Another November 24th…

Well…it was a long day with the Lions stinking up the place and with me getting worse….I know this is the flu now since I have been getting all of the symptoms of it…..and the dinner didn’t come out as well as I expected and it’s what I get for trying new things when I had the perfect turkey recipe from two years ago….won’t use the veggies inside next time and will go back to just stuffing the cavity with oranges…the veggies made the drippings a little too bitter but I guess that’s what cooks do is try new things….okay…it’s cocktail time and I am running out of steam really quickly….so, I’m heading back to the couch…

November 24th

Well…it’s 4:30 in the morning and I’m sitting here writing in the dark since I can’t sleep and I feel pretty crappy from the cold or flu that I have…..but I am going to try to go back to bed here in a few minutes to try to get about another hour…or maybe not…I don’t have anyone coming over today for dinner so I can nap to my heart’s content later..it’s probably a good thing that no one is coming…I wouldn’t want them to get this bug…it’s not that bad of one on the sickness scale but most other people have to work and that would not be fun to do feeling this way…I did talk to my middle son last night and he told me he has a girlfriend for the first time, I think, and I could not be happier for him…he sounded elated and that can really make a father smile….not much to do today…just make the full boat turkey dinner for me but don’t even have to start on that until one so the morning will be one of coffee and the newspaper…I do need a new tv but I won’t be going out to get one in the craziness over the next few days….and then I do have to watch the Lions try to beat the Packers…not sure which team is going to show up but it will be interesting….I will try to get another one out later but no one is reading today so I guess I could take it easy…

Okay…I did get back to sleep around 6 and got the other hour I was hoping for so I feel okay if still a little tired….I did brine the turkey yesterday in orange juice with onions and garlic…and I’m going to roast it with rosemary butter under the breast skin along with carrots, celery, onion, and garlic in the cavity….and the gravy should be good with the sweetness of the orange juice and the savory from the veggies…well…last weeks “Burn Notice” is on so I’m going to go watch it….

To protect and to serve…

Well…even though everyone has commented on the pepper spraying of student protesters at UC Davis, I thought I’d weigh in with my two cents…first, what was that fat thug thinking when he walked up and down the line of protesters spraying them in such a nonchalant way? I thought pepper spray was only to be used when there was danger to the officer or bystanders? This thug was in no danger…he just wanted to show his power to the students…that he could treat them any way he wanted with no ramifications…what is wrong with sitting down and talking and trying to work things out? What has happened to the police in this country? What has happened to the motto that many of them carry on the sides of their cars….and the question then becomes to protect and to serve who? From my view, it is to protect the 1% and serve as their private army…trying to ensure they don’t have to listen to protests or have their thievery exposed….until the police stop treating every protest and execution of our first amendment rights as an attack on them, this stuff will continue…geez…

November 23rd

Well….feeling really crappy today and it’s not from cocktails this time…I think I have the flu and can’t really think very well right now…I have to have my car fixed at 8 and I don’t know how I’m going to get through it….I’ll be back later for an update….

Okay…here’s the update…couldn’t afford to get the care fixed so I guess I’ll just drive it loud for a while….I did start feeling okay again so I will be getting out on the bike here in a few minutes…after the temp comes up some though…it is still only 42 so I guess I’ll have lunch first…not much else to do today…I did get the turkey in the brine and that gave me an excuse to clean out the fridge some so it would fit….I am still not feeling that well but maybe the bike ride will help…I can take it easy later in the afternoon after all…and there is a Wings game on tonight so there will be a cocktail or two with that….

Let them eat cake…Newt’s version…

Well…I don’t think I’ve sen anyone as breathtakingly tone-deaf in a long time as ole Newt…we have here the embodiment of the 1%…a man who turned his House tenure into the connections and cronyism that got him no interest credit at Tiffany’s and huge government contracts that he made millions on…and now, he is championing the destruction of unions and their workers to be replaced by child labor. Nope…I’m not making this up folks…in a forum the other day, ole Newt actually said that union janitors in every school across America should be fired and replaced by the kids that go to school there…never mind what this would do to the poor kids that would be the ones doing the work, the stigma and bullying that would come from having to do this. But, this doesn’t matter to ole Newt…I’m sure he would like to return to the early 1900′s where children as young as 8 years old worked 12 hours a day in factories…after all it would mean more money for the “job creators” and wouldn’t that trickle down?

Then, he doubles down in response to a question about the “Occupy” movement where he is asked to comment on what has been going on and his only response is “they should all go out and get a job..after they take a shower”….but that is the point Newt, without connections and cronyism, there are no jobs for these folks to go out and get….how can anyone be so out of touch? Oh, he’s a republican…that answers that…. Geez…

November 22nd

Well…another night and I know I’m coming down with something but not sure yet how bad it’s going to be…I’m sure the bad sleep is compounding things but there’s not much I can do about that…just realized it’s November 22nd….the day Kennedy died…I wonder if anyone else still remembers where they were when they heard the news? I sure do…it’s still a clear as a bell….oh, well. If you get the chance, take a look at the Barney Frank interview on the “Countdown” website…very insightful on how the repubs overplayed their no tax hand again and have boxed themselves in…just showing again that….nope, not the place for that one….I’ll get to that later…not much to do today…have to take the car in again for more exhaust work but it may be a part that I’ve already replaced so it may be cheap…at least I hope so since I don’t have a lot of cash…it is getting to t-day and I am getting excited even though I’ll be alone this year….but I’m getting used to that so it’s okay…making the whole deal again this year and can’t wait for turkey…more later…

The “failure” of the deficit committee…

Well…since the deficit committee and it’s purported failure is going to be in the news for the next couple of days, I thought I’d weigh in with my two cents before the punditry gets it’s chance..oh, I guess I’m one of them…oh, well…don’t hold that against me. First, let’s cut through the nonsense of “fairness” that the general media seems obsessed with and place the blame squarely where it belongs…Grover Norquist and his anti-tax goons that would rather see the country fail than have any discussion about the need to raise revenue from the rich who are taxed at the lowest rate in history right now. Remember, that as near as the 70′s, the top tax rate was over 70% for the top 1%…not the 25% they pay now with all of the loopholes and shelters they have been given by the repubs. So, any time the media attempts to make the assertion that both sides are at fault, remember that the dems were willing to talk entitlement reform (which I think was a mistake in this context) and the repubs were still working on the strategy that says that saying no is the best form of politics for them. One of the things that the repubs are ignoring here is the fact the country has abandoned them on the idea of not raising taxes…..over 65% of the country want taxes to be part of any bargain and the 9% approval rate of the repub controlled House bears that out. Keep it up Grover…and you and your cronies can go back under the rock you crawled from….geez….

November 21st

Well…running late again this morning but again, I don’t know why other than I can’t get motivated….it was a pretty good day in sports yesterday with the Lions and the Wings both winning….but I am coming down with something and feel pretty crappy with a fever and sore throat…I wonder how I can get anything when I never go anywhere or get exposed to anything…maybe that is why I’m late today…not much to do…I am debating with myself whether to go out for coffee or not since the car is ice covered and I’ll have to warm it up…not sure yet…more later…

Here come the bankers…

Well…a disturbing development has arisen over the past couple of days concerning the “Occupy” movement and it’s primary adversaries in the banking industry. It appears that the bankers and their lobbyists are taking a page out of the repubs playbook; that when your ideas can’t compete with your foes, you try to smear them personally with lies and fabrications. A memo has surfaced over the last couple of days that has the bankers putting up almost a million dollars to start the smear process against the members and any politicians that support “Occupy” since they are finally starting to realize that their egregious thievery is being recognized by more than the fringe…that popular opinion is swinging toward more regulation of that theft and the continued concentration of wealth at the top. They should be scared…when the dems take back the House in 2012, they will be held accountable to the people who put them there…all of us that have had enough of the rigging of the economy for the benefit of the 1%. What are these guys thinking? After their private armies called police departments coordinated attacks on the 99%, and the public relations catastrophe that came from it, they do this nonsense? It just shows how out of touch these folks, in their insular little world of summer homes and private jets truly are. The tide is turning….finally….

November 20th

Well…another night of boredom that I survived (barely) and I feel okay today even thought I had a couple of cocktails…the car is failing me again with the exhaust getting to the point that I can’t tolerate it…but I can’t afford to have it fixed, either, so it looks like I’ll be a hermit for a while until I come up with some cash…oh, well…no dreams or anything last night but I think it’s because I didn’t sleep for crap…but, you don’t care about that either so I won’t mention it again…not much to do today…waiting for the temp to come up so I can get out for a ride and get to 2600 miles for the year…but it looks like this could be the last week…okay, going to go check the weather…be right back…it looks like the weather is going to change to the hit and miss that it does this time every year…but I will get a couple of days in this week…and t-day looks like it will be nice so that will be something to look forward to…oh, back to the to-do list for today…not much is on it….I am going to watch the Lions after the pummeling they took last week…they can’t get worse, can they? Then, there is the last race of the year that I want to see, too…then, another Wings game tonight so maybe I won’t be so bored today…more later….maybe…