Well….it’s gotten to almost noon and I don’t feel too much better either physically or mentally so there won’t be any politics today I don’t think. Have not done much yet…did go out for coffee and read the papers but there are no topics that have grabbed me…there was one about ethanol and the new rules that are going to allow 15% ethanol in gasoline but then it goes on to say that any car older than 2002 won’t be able to use it without damage….so, anyone who is poor like me can’t drive anymore? Or, are they going to put normal gas in one pump and then jack the price up because it’s “special” gas? I can see why people are concerned about government interference in their lives….and I haven’t even touched on the effect that the diversion of all that corn has had on food prices or the subsidy that the ethanol producers get to make the stuff. Okay, repubs, why aren’t you bitching about this…oh, that’s right it helps business and it’s okay if government helps business; but it’s wrong to help citizens. See…I can’t even work up the minimum of outrage that would power my writing so I’m going to quit here….
Category Archives: Misc
Bye Bye, Glenn…
Well…I missed this one and I can barely believe it myself…didn’t really miss it but my brain has been on alert overload for so long that this easy, simple, target was missed. It is a day of rejoicing for America and for us progressives…but not only that, for any thinking, rational human being….damn, buried the lead again…let’s back up…Glenn Beck’s show on the fake news network has been canceled and I can’t be happier. Before you think that I am a proponent of censorship of even extreme ideas, if you’ve been here before you know that I always want an interpretation of the constitution that leans toward individual freedom that is almost absolute, and would want even Glenn Beck’s views to be protected by the first amendment. That said, I also think that the public discourse in our society has become way too coarse and is a factor in the polarization of our country….something I think is the root cause of the looming government shutdown. As I’ve said before, crazies like Glenn would have been unwashed, and standing on a street corner spewing his hate when I was growing up…but in these cynical times organizations like Fox will do anything to further their cause and that has meant giving people like Beck a mouthpiece, but I think it was more than that…I think it was a ploy to make the rest of the extremists at Fox look less far-right than they are….providing a convenient but still false comparison. So, goodbye Glenn….and good riddance….
Here’s the real problem…
Well….if you were here yesterday, you read my post on the fact that G.E. didn’t pay any income taxes on the over 5 billion dollars of profit they made in the US, or on the 15.1 billion dollars they made worldwide last year. But, that’s not the real problem here…well, it is but what happened after that news was announced shows the isidiousness of corporate control of almost everything in our country. Did you see any of this news on NBC? Nope, not a peep, and guess why…NBC is owned by G.E. Their excuse was that it was just not newsworthy enough to put on the nightly news; while we had their newsreader going on about the new words that were being added to the Oxford dictionary? This type of behavior really points to the fact that corporations are out of control here in the US and that needs to be changed. I’ll be back to add to this one later but lunch is ready and I don’t want to overcook the chicken…
Another way to discriminate…
Well…the look for work has gotten more depressing over the past couple of days with my discovery of a new wrinkle in many of the job listings I’ve been seeing. The new way that these folks have discovered to eliminate we experienced workers is by putting qualifiers for MAXIMUM experience in the job postings…yep, that’s right, saw a bunch today that I am qualified for, but they all listed a maximum of 5 years experience….so now they have discovered a new code and method to wink and nod and make sure they can exclude anyone that is not in their 20’s or early thirties. So, I guess now those of use with long job and life experience have no value anymore….geez….
Are you getting tired of this?
Well….just looked back at a few from the past couple of weeks and I didn’t know I was so angry and combative….I’m getting tired of being pissed off and I’ll bet you are tired of reading it here so, let’s try to lighten things up a bit and smile a little. Hold on….need to take a shower first and get the pork loin cooking so I can have it for lunch….be back in about a half hour….going to try some of these little, round potatoes with it that I’ve never cooked before but were on sale at Meijers for a buck for a three pound bag…and I have become hooked on fresh broccoli too, and I am going to start trying some new recipes for cooking and seasoning it…okay, now I’m going to take that shower…..back in about a half hour…go!
Hi, I’m back…have the food cooking for lunch and it is starting to smell good in here…..I think what I’m going to do is come back all day and add to this one…don’t have a lot to say right now….I used to be funny and I don’t know where that went but I do want to try to reclaim it…I think it will help my mood a bit and a SF with K would get me out of this place…in the snow…come on..it’s March already, can’t it stop snowing so I can get on the bike? I have gained the normal 12 pounds that I gain every year in the winter but I started at a lower, leaner, level…..say that three times fast….that is fun to say…lower, leaner, level….so I don’t feel as bad about it this year….as I said, I’ll be back later….have been moving around since 6 and want to take a veg hour….
Is everyone at the Detroit News an idiot?
Well…..have to comment on an article by Michel Barone in the Detroit News this morning that finds it is a bad thing that unions give money to Democratic candidates and makes the assertion that since public employee unions give to the Dems it is the same as taxpayer money going to them with no say by the people paying the salaries. Yikes, what a leap of logic this guy is pushing…by that same reasoning any time a business gives money to the repubs, that I have helped make possible by purchasing a good or service from, they are making political contributions that I have no say in. Michael, of course the unions are going to give to the dems, they are the only party that gives a damn about the middle class and still fights for people to have a chance against the manipulations of corporations that are aided and abetted by the repubs. He continues with the spurious, circular argument that asserts that since private sector employees have been beaten down and have had their real compensation stall or recede over the past 20 years, the same should happen to those who have managed to stay even or even improve their lot; while corporate profit is at it’s highest level in history. I have a question for you Michael, when will you on the right be happy? When there is no middle class left to purchase anything from your sainted corporations? Geez….
Are we waking up?
Well…if this stuff keeps coming to me, it may be a record day here but I think this just may be compensation for the uncontrollable stuff that is happening in my life right now…could even be avoidance, but who knows? One thing that I am taking away from the protests that are happening across the midwest is hope, hope that the workers of this country are finally waking up to the organized assault on the middle class and are starting to do something about it…and I have to thank governor Walker for being so open about the right’s agenda, pulling the curtain back on the coordinated effort of the repubs to steal the entire country for themselves. My only fear is that this may fizzle out before it can be converted into electoral gains for those who value the middle class and the dignity of labor….
A strange class warfare…
Well…I promise this one will be shorter but it is something I need to get down before I forget it. I was musing about the class warfare aspect of the fights that are going on in statehouses across the country and one thing struck me: that this is a new kind of class war…one that is being fomented by the rich and powerful and uses working folks as the soldiers, pitting powerless people who have seen their pay, benefits, and security decline by the fake necessity of givebacks against those who have found at least a little protection of their status by their membership in unions. And, the puppet masters who are pulling the strings have been masterful in getting people to vote against their own interests, and to believe the lies that all of the economic problems in this country are caused by greedy workers. You have to hand it to them…first they gut funding for education so they get an ignorant populace, then they overwork them so they have no energy left to even think about how badly they’ve been deceived…..and the downward spiral for labor continues while the rich sit in their clubs and laugh their asses off at you and I….
Wisconsin tries to kill the unions…
Well…if you needed another example of the repubs concerted efforts to kill organized labor, look no farther than Wisconsin, where the repub governor and legislature are trying to take the collective bargaining rights away from all public employees, and you know who’s next..any other union that tries to keep it’s members in the middle class. This is being done on the pretext that they have a 137 million dollar budget deficit and something has to be done. but the only pertinent fact here is that, until they gave away a matching tax break to business, the state was running a surplus…just another example of these repub thieves trumping up crises that don’t exist to attack the middle class. I sense the beginning of a revolt here…where the repub plans are finally being exposed and getting the coverage that was lacking before the election…at least I hope so…the pie here in the US is big enough for everyone if the repubs would stop thinking they deserve it all….
The repubs idea of shared sacrifice…
Well…one of the themes that has come out of the budget nonsense here in Michigan is that of “shared sacrifice’ and is being sold that everyone needs to give a little to help our state survive. But, again, those that are being asked to sacrifice are only the workers and the retired folks here…and this increase in taxes on you and me is going to be used to give business billions in tax breaks since these idiots still believe that giving tax breaks preserves and grows jobs here in Michigan. Let’s take a look at one example that I am personally aware of here in GR where Steelcase was given huge tax breaks to keep jobs here and build state of the art manufacturing facilities…well…guess what was just announced a few weeks back? Steelcase is moving the remaining manufacturing jobs from Michigan to low wage states and Mexico. No matter what the state does, no matter how much the workers give up, it is never enough for business and the repubs that run them…they will never be happy until all of us work for minimum wage no matter what our education level or our contribution to the bottom line. I’ve never shared this from my personal work life; shared how I was treated by business that didn’t care about anything but the bonuses that the ceo’s get….in the week before I was axed…I gave that company over 5 million dollars in cost reduction that went right to the bottom line…and over my career, I was personally responsible for almost 100 million dollars of these lower costs…and they axe me because they were consciously trying to rid themselves of people over 40, my average salary of 60 K a year and 28 years of service meant absolutely nothing to them….
So, giving tax breaks to these fools is not going to ensure that jobs stay here….it will only result in you and I paying for their folly and huge executive bonuses…when will this nonsense stop? Geez….