All posts by James DeVol

April 20th

Well…it was an okay day yesterday and I got a few things done so that was cool…slept okay last night…kinda….and feel okay today with having the third night of being good and tonight will be a fourth and I feel good about that….might just do the whole week since I am now getting used to it….the car is still holding up with the patch I put on it so the urgency of fixing the exhaust has lessened somewhat….I did talk to my middle son last night for an hour and that was fun…he has a new job running IT for a school district near Detroit and that is cool….still have the twinges in my elbows but still no full pain yet and I am not sure why that is….haven’t even taken any ibuprofen for it and that is a good thing…my back has been great for almost 6 weeks now and I am getting used to it not hurting and being able to move as I want….T is in Phoenix until Sunday and I kind of miss talking to her but it is something I think I can get used to…..not much to do today….going to clean some and make a half pork loin for lunch along with the normal stuff but that is about it…more later….

They really do hate Ted Cruz…

Well…just a little short one on an article I just read about how much people really do hate Ted Cruz….one of his compatriots in congress, Rep Peter King, had this to say today…”I really hate Ted Cruz…I’d take cyanide if he gets the nomination…” now, I know this is hyperbole from a congressman who is known for it…but to publicly make a comment like that during the New York primary says a lot to how much ole Ted is just despised by everyone he has ever come into contact with from his college roommate to the prosecutor’s office in Texas, to the senate…everyone hates Ted….and that only happens by being the self-centered asshole that he is…remember, his little shutdown tantrum cost this country over $24 billion dollars….money that could have been spent to provide free college to over 200,000 kids…selfish asshole…geez…

April 19th

Well…it was a busy day yesterday and I got a bunch of stuff done…made a little cash but spent most of it on supplies that I needed so I guess the day was a wash…slept pretty crappy last night but I don’t feel that bad today so being good is having it’s desired effect….got a great bike ride in yesterday and finally felt like I am getting my legs back…it did help that it was over 70 and that loosened things up somewhat…haven’t had to take any ibuprofen for almost a week now and I am hoping my elbows were just screwing with me when they shadowed some pain earlier….don’t hurt at all today so I guess I’ll keep my fingers crossed…did get a notice that they shipped my new exhaust yesterday but I don’t think it will get here by Friday…the car is still not too loud so I guess I can get through another week with the old one on it….not much to do today…got my state taxes in yesterday and got enough back to buy the exhaust and still have 50 bucks left over so that was cool…..oh, today….going to get back to the normal routine today but it’s been slow starting so I guess I’ll just play it by ear….more later…

$15 dollars an hour is too much?

Well…after a few states have passed minimum wage laws that raise the wage to a still unlivable $15 dollars an hour, we have heard the baloney hand wringing and threats from the ceo’s of many of the low wage companies that depend on not paying their workers what they are worth say that they will have to close down or move to red states where they can still take advantage of their workers. Boo frickin hoo…just read an article comparing the $15 dollar per hour wage that people have been fighting for to the ceo pay on an hourly basis and it is not pretty…all of these jerks that are whining to high heaven make…wait for it…$2,300 to $9,700 PER HOUR…yep these asses that are complaining they can’t afford to pay their workers are getting ceo welfare to the tune of millions of dollars a year…with the ceo of McDonald’s getting a 368% raise for coming up with all day breakfast…yeah…that sure was not an original thought but this idiot took credit for it and is going to siphon off million of dollars more that the company just can’t afford to pay it’s workers. I’ve had enough of coddling these guys and letting them think that they are worth what the get paid…I mean who is worth $35 million a year while his workers are starving?  Things just need to change…and the repubs won’t do it…geez….

Why are taxes so complicated? I think you can guess….

Well…with it being tax day, I thought it might be fun to take a look at the reason why taxes are so complicated. In many countries around the world the state sends out a form with all of your information already entered into it and all you have to do is sign it…with the record keeping and computer capacity that has made life easier everywhere but here, you would think the US would be able to do that, too…but, no….not when you have the tax preparation industry protecting the 15 billion dollars they make every year doing taxes for individuals. The whole thing tracks back to 1998 when congress ordered the IRS to build a “return free system” for people who have relatively simple returns…but, even before the rules were tried, the tax prep industry started throwing money at legislators trying to get the act rescinded and they have spent almost 30 million dollars trying to keep the tax code as complicated as possible to ensure their profits. It is not like these guys know what they are doing, either…a study done buy the GAO found that 90% of the returns done by “professional” preparers had errors in them….something that is not better than people doing it themselves. I am just so tired of business buying themselves profits that come from the hard work of normal folks just because they can…and I am tired of congress not doing their job to protect US citizens from this kind of crap….geez…

April 18th

Well…it was an okay day yesterday but I didn’t get much done…way too many races on along with soccer so I really just vegged it out for the day….slept okay and was good last night so I feel pretty good today….and the Wings won so that was really cool but it’s only one game so I’m not back on the bandwagon yet….not sore anywhere so the bike ride will be okay today…I think the bike is going to have to be replaced soon since the rear swingarm is starting to wear out and I can’t see of any way to replace it….it would be nice to get an upgrade anyway but I may strip this one if I do….even though most of the stuff is worn out….we’ll see….the car hasn’t gotten any louder so that is cool, too, so I guess I can wait for the new exhaust….finally going to make a little cash today but have to spend some of that to get supplies but I guess it’s better than nothing….not much to do today….have errands this morning and then the normal stuff and some work around here…should accomplish a little today and that will be cool, too….more later…

April 17th

Well….it was a little bit of a busy day yesterday and I got sunburned from having the top down in the car…did get the chance to go out and meet up with C and K and K and that took a lot out of me…slept okay last night but feel a little slow today so I am going to take it easy…probably watch the napcar race later and just veg it out today…have just been feeling creaky the past few days so I think I’ll take some ibuprofen before the bike ride today and see if that helps…haven’t made any cash lately so this week is going to be pretty low key and I’ll be eating out of the freezer for most of my meals…have plenty of frozen food so that will be okay….going to get out on the bike here in a few so I think I’ll end this here and go back to the couch to finish the coffee….more later….

Kasich the moderate?

Well…as you know, every repub that has been elected to a governor’s seat lied to get there…hiding what they truly were about and playing reasonable, moderate, politicians since, if they told the truth about their views and what they were going to do, they wouldn’t get elected. The same kind of crap is now being pushed by Kasich…that he is the more “moderate” candidate that independents can vote for. Yeah…not so much…just start with the 30 bills he has signed restricting a woman’s right to control her own body…and then to the answer he gave a female college student the other day when asked what he would do about the huge amount of sexual assaults on college campuses across the US. His answer? “Don’t go to parties where there is alcohol.” Yep…just like every other misogynist repub who doesn’t really give a damn about any issue that is important to women, he dismisses the questioner with a flippant, stupid comment that shows he’s no moderate…just another troglodyte repub…so, the next time you hear moderate connected to Kasich…just laugh and shake your head…geez….

April 16th

Well…it was an okay day yesterday and I got a few things done so that was cool…slept okay last night but was up early this morning for some reason…I am re-thinking my cocktail rules for the NHL playoffs and will go back to the normal sched…just too much and feel too crappy to keep it up…and it costs a lot of money that I don’t want to spend….and the Wings are stinking up the place so I probably won’t watch any more….no pain to speak of today but I think I may take some ibuprofen before I get out on the bike….and I can get out in a few minutes since it is warm enough to get out now…and I need to since Man U is playing at 10….not much to do today…C is coming into town for the first time in 6 months so I am going to hang out with him for a while and then clean some….more later….

The results are in…

Well…it has been kind of a weird day today and I seem to be running late for everything…it may have been working on the car and ordering the new exhaust…yeah…that’s it…but, that’s not what I want to talk about…was just sitting here today thinking about the crap economics that the repubs have been pushing for the past 40 years and the fact that the results are in…that anywhere the tea party asses have been in control have seen their economies and budgets busted by the idiot “faith” that tax cuts will lead to a growing economy and that budget cuts will do the same….not in Kansas, not in Louisiana, not in Michigan…nowhere. In Kansas, the economy is so bad that they can’t even afford to educate their children after the tax cuts to the rich and business…here in Michigan, the love of austerity and tax cuts (only to business) has led to the poisoning of an entire city and cities that are going bankrupt with cuts in state funding…and, after Bobby Jindal got done with Louisiana, a dem had to come in and try to fix the cratered economy and education system. But, the only thing that repubs will learn from this is that they didn’t cut taxes or spending enough…if they had only cut taxes for the rich completely, it would have worked…a delusion that is killing this country…but, the idiots keep getting re elected so maybe the people deserve this crap….geez…