The Stuff Memo
By Hank Silverberg
Take a look around you,
in your home or office. How much “stuff” do you have hanging around that
you never use? Now look in the closets and your garage or that shed in the
backyard. The old adage is: if you haven’t used it in three years, you
really don’t need it. My family did that a few weeks ago, and this past
weekend my daughters came home with their cars loaded with stuff for a big
family yard sale.
Baby clothes, which my
grandchildren have outgrown, were the big sellers. That's not surprising, since most merchants charge way too much for outfits most babies
and toddlers will wear once or twice before they grow out of them. No one
wanted my other daughter’s old CD’s or the out-of- date but still
functional printer I had pulled out from the back of my home office
closet. My wife sold some clothes she no longer wears, but the pile of
books we put out, including some best sellers, went almost
untouched.
The bottom line: there
are a few closets with some space in my home now and you can actually walk inside my backyard shed again. We got rid of some stuff we really didn’t need and our
customers got some good bargains. What we didn’t sell, we donated to charity. I
have a feeling someone will be able to use some of that stuff somewhere. There has got to be someone who hasn't yet read "The DeVinci Code." My oldest daughter, the one with the kids, took home 50 bucks. I had $1.10 more than when the day started.
Yard sales like this
take place across the country every weekend this time of year. Getting rid of
stuff is almost as big in America as acquiring it.
Politics should be like
this. Every four years or so, we should dig into our elected offices and
political closets and get rid of stuff that’s no longer of value to us.
We can start with the Republican controlled Senate, which seems to block any practical legislation, mainly because the President doesn’t like it. I saw some Tweets exchanged
between Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. They actually talked about working
together on a bill for a lifetime ban on members of Congress to prevent them from becoming
lobbyists.
You’re on.
5:02 PM · May 30, 2019 · Twitter for iPhone
I Tweeted back to them,
“I will believe it when I see it.”
Wow. Bi-partisanship? Now there’s a unique idea. I’ll believe it when I see it.
5:20 PM · May 31, 2019 · Twitter for iPhone
Bi-partisanship is really dead. Both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the President have pretty much said they won’t work with the Democrats on anything, even things where they agree, like how to finance repairs to our deteriorating roads and bridges.
More stuff to get rid
of: the ridiculous debate over climate change. It’s real, its damaging, and it’s
now become critical that we do something. According to a poll done by Yale University and George Mason
University at the end of last year, 67% of the American public believe
climate change is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. Somehow the
people running the country need to catch up and deal with reality. We can debate the solutions, but it's time to get rid of ANY lawmaker at any level who denies the science of climate change.
We also need get rid of
the idea that we can recycle our way out of plastic
pollution.
The United States,did not join 187 other countries which have just expanded efforts to better regulate the transport and disposal of
 |
(Part of the solution may be compostable
cups like this one made from corn)
|
We also need to scrap the
idea that tariffs are good. History has proven that wrong time and time again.
Mr. Trump’s threat to put a 5% tariff on Mexican goods unless our southern
neighbor stops the cross border flow of illegal immigrants, will hit you and me
in the pocket book. Expect prices to go up for fruit, vegetables, cars and
beer—all major imports from Mexico. Come on Mr. President, you know Mexico is
not able to stem the flow of illegal immigrants. They don’t have the means and
probably not the will. The tariffs will hurt the Mexican economy and that could entice more workers to risk a crossing into the U.S. as millions have done before them.
 |
| (Courtesy of Cyberhobo.net) |
Finally, we need to get rid of the constant repetition of nonsensical Presidential Tweets. We can re-Tweet policy statements,like this one on tariffs.
_______________________________________________________________________
__
Donald J. Trump
On June 10th, the
United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from
Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our
Country, STOP. The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration
problem is remedied,..
_____________________________________________________________
But let's ignore the ones where he keeps talking about "No collusion," or more Tweets insulting dead Senators. I won't show you an example here.
Two decades ago, when I was a night-time producer at WTOP, the leading radio news station in D.C., I used to leave a note every night for the morning crew. It was a detailed write-up on what we had set up for them for the morning , what reporter’s stories had been filed, and what stories we had started on that needed to be followed up. I jokingly titled it “The Stuff Memo,” and I often added humor when the news didn't contain anything funny.
Two decades ago, when I was a night-time producer at WTOP, the leading radio news station in D.C., I used to leave a note every night for the morning crew. It was a detailed write-up on what we had set up for them for the morning , what reporter’s stories had been filed, and what stories we had started on that needed to be followed up. I jokingly titled it “The Stuff Memo,” and I often added humor when the news didn't contain anything funny.
This week, I decided to call my blog “The Stuff Memo” so I could write about a variety of things that are or are not happening. You can see there
isn’t much humor in this blog, because I find nothing to joke about this
week.
(Your comments and suggestions are welcome)
( Copies
of my book can be purchased at Amazon.com, BB.com or by sending me an email for
details on how to get a signed copy at a REDUCED price.)
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