Ask Sancho

[wstrickland1]

but I'm a 10 year man....3559 more

[Paducah Home Theater]

Some John Prine fans out there

While growing up in western Kentucky there was a creek in my back yard that I played in which flowed into the Green River. Near it was a couple of trash dumps, one full of antique pop bottles and glass power line insulators that we would shoot.

My grandparents are from Muhlenberg County, my great grandfather's family farm is still there and my grandmother's sister owned the Dairy Queen there for 52 years. Multiple family members are buried at the Green Chapel Cemetery which is at one of many churches my great grandfather started up there.

My grandfather worked for Peabody, and I dated a girl who lived near a strip mining pit where I saw the world's largest shovel wreaking havoc every time I went to her place, which while not being the original one in the song which really was the world's largest shovel at the time, it was probably bigger. I still drive by Paradise all the time.

For awhile we used to go see him yearly for his homecoming show with the Everly Brothers.

----------------------------

http://www.jpshrine.org/lyrics/songs/jpparadise.html

When I was a child my family would travel

Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born

And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered

So many times that my memories are worn.

Chorus:

And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County

Down by the Green River where Paradise lay

Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking

Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River

To the abandoned old prison down by Airdrie Hill

Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols

But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.

Repeat Chorus:

Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel

And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land

Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken

Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.

Repeat Chorus:

When I die let my ashes float down the Green River

Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam

I'll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin'

Just five miles away from wherever I am.

Edited July 2, 2015 by MetropolisLakeOutfitters

[The Dude]

Sancho, Is my Onkyo TX-NR519 surround receiver broken?

[Tarheel]

 

Some John Prine fans out there

While growing up in western Kentucky there was a creek in my back yard that I played in which flowed into the Green River. Near it was a couple of trash dumps, one full of antique pop bottles and glass power line insulators that we would shoot.

My grandparents are from Muhlenberg County, my great grandfather's family farm is still there and my grandmother's sister owned the Dairy Queen there for 52 years. Multiple family members are buried at the Green Chapel Cemetery which is at one of many churches my great grandfather started up there.

My grandfather worked for Peabody, and I dated a girl who lived near a strip mining pit where I saw the world's largest shovel wreaking havoc every time I went to her place, which while not being the original one in the song which really was the world's largest shovel at the time, it was probably bigger. I still drive by Paradise all the time.

For awhile we used to go see him yearly for his homecoming show with the Everly Brothers.

----------------------------

http://www.jpshrine.org/lyrics/songs/jpparadise.html

When I was a child my family would travel

Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born

And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered

So many times that my memories are worn.

Chorus:

And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County

Down by the Green River where Paradise lay

Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking

Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River

To the abandoned old prison down by Airdrie Hill

Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols

But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.

Repeat Chorus:

Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel

And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land

Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken

Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.

Repeat Chorus:

When I die let my ashes float down the Green River

Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam

I'll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin'

Just five miles away from wherever I am.

 

Yep another great Prine song.  First heard it many years ago.  Nice to have your personal experience tied to it

[Mighty Favog]

 

Should I sell my ski boat and buy a pontoon now that I have so many Grandkids?

That's what I'd do; my grandfather had a pontoon boat & I have great memories of it & him.

 

On Golden Pond??

[Sancho Panza]

Lake Ferguson.

Should I sell my ski boat and buy a pontoon now that I have so many Grandkids?

That's what I'd do; my grandfather had a pontoon boat & I have great memories of it & him.

On Golden Pond??

[Max2]

More questions that bother me so...

If we're the land of the free...

Why am I paying 50% in direct taxes alone?

Why can't I openly drink a beer on a bench that's parked on the sidewalk like I did in the Bahamas?

Why can't I openly roll a fattie in a coffee shop like in Amsterdam?

Why do we have the highest incarceration rate in the world?

Why do we have the lowest mandatory vacation rate in the developed world?

Why can't I easily buy a silencer like in Finland, or a full auto rifle like in the UAE or Saudi Arabia?

Why am I taxed on money I make overseas, which is unlike pretty much the rest of the world?

Why am I not free to know what's in my food or which country it even came from? Why are our politicians actively trying to hide such things?

Why is getting a college education nowadays more or less signing on for 30 years of voluntary enslavement?

Why do we have to pay the government yearly for the right to own our own land, then jump through hoops to avoid our families losing over half of it after we're gone?

Why do we say we have the freedom to protest yet we have such things as "first amendment zones", and heavy-handed smackdowns at the G8 summit and the like?

Why is losing your job so devastating, unlike Germany where you don't have to pay in to health insurance when this happens?

Why can't two willing adults participate in a voluntary transaction like in Germany where prostitution is legal?

Aggravating.

 

I like this and these are all great questions.  However, I think we could make a longer list of BS from these other countries which would confirm why 90% of the world wishes they had what we have or would love to live in the U.S.A.

[Paducah Home Theater]

I like this and these are all great questions.  However, I think we could make a longer list of BS from these other countries which would confirm why 90% of the world wishes they had what we have or would love to live in the U.S.A.

Like what? Saudi yeah but what are places like Denmark and Germany longing for? I named or implied Germany more than anything else, other than higher salaries for doctors, what freedoms do we have that Germans don't?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/06/25/germans-dont-think-america-stands-for-freedom-anymore/

I'm friends with a guy in the Netherlands, he loves to shoot so that's huge to him but otherwise I don't know that I can name anything.

Edited July 2, 2015 by MetropolisLakeOutfitters

[oldtimer]

Evidently you have forgotten America's greatest fear:  European style socialism!

(you see, socialism has styles)

[Paducah Home Theater]

more to the list...

Why can't we vacation in Cuba, unlike Europeans?

Why can't we end our lives on our terms when faced with a terminal illness? (mentioned earlier)

Why are there so many gambling laws and prohibitions? We can't even get a casino in Kentucky. In Germany this is legal.

Why is industrial hemp illegal over here but not in much of Europe, like Germany?

Why does Medicare not cover accidents that happen outside the US, unlike, well, Germany? This can keep seniors from fulfilling a bucket list.

Why don't we have an Autobahn with no speed limits? We have cars that can do nearly 200 mph straight off the showroom floor yet we get fined or possibly thrown in jail if we drive them over 75 mph.

[oldtimer]

Why is industrial hemp illegal over here but not in much of Europe, like Germany?

 

Excellent.  Yet oddly enough we can buy hemp twine at Hobby Lobby!  Product of somewhere else.  BTW, the twine used to tie the labels onto my hot sauce bottles is hemp.  It also makes a great butchers twine for trussing birds for roasting.

[Max2]

 

I like this and these are all great questions.  However, I think we could make a longer list of BS from these other countries which would confirm why 90% of the world wishes they had what we have or would love to live in the U.S.A.

Like what? Saudi yeah but what are places like Denmark and Germany longing for? I named or implied Germany more than anything else, other than higher salaries for doctors, what freedoms do we have that Germans don't?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/06/25/germans-dont-think-america-stands-for-freedom-anymore/

I'm friends with a guy in the Netherlands, he loves to shoot so that's huge to him but otherwise I don't know that I can name anything.

 

 

Well a quick Google look gives me this

 

 

 

Denmark has the highest taxation of anywhere in the world to support the non working bums there on their welfare system, which numbers indicate is damn near everyone. Nuff said there.

 

 

First the US has almost twice the vehicles or means of transportation than all major areas in Europe, much less, one that is capable of real Autobahn speeds. You get a scooter cause that's all you can afford with your coffee shop job and the 6 months a year everyone takes off for "Holiday".  You want a flat to live in the size of a long wheel base truck? Move on over there. Oh you can import your Hellcat Hemi Challenger to your new address over there in Germany, get ready for $10.26 per gallon for your fuel. Want to tote your loaded 45 on your side, better check again. Germany has some of the strictest laws on gun control and regulation in the world. Dig around man, I shouldnt even have to post this crap to tell you you're already living in the best country in the world man. Go to Vegas if you feel like rolling the dice at the tables or in a bed. Cuba will be accessible in a few years, but I gotta say you could have much more fun a little further south.  Enjoy and take advantage of what you have and what you can do here or you can always move to this "greener" grass you are seeing

[oldtimer]

The grass seems to be really green in Arkansas.

[Max2]

The grass seems to be really green in Arkansas.

 

 

Not as green as your area, which I have been fortunate enough to see twice, but for now I am content here.

[oldtimer]

Yeah we have gotten a lot of rain lately.  It is inevitable that things will dry up rather quickly in July.

[Max2]

Yeah we have gotten a lot of rain lately.  It is inevitable that things will dry up rather quickly in July.

 

Its must be raining all over. Flooding here the past few weeks, Texas Interstates covered in water.  Might be a great time to grow a long beard and start building a big boat.

[oldtimer]

Problematic.  I'm not a beard guy and prefer smaller boats.  (they handle better)

[Paducah Home Theater]

Denmark has the highest taxation of anywhere in the world to support the non working bums there on their welfare system, which numbers indicate is damn near everyone.

An employee of my best friend is a carpenter from Denmark. He owned a construction company but couldn't deal with it anymore. He said the problem is that Denmark will pay you something like a full salary for a year if you manage to work for 5 weeks. So, guess what happens... he hires a construction worker, they work for 5 weeks or whatever that number is, then they quit. And yeah they pay unemployment even if you quit, unlike over here.

I deal with the same mess here though. I sell utility trailers. It's hard to find good workers. They are paid by piece part, otherwise nothing at all would get done. If they busted their *** they could make $50 an hour, but that ain't reality. Guys have quit within 10 minutes before. They go home and draw welfare. What's the difference? At least in Denmark they get 5 weeks of work out of them.

The direct tax rate argument is a moot point or even counterproductive in my opinion. Middle to upper middle class pays about 55% in Denmark right now. And? I'm already paying almost 50% on my business income. And they have no health insurance! By the time you figure in health insurance, I'd probably come out ahead in Denmark. The total cost of my family's insurance is over 20 grand a year and that's pretty normal if you consider employer contributions. In Denmark it's "free"... well obviously not free but your taxes are what is paying for it, you don't get taxed then get hammered on insurance with what's left. HUGE difference.

Edited July 2, 2015 by MetropolisLakeOutfitters

[Paducah Home Theater]

Seriously, think about it, let's calculate this. Let's act like insurance is a tax for a moment, which it pretty much is if you think about it, the supreme court even called it that. The 55% rate is paid by people in Denmark who make $55,000 or more. If a guy is making that here and has a family to support, his insurance is probably about 20 grand if you look at everything. Pretty sure mine is about 22 but I'll be conservative. That alone is over 36% of his income! Even if you say well his employer is paying most of it, basically 15 grand plus 5 from the employee, that means his actual salary is more like 70 grand. So let's use that figure so we can compare them fairly. Take away 20 grand for insurance and that's 28.5%, but it's probably more. Take away about 6% for state. For federal you're looking at an effective tax rate of about 18%. We're up to 52.5%. And somehow 55% is utterly awful?

Also consider that over here if you get hurt, your insurance doesn't kick in until you've met your deductible, and even then it only pays 80-90%, with you potentially being out about 7 grand out of pocket per year, yet in Denmark, I'm pretty sure there is no such things. I know it's like that in Germany, you never see secondary bills like we are used to. Most families have a few thousand out of pocket per year, that's 4.2% of a 70K salary. Add that to the 52.5% we calculated earlier and we're at 56.7%, at least.

So realistically, which is worse, 56.7% minimum here in the US after considering health insurance, or 55% in Denmark? It's even worse than that because in Denmark that includes local taxes but the US number doesn't. Add another 1-2% for that.

OH WAIT, Denmark has free college as well, these taxes are paying for it. Now I have a daughter in college, and can tell you that even for in-state tutition at a small university, costs including a meal plan, staying in a dorm, and tuition, is about 8 grand per semester. Tuition alone is nearly $4,500, almost $9,000 a year. In Denmark it's free. Not just free, you get paid to go to college. Your tuition is free, and if you enroll, the government pays you as if this is your job. You get about $900 a month plus free tuition, which pretty much covers everything. For a similar scheme here over 5 years you're easily looking at $80,000 that you're on the hook for. Out of state tution and/or a graduate/doctorate degree and it could easily be over 50% more. Denmark? Free.

Edited July 2, 2015 by MetropolisLakeOutfitters

[CECAA850]

Why can't we vacation in Cuba, unlike Europeans?

 

Soon..........................................

 

I believe they're pushing to open embassies in both countries as we type.