Monthly Archives: September 2011

Politics

This could be “I told you so”….

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Well…if you’ve been here before, you might just remember that during the debt ceiling nonsense I was consistently quoting Keynes that cutting spending and worrying about the deficit in a time of recession or near recession would result in the economy going back to contraction. Guess what happened? Spending was cut and the economy is going back into recession just as Keynes and I predicted. What I don’t understand is that while we all know that proper economic thinking is beyond the repubs, Obama should know better and should have the backbone to call the nonsense for what it is…ignorance and willfull stalling of the economy by the repubs for purely political purposes. I am so disappointed in his going along with something that he knows is wrong for political purposes of his own that no one from either the left or right can understand. I am losing confidence that Obama has the political skill to frame the argument that the one class that needs to be taken care of is those of us in the middle who have paid and are still paying for the repub policies that Obama went along with and now, he has allowed Social Security to be dragged into the deficit debate when everyone knows that SS is solvent for at least the next 25 years and has never added one penny to the deficit.

President Obama: please grow a spine and call the repubs for what they are….a wholly owned subsidiary of business and the rich…

My Life

September 6th

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Well…another night and a few cocktails so I feel a little slow this morning…it was an okay day, though, had a couple with K and it was nice to get out of here for a while…I think I’ll have to wait to go out for the papers and coffee since it’s only 44 degrees and I don’t want to sit inside at Biggby’s….I do need to start the ribs I’m having for lunch in a few minutes so I should keep this one short and get to it…there is a race on at 11 from Atlanta that I want to see so it will be a fast morning if I’m going to get the bike ride in before then…I’ll be back later for a political one…

My Life

September 5th

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Well…another Sunday and more of the same old things…races and the Tigers…but not a whole lot more than that….and with today being a holiday…it going to be about the same…I do need to get back in fitness routine today and work out but I’m not motivated right now…maybe after coffee….but, do I go out and get the papers and go to Bigby’s or just stay here and make some…decisions, decisions…it’s going to be more racing today with 6 hours from Indy and maybe out for a couple with K this aft….okay, not feeling it right now so I’ll come back later…

Okay, didn’t go out to Bigby’s…came back here and made my own coffee…it was too cold to sit outside and the wind would have carried the papers away so I decided to come back here…did some damage to the legs on the long ride yesterday so they were flat this morning…didn’t help that the wind was blowing about 20 from the north and I’m in pain again…oh, well…not much to do today… as I said there are races on starting at noon and then maybe out to have a couple with K later….and no cooking since it is a leftover day so it’ll be low key here for the duration….more later….

Sports

How about a little more sports?

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Well….it was a strange day in Michigan sports yesterday and I thought I’d comment a bit….first, the Michigan football game was a chance to see if the Brady Hoke era is going to be better than ole Rich Rod and, at first glance, they do look better but I still cringe every time they are on defense…I think Michigan did figure out later in the game that you can’t give a good quarterback time to set up and throw…once they started to bring the blitz on almost every play, Western’s offense stalled…and scoring two touchdowns with the defense in one game was a neat little bonus. The big thing yesterday, though, was the Tigers come from behind victory over the Sox with two homers in the bottom of the ninth…coming back from being down 8-1 to win it 9-8….6 1/2 games up on Cleveland and still playing….it has been a fun summer watching them some…I think this is the first year in a long time that I have actually been looking forward to seeing the games…

No Red Wings or Lions today….

My Life

September 4th

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Well…just a short one right now since I want to get out on the bike and take a long one…I think it will be a Steely Dan morning in the ears or maybe “Dark Side of the Moon” but I’m not sure yet…it’s a gloomy day and I don’t know if I want to compound or counteract the gloominess with music…maybe some Neil Young? Hmmm….I’ll let you know when I get back…it’s a little after 8 so I need to get moving…Pandora is throwing up a lot of Simon and Garfunkel this morning for some reason…a lot from “The Graduate”…it seems like it’s reading my mood today…should I put my tin foil hat on? More later…

Okay, just got back from doing 28 miles or so on the bike…rode the normal direction, then at the end decided to reverse course and ride it backwards…it does look really weird going backwards….not riding backwards, but the course backwards…and there was wildlife craziness out there today, too…came upon a squirrel that couldn’t decide which way to run when I came on him so he just spun around in circles until I went by….then there were kamikaze bunnies and a huge group of turkeys that thought they owned the trail…have never gotten so close to one without them being spooked….but, now I’m sore from all the miles and need to finish reading the papers and get ready for a day of racing….so, maybe more later….

My Life

September 3rd part two…

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Well…I was going to do one about Cheney and the nonsense in his new book but I just haven’t been able to work up the outrage today with the Michigan game being on and off…they just went back into a lightning delay near the end of the third and I can’t remember that happening in a long time. It has been an okay day today…didn’t get a lot done except watching football…did go over to K’s to let Sam out for a run and I should have worn my suit and gone swimming…It could be a fun night tonight with the storms that are on their way and the race from Atlanta starting in a little while….so, I will try to get some political stuff out tomorrow but it’s the weekend so I won’t promise anything….there are many targets out there that I just have to take a shot at…and yes, that’s a metaphor so no comments from the crazies out there, please…

My Life

September 3rd

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Well…I need to get going to get the bike ride in before the storms come…so, I’ll be back later to finish this one up and hopefully a couple more today…

Yow…that was a nice ride but on the way back a near miss from a storm made me feel like I was in the “Wizard of Oz”….pedaling as hard as I could to just stand still in the wind….looked black to the north but no rain came from it….it was a nice day yesterday but T’s day got away from her so no lunch which disappointed me some but then Tom called and we had a surprise day of shooting pool and I won the week in a one game playoff….and we took it easy so I feel pretty good today…went 15 miles almost flat out the whole way…not sure what is going on but my legs felt like they could go forever today…pretty cool….not much to do today…Michigan starts the football season this aft and that will be a must see but there are plenty of races on, too so it looks like a veg day of cooking and watching tv….yeah, I know, I should be doing more but I get to do what I want…it would be nice to have someone to watch the game with but I’m getting used to being alone and it’s not bad, really….more later…

My Life

September 2nd

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Well…another night and more of the same….so I really don’t have a lot to say right now…the Lions won another one but didn’t look too good but that’s okay…didn’t see the first string play at all and they still won…nope…don’t have anything to say..will be back later…

Okay..it’s weird how getting the bike ride in can make my brain start to work better…I’m a little sore since I had to really go today to beat the rain that is coming…and that is kind of stupid way to look at it…I was already soaked through from sweat so a little more water wouldn’t have made any difference…and it is warm enough so I wouldn’t be cold…oh, well…I do have a busy day today which is quite unusual…might have lunch with T and then out to shoot pool with Tom later so I’ll be busy all day..then MSU starts it’s season tonight…it will be cool to just have activities all day and not to have to think about being out of work….it has been weighing on me lately….I will try to get back for another one later but no promises…I do need to tear into Obama again…

Sports

Gonna do one on sports in a little while…

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Well…wasn’t planning on doing two of these today so the prospect of three is a welcome surprise….I’ll be back later to talk about some sports….even soccer just to warn you..

Okay…had to read the rest of the online papers and now I’m ready to go with sports for a little while…I am going to start with soccer since the EPL is now in full swing and my team, Manchester United, is at the top of the standings and looking like they are going to be the one to beat again this year with their 8-2 pummeling of Arsenal this past weekend…there are lots of new faces on the team that I haven’t seen before and the youngsters seem to be taking over which looks like a good thing. And, Wayne Rooney is looking better than I’ve seen in a long time…I’m not sure if they even need Berbatov anymore….Oh, I did find out something about Rooney that I thought had happened…he spent 50K on hair transplants over the off season…looks kind of strange to see him with hair…

Next….I have been getting sucked in to watching baseball again with the Tigers 6 games in front and playing well….I get nervous when Valverde comes in for the last inning, even though he has saved 40 games in a row….there is always some drama that happens that he works out of but sometimes it’s not pretty. I think they did well to get some help for Verlander when they traded for Doug Fister from Seattle…he looked great in his last start but I find it weird to have someone who 6 foot 9 playing baseball….I’ve always thought of baseball as the refuge for guys like me…just normal height…..I will keep watching and hoping we make the playoffs and they get off Leyland’s back…

What can you say about the Lions? I’ve been hoping for a good team since I was little…that was the last time they were any good….well…they did make the playoffs once in the 90′s I think….I do have to temper my enthusiasm a little and I should know that they will probably disappoint me by not living up to their potential….but, Stafford has looked remarkable in the first three preseason games and someone mentioned in the paper the other day that if we go back to the last four games of last season, the Lions have won 7 in a row…..is it okay to hope just a little? It would be so cool to finally see them in the playoffs with a real chance to win….

I was going to do a Red Wings part of this one….okay, I think I will….it was really hard to see Kris Draper and Chris Osgood retire this summer…they were two of my favorite Wings and such underrated players….It is nice that they will both have places with the Wings in management and again shows the class of the entire organization….I wonder if it is the Ilitches that make both the Tigers and Wings such class organizations….if I ate fast food, I’d want to go out to Little Ceasars to support the family for what they’ve done for Detroit and our teams…I am going to savor this season a pay close attention when Nick Lidstrom plays since this will probably be his last one….it will be quite weird to not have number 5 on defense…but I guess things do have to change…

Politics

Texas for sale…

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well…as time goes by in this primary season, more and more facts are coming to light about how Rick Perry has sold Texas into one of the greatest states for crony capitalism….in the Post today, there is an article that has found the fact that 34 of the governor’s top 50 donors received tax breaks, state contracts, or appointment to regulatory boards in Texas; a huge extension of the culture of “pay to play” that has been rampant under his administration. Didn’t we have enough of this type of crap under Bush/Cheney with Halliburton and the rest of the connected businesses stealing billions from the American people? Then, we have ole Rick out on the stump shouting that only private business creates jobs, that government can’t do it…then, why do we have ole Rick doling out millions and millions of taxpayer dollars to businesses to have them build manufacturing plants in Texas? Hypocrisy, hypocrisy, hypocrisy…..if you want to know what not to do on the federal level…just look at what ole Rick is doing in Texas….