September 3rd

Well…another night out, another day of feeling crappy…but I had fun so I guess it was worth it. And the Lions won…which was weird because when I left OT, they were behind. Looks like everyone is going to be out of town for the holiday so it’s going to be a low key weekend. Michigan plays Sat so that will be something to look forward to. I did promise to get a couple of posts out today and I’m going to try to keep it…but I feel worse today than yesterday so who knows…more later…

September 2nd

Well…did win at pool last night and had a lot of fun but feel a little crappy today…have to do the grocery shopping today but don’t feel like it…maybe I’ll put it off until tomorrow….but then I won’t have any food to eat and I am trying keep my no fast food streak alive….no other plans for the day…more later…

Still feel like crap and it’s one in the aft….but I did get the grocery shopping done and it’s nice to have food in the place…that might be part of the reason I still feel bad…having a hard time getting enough food since nothing really tastes good any more…guess it’s just a phase…at least I hope so. I almost forgot this was a holiday weekend since they are all the same to someone who is not working….did finish the third book from T and need to start a new one today. Probably more later….

Just got back from the bike ride and got soaked but it wasn’t bad because it’s still warm enough…starting to feel human again but still not right…not sure what to do about it….probably just have some more ice water and take it easy for the rest of the day…

Oh, not sure if I’ll have another one today…nothing jumped out at me when I was reading the papers and the brain is still fuzzy anyway…but I’ll promise that I’ll get my butt in gear tomorrow and give you at least two, if not three…..

Find the Cost of Freedom….

This one has been bubbling ever since Tom got me a copy of “Four Way Street” by Crosby Stills Nash and Young and I heard this wonderful little song that ends the album. The lyrics go like this: find the cost of freedom buried in the ground, Mother Earth will swallow you, lay your body down…and then it repeats…all a capella. I’m going to finish this one up later today or tomorrow…but it’s going to be about the most poignant way that the cost of freedom is measured. I’ll try to not be political because that will minimize the overwhelming meaning of that sacrifice.

I have all kinds of thoughts and fragments of ideas running through my head right now from the current sacrifices being made by our military but also of Martin Luther King, the Kennedy Brothers, the four Kent State students, and the many who gave their lives during the civil rights struggle trying to make this country a better place. But I’m having trouble making sense of the fragments; to make something cogent from the feelings that come whenever I hear that song. I will keep trying because I think it’s important for all of us as Americans to make sure these sacrifices were not made in vain; that they are not used as props for political gain or to divide us…maybe we can use the universality of this great gift to help us understand that we are all still Americans no matter what the issues are that some use to tear us apart.

Charles Krauthhammer drives off the deep end….again….

Well…Chuck has done it again with his column in the Detroit News today. How can he, with a straight face make this assertion: that the Dems have presided over a huge expansion of government power, intrusiveness and debt and that is why the people are angry. How many time do I have to keep comparing what the repubs did when Bush was in power? How many times can these guys just outright lie and people will keep listening? Let’s look at the facts; expansion of government power? How about the Bushies assertion of the unitary executive branch when Cheney and his Ilk brought back the saying from the Nixon days that if the president does it, it’s not against the law. And then proceeded to usurp the Senates power to ratify treaties by ignoring the Geneva Convention’s sanctions on torture? A truly egregious expansion of executive power that was outside the system of checks and balances. But okay if the repubs do it.

Let’s talk about intrusiveness next. What can be more intrusive and against the constitution than spying on the entire country without the warrants that are required by the fourth amendment? I’m sure ole Chuck is linking his point about intrusiveness to the new healthcare law but the analogy is flawed since there are many things that Americans are required to do by law.

I cannot believe that ole Chuck wants to talk about debt. Let’s just take a dive down the rabbit hole where he lives and rebut that whole assertion. Where did 30% of the structural deficit come from that the repubs have now taken to heart as their major issue? The Bush tax cuts, and when we take into account two unfunded wars, the huge medicare drug benefit, and the TARP program, the repubs must have no shame to call the current digging out from under their pile of crap “socialism”.

To the last point Chuck makes, that because the popular opinion opposes any policy, it should be abandoned and the progressives are on the wrong side of popular opinion. It’s because the progressives are ahead of popular opinion that makes them progressive. In the 60′s public opinion opposed the Civil Rights Act…so, according to Chuck, it shouldn’t have been enacted. Now public opinion has turned against the Afghan war. So, Chuck, should we be bringing the troops home? Public opinion supported racial segregation; should we have kept it?

I don’t know why they keep paying this guy to spout his simplistic, prejudiced crap….geez…

September 1st

Well…Here we go for another month and I hope that it will be better than the last…not really better since I can’t remember a nicer August and more trips to the beach..but that is going to change later in the week when the highs are going to only be in the 60′s. But with the coolness comes the fist Michigan game this sat and I am curious to see what the team is like this year. Not much to do today…have to get back into the fitness routine since I took the day off yesterday; I thought playing in the waves was a close approximation to the calorie burn from riding the bike so I didn’t ride…okay, let me delude myself so the guilt doesn’t come back. Might have a trip to Ada later but with Tom working now, I’m not sure….more later…