Well….it has been almost two years since the repubs did well in the 2010 elections and we now have a very clear view of what this country will be like if they win again in 2012. All we have to do is look to Wisconsin, where the public unions gave back everything they were asked for in cuts to wages and benefits but the repubs had to take more and push their fringe agenda of stripping the unions and the middle class people in them of their right to associate and bargain from a position of equality. Next we can look to Pennsylvania where the legislature just approved the fundamental human right of gays to marry but the tea party governor Chris Christie vetoed the bill and is now, by his own action and governing for only the 20% of the electorate that are tea partiers, trying to change the rules like the repubs always do to get his way. Then we have the debacle in Virginia that I talked about last week that would mandate an invasive and unnecessary procedure for any woman seeking an abortion there. Right here at home in Michigan, we have the Attorney General picking and choosing which laws to enforce or ignore that will drive his personal agenda to eliminate the voter approved use of medical marijuana…..these are just a few examples of what an America run by the right would look like….crony capitalism on steroids where the rights of the people are taken away on the whim of the moralists who think they know best for all of us…geez…
All posts by James DeVol
Don’t know where to start with ole Rick…
Well…I have been getting behind in doing these and it is probably because I have been worrying about money so much…but, that’s not your problem and I guess I’ll just have to deal with it…..and I really did want to get one out on ole Rick Santorum since he is just one of the most ridiculous politicians I have ever seen…it’s like a mutation has taken over the right of the repub party and that is what they are left with…a bible spouting judgment freak who has said openly he will bring religion into all aspects of governing…never mind that he continues to advocate “returning” to a strict reading of the constitution that would forbid that type of nonsense…and that there are over 30 percent of the country that either are not his brand of Christian or the 15% of us have no faith at all…what does he propose…that people be forced to agree with religious decisions that are made by the government? Just another incidence where the right screams that Obama is “taking away our freedoms” and then will do so much more to punish those they don’t agree with….just go away, Rick….and make more millions off of the government you seem to hate so much…geez…
February 20th
Well…it was a day yesterday with the Wings winning again but I didn’t do much except kind of veg here…it’s the no cash thing raring it’s ugly head again and that is going to mean no coffee again this morning so the topics may be a little limited with only the online papers to read…it was a cocktail night last night so I feel a little slow today but I am trying to get going….no dreams to speak of and I am dreading looking at the phone…I may have sent a couple of texts that I will regret this morning…I do need to work on the self control….oh, well…I hope T lets it go but I haven’t heard from her this morning so It may have been weird….not much to do today…just going to clean and get a few other things done around here…I will get caught up later today but right now I’m going to just veg for a few….more later…
February 19th
Well…sitting here waiting for the car to thaw so I thought I’d get one out early for a change…it was a normal day yesterday…didn’t do much but watch the races and Michigan beat Ohio State last night so that was pretty cool…it was a cocktail night so I don’t feel that hot this morning but that is to be expected…the coffee will help in a few minutes and I am going to take it easy all day today since I’m broke and can’t afford to do anything…I do have some pork ribs to cook so that will be something and the Wings are playing early so that will be cool, too…I’m not going to promise that I will be back later….you know how it goes on the weekends…
February 18th
Well…running really late today and that just compounds the fact that I didn’t get to a second one yesterday…I have an excuse…not a good one but it’s the only one I have so I’ll use it…I had lunch with T that included beer and then out with the twins and there was a nap in there, too, so I just didn’t get to it…I’ll try to be better today since I don’t have much to do today…I even put the paper down to get to this one…and, if you know me, that is like stopping breathing….so, this one is going to be short…the lunch with T was so much fun and I came away with my chest hurting I laughed so much..it always brightens my day…oh, one last thing for now…as you know, I’ve been having problems with the shifters on the bike, cleaning and cleaning them to get the 4-5 shift to work…yesterday I had a head slap moment and made a quarter turn adjustment to the cable and it fixed it….don’t know how I forgot that the damn thing is adjustable…I marvel at my denseness at times…more later…
February 17th
Well…it was a nice day yesterday and I got out on the bike for the first time in more than a week and came back really muddy but it was still nice to get out…I did have really weird dreams that included standardized tests that said I was not qualified to do anything….which is kind of how I feel these days…but, I do have lunch with T today which is making me smile and the twins are up for cocktails this weekend which will give me something to do instead of sitting here and worrying about money…I would say not much to do today but that wouldn’t be true so I won’t…..I will be back for more later..things are starting to heat up in politics and that is making me smile, too…
Are the republicans stupid or just brain dead?
Well…I have bee struggling with the question in the title since yesterday when I saw a segment on Keith’s show that described how repubs in Virgina are attacking a woman’s right to choose by legislating that before she can choose, she must underego an invasive procedure (which I won’t describe here but you can imagine) forced on her by the government. Where are the small government repubs now? When more of than 50% of the electorate are women, you would think that the repubs would put aside their war on women just for their own political survival, never mind that this is just a huge abrogation of womens civil rights and takes us back to the bad old days when men essentially owned women. How would these guys feel if the government told them they had to have an invasive prostate exam to get the rest of their healthcare? You can bet that law would be gone in a minute.
Then…we have the idiot Mitt here in West Michigan yesterday telling a hand picked crowd that he will fight against unions and destroy them if he is elected…I don’t even know what to say about that other than bye, bye, Mitt…it’s the last mistake you’re going to make…especially when over 70% of the people in the US want unions to remain as protection against unbridled business. Geez…
See what I mean about stupid?
February 16th
Well…if you look down, you’ll see that I did finish up the placeholder from last night so look down…it’s something that everyone should know about…it was a good day yesterday with finally starting to get my profile up on Linkedin and that led to a call from my bother where we argued about politics for two hours…kind of wearing….but I slept okay last night and, as I said, it was a no cocktail night so I am somewhat lucid this morning…I did just look outside and it really foggy and cool looking but it’s not warm enough yet to get the bike out…later today, though, and I am really excited at the possibility….there were dreams that included my 77 Chrysler again but that is about all I remember about it…not much to do today…I do have the grocery run today and maybe even going out to Biggby’s for coffee but I tried yesterday and they were closed…who closes in the middle of the week? I will have more later since the placeholder doesn’t count for today…and I do have a comment on the nonsense being perpetrated on women by the repubs in Virginia…
A placeholder for faith based health decisions
Yep… a placeholder but it could be a good one so come on back tomorrow morning…it’s another no cocktail night so I may be lucid early…
Okay…it’s early but I thought I’d better get on this one before I get to the daily update…I hope you’ve heard of the latest repub response to the contraception controversy…well…they are going to propose a bill that will allow any employer to refuse health coverage for any reason if it is based on the faith of the employer..yep, you heard it right…this bill will allow employers to stop offering coverage to any group or individual they don’t like…this means that if they don’t think interracial couples should be allowed to marry, they can refuse to cover them….if they don’t think any one should have surgery (which some sects do)…they will be able to prevent coverage under this bill….I hope everyone else here is as outraged as I am and if this attack on America is passed, I hope it will end up in the courts and rejected as soon as possible….it is another case where the repubs think that government should not be involved in anyone’s life except when they want it to be to enforce their warped view of the world…I am almost speechless on this idiocy…another in the long line of cases for eliminating employer sponsored healthcare and moving to a single payer, medicare for all world so the politics can be taken out of it forever…
Some radical proposals for the economy…
Well…with the latest numbers that have come out on family income over the past couple of weeks showing that poverty and income inequality is skyrocketing in the US, and the connection between this inequality and the lackluster recovery, I think it is time to do something radical. But first let’s place the responsibility for these changes squarely where they belong, on the repub policies over the past thirty years that have resulted in the top 1% doing well and everyone else going backward. I know, I’ve railed about this before just because what I was seeing an feeling felt wrong, but with numbers like these it is time to stop nibbling at the corners and take a huge bite out of the core problems. First, I would propose an immediate change in ceo pay to 1 dollar per year and structural changes that would prevent any ceo from being compensated more than 50 times the average of the people that work for him or her…this would give them the incentive to raise all boats as the saying goes since rising pay of his workers would also raise the ceo’s pay. Second, I would propose worker representation on every corporate board to break the cycle of cronyism and incestous relationships that pervade corporate America and give all stakeholders a voice in their livelihoods….third, I would immediately raise the pay of all of the workers to the difference of the 1 dollar ceo pay proposed and what the average of the pay has been over the past 5 years….putting billions if not trillions of dollars in the hands of people that will spend it and giving a huge boost to our manufacturing and service industries; creating a truly self-sustaining recovery that will be spread across the economic spectrum….
Okay, I know this is really quite radical and will be branded as socialist, communist, and maybe even Martian…but, what we are currently doing is not working due in large part to the desire of the repubs to ensure that Obama doesn’t get a second term….so we need to do something new…