Well…just wanted to elaborate on the earlier comment I made on the sotu by Obama last night…there were parts of the speech that I found interesting to some extent…the new found populism and themes that echo what the majority wants was a little refreshing but I still fault him for not learning that you can’t compromise with the repubs; that the only thing they want is less regulation, more subsidies for business, and to defeat him….they don’t give a damn about moving the country forward…but the one thing that the repubs are misreading is the people’s desire to stop the nonsense they have been pushing for the last three years….that the repubs don’t see the new emphasis on income inequality and inequality of opportunity is not a flash in the pan but a long term realization that as the top 1% take more and more, there is less left for the middle class to earn and spend and as it continues, the economy will stagnate and never return to the growth necessary for a healthy economy….geez…
Well….it was another night but one with no cocktails so I feel better today and a little clearer….I did watch the big speech last night and there were parts that were okay but I skipped the repub response since I could write that one myself…taxes and government bad, class warfare good, job creators are gods…etc, and just couldn’t stomach any more of that nonsense…I will read it later in the papers just to see if there is anything new but I’m not expecting it…I did sleep a little better but still no dreams so I guess I’m still boring…I am going to try out the George Foreman that K gave me today but that is about the extent of the new stuff that is going to happen…I am going to clean again today since the papers are towering over my computer and I don’t want a landslide to cause any injuries…I am going to try to get out on the bike today but I’ll have to wait for later to make sure that the ice is melted….more later…
Okay…thought I should update this one with today’s happenings on the trail…crashed the bike big time on the ice today and I’m now sitting here taking inventory of what I hurt…there’s the left wrist, right wrist, elbow, and shoulder, my neck and my back…don’t think there is any permanent damage but I do need to get some ibuprofen and see….I’ll keep you updated…
Well…I was shocked and pleasantly surprised when the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the fourth amendment’s sanction against police searches without the use of a warrant this past week. This case stemmed from a police action in DC where a suspects car was tagged with a GPS unit without the use of a warrant (actually, the warrant they had obtained had expired) so they could track his movements for weeks on end. The court got it right to throw this case out and support the overturning of the suspects conviction, stating that the use of the GPS unit was a “search” that was covered under the fourth amendment….I have not had much to applaud from the Robert’s court that gave us “Citizens United”, and has been the type of activist court the the repubs howl about…but, this one time, they got it right…now they need to extend this protection to other intrusions that come from the tracking of cell phones without warrants that some police departments have started to use…
Well… I have to laugh at the surprise that has been coming out of some quarters in Europe that the economy there has slowed markedly over the past few months with the head of the IMF now saying the continent will go back into recession this year. What did they expect? When you slash spending and pay for workers, the result has always been slowing growth…just as Keynes postulated in his economic theories that have been so derided by the right here in the US. One of the things that everyone seems to be ignoring in the headlong rush to austerity across the globe is that you can never cut your way to growth….that cuts in spending and infrastructure investment will certainly mean years of slower growth instead of the robust growth that comes from deficit spending in a recession. I feel we have lost the ability to be objective in economics as the partisanship of politics and ideology have blinded us to what works in climbing out of recession…but, I think that is the aim of the repubs with their only stated goal over the last 3 years is to defeat Obama; no matter how much damage is done to the country…geez…
Well…another long day yesterday and I think I’ll have to take a couple of weeks off to start to feel better…and I was up at 3, 4:38, and 5:30, so that doesn’t help. It was fun to see T and G yesterday so it was worth it, I guess…it was nice to get out on the bike yesterday but it looks like the last time until spring so I do need to take the bike over and wash it…but not today…not much to do today…I think I’ll make it a recovery day and skip the papers and coffee..it is still icy out there and I really don’t feel like chopping the car out…more later….
Well….haven’t really done any political stuff since the repub primary in SC so I think I should at least do a couple of words…does anyone else find it ironic that in a values voter state, that ole Newt could win it? And, run as a Washington outsider when his entire adult life has been consumed with politics and has been fed by the public trough? The repubs must really hate ole Mitt to give this unethical, unprincipled idiot their votes….what else….hmmmm….oh, another funny thing happened this morning when Rand Paul was detained by the TSA for refusing a full body patdown when he was flying….I don’t agree with anything this rightie has to say but I can support his saying enough…okay…going to end here for now but will be back later…
Well…I was right…I do feel like crap today and that is the major reason I’m running late today….and the major reason that I’m going to keep this one short…it was a long day yesterday with shooting pool and then cocktails last night so I’m gong to go back to the couch and drink some more water…I will be back to add to this one later…just not now…
Okay, I’m back and feel quite a bit better after getting a bike ride in and having lunch with T….I got back here on the bike just as the skies opened up but that really didn’t matter since I was already soaked and muddy from tire spray…it was so great to get back on the bike even if it’s only for one day….I will be doing another one here in a minute after I finish here so come on back…
Well…it was a long day yesterday but I had loads of fun so that was good…went out to watch the Wings game with a bunch of folks and then back here to wrap up the night…and got a call from G that was unexpected and I had the thick tongue disease at the time so I apologize for that one…K and J brought me a George Foreman grill that I really want try out but have too many leftovers so that will have to wait for another day….there were dreams but I don’t remember them, again, so I think I’ll stop reporting them….I do have things to do today…going out to shoot pool with Tom later and that will run into the rest of the day so I plan on feeling like crap tomorrow…just to warn you to not expect anything lucid tomorrow..I may comment on the shock of ole Newt winning in SC…man, this race is getting to be fun and the repubs are doing Obama’s work for him with all of the super pac ads that are running…so…maybe more later…
Well…as you know, I have taken the governor here in Michigan to task on many occasions just for the fact that he screwed the middle class and retirees here with tax cuts for business while raising taxes on everyone else…and I still feel that this is wrongheaded since tax cuts for business as a means to spur job growth has never worked anywhere it has been tried….that said, I will give him his due for statements this week that tries to put a damper on the repub controlled legislatures headlong rush to attack organized labor by making Michigan a right to work state…I think he got it just right when he said that taking up this issue will end any other legislative work for the year and that Michigan can’t afford that….less than a ringing endorsement of labor but at least he seems to understand that, at least in this instance, that ideology has no place in trying to get the state moving again…so, I will applaud this stance while reserving the right to criticize when the situation merits it….
Well…it was an okay day yesterday but didn’t do much…was supposed to have lunch with T but her day got away so we’ll have to reschedule….and the damn tv was going crazy last night so I had to drag out the 13 inch which was really weird…but it’s working again this morning so I really don’t know what is going on…I did have dreams last night but for some reason I’m not remembering them….okay, I can see the question…if I can’t remember them, how do I know I’m having them…oh, well…it’s about 8 degrees outside so I have to fire the car up here in a few minutes so I can go to Meijers and get the supplies I need to make homemade pizza…even going to make the crust from scratch….so, it was a cocktail night last night so I’m heading back to the couch for a few minutes before I head out…