Saturday, June 19, 2010

Saturrrrdaaaaaay Afternoooooooon

If you lived through the 60s and have enough brain cells left to remember the Jefferson Airplane and a singer named Gracie Slick, you may understand the manner in which today's blog title is written. If you didn't and you don't, Oh Well!

My better half and her mother are spending the afternoon at my daughter's hair salon, so I've got time to watch a little world cup, a little golf and surf the net for the latest news.

The first thing I found on the Huffington Post this morning was an interview by a high school student of a long time Arizona legislator who chairs the committee on education. Sort of an oxymoron really, I mean education and a committee on education in the Arizona legislature.
Anyway, the boob doesn't know his own voting record and the fact he voted to cut $550 million bucks from the same program he says he supports. You can read the article and see the video HERE.

Then over John Amato's Crooks and Liars is this fantastic video from C-Span of Democratic congressman Sheldon Whitehouse giving a detailed and chilling account of how corporations have infiltrated the very government agencies that are supposed to be regulating them. That article and commentary video(I warn you it's long and windy and full of hyperbole, but still accurate) can be found HERE.

I stopped in at the sight called Hysterical Raisins and found this amusing account of the Republican Senator who felt the need to apologize to BP for being extorted by the Obama administration to pony up $20 billion for a fund to help the victims of the Deep Horizon continued oil pumping. (It ain't a spill folks, they're just pumping 50-75 thousand barrels of oil directly into the Gulf of Mexico.) You can check that out HERE.

Well that's enough political claptrap for me this week. The weekend is way too short to start off with, so there's a limit to how much time I'm willing to devote to contemplating the seemingly unstoppable decline of our society and nation.

The summer doldrums are upon us here in Phoenix, with temps each day over 100 degrees, so the best thing you can do is hang out at the pool or inside in the AC or make the trek up north on weekends to escape the heat.

I wish you well

RT

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Random Sunday Thoughts

BP OIL - How about some criminal charges for those who knew they were risking disaster and proceeded anyway? And while we're at it, what will the Gulf of Mexico and the rest of the world's Oceans connected to the gulf by currents look like with MILLIONS OF BARRELS OF OIL in them?

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO THE LEAK - slow, inept and let's face it, quite impotent. It becomes clearer and clearer that regardless of the party or leader in office that corporations run our planet with minimal oversight.

ARIZONA'S IMMIGRATION BILL - It's hard to believe it will have any significant effect on the amount of illegal aliens in our midst. It has however sparked debate on what we are willing and able to do about our ever changing demographic. And of course it reinforces the idea that we here in Arizona are backward, illiterate racists.

FIREWORKS, GUN LAWS AND GUNS IN BARS - Though this is old news it still bugs me that our state legislature is able to spend time on these laws but can't find the time or smarts to help with our state's fiscal issues.

JOHN MCCAIN AND WHAT'S HIS NAME HAYWARD - This dude (Hayward not McCain) has always reminded me of the cartoon character that said "and now for the Norts Spews." Whatever their party comes up with will be immaterial to me and many other voters.

THE NEXT SUPREME COURT JUSTICE - Since the selection of George Bush by the court is has become more and more important to get someone on the court who is even slightly liberal. This is why the republicans fight so hard on these appointments.

THE DEFINITION OF CONSERVATIVE - I have long wondered what exactly is supposed to be conservative about a party that abandons the middle class, worships the wealthy and powerful and wreaks havoc on the few protections given to the common man. Two wars (at least one totally uncalled for) billions wasted on killing people and worsening our position in the world and these people call themselves conservative. Sounds extremely radical to me.

THE ECONOMY - For some reason the markets have been surprised that jobs have not bounced back. These are the same folks that oversaw the exodus of manufacturing during the last 3 decades in search of better quarterly results. Really? Now you're surprised?

BEING A HOCKEY FAN IN ARIZONA - Each year I look forward to the NHL playoffs and the Stanley Cup. I don't follow the rest of the season because I don't have cable and I don't care till the playoffs. This year NBC carried the first two games and will carry the 5th game today. We were able to see game 4 over at the clubhouse here in our development while enjoying the buffet so that worked out great. It took me a while to get over the way the Coyotes played in game seven against the Red Wings, but I'm back to rooting for the underdog in the Cup finals.

WORK HAS CHANGED - I'm working as a troop these days, just one of many, many others. It is a daily lesson in humility. I've fought for a decent lunch hours (yes, one that falls somewhere in the actual time you eat lunch) and won due to a doctor's note. Now I'm in a similar battle over a decent work station that doesn't cause the arthritis in my neck to incapacitate me after a day's work. Again a doctor's note has been required to get even minimal action. I will be bringing in a footstool to help mitigate the pain caused by the replacement chair that gives me enough height to work the keyboard, but denies me the ability for my feet to reach the floor.

WEEKENDS ARE WAY TOO SHORT - Enough said!

RT