by Robbie White

Created on: February 16, 2007   Last Updated: May 10, 2007

Let Freedom Ring....................yea, right

How many emails have you gotten for free offers and gifts?
Then you fill out a short survey only to find you have to pay for some other offer
and/or pay shipping & handling.

I suppose I'm old-fashioned because I always thought "free" was... you know, FREE.

I even looked it up in the dictionary. According to Funk & Wagnall's standard dictionary,

..."not bound by restrictions", "exempt", "without charge or cost"...
The gist of it is free means FREE.

So why do we have to pay?

In these days where we pay $3.00 per gallon of gas, over $2.00 for a loaf of bread and a pizza can cost $20.00, maybe free doesn't exist anymore.

And while I'm on the subject of things that bug me ( and probably you too-be honest )

If we buy American-made gasoline products rather than the imported stuff, how come it's
just as expensive?

Why do we have to pay so much for a loaf of bread? Or how about milk? Did the cows get better
living conditions or do they still hang out in the barn?

How come a motorcyclist can go without a helmet but people driving a car have to wear
seatbelts?

Did you know they're banning trans-fats? WHOA! I honestly feel that is SO wrong.
I mean if the idiot next to me at the restaurant wants to eat deep fried ding dongs with
grease poured over top.....well, that his God-given right. Isn't it? even if he can hear his arteries
clog up with every bite.

Now this one really ranks right near the top of my list of irritating buggers. And
it seems to get longer each day.
My wonderful state recently raised the minimum wage. I can't begin to tell you how much that thrills me. I think it was one fantastic idea. Kudos to everyone because that is one smart move in the right direction.
But it was proposed that the state sales tax is raised.
Does this make sense to you ?
People are getting more money so they can spend it on more expensive everyday stuff. Who thought this was a good idea?
Somehow it seems like the one is nullifying the other . How can the average Joe be better off now?

This is a good one...it doesn't have anything to do with money but I figured you could use a
chuckle.
This is an area in the country that gets LOTS of snow in the winter.
We even got hit with an enormous blizzard the other day. And frigid, single digit temperatures.
On the local news station the weatherman was informing us of the forecast, updating us on the conditions and quoting some rather sophisticated scientific data.
Then he said something really mind-blowing. He told his viewers to "bundle up".
There's piles of snow out there, it's too cold for even the bravest to sit in a parked car and
the visibility is so lousy some roads are closed.
People around here are used to this kind of weather. So why wouldn't we "bundle up"?
Granted there's probably some genius who probably had thoughts of running out to get the mail
in shorts and flip-flops but come on !

Now these are just my opinions and I'm not totally against anything. I'm sure there are sensible arguments why things are the way they are.
I'm not against anyone making a buck or protecting the American public from harm
or anything like that. So don't go suing me (you won't get anything anyway-you'll just have to stand in line with my other creditors-I'm broke!) or stalking me or stuff like that.

The thing is I don't understand all these restrictions on us.

This is the land of the free. Isn't it?

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