America's Pastime, and a bit of baseball

Let's go with the baseball thing first.

The season has started and my team, the Oakland Athletics, are making their all-to-predictable run for last place.  I don't blame them.  They have a payroll of $66 million compared to the $202 million of the Yankees.  The Royals have a payroll of $36 million!

How can this be considered a game worth watching.  There are the four or five teams with the money and then there are 25 farm teams.

If someone from another planet was watching all of this, with the mute button on, and you asked them to describe what what happening, they would say, "Oakland finds prospects and develops them.  When the player is good enough, he goes to Boston or New York.  Then, when he's too old to play anymore, he returns to Oakland."

The only thing worth watching is the home run king.  The Big Headed one is on trial for lying.  The entire world knows he's lying.  Either that or he has a serious problem of Water-head.  Right now the defense is trying to keep certain testimony out of the case.  His position is that if too much of the truth is put in front of the jury, they will have no choice but to find Bonds guilty.  I understand about illegal search and seizure and all  of that type of stuff that keeps evidence out of the courtroom.  But somewhere along the line, we need to get to the truth.  That is what this should be about.

First Jesus turned water into wine.

Not wanting to be outdone, the GOP has found a way to cut 1.4 trillion dollars from the budget while cutting the highest tax bracket from 33% to 25%.

No, they aren't going to start printing money.  They are simply going to eliminate Medicare.  Actually, that's not quite true.  They are going to "change" it so that you will get money to supplement the health insure you didn't know you were going to have to buy  at 65 years of age.  They claim it will have no impact on the elderly or poor.  When I say elderly, I'm talking about you and me; not today but soon enough

This is brilliant!

Apparently, they discovered that if you eliminate Medicare, people will get sick less often.  Talk about your think tank.  I, being uneducated, would have guessed that people would still get sick but now they either won't get care or they will be a burden on those paying taxes - the middle class.

So, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.  I heard it best yesterday:   The GOP is against big government when it affects the rich and in favor of it when it affects the poor.

Speaking of the Budget Impasse.

There is an even more diabolical reason for the budget impasse.  The economy added 230,000 jobs last month.  That's bad news for the party that wants Obama to fail.  Every dime cut from the federal budget costs jobs.  Fewer jobs equals less taxes which means more cuts.  This is the Goal of the GOP

The GOP wants us to fall into a self-sustaining death spiral so they can blame Obama and regain power.    I don't see how this is very different from domestic terrorism.  It's not that they have different beliefs.  This is all just simple math - meaning, even a senator should be able to understand it.  No, it's that they know what they are doing.  They are intentionally working to make Obama, and thus American as a country, fail.

Just think about how much money in taxes just those employed in March will generate.  Compare that to how much money was lost during the last few months of Bush's administration (700,000 jobs lost per month).

Newt Gingrich, took time out from his extra-marital affairs and such to make a statement about Obama's run for president. He claims it is Obama's intent to "extort" money from the good people of this country so he can have a well funded campaign.  I wonder what Newt's thoughts are on Meg Whitman who spent hundreds of millions trying to buy California.

I'm hearing more and more rumblings about Glenn Beck being fired.  Apparently, the rest of Fox says that Glenn is so far out there that he is ruining their credibility.  To this I say, "What credibility?"  Stephen Colbert said that Glenn is under pressure because he is such a downer.  He goes on to say, "If Glenn is fired, our worst fears will be realized: Not knowing what to be afraid of."

A shutdown looms.  Even though the Democrats have agreed to the $73 billion in cuts the GOP originally wanted, the GOP now wants more.  The Tea Baggers really have a tight collar on these guys.  I suggest they go take back the millionaire tax extension.

Don't worry, I work for free.  If the government shuts down, I'll still be out there saving the day.

Up, up and away.

jim


And for those of you that want a little more of my version of "Keeping Them Honest."  This is for you...