All posts by James DeVol

Have to go after Newt again….

Well….I wish Newt Gingrich would get the hell out of Michigan and stop spouting his class warfare nonsense that has polluted our air here for the past few days. His latest prescription for the ills that were visited on Michigan by his repub buddies that were rewarded for moving jobs out of the US is to make anyone who is getting unemployment benefits work to get them. Doesn’t he get how stupid that sounds? If there were jobs for the people on unemployment, they would have them. Or does he think that people will lose their homes and devastate their lives to just cruise on the generous benefit of $300 a week? The next question that comes to mind is: whose work would they do? Newt’s answer is, of course, the jobs that union workers do now. Which goes along with his other suggestion that Michigan be made a right-to-work state for public employees which would destroy the gains that people have fought for since the early 1900′s. These guys don’t give a damn about anyone but their little, inbred world where they talk about merit but practice the ugliest form of preference to their own kind through connections that are passed from generation to generation.

Haven’t you gotten tired of these idiots who have never had to work a day in their lives telling you what’s best for you? I know, I’ve used that phrase before but I have to keep repeating it to make people understand.

One last comment that I have to pass on that came from ole Newt, someone that is supposed to be a spokesman for the Repubs: “Poor people respond to money and will turn to illegal activities if it’s not available through other means” Which is funny since I don’t think he knows any poor people and the ones I know (including me) work hard and just want the game to stop being rigged for the rich. Geez….

June 3rd

Well…finally won a week shooting pool last night…but forgot it was Tom’s birthday…just don’t remember anyone’s except my kids and T’s really…but we had fun and I won 11 bucks toward the tab so that was not bad. Feel kind of crappy today but don’t think it’s from yesterday, probably from not sleeping and getting up at 5:30. No plans for the day today except to get back on the bike since it rained all day yesterday….and, I know this is kind of strange, but one of my favorite shows on tv comes back on tonight and I’m really looking forward to the entertainment. More later…

What’s wrong with us?

I can’t believe what happened today…when a man goes crazy and kills 12 people in England and the majority of comments come from idiots that want to promote their gun-owning agendas….where are their hearts for the victims and their families? I am so disgusted with people that will use any tragedy to try to make a point that I grieve for the human race in general if that is what we have to look forward to….all I can do is apologize to those families…forgive the Americans…we are not all callous idiots…..

Here’s the first 10 pages….

Well…I think this may work if you click on the link below…the first 10 pages of the novel should come up…if it doesn’t, please let me know so I can get the geek son (and I say that lovingly) to show me how to do it….I hope you enjoy it….

Haven’t figured out what the interval will be for posts so if it’s not fast enough, leave a comment and I’ll get off my butt and get more uploaded…

allfalldown21

Cut, Cut, Cut….

well…reading the newspapers over the last few years has revealed a troubling theme the I just have to comment on. Even with the overall middle-class tax burden at it’s lowest point in the last 50 years, the prevailing wisdom is that the only way to get the states and federal budget under control is to cut services, to cut the wages and benefits of workers, and cut the gains that have made the middle class the engine of our economy. Just yesterday, ole Newt suggested in Michigan that the only way out of the problem is to cut benefits that teachers and other workers have fought for the last 50 years to get.

I just have to relay what one of my professors in grad school told our class; that you can’t cut your way to prosperity and growth, that a monkey can come in and take away benefits and lay off people…but that is all I hear today…cut, cut, cut….is this jealousy from the people that are now on the outside looking in without protection that comes from being part of a unionized workforce? Where is the shared sacrifice that made our country unique in the world? I truly believe that this is a plan by the righties to fragment the opposing powers that they have fought with for control of the profits of the economy; and they are winning the battle to demonize workers to the benefit of their corporate sponsors. Why is there no uproar on the right when their leaders champion the outsourcing of American jobs which puts downward pressure on the wages of the remaining workers here? Why doesn’t anyone think that a rising middle class in wages and benefits is a good thing? Who is going to buy the 40,000 dollar Suburban when the average wage is being pushed down to minimum wages level?

I think it’s sad that our supposed leaders have stopped leading us to the future and the ideals that have been part of this country since it’s inception; that we can do anything if we just work together and that the future will be better than today….small minds think small….geez…

June 2nd…

Well…didn’t go out with G last night since she had a long day and grass on her lawn that was about 8 inches high and needed to be cut…not all bad since I saved some cash and really didn’t need to drink last night. Don’t really need to drink any night but it’s fun sometimes. Not really that much to do today, decided to not spend the 70 bucks for the USA jersey….just couldn’t justify it in my head. Speaking of in my head, had weird dreams last night that involved disappearing money, old girlfriends, and swimming,….yeah, I know, pretty weird but even worse if you’re there. Did put new line on my fishing reel just in case Tom and I go fishing instead of shooting pool today…and the new coffee table from G is working out really well as a work bench….yep, getting to be more of a furniture guy…weird.

One last thing, hmmm..this should be in sports but Nicky Lidstrom has signed for another year with the Wings….I’m pretty geeked about that!

June 1st page 2….

Well….just got done talking to my son who basically runs my website, and found out that there are people actually reading this stuff…mostly Americans and Canadians, but some from Russia and China, too. Now…I’m neurotic enough about just about everything but, I think this takes it up to an entirely new level. I started out doing this because I had things in my head that I wanted to get out (yeah, normally you wouldn’t want to see that) and I think that will always be the real driver behind what I do here. It does add to my stress level when I know that someone else is seeing this but it may also add to the quality that you’ll see…well…maybe not.

But I will say thanks to the readers (you know who you are) but I can’t promise anything else…as you’ve seen, sometimes I can write with the best of them but, quite a few times, it’s no great shakes…oh, crap, not supposed to admit that am I? I’ll have it figured out this week so the novel will get posted so give it a try…at least my friends liked it…or they were just being nice…man…didn’t think about that…geez…

Karl Rove is at it again….

Well…I hope you’ve heard of this last outrage from Karl Rove…he has a company that is going to funnel corporate money into repub campaigns with the express purpose of making sure that the companies have a hand in writing any new regulations that they will be subject to. Doesn’t anyone remember what happened the last time that Rove was involved in anything? And does no one remember what happened when Cheney wrote our energy policy behind closed doors with the only input being from those that were being regulated? Can you say Gulf oil spill and the meltdown of the financial markets due to deregulation? Well…these guys are promising more of the same; more running of the economy into the ground to benefit only the rich and the sad thing is that their voters, who were hurt the most by these shenanigans, are going to fall in line and buy into the propaganda that will be used to sell it as good for them and the economy….geez…

June 1st

Well…feel a lot better today…even have some energy so I used it to go out and get a new rear tire for the bike and then try to find a USA jersey for the World Cup….but I don’t know if I want to spend 70 bucks for a shirt that I’ll only use a couple of times..probably not. Just got a call from G and since it is the first workday of the week, she thinks it’s Monday, and we usually go out on Monday…so we may go out for a few. Not too much else to say right now….one thing, taking two days off riding was the right thing to do…had lots of energy in the legs today so yay! What else? Oh, stayed home yesterday since it did storm and just did a complete veg….just the thing it appears….

May 31st

Well…I know…took a couple of days off to just chill out and do nothing except have a bunch of beers…still feel like crap with no energy that has been going on for a couple of weeks now; haven’t even gotten on the bike in a couple of days since my legs have been so dead. Did go over to K’s yesterday to get some sun and out to the winchester last night but didn’t stay out late.

Might go over to K’s again today but the radar shows that it is going to storm here in about an hour or so and last for a while so I may just stay home…more later…