April 7th

Well….a pretty gloomy day yesterday so all I did was be gloomy and veg for the day…didn’t get out on the bike with it raining all day and it was cold anyway…just couldn’t muster up the courage to go out and freeze my butt off but today will be better..no rain and in the mid 50′s so I will get out later. I think I may be coming down with a bug of some sort again or the allergies are starting really early this year…have a sinus headache right now so it probably is allergies…don’t really need them to start already. Kind of a bore of a night, too last night…I just don’t get what is happening to the Wings, they are playing so badly that I’m sure there will be no Stanley Cup run this year…oh, well…I have been watching the Ken Burns series on the Civil War and it is one of those shows that just sucks you in and gives you the true nature of the war…I’ve even learned some things that I didn’t know..pretty neat….not much to do today….going to do twenty on the bike and then meet up with T for a beer or two later on….and topics…many topics for later, too…

I want to write about good news…

Well….I do feel a little better so I thought I’d get this one out before I slink back to the couch to continue this slow, painful recovery. I have been having problems writing lately since it takes a lot out of me to be outraged all the time, and I do want to write about good news; there just hasn’t been any lately. That might not be completely true, there was an election in Wisconsin yesterday and the turnout by the people that want fairness restored to their political process was huge….maybe I was right that the repub thugs have overreached and misread the will of the people. No one but the rich could have voted for what gov Walker foisted on that state, or for what Paul Ryan is proposing on the federal level…that there will be no more social contract, that there will be no more shared responsibility, that the US will see the last 100 years of progress on social issues repealed. I just hope that we can keep up the outrage of the electorate now that the repubs have revealed their true selves….shame on us if we don’t…

April 6th

Well….a long night last night and I think one too many cocktails….feel pretty crappy this morning so this one is going to be short…I did win at pool so that was a plus….going to go back to the couch and lick the wounds….more later….

Okay….back for a few minutes and I don’t feel much better….just getting ready to go out for coffee and I am wavering on whether to go….maybe a shower will help…not much to do today….I am hoping the weather will break so I can get on the bike…it’s the best way to feel better and I do need to burn off the calories from yesterday….not sure what I’m going to cook today…I am craving fast food but running out of cash again so that’s not an option….oh, well…need to get going or I’ll be melted into the couch for the rest of the day…more later…

Political cronyism and false equivalency….

Well….wonderful news out of Wisconsin that just shows how political cronyism is alive and well in that state…in case you didn’t get it, that was sarcasm…I know, it hard for me to get sarcasm across in writing…better writers can, but I’m still learning…yep, still learning in my 50′s. The news story goes like this…our friend gov. Walker, hires a non-college educated, double dui convicted son of a large political donor and lobbyist to head up his environmental and regulatory affairs department. This, from a governor whose stated goals are to gut all environmental and business regulation and is just another instance where you have the curtain peeled back on what the repubs want this country to look like…not promoted or hired on your merits or your hard work but on your connections no matter how unqualified you are…an extension of the GW Bush doctrine that you don’t have to be competent, just connected; one that Sarah Palin has used to great effect…yep, that’s the first mention of sister Sarah since Feb 1st….

The second part of this one I got from a column from Jay Ambrose in the Detroit News this morning…and I would like to say thank you Detroit News for so many easy targets for counterpunching. Mr. Ambrose goes on to equate the crazy assed birthers with those of us that constantly railed on about the actions of GW when he was in office. What he does not get is the core difference between the two groups…that the birthers are attacking who Obama IS, while we hated what GW DID to this country and the American way of life. This false equivalency runs through the repub talking points every day; where egregious hate of the tea party is compared to the workers of Wisconsin standing up for their rights and is therefore justified.

One last thing I wanted to talk about today is what I see as our country being lost, that there is no longer any place here for the dignity of the middle class and sharing of the fruits of our economy….I am loathe to suggest that since the normal avenues of redress in a democracy have been closed to us by the power of the money of the rich and business that we should use any method available….but I think that those who are greedily taking all they can get with little regard for the rest of us must start to think of the world that will be when the bottom 99% of us get fed up and use the last resorts they have left us…beware….

April 5th

Well….two nights of no cocktails and I feel pretty good this morning….did stay up and watch most of the b-ball game last night…man, that was ugly. one of the sloppiest, weirdest games I’ve ever seen and I feel bad for Butler…especially since I wanted them to win…oh, well…it was an okay day yesterday but I hope the weather is better today so I can get out on the bike…..and I am edging up on changing into shorts for the year…as you know, once I get into shorts, I don’t change back to jeans until November or so…so I have to think about it for a while…it is supposed to be in the 60′s later in the week so it may not be too bad. Not much to do today…you know what Tuesdays are so I won’t tell you…oh, nope, I should since some of you might be newbies here…it’s pool day out in Cascade with Tom and it will be fun now that I am sure the car is going to start. I did get one extra topic out yesterday and I may be finding my voice again…at least I hope so…more later….

The 4 trillion dollar theft…

Well….a good bit of outrage has built up of the past few days reading the budget proposals that are coming out of the repubs, and Paul Ryan in particular…and I find it breathtaking that they think they can just steal 4 trillion more dollars from the country in the guise of “deficit reduction”. To put this whole idea in perspective, we only need to remember that without the Bush tax cuts for the rich, there would be no budget crisis…remember that, there would be no budget crisis if the Bush tax cuts were allowed to expire. That is one of the things that these thieves don’t want you to know…one of the others is what they want to do to Medicare…they are back to their old scam of privatizing all of the safety nets that have kept older Americans out of poverty for 80 years and turning it into a private insurance con that would transfer more wealth into the hands of the rich and business. But this is not the only place these idiots want to attack while giving more to the rich…they want across the board cuts to every program that has any benefit to the middle class; saying it’s a needed sacrifice that the middle class needs to make…my question is: “where is the sacrifice from the rich?” Don’t waste your time looking….you won’t find it. What would have happened if Social Security and Medicare were privatized when the financial meltdown happened; perpetrated by the rich for the rich? All of us in the middle class would have lost everything while the bankers walked away with their millions and millions in bonuses.

Please, people, start paying attention and don’t let these liars take what is left of the country….geez….

April 4th

Well….another Sunday with not much to say for it…the Wings did win and clinched the Central division so that was pretty neat….but the rest of the day was just to be endured and I endured it…slept okay but up and down a lot and still no dreams to speak of. It is still quite gloomy outside and it looks like that is going to last all day….so a day of resumes and cooking is in order. I made salmon with a honey mustard sauce yesterday and it came out pretty good…I think I may need to add one more spice like thyme to really get it over the top…not much to do today…hope to get out on the bike if the rain stops later this morning….but that is about it…maybe out with G for a couple later but I have a feeling that she is going to cancel….I am going to get back in the groove writing today and get a couple more out…..more later….

Happy Birthday…

Well….just a short one to get started today….it’s the first birthday of this site and I really don’t know what to say about that yet….I do have coffee going and the paper waiting so I’m going to go take care of that right now….there will be additions to this one in a little while so come on back…

Okay, I’m back for a minute and I’ve been thinking a bit about the things that have happened in the last year that I’ve been writing this….and the only conclusion I can come to is “not much”….still not working, still driving the same car, still alone, still going out to Kava every morning, still worrying about my weight, still wondering if this is all there is to life, still trying to find a coherent plot for the new novel, still trying to sell the last one, still watching more of my hair fall out, still watching as an old guy replaces the one in the mirror that I’m used to, still writing this thing every day, still wondering how I got here, still disappointed in our country’s direction, still, still, still……….back in a while….need to read the times….

Well…read the Times…I’m still weaning myself from it since they went to a pay to read site….I wonder if I should be a little proud that I’ve written something here every day for a full year or has it been just a huge waste of time? Yep, you can see the conflict that I’m having about almost everything right now and it is not fun…..maybe I’ll just go over to the couch and watch the rest of a documentary I started with this morning….

Okay…finished the documentary and am in the process of making lunch….thought I’d do one last addition to this one before I move on to other things…..not much to do today….going to have lunch, of course, and then probably just veg the rest of the day since it is just so gloomy that I don’t want to do anything else….I’ll be back later to get to another topic but I know you won’t be surprised if I don’t get to it….

Here we go….

Well…have been doing a total veg day but it’s coming up on decision time whether or not to go out today…have not heard from K yet and I’ll have to take off by 4:30 to get downtown by 5…no it’s not that far but I have no fuel in the wreck…I have decided that if I can’t park within a couple of blocks, I’m just going to turn around and come home….just can’t justify paying 7 bucks to park for an hour…yeah, I know, this one is not what you were expecting but there just have been no topics that have me outraged…or even mildly upset and I just didn’t want to fake it….I will have a topic for tomorrow since I do have a few things that I am thinking about….

April 2nd

Well….a kind of fun night last night but just vegged and had a couple of cocktails…slept okay but I am getting frustrated that there haven’t been any dreams that I can remember lately…..didn’t get up until almost 7…..so, I feel okay today and it was nice to not have to run the car to get the ice off before going out to get the papers. Got some salmon for only 4 bucks a pound this morning so I’ll have to look for recipes so I can have some of that tomorrow. Not much to do today…probably drinks with K this aft and maybe out to Peppino’s downtown to hang out for a friends birthday and watch part of the final four. That’s about it…the coffee just stopped sputtering so I’m going to go read the papers and take a break…more later…