Urban Runner

Welcome 2018, Hoping You'll Kick 2017's Ass

     Starting off a new year. Hopefully, this one will see the end of the tRump shame that has descended on America. My focus here will be on enjoying good health, spending time with my wonderful wife, running, motorcycling, our cool bunny buddies (Terra, Henry, Frank, and Pink), and of course Jack our talkative parrot. Cheers to all our good friends and family!!

Retirement is Great!!

    Retirement is great, I'm not missing my old job one bit. I do have a part-time job that provides full benefits so I'm able to pick up medical insurance for both myself and my wife through them. Other than that, my days are spent with upkeep around the homestead, taking care of our animals, running, motorcycling, and spending time with my Sweetheart. Life is good!!

Motorcycle Lifestyle

    Well, things have moved along rapidly and I have now added an additional horse to the stable. As suggested in the last post as a posibility, has now become a reality. I'm now the proud owner of a Harley-Davidson Dyna Low Rider. Life is good! 

Shifting to Motorcycle Transportation

    As I rapidly approach retirement from career #1 and ready my shift to semi-retired status I'm also transitioning into a new method of transportation. Career #1 provided a city vehicle and I had given up on owning a personal vehicle years ago. Although in the interest of full disclosure, my wife continued to own a Toyota Corolla.

    Now that I'm closing in on retirement I had been looking at getting a Honda Ruckus motor scooter as a backup to my planned bicycle commuting. However, after pricing out a Ruckus at our local Honda dealer and discovering that in Texas you still need a motorcycle license to operate a scooter/moped I decided that I'm better off just getting a motorcycle.

    I ended up purchasing a "used" Honda Rebel. It only had 176 miles on it so someone basicly bought the depreciation from driving it off the dealers lot and then sold it to me. Its a very clean bike and a great learning/local commuting bike for me. Because I plan on career # 2 being local it will provide my transportation to work on the days that I don't feel like bicycle commuting.

    Beyond the practicality of my new motorcycle I have also very much enjoyed the overall motorcycle adventure. I have really enjoyed the rides that I have taken around the central Texas area. I also look forward to taking my wife along for some local adventures. I can even see myself eventually stepping up to (adding to the stable) a full size cruiser bike such as the Harley Davidson Dyna Lowrider.

 

332-206... Sucks to be a hater...

    Well here we are, the election is over and the haters have been roundly defeated. While Obama is far from perfect, and much work needs to be done to advance Progressive causes, the results of this election are nothing but outstanding.

    I believe the following quotation from Bill Clinton does a good job of summing up the essence of the Obama/Biden vrs. Romney/Ryan election, "We think 'we're all in this together' is a better philosophy than 'you're on your own."

    This Bruce Springsteen song also pretty much sums up this election, and the times we are living in:

Prepare for Romneyville...

    The polls do not look very encouraging leading up to election day. It seems that America may just be collectively stupid enough to elect the compulsive liars, and Koch brother lackeys, of Romney/Ryan.
    We, on the other hand, cast our early vote for President Obama this week. Although I did so feeling much disappointment about missed opportunities during the past four years. Examples of that disappointment include the absence of a single payer healthcare system, NDAA, inaction on climate change, increased fossil fuel production including the tar sand pipeline, drone strikes, Guantanamo, failure to rein in Wall Street, continued "war on drugs", prosecution of Bradley Manning and other whistle blowers, untethered support for Israel, etc, etc.
     I strongly agree with Daniel Ellsberg in this article: Defeat Romney, Without Illusions About Obama. I also find information on this page troubling yet accurate: Political Compass: US Presidential Election 2012 However, we have still devoted time, effort, and donations in an effort to keep Romney/Ryan from making things far worse. Unfortunately, our two party system appears tragically flawed and careening towards a massive train wreck...
     If this election leads to a Romney/Ryan administration the only up side I can see is that maybe this is what it will take to wake up the Left in this country. The time is long overdue for an active Leftist movement!! On the road to revolution...

Koch Brothers Overstepping??

   It is interesting to ponder that the re-election of Obama would likely lead to more of the same right of center policies and governing. Although this would not give the Koch brothers everything, it would certainly give them most of what serves them. Instead, the Kochs are maximizing their greed and have apparently decided that the time is ripe to take it all. However, they may quite litteraly be making a fatal misstep. The election of the Rolls-Royce twins of Romney-Ryan could actually provide the final push needed to stoke dramatic and real change in America.

    Note this article: Would America have been better off with President McCain?

    The buying of this election and instalation of Koch brothers lackeys (Romney/Ryan) could produce the unintended consequence for the Kochs of building a powerful leftist movement the likes of which this country has not seen in close to a hundred years. It could even lead to a Marie Antoinette moment for the mega wealthy one percenters. Maybe they should have paid greater heed to the admonishment against the Seven Deadly Sins...
    So David and Charles, you figure now is the time to buy this election, install your lackeys, and take the spoils of America for the one percent.. Well, we'll see. Do you really want to go there? Game On!!

Too Big to Fail Screws America Again!!

Now this is total bullshit! JP Morgan loses $2 billion and they are going to make it right by accepting the resignation of a 55 yoa executive. Oh, and that executive is planned to get $15.5 million compensation for 2011... Wall Street Journal article And that is just one year, she has been "working" there (and being well compensated) for over 30 years. With one caveat for her, that is like the decision process of one of the 99% deciding to take 2 days of vacation. It is insignificant in the compensation package picture! Of course the one caveat is the ego hickey the sociopath will take with such a public resignation. I'm sure she'll feel bad all the way to her retirement mansion in the Cayman Islands... These bastards need to be headed to a federal penitentiary not a retirement villa! And one sacrificial lamb/scapegoat is not enough!!! The top heads and the "too big to fail" banks/investment companies themselves need to go now!! Wake up Teabagger suckers, do you understand yet how screwed you and the rest of the 99% are getting??

Koch TeaParty fails as the Occupy Movement Takes Center Stage

    As the power of information and the internet flex their muscles; the Koch's TeaParty has dropped in influence and the Occupy Movement has instead taken center stage. This is not surprising, seeing that the TeaParty was powered by ignorance and hate whose archenemy is information and education. Which incidentally, explains in large part the motivation behind the TeaParty's attack on public education.
    Of course, JFK's quote becomes more and more significant as these protests grow and should be headed: "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." There appears to be a recognition by the 1% that these protests are growing and are quickly gaining traction among the majority of Americans. This is likely the reason behind the increasingly irrational and violent responses by American police agencies in response to the protests. We have seen this play out in China (Tiananmen Square), Iran (2009 Election Protest), Egypt (Tahrir Square), and currently Syria.
    The Occupy Movement has thus far been driven by non-violent protest with some civil disobedience. This seems to be the best strategy for the time being as the movement's popularity continues to rise bringing with it even more vocal and visible support. However, the lack of violence (on the part of the protesters) could change. An overwhelmingly violent act on the part of the 1% could trip the trigger to a shift to a more insurgent response and even move towards revolution. A look to history, including the use of violence against protesters and ones own citizens, is imperative. For example, the response to acts such as the Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770, would be instructional for police administrators and those that are directing their actions.

TeaParty Failures

    Got a few ridiculous comments after I posted about the TeaParty. Some of them were especially pathetic. One overwhelming similarity was that many of the these commenters preferred to hide behind a bogus username and made up e-mail address. I have now changed the settings to require a log in to comment. Not foolproof, but it may reduce the cowardly anonymous comments. Even those that did identify themselves only did so in a limited manner and never with a photo or further identifiers. Overall, the negative comments pretty much were what one would have expected from the Teabagger crowd - shrill screamers, cowardly, and ill informed on the issues. The same sort of trash led to some of those fools trying to re-write history on WikiPedia to fit Sarah Palin's bizarre rendition of Paul Revere's ride.
    A few of the personal attacks were particularly pathetic. A dork from Ferndale, Michigan plans on shooting me from "over 1200 yards away". Of course he's such a coward that even in his imaginary world he doesn't think it would be wise for him to get closer. Reynoldsburg, Ohio and Provo, Utah were poorly represented as well. Maybe some saner voices from these locations can redeem their towns.