Well…back in the runup to the election, one of the predictions that I made was that if the repubs came back to power, you would see the wholesale surrendering of our country to the forces of the “free market” and the religious nuts from the right. And yesterday, in a speech in Detroit, we have one of their presidential frontrunners came out with that exact double whammy; delivered by Mike Pence, the repub from Indiana. In that speech he told the crowd that the big problem in America is the lack of morals in the population and that the only way to solve that is a return to organized religion and more religious involvement in everyday life. Really, Mike? What about those of us that see the folly of organized religion and want the constitutional separation of church and state strengthened? We are tired of you “holier-than-thou” folks telling us that the only way to be a good, ethical, moral person is to belong to organized religion when, to us, religion is the CAUSE of most of the strife in the world.
But, that was not the only thing he felt the need to touch on…he reiterated his opposition to the bailout of the auto industry, along with the Tarp program that helped limit the financial damage in the downturn. His reasoning is that a free market bankruptcy would have been a better way to go…since it would help destroy the unions and turn the US into the low wage economy that his business buddies could then take advantage of…well…I added that last part..this is kind of an editorial after all. Now, you can truly see what these guys are all about….they say we can’t afford extension of UI benefits, or helping American industry survive because it would add to the deficit…but it is just ducky to give the top 1% 700 billion in tax cuts that aren’t paid for…hypocrites all. Geez…
Well…running a little late this morning for no real reason…got caught up in the season finale of Dexter and what better way to start the day than to visit with a serial killer. That’s a joke….had fun last night, did go out and have a couple with G but was a good boy when I got home so I feel okay today. There was bad news, though…T hit a deer with her car and did some damage to it…I guess that’s to be expected here in deerville but it’s still not cool especially when the car was just fixed. Not much to do today but Ada…I do need to get some money coming in since I’ve got about 8 bucks in my pocket and 5 of that will go for coffee…I hope I don’t have to quit doing the morning coffee thing…I do get topics from it after all….we’ll see…more later…
Well…I’m sure you’ve heard of the constitutional amendment passed in Oklahoma on election day that forbids the use of Islamic or international law in court rulings…and that more than 70% of the voters approved it. First, if they are so concerned with religious law being used to settle disputes, why didn’t they include all religious law? But no, that would mean that they could no longer refer to the bible or other christian teachings that they just love to cite when they are restricting the rights of gays and lesbians or a woman’s right to be secure in her own body. What we had in Oklahoma was just another cynical ploy by the right to get their base out to vote…just like they used gay marriage bans to do the same in previous elections….elections where they had no new ideas to offer but they knew if they went back to the divide and conquer playbook, it might just work. And, they got a two-fer with the ruling by a federal district court to stay the implementation on constitutional grounds so now they can continue to delegitimize the role of the judiciary and trot out their tired old attacks on the “activist judges” that are more activist on the right than left.
Isn’t anyone else tired of the right’s continued efforts to divide this country? Geez…
Well…a nondescript Sunday full of boredom…but the Roku helped to keep me going until the Wings came on…I am so happy that Thanksgiving is over so I can get back to my normal eating routine…I think I’ve gained 10 pounds and I don’t feel good about it. I will be able to get out on the bike today and I’ll probably do 20 or 30 miles to make up for my laziness over the last week…yep, that’s guilt you hear and you know I’m pretty good about it…oh, the Wings played a great game yesterday and won another one…that made me a little bit happy but just a little. Not much to do today….and that’s probably good…just don’t feel like doing anything….yeah, sounds like the blacks are coming back…I may have to curl up on the couch and let it come…more later…
Well…the good ole boys in the repub party are at it again…this time opposing the newest START treaty (strategic arms limitation treaty) for the only reason that they can…not for any lack in it’s merits, or for any credible policy differences…in fact it’s a better deal and has one thing that that the repubs were just SO hot for when the bushies ran the show…a credible missile shield for Europe that the Russians were adamantly opposed to in the last round. Across the world, our allies are speechless when asked about the repub opposition…they all know how good a deal this is for them and can’t understand the stupidity of the repubs in holding it up. What happened to the tradition that stood us so well for the last 200 years…that politics stopped at the waters edge and our internal differences were kept in private? That we wouldn’t give the rest of the world an edge by showing that we did have foreign policy differences? It just shows that the repubs don’t give a damn about what is good for this country, the only thing they care about is political gain and ruining the chances of Obama to accomplish anything…even when the safety of the country is at stake. By senator Kyl and his ilk holding up this treaty, and taking away our ability to verify where all the nuclear material in Russia is, he, and the supposedly security conscious repubs are again exposed for the lying, political opportunists they are. They have made it easier for our enemies to get the weapons of mass destruction that they have pledged to use against us and have cynically made us less safe.
When do we get the adults back in charge again? Geez….
Well…It’s been a little more difficult than usual having something to say lately and I really don’t know what the problem is…but I’m going to keep trying until the block goes away….and you’ve seen this before so you shouldn’t be surprised, I’m not but that is because I’m the one that has to live inside this head….and it gets scary in here at times. But, that is another topic for another time. I am getting to really like the Roku my boys bought me…listening to Pandora right now and the last two days have been lots of streaming movies, tv shows, etc. I can see why the cable and dish companies are becoming concerned…if I could get the Red Wings on the thing, I would cancel the dish tomorrow…maybe after the season is over…it is kind of nostalgic to listen to music Sunday mornings; it takes me back to the days on WLAV when they had a show called “Jazz Brunch” that I would put on and read my newspaper to…I’m still waiting for the first commercial on Pandora…the boys said they have them but it’s been a couple of days so far nothing…I’m not complaining mind you, just musing.
Not a lot to do today..it is going to get warm enough to take the bike out again and I have been watching the temp to see when it gets there….going to make a pork loin in the slow cooker since most of the turkey is gone or I froze it to make the turkey soup that I promised to G….need to get back on the veggie thing for a week or so to make up for all of the normal food I’ve been having…does anyone else get tired of pie? That’s about it for now…have to get the rub made for the pork loin and read the rest of the papers so I’ll have topics for later…I should feel worse than I do today…there were manhattans involved last night….more later…
Well…with all of the strange things happening over the past few days, I’ve really struggled with working up outrage over politics or really anything; so that’s why you’ve only seen a few of these lately. There is a small bit of one that I might be able to use to get started, though,…with Sister Sarah putting her foot in her mouth once again, this time on the Koreas, I was taken that her reaction to criticism of her gaffe was to tweet about the few times that Obama has misspoken; trying to equate her ignorance and stupidity with Obama’s distracted statements. Really, Sarah? There is not much else to say when the media covers the village idiot with the same gravitas as the president. Does anyone think she’s not running?
Okay….I’ve exhausted what little energy I had…so I’ll come back later and continue…
It’s later….went out for a while to meet up with the twins and V for a couple and to watch Michigan lose…again…to a new place called Farah’s that I’ve never been to…but that is about it for the day…I’ll probable feel lousy tomorrow so there may be a lag in the normal post times…who knows?
Well…not much of a day yesterday…did an almost complete veg for the day being sucked into the world of Roku that is quite seductive when you compare it to the normal crap that is on TV…I think I might make it a British tv day today…at least until the Michigan game comes on at noon….and I’m not really looking forward tot he game….I think we’re going to get blown out…but the upside is that Rich Rodriguez should be gone by Monday if it’s really bad….I did have the warning lights come on in the car again yesterday like they did a couple of months ago…I’m hoping they will just go out like they did before…I may try to disconnect the battery and see if they will reset but it’s so damn cold I don’t want to do that until tomorrow…until then, I have the stress that it may be a 300 dollar alternator…
Not much to do today but laundry and the kitchen, of course, after t-day dinner…I did get the superficial stuff done like running the dishwasher a couple of times but the up to your elbows, clean everything needs to be done today…so, as always, a boring day that will be punctuated by disappointment. I will try to get to a couple of topics later….oh, and the Wings won a good one last night where the defense stepped up and held Columbus to one goal….yay…
Okay…just a little car update…just went out to get the newspapers and all of the warning lights are out…well…except for the airbag light that has been on for 4 years….so, one less thing to think about….
Well…I know I’m really late this morning but there is a reason for it that I don’t know if I should share…it’s a family thing, extended family really but that doesn’t make it any easier. You know how I struggle with the balance of privacy for my family and friends and wanting to share this weird life…so, I’m going to have to think about this for a while..
I did have a nice Thanksgiving with my boys, made a great turkey and the rest of the stuff and we had a hoot just talking for a few hours…they are all so thin and good looking, but even the youngest one has the starting of gray hair at 23…but, at least they all have lots of hair so maybe they won’t suffer my fate…and, they all went in on a present for me.. a cool little device called a Roku that wirelessly streams Netflix and other stuff to my TV…I guess they couldn’t stand that I was watching that stuff on my computer when I have a perfectly good tv…tried it out and it is pretty neat….they said they wanted to move me at least one foot into the 21st century…more later…
Well…I was either reading or listening to the news the other day and came upon this little tidbit that the righties don’t want you to know…that over the last year, corporate profits have been the highest in the history of the world….yep, under the socialist, anti-business Obama administration, American corporate profits are the highest they’ve ever been…let’s say that again…highest corporate profits…EVER…now, I can’t wait to see the contortions that the repubs will go through to explain away the inconvenient fact that corporations are doing better under the Dems than they did in 8 years under the Bushies. But…I can guess one…that corporate profits are up because the repubs are coming back into control and are going to help business even more…and this fact has removed the new repub talking point “uncertainty”, that too scary state of affairs that has paralyzed everything…please, give me a break…geez…