ELECTION #6, 1808. The NASTY-METER stays at 2.

QUOTE from James Madison: "In republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficienty respect the rights of the minority."

ELECTION #6, 1808. Thomas Jefferson's second term was not as smooth as his first term. The main problem was the hostilities between the British and the French. The British were attacking American ships and forcing American seamen to join the British navy. To get even with Britain Jefferson persuaded Congress to pass the Embargo Act which forbade Americans from doing any trade with Britain and France and all the other European countries.

All the Emgargo Act did was cause economic problems for American farmers and New England merchants. They could no longer sell their products to any country in Europe. It ticked people off and Jefferson, instead of being a shining hero, was called "an infernal villain" by one newspaper.
So Jefferson knew when to hang it up and leave the public stage. He said he was going to retire to "my family, my books, and farms."

The CANDIDATES IN 1808.

Jefferson recommended his friend and secretary of state, James Madison, to be the Republican candidate for president. Vice-president George Clinton would remain on the ticket. Madison did not have an impressive appearance. He was only 5'4" and weighed less than 100 pounds and people called him "Little Jemmy." He didn't like to make eye contact and his expression was generally dour - some say he looked like he had just bitten into a sour lemon. However he was extremely bright and had a good grasp of the problems facing the U.S. And he had another ace-in-the-hole that the previous three president never had - that ace was his wife, Dolly. She was seventeen years younger but she was beautiful and vivacious, the Jackie Kennedy of her day.

The Federalists brought back Charles Pinckney and Rufus King, the same two they ran in 1804. They were both unexciting and dull and proved no match for Madison and Clinton. It was time for the Federalists to get some new blood in their party.

The CAMPAIGN

The Embargo Act had put Madison at a disadvantage because so many people were upset by it. But with a possible war against Britain on the horizon the Electoral College went big for Madison.

The WINNER was James Madison.

Madison received 122 electoral votes and Pinckney got 47. And Jefferson gave Madison a nice gift just before he took office on March 4, 1809. On March 1 Jefferson signed a bill repealing the Embargo Act.

ELECTION #5, 1804 - the NASTY METER goes down to 2.

QUOTE from a Federalist pamphlet blasting Thomas Jefferson in the 1800 campaign: Jefferson is a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father."

ELECTION #5, 1804. Thomas Jefferson is re-elected president in a landslide. The NASTY-METER goes down to 2.

The election of 1804 was a snoozer because Jefferson had been a skilled middle-of-the-road president in his first term. Despite Federalist howls, Jefferson did not turn the country into an atheistic society, instigate a bloodbath as had happened in France, or abandon the New England merchants.
He had made some popular decisions in his first term - the most popular was the Louisiana Purchase which doubled the size of the U.S. He bought it for a mere $15 million which amounted to three cents an acre. Now that's what I'd call a bargain.

The CANDIDATES in 1804.

On February 25, 1804, the U.S. saw the first official nominating caucus by a political party. Republican congressmen met and re-nominated Jefferson for a second term. They picked New York Governor George Clinton for his vice-presidential running mate.

The Federalists picked Charles C. Pinckney (Adam's 1800 running mate)as their presidential candidate. Pinckney was a large man, respected by both parties, but he was half-deaf, and not what you would call an exciting human being. The Federalists picked N.Y. Senator Rufus King as his running mate.

The CAMPAIGN

Everyone could see that Jefferson and the Republicans had a lock on winning the election. But the Federalists tried their best to smear Jefferson with the usual slurs - he was an atheist, he had affairs with his slaves, and so on.

The WINNER was Thomas Jefferson

In 1804 there was still no voting by the people so again it was just the electoral votes. It was no contest as Jefferson got 162 votes to only 14 for Pinckney. Jefferson carried all the states except Connecticut and Delaware.

ELECTION #4, 1800 - the NASTY-METER skyrockets to 10.

QUOTE from John Dawson, Republican Congressman, Virginia: "The Republic is safe....the Federalist party is in rage and despair."

ELECION #4, 1800. Thomas Jefferson is elected our nation's third president. The NASTY-METER skyrockets to 10.

In 1800 America had its first presidential free-for-all. Forget most of the really nasty elections we've experienced in our lifetime. In 1800. John Adams, the Federalist, vs Thomas Jefferson, the Republican, (or often
called the Democratic-Republican but I'll continue to only use Republican), can be ranked as one of the top five dirtiest and nastiest elections of all time - and all because of two reasons:

One: It is hard to think of two parties who hated each other more than John Adam's Federalists and Thomas Jefferson's Republicans.
Two: For the first and last time in our history, a president was running against his own vice president.

The CANDIDATES in 1800.

FEDERALIST: John Adams. There were two things that Adams did as president from 1797 to 1801 that caused him major headaches in the election of 1800. The first was trying to find a way to keep peace with Britain and France. France and Britain were at war and the U.S. was caught in a no-win situation with both of them. So he upset the Republicans and his own Federalists the way he handled things. He was called a warmonger by the Republicans and an appeasser by his own Federalists. Adams simply could not win.

Even bigger than the issue with France and Britain was Adams signing into law the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798. Under this Sedition Act, anyone who criticized or sought to undermine the U.S. government could be fined or thrown in jail, and many people were. Jefferson's Republicans reviled the law as a violation of the First Amendment guarantee of free speech. People weren't even safe in their neighborhood bar - one drunk in a New Jersey tavern was arrested and fined for saying that President Adams had a "big ass."

Many Federalists were not pleased with their president but they felt he was the only cadidate they had. The Federalists picked General Charles Pinckney, a Southern diplomt to be Adams running mate.


REPUBLICAN: Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson had spent most of his four years as vice-president keeping a safe distance between himself and his boss. The troubles Adams had with France and Britain and the Sedition Act did not stick to Jefferson so he was in a good position to run against his old boss. The Republicans chose Aaron Burr to be Jefferson's running mate.


The CAMPAIGN

In 1796 the campaign lasted about 100 days. In 1800 the campaign started over a year before the election. (something like the present day, only we're worse than a year.) And it was nasty and vicious.

The Republican Jefferson made his first blasts against his boss by hiring a writer named James Callender. He was a real pro at using the english language to verbally assassinate anybody. He wrote that Adams was a "gross hypocrite," "a repulsive pedant," (a pedant is a boring speaker who says nothing of importance) and a "hideous hermaphroditical character which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman." (a hermaphrodite is a person, animal, or plant, having the reproductive organs of both sexes). It was no surprise that Callender spent nine months in jail. The Republicans now had a convenient martyr.

The Federalists fired back. They spread rumors that Jefferson had swindled his legal clients, that he was a godless atheist from whom one had to hide one's Bibles, that he had been a coward during the Revolutionary War, and that he slept with slaves while at home in Monticello.

BOTH PARTIES threw picnics and barbecues, where they plied voters with huge amounts of alcohol. At a Republican dinner in Lancaster, Penn., everyone drank sixteen toasts - one for each state of the Union - before tying into a half ton of beef and pork.


THE WINNER (eventually) THOMAS JEFFERSON

Election Day was December 3, and the electors met in their respective state capitals to cast their votes. The votes weren't officially counted until early February. The official vote was a tie between Jefferson and his running mate Aaron Burr - they each got 73 votes. John Adams got 65.
What happened was all 73 Republican electors voted for Jefferson and Burr which is why they each got 73. All that would have had to happen was for one Republican elector to vote for another candidate and the final tally would have been Jefferson 73 and Burr 72 or vice-versa. Jefferson would be president and Burr would be vice-president, or vice-versa.

But the tie meant that the House of Representatives had to break the tie.
One problem was that the House was controlled by the Federalists and Jefferson and Burr were Republicans. The rules stated that each state got one vote - the winner needed to get 9 of the 16 votes. Over the course of six days there were 36 ballots taken. On the first 35 ballots it was 8 for Jefferson, 6 for Burr, and 2 undecided - NO WINNER.

Then there was some backroom wheeling and dealing. The Federalista wooed Burr, but he wouldn't agree to their demands even if it meant he would be president. On February 17, Federalist Congressmen from Delaware, Maryland, Vermont, and South Carolina abstained from voting which resulted in Jefferson winning 10 states and the presidency - Burr got the second most votes and became vice-president.

Historians believe Jefferson cut a deal with the Federalists but he denied he ever did. However, his actions as president lead many historians to believe a deal did occur because he kept the Bank of the U.S. (which was set up by the Federalist Hamilton), and he kept many Federalists in office.

THE FEDERALISTS AND REPUBLICANS FINALLY FIND SOMETHING THEY AGREE ON.

As a result of the 1800 election the Federalists and Republicans finally found something they could agree on. They agreed that another election like that of 1800 had to be avoided if at all possible. So Congress passed a resolution on December 9, 1803, for a constitutional amendment stating that electors would henceforth vote SEPARATELY for president and vice-president, rather than allowing the top two vote-getters to take all. By September 24, 1804 over three fourths of the 16 state legislatures (14 0f 16) had ratified the resolution. It became the 12th Amendment to our Constitution.

This is good for a laugh!!!! Even though John Adams and Alexander Hamilton were both Federalists they hated each other. John Adams had this to say about Hamilton. Hamilton was born illegitimate and Adams didn't let him forget it. On various occasions, Adams referred to Hamilton as "a Creole bastard," "the bastard brat of a Scotch peddler," and "a man devoid of every Moral principle - a bastard."

Election #3, 1796 - the NASTY-METER rises to 3.

QUOTE from Thomas Jefferson, in an unsent letter to John Adams: "(I pray), that your administration may be filled with glory and happiness."

ELECTION #3, 1796. John Adams is elected our nation's second president. The NASTY-METER rises to 3.

By 1796 the honeymoon was over for George Washington. He was now receiving some pretty harsh criticism. When he put down the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794 in western Pennsylvanis the Republicans began calling George a tyrant and a dictator. When he signed a treaty with England in 1795 the Republicans howled that it was a cop-out to Federalist "monarchist" tendencies and supposed desire to return America to England. On September 19, 1796 Washington published his "Farewell Address," in which he warned against divisive political parties. This was all to no avail - as soon as the farewell was released, hungry politicians began scheming to fill Washington's shoes. Thomas Jefferson took a shot at his old buddy and Revolutionary comrade: "The president is fortunate to get off just as the bubble is bursting, leaving others to hold the bag."

The CANDIDATES IN 1796.

JOHN ADAMS was the Federalist candidate. Adams really wanted to be president. "Hi! Ho! Oh. Dear!" he gaily started off one letter to his wife, Abigail, when it became apparent that Washington would not seek a third term.

THOMAS JEFFERSON was the Republican candidate. In 1793 Jefferson left his job as secretary of state and went back to Monticello. Even though Jefferson had said "life in politics was a game and a useless waste of time" it was clear to everyone where his ambitions lay.

There were no nominating conventions in 1796. So the reality was that prominent members of each party decided on the candidates and then tried to convince their fellow members to follow suit. The nasty-meter went up substantially in 1796 through the use of handbills, pamphlets, and articles in Federalist and Republican journals and newspapers. In some ways it is interesting to know that character assassination has been part of our political campaigns since the 1790s - it is not something that started in the 20th century. The following will illustrate what I'm talking about.

- The Jefferson Republicans went after John Adams in a big way. They went after his throat - or rather, the tummy - by referring to the chubby Adam's "sesquipedality of belly." (This meant, literally, that his stomach was 18 inches long.) And they said Adams was "champion of kings, ranks, and titles." In addition they called Adams bizarre nicknames such as "Monoman" and "Angloman." They also said that if Adams was elected hereditary succession would be foisted upon America in the form of his son, John Quincy.

The Adams supporters (Federalists) got their shots in also. They cited Jefferson for his "atheistic" tendencies and his love of the French Revolution, especially the bloody, screaming mobs. His Republican followers were referred to as "cut-throats who walk in rags and sleep amidst filth and vermin." Federalists also smeared Jefferson as a "philosopher" and a "visionary " who would be "more fit to be a professor in a college ... but certainly not first magistrate of a great nation." And to make sure people got the message he was called an anarchist and a Francomaniac.

One other aspect of the 1796 election was the first attempt to balance the ticket by the judicious selection of a vice-presidential candidate. The Federalists chose southern diplomat Thomas Pinckney to go with New
Englander John Adams. The Republicans paired Jefferson,a Virginian, with Aaron Burr, the up-and-coming New York lawyer.


THE WINNER: JOHN ADAMS

The electors voted in their respective state capitals on the first Wednesday of December, 1796. The ballots were not supposed to be opened until February, 1797, when both houses of Congress were in session. But by the middle of December, the cat was out of the bag and everyone knew that John Adams had squeaked into the presidency, 71 votes to 68 for Jefferson.

Adams was president but Jefferson, with the second most votes, was his vice-president. Jefferson was of the opposite party plus they didn't like each other. Over the next four years, this would mean nothing but trouble. (It would be like Barack Obama being president and John McCain vice-president.)

Of all the good decisions the Founding Fathers made in writing the Constitution the idea of the #1 and #2 electoral vote getters being president and vice-president was a huge mistake. The biggest error in their judgment was they did not forsee the formation of political parties. Political parties made it impossible for the #1 and #2 electoral vote getters to get along and govern effectively.

Election #2, 1792 - the NASTY-METER is a 2.

QUOTE from eulogy on George Washington, December, 1799, by Colonel Henry Lee, father of Robert E. Lee: "To the memory of the man, first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

ELECTION #2, 1792. George Washington is reelected President of the U.S. The NASTY-METER is a 2.

In 1792, things got just a little worse. In his first term, Washington, as Father of the Nation, had to deal with quarrelsome kids. The kids is this case were cabinet members Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, and their dispute helped create something the framers of the Constitution hadn't quite bargained for; the first American political parties.

Hamilton had no trust in the common people. He believed in a strong central government. People who shared Hamilton's views came to be called Federalists.

Secretary of State Jefferson believed in the power of the people - the people preferably being farmers in an idealized agrarian society. He thought that Hamilton's form of government meant too much power vested in too few hands. Those who agreed with Jefferson called themselves
Republicans.

Washington did not want to run for a second term. He wanted to go back to Mount Vernon and spend his remaining years on his farm with his wife, Martha.
But with the country starting to split, he decided to run one more time, as a unifying figure.

Fifteen states participated in the 1792 electoral college. In 1789 there were only ten. North Carolina and Vermont had not yet ratified the constitution in 1789 so they couldn't vote. New York had failed to appoint its allotted eight electors in time so they didn't vote either.

Washington was considered a shoo-in to win the 1792 election. So the only question was whether Federalist Vice President John Adams would get the second most electoral votes and become VP again. Adams had said some things that made the Republicans members of Congress pretty mad. He had written that the U.S. would be a better place if it was ruled by "the rich and well born."
Needless to say the Republicans took offense. So Republican congressmen from five states decided to give Adams some competition. They proposed that New York Governor George Clinton be their candidate for VP.

When the electoral college voted all 132 electors made Washington their first choice. VP Adams received 77 and Governor Clinton got 50. Adams considered the vote a sign of disrespect and thus the stage was set for 1796 and the first truly contested presidential election in American history.


P.S. The new political parties begin to attack.

Hamilton and Jefferson did not like each other.In fact they started attacking each other in newspapers. Hamilton and his friend, John Fenno, editor of the "Gazette of the U.S." took swipes at Jefferson calling him "Generalissimo" and saying he was a man of "profound ambition and violent passion."

Jefferson and James Madison fired back in the "National Gazette" saying Hamilton's followers
were "monied men of influence" and if Hamilton''s plan was followed the citizens "should think of nothing but obedience, leaving the care of their liberties to their wiser rulers.

From here on in the political parties play a major role in American campaigns and the NASTY-METER moves to higher numbers.

I'm starting a new project on my blog.

QUOTE from Abigail Adams on President Washington, 1789:
"He is polite with dignity, affable without familiarity, distant without haughtiness, grave without austerity, modest, wise, and good."

MY NEW BLOG PROJECT IS:

With a presidential election coming in 2012 I've decided to get myself educated about all the other presidential election campaigns in the history of the U.S. This campaign in 2012 is predicted to be one of the dirtiest, nastiest, and most expensive campaigns in our history. My curiosity got me thinking about what all the previous PRESIDENTIAL campaigns were like. I know in my lifetime there have been some pretty dirty and nasty presidential campaigns. But what about the campaigns in the 1790s, the 1800s, and the first half of the 1900s? How dirty and nasty were they? So with the help of several books I bought at Barnes and Noble and the help of Google I'm going to find out. So this is my new project on my blog for probably the next year. So enjoy the ride through all 44 campaigns and hope you LEARN as much as I plan on LEARNING.

Each campaign will have a NASTY-METER ranking from 1-10. With 1 being the least nasty to 10 being the most nasty.

ELECTION #1, 1789. George Washington became our first president in 1789. The NASTY-METER ranking for our first presidential election is a 1.

George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, in Pope's Creek, Virginia and died on December 14, 1799. He was 67 years and 205 days old. George's father (Augustine) was married twice, producing four kids with wife number one and six kids with wife number two. George was the oldest of the second batch of six.

George's election to the Presidency was the CLEANEST one in our history. In 1789, America was like a newborn babe, and since the birth pains included a bloody and divisive war, a calming fatherly figure was needed. Washington was the only one to fit the bill.

Washington was not happy about being the anointed one. He was a reluctant leader who, at age 56, thought he was too far past his prime to undertake such a challenge. But his friends Alexander Hamilton and James Madison convinced him that America needed his presence to make sure that the gains of the Revolution did not disappear in factional infighting between state's rights advocates and those who favored a strong central government.

The first presidential election was also the quickest. There was NO POPULAR VOTE and there would NOT BE A POPULAR VOTE UNTIL 1824. Instead, following rules set down in the newly ratified Constitution, each state appointed presidential electors in January 1789. Each state got the number of electoral votes based on this formula; the number of representatives that state had in the U.S. House of Resentatives plus the two senators each state was entitled to. The electors in each state were selected by the legislatures in each state. Of course, all the electors appointed were white men. With the first Electoral College thus established, the electors cast two votes for two different people - a point that would soon become very controversial. The man who received the most votes would become president; the man coming in second would be vice president. It was a total landslide for George Washington as all 69 electors made Washington their number one pick and John Adams, with 34 electoral votes, was their number two pick so he became vice-president.

Washington then made his triumphal entry into New York City, the nation's temporary capital, on April 30, 1789. Thousands of spectators thronged the road that led from Mount Vernon, cheering and tossing flowers. The first president was ferried across the Hudson River on an enormous barge manned by 13 sailors (representing the 13 states); the barge was surrounded by a veritable flotilla of ships, filled with celebrants who sang Washington's praises to the spring skies.

In more ways than one, the election of 1789 was the smoothest sailing an American presidential candidate would ever have. (But the sailing wasn't completely smooth as the bitter John Adams did claim that the only reason Washington was chosen for everything was that he was taller than anyone else in the room).

George Washington is known as the FATHER OF OUR COUNTRY. He was the right man at the right time.

I can assure you that things will get more interesting as I journey through each campaign.

My curiosity made me do some research today.

QUOTE from Dorothy: "The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."

My QUOTE today is one I firmly believe in. There have been few times in my life when I've really been bored. The main reason is I've always been curious about the who, what, when, where, why and how of people and things. So after reading and laughing at the comic strip "Hagar the Horrible" for many years my curiosity made me want to know more about the person who could create something so funny like this everyday. To GOOGLE I went and I found the answer.

The cartoonist is a guy named Chris Browne. He is the son of the very famous cartoonist Dik Browne. In the 1940s Dik was a magazine and advertising illustrator. He broke into the comics field when he teamed up with Mort Walker on his then-new creation, HI AND LOIS. In 1973, he launched his own strip, HAGAR THE HORRIBLE, which skyrocketed in popularity in a few short years and is now one of the top comics in the nation. HAGAR has been continued by Dik's son, Chris, while his other son, Chance, draws HI AND LOIS.

Chris was born in New Jersey in 1952 and grew up in Wilton, Connecticut. Chris assisted his father on the comic strips HI AND LOIS and HAGAR THE HORRIBLE. When his dad started HAGAR THE HORRIBLE in 1872 Chris, as a twenty year-old, was contributing gag writing to it. When his father, Dik, retired in 1988, Chris took over complete control of HAGAR and has continued since that time. In addition to HAGAR Chris Browne has contributed cartoons to National Lampoon, Playboy, Esquire, Heavy Metal, The New Yorker, The Funny Papers and Sarasota Magazine.

I've always been amazed at people who are so creative everyday. I wonder if they sleep well at night or are they thinking about their next cartoon idea when they should be sleeping? When I wrote my GRATITUDE JOURNAL in 2009 I did a lot of thinking while in bed, when I was walking, or driving, or people watching, or watching TV, etc. It was almost a 24/7 deal for me to keep thinking about the people and things I should be grateful to or for. But it was also one of the best years of my life because I had to keep thinking positive every day for 365 days. I imagine cartoonists have a similar mindset, only their's would have to be about thinking of something humorous/funny. I never felt better, physically or mentally, than I did the year of 2009.

If cartoonists feel like I did then they are some happy people.




HUMOR for today. One of my two fvorite comics is Hagar the Horrible. Hagar is this tough beer drinking Viking who travels to different parts of Europe and pillages the castles of the rich Kings and Queens and brings the booty back to Norway He is married to Helga who is a tough hard working Viking woman. But Hagar doesn't appreciate how hard she works as you will see from last Saturday's comic.

Hagar is reclining in his recliner with a mug of beer in his hand.

Helga is screaming at him as she mops the floor: "I WORK MY FINGERS TO THE BONE ALL DAY LONG AND YOU JUST SIT THERE EXPECTING A BIG DINNER IMMEDIATELY."

Hagar responds: "That's not true. I'm willing to just have another beer and wait."

Fiive steps to follow when writing to your elected officials..

QUOTE from Albert Einstein: "I've learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, But pissing evryone off is a piece of cake."


The other day I got a letter from the LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS. I respect that organization as they are non-partisan and simply want the American people to get involved and participate in our American democracy by becoming educated about the issues and voting. I want to share the part of the letter that caught my attention. It read as follows:

THE STENGTH OF OUR DEMOCRACY DEPENDS ON CITIZENS GETTING INVOLVED AND ENGAGING OUR GOVERNMENT. KEEP THESE 5 TIPS HANDY WHEN CONTACTING ELECTED
OFFICIALS.

1. Politicians aren't interested in the opinions of people who can't vote for them. Identify yourself as a constituent of the legislator you're contacting.

2. Whether writing or calling your legislators, focus on a SINGLE topic. You'll be more effective and receive a faster response.

3. Ask the legislator to take specific action, like supporting a piece of legislation. Ask for a written response that gives your legislator's position on the issue.

4, Make your points quickly and concisely to have a greater impact. And make sure it is confined to one page. They do not like to read 2-5 pages from any constituent.

5. When talking about an issue, it's best to use your own words.

The U.S. Capitol Switchboard is: (202) 224-3121

I've written to my legislators many times in the last 40 years. I always followed these five tips and they do work much better than being long and rambling. lEGISLATORS DO NOT HAVE TIME TO READ LONG ONES.


HUMOR for today: Ever wanted to insult someone in terms wittier than "He's a jerk"? Then feel free to try these classic examples. (From the Reader's Digest)

1.While he was not dumber than an ox, he was not any smarter either. (James Thurber)

2. He had a mind to fine that no idea could violate it. (T.S. Eliot on Henry James)

3. Some folks seem to have descended from the chimpanzee later than others. (Kin Hubbard)

4. He is the only genius with an IQ of 60. (Gore Vidal on Andy Warhol)

5. The problem with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech. (George Bernard Shaw)

How Stupid Can People Be?

QUOTE from Arne Garborg: " It is said that for money you can have everything, but you cannot. You can buy food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; knowledge, but not wisdom; glitter, but not beauty; fun, but not joy; acquaintances, but not friends; servants, but not faithfulness; leisure, but not peace. You can have the husk of everything for money, but not the kernel."


Yesterday I wrote about a man named Carlos (Charles) Ponzi. He is the 1920s man whose legacy was to give his name to what we call today, The Ponzi Scheme. As I was perusing the latest AARP Magazine I read an article entitled, Fraud Alert - Our Own Worst Enemies. It was the story of 21st century Americans who have been defrauded of their life's savings by investing in Ponzi Schemes.

The one couple in the article that caught my attention was a North Carolina couple who turned over all the money they had saved for retirement to a Ponzi Schemer. The amount of money was $700,000. They are the reason I entitled my post today as, "How Stupid Can People Be?"
Their names are Gail and Gary Kepley and the Ponzi guy's name is Sidney Hanson of Charlotte, North Carolina. Here's how the story goes.

The Kepeys had saved $700,000 for their retirement nestegg. They were looking for a safe place to make some good interest. They had gone to a Chamber of Commerce meeting and learned about a financial planner named Sidney Hanson. When the Kepleys met Hanson they saw a balding, heavyset 60-year-old who wore wire-rimmed glasses and a business suit. As they walked into his impressive office in Charlotte he was flipping a silver dollar. Hanson told the Kepleys he came from humble beginnings in West Virginia but had found riches for his clients by investing in precious metals and foreign currency. He also gave them a sheet of references, a list of names that included local pastors. Then he handed them the silver dollar.

"He said he was a devout Christian whose joy in life was to return those blessings that poured out on him to others," said Mrs Kepley.

The churchgoing Kepleys were hooked. Four months later, the Salibury, NC, couple turned over their entire nestegg - the contents of their IRAs, their daughter's college fund, and their savings - to Hanson's company, Queen Shoals, LLC. All $700,000 of it.

Several months later, in May, 2009, the Kepleys were stunned to discover that agents from the securities division of the NC Secretaty of State had raided Hanson's office. They discovered his investment business was actually a Ponzi Scheme, one that had scanned more than 300 people out of $33 million. Hanson pled guilty and is serving 22 years in federal prison.

Gary Kepley died last year from a stroke. His wife, Gail, said he was a totally destroyed man from losing everything they had worked for all their life.

I have several thoughts about this story. I think my title is appropriate for the Kepleys. How can you be so stupid as to put your entire life's savings into one pot at the age they were. Why didn't they do some more investigating and diversify their nestegg or leave it where it was. Not only were they stupid but they were naive and greedy. Like I said yesterday, "If it looks too good to be true, then it probably is." Like Sidney Hanson mankind has always had and will always have people who are greedy, love money above everything else and have no conscious.

HUMOR for today: Any woman can have the body of a 21-year-old as long as she buys him a few drinks first.

I got CURIOUS about the Ponzi Scheme founder.

QUOTE from Josh Billings: "It ain't so much trouble to get rich as it is to tell when we have got rich."

I got CURIOUS. When I heard Rick Perry say that Social Security was nothing but a Ponzi Scheme I got curious. I knew what a Ponzi Scheme was but I didn't know anything about a guy named Ponzi. So I Googled and found a few things about a guy named Ponzi.

Carlo )Charles) Ponzi was born in Lugo, Italy in 1882 and died in Brazil in 1949. Ponzi was an Italian immigrant who bilked millions of dollars out of thousands of hopeful investors in the 1920s, in what has since become known as a Ponzi Scheme. Ponzi arrived in the U.S. in 1903, then made his way to Montreal, Canada by 1908. After a jail term for forgery, Ponzi was arrested for smuggling aliens into the U.S. and ended up in a federal prison in Atlanta, GA. After prison he settled in Boston and worked as a dishwasher for years before coming up with a plan to get rich. In 1919 he formed the Securities Exchange Company promising financial success by converting postage coupons into U.S. currency. Ponzi promised returns too good to be true. And they were: early investors were paid off with money from new investors; there was no real investment going on, just cash distribution. (The approach is also known as a "pyramid scheme.") Beginning in late 1919 and early 1920, Ponzi moved as much as $15 million from thousands of investors; eventually using 35 branch offices. The scheme fell apart eight months later and Ponzi was convicted of embezzlement and sent to prison for five years. His legal troubles dragged on for more than a decade and he was in and out of jail in the U.S. until 1934, when he was deported to Italy. He worked briefly for Benito Mussolini and then landed a job running asn airline in Brazil, where he died destitute in 1949.

I did some more research on Ponzi Schemes and found out the early investors were rewarded as promised but the later investors were the ones who never had a chance to make money as their money was being used to pay the early investors. Another thing I learned is that the early investors were so happy with the interest they were getting paid that most all of them would reinvest the earnings and end up losing it all anyway when the company collapsed. Their have been many of these Ponzi Schemes,the most recent and famous is the Bernie Madoff rip-off. Their were several of Madoff's investors who committed suicide after losing millions.

There is a whole lot of truth in the words, "If it looks too good to be true, it most likely is." MONEY and GREED have screwed up the lives of a lot of people throughout the history of this world.

HUMOR for today: Some people because smile they don't know the heck is going on.

How the Marine's view the Army.

QUOTE from fro Albert Einstein: "As long as there are sovereign nations possessing grear power, war is inevitable."


Yesterday I had the privilege of talking to a real gung-ho U.S. Marine. He had served two deployments to Iraq from 2005 to 2007. He was in the thick of things in the battle for Ramadi.

I asked him what the Marine's had to say about the Army guys. His answers made me have a good laugh. He had two answers:

1. To a Marine the word Army means, "Ain't Ready (for) Marines Yet.

2. And #2 is, "Ain't Real Men Yet."

He told us that his HumVee hit an IED and the vehicle flew in the air and tipped over. He was the only one to be wounded. He said, "As we were driving down the highway I had a feeling we were going to hit an IED. So instead of sitting upright in my seat I slipped down in my seat as I had this knot in my stomach telling me we were going hit one. Sure enough, in a few seconds our HumVee was flying in the air."

He was knocked unconscious by the noise of the exploding IED and he got some scrapnel wounds. He felt that the thing that saved his life was his slipping down in his seat at the last second. Most of the scrapnel went over his head. He said his battalian lost 14 men in his two tours.

He also said his Mother was watching FOX news one night and they were showing Marines sweeping through this town and the Marines were busting doors down to make entry to the homes of suspected terrorists. The guy busting down the door was him, Brandon Yeisley, of Springville, Iowa. His Mom recognized him right away. What a shocker for Mom.

He was fun to talk to and very open about what he did over there. He got out of the Marines and then decided he liked the USMC so much that he volunteered to go back in. They wouldn't take him back because they had their limit. I'd say the Marines made a mistake by not taking back a dedicated gung-ho man like this.

HUMOR for today: Being 'over the hill' is much better than being under it.

Extreme Couponing

QUOTE from Neil Simon: "Don't listen to those who say you're taking too big a chance. (If he had), Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor."

I've been reading the latest issue of TIME Magazine. This was a special money issue and I've read some pretty enlightening stuff. What I want to share today is what I LEARNED about those folks who are into couponing big time. TIME interviewed a lady named Shannon Shaffer who is an extreme couponer. They wrote an article about Shannon to illustrate what serious couponig can do for the grocery budget.

Shannon takes five hours to plan her shopping trips and two more to actually complete the shopping. She has cut her weekly shopping budget for her family of three from $250.00 to $50.00. On the shopping trip in which TIME went with her, here are the results.

She bought 92 total items.
Total retail cost was $293.82.
Amount paid was $38.04. (A savings of $255.78.)
Coupons used - 76.
Hours in the store - 2.5.
Fights with management - 2.

Shannon, who runs a couponing site called For the Mommas, says any family can use coupons to reduce their tab by 25% to 50%. "I can't figure out why people wouldn't," she says.

In 2009, consumers saved $3.5 billion redeeming 3.3 billion coupons - a 27% leap from 2008. "When the financial markets collapsed, people suddenly became very interested in coupons," says Todd Hale, senior VP of consumer and shopper insights at the Nielson Co. What started out as a cost-saving measure has spiraled into a craze, thanks in part to TLC's EXTREME COUPONING; housewives have been seen stealing newspapers and dumpster diving in pursuit of good deals. (I'd call dumpster divers some pretty serious couponers.)

With just Ruth Ann and I in the house I don't plan on getting into couponing. As we've aged we eat less and we eat more and more fresh fruits and vegetables and less and less processed foods. Our food budget is very reasonable so I see no need for taking the time to coupon.


HUMOR for today: I have degree in Liberal Arts. Do you want fries with that?

Don't believe all your emails

QUOTE from Juvenal: "Revenge is sweet, sweeter than life itself.
So say fools."


On Monday I received an email that read as follows:

--- The per person Medicare insurance premium will increase from the present monthy fee of $96.40, rising to: $104.20 in 2012; $120.20 in 2013; and $247.00 in 2014. These are provisions incorporated in the Obamacare legislation, purposely delayed so as not to 'confuse' the 2012 re-election campaigns. Send this to all seniors that you know, so they will know who's throwing them under the bus.---



As soon as I got it I said to myself that this has to be another lie about President Obama. So I went to 'snopes.com' and did some research - here is what I LEARNED.

THIS IS A LIE AND TOTALLY FALSE. President Obama does not have hidden in the Obamacare legislation anything resembling a $247 monthly Medicare premium in 2014.

So the TRUTH of the matter is as follows.

Currently, the PROJECTED Medicare Part B Premiums are:

$108.20 for 2012.

$112.10 for 2013.

$117.10 for 2014. - (it will not be $247.00 like this email said.)


SO MY MESSAGE TODAY IS BELIEVE NOTHING OR VERY LITTLE ABOUT THESE HATE EMAILS BEING CIRCULATED ABOUT PRESIDENT OBAMA. I HAVE RESEARCHED MANY OF THESE HATE EMAILS ABOUT OBAMA AND THEY ARE ALWAYS 95% to 100% FALSE.

So that is why I entitled my post today - Don't believe all your emails.
If you want to believe them at least go to snopes.com and research them to see how TRUTHFUL they really are - at least then you can make an intelligent decision as to believe or not to believe. The reader has to realize that these are being sent out by the Obama-haters and TRUTH is not a priority for them. They just want to see him get defeated in 2012 and they will do anything to try and make it happen.


HUMOR for today: Wrinkled was not one of the things I wanted to be when I grew up.

The rest of the Hawkeye NFL players.

QUOTE: 'The only reason to look down on someone is to pick them up.'

Here are the rest of the Hawks in the NFL.

25. Seth Olsen, Colts - 6-4, 308. Third-year offensive lineman.
26. Allen Reisner, Vikings - 6-3, 255. Rookie tight end.
27. Matt Roth, Jaguars - 6-4, 275. Seventh-year defensive tackle.
28. Bob Sanders, Chargers - 5-8, 206. Eighth-year free safety.
29. Tyler Sash, Giants - Rookie defensive back.
30. Amari Spievey, Lions - 5-11, 195. Second-year defensive back.
31. Ricky Stanzi, Chiefs - 6-4, 228. Rookie quarterback.
32. Eric Steinbach, Browns -6-6, 295. Ninth-year offensive guard.
33. Jeff Tarpinian, Patriots - 6-3, 238. Rookie linebacker.
34. Julian Vendervelde, Eagles - 6-2, 300. Rookie offensive guard.
35. Casey Wiegmann, Chiefs - 6-2, 285. 16th-year center. (He actually played under Hayden Fry.)
36. Marshall Yanda, Colts - 6-3, 315. Fifth-year offensive guard. (He's from Anamosa, Iowa - a former student of mine.)

I originally said we had 33 players. I was wrong, we have 36.


HUMOR for today:
1. God must love stupid people; He made so many.
2. The gene pool could use a little chlorine.
3. Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.