Well…one of the things I’ve noticed with the latest batch of dems elected last fall is that most of them were elected by running on true progressive ideas like healthcare for all and everyone paying their fair share in taxes along with protecting the dignity and rights of all Americans, and that means everyone, not just the chosen ones that the repubs think deserve representation. I am hoping this drives the final stake in the notion that you can’t win elections other than by moving to the center…but the center is where ideas go to die and you just get repub lite that can’t really move this country forward…but, I hesitate to label these ideas as left since they are only labeled that by the repubs trying to smear them and make them the “other” that they are so good at demonizing. What this new wave of progressivism is is just a returning to the values that made this country great…it is a rejection of the hate and division that the repubs have used to motivate their nativist, racist base and an embrace of the diversity that has always made this country better…and that goes for immigrants, the LGBT community, the poor and the marginalized…that is who this new group is fighting for…and for honesty and governing for the protection of all Americans and the clean air and water they need to thrive. My only advice to this new generation of dems is go left…and be proud to be a progressive dem since those ideas are American ideas that most of the country supports…go get ‘em….
Monthly Archives: January 2019
January 24th
Well…just looked at the weather for the next couple of weeks and it is going to be brutally cold around here with a couple of days that the high is going to be zero and many of them below zero at night…so it does look like the hibernation for the winter is going to start this week…slept okay last night but have a cough like a cold this morning and feel like I have one…can’t figure out why I’m so exhausted lately and this may be it….my shoulder survived the night with just a little pain so I think I’ll try the weight machine again after the grocery run and coffee…not sure if I’ll try to do anything else today other than ride the bike but I should at least try to clean some…but, racing from Daytona starts this afternoon and I will probably just veg out and watch that instead…I did send a bitch letter to the complex here yesterday since the new company they have clearing snow is doing such a shitty job that there are piles of ice now that I have to climb over to get to my car and this is the first time in years that this has happened…I even moved my car yesterday so they could clean and they just ignored it and left the snow…will probably bitch to the guys today so that will get back to these incompetents…more later…
Shoulder update….
Well…after a month of not being able to work out on the weight machine, I decided to try it this morning since I have noticed a loss of muscle tone and I do need to use the 300 calories or so that it takes to do the workout. So far, so good…there was pain during the workout but not nearly as bad as two weeks ago where I couldn’t complete it since it felt like I re-separated the collar bone…but, today…the pain was perfectly tolerable and there was very little carryover to getting on the bike…it even is just a little stiff right now but I may need to take some ibuprofen later to be able to sleep on it tonight…would like to not do that but I know that tendon injuries in that shoulder have always taken a long time to heal…and I do want to sleep tonight…at least a little…
Clothing is speech…
Well…have been searching around for a topic for today and it just popped into my head that maybe I should talk about clothing…specifically, clothing that has a message on it, and the fallout that comes from the message it sends. In the news lately, we have the Covington Catholic school boys who were filmed harassing a Native American man while wearing MAGA hats…and justifying the hats by saying they are just hats and a fad in their community. Yeah, right…those particular hats are connected to the racism, misogyny, and hatred that the idiot trump spouts every day…and I agree that they ARE the new white hoods like those worn by the KKK to terrorize AA’s throughout our history…they are just modernized versions of those hoods and are meant for the same things…to intimidate people who are not straight, white, and christian…and these kids understand that…especially when videos have surfaced of other kids from CC in blackface screaming at an opposing black basketball player…and not one damn adult is saying anything to them…no teacher, no administrator, no parent thought there was anything wrong with it. As it was in the 70′s when those of us opposed to the Vietnam war wore peace signs on our clothing and through today when we wear articles that support women’s rights…clothing can send a message either of peace or of hate…and a MAGA hat sends just that message of hate…it’s not ironic as some defenders of the CC kids have tried to assert…it is just about hate and white privilege…things that are acceptable to the CC community…and to way too many others in this country….
January 23rd
Well…I can tell I’m going to be grumpy today since it is just a little after 6 and I am feeling it…slept okay last night but did the tossing and turning all night so I still feel exhausted and that is making me grumpy, too….at least my shoulder doesn’t hurt too much but I did take something for it before I went to bed…it’s been over a month and it just needs to finish healing and that is making me grumpy, too…did I say I feel grumpy today? I am going to try to get back on the weight machine today with reduced weight just to ease back into toning up my muscles again….I can feel myself getting flabby again and that is making me grumpy, too…didn’t get a lot done yesterday and it looks like cleaning off the car will be the major project for this morning…it snowed quite a bit last night but is going to get to 40 this aft and I need to make sure the car melts before the cold comes back tomorrow…it is really depressing that it is going to be extremely cold from now until March but it is Michigan in winter and I have been through this before…don’t like it much….at least it’s warm in here….more later…
When historians write…
Well…have been thinking of this a bit lately with the destruction being done to this country…when historians write about what caused the demise of America, the one answer is going to be Mitch McConnell. That’s it…everything bad that is happening is all because idiot boy Mitch cares nothing about democracy or this country…the government could be open right now if he would let the bill that passed unanimously a few weeks back to be reintroduced since it had a veto-proof majority in the senate and the same in the house…all he has to do is just let the vote happen but he won’t for some reason…oh, hell, we all know the reason…just because he can and he is an asshole…when the obituary of this country is written the cause of death is McConnell and nothing else…how can anyone hate this country so much? Impeach…
January 22nd
Well…running early today with getting up at 5 again and I am getting so damn tired of only getting 5 hours of sleep or so a night…literally tired…have been walking around exhausted the past week or so and that needs to change…how, I don’t know but it does need to change…my shoulder is back in pain today and I think it’s from forgetting to take some ibuprofen last night…I think that’s been keeping the swelling down along with the pain so I won’t forget it again tonight…had a nice day yesterday with getting a 10 mile ride in on the bike and then out to pool…which I lost…and I had a coolant leak in the car that I think I may have traced to a loose hose clamp…at least I hope that was it…going to go over them again this morning after it warms up some…it is only 10 outside right now and I am just not going out in the cold for that….I did move the bike out of the living room and back to it’s parking spot so that frees up some room here in the living room and I am used to having it parked there so it’s more normal that way…don’t have much to do today other than making some chicken alfredo for lunch and trying to get a nap this aft….more later….
It’s time to strike…
Well….with the idiot trump’s government shutdown going into it’s 5th week, I think the best way to end it is to just get all of the workers who are working without pay to go out on strike until the asshole in chief gets the point. Imagine the chaos if all of the air traffic controllers just decided they were done working for free and walked off the job…the shutdown would end this afternoon and without idiot boy’s stupid, racist wall…the head of the controllers union was in the news this morning trying to tell McConnell and the idiot that his workers have reached the breaking point and in just a few days they are going to have no choice but to leave their jobs to try to save their houses and families…and the even more ominous fact is that they are currently working with 30% less permanent staff than they need and the long hours and stress are chewing these folks up leaving many of them no choice but to find other work…and, how easy is it going to be to fill these high stress jobs when there is always the threat from the repubs that they will shut the government again and they will have to work without pay for an extended period? Who in their right mind would take any job if their prospective boss told them that there was good likelihood that they would be working without pay at least once a year? I guess this has been a repub goal for the past 30 years or so…to make government service suck so badly that it would collapse under it’s own weight…after all, who really needs air traffic controllers, or USDA food inspectors, or the CDC, or the Coast Guard? Impeach,….
It’s now the torture machine…
Well…just finished up riding the bike on the trainer for the first 10 mile ride and I really do have to rename it the “torture machine”. Even on the lowest resistance setting and in 23rd gear, I came away sweating through my clothes and so winded that I had to rest before I could get in the shower…so much for thinking it was going to be too easy. I do have a plan on how to gradually up the effort as the winter goes on…after this week, that is, I am going to up the resistance one notch per week until I get up to 5 and then up to 24th gear and start the cycle over again. It was a tough 50 minutes to get to 10 miles but I feel pretty darn good right now knowing I’m getting back on track with exercise….
January 21st
Well…okay, it’s damn cold out there this morning and I’m glad I don’t have to be anywhere until it warms up…I did get out to take a look at the eclipse last night and that was pretty cool and the moon is still damn bright right now…slept okay last night but haven’t had any dreams in a while and that is a little disappointing…at least I got 6 hours last night which is a lot for how it’s been going lately….I can say my shoulder doesn’t hurt at all this morning…well….twinges of pain but no restriction on movement so that is cool…I did hurt it on the bike yesterday and will probably do that again this morning but that will be worth it…I just realized that the new bike trainer sounds something like the noise the Tardis makes when I am riding the bike and that is a little funny…I am glad I put an old towel under the bike since I was dripping when I got off it yesterday and will probably be sweating even more today since I am going to do the full 10 miles…it is a little boring riding indoors but it was better once I put the music on and I rigged my mp-3 player to the handlebars with a rubber band…it is a little strange not looking at the weather report to see if I can ride…didn’t get much done yesterday but some light clean up and I’ll probably not do much today with pool this aft…just don’t have a lot of energy and can’t figure out why that is….oh, well….more later…