This Just In...

Views of the news and other stuff

From...What Me Worry?

There comes a time in your life when the phrase "illegitimis non carborundum" fails to have any meaning. And that time for me came last week...they did get me down...and I have resigned from my job. It was not something I did on the spur of the moment. I gave it a great deal of thought. But I finally reached the point where I was just plain burned out and totally pissed off. The "bastards" finally got to me. I have been involved in a lawsuit at work for the past 2+ years. I am dealing with a subcontractor in the suit who underreported his revenue to us, thus depriving us of some $300,000 in revenue. He is a lying SOB, a mid-Easterner who lives in a culture of lies and thinks nothing of telling a lie to get his own way. The sad thing is that he and his slimy lawyer are making a mockery out the law, abusing it, and probably won't have to pay the consequences. On top of that, a forensic accountant we used has evidence that the crook underreported his revenue to the IRS to the tune of almost $2 million over 5 years (and if any of you are with the IRS, please get in touch with me for all the details....the guy should be going to jail.) To top it off, the guy is being protected by individuals in the federal govt.....and I firmly believe that these officials are complicit in the fraud, if not just protecting a tax evader. (I have not mentioned where I work, but suffice to say it was an association that served employees of a major federal agency.) The final straw was that the relatively new President of our Board--in essence my boss-- is taking a firm two-way stand on the issue---to hear her talk, one would think that the guy is innocent as white snow...yet all the evidence, boxes of it, indicates he is guilty as sin...... so last week I told her to "take this job and shove it."

My last day is officially April 30, but I have so much leave built up that I plan on going in a day or two next week, possibly a couple of forays after that, but to stay on leave until the time is up. I have packed up most of my stuff, and will go in tomorrow with the van to bring it home.

I do have a tinge of sadness in all this; after all I had been there for 20 years. And I worry about the staff who are left. But I can't deal with that too much. I also feel a real lightness around my shoulders, and the past few nights I have slept more soundly than I have any night for months.  It is a good feeling.

What am I going to do? Well finances probably won't be a problem, and I don't plan on doing anything job-like for at least a couple of months. I have already been approached by 3-4 people/organizations about going with them. But I have told them all to give me some time to regroup and recharge my batteries. I am going to take a photography course starting in May. I have made reservations for the beach in June and July. I am just going to chill out for awhile....and I might just blog a tad more than I have lately. Hell, I might just like it enough to retire fully......

But I am so thankful that the breathing is coming much easier.

posted by: JustMe63 at 18:23 | link | comments (5) |

From.... Dealing with Criticism

There are many Americans, including many here on Motime, that tend to get upset when anyone, especially foreigners, criticize the good ole US of A. While much of this upsetedness may very well be well-founded, I think it is wise for all of us to take a look at what the rest of the world thinks about America, and what they are able to observe from their perspective in another country. And even though our standing in many parts of the world is at a very low ebb (thanks to the neo-cons and their Bush/Cheney spokesmen), many thinking people, including the author of the piece I link to below, are able to push aside the usual "anti American" diatribes, and ask questions which deserve serious consideration.

One of the best articles I have seen for some time which should force us into taking a look at where we are heading can be found here. And as we head toward an election this fall, I found in it the root of many questions that need to be asked to any candidate for office.

So what do you think?

UPDATE

The author of the above linked article, Jeffrey Simpson, has just had an online discussion of his article. Some of his points as it relates to the US are very interesting...and a good follow up to his original piece.

posted by: JustMe63 at 16:24 | link | comments (4) |

From....Travels

Spent the past few days near where I took these pics...the first is the New River Gorge, the second in Pipestem State Park, both in West Virginia...

posted by: JustMe63 at 17:27 | link | comments (2) |

From....Debatable...

And all I can say is .....hmmmmmmmmm.... and some of the comments are hilarious!

posted by: JustMe63 at 00:22 | link | comments (1) |

From... Photo Fun

I have been spending a lot of time lately messing with my photos in Paintshop Pro X2 (the poor man's Photoshop). Here is one of a pic I took in December of the Capitol. Changed it to Black and White and added some illumination...turned out kinda cool I think.

posted by: JustMe63 at 14:40 | link | comments (3) |

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