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but that's 20 yrs away and 5 more election cycles. so by my best guesstimates, i should be able to retire at 74 by the time i'm 67. young people are smarter than what they're given credit. politico's always want to get out the "young vote". why? because the young ones are smart enough not to buy into any of the political bullshit in this country and they don't vote..........."disillusioned", i believe they're called. intelligent, in-tune, disappointed and disgusted realists would be more accurate. i have voted exactly once for a president in my entire life and still , to this day,feel like a fool for being suckered into believing that my vote "makes a difference" i shouldn't complain too much; at least they're consistent. every four years i can look forward to being spoken to by arrogant, condescending / patronizing assholes who claim to know what's best for me. public liars; slick talking, power grabbing, baby kissing, hand shaking frauds. millionaires with tax payer funded life-long pensions; people who have nothing in common with the very people who are voting for them. people who will never, ever need a "retirement plan". (george carlin explains this political process to a "t") and the worst part of all.......... they are successful at pitting us "minions" against one another when it comes election time. like we actually have a say in what really happens when the cameras and microphones aren't focused on them and the REAL order of business takes place. so with all of that shit in mind, my retirement plan is realistic, simple and as follows: live in a van down by the river and keep in good standing with my dealer! :)

I appreciate your opinion. I am like-minded. But the government won''t leave us alone. I have voted twice in my life. The thing is, you are not different from anybody else. You need health care. If you don't buy health insurance the government will penalize you - starting next year. Maybe you grow your own food and will till the day you die, but you still need gas for that machine and other stuff too. It all costs money. The only way to beat the motherfuckers is to find an employer who will pay you under the table and not file. Get into the underground economy. Wonder what all the people who do the grow will do when it's all legalized? One other thing. Obama pulled out the youth vote this year again. People said that he wouldn't but he did. Young people are voting. The ones who become home-owners will continue to vote. The ones in apartments? Not so much. I disagree with you about young people. The Millennials I know are really brain-dead, totally without social skills and have the morals and manners of depraved people. This is as true as a generalization can be. People are only as good as they were brought up to be and often times, when you meet the parents, even that didn't work. Karma is a bitch. Yup, yup -- Neil Young was right, the working man is in for a hell of a fight. My next post is going to be a quote from Kesey's Sometimes A Great Notion.

From Ken Kesey's "Sometimes A Great Notion": "Listen, kid, it all boils down to this" the lion would sum up the situation. "There's the Big-Asses like them, an' the Little Asses like us. It's easy to tell who's on who's side. There's just a few Big-Asses; they own the world and an' all the corn. There's millions of us Little Asses; they grow the corn an' all go hungry. The Big Asses, they think they can get away with this because they're better than the Little Asses -- on account of maybe somebody died an' left them a lot of money so they can pay the Little Asses to grow the corn for them, an' pay'em what they want to pay. We got to haul'em down from that, do you see? Everybody is important as they are! Everybody grows corn! Everybody eats it! Simple as that!" Then he would leap up to sway about the room, roaring fiercely: "Which side are you on? Which side are you on? When we all line up in the battle... Tell me which side you are on? Which side are you on? Which side are you on? In this war for life and liberty, Which side are you on?" (Note: These lyrics are from a song of the Wobblies, The International Workers of the World or IWW, the original union in America. They were routed as communists but they were the forerunner of all unions in America. The AFL-CIO, which replaced the Wobs, exists to this day.)

I see quite a few doobies were fired up under the Space Needle last night at 12:01 am, in recognition of the legalization of marijuana in Washington state. Awaiting a report from Johnman !! Hey Marye, how can I increase the font size here so I can stop using a magnifying glass to see what I'm typing?

Gr8fulTed, most web browsers have a function where you can increase the text size of a web page. On Fiirefox, it's under View, then Zoom. For IE, there is something similar.

I know what you mean GTed, It's getting so I can't go anywhere without me reading glasses. Who ever thought we'd be gitten' old?

I finally figured out how to zoom in (text only?) after getting a menu bar to appear with the View tab. Will it stay larger after I log out and come back? Still waiting on a report from Johnman. May have to ask him thru FB.

sure glad they legalized it in washington.'cause before this happened, there probably wasn't much to be found there...... :D washingtonians don't have to be nearly as fearful of joe law now........a definite plus! listening to npr program on this right now.........interesting although this never made national news, 2 or 3 yrs ago, dane county, wisconsin (college town) was so overwhelmed with marijuana cases to try that it was estimated they would need 8 more full-time district attorneys to prosecute all of them. so with no more city funds left, they wisely decided to pass a bill in which if you are caught with possession of 25g or less of majihoochy, you get a ticket (can't remember the fine, but it wasn't too bad......) -- no court and no jail time. isn't this all just ridiculous anyway, folks? to this day, one still has to be discreet and fearful. if not, in a lot of places one can still lose property, children, a job, your vehicle.............all because of a little ma nature..........pure bullshit. however, it is FINALLY nice to see the seeds of change that were planted decades ago start to germinate. thank you to the citizens of washington and colorado for voting with reason and common sense!!!! LET IT GROW!!

In Windows, Ctrl plus + make things larger. Hope this helps!

This recent conversation is making me think we need a new thread: Grateful Geezers.

...............:D(hilarious topic suggestion, mike my reading vision is ok, but truth be told... a couple of times a week, i lose my shoes, and then later... i find them).

This was televised live on AMC last night. Lotta "Geezer Rock" goin' on with geezer fans in the audience. I only saw the 'The Boss'...Did anybody catch the Rolling Stones, celebrating their 50th (!) anniversary this year, and have a report on how the wrinkled prunes performed? Did anybody out there donate?

The Stones only did 2 tunes last nite, both excellent, Mick's joke about a stage full of old english rockers was appropriate for the evening. It reminded me of the old old days, when everyone was out to outdo each other, first the boss came out and did a few tunes, not my choice to open but it was ok, Clapton was great, a true guitar great, looked good and sounded better, Roger Waters was also very good, once again trying to outdo the previous act, The Who were awesome, Pete was on fire and really played excellent, yes, they all are old, but I would put any of them up against that K west dude in the dress, what was that crap, why was he there? How could anyone compare him to the music legends that were there? only someone who knows nothing about music. Sir Paul was great also, Helter Skelter to open, all in all, a great nite for MMMMMMMMY Generation.

The Republican's minds have been so blown by the re-election of Barak Obama that Senators McCain and Hollings as well as Collins and Ayotte have gone ape-shit on Susan Rice. Why? Because she is black and she is a woman. Otherwise she is eminently qualified. This crap about Bhenghazi is just crap. It's called politics and it stinks to high heaven! John Kerry, white and rich, is their man (yeah, the Repubs. want the guy who threw his Vietnam war medals over the barricade at the White House in protest in '73). They are choking on their own bile so much they are voting against handicap rights, seeing those stealth black UN helicopters again. Cheese-sause H Key-riced, will somebody please put these assholes out of their misery? Nobody is going to vote for them again for the next fifty years at this rate. Obama can't afford the political capital needed to ram this one down McCain's throat at this time. He has to use every inch of what he has to nail them to the wall on taxing the rich and saving entitlements such as Medicare. It's a crying shame he can't have his choice for Secretary of State, which has been the prerogative of the President for a hundred years unless their is serious, serious issues with the candidate, which there is clearly not in this case. Every new poll coming out shows people think the Repubs. suck ass. I couldn't agree more.

And today and the weeks to come thousands more will buy guns. Oh Boy!

I tuck my kids into bed every night and tell them I love them Usually very rushed as I look forward to a couple hours of relax time before bed. But tonight I spent a little longer doing so. I'm so very sad for all the victims and their families.

I cried a lot yesterday and sent out a lot of compassion mantra to the people in the Newtown area, especially to those parents who lost their child, the dead children and adults themselves and the mother of the perp. and the perp. himself. Compassion and healing to all! I have concluded that I don't want to live in this country anymore. I fear for my safety and that of my children because of the deeply rooted insanity in this country. I have traveled in foreign countries where people do not live in a sick society armed to the teeth. I am also not bombarded by advertizing to buy material things in a saturated way. I want to live in a country where other influences than violence and vindictiveness and profit are the norm. We have the highest amount of armed people in the world. We produce most of the weapons. We have the most people in jail. We are not a jail, we are an insane asylum. If I thought things could change I would to try and change them. But, entrenched interests like the NRA have turned the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution, which provides us with the right to raise a militia (presumably armed) in case our own government somehow goes awry, into the right of every citizen to own assault rifles, hand guns with 30 round clips and high-tech body armor. In the two state locality where I reside everybody has the right to carry concealed. There is no hope. There will be no gun control legislation. Instead there will an insane compulsion to profile where profiling does not work. After this tragedy, how can ANYBODY say that owning guns could have prevented this tragedy? The fact is it couldn't and this provides the final piece of evidence that the NRA and gun nuts are a major part of the insanity that surrounds us. Would they have us arming fiver year-old children to defend themselves at school? They probably would... I extend my healing and compassion vibe to them also.

gun sales skyrocket after tragedies such as newtown(gun dealers are well aware of this fact) we live in a society that promotes the lie that we are all safer if we arm ourselves to the hilt........the "don't be a victim" scare tactic the politicians who claim to be "pro-life" are the same ones who are on their knees to the nra.........and people continue to blindly vote for them. the nra will (and does) triple efforts ("contributions") to those politicians in the wake of such events...... look for nra "save your constitutional rights" ads and flyers soon. 99.9% of politicians are too spineless to say anything negative about the nra or "gun rights" for fear of losing their cushy jobs with obscene benefits..... even in the wake of this horrible tragedy. 99.9% of all automatic weapons are used for the sole purpose of murder... not for hunting as the nra would like us to believe. if nothing credible happens to prevent tragedies such as this from occurring again, then nothing ever will, because it doesn't get any worse or sadder than this. "when we change ourselves, we change the world"...... in honor and respect of all who were senselessly killed past and present please help make this country a kinder, gentler and safer place for everyone.... teach all of our children to leave a true legacy of peace.... by not promoting or purchasing guns..........ever healing love to newtown and all......

I am sad and glad at the same moment. I am listening to Morning Dew from Kaisers 87. Why because it sounds as if Jerry is crying and is one of the best Dews I attended. That said I am glad we have posted things about Sandy Hook . I am a HUGE believer in the power of prayer. I also think we should all hold close to our hearts the love for one another at A time like this. God Bless the family's of Sandy Hook

* There are currently 200,000,000 guns in the US (in the hands of private citizens) * Last Friday, after the shooting in Newtown, the FBI did 125,000 background checks for new gun sales * A gun buy-back program in NYC last Saturday netted 80 guns Folks, we are deeply screwed here. These facts tell us that there is no way in our lifetime or our children's lifetime (and probably their children's lifetime) that we will be free of gun violence, even if we totally banned gun ownership today. Sign the petition for Gun Control at whitehouse.gov (sigh)

"24 congressmen were contacted to be interviewed about gun control......all 24 declined." -scott pelley, cbs news

Since House Speaker John Boehner (Repub.) has caved in on accepting tax increases for those earning over a million dollars, President Barak Obama has caved in much earlier than expected on entitlements -- Here are some facts: *** Obama has raised the bottom rung of those whose taxes will definitely rise (as a percentage) to 400k and above; *** Obama has put Social Security on the table by being willing to measure cost-of-living increases in a new and more controversial measure called the "Chain CPI". He cautions that this will not effect those most vulnerable recipients but it is hard to see how. The lesser your check, the lesser you will be effected by the Chain CPI. *** Obama is willing now to allow the "payroll tax holiday" to expire which means that everybody who pays taxes will see their SS & Medicare deduction go up at least 2%. *** Obama's offer includes $400 billion in cuts to health care programs, including Medicare, although the cuts are tilted toward the provider side rather than the patient side. Moveon.org, AARP and other groups are poised and mobilized to put massive pressure on the Administration not to make ANY cuts in entitlements. It this is Obama's initial compromise offering to Republicans it is not at all encouraging. It is now very clear that Obama's core constituency is fired-up and ready to slap him around for blaspheming like this. There are a number of reps. and senators from both parties who are ready to go over the cliff from both ends of the political spectrum. If this immediate response by the left to any leakage in Obama's position is any indication then we are quite surely being taken over the cliff by the far left and the far right. It will be up to the president and Democratic leaders to pick up the pieces next Jan-March and restore tax cuts for those making less than 250k and restoring all the cuts in entitlements and discretionary spending. Indeed, it is the only way they will save their necks come election time. The talking points for the working-class (combined income of less than 400k) is aimed at those making a combined 250k or more -- For them to take it in the neck. to the tune of a 39.6% rate. Further, increase capital gains to 20%; dividends to 39.6%. End loopholes for corporate tax breaks (get rid of corporate welfare) and gut the military-industrial complex. The working and middle-class has rarely seen itself in such a position to effect this kind of change merely by making a little bit of noise online, through phone calls and telegrams to their elected representatives. Don't miss your opportunity. Because, Baby-Boomers, this is directly effecting your proposed retirement. The facts in this post were gleaned from a dispatch issued by the Huffington Post on 12/18/12. All the Congresspeople I called acknowledged that this is reality. This is the class war. You can't start it, get elected, then stop on a dime. The people are aware and aroused, with a passion! Don't say nobody didn't warn you!

So much for the Mayan calendar doomsday predictions. I wonder what end-of-the-world scenario will take root in our collective consciousness next.

Was our collective loss of innocence in the wake of Adam Lanza's evil intention. He caused the number of guns owned by private individuals within the US alone to squeeze upwards of another 1,000,000 pieces.. Perhaps the end of the world as we know it was the recognition that over 200,000,000 guns exist in the hands of private citizens and that gun violence in the form of mass shootings will continue for at least the next one hundred years, no matter what we do. The horror is the recognition that the genie is out of the bottle for good. Sleep tight America, the only industrialized nation with no effective gun control...

The US Constitution holds that "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Gun violence is a first world problem. Here's an excerpt from a recent interview with David Hemenway, who is a professor of health policy at the Harvard School of Public Health and the author of the 2006 book Private Guns, Public Health: "I think the most shocking thing is to compare ourselves to the other developed countries. People think we have a violence problem in the United States, but we really don’t. We’re an average country in terms of all the violence measures you can think of, in terms of crime. But where we’re very different is guns. We have lots more guns than anybody else, particularly handguns. A lot of countries have hunting rifles, but we have these handguns, and then we have these assault weapons. Secondly, we have by far the most permissive gun control laws, the weakest gun policies of any country. It’s not even close. Not surprisingly, we have more gun crime and more gun homicide. "We compared the United States to the other First World countries. We looked at both genders and all ages, but here are the statistics for 5- to 14-year-olds. A child in the United States compared to a child in Finland or France or New Zealand is not 20 percent more likely to be killed in a gun homicide, or 50 percent more likely, or twice as likely, or five times as likely. It’s 13 times higher. "Our gun suicide rate for these children is eight times higher. Our non-gun suicide rate is average. For unintentional gun deaths, we have 10 times the likelihood of death [compared with other developed countries]. These children are at risk. When you do surveys across states or cities or regions, you find that where there are more guns and more permissive gun laws, people are dying. "We can do so much better. Other countries have done so much better." From http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/12/looking-for-lessons-in-ne…

The NRA held a press conference today; here's the short version of what they had to say: "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." Here's a link to the full text: http://home.nra.org/classic.aspx/blog/345

"happiness IS a warm gun". as a child, i lived in a house and a neighborhood that was saturated with shotguns, rifles, revolvers and semi-automatics. all owned by loving, caring people who wouldn't even entertain the thought of pointing a weapon at someone else unless in a life or death emergency. some owned guns for collection, some owned guns for hunting, but everyone owned handguns for "protection". between the time i was 7 and 13 years old, three young adults in this same neighborhood - children of those same loving,caring parents - took their parent's handguns - the ones that were owned for "protection" - and commited suicide. i can clearly remember all three incidents to this day. those families were destroyed and the parents never recovered. my father, a vietnam veteran, still owns guns to this day and i can proudly say that this is one father-son tradition that dies with me! i refuse to contribute to the gun lunacy which surrounds us. oddly enough, with almost $1 billion in profits this year alone, the gun industry doesn't even really need to advertise, it only needs our sense of fear and paranoia for sales. pretty slick sales gimmick if you ask me. cue "ship of fools" please

And "He" has caused the end-of-the-world. But wait, all the guns were legally bought and owned by Adam Lanza's (the Anti-Christ's) mother, who took both her sons out target shooting and then conveniently forgot to lock the the things up in such a way her mentally disturbed child could get a hold of them. So perhaps she is the Anti-Christess. Perhaps the Mayan thing was cumulative, starting out with the Norwegian nut who conditioned himself to violence through video games so he could model himself a Knights Templar in defense of the Christians who are being invaded by the Muslims to the tune of possibly (just possibly) becoming 11% of Europe's population some time in the next ten years. So he went to an island youth camp and slaughtered 79 teens. And since we all know Muslims are responsible for mass attacks on white people it has to in the end be guns and Muslims behind the end of the world as we know it. One thing for sure is that we will continue to endure the silent scream of Edvard Maunch as his screamer confronts the future which from 12/14/12 has perceptibly changed our landscape forever without our political will to do something about it. And when you come right down to it, that is what separates us from Scotland and England and Ireland and France and Norway and Germany and Canada. We'll never admit it, just gladly continue to fight each other as the denizens and guardians of hell. And the screamer continues to scream into a blood-red sky in stark alienation. Welcome to the end of the Mayan calender. Have a great first day of the rest of your life....

Is always looked forward to: Merry Christmas to all -- May friends and family bless your day with good cheer. The Grateful Dead love you!

some cary the sword for others in silence.Love.

With a quart of cinnamon eggnog spiked with a quarter pint of blackberry brandy and a sprig if mistletoe. Mwahhhh!

Some things never change. We exchanged gifts from under the tree on this rare (for our part of the country) non-white Christmas. I gave the kids the usual latest smart phones, i-pads, non-violent video games. It was their gifts to me that I found most touching. The three children ranging in age from 13 to 22 gave me hand-made cards with expressive wishes. The first was for the banning of the NRA and all like-minded gun-nut groups. The second was the heartfelt prayer that all the children at Newtown, CT, and all the victims in general of gun violence in the last hundred years be welcomed into heaven by God if they had no violent, mortal sins over-riding on their souls. The third, from the youngest, is for all the guns in the US to be turned in to authorities to be destroyed. These hand-made cards with heartfelt sentiments meant more to me than any material thing and seemed more salient to me this year than any other with the timing. The NRA came out with a statement two days ago that was deemed "semi-insane". Not my description. I would have said "Fully, certifiably insane." What were those words? "We need to have a privately armed guard in every school on every school day." They did not address the question of what to do when there are groups of two or more armed assailants hell-bent on killing our children. Obviously they haven't thought it all out. If the "bad guys" have three, then the NRA "good guys" need 5. If the bad guys have five, then we need 10. If the bad guys have 25 and tanks and artillery then the NRA needs multiple ground units and air cavalry. If they have fuel charged air-launched bombs then the NRA needs nukes. Does anybody seriously doubt the deeply-rooted insanity of the NRA and the gun nuts? They would start speaking of acceptable levels of "collateral damage"... My kids gave me wonderful presents this year. They are our hope and future. The fear-laced visages of the NRA gun-nuts are quickly falling into the minority, fallback after fallback... Merry Christmas everybody. While it may not seem like the best Christmas ever, there are reasons for hope in the immediate future.

the winter doldrumz. snow, cold -- post holiday blues. time to plan the winter va-ca.. Please, not fla. again! Perhaps the islands this year...

Tiempo de vacacion?? Vamos al Mexico la proxima semana! Voy a pescar cerca de La Isla de Mujeres con Antonio y mis hijos. >>> Keep me posted on how that fiscal cliff business goes. Too bad Boehner, McConnell and Reid can't git 'er done, so far.

I've always wanted to... Maybe Rosarita Beach? Anybody got any ideas where the hippies hang out? I'm thinking like Rosarita Beach but wonder what is safe these days.

They're all at the White House right now, Obama and the House & Senate Wrecking crew and they are shredding. I'm watching the markets sell off dramatically for the first time since it took a post-election dip based on those Republican-drubbing blues. Obama has stiffened his backbone and refused to blink -- good for him! It is heartening to note that the President's core constituency, the AARP and those who are going to lose biggest with the loss of the safety net (the weak & infirm) as well as the liberals and the radicals, have put tremendous pressure on the President to toe the line on entitlements. Let's face it, you can't run an election on a class war, win it, and then throw it back in the closet like toys in the attic. The middle-class and the working class are basically supporting in sympathy the Obama plan. As well, they know that if they are regular Americans with combined incomes of less than 250k a year and need the mortgage tax breaks and kid tax breaks they are voting/supporting in their own best interests. People haven't forgotten the images of Romney and his blunder after blunder of the rich man talking down to the poor. It was nauseating and not easily forgotten. People are extremely angry at the rich. Nobody has forgotten that it was the same set of investment bankers who sunk the entire planet with junk mortgage bonds and then hedged their own bets. Not one of them was held accountable. That led to the massive stimulus spending and running the treasury presses so hot the bearings burn out on a regular basis. Pain is coming in the form of triple-digit inflation (probably 100% a year for three years starting in 2014) followed by massive interest rate hikes to tame it. Can anybody doubt or deny it? Well, when you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose. But the 20% of additional mortgage-holders who are sure to go upside down on their home worth and start walking away in droves again? Those people should be highly pissed-off and considering unorthodox ways to put pressure on the next republican president who gets elected in 2016. It will be a Republican. Republicans like Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman-Sachs, are wholly to blame for this shameless mess. Taking your boss's parking space is the the least of it... Who is to blame? The rich,the Republicans, the military contractors,the insurance companies, the medical contractors, the hospitals, the "health care" corporations, the medical code billers, the investment banks. Nationalize them all. Seize their assets. We are the judge jury and prosecutioner and they are Guilty, Guilty, Guilty!

Nothing happened today on the Fiscal Cliff. "What? Us responsible?" Seems to be the attitude of Mitch McConnell and Jim Boehner. Obama seems to be the Cheshire Cat here, according to the polls. Americans are seeing just how nasty and hateful the rich are in confronting the middle-class's attitude in let-and-let-live. This is coming down to the last day in which both sides will kick that can as far as they can while protecting all those making less than 400k. Then the devil comes in the details till the debt ceiling deal is done, probably in March. Some details if we go over the cliff: On a salary of 30k the tax forgiveness of 2% goes away of SS and Medicare. An additional $28 in taxes will be deducted per week. That is the harshest impact, percentage wise. It will be less the more you make, proportion wise. It's those other things that government provides that people are going to start screaming about. I'm glad I've already protected my hard-earned dollars.

I don't think a deal is possible today, especially with these two. Some ugly comments: It's not about what is healthy for the country; It is about what is healthy for the politicians. They wait for the intense spotlight to pass them by Then they make their deals in the dark. Some predictions: The country's credit rating will be decreased; Between now and March a deal will be cut -- Obama won the election and will get more than half of what he wants. Entitlements will take it on the chin, Defense not so much The stock market will correct between 10-20% -- Hang on for the ride! If you have no skin in the game, it doesn't matter. But more than 50% of us do.

By a vote of 89-8 the Senate overwhelmingly voted for a version of the Fiscal Cliff. The House stands in adjournment till Thursday when it will reconvene to take up the bill. They are not expected to amend it. In any case the bill kicks the sequester down the street another two months until the debt ceiling forces even harder choices down the the throats of already wretching republicans. The recap: *** Income earners above 400k single or 450k combined will pay pre-Bush era tax rates *** All Americans will pay 2% more on the SS and Medicare taxes on each check (the so-called tax holiday) *** 97% of Americans will stay in the same tax brackets *** Capital gains and dividend tax rates will go from 15 to 20%, hardly earth-shattering. Assuming the Republicans in the House vote for this (along with the far-left Demo. reps. like Peter Welch of VT) vote to pass this gutless wonder they still have multiple skirmishes on the sequester coming for the next two months. This is likely to cause the stock markets to roil. The real questions remaining is how much defense will be cut as opposed to how much entitlements and discretionary spending. As More Democratic Senators and representatives flowed in on Obama's coat-tails we can look forward to more wins (the social safety net) as opposed to losses (wasteful defense weapon programs and other outright shocking waste.) My editorial comment is that Obama ran on the class war and any going backward is unacceptable. White collar criminals such as those at AIG and Goldman and plenty of others should rot the rest of their lives in medium security federal pens. And that is just the start. It's time to turn this country upside down and watch the cash flow from the lined pockets of the rich. Er, excuse me, "job creators.". Any backsliding will rob Obama of his legacy and that is as it should be.

One hundred fifty-one Republicans joined 16 Democrats to vote against the deal, while 172 Democrats carried the vote along with 85 Republicans. Obama is expected to sign the deal asap. This bill allows tax rates to remain the same for 97-98% of Americans and the rich will get taxed more, but hardly enough to run away to Switzerland, Luxembourg or the Bahamas. What didn't get voted on is the sequester: all those bread and guns issues due to be voted on as the real "cliff". In essence, Congress, in it's usual fashion, kicked that can down the road two more months. Cantor will now kick Boehner's butt down the hill and reign as the new House Speaker. The House was not due to vote on this till the opening of business on 1/3/13 tomorrow. As stock markets are rallying hugely all over the globe it is safe to say that Congress did a lot of insider trading on this one. The average American investor, whether it be pensions, 401ks or investments, are likely to get pulled into the optimistic outlook. That would be a mistake. There is a financial bloodbath coming on the debt ceiling. When that dust clears with a bloody correction of as much as 15%, it may be time to make a move. I guess the thing we could always count on with this Congress was to vote in it's own favor and be counted on to say the hell with the rest of us.

With the weather cold (-15) and snow (a foot deep) it's time to go somewhere and watch the football playoffs. Go New England! It would be nice to hear the three shows from Furthur too!

The triple-whammy is about to hit and there is noting you can do about it. *** FICA has gone back up to 7.65% (SS & Meidicare holiday) *** Health care costs have gone up modestly, if you're lucky (Companies are cost-shifting to the less healthy in group plans) *** Debt ceiling fights are likely to significantly delay Fed.tax returns Feeling poorer? You should be... you just lost about %5 of your take home pay and that Fed tax refund looks pretty iffy. Cheer up,you're credit card companies keep that minimum payment nice and low! Obviously I'm being satirical. The middle-class just got screwed!

I was right about no Fed tax money in January, at least... Remember when we could at least count on the government to do that? Geithner is trying to split before it becomes apparent there is no tax refunds coming in Feb and possibly March. Those back-orders for the bearings on the printing press are a bitch to get filled! Anyway, I was listening to Dylan/Dead '87 playing "The Times They are a Changing" and thinking about history and the verity of that tune. This was 87 and it seemed like a nostalgia act but in three short years a man named Schwartzkopf was going to end-run Baghdad in the opening salvo of a fight we couldn't win without clear objectives. It was the opening of a new chapter of fighting for this country that continues to this day. That war ended. Saddam sent some agents to kill Dubya's daddy and he had to have revenge to the point of making up WMD evidence to justify once again invading Iraq. We neglected the main problem of Afghanistan until 2009 when we surged up to 130,000 troops into a barrenous mountain region after leaving the country of Iraq a wreck. It is now a failed state that trans-ships weapons from Iran to Syria. Now Iran looms largely in our scopes and we can only hope somebody with the common sense of Hegel is nominated for Sec. of Defense so that we don't prematurely nuke Iran.. The more tragic point is the number of veterans with rage, anger and pain walking around our country without jobs or programs to keep them occupied... Meanwhile, Rome burns as a country that has so apparently lost it's grip on reality debates whether 30 round clips and assault rifles are rights guaranteed by the Constitution. I guess the point I started to make was that the times are always'a'changing and what is coming up ahead on the horizon never seems to disappoint with shock & awe. And the point is we could have always lead the world in a different direction.

Our latest school shooting took place this morning in my neck of the woods. Fortunately, there were no fatalities, due to the quick thinking and actions of the teacher and a school supervisor. As for the NRA's recent claim that "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," I'll note here that there was an armed Kern County sheriff's deputy on duty at the school at the time of the shooting, but that doesn't seem to have stopped or otherwise deterred the shooter. It'll be interesting to see how this ultra-conservative southern San Joaquin Valley community reacts to the issue of gun violence now that it's landed in their backyards. I'm guessing gun sales will increase; actually, I'm willing to wager that they will.

"when you're born, you get a ticket to the freak show.when you're born in america, you get a front row seat." -george carlin