Friday, September 09, 2011

Johnson Closure

By the time you read this or at the least when this post self publishes thanks to the black magic that makes computers and the Internet work, by that time I will be somewhere between here and there on the superslab, trying to fit in with other southbound buggies as they head for home, the beach, their parents house or in my case some wedding 500 miles from my home.

I managed to not leave New England these last few years. Massachusetts was about about far as I ventured. This trip to Maryland will be my 3rd visit in the last 4 months. Beginning to feel like a recurring nightmare. Like the road will always be part of my life. I just can't escape its clutches.

Spent my first 28 years on this planet on the road. First as a little tacker tagging along behind my military ole man. Because I had been born to it, I knew no better. Hit the road behind the wheel of the big rigs and pounded a million or so miles out before I smartened up, came to Maine, parked my ass in the woods and settled down. The World did fine without me. Well, maybe not fine, but it certainly didn't miss me.

I was hoping to spend my last decades off the road and parked on my bike or comfortably reclined in my local barco-lounger with a cold beverage instead of cussing and fussing while other road warriors did their best to run me into the ditch. Just not in the cards I guess. Huffing exhaust fumes and dodging blown up truck retreads seems to be my destiny.

But what am I doing here? This was supposed to be the upbeat post that countered the previous angry man posts. I was aiming higher than I could punch I guess.......which reminds me of the best toilet graffiti I ever read.

Some years ago I walked into some public toilet in some unremembered truck stop in the outer reaches of America and scratched into the graffiti proof paint at face level:

"Your hose is too short
Your pump, it's too weak
Stand closer to the seat dude
Or you'll piss on your feet."

Unconsciously I edged closer to the ole American Standard urinal and laughed out loud. All the gnarly trucker dudes lined up next to me silently taking care of their own business looked at me at the same time. In my hurry to leave and take my red face out of there, what should have been a routine johnson closure turned into a very painful johnson snagged three or four links into the zipper. 

Well, you just don't follow up a belly laugh with a scream and leave with your dignity intact.

Not my best moment. But most definitely one of my most painful.

Later........................

Thursday, September 08, 2011

Okay I admit it, I have a burr under my saddle, a hair across................I guess I have just about had it with the Right blaming our current economic woes on Obama. First of all I have a fundamental problem blaming any one person, political group, or a specific alignment of the stars for the mess we got ourselves into. This economy is a group grope and the only ones we should be blaming are those who now waste time placing blame instead of coming up with ideas on how to solve it. Republicans are so busy saying they are not interested in hearing Obama's ideas on job creation, yet do I hear anything but the same old tired solutions that have not worked yet come out of their mouths? No, they seem stuck on the idea that lowering taxes and cutting spending is somehow going to magically turn this floundering economy around.........Right. It seems odd that after all these years since the implementation of the Bush Tax Cuts, our economy has been nose diving steadily ever since. And somehow more cuts are going to right the ship? .............Right.

I agree we should actively look to cut spending and taxes where feasible, but to do so without looking at the long range effects right now is flat out stupid. Trickle down economics has never worked. Why we keep thinking the rich and famous are going to give up more money if we give them back more money is foolish. The lords of the private sector want to make money at both ends. That is their economic model.

But since the Right is so Hell bent on fixing blame, let's just put some perspective on it. 8 Trillion dollars of the 14 Trillion dollar debt was run up under Republican, read Right side of the aisle, administrations. Based on their own blame the guy at the top tendency, they should be placing blame on the doorstep at their own leadership. But as it is with whiners and complainers, it is always someone else's fault. Or in matters with political stinkery wrapped up in them, it is always the Left's fault. A lot of things are the Left's fault, but they do not own all the blame or even as much blame as the Republicans for this economy. But they both share blame for why it is getting worse instead of better.

Let's use Gov Rick Perry's new Texas model as our example of what a new Republican economic policy might look like. The recent ongoing wildfires there are a perfect example. Prior to these wildfires, the great state of Texas cut state funding for voluntary fire response by 75%. They saved a sizable bundle of cash on some ledger somewhere and made the books look better. Now that their fire response capabilities have been cut back rather dramatically, Gov. Perry is whining about the slow response of the Feds in bailing his tax cutting stupid ass out. Rather than admit that maybe cutting their own fire fighting appropriations may have contributed to the less than timely response to fighting the fires early on, Perry wants to blame Obama. And If I am not mistaken Obama has made sure he got the Fed response moving as fast as possible. He certainly responded much faster than Bush did when Katrina hit. Classic Right Wing logic. Look out the window for someone to blame instead of first looking in the mirror in front of them.

See, this is what happens when I let the political bile build up to dangerous levels. I lash out. But I did see a great bumper sticker the other day on a thrashed mid 1990's Ford pick up - "I'm Too Poor to Vote Republican."

That about covers it for me.

Later........................................

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

What Goes Around Comes Around

Now that the brain dead Tea Baggers of the Right have successfully taken political rhetoric completely into the gutter these past few election cycles, I find it hilarious they now seem so shocked to be getting their own style of rhetoric thrown back in their face. The Right Wing Tea Baggin blogosphere is absolutely aghast the liver lillied Lefties would stoop so low. What a bunch of hypocrites. You morons set the stage, the example, the tone. What did you expect? No backlash whatsoever? BTW , the image is from 2009 at one of your hoe downs. Yeah, you folks are real class act alright.

Eric Bolling of Fox News was righteously indignant regarding Teamster president Hoffa's comment "Let's take the Conservatives out in November". I especially enjoyed the video where Bolling whined about Media Matters calling him and Fox out for selective editing. He said he listened to Hoffa's remarks again saw no "selective editing." Well dumb ass, maybe you should not listen to the same clip over and over, but maybe the whole speech. Or at the least the complete comment.

And of course Ann Coulter pipes up on some Fox panel of idiots and all she can do is criticize Hoffa's teamsters for representing "useless Kindergarten teachers". When called on this by one of her panel mates, she does not back down. Public sector workers are useless she contends, especially teachers.

Part of me says let the Tea Baggin whackos on the Right have the steering wheel. Let's just put America on a faster downward spiral than we are already in. Maybe hitting bottom sooner than later is better than this slow prolonged fall from grace.

But then I remember, "Oh yeah, they are idiots and I know we would only suffer more if they had the reins." Tea Baggers and their ideas will not put us back on top. That boat sailed years ago when their corporate sponsors found China. All they can do is knee jerk us into a worse situation than we are already in, what with their panties so bunched over stupid crap like transgender dancing, Creationism, making sure Gays cannot get married, and putting God back into the Constitution as they know the founders wanted. And in their minds, this will satisfy their odd notion of Freedom. That by restricting other people's freedoms somehow makes us all more free.

What I see coming at us is a uniquely Americanized version of a culture in decline. The basic model is there with the trends mirroring the declines of many cultures before us. Letting Tea Baggers have their way will just force us to re-set sooner than later. But then I again remember, they are idiots.

Later.......................