I just finished watching another incredibly annoying episode of Realtime. I had high hopes for it, sine Bernie Sanders was on, but it was made unbearable by the presence of loudmouth schmuck Stephen Moore, and some annoying twit from the Crappington Post Live. Neither of them would STFU when Bernie had something to say (as Bernie said at one point, “you’re loud but you’re not right”). I honestly don’t understand why Maher has Moore on. He’s always the same overbearing snide, ignorant purveyor of “free market” and rightwing talking points who refuses to shit up and let somebody else have a say.

Fortunately, after that debacle came the first episode of “Vice,” which was really good. They went to the Philippines, where elections are apparently won by whoever manages to kill the opposing candidates, and to Afghanistan where they explored suicide bombings (mostly by kids). I have to say, much as I appreciate the reporting they do, these people are nuts. No way in hell would I put myself in these situations.

You may have heard that Obama has officially decided to fuck over Social Security (and veterans’ benefits) by officially codifying the use of chained CPI in his budget proposal. Of course, his budget has no chance of passing, but, like his healthcare reform negotiating “tactics,” it means that he’ll now be forced to cave in even more. It’s not a surprise, but it is pretty annoying. No doubt they’ll raise the age for social security to 72 or something and turn Medicare into an insurance voucher system so that old people can just get sick and die and save the younger generation lots of money (they don’t realize that they’ll be old before they know it, but it’s OK as log as they can have the latest and greatest iThing).

On the bright side, he’s giving the OK (and the funding) to NASA to capture an asteroid. Yeah, we’re gonna go out and find one and bring it back to the moon, where we’ll go and walk around on it. In 2021. So, that should be fun, I guess. I’ll be 60, and looking forward to another 12 years of work before I can retire. Assuming I’m luck enough to still have a job, which is no guarantee the way things are going these days.

Oh well, it looks like it’s shaping up to be a decent day. Not super warm, but sunny. Maybe I can get to work on doing some fencing. I need something to tire me out so I can w=take a nap for a few hours this evening. Hopefully things won’t suck.

Damn, it’s cold out there. I left work last night during a whiteout. But by the time I got home, the snow had all melted around my house (though it was still pretty damn cold). Then I get up this morning, and everything’s covered with snow again. Plus, did I mention? It’s frickin’ cold. Supposedly this will all change tomorrow, as we’re supposed to get up over 50. I’ll believe it when I see it.

In an exercise of pointlessness, the small town of Nelson, GA has enacted a law requiring each citizen to own a gun. And when I say “require,” I mean not really.

The ordinance in the city of Nelson — population 1,300 — was approved Monday night and goes into effect in 10 days. However, it contains no penalties and exempts anyone who objects, convicted felons and those with certain mental and physical disabilities.

Other than that, though, you better get a damn gun.

I’ve actually been thinking about getting a gun myself. I mean, guns are manly, and I’m a man, so I ought to have one, right? And I live in the country, and country folk should be armed (based on all the shootin’ I hear, it’s possible we’re the only unarmed household in town). Plus, I like to drink a fair amount of beer in the evening, and what good is a drunk white guy out in the country without a gun.

Problem is, I have no idea what I’d do with a gun if I had one. I don’t really have a desire to kill anything. I’ve gone target shooting once or twice in my life, and that was kinda fun, I guess, but I don’t think it would be that thrilling to do on a regular basis (I’d probably have more fun getting a bow and an archery target).

And I’d probably do something stupid by accident, like shoot my wife (or, worse, my dog).

Then there’s the whole decision about what kind of gun to get. I can’t afford one of those really nifty cool-looking AR-15s. Damn things are expensive. And I don’t think I want a pistol. I mean, then I’d have to get a pistol permit, plus it would just seem too easy to shoot yourself with a pistol. At least with a rifle you kinda have to work at shooting yourself much above the foot. Have to kinda work your toe into the trigger and all that.

If my justification was for “protection,” I guess I’d have to go with Joe Biden’s suggestion and get a shotgun. Use buckshot, and there’s not much aiming required. Just point it in the general direction of whatever noise you hear and let it rip. There goes your intruder (or your wife, dog, cat, or mirror you blew out because you thought some creepy white guy snuck into your house and pointed a shotgun at you).

So I guess I won’t get a gun. Besides, I’m not the type to join a militia (and, given the way I eat, I’m anything but “well-regulated”).

You ever wonder why there just don’t seem to be as many miracles nowadays as there used to be? As with most everything, Pat Robertson has the answer: Ivy League Schools.

Why do miracles “happen with great frequency in Africa, and not here in the USA?” asked a 700 Club patron Ken. “People overseas didn’t go to Ivy League schools,” Robertson replied with a chuckle.

“We are so sophisticated, we think we’ve got everything figured out…. We know about evolution, we know about Darwin, we know about all these things that says God isn’t real, we know about all this stuff.”
[…]
Meanwhile, Africans are “simple” and “humble.” “You tell ‘em God loves ‘em and they say, ‘Okay, he loves me’,” said Robertson. “You say God will do miracles and they say, ‘Okay, we believe him’.”

I had no idea Africa was know for all the miracles that happen there. In fact, I’d always kind of thought that things is Africa kind of suck for most people there (once the white folks came in and exploited everything they could). But, hey, what do I know? I’ll gladly defer to Africa “expert” Pat Robertson.

Otherwise, not much is going on. We’re just trying to get ready for the Final Four. By “we” I mean “me,” of course, as I doubt that my wife is in any way aware that the FF is coming up, or that SU is in it, or – even if she did – that it is in any way a big deal. I just wish the game was on earlier. It’s very hard for me to stay up that late, even on a Saturday night. Last week was much better, ‘cuz the game was on at 4:30 and I could go watch the game with my sister and her husband while Fritzi played with his cousins.

I think I’m just gonna have to go to bed early and then wake up for the game. I just hope it won’t be a painful experience. Not many people are giving us much of a chance. And ESPN did one of their poll things the other day asking which team you were “rooting for” in the Final Four, and only in one state – NY – were more people rooting for SU than anybody else (and that was only a plurality of 44%). Not even “who do you think will win” but “who are you rooting for?”

Seems unfair that nobody likes us. I mean, it’s not like we’re Georgetown (because, of course, if we were GT, we’d have been out after the first game. “Hoya Saxa.” That’s latin for “one and done”).

Oh well, time to get back to work.

After a warm, if somewhat breezy (and yesterday afternoon, rainy) weekend, it’s back to work today. But it’s a home day, to that takes the edge off a bit. We’re celebrating the first day of April with some snow (it’s snowing like crazy at the moment), so I guess maybe it was a good call to leave the chains on the tractor for a few more days. This is a somewhat typical way to start off trout season around here. No matter how crappy it is out there, Nine Mile Creek (which rhymes with “stick” and is actually about 25 miles long)) will be full of silly men (and a few women, I suppose, but mostly men) standing thigh deep in slightly warmer than freezing water trying to catch fish. Why? I dunno. I guess all the good fish must be gone after the first day.

It appears I’m coming down with a bit of a cold (courtesy of my wife, who felt obliged to share hers with me). So far it’s just a little bit of a cough and a sore throat (plus some exhaustion, which may or may not be related). Right now, I just wish this week was over already.

I just heard on the radio that Louisville Slugger is coming out with a new bat. I didn’t catch what’s new about it, though. Of course, if you’ve ever been to Cooperstown you know that all the big names back before 1953 used Kren’s bats, made in (you guessed it) Syracuse. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mell Ott, Rogers Hornsby…. Unfortunately, Joe Kren died in 1953 and his ungrateful kids sold the company. Rotten kids.

Oh well, I guess I’d better get back to work. It’s gonna be a loooong week.