I was recharging my brain. SO much has happened. The world doesn't just stop. So what exactly is it that went on? And not in particular order.
1.Harold Ramis died. No matter what your age, he was involved in films that made you laugh. The past two years prior to his passing were no laugh for him. Assholes walk down the street and fall over from a sudden heart episode. Terrible assholes take a cap in the noggin and fall over- never suffer for a second. That wasn't the case for Harold. We all die but for the good ones to suffer, I just can't always make sense of that. His parents and mine lived across the street from one another in the 80's and I had an opportunity to meet him a couple of times. He was genuine and smart and he'll be missed.
2. Despite all the hand wringing about the two disastrous first months of the ACA's roll out, over 3 million people have signed up and I feel like the figure will approach its initial target by March 31st. Despite all the lies, the attempts at repeal and the clever (yeah, clever my ass!) to even get vulnerable Democrats to damn it with faint praise, the concept is taking hold. No one predicts the future, except for my call on the Superbowl, but this is an idea in progress- hopefully toward single payer. You of course, may disagree.
3. Weather has been a challenging thing this winter. 75% of the water area of the Great Lakes are frozen. Rivers and lakes will rear their heads when the spring thaw comes and the extreme cold temperatures in the Northern Hemispheres are absolute evidence that the earth is cooling and that climate change is a hoax. That means that greenhouse gases have no effect whatsoever on climate, no matter who says differently. Even Rupert Murdoch says that, as evidenced by weather in his home country of England. Oh wait, he was born in Australia? The burnt land down under?? Whatever is happening in the Northern part of the planet is exactly the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere.
4. Back in the good ol' US of A, 15 state legislatures, all dominated by conservative Republicans have bills poised to come to a vote that affirm the right of businesses to refuse service to gay people. I'm not sure why the people in those states have such advanced 'Gaydar' but apparently, they do. Arizona had passed such a bill recently, but that renowned woman of the people, Jan Brewer vetoed it, stating with great conviction that it wasn't a good fit for the fine citizens of Arizona-- didn't quite meet the criteria of not being discriminatory. She got her burst of righteousness after a large portion of the country threatened to boycott Arizona forever, businesses told her it was bad for business, and for a cherry on top, the NFL hinted that it might cancel the 2015 Super Bowl if she didn't veto SB # 1062. So, she did. And that made John McCain, Hillary Clinton and the cast of Kinky Boots very happy. I love happy endings, don't you?
5. An estimated 50,000 people took to the streets in Raleigh, North Carolina to expand upon their "Moral Mondays" outrage on a recent Saturday, I believe it was February 11th. Nothing to worry about, though-- you know, the standard Art Pope bullshit they've been pulling regarding the reduction in voters rights, cutting off of food stamps, unemployment benefits, the state's insurance regulators looking the other way while insurance companies raised some homeowners' insurance premiums by up to 25%. I am not selling my farm down there. Someday, I'll live there permanently and then those pricks will be sorry.
6. Canada has the best hockey team in the world. Ask Sweden and the U.S. teams. They'll tell you that's true.
I haven't posted since February 4th, yet I've been getting daily visits from people who read this blog frequently. Thanks. I'm back, for your dining and dancing pleasure.
