Well…I have been struggling lately to come up with topics that really mean something and I think the problem may be that I have stopped reading the newspapers in the morning….but I have made a little cash lately so maybe I should resume going out…who knows? The one thing that I wanted to deal with today is the new budget proposal put forth by Paul Ryan in the last week or so and the fact that it is just more of the same nonsense that he proposed last year…more tax cuts for the rich, more safety net cuts for the middle class and the poor, and exploding the deficit that the repubs say they are concerned about but their actions say otherwise. This document just reeks of dishonesty with the most egregious lie or omission being how to pay for the tax cuts for the rich and corporations that he wants…saying “trust me” with some vague statement that waste and fraud can be eliminated to pay for them but does not say where that waste and fraud lies….and the cheers on the right for this piece of crap have been long and strong with the self congratulatory pats on the back and the attack line that the repubs produced a budget when the dems haven’t…but I think a bad budget proposal like this one is worse than not doing anything…but I do thank ole Paul for pulling the cover back on what American would look like if the repubs were in control….now, all we have to do is vote these idiots out of office…geez….
Monthly Archives: March 2012
March 26th
Well…it was a day yesterday and I really didn’t do much….I did decide on which new tv to buy and I am going to get one this week…although mine stopped turning green last night so the sense of urgency isn’t there anymore…I would like to see the Wings game in HD but I know I won’t get to it today…had to turn the heat on a couple of secs ago since it is 31 degrees outside…so that means I may not be able to ride the bike until the aft….but, I have lunch with T and there will be beer involved so I may have to skip today….I do have a lot more to say but I’m going to come back later to say it…the couch is beckoning and I am going to heed it’s call…
March 25th
Well…it was a day yesterday and I made some cash so that made it a good day…I am going to go out and shop for a new tv this week since mine has started to turn green again and I really do want to get into the modern age…I may even go all the way to a 42 inch plasma since the prices have come down so far…I’m waiting for the temp to come up a bit before I go out for the ride this morning but I hope it happens pretty quickly..it was a cocktail night and I fell a little slow today and the only thing that helps is getting out and sweating a while…one good thing was that the Wings won finally, coming from 4-1 down to win it…okay…that’s about it for now…I need more coffee or water and I’m not sure which….
Okay…just wanted to do a short trail weirdness one but it doesn’t warrant one of it’s own…out on the trail today, I saw a guy wearing a kilt…not tartan plaid like they normally are but a cargo kilt with pockets on the outside…weird….
March 24th
Well…I am running really late today and it all started by not getting out of bed until 7:30…I feel quite a bit better today since T has had her health issues resolved and now I don’t have to worry about her….there were no dreams last night and I am a little surprised since I did sleep okay but maybe it’s because it was a cocktail night last night….I can’t wait to get out on the bike this morning to see if I have the shifter fixed…I did tear the thing apart yesterday and figured out that I can change the cable next week when I have to so that takes a load off the mind…yep, even something as small as that weighs on me….I did find the tire liners online yesterday and got them ordered so they should be here by Tuesday or so…I am so tired of getting flats that I can’t wait…okay…this is where I normally say I’ll be back later for more but you know how this works on the weekend….I’ll try but no promises..
Part two….
Well…it has been a weird day….had to fix a flat on the bike again and spent most of the morning running around looking for inserts to put in the tires to prevent them….and it has been raining off and on all day so I stayed off the bike…I think I may have found why the shifter has been so hinkey lately but it will mean putting a new cable in in the next couple of days….can you use in and in together? Who knows…it looks weird to read but I think its sounds okay….I do feel a little better…no, that’s not right…I felt okay this morning but, as you know, there are times I allow myself to think a little more deeply than I should and it comes pouring out here…but, you’ve seen that before and you will see it again….I do have warts, after all….and I sometimes display them here for all of you to see….tomorrow I will get to a political one since I am going to splurge for the papers…
March 23rd
Well…I can tell already that this is not working….so I’m going to stop and come back later to continue….
Okay….it’s been one of those mornings where you have to stop and think about everything in your life and the frailty of it all and that’s not something that comes easily to an old guy that is staring mortality in the face…and it’s raining, and the bike is broken, and one of my best friends is hurting and there is nothing I can do about any of it….I feel my shoulders drooping as if there is a real weight on them….but, as always, I’ll keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep moving…what else can you do? I feel hollow this morning…but I’m going to keep trying what normally works….put some music on and keep writing….
A few things….
Well…don’t really have a long form topic for today so I think I’ll just take a few things and add them into this one just to see where it goes…first, let’s look at the unintended consequences that are coming from many of the laws that the Koch brothers have sponsored through the right wing legislative organization called ALEC, whose sole purpose is to push the right wing agenda by writing laws that they hand to captive repub legislators across the US who then ram them through state legislatures. One of these laws is the “stand your ground” law in Florida that has been copied across 17 other states that says that people can’t be prosecuted if they shoot someone and claim self defense…the most recent case in Florida concerns an unarmed young black man that was chased by an armed citizen and shot and killed…with the killer claiming self defense…now, I’ve never seen anyone who thought they were in mortal danger run toward the person they felt was threatening…the NRA, ALEC, and the Florida legislators who passed this bill are as responsible for this young man’s death as the shooter. Okay….after that, the rest of the things I wanted to talk about seem pretty trivial so I’ll just leave it here….how can this happen in 2012 in the US?
March 22nd
Well…it was a nice, hot day yesterday and I think that helped me keep moving and and flexible…did not sleep well but I did have really weird dreams that included a DeSoto station wagon that used oil, Harvey Keitel, portable beard trimmers, good looking spies, and huge snowstorms…I wonder if you guys can make sense of that mess, I know I sure can’t….but I am proud of the weirdness….it looks like I may have some things to do today…I do have to do the grocery run today and then C is coming into town later so there may be a few beers in the future…I am worrying a little about T….she wasn’t feeling well yesterday and I haven’t heard from her yet today so, until I do, I will have some concern….I feel pretty good with the 3rd no cocktail night but that will end tonight….and I will have more for later even though I am ahead for the month….
Paul Ryan is still an idiot…
Well…just a short one on the new budget plan that ole Paul has put forth…I’m not going to bog you down with all of the numbers but just the two that define this mess that continues the repubs war on the middle class and poor….5.3 trillion dollars in cuts to programs for the poor and middle class…including gutting Medicare and social security…and guess who gets tax cuts? I’m sure you guessed it…the rich will get 4.3 billion in tax cuts…so, what this idiot has just said that we are no longer even going to pretend that we give a damn about anyone but the rich…and he justifies it by saying that anything that benefits the less fortunate will just take away their incentive to work and get ahead…never mind that the rich and corporations get much more in subsidies every year…does that mean that corporations will no longer have incentive to compete since they are getting corporate welfare? Oh, no….corporations are different since they are “job creators” so the rules don’t apply….as they don’t to the 1%…how did we get here? I am losing hope for our country if guys like this are allowed to stay in power…geez…
Who cares what the supreme court does on healthcare?
Well…I have been kind of interested in the implementation of the new healthcare law since it would allow me to buy insurance again that I can’t afford now…but, that’s not I want to talk about right now…I really want to talk about the political implications of the supreme court taking up the case for the individual mandate before the fall elections. Some of the pundits on the right think that no matter what the decision is, they have a winning issue for the general….but I see it differently…let’s take the either/or of the decision and see where that will take us. So, if the court rules against the individual mandate, I see the immediate result that the dems will be able to use the decision to connect it to the conservative debacle of Citizens United and say that this is an activist court that is not in the mainstream of American life…on the other hand, if the court upholds the law…the dems can say “see, I told you the law was legal” and hammer the repubs on their ignorance of the law and then start to shift the conversation back to the benefits of the law that the people will like once it is implemented….if a political novice like me can come up this off the top of my head…I’m sure we’re going to be able to deflate this issue quite easily in the fall…