"Feeling good about government is like looking on the bright side of any catastrophe. When you quit looking on the bright side, the catastrophe is still there." -P. J. O'Rourke

Rant of the day, if you're not in the mood, better skip it.

Well, the voting is over. It is now time to mop up the blood and carry out the trash. Over most of the country there was a change in the political political parties, the Republicans ousting out a lot of Democrats. The left wing looks at it as a failure of communication, the right wing sees it as a triumph of sorts. They are both wrong.
To those on the left: the failure wasn't in communication, we just didn't like the message you were sending, and the fact that you were ignoring all communication from your voters. When you were handed the keys to the city two years ago you had a chance to do something important. Instead, overnight you changed into the same kind of greedy, crooked, stupid assholes that you were voted in to replace.
To the right wing: don't go strutting around; you people are on probation, since we know what happened last time you were in charge. We can throw your asses out too, if you get out of line. The only reason you got voted in was because you were second choice, and regarded as the lesser of two evils.
Personally, I feel that gridlock is the best thing that can happen to the federal government; you get better government when your representatives have to talk things over to pass laws, rather than just rubber-stamping everything.

"Whenever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship."
-Harry S Truman

“I vote for the candidate that I believe will paralyze the government the most. The last thing we need is a fully functional government looking for something to do.”
-Comment seen on a blog

This country is walking a fine line; it is in a position to crash if things go the wrong way. The only thing that can pull us back from the brink is the economy getting better, and this means more jobs, and more people working. Handing out money from the government does not help things get better; that is like taking money out of one pocket and putting it in the other and call it a profit. Governments do not produce revenue; all they do is move part of it around in the form of taxes. Only private business can generate wealth. If you want to help them, quit making it more difficult to run a business by coming up with new taxes and regulations that aren't always needed. Just giving a business a tax break will not get them to hire more help; anyone with any business savvy knows that you don't hire people unless you're already making money and need the help. Make it easier for a business to make money, and it encourages them to hire more people. When you tax a business, they pass on the tax to the buyer, and that can discourage buying. If the government wants to help the economy, quit hiring "czars" and creating bullshit agencies, and start talking to people who have run successful businesses and get some input from them.
Just my opinion.

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Some of the plants in my yard are changing, but others seem to have completely missed the fact that winter is coming.

Mums are doing fine.

My mulberry trees are ignoring the cold.

This tomato plant is six feet high, and doesn't seem to mind the cold.

Some vines are changing.

The vine still has berries; the birds usually get them all by now.

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Odd bunch in my playlist today; any favorites in the top ten of them? Any comments?

We're Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister
Long Tall Sally by Little Richard
Midnight Rider by The Allman Brothers Band
Runnin' Blue by The Doors
Hey Joe by The Leaves
Veteran of the Psychic Wars by Blue Öyster Cult
Against the Wind by Bob Segar
Sweet Lorraine by Benny Goodman
A Time for Everything by Jethro Tull
Piece of Wood and Steel by David Allan Coe


Nobody played a jazz clarinet like Goodman.




Any oldie from 1970; still one of my favorites.



Coe can write stuff that you can tell comes from the soul.