Well…this is going to be a short one…it was a cocktail night last night and I feel okay but not too lucid at the moment so I’m not going to force it…I am a little disappointed that the Wings lost last night but I can’t even work up any outrage about that…and there were no dreams or anything last night…I just feel so bland this morning and the snow overnight doesn’t help…won’t be able to get out on the bike for about a week until the snow melts and that is quite disappointing…so, on that note, I am going to go back to the couch and veg for a while……
Okay…I’m back for a few after reading and getting some coffee in me…did have to go out and clean off the car so I could move it for the plows but I did it in shorts so that woke me up some…need to do that again in a few minutes since it is still snowing and I am fighting the depression that comes with seeing all the white stuff…I had hoped we could get to March without a big storm but it is Michigan, after all, and this is to be expected…so, still being cashless, it looks like a veg weekend and staying in for me but that is okay…I’m starting to get used to the low-key days that brings me…I will be back for more politics later but I do have to clean the bathroom first…
Well…just wanted to get a quick one in here before I get to the races so I won’t be thinking about it during the race…I find the latest non-partisan scoring of the competing tax bills that have come out of the White House and the repub candidates just so damn funny that I had to write about it…in it, the economists agree that the plans of the repub candidates, to a man, will end up being worse for the economy and will increase, not decrease the deficits…and they all show to be much worse that the one proposed by the White House that will be DOA in the House. One of the telling things that was buried in the articles that I’ve read is the fact the ole Mitt’s plan will give massive tax cuts to the rich and raise taxes on everyone else….even the president of Bank of America has said that taxes should be raised on those making over a million dollars a year and should be even higher for those making 10 million a year, and the Murdoch owned right wing Wall Street Journal agreed this week. When the repubs are losing the banks and the Journal, who do they have left that thinks they know what they are doing? Not many, I hope…
Well…another night of boredom and no cocktails which makes it four in a row but I think I’ve reached the point of no return in feeling better for it….with the conserve cash mode in full swing, I haven’t even started the car in three days and it is going to smoke like crazy this morning…I do have to go out to get groceries but since I have to use the debit card, there are only 4 things on the list…and one them is cocktail fixing for the Wings game tonight…can’t deprive myself completely even thought I should…I did get the kitchen cleaned yesterday even though I was going to do the bathroom….it was just one of those things where you get started on a small thing and it explodes into a complete overhaul….so, today will be the same with the bathroom since I won’t be able to get out on the bike with the snow storm coming…other than that, not much to do today….I will be back for more later even though I’m ahead….there is so much political nonsense going on that I have to comment…
Okay…so I was wrong…there are things to do today…yay!….the twin 150’s from Daytona are on this aft and then there is a Wings game later…oh, I mentioned that above, didn’t I? So sue me….not really….still getting letters from the record companies…
Well…I’m not sure what is going on in my head today but I’ve had quite a few ideas that I wanted to get down…and that is unusual to say the least, but bear with me…this one might just be worth it…I’m one of the people left in the US that still sees the importance of at least knowing history to make useful connections or see the irony that is frequently contained in it. I say this because I’m old enough to remember the furor over John Kennedy’s faith in the 1960 election; people then were concerned then that Rome and the Pope would call the shots through a Catholic president and the repubs used his Catholicism to try to paint Kennedy as a scary person who would check every decision with the Pope. Then, fast forward to today where we have ole Rick Santorum saying that all of his governance, if elected, would conform to his Catholic faith and the hard right that supports him cheers….ah….irony is lost on the idiots on the right…but it sure makes me laugh at times….
Well…I had this idea after reading quite a few articles on what is happening in Europe with the bailout in Greece and the continued focus on austerity and cutting spending. All of the statistics that we see from studies there that cite lower growth and the distinct possibility that Europe will fall back into recession (Portugal and Spain are already there) do nothing but to confirm what Keynes said about spending cuts….that in a recessionary environment government should deficit spend to replace consumer spending and keep the economy growing. But, what all of the governments of Europe have done is listen to the fiction about the bond hawks and the crazy notion that cutting spending will make economies grow…what they have done with the massive contraction of government spending and the severe cuts to wages and benefits of the workers is to ensure that their economies will contract…forcing another round of austerity that will further feed this downward spiral. At least here in the US, we have made a half-hearted attempt at a stimulus and have not listened to the nonsense of the repubs that cutting spending will spur growth…this only works when the economy is growing at a sustainable pace and inflation is a threat….and that is not true here with only a .2% increase in prices on January…leaving an acceptable 2.4% inflation projected for the year…geez…
Well…I’m not going to write this one just yet…but, your jaw will drop when I get back from the bike ride, get lunch on, and come back to finish this one….okay, I’m back and I am just astounded on how the media is allowing ole Rick to just spout utter nonsense on the campaign trail without calling him out on it….let’s forget about his insinuation that Obama is like Hitler for the time being and focus on his latest outrage that states that Obama and his health care plan will result in active killing of elderly people who are ill and don’t want to die…and he cites the experience of the Netherlands since they passed a law allow for doctors to help people in the end stages of their lives to die with dignity. Santorum goes on to cite statistics and “facts” that are completely false that were sourced from extremely dubious sources that feed the right wing lie machine like tens of thousands of the elderly there wearing bracelets that say “don’t kill me”. First, there is no connection between the Netherlands and the US and there never has been other than they have better health care there that is a single payer system….and second, every source in the Netherlands that has been contacted to try to find one of these bracelets has come up empty…not one has been found…and not one person has been put do death against his will…not one, Rick….go back to your lobbying and feeding on the misery of others to make your millions…we don’t need to elect a pope that lies to America every time you open your mouth….
Oh….I tried to do this one justice but to get a better take on it, and one of my many sources for this one came from Glenn Kessler in the “Fact Checker” column in the Washington Post…he has all of the stats that Santorum lied about…and it is even worse how Glen describes….geez….
Well…it was kind of a long day yesterday with not going out except to ride the bike…and the Wings lost last night so that put a damper on any enthusiasm I may have had for the evening…there were dreams that I don’t remember again so that is a little frustrating but I guess I’ll live through it…it was a no cocktail night for the third in a row and my liver is thanking me as I sit here feeling okay…or kind of okay…not sure if I can feel really okay anymore but I guess I’ll keep trying…it’s another broke day for me so no coffee out but I am going to make it here since it does help motivate me for the workout and bike ride….not much to do today…I was going to clean yesterday but I decided to read instead…that was T’s suggestion and I thank her for it…but I do need to do the bathroom today so that will be on the agenda…and I have an invasion of spiders that need to be taken care of so that will be a project…I will be back for one later but I haven’t decided on a topic yet so that will have to be a surprise….
Well…I’m not sure if this one is going to be the good one that I promised this morning but it bears repeating since the repubs seem to be making gas prices a centerpiece of their attacks on Obama…let’s just remind everyone of one thing when the talk starts to move to the Keystone pipeline and drilling in ANWR…consumption of oil and its products continue to decline while production is at a 6year high…but, what the repubs don’t mention is that we have become a net exporter of refined oil products…what does this mean to you and me? It means that any new capacity coming from the tar sands in Canada will never be used in the US…it will all be exported with the risks of spills and environmental degradation absorbed by the US public while the profits will all go to the repubs best friends, the oil companies. The reason that gas prices are rising have nothing to do with supply and demand…in the new global economy where oil is an investment to be flipped…the commodity traders can manipulate to market to ensure that no matter what happens, they will make obscene profits by using the same fear, gloom and doom tactics that the repubs use to win elections….I hope that day is coming to a close….and it can be hastened by applying transaction fees to every trade and raising the margin dollars required to make those trades…something the oil company purchased repubs will never do…
One last thing…where are the jobs plans from the repub controlled House? They have controlled the House for over a year and nothing from them other than the normal nonsense on social issues…the last I heard, limiting contraception for women hasn’t created one job….
Well…it was a day yesterday and had fun going out for a couple with G…but it was a no cocktail night so I feel okay today….I did have weird dreams last night but they were so jumbled that I can’t make sense of them…it did include driving semi trucks in a city along with factories that didn’t make anything….that would have been a story to remember…it looks like this is going to be a hermit week since there is no gas in the car or money in my pocket but that’s okay…the liver can use the rest and I can use the exercise of doing double rides….the weather looks like it is going to cooperate for the next two days too….not much to do today…I really am going to clean today but that will be about it….and I did get caught up so I only need to do one more of these today…and it will be a good one…I’m due…more later…
Well….it has been almost two years since the repubs did well in the 2010 elections and we now have a very clear view of what this country will be like if they win again in 2012. All we have to do is look to Wisconsin, where the public unions gave back everything they were asked for in cuts to wages and benefits but the repubs had to take more and push their fringe agenda of stripping the unions and the middle class people in them of their right to associate and bargain from a position of equality. Next we can look to Pennsylvania where the legislature just approved the fundamental human right of gays to marry but the tea party governor Chris Christie vetoed the bill and is now, by his own action and governing for only the 20% of the electorate that are tea partiers, trying to change the rules like the repubs always do to get his way. Then we have the debacle in Virginia that I talked about last week that would mandate an invasive and unnecessary procedure for any woman seeking an abortion there. Right here at home in Michigan, we have the Attorney General picking and choosing which laws to enforce or ignore that will drive his personal agenda to eliminate the voter approved use of medical marijuana…..these are just a few examples of what an America run by the right would look like….crony capitalism on steroids where the rights of the people are taken away on the whim of the moralists who think they know best for all of us…geez…