Mindconnection eNL, 2006-01-15

Past issues

In this issue:

1. Product highlight
2. Brainpower tip
3. Time tip
4. Finance tip

5. Security tip
6. Health tip/Fitness tip
Miscellany
7. Thought for the day

The normal retail on this is $220 (our price, $190). I am selling this unit for $120, but the offer is only for active military--or someone who will send it to an active military person.

SOLD!

Question: Has the factory warranty expired?
Answer: Yes. But we will replace this unit with the newer EAF430TX if it fails within 6 months of purchase--at no charge. That's a heck of a good offer.

First come, first serve.

There is a huge difference between not caving in to known fallacy (or absurdity) and "being overbearing." The first is a defensive position. The second is an offensive position. They bring the battle to you, and you are not moved to cede ground. That is not, by any definition, overbearing.

Don't waste your power trying to reason with people who start using emotional drama to try to sway you. As soon as they do this, they have de facto admitted they are wrong. There is no reason to further discuss whatever bug they have up their butt that day. Ask them to go annoy someone else.

Now, based on this assumption, let's say you want to save even more time. You want to save time while in checkout. Here are my own habits--maybe you can think of others (send me your suggestions, please):

• Shop in the middle of the week. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the slowest days at grocery stores.
• Shop during the off hours. I used to work the graveyard shift, and shopping on the way home meant no lines. Today, I work as a telecommuter, so I can shop in midmorning--also a great time.
• Put items on the belt in an orderly way. I group things, according to how I want them packed. Canned goods go first--you don't want these on top of your kale or bok choy. All the produce goes together. Eggs (free-range), yogurt (plain), and frozen vegetables (no carrots or peas) go together--the frozen provides refrigeration for the trip home.
• Turn the barcodes toward the cashier. When you put that bag of apples on the belt, turn one so the cashier can see the label. Line cans and jars up neatly, facing the same direction.

I go to my in-the-store bank, shop for my groceries, and am on my way home in about 20 minutes. I know that's not normal and that normal means a long time at the store (all of which is normally wasted, due to what is purchased). These little tips can save you a great deal of time. If you go shopping once a week, how much time to you save in a year? Suppose it's twice a week?

We pay a bevy of federal taxes, state taxes, county taxes, city taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, and so on. This labyrinthine mess is labyrinthine on purpose. And that purpose is to keep you from seeing that you are handing over, involuntarily, 70 to 80% of the money you work so hard to earn. When you feel exhausted after a week of putting up with nutty coworkers and a whacko boss, ask yourself who is really getting paid to endure that. Hint: Not you.

To put the cost of this theft in perspective, today's typical white collar worker who puts in 60 hours a week works 48 hours a week for free. No pay. Nada. So, think of tax cuts as pay raises and tax increases as pay cuts. That's what they are.

Why do we pay such exorbitant taxes? Well, politicians are very concerned about buying enough votes to keep them in their cushy, non-productive jobs. They are like cocaine addicts who need to supply their habit. They just can't give it up.

It's rare that an incumbent gets voted out of office, because an incumbent has the power to divert your money to members of the the parasite class. These are primarily folks who work in unnecessary government jobs and lobby for those jobs to be labeled as necessary. The politician who abets their parasitic behavior gets their vote. This bunch also includes folks who are on the dole, as well as duped members of the productive class who have somehow come to believe that their tax dollars are being spent wisely--union members, take note.

I'm not saying taxes are unnecessary or that every dollar collected in taxes is wasted. I am saying that probably 90% or more of what you pay is simply flushed down the government toilet of fraud and corruption. Ask yourself why taxes keep going up, even though there are more taxpayers each year. Hmm.

What can you do to reduce this cost--which is obviously the single largest cost you have? Well, you can't "opt out" of this racket. Do that, and you go to prison. And the tax protestors who claim to have a lock on this are taking entirely the wrong approach. Not only is their "reasoning" fallacious, but their basic premise is unsound. You do need to pay taxes. But the amount we pay today is outrageous.

By my estimates, taxes can and should be cut to 10% of their current level. We would still be able to fund government services (we just wouldn't be able to fund the parasite industry that now exists for the sole purpose of living off our money). Maybe my numbers are off. So, let's say we cut out half the waste, fraud, and stupidity for a 50% cut in the cost of what is loosely referred to as "government." Cutting this massive cost by even 50% would be a dramatic improvement. And we can do that just by going after the "low-hanging fruit." Tough decisions wouldn't even be needed for that result.

So, what can you do about those grubby fingers constantly in your pocket? Very simple. You can voice your objections to every new spending proposal and every new tax increase--regardless of the emotional rhetoric used to "justify" it. There is no justifying new spending or new taxes.

Don't be fooled by claims that "we'll have to cut funding for education" unless you agree to be soaked even further. That old ploy is dishonest and people need to stand up to it. Force your politicians to make hard choices (actually, they can make a lot of easy ones, first), rather than get away with this extortional gambit of threatening kids.

Call and write. You can find contact information with a Yahoo search (Google gives inaccurate results). You can even find the office of your Congressman in the phone book. When did you last stop in there? Right now, most of the people they see are in there demanding more hand-outs--while you are working to pay for those hand-outs. Yes, some people deserve hand-outs--you can visit many of these people by stopping off at a VA hospital. But most of the "give me money" folks are simply bums.

If enough people complain often enough, we just might see this inexcusable situation start moving in the right direction. But as long as people are silent, we collectively send the message that we don't care. When our "representatives" hear that message, they don't care either. After all, it's not their money. They can vote themselves a raise any time they want. Why should they worry about you?

A group that has been working to reduce this egregious theft is the National Taxpayers Union. See them at www.ntu.org. They take a sound, and effective, approach. I don't mind giving them a free plug, and I sincerely hope all of you readers take the time to see what they are about.

Do you know what "dumpster diving" is? That's where someone digs through your trash and recovers credit card statements, utility bills, personal correspondence, old checks, and any other papers you threw away. Two groups do this:

1. Private criminals who are engaging in identity theft or who are trying to establish when you won't be home.
2. Government-employed criminals who want to build a false case against you. This is a tactic used by American Taliban agents--they may sell it to the same folks they sell your tax return information to, or they may use it to create a nightmarish "taxes, interest, and penalties owed" situation for you.

To keep these "upstanding citizens" from using this treasure trove, do the following:

1. Use a cross-cutting shredder. Shred everything, not just sensitive material--that makes more to sort through.
2. If you "throw it away dry," dispose of only parts of this at a time. That is, put a small handful of shreds in each outgoing trash bag. Don't dump the whole kiboodle in at once.
3. For more security, chemically alter the shreds. Keep a basin of bleach, lye, or other solvent. Dump the shreds in there, and let them turn into pulp. Use the pulp as a soil amendment or as fuel starter.
4. As an alternative, form a buddy system. You simply trade random takings of scraps with a friend. Now, both of your scrap collections are mixed in separate locations.

Are you paranoid if you take the above steps? One could look at it that way. But you could also consider it paranoid to look both ways before crossing the street.

What she probably doesn't do is portion control. To weigh less, eat less. It's that simple.

Of course, you can speed up the process and not feel like you're starving. That entails making proper food choices, as well as some other things. If you want to see how Yuan Zhu went from 243 pounds to 145 pounds, see our testimonials page at www.supplecity.com.

Not only did he rapidly lose 100 pounds of fat, but he got rid of the "loose skin" that usually accompanies massive fat loss. I researched that problem when someone close to me encountered it. At first, I didn't think there was a way to fix it. But there is.

1. Please forward this eNL to others.
    

2. Factoid #1: The average person over 50 will have spent 5 years waiting in lines. See this issue's time tips to do better than average. Much better.
    

3. See: Special Offers (expired link now removed). It has some great offers that are worth following up on.

Tomorrow is Martin Luther King Day. Many people will point out King's personal failings and not like it that there's a holiday in his honor. But that's majoring in minors. MLK Day is there to honor what Dr. King stood for and the message he brought. Let's see what we can do to honor his message, all week long. See www.mindconnection.com/interests/mlk.htm for info.