Sunday, November 18, 2018

Damn Fool

The company who employs me once a week as a medical courier is a low rent operation. I don't mind being a low rent type myself. That said, there are limits.

Friday night into Saturday we had a nasty ice storm. Just below freezing with a drizzle. The above picture shows why I buy wrapped winter windshield wipers. Ice forms inside the blade holder and the blade won't make contact.


OK, I can live with the wiper blades. PITA but work around. Not acceptable are tires.
I've written up the tires on the Daily Driver Log for three weeks. Nothing has happened. Today I sent my "boss" an email that reads, in part,

"Not trying to create drama. That said, I will not drive the route again on those tires"

I've been driving this route going on three years. First, for my current employer. Then for the competitor that underbid them. Next for the company that bought out the competitor. Lastly, back to the original.They won the last bid. I might know what I'm doing.

My next scheduled trip is the day after Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to the pre-trip inspection.

And, yes, I was a damned fool for even leaving the lot yesterday on those tires. 400+ mile in Colorado, Wyoming, and the Nebraska panhandle is no place for worn tires regardless of the road conditions.

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Blatant Discrimination


From the heart of deep blue Colorado comes a story of heartless discrimination against trolls.


Are trolls anywhere safe? What about the Fremont troll?

There should be a law!

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

(P)regressive Game Plan


Their game plan drilled down to the foundation is variants of Andy Stern’s infamous threat.

“If we can’t use the power of persuasion, we’ll use the persuasion of power.”
Andy Stern, Former SEIU International President
There is no compromise with liberals. It is their way or else. While they prefer people meekly submit to their program, they are perfectly willing to use whatever force it takes to “win”. Some win! Where is the joy, the satisfaction? They haven’t won any hearts and minds. What shallow, hateful people.

2019 will be a bitter year for Colorado politics. (P)regressives swept all the state offices and gained control of both the House and Senate. Gun control, single payer health insurance, mass transit, renewable energy, and putting an end to fracking and strip mining will be high on their dream agenda. It should be noted most of the newly elected state officials are from Boulder County.

In 2013 a serious effort was made by several counties to leave Colorado and form a new state. It failed, but it is far from dead. The county where I live, Weld, ultimately didn’t go along with the plan. Now? Weld is far and away the largest oil and natural gas producer with something like 23,000 wells. Not all are producing. With fracking, the oil and natural gas play has decades to run.

Colorado is unique in having TABOR (taxpayers bill of rights) as part of the State Constitution.


Were it not for TABOR, Colorado would be right up there with California and Illinois in debt and unfunded obligations. Liberals have been fighting for ways around TABOR and you can bet they will focus their efforts on eliminating or neutering TABOR.

I’m facing a decision. Do I just get the hell out? I was born in Wyoming and only need to move fifty miles north. Do I stay and fight? Part of me wants to get into a fight to form a new state.

While $200,000,000 of out of state PAC monies turned Colorado “blue”, I’m encouraged the “Blue Wave” turned out to be more of a blue puddle nationally.

There are a couple of issues I can find a sliver of common ground with liberals; health care and  K-12 education. The track record of (P)regressives in these two areas is awful. When the family’s insurance costs more a month than a house payment with deductible/co-pays equal to 25% of an average family annual income, that, my friends, is abysmal failure.

 As an aside, our governor elect, as a Congressman, voted for Obamacare while creating a new travel company for medical tourism.

All the monies poured into “education” have funded a bloated self perpetuating bureaucracy. Damn little has flowed to the classroom teachers. Those parents who can do so have their children in charter schools. Why?

Old fart rant. My high school had fewer than 150 students. We had a principal, who had a secretary, three custodial/maintenance types, and five ladies in the school cafeteria. All the rest, including coaches, were in classrooms teaching. All students who tried received a quality education.

The economy will collapse when more is being spent that earned. The deficit under President Trump is still not under control but at least revenues are increasing.

 We can’t have another Great Depression? What, fundamentally, is the difference between “Grapes of Wrath” and the homeless in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, etc.? Better tents?

Prior to the midterms, I was feeling cautiously optimistic. Now?  Back to the Obama times where my only real interest was finding ways to protect me and mine.

It does occur to me that I am sharing the feelings of (P)regressives when Shillary lost. Karma is a bitch.


Monday, November 12, 2018

Idle Speculation


CNN seems to be fading and losing the rating wars grievously hurting their bottom line. Yet they are mentioned often by President Trump and others which keeps their name in the public eye.

Are they taking a page from the Donald Trump playbook?

He beat Hillary despite being outspent on advertising in part by keeping the “Fourth Estate” in a constant uproar. Is CNN now baiting President Trump as a strategy to survive? Does it get them free advertising from their rivals? Maybe they are rational. Or, they are irrational but entertaining.

YMMV

Sunday, November 11, 2018

Asshat for President


Howard Shultz, former CEO of Starbucks, is considering a run for President in 2020. He is a piece of work.

Back in the day, before Starbucks really took off, he had a house in Mercer Island, WA. A house with a nearly flat roof with a mansard elevation (formed a 36” wall around the exterior). Flat roof in an area with 3’ average rainfall in a nine month period might not be the best roof solution, IMO.

In 1984 I was managing the skylight division of my employer (a wonderful operation, things were always looking up) when we received a complaint that one of our installed skylights was leaking, badly. The skylight  was a 4°6° size. The home owner, Howard Shultz along with the contractor, joined me on the roof to conduct an inspection. After pointing out the scum marks ¾ of the way up on the exterior of the skylight, and the clogged drains at all point on the roof to Mr. Shultz, I declined on behalf of my employer to do “one damned thing” about any warranty claim. The skylight wasn’t designed to work submerged in a lake created by neglected maintenance.

Perhaps you get to be rich by bullying people as he started shouting and threatening both the contractor and me. I just shrugged, took about twenty pictures and started down my ladder. Not being a total jerk, I allowed him to descend before loading the ladder on the truck rack.

Moving on, and not involving me, was Shultz’s encroachment on a Seattle City Park to make a driveway to a home he and his wife had built along with using part of the park for staging materials and equipment to build said home. Numerous lawsuits ensued.

Around that time, Starbucks got the coffee concession on the Washington State ferry system. That bit of business never passed the “smell test”, IMO.

When my sister runs out of current events in which to torment me, she likes to remind me of my lack of business acumen regarding coffee.  When the espresso craze started I was living in the Seattle area.  Using my highly developed business analysis skills, I investigated this trend as an investment. Couldn’t make it “pencil” and concluded it was a fad. No long term prospects for $1.25 cup of coffee.

Lots of potential presidential hopefuls on the Democrat side for 2020 including Colorado’s own Governor Wishy-washy. Would I vote for Asshat Shultz? Only is he was running against Shillary.  

Thursday, November 8, 2018

Happier Days



With all the angst of the midterms, my spirits were recently lifted. Thought I would share.

Heard some good news from my youngest son. He started going to the VA Hospital which he has avoided since getting out. They reviewed his records and upgraded his disability to 100%. Means a bump in his monthly check.

Went on to say he has participated in some of the PTSD programs and has found them helpful.

I find it heartwarming that at least one VA Hospital is doing a good job for our veterans.

Then we got into “the apple falls from the tree”. When he was sixteen and full of himself, he broke a kitchen chair over my head during an exchange of words. He then got his ass kicked, soundly.

Seems my sixteen year old grandson tried to get physical with his Dad (my son). Got his ass kicked but managed to damage his Dad’s thumb to the point it will need minor surgery.

That grandson’s genetic heritage is Finnish, Norwegian, and Celtic. Berserker? 

My son and I had a good laugh. Maybe that says something about our mentality. Maybe it is genetic. No damned wimp gene,  perhaps.

I never got into a physical scrap with my father. Then again, I left home at sixteen. Probably for the best.


Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Two Great Moves for President Trump


Mike Coffman (R) CO 6th, veterans best advocate, lost. Wiped out by massive amounts of out of state PAC monies.

Trey Gowdy didn’t run. Sessions just got fired.

Two moves for Trump. Appoint Coffman to head the Veterans Affairs. Make Gowdy Attorney General.

Put two more big drains in the swamp.