opponent in Presidential campaign, I applaud her for trying to get “refutiate” into the English language.  Oxford Dictionary now considers “WTF” and “LOL” to be words, and I have no exceptions with those being words.

Just because America’s education is being dumbed down doesn’t mean the English language has to be dumbed down.  Let’s eliminate the word “Anyhoo” and at least try to sound smart.

Me vs Them – Education

The more money we throw at education, the less our children are learning.  It’s not the lack of money that is killing the education.  It’s what being taught (or more specifically, what’s not being taught that is killing education.)

The Republicans and Democrats have their plans to try to improve education.  Both involve money:

Republican candidates:  They want to use vouchers.  The vouchers would be used to send children to the schools of parents’ choice.  I have yet to hear how this would cut spending though.  Some Republicans are also advocates of homeschooling.  Here is my problem with homeschooling:  Where do you hold the prom? The living room?  The dining room?  And also, how would “Senior Cut Day” work?  It is a time-honored tradition.

Democratic candidates (Obama):  He wants the rich to pay their “fair share” (whatever that means.)  Most rich people pay more taxes than you or I do already.  Critics say that they can afford to pay more taxes, but if you could afford to pay $20 for a loaf for bread when the going price is $2.49, would you pay it?  Should you pay it?

Because the more money we spend on education the dumber out children are getting, I would cut education spending.  (I would abolish it, but I don’t want the kids to be that much smarter than us.)

I would find out what our children need to suceed in life and teach that and only that.  I would get rid of many of the rules that handcuff teachers.  When we let out teachers teach, then maybe our students will learn.

This post is part of the “Me vs. Them” series.  Come back often to see the entire series.