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…
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…
Well…yeah, coined a new word in the title but it seemed to fit my mood today…can’t get interested in anything politics today and I think that’s extending into almost everything that I’m thinking about. You’ve seen this before if you’ve been here…not to the extent that the couch is calling but there seems to be this veil of cobwebs between me and the world; insulating me from feeling that I’m part of it. Could it be that it is just January in Michigan? Don’t know, really….I do feel a compulsion to write something today…I called it onion peeling when this started back in April of last year, but there are still the shackles of self-control that I still wear…and a promise to myself that there would never be anything in this post that would embarrass my kids or friends…kind of limits really sharing but do you want that anyway? I did start this as a chronicle of what it is like to be old, educated, and unemployed and maybe I need to get back to that…I think I’ll try to do at least a couple of those every week from now on, but, I’ve broken promises to you guys before and I can’t promise I won’t again…there is still something rattling around in my head that is not taking shape….that’s part of the frustration where you wait and wait and think and think and nothing comes….so I write one of these free-form things hoping clarity will magically come…and it doesn’t….
It just seems strange that as my life gets smaller and simpler….it also gets harder and harder…
Well…the tragedy in Arizona has my thoughts all over the place….and I’m really trying to make them coherent, to understand how we got to this place. But, one of the things I think we can’t forget in our rush to categorize it is that 6 people died…why can’t we just mourn for these people? Why do we always feel the need to explain, dissect, and assign blame, then have everyone come out of the woodwork to try to take political advantage for their own agenda? A nine year old girl died….isn’t that enough? Isn’t it enough that these families have been torn apart?
There will be plenty of time for analysis as time passes…just not now.
Well…I would be remiss if I didn’t send out birthday wishes to Donald Fagen….half of the wonderful songwriting duo that is Steely Dan…if you’ve been here before, you know how much the snarky lyrics, sleek music, and general hipness of these two have made me smile over the years…I think this would be the group that I would pick to have if I was stranded on a deserted island and could only have one…followed, of course, by Led Zeppelin….you Dan fans out there know what I mean….how can you not like “there is nothing in Chicago for a monkey woman to do”, a lyric from ‘Your Gold Teeth” that has been running through my head every day lately.
So, everybody, send some good thoughts to Donald on his 63rd birthday…..
Well…okay, I lied…there wasn’t more later but the tragedy in Arizona threw me for a loop…I was going to comment on it but it would have been really hard to keep politics out of it and that just wasn’t appropriate. It was a normal day for a sunday…did have a SF with K and K and it was good to see them…spent most of the day on British tv from Netflix but did watch “Eyes Wide Shut”…the only Kubrick movie that I really didn’t like…just didn’t see the point of the thing and Tom Cruise doesn’t belong paired with Kubrick…It is nice to have T back in town but I will miss seeing the kitties….hmmm…said that before, I think….not much to do today…going to have to get back out for an hour walk this evening but the heel splits that I get in the winter are back and I’m limping like crazy since they hurt….I will have at least two more topics for today once I read the papers and get the coffee in me….no cocktails except out with the twins so I feel okay this morning….man, this one is really disjointed…the brain will be working better later…I hope…
Well…another day goes by and I really don’t remember much of it…and no, it’s not from the cocktails…this time anyway. I am kind of hobbling around today, still sore from the walking but the ibuprofen works so I guess I should take some, huh? Sometimes I just forget that that stuff is available…just like a couple of weeks ago when I was bitching to T about being cold…and then I remembered that the heat is included here and I can just turn up the thermostat….it’s about 6 degrees outside and the poor old car just hates this crap..but, on the bright side…only about 6 more weeks and we should start seeing a break…just had a thought…that there are things that are disappearing from my world….as I get older there are things that I enjoy that are just not suitable for someone my age…like water parks…and going out to bars to raise hell and dance…hmmm….need to think a little more about this to make sense…not much to do today…no SF planned so another day of boredom….I can smell the coffee so I’m going to go and get a cup and read the paper…more later…
Well…I just don’t get the repubs these days…never really have, I guess and their obsession with the healthcare reform bill passed last year is making it even worse. I know, I can look at it in the context of their complete disdain for anyone but the rich, but I think their constant attacks are going to be their undoing; especially since parts of the law are extremely popular and have proven to already be quite effective. What spurred this one was a short segment on “Countdown” last night that quoted an article in the LA Times (that I couldn’t find) that the tax credit included in the law has spurred a flurry of activity in small business; that thousands of them have started offering their employees health care since the credit makes it affordable to them. How are the repubs going to explain being against something that helps one of their core constituencies? In the last election, they rode the lies that they were the saviors of small business but I think it’s just another case of the repub disease; promise everything, deliver nothing, that has been their M.O. since the early 90’s. When are people going to learn that these guys don’t give a damn about anything but getting elected….I know, I’m becoming repetitive, but repetition helped the repubs turn lies into truth in the minds of some of the people…maybe it will work to keep the truth the truth…geez…
Well…was not good last night so I do feel kind of crappy this morning…tried to stay up to watch the Wings but crashed out when the score was 4-2 Calgary…just looked and we won 5-4….that must have been a good third perlod…I’ve got to try harder to make it through the games….not as much snow as they were predicting here and I’m okay with that…big storms next week, though….not much to do today…have the last day taking care of the kitties and I think I’ll miss them…oh, well….you know the drill by now…feel crappy..write less….so, I’ll be back later to finish the placeholder and keep going with this one…need water and the couch…
Okay…just finished the coffee and papers and feel quite a bit better…but I am sore from starting to walk again…had to do something to replace riding the bike and it is really strange how brand new muscles are screaming at me this morning…it’s not that I’m old…see, trumped that idea before it even started…already have everything done for the day but cooking and I’m not sure what I’m going to make…maybe chicken in a mushroom sauce…or a homemade pizza…made one the other day and it came out great so I’ll have to think about it….
Oh, the placeholder…I know there are things look like a good idea at night and then, in the light of day, you can’t figure out why you thought that way…that is kind of where I am with the placeholder….I sometimes have my enthusiasm jacked up by watching “Countdown” and cocktails but lose the thread the next day…I will try for later but it’s still early and I need to just veg for a while…and let the coffee kick in…
This is a placeholder about the facts on the new healthcare law…La Times article…small businesses…just putting notes down so I’ll remember it…now you see some of the guts of how this stuff comes together…