Refugee from Reason

Independents leaving Obama. I do not see much of an improvement anywhere. My day, a dull one. Life appears dreary on an increasing basis. On the other hand, I do like television.

The following op-ed article was in The New York Times this morning, lest we not forget what this day is about: “AMERICA remembers the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a national champion of civil rights. But he was an international icon, too — and like many icons, his legacy was used for a range of purposes that moved far beyond, and even ran counter to, his famous dream. ”

I also recommend Paul Krugman’s piece, “How Fares The Dream?”

It is, indeed, Saturday…and I will spend my day cleaning house – I’m good at it and it takes my mind off life itself.

It has not been an especially good week, as we are going to have to find another place to live. We were able to get rid of our house and get out whole a few years ago, just as I saw the market beginning to crash. We had overpaid for the house and were lucky to get out just slightly, and by that I mean maybe a grand, more than we paid for it.

I’ve owned four houses in my life; the first in Washington, DC and that was quite nice, a three story Georgian that I bought in the 70s. Then one in Mission Viejo, that was the “youngest” house I’d owned or lived in to that date, but part of a “development.” Often I’d find myself pulling in the wrong driveway; everything looked so much alike.

Later, there was Mandeville Canyon in Brentwood, my favorite:

I had to sell it after my second divorce. Then there was the “development” house I got rid of three years ago.

I am, indeed, a renter. Perhaps that’s from being born in New York City. As an investment, well, there are better things in which to invest, in my view anyway. But to own, I don’t want to have to do the work. I’d rather rent a house and have the landlord handle it.

But there is a downside: The lease is up, as it is next month on this house and we’re going to have to move. The good news there is that because of the market, rents are way down. The bad news is that we have to move…and we’ve got a lot of, as George Carlin called it, “stuff.”

Moreover, it’s kind of expensive to move. We can rent a truck and use our gardeners to move us, but it’s still going to be several hundrend bucks. And then there’s the packing and unpacking.

What happened in our current place, which is just fine, is that it was sold and the new owner isn’t going to rent it again. So, we’ve got about a month or six weeks, but it shouldn’t be too bad.

On the other hand, it does drive my wife nuts and I’m hoping not to drink. But she’ll have fun decorating the new place.

I do hope we can find a place with a three year lease owned by an “investor” who wants even a longer lease. And now to housecleaning.

To paraphrase Ernest Thayer:

“Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville – mighty Casey has struck out.”

Though I’m any longer sure that anywhere in this “favored land the sun is shining bright,” save on those 1% we increasingly hear about.

I look at the GOP and have to wonder who these people really are? They seem beyond heartless, soulless. And that was before the campaign started…it’s gotten worse. Who the hell cares about how Mitt made his dough, or any of them for that matter? Yet, that now seems to be the greatest debate among these cannibals. Oh, yeah, occassionally one hears about abortion. I’m not going to discuss my views on that (you probably know them anyway), and frankly, I’m not sure that’s even an issue for these folks: It’s a Supreme Court issue.

There’s a lot of talk about taxes, or how they should be reduced. Please. Enough already. Don’t tell me that lower taxes will increase jobs. It doesn’t work that way. There’s no debate here.

One of these days these guys are going to have to come up with an argument, a positive argument, a strong argument and a strong program for creating jobs. They’re not doing it. I’m not certain the guy in the White House is doing much of a job either at solving this awful problem.

I certainly you’re not listening to the so-called “pundits” on either side of the aisle – they have no idea of your situation, or mine or anyone’s but their own.

We need to find some true legislators, great thinkers and great politicians (and, that doesn’t have to be a dirty word; it’s an honorable profession of service, or was anyway) to bring our nation back.

While I’m a die-hard Democrat, I really don’t care where they come from. But I will tell you that I am so tired of this garbage coming from the campaign and out of Washington that it’s beyond even my comprehension.

To paraphrase Ernest Thayer:

“Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;

The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,

And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;

But there is no joy in Mudville – mighty Casey has struck out.”

Though I’m any longer sure that anywhere in this “favored land the sun is shining bright,” save on those 1% we increasingly hear about.

I look at the GOP and have to wonder who these people really are? They seem beyond heartless, soulless. And that was before the campaign started…it’s gotten worse. Who the hell cares about how Mitt made his dough, or any of them for that matter? Yet, that now seems to be the greatest debate among these cannibals. Oh, yeah, occassionally one hears about abortion. I’m not going to discuss my views on that (you probably know them anyway), and frankly, I’m not sure that’s even an issue for these folks: It’s a Supreme Court issue.

There’s a lot of talk about taxes, or how they should be reduced. Please. Enough already. Don’t tell me that lower taxes will increase jobs. It doesn’t work that way. There’s no debate here.

One of these days these guys are going to have to come up with an argument, a positive argument, a strong argument and a strong program for creating jobs. They’re not doing it. I’m not certain the guy in the White House is doing much of a job either at solving this awful problem.

I certainly you’re not listening to the so-called “pundits” on either side of the aisle – they have no idea of your situation, or mine or anyone’s but their own.

We need to find some true legislators, great thinkers and great politicians (and, that doesn’t have to be a dirty word; it’s an honorable profession of service, or was anyway) to bring our nation back.

While I’m a die-hard Democrat, I really don’t care where they come from. But I will tell you that I am so tired of this garbage coming from the campaign and out of Washington that it’s beyond even my comprehension.