A little politics a little tech.

Senator Bernie Sanders has been speaking since 10:24 this morning on the floor of The Senate chamber.  He is the Senator from Vermont.  I wish he was my Senator.  What he is doing is what most people think of as a filibuster.  The Senate has a rule that the members are allowed to speak as long as they want to on what ever issue is being debated  unless there is a vote of 60 members to stop all debate and vote on an issue. A member who does not want a vote or does not like a bill can take their turn during the debate and just keep speaking.  They do not have to stop if the do not want to.  Now that has historically been called a filibuster.  Recently the minority party in the Senate has just made sure that the party in the majority could not get to 60 votes to close the debate.  They have called this a filibuster but it is not really.  It is a parliamentary procedure to stop the Senate from taking action.  It would not allow for anything to be discussed or to be voted on.  Senator Mitch Mcconnell, who is one of my Senators, is very good at the parliamentary procedures in the Senate.  As the minority leader in the Senate he has very successfully stopping many bills that needed to be brought to a vote.  He has also pushed forward the present tax bill Senator Sanders is filibustering.  I really do not think Mitch could ever do what Bernie is doing.  I do not think he has either the guts or the smarts to pull it off.

The tech portion of the posting is this.  Bernie is trending #1 or #2 on the world wide twitter feed for today.  This shows what the future of media and the internet can and will be.  Here is a social tool made famous by an idiot actor sharing something that is much more important than 144 characters could ever convey.  Bernie is on twitter.  I would bet he has a staff person making his posts but he does understand how to use the internet to get his points out. I follow 86 people on twitter.  A lot of them are political people and so my feed has been heavy with Bernie posts today.  But I knew something was going on beyond politics when 1 of the people I follow in the tech world tweeted he was turning on C Span to find out why Bernie was atop the twitter feed.   Then a person who is into comics but follows the tech person asked them what was going on.  They then went and watched.  I am not sure if either watched for long or even cared much after watching.  The idea that both of them saw something online and not spun but others and went to find out about it was wonderful to see.

A Blackberry post

I have tried not to be overly political lately but I can't stop myself.  I do not like the idea of paying higher taxes any more than the next guy. It does not feel good with a smaller paycheck. I do like having Government programs that help the poor, the old, and the young. I like having national defense. I like roads (those that know me know I can not say and bridges).

I think NASA and OSHA and all the other accronymes are for the most part helpful. To pay for all this and more we have to pay taxes. The last 10 years tax policy has not worked. Trickle down, supply side, voodoo economics by what ever name you want to use does not work. It did not work for Bush. It did not work for Reagan. It did not for Thatcher government in England. The issue with it is the falacy that the wealthy will create jobs if they have enough money to do so.

The only time jobs are create in the private sector is when there is enough demand for the goods or services that job will produce. So lowering taxes on the rich just makes them richer. The second issue that has been bothering me is the belief that uncertainty is why business have not been creating jobs how does a temporary extension of the tax cuts help with that. It just gives business another 2 years to not hire people while bringing in record profits. So let the tax cuts expire. Put a cap on spending. Find places to cut the budget and try to balance it. This will help the economy as much as extending the bad tax cuts would. Find a replacement for oil so the trade deficit and national debt both can go down. A stable economy will come back.

Snowy weekend

We had a snowy weekend in Lexington.  The boys got their first basketball games in.  Es team kicked butt.  Lots of bigger kids on the team but he had fun.  Gman's team got roundly beat 60 to 15.  The bigger kids on his team are not really athletic.  Gman had 7 of the 15 points.  He can shoot much better than I can.  He needs to get in and rebound and move to the ball.

Beth has most of the Christmas presents done.  Still working on a few but the majority are finished.  Looks like we will be going down to western Ky on the 18th.  The back on Monday so it will not be to much driving on  back to back days.  

Still thinking and missing.

Christmas time is here.  E has been going back and forth reading the toy adds from the newspaper and mailers.  He has decided he does not need all of the things in them.  Some of them are for girls and babies.  He does not want  those toys.  He is so funny it is beyond me.  This is the first year I can remember him doing this.  Going over the books over and over again reminds me of June and I growing up.  Gman will look at them but he does not study them like E.

It is very strange watching the two of them interact with each other.  They have issues but they are best friends.  June and I fought like cats and dogs.  We only got along when we had a common foe, hi Marilyn and Teresa.  The boys enjoy playing together.  They can spend time just being the same room and have very few issues.  I hope it stays this way for ever.  I know that in 2 years when Gman goes to middle school it is going to be hard on E.  He really does love and look up to his big brother.


We are ending November with a cold Kentucky rain.  It is 26 days away from Christmas and 31 days til then.  Beth has been very busy with her winter meeting.  The boys are getting ready of basketball with lots of practice.  I am just kind of treading water.  Not sure if this fall has been any better than last.  Not sure what I am doing other than going to work and then to bed.  I hope everyone has a good week.

Happy Black Friday everyone.  I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.  It was a good time at Bonnie and Mike's yesterday.  We got to see the newest member of the family.   Lukas was the best behaved person there.   Just eating, sleeping and pooping.  What a life.

  

Tiger and Petra did real good.  Now we can only hope that Petra can keep Tiger from being to bad an influence on the boy.  

Beth says she got about half of the Christmas shopping done today.  I am glad she went and not me.  I try to avoid the mall and Wally world most of the time.  This time of the year is even more of a mad house there.  I enjoy people watching but I really do not like that many people in one spot.  Not sure why but it just not my cup of tea.  Speaking of tea, anyone else like the Arizona Arnold Palmer Half and Half?  For tea in a can it ain't half bad (pun anyone?).  

So what is going to be th big gift in your household this year?

Saturday morning Blogging from my BB. I just got off work. Beth and the Boys are with Scouts heading to Louisville to see some bats. I have some free time but must remember to empty the dish washer. I am going to get some hot wings for lunch and watch some football.

E's Lost Tooth

Well as most people have seen E lost one of his front teeth at the B&G club yesterday.  He was so happy the at it had came out while playing football and not from any of us pulling it.  The other one on top is still very loose and Beth says she is going to pull it this weekend if it does not come out on its own.

Gman and E are playing basketball at the B&G club this winter instead of at Upwards.  I am not sure I am going to like this but I know the boys love Coach Larmont.  Gman is on a team with older kids.  He is either the youngest or next to youngest on his team.  E is either the oldest or next to the oldest on his team.  Gman is still the most athletic member of the family.  E is just as rough as can be.

E seems to be very much out of control.  He has his father's temper.  It takes a lot to get him mad but when he gets there get out of his way.  No one scares him when he is mad.  I saw him standing toe to toe to a kid at least a head taller than him.  The issue was who's turn it was to throw the football.  The bigger kid went to push him back and E got the look in his eyes like he was not going to take it. The other kid either knew the look or something because he backed down very fast.  I called E over to me and made him count to 10 to calm down.  The counting worked  so well with Gman but not so much with E. It took him 3 times to actually count slow enough to understand him.   I want to teach him the self control I never had.  I hope find better ways to do this.

Well when the other tooth makes its exit I will let everyone know.