February 25th

Well…as always, I’m running late today and there really isn’t any reason for it other than I read the papers and had coffee…the Roku just locked up for some reason while I was playing Pandora but it restarted so I guess it’s all good…I did have a nice night last night with K calling and going out with her for a couple before she and J head off for Mexico today….the weird thing is, I’m not really jealous but I’m happy that she is going to have some fun…while I sit here in Michigan in Feb….but that’s okay since it is going to be a huge sports day today with the Nationwide race this aft then Michigan, State, and the Wings playing later…I think there is even some soccer in there, too…I just might watch the Chelsea match this morning to see if they lose again….don’t know why I hate them but I do…drank an entire pot of coffee this morning so I do have to find a way to shed the caffeine overdose but I don’t know what that will be yet…with the snow, a bike ride is out of the question and it is too icy here to take a long walk…maybe I’ll just let it burn out on it’s own…it was a cocktail night after all and I guess I can use the lift….I don’t have to say not much to do today since I’ve already described it…I may be back for one later…okay, my fingers are dyslexic today and I’m going to stop here…

Boredom is a motivator at times….

Well…it has been another day and I have been trying to take the boredom and use it for good, not evil, and I have had some success today…I did get the bathroom cleaned and read some…then succumbed to watching a little tv…and I am now sitting here waiting for it to be cocktail time with the tv on in the background…should have Pandora on, I guess, but I listened to that for a few hours today and I am a little bored with it…there’s that word again…and I am going to have to figure out how to get through the weekend without spending any money again…I never understood how much I would miss riding the bike with the snow today and the trails being covered…okay…even I am bored with this one so I’m going to go and do something else…

A bunch of jumbled thoughts…

Well…just sat down here again without any big topic to write about so I thought I’d just get started and see where it takes me…this is a political one if that’s what your here for…if not, stay anyway, it’s always a crap shoot if any of this is going to make sense but sometimes I do…let’s go…..the first thing I want to talk about is the headlong rush to attack Iran that is happening on the right…I just can’t understand why anyone would champion doing that after so many years of war and a debilitated military that has resulted…can’t we just give our military a rest for a while? Maybe we can sell peace to the repubs by saying that we can give a tax cut to everyone if we don’t attack…and the idea that Iran would use a nuclear bomb even if they had one is almost as crazy as the idea of attacking is…Iraq would be turned into glass by the Israelis if they ever did so what would be the point of it? Let’s cool down for a while and let the sanctions work….

Man..to see how far the repubs have driven off the cliff to the right, all you have to do is look at the debate the other night where the candidates were attacking ole GW…it made me smile but shake my head at the same time…these guys are just crazier than hell and I just can’t believe it….and then we have Santorum saying that Satan is responsible for all of the problems in the US and his wife has said that it was a “call from god” that got her husband into the race…I don’t even know what to say about that….another reason to eliminate religion from the world…okay, that’s a little harsh but how can people believe this stuff? Oh, and for a religous person, Santorum doesn’t take the commandments too seriously…he’s lying away again today about his endorsement of Arlen Spector and the quid pro quo on Supreme Court justices….Okay….need to go put lunch on so I’ll go…pretty mediocre..but at least I got to it…counts for something doesn’t it?

February 24th

Well…this is going to be a short one…it was a cocktail night last night and I feel okay but not too lucid at the moment so I’m not going to force it…I am a little disappointed that the Wings lost last night but I can’t even work up any outrage about that…and there were no dreams or anything last night…I just feel so bland this morning and the snow overnight doesn’t help…won’t be able to get out on the bike for about a week until the snow melts and that is quite disappointing…so, on that note, I am going to go back to the couch and veg for a while……

Okay…I’m back for a few after reading and getting some coffee in me…did have to go out and clean off the car so I could move it for the plows but I did it in shorts so that woke me up some…need to do that again in a few minutes since it is still snowing and I am fighting the depression that comes with seeing all the white stuff…I had hoped we could get to March without a big storm but it is Michigan, after all, and this is to be expected…so, still being cashless, it looks like a veg weekend and staying in for me but that is okay…I’m starting to get used to the low-key days that brings me…I will be back for more politics later but I do have to clean the bathroom first…

This is just too funny…

Well…just wanted to get a quick one in here before I get to the races so I won’t be thinking about it during the race…I find the latest non-partisan scoring of the competing tax bills that have come out of the White House and the repub candidates just so damn funny that I had to write about it…in it, the economists agree that the plans of the repub candidates, to a man, will end up being worse for the economy and will increase, not decrease the deficits…and they all show to be much worse that the one proposed by the White House that will be DOA in the House. One of the telling things that was buried in the articles that I’ve read is the fact the ole Mitt’s plan will give massive tax cuts to the rich and raise taxes on everyone else….even the president of Bank of America has said that taxes should be raised on those making over a million dollars a year and should be even higher for those making 10 million a year, and the Murdoch owned right wing Wall Street Journal agreed this week. When the repubs are losing the banks and the Journal, who do they have left that thinks they know what they are doing? Not many, I hope…

February 23rd

Well…another night of boredom and no cocktails which makes it four in a row but I think I’ve reached the point of no return in feeling better for it….with the conserve cash mode in full swing, I haven’t even started the car in three days and it is going to smoke like crazy this morning…I do have to go out to get groceries but since I have to use the debit card, there are only 4 things on the list…and one them is cocktail fixing for the Wings game tonight…can’t deprive myself completely even thought I should…I did get the kitchen cleaned yesterday even though I was going to do the bathroom….it was just one of those things where you get started on a small thing and it explodes into a complete overhaul….so, today will be the same with the bathroom since I won’t be able to get out on the bike with the snow storm coming…other than that, not much to do today….I will be back for more later even though I’m ahead….there is so much political nonsense going on that I have to comment…

Okay…so I was wrong…there are things to do today…yay!….the twin 150′s from Daytona are on this aft and then there is a Wings game later…oh, I mentioned that above, didn’t I? So sue me….not really….still getting letters from the record companies…

A short one for those of us that see irony in history..

Well…I’m not sure what is going on in my head today but I’ve had quite a few ideas that I wanted to get down…and that is unusual to say the least, but bear with me…this one might just be worth it…I’m one of the people left in the US that still sees the importance of at least knowing history to make useful connections or see the irony that is frequently contained in it. I say this because I’m old enough to remember the furor over John Kennedy’s faith in the 1960 election; people then were concerned then that Rome and the Pope would call the shots through a Catholic president and the repubs used his Catholicism to try to paint Kennedy as a scary person who would check every decision with the Pope. Then, fast forward to today where we have ole Rick Santorum saying that all of his governance, if elected, would conform to his Catholic faith and the hard right that supports him cheers….ah….irony is lost on the idiots on the right…but it sure makes me laugh at times….

Just a short one on economics…

Well…I had this idea after reading quite a few articles on what is happening in Europe with the bailout in Greece and the continued focus on austerity and cutting spending. All of the statistics that we see from studies there that cite lower growth and the distinct possibility that Europe will fall back into recession (Portugal and Spain are already there) do nothing but to confirm what Keynes said about spending cuts….that in a recessionary environment government should deficit spend to replace consumer spending and keep the economy growing. But, what all of the governments of Europe have done is listen to the fiction about the bond hawks and the crazy notion that cutting spending will make economies grow…what they have done with the massive contraction of government spending and the severe cuts to wages and benefits of the workers is to ensure that their economies will contract…forcing another round of austerity that will further feed this downward spiral. At least here in the US, we have made a half-hearted attempt at a stimulus and have not listened to the nonsense of the repubs that cutting spending will spur growth…this only works when the economy is growing at a sustainable pace and inflation is a threat….and that is not true here with only a .2% increase in prices on January…leaving an acceptable 2.4% inflation projected for the year…geez…

Rick Santorum is just a liar…

Well…I’m not going to write this one just yet…but, your jaw will drop when I get back from the bike ride, get lunch on, and come back to finish this one….okay, I’m back and I am just astounded on how the media is allowing ole Rick to just spout utter nonsense on the campaign trail without calling him out on it….let’s forget about his insinuation that Obama is like Hitler for the time being and focus on his latest outrage that states that Obama and his health care plan will result in active killing of elderly people who are ill and don’t want to die…and he cites the experience of the Netherlands since they passed a law allow for doctors to help people in the end stages of their lives to die with dignity. Santorum goes on to cite statistics and “facts” that are completely false that were sourced from extremely dubious sources that feed the right wing lie machine like tens of thousands of the elderly there wearing bracelets that say “don’t kill me”. First, there is no connection between the Netherlands and the US and there never has been other than they have better health care there that is a single payer system….and second, every source in the Netherlands that has been contacted to try to find one of these bracelets has come up empty…not one has been found…and not one person has been put do death against his will…not one, Rick….go back to your lobbying and feeding on the misery of others to make your millions…we don’t need to elect a pope that lies to America every time you open your mouth….

Oh….I tried to do this one justice but to get a better take on it, and one of my many sources for this one came from Glenn Kessler in the “Fact Checker” column in the Washington Post…he has all of the stats that Santorum lied about…and it is even worse how Glen describes….geez….

February 22nd

Well…it was kind of a long day yesterday with not going out except to ride the bike…and the Wings lost last night so that put a damper on any enthusiasm I may have had for the evening…there were dreams that I don’t remember again so that is a little frustrating but I guess I’ll live through it…it was a no cocktail night for the third in a row and my liver is thanking me as I sit here feeling okay…or kind of okay…not sure if I can feel really okay anymore but I guess I’ll keep trying…it’s another broke day for me so no coffee out but I am going to make it here since it does help motivate me for the workout and bike ride….not much to do today…I was going to clean yesterday but I decided to read instead…that was T’s suggestion and I thank her for it…but I do need to do the bathroom today so that will be on the agenda…and I have an invasion of spiders that need to be taken care of so that will be a project…I will be back for one later but I haven’t decided on a topic yet so that will have to be a surprise….