September 2014 Greetings

New month new thread.

Back from vacation energized.

Tomorrow I have meeting before church with my CED director about some possible changes to our Wed night Royal Rangers and M'ettes clubs. Could be going coed at some point.

First night back after a month off of teaching Rangers on Sunday night. I must confess... my flesh would like to keep it that way. GRIN! Sitting at home taking it easy.... is exactly what the devil would want me to do....

Not today. We have work that needs done for our King and Lord Christ Jesus!

Event wise this last month. 3 float trips, Ranger Kids day camp, Regatta boat build and Races and campout. The sunday night meetings in Rangers from my experience is to get them ready for the next event. So much better way of doing Rangers and it works very well.

Mark Jones

We will be building a Ranger Mobile cart.
http://readyrangers.tzo.com/Rangermobileplans.pdf

The big race is this next weekend at a local Baptist Church parking lot and it's a Community Outreach to the neighborhood so it's being hosted by the local community...we are just running the races for them. This is different than years past. So we are trying the outreach.

Mark Jones

32 degrees and 1 inch of snow outside. Still have 10 days to go until summer is over and we just done skipped fall!

Today is Patriot's Day. Thirteen years of the War on Terror, excuse me, Man-made Disasters. No doubt DHS, all LEOs and our military are on high alert. Pray that they head off any threat.

Ephesians 6:[12] For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places .

Loading stuff up for the Rangermobile Race in the morning. My flesh rarered up and I didn't want to bring my stuff and the ranger stuff and ... well I had a hard time sleeping knowing I was leaving work for my brothers in Christ to do.. so I died to my selfish flesh and told them I would be bringing a bunch of stuff again. GRIN! Gal 6:9...

Galatians 6:9 New International Version (NIV) 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Do you guys struggle with this stuff as well?

Seems like once a year I get to wanting to buck my yoke...GRIN!

Vacation!

I have Monday & Tuesday off

How you get vacation?

I get 6 weeks vacation. GRIN! Really I do. After 35 years I deserve something. Yet keep in mind. Over the past 35 years I have worked almost 2 extra months each year so my time would be closer to 39 or 40 years service.

Some guys only get their vacation time off. They have to work their days off.

So enjoy a 40 hour week job and give it your all. Those 2 days off are a blessing we all don't get.

Mark Jones

RRCmdrBennett wrote:How you get vacation?  

Apparently, this company gives you 6 days vacation after 90 days. Never seen that before

I like it.

Every 90 days you get 6 days?

No for short timers they get a weeks vacation after 6 months. For the guys with 35 years you get 5 weeks of vacation and 5 days of day off a year.

Yet keep in mind the average person 52 x 2 = 104 days off a year for a 40 hour work week. Some of us with the 35 years would love to have 104 days off a year...grin. Some guys work 7 days a week for 6 months.

I got a kick out of a Postal employee that quit the post office. He took a job on with us. I came across him at a service box out in the field. He said he hadn't had a day off in 6 months and was about to quit. A lot of people can't handle these kind of hours. So basicly when I tell you I get 6 weeks vacation that means translated to me...I get 1/3 less days off then most people that work a 5 day work week. Money is a whole lot better but time off is something folks take for granted.

About the only days I can really count on is my vacation days. The rest of my days off I may be working. Many do that on a year in and year out basis. I am glad I have my 6 weeks.... I don't think I could make it with out a day off every now and then.

Mark Jones

RRCmdrBennett wrote:Every 90 days you get 6 days?

Actually we have some guys that take all their vacation in the first part of a year. 4 weeks off in January...makes for a long rest of the year.

One of the older guys used to take the whole month off in the summer so he could bale hay. He still had 2 weeks he took off at a time...I think he had 38 years.

Working for one company for 3 decades has it's rewards. It's a thing of the past. The new guys that are hired on they don't get benefits or vacation or sick time or pension like we do.

The younger generations won't have a retirement, pension like my generation had. It's a shame to work your whole life for a company to have them shut down and start back up under a new name and dump you and your fellow employess so they don't have to pay a pension.

The Big corporations have us paying all the taxes now as well as no retirement. 50 years ago they payed the lion share of the taxes and paid pension and retirements. Americas in decline middle class is dewindling fast.

Mark Jones

We have a global economy and our companies are playing against a stacked deck. Our gov't has the highest corporate tax rate in the world. To stay in business, their choices are 1) cut overhead to the bone, or 2) move overseas. The only thing Ross Perot got right was his "the giant sucking sound you hear..." quote.

Ross Perot was even able to see it happening in Biblical Times:

"Now, King Nebuchadnezzar knew that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were Prophets, but they failed to obey the King's command, which was under penalty of death.

So King Nebuchadnezzar had Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego thrown into the Fiery Furnace.  

It takes from 25 to 40 years to raise up a Prophet, and King Nebuchadnezzar was throwing them into the Fiery Furnace at at rate of three per day.

And it's as plain as the Nose on my Face that:
You Cannot Run a Kingdom at a Net Prophet Loss!"

Donald Trump settled that issue. Import tax. When it cost them more to build it outside and bring it back they will leave the work here.

Lot's of ways around those things.

Mark Jones

Solve a high corporate tax problem by raising import taxes? Yeah, that sounds like the government all right.

When Corporate America takes the jobs over seas because it's cheaper for them to pay a nickel on a dollar wages you can't blame them. YET when the folks here that buy the product no longer have a job to pay for product because the jobs are overseas..it's a catch 22 thing. If it's made here in the States then it should be given tax breaks. If it's made overseas it should be tariffed so those funds go back into paying for the millions of unemployement checks that go out. Cheap doesn't mean it costs us less. Somewhere some place there is something missing.

Mark Jones

I agree with a lot of what you say. However, the way politicians "solve" it only perpetuates a vicious circle. A binding group of non-politicians/non-lobbyists (much like BRAC that closed down obsolete military installations) should be commissioned. Eliminate every tax at the outset, and then reinstitute those that are common-sense and constitutional. That would unleash America's ability to compete and dominate.

We're owned by corporate America. We need to eliminate income tax at all levels. Tax businesses on profits. Don't tax us on "compensatory" wages where we do not generate profit. We lose time and receive wages in return.

Did a 9-hour ride-along with my son last night. What a thrill! Non-stop action that didn't slow down until the next shift showed up and spread the work around. The boys in blue earn their money. My son really loves what he's doing.

My vacations usually revolve around pow wows and camporees.