Community Organizer never learned Poker

Poker,  an old American card game, which everyone used to know.  One of the things you learn in poker is a poker face.  You don't let the other players know what your cards are.  If they think your cards are weak, they will bet heavily, and when your strong hand wins, it will win real money, rather than just penny antes.  You never smile as bets are going down.
   "Negotiation" with the IS terrorists is like poker.  Never show your cards.  When they don't know, they will worry about what might happen to them.  You never say "No boots on the ground".  That merely weakens your bargaining position.  Most Iraqi's have painful experience with American soldiers who could kick their asses in every engagement.  There is some useful fear there.  As soon as our President says " No boots on the ground" that useful fear is canceled out.
   Obama is saying "no boots on the ground" to please his left wing US voters, not to help negotiations.  He clearly puts domestic politics above asserting American power abroad. He would clearly rather let the terrorists win in Iraq than offend his left wing base at home.   And that is shameful. 

Tax Reform

The IRS regulations, that tax payers are supposed to know, and the IRS uses to prosecute them, are 75,000 pages long.  Nobody can read or understand that much legal gobble-de-gook.  It's time for a complete change. 
Step 1.  Revoke every single IRS rule, and all the court rulings.  Repeal all existing income tax laws. Start with a clean slate.
Step 2.  Break the income tax into two taxes, personal income tax and corporate income tax. Write a separate law for each tax.
Step 3.  Corporate income will be taxed at 20% of corporate profits.  Period.  No exception, loopholes, depletion allowances, or special deals favoring one kind of corporation.  Profits are computed by subtracting legitimate expenses from corporate revenue.  Revenue is all money from sales, fees, investments, tax rebates, everything.  Legitimate expenses are:
1. wages
2. raw material 
3. repayments and interest on corporate debt
4. state and local taxes
5. salesman's commissions
6. advertising
7. tools, jigs, molds, and machinery,
8. utilities, electricity, water, telecommunications services
9. insurance (including employees health insurance)
10. dividends
11. contributions to charity
12. Other expenses necessary for producing the corporate product.
13. research and development 
The following are not legitimate expenses and must be paid out of after tax profits.
1.  Bribes
2.  political contributions
3.  company cars
4.  company aircraft (unless the company is an air carrier).
5.  bonuses
6.  stock purchases.
7.  Excessive wages.  Wages greater than 50 times the lowest yearly wage at the company are excessive. 

Small corporations, those with profits of less than $500,000 a year are exempt. Buildings and production equipment with a service life greater than 5 years must be capitalized and depreciated over the expected service life.  Land may not be depreciated.
Step 4.  Pass a personal income tax law.
Step 5.  Disband the Tax Court.  The government can sue taxpayers in regular federal court.  The Tax Court knows too much about taxes and too little about real law.  Repeal the IRS power to seize money out of bank accounts.

Drain fishing

After the place slides down the drain, attempts to fish some part of it back up.  We pulled our troops out of Iraq, the place slide down the drain, and now we are trying to fish out some refugees starving on the site of Noah's ark. 

Miracle cleaning fluid, Alcohol

Good stuff.  Cuts any kind of grease.  They sell it in the paint department in quart cans.  Denatured alcohol which is ethanol (drinking alcohol) spiked with something to make it undrinkable.  That way they can sell it for home and industrial uses without paying the $10.50 a gallon federal booze tax.  It used as stove fuel and shellac thinner.  
   Around the house, it cut thru some stubborn film on my kitchen floor.  A combination of dirt, spills, and too much Mop-n-Glow formed a grungy film that Pine-Sol won't touch.  Alcohol cut right thru it.  Ancient Formica table top had acquired a stickiness that 409 wouldn't touch.  Alcohol cut right thru it. 
   And for a tour de force, it fixed the mouse.  Older mechanical mouse, with the rubber mouse ball inside it.  It was getting flakey, cursor would get stuck, fail to move, PITA.  Wiped down the little rollers inside with a rag soaked in alcohol.  That cut the greasy crud buildup and now the mouse is smooth as new. 
  Alcohol is safe on nearly every thing found in the home.  Paint, plastics, fabrics and wood, EXCEPT wood finished in shellac.  The stuff is shellac thinner, and it will dissolve a hardened shellac surface, making the shellac go all soft and sticky, like when it was first brushed on.  Not good.  Fortunately all factory (store bought) furniture is done in lacquer.  The only shellac finished items in the typical home are antiques, or home refinish projects.  I have a single straight chair that I refinished in shellac, but if you don't do your own refinishing, you probably don't have anything finished in shellac.  Not to worry. 

Three year Medical School?

NPR was waxing enthusiastic about some three year med school programs.  They claimed to have AMA approval, and it was giving student doctors more hands on work on real live patients.  NPR loved the whole idea.
   It ought to work.  The armed services train medical corpsmen in a lot less than three years, and the corpsmen have established an enviable record over the years. 

Potatoes on the Grill

Faster than the old wrap-in-foil baked potato method.  Wash potato[s] and scrub any grit off the skin[s].  Quarter it lengthwise.  Rub oil (any kinda oil, veggie, canola, olive etc) all over the spud quarters.  Pop onto grill.  Turn every 5 minutes or so.  They will come out nice and brown.  They are done when a fork sinks into them. Takes 15-20 minutes on my Weber grill.  Leave the Weber cover on to hold the heat and cook 'em faster. 

Inversions, Corporate type, jawboning against

Obama is jawboning American companies to stay in America and pay American taxes.  He calls this "patriotic".   His people have been bad mouthing companies for leaving the US. 
  Got news for you Mr. President.  The management of corporations is under legal and moral imperatives to maximize the return of the company to stakeholders (workers, customers, investors, suppliers).  This means they must relocate if it saves the company money.  To do otherwise is immoral, not to say illegal. 
  If you want American companies to stay in America, you must lower American taxes (all of them, not just a favorite few) and repeal obnoxious regulation. 
  We voters are watching what you do and say.