MONEY TALKS

MONEY TALKS

The first of the “college admission bribers” has been adjudicated and sentenced. There are several more to be tried. This group of wealthy, famous people saw fit to bribe college officials in order to get their children into prestigious schools and onto sports teams. Apparently this is quite common. The fact that these kids probably otherwise would not qualify to get into these schools seems to be irrelevant. The goal is to make sure not that they get a great education, but that their diploma is from the right school. That brings to mind the question, is a degree from Stanford, regardless of what one has learned, more valuable than a degree from any other less prestigious school where a student has applied himself and gotten a solid education?

Does money talk? A few years ago the late US Senator John McCain railed against the amount of money in politics. His contention was that the money being offered to politicians corrupted them. What? You mean that an honest person could be corrupted by someone offering money, bribes? What if I told you that a normal honest person would not be for sale to anyone regardless of the money. A corrupt person is already compromised. The money just confirms it.

All of this brings to mind this question. Who is more guilty, the briber, or the bribee? Take the cases of these individuals who are paying huge sums of money to these, pardon the expression, corrupt college officials. The ones who are doling out these huge sums of money are in trouble. Why aren’t the officials who are selling degrees from prestigious schools in even more trouble? Which of these activities is worse?

Consider the classroom at, say Harvard. Within that room there are students who have gotten there fairly with good grades and equally good character. There are also students whose admission was bought and paid for by wealthy parents. Is the material being taught compromised? Must the lessons be “dumbed down” to include persons who are ill prepared to be there? I guarantee you the professor knows who is in the class and how they got there. If a student, who has been given admission by bribery, flunks the class, will the professor give him a failing grade? I’m fairly sure that the parent who paid $500,000 to get his child admitted, would not look too kindly on a school who would reward that parent with a failed student. I’m pretty sure that half million was intended to not only gain admission, but also to make sure the students are graduated with the right grades. 

This whole deal cheapens the idea of prestigious schools and the value of their diplomas, doesn’t it? I surely don’t want the surgeon gloving up to cut on me to be one whose degree was bought and paid for by his wealthy parents. How about you? I don’t want the accountant who prepares my books and my taxes to be a graduate with a phony degree that was purchased with bribe money. Where does it end?

My take is that if a school is willing to exchange a degree for money, why should the payer of the money be in any more trouble than the school? If we are to arrest and punish the briber, then by all means we should also sanction the bribee, the receiver of the money. The whole deal stinks, period.

I have heard that the “Golden Rule” has been revised to read, whoever has the gold, makes the rules. I refuse to believe that. No doubt money talks but sometimes what it says is wrong.

Ron Scarbro

KEYS TO THE BATHROOM AT THE LOCAL SHELL STATION

Like you I have been listening to the “candidates” for the Democrat nomination for President. Let me just say this. To me they sound like a bunch of clowns. What they are proposing is never going to happen, period. Even in the far out event one of these morons was ever elected President of this country, intelligent people would stop them in their tracks. 

Let’s look at some of these far left ideas and what would result. This proposal that we eliminate all fossil fuels, for example. That means no diesel, no oil, no gasoline, and of course no coal. No drilling, no fracking, and no new exploration. The rest of that ridiculous proposal is that we eliminate all automobiles, all trucks, all airplanes, all farm equipment which produces our food, and all coal fired plants which produce the electricity we need to heat and cool our homes and businesses. If you can, conjure up the picture of this country under that situation. To go anywhere we would have to walk, ride our bicycles, or our horses. Of course we would have to have horses that produced no flatulence. To heat our homes and businesses we would have to burn wood. How long do you suppose our forests would last if three hundred fifty million people started cutting wood to heat their homes?

The next big idea from this bunch is that every gun owner in this country sell their guns back to the country. A conservative guess is that would probably amount to about five billion guns. Well listen up, Democrats. Neither my guns nor my rights under the Constitution are for sale. My guns are not for hunting. They are for the protection of my family from any bad guys who might want to try to get into my house, but more importantly, they are there to protect me and my family from the government. The first act of tin horn dictators is to confiscate any weapons held by the citizenry. That confiscation serves no one but the potential dictator. History is full of examples of former free people subjugated by an ambitious dictator. All he had to do was take away their guns.

Next, let’s talk free stuff. Free education, free medical care, even free money sent out from the government every month to everybody. Most of these clowns who are currently running for the nomination have never had a real job or ever had to make a payroll. They seem to have absolutely no understanding of basic economics. The government doesn’t produce anything and the only money the government has was previously confiscated from the citizens. The government cannot pay for anything. In other words, there ain’t no free stuff. There are only goods and services supplied by working taxpayers who produce it. For the government to pay for anything, they must first take it away from you. 

Finally in this tirade, I want to talk about illegal entry into this country. Listen, I don’t blame them for trying to break into our country. If I were homeless, I would look for a place to live. If I were poor and needy, I would look for someone who would pay my way. People from all over the world have believed America’s streets are paved with gold and money falls off the trees. I guess compared to some places in the world, we do look like that. The pure reality is that we cannot take the entire world into our fold. If the lefties got their way and opened our borders, it would be a matter of days before we would be overrun. 

This bunch are running around this country asking us for the keys to Air Force One.  Are you kidding?  I wouldn’t give them the keys to the bathroom at my local Shell station. Think about it.

Ron Scarbro

THE HEALTHY ALTERNATIVE

THE HEALTHY ALTERNATIVE

Have you seen the latest Burger King commercials? They now have a veggie burger. It is being touted as the healthy alternative to their regular meat hamburger. The actors in the commercial are standing around heartily eating this new veggie burger and commenting on how it tastes just like their regular meat hamburger. I have a question. Does this mean that their regular hamburger has very little meat, or does the veggie burger actually include meat? Just a question.

Not to be outdone, KFC is now out with what they call a healthy alternative to their batter coated deep fried chicken. They are offering batter coated deep fried vegetables. Hmmm. Let me think about that one.

Somehow someway the word has gotten out that vegetables are healthy and meat is unhealthy. Here is an inconvenient little fact. Humans are a part of the animal kingdom and animals, it turns out are either herbivores, carnivores, or omnivores. Humans are omnivores. That means that our bodies function best on a diet that includes both meat and vegetables. In fact, if you choose to eat only meat or only vegetables you would have to supplement your body with the nutrients you would be missing from that exclusive diet.

I once met with a physician’s assistant for a regular appointment. Unknown to me she was a vegetarian. In her zeal for that religion, she decided to teach me how to become a vegetarian. She told me it was easy. You just can’t eat anything with a face. I asked her if I could eat clams and oysters. She went screaming from the room.

I remember when the soybean farmers, in an effort to increase the demand for their product, spread the word that lard or meat fat of any kind, was bad and oil from soybeans was good. Wow, did that ever catch on. It is actually hard to find lard in the grocery store now. Here’s another little fact, the abuse of anything is not good, fat from soybeans or from animals. It turns out that fat is fat and oil is oil whether its origin is animal or vegetable. 

The message here is simple. If you choose to be a vegetarian, that’s great. If you choose to eat meat, that’s also great. I personally don’t think either diet regimen should be a religion. Also, be careful about what you believe and the source of the information. On a regular basis we hear about some product that is harmful to your health and almost before the ink dries on that proclamation, we are told that the product is actually ok. How many times have we heard that coffee is bad or that red wine is actually healthy? What is the actual truth? Only time will tell. 

A few years ago when I lived in Seattle, it was reported that a group of young mothers from Bellevue, at that time a higher income suburb of Seattle, had their babies on a low cholesterol diet. A serious danger to the children. They had heard the headlines and bought into it. That episode caused me to coin the phrase “Bellevue housewife” which identifies to me people who jump on the latest food fads or taboos. 

This final example. My father smoked cigars most of his life and ate gravy on his biscuits and mayonnaise on his sandwiches virtually all of his life. He lived well into his nineties. I don’t recommend that. Nor do I discourage it. You cannot pick your genetic makeup. I know of people who can smell of a bakery and gain weight, while others eat desserts every day and remain trim. I guess life just isn’t fair. 

More people are sickened by worry over their diet than actually eating the food. Think about it.

Ron Scarbro

YOUR COUP HAS FAILED

Attention Democrats. Your coup has failed. That’s probably going to break your heart but regardless of your efforts, your coup has failed. Some of the Democrats in Congress just can’t seem to get it through their heads that Trump will continue to be the President for several years to come. It has been reported that approximately one hundred Democrat Congressmen have decided to put forward articles of impeachment. Without the support of Speaker Pelosi, this latest attempt will go down in flames just like all the other efforts to subvert the American system of elections. And she has clearly stated her opposition to this nonsense.

One would think after the Mueller Report and his subsequent appearance at the Congressional hearing, it would be clear to even the densest of the Democrats, it ain’t going to happen. Impeachment of a President requires the commission of a crime. Got it?

Here is what I expect over the next few weeks, after the Congress gets back to “work,” and I use that term loosely, from their latest vacation, this effort will be put forward and it will be defeated and never get out of the House. Another reality is that even if by some quirk of fate they did get it past the House, it would die immediately in the Republican majority Senate. The House Democrats come away from this as a continued embarrassment to their constituency and to the entire country.

Meanwhile, the economy rolls along at record pace because of President Trump’s policies and actions. Absolutely no thanks to anything positive from the Democrats. And no, Obama and Biden had nothing to do with this recovery. They had eight years and were a total failure. Failure is also a legacy.

Do you think the country is paying attention? Do you think the vast middle section of this great country understands how and why we are recovering from the eight years of Obama/Biden? Oh, and do you think Independents are on board with continued harassment of our duly elected President? 

Like most of you, I have seen some of the Democrats’ debates. If that is the best they can do, Trump will eat them alive and the smart ones know that.

I know that out there in this vast country there are some loyal Democrats who have to be scratching their heads. They are looking at having their collective rear ends handed to them in the next election and they can’t seem to put a stop to it. They see as we all do, the split in that once great party. What was once the “loyal opposition” is now nothing more than a bunch of sniveling whiners and would-be socialists. Does anybody really think Harry Truman would be a Democrat today?  I have Democrats tell me that they are not abandoning the Democrat party, it is abandoning them.

The entire Congress is rendering themselves useless today. They are so busy trying to overthrow the government that they have no time to do the jobs they were elected to do. I used to say to some of my employees, be careful that you don’t become more trouble than you are worth. When you cease to be valuable to your employer, you stand to lose your position. Every Member of Congress should hear that.

 This coup attempt can be summed up like this. It has been the story of the three “Rs.” There was Russia then racist, and finally recession. None of it worked. Here’s now a fourth “R”, re-election.

Impeachment is not going to happen. Deal with it. Here’s a novel idea. If you want to sit in the White House, try doing it legitimately. Try winning an election.

Ron Scarbro

IT JUST GETS CURSIOUSER AND CURIOUSER

Millionaire, pedophile pimp Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his jail cell from an apparent suicide. That much we know because the breathless media has reported it. We also know that in life Epstein ran with a pretty high-test group. He was arrested for providing very young girls to wealthy, powerful men for, shall we say, fun and games? A lot of big names have been thrown around and they include that bastion of morality, our very own former President, Bill Clinton. 

Let’s examine the events surrounding the death of Epstein. We know that he had been previously arrested and convicted of similar crimes in Florida but received a sweetheart deal from the prosecutor and the courts. It would appear that he didn’t learn from his good fortune and continued to procure and provide young girls to powerful people. He was rearrested. 

He was denied bail because he was a flight risk, well duh, and held in jail. He is alleged to have attempted suicide and was found in his cell in the fetal position with wounds on his neck. He survived. He was then placed on suicide watch, incarcerated in a cell with a cell mate, and watched every thirty minutes as well as video recorded. This is where it gets interesting. After just a few days he was taken off suicide watch. His cellmate was moved out of his cell. He apparently was then left alone in his cell, unattended, for hours at a time. That is until he was found unresponsive and dead in his cell from an apparent suicide. Hmmm.

It has now been reported that the video recorder was facing the wrong way. More hmmm.

Those are some strange circumstances, wouldn’t you say? And who knows, they could be true. Or, they could be a pack of lies. 

It is helpful to know who benefits from a dead Epstein. Remember there is a lot of money, power and influence involved in this group of people who were provided with young girls. So, did he really kill himself? 

I find it interesting that people who seem to have dirt on the Clintons wind up committing suicide. Probably just a coincidence, right? 

A number of both current and former inmates have said that it is impossible to commit suicide in that particular jail. And yet, we are told he did. There was a news report that there were screams and shrieks emanating from his jail cell during the night he was supposed to have killed himself. Death by hanging, as has been alleged, produces no sound because one’s vocal chords are compromised. Now, we are hearing that the jail guards are refusing to assist in the investigation. It just gets curiouser and curiouser. 

Attorney General Barr has said he will get to the bottom of this mystery. The FBI is also involved. I’ll tell you this. The American people demand answers and answers that make sense and are supported with proof. I’m also pretty sure most people don’t give a damn that this pedophile pimp is dead but the circumstances have to be investigated. 

Why was he taken off suicide watch? Why was his cellmate moved? Why was he not looked in on? Did the guards charged with the responsibility of watching him actually fall asleep and forge their time sheets? Again the question, who benefits from a dead Epstein? How many people would have to be looking the other way whether it was a suicide or murder? 

I believe we will get our answers. This clown probably did kill himself. He was certainly cowardly enough to do so. I also believe the malfeasance demonstrated in this case must be punished. 

These final thoughts. The victims in this case, the young girls, must be compensated to the limit of Epstein’s estate. And the other so-called powerful people involved must be brought to justice and their wealth must also be subject to attachment as well. We should never tolerate this kind of crap, period.

Ron Scarbro 

IT TAKES A GUN TO STOP A GUN

In every state we have traffic laws. We have speed limits. We have drinking while driving laws. These laws are designed to protect us while we are out on the road. We have these protections and still every day dozens of people are killed and injured by speeders, drunks, and all sorts of traffic mishaps. Does this mean that our laws are insufficient? Does this mean these laws don’t really protect us? Or does this possibly mean that some people just don’t obey laws?

Did you know that in the case of this latest mass shooting in El Paso, it was illegal to bring any guns into the mall where twenty-two innocent people were gunned down and dozens of others were injured? Do you think the evil piece of human waste who perpetrated that crime cared one bit about the law? It has even been reported that this slimeball bought his gun legally. Do you think that if he couldn’t legally buy a gun that he wouldn’t get one anyway? 

As a nation, we need to wake up. Feel-good legislation is just that. When an evil individual has an evil intention, he will find a way, unless he is stopped.

Today thousands of people are screaming to their lawmakers to do something. Pass new laws. Stop the violence. Make all this ugliness go away. Help us feel better. Suspend the Second Amendment. Arrest people for their evil thoughts before they commit any crimes. Never mind what the Constitution says. We need to be protected. 

Well, we might just as well pass laws against lightning. We all know of people who obey the laws. They never speed or drink and drive. In every regard they are model citizens and still, they are victims of senseless crime, or tragic traffic accidents. Things happen. And they rarely happen on our schedule.

Some say there are just too many guns. I, on the other hand espouse a different belief. What if I told you rather than too many guns, I said there are too few guns? What if, in the El Paso situation, some legal gun owner standing nearby pulled out his own weapon and blew the head off the shooter when he started shooting?  

What if, rather than a sign indicating that mall was a gun free zone, it said instead, our good citizens who shop here are probably armed and skilled at stopping crime. Do you think the perpetrator might have looked elsewhere for victims? 

If you saw the video of the shooting in Dayton, Ohio, you saw police advancing immediately on the scene with their guns blazing. The killer was dead in seconds. It has been suggested that had this clown gotten inside the bar, dozens of innocent people would have been killed or wounded. Simply stated, it takes a gun to stop a gun.

Usually it takes longer for the police to arrive. They don’t normally prevent crimes, they clean up after the crime has been committed. 

Most of the citizens of this great country are law abiding people. Most, I am sure, would prefer the police take care of crime. But sometimes one’s choices are few and we have to act.

Personally, I am a military veteran who has received extensive training in firearms of all sorts. I also have a license to carry concealed weapons. It is my hope and my belief that if I were ever in the unlikely situation of being confronted by an active shooter, that should I not survive, I would be found with an empty gun in my hand because I would have emptied it on the shooter.

Ron Scarbro

WE ARE CITIZENS, NOT SUBJECTS

I can see it now. In many parts of the country Democrats are gathering together looking at each other in amazement, wondering what are we going to do. They have seen the same debates you and I have seen. The smart ones are wondering, is this the best we have? 

I’m sure there are also Democrats sitting in their easy chairs thinking, I could beat any one of those people who are already running. I should probably get into this race. 

Still others are looking over the landscape to try and come up with an alternative candidate knowing that those already running are going to lose big time in 2020. I even heard the name Michelle Obama being thrown about. I’m serious, they’re not kidding. They are desperate. 

Joe Biden continues to be their front runner and that’s okay with the Republicans. You see, the Republicans have the goods on Biden and are keeping their powder dry unless and until he gets the nomination. Then the gloves come off and all hell breaks loose. 

Let’s face it. The Democrat party is in total disarray and I don’t care. They have brought this all on themselves. They have this so-called base which is far, far left represented by Elizabeth Warren and Ocasio-Cortez and the like. Then there is the supposed moderate wing represented by Biden et al. During the debates they continue to take shots at each other creating great ads for the Trump re-election committee. We call it a circular firing squad. 

Here’s a fact. None of the nonsense being spouted by the Democrats today is ever going to become law in this country. True Americans will never allow it.

So, out of fairness, this one time I am going to give, free of charge, the Democrat party the information they need in order to have a chance in 2020.  Now I know it’s not my job but I feel it is only fair to help where I can. 

The steps are simple. First, Democrat Presidential contenders, pick up a copy of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Read and study those documents. Pay particular attention to the parts about freedom of speech and the right to keep and bear arms. Study intently those parts about personal responsibility and self- reliance. See if you can find anything in there regarding free medical care or free college educations. I looked at my copy and I couldn’t find anything about those particular subjects.

Then there’s that sticky border issue. Try as I may, I couldn’t find anything about getting rid of our borders and giving people from all over the world free access to this country. Maybe my copy of these documents has been rewritten. I don’t think so. 

There is just one other document which Democrats may find helpful. It is called “The Declaration of Independence.” This interesting little document came about when we decided that we had had enough interference and high taxation from a country across the ocean from us. We decided that we would create a country of our own, with enforceable borders. We told this King in our declaration that we were free people and that we were guaranteed by our Creator life, liberty, and the right to pursue happiness in any way we, as a free people, chose. That was our declaration. Well, needless to say, that King was unhappy with us but he got over it. It took losing a couple of wars to do it, but he got over it.

You see Democrats. I hope this lesson is not lost on you. We free people don’t take too well to government interference in our lives. Never have, never will. We are individually self-reliant and responsible. And most importantly, we are citizens, not subjects. 

There you have it. No charge.

Ron Scarbro