A Gentler Jim

"Nothing to excess and Know Thyself."

This is wisdom out of ancient Greece.  Wisdom that I got half right.

I do Know Myself.

And the one thing about me I am certain of is that I do EVERYTHING to Excess (even the use of capital letters.)

This knowledge has probably saved my life.  For example, I'm certain that if I ever dabbled in Crystal Meth, I would overdose the very first day.  So I stay away from that side of the street.

My only vice is food.  Earlier today, I opened a bag of wafer cookies to take a nibble or two.  Two hours later, I went into the kitchen to get another nibble only to discover the bag is now empty.

I am the only one in the house.

Do you know what this means?  Ghosts like wafer cookies as much as I do.

I'm currently in Hungary and I have to say, I love the food here.  My wife is a great cook but everywhere I go there is thick stew (goulosh) with dumplings.  This stuff is great.  I'll have to find a simple version for my Cooking for the Single Man blog.

Speaking of blogs, have a look at my Poetry for Men Blog.  I tried to transfer my political outrage there.

However, I do have an observation about the GOP budget plan.  The GOP is in favor of reforming the tax code  like Obama mentioned, so that people can't take advantage of it.  This is true.  They go on to say, and I'm not making this up, that the rich will have to pay more taxes because all of their loopholes will be closed.  Therefore, the rich need a tax cut to give them back the money they would lose.  I'm not making this up.  They are proud of this clever idea so do a little searching and see if I'm wrong.

By the way, the U.S. stock has been downgraded by Standard & Poor's because of GOP threatened refusal to raise the debt ceiling.  I feel they will cave, but keep alert for a little more posturing and promoting of political agenda (i.e. stuff that has nothing to do with the budget like abortion but they pretend it does.) by the GOP.  Every day the outlook on our long term debt is low, we pay higher interest.

Travel tip.  There are great airfares available to Japan and the Middle East.  I actually saw this on CNN today.

Inflation is on the rise in China.  This is an opportunity and I hope someone is noticing.  While places like California actively work at driving jobs out of the state, someone will figure out that its time to grab some market share.  The entire world's manufacturing base is flat.  Except for China.  To date, they build crappy stuff but at extremely attractive prices.  If those prices go up due to inflation, a void will be created.  Hopefully, someone is paying attention.

Microsoft has come out with a beta version of some new cloud based stuff.  I don't know about you but I think their sun is setting.  Take spell check for example.  Microsoft Office spell check is only effective it you are "almost" correct.  I never "almost" spell a word correct.  So I often use Google to figure out what I am trying to type.  Why can't Microsoft be as effective?

My next laptop will be a Mac.  Why?  Because everyone that uses a Mac loves it.  I was at an airport lounge the other day.  There were four of us strangers sitting at a table.  The other three people had each switched to Mac in the last three months.  Each loved it and said they would never go back.  I have never heard a story about a Mac user switching to a PC an seeing it as an improvement.

I need to get a job as an air traffic controller.  Lately I have been having trouble sleeping through the night.

The Middle East is filling up CNN's airtime.  My cape is in the wash.  But it will be clean soon enough.  Then it will be hero time.

Up, up and away.

By the way, below is some pre-election video as Fox (Fair and Balanced) tries to push Obama under the bus.

Becoming Republican 101

Last night I had a dream.

It started when a tanned man entered the room.

His suit is impeccable.  He picks up a piece of chalk and writes his name on the board before turning to his students.

"Good morning class.  My name is Speaker Boehner and I will be your instructor.  Today we will be discussing how to achieve our overall goal of Ascension to Power."

"First of all, let's look at our base.  You can see by this pie chart that 1% of our base consists of the richest people in the country.  14% of our base thinks that the Earth is 6,000 years old and that Jesus should run for president.  40% of our base had their soft spot poked when they were young and as a result, are unable to blink both eyes simultaneously.  These are more commonly known as Tea Party members.  The majority, 45% are fear based."

"First of all, we must cater to that 1%.  They have all the money in the world but still need a little more just in case the price of mistresses takes a jump or their foreign investments drop.  To do this, we need to make sure they get lots of tax breaks.  Yes, there is a hand in the back."

"Mr. Speaker, don't the rich already pay the lowest tax rate of about 14% because most of their wealth is not taxed as income?  Additionally, how will we pay for roads and education if we keep giving money to those that already have it?  Finally, won't someone suspect what we are up to?"

"Those are all excellent questions.  First of all, you can never have too much money.  If we don't cater to the rich, they may elect others to represent them instead of us.  To keep our jobs, we need to cater to this 1%.  As far as roads are concerned, we'll worry about that later; besides the soft spotters...I mean the Tea Party members will like that we are making cuts.  They don't know what that means but they know they like it.  Finally, we'll just say Democrats = tax hikes and that will bring the Fearful ones running to our side."

Turning to the class as a whole, Boehner continues.

"You see class, our entire party is based on sound bites. For example, we say that tax breaks for the rich will create jobs.  Everyone knows that is nonsense.  Customers create jobs not the rich.  If no one is buying, no one will be selling.  Still, we say it as if we believe it and it works.   We also say, "make more cuts" all the while knowing that cuts have only a very small impact.  None of our economic policies have worked in the past.  You can't find an economist of note willing to back our current proposal.  Even the Chairman of the Federal Reserve thinks our tax cuts for the rich is ridiculous (see clip below).  However, the rich will be richer and that is all that really matters.  After all, they are the ones that put us here."

I'll admit, this was a really weird dream.  I then turned on the television only to discover I must still be dreaming.

I really, really wish that someone would show me how I am wrong about all of this.  I've asked several times and could only hear the echo of an empty room.  I think even Republicans are embarrassed by their own party.  4 years ago, I was one of them.

This just in.  Obama, speaking to supporters after the press left the room said the following about GOP budget crafter Paul Ryan:

"When Paul Ryan says his priority is to make sure, he's just being America's accountant ... This is the same guy that voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the prescription drug bill that cost as much as my health care bill -- but wasn't paid for," Mr. Obama told his supporters. "So it's not on the level."

The clip below is very telling.  Look at Boehner squirming as he tries to avoid answering a question that basically shows the entire GOP policy is a loser.

I really need to get away from this political stuff.  It's just too frustrating.  I'd much rather go back to writing funny stuff about the TSA and M&Ms.  But if I completely turn my back on the GOP's fairy tales, who will save the world?

For the moment, my work here is done.

Up, up and away...

j