Well…I really thought I was getting over this damn bug but it doesn’t look that way….got up this morning feeling as bad as I have felt all week…and now we have new symptoms…yay? I have the worst headache and the itchy eyes and plugged up head have started in earnest….all I have to say is WTF? Maybe I didn’t get the start day straight…and T said that this would last 9-10 days so I might even have 4 or 5 more left…hope not…this is taking a lot out of me…I’m going back to the couch…watch a little football and just hang on until I feel better….have had to turn the heat up to about 80…just can’t get warm, either….
All posts by James DeVol
A few thoughts on Keith….
Well…lots of analysis on why Keith Olbermann left MSNBC and I want to throw in my two cents….first, let’s get this out of the way…from what I’ve read of his tenure at many of the shows he was on point to a person much like myself..one who chafes at being told what to do, combined with a huge ego…hmmm…but what I think was the deciding factor was the takeover of NBC by Comcast…I think he saw the writing on the wall, that the ownership of the company was going to become much more conservative…I’ve never been one to go along with the conspiracy theories that sprout out here on the web like weeds but this time I think there may be some substance to it…that the new owners first act was going to be to change his show to make it more amenable to the right’s interests….who else was out there that was telling the truth about the conspiracy between big money, business interests, and the right? I could be completely wrong but I’d put 5 bucks on it that this is one of the reasons Keith is gone….MSNBC no longer exists for me…I think they’ve cut off their nose to spite their face…
Well….that may be a little harsh….I’ll have to think about it for a while….after all, I am TRYING to be more reasonable….
January 23rd
Well…kind of a weird night last night…just hung out here and watched some tv…but that’s not the weird part, a couple pf my remotes lost their programming at the same time and the only thing that I could think of was an EMP of some sort..or someone is trying to drive me even further crazy than I am….but I did get them fixed so I guess that’s okay….the rest of the sat was about normal…don’t have a lot of cash so I decided to stay in and just veg and with the flu still hanging on for dear life, it was probably a good idea. Going out for the paper this morning was an adventure in the deep freeze….the old wreck protested starting and then, since it’s a stick, it was like shifting in concrete….hardened concrete..it took two hands to get the thing from first to second and I let it run sitting in the Family Fare parking lot since the insta fog set in on the inside of the windshield. I will be happy when this cold goes away this week….I hate to have to plan to just make a quarter mile trip. Not much to do today….I’m still coughing and hacking so I think I’ll lay low and watch a little football….might have a topic or two for later…
Flu chronicles…continued
Well…I was a little smug yesterday when I thought I was getting over this bug a few days sooner than was expected…that’s smugness is gone now…I got up this morning feeling like I did a few days back…still feverish and so damn tired….I know, I had a couple of cocktails last night but I’d have to double what I did to feel this way. The coughing has come back, too so I guess I’ll just have to pull back and rest again through the weekend…not too hard to do. No other topics so far today….I do have one about our new governor here in Michigan…and it is already looking like the talk of new ideas is being replaced by the same old bs…take away from the workers and give to business…geez….
Goodbye Keith and thanks….
Well…just learned reading the news this morning that Countdown with Keith Olbermann was canceled Friday and I sit here with some sadness that our progressive counterpoint to the swamp of propaganda from Fox is gone. There were times that Keith made me cringe with some of the over-the-top hyperbole that was a part of the show, but, for the most part, he was the only one that was calling out the right and its lies….who was shining a light into the dark corners of politics that the mainstream media was ignoring. There were many times that I wanted to stand up and cheer for the things he said….and to applaud the passion and humanity that was clear from the beginning of Countdown….I regret that I skipped last night’s show but am thankful for the eight years it was on….
So, thank you, Keith…..
January 22nd
Well….I think I may have been a little premature in thinking that I was over the flu…and, it didn’t help that I had a couple of cocktails last night but I was bored so that’s my excuse…I did see “Inception” last night and it was probably one of the best movies I’ve seen in a couple of years….both in concept and execution…made me work a little which I like in a movie….other than that, yesterday was just a take it easy day, didn’t really cook anything special…just leftovers. I don’t know what I’ll cook today….probably just dig through the freezer to see if there is anything that I can get creative with. Other than that, not much to do today….just coffee and papers here and then probably some cleaning if I feel better…might just milk the flu chronicles for one more but who knows? More later…
I’m on board Dana….
Well…just read an op-ed piece by Dana Milbank from the Washington Post where he proposes that all of the media declare February a “Sarah Palin free month” and I think it is such a good idea that I will pledge to do the same. So, after Jan 31…this will be a Palin free zone….even though she is such an easy target that on the days that I’m somewhat less than lucid I can still get a post out on her latest craziness….it is kind of a sacrifice for me since…as Dana said, when she is in the tags for an article, the article goes much higher in the search results…but that is a crutch I’m willing to do without if it will help to make her go away….
The repubs and the CBO…
Well…I am laughing out loud at a fact that I just uncovered in the news this morning, something I probably should have learned a couple of weeks or months ago with all of the news I read….I know you’ve read about the concerted effort by the repubs to discredit the Congressional Budget Office…the non-partisan part of the government that calculates (or estimates) the cost of proposed legislation, saying that the 253 billion dollar savings from the healthcare law is just their “opinion” and is based on untrue assumptions. They are going so far as is the tired old phrase ‘garbage in, garbage out” to describe the process used to come to those conclusions. Well…guess what? Guess where the repubs got the figures that put job-killing in the title of the healthcare repeal bill that was just passed in the House? Yep, you guessed it…from the very same analysis that reported a net savings from the healthcare reform bill….go on, you can laugh, too….
Can’t these guys even try anymore? Geez….
January 21st
Well…up kind of early this morning but a tolerable night of sleep so that’s okay…and the Wings won in OT so it was a good night. Still kind of worn out from the flu but there is light at the end of the tunnel…but I am going to milk the Flu Chronicles for one more post today…have to get the numbers up after last month….it’s been one of those weeks that has just been a blur and I don’t really remember doing anything…I wonder if it’s s defense mechanism against remembering feeling like crap or is is just getting old? I do have a few things to do today….I have to get groceries since I have emptied the freezer…well…that’s not true…I do have a few pounds of chicken but I am really tired of chicken….maybe I’ll make some chicken stir fry over the weekend….does anyone else get tired of eating healthy? See, the flu has affected me…not very lucid right now….I think I may need some fast food…okay…just not thinking so I’ll stop…more later….
One more thing…it’s 9 degrees here in the frozen wasteland….but spring is only 8 weeks away…
Nolan…you are still wrong, as always….
Well..I know I promised to be better in this post, to try to be less shrill and more reasonable, and to take no pleasure in the idiocy of the right and in particular to not name the commentators on the right who are so inconsistent in their writings. But, you know that hasn’t been true but I’m not here to apologize, since they just keep it up and no one is calling them out on this stuff. So, I’ll try to do it with one of my favorite people from the Detroit News; Noland Finley…again. His column today was this mish-mash of inconsistency where he blames the US for not taking care or having programs for delusional people like the shooter from Arizona, then moves on to charge that the violent images that Hollywood shows in it’s films and TV programs as the cause for many attacks by these deranged people. But, that’s not all, he goes on to assert that there is little that parents can do to counteract violent images in video games and today’s media.
How many ways can this guy be wrong and still have a job writing? First, let’s touch on his idea that there are not enough programs for the mentally ill but who is responsible for this? It’s the progressives out there who fight tooth and nail to keep just the skeletal safety net that is still there for ordinary Americans…and this type of social program is the first thing that the repubs attack as being the creeping “welfare state” whenever they are in power. Number two..if the media is so all-powerful, why did he, in an earlier column, assert that the right wing hate speech had nothing to do with the shooting…what is it Nolan? Does media matter or doesn’t it? Or is it just the media that is associated with the progressive leanings of many of those in Hollywood? And, your assertion that parents can’t effect the reactions of their children to these images, what about the millions and millions of children who see these same images and don’t go out and shoot someone? I don’t like to share the lives of my children here, but I have to add the anecdotal evidence that I have observed while raising my kids. They watched violent movies and tv shows…they played violent video games and still do to this day…but not once, and I’ll repeat that NOT ONCE did my kids ever get into a fight with anyone…and this is because their parents gave them the grounding of what is real and what isn’t…that when someone gets beat up or shot on tv…the actors can get up and walk away….but, in real life, there are real consequences to their actions and resorting to violence was a sign of failure; and not to be glorified like the right does today. These 4 young adults are the most peaceful, nice people you would ever want to meet and that is because of what Nolan says has no effect…parental involvement….geez…Nolan, think a little next time….