Well…running late this morning and there is no reason for it…I’ve been up since 5 or so and just sitting and thinking….kind of a dangerous thing to be doing right now but I am waiting for the sun to come up and melt the frost off the car so I can go get newspapers….nope, I’m not going to scrape the windows as a matter of principle…it’s getting to the end of March and that crap is supposed to be over so I’ll just sit here and wait. Boring, boring night last night and I think I’m moving back to enduring my life again instead of living it….and I don’t think the cocktails help other than the boredom goes away for just a little while…so, what to do? Not sure yet…I’ll let you know if there is any breakthrough and miraculous clarity sets in. Not much to do today….there is the Bristol race to be seen and Sebring that is not on tv so I’ll have to watch it on the computer if I want to see it….going to try to get a couple out today but i have no inkling what they are going to be yet…maybe some navel-gazing, indulgent crap…who knows?
Okay….
Well…out the bike, I had an idea that ended up being way too depressing…the title was going to be “what happens when your dreams are gone?” but that’s way too depressing even for me..so let’s go another direction. You know I’ve been severely critical of our gov Snyder and his plans to raise taxes on everyone but corporations….and I may have been a little too strident but that reaction comes from my long experience following politics and the fact that since Reagan, there has been a notable bias by the repubs against the middle class. Can a leopard change it’s spots? So, I think I’ll take it easy for a couple of days and try to regain my perspective…and I’ve always said that I don’t mind paying taxes since it is one of the responsibilities of any society; I just don’t like it when corporations get to freeload on the infrastructure you and I pay for. It would be nice to have an I-94 that didn’t destroy you car when you use it and schools that aren’t crumbling. That brings me to the one last thing…when did teachers become the devil? The way the right is foaming at the mouth about them, you would think they stole the candy from the mouths of babies and kicked puppies. I for one, have always looked up to good teachers and I don’t I don’t understand whey they are always considered overpaid when a ceo or hedge fund manager makes a thousand times more than their average. Just a question…don’t expect an answer…
March 18th
Well…a different night than I expected….no Jamo for St. Patty’s day since K wanted to go to Logan’s and there we no way I was going to fight those crowds….so, it was a night off that I really needed but kind of boring…Michigan State made a run at the end but UCLA beat them…not unexpected to me with how inconsistent their play had been….but, the Wings won even playing badly so that was good. As you can see, the brain is still not functioning right….still hard to get the flow going but I’ll keep trying….no plans for today….need a few groceries and to get a bike ride in but that’s about it….Oh, and Michigan plays this aft so that could be a diversion for a few minutes anyway….I will get a couple out later and hope to be better than yesterday…but, you’ll never know unless you come back….more later…
Revisionist history….
Well….don’t know how long this one is going to be but had a couple of thoughts that I wanted to get down….the first thing that started me down this path was an article by our ex-senator Spence Abraham the basically said to our gov “keep doing what you’re doing” and ignore that the people of Michigan really don’t want the direction you are going…saying what I’ve been saying for quite a while, that the repubs don’t care what you and I think. But the worst part of the article goes on to revise the history of the previous repub governor Engler; praising him for taking on big government and asserting that the state was in great shape when he left. What strikes me in all of this is the continuation of the same old repub results, ruin the state or nation by your imbecilic policies, then lie about them and claim that it was all good. When Engler left, he left behind a legacy deregulation that prevented people from suing pharmaceutical companies even if they were negligent and their products caused death, and an economy that was fast taking on water from the tax cuts he gave to every business with no strings attached.
So, what have we learned here? Oh, you know, that the repubs will lie, cheat, and steal…it’s in their DNA….geez…
March 17th
Well…it was a long day yesterday but getting back on the bike helped…I am sore everywhere today, though, but I can’t wait to go back out today…should be just a t shirt and shorts since it is already almost 50 at 7:45. The Wings won last night and they looked good….maybe we’ll get out of the first round this year…..not much to do today..it is St. Patrick’s day and I may be having a couple with K later but that is about it….this just isn’t working right now so I’ll come back in a while to continue…
Okay…I’m back and feeling better but still not 100% and can’t figure out why….maybe it’s the corned beef and cabbage….or the depression about not getting any responses to the resume…or that I’m getting old….or any number of other things that I’m not going to bore you with right now…but I will bore you with them later since I’m having trouble coming up with topics…but if you’ve been here before, you know that happens sometimes but it never gets easier and there is no consistent way to break out of it….other than writing but if I do that, you’ll get crappy stuff from me and I do still have my pride if nothing else. So, what to do? Who knows? I’ll be back later to try again…there is basketball on after all…Butler is making another run…
Didn’t think about this one til now….
Well…I’ve had this idea rattling around in my head for a while but it didn’t take shape until today when in a flash of insight (I do have those, you know) put it all together. I know I was understandably upset and concerned about the Citizens United decision that gave corporations the same rights as individuals and allowed them to spend unlimited money on political campaigns without having to disclose where the money came from, and I have railed against the absurdity of the twisted logic that led to the decision. But, this new idea is the scariest one yet….what happens when a foreign government buys some small American company and then uses it to funnel money to candidates that will vote in direct opposition to the interests of the US? Without the disclosure law that the repubs killed, this has already happened and will continue to be one of the greatest threats to our democracy we have ever seen…much more so than the threat of radical Islam that rep King is so concerned about. The repubs have already sold off most of the country to business…are foreign governments next? Geez….
Man…I think I’m dyin’
Well…first day out on the bike and everything hurts…I feel like I’m dying…the legs are okay but the lungs and wrists are killing me and I am sweating like crazy….only went 10 miles and I feel like I’ve done a hundred….but it is the best damn feeling I’ve had since I got off it January 1st. The trails looked good but were flooded and muddy in places and I think I brought back a couple of pounds with me…the shower is still filled with sand that is going to take a couple of days to rinse out….but it’s all good….more later…
Manny’s wrong again….or is that still?
Well…I know, I promised to not counterpunch much and I’m not sure if this is one, but it kind of seems like it since I have to comment on the misguided rantings of Manny Lopez again…but I think it’s not Manny per se, but the idea of Manny and his repub ilk and their continued reliance on failed policies as a cover for their naked thievery. I know, I said that I was going to be a little more composed here, and I fully understand that Michigan is in bad shape and things need to change to restore it’s solvency. What I disagree with is the way the new gov is going about it along with the assertions from the right that this is what the people voted for. The problem with believing that is not once on the campaign trail, did Snyder or any of the repubs that were elected to the house and senate give any detail of their budget plan that included huge tax breaks for business while raising taxes on you and me. If they would have, the “nerd” would never have been elected, but that is how the repubs operate….lie or conceal until the people are duped, and then ram through their radical right wing agenda while tarring the opposition as “socialists’ or special interests whose only concern is lining their own pockets. I’d rather have the pockets of a working person or retiree lined than give more to the corporate thieves that bought this last election…geez….
March 16th
Well…took the day off from pool yesterday since neither Tom or I was too keen to go or had the cash to do it…so I sat home last night and had a couple of cocktails and watched more of the British series “A Touch of Frost” that I have really gotten into. Other than that, it was kind of a veg day just getting resumes out and waiting for the weather to warm up enough to take the bike out…that should be today and I need to get the instructions out so I can reset the computer on the bike….three weeks earlier than the first day out last year so I can easily beat the 2400 miles from last summer….not much to do today…going to make my corned beef and cabbage a day early since I’m out of leftovers and it’s the only thing I have left to cook…and I will get a couple out today since I think the tangle in my head is starting to unravel….
Here’s the reason…
Well…there has been idea gestating in my head over the past couple of days that is a response to the columnists here in Michigan who are decrying the pushback to gov Snyders budget proposals as just more of the same special interest excesses that have put us in this dire budget crises. But, in this case, I think most of the pundits have it wrong….where workers have done their part over the past twenty years to help make the economy viable by giving back on wages and benefits with the promise of those givebacks being temporary, they have now awoken to the true fact that their sacrifice was just a part of a larger con game being run on them by business and repubs. I also feel that it is past time for them to see that the ‘shared sacrifice” that is espoused by Snyder is a one-sided bargain where business gets everything they want in tax breaks and the restriction of workers rights and the rest of us pay for it. Why should the workers and retirees of this state believe anything these guys say when they have been lied to for the last 20 years?
I contend that this pushback is a logical response to the lies and rigging of the economy that the repubs have foisted on us; and is not equivalent to the naked greed that drives business and their partner cons…the repubs…geez…