Well…came pretty close to going off the rails on that last one…but it is important so I won’t apologize….I do sometimes…but not now….it’s been kind of an odd day today…have been very antsy and restless all day but that did help me get some work done..so that’s okay…did laundry, vacuumed, did dishes, and even worked on my pool cue for tomorrow….had to try to fix the tip and I may have been successful…we’ll see. I am now thinking about watching a netflix movie since there is no Monday with G today….I am sitting on the fence about going out to buy some refreshments for cocktail time…should probably take another day off since I am just now feeling almost normal…well, as normal as I get….and I don’t want to spend 10 bucks on the Velvet…..so I’ll keep that 10 bucks for Keno and a Mega Millions ticket….the jackpot is up to 145 mil and I need something good to think about…so, you’ve gotten 4 of these today and that has taken some of the guilt away…but only some….
Monthly Archives: December 2010
Here’s the scary part….
Well…read an interesting article in the Washington Post today that tries to get a handle on the explosion of the security apparatus that has been built in America since 9/11. One of the the scariest parts of the whole domestic spying program is that no one knows how many people or dollars are being spent on it….no consistent oversight, no protections for you and me anywhere to be seen; things that would have not been thinkable 15 years ago…and our whole world has been changed without our permission to resemble a high tech Soviet Union…so that all economic activity that anyone in this country now does is recorded in huge databases that are regularly mined by federal, state, and local authorities for any reason…but you and I can’t find out the reasons since they are no longer required to tell you when you are being “seached”…in clear violation of the 4th and 5th amendments to the constitution.
But, that is not even the most scary part….you can get swallowed up by these databases just because “someone” thought you looked “suspicious”…..yep, you heard it right, no probable cause, no rights….just “someone” (who can remain anonymous) thought you looked suspicious because you come and go at odd hours, because you take pictures in some city, or because you just looked “different” than the rest of the people in the neighborhood. And, you have no right to look at you file…EVER. I can’t even count the
ways that this stuff has been abused to control people that belonged to a targeted group…can you say “driving while black”?
We, as a people, need to say stop…no, scream stop at our government…watching American citizens is no way to prevent terror attacks…but it can and has been used to chill political discourse and participation by an overzealous government in the past….and I predict it will be again. Geez….
Let’s get some perspective…
Well…read a little tidbit of information in the newspapers this morning that I hope will put his whole “terrorists are everywhere” and the biggest threat to our way of life nonsense to a rest once and for all. There were 250,000 people killed in natural disasters around the world this year…..and that number is more than the people killed by terror attacks in the last 40 years combined. Yep, all of the attacks, in all of the countries, across the globe added together for the last 40 years and mother nature kills more than that in a year. So, why the heck are we so afraid of terror attacks? It can’t be because they can’t be predicted. Or that they are of a larger scale than a hurricane, typhoon, or earthquakes. Then, what is it?
My answer is a short and sweet one…because the repubs made both political and monetary profit from keeping the scare machine going…who are the people that got the contracts for the new body scanners….repubs that came out of the revolving door of government and industry and used that incestuous relationship cynically to profit from keeping everybody scared. Aren’t you tired of being scared? If you are, it’s up to you, me and the rest of America to stand up and say that life has risks, but protection from this greatly overblown risk is not worth giving up the freedom that defines America…I hope with the DADT vote and others that have been delayed by the fear and smear tactics of the repubs, we have started to see through the fear; and have started to reclaim the innate fairness and good that is this country. We can hope…
December 20th
Well…that was a wasted day….didn’t even start to feel human until about 7 pm and still don’t think I’m at 100%…well…I’m never at 100% any more but that’s another story. I was going to do one on the repeal of DADT yesterday but I didn’t do anything at all but nurse the wounds…and you’ve seen that before on Sunday so it shouldn’t have been surprise….didn’t even go out for SF since that would have meant driving across town and that was just not going to happen…..yep…still feel like crap….and I am so sore all over that I’ll have to go back to the ibuprofen before I go out for coffee. I do have a few things to do today…..yay…have to go out for supplies this morning and then back here to get some work done….then do laundry and clean some…I think I’ll make it a goal to get the whole place cleaned up before the end of the week so I’ll have some sort of an accomplishment and won’t feel like it was another wasted week…I’m starting to feel like the Eagles song “Wasted Time”…go look it up…it doesn’t fit completely but the general theme is there….okay…time to go….more later….
December 19th
Well…wine hangovers hurt. But, the party at G’s was so much fun it was worth it…I have a sore throat from laughing so much and what little voice I have left has shifted down a couple of octaves. The car was even parked straight when I went out to get the paper this morning so I feel okay about that….there was good news on the political front yesterday….hmmm…should probably put that in a political post, huh? I think I will so I’ll have something else to write about later….but, what about now? Not a lot to do today….and this time I mean it….watched the wonderful movie “Top Hat” this morning with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and the really cool Irving Berlin songs…yep, that really tells you how old I am….I can’t believe it was made 75 years ago….oh, back to today…going to have another cup of coffee and read the online papers and wait to hear from K to see if there is going to be a SF today….I wouldn’t mind going out for a while…after I slump back to the couch and veg for added energy or for decreased pain, I can’t figure out which yet…more later…
December 18th
Well…things went downhill into boredom pretty quickly after lunch with T yesterday….and the Wings lost which just capped off the slide…but I did see the Ridley Scott version of Robin Hood…and I don’t understand why they even called it Robin Hood…there was really no connection to the traditional story except for a couple of names but it was a good movie anyway. Not a lot to do today…have to make the shrimp fettucine for G’s party later but that is about it…there were cocktails involved last night so I’m a little slow today…I’ll try to get a couple of posts out later but I have the feeling that today is a veg day..so, I’ll start vegging right now and go get a cup of coffee and read the paper…more later…
We can choose….
Well…I have been thinking about this one for a while and thought I’d put it down on paper so to speak. I guess it’s just a general comment on things I see every day…the over-reaction to almost everything. Have we lost all of our internal controls? When I see the daily stories of road rage, when I read the rantings that come with the comments of any political article online, and when I see peoples’ courtesy toward others opinions vanish like smoke, I have to wonder. I don’t know how we got here but it’s not a place I want to be…and the sad fact is that we can choose to not react this way….but we don’t.
Look….I used to be that guy…the one that would cut people off in traffic and flare like the sun when someone did that to me, the one that would treat someone with utter contempt if they had different political views; but it was rotting me from the inside out and just so damn much work to be pissed off constantly. I’m sure some of my friends think that I’ve gone overboard on the “navel gazing”, the necessary introspection that comes with wanting to be a better person, and, they could be right…but, I like myself a lot more now. Okay, I know you’re going to say “who cares” or “what’s your point”…and those are fair questions…all I’m trying to say it that the coarseness the permeates our society can be changed if we all just think…”we can choose”….it’s tough, sure, I still struggle with this crap everyday but, shouldn’t we at least try? Okay…enough soap box for the day….I promise there will be some politics later….crap, is this just more “navel gazing”? Oh, well….
December 17th
Well…a long night with a couple of cocktails so I’m a little slow today…..yeah, you did see a placeholder if you were here earlier….but I dumped it so it didn’t show up in the count….and the idea I had sounded like a good one at the time but I’m not sure if I’ll get to it today….who knows? I do have something to do today…having lunch with T and there are supposed to be stories so that will be fun….other than that…not much to do today…I was worried how I was going to get that one in…I don’t know what is going on but I am sore from head to toe and it is getting old…just like me, but I hope that’s not the reason….I think I’ll go get an ibuprofen and see if that helps…more later…
I’m back for a few…the ibuprofen did help, as did the beer at lunch…and T got me to do something that no one has been able to do in quite a few years…go into a mall during the holidays…yep, I know, not me at all but it’s just fun to hang out with her…even shopping…but I will say it took all of 5 minutes so maybe it’s not too big of a test….I will try to get to the topics later…oh, it is later, isn’t it? Damn….let me have a couple of minutes and I’ll get to it….
Just a quick question…
Well…I don’t know if you’ve been following the first rulings in the lawsuits that have been filed against the new healthcare law, but I see a troubling thing happening; that the two judges that upheld all provisions of the law were appointed by Dems while the one that recently struck down the individual mandate portion of the law was appointed by a repub. I was always taught that judges were supposed to be impartial arbiters of the law, using precedence as a guide, that were blind to political pressures…it was even one of the founding principles of this country…that an independent judiciary was necessary to rein in both the passions of the populace and as a check on the legislatures reflecting those passions. When did judges abdicate their responsibilities to be fair and impartial? One of the most egregious of these is the supreme courts overturning of a hundred years of precedence in the Citizens United decision that gave corporations the same rights to political speech as flesh and blood Americans; which the right wing majority knew would tip the political scales in favor of the repubs. But, don’t think I reserve my scorn for only those on the right, any judge that abdicates his responsibilities to be fair and objective, and follow the law, whether they lean right or left should be removed from office.
That said, the repubs who shout all day about following the constitution are the ones who expect judges to strike down laws they don’t like…just because they don’t like them, and they don’t fit their narrow view of what America should be. To those folks I say: please get a copy of the constitution and read it….the judiciary is not another political toy for you to play with…there is great danger to what you want judges to do…geez…
December 16th
Well…the days are starting to run together with boredom and I’m not sure what to do about it..but that’s my problem, huh? There was a pretty good Wings game last night and I got to see Nicky Lidstrom get the first hat-trick in his career…over 1400 games but he’s a defenseman so that’s not unexpected. Pretty cool, though, and it couldn’t happen to a classier guy. Slept okay again but there are so many new aches and pains that I’m not sure what is going on….it’s a pain getting older…ha,ha. Yeah, I know, bad joke…Not much to do today…have to get the makings for the dish I’m making for G’s party sat…a shrimp fettucine with Feta that is really light and tasty…but I don’t like to cook for people much anymore since I think my tastes have started to skew along with my brain as I get older and there is nothing worse than making something and having everyone hate it….yep, feeling that insecure tight now and I don’t know why…..hey, keep watching…I may be going off the rails soon…the signs are there and it may make this more interesting…more later…