This just in: I’m about to get judgmental.

Let me give you an example. The Republican Party is basically the party of white supremacy. Not everyone in the party is a racist but most are enough so that they legislate to keep nonwhites from voting and immigrating. They also vote against nearly every equal rights bill that is put before them. Now, because they are primarily racist, to vote for them is to support a party that is primarily racist. It does not mean you are a racist…or does it?

Let’s begin.

If you vote for a Republican, you are voting for ignoring what the best scientists in the world are recommending with regards to handling the pandemic. One of Trump’s lead advisors has said that this cause more than 120,000 avoidable deaths in the United States. If you vote Republican, these deaths are caused by you.

If you vote for Democrats, you are voting to follow the advice of the best doctors in the world. You are voting for mandatory vaccinations, masking and all of the other things we can do to protect ourselves and our fellow countrymen.

And…

If you vote Republican you are voting for the “promise” of economic growth and the lowering of the national debt. You are voting for what they actually gave you which is marginal growth and the largest debt and deficit in American History…by a large margin.

If you vote Democrat, you are voting for spending and taxation plans that pay for things all Americans need without putting they burden of financing it on the backs of the poor or future generations.

And…

If you vote Republican, you are voting for the “promise” of massive infrastructure funding. The Republican Party promised this from the primaries in 2015 all the way through the end of Trump’s presidency. To be clear, you are not voting for infrastructure funding, you are voting for an perpetually unfulfilled “promise” of infrastructure funding.

If you vote for Democrats, you voted for the largest infrastructure funding bill in decades. You voted to have your taxes spent to make sure our country stays up with the rest of the world while making improvements that will benefit every person in the United States.

And…

If you vote Republican, you are voting against the democratic idea that one person equals one vote. You are voting against free and fair elections. You are voting against self government.

If you vote Democrat, you are voting to allow all Americans the equal right to vote and equal representation regardless of the color of your skin.

And…

If you vote Republican, you are voting for the “promise” of better healthcare, no….great and highly affordable healthcare. This is a promise the Republican Party has been making for generations. To date, they have not put forth a single bill to make this happen.

If you vote Democrat, you are voting for a party that supports universal healthcare. You are voting for a party that wants to make healthcare affordable to all Americans.

And…

If you vote Republican, you are voting for a party that has voted down every single initiative to fight climate change.

If you vote Democrat, you are voting for a party that is leading the world in solving the climate crisis. You are voting for a party that sees jobs and better lives for our children through innovation and progress in “green” technologies.

And…

If you vote Republican, you are voting for the promise of a stronger and safer America. You are voting for the party the entire world sees as corrupt and self serving when it comes to national interests. You are voting for the party that caters to China, Russia and North Korea. You are voting for a party that actively seeks the dissolution of NATO.

If you vote Democrat, you are voting for a party that sees strength in our international alliances. You are voting for a party that actively promotes democracy around the world while keeping a guarded eye on authoritarian governments.

And…

If you vote Republican you are voting to keep immigrants out of the country. Specifically, immigrants that are not white or are not Christian.

If you vote Democrat, you are voting to improve our immigration system so that we can let in all natures of people seeking to live in a free democratic society.

And…

If you vote Republican, you are voting for government by soundbytes and government by obstruction.

If you vote Democrat, you are voting for action; real action.

And…

If you vote Republican, you are supporting armed insurrection to overthrow our government when the majority of Americans didn’t vote the way you wanted them to.

If you vote Democrat, you are voting for the rule of law.

And…

If you vote Republican, you are voting for a massive transfer of wealth from the average person to the already extremely wealthy.

If you vote Democrat, you are voting for ALL Americans to enjoy Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Just sayin…

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: Virginia elected a new governor, a Republican. His position: We will not allow critical race theory to be taught to our children. Critical Race Theory rests on the premise that racial bias – intentional or not – is baked into U.S. laws and institutions. Black Americans, for example, are incarcerated at much higher rates than any other racial group. This is something that is sometimes taught in law schools.

Here’s the deal. A news reporter last week was doing a study on critical race theory and could not find a single school (high school and below) that was teaching it…ANYWHERE in the country. Nor could they find a school that had taught it in the past.

Yesterday, a reporter asked a voter in Virginia why he voted Republican. His answer, “Well, I don’t think we should be teaching Critical Race Theory to our kids.” Never mind that this is not happening anywhere…the reported then asked, “What about Critical Race Theory are you against?” The person responded, “Well, I don’t want to get into details but I’m against it. It quickly became apparent that he had no idea what it meant.

This person voted for a governor whose sole message was about something that didn’t exist and that the voter had zero understanding of.

On a completely unrelated note…a large crowd of Republicans gathered in Dallas to welcome JFK Jr as Donald Trump’s running mate in 2024. The only problem with this is that JFK Jr. died in a plane crash decades ago. These people, being Republican, think this is a conspiracy (big surprise) and the JFK Jr. has been hiding out until the time was ripe. So, no JFK Jr showed up from the dead but that doesn’t mean he won’t run in 2024.

On another completely unrelated note: Americans, across the board, support the various components of Biden’s Build Back Better plan. It’s not even a close race on this issue; Maybe 4:1 in favor. Until…they find out that it is Biden’s plan. When this is discovered, the same people that vote Republican based on made up stuff that they don’t understand, the same people that believe JFK Jr. is consulting with Trump…these same people are suddenly against the plan.

This is why we can’t have nice things.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: I was at my doctor’s office today and she asked, “Do you want a vaccine shot for Shingles?” My response was, “Hell yes!” I know people that had Shingles and it seems to be a particularly nasty infliction. After the injection, I asked if I would be sick tomorrow and the response was, “Well…you won’t feel great.” That was fine with me.

As I’m driving home, I started to wonder how the Ridiculous Right would paint a Shingles vaccine if President Biden recommended everyone get one. The more ridiculous the more Republicans, Fox viewers, QAnons and the Small Penis Militiamen would believe the story. So, I’m starting a story right now.

The Shingles vaccine was developed by WalMart to track online purchasing habits of Americans. Their goal is to position themselves to better compete with Amazon. It works by linking, automatically to any WiFi connection available. Since it’s in your body, it can track geographic locations as well as finger movements. This later ability will allow them to see what you are typing on your computer. WalMart commissioned a Chinese hacking group to create the nano-bot that is injected along with the vaccine. China, in return, will be given the contract for providing electric carts for lazy people to drive around in at every WalMart in the world. And…this was all Joe Biden’s idea.

There, that should do it.

If you think Donald Trump won the last election then you should have no problem believing my myth.

If you think the Republican Party is fighting the good fight to help the American people that put them in office, then you should have no problem believing my myth.

If you think January 6th was a false flag operation orchestrated by Democrats, then you should have no problem believing my myth.

But I digress…

There are literally dozens of things put out there by the Republican Party that are so ridiculous that its hard to believe that anyone would believe any of them. And yet, millions believe all of it.

As for me, I intend to spend the rest of my day googling “Left-Handed, Asian Foot Fetishes” just to mess with WalMart’s marketing plans.

Alas…

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: I’m sure Republicans see themselves as patriotic. I think I’m going to try that on for size. I will claim to be a patriot and then tell you why…as if I was a Republican.

I’m a Republican patriot so I am against mask mandates. I feel it is an American right to vastly extend the length of time the country needs to suffer from the pandemic and it’s my right to aggressively infect other people with the virus against their will.

I’m a patriot because I believe that Trump won the election. I believe that it is unlikely Biden won for 2 main reasons: (1) I am a Republican and (2) Other Republicans told me Trump won. As a patriot I strongly support the hunt for why Trump lost. I think it is important that Republican state legislatures are able to overturn the will of the people because voter fraud may be so clever that we can’t see it but know it happens every time one of our own loses an election.

I’m a patriot so I support our country distancing itself from NATO while supporting Russia. NATO is bad and Putin is good because Donald Trump said so.

I’m a patriot so I think white lives matter. By this I mean, while lives matter more. We are a white Christian nation and letting non-whites and non-Christians into our country weakens us.

I’m a patriot so I am not getting a vaccine. I saw on Facebook where someone knows someone that got a headache from the vaccine and was cured by taking horse deworming medicine. It’s a free country so don’t you try to tell me that science is right and all of the websites I visit are wrong.

I’m a patriot so I feel it is my duty to curse at and threaten anyone that feels differently than I do about any issue. It’s called First Amendment rights.

I’m a patriot so I can carry my unregistered gun anywhere. This is my Second Amendment right. The founding fathers wanted me to be able to fight off a tyrannical government. For example, if a president ignored the Constitution, broke with our allies and started to partner up with a communist government, we could stand up and fight. Unless that president is a Republican.

I’m a patriot so I have the right to protest. I can even attack a national institution like Congress because I am a citizen and I therefore own this. Since it is my right, I can lawfully attack and kill police officers that are trying to stop me.

I’m a patriot so I can take up arms against anyone that I personally believe stands against what I stand for. I can threaten and curse. I can go online and masturbate to QAnon. I can ignore facts. I can support anyone that I want, including those that are trying to end our democracy because I am uniformed and mad that my life is not what I want it to be.

Time to save the world.

But first…I need to shower the Republican off of me.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: I have no art gene. I cannot create it. I can’t imagine it. But I know it when I hear it. For today’s post, I’m going to show a few Musical Hit videos that are remakes of famous songs. The artists here took an existing popular song and added their own twist. I don’t want to say the new versions are better than the original. However, it takes some artistic vision to take something perfect and make it possibly even better.

The first video is a remake of 16 Tons. The group is Southern Raised. Originally done by Tennessee Ernie Ford.

The next is Hazy Shade of Winter by the Bangles. Originally done by Simon and Garfunkel.

The next song (actually just music) is Sultans of Swing by 40 Fingers. Originally done by Dire Straits.

This next song is I’d ;Love to Change the World by Philip Sayce. Originally done by Ten Years After.

This final song is Sweet Dreams by Marylyn Manson. Originally done by Annie Lennox.

So there you have it. Feel free to comment if there is another one that fits this mold that I should know about.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: Winston Churchill once said, “Democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried.”

Without a lot of expertise about “all the others that have been tried,” I get his point and think he may be right.

Today, I’m making another list. This is a list of government failures and….since we are a democracy…these are our failures as well.

1. We don’t have Universal Healthcare while dozens of other countries have shown how it can be made to work perfectly well. Rich people are unaffected by this fact.
2. Drugs cost far more in the United States than in all other countries. Rich people are unaffected by this.
3. While both political parties cater to special interests, only the Republican Party openly governs in accordance with the wishes of the highest bidder. Rich people benefit from this.
4. Republicans can stop a voting rights act, even though they are the minority party in the country. Racists benefit from this.
5. We can’t pass a Build Back Better plan that is aggressive on climate change. Big oil and coal benefit from this.
6. We can’t raise taxes on the rich and on corporations to pay for the Build Back Better. The rich benefit from this.
7. Misinformation is unregulated causing people to act in ways that are in direct opposition to their own benefit. Republicans, and thus the rich, benefit from this.
8. We only educate our population through k-12 for free instead of paying for college education. The rich benefit from this.
9. Child care and parental leave in the United States is far worse than in other countries. The rich are indifferent to this.
10. White collar crime is rarely punished, is not timely and is disproportionately inadequate. The rich benefit from this.
11. We do little more than pay lip service to climate change. The rich benefit from this.

Interesting, at least to me. I started making this list and decided after the first point, to make a quick note as to who might benefit. After 11 points, I began to see a trend. Another interesting point is that I cannot find a single failure of government that benefits the poor instead of the rich.

Reach your own conclusion.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: Note the title of this blog. While I try to be factual, I don’t have time to do hours and hours of research. So, in this post, I’m going to post what I think “appears” to be the rationale behind recent political choices/actions.

Issue #1: Let’s go back to the tax cut in 2017. The GOP sold it to the American public saying, “We will have record economic growth. It will bring manufacturing back to the states. Money to the rich will trickle down to you and finally, you will be able to fill out a postcard to file your taxes.” NONE of this happened. The national debt went up by $7.8 trillion in 4 years.

The motivation: The GOP is funded by a few special interests and billionaires. This tax break made those interested parties extremely wealthy. Those GOP supporters, in turn, funnel money back to the GOP. So, this was essentially a money grab.

Issue #2: Democrats are trying to pass a voting rights act. The ONLY rationale is to make sure that voting is safe and accessible for ALL Americans. Yesterday, in Congress, this bill was put up for a debate. The Republican Party immediately filibustered it which means they stopped all debate from even happening and thus, killed the bill.

The motivation: The GOP is endorsing The Big Lie, that Trump actually won the election. They do this knowing that Trump lost and there was no fraud. However, in the name of protecting elections which they have now framed as corrupt, they are passing all sorts of voting restrictions laws. This will make it harder for people to vote that the GOP knows will not vote for them. They are also putting in laws that will allow a state’s Republican legislature to overturn any election and put in their own person. The GOP is doing this because, for decades, their base of old white men has been shrinking and the only way they can win is to either (1) cheat or (2) ignore the will of the people.

Issue #3 There is a congressional committee looking into the January 6th assault on the Capital. Some of the people the committee wants to hear from have defied subpoenas. This means that people that have information about the assault are refusing to testify. The committee has asked Congress to assess criminal charges against those that refuse to testify. The Republican Party is set to vote against this. THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS VOTING AGAINST MAKING PEOPLE SHOW UP TO TESTIFY WHEN ORDERED TO DO SO BY CONGRESS.

The motivation: Several GOP members, including Trump, his chief of staff and the minority leader in the House are involved. This investigation goes to the very heart of the Republican Party plan to stay in power and lead from a minority position. They are involved and they don’t want anyone to know this. They have gone so far as to compare the January 6th assault as a tourist walk-about.

Issue #4: A hugely popular plan to Build Back Better is in danger of becoming a nothing-burger. This bill originally cost $350 billion per year for 10 years. By comparison, this is about half of what we spend on the military. By comparison, the Trump administration gave away nearly $2 trillion per year via the 2017 tax cuts and other over spending. The BBB plan funds climate change, poverty, education, infrastructure and overall modernization of our country. Two democrats and every Republican opposes it. This is enough to make it not happen.

The motivation: Republicans oppose it for several reasons: (1) It isn’t their idea so they will get no credit for this very popular initiative, (2) Aside from voter suppression, opposing the Democrats on every issue is their only platform, (3) The GOP is funded by big oil that wants to continue to pollute the earth, (4) the GOP is funded by large corporations that don’t want to see their taxes go up, (5) the GOP is funded by billionaires that don’t want to see their taxes go up. (6) the GOP is funded by special interests such are Big Pharma that don’t want their profits reduced. Democrat Manchin is against it because he make $500K a year on his investments in coal. Democrat Sinema is against it because she has made it clear she will accept money from any entity willing to pay her a bribe. Companies have noticed this and she is making a ton of money, 90% of which comes from outside her own state. NO ONE IS OPPOSING THIS BECAUSE THEIR CONSTITUENTS DON’T WANT IT.

Issue #5: Congress needs to raise the debt ceiling in order to pay its debts. This isn’t about the budget. It’s about approving spending that has already occurred. Spending line the $7.8 trillion in over spending from the Trump era. This is basically agreeing to pay our bills. Republicans voted to not even allow a debate about this. They will not allow a debate about paying our debt. This is the same as saying, “We will not, as a country, pay our debts.” This includes things like Social Security or military paychecks.

The motivation: This one is simple. The Republican Party is counting on the ignorance of the American public. They want you to believe they are fighting to control spending. While this is a complete falsehood, that is how they are framing it. So they want us to default on our debt and send the country into a recession so they can blame Democrats for overspending even though the spending and the paying are different issues.

All of this is being done in plain site and yet, millions of people are still in support of these people. Interestingly, these are the same people that fear vaccines while taking horse deworming medicine.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in:  One of my favorite movies of all time is Heaven Can Wait. In it, there is a situation where a board meeting says they need to sometimes kill a dolphin because it gets caught in tuna fishing nets.  Warren Beatty suggests taking the time to free the dolphin even though that will cost money.  He then says, “So what if we pay a little more to get our tuna.  We can charge more.  We can have a campaign that says “Would you pay a dime to save a dolphin?””  He then states the obvious, “We don’t care how much it costs.  We care how much we make.”

We don’t care how much it costs.  We care how much we make.

This is the essence of the Build Back Better plan.  No only will it be paid for be higher taxes on those making over $400K a year, but it also will pay back by having a larger, healthier and more motivated workforce.

Feeding children will help our GDP.

Educating our children will enable people to get better paying jobs and help our GDP.

Helping with childcare will free up people to work and  help with GDP.

Building up a green economy will help with GDP.

Updating our infrastructure will create jobs and public access to jobs and help with the GDP.

You know what doesn’t help with the GDP?  Tax cuts for corporations and wealthy Republican donors.

GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product.  It is a common metric for measuring economic growth.  If GDP goes up, then the economy is improving.

Build Back Better will help with the GDP and easily pay for itself.

Who’s against it?  Three camps oppose it. (1) The GOP is against it because opposing the Democrat agenda is their only platform (if you don’t count voter suppression). (2) Manchin is against it because if could hurt his vast interests in coal and (3) Sinema is against it because lobbyists are paying her to be against it.

Complaining about the cost makes no sense since the net cost (cost after payback) is zero. 

It’s my view that we shouldn’t care how much it costs.  We should care about how much we make.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in:  I spent last Saturday morning at Chrissy Field in San Francisco and I wanted to tell you about the best part.

We got there at around 9:00 am.  The weather was perfect; 68 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.  But that’s not the best part.

At Chrissy Field, you can walk along a beach on the bay.  The Golden Gate bridge looms large about half a mile away.  But that’s not the best part.

We had our dog, Levi.  He is a huge, 125lb Bouvier Des Flandras.  He is a fairly rare breed and yet, the first person we met on the beach had her Bouvier with her.  There are a lot of dogs on this beach but this is the first time we met one like ours.  The dogs played as we visited with the owner; comparing notes on our “good boys.”  But that wasn’t the best part.

We decided to head west.  This is not our normal route as West has leash requirements while East does not.   So why go West?  For the experience.  But that’s not the best part.

As we would walk along, we, along with our dog, would greet other people.  People are always curious about Levi so there is often a “What kind of dog is that” or “Can I pet him?”  Levi is essentially a mobile conversation starter.  For the next mile or so, we met and chatted with maybe a dozen different people.  But that’s not the best part.

At the end of the beach, the Golden Gate bridge is very close.  There are a few buildings there as well as a pier.  In one of the buildings, we got a couple of coffees and then sat with Levi on the quay wall, looking out over the bay.  As always, people stopped to inquire about Levi.  But that’s not the best part.

A guy came along with a fairly big dog that somehow reminded us of a hippy (the dog, not the guy).  It was very curious and yet, laid back.  Now it was our turn to ask about a dog.  It turns out that this dog is half Bernese mountain dog and half….Bouvier Des Flandras!  The owner was very nice and took the time to send me a link to the kennel where they got their dog.  But that’s not the best part.

We went out onto the pier where there were a lot of people fishing.  People alone, people in pairs, whole families, an entire spectrum of people and relationships sharing the commonality of fishing for crabs. We stopped and talked to maybe 20 people.  They’d ask about the dog and we’d ask about the fishing.   It seemed like someone was always hauling in a crab.  Tourist like myself would be offered a chance to hold one or even toss an understized one back.  There was a small Asian Grandma that was handed a crab.  The woman was small, old and hunched over but she squeeled with delight while getting her picture taken by her family.  There were bar-b-ques going on.  We met a dad and his daughter who was home from school.  A group of 5 year old kids were on an outing and were having the time of their life as crabs were hauled up for their inspection.  A giant seal patrolled nearby, as curious about the people on the pier as they were about him.  We must have spent an hour actively interacting with the people on the pier. But that’s not the best part.

Eventually, it was time to head back to the car.  The dog was worn out.  We were ready to get some lunch.  It had been a great day.  The setting was perfect and all the people we met made everything even better.

As I was driving home across the Golden Gate bridge, I looked over at my wife and knew, as I always know, that she is the best part of everything in my life.

The day was perfect but only because she was there with me.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away….

Jim

This just in: I’m at the ripe old age of 63 and have been getting older for about 63 years. I thought I’d take a few minutes to write what this has meant to me lately.

Getting old means always getting your flu shot.

Getting old means “saving for retirement” is a real and present thing.

Getting old means groaning when you get out of bed.

Getting old means people sometimes think you have more wisdom than you do.

Getting old means, you injure more easily and heal more slowly.

Getting old means you understand that “You are what you eat.”

Getting old means you don’t get the music kids are listening to today.

Getting old means that a comfortable car is preferable to a sporty car.

Getting old means your life insurance bill is going up quickly.

Getting old means, looking back at your childhood and thinking, “Hey…I really did grow up in Mayberry.”

Getting old means getting used to people not understanding references like “Mayberry.”

Getting old means eye doctor appointments every 3 years.

Getting old means being aware that you are not as good a driver as you once were.

Getting old means eating less or gaining more.

Getting old means going to bed at 8:00 pm.

Getting old means getting up to pee 2 or 3 times during the night.

Getting old means you have more of life to look back on fondly.

Getting old means appreciating things like farting with no “uh oh.”

Getting old means having to turn the TV up louder every year.

Getting old means that you may never actually sprint any distance, anywhere ever again.

Getting old means that hair will now grow out of your nose and ears.

Getting old means wrinkles in you skin.

Getting old means facing mortality and actually beginning to look forward to whatever is next.

As I age, I think my body is in more pain and my soul is in more peace.

I think I’ll take that.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim