Nov 7, 2017

Awoke as we pulled into the bay at Cartagena Colombia. Huge soaring skyscrapers surrounding stone and coral forts built in the 1500’s. Saw the fort where Romancing the Stone was filmed – even saw the pit which held “the snappers”.

The Virgin of the Navigators, with child, sits in the middle of the bay.

They watch over Cartagena and keep it safe. We pulled into the dock around 7am and again, no promised thundershowers. It was 80-90-100 degrees with 90% humidity. Now, I like to think the heat doesn’t bother me, but I was proved wrong today. It knocked the stuffing out of everyone. We were dripping wet with our clothes soaked through half way through the day.

We met our tour guide on the pier to walk to another dock. The walkway was lined with big pot of bougainvillea in every imaginable color. In fact, all off the downtown plazas and squares are covered in hibiscus, lantana and bougainvillea, hanging from balconies and climbing walls.

We boarded a tour boat and had quick trip around the harbor, seeing the sights and hearing the perfection of life in Cartagena. Carlito, our guide, really loves this city.

 

Carlito gave us some pointers about how to get around. “Don’t give papaya” – it means, if you leave it lying around, it won’t be there when you get back. A hitchhiker’s thumb in the air means let me pass through the traffic. And that the vendors are not aggressive, but they are persistent. Boy-howdy, are they persistent. You can say, “no, no, no,” but as soon as you say “no, thank you”, they leave you alone. That mostly worked, too.

We walked to the Clock Tower, the old fort where all the treasure of South America was stored in Spanish days.

There are numerous statues of statesmen and priests, with churches to match. There are streets full of Colonial and Republican buildings. Colonials were built in the 1500-1600’s with wooden balconies, Republicans were built into the 1800’s with cement balconies. All were painted vivid bright colors, festooned with flowers and mostly well maintained.

The streets were narrow and cobblestoned, pedestrian and cars jockeying for space but no honking or collusions. Many of the bigger houses had huge double front doors with a man-door in one side. These were for the servants. The double doors were opened for the master of the house so he could ride his horse inside and dismount, or the lady could alight from her carriage and so avoid the street. Door knockers indicated rank and wealth.

Lion headed door knockers meant judicial or police, hands meant cleric, lizards meant royalty and sea life meant businessmen. There were also round doomed rivets placed on the doors which indicated how much wealth or slaves the owner had. 

We watched a gang of excellent street dancers performing amazing breakdancing, an artist painting on mirrors, went through an emerald museum, with an excellent opportunity to purchase from and authorized source, watched the old craggy black ladies in brilliant satin dresses, selling fresh fruit from bowls on top their heads and dragging tourists into photo opportunities, only a dollar.

A US dollar equals 2800 Columbian pesos. As Carlito says, we are millionaires.

We returned to our boat and to what we thought would be another tour of the old forts along the waterfront. We hadn’t quite understood the part of the tour description about an open bar with local music and forklorico dancing.

  Our party boat floated about the bay for over an hour, with a 4 piece folk band playing local music and two beautiful dancers in white, swirling their skirts and enticing us to join the party. Rum and coke for all! There was some more history given and a few sights pointed out but it really was a  booze cruise. Jim and I ended up dancing on the front of the bow as we passed by the Princess, giving it an ocean wave and cheer.

Hot, sweaty, dehydrated and tired, we were back on board by 1:30, and happy to be home. 

Nov 6, 2017

PANAMA CANAL. The promised rain never arrived. It was bright with big puffy clouds, slightly windy and 80 degrees all day.

During the night, we pulled into Panama to await our turn through the canal. The fee for a cruise ship to use the canal is based on berths – in our case, the fee is $280,000.00. I’d imagine that includes a hefty concession fee to give us first access as we started into the canal by 7am. At one point, I counted 45 ships anchored around us but I think that was only a fraction, as there appeared to be many more ships outside the immediate bay. No wonder Panama wanted the canal back.

It took about 9 hours to go through. It didn’t seem fast moving but when we could see other boats next to us, we could tell the docks filled and drained rather quickly. Our boat was almost exactly the same width as the canal. It really did look like you could reach out and touch the walls. There are “mules”, little rail cars on tracks which pull/guide the boat from lock to lock. The first lock, the Miraflores, was 3 locks long, then we went through a second set, the Pedro Miguel, 2 locks long. We past under the Bridge of the Americas, (Highway 1, Alaska to the end of Chili), a soaring white single cable suspension bridge, similar to the Sundial Bridge in Redding. We then floated through the Culebra Cut, into the connecting Gatun Lake and out the Gatun Locks, under the Centennial Bridge and into the Caribbean Sea.

Panama City could be seen over the hills to the south or my shoulder.. The surrounding land was mostly cut steps, covered in scrub jungle. Lots of men and machinery lined each side of the canal and everyone waved. It was weird to see into the other ships as they passed us as they were so close.

It’s difficult to describe how impressive the Canal is. It seems fairly mundane on the surface, but one can’t help being impressed by the immense effort it took to create it and the equally immense effort it takes to keep it performing. Thousands of people died during construction; it took years to build, new and unknown diseases to fight, not to mention crocs, snakes and insects.  Millions of gallons of water for each ship is pumped and recycled, untold millions of tons of rock and concrete are visible, equipment and men are everywhere and it’s ongoing, constantly.  

While we passed through the lake, Jim napped and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Men Tell No Tales. Seemed appropriate. We met to watch the final exit and then went for cocktails with our favorite bartending team. They weren’t impressed with the canal as they’d seen it too many times.

Big boat in new lock

Honey said her contract is for 9 months and she stays with the Coral Princess. It took her 2 years of college and prior hospitality experience to get this job. There are lots of people waiting to get a job on a cruise ship and she says it’s better than being at home. In her case, the Philippines. Christian’s father still works cargo ships, has all his life, so it was natural for Christian to follow in dad’s footsteps. He goes home every nine months for a month or two, eats mom’s cooking and catches up with his friends.   

An uneventful dinner, another football game and to bed.

Nov 5, 2017

Overcast but warm after raining all night. We moved forward another hour during the night, so I awoke 4am home-time, 7am our time. Both Jim and I felt kind of lazy so we weren’t in any hurry to start the day. Jim had ordered room service breakfast so no hurry at all.

I ran out of book around 11 so I headed down to the library to pick up today’s Suduko and a new book – found “Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter”. I then went up to the Lido Grill for a burger, beer and fries.

Came back to the room; Jim was engrossed with Sherlock so I started in on my new read. FUN book. We went out again around two, it’s still raining, and Jim had lunch. I had ice cream. Back to more reading.

Dinner at 7, nothing special in the Horizon Café tonight.

Except some food art

Took a turn on the Prominade deck, came back to football and I finished my book. It’s now 9:30pm, we’re wide awake. Jim watched football while I read. Movies under the Stars was scheduled at 10:30, and even though the game was still on, I went up to Lido deck, figuring the game would be over shortly. An hour and 15 minutes later – grrrrr – it finally ended. And then the movie never started – really grrrrr - . We sat and listened to that high pitched screech that plays when the broadcast day is over. Gave up and went to bed. 

Nov 4, 2017

One week at sea and here we are in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. It’s 80 degrees, extreme humidity and overcast, thunderstorms expected.

At breakfast at 6:30am, I was dripping wet from the heat. We are right up on the dock this time so I can watch the disembarking passengers scatter. The bay is completely surrounded by islands, rocks and peninsulas. One mountain far away appears to be snow topped (but I heard later, the only snow EVER was just 3 years ago, for a day). There are huge frigates and pelicans circling the bay. The land we’ve docked against looks to be completely flat and all of 2’ above sea level. It is covered with palm trees and brightly colored shops and shacks.

And we are waiting again. We booked a tour, scheduled to meet at noon and it was close to 1 before we boarded the bus. An entertaining tour guide, Jose (no way, Jose), beguiled us with interesting CR facts during the 40 minute ride to the train (95% literacy, universal health coverage, no army, low taxes, minimum wages, immigration, import/export, agriculture, transportation, politics – 13 parties).

We stepped straight off the bus onto the train.

It is a narrow gauge variety, a screeching, vibrating, 1940’s, 3 carriage train chugged through rice fields, mango orchards, backyards and downtowns. Everyone waved and lots of horns honked. Of note, stop signs and lines on the roads are “guidelines” rather than absolutes. It’s everyman for themselves. The houses and grounds we passed were similar to those in Mexico, mostly squalid and trash filled, a mis-mash of building materials, dogs yowling and chickens squawking, rusty tin roofs, all with a satellite dish on top. Everyone has a cell phone, too.

We stopped at one point to watch the howler monkeys.  

 

We then went back on the bus for another ride to the Jungle River Cruise. It had started raining at this point, so all the NY ladies were having a fit about getting wet. A quick stop at the rest room yielded the best photo yet.(Actually a video that is too long for this format. I'll show later)

The flat bottomed tour boat slowly moved up the brown, brackish river while the rain came down in buckets. Everyone was drenched. We did see a couple of beached crocodiles, one each, small, medium and large. There were storks and egrets, smaller sea birds and a gorgeous Roseate Spoonbill – snowy white head and neck, blending into pink to a deep cranberry tail, with black bill and legs. We had to leave early as the lightning was making for nervous travel.

We went back for a quick visit to the souvenir shop (of course, required, I think) and then back to the bus and the boat.

After drying out, we headed to the bar, chatted with Honey and had dinner at the Bordeaux. Our window seat let us watch a spectacular lighting storm, lighting up the whole sky. Beef and Yorkshire pudding for Jim, pork chop and apple cider sorbet for me.

We had a B&B at the Crooners Bar and chatted with some of our fellow passengers before calling it a night. 

Nov 3, 2017

During the night, we pulled into San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua. It was lightly raining, in the high 70’s, no wind. There was a full horizon to horizon rainbow out our window as we first looked out on the tiny village. A huge statue of San Juan overlooks the harbor and the steep hills running down to the rimming beach. Pelicans sit on all the little boats in the harbor. The hills are covered in low growing trees and there are lots of condo-like building built stepping stone fashion down the slopes.

  

After breakfast, we took a tender over to the village, about a 20-minute ride. We climbed up some broken stairs into the reception area which was a concrete pad with a canvas roof. Several different bands were playing, costumed girls were dancing, vendors were hawking every native knick-knack imaginable - leather goods, hats, sunglasses, pottery, whistles, fabric goods and taxi trips. We walked out to the street and followed it along the beach front. Lots and lots of bars offering free wi-fi and cold beer. The sidewalks are paved with stones, tiles, broken concrete and about two feet wide. The streets are muddy and broken and cars and dirt bikes whiz past. Lots of colors and every type of building from mango logs and blue tarps to sleek pink and yellow haciendas tightly line the walkway. We saw a grey squirrel with a multi-jointed tail eating coconut and some huge black pigeons which sounded like parrots. There were missing buildings on the beach side of the road, (maybe hurricane damage?) which gave egress to the beach. It was a weird combination of excess and poverty, but everyone was smiling and welcoming. We spotted massed tangles of overhead wiring (which makes Jim happy) and HUGE cell towers far off on the mountain tops. Everyone has a cell phone.

  

(Can't understand why...)

There were armed policemen on every corner. We were told there is no crime in San Juan. The tourists are too important to allow any harm to spread. We also heard there is a 90% literacy rate, universal health care and you can drink the water. It’s still a third world fishing village but it has some remarkable attractions.

 After walking as far as we could, we walked back along the beach. We watched one man using an old skiff and a rope tied to two trees to pull his “ferry” back and forth over the river which cut across the beach. The pelicans were diving, and the little kids were swimming. We wandered into the surf, but it was a little too cold to go swimming. It was raining, but warm and only gently falling.

We came back on the tender about noon and spend another lazy afternoon reading and napping.

Around 4pm, Jim went to the front desk to straighten out an incorrect charge on our account and arrange for luggage transfer in FL.

We visited with Christian at the Atrium bar – had my first Mojito, and it’s pretty tasty. We wandered up to the Lido deck and had a glass of wine by the pool.

The pool is surrounded by a wide bench which surrounds a walkway around the actual pool. The walkway is 4” deep with overflow from the pool. That way, the pool is full to the brim, you can splash on the edge and there’s no run off from the pool to the surrounding patio. You can sit on the bench and splash in the pool without getting wet. In this case, it was raining, so we did get wet but it was such a warm gentle rain, we barely noticed it. The big screen was showing movie trivia so we splashed and laughed and amazed ourselves with the breadth and width of our knowledge.

We went to change and then had dinner at the Horizon Café. We then grabbed an after dinner drink and went back to our room for some movie watching and sleep.

Nov 2, 2017

We had a time change during the night, moved one hour forward. It’s in the 80’s with light clouds floating along; barely a breeze. There are birds flocking to the front of the ship, dipping and diving. They look like gulls but are more angular, sleeker than our gulls at home. We spotted several pods of porpoises jumping. It sounds like a gunshot when they hit the water. We could even see them under the water as they swam by. The ocean is blue-blue-blue today.

  

We attended Richard Munroe’s last lecture, this one on the Panama Canal. Looking forward to this segment. Sounds like it isn’t possible to see it all.

We had a late breakfast/early lunch and then sat by the pool, reading and listening to the Princess Bride. A little brown pigeon strolled by, looking for handouts. It must have come on board while in port as there’s no way this poor thing could have flown in recently. We also spotted two birds which looked like raptors of some sort. They perched on the topmost parts of the ship and circled by many times.

Napped and read and watched the turtles swim by. There were dozens of them, one after another, like patches of algae flotsam swirling past. (From 10 stories up everything looks small). Also, lots of porpoises splashed by and two really big rays cruised past just under the top of the water. In the room, we watched Ghost Busters, the new one, and then went to dinner. It was Formal Night so we watched all the pretty people being posed and turned. Men put their hand in pocket; women lean in with hand on chest. Why people go for this is beyond me.(The view from our spot at the bar had more action).

We had dinner at the Horizon Café, salad and assorted meats, jello and custard dessert. I then crashed and was out; Jim went out to roam and see the movie under the stars – popcorn was served. We had wondered where the popcorn was – it seemed so obvious to have included it and had yet to see any.

 ( A movie under the stars with scattered showers...why not add popcorn?)

Nov 1, 2017

Slept in till 6am – big time for me. It was a nice morning, warm, no wind. I think I’ve had it with crowds. The chatter at breakfast was irritating.

Went back to the room and Jim and I went to get coffee downstairs. Searched the library for a new book and the sudoku. Went to another lecture, this one on Costa Rica, and again, I think we’ll stick to the beach. There’re lots of excursions but the idea of getting on a bus for an hour’s ride, look at the monkey/butterfly/volcano and a steam table lunch just doesn’t appeal.

We went back to the room to nap and sit in the sun on our balcony. Jim spotted sea turtles and a couple of porpoises. Didn’t really go out again till classic music time. Came back to the room after a couple of cocktails and watched the last world series game. Whoo-whoo.

Dined at the Bordeaux. Jim had fruit and seafood cocktail, duck ala orange; I had pate with aspic and surf and turf. I had delicious nectarine ice cream with a rhubarb sauce and a weird napoleon, completely tasteless. Then read and bed early. 

Oct 31, 2017

Slept in a little and awoke to great big plops of rain. It was still really warm, but the thunder and rain was heavy. It blew over by 8am and then we had fantastic clouds and lots of wind. We can see the shoreline with long stretches of white beaches and black silhouettes of mountains behind.

Went to an introductory meeting for San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua. Same geologist/comedian as last time. Saw a photo of a warning sign set into the ground – looked like an entry step to a walkway to the volcano. He warned if you took this trail, it would be one step to the edge, one step off the edge, loose half your skin on the first bounce, conciseness on the second bounce and death by the bottom.; ie a total waste of your excursion fee so heed the sign. It was pitted from the volcano sulphur fumes, but don’t worry, it won’t really affect one’s lungs, much.

Looks like we’ll stick to the beach. The downtown area is about four streets wide and six streets long and it isn’t crazy like Cabo was. It’s still a tourist town, but in it’s infancy, and trying hard to cater to the tourist. The vendors there accept any currency but will only give change in local money. Accept this and what the heck, they need it more than we do – leave the change.

We walked the promenade deck for a bit, watched Practical Magic on the big screen, Jim had a margarita and I had a plate of fries; lazy day. After a nap, I went to a hair seminar on how to buy Princess hair products and then met Jim in the Atrium bar for cocktails and classical music. I may still go back for a haircut but…

Lots of folks in costumes, with pumpkins and balloons and spiders everywhere. (In olden days, fires were lit to scare off the ghosts of the dead who might ruin the harvest. Fires attract bugs, bugs attract bats, bats become symbols for… Halloween! Learn something new every day.)

 Boo!

Oct 30, 2017

Awoke early, 5am. The Big Dipper was hanging directly outside our window. There are too many lights on the boat to see very many stars but those that are visible were stunning. There were some lights on the horizon; seems we were close to Cabo San Lucas. There was barely a breeze and it was a warm, slightly sticky heat, mid-70’s, I’d guess.

I headed up to the bow and had a cup of tea while watching a spectacular sunrise. The sky was pink, turquoise and gold. Lots of lights sparkled on shore – maybe a highway? As the sky brightened, I could see lots of whitecaps along the shore. Turns out they weren’t whitecaps, they were boats, hundreds of little boats, heading out of the bay for a day of sightseeing and fishing.

Our ship rounded the point, swinging north, and into the bay of Cabo. Long white beaches, thousands of condos and hotels climbing the bare brown hills, not a tree or a bird in sight. It’s all desert, catering to tourists.

Jim joined me on deck and we watched the tenders start their ferrying of shore excursions.

We elected to say on-board, sunbathing, swimming and reading. Very nice and quiet. Listened to classical music again in the atrium, chatting with bartenders Christian and Honey. They know our names and cocktail preferences J We dined in the Horizon Café and then called it an early night.

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Oct 29, 2017

The sun came out this morning. I was sitting at the bow as it broke through, a cup of tea in hand. The air temp was inching up to 70 and no wind at all.

I met Jim later at the International Café for croissants and coffee. My wanderings had finally located some comfortable chairs in the, oh-duh, library. Almost all the other chairs in all the other bars and rooms are too short in the seat and/or they sloop to the front. I guess a million butts sitting on them has broken the stuffing down.

We attended the lecture on Cabo San Lucas, our first port of call. A geologist, sort of an Indiana Jones type, told us all the sites to see and how to spend a lot of money. Also, how to get sunburned, drunk, hassled and left behind. He was pretty entertaining, but it left both Jim and I with a “why bother” sort of feel about the place. We will probably go late and leave early, just so we can say we’ve been.

Had a late breakfast/early lunch on the Lido deck, listening to football on the big screen, then spent some time sunbathing. We went back to our room to lounge on the balcony and watch the water flow by. It is really blue today.

I joined a Flash Mob class and learned the moves to second the part, the “Celebrate” portion of the dance. There will be three pieces and we shall gather to flash mob dance on the last day at sea. There was a tiny white woman on my left and a tinier Asian woman on my right and they ran me into the ground, to the count of eight.

At 3, we attended the Maître D’ wine tasting seminar. Sat with some folks from Arizona who wanted to know all about the fires. They had friends in that area. The wines were quite good, paired with the canapes (champagne and cavier – who knew?) and the host was jolly. Told a joke about his grandfather, drinking too much on Halloween. His wife surprised him when he came home, jumping out of the closet wearing a devil custom. “You don’t scare me,” he said. “I married your sister.”

Afterwards, we listened to the Budapest classical trio again and had a few more cocktails. The bartender, Honey, let us know if we ordered Jack Daniels instead of Markers Mark, she could pour us doubles. It has to do with the cost, Jack being less expensive than Makers. Great, just what we need, doubles.

Had dinner at the Bordeaux again, gotta love passing the line up using the Club Card. Salmon and Caesar for me, pork chop and seafood cocktail for Jim.

We listened to some more music afterwards, B&B in hand but I for one was done-done-done. An early bed for me but Jim stayed up late, adding this narrative to the blog.

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Oct 28, 2017

A slow day for us. Foggy in the morning, turning to overcast. No wind to speak of, a little cool but comfortable. There were patches of blue late in the afternoon, still no wind, quite nice.

I had oatmeal and pineapple for breakfast, early, in the Horizon Food Court. The staff hovered, constantly asking if they could bring more coffee-juice-water-tea… I joined Jim later for cappuccino and scones later in the International Café.

Some wandering, and we ended up in the theatre for line dancing. Jim sat out but I paired up with a tiny older Chinese lady who giggled the whole time. The instructor played “his” song – “come on girls, let’s go!” Fun and sweaty, learning The Hustle.

We split up then; Jim to access the Internet Café, me to sit outside and read.

We then searched the boat for each other. I left a note in the room, said I’d give it one more search of the Lido deck and then was going to lunch. He found the note, went to the wrong deck but we found each other there. “Our eyes met across the room”.

Had lunch at the Horizon Café, typical steam table stuff. Had a medley of desserts – the jello was the best. They looked good, though.

Went back to the room for reading and naps.

Around 4 o’clock, we went downstairs to the Atrium bar to hear an excellent classical trio from Budapest and have a couple of drinks. Finished two crossword puzzles then watched the gatherings of “formal night” cruisers posing for their formal portraits. Lots for sparkly ladies and resigned men.  

Canapes in the room again! We lounged a bit, changed into our formal wear, which is black pants, and had dinner in the Horizon. Nothing particularly notable, although the pineapple flambé was “interesting”.

We moved on to the Princess Theatre for a performance of “What a night”, a mix of Cole Porter tunes – Thoroughly Modern Millie, Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend, Let’s Fall in Love, etc. It was well performed but dull. Maybe we’re too jaded? It lacked excitement somehow.

Both of us were worn out at that point so we called it an early night and went to bed. 

As always, stay TOONED.....

Oct 27, 2017

The wait is over! 

 We are here, on board, sun shining, barely a breeze (water coming out of my head), rum punch in hand. The bus ride was uneventful and swift. We walked off the bus about 1:15 PM and  crossed the street, then, through security, registration, up the ramp and in our room by 2 PM. GREAT way to travel.

(here's our room)

The Coral Princess seems smaller than our last ship but all the amenities are here. Our room is more comfortable, and the balcony is at an end so there’s only one wall and it is to our left, the front is to the right,so there’s a clear view all the way right up the bow to the corner of the bridge.

We wandered all the levels, finding our way about and then stood at the bow to watch as we passed under the Golden Gate (See ya in a month baby). It doesn’t seem so high, until you notice the little tiny birds (pelicans!) flying by underneath. The fog was hanging nicely off the coast, so it was almost, perfect sailing weather. Chatted with an older couple from Benicia. They’d tried to 'out local' us, they’ve been here for 20 years, so they would know. Then it was homecoming week and weren’t those fires awful.

We then snagged a cocktail (those rum punches are toooo sweet, all most makes up of them being free) and watched (the east bay legends...) “Rhapsody!!”. 

They looked like they should be playing reggae, but they belted out a wicked boot-scoot boogie, Y-M-C-A, and other assorted 1980 line dance favorites, (Jim was not too amused), It was hysterical.

While we aren’t the youngest people on board, we are by far younger than most. We sat at the Crooner’s Lounge ( Cool! The Rat Pack! wait where are the tunes?) and  watched the parade go by. There was an excellent trio playing classical tunes, (down stairs, and they were great!).

Our Club Class got us past the line at dinner and into a quiet corner of the dining room. We passed a waiter sauteing garlic for lamb chops that sold me (Jim had prime rib), there was also chilled melon, roasted potatoes, haddock and potato soup and asparagus, culminating with a cheese plate for me and "creme bro lay" for Jim. A very nice bottle of Wild Horse Pinot Noir rounded it all out and... damn! – bed time indeed.

It wasn’t all the booze, really.  We avoided the crowded elevators – all those stairs wore us out, really. 
We are on the 10th floor and the food and drinks are from the 5th to the 7th and the 12th to the 15th( there is no 13th of course) (Too early to use the elevators...but it won't last)

STAY TOONED...

I have a sticker up on my living room wall that simply says "If you're not outraged...You're not paying attention".  Sadly , the longer it stays there the more profound it seems to become.

We seem to be faced with the reality the the "American People", as a whole, are truly dumber than a bag of hammers. WE, the american people, have put into the position of power over us a group of folks that, it seems, have not the least concern for what happens to the majority of us. The idea of party over populous rules the day.

"Obama-Care", the death nail of all that we have striven to obtain, must be abolished!
Even if that means that we go back to when a lot of folks got their medical care in the emergency rooms instead of a Doctors office. Never mind that I have a hunk of bone disconnected from the other half, that poor person with a bad cough and fever must come first! After all "you're paying for it" . These folks that don't have the cash, or don't want to budget the cash, have just the same rite to the same healthcare as I do. As long as the ER doesn't find out that I have the $$ to cover the treatment I can get it for free too! I feel healthcare should be a 'perk' of living in the greatest nation in the world. Hell they have it in the poorest countries why shouldn't we have it here? OH Dang, I forgot...that's Socialism...and that is a bad thing.

Social Security!!! That bastion of free entitlements! This must be stopped!?
If the powers that be really want to do away with this freeloading drain on the economy, I want my money back! I have been paying into this 'socialist' program since I started working back in 1970. Granted it was not much, a dishwasher only made so much. But I was promised a return on my investment when I was old enough to retire that would see me through the rough times. The word is "It's going broke" 'we just can't seem to make ends meet'. 'Too many baby boomers are creating too much strain on the system'. Well that might have been the case if the powers that be, for many years, hadn't taken vast sums of money from the coffers. It seems that the social security bank account had a lot more money than it needed at the time and was ripe for some 'Peter pay Paul' financing. The answer is simple...remove the cap on the social security tax limit. I disagree that it means a tax increase, it is just a commonsense remedy to a limit that made no sense when it was written. Why limit the payment to your insurance when you have made "X" amount of money? Maybe we should not allow the people who make "X" amount of money in their retirement to collect any money at all!? No, that would be just as wrong.

I don't profess to have the answers. Maybe the 'Red Folks' have the right idea.
If you can't pay the freight you don't get the rewards. We should just kick them to the curb and wait for the people scoopers to come and take them away. We can worry about who will make our bread, pick our crops, clean our bedpans in the hospitals, deliver our morning papers, take our trash away every week, even gather our eggs for our breakfast. And don't worry about who will package our food and check us out at the grocery store or bag our groceries.

It will all be like magic! The money will all float to the top of the pyramid and the bottom, out of the grace of their hearts, will do all the toiling that is needed.

IS THIS A GREAT COUNTRY? OR WHAT!