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I'm taking a late train tomorrow night for

the Thanksgiving holiday.  Turns out most of the earlier trains were sold out.  Oh well.  In any event, posting will be light through the weekend. 

I hope that everyone has a lovely, restful holiday. 

November 24, 2009 in General | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

The holiday season (bit me O'Reilly) is approaching.

And in an attempt to get my shit in gear, I'm going down to S. Jersey to get some shopping done and maybe wrap a gift or two.  Every year I swear I will get this done early.  Every year I am left trying to get things done at the last minute.  Maybe this year will be different?  Yeah, I know.  

Hope you all have a restful, yet productive, weekend. 

November 13, 2009 in General | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

Well, I had a lovely time until this a.m.

Woke up with a raging sinus headache.  They are similar to, but not as intense as, migraines.  So I missed my train, as I gulped down a few cold tablets and crawled back into bed.  I finally made it to the train station 5 hours later, but feeling much better.  As much as I dislike the winter, I'm ready for it.  The shifts in temperature and humidity play havoc with my sinuses.  Fortunately I only get these headaches about once every year or so, but they suck when they occur.  I think tonight is going to be an early to bed night. 

And try to avoid the coughing hordes when you are out.  Seems like everyone on the train had a cold, and with this being an early flu season (damn you, swine flu), well, prevention is the best medicine.  Stay well.  

November 01, 2009 in General | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

Wow. Less than a year ago I was thanking everyone

for coming and visit and getting my page views to 100,000.  Today, well, I just hit 200,000.  Thanks you guys.  I know I haven't been blogging as steadily, but I think we all have had our fill of daily soul draining stories on what passes for politics in this country.  Sure, I'll do the occasional political post now, but it is occasional.  But throw a story about a preacher caught exposing himself or a politician snagged trying to pay an undercover cop $20 for the opportunity to blow him....I am so there.  

So thanks again.  Ironically, I will thank you and disappear for a few days.  Halloween is Saturday and I'd rather not experience my block as an open air urinal again, so I am leaving tomorrow night for S. Jersey.  I have more ship memorabilia to catalog and I may join my sister-in-law in ferrying the girls around for free candy on Saturday. 

Hope you all have a fabulous Halloween.  

October 28, 2009 in General | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)

I'm back.

I had a really relaxing week off.  The weather was horrible, so my time was spent reading, watching good and bad tv, eating and resting.  Just perfect.  And I've started to catalog some ship memorabilia my uncle left me over 20 years ago (yeah, I took my time, but now the deck plans and brochures, etc., are over 50 years old and, presumably, more valuable).  So, anyone know anything about selling ocean liner memorabilia?  I have to do some research.  No one piece is worth a lot, but my uncle saved everything, and the deck plans, etc. are n the original envelopes.  Let's just say I only made it through one box.  It's a start. 

Hope you all had a lovely week and weekend.  

October 18, 2009 in General | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)

And birthday season continues...

I'm off to South Jersey once again.  This time there are two birthdays: my Aunt Mary's and mine.  My brother is making a turkey dinner tomorrow night--I think I am charged with making (or buying) the cake.  I'm the baker in the family (by default) and I don't get the chance to do it in my tiny New York City apartment, so no tears for me.  That said, I am looking forward to a relatively relaxing weekend. 

Hope you all have a lovely weekend filled with rest and relaxation.  

October 02, 2009 in General | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

Why don't I feel reassured?

Bernanke says recession is "very likely" over. Well let's see, commercial real estate is starting to go into a tail spin, unemployment is at close to 10% (actually much higher if you include people who no longer get unemployment benefits and/or have stopped looking) and jobs are being cut where I work....and are likely to continue. Reminds me of the saying about the difference between a depression and a recession. Namely, it's a recession if your neighbor is laid off. It's a depression if you are laid off. And let's face facts, laid off means fired, because I don't think that any of these jobs are coming back ever. Just another Tuesday.

September 15, 2009 in General | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

It's the beginning of birthday season, so I will be away this weekend.

Posting will be light to nonexistent, as I trek to south Jersey to pay homage to my brother and nephew (birthdays on the 13th and 14th).  Then I return to celebrate my friend John's birthday on the 15th.   And there are at least seven birthdays to follow over the next five weeks.  No doubt about it, folks had to find something to occupy them during those cold winter nights.  And they did.


Have a lovely weekend. 

September 11, 2009 in General | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

So I was chatting with a friend about the state of political affairs....

Long and short, I've had enough with paying the kind of attention that I've been paying to the political discourse.  The republicans are crazy, the democrats complicit.  In fairness, the only decent politicians out there are democrats, but they are constantly being stomped on or ignored by the democratic leadership.  Think about it.  There are over 80 members of the Progressive Caucus, yet Rahm tries to pressure them to cave on a strong public option while supporting the 50+ members of the Blue Dog Caucus, some of whom were formerly republicans who changed parties.  Why?  The same reason this White House worked out a sweetheart deal with big pharm.  It's all about the money.  


To that end, I don't think I can spend as much time on this blog focusing on something I cannot change.  If, as a result of the health care reform fiasco, or the continued refusal to investigate torture and the other crimes of the Bush administration, or the escalation of the Afghanistan "war," or whatever, if we see a call to form a real third party?  Well, I'm there.  Assuming, as I do, that that will not happen (no matter how much I wish it would), then I will have to relegate my blogging to naughty preachers and politicians caught offering an undercover cop $20 to blow him.  It's about balance.  I need some. 

September 10, 2009 in General | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

Yet another apology for not posting that much.

Yes, work has been busy, but I'm getting tired of the political bullshit that is going on.  The Obama diehards want to believe that he is engaging in 11th dimensional chess and that somehow he is going to pull a strong health care reform bill with a really good public option out of his ass.  Somehow they have ignored the agreement his team reached with big pharm to cut prices (or is that profits?) a little bit in exchange for more of the same.  But still they dream.  No doubt his speech tomorrow will leave them enough wiggle room to continue dreaming. 


But one day something will have to pass, and my gut says it is going to be a shitty bill that Obama and congressional democrats will ultimately regret.  Not the progressives in the house, mind you (and Bernie Sanders), because their districts are very blue and the voters there will likely that they were the only members of congress who give a damn (at least the ones who don't cave).  Personally, I will not gloat when a crappy bill is passed.  The true believers, after all, want to believe.  Their hearts are in the right place, but their minds refuse to process the information that is being trotted out before them.  Do they really think that Obama wants a strong health care reform bill when he seemingly is licking Max Baucus' and Chuck Grassley's asses?  I mean, really.    

Long and short, I feel like I have wasted too much time giving a damn about something that was a fait accompli a long time ago.  I have a job and health insurance, so I am not immediately at risk if a crappy bill passes.  The problem is that the numbers of uninsured are growing each day as more and more people lose their jobs.  And something important is also being ignored in the teeth gnashing that passes for debate.  Most people think that the only players who have a stake in killing real reform are the insurance companies and big pharm.  No.  Most large corporations have a stake in killing it too.  After all, if they were truly concerned with keeping health insurance costs under control (which could happen with single payer, but not many of the other options), they would have flexed some real muscle in this debate.  But they haven't, have they?  

My theory is that the large corporations need the bill to fail so that workers continue to feel insecure and will accept shitty raises (if any) and increasingly disappearing perks in exchange for longer hours, more work and even less job security.  If a truly good bill were passed--say, single payer universal coverage--the well of cheap, compliant and fearful labor would get a little smaller.  And if there is a job recovery (one hopes there will be, but who really knows?), well competition for labor might actually force corporations to pay their employees more.  This whole dance is to confuse us, but ultimately it's about making sure the upper middle class, middle class and poor stay in their places or slide a few steps down.  Change we can believe in, my ass. 

September 08, 2009 in General | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

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