Well…running late this morning and I don’t know why…haven’t done anything yet except go out and get the papers and make coffee…oh, well…the Wings lost to columbus last night and that puts me a little out of sorts but I’ll get over it pretty quickly…Had a fun lunch with T yesterday and then just a veg day the rest of the day…I do have some work to do today but the papers and coffee come first…maybe a trip out this aft to Logan’s to hang out with K for a while but that is about it..see, I don’t have to say not much to do today….more later…
All posts by James DeVol
No politics today…
Well….have been trying all day to find a topic that I wanted to, or needed to write about…haven’t been successful but I do have some thoughts that I need to get down….i wanted to go on about the old, unemployed guy, but even I am bored with that so I won’t subject you to more of that…at least right now…maybe over the weekend. There was a story this week that I did want to comment on…and that is the the further decline of a once-great company from these parts…Steelcase…this week, they announced that they are basically shutting down the manufacturing of office furniture in the US to chase lower labor costs in Mexico. One of the things that has struck me as false in all of this outsourcing is the idea that labor costs are driving these moves….it’s just not true. As an engineer for the company…it was my job to know what these costs were…and, on average, the labor costs as a percentage of the selling price was never more than 10%. Yep, that’s right, even if they cut out all of the labor costs..it would amount to no more than a 10% savings for the company. But that’s not the least of it…the current CEO, who was the CEO when I was there, has been paid millions of dollars to shrink the company form 9K workers to 3K workers…something that does not take a visionary to do…a fricking monkey can just cut, cut, cut…but I think that is the problem with business in America these days….conventional wisdom has become dogma even when it’s not true…the rest of the furniture companies and the auto companies can make money with American labor, why can’t Steelcase? Geez….and yeah, this is a little sour grapes…it bugs the hell out of me when everyone but the big shots pay for their mistakes…they just GET paid…
January 14th
Well…had a little fun last night…went out to OT to hang out with C and D and it turned into a nice little party..man, it was good to see some of the old people again…not really old people…you know what I mean. Almost overdid it but ran out of cash so that was a good thing…couldn’t understand the people on the way home, though…they were acting like it was glare ice…I mean, 35 on the e-way…if you are so scared of driving in the snow, just stay home…I was successful in controlling my anger and just followed the idiots…which I felt pretty good about. I do have things to do today! Bet you never saw that coming…need to get a few groceries, get out for coffee, and then lunch with T which I am really looking forward to….it is going to be a cocktail night with Red Wings thrown in so a pretty full day…for me, anyway….I am going to try to get a couple of topics out later…I’m sure I’ll get at least one…more later…
Still a swamp out there…
Well…I think I may be coming to my saturation point for reading the news for a few days….one thing that has moved me to this realization might be what I see out there in the comments to articles that I read…and I know, I shouldn’t expect a change in the discourse this soon after the calls for civility…but the swamp has not been drained one bit…well…the lefties seem to have realized the error of their ways and have toned it down somewhat…but, why can’t we have the progressives be adults all the time? Why is there no thoughtful contemplation of an issue before everyone starts to weigh in? It used to be okay or even preferred when public figures didn’t comment on every story in the nanoseconds after it occurred but thought about it for a while… to make sure they had time to form an opinion that took in all the facts…but not any longer. Do they get paid more if they comment first? I think one factor that has spurred this kind of behavior is the fact that no one is held accountable for being wrong anymore. People can just spout whatever comes into their heads and then come back later to clean up the mess with their well-oiled spin machines.
Now that I have excoriated the left and it’s behavior, can I just ask one favor of the progressives out there? Can we stop talking about Sarah Palin? She just doesn’t deserve any more of our energy….and the right is never going to change so let’s just try to change ourselves; let’s be the adults here….
January 13th
Well..running a little late this morning…was up at about 4 or so, watched a little tv, and went back to bed…I’m still shaking off the sleep but I thought I’d write a little just to see if it can be done in this state….not as easy as I thought….have skipped the news shows for the last couple of days…I think I’m trying to cleanse myself from the vitriol of the last week but it doesn’t help with topics…as you can see…my thoughts have been short and I don’t know why at this point…maybe I’ll just stop thinking about it and let it flow…not much to do today…C and D are coming into town later and will probably go out and have a couple with them to break some of the boredom…although…working around here helped yesterday…did get my bathroom done and it looks good so maybe I’ll use that motivation to get the kitchen done today….nope, going to be cooking a pork loin roast and that makes a pretty big mess…looks like the kitchen will have to wait…darn….more later….
Still can’t figure it out…
Well…this thought came to me when I saw the Palin video and it’s reference to Reagan’s statement that ultimately individuals are responsible for their actions…not people that spew the imagery of violence and hate; that there is never a causal link between the two. Then why do the Islamaphobes on the right tar the whole religion as being one of violence and murder when there have only been a few individuals responsible for the terror attacks? Why do they oppose the building of mosques across the country and especially in Manhattan, when none of the people involved with these organizations have ever done anything wrong? I think we need to call these folks out on the inconsistencies in their statements…what is it, righties? Are individuals responsible for their actions or are the groups they belong to? You can’t have it both ways…geez…
Good to see and hear…
Well…it’s finally good to see some of those on the left starting to use their heads….the wholesale rush to politicize the Arizona tragedy has started to be repudiated, with apologies coming from many of those who jumped to conclusions for their own agendas….a good thing to see that even in this supercharged political environment, there are still lines of propriety and standards that we can all agree on….except sister Sarah…who yesterday put out a video with 8 minutes of the “I’m the victim” schtick she has used since she started in politics….defending her behavior like a petulant 8 year old and including no pledge to cool the rhetoric. But, she couldn’t do that…then where would she get her money? I know, I shouldn’t turn this into a bashing but…we are all in this together and words do matter….geez….
January 12th
Well…fun night out in Ada…won at pool for the first time in 3 weeks and I know it was the new tip on the stick….well…maybe…and I was good when I got home so I feel okay today…up quite early, though, and I wish just once I could get a good nights sleep…oh, well..I’ll stop complaining now….it was slick coming home which forced me into low and slow mode which really was a good idea anyway. Not much to do today…think it will be a cleaning day…need to get the bathroom done and after two days of having fun, I do need a rest day, too….so there will be netflix involved and some couch if I do it right…and some topics for later…not anything cooking in my head right now…couldn’t watch Keith last night since he is still harping on the Arizona thing and I am tired of the partisan bickering…more later…
man..I have been missing a bunch of stuff that has happened in the last couple of days…don’t know why, just that it slipped my mind…let’s start with M being in Denver for the Wings game a couple of days ago…we lost that one 5-4 but it was good to hear from him…then got a picture from him last night from Red Rocks…the really cool concert venue there that I would love to see…then, got up this morning and it looked like my car had been frozen into a block of ice…don’t know if it rained last night or if it was just from the snow coming home but the doors were frozen shut and I had to climb over from the passengers side to start it and let it thaw…works okay now but I’m getting too old to do those contortions….especially since it’s a stick and won’t start unless you push the clutch in….
I don’t agree, Keith…
Well…just as I predicted, many commentators are using the Arizona tragedy to try to further their political goals…and the attacks by the left on Sarah Palin, particularly by Keith Olbermann have me dismayed…but, I guess he’s not one of the reasonables that I talk about. Let’s get this straight at the top….the shooter was just frickin crazy; no political component to it, no connection to the abhorrent, hate filled speech from the right or to SP’s crosshair imagery…just another nut that heard the voices in his head and acted on it. So, what do we take away from this? is there anything to take away from this? There have been calls for tighter gun laws that may have prevented this nut from getting guns but we all know that it’s not true. Even if all guns were outlawed, rounded up and destroyed, it would take an enterprising criminal about 10 seconds to figure out how to make a profit and supply the underground demand that would result. What would have stopped this nut from just ramming his car into the crowd?
I didn’t really think about it until now but I guess this is somewhat of a defense of gun owners, most of whom are responsible and their legal guns never used for any purpose than what they are supposed to be used for. I grew up around them and many friends still own them…not once have they used them for illegal purposes. That said, there is a problem with them here in the US….just saw a statistic that between 1979 and 1997, more people were killed by guns in the US than in all of the wars we’ve fought since 1775…it makes the 3,000 plus killed on 9/11 kind of pale by comparison. I don’t have the solution..but I do know that it is wrong to exploit this tragedy for political purposes…shame on everyone that does…geez…
January 11th
Well…long day yesterday..did go out for a few with G and that was fun…but the Wings lost…not that bad a thing since it was the 4th game of a west coast swing and we won 3 of them….do feel kind of crappy but I think it is more that I was up and down all night than anything else. Didn’t see the end of the national championship game but it is on again right now so I may stay here and watch it before going out for coffee but, maybe not…don’t want to blow up my routine since that is the way that I maintain discipline…but, then again…discipline may be over rated and I should just cut loose…who knows? Not much to do today…as always…do have pool out in Ada so that should be fun…I am going to try again today to get a couple more of these out…more later…