Monthly Archives: February 2011

Misc

TGIF….

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Well…I think I’ve fallen into the trap of waiting for the idiots on the right to say or do something stupid and then writing about it…kind of like a counter puncher in boxing and while it has some value, does it stifle original thought? Is there even any original thoughts anymore? I mean the written word has been around for quite a long time and how can you meet the expectations of being original? It just seems to be too easy to just comment on things other people say and it does get to be a habit but I’m going to try over the weekend to be original and have some thoughts of my own. I do have thoughts of my own sometimes, I did write two original novels after all….no, you can’t see the first one….it was written back in the time of 5 1/4 inch discs and no electronic copy exists anymore….I have been trying to find the original…geez, there’s that word again…let’s not say original…let’s say hand written manuscript…yep, on legal pads in ink…had a stack of them about 2 feet high before I finished that one. I will say this…the writing process has never been painful or difficult for me…when it comes it comes fast and easy…but I’ll bet you’ll say it’s easy to write crap…and I’ll counter with no it isn’t. I’ve done it….

Enough of that….how about the weekend…I did title this one TGIF after all…the Wings play again tonight but I am concerned that they’ve lost their fire with losing 3 of the last 4….I do like the fact that Babcock has called them out on it and is pushing them with the extended practices….I’ll still watch tonight since it is cocktail night and it is fun to settle in on the couch and watch it with a few friends via text…tomorrow we have the start of the nascar season with the shootout from Daytona and I am trying mightily to still like the sport with the crappy cars and lousy competition…they just need to stop using the rules to make it homogenized and let the creativity of the builders come through again….where are you Smokey Yunick?

I need to text K and see if there is a SF this week….it would be nice to get out…although, the Peppino’s over here was so frickin loud last night I couldn’t hear a thing…so maybe the mex place instead….need to see the guys there anyway…..or Logan’s, haven’t been in there in a while…..and the car could use getting up to temp at least once this week…that’s about enough for now…I’ll get to the political masturbation that is the repubs agenda tomorrow or Sunday….

My Life

February 11th

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Well…kind of a a good day yesterday…got the taxes done and a few things cleaned up around here and the fact that it is not 9 degrees this morning gives me hope that I’ll survive this winter. Okay, I know I’ll survive it but it is nice to see that it is going to be warming up some…yeah, when you get older, for some reason the weather becomes important…I would like to wash the car without it turning into a block of ice, though, and it would be good to be able to see out of the windows again. Did go out for a couple with G last night and it was good to see her…need to text K to see what she has going on…maybe a happy hour with her tonight would start the weekend out on the right foot. I do have some stuff to do today…groceries this morning and then the normal routine and it looks like the job market is picking up so I need to revise the resume and get a bunch of them out before I go completely broke….and cleaning, too…I’m surprised how much cleaning I have to do living alone….way too many cobwebs…oh, one thing, I found a live ladybug in my bathroom the other day…where do they come from in the winter? I guess I could ask the same thing about the spiders I still see…more later…

Politics

How can one guy be wrong all of the time?

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Well…I do hate to pick on one person all of the time..no that’s not true, I love to call out the idiocies and inconsistencies on both the right and left…but if you’ve been here before, you’ve noticed I do tend to to go after those on the right more…but I should because they are the ones that have taken idiocy to a new level that I could not have imagined a few years ago. This morning I was reading the Detroit News again (I know, why should I keep reading that right wing rag?) and our boy Nolan Finley is at it again…taking the president to task for going to the chamber and asking them to take part in the recovery by hiring. Well..old Nolan goes on either to lie, or to show his ignorance of economic reporting saying that companies are not going to hire until they are profitable when, as you and I and almost everyone else in the US knows, retained corporate profits are at their highest level in the history of the world. He goes on to assert that they are not hiring because of the repub talking point about uncertainty keeping business from being able to plan and know what their costs are going to be down the road. Nolan, Nolan, Nolan….the only uncertainty that business cares about it whether or not the billions they spent buying a republican house is going to give them free reign to steal more from the pockets of workers. You guys have created the uncertainty about the healthcare law….spending almost all of your time since the new congress started trying to repeal the law when you know it won’t happen and snowing your business buddies that the money they gave you is going to get them something; all the while collaborating with them to keep from hiring to make sure you have a new talking point.

But that’s not the worst of it….here in Michigan the earned income tax credit for lower income folks is being eliminated while business is given a huge tax cut…this is a tax increase no matter how the right tries to spin it…and these guys are held up as fiscally responsible when any time the previous governor asked for more taxes to help cut the deficit she was tarred as a tax and spend liberal. I guess it’s okay if you raise taxes on those that have no money, power or lobbyists…another example of the hypocrites that reside in the modern repub party….geez…

My Life

February 10th

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Well…felt like crap all day yesterday and I’m not sure that Tuesday was the cause….I hope I feel better today but I think that I have overlapping viruses since I have new symptoms that weren’t there when this crap started 3 weeks ago. Oh, well….it’s kind of like last year when I had this low level thing that lasted for almost a month. Didn’t really do much yesterday but go out for coffee and work out…watched another British show called “Wire in the blood” that is okay…and now have three more seasons to watch so I won’t get bored as much as normal. The chicken that I made yesterday came out really good and I will have to keep the carcass to make chicken soup next week….well, not next week since I do need two carcasses to have enough flavor…not much to do today…I do need to get the taxes done since I need to get the cash so I can pay the rent in April….and maybe out with G later but I’m not sure…I promise that I’m going to get more topics out almost everyday and I guess I’ll do the same today….More later…

Misc

Just can’t get thinking…

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Well…it’s been a tough day on the brain and with no topics that have grabbed me, I suppose I’ll just muse a little bit and do a little free form writing. I did see one news item that brightened up my day….Keith Olbermann has a new job at Al Gore’s Current TV channel where he will be news director and then have a new show later in the year…I have not turned on MSNBC since they fired him and that is both good and bad….my outrage level has certainly decreased but it has also resulted in having fewer topics to write about since he covered things that weren’t getting normal media coverage. I wish him well and can’t wait to see what the new show will look like. It looks like the job market may be brightening a little…two people I know that have been out of work long term have recently found jobs so that is starting to give me hope….it would be nice to get back to work before the car dies and I can’t wait to get out of this place and buy a house….it has been okay to not have the maint headaches but I do miss having a place to work on the car….or just wash it…

I laugh so much at the idolatry that the Reagan worshipers have trotted out in the last week…especially from “the one who shall not be named” but it just shows that with the repubs, faith still trumps facts or reality and I have to remind myself constantly that though it may be funny, there are policy decisions being made on this faith that are going to hurt the middle class and give more of the country to the rich and powerful…maybe I should create a shorthand so I don’t have to keep saying rich and powerful, What do you think?

Haven’t really touched on the super bowl yet but I didn’t think it was a very good game…and the halftime show was one of the worst things I have ever seen…that, after all of the bitching that was done about the Who last year, too. I would much rather see geezer rockers with talent than the trendy new thing they tried this year….talent is talent after all, and the Who has been around for 40+ years with many iconic songs that will always be remembered as long as anyone still listens to rock. Where will the black eyed peas be in 5 years? Where is their Baba O’Reilly, or Won’t Get fooled Again, or Who Are You, or Tommy?

That’s about it for now….I’ll try to be more topical later or tomorrow..or you may get another one of these..who knows?

My Life

February 9th

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Well…long night last night and I won at pool…finally, had a lot of fun but, like almost all Wednesdays, I feel a little crappy today. Was up and down all night starting at about 3 or so and I think that has something to do with it…still really tired right now so this one is going to be short and I will come back to add to it later…not much to do today anyway….might even skip coffee this morning but that is the only thing that keeps me going so doing that could just compound the problem….more later…

Okay…I’m back and feeling almost human again after coffee…I am getting really tired of the cold here in Michigan and my car isn’t faring much better….I think it may be time to replace it…but it’s going to be hard on me since I’ve had it for over 10 years and it has been a part of my identity for that time…but, the next one is going to be a convertible of some sort and that is good to look forward to…I know, canvas top converts are not the most practical things to have in Michigan but I lived with a Fiat 124 for 3 winters with a top that was held together with duct tape and didn’t have the heaters that the newer ones have…and rear wheel drive in the snow is a heck of a lot of fun…as my son has found out with his Genesis coupe…I think I have topics for later but have to work out first to keep from feeling guilty…and I have to check to see if the chicken I’m brining is thawed….

Misc

More thoughts….

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Well..this one came to mind with just a tiny little article in one of the newspapers I read every morning that passed on the fact that taxes, for both individuals and business, are at their lowest level in more than 60 years. If you’ve been here before, you heard me talk about this topic, but not in this context….the context of Obama going to the Chamber of Commerce and promising them lower taxes and less regulation if they will just start to hire more people with the over 2 trillion dollars in retained profits that they now hold; a figure that is higher than any time in recorded history. How did they make so much profit if their taxes are too high? My question is, “who pays for the infrastructure, education of the workforce, and other things necessary for business to thrive if they don’t pay their fair share of the tax burden? Guess who? You and me….

I understand that this trip to the Chamber was a political calculation to look like there was no stone unturned in creating jobs, but to go to these thieves with his hat in his hand and say “pretty please” to get them do do the right thing for the country that made them successful is just wrong…business owes it to the people of America who bought the roads they use to transport their goods, who bought the education that gives them good workers, who bought the military that protects them every day, and who gave them the profits they so jealously hoard….to dismiss this debt while passing responsibility on to individual Americans is morally reprehensible…geez…

Politics

Why not here?

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Well…in reading all of the press about the events in Egypt, one thought just came to me…these people are protesting the theftocracy that has been running their country for the last 50 years and the media is all gung-ho about covering it…but, the question that immediately popped into my head was “why not here?” When it has been determined that it is noble to fight against the entrenched power and the cronyism that has stolen so much from the Egyptians, I see a parallel to what is going on in the US right now and the media just ignores it; and our politicians call it capitalism. The rich, connected and business are doing exactly the same thing here that has gone on in Egypt for the past 50 years…maybe in a more subtle way….if it is so noble for the Egyptians to fight, why are we that fight for the same thing here in the US called socialists, communists, or worse…un-American? Is it different here that the wholly owned subsidiary of business, the Republican Party, works every day to take away from the middle class and give more to the rich and business when the ruling party in Egypt does the same thing? Show me the difference between Egypt and us.

We need our own Tahrir Square where business and the thieves that run them are called out, where the workers that built this country are given the voice that has been silenced by money and power…until that time we are just a more developed Egypt…waiting for the smoldering embers to become a flame…geez….

My Life

February 8th

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Well…was really bored last night after being in for 3 days so I thought I’d go out and watch part of the Wings game…oh, no G last night since she was a little under the weather and I do miss her…but, it was nice to have a little cash so I could go out and have a couple…the Wings won and I won 21 bucks at Keno which almost paid the tab and tip…only out 4 bucks for the night so that was fun. Had to go out since the Wings were on Versus…and only stayed for about half of the game…the new season of “Top Gear” started on BBC American and the show makes me laugh so much I couldn’t miss it. Needless to say…I feel okay today since I was good when I got home but my damn back is acting up again and I’m having trouble sleeping with the pain coming and going all night. I know, I could take some ibuprofen…but I just forgot…I am getting old after all. Not much to do today…have to to the taxes and send out some resumes…and of course, out to Ada for pool later….no snow today but it is going to be cold and I am getting tired of it…where the hell is our January thaw? Okay…I know it’s Feb but that’s no excuse…going back to the couch now to watch the last two episodes of “Californication”…I have been up since five….more later…

Politics

What happened to shared sacrifice?

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Well…finally found a trend that has re-started the fires of outrage somewhat and it should do the same for anyone who believes there should still be a middle class here in America. This latest attack on the workers here in the US is led by the repub governors that were elected in the last election and who have made it an unstated, but nonetheless all too real purpose of their administrations to break the public sector unions. As a financial realist as opposed to an agenda driven repub, I too understand that there are costs in many of the states that are unsustainable…but this is not an act of god as the repubs would have you believe but is a direct result of the misguided (or I should say planned) repub bowing at the altar of tax cuts to ensure that they ‘starve the beast” since they don’t believe there is a need for government at all. The spurious numbers they use to support their contentions that slashing the pay here in Michigan is that public sector wages have gone up in the last 10 years while in the private sector, wages have been stagnant or falling. I think their logic is flawed but consistent with their overall goals; to destroy all unions and the one bright spot for the middle class in an environment where the richest have seen their compensation double in the same time period. So, why no cry that these folks are overpaid and should give back to the states where they reside? To ask middle class folks to give back when the rich are given tax breaks at the expense of you and I is morally reprehensible but goes to the agenda of the repubs….they will never be happy until the rich have it all and the rest of us are left to feed off the scraps that fall from their tables….

All of us should just say stop…let’s expose this agenda and start working together to ensure that you, I, and our children only share in the sacrifice to get this country moving again…not make all of it…geez…