Dear Phil

 Short one today. Work has precluded writing. But----

As if I actually know Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC, but, Phil if you're listening, I think the constant coverage of Chris Christie is whiny bullshit. Your network is trying to imitate FOX and that turns my stomach.

There's an old saying about when someone you don't particularly care for is in trouble. "If he was on fire in the street, I wouldn't walk across that street to piss on him and put him out." That's how I feel about it anyway. Chris Christie is burning all by himself. It's a big fire that doesn't need more gasoline poured on it. Our charred hero is at Ken Langone's (One of the founders of The Home Depot) house in Florida this weekend, meeting with nervous mega donors. Horrors, where will they spend their money if Chris is seen as non viable?

I think New England will beat Denver. Brady is is in Peyton's head and that may make a difference. Especially if New England can run the ball. Seattle is 3 1/2 over the 49ers, but that should be a great game.

 A happy 60th birthday bash to my buddy Sherri in Pennsylvania. I cannot tell you how many people I know (including me) that are shocked we made it to 60- or beyond. Is it all gravy? I figure I'm playing the 13th hole. But golf analogies are not in dog years.

Have a great weekend and put the gas can away. Today's humstle is Billy Joel's, We Didn't Start The Fire

How baby boomers screwed their kids — and created millennial impatience

How baby boomers screwed their kids — and created millennial impatience

This one was hard to read. But quite worth it. Like 6 degrees of separation, every one of us has a direct or indirect story to tell here.

Rip Off Tuesday

My head hurts from trying to interpret the 3,848 articles I read daily and from that, distill to you, my dear readers, in twitter style brevity. This is so typical of the Merlot infused thinking by that charming son of a barkeep from Ohio. This is the same guy that says his congresses should be known for the laws they repealed, not the laws they passed.Yesterday, a state legislator from West Virginia confirmed the fact that regulators go easy in these kinds of incidents- were they to do otherwise, industries would shop for low regulation states to move to. So is this corporate blackmail? If you regulate us we'll move jobs out of the state(s)?  Read on.


 So if there are ample regulations on the books, how does the Speaker's view jive with what happened in WV?

And have there been any other Presidents since 1991? Mr. Speaker, I have to put you on DB patrol.

War Weary Deux Deux

I have some simple questions.

But first a small fact. In 2008, President Bush negotiated the Status of Forces Agreement  with the Iraqi government. It stated that U.S. troops would be out of Iraqi cities by the end of 2009 and all forces would leave Iraq by the end of 2011. Sometimes Wikipedia is incorrect but that is where this statement is coming from.

Now for the questions.
Should we have voided the SOFA agreement, defied the leadership of Iraq and left soldiers there? Are we responsible for a vacuum that all but guaranteed that sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia would resume? 8,000 Iraqis died from this violence in 2013

Is this fighting not an extension of an exercise in fatality futility that has gone on for hundreds (perhaps thousands) of years, not only in Iraq, but other middle eastern nations with disparate Muslim sects as their primary population?

Was our original invasion of Iraq justified in your opinion? Do you believe that there truly were WMD's in that country? If not or if so, was the justification to invade based upon Iraq being a stronghold for Al Qaeda or other groups that were involved in the events of 9/11? Further, were we not aware of the pitfalls of invading Iraq and trying to inject ourselves into sectarian violence between Muslim sects. No I'm not forgetting about the Kurds.
Did the existence of massive amounts of fossil fuels have anything to do with the decision to invade?

2013 marked the 10 year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. If 6 1/2 out of every ten people say they've had enough, is this not a clear plurality of opinion that for the foreseeable future, we need to avoid war?? With the budgetary battles we continually have, why is the military exempt from living within its means? And if not one penny is taken from the military, then I would support 50% of every dollar go to honoring and treating the people who came home from these wars. I'm not sure we can ever show them the homage they earned by volunteering and fighting our millionaire politician's battles.


And Afghanistan  is a whole 'nother story.

WTF???

Entire generations are living in the shadow of war. Very little is as important as the conscious decision to stop doing this!!!! Think of it--- Congressman Clay Aiken. Hell, Sonny Bono was bad enough

Kissing your what?

Picking scores is silly. How can anyone possibly know? I did know there would be a safety yesterday by Indianapolis. I forgot to predict it.
Today's predictions:
Carolina and Denver.

I'm .500%, and finishing 1 -1 is like kissing your sister. As a Bears fan, it's fun to see two Bear alums coaching against each other today. I was always a big Ron Rivera fan. so that's why I'm hoping for Carolina. Let's see what happens.

Did I miss it or did the vote to extend unemployment benefits not happen?

Is Bashir Al Assad the guy in the Carbonite commercial?

Enjoy your Sunday. And hey John McCain--- I'll deal with you later.