Fall in Texas
A few weeks ago, we pulled the old rusted fireplace stove insert out of the fireplace, (with the help of my neighbor). Carolyn and I cleaned up and repaired the cracks in the fireplace firebox. We had ordered a new set of fireplace doors and they arrived last week, so we installed them over the weekend. It was a little cool this weekend, so we had a fire to “cure” the fireplace sealer.
This week I found a wood dealer where I work in San Augustine, so I bought a cord of seasoned oak. Since I couldn’t fit the whole cord in the Toyota PU, it took 3 trips to get the whole cord back to the house.
It’s supposed to get down to 37 degrees tonight, so I know that we will have a fire this evening! Won’t be long and I’ll be raking leaves in the yard, again.
PS. 2/15/2012 – I wrote this post in mid November, and our winter was fairly mild. We had some cold weather last weekend, and we have gone through the cord of wood that I bought last fall. We certainly have enjoyed the fireplace, and it’s a great way to keep the electric heat off.
ShareRefreshing Change
Well, I’ve been back at my job for two weeks now after getting back from the cool, cool, mountains of North Carolina. It was so great to go to NC and spend time with my mom, even though Carolyn and I didn’t get much time to relax. We left the heat of Texas, (by that time we’d had almost 70 straight days of temps over 100), and got to temps in the mid 70′s during the day, and mid 50′s at night.
Carolyn had never been to western North Carolina, so we spent some time driving the Blue Ridge Parkway. This year is the 75th anniversary of the Parkway. We drove the Parkway from Sylva all the way up to Linville. It was so refreshing to drive, (45 mph speed limit on the Parkway), at a leisurely pace, and really enjoy the journey.
(Photo was not taken on our trip)
ShareWhy we need to amend the 14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution was passed after the Civil War to give former slaves access to the US legal system. But over the last 150 years, Corporations have using the language of “person” to sway the Supreme Court to give them the same rights that we as individuals enjoy. Watch the Thom Hartmann video below and you will realize WHY we need to “amend” the 14th Amendment.
We must change the 14th Amendment RIGHT NOW, and send the message once and for all, that it is “We the people”, NOT We the corporations!
Why supply side or “trickle down” economics doesn’t work
No matter what your political affiliation is, there is one thing that we should all be able to agree on. “Trickle down” economics, (the kind that Ronald Reagan brought us), has never, and will never work. Yet, there are still politicians who promote, herald, and insist in an almost religious fanaticism, that tax cuts for the wealthiest persons, (read as “job creators”), are the true road to getting this economy working again. Simply put, if any of that BS was the least bit true, why didn’t the U.S. have MASSIVE job growth during G.W. Bush’s presidency?
Here’s a video by Thom Hartmann about the dirty little secret that politicians and the rich don’t want you to figure out.
While I don’t agree completely with everything that Thom Hartmann says, I think he covers all the major policy points that “we the people” should expect from our so called “representatives” in Congress. When you think about what tax rates were under Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, we should demand that the tax rates be returned to pre-Ronald Reagan days.
When the Republicans rail about the corporate tax rate being too high, and that’s what’s driving jobs overseas, let’s all remember that it was Congress that wrote the legislation that allows corporations to ship jobs overseas. Instead of tightening the regulations of corporations who do business overseas, (and make them pay their fair share of taxes), Congress wants you and me to subsidize their businesses by lowering their tax rates! On paper, maybe the 35% corporate tax rate is too high, but most corporations pay either nothing, (some even get a taxpayer supplied rebate), or a modest nominal rate lower than 15%.
What all politicians won’t admit is that it is SMALL business that creates jobs, not large corporations. Oh yeah, they will sure give “lip service” to being pro-business, but what they mean is they are pro-big corporations, because that’s where the large campaign contributions come from. Until we take the money out of elections, and go to only publicly funded elections, I’m afraid that we will have the WORST government money can buy.
Next blog: Corporate Personhood and the 14th Amendment
ShareBudget Deficit and Debt Ceiling BS
If you watch the Sunday news shows, everyone is all ga-ga about the budget deficit and the looming debt ceiling “crisis”. All the political posturing, by our “representatives”, (and I use that word loosely), is so divided by sound bytes and party lines. Let’s not forget that all these “representatives” that have been there more than one term, are the same folks whose actions and in-actions, got the country into this mess.
The Republicans took back the House of Representatives in 2010 with the promise to create jobs. But in reality, all they’ve done is try to eliminate programs that deal with the middle class, poor, and disenfranchised. They have insisted on feeding us lies about Social Security and Medicare being broke, (they are both fully funded for the next 25 years, at which time they will be paying out more than they are taking in). In fact, both programs would be funded for longer, if Congress had not slashed the payroll taxes, which hasn’t done anything for unemployment. Democrats are equally at fault for not demanding that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars be fully funded and paid for in advance.
In the next few blog entries, I will try to offer some common sense solutions to our “not so” complex problems. At least if you don’t agree with me, (and I expect many of you not to), I hope that all of you will see the positive end results of my proposals. My first article in this series will be a retrospective and historical view of why we are in this current financial mess.
Even though the examples and videos that I provide in the next few posts are partisan, I want to stress that BOTH parties, (Democrats and Republicans), have contributed to the current quagmire that is our economy.
Stay Tuned.
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