Yep… a placeholder but it could be a good one so come on back tomorrow morning…it’s another no cocktail night so I may be lucid early…
Okay…it’s early but I thought I’d better get on this one before I get to the daily update…I hope you’ve heard of the latest repub response to the contraception controversy…well…they are going to propose a bill that will allow any employer to refuse health coverage for any reason if it is based on the faith of the employer..yep, you heard it right…this bill will allow employers to stop offering coverage to any group or individual they don’t like…this means that if they don’t think interracial couples should be allowed to marry, they can refuse to cover them….if they don’t think any one should have surgery (which some sects do)…they will be able to prevent coverage under this bill….I hope everyone else here is as outraged as I am and if this attack on America is passed, I hope it will end up in the courts and rejected as soon as possible….it is another case where the repubs think that government should not be involved in anyone’s life except when they want it to be to enforce their warped view of the world…I am almost speechless on this idiocy…another in the long line of cases for eliminating employer sponsored healthcare and moving to a single payer, medicare for all world so the politics can be taken out of it forever…
Well…with the latest numbers that have come out on family income over the past couple of weeks showing that poverty and income inequality is skyrocketing in the US, and the connection between this inequality and the lackluster recovery, I think it is time to do something radical. But first let’s place the responsibility for these changes squarely where they belong, on the repub policies over the past thirty years that have resulted in the top 1% doing well and everyone else going backward. I know, I’ve railed about this before just because what I was seeing an feeling felt wrong, but with numbers like these it is time to stop nibbling at the corners and take a huge bite out of the core problems. First, I would propose an immediate change in ceo pay to 1 dollar per year and structural changes that would prevent any ceo from being compensated more than 50 times the average of the people that work for him or her…this would give them the incentive to raise all boats as the saying goes since rising pay of his workers would also raise the ceo’s pay. Second, I would propose worker representation on every corporate board to break the cycle of cronyism and incestous relationships that pervade corporate America and give all stakeholders a voice in their livelihoods….third, I would immediately raise the pay of all of the workers to the difference of the 1 dollar ceo pay proposed and what the average of the pay has been over the past 5 years….putting billions if not trillions of dollars in the hands of people that will spend it and giving a huge boost to our manufacturing and service industries; creating a truly self-sustaining recovery that will be spread across the economic spectrum….
Okay, I know this is really quite radical and will be branded as socialist, communist, and maybe even Martian…but, what we are currently doing is not working due in large part to the desire of the repubs to ensure that Obama doesn’t get a second term….so we need to do something new…
Well…as every day goes by, I have more and more hope that the right will continue is descent into the delusions they have been experiencing since the start of the primary season. The latest in this long list is the idea that, if re-elected, Obama will “wage war” on the Catholic church and somehow cause an institution that has survived for almost 2,000 years to disappear…whether is should or not is not a topic for today but when it and it’s supporters on the right coordinate attacks on Obama for a reasonable rule on contraception saying that as a matter of faith, the Catholic institutions should not have to abide by rules that are already the law of the land in over 30 states, it is the right that is denigrating religion by cynically using it as a ploy for political advantage. So, the right, who wraps itself in the Constitution on a daily basis thinks every law should be subject to a matter of faith; only following those that match their religious beliefs? I defy them to find that kind of nonsense in the Constitution…since the founding of this country, people have been free to practice whatever religion they see fit but never has religion trumped the law of the land…and this comes from the party of laws against Sharia and it’s use in the legal system…but, we all know they would love to have the US become a theocracy…just like the Muslim countries they love to hate…geez…
As a moderate progressive who wants this country to succeed for everyone, I just hope they keep this nonsense up all the way to their convention…by then, they will have shown their true colors to the independents and other moderates that will swing the election and we will send all of these crazies home for another 4 years and maybe get back to making an America for all Americans, not just the wealthy and connected…
Well…it was a normal day yesterday but I made a little cash so I can at least get groceries this week….and the Wings won their 21st straight home game last night to set a record for the league…I have never heard the Joe so loud as it was last night and now it’s looking forward to Friday to make it 22…sleep was better last night…still not great but better, and with it being a no cocktail night, I feel okay today….but the underlying fact that I’m broke again kind of limits how good I can feel…it is just so wearing to have to worry about every penny all day every day…but, that’s how it is for now…not much to do today..might have lunch with T but that is still up in the air for now…that’s about it…I will have a few new ones later in the day…not sure of the topics yet and they might even be interesting…
Well…during this whole contraception nonsense that has been roiling the waters in DC over the past couple of weeks, one thing that gets lost is the fact that it is the system of healthcare and insurance that is employer provided that is causing the problem. The patchwork of the types of employers from straight business to religious based organizations and making rules that fit all of them just raises costs for everyone in part because that patchwork requires many more regulators and administrators than a Medicare for all plan would do…and, as I’ve said many times before and that studies have shown, the overhead costs of Medicare for all is around 9% of the program; not the almost 30% that private insurance costs. There is one more thing that most people who have jobs and insurance don’t understand…that when you get older like me, employers won’t hire our cadre since they think it will inflate their healthcare costs…something that could be taken away if there was a single payer system…then we could be hired on our merits, not on an age issue that we have no control over….geez…
Okay…I did want to add one last thing…nothing to do with politics but it WAS Joe Walsh on the Grammys Sun night…it wasn’t just a cocktail induced haze….yay…going out to see if I can find the actual footage….
Well…another night with just being bored around here and I wonder why I can’t sleep if I’m so bored….but that was the story last night with being up at 2,3,4, and 5 so I’m really tired this morning…I haven’t looked out to see if it snowed last night and I don’t think I’m going to…skipping coffee again today since it costs me 6 bucks a day to get it and the papers…I do miss it, though, but maybe I’ll make a new routine that involves making coffee here and making do with the online papers…I guess it really is hermit time for now…not much to do today….I do feel the need to accomplish something today so I think I’ll start getting rid of some stuff and do some cleaning….I will be back later for at least one…
Well…a long, boring day yesterday that culminated in some cocktails so that was okay…but, I feel like crap this morning and my brain has not started to work yet so this is going to be a short one…I need to conserve what little cash I have so coffee and the papers is out for this week along with going out with G…it looks like a hermit week unless things change….be back later for more…
Okay..it has been another day today with some surprises and I am late getting back here for more but I did come back…did decide to go out and shoot pool with Tom but I am in debt again since I’m too broke to buy booze….I did win at pool so that was a plus but I haven’t been able to come up with a topic for today but maybe Keith will do that in a few minutes….who knows? If I can’t come up with one later…I’ll promise that I’ll try more tomorrow…
Well…it has been a crushingly boring day today so I’m back to just do anything to get my brain working again…I’m just not a basketball fan but that is the only thing that is on…I’ve even read the paper twice already so that is done for the day and it is only 3…and it is 4 1/2 more hours until the Wings come on…there has been no help on the political side, either, so I can’t really report anything there…so, what to do? I’ve got the Post up on another tab so maybe I’ll go over there and look for a minute…okay, I’m back from there and I could write one about the whole contraception controversy…one of the things that I find startling is that all of the repub candidates are against women’s contraception…how can this be in 2012? How can the party of limited government want to take away a basic right from 50% of the population? I guess it’s because they always want to limit the rights of people they don’t agree with….and that, I think, is the problem with the repubs these days…when they get elected, they only govern for those who voted for them…they lack the big vision necessary for such a complex country but also continue with the damn doom and gloom every day…I just don’t want to hear it anymore…geez…
Well…another somewhat boring day yesterday but I survived it with a little creativity…and every horizontal surface in this place has been cleaned so I feel good about that…and State beat that school in Ohio…and Everton knocked off Chelsea which is always a good thing to see….but there is not much to see in sports today other than the Wings playing later that I will have to watch on the computer again..but that’s not a good thing since they have lost every game that I’ve watched on Versus…I did have a repeater of a dream last night but I don’t remember what it was so it wasn’t one of my favorites…not much to do today…I do have a pork loin that I am going to make with some roasted asparagus but then I will have to be creative again to keep the boredom at bay…and, since I’m broke again, I’ll have to make do with things around here…and try to stay up until 11 to see the new episode of Ab Fab…probably won’t make it but I’ll give it a try…more later…
Well…just a short one about some more nonsense from the governor of the Koch brothers in Wisconsin….with the first settlement of wrongdoing in the mortgage mess, which is supposed to be used to help homeowners that were affected by the practices of the large banks, we see in Wisconsin that Scott Walker has other ideas and is using the money to pay for tax cuts for business that were passed last year. Yep, you heard that right…money that is supposed to go to the people of Wisconsin is going straight back to the businesses that bought the election for Walker…is there any other reason needed to remove this idiot from office? I hope the people of Wisconsin send him back to the Koch brothers in the recall election later this year…