The Message Forum is an ongoing dialogue among classmates. The goal is to encourage friendly interaction, including interaction among classmates who really didn't know each other. Experience on the site has revealed that certain topics tend to cause friction and hard feelings, especially politics and religion. 

Although politics and religion are not completely off-limits, classmates are asked to be positive in their posts and not to be too repetitive or allow a dialog to degenerate into an argument. 

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Jim Bedwell

Another example of our Bizarro World Presidential administration - they just canceled the Trump-era-created office for processing people who are victims of illegal alien crime!!!!! WELCOME TO MARXISM!!!!! You'll NEVER hear that on the corrupt media. Will the Great Ignorati (the left) EVER wake up?!?!?!?!?!?! I'm so GLAD I'm awake and not woke!

TRUMP      BBBBBBAAAAAAADDDDDD

ANYTHING ELSE     GGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDD

And these people are running (ruining) things?!?!?!

Jim Bedwell

ALL nations of the world are now at our borders; not just the Hispanics. And our dimwit VP goes to Guatemala; all she can offer as to the purpose of her visit, repeated ad nauseum, is her focus on the "root causes" of the current problem. Well, this shows what a phony she is - EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT BIDEN & SHE ARE THE ROOT CAUSE - THEY OPENED UP THE BORDER COMPLETELY - DUH!! She thinks we're even dumber than she and Joe are!!!!!

And since we have ALL the countries of the world at our border now, what, we're supposed to go fix ALL THE WORLD'S PROBLEMS and that will fix this PARTICULAR problem she & Joe SOLELY caused?!?!? Yeah, makes me want to go back to voting Dem again...........

Biden, Harris & Co are SO STUPID they don't YET realize that this just CAN'T CONTINUE until November 2022!!!! They are so thick they don't realize, AFTER MONTHS NOW, that their IDIOTIC policies are undermining, the ONLY thing, after self, that they care about - their Marxist Dem Party. Every day that passes it becomes more and more obvious (isn't sunlight WONDERFUL IN AN AWFUL WAY sometimes (I do HATE all my new aged-face imperfections)!?!?!) not only how STUPID these people are but also how they are incapable of ever realizing their unmistakable deficiencies!!!

One last thing - EVERYBODY KNOWS HOW TO FIX THIS CATASTROPHE - GO BACK TO WHAT THE DONALD WAS DOING (along with all their other stupidities they've inflicted on us the last 4.5 months) - AS IF THAT WILL HAPPEN!!! Welcome to Jimmy Carter II - except even more clueless than that administration & more corrupt than Obama & Nixon combined.

Jim Bedwell

Here's a little lesson from Walter Williams or Thomas Sowell, can't remember which.

First law of economics: SCARCITY. Repetition is one of the keys to learning, so Jimi Bob says, SCARCITY. SCARCITY. SCARCITY. SCARCITY. SCARCITY. SCARCITY. SCARCITY. SCARCITY. SCARCITY.

I.e., there is NEVER enough of ANYTHING to satisfy human demand.

First law of politics: ignore the first law of economics.

Jim Bedwell

Laura Ingraham (a Dartmouth grad - that's Ivy League, right, Mr. Fussell? but today a degree from anywhere may not mean anything, in my mind) today on our pathetic excuse for a Vice President, and these are just a few of her remarks about the worthless VP.

"Not ready for prime time person. No relevant experience. Obviously in over her head."

You can see why Kameleon Harris never even made the 2020 Dem primaries - even Dem voters could see through her!!

"This is what happens when diversity is valued over merit or achievement" - PERFECT DESCRIPTION FOR KAMELEON HARRIS just out of Laura's mouth!!

"Not thoughtful. Not serious. Not deep." quote from another BRILLIANT (and what a sweetheart) Jew, Ari Fleischer, former press secretary, about Harris.

AMEN. Truly an(other) empty (pant)suit - at least HilLIARy is smart.

Not a good couple of weeks for Dems - I hope they unravel sooner than our nation and the world do!!!

Jim Bedwell

I'm sorry. I post frequently like this so infrequently, right?

Greg Gutfeld, in dismissing teen molester Jeffery Epstein, said something like

"Hey, sex abuser, sex a-schmuser. I tried to build one."

And Degan McDowell, talking about her tendency to hold grudges (something somebody accused me of on this forum - I guess I need to start holding a grudge about that now!!! hahahahha!!!!), she said,

"Hey, I've never forgotten the guy who stood me up at the high school prom. OK, it was a drug bust. But still....... that guy looks like Uncle Fester now"' she stated happily.

Steve Keene

Bob Davidson,

Part of the reason that the Houston Independent School District excelled was because my sister, Suzanne Sutherland, a 1971 graduate of RHS, ran the talented and gifted program for several years, ran the language arts program for several years and eventually designed and built charter schools for the district while she was Principal of three different schools at one time.  She proceeded from there to training teachers for the school district and now works as a consultant for a private company that trains district personnel.  Of course, at this stage she is retired for health reasons, but occasionally consults for the firm when they are in a bind.  She holds  degrees in Education from Texas Tech University where she graduated in 1973-1974.  She was an Eaglette while attending RHS as a sophmore when I was a senior.  I attended Texas Tech beginning in 1974 and graduated in 1976.  Suzanne currently lives in Sugarland in one of those neat period houses with big porches near the Sugar Mill.

Bob Davidson

Steve,

Kudos to your sister.  I was friendly with a number of my kids' teachers and liked almost all of them.  They all liked their principals and the Vanguard administration and despised the regular administration.  Our elementary school (Travis) always had an influencial HISD board member among the parents -- one of them is on the Houston City Council now. The other was a State Rep for a time.  Both big, big liberal Dems.  The Council member refused to let her son join Cub Scouts because we were homophobic and sexist way back when -- I was a den leader and asssitant cubmaster in those days and ran the recruiting at our elementary school.  (I knew all of the kids because I ran the school store for years -- kids earned Travis bucks for good behavior and could spent them on Friday at the school store.  For the first two years I brought my preschool daughter to run the register.  She loved it and didn't realize she was learning math -- she saw it as dealing with big kids as an equal.  (I loved seeing my three or four-year-old doing math with kids twice her size and having them listen to her respectfully and treat her like the store official.) When she was in school, they let her keep being my assistant.)  The board member told me off pretty well when her son asked if he could join -- her husband (a nice guy I like from a Democrat aristocracy family) apologized for her fervor.  She's always pleasant when we run across one another now so maybe the wokening of Scouting, BSA has appeased her.

I was somewhat amused to find that the teachers all particularly disliked one administrator -- my backdoor neighbor for 25 years was a deputy superintendent at HISD.  I would charitably describe her as a psychotic monster -- she used to get drunk at least once a month and beat up on her ex-girlfriend in the backyard where we could see and hear them.  I liked the girlfriend -- she was the director of a well-known nonprofit social services agency -- and was amazed that she kept going back for more beatings and verbal abuse.  We moved in the same day -- our houses belonged to brothers.  Hers was from the original owner, a widow in her 90s, who received the house as a wedding present when her husband got back from WWI in 1919.  His brother bought our house in 1935 when it came up for sale.  The back yards were one big yard with a shared clothesline, a path between the back doors, and an arbor in the middle.  Our first conflict was right after we moved in when my just turned two son toddled across the boundry line and she went apeshit over the trespassing and our failure to control the little brat.  We called a fence company immediately.  The day our guys showed up, hers did too -- we put up a five foot chain link fence; she built a ten foot wooden latice one right next to it.  It definitely kept the toddler out of her yard.

Wayne Gary

Bob D.

About being in top percentages doe not always have to do with IQ.  I do not know what my IQ. When I was a Freshman at A&M in the Corps of Cadets in AFROTC, I took the Aie Force apitude tests for pilot and navigator.  I later found out when talking to a recruiter the I was in the top 95% on the Pilot test and 85% on the Navigator test. these rating were from everybody that had taken the test all over the US and over a span of time. I agree that I am considered really really smart but I had a great aptitude for a pilot or navigator.

Aptitude for something can exceed being really smart.
 

Wayne Gary

I just read the Biden adminstration does not want to use the term "Mother" as it is not inclusive.

In a Senate hearing: (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra said he would need to refer to the “terminology that was used.” His comments come after Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Shalanda Young doubled-down on the Biden budget proposal’s use of “birthing people,” insisting it’s more inclusive and equitable, at a congressional hearing Wednesday.

“There are certain people who do not have gender identities that apply to female and male, so we think our language needs to be more inclusive on how we deal with complex issues,” she remarked.

“Our official policy is to make sure that when people get service from their government that they feel included, and we’re trying to use inclusive language,” Young concluded.

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

Wayne,

What do you think "Fathers" will be renamed, since gay women who decide to transition can't be part of the procreation process of life, unless a third person is hired or paid off for a donation?  Will they now be called 'bill-payers' or the 'bringing-home-the-bacon-facilitators?'  Or maybe 'the auto-grease-monkeys' who repair the family cars?  How shall we describe their position in the family hierarchy if they don't have the correct plumbing?

We can't call them 'plumbers,' can we, since they are non-plumbed?

These new "woke" terms are idiotic and an embarrassment to educated, American citizens.  Who started all of this nonsense? 

 Oh wait!  I just had a flash thought.........Yes!  It was the usual suspects, wasn't it?!!   The very people who are led by those "leaders" who say they want to "FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE OUR COUNTRY."...for the better....

Wayne Gary

Janalu,

I guess the term that would include men, transgender, and women who cannot or choose to not have children. Then the term would be "non-birther people". There are a lot of "spirm donors" that contributed to the birth of  a child but are not "fathers".  Being a real father means taking care of,nurthering and guiding  a child.  The child does not have to be blood relation.

I don't know what term to use for a "birthing- person" who abandons, abuses or even kills their child. They cannot have the term "mother" applied to them. 

Happy Fathers Day to all of the real fathers out there.

Steve Keene

Jamalu,

My son and I have coined a term for the woke mellennial and gen X males.  We call them testoserone deficient.

Steve Keene

Bob D.

Being in the teaching profession means that my sister is automatically programmed from college as a liberal Democrat.  One of those types that won't fire a bad teacher and assumes that if you just throw more money at the problem it will miraculously fix itself.  Poor performing schools get more cash to continue to fail while the good teachers move to private schools.  Poor folks should be able to take a voucher so that they can send their excelling student to a private school if they choose.  She fought tooth and nail to keep from making teachers return to work becaise pf Covid 19 while the rest of us had to work through it.  She is also a big proponent of Obamacare and the Social net for the plebes.  However, does she have to deal with it ?  No, the plan is not good enough for teachers so they have their own plan through the State of Texas that none of the rest of us get access to. 

Steve Keene

Bob, Wayne and Janalu,

I just attended the Texas Open Jui Jitsui Competition at the Comerica Stars Center in Frisco.  My daughter, Makenzie won the Featherweight Women's Division (130# and under) and now will compete in the World Open competition on August 21. She won her first match 15 to 5 and her second match 24 to 0.   By the way, she is all girl but she will kick your ass!

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

Yay Makenzie!   Your strength BECOMES you, as if you needed more beauty!  

You're a winner!   Kudos to you, Sweetheart--

Steve Keene

Janalu,

You are so nice.  I will pass it on to Mak.!

Lowell Tuttle

Lowell Tuttle

Steve, that is cool about your daughter.

I am dealing with the TRS BCBS health care plan right now.   Got a form signed by brother in law to handle bills that he has to pay (deductibles and co pays.)  They are extremely nice and available on the phone...I am thankful for that.   And, they offerred to counsel me on which deductible provider bill to pay so it's certain to go against his Max out of pocket.

With all health care plans there is a term which is loosely heard by us.  It is "covered expenses."   

health care plans have max pays for annual deductibles and co pays.  However, that is of COVERED expenses.  BCBS has a asterisk on all their claim paid provider forms which says you SHOULD not pay the provider more than the covered expenses allowed by BCBS.   I think the key word there is SHOULD.  It doesn't say you DON:T have to pay.  

Example is ambulance bills.   Covered expense allowed is 500.   They pay that.   You owe whatever the ambulance company charges.   In this case, it is the City of Houston charging 1500.   That 1000 you pay does not go against your max out of pocket.   You should see what a helicopter life flight uncovered expense is.  25,000 to 100,000 is the reality.

So, if we pay all these bills, we hit his max co pay with TRS BCBS at about 6000.   Then, for now, the expenses that are/were "uncovered" amount to about 18000 more.

I think that is the kind of account that Holly works on.   If you have something, apparently they will come after you.   :

Lance says he files them in his trash can.  

Next step might be some kind of trust called a Miller's Trust.   Attorney...confusion...we are getting close to that step.

Sandra Spieker (Ringo)

Steve,

I saw the Ju Jitsu match that MacKenzie competed in on Saturday.  Wow!  She is is tough and a champion!  Congratulations to her and her husband too!  I love the martial arts!

Wayne Gary

Lowell,

Check with BCBS and I think what you are seeing isyou should pay the "contracted price for service" and pay that.  The provider will take that amount as paid in full.  Porviders have  a 'List" price then the amount allowed by either insurance or medicare.

When you go the the pharmacy and get a prescription they will say the price is "X" then you say I have insurance they they say your co-pay is "Y" then you check Good Rx and can get a lower price "Z".  You pay the lowest price and not worry about either the list price.

On some of my prescriptions I have found the GoodRx price is less than the insurance price. 

If you check with the City you might find they will accept the $500 and paid in full.

David Cordell

Steve -- Why didn't you invite me to MacKenzie's competition?? Frisco is next to Plano!

Bob D. -- Funny you should mention Bill Moore. He and I had the same National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test score (141).The cut-off for semifinalist was 142. One more point and I would have received a $10,000 scholarship from my father's employer -- Sun Oil Company. That was a lot of money in those days. Still is! Instead, I received a National Merit Letter of Commendation, which for me was a Letter of Sympathy.

Here is something that has haunted me for 50+ years. While taking the exam, there were a couple of questions early-on that threw me off balance. I lost my confidence and started being consumed by the fear that my score would be an embarrassment. In retrospect, after receiving my score, I realized that I almost certainly hurt my performance by allowing myself to be dragged down by negative thoughts. Ack!! Just one more point!!!

One result -- As a professor, I have told my students something like this when referring to multiple choice exams: "Creating a good multiple choice exam is very difficult, and all of them have flaws. Just assume that ten percent of the questions will be tricky, picky, irrelevant, stupid, or whatever. When you get to one that seems to meet that definition, just say to yourself, 'There's one of them.' Take your best shot, then move on and forget about it."

As I recall, Jean and Don were in the 150s on the 160-max National Merit exam. One of them beat the other on National Merit, and it was the opposite on SAT. I think Steve Gardner was third at 148. Seems like the others were in the 142-145 ranges, but I may not have known all the scores. 

About Virginia Hawes -- she lives in Oregon and is a physician. She had a health scare a few years ago, but I think she is doing well. Still looked great the last time I saw her.

Wayne Gary

David,

I saw where you would advise your students about your test questions: "tricky, picky, irrelevant, stupid, or whatever"

At A&M we referred to them as "chicken shit" questions.  I had one Prof that several times when he came in with the stack of tests he had feathers on and in the stack.

In HS I date Tommie Lou Mc Millan and her father tought 1 class at N. Texas.  He would tell the students he would at times have a T/F test with long strings of true or false answers.  One test of 105 questions the first 100 were True and the last 5 were false.  No one got 100.

Hope you are relaxing now you have retired. Let me know when you want to go back to the range.

Kurt Fischer

Jim:

I am always amazed with your stories of your wild and crazy youth and college days.  Our paths were so very different.  

In high school I dated quite a bit, but my time was always spent at places like the Studio Club or movie theaters, etc.  I never knowingly hung around the drug scene.  Shoots, I'm not sure I was even aware there was a drug scene.  In my first semester at Texas Tech I became a Christian.  At the time there was a local church (Lubbock Bible Church) with a pastor who taught in an exegetical manner from the Bible, line upon line and precept upon precept.  Much of my non-study time was spent listening to taped sermons and, since a book like Deuteronomy would have over 100 sermons, it would consume a couple of hours a day.  I was about as straight arrow as they come.

I met my wife-to-be at SMU's MBA program.  We were married while still in school, I went to work with Arthur Andersen the Monday after we graduated, and our first born came along in a few months.  Since then I have worked and raised a family.

I guess the nice part of this is after all these years and such very different paths in life, we are both still standing and communicating with our fellow classmates.  

Kurt Fischer

David:

Walking through the updated Tom Thumb at Parker and Independence today reminded me of my father's retirement.

He had a group of 5-7 friends from various professions who would meet each morning, first at the local Kroger and later at the donut shop, to talk and solve the world's problems.  I remember printing a proclamation on his 70th birthday and posting it at the donut shop so others could celebrate the day.  But this took place many years after his group began getting together.

While I'm 69 and I believe you have turned 70, I can't seem to picture meeting together for coffee and donuts every day.  I guess the times have changed.  On the other hand, they did have lasting friendships, mostly based on a desire to talk with and get to know interesting individuals.

Hollis Carolyn Heyn

Kurt:

Daryl Summers used to breakfast each morning with a regular group of cronies at Cindy's.  They would show up just before opening time, and if the wait staff were busy with other duties, Daryl would start the coffee a brewing.  I wonder if that group still meets.  If so, stopping into chat would probably yield some great Daryl stories.  Miss that wonderful guy.