Have you looked inside your shoes lately? I advise you to not look in there. It is downright Confusing and Scary.

When I made the mistake of looking inside my new tennis shoes it was the Shoe Sizes that scared me. DidYaNotice I said “Sizes” in the Plural. My shoes do not just have 1 Size they have 5 Sizes!

My Shoe Size is shown as...

Ø U.S. 10

Ø U.K. 9.5

Ø France 44

Ø Japan 280

Ø China 270

This is confusion if I have ever seen confusion! Someone ought to do something before people all over the world start getting into accidents while driving their cars because they are so distracted about this ongoing quandary.

Had Winston Churchill looked inside my shoe he would have said, “I say this is certainly is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”. (Why is it that every really intelligent quote we hear sounds like it came from Churchill?)

************

Maybe, just maybe, it is not just a Numbering System Snafu. Maybe the French, Japanese and Chinese just have bigger feet.

Around where we live it seems like there are more Koreans than there are Caucasians. When we go walking in the park it is not unusual to see that 8 out of 10 walkers going the opposite direction from us are Korean.

Now I don’t think Koreans are Japanese or Chinese but they may be close enough that these Koreans are walking by me with 270 and 280 Size Feet and I have just not noticed.

You can bet I’m going to do some feet checking on my next trip to the park.

I’ll report back to you what I find out.

************

Oops, I just checked on the Internet and saw where the Good Ole USofA’s new Administration is on top of this issue. I should have known they would be. They have said they are going to fix everyThing and I certainly think this is a Thing that ought to be Fixed.

I wonder if the outgoing Administration will forever be remembered for leaving this issue unresolved. 

I think it certainly ought to be high up on their Undone List. It is unconscionable that they spent so much time working on things like Middle East Peace when this monster issue was lurking in the background and no one was paying it No Never Mind (Whatever That Means).

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

 

A quote from a book called 60 hikes within 60 miles: Atlanta.

“The Suwanee Greenway is an environmental success story of the Atlanta area. Destroyed by source-point pollution, Suwanee Creek was previously known as Black Creek. The Bona Allen Tannery, located on the creek in Buford, was founded in 1873 and pumped untreated chemicals used in the tanning process into the river. Acid, lime and dyes all made their way into Suwanee Creek, killing all living creatures and creating a 15 mile environmental disaster area. When the tannery closed in the 1970s, it was estimated that the river could take 100 years to return to a normal state. Today the river has risen from the dead, some 30 years after the tannery closed.

Today, the Suwanee Greenway is a breeding ground and rest stop for migratory birds. Among the species that make use of the once-polluted creek and wetlands are great blue herons, black vultures, red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks, osprey, and the American bald eagle. There is even an active beaver dam south of Martin Farm road.”

************

Because my Foolishness...Or Is It Blog is read worldwide the above quote may not be of great interest to most of you because you live a very long way from Suwanee Creek.

According to BlogSpot (Google), as of 1/20/21, my Blog has now had 197,577 Views of its 1,389 Blog Postings in many different Corners of the World (the top 3 Corners of the World behind the United States are: 35,411 in Italy, 7,370 in Russia and 2,830 in Unknown Regions...Wherever that is?).

Be that as it may, Fella got to thinking about the above Suwanee Creek Information and next thing he knew the bullet point list seen below had been created.

Was there a Focus Group discussion 30 years ago that proceeded along these lines?

The Focus Group Leader starts off by saying...

Ø Historically we have always been successful in getting a lot of money donated from many different sources because we have been very careful to make sure our message is fraught with bad news.

Ø Our analysis of the Suwanee Creek Tannery Pollution Story points to a very serious pollution disaster that we anticipate will be resolved in about 30 years.

Ø This is really bad but it is not bad enough.

Ø Our green eye shade guys tell us that, if we solicit funds and tell our potential donors it will take 30 years for Suwanee Creek to return to a Normal State, we will lose about 82.5% of our donations.

Ø Gentlemen, 30 years is not enough!

Ø We can do better!

Ø Being sly, cunning and alert we have determined that, if we convey to our potential donors that it will take 100 years to return to a normal state, we will not only not lose that 82.5% but we will gain another 12.75% in donations.

Ø That kind of money is nothing to sneeze at!

Ø I am asking for a show of hands to officially set the Return to a Normal State from this Environmental Disaster at 100 Years!

Thank you for your 100% approval of our 100 years Return to a Normal State Designation!

I would like to add that it is this kind of Deceptive Forward Thinking that is a integral part of what it takes to rake in the kinds of Mega Bucks that has made us such a driving force in the Mega Buck Raking In Industry.

Before we go to happy hour and because of the vote we have just taken I don’t think it would be going out on a limb for me to commit to you at this time that our Annual Mega Bucks Planning Meeting this year will move from Palm Springs to Maui in the Hawaiian Islands.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

How I Can Trick Google into Going Out Of Business

Google thinks it is Bullet Proof. Actually Google is only one Fella Trick away from being a thing of the past.

Here is the Fella Trick...

Ø Arrange for some Famous Hollywood Movie Star to go to Google Headquarters and make a presentation to management along the lines of what I am going to lay out below.

Ø The Famous Hollywood Movie Star should, of course, be someone who is Highly Regarded by the executives at Google.

Ø Highly Regarded need not have anything to do with Acting Ability but, more importantly, he would need to be someone who has made a Movie that is Socially Conscious, about the Environment, having something to do with Baby Seals or Polar Bears and Melting Polar Ice, where he played a character who Has a Limp, who was Born a Poor Person who was sexually abused by a Rich Person in his youth, who while he was in College worked in a Nuclear Power Plant where he became a Whistleblower who turned in the Evil Rich Plant Manager because the Evil Rich Plant Manager was letting the plant’s employees disregard State Law and not Recycling Plastic Water Bottles and who had written his College Thesis declaring his opposition to people who objected to Solar Windmills because the Windmills made a Swoosh Swoosh Swoosh Sound.

Ø As we all know, Google is on a campaign to destroy anyone who does not agree with Google on Everything.

Ø All the Highly Regarded Actor needs to do is convince the Management of Google to publish a book that contains Everything that Google Thinks Is Correct and Acceptable.

Ø Once the book is published Everyone would be able to live in a manner that would be Acceptable to Google.

That, My Dear Readers, would put Google Out of Business!

What? You don’t see it? You disappoint me again! I will explain...

If Everyone knew what Google believed about Everything, there would be no need to go to Google to Google Google to find out Anything about Anything because we would already know what Google believes about Everything, therefore, no one would be Googling Google about Anything and Google would dry up and Go Out of Business!

Would I kid you?

Smartfella

How to Write a Dire Headline

I really don’t mean to make light of the Coronavirus...

Is it Coronavirus?

Or is it? Wuhan Virus

Or is it? Chinese Flu

Or is it? Novel Coronavirus

Or is it? COVID-19

Or is it? CCP (Chinese Communist Party) Virus

Or is it? SARS-CoV-2 Virus

Or is it? Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2

Or is it? Coronavirus Disease 2019

Or is it? That Dire Pandemic That’s Going To Kill Us All!

I am not going to volunteer to become Number Next to get infected but can I be allowed to say that it ain’t as bad as we are being told it is bad?

I can just see your collective eyes popping out of your collective heads. Put your eyes back in and allow me to explain.

************

There is a lot of effort going into making this Virus sound worse than it actually is. Your eyes are popping again. Calm down and I will try and convince you that I am not being silly.

Here is a Dire News Headline...

“60% Of French Sailors on Aircraft Carrier Were Infected With COVID-19!”

This Dire Headline conjures up Dire Images and Dire Thoughts like...

Ø Golly gee! That’s awful!

Ø Those poor souls!

Ø They can’t get away from it!

Ø They are trapped on that ship!

Ø It’s going to get all of them!

Ø Heads are going to roll for allowing this to happen!
>This last bullet is a Growing Constant in the Good Ole USofA today. No matter what happens, it has to be someone’s fault...Lack of rain, Dramatic ends to football games, Hurricanes, Taking too long to develop a vaccine, Too much rain, Etcetera, Etcetera, Etcetera.

Click Here: https://youtu.be/iSd6-EvBgN4

The late Paul Harvey just dropped in for a visit. He took one look over my shoulder at what I was pecking out and said, “Fella, tell them the Rest of the Story”.

I always do what Paul tells me. The Rest of the Story is not as Dire as they (whoever they are) want us to think it’s Dire...

Ø Of the 1,074 sailors on board only 2 required Intensive Care.

Ø Not a single sailor died of the virus.

************

Can’t you just hear the Dire Headline Focus Group at the Newspaper talking in their Dire Headline Production Meeting...

Ø How about we lead with the fact that there are 1,074 sailors on board that ship.

Ø That’s a good start but let’s see if we can make it sound worse.

Ø How about there are 2 sailors in Intensive Care?

Ø What’s wrong with you? That’s not dire at all!

Ø How about no one died?

Ø Get out of here! That’s less dire than only 2 in Intensive Care!

Ø I got it! There are 1,074 sailors on board the ship and 60% of them have contracted the Dire Coronavirus implying that they are all going to die.

Ø That’s it!

Ø That ought to depress the heck out of them!

Let’s go to Happy Hour!

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: A Fella Wow Fact... Yul Brynner played the role of the king in The King and I 4,625 times. Wow!

This is the next statue to be torn down because Yul Brynner played a King 4,625 times and he was not a real King... 

(Statue of Brynner in front of his birthplace in Vladivostok)

Silly Is a Slippery Slope

Columbus’ sailing mates were afraid they would fall off the end of the Earth. Our House of Representatives has just gone over the Edge of Goofiness and is disappearing below the Ooze of Absurdity.

He, She, Father and Mother and such terms will no longer be welcome in the 117th Congress if new changes to their House Rules are approved.

Our new Congress is determined to go Gender Neutral and, in its blind determination to get there, it appears to be equally determined to take Foolishness and Silliness and to massage it into Illogical Nonsense.

Here is an excerpt from the newly proposed Rules of the House of Representatives... 

“In clause 8(c)(3) of rule XXIII, strike ‘father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in- law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, half sister, grandson, or granddaughter’ and insert ‘parent, child, sibling, parent’s sibling, first cousin, sibling’s child, spouse, parent-in-law, child-in-law, sibling-in-law, stepparent, stepchild, stepsibling, half-sibling, or grandchild’”.

************

We don’t have Statesmen in Congress any longer. We have Politicians who stand up and say, “Let’s go to happy hour!”

A Statesman would make like Peter Finch from the 1976 movie Network and stand up and shout, “I'm Mad as Hell and I'm Not Gonna Take This Anymore!”

************

Fella believes this Gender Neutral Quest is Senseless and he proposes a simple solution...Just Say No!

Ø No...I am not going to pay any attention to this dictate from whoever created this unnecessary complicated silliness.

Ø No...I will not do this because it unnecessarily complicates the world we live in.

Ø No...I will not do this because the people I am trying to communicate with will not know what the heck I am saying.

************

My Mother and Father were My Mother and Father and no amount of craziness from the U.S. House of Representative is going to make me think that they would not have wanted to be called Mother and Father and worse yet, if I did call them Mother and Father, I was actually doing something wrong!

How long will it be before we will be explaining to our confused Former Mother...

“Please don’t be difficult! You have to learn to change with the times. As much as you would like to be called a Mother, we can’t ever go back up the Silly Slope. I can see that you are hurt but hurt is no longer important. I’ll compromise with you but this is my final offer. I will consent to calling you “Parent Who Looks Like A Woman” but don’t tell anybody I did this or I will stop coming over on your birthday and singing that Silly Happy Birthday Song that you love so much!”

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

 

 

The Evolution of the Vaccines

 

Because we have the Always Factual Internet we know what we know and we know that what we know is absolutely true...Or is it?

Here is Fella’s Observation of the Development of the Coronavirus / Wuhan Virus / Chinese Flu / Novel Coronavirus / COVID-19 / CCP (Chinese Communist Party) Virus / SARS-CoV-2 Virus / Flu / Pandemic Vaccines...

Ø Expert on All Things Vaccines #1...We need a Vaccine!

Ø Expert on All Things Vaccines #2...We don’t just need a Vaccine! We need a Vaccine fast!

Ø Expert on All Things Vaccines #3...Somebody do something fast! We’re dying down here!

Ø Expert on All Things Vaccines #4...The FDA is dragging its feet! They need to fire the slackers!

Ø Expert on All Things Vaccines #5...Those Fat Cats in those companies that are developing the Vaccines are deliberately slowing down the development process! They want a lot of people to die so the country will panic and they can then charge exorbitantly high prices for their Slow to Develop Vaccine!

Now that several Vaccines have been released and are being distributed to the anxious citizens of the Good Ole USofA I actually heard this said on several occasions by Experts on All Things Vaccines...

“I don’t trust the Vaccines and my main reason for not trusting them is they can’t be good because they were Developed Too Fast!”

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

 

“Congress hasn’t increased Social Security benefits in nearly 50 years”

During the recent Presidential Campaign one of the candidates said, “Congress hasn’t increased Social Security benefits in nearly 50 years”. 

That sounds like a bad thing and it would be, if it were true, but truth and politics hardly ever get in each other’s way during campaigns for any political office, much less campaigns for President of the United States of America.

This is a fine example of saying the truth and lying at the same time…

Ø It may be true that Congress has not passed a piece of legislation to raise Social Security Income in almost 50 years.

Ø It is not true that Social Security Income has not risen during those almost 50 years because in 1972 Congress passed legislation whereby Social Security Incomes get Automatic Increases Tied To Inflation.

Ø So there is no need for Congress to raise Social Security Income with new legislation because old legislation is doing it automatically.

************

It was a strange campaign season, loaded with enormous promises of government handouts for Health Care, College, Illegal Aliens and even a Guaranteed National Income. 

Maybe I should not have pecked out “strange campaign season” but should have pecked out “usual campaign season”.

Social Security is headed for Certain Bankruptcy and during this campaign this candidate proposed that every current and future Social Security recipient be given an additional $2,400 a year.

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship." … Alexander Tyler, 1787

(As you may remember I recently found out that Alexander Tyler never said this but that does not mean that he was not correct about what he did not say.)

************

The candidate wanted to finance the $2,400 Vote For Me Proposal (which would cost more than $150 billion annually) with a 14.8% tax on high-income individuals because Social Security Recipients are in deep financial trouble and need help … Or are they? … Or do they?

Ø Only 7% of 46 million senior citizens who receive Social Security live below the poverty line.

Ø So the majority of this proposed Social Security Bonanza would go to middle and upper income seniors.

Ø About $51 billion would go to the 21 million seniors who are in the top half of the U.S. income distribution.

Ø It is estimated that the $2,400 Social Security handout would only lift above the poverty line about 1.6 million seniors who are currently living below it.

Ø Limiting assistance to 1.6 million seniors who are currently living below the poverty line would cost taxpayers far less but that was not proposed.

Ø The plan being proposed would cost taxpayers about $70,000 for each senior citizen lifted out of poverty.

************

This returns the country to an era when elected officials regularly used Social Security as a vote-buying scheme.

From 1935 until the early 1970s, the program’s benefits were not indexed to inflation.

Congress regularly passed bills meant to compensate recipients for the loss of purchasing power due to inflation.

After World War II, Congress began using the perceived need for an inflation adjustment as a way to buy votes.

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship." … Alexander Tyler, 1787

(As you may remember I recently found out that Alexander Tyler never said this but that does not mean that he was not correct about what he did not say.)

************

Of the 12 Congresses from 1949-73, all but one enacted legislation raising Social Security.

Seven of these expansions took effect during election years.

The vote-buying culminated in 1972 with a bidding war between President Richard Nixon and his Democratic Opponents…

Ø Nixon opened the bidding by proposing a 10% increase in monthly benefits.

Ø Sen. Edmund Muskie raised him with a 15% hike.

Ø Sen. George McGovern and Rep. Wilbur Mills each chipped in with 20% increases.

Ø Sen. Hubert Humphrey capped off the bidding at 25%.

Ø The dust settled in June 1972 when Congress enacted a 20% across-the-board increase in monthly benefits.

Ø The benefit increase appeared in Social Security Checks early that fall just in time for November’s election.

************

Both parties agreed that they needed to stop this craziness.

In 1972 Congress enacted legislation that put in place Automatic Annual Cost-Of-Living Adjustments...

Ø An amendment in 1977 linked the level of initial benefits paid to new retirees to the growth in economy wide wages. 

Ø The average monthly benefit for someone retiring this year is nearly 50% higher than it was nearly 50 years ago.

Ø During these 50 years the median inflation-adjusted income of U.S. families has increased by only 30%.

***************

This Blog Posting has now come back to where it started…

The Presidential Candidate said: “Congress hasn’t increased Social Security benefits in nearly 50 years.”

I can see by that Pollyanna Look on the faces of some of you indicating you still do not believe that Presidential Candidates Lie. In deference to those that “think” this way, I will soften my closing statement below…Or will I?

Saying “Congress hasn’t increased Social Security benefits in nearly 50 years” is not simply Misleading but it is a Dastardly Attempt to Tell a True Lie to a Gullible Voting Public.

***************

One More Time…

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship." … Alexander Tyler, 1787

(As you may remember I recently found out that Alexander Tyler never said this but that does not mean that he was not correct about what he did not say.)

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

I Don’t Want To Argue

I’ll just give you something to think about, and while you are thinking about what I gave you to think about, I’ll slip away because I don’t want to argue.

I am asking you to think about the dropping of the first Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945.

People have been arguing about whether the United States should have dropped that bomb ever since that bomb was dropped. Below I will present a lot of facts for you to think about.

Are You Ready To Start Thinking?

Ø Okinawa was the last island to be taken before the planned landings on the home islands of Japan.

Ø The Battle of Okinawa lasted from April 1, 1945 to June 22, 1945.

Ø It turned out to be the last major battle of World War II.

Ø It was also one of the bloodiest battles.

Ø The Navy’s Fifth Fleet and more than 180,000 U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps troops took part in the battle.

Ø The Fifth Fleet launched the largest bombardment ever to support a troop landing to soften Japanese defenses.

Ø Japan’s 32nd Army, some 130,000 men strong, defended Okinawa.

Ø The Kamikaze Suicide Pilots were Japan’s most ruthless weapon and on April 4 the Japanese unleashed them on the Fifth Fleet.

Ø Some of these planes crashed into U.S. ships at 500 miles per hour causing catastrophic damage.

Ø The Kamikaze attacks continued until June 27th.

Ø A total of 1,465 Kamikaze Planes were used against U.S. Ships.

Ø Some Kamikaze Rockets (MXY-7 Ohka) which could reach 620 mph in a dive were also used.

Ø The Japanese sank 36 U.S. Ships. 

Ø 368 more ships were damaged. 

Ø The U.S. lost 763 aircraft.

Ø This was the heaviest lost of men and ships in war. 

Ø Both sides suffered enormous losses in the Battle.

Ø The Americans bore over 49,000 casualties including 12,520 killed.

Ø Japanese losses were even greater—about 110,000 Japanese soldiers lost their lives.

Ø It’s estimated that between 40,000 and 150,000 Okinawa citizens were also killed.

Ø The Navy lost more men than did the Army and Marines fighting onshore. 

Ø Most Japanese troops and Okinawa citizens had been told and they firmly believed Americans took no prisoners and they’d be killed on the spot if captured. As a result, countless numbers took their own lives.

Ø About 7,000 Japanese soldiers did surrender but many chose death by suicide. Some jumped from high hills and others blew themselves up with hand grenades.

Ø When faced with the reality that further fighting was futile, the Japanese Commanding General Ushijima and his Chief of Staff, General Cho, committed ritual suicide on June 22, effectively ending the battle.

Speaking of Thinking, here is what President Truman had to think about…

Over 2 Million Japanese Troops were Waiting on the Home Islands of Japan for the U.S. Invasion

Do you Think President Truman was Thinking that the Japanese were about to surrender?

Think about it.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Remember Plastic?

Originally Published 12/27/20 but Modified 8/21/22...

I read where Climate Change (formerly known as Global Warming) is causing a Fungus to grow on the trees that Produce Plastic. The Fungus is causing the trees to shrivel up and dies at an alarming rate. Some really smart people are warning that we have only 7 years before the Plastic Industry will be a thing of the past.

I am pecking out this Blog Posting to the Whole World (OK, a small slight sliver of the World) to do what I can to slow the certain demise of the Plastic Industry. My stopgap delaying tactic will not fix the problem but it will be significant.

It has to do with Deceptive Containers that are all over the Fruited Plain (Actually the Whole World)…

Above is one of Offending Deceptive Containers. You go into stores and see these large containers and we say to ourselves, “Now there is a large container!” You take it home and shake away and never know how deceptively you have been deceived.

There comes the day when your large container is empty and you think to yourself, “Self, I’m going to go back to my store and buy another large container of powder! You are happy. Your store is happy.

Some call this Fat, Dumb and Happy. The truth is your Wallet Is Not Fat, You Are Dumb and the Really Happy one in all of this is the Powder Manufacturer.

Do you get my drift yet? It’s the Deceptive Large Container! The container is Large but it is only about One Third Filled with Powder! You, my Dear Reader, have been had.

Have you ever thought to yourself, “That Fella is different from me”. I am different. You go home and start shaking your powder. I go home and take the very-hard-to-get-off top of the Deceptive Container and I look down and shout out, “Eureka! They are trying to deceive me!” Almost immediately an Echo Came Back…“Eureka! They are trying to deceive me!”…“Eureka! They are trying to deceive me!”…“Eureka! They are trying to deceive me!”

Yea, I go back and buy a new Deceptive Container when my old Deceptive Container runs out just like you do but I know I have the satisfaction of knowing I been screwed and you don’t.

I know I know the Powder Manufacturer is standing (he can’t sit because his wallet is too big) in his big evil office smiling at all of us not-too-smart people.

************

I have a fix. I propose that our 9% Approval Rating Congress pass a Federal Law that required all manufacturers of anything to make their plastic containers a smidgen larger than the space taken up by the Contained Product they are selling.

The Worldwide Benefit to all of world would be immediate and long-lasting…

Ø Think of the Plastic Trees that will be saved!

Ø Think of the Trapped Air that would not be trapped inside of these huge Deceptive Containers and would then be available for us to breath!

Ø Big Box Stores would be able to build smaller Big Box Stores because they would no longer have need for as much display space as they once had.

Ø Big Box Stores would have available more floor space where they could put in increased numbers of Check Out Counters with signs on them that read, “This Register Is Closed”.

I’m finished kidding u.

Smartfella

I Am Way Ahead Of My Time

I’m sorry this Blog Posting is so long but it’s worth the time it will take for you to Read It, Get Confused By It, Get Mad Because Of It and Be Shocked By It.

************

Below you will find a Blog Posting I published on August 19, 2009. I am hanging my hat on this Foolishness to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that I know what I am talking about. Sadly it is also proof that no one (in particular the Congress of the United States) is Paying Me No Nevermind.

************

Here is the August 19, 2009 Blog Posting...

In Defense of Our 9% Approval Rating Congress

Our Congress is getting beat about the head and shoulders about a lot of things. The Smartfella is stepping up to come to their defense about an issue in which they have heretofore been made to look truly derelict…

Ø Their critics have been shouting that they Do Not Read The Bills They Sign Into Law.

Ø Should they read the bills? … Of course they should.

Ø Is it a big waste of time to read the bills? … Of course it is.

Has the Smartfella lost it? Absolutely not! Conclusive proof of my position is quoted below. As you read down you will see an excerpt (parts of pages 17 and 18) of H. R. 3200. This bill that has the subtitle… “To provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes.”

The Smartfella is made especially nervous by that last line, “and for other purposes”. That sounds pretty open ended to me.

My contention is that this excerpt is not comprehensible by any Member of Congress who took the time to read the bill or, certainly, by us. If my representatives in Congress would say to me, “Why should we read this bill there is no way to understand it”. I would instantly see the logic of this argument and I would tell them to go to Happy Hour.

Here is the exact wording from the bill. The other pages are more of the same. Can you figure it out?

(page 17)

20 (B) EXCEPTION FOR LIMITED BENEFITS

21 PLANS.—Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to

22 an employment-based health plan in which the

23 coverage consists only of one or more of the fol-

24 lowing:

(page 18)

1 (i) Any coverage described in section

2 3001(a)(1)(B)(ii)(IV) of division B of the

3 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

4 of 2009 (Public Law 111–5).

5 (ii) Excepted benefits (as defined in

6 section 733(c) of the Employee Retirement

7 Income Security Act of 1974), including

8 coverage under a specified disease or ill-

9 ness policy described in paragraph (3)(A)

10 of such section.

11 (iii) Such other limited benefits as the

12 Commissioner may specify.

Those last lines above again make the Smartfella especially nervous ... “(iii) Such other limited benefits as the Commissioner may specify.”

That sounds pretty open ended to me.

Or as Yul Brenner said in The King and I, "Etcetera, Etcetera, Etcetera".

Or as Mel Brooks said in The History of the World Part One, "It's good to be the king".

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

************

Now that you know how smart I am I will show you the Paying Me No Nevermind Part of this Blog Posting...

Unless you have been hiding under a rock with a blindfold on and ear plugs in you know that our 9% Approval Rated Congress just passed a New Coronavirus / Wuhan Virus / Chinese Flu / Novel Coronavirus / COVID-19 / CCP (Chinese Communist Party) Virus / SARS-CoV-2 Virus/Flu/Pandemic Stimulus Bill.

Halleluiah! Congress has just fixed everything...Or have they?

An indication that they have not fixed everything is the fact that members of Congress are now talking about another Stimulus Bill in January. I guess this is where they will fix everything they did not fix in this Stimulus Bill...Or will they?

Ø This bill is 5,593 pages long.

Ø Members of Congress had 5 hours to read it after it was released to them. That’s about 6 weeks short of the time it actually would take to read it. Fuhgeddaboudit!

Ø Amendments were not allowed. Fuhgeddaboudit!

Ø Just like I demonstrated in my August 19, 2009 posting above, this new bill also is too complicated to understand. Fuhgeddaboudit!

Is it possible that you are thinking that Congress read my August 19, 2009 Blog Posting and made this one understandable? If so, this is proof that you are not too smart. To prove how smart you are not, below is an excerpt from this new Stimulus Bill...

In the interest of being completely random, I went to my wife and asked her to pick a page between 1 and 5,593. I fully expected she was going to pick 4,489 but she picked page 57, so I reproduced page 57 below. If you think you can understand it...

Fuhgeddaboudit!

Page 57

1 Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(h)(4)) is amended in the first sen

2 tence by striking ‘‘For fiscal year 2020’’ and inserting

3 ‘‘For fiscal year 2021’’.

4 SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION PROGRAM FOR

5 WOMEN, INFANTS, AND CHILDREN (WIC)

6 For necessary expenses to carry out the special sup

7 plemental nutrition program as authorized by section 17

8 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786),

9 $6,000,000,000, to remain available through September

10 30, 2022: Provided, That notwithstanding section

11 17(h)(10) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C.

12 1786(h)(10)), not less than $90,000,000 shall be used for

13 breastfeeding peer counselors and other related activities,

14 and $14,000,000 shall be used for infrastructure: Pro

15 vided further, That none of the funds provided in this ac

16 count shall be available for the purchase of infant formula

17 except in accordance with the cost containment and com

18 petitive bidding requirements specified in section 17 of

19 such Act: Provided further, That none of the funds pro

20 vided shall be available for activities that are not fully re

21 imbursed by other Federal Government departments or

22 agencies unless authorized by section 17 of such Act: Pro

23 vided further, That upon termination of a federally man

24 dated vendor moratorium and subject to terms and condi

25 tions established by the Secretary, the Secretary may

December 21, 2020 (12:59 p.m.)

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Breaking New Alert!

One of my many sources in Washington DC just texted to tell me why it has taken so many months to cobble together this bill. In the interest of transparency, Congress was waiting until they were assured that the bill was Clear and Concise...Or is it?

Would I kid u?

Smartfella