Well…I always have to laugh when I hear anyone of the supposed repub presidential candidates talk about the need for “new leadership” in Washington, and then go on to say they are the ones that should be leading. The latest of these idiots is the former governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, who chose to criticize the administration for it’s spending to get the country out of the worst recession since the twenties, and it’s lack of support gutting seniors healthcare that is proposed by one of the other “brains” of the repub party, Paul Ryan. What kind of leadership is he talking about? Leading the country back to the deregulation that caused the last meltdown? Leading the country back to the bad old days when the majority of our retirees lived a life of abject poverty after lives of hard labor? Leading the country back to the discrimination that blacks and gays have felt for many, many years? Leading the country back to the time when the middle class didn’t exist and all of the riches of this country are in the hands of the robber barons and labor has to beg for the scraps that are left? One thing we don’t need right now is any form of repub “leadership”, I think that is an oxymoron anyway…the repubs never lead, they just follow the instructions of their business masters to the detriment of the rest of the country…geez…
May 23rd
Well…a complete veg day yesterday in recovery from the party on sat and I was a good boy…but, I still feel kind of strange today…I did sleep okay waiting for the storms and there were dreams again that had me looking for a motorcycle that I owned 30 years ago…yeah, pretty weird but you know that’s me. I think I’m going to take the week off from looking for work since it is so depressing to keep it up with no results…and it’s a great race weekend with F1, Indy cars, and Nascar all racing; traditionally, I watch them all Sunday..especially Indy….and I still hate Versus since I used to be able to watch qualifying and the rest of the process for the Indy 500 and now I only get to see the race. I hope the rain cleaned the car so I don’t have to wash the ashes off….not much to do today..might have a couple with G later and I am going to make chicken for lunch and get some cleaning done around here…I am still in the middle of switching out the winter clothes so I think I should get that done…and a couple more of these out, of course…
Okay…I did want to add one last thing…watched “The Black Swan” yesterday and I was not impressed…an okay movie but all of the hype surrounding it was just that…hype…I’ve seen many better movies in my life and even the throwaway ones from the 40’s were better than that one…and Natalie Portman for best actress? Sorry…but having one expression through the entire movie does not make an oscar winner….I felt the whole thing was contrived and predictable…
One last thing…
Well…just a shorty to talk about one last thought I had about some other events that have defined the repub party here and across the entire US. Here in Michigan, the ultra right wing repubs had their hands slapped when they tried to involve the legislature in the working of the state universities who, by the constitution, are independent entities set up that way to make sure that the winds of political change don’t interfere with the charter of these institutions. What these guys tried this week was to impose their religious views on stem cell research on the universities by creating all kinds of new reporting regulations that would have the effect of chilling this important avenue of research along with making an unconstitutional power grab for the legislature. But, as we all know, the repubs don’t give a damn about the constitution except as a tool for political advantage. The second thing the new commissars of Michigan tried was to pass a bill that would prevent any university here from offering health benefits to same sex partners under penalty of withholding operating funds from any one who did…again, usurping the constitutional powers of the boards that govern the universities and trying to jam their far right craziness on the population who, by a large majority, approve of these benefits…but, that has never mattered to the repubs…they only govern for those who vote for them and the rest of us are just leeches to be punished in any and all ways at their disposal….can’t wait for 2012…and the Snyder recall petitions…
More repub hypocrisy…
Well…just sitting here a few minutes ago…well…have been just sitting most of the day recovering from the all day party yesterday and I had a thought…I’m sure you’ve heard the repubs go on an on about accountability, results, and measurement when they talk about education and are always first in line to impose these things on teachers, but what about all of the money they are handing out to business with the new business tax cuts that have just passed the legislature here in Michigan? Nope, not a thing about any regulation whatsoever or even about any accountability for job creation that has been held up as the sole purpose for these cuts. After all, with taxes being raised on you and me, we are paying for these cuts and shouldn’t we be able to ask to see the results? Shouldn’t we be able to recapture these tax cuts if they don’t do anything to create jobs here? I find it funny or maybe consistent that the repubs are all about using the power of government to control individuals behavior, but business gets a free ride to claim our money for their own personal use….since we all know cutting taxes for business without strings attached just puts more money into the hands of the already rich…and has never created one job…not since Reagan…not with Bush, not with anyone…geez…
May 22nd
Well…it was a fun day yesterday but the fun kind of ran out around 10 so I decided to come home instead of staying in MP and that was a really good decision…felt good to sleep in my own bed and get up and into my normal routine…so I thought I’d get one of these out while I wait for the coffee and the F1 race to start…it was kind of a long drive to do 100 miles after being in the sun all day…well…kind of sun…it showered all day and with the bonfire, everything I had on smells really bad…and just noticed that my car is kind of a grey from all of the ashes it has on it…I don’t feel that bad today and it will be good to get out on the bike before the rains come….coffee is done and I am going to get to relaxing and reading the paper….more later…oh, not much to do today…bike ride, of course, and maybe out for a SF later in the aft…we’ll see…
May 21st
Well…I’m not running late this morning since it is the weekend…I had to read the papers first and get some coffee in me to get jump started on what appears to be a pretty fun day….going to MP to hang out with C and D for their housewarming party that is going to be a pretty big deal..going to stay overnight which, if you know me, is something I never do since I don’t sleep and even after a day of fooling around and partying, I’ll be up at 6 or so when everyone else will be in bed til 10….I’ll be taking off out of here around 1 or so and they don’t have wi-fi so you may not see another of these until I get back tomorrow aft…I do need to get a bike ride in and pack some stuff..I can’t wait until I find a job and get a new phone so I can update from the road…so, I’m going to watch the F-1 qualifying, have another cup of coffee, and then get the bike out…maybe more later…
Lots of things….
Well….I’ve got the problem again where I don’t have enough to say about any one topic so I’m going to put a bunch of them in one and keep adding to it as the day goes on…or not….first a little about ole Newt….I’m old enough to remember when the Nixon administration was wading through Watergate and the Newt meltdown reminds me so much of the disclaimer that Nixon’s cronies used…”that statement is no longer operative” I think it was….made me laugh then and Newt is giving me a huge case of the grins with his verbal gymnastics and assertions that David Gregory’s question on Ryan’s Medicare plan was not fair…I think he’s come down with the Sarah Palin disease where she thinks any question asked of her is a “gotcha” from the media….why does anyone think Newt is such a “towering intellect”? Maybe in his own mind….
Next…this could be the next to last one of these…you know, the world is going to end tomorrow and, as you already know, I won’t be one of the ones getting raptured….I will be toasting with a beer and a shot at 6 PM Saturday…can’t wait to see what the end of the world looks like and feel huge earthquakes here in Michigan….maybe it won’t happen in MP? It was weird seeing the full page ad in the newspapers today…and I can’t wait to see the ones in the paper Sunday saying they “miscalculated” again…you just gotta love these religious nuts who are just so sure they are right about everything….I think this whole thing may be a marketing plan from some of the papers since there is a statement urging people to go out and buy “multiple” copies of the paper and give them to family and friends….
Okay, that’s it for now…I need to get a bike ride in with the fog still here…it looks really cool with all of the spider webs showing up in the dew…
One last thing….my spam filter on Yahoo has been trapping hundreds of e-mails from psychics….shouldn’t they know that the e-mails won’t get through? Just a thought…
May 20th
Well…I don’t know when it’s going to stop raining but I hope it’s soon…I need some sun or I think I’m going to go crazy…other than that, it was an okay day yesterday…doing the grocery run hurt, though..93 bucks but that included supplies for the party at C’s tomorrow so I guess I shouldn’t bitch too much…and there is food here again…I’m still having a hard time eating enough…but you’ve heard that before so I’ll stop complaining….not much to do today….I have to go out and find a new cord to connect my walkman to the car stereo but that’s about it….will probably lie out in the sun for a while to even out the skin color but that not really any other plans…was bad last night so I’m going to end here and get some ice water…more later…
Republican Moderates?
Well…I’ve been reading about the salivating the media is undergoing when they talk about a republican “moderate” like John Huntsman getting into the 2012 presidential race, and I can’t help but sit here amazed that this is a story at all. I know the media needs to feed the the 24 hour news cycle and find the next big thing, but talking about a repub moderate is like talking about a dodo bird…they just don’t exist anymore except in comparison the the hard right that dominates the party. Does anyone in their right mind think someone like Huntsman can get through the primary process that is dominated by people that used to be the fringe right that included the John Birch society? Ronald Reagan couldn’t even get through to the nomination in this era of ideological purity and litmus tests that the fringe has imposed on them….making the pragmatism (or supposed pragmatism) of someone like Huntsman a death sentence for his candidacy.
Just had a thought, maybe this is just another ploy from the repubs to lie again…run someone as a centrist, just like they did for governor in Michigan and Wisconsin, and lie like crazy to everyone but their base, and then have this “stealth” candidate win so they can give the rest of the country away to the rich and business…machiavellian, I know, but stranger things have happened…remember you heard it here first and I won’t be afraid to say “I told you so” when this plan is worked right in front of the media’s eyes and they miss it….
May 19th
Well…that’s four days in a row of being good a night here and the benefits are piling up…well…not really but I want to think that…I’m not sleeping much but I still feel better when I get up so that is a plus….have been up since 5 though, and I will need a nap later to make up for it….something to look forward to…I did watch “the Kings Speech” yesterday and while it was a good movie I still can’t understand why it won the oscar for best picture…must have been a pretty weak field….maybe that’s what I’ll do over the next week or so…get all of the oscar nominees from last year and see for myself…or, not, who knows? Not much to do today…have to get groceries and this one is going to hurt since I didn’t buy much last week…and there is no food here so the list is twice as long as normal…oh, well…might have HH with K but that might wait until we are up in MP Sat…oh, I’ll fill you in on that one tomorrow…more later…