February 6th

Well…it was a long day yesterday with all of the sports and the bad thing is that every team that I was rooting for lost…but that is the way things are and I won’t lose any sleep over it…I did have dreams last night that included running through the campus at Aquinas looking for my car with stops in all of the halls….not that interesting, I know, but it was something…feel a little crappy today with it being a cocktail night last night but I think more of it is the bug I’ve been fighting off over the past few days…I do need to take the bike to the car wash this morning since the shifters are so full of dirt they barely work anymore and that is a pain when you need a different gear…not much to do today…well…I do nave some things to do..lunch with T and then out for a couple with G I think…but that is about it… more later…

February 5th

Well…it was a long day yesterday with me not feeling well until late in the day but it appears that I’m a little better today…even being sick didn’t keep me off the bike, though, and I had a nice long ride…it may be that I feel better because I took the bike ride..who knows? It was a little disappointing that the Wings lost last night but I didn’t stay up to see the end of it…I was up later than normal but still couldn’t make it with the 10pm start….okay, need to go start some laundry so I’ll have biking clothes…that’s done…it’s a big sports day today with Man U and Chelsea this morning, then Michigan Michigan Sate at 1 and then some football game later…I wonder if I’ll get sued if I use the term “Super Bowl”…it will be interesting to see…that’s about it for now…I will be going back into the paper again later for some topics….but, I need to read the online stuff first…more later…

Why does the right hate women?

Well…I was vacillating quite a bit whether to write one about this topic but I felt I had to…I’m sure you’ve heard of the huge fiasco between the Susan Komen foundation and Planned Parenthood that has played out over the past few days where Komen decided to stop funding womens health services through Planned Parenthood for some reason that kept changing as the week went by…which, to me, stinks of trumped up nonsense. The initial reason was that they will no longer fund any organization that is under investigation…and, it just so happens, that some obscure, extreme right wing congressman has opened a “personal” investigation into Planned Parenthood on whether they are paying for abortions through illegal means. What I think happened is a coordinated attack on Planned Parenthood by this congressman and people at Komen who colluded to give cover to the right wing pressure that has been building on Komen to cut ties with PP since it is the right’s favorite target in it’s attempt to put women back in their place and deny them the care that is sometimes only available through PP. How many more times do we have to see and listen to these right wing idiots who are hell bent on making life harder on the poor? When are women from the right and left going to say enough, that their bodies belong to them and for everyone else to butt out? I hope it’s soon, and I hope that Komen collapses with the loss of it’s backbone…geez…

February 4th

Well…must have had a bug yesterday because I feel better today even after being out shooting pool yesterday and having a couple of cocktails last night….as I said, I did win again at pool but Tom gave me 4 out of the 7 games so I really can’t feel that good about it…but the weather is holding so I feel great about that..I did read that the first 5 days of Feb are normally the coldest days of the year but it’s going to be almost 40 again today so there will be a bike ride…maybe I should start counting down to the first of March when I consider winter to be over…if all winters were like this one, I could take it just fine…not much to do today…have the coffee and papers waiting so I’ll do that first…and then I’m not sure..I’ll try to get back later for another one…

Okay…I was lazy today…

Well…I don’t know why I felt so rotten all day but that feeling took away my ability to come up with a topic that I felt strongly about so I didn’t….I did go out and shoot pool (and won another week) and now I’m waiting for 7 pm to come so I can have a cocktail…I was going to apologize for not getting a second one out today but I am ahead for the month so I don’t think I’m going to…it was nice day to ride the bike today…okay….this one is not what I wanted to do so I’m not going to finish it…I will be back tomorrow to try it again…

February 3rd

Well…it was a night last night and I had fun out with K for a couple…and then it was a cocktail night so I feel a little crappy today…but the Wing won so that helps…a little….nope, not feeling it so I’m going back to the couch for a while to have some more water…

Okay…starting to feel human again after lunch and a bike ride…still not 100% but I feel so much better than this morning…still think I have a bug of some kind since I am just so tired even though I slept okay last night…I was a little happy that the Wings won again last night but these west coast games are just killing me…not much to do today..I am getting ready to go out and shoot pool with Tom in a couple of minutes so I should start getting ready…I may be back for more later but I’m not sure…it will probably be later, though…

A good article on foreign policy…

Well…it has been really quite comical seeing the repub candidates try to one-up each other on the toughness of their proposed foreign policy…to hear them talk there will be no nuance or discussion with either our friends or enemies and under the repubs foreign policy will be reduced to one mantra “shoot first and ask questions later”. But, the reasons why are so varied and include the rise of other powers in the world both economically and militarily. I did read an article in the Washington Post today by Fareed Zakaria that does a much better job than I can in explaining these changes…here’s the link….http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-post-american-world-demands-a-new-approach-from-the-us/2012/02/01/gIQAba5ziQ_story.html?hpid=z3

Let’s burst one republican talking point….

Well…this is going to be a short one while I wait for the laundry to finish so I can get out on the bike before lunch….there was an interesting little article about a poll taken over the past week that asked small business owners what their largest impediment to growth and adding jobs was…and, guess what? It wasn’t the old repub screed about too much regulation…in fact a majority of those polled felt that good regulation helps level the playing field for them…something I have been saying since I started this thing almost two years ago…but, the surprise of the poll was that, by a large majority, these small business owners said that lack of demand was the biggest barrier to them growing their companies…and where do we get demand? By increases in the disposable income of consumers that is driven by sharing the stellar growth in productivity that big business has hoarded for the top 1%….and more stimulus from the government….so, the next time you hear a repub cry about too much regulation in the economy…just shout “nonsense” at them and let’s call out these “truths” that are anything but…geez…

February 2nd

Well…another night of no cocktails and I feel okay today…I did get a bunch of things done yesterday so I feel good about that and it was good to see G for a few minutes last night….didn’t sleep too well again but I guess I’ll just have to get used to it…I did get a bike ride in yesterday and they cleared the ice off the trail that I crashed on last week so that made my day…it looks like another good one today and I am looking forward to getting out again…might have pool with Tom today or HH with K so I will have something to do later no matter what happens…and the Wings play again tonight so the night is taken care of, too….not much to do today..oh, already talked about that…but not about having to get groceries and then the normal stuff….I will be back for later….I hope….

This just occured to me…

Well…it has been a weird synthesis that has happened over the day today with reading a bunch of articles the were seemingly unrelated, but then a light came on and an idea slowly came to me about the controversy where union members don’t have any say when their dues are used for political donations and the repubs howling about it and trying to write laws to eliminate this use of those dues. Then it came to me…what is the difference between unions using their dues to support political candidates they like and corporations cutting peoples pay and then taking the money they save and giving it to their candidates? I’ve never heard a repub bitch about corporate giving or proposing any laws that would restrict it…and I’ve never heard of any corporation asking their employees to vote on what candidates or causes are supported….so, again, the hypocrites on the right have it wrong..but they are so used to having it both ways that they can’t see their hypocrisy…or better yet, they won’t see it because they don’t believe in truth…geez…