Well…I was going to lie out in the sun for a while but it was just too hot to do it comfortably so I took a pass….looks like I’ll have to live with the weird looking tan for another day….I did want to get to the Michigan tax thing….I saw an analysis the other day that really describes what the “shared sacrifice” that our gov and the rest of the repubs here are trying to sell. Under the new plan, and with the deletion of the homestead tax credit for the middle class…a retiree making around 50K a year in retirement benefits will pay more than 3,000 dollars a year more in taxes…taking almost 8% additional from that meager amount. But, people making over 250K per year that are still working will pay less than that in their tax increase. Now, does that sound fair to anyone? Does that sound like shared sacrifice. Nope, it didn’t to me either….I have only one more comment….where are the jobs from the 2 billion dollars you just gave away to business? There are none….but ceo pay just went up again and I am pissed about having to pay for a raise for someone making millions a year….
More repub nonsense…
Well…with all of the talk of economic apocalypse that will come from the failure to raise the debt ceiling, what do we see from the house repubs? We see them spending a whole legislative day on a symbolic bill called “cut, cap, and balance” that everyone in the country knows will never pass the senate or be signed into law. What we have is a bunch of right wing thugs playing chicken with the economy to make a point for the 20% of the country that say they are tea party aligned while the rest of us sit here and wait for our retirement money to be worth nothing when the stock market crashes, which it will if these idiots keep this nonsense up. I really hope they keep this crap up…then we will take back the house, keep the senate, and Obama will get 4 more years…..and I would pile on our own gov Snyder…in fact, I think I will….where are the jobs governor? Where are the jobs Eric Cantor? It just shows again how the repubs just care about ideology, not about you and me….I do have more about the tax shift here in Michigan but that one is for later….I need to lie our in the sun and try to even out the tan….
July 21st
Well…another night and one that is just like the last hundred or so….I could not believe how hot is was last night…helped my neighbor get her car started by pushing it and in about 2 minutes, I was soaked. Looks like the same sort of day today so I need to get all of my activity done early and then just veg out here until I head over to T’s later…but this is about the fourth time this week that we were going to get together and I’m not sure if this one will happen either with her busy schedule….we’ll see. I feel kind of okay today but not 100% and I think it may be a bug of some sort or allergies kicking in…not sure which but it is tiring. Not much to do today….going to get groceries I think, but I’m not sure if I’m motivated enough to do that this morning…..I would like to have some food here but it’s not a driving force by any means…more later…
Trying to get caught up…
Well…I’m running so far behind this month that I don’t know if I can catch up but I’m going to give it the old college try….it’s been a weird couple of days and I have been resisting putting the air on since I’ve already told you I see dollars leaving this place every time it comes on….but, I just couldn’t stand it today since it’s 95 degrees outside and almost 85 in here…maybe I’ll just cool it down for a while and then turn it off…I might have to meet up with T later and that is going to be fun opening up the car after having it bake in the sun all day…I will be soaked by the time I see her but what can I say? I did have to re duct tape the windshield pillar today since the old stuff had kind of melted in the sun….and I think I have another exhaust leak that is going to cost another 300 bucks that I don’t have…these little drips, drips, drips of cost are going to drive me nuts unless I find a job soon….I think I’ll stop here for now and come back later if I can think of another topic….
Another day….more stupidity…
Well….before I get to the political stuff…I do have to relay one bit of trail weirdness…well…maybe not weirdness but coolness let’s say….there must have been a huge hatch of those little blue butterflies yesterday….there were hundreds of them on the trail and when I went through the swarms they looked just like blue snowflakes blowing in the wind…just the coolest thing…
Okay, now on to the stupidity….there is so much crying on the repub side about deficits that they want try to pass a constitutional amendment to limit the governments ability to respond to slowdowns by codifying the percentage of government spending to an average of the last thirty years….basically saying that they can see the future and know what is going to happen 10, 20, 30 years down the road. They didn’t even see the crash coming in 2008….how can they now believe they are prescient? Just another bunch of stupidity by the party of the know-nothings who are proud of their ignorance and who willfully confuse ideology with good policy and who choose ideology over the needs of the citizens of this country…geez….
July 20th
Well…just a short one this morning since I was not good last night and feel a little crappy today but I think I’m back to not eating right that is compounding it….just can’t bring myself to eat enough…is that an eating disorder? Yeah, probably but I’m not that concerned yet….I did have an okay day yesterday but the heat kept me from doing a lot…I do normally like it when it’s hot so I don’t know why I’m avoiding it…not much to do today….it’s raining right now so no bike ride right now…I think I’ll go back to the normal routine today….more later…..
A couple of other things….
Well…had to get out on the bike early today to avoid the possibility of heatstroke and I was amazed at all of the people out at 7 in the morning…but I still came back soaked through…might have to be the pattern for the rest of the week since it is so hot out there right now…that’s not what this is about, though…I just love the latest poll that shows that people are starting to tire of the obstructionism of the repubs with 71% feeling that the they are responsible for there not being a budget deal. Now, I just hope the Obama and his guys take this as a reason to stiffen their spines and stop giving away the store.
Then, we have Paul Ryan stating today, in essence, that he is completely willing to crash the economy if the repubs don’t get everything they want…can’t we all agree that this is nonsense and is not how American government works…and we have the Koch brothers to thank for this crap….they will not rest until they own the entire country and use it as their personal plaything….oh, that’s what they are doing now in Wisconsin…how did that work out for you up there?
One last thing….I think we need a “pledge” for the repubs to sign that when elected, they will have to take at least a 100 level economics course that will give them a rudimentary understanding of the economy and that it does work to the theories of Keynes and just because they don’t “believe” in them, it doesn’t make them invalid…I have had just about enough of ignorance that passes for depth with the repubs these days….
A couple of things….and it’s politics…..
Well….Where the heck do the repubs get the people that are running for president on their side? The party of the constitution (as they say it…it’s not true but they say it) is running at lest one person that does not even know what the first amendment is, let alone that it prohibits government interference in religion. But, this past week, we heard Herman Cain…one of the tea party darlings, come out and propose that cities have the power to deny Muslims from building mosques since they are not really religious structures but their purpose is to promote sharia law. And the Christian churches aren’t there to promote biblical law? Just another instance where these folks will distort or ignore the constitution unless it can be used for political gain…don’t they ever get ashamed of this hypocrisy? Oh, obviously not…geez…
The second thing I wanted to talk about is this whole debt ceiling nonsense, again, and the latest proposal from the repubs to give Obama the power to raise it on his own when necessary…and these folks thinks this is a big coup that they will be able to use to hurt Obama in 2012? Man, I can come up with about a dozen attack ads right off the top of my head to go after the repubs with…and if I were Obama, I would say bring it on and let’s get the country’s business done….how dense are these repubs? Playing to their 20 percent tax cutting, tea party base? Good luck with that strategy….
July 18th
Well…a fun afternoon yesterday with quite a few people coming out to hang for a while…I did lose at pool again but it was a close fought match so I don’t feel bad about it…..I was really good when I got home so I feel okay today but had one of the worst nights of sleep that I can remember in a long time….I think I got a total of about three hours and that was in a span of 7….I may have to go back to the otc sleeping pills for a couple of days to just get the clock reset….we’ll see…not much to do today…going to meet up with T later but not sure when….and then the resumes etc…just like always….maybe a couple with G later but I’m not sure about that….
Okay, I’m six short for the month…
Well…I don’t think I’ve been so far behind in numbers here since I started this thing so I guess I’d better get my butt in gear and get a couple more out today….it was a tiny bunny day out on the trail today and I was really amused how they would never just cross the trail in front of me but would cross then run down the trail for a few yards…they are much faster than they look…I was going 15 and they were keeping up….just a bit of trail weirdness…
I did want to get to the nonsense that Bachmann and her ilk are peddling on the campaign trail about the stimulus package…their contention being that the stimulus did not work at all and it was a waste of 700 billion dollars…well, Michele, the stimulus was almost half tax cuts so what you’re saying is that tax cuts don’t work to stimulate the economy, right? So, why are you and the rest of the nut job right continuing to push more and more tax cuts? It just shows that these guys don’t give a damn about the economy except how it can be used to benefit the rich and connected….geez….