Well…I’m sure you know and I continue to point out how the repubs are so gung-ho for business to be unregulated; especially the financial industry…going so far as to call for the new regulations signed into law this week to be repealed before they even take effect. I don’t think the new regs go far enough…as evidenced by the revelations that all of the banks and insurance companies that were bailed out by you and me had continued to pay immoral bonuses to their employees…as a reward for what this time? Doing such a good job of trashing the economy? One of the firms is on track this year to pay out a record 30 BILLION dollars in those bonuses all the while saying it is too risky to lend to small business so they continue to do nothing but take, take, take and further concentrating money and power in the hands of the few. How can the repubs think this is a good idea? And, how can people that are being hurt by these shenanigans continue to support these guys and vote for them?
I know it sounds like I’m repeating myself but someone has to keep saying the emperor has no clothes….I think a tax rate of 80% on these bonuses is in order or make them non tax deductible….lets make it harder for these guys to steal, not easier….geez…
Well…the world has officially gone crazy…read in the news this morning that there is a brewery on Scotland that is making beer that sells for $765 a bottle but that is not the best part…they only made 9 bottles and the bottles come wrapped in dead animals. Yep…dead squirrels, weasels, and rabbits that have the bottles sewn inside and you pour through their mouths. I’ve been on this earth a long time but I think this is one of the weirdest things I have ever seen…more later…
Well…another night out with G last night but I don’t feel nearly as crappy as I thought I would so maybe today I’ll get to some topics that you want to read…I do have a comment on the ongoing efforts by the repubs to scrub ole GW’s image and blame all of the lingering effects of his policies on Obama. So that one will be later this morning after I get groceries and coffee…I think I may have to stop going out for a while….two days in a row and I am quite run down both mentally and physically. No plans for the weekend yet and that may be a good thing…I can use the rest…more later…
Well…I lied, have felt like crap all day..so bad that I didn’t even get on the bike today…that, and it rained….I may be able to get to it later but probably not…sorry…come back tomorrow and I’ll have something to say…
Well…another Wednesday out yesterday and I feel like crap today….my eyes are even worse than normal and the computer screen is kind of blurry even with my glasses on…so if there are misspellings it’s because I can’t see, not that I can’t spell…not going to do much today as you could probably already tell….I did write quite a bit yesterday so I think I’ll take the morning off…come back this aft and I promise there will be new stuff for you…
Well….as you can see from the previous posts, I have been a little outraged today but I think the outrage is justified given the things I’ve seen. On a more pleasant note, I got past 1000 miles for the summer on the bike today…about 6 weeks earlier than last summer so the goal of over 2K for the summer appears to be within reach…yay! It is damn hot today…have been trying to not use the air for a couple of reasons….I don’t like air that much; I’d prefer to hear the sounds and smell the smells of summer but since they are working on the church behind my place, I have to keep this place closed up or the beeping from the heavy equipment will drive me nuts. I never run it in the car….there’s nothing better than the wind in your hair…well…part of it is the air doesn’t work to well anymore…after all, the car has almost 300K on it….maybe more later…
Well…when I was working out this morning, a political ad came on criticizing Bill Hardiman (a repub candidate for U.S. congress) for his support of raising some taxes to make sure Michigan could balance their budget as they are required to do by law. Now the people behind this smear is the Club For Growth; the same guys that gave us the Bush tax cuts and have never met a tax that they like…their motto being “starve the beast” since they do not believe that the federal government should have any power to regulate anything. Mr. Hardiman was being an adult when he looked at the hard realities in Michigan and went against the voodoo economics that are pushed by the repubs these days that tax and spending cuts will magically heal the economy. If you look at the economic analysis of the Bush years with the huge tax cut versus the Clinton years where taxes were actually raised to help end the budget deficit…growth was higher in the Clinton years as the deficits were lower…but you expect that from a fact-based administration; not the wishful thinking and repeating lies that pass for truth on the right. Keep at it Bill…you did a nice job as Mayor of Kentwood…I still can’t vote for you but you need to continue to hold out against the know-nothings of the party. Geez….
Well….have to go off on this idiot Manny Lopez from the Detroit News again….he’s back with more of the crap that he has been spouting that if we criticize the repubs for opposing the extension of unemployment benefits it’s just Democratic politics…there is no substance to it. He continues to make light of Keynesian economics and pushes the voodoo economics that growth can come only through tax cuts and cutting spending. I understand he wants to repeat the Repub talking points but to ridicule J.M. Keynes; one of the greatest minds in economics, to make silly political points would be the same as if I would go to Miguel Cabrera and tell him that he is hitting all wrong. Manny, reading and talking about economics is not the same as being an economist…and, while I support your right to spout off and be wrong, I am going to call you and your repub cronies on your hatred for the middle class. You rail on about paying for the 30 billion for unemployment benefits, where the hell were you when the top 1% of the country was getting a TRILLION dollars in tax cuts. Let me get this straight, you have a problem with 2.5 million middle class getting unemployment benefits so they can eat, but you just love the idea of 3 million of the wealthy getting 30 times more? Why didn’t you call for these tax cuts, or the war in Iraq, or the subsidies for big business be paid for? It’s just another instance of cloaking your hatred for the middle class; the working class, in pretend values….geez….
Well…it’s another Wednesday and I feel okay today since I took the day off from booze last night and just relaxed. Looks like the normal things for Wed…going out to Ada later to shoot pool but I have some more farming to do today so I should get going on that…..nope, going to wait until after coffee to do anything…I don’t know why I feel so compelled to do everything so fast when I have all of the time in the world; even after being out of work so long I still have the built in need to get things done quickly and move on to the next task…I think I’ll change that today. I’m going to make a conscious effort to slow down and enjoy things today…even slow down my driving…as you know, I’m a professional speeder who lives at 20 over all the time…but I must be pretty good at it…no tickets since 74…yep, probably longer that most of you have been alive. So…going to take a leisurely shower and try not to speed read the papers when I get out to Kava…might even have two coffees today…breaking the routine…more later…
Well…this topic popped into my head when I was reading an article about Robert Plant and his new band on tour this morning. It wasn’t really the article which was pretty complimentary but then, like an idiot, I have to read the comments that were posted by other readers. Why do people hate so much? I know I’ve touched on this subject quite a few times but it still confuses me when there are these nuclear reactions to what was just a fluff piece. Some the respondents even went so far to think anyone his age should never be seen doing the music that has been their lives work. When are you too old to entertain? Doesn’t the marketplace determine when you should stay home? Should we stop reading books or enjoying paintings done by people that are in the later stages of life?
I just don’t understand the psyche of people that can’t enjoy entertainers just because they have aged. Would you have Neil Young stay home and never tour again because he over 60? I know you may feel that I have these feelings because I’m getting up there and I have started to think about my age and how I relate to the world, but good music is good music and great writers are great no matter what their age. Music has given me so much enjoyment and extra understanding of life through that shared experience and I want to keep the ones I love around until they can’t do it anymore…and maybe longer than that. What do you think?