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Beautiful country.
Beautiful country,
And it was,
beautiful people.
Yeah,
it,
But, uh,
and I'd real, really like to go because, um, I'm fairly recently married
we had a great time.
and, and my husband has been hearing about these people for years
and, uh, but he's never met them,
so, uh, I'd like, I'd like to do that.
But anyway, that's, that's our typical vacation,
and, uh, we enjoy the family vacations,
but the other ones are very special getaways,
and we probably take one of each every year.
How about yourself?
Well, uh, we, we, as you do, take family vacations, uh, sometimes one a year,
and, but this year we're not going to be taking one for several reasons.
But vacations we really enjoy,
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I think we've been on three cruises.
Oh, I've never, been on a cruise.
And we, we really love cruises.
We've gone on CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES.
Uh-huh.
And, uh, we've gone fairly inexpensive from, as most cruises go.
Uh, we usually book just a month before it's ready to go.
Yeah.
And we get upgraded.
Last last two times, in fact, we had an outside room
and it was beautiful.
Um.
And we like not having to take our suitcase in and out of hotel rooms and drag it all around.
It's kind of,
Well, what do you do on a cruise?
I've never been on a cruise.
Oh, my God, you do everything.
You, I mean, you can be as busy as you want to be, or as laid back as you want to be.
You can sit in the sun all day around the pool,
or you can take part in the games that they have going on.
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They always have bingo.
They have a casino.
Uh, they have a massage parlor.
They have exercise,
I mean, you can do anything.
Huh.
And that's just aboard ship.
And then when the ship docks, you get to go sight-seeing and shopping.
Uh-huh.
And that's quite fun.
Uh-huh.
And where have you been on these cruises?
Uh, Nassau, San Juan, Saint Thomas.
We've been there twice.
We went two cruises that hit those islands, but with different people.
We, we've gone with friends each time.
I see.
And then we went to, uh, the western Caribbean, which is, uh, Port, uh, Cancun, Cozumel, and Ocho Rios.
Oh, the, the Mexican coast.
Pardon me?
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That's all Mexico, I think.
Yes,
uh-huh.
And, but it was wonderful.
So we really like those.
And, uh, I guess we just like to go someplace, someplace entirely different.
We've been to a few places in this country.
We still have a lot to see, though.
Where are you from originally?
We're from Illinois originally.
Uh-huh.
And we've been down in Texas eighteen years,
and so, like you, we always try to make it, you know, back home to see the relatives.
We both still have family there.
Uh-huh.
And that's fun.
It brings back a lot of memories.
Oh, yes.
Uh, things are different there, though.
They're, uh,
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I don't know.
It's just entirely different world than this
Well, I, I grew up in Dallas,
so I mean, it's not, it's not like I'm going home.
Did you?
My, my parents retired first to San Diego,
Uh-huh.
and they're going now to Florida,
and so they're going very nice places,
thank God,
Uh-huh.
that will be a pleasure to visit and get to know.
I really came to love San Diego and feel very, comfortable there.
They've been there eight years.
Uh-huh.
And, uh, you know, I just grab the car and drive everywhere.
Oh, that's great.
So it, it is, it is nice,
but it's not home.
This is home,
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and, um, and I've never thought about a cruise.
It's so funny.
Oh, they, they, they really are.
We've, yeah, as I said, we've done them three times.
We'd be going again this, this year if circumstances hadn't changed.
We, we'd probably go.
Uh-huh.
My husband would, you know,
the minute I said the word, he, he, he's chomping at the bit.
He kind of likes the casinos a little bit.
Uh-huh.
But I like all of that.
What's the best part, from your point of view?
I like seeing other countries and shopping in other places.
Uh-huh.
I like shopping.
I can shop anyplace, shop in London and France and wherever.
Now, my kids are moving to Toronto,
so we're going to be able to go up there.
Oh, that will be nice.
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So I'm kind of looking forward to that, except I hate to see them go.
Oh, sure.
But,
Sure.
Well, go in, don't go in the winter.
Oh, that's what everybody says,
and I, I think it's,
I think I'll try to stay away, except my, my second grandchild will be born in in the winter in January.
Oh.
So that will be hard to stay away from.
Well, there are exceptions made for special occasions like that.
Yeah.
But the ordinary thing is to stay out of the north in the winter and get out of Texas in the summer
so,
Isn't that the truth,
uh-huh.
Huh. Well, that sounds wonderful.
I, I guess I, I would contemplate going on a cruise, uh, oh, all circumstances permitting it.
Well, there's all age groups too,
and that's, that's kind of fun.
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Uh, you, if you sit at a table with a lot of people for your meals, you meet different people.
Uh-huh.
You may meet people, you know, thirty years older than you, or younger,
and everybody is really interesting,
and everybody is there to have a good time
and,
Huh. How long are the cruises?
Uh, we've only gone on the seven day cruises.
Uh-huh.
They have shorter ones
and then they have ten day ones.
But I think seven days is long enough for us.
By that time we're ready to get home and get back to our routine.
Yeah.
I think most vacations, uh, seven days is enough for us.
We've gone,
I think when we went to England and France, we were there ten, twelve days,
and that was pushing it a bit.
Yeah.
Uh, I tend, when, when I spend enough money to go overseas
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I, go for a long time.
Yeah.
Well, that, that makes sense, it really does.
I mean, oh, we went to Panama too.
Oh, that's interesting.
Went to Panama last August.
Uh-huh.
Our son-in-law is from Panama.
Oh.
And, uh, we went with our daughter and son-in-law to visit his parents, who live there.
Uh-huh.
And his father is a, a doctor
and his mother is a kindergarten teacher,
and they took time off,
it was their winter
and they were having a little break,
so they took some time off that, uh, they could show us around.
And it, it is a beautiful country.
Huh.
It is beautiful.
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They have mountains.
We were an hour away from the mountains or an hour away from the shore.
That's really nice.
And it, it is gorgeous.
They live in a small town called David, which is northern Panama up near Costa Rica.
Uh-huh.
And, uh, it's, it's just, it's just a gorgeous country.
Most people don't realize it.
I think if they could get tourists coming to their country, they'd improve the economy considerably.
Huh. Well, may, maybe now things are calming down again. That will happen.
Yeah.
We really hope, hope so.
Well, that, that's really great. Uh,
Yeah.
I, I mean, as I said, basically all I've done is go back and forth to parents
and, uh,
Well, that, that's, that's pretty good.
That's pretty good.
And, and, uh, we had, my husband had a conference in L A,
so we spent a week in L A
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and of course,
Oh, do you like L A?
Uh, I'm, I'm, I'm very unusual.
I like,
You ready?
Yeah.
Okay.
What have you seen lately?
Well, uh, it's funny, when I tried, to make the call the other days,
I thought,
I hadn't seen anything since DANCES WITH WOLVES
but today I went to see REGARDING WITH HENRY.
Oh, I'm dying to see that.
It was really good.
We
Oh.
uh, Jeff Wariner just got out of the hospital
Uh-huh
and, uh, Jeff and Deeanna went and another friend in the neighborhood,
and, uh, we all liked it.
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We had both moms and, uh, fifteen year olds and a twelve year old
and everyone enjoyed it.
Oh, my goodness.
And, uh,
Oh, well I am just dying to see it.
I went to dinner with some friends last weekend
and they said get a baby-sitter
and we'll all go see REGARDING HENRY
Yeah.
and I said, ooh, I want to see it so bad.
Well, my son had gotten to see a lot of movies this summer, on, choir tour and visiting friends and one thing and another. A lot of the ones I had wanted to see
Oh.
and so since he had this friend up from Houston, uh, and his friend had already seen so many and I thought they decided on this and I thought well, I want to see this one, too.
So, we, uh, I
Yeah.
finally, it's my first summer movie
Oh my.
Well, let me see.
Was it,
well, we went to see ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS last weekend
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and that may be,
no,
right before I went in the hospital my girlfriend said come on,
we're going to the movies.
And we won't,
well she goes all the time
but I go maybe once every couple of months.
Yeah.
And when I go, I go see two at a time.
So we went to see SOAPDISH,
and
Oh, was that good?
Cause,
Oh, hysterical.
We laughed so hard,
it was just, you couldn't hear half the dialogue because everyone in the audience was laughing so hard.
Yeah.
Well, I want to see that and CITY SLICKERS both.
I love comedies.
Yeah
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But, that's what I was
that's the other one that we went to that night.
Oh, was it?
And, my face hurt so bad, from laughing because I love Billy Crystal.
Oh
And course, growing up on, on the back of a horse, you know, and being on ranches and stuff, so much of that was so true
and I was absolutely rolling in the aisles.
It was so funny.
Both of them were great.
Oh, well good.
I'm, I'm glad to hear that because they,
Oh, they are, are
we just laughed so hard.
And like I said, with CITY I mean with SOAPDISH, it is so cornball
and it is so overacted that you're just hysterical you know.
Uh-huh
Just, they just carried it off, to the tee.
Well, I don't, I don't know if you got to see WEEKEND, um, AT BERNIE'S that was out a couple of years ago.
No.
They had a free showing at the Berkeley, um, United Artist.
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How neat.
And, I don't know who was here or whether Jay called a friend
and we didn't think we'd have much chance of getting in
but we thought we'd try it, you know, free movie.
Shoot,
yeah.
It was so funny and it sounds like, uh, what you were just describing, SOAPDISH, too.
I mean, we just, we hurt by the time we came out.
Oh yeah.
And the whole theater was hysterical
and it's just, it's just goofy.
I mean, it's, uh,
if you have a chance to rent it, at least,
or it should be out on T V, I would think,
Yeah,
I think it is.
I think it is.
Um, cause it's, it's just a fun summer light comedy,
make your cheeks hurt laughing.
Especially in the theater it was contagious, you know
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Yeah.
I, I imagine the way SOAPDISH was, but, with everyone laughing.
Oh gosh
I never laughed.
And people were just screaming and applauding
and, you know, it was just hysterical.
Well, I'm glad you did that before your surgery
Oh, me too, because I don't even know if I could live through it now.
Yeah
I mean I'm getting around real good
and I'm just still real sore.
Yeah.
And today I was, I, course I went back to work two weeks after, uh
Oh, gosh.
but see I don't have permanent work.
I, right now I'm working with a temporary agency.
And so, the second week I was out of the hospital I went up and worked half day on the computers cause you can learn all the software for free.
Oh.
Oh, so I went up to do WordPerfect cause that seems like that's what everybody wants,
and I was up there half a day and came home and collapsed.
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Yeah.
And then they called me to see if I wanted to work a day.
And I said, yeah,
and I went
and of course it took me the whole weekend to recover from that.
And, uh, I worked about three days a week ever since, two to three days a week.
And so I went to my doctors last Thursday,
and this was my fourth week checkup
and he said well gosh, you're just healing really well,
I just can't get over this.
He says, in two weeks you can go back to doing your crazy normal things.
If you want to play ball, you can go play ball.
He says, now I'm not going to say you're going to feel like playing ball
but you can if you want to.
Yeah
And, uh, you know, he was teasing me
and he says, yeah,
you'll be out there waterskiing,
I can just see it now.
And, uh, he says so you just take it easy for two more weeks.
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You've only got two more weeks.
I said okay fine, I, I will, I will
Whatever you call easy, I'll do it, you know.
But and I've been out trying to find a job because this is just not cutting it.
Yeah.
Yeah
And so, I don't, I'm real glad that we didn't go see those funny ones when I was, when I'm still sort of on the sore side.
Yeah
But,
well, what's your next,
have you seen ROBIN HOOD yet?
No,
that was one, uh, Jay got to see with a friend
and so I
Uh.
and to try and, uh, try and find time it's hard, uh, with Jim's schedule, too, just to get a time that we can both go.
Oh yeah.
And, uh, I'm holding out for CITY SLICKERS for the two of us because, uh, we had friends that went to see that and said, you know, it's just perfect for our age group
Uh-huh.
and because I think he, he needs a comedy, too.
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Uh, and that's what he would have liked to have seen REGARDING HENRY, too,
but knew that, uh,
we've, we've got a lot of company this summer, which is wonderful.
We're really enjoying it
but some of the different things we're doing, uh there's just not a time, enough time to do it all
Uh-huh.
and he said, well, realistically You know, he knew he couldn't get them all in.
Yeah.
But, uh, Jay really liked ROBIN HOOD.
Um, when the choir group went to see BACKDRAFT and they thought that was, uh, it was funny cause he sounded like the critics.
He said, you know the plot line and the characters, uh, you know aren't real big
but the, the fire scenes and the you know that action part is fantastic.
Uh-huh.
But, he thought ROBIN HOOD was great.
It was real different then you'd expect,
but but he enjoyed it
Oh really?
and so,
Well I went,
course I am a Kevin Costner fan.
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Yeah,
me too.
And yeah,
Supreme.
I really, uh, like him a lot. Which is why, DANCES WITH WOLVES was the last movie we had seen for several months
Uh-huh.
but,
Gosh, was that wonderful.
It was,
I, uh,
in fact, uh, a friend from Germany was visiting in March
and we wanted, we didn't, ran out of time, we wanted to take him to see it.
We were going to sit through it again cause we really wanted him to see it, too.
Oh, yeah.
Uh, I just thought that was terrific.
And I really enjoy Harrison Ford which is one of the reasons I wanted to see,
I do, too.
I think he's really good.
And he's very good in REGARDING HENRY.
That's not an easy part to play, I, I don't think
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I wouldn't think.
Well, my kids are going to their Dad's tomorrow night
so I sort of think I may go do that.
Yeah.
That's at, that one won't your sides
Good
Um, it,
was this the first time you got to see ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS?
Or,
I
my parents took me when I was probably somewhere between Ashley and Jamie's age begin to
Uh-huh.
And we went to the,
my number.
Okay.
Okay.
So are you a, a, a golfer
or are you a spectator?
Oh, I'm a,
I play golf
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but I don't actually play golf.
Well, I'm the same way.
I, I go out there and hit the ball.
Yeah.
Hack it all over the place?
Yeah.
It's sickening, isn't it?
Um, uh, well, in the Carolinas it's, it's just, you know, we've got a bunch of golf courses around here.
Yeah.
We've got tons up here
but I don't know.
How do you feel about your game?
I guess that's a good question?
Uh, well, I mean I'm not a serious golfer at all,
uh, uh, a friend of mine goes golfing a lot
and he drags me out every now and then
and I, uh, I don't have a, I don't really even have a game.
I usually
when I go out and play golf it's usually like at a, at one of these par threes that, you know, you,
Yeah.
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but, um, I like watching it on T V.
Yeah,
I like that too.
I don't know
I try to play,
but God, I, a couple years ago I played two, three times a week and got lousy.
I guess that's the best I ever got was lousy.
And I thought I was really improving and the big break was going to come
and then I got worse again
so.
get they, they say I hit worm burners because I, I can't hit it up in the air.
Yeah.
So I'm pretty bad
but I, I, I get great distance hitting it, you know, across the ground,
and if it's going over water or something one of them have to take the shot for me because I'm,
but I'm getting better.
I've got where now I can hit it in, in the air some of the time.
That's pretty good.
Yeah.
Uh, so I'm kind of a novice at it.
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Um, I'm that and worse.
I, I play
next year I,
actually I take it kind of seriously
but I've been doing so bad.
Next year, I always say this every year, but next year I'm starting over from scratch.
I'm going to go take lessons and everything.
I'm going to do it right, and see if I can actually play this game or not.
Well, that I, I guess that's what I need to do is, is get some kind of lessons or something.
Because I, my, my tee off is not bad,
I mean I'm, I'm good up to everything else putting and stuff like that
it's just, that, that initial tee
Yeah,
what do you do when you're putting?
That's a good thing.
That's something I could learn actually.
That's when I do my worst.
I finally get to the green
and I think I'm doing all, all fine
and then,
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Just walking around the hollow and making sure there's not really,
you know, checking the ground and, and so forth, you know.
Yeah.
See how it's going to break or whatever.
Can you really see it though?
Yeah.
What about the speed?
If you get, if you get down on the ground you really can.
Can you tell but can you tell how, how fast you're going to hit it?
Um, well, if you know if it's up on a slope that you've got to hit it not kill it
but you've got to hit enough speed and the right angle that it's, it's, you know,
because when it's going up a hill it's going to break in a direction.
Yeah,
but you can feel that?
Yeah.
I don't know
I have, I can get it within like, you know, four or five feet or something
but I don't have enough field.
Now I'm T V watching.
Yeah.
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They make you die at the hole every time.
Yeah.
Oh, it just dies and rolls in.
I don't know,
But I,
it's hard for me.
The, the,
it's, it's like I said
once I get up on the green I'm fine,
but that, that tee shot, uh, it, you know,
when teeing off I'll go probably a hundred feet across the ground
so it, it takes me awhile to get to the hole
but,
Once you're there, you're all set though.
I'm all set.
We should play team golf then.
I'll get us there
and you put it in.
that sounds good to me.
I
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oh, the T V golfers they do that.
It takes them two to get there and two to get it in
so it's fifty percent.
And me it takes me five to get there and five to get it in.
Well, it, it, it usually takes me about probably two, two or three to get it there
and, and then, that's according to the hole
and it
uh, uh, maybe one or two putts.
It's, according to where I'm at on the green.
Yeah.
That's good.
But the friends I play with, uh, they play all the time
and, and they're really good.
Joe Pros?
Uh, they're not Joe Pros
but they, they golf in the high sixties low seventies
so I guess they're pretty good
That's pretty good.
For eighteen?
Yeah.
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For eighteen.
Wow,
that's pretty good.
Yeah.
I'm talking to the wrong guy.
Your shitty golf is probably the best golf I've ever seen.
No,
no,
no,
that's not my golf.
That's my friends.
Mine, mine,
I'm, I'm usually in the eighties or nineties
so I'm, I'm not good
If, when I'm in the nineties I'm feeling good.
I'm usually around a hundred.
That's my thing. Around a hundred.
You know, I can hit a great drives and think I'm going to do all awesome on this hole
but it ain't going to happen.
Well, I either, teeing off I either slice it
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or I hook it ever single time
and, and I alternate.
Well, it's a good thing with me I slice it every single time.
That's good.
I aim,
Okay.
Okay.
Universal health insurance,
right?
That's right.
What would we like to say
I think,
Uh-huh.
I think that's what the subject is about.
Did you read, uh, the article in the paper today about this particular subject?
In the Dallas, the MORNING TIMES?
Yeah.
I guess I did not.
Uh, the state of Washington and the state of Minnesota is, uh, going to begin testing a program, a state funded program for citizens of those two states
and there's fourteen other, uh, states that are considering it. Least according to the article in the paper this morning.
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I think it's a trend that's, that's, that's, uh, probably may go nationwide eventually because I think national health is something that we all need.
It's getting to a point that you have to have it,
you have to have some form of health insurance.
Well, it's been interesting that we,
Extremely expensive, though.
Yes.
So we live in a society, though, where everyone if you ask them on polls, will, uh, say that they think that everyone has a right to health care.
Uh-huh.
And yet, I don't think we've ever quite decided who's really supposed to pay for it.
Well, that's the thing, you know,
uh, unfortunately the ones that currently pay and pay the premiums for health insurance are, are paying for the people that don't have health insurance.
Which is why people are talking about
we ought to just admit it perhaps and then try and somehow subsidize it in a way that's more fair.
Yeah.
I don't think you, uh,
You have health insurance?
Yes,
I do.
Through your company?
Uh, through my company,
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yes.
But I have been in a situation, uh, recently where I was laid off from a position as a sales manager of a company and was off work for about a year
and my wife developed cancer.
We didn't have any insurance.
Oh, my goodness.
And it was a go to Parkland type situation.
That's must have been hard
How was your care at Parkland?
Uh, because it was a life threatening situation, it was very good.
Uh, as it, as it turned out one of the top, uh, people, or one of the top doctors in the state that is involved in cancer treatment was at Parkland.
But, yet, Parkland is not free, either.
No,
it's not free,
but, uh, It's, it's a situation that because I didn't have any insurance and I was on unemployment, it was paid by the county.
Is it affordable?
So you did have a good experience.
I had a bad experience as it turned out.
Uh, I was fortunate that there was Parkland.
Is your wife better, I hope?
Uh, no she passed away.
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I'm real sorry.
That's all right.
Sure. *listen; is this a question?
That happens.
It does happen,
but it's very sad.
Yeah,
but in any event, uh, I'm in favor of national health. If I had to vote for it.
Well so am I.
Actually, uh, I'm a pediatrician
Oh, is that right?
and I feel very strongly about, uh, children, and, uh, developed very strong feelings about this during our measles epidemic last year. Where we certainly proved that we're not doing a very good job with preventive health care among children and particularly the children who need it most.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
So, uh, I'm really quite active in trying to, uh, be proactive at least for children's issues.
It's very complex, very complicated,
but, uh, I strongly believe that all children have a right to immunization, glasses, hearing aids basic health benefits.
Well, I, when I grew up and
I grew up in south central Kansas, uh,
we had,
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and my mom worked for the health department, the county health department
and we had x-rays every year,
we had a dentist come to our school and, uh, check our teeth once a year at least.
Uh, we had all our flu shots taken care of, our measles, mumps, rubella and all that other stuff.
Um.
And, uh, when my children were growing up, we didn't have that.
We had to pay for it, which I wasn't opposed to paying for it.
I had the money to pay for it,
but I'm sure that there were people that don't.
Well, and the costs have, so much has gone up so much.
The cost of immunizations for example, uh, and just the legal the legal benefits, uh,
that has really forced people into doing a lot of things unnecessarily, et cetera.
Uh-huh.
So, well, I don't know,
it's, it is interesting,
in case you didn't know, Texas leads the nation in uninsured children.
Thirty-one percent of all Texas children do not have insurance and are not on Medicaid.
Did not know that.
So, uh, one out of every three children has nothing to reimburse them for their health care.
And I work in the children's Parkland system
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and it's pretty overwhelming to me.
Uh-huh.
But, uh, it's pretty hard to be indigent and to be dependent upon indigent health care systems in Dallas county.
Okay,
so now what are your opinions on recycling?
Well, I definitely think that we need to start recycling.
I think it has got to be an individual responsibility until,
I think if we wait, uh, which is happening until somebody says we have to do it it is going to be to late.
Yeah.
I have heard reports around here that the landfills will be full by the year two thousand.
Yeah,
I have heard that too.
And that is not too far away,
but I don't know how it is there.
It is very difficult here even if you care like I do to do much.
I take, my paper,
I can take plastic and paper bags back to the grocery store
Uh-huh.
and I can take plastic like milk cartons or if they have water in them
and there are some fire stations I can take newspapers to
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and that is very inconvenient cause I have to wait until I have enough of them to make the trip worthwhile.
Well see, I started saving newspapers
and I would take a ton of them
Uh-huh.
and, uh, that's, I can't remember where I went to take them,
but they wouldn't take them.
Yeah.
It is real hard to find a spot
and then, I don't know if you note, even doing that, the amount of trash we throw away is incredible
bottles
Oh I know.
glass
that cannot be, it could be recycled,
but there is no place to,
There is no really recycling facilities.
No.
We have a pilot program in Arlington going on I think in the north part of the city where they are have people people separate the garbage as, the trash as they put it out.
I think that is a good idea.
And I think that is what it is going to have to come to. Where we are just forced to.
Besides, well like a law or whatever.
|
that's how it is in New York isn't it.
Yeah.
I think so,
just because they have to. You know,
Uh-huh.
And you get ticketed if you don't do it right.
Right,
uh-huh.
And I think it is going to come to that because some people will just not go to the,
it's, It's trouble for me to do what I do
Yeah.
I mean, I am willing to do it
but,
Plus you have to have a place to store all of it
Yeah.
and see I live in an apartment.
Yeah.
It is very difficult.
Like our garage is always full of sacks of newspapers
and, so, I don't know.
|
I think there needs to be more places
and also I have a real strong opinion.
In Iowa, the state I am from uh, I believe it has gone up to a dollar now.
Uh-huh.
Every time you buy a container, no matter what it is, whether it is glass, whether it's a beer can or a fifth of whiskey or a pop or whatever, you pay ten cents for it
Yeah.
and then you take it back to the store
and you get it back.
Uh, so that way it kind of forces you to recycle.
You are forced to.
And, uh, you also don't see the litter there.
People just,
Yeah,
that's true.
It makes it worthwhile to take it back
and I've just started drinking a new water called Clearly Canadian,
I don't know if you've tried it
Yeah,
I have seen them.
and they have on the it's five cents, that they pay five cents
|
Uh-huh.
and it even shows the states that,
That take them back.
Yeah.
Well, some of them are five, some are ten cents.
I am looking at it right now.
Is Texas one of them?
Texas is not one of them see.
So, I have to throw them away cause there is no place to take glass.
Yeah.
No,
I don't think that there is enough being done.
Now, I work at J C PENNY at their corporate headquarters.
Uh-huh.
And we have a paper recycling program that, uh, is company wide
and I do the recycling for that.
Do they save like the paper they they use at the office paper.
Yeah.
Good.
Because there is a lot of waste there isn't there.
|
Yeah.
And I know there is a lot of computer paper that you can't use.
Right.
Right.
But, uh, we use to have, uh,
I mean, I don't even remember how much money that they've, uh, I mean, the money that they've made from the recycling program.
They have donated it to charities.
Right.
I mean they have made a substantial amount of money from it.
Yeah.
Something else I think we do can do is support companies that encourage
like, I have decided Downy Fabric Softener now has where you can buy a little carton
Yeah.
you add
well, I image everybody else will start doing that sooner or later,
but I am going to stick with Downey because they were first.
Yeah.
And I want them to have my business.
And I think packaging could be done much better.
There is so much plastic.
|
But,
Well I know,
you see some of the stuff
and then when they come out with the new things, you are like, well why didn't you think of that before.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I think that it's just people have got to be aware.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that just don't care
and they don't want to think about it.
Yeah,
that's true.
And, uh, I just look at it, I don't want my grandchildren looking at me and saying why didn't you do something.
You know, I want to feel like I at least tried.
Yeah.
And I don't know.
It just may overwhelm us here when we run out of places to put it.
Then we will be forced to.
It may be too late.
Do they not ever, I mean, I don't know that much. Do they not ever burn trash or anything like,
Very little.
|
That's another thing that,
see there were no,
Then, that's pollution.
I know Amway.
I use a couple of things from Amway that it says this is burnable material.
Well, that doesn't do me any good because I don't have any place to burn it.
Yeah,
I know.
I guess you run into the pollution factor.
Yeah.
And then just like the glass bottles, that it says on the bottle I can get ten cents, but not in Texas.
Yeah.
And there is no place I can take glass to.
Uh,
So, I still throw away a lot of glass.
It is really sad.
Yeah.
And then the packaging thing really grips me.
You buy some
and it's got a great big piece of cardboard and a great big piece of plastic,
|
Well, uh, I myself am not in favor of drug testing in the work place except in, in specific, uh, very specific in this, uh, very specific examples such as, uh, transportation workers, as in, uh, air traffic controllers, bus drivers and that kind of thing.
Well.
Um, I don't really think that it's, uh, too many,
I think it's a severe invasion of somebody's privacy to say, well, we're going to look at your urine and then decide whether you're, uh, you know, worthy of working for us.
I really don't see that that's a very, very valid, uh, thing for a company to say,
and I, personally, I don't think I would work for somebody if they were going to reject me on the basis of what's inside my body.
Yeah,
uh, I guess I basically agree that, uh,
do you think it's okay for a company to reject somebody knowing that they'll take drugs?
I mean suppose they found out some other way?
Well, I think, I think we, I think the problem here is, is that a, a drug test does not necessarily imply that someone is taking drugs or not taking drugs.
Yeah.
There's too many cases where it can, you know,
there can be false positive results, and that, that sort of thing.
I don't think there's any definitive, you know,
okay this person is taking drugs,
so we don't want him here.
Yeah.
Uh, like I said, some industries, though, I think it'd be very necessary,
I wouldn't want any air traffic controllers high or anything like that when I'm flying in an airplane.
|
Yeah.
But, uh, I, I just, I find it to be pretty offensive that, that it's such a, a big deal.
I mean, if your employer's not going to trust you
or, you know, it,
I just, I think it's a whole trust issue.
I just can't see it.
But, have you ever been in a situation where you, you were drug tested
or,
Uh, yeah,
I have been.
Yeah.
I. I mean, I was very offended by, by the whole process.
I once too,
so.
Yeah.
I mean it's very humiliating,
and, I mean, I'm not speaking in favor of drugs or against drugs,
but I, uh, I am totally against that sort of a, uh,
I mean it's, it's a pretty personal thing when somebody says I want to look at your urine before I'm going to talk to you.
Yeah.
|
I had it during a job interview,
and I just thought it was dumb of the company, at a point where they were trying to convince me to, to want to work for them to do this,
Right.
and I'm just like, well, uh, I'm not even going to think much about it if you're going to treat me with this much respect even before you've gotten to know me.
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
That's, that's basically my opinion on it, right there, is that it's just, you know,
I did, I, I was in the same sort of situation as,
it was a job interview
and then you had a physical, where you were drug tested,
and it's,
I just,
and I know people who have been drug tested and who have not, you know, been hired by a corporation which, uh, you know,
I really.
The other side of it is, is, besides its being an invasion of personal privacy, as in my, it's my bodily fluid
and I don't really want you to look at it, or or something pretty basic like that,
Uh-huh.
just to the fact that I don't know that it is a company's business to regulate what its employees are doing when they're not at work.
I mean, during the eight hours, during the day, when they're supposed to be there, I think they have every right to say this is, these behaviors are acceptable and these are not,
|
but when it enters into what they're doing when they're not at work, I find that to be fairly offensive also.
Yeah,
well like you say, I mean, if it's not a critical kind of job where someone could get hurt, then really what people ought to be doing, I mean, the, the employer ought to be judging you on how well you do your work rather than on these other factors.
Right.
Right.
And, I mean, if you are doing drugs and it's causing a problem, then they'll notice it for other reasons.
That's exactly right.
Yeah.
And also I just think it, it gets a lot,
I'm a big, uh, supporter of personal freedoms and personal privacies,
and I think that it just moves down along a line that, that I really would find bad if, if most people went down that line into regulating employees' lives outside of work, you know,
there's already talk of people,
well, we're not going to hire you if you smoke.
Well, you know, I, I can see how they can say in the work place we, you don't want them to smoke,
but when somebody leaves work, I don't think that it's the employer's right to regulate their life style at all.
Well, do you think it's, should be illegal for an employer to do this
or,
Uh, I really think it should be, except as I've mentioned twice now, in the specified industries or, or jobs, because there are certain things where it's just vital that a person is clear minded at all times.
Yeah.
And other than that I think, I do not think it should be allowable.
|
I think it should be illegal for them to, to want to do that.
It should, it's kind of the big brother syndrome,
I mean, I just,
anything like that just kind of scares me.
I tend to, to view it,
even though I don't think I'd work for a company that did that, I sort of want to defend an employer's rights as opposed to an uh, in addition to an individual's rights,
but an employer, really, I think, has the right to hire someone on any basis they want to
Right.
and if they say they don't want smokers, I sort of feel like an employer should have the right to decide whether they want to allow that.
Right.
Uh, and I don't really,
Okay.
Okay,
I thought it was supposed to give a recording,
but anyway, uh, well, I do take care of pretty much all of the stuff for, for my wife and for me
and uh, I, embarrassed to say, it's pretty trivial.
Uh-huh.
All we, all I do is, uh, keep a list of things like debts that are outstanding and every two or three months update that and every once in a while make a list of what we spent that month,
but I doubt I do it more than three times a year.
Uh-huh,
|
do you use a computer?
And,
No,
I work with them all day,
I'm in computer science,
yet I I do everything on paper
Oh.
Uh-huh.
Uh, I don't even use a calculator for the stuff I'm doing because it's all pretty round numbers.
Yeah,
mine is really simple, because I got all our bills paid off when, uh, he was a Marine,
he went to Saudi Arabia
and while he was gone I got all of our bills paid off,
so really the only bills I have is rent, utilities, insurance you know,
Uh-huh.
so they come in,
I pay them,
and that's it you know,
that's about the extent of it, you know.
Yeah
|
that,
I don't really have this major budget or anything.
I just really, I'm real thrifty.
I take care of, you know, two children and me and uh, just real careful with the money, you know. What little we have
Uh-huh.
so, that's what I do.
Yes,
it's pretty straightforward.
It's
I can't imagine having to go into real complicated stuff and making you know, fancy budgets.
No.
It seems like if you're getting to that level, you're not in real good control.
Uh-uh.
You know, I mean, I, I, I've never liked credit cards and a lot of debt, you know,
Uh-huh
you buy something on credit
Uh-huh.
and you pay twice as much for it when you get done. You know
Yeah.
so,
|
Actually, I mean, I like using credit cards for everything, but just paying off the bills because that way it's a record of everything
Uh-huh.
and I don't have to worry about keeping records of anything else because they come in at the end of the month.
I don't have too many, I don't have too many weaknesses,
but I found out a credit card was one of them. You know,
Uh.
it's so much easy, easier, you know, if something's on sale if you're a woman and you're a sale person,
it's like, oh, it's on sale,
let's go grab it, you know
so, uh, and if you don't have the money, then use a credit card,
so, I got rid of them credit cards. You know.
Yeah, I guess if that's if that's a weakness, that's a good thing to do.
Yeah,
that was my weakness
It wasn't bad,
I mean, I didn't have like thousands of dollars, you know, and like that,
just, I just learned that that wasn't for me, you know.
Uh-huh.
Sure.
So, but I, self-employed, you know,
|
I have my own little cleaning business type thing,
so, uh, I keep,
Do you find trouble keeping the records for taxes and all that
or,
No,
it's not hard,
I just keep it in a notebook and write down what I've made and, uh, you know, what it's going to have to go for that month
and you know, it's not that, not that hard. Not at all.
Uh-huh.
Well, that's good to know.
So, I always do my own income tax, you know.
Yeah.
Do you?
I don't understand the idea of paying somebody to, to do it.
Huh?
It seems like it's absurd the number of people who end up having to pay somebody to do it.
all you got to do is read a book, I mean read the little book they send you fill in the blanks and go.
I,
Yeah,
just the form.
|
Yeah.
I mean, it seems absurd that people will pay, you know, some bucks just to get someone to,
Yeah,
and a lot of them.
it's dumb
I guess if you had some really complicated stuff,
but I don't,
so, I don't mess with it.
Yeah.
But, I don't use a calculator either, you know
I, I don't trust myself with using a calculator or computer, too much stuff like that because I want to make sure that, that I, I keep on top of the numbers and understand what's going on.
I don't, I don't have that that many, you know, things to add up
so,
I know too many people who use a calculator
if they make a mistake, they find out two months later because they weren't paying attention.
Oh, yeah.
And, And it seem,
And we have a,
I bank at N C N B here
and they have a number that you can call in,
|
and I always call in and, like, once every other week or so
and I will, uh, check off what checks have cleared
and,
Yeah.
Do you do that?
We have the same thing.
You do too?
Yeah.
And I always check them off and, you know, check my balance and my book and, you know, because I always want to know exactly what I have, you know.
Sure.
I do that real often.
I do that,
so anyway,
Okay,
so, what are, what are your views on capital punishment?
I have ambivalent feelings because I don't think it serves as a kind of deterrent we would like to think it is.
But, on the other hand, it is very, very expensive to maintain,
you know, Texas has one of biggest criminal justice systems in the country.
Yes.
And it's eating us alive budget wise
|
and, uh,
So are they currently practicing capital punishment in your state?
Yes,
we do practice capital punishment,
but the nature of the, uh, courts and the appeals and the stays and all that means that it's a very long haul before anybody's ever executed.
Yes,
that's similar to Georgia.
Yeah.
And then, I was reading in the paper just this morning, it's interesting because I had forgotten, I guess, that I wrote this little topic down, that it costs more to execute somebody than it does to keep them. Because of all the costs of the appeals and all that you know.
That's probably true considering,
Yes.
Yes,
uh, I guess in a way that, it, it kind of defeats the purpose of having capital punishment if,
Well, I think capital punishment is supposed to be primarily a deterrent to other people. You know, who would see it.
Yes.
Right,
that would be the intent of it.
Yeah,
but I'm not sure how successful that is.
Well, I think it would be more successful if it was applied in a more expedient manner, if there weren't so many appeals.
|
Quicker maybe,
yeah.
Yeah,
if, if the person who's going to commit the crime knew that they were going to be punished severely, possibly capital punishment,
Uh-huh.
What, what kind of work do you do?
Uh, I'm a research engineer,
I work, uh, with Georgia Tech.
Um, well, see, I'm a school principal.
Um.
Elementary school.
Yes.
And in a very poor section of town with predominantly Anglo kids.
And I see kids already that are going to be criminals in spite of everything we can do
Um.
and, see, I'm afraid I think if we would take the equivalent amount of money and invest it in young people, that,
I mean, course, you couldn't do that because you got to do something with the ones that are already there
Uh-huh.
but I think we would make a bigger investment in kids,
we'd have fewer decisions to make. Down the road, you know.
|
Um, that's probably true,
but I guess there's other factors that,
Oh, yeah.
But, pumping more money into the school system is a good thing,
Well I'm not talking about just in the school system.
but it's not going to,
Oh, I see.
See, I'm talking about,
like, in, in,
uh, I'm afraid I think that there are kids who just ought to be taken out of their homes and reared.
Uh, I know the institutions don't work that well,
but a bad day because I all these kids through my office.
I have a school of five hundred and thirty-seven kids.
Uh-huh.
Five hundred of them are good, solid kids
and I have the same thirty-seven in my office every day.
Um.
And a lot of their parents are totally irresponsible.
Some of them in the penal system.
So that's a difficult situation.
|
And, you know, you just see those kids going down the road.
Now, not all of them will commit offenses that have to do with capital punishment,
but some of them have already been in youth centers. And that kind of thing,
Um.
and if we had something to do before they get to be full-blown adult criminals,
and I'm not talking about necessarily in the school system,
I'm not sure that the school system should be the agent of all the social action.
Uh-huh.
I think that's one reason we have problems in schools, uh,
and some of them are our problems,
but a lot of it's because everything society wants, we are supposed to do.
Uh-huh.
But that's another subject
but,
Well, that's probably true.
Anyway, I dealt with two or three kids today that are going to end up where somebody has, making a decision what to do with them.
Um, yeah,
I guess that's not an easy solution.
There's, there's no easy solution for that.
Uh-huh.
|
I don't, I don't know that there is an easy solution,
but if you could find a way to prevent some of it, and I'm not sure what it would be. It would be money better spent than,
Uh-huh.
do you know it costs more to keep an inmate on death row than it does to send a kid to Harvard?
That's true.
I'm sure it is,
yeah.
Statistically, that's true.
Um, yeah,
I don't, I don't,
certainly capital punishment isn't going to solve a lot of problems
Uh-huh.
but,
Are you for it?
Uh,
I'm for it in in some cases.
I guess I am for certain
Yeah.
yeah,
in certain crimes.
|
What kind of crimes would you use it for?
Uh, premeditated murder. Crimes of that nature, I think should definitely,
Uh-huh.
any mass murderer type individual.
I, I would consider it for sexual abuse of children, on going. You know, not one instance, but perpetual abusers of children.
Um.
Uh-huh.
Well, you always have castration
Well, you know, somebody elected that recently.
Yes,
I read about that
And all the civil rights people are up arms about it, you know.
Uh-huh.
But, uh,
Okay.
Well, um, I used to work in a day care center.
Uh-huh.
I worked in, um, in all the different areas of the day care center
and it is, they can be deceiving to people.
I did not work there long because I couldn't handle the, the treatment that the children got,
|
and this is supposed to be a very well-known center here in Tyler who had two or three, um, centers, all over, you know, the, um, city
Uh-huh.
and they would, um, be one way when the parents were there and be another way when the parents left.
Yeah.
So, um, I think you need to make, you know, if you do, do day care centers, you know you should make frequent checks and, um, to check in on them when they're not expecting it.
Yeah.
Because they do, do things differently when you're not around,
so.
Well that,
I know
the things that we kind of looked at is, is you want to see how many teachers you have. And, and how many kids they have and how they break it up.
Uh-huh.
Right.
Because we had, we had one that sounds kind of like what you were in.
Uh-huh.
It, it was a really good one,
and in fact, it worked out for us because my wife, we kind of bartered.
My wife did artwork for them
and then, you know, so we got our day care free.
Uh-huh.
|
But they didn't have enough teachers
and,
Well, this one was set up good.
I mean they had two teachers to every room. Um, sometimes three.
Uh-huh.
And they had a good system like so when you walked in, everything looks cool.
Uh-huh.
The problem I had was that they did not show affection to the children enough.
They did not show them care to these small children who are being left.
Uh-huh.
Um, they,
one time I picked up this little boy who was crying
and the owner came and just chewed me up one side down the other. You know,
Huh.
he said you are going to have every child in here wanting you to pick them up.
And I said, no,
this child was crying and needed some comfort, you know,
Yeah.
what is your problem.
So, um,
|
Did, did they separate them by age group?
Yes.
Because I'd think, you know, I think that's one thing that was important.
Right.
They did, they had like, um, the, the crawlers, the babies that didn't walk in one room. The ones that were starting to walk in one room.
Uh-huh.
Then they had like the, um, three, three year olds, upper fours, lower fours, upper fives, lower fives. You know, just like that.
Yeah.
You know, they really did separate them well.
it sound,
yeah,
It was just the teachers themselves.
Right.
But,
yeah,
that they're not,
Affectionate people that they're, they're kind of may be parents themselves or something.
Yeah.
Their system,
Right.
|
But their, but their system was, was great
but, um, the, you know, the caring just wasn't there.
Uh-huh.
The one woman that taught that did the babies. I worked with her
and she was fabulous.
Uh-huh.
She loved them babies,
and she loved them and cared for them.
But, um, every one of the others that I saw was just screaming and yelling and, um, you know, would make me a nervous wreck,
so, you know.
Yeah.
I, I, I think that's probably a really important thing because you can have doctorates and P H D's and all that kind of thing and, you know, know all the technical stuff,
but if they don't reach out and touch the kids, then that doesn't do any good.
Yeah,
these kids are just in a day care center all day and, uh, with no, any type of emotional, you know, getting love, getting care,
Yeah.
they're just there. You know. Going through this routine, which is lousy.
Yeah.
The other, the other group that we had was kind of interesting.
The other one we went to the, it was a husband and wife team
|
Uh-huh.
and we knew them from other associations
but, uh, it was kind of interesting because she was kind of the strict one,
and I think, you know, she would, she'd put her arm around the kids and talk to them and stuff, you know,
but he was actually the more, um, the more, uh, what, demonstrative type. The more loving
Uh-huh.
he would, you know, laugh with the kids and play with the kids
and and it was kind of interesting to see that, that it was actually the man in the group that, that did that side of it.
Uh-huh.
Yeah,
you don't see that much.
Yeah,
so they had a really nice balance.
We liked that one.
In fact, it was called Humpty Dumpty Play School or something,
That's cute.
but they also did, they also did some of the teaching things
and then they had, um, you know,
obedience, obedience was important.
Yeah,
|
that has to be with a day care center.
And you know so they, you know, they used, uh, oh, I think they used the,
you probably heard where, you know, where you stand in front of the clock and get your power back to control yourself.
I've never heard of that.
That's, that's a new one, on me.
And it's, it's one,
Uh, I can't remember what they call it actually
but you just stand them in front of a clock
and, you know, it has a second-hand that goes around.
Uh-huh.
And they have to stand there,
Um, what's our topic?
Taxes.
Taxes.
Do we pay too much?
Right.
Right.
Um
Well, do we?
What do you do?
|
Um,
I guess that,
I mean it all depends really on what kind of bracket you're in.
My tax bracket is, is pretty high up there.
I pay the, I generally pay the maximum tax bracket.
Uh-huh.
And, uh, I think that we're paying too much
because I don't have any children.
Right.
And I pay a lot of property taxes.
Oh, sure.
I don't have any, um, I don't, you know, I don't use an awful lot of city services.
It, it, you know it's like I have to work I have to work all the time just to make enough money to pay the taxes.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
Right.
And, um, there's so many people who want a, a of the federal money or the state money or whatever it is
Uh-huh.
and I just,
sometimes, many times I end up feeling like I'm paying too much in taxes.
|
Right.
How about you?
Do you pay too much?
Uh, well, no,
I can't really complain.
I'm a student, um,
and I I work as a co-op at, uh, Georgia Tech Research Institute.
And, uh, I'm going to get back most of what I earned, I mean most of what I pay in taxes
and, uh, and, uh, one of my parents is still claiming me.
Well, when you when you go out into the, uh, when you go out into the working world it, it changes quickly.
Huh?
Uh-huh.
I'm sure
Um, you look at your paycheck
and you go, oh, my gosh where did it all go
Um, what kind of, what kind of,
uh, well have you pay a lot of in
have you been out working and then gone back to school
or are you, did you go directly from high school into, into college?
I went,
|
well I did work, um, just very for some time
but I didn't make enough money to really make, too much of a difference.
To worry about it.
Right.
Have you, have you been active in, in politics trying to, concerning this?
Have you like worked on political action committees or something like that?
No,
no,
I haven't.
I, uh, I haven't done any of that type of work myself.
Uh-huh.
Um, but every once in a while when I hear up here at, at, uh, in D C area, um, one of the radio stations has been talking about the, the Congress,
um, Congress has added too towards the Members Bank there, you know,
there's a bank that they all bank with,
and I guess it went defunct recently.
Uh-huh.
And one of the Congressmen has, has written in the last three years about a thousand bad checks.
Huh.
And we, we the taxpayers float him a loan for all all those bad checks, no interest, no repayment schedule.
Oh.
|
Really?
And, um, it's causing quite a stir up here, because we're so close to D C anyway.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
It's really kind of curious to watch this thing occur.
Oh, sure.
Um, I, I, I think we pay too much.
And I've, I look at my paycheck
and I make,
well, let's see.
They take out in state and federal taxes
Uh-huh.
I think I pay forty-two percent.
Wow.
Forty-two cents out of every dollar I make goes to the government,
and then they charge me sales tax
and they charge me gasoline taxes,
Uh-huh.
taxes.
and they charge me all these others,
|
and it's just too expensive.
Uh-huh.
I can't believe that
I, I'm just thankful that I don't get all the government that I pay for.
Huh.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Do you, have you used, um, student loans and things like that that were guaranteed by the government?
No,
no,
I haven't.
Uh, I, uh, my father pays for my, my schooling, my tuition.
So, uh, I'm, I haven't made use of that.
What are you studying down there?
Physics.
Physics.
Uh-huh.
Oh, that sounds like a fun, fun field.
Everybody says that
Scientific.
|
Huh.
Heavy science.
Are you like in the particle, particle research or anything like that
or is it more, um, applied physics?
Um, I haven't, I haven't gotten too terribly much into my major yet.
Actually, um, the, the degree I'm getting is physics.
There's a different one for applied physics
so I guess you could call it more straight stuff than applied.
Okay.
Well maybe, maybe you can figure out how we can stop this inertia that's, come rolling towards, whatever it's rolling toward.
I doubt about that.
Are, are, is America, I mean are we pretty, pretty steep compared to most countries?
Actually, I don't think we are.
No,
I don't think so either.
Um, like, like Europe, um, England. I know the taxes are a lot higher.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
But they do have socialized medicine and things like that.
|
Yeah.
And, um, I know I was reading in the paper I believe yesterday that, um, they're talking,
or maybe it was on the
I don't think anybody pays too little.
No,
I would tend to agree very highly.
I think that we're all paying a little bit too much taxes and not seeing too much good come out of it.
Do you get hit up for local taxes there?
Yeah,
we sure do.
Here in Indiana we pay, uh, we pay county income tax, state income tax,
we pay five percent sales tax,
uh, you name it, they tax it.
Oh, so you get the whole smorgasbord.
That's right
we,
Well, I, I actually live in New Hampshire tax free or die. Uh-huh
Uh-huh.
Right.
Which is probably pretty nice,
|
but I'll bet that means your state sales tax is pretty high.
No,
actually there's no sales tax in New Hampshire either.
There's no sales tax either?
No,
what there is, is very high property taxes because that's how they fund schools and everything.
Uh-huh.
The only problem is I work in Massachusetts,
so they they hit me up for the five percent there.
Right.
Taxachusetts
Yep,
but, it,
well, you know, we,
it's only a state tax here, no local.
Uh-huh.
got a five percent sales tax.
Right.
But, uh, the problem is that so I'm paying state tax even if I don't live here.
Right.
|
But, at least on things like stock options and things like that, they don't tax me.
Uh-huh.
So that's not too bad.
No,
I, uh, I really think that, here in Indiana at least we pay a, a whole, uh, just too much tax.
I worked in a factory, uh, last summer
and, on the average, I was losing twenty percent of every paycheck to taxes
and I don't feel that I really get a whole lot of return from that.
I mean, I don't utilize all, you know, it really, any government welfare services.
Of course, I drive on the roads
and I, you know, went to the schools and stuff,
but I really feel that, that I'm just getting overtaxed.
Oh, I, I mean, I, I'd consider twenty percent lucky because just on, I mean, you know, when you figure out just on feds, you know, I actually hit the thirty-one bracket this year, which was no fun.
Uh-huh.
No
that's, that's not any fun.
Right,
and also, you know, then you figure out seven or eight percent for F I C A which is taxes where
Uh-huh.
Right.
|
most people forget about them, because you've you know, you can't always get your F I C A back at the end of the year.
Right.
But, so, you know, and then, you know, like a five percent surtax, I'm paying forty percent tax.
Yeah,
which is just outrageous
and a lot of it,
and if you look at the way the government is run these days, it just seems like a lot of it's going to waste.
Yeah,
well, I, I mean, I think there's some people, there, certainly are some things where you need infrastructure
and you need you you know,
Right.
things government does better, you know,
I government does a better space program than you're going to get out of private individuals,
Right.
but, you know, I think, you know, you look at things like, you know, tax subsidies to tobacco farmers because Jesse Helms wants it that way
Right
or, You know, and, and just tremendous amounts of, you know,
That's right,
got to keep those farmers happy.
so much of it, is now just going to service debt or you know, is going in, into, into programs that, you know,
|
Uh-huh.
yeah,
they are, they are a fat.
You know, I think the military is really fat.
I think that a lot of the, the H E W services, although they're providing necessary services, have too much fat in them.
Right.
there is just way too much bureaucracy
and so much of that tax money is going just to keep that bureaucracy running, keep the paper shuffling around instead of real, you know, good programs.
You know, like we,
Yeah,
I mean, we, we spend a fortune for things like V A hospitals
and, you know, then you look at how well they're managed, you know,
I don't think we're getting our money's work out, worth out of there.
I think it's all going into, into bureaucrats.
Right,
and a lot of it's feeding that.
Just, I just, I really, especially in the election year, I mean, I'm really thinking a lot about this, the economy and questions like that and, and just the whole,
it seems like everything is really screwy right now as far as the economy, uh, the government goes and our, our whole economy in general
and our taxes just are going to keep rising no matter what happens
and especially when you've got the Bush administration who has increased government expenditures, uh, beyond what any other President since World War Two has done
|
and yet he supposedly,
Well, between him and Reagan,
yeah.
Right
right,
yeah.
great
I mean, I just read something that, two thirds or three quarters, I'm not exactly sure of our national debt are, was created during the Reagan Bush era who are supposedly fiscally conservative.
Oh, oh, yeah,
they think,
Oh, yeah,
and then they go I'm not
Congress, they're the fault for it.
Right
But, you know, the other thing is, it's tricky, though,
because like in New Hampshire, they say, oh, all right, let's cut the military budget.
Right.
Well, yeah,
then, you lose half your jobs in New Hampshire
Uh-huh.
|
you lose,
Connecticut goes,
so, you know, it's like, you know, it's very tricky to balance off, because then you hurt, you know,
if the, if the, if people lose their jobs, then they become a load
and they're not contributing taxes.
That's right.
So, you know, it's, it's very hard to say, you know, this is what we should cut.
Yeah,
it's really,
that is the,
especially that defense, cuts in the defense is really a Catch twenty-two double whammy, because like you say, if you cut defense, well, that's great,
that's going to lower our national expenditures,
but then you're going to have people on welfare
and they're not putting taxes in.
Who aren't contributing.
Right,
yeah.
So that's, that's really,
it's,
And, uh, in our,
|
I'm glad I'm not the one who has to come up with these policies.
Right.
But, what's very funny is in our town meeting they were
this, this guy had, both for our school district meeting and our town meeting had this proposal which, unfortunately violates New Hampshire constitution for our local town to do it to, uh, have you, have people line item their taxes.
Uh-huh.
Right.
They say I want to pay for this and this and this and this and this.
Course, the only problem with that is then nobody paying for the necessary services they don't use.
That's right.
Yeah.
the one will take,
uh, okay,
let's see,
I guess, uh, I can start.
I'm actually, we're actually trying to find one now because our family's growing.
Are you really?
Yeah.
Uh, so I'm looking at, uh, something larger than what we have.
We've got, like, an eighty-four Charger that's about gone and a, uh, an eighty-nine Horizon.
So, I'm looking for something, uh, littler bigger,
|
Uh-huh,
which are both kind of small.
yeah.
Uh, so we were thinking mini van for a while
and, uh, we're looking at, uh, some just four door, five passenger sedans as well.
Uh-huh.
Are you looking for an American car
or, you open to buying foreign cars?
Uh, I don't really have a preference either way I guess. You know,
Uh-huh.
it's, you know, it,
I guess the American cars had a bad reputation
but I haven't had any real substantial problems with the ones I've had.
Uh-huh.
Right.
Personally, I have a Japanese car right now,
and I really like it a lot.
Uh, I think the Japanese really build good cars
Uh-huh.
and I know that kind of rubs against the grain right now in the whole, uh, you know, buy American, keep American auto workers working right now,
|
but I feel that the Japanese have really produced a much higher quality product than our, uh, car manufacturers have for a while.
Yeah.
If I were to buy another car, I would be, uh, I would be partial to buying another Japanese car,
but I would also look at American cars,
but when I bought the car that I bought now, I did that also
and I just felt that the Japanese car was a much better product.
Yeah,
I mean, even if it's just details, it seems like, uh they, you know,
So, if I were,
Right.
I
there's a door seal that doesn't quite seal
and you have to take it back every once in a while.
It's clearly just a, a design problem there.
Right,
it is.
Uh, I'm kind of,
right now,
the next car I buy is going to be sort of a sports car.
I would really like to have a sports car.
|
Uh I don't really, I don't have a family,
so I don't need a, a mini van or such to, uh, haul people around in.
Uh-huh.
So I'm looking for more a, a two passenger car that, uh,
Oh, like a Miata or something like that?
Well, I like the Miata,
but I don't like it enough to buy it.
I would buy something,
actually the, the car that I really like right now is an Eagle Talon, which is an American car.
Um.
But, uh, something along that lines.
Uh, because I have a, an economy car right now, which is okay,
but uh, I think I, I'd like to move on to something a little better.
Yeah.
interesting.
Yeah,
I guess probably the factors we'd use to compare are a little different because I look for, you know, size and safety, and then mileage.
Right.
Probably,
Right.
|
Uh,
That's,
when I bought the car that I bought, I was looking for mileage,
and I was looking for, uh, dependability and something that was going to last a long time. I was that I would get a, for the money that I was going to spend, that I would get a return that was, that was worth that money.
Yeah.
So,
Yeah
I I think in terms of computer terminology, I look at, you know, price performance and things like that. And then a little bit at life expectancy, I guess,
Right,
exactly.
but it, you know depends on what you, what you pay initially.
Yeah.
But, you know I've got a hundred and twenty-five thousand miles on the Charger.
That's right.
Actually it was my wife's car that she brought into the marriage
Uh-huh.
and she got just a commute between Cincinnati and Dayton.
Uh-huh.
It's, you know,
we, we had to replace the friction plate and the transmission at thirty thousand miles,
|
but uh, the other ninety four thousand have been just fine with it,
Uh-huh.
so, But, uh,
Okay.
Uh, I've had, uh, I've had one or two American cars I think,
and, and they were okay.
I had a Pontiac once
and, and I never had a problem with it,
but, uh, my mother had a Dodge at one point
and I, I had driven it a few times
and I really did not feel that it, that I would buy a Dodge just from,
Um.
well, actually, I had a, uh, a Dodge Omni at one point
Uh-huh.
and that was, I think, what really prejudiced me against American cars was because I did not feel that it was a very quality, uh, car.
Yeah.
So, I guess you'd have to say, if I was looking, I would definitely be looking for a foreign car.
That's interesting.
But,
yeah,
|
it, it's hard to beat some of the,
uh, like, I guess, in particular, we're looking at a, like a ninety-one Corsica, uh, buy back at a, they say G M sponsored auction,
but I think they're obliged to have these things because Hertz and Avis and those folks have it in their contract that they can sell it back to G M after, you know, it's, after they've used it for six months and put you know, twelve or fifteen thousand miles, on it
Uh-huh.
Right.
and you can get those for like eight thousand bucks if you,
Which is a good deal.
Yeah,
because I guess, uh,
I mean, well, ninety-twos, granted, but the new ones, you know
Uh-huh.
fourteen to sixteen is what they go for on the lot,
Right.
so all the depreciation has been taken off
and, the dealer comes out okay you know,
Yeah
that,
don't what kind of, I don't know what G M corporate, kind of hit the, I don't know what kind of hit they take on it,
but sounds like everybody's had their chance to make their money off it
and So, but, uh, I don't know,
|
Yeah,
I'm sure they did.
we keep looking at that mini van.
It's just, you know,
we can get a, like a Caravan for, twelve, five
Uh-huh.
Right.
but that's a little bit more than we want to spend right now.
But, uh, uh, it's interesting,
but, uh, I don't know,
if, if, uh, it seems to be,
Well, Julie, uh, are you in a situation where you'd soon need to deal with, uh, special care for elderly?
Well, I don't know.
My grandfather is ninety-two years old.
Uh-huh.
And he is still living by himself.
My grandmother died a couple of years ago
But he doesn't want to, to move away.
He lives in a little farmhouse on a farm.
Uh-huh.
|
And he recently had to have an operation
but he just really doesn't want to go to a nursing home.
Is he able to, uh, still do everything himself pretty well?
Well, he was until this operation.
He has arthritis.
Oh, yeah.
And now I don't really think he's doing that well.
And my, a lot of my aunts and uncles live near him.
And I have one aunt that really looks after him a lot.
Yeah.
But, uh, my great-grandfather was put in a nursing home when he was a hundred and three.
Uh-huh.
And, uh, died six weeks after they put him in the home.
Yeah.
And I'm sure that kind of thing would influence your grandfather's feelings.
Because, uh, I you know, I think for a lot of people it really is the decision of, do they still have some of their life left.
And and, for, for, I'm sure, a lot of people going into a nursing home it's like saying my life is over
Uh-huh.
and I'm just here for the rest of the stay
And so I, you know, I guess most of the time when I think about somebody going into a nursing home, it's more a case of where they are not able to look after their day-to-day needs.
|
Yeah
Uh-huh.
they have can look after a lot of things
but there's some of the day-to-day needs that they just are not able to deal with physically anymore.
Uh, I know my, none of my grandparents were in a nursing home.
They generally were able to have someone care for them at home
and they died
But they were all, goodness, younger than your grandparents
Like they were in their eighties. That type of thing
Uh, but I did, uh, you know, I guess,
uh, when I think nursing home I do think of people that are not able to do, take care of themselves physically. Uh
But I just don't think that nursing homes really do a very good job.
And that's, that's difficult part.
Because I think what they often get used as is, uh, almost like a very high level or long-term care for, uh, similar to a hospital.
Uh-huh.
Uh, I know, like here in Saskatchewan, we have our hospital care the care actually for the older people graded in level, in four levels.
And a level four type of care would be someone that really requires long-term hospital care. Generally are not able to look after themselves to very, to a very great extent, physically
Often times they even have mental difficulty with senility or Alzheimer's Disease or those or, or physical and mental handicaps. Uh, you know, where they really require twenty-four hour supervision of some kind Even though it may be minimal
Uh-huh.
And, uh, but I think that it can be helpful in that, uh, it gets people the level of physical care they need. Uh,
|
But I don't, I mean
at least, I mean I think some nursing homes do that.
But I think a lot of nursing homes really, uh, are guilty of neglect.
Yeah.
I and I think it happens more in areas where it's, uh, I guess, uh, a broad social medical system where, uh, you know, there's government medical care and that kind of thing.
If it's the lot where it's funded by the individuals
and, and I guess that's sort of my lack of understanding.
I think that a majority of the places in the U S, uh, you know, there is some government aid available,
but the majority is to the availability of the individual to pay
Uh-huh.
And, uh, if you're not able to look after yourself, then you have to rely,
Recently graduated from high school. Meaning like, uh, you know, three or four years ago.
I'm a senior in, in, uh, college now.
Uh-huh.
And, uh, I can't really talk too much about the problems with, uh, public education in detail because the school system I went to was, uh, really superb even though it was a public school system.
Really?
Yeah.
I feel that my, uh,
I'm a junior in college now.
And I go to Tech, Georgia Tech?
|
Oh.
Okay.
Yeah.
And I,
I got a friend who goes there, by the way
I want to talk to you about that afterward,
okay.
Okay
Uh, I've,
the high school I went to was, uh, was a good one also.
And I, well, I guess you could say one of the problems with the public education system is the disparity between different schools.
Because the one I went to was, you know, I'm sure a, a lot nicer than, you know, a lot of the inner city schools and the things around Atlanta.
Yeah.
Yeah.
was a, a, it's more or less a suburban school system?
Yeah.
Yes.
That, that was true for mine too.
Uh, although I I'm sure to some extent, that money is part of the problem in the disparity,
but I don't think, I honestly don't think that's the biggest part of it.
|
You know, I think that, uh, I mean I know that in my town, you know, most of the, most of the parents, they're valued education.
What
And, uh you know, and so the students were, you know, to some extent, motivated to learn.
Yeah,
that's true.
I mean know
Yeah.
And I'm also
I mean, in the, in those places where, uh, like the economy is really bad, they might, you know, be more tempted to, to quit school and get jobs and that kind of thing because they need the, you know, money to put food on the table and stuff like that. More than they would you know, in areas where they
Yeah,
that's true.
But but, uh, I think, I mean even more than that, even, I mean if you drop out in high school you should still be able to read you know? Which it I mean it sounds like, uh,
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
That's true.
now I think maybe it's started changing in the past few years because, uh, they have of these, uh, sort of mandatory tests if you have to take before you get a diploma.
Right.
But, uh, but, uh, certainly before that, there were people that, you know, would graduate from high school and could barely read.
Uh, and that's just sort of inexcusable
and you can't really,
|
I, I, I mean I just can't even picture how that could happen. You know, except maybe to someone whose, you know, really badly learning, uh, disabled or something.
Yeah.
But these people obviously weren't.
That's hard for me to say since I didn't, I didn't really grow,
well when I went to elementary school it, it wasn't in a great area
but I still, I mean, I learned to read, started learning to read when I was in kindergarten, you know.
Yeah.
So I guess I can't really I can't say what it would be like to, uh, grow up in a really oppressed region
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, I guess the whole, the whole environment and attitude towards school and learning is different for the people.
Yeah.
And I think that's almost a bigger factor, than anything else probably.
I mean, I don't, I think you know, people just,
So, I guess the problem is the, the thing to do is to try to, uh, to get some kind of motivation to learn
and,
Yeah.
And, again, I don't, I mean
got know the, you know, how qualified, I mean,
I think it'd be interesting to, you know, to spend a couple of days just looking around an inner city school. Uh, you know, sort, sort of maybe from elementary through, uh, high school. You know, just sort of to get a feel for what it's like.
|
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
I think that'd be an interesting experience.
But, uh, I haven't done that
No,
I, I can't say that I have either.
But, uh,
But I do, I do think that, uh, I mean, public education in general I think can work.
And I think it's a good thing.
Yeah.
I've, I've heard some, I mean I've heard statistics and things that, that compare a public education to a private education. I mean within like, within the same, uh, income groups.
Yeah.
If you compare the, like the people that could have, that could have sent their kids to private schools and the people that, you know, the people that, uh, did send their kids to private schools.
Yes.
I think they compare you know, fairly well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I don't, I honestly don't really think I could have, you know, done much better than I did in the school system I was in. mean
Yeah.
|
I, I, I, my schools, I mean, there,
I have a lot of
once, once it seemed I got into high school, they had a lot of, uh, accelerated programs and all kinds of stuff like that.
Yeah.
That, I mean, that makes a big difference
cause I wondered when they're taking classes with, uh, with people that are really, are interested in the, the subject and stuff like that.
Yeah.
I mean, and and in the,
once you junior high, uh, start junior high, starting in eighth grade all the way through high school, there were four levels.
Well, no,
I guess it in junior high, it was still three.
Then in high school it changed into four levels of, uh, of instruction in the major subjects. Uh, which,
Uh-huh.
I mean, actually I think that works pretty well.
and that, that makes,
Okay
How are you?
You want to go ahead and start talking about whether you budget
Yeah.
Well I, I, I feel like, uh, I am from Mars.
|
I mean I'm fifty years old
and, uh, I've been divorced for, um, eighteen years.
But I've two kids and all.
But I, uh, I, I've never had a budget
and I don't, uh, do any planning
and I don't know,
I don't, uh, uh, I don't have a long-term financial plan.
I don't try to control my expenses.
But I'm, I'm glad you're a stranger.
That sounds kind of like me.
But, really, I'm, I happy, I, I, well I'm curious how other people live.
Uh, so maybe we should start with you
What do you do?
About the same thing.
Really?
Yeah.
Oh.
Maybe they're going to arrest us both.
I'm even in worse shape because I have eight children
and, uh, we live from hand to mouth
|
We hope that there's enough money at the end of the month to pay for the bills and if there's not, then we due for the next month.
Wow.
A couple of times we've tried some things
and they worked
but I'm not disciplined enough to keep doing it.
Uh-huh.
The best program we ever had is at the beginning of the month we took and, uh, took my check and divided it out into envelopes and then paid for the expenses out of that envelope
Yeah.
and when the envelope was empty then you didn't have any more money to spend in that area.
Uh-huh.
And that worked out real well cause we didn't have to keep writing down what we'd spent.
Uh-huh.
It was just that when that was empty, you knew you were out of money.
And we did that pretty successfully for about three months
and then we started borrowing from one envelope to put it in the other envelope
and in about two months we were back to doing the same thing we always do.
Huh. The, uh,
I had a part-time job around, oh gosh, fifteen years ago, seventy-six,
and, uh, uh, this was a sort of a career shift at the time
and so I was willing to take a half time job to do that.
|
And I actually did,
my bank account would, uh,
I'd, I, I kept bouncing checks, just at the end of the month
but I, I had miscalculated.
I, well I didn't keep a balance
It's one of the problems this very
I never had to in the past.
I always kept plenty of money in my checking account,
but when you're only earning half the salary. Even though I wasn't spending much money, I sometimes I sometimes would just,
things would get to tight.
Uh, and sometimes what I would do is keep a piece of paper in my wallet
and every time I, uh, I spent money, I mean cash mostly, I would, uh, write it down so I could see at the end of a month how much I spent on food so I could do better planning.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
But I would forget to write the things down
and it, that I, I don't know if I ever went as far as three months or not in keeping that kind of data.
I certainly haven't done that in sixteen years or whatever.
I even find now like with the automatic tellers, I'll go take money out of that
Yeah.
and then I forget to take that out of my checking account.
|
Uh-huh.
And, uh,
Yeah.
So I, I, I leave a little bit of a slush fund in my checking account and I figure that, so the balance showing in the checking account is always somewhat different that what's really there.
Uh-huh.
And I figure that gives me room for the mistakes I make.
Uh-huh.
The, uh,
I, I have to say that,
let's see, at this point on, I don't run out of money.
Uh, and it, uh,
and I don't, I mean
someday, if I were to get remarried I might want to buy a house which requires lots of money which I don't have
and I, I, I think my strategy if, if I may, is to, is to not spend money.
I mean I don't have expensive tastes.
I don't go out.
I mean I buy a car,
well the last car I got rid of I'd had,
it was nineteen years old.
Yeah.
|
people were embarrassed for me.
I mean it was, it was a good car
and,
it still running.
Oh, it was great.
My, my mechanics loved it because it was an old, it was a sixty-five Buick
and it just wouldn't stop.
Uh, and it,
I, I just didn't feel the need for a new car.
It isn't like I couldn't afford one.
Uh-huh.
Uh, and now, I mean I, I don't, uh,
I tend to eat expensive food.
I mean I don't mind buying a good steak
but for me, I only do that every week or, without even, I mean, maybe once a month.
Yeah.
I mean you buy a, a tenderloin steak, it costs outrageous, like twelve dollars a pound.
You buy a, a, less than half a pound so it's six or seven dollars.
To me, I realize if you have eight kids you're not going to run out and do that.
Not very often
|
But, but I'm just, I'm just saying as a single person, that's, that's a drop in the bucket.
And so if you're extravagant on how you buy food, it doesn't add up. If you're buying, I mean if you're not going to super expensive restaurants, which I don't care to go to.
That's right.
So, so that's, I think, one of the reasons I don't need to budget is that I don't have, I don't, I don't have to hold myself back from buying that expensive thing because I can't afford it, because I'm not interested in that expensive thing.
lot
You want to go first?
No,
you can start
Okay.
Uh, one of the things they talked about was, uh, did we, what do we think about a judge making the decision?
Uh-huh.
And I really don't agree with that
I think that the trial by jury is better, uh, you know, than having a unanimous decision rather than to have one person be responsible.
I don't think that they could be objective in every case, every time.
Right.
you know what I mean?
Right.
There's, there, this topic is kind of mute. Uh
Yeah.
there, there's no way.
|
We, we couldn't survive in a in a juror in a trial system without a jury.
Right.
Uh, one man can never be, one man, one woman can never be objectionable in every case.
That's it.
Uh, every person has their opinions
and that's why jury selection is often very difficult. Uh.
Well, I, I feel the other thing too, uh,
they were saying, uh, you know, what new ways could could it, you, you know, change the system.
I, I really think that, uh, we spend a lot of time, uh, going through appeal after appeal after appeal after appeal,
I mean, if you go to a trial by jury and especially if a person has confessed. If they have been caught, you know, point blank in the crime. There's, uh, no question
Right.
it's beyond a reasonable doubt.
You know, all these things.
I mean, you know, we've gone through this over and over again.
Right.
They shouldn't allow an appeal.
And it can go on for ten, twenty, years.
Yep.
I, I think this is a little ridiculous.
Uh-huh
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