Well…I was going to come back and do a political one but really the only thing you need to know about right now is the Occupy! protests that are going on around the country..it is the center/left revolt that I have been predicting for the last year and hoping would happen. But, that’s not what this one is about…it was C’s 40th birthday today and I had to make the run to Mt. P to hang out with him for a while so that took up most of my day and I just got back and had dinner…now I’m going to have a cocktail and watch a little tv for a while….the old wreck made it again but I don’t know how many it has left in it….okay, I’m going to go take it easy for a while…200 miles in one day takes a lot out of me…
October 5th
Well…up really early this morning since it was just not worth it to try to get back to sleep….and there were no dreams to speak of so that was a little disappointing…but I guess I’ll live through it….it was a nice day yesterday and I did get a few things done…the bike looks a lot better with the cleaning and I did the winter cleaning on the car, too, which was less work than I expected…but it will make me smile when I get in it this morning. I am just loving this last gasp of good weather but I know the transition to fall is coming fast and it can’t last…it is cool to watch the daily progression to color in the trees when I make the last stop in the park on the hill but it also reminds me that another year is coming to a close and I’m getting older…but that is going to happen whether I think about it or not…so I think I won’t…more later….
Let’s forget this tax holiday nonsense…
Well…there is a little noticed but well-financed lobbying effort going on right now that is trying to get a free pass on taxes for companies that have stashed trillions of dollars of profits overseas to avoid paying federal taxes on them. These companies are pushing a reduction of tax rate from the normal 35% to only 5%…much less than any middle class individual pays on his earned income, to bring these profits back into the US. One of their big selling points for this tax cut is that they will use the money to create jobs; never mind that these companies are already sitting on over 2 trillion dollars in retained profits in the US that they are not spending to create jobs, so why would anyone expect them to spend any of this offshore profit? In fact, the last time a tax holiday was give to these same companies in 2004, they ended up cutting over 560,000 jobs but used the money to increase the pay of the top level managers of the companies while they were cutting these jobs. This is just another instance where corporations are manipulating the congress by buying votes and will end up lining their own pockets with this repatriated money….when does this nonsense stop?
Bloomberg just doesn’t get it…
Well…it is getting to be an exciting thing watching the protests against the unbridled greed of Wall Street spread across the country but I still have my doubts that it will have any effect on the nonsense that is going on on Wall Street and in boardrooms across the country. The first example of this cluelessness came from the statement that Michael Bloomberg made yesterday commenting on why the protesters were there…he seemed to think that the demonstrations were against the unions and the working folks that work on Wall Street other than the thieving bankers who are the sole purpose of the protests. I just shows that the repubs have tunnel vision and are still trying to play us working (or unemployed) folks against each other to distract us so we won’t see that the rich thieves have stolen almost all of the country over the last 20 years. This absolute contempt for working folks is again on display with what happened at HP over the last couple of weeks…the CEO was just dismissed after 10 months on the job which is generally considered to be a utter, dismal failure…but did he walk away with nothing for such lousy performance? Nope, this idiot walked away with over 13 million dollars in compensation…yep, 13 million for doing nothing for 10 months…and this moron truly feels he earned it…that is what is wrong with this country…the rich do nothing and make mountains of cash while they steal and steal and steal from the rest of us…how many people could have been kept working for that 13 mil? Geez…
October 4th
Well…a kind of fun day yesterday but I’m still trying to get over the bug that has been troubling me over the past couple of weeks and that is starting to irritate me somewhat…still have the coughing and sore throat and feel a little warm….so, I think I’ll just take it easy today and rest up…I do need to clean the car and bike, though, so I may have to do that while the weather is still nice. It was a pretty good Tigers game last night and I am looking forward to them maybe finishing up the Yankees tonight…it would be cool if they didn’t waste such a good season by going out in the first round…I will be back later for a political one since there are some developments that I need to comment on…more later…
Okay…I did forget that I am up to 166 days on the bike…under 20 more to go to get to 183…yay…
I forgot today’s song lyric, too…so here it is: “We blew off work cause the sky was so beautiful…and headed north for a three hour tour…you cracked a beer..then you put some music on…”
Still can’t do the politics thing….
Well….I have been trying and trying to get back on the political horse but it just hasn’t worked yet…I wonder if I’m just getting tired of the nonsense that passes for politics these days? Whatever it is…okay, maybe I’ll look in the paper right now and see if there is something….here’s something…just read a column by Jay Ambrose in the Detroit News that goes on and on about how bad the left is because they keep calling out the haters on the right…so, Jay, now when the left point outs the hate from the tea party or the others on the right it’s the moral equivalent of the constant hate speech from the right? Okay…this one is not going anywhere so I think I’ll stop here and think about it for a while…..or not…who knows?
Maybe I’ll just talk about other stuff, then….nope….that’s not working either so I’m going to go over to the couch for a few minutes and watch tv for a while….
October 3rd
Well…it was a long day yesterday and I don’t really feel that hot right now….it was fun, though, and I finally won at pool after getting beaten for a few weeks…I did make the pork shoulder roast yesterday and it came out really great..I will buy another one of those when they are on sale…not much to do today..recovery is on the top of the list and then a little cleaning if I can muster up the strength…and I need to go out to hulu and see if I can get last night’s episode of “Breaking Bad” since I fell asleep on the couch last night and missed it….more later…
Oh…I forget a couple of things…I will go over 2100 miles on the bike today and it looks like I will get to the 2400 that I had last year…don’t know if I’ll get to 3000 but I’m going to try like crazy…
Here’s today’s song lyric: “so we cheated and we lied and we tested…and we never failed to fail….it was the easiest thing to do…”
It’s a small world after all…
Well…just a short one with some trail weirdness that I observed when I was out today….everything just seemed that it was small…there were small mittens and socks that someone has lost…there were small caterpillars and grasshoppers everywhere and many, many, small birds. What does that mean? Absolutely nothing…just an observation..it did make me feel bigger, though, and that’s not a bad thing.
Okay…didn’t have much to say but that so I’ll stop here for now….
October 2nd
Well…running late this morning and, as always, I’m not sure why….I do feel a little crappy today with the Tigers losing last night and there being ice on the car when I went out for the paper this morning…that will push the bike ride back until at least noon but that’s okay….I overdid it last night so I feel crappy and it will take that long to get the coffee to work….I slept okay but it was one of those nights that feels like I didn’t if you can understand that…just feel weird today and I’m not sure why…maybe I’m dying…maybe not….I did put a pork shoulder roast in the oven for later today but that takes almost 4 hours and I’m not sure what it’s going to be like…might have used too much garlic since the whole place smells like it but since it’s the first time I’ve done one of those I’ll just have to wait and see….okay…..I need to head back to the couch before I melt into the chair so I’ll be back later….
Here’s today’s lyric: “Katy tried…I was halfway crucified…I was on the other side of no tomorrows…”
Those 16 dollar muffins…
Well…while I’m waiting for it to get a little warmer before I go out on the bike, I thought I’d comment on the $16 dollar muffins that the right is so hot about…if you haven’t heard, there was a conference a while back for some judges and other people that was paid for by the federal government whose billing appeared to contain muffins that cost $16 dollars apiece….and the right has taken this up as being a huge example of the wasteful spending that is rampant in Washington., But, it doesn’t matter to the right that it isn’t true…it is a quirk in how the billing was presented by the hotel where the conference was held. The reality is that the $16 dollars was for the entire days food for each of the attendees….and if you’ve ever been to any big city like DC, a cup of coffee goes for 5 bucks and a continental breakfast like the one that cost the taxpayers $16 at the conference can cost upwards of twenty bucks. But, does that matter to the right? Nope….this lie has been chosen to support the draconian cuts that the repubs are pushing and you even had the liar Bill O’Reilly on Jon Stewart’s show this week going on and on about it and I was surprised that Jon didn’t do his homework and cut ole Bill off at the knees….but I guess that falls to me today and I’m happy to do it to that blowhard….geez…..
Okay…going to throw out a second lyric for the day: “I can see you on the hill….comatose but walking still…”