Well…even though everyone has commented on the pepper spraying of student protesters at UC Davis, I thought I’d weigh in with my two cents…first, what was that fat thug thinking when he walked up and down the line of protesters spraying them in such a nonchalant way? I thought pepper spray was only to be used when there was danger to the officer or bystanders? This thug was in no danger…he just wanted to show his power to the students…that he could treat them any way he wanted with no ramifications…what is wrong with sitting down and talking and trying to work things out? What has happened to the police in this country? What has happened to the motto that many of them carry on the sides of their cars….and the question then becomes to protect and to serve who? From my view, it is to protect the 1% and serve as their private army…trying to ensure they don’t have to listen to protests or have their thievery exposed….until the police stop treating every protest and execution of our first amendment rights as an attack on them, this stuff will continue…geez…
All posts by James DeVol
November 23rd
Well….feeling really crappy today and it’s not from cocktails this time…I think I have the flu and can’t really think very well right now…I have to have my car fixed at 8 and I don’t know how I’m going to get through it….I’ll be back later for an update….
Okay…here’s the update…couldn’t afford to get the care fixed so I guess I’ll just drive it loud for a while….I did start feeling okay again so I will be getting out on the bike here in a few minutes…after the temp comes up some though…it is still only 42 so I guess I’ll have lunch first…not much else to do today…I did get the turkey in the brine and that gave me an excuse to clean out the fridge some so it would fit….I am still not feeling that well but maybe the bike ride will help…I can take it easy later in the afternoon after all…and there is a Wings game on tonight so there will be a cocktail or two with that….
Let them eat cake…Newt’s version…
Well…I don’t think I’ve sen anyone as breathtakingly tone-deaf in a long time as ole Newt…we have here the embodiment of the 1%…a man who turned his House tenure into the connections and cronyism that got him no interest credit at Tiffany’s and huge government contracts that he made millions on…and now, he is championing the destruction of unions and their workers to be replaced by child labor. Nope…I’m not making this up folks…in a forum the other day, ole Newt actually said that union janitors in every school across America should be fired and replaced by the kids that go to school there…never mind what this would do to the poor kids that would be the ones doing the work, the stigma and bullying that would come from having to do this. But, this doesn’t matter to ole Newt…I’m sure he would like to return to the early 1900’s where children as young as 8 years old worked 12 hours a day in factories…after all it would mean more money for the “job creators” and wouldn’t that trickle down?
Then, he doubles down in response to a question about the “Occupy” movement where he is asked to comment on what has been going on and his only response is “they should all go out and get a job..after they take a shower”….but that is the point Newt, without connections and cronyism, there are no jobs for these folks to go out and get….how can anyone be so out of touch? Oh, he’s a republican…that answers that…. Geez…
November 22nd
Well…another night and I know I’m coming down with something but not sure yet how bad it’s going to be…I’m sure the bad sleep is compounding things but there’s not much I can do about that…just realized it’s November 22nd….the day Kennedy died…I wonder if anyone else still remembers where they were when they heard the news? I sure do…it’s still a clear as a bell….oh, well. If you get the chance, take a look at the Barney Frank interview on the “Countdown” website…very insightful on how the repubs overplayed their no tax hand again and have boxed themselves in…just showing again that….nope, not the place for that one….I’ll get to that later…not much to do today…have to take the car in again for more exhaust work but it may be a part that I’ve already replaced so it may be cheap…at least I hope so since I don’t have a lot of cash…it is getting to t-day and I am getting excited even though I’ll be alone this year….but I’m getting used to that so it’s okay…making the whole deal again this year and can’t wait for turkey…more later…
The “failure” of the deficit committee…
Well…since the deficit committee and it’s purported failure is going to be in the news for the next couple of days, I thought I’d weigh in with my two cents before the punditry gets it’s chance..oh, I guess I’m one of them…oh, well…don’t hold that against me. First, let’s cut through the nonsense of “fairness” that the general media seems obsessed with and place the blame squarely where it belongs…Grover Norquist and his anti-tax goons that would rather see the country fail than have any discussion about the need to raise revenue from the rich who are taxed at the lowest rate in history right now. Remember, that as near as the 70’s, the top tax rate was over 70% for the top 1%…not the 25% they pay now with all of the loopholes and shelters they have been given by the repubs. So, any time the media attempts to make the assertion that both sides are at fault, remember that the dems were willing to talk entitlement reform (which I think was a mistake in this context) and the repubs were still working on the strategy that says that saying no is the best form of politics for them. One of the things that the repubs are ignoring here is the fact the country has abandoned them on the idea of not raising taxes…..over 65% of the country want taxes to be part of any bargain and the 9% approval rate of the repub controlled House bears that out. Keep it up Grover…and you and your cronies can go back under the rock you crawled from….geez….
November 21st
Well…running late again this morning but again, I don’t know why other than I can’t get motivated….it was a pretty good day in sports yesterday with the Lions and the Wings both winning….but I am coming down with something and feel pretty crappy with a fever and sore throat…I wonder how I can get anything when I never go anywhere or get exposed to anything…maybe that is why I’m late today…not much to do…I am debating with myself whether to go out for coffee or not since the car is ice covered and I’ll have to warm it up…not sure yet…more later…
Here come the bankers…
Well…a disturbing development has arisen over the past couple of days concerning the “Occupy” movement and it’s primary adversaries in the banking industry. It appears that the bankers and their lobbyists are taking a page out of the repubs playbook; that when your ideas can’t compete with your foes, you try to smear them personally with lies and fabrications. A memo has surfaced over the last couple of days that has the bankers putting up almost a million dollars to start the smear process against the members and any politicians that support “Occupy” since they are finally starting to realize that their egregious thievery is being recognized by more than the fringe…that popular opinion is swinging toward more regulation of that theft and the continued concentration of wealth at the top. They should be scared…when the dems take back the House in 2012, they will be held accountable to the people who put them there…all of us that have had enough of the rigging of the economy for the benefit of the 1%. What are these guys thinking? After their private armies called police departments coordinated attacks on the 99%, and the public relations catastrophe that came from it, they do this nonsense? It just shows how out of touch these folks, in their insular little world of summer homes and private jets truly are. The tide is turning….finally….
November 20th
Well…another night of boredom that I survived (barely) and I feel okay today even thought I had a couple of cocktails…the car is failing me again with the exhaust getting to the point that I can’t tolerate it…but I can’t afford to have it fixed, either, so it looks like I’ll be a hermit for a while until I come up with some cash…oh, well…no dreams or anything last night but I think it’s because I didn’t sleep for crap…but, you don’t care about that either so I won’t mention it again…not much to do today…waiting for the temp to come up so I can get out for a ride and get to 2600 miles for the year…but it looks like this could be the last week…okay, going to go check the weather…be right back…it looks like the weather is going to change to the hit and miss that it does this time every year…but I will get a couple of days in this week…and t-day looks like it will be nice so that will be something to look forward to…oh, back to the to-do list for today…not much is on it….I am going to watch the Lions after the pummeling they took last week…they can’t get worse, can they? Then, there is the last race of the year that I want to see, too…then, another Wings game tonight so maybe I won’t be so bored today…more later….maybe…
November 19th
Well….running late as always on the weekend…just forgot to do this until now with needing to get the papers read and coffee made….not sure what is going on…fell asleep on the couch again last night and only had a couple of cocktails….but then slept really crappy in bed so I was up at 4 or so again….so, now you’re saying “what took so long to get this out?” well…I came upon a new show on Netflix called “The Borgias” and have been watching that when I get up….not a very good show but it is something now that I’m running out of episodes of “30 Rock”…..I am going to cook a recipe that I got from T that is a chicken pot pie without the crust and it is so good…forgot about it when the recipe fell beside the fridge but found it when I was doing the deep clean last week…so, that is about the whole day for me today..other than Michigan at noon and then the Wings at 4…maybe out for a couple with K in the aft but not sure yet…. okay, I need to get going out on the bike before the wind comes up…yesterday was just miserable trying to ride into the face of a 30 mph wind…
Okay…it’s just noodling around…
Well…it’s been an okay day today and I got tons of stuff done so I don’t really feel that bad about not doing a political one today…I do have another Manny Lopez one for tomorrow that I should have done today but I didn’t really have the outrage necessary to do it justice…I did get a charge out of the demonstrations in NY last night that saw over 10,000 people come out to protest… a large amount of people for a movement that the right has been declaring is dead for the last couple of weeks…but when have they ever been right on anything? Oh, there was a nice little piece in all of the newspapers yesterday that showed what is really happening on taxes here in Michigan… we are now one of only three states that are raising taxes on the poor while giving tax cuts to the rich and corporations…doesn’t anyone else see this as immoral? Okay…..the repubs don’t think it is but how about anyone else? This is just one of the reasons for the “Occupy” movement that the right just doesn’t get. It just isn’t fair that the poor have to have their taxes rise so ceo’s can get bigger bonuses…geez…
Where are the jobs governor Snyder? Hey…I guess this one was a little political…see what noodling can do for you?