Well…as if another reason was needed to stop the Keystone XL pipeline, well…other than the pollution the thing will increase across the country with the piles of pet coke toxic waste that comes from refining the tar sands…and which is piling up across the country making some neighborhoods in south Chicago almost uninhabitable when the wind blows…we have a new study out that finds that the Koch brothers stand to make…wait for it….100 billion dollars if the pipeline is built…yep, the same Koch brothers who unleashed the tea party on the US and have already spent over 50 million dollars bribing repubs to take up the fight in congress. These folks are the last people that should be given another 100 billion dollars to try to wreck our democracy and put people like Ted Cruz into office….that should be enough to stop this nonsense…especially when those of us in the midwest will see our gas prices rise astronomically if the damn thing is built….geez…
Just a couple of things….
Well…was just skimming over Twitter and found that Jim Leyland is retiring as the manager of the Tigers and, while it is not a big surprise, it is always a little sad when one of the nice guys in sports is at the end of his career. It will be interesting to see who they hire for the next one…I do feel bad for the assistant coaches that will probably lose their jobs, too, but that is how it works in sports….
We may be getting Helm back for the Wings by the weekend and I hope he gives them the spark they have been lacking this season…again, though, I feel bad for Tootoo who it looks like will be cut to make room under the cap…
I don’t feel bad for the Tigers, though, they just looked terrible in the playoffs and did not deserve to win….and, this was a year that I followed them more than I have in years because they looked good on paper…and the boredom that comes with being unemployed had something to do with my watching….it’s kinda like the Lions…I watch them even though they have been pretty bad my entire life…and that is a really long time…
October 21st
Well…it was a kind of crappy day yesterday and the malaise I have been feeling has gotten worse…which makes it kind of tough to get anything done…but, what do I have to get done? Not much, really…slept okay but I think I may have a bug of some sort…just can’t account for having so little energy and my head has been stuffed up…so, maybe it’s a cold? I think it didn’t help that all of the Michigan teams looked crappy and the Tigers just stunk along with the Wings….it looks like I may be able to get a bike ride in this morning and then I have a few errands to run and some stuff to do around here…so, another boring day in a long line of boring days…more later…
A little bit of trail coolness…
Well…it was much warmer out on the bike this morning and I did see something that was really cool….stopped at the top of a hill in Kentwood for a water break, and an animal came onto the trail from a hole in a fence that runs along it..at first, I though it was a big cat…but, when the second one came through, I recognized them as a pair of foxes….one took off down the trail and then the other one chased it for a ways but then turned around and came back toward me before both of them took off through the woods….and, the weird part is that Tom and I were talking about them a few weeks back and I couldn’t remember ever seeing one…pretty neat…and my hands were not frozen when I got back…
October 20th
Well…running a little late today and it is just because I have no motivation…it was a really bad day in sports yesterday with the Tigers and the Wings both losing…the rest of the day was okay but a little depressing as the end of the month approaches….slept okay but still feel a little run down…the bike ride yesterday was cold and wet and it took me almost an hour after getting back here to thaw my hands…and, it had gone over from cold to pain which is not what I can do again…so, it looks like gloves today if I go out…but, I am going to wait until later on….not much to do today…just going to veg out for a while and take it easy…more later…
October 19th
Well…running about on time today and I’m not sure why that is…I am waiting for the temp to come up so I can get on the bike in a few minutes and it looks like it is still going to be a cold ride…oh, well….it was an okay day yesterday and I won at pool but 3 games in two hours? I am still laughing about that one….and, I picked a huge puffball mushroom from Tom’s yard, took a nice thick slice of it and sauteed it in butter and garlic…I was sitting here all night wondering if I was going to die from it but it tasted good and I’m still here so it must have been okay…going to cook more of it today in egg, flour, and parmesan cheese…should be good…not much to do today…it looks like a sports day today with football, baseball, soccer and races…so, I need to get the bike ride in pretty soon…more later…
Another reason to hate Walmart…
Well…just a shorty on the jaw dropping stupidity that is the management of a Walmart here in Michigan who fired an employee for getting into a fight with some men who were assaulting a woman in a Walmart parking lot…and their reason? That they have a zero-tolerance policy for workplace violence….so, this guy is supposed to just leave this woman being attacked to keep his job? What a stupid, nasty company Walmart is…I’ve got nothing more to say…geez…
October 18th
Well…it was another depressing rain day yesterday but I lived through it…but, I feel pretty crappy today with having cocktails last night…but, I am going to stay with only two nights of cocktails this week…so, I will feel better after tonight…the Tigers disappointed me with another loss and they are one away from going out of the playoffs….oh, well…but the Wings won and ended Colorado’s winning streak so that was good…didn’t do much yesterday and even skipped the bike ride with all of the rain…and it looks like it will be a late ride today since it is only 40 degrees outside right now and I do not want to get the gloves out yet…not much to do today..it is a pool day so that will be fun but nothing else is going on….I do feel good that I got caught up yesterday and I will try to not get behind again today…might give me something to do as I wait for the temp to come up…more later…
The 24 billion dollar tantrum…
Well…just a short one to get caught up for the month….I am just stunned by the damage that the repubs little tantrum has cost the US economy…24 billion dollars and counting…yep, 24 billion dollars just so the repubs could get more names for their mailing lists and raise more money for the next election…never mind that this 24 billion could fund all the programs for the poor for an entire year…these pricks just don’t care unless it affects them…and the worst part is the continuing damage this stunt is going to cause with some estimates going as high as shaving 1% off the growth in the next quarter…in dollar terms, this will cost the economy over 100 billion dollars….so, the supposed party of fiscal conservatives don’t have a problem pissing away 100 billion dollars but they have a problem spending that same amount of money feeding the nation…what a bunch of hypocritical asses…geez…
Nolan Finley is still an idiot..
Well…the rationalizations start with the repubs this morning and they are reaching for any straw that might make them feel better about the implosion….and ole Nolan Finley from the Detroit News is leading the charge here in Michigan….he conveniently discards the polls saying that most of the country holds the children of the repub party responsible for the mess in Washington…but then hangs his theory that those don’t mean anything on another poll that asks “did the shutdown affect you personally” which a majority answered no. I will say this again…Nolan Finley is still an idiot…what he doesn’t get…or conveniently forgets is the the lack of empathy that this question reveals…he thinks that it is a good thing that people don’t give a damn about anything that doesn’t affect them personally. This trait is seen in repub circles as a good thing…the old “I’ve got mine, everyone else can go to hell” theme that permeates the repubs these days….they don’t give a damn about gay rights until it affect someone in their family, or they don’t give a damn about abortion rights until one of their daughters needs one…I know ole Nolan thinks he’s being clever, but his cleverness is just the same old crap from repubs…they don’t give a damn about anyone since they have theirs…geez…