Well…an okay night last night but a little disappointing with Michigan losing the hockey championship in OT…great game, though. There was a race on, too and it was good to see Matt Kenseth win one finally but 500 miles is a long time to watch and I got bored…that seems to be a theme lately and I really need to do something today to cut through it…might have a SF with K today but it looks like not much else…it is warm out already, almost 60 at 7:30 and it looks like some storms are coming so I’m not sure if I’ll get the bike out today…the coffee is sputtering and calling my name so I need to get a cup and read the paper…there will be topics later since I am falling behind for the month….more later…
All posts by James DeVol
Spider alert!….
Well…I have to call a spider alert for today….I have killed at least a dozen of the big black ones in here today and it is starting to creep me out a little….I just hope that they don’t crawl on me when I’m sleeping…one did last spring and it was weirder than heck…I just realized how light I sleep if a spider crawling on me wakes me up. Oh, well….it was a nice ride today but I think they’re dreaming if they think it’s getting up to 65 today….it is still COLD out there and my hands are still a little numb…one cool thing did happen, though…riding on the part of the trail that runs by a little pond, the frogs were so loud that I could hear them over “Dark Side of the Moon” that I had playing on the walkman….I am glad I’m back here…the wind was just cruel out of the East and the last uphill into the 20 mph blast was a gut killer….and I am sore so I’m going to retire to the couch for a few minutes…Oh, I did watch “The Social Network” this morning and I do not know why it was nominated for an Oscar….maybe because Facebook is so popular?….
April 9th
Well…late again this morning…just got out of bed and can’t remember getting up so late…didn’t sleep well but had to keep at it to see if maybe I could….but, now I’m up and trying to clear my head and get the day started….need to get the coffee started and go out for the papers so I’ll be back in a few minutes…okay, it will be longer than a few minutes but I promise I’ll be back…
I’m back….took longer than I expected…had some work that needed to be done and thought I’d get it out of the way before I got back to this…it was an okay day yesterday but the Wings look so bad I don’t know if I can watch them in the playoffs….I did get a long bike ride in but it was still so damn cold…today should be better and I think I’m going to wait until it gets warm enough for no sweatshirt to ride….it has been kind of a chore to get out on the bike and I don’t want it to get to be a task instead of fun but I’m not sure how to do that yet….maybe today’s leisure ride will help…I’ll put Dark Side of the Moon on and take it easy, trying to smile a little might help, too, but life as it is has not given me much to smile about lately….not much to do today…Michigan is playing in the NCAA hockey championship and there is a race on so that is something to look forward to…along with cooking a pork loin for lunch…and I know I have to clean this place up some and get the summer clothes out….I did switch into shorts yesterday but I’m not sure I can sustain it…might be a false start this year…but I’m going to try to make until December….I should have a topic or two for later…I did find that Keith has a website and he is doing little videos of the worst people of the day so that made me smile a little….
Voodoo economics is back…again…
Well….with all of the praise that Paul Ryan is getting for his budget proposals, you would think he was on to something new, since his plan has been deified in the right wing press as the heaven sent solution to all of our problems…okay, I made that last part up but I really think that has been the gist of the reaction from even mainstream media. To get a full explanation that is done better than I could do, check out Paul Krugman’s column in the NY times this morning…yeah, I know, I have been trying to not go there but it is hard to give up something that has been a part of my life for so many years. Now, back to the Ryan proposal, the cornerstone of this monstrosity is the re-invention of the voodoo economics of the Reagan administration; that is, that as you cut taxes, revenue to the government will rise…a theory that has been proven wrong every time it has been tried since the 80’s….if this stupid theory worked, the government would be awash in money and there would be no deficit problem since overall taxes are lower now that they have been on over 50 years. The only question that comes to my mind is prove it; where are all of these dollars they talk about?
The second thing that all of us should be quite concerned about is the inclusion in Ryan’s proposal to turn Medicare into a private insurance scam that would give insurance companies the ability to make trillions more profit off people that have no place else to go. How can he stand there with a straight face and say that it will save money to change a program that has a 9% overhead to one a private one whose overheard ranges from 20-30%. Just another plan to reward the rich insurance companies at the expense of you and me. Aren’t you tired of this crap yet? Geez….
April 8th
Well…a really fun night last night…out with T for happy hour and had so many laughs and a great conversation….just what I needed to get out of the funk I’ve been in lately…and I don’t know why I’ve been in it…I guess it just is and I’ll have to just ride it out and try to smile a little while the process happens….I did get a nice bike ride in yesterday and remembered to take the ibuprofen before I went which helped my wrists..or it could have been that it was not mind numbingly cold for the first time this year. Looks like we are getting a huge break in the weather over the weekend with it being almost 80 Sunday and some huge thunderstorms coming with it…going to be out in just shorts and a t-shirt for the first time this year….might even get into shorts permanently but I’ll have to look at the long-term forecast first…not much to do today…have to go out for groceries this morning but I am having problems getting the menu together so I’m just going to get staples and use my imagination…what little of it there is left…more later…
Bye Bye, Glenn…
Well…I missed this one and I can barely believe it myself…didn’t really miss it but my brain has been on alert overload for so long that this easy, simple, target was missed. It is a day of rejoicing for America and for us progressives…but not only that, for any thinking, rational human being….damn, buried the lead again…let’s back up…Glenn Beck’s show on the fake news network has been canceled and I can’t be happier. Before you think that I am a proponent of censorship of even extreme ideas, if you’ve been here before you know that I always want an interpretation of the constitution that leans toward individual freedom that is almost absolute, and would want even Glenn Beck’s views to be protected by the first amendment. That said, I also think that the public discourse in our society has become way too coarse and is a factor in the polarization of our country….something I think is the root cause of the looming government shutdown. As I’ve said before, crazies like Glenn would have been unwashed, and standing on a street corner spewing his hate when I was growing up…but in these cynical times organizations like Fox will do anything to further their cause and that has meant giving people like Beck a mouthpiece, but I think it was more than that…I think it was a ploy to make the rest of the extremists at Fox look less far-right than they are….providing a convenient but still false comparison. So, goodbye Glenn….and good riddance….
April 7th
Well….a pretty gloomy day yesterday so all I did was be gloomy and veg for the day…didn’t get out on the bike with it raining all day and it was cold anyway…just couldn’t muster up the courage to go out and freeze my butt off but today will be better..no rain and in the mid 50’s so I will get out later. I think I may be coming down with a bug of some sort again or the allergies are starting really early this year…have a sinus headache right now so it probably is allergies…don’t really need them to start already. Kind of a bore of a night, too last night…I just don’t get what is happening to the Wings, they are playing so badly that I’m sure there will be no Stanley Cup run this year…oh, well…I have been watching the Ken Burns series on the Civil War and it is one of those shows that just sucks you in and gives you the true nature of the war…I’ve even learned some things that I didn’t know..pretty neat….not much to do today….going to do twenty on the bike and then meet up with T for a beer or two later on….and topics…many topics for later, too…
I want to write about good news…
Well….I do feel a little better so I thought I’d get this one out before I slink back to the couch to continue this slow, painful recovery. I have been having problems writing lately since it takes a lot out of me to be outraged all the time, and I do want to write about good news; there just hasn’t been any lately. That might not be completely true, there was an election in Wisconsin yesterday and the turnout by the people that want fairness restored to their political process was huge….maybe I was right that the repub thugs have overreached and misread the will of the people. No one but the rich could have voted for what gov Walker foisted on that state, or for what Paul Ryan is proposing on the federal level…that there will be no more social contract, that there will be no more shared responsibility, that the US will see the last 100 years of progress on social issues repealed. I just hope that we can keep up the outrage of the electorate now that the repubs have revealed their true selves….shame on us if we don’t…
April 6th
Well….a long night last night and I think one too many cocktails….feel pretty crappy this morning so this one is going to be short…I did win at pool so that was a plus….going to go back to the couch and lick the wounds….more later….
Okay….back for a few minutes and I don’t feel much better….just getting ready to go out for coffee and I am wavering on whether to go….maybe a shower will help…not much to do today….I am hoping the weather will break so I can get on the bike…it’s the best way to feel better and I do need to burn off the calories from yesterday….not sure what I’m going to cook today…I am craving fast food but running out of cash again so that’s not an option….oh, well…need to get going or I’ll be melted into the couch for the rest of the day…more later…
Political cronyism and false equivalency….
Well….wonderful news out of Wisconsin that just shows how political cronyism is alive and well in that state…in case you didn’t get it, that was sarcasm…I know, it hard for me to get sarcasm across in writing…better writers can, but I’m still learning…yep, still learning in my 50’s. The news story goes like this…our friend gov. Walker, hires a non-college educated, double dui convicted son of a large political donor and lobbyist to head up his environmental and regulatory affairs department. This, from a governor whose stated goals are to gut all environmental and business regulation and is just another instance where you have the curtain peeled back on what the repubs want this country to look like…not promoted or hired on your merits or your hard work but on your connections no matter how unqualified you are…an extension of the GW Bush doctrine that you don’t have to be competent, just connected; one that Sarah Palin has used to great effect…yep, that’s the first mention of sister Sarah since Feb 1st….
The second part of this one I got from a column from Jay Ambrose in the Detroit News this morning…and I would like to say thank you Detroit News for so many easy targets for counterpunching. Mr. Ambrose goes on to equate the crazy assed birthers with those of us that constantly railed on about the actions of GW when he was in office. What he does not get is the core difference between the two groups…that the birthers are attacking who Obama IS, while we hated what GW DID to this country and the American way of life. This false equivalency runs through the repub talking points every day; where egregious hate of the tea party is compared to the workers of Wisconsin standing up for their rights and is therefore justified.
One last thing I wanted to talk about today is what I see as our country being lost, that there is no longer any place here for the dignity of the middle class and sharing of the fruits of our economy….I am loathe to suggest that since the normal avenues of redress in a democracy have been closed to us by the power of the money of the rich and business that we should use any method available….but I think that those who are greedily taking all they can get with little regard for the rest of us must start to think of the world that will be when the bottom 99% of us get fed up and use the last resorts they have left us…beware….