What happened to the fourth amendment?

Well…for quite a while now, I have been concerned by the daily erosion of the protections of the fourth amendment both by the courts and by the legislature of the federal government. I don’t understand it, either…when there is so much outcry about any infringement of the 2nd amendment and the rabid howls from the right when even sensible laws controlling guns are proposed, and yet with the revelations that the NSA has been infringing on the 4th on a daily basis…only a few repubs have come forward to oppose this big brother dragnet. The most egregious justification for it is the general one of “safety” and that the government is “protecting” us from some amorphous threat that is out there but they won’t tell us what the threat is or what they are doing to protect us…this creates the next question which is why should we believe agencies that lie on a daily basis?”. This boils down to one quote that I use quite often that distills the balance between risk and freedom: “..those who give up essential liberty for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety…” Ben Franklin…geez…

June 10th

Well…it was an okay night last night and I did get to watch the Griffins win the second game of the playoffs…but, that means that they are back in town for a wed game and that is going to make parking for Tommy Castro a real pain….but, I think I’ll still go…just need to park across town and do a little walking…slept okay last night but I’m still worn out today…allergies are still here but not getting worse so that is something….and, I was kind of good last night so that helps…not much to do today…I do need to go out and get some black paint to do some touch up on the battery hold downs in the trunk and the spare tire….but that is about it….more later…

No politcal one today…

Well…have been thinking about something political to write about today and have come up empty so I think I’ll just do an update and call it good…I did take a bike ride with my brother today and it was fun…but the damn squeak is back an more annoying than ever…so, I went out and got some wheel bearing grease and took the bike back apart to grease everything…again…and it sounds like it is fixed again but I am going to hold my breath again…after all, I did get a few quiet days out of the lithium stuff… not sure what I can do if it does it again….other than be annoyed…and, I made a little money this aft so that was cool, too…can buy groceries again this week! I am still pretty sore from hitting that bucket of balls Friday and my damn golf bag broke so I need to go find some zip ties to see if I can fix it….the duct tape didn’t work…oh, well…it looks like an easy fix and I will get on that tomorrow….

June 9th

Well…running a little late today but that is normal for Sunday…had an okay day yesterday and did get dome cleaning done so I feel okay about that…slept okay but no dreams again…crap….I am really sore this morning from hitting the golf balls Friday but that should go away after the ibuprofen and the bike ride…my brother is coming over to ride in a few minutes so this one is going to be short since I have to work on the bike before we go…the damn squeak is coming back again and I’m not sure where to look next…more later…

Heartless bastards….

Well…just a short one on a jaw-dropper that I read somewhere today…our buddy Eric Cantor, had a wonderful idea (yep, that’s snark) to eliminate government funding of elections that would do nothing but increase the influence of corporations and the rich, but he tried a little bit of misdirection to confuse people what the whole thing was about…including a clause that would take some of the money and put it towards funding medical care for sick kids…but the sick, heartless bastards of the hard right (yeah, you can read that tea partiers) came out in full howl that helping sick kids would create a “constituency” that would then have to be helped forever…just like people that get food stamps or unemployment insurance. I am at a loss how to respond to someone as heartless as this…of course you should help sick kids forever! Who is a government supposed to help forever? Oil companies? Oh…I forgot…that is exactly who these bastards want to help while kids die from lack of health care…geez…

June 8th

Well….it was a long day yesterday and I am running late this morning as always for a Saturday….I did win at pool for the first time in a month so that was cool but then the night devolved into the bore that it normally is….I did get out to hit some golf balls yesterday but that means I am sore today…but not as sore as I expected so that is a plus…still going to need the ibuprofen today, though, hit okay until the end where I was hopping the driver and that is a little concerning…I did hit the 9 iron pretty well..dropped one right on the flag and that was pretty cool…the bike is still quiet and I may have found the squeak finally…and I am up over 600 miles since April which is really under where I was last year but I am resolved to not be so anal about it this year and just have fun….not much to do today…getting on the bike right now and then going to clean the living room and get rid of the spiders…more later…

June 7th

Well…it was just another day yesterday and I really didn’t get much done…did go out and have a couple with G and that was fun but that was about it…slept okay, I think, but I always feel the same when I get up so who knows? I am getting tired of it being so cold that I can’t put the windows and top down in the car….where the heck is our spring or summer? I am planning on going out to hit a bucket of balls this morning to see if the back will hold up to playing 9 next week…to do that, though, I have to buy some tees and that means a run over to Meijers in a minute…more later…

Typical republicans…

Well…just a short one a little article that just came over Twitter about the student loan debacle…in case you haven’t heard, the interest rate on student loans is set to double if the senate doesn’t do something about it in the next week or so….and the dems had a perfectly reasonable plan to pay for it by cutting some corporate subsidies and tax loopholes for the rich..but, in typical fashion, the repubs are protecting these tax giveaways and have basically said to all the students that have loans to go to hell…they would rather have students pay more tax (and that is what it is is a tax and the extra money goes straight to the big banks) than to have the rich folks pay their fair share. I just can’t believe…oh, wait…I can believe the repubs would do that…it just shows they don’t give a damn about anyone but their donors…geez…

June 6th

Well…running late today and it on purpose, really…catching up on the last two episodes of “Burn Notice” from last season to get ready for tonight’s last season premiere…it was an okay day yesterday but didn’t do much but laundry and a little cleaning…just can’t get motivated to do much else right now…might even skip working out this morning since the catching up won’t be done until 11….but, it is raining so I may not have to ride the bike today….might be going out to see G for a couple but I do have to get back here by 9 tonight but that looks like my only thing to do today…okay…need to get back to the show…more later…

Oh, I almost forgot…today is the anniversary of D-day in 1944…thank a vet if there are any left..