I guess wh**ever it takes to stem this unrelenting increase in wealth by the uber-wealthy while the middle class continues to flat line.

BTW ... this is the 5th year in a row that Congress has cut the IRS budget. That hurts everyone, but most significantly, that's like giving the "keys to the store" to the large corporations who employ thousands of tax lawyers and accountants.

"There is no way around the severity of these budget cuts without taking some difficult steps," John Koskinen, IRS Commissioner told employees in an e-mail.

Congress is the only entity on the planet with a lower approval rating than Obama ... does that thought ever even occur to some of you "defenders of the corporate kings".

This made me think of something that happened several months ago on the golf course. We stepped up to the tee box of a par 5 hole that was exactly 500 yards in length. Way, way down at the other end of the long fairway was the tiny, tiny little dot of the flag on the end of the stick. I was amazed that I even could see it ... and then a wild thought went through my mind. To graduate from Marine Corps boot camp you have to qualify with a minimum score of 192. In order to accomplish that you need to (on average shoot at least 5 of 10 shots through a bullseye from the 500 yard distance (Marines qualify at 200, 300, and 500 yard distances).

The thought that went through my head was that every Marine who ever graduated boot camp and went on to serve must have been able to hit that tiny flag at the end of that 500 yard long hole (at a minimum of 5 out of 10 times).

Back, nearly 50 years ago when I went through that crucible, I hit it 8 out of 10 times, but now, today, looking at that little speck so far in the distance I had to ask myself, "How was that even possible?"

My brother retired early at age 64 due to health reasons. As far as he knew, his social security was his only retirement benefit but he received a letter from a company he had worked for in his earlier years that had been alerted (by SS) that he was now taking retirement and they told him he would start receiving a $500/month pension annuity. He thought that it might be an error because he had never contributed to such a plan but they told him, "you may not have, but we did".

Wouldn't hurt for your friends to check with the companies that they used to work for to see if they had such a plan in place.

For all you "Sherlock Holmes" fans out there, it's interesting to note that "he" would probably not have been able to answer that question either.

(ref. Arthur Con Doyle's "A Study in Scarlet")

One true thing about life is it will continually surprise you. Sometimes the paths we have to choose from might not seem to be the best, or the safest, but as long as you keep moving forward, towards your dream, you will eventually get there.

And when you do, it will only be because you had chosen the path you did, all those years ago.

V.D. Alert for January 16th, 2015!

Ah, I see the levels of "Vitriolic Diatribe" are running high this morning.

My wife and I visited St Thomas, in the Virgin islands, back in the mid-80's. It was the vacation of a lifetime for us. Back then I worked as a lowly middle manager at one of the Midwest distributorships, but I had had the very good fortune to have been 1 of 50 people to win a Caribbean Cruise in a sales contest.

What made it such an outstanding vacation was that that year, Cummins Engine Company found themselves in a desperate position of almost being taken over by a British Company who had targeted them for takeover, Cummins was at that time very "cash rich" but in a vulnerable position because of all the available common stock that had been issued.

The word went out from the board of directors , "we need to spend this excess cash ... fund all programs!" When it came to the vacation program for us "little managers" they said, "Let's make this count, best 'freakin' vacation they've ever seen."

Our cruise got upgraded to a direct flight down to St Thomas where they had booked all available beachfront bungalows ... all with VIP maid and room service and they had people from the travel agency on hand to make sure we took advantage of every service on the island. I got a special -"T-Time" at the local country club (golf clubs and shoes furnished), my wife and I took a private yacht ride to the island of St Johns (4 passengers, 4 crew members, 60 ft yacht). The very last thing I remember was when we were ready to leave being reminded to visit the duty free shop there and pick up "whatever we wanted".

The very next year the federal government changed their rules about taxation on company gifts and prizes and my wife informed me we could no longer "afford" to win any vacation trips.

I had to look up the Wikipedia account of "Lysestrata" ... thank you for that. I'm starting to think that Aristophanes was as important (but less notable) to modern philosophy, as was Plato. He was the "Saturday Night Live" of the 3rd century BC.

Kudos to you for pointing that out.

Without liberal philospohies... we are doomed.
Without conservative philosophies ... we are doomed.

When both liberal and conservative philosophies stop talking to each other ... we are doomed.

One thing about Marines, they were always a target in the bars and occasionally would get their asses kicked by a sailor or army individual. The difference (in my mind) was that they'd always show at morning formation, and if asked about the scars on their face, would say "they had a great time last night."

I think I understand now both points of view and impressed with both. Just a side note, if either of you ever visit S. Florida, please send me a PM and you are welcome to stay and visit at our house here in Boynton Beach. One cautionary note, I like to imbibe in the occasional evening cocktail and I also am prone to the telling of "tall tales".

Semper Fi to both of you

I agree, but I'm a little confused because I don't think that has anything to do with the submissions (and replies) on this particular thread. It's a very good point though.

I wouldn't blame Dennis, that's just the way we old Marines talk ... a lot of bravado and a lot of tongue-and-cheek, just as I introduced this thread in the beginning.
But you are correct about one thing, old Marine veterans have nothing to prove to anybody, we know that. But the pride, and the inevitable 'swagger' that we still retain is just a by-product of who we used to be.

:D

I got 24/25 but am embarrassed about the one I missed.

Truthfully, I would probably have done less well if I did not follow the UHH forum conversations.

But still riding a sweet machine (nice avatar)

Semper Fi