Nutrisystem Before & After

Every week in the Parade section of my Sunday paper there is an add from Nutrisystem. It features "before and after" pictures of a bunch of people who have supposedly lost tens or even hundreds of pounds. Come on now...who do these people think they are kidding? Most of those pictures look like they cannot possibly be the same person. Most of the time the hair is a different color or a different length; sometimes the skin is even a different shade. There is no way they can be the same person!

So Sayeth The Shack

Change Date For Valentine's Day

OK Whose idea was it to make Valentine's Day the 14th of February....or the 14th of any month for that matter?

For the majority of us, the 14th is one day before payday...the day when we have the least money to spend on those cards, flowers, boxes of chocolates, dinner dates etc to keep ourselves out of the proverbial doghouse.

So while we're messing with the dates of other holidays...Presidents' Day to make it a Monday, St. Patty's Day so the college kids can get drunk, and so on, let's change Valentine's today to something like the 16th or 17th so that it hits just after payday instead of just before.

So Sayeth The Shack

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Spinning My Wheels

Let me say a few words about my financial situation. I have a college degree and have worked for the same company for 27 years. But every year it seems as though my financial situation remains stagnant or gets worse. I was better off 20 years ago than I am now and I am certainly no better off than my parents were 30 or 40 years ago and neither of them went to college! Sure I get a raise every year, but it is nowhere near enough to compensate for the increases in the cost of living...like the increase in gas prices, which results in the increase in the price of everything else...increases in premiums for my suck-shit worthless health insurance that doesn't pay for much of anything...increases in utilities, rent, etc. It is like a tractor-trailer trying to go uphill on a sheet of ice; not only do I not go forward, but it is all I can do to keep from sliding back down to the bottom. Nothing ever seems to get any better and I just don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. I have to keep scaling back how much I put into my retirement plan due to increases in taxes, insurance premiums and such. So I'll never be able to afford to retire either. Whenever I have a few minutes of free time and start thinking about this stuff I can instantly get seriously depressed and feel like killing myself. So whenever I am not busy or occupied with something, that is how I feel.

It just seems like nothing ever changes and nothing ever gets any better. So why bother?

So Sayeth The Shack

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What Season Is It Anyway?

Yesterday I heard birds chirping. The weather has been really weird lately. It's been pouring rain for the past 4 or 5 days with ice all over the ground and thick, creepy fog in the air. Today it went up to 60 degrees and the ice melted and it stopped raining for a while. The winter has pretty much sucked. We haven't really had any snow. Whenever it's cold it doesn't do anything. The rest of the time there is rain or ice. Might as well just get warm and stay warm.

So Sayeth The Shack

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Animals Come Before People--Again!!

5-legged cat to have surgery, then foster care to recuperate

The Associated Press
EIGHTY-FOUR, Pa.

"A cat born with five legs will soon be a three-legged feline ready for adoption.
The cat, named Babygirl, will undergo surgery Wednesday near Pittsburgh to remove the extra leg and the crippled rear left leg to which it is attached.....The cost of the $1,600 surgery will be paid for by donations....." (color added for emphasis)

Whose gonna donate money to pay for my family's medical bills ??!!! People will give money to fix a freakin' 5-legged cat but what about a person??!! Where are the priorities in this world??!!
Right now as far as I'm concerned the frickin' cat can spend its whole life hopping aroud on 5 legs! I hate cats anyway....they puke and pee all over everything and they make me itch!!!!

So Sayeth The Shack

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Hillary Healthcare; Another Unfunded Mandate?

One of Hillary Clinton's big campaign items is the idea of universal health insurance. When I first heard of this I was thinking of the sort of universal health care they have in Canada. But a closer listen reveals that she is talking about universal heath insurance. Basically everyone will be required to have insurance. OK now who is going to pay for that? The main reason people don't have health insurance is that they can't afford it. Now they're going to be required to have it? And even for some people who do have it...it's pretty much worthless anyway. Just look at mine. I paid thousands of dollars in premiums last year and still have thousands of dollars in medical bills, so basically I didn't get jack shit for the money I paid in. The same thing is happening this year. I really feel that I would be better off without it, and probably some of these other people would too. If I had saved all the money I had paid in premiums I might actually be able to afford my medical bills.

So Sayeth The Shack

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Here Is One Smart Dude

http://www.centredaily.com/news/breaking_news/story/374716.html

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Homemade bombs found in Tyrone

From CDT staff reports

Three homemade bombs were found Friday on railroad tracks near the American Eagle Paper Mill in Tyrone, police report.

A man told borough police he was walking along the tracks at around 12:30 p.m. when he noticed what appeared to be improvised explosive devices made of cardboard, black powder and newspaper, police report.

The man took the devices, which were the size of road flares, to his home where he called police.

Officers secured the devices in a steel box at the scene and notified the Pennsylvania State Police Explosives Disposal unit from Hershey to dispose of the bombs.

An investigation is ongoing, and there are no suspects, police report.

The FBI, Norfolk Southern Railroad and Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad were notified of the incident.

Tyrone police remind residents not to touch any suspicious packages but to call 911 immediately

---------------end quote--------color added for emphasis------------------

That's real smart....taking the bombs home with him....he could have been blown up!!!!!

So Sayeth The Shack

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Immigrants and Birds

I received the following by e-mail recently. It is not my original work, but I basically agree with it, so I am passing it on...................

An interesting parable

I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed. What a beauty of
a bird feeder it is, as I filled it
lovingly with seed. Within a
week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the
continuous flow of free and
easily accessible food.

But then the birds started
building nests in the boards
of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue.

Then came the poop. It was
everywhere: on the patio tile,
the chairs, the table ...
everywhere!

Then some of the birds
turned mean. They would
dive bomb me and try to
peck me even though I had
fed them out of my own
pocket.

And others birds were
boisterous and loud. They
sat on the feeder and
squawked and screamed at
all hours of the day and night
and demanded that I fill it
when it got low on food.

After a while, I couldn't even
sit on my own back porch
anymore. So I took down the
bird feeder and in three days
the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio.

Soon, the back yard was like
it used to be ... quiet, serene
and no one demanding their
rights to a free meal.

Now let's see ....
Our government gives out
free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, and free education and allows anyone born here to be an automatic citizen.

Then the illegals came by the
tens of thousands. Suddenly
our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 families; you have to wait 6 hours to be seen
by an emergency room doctor; your child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak
English.

Corn Flakes now come in a
bilingual box; I have to
"press one" to hear my bank
talk to me in English, and
people waving flags other
than "Old Glory" are
squawking and screaming
in the streets, demanding
more rights and free liberties.

Just my opinion, but maybe
it's time for the government
to take down the bird feeder.

If you agree, pass it on. If not,

continue cleaning up the poop!

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