Keith's Favorite Quotes

End Of An Era

Allen Iverson is formally retiring from Professional Basketball tonight...As I write this...His jersey is being retired at the Wells Fargo Center ...It's truly the end of an era...The end of a time when the 76ers actually were a good team..


Saying he's lost his desire to play, Allen Iverson formally announced his retirement from basketball Wednesday.

Allen Iverson last played in the NBA in the 2009-10 season, when he played three games with the Memphis Grizzlies and 25 with the Philadelphia 76ers -- he spent the first 10 years of his 14-year career with the Sixers -- before leaving both teams. He last played professionally in Turkey during the 2010-11 season but left halfway through the first season of a two-year contract.Allen Iverson was offered a contract to play in the NBA Development League with the Texas Legends last year but ultimately declined it.

"I gave everything I had to basketball," Allen Iverson said at the Wells Fargo Center. "The passion is still there but the desire to play is not. It was a great ride."


Hall of Famer Julius Erving and John Thompson, Iverson's college coach at Georgetown, attended the news conference along with his mother, Ann, and three of his five children. 76ers owner Josh Harris spoke at the ceremony but Iverson was not formally recognized by the team. That is expected to happen later this season and include a retirement of his No. 3 jersey. He played parts of 12 seasons in Philadelphia after being selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1996 draft.
Iverson said he'll be a Sixer "until the day I die."

Allen Iverson, 38, declined to directly address a number of issues that have been raised in the years since he last played in the NBA. There have been media reports describing his problems with alcohol and gambling as well as financial issues despite earning more than $200 million in salary and endorsements. Iverson and wife Tawanna divorced earlier this year.

"It does bother me, I have a heart just like everybody else," Allen Iverson said of the recent stories. "People have encouraged me to [publically] address those issues. But if I know and my family knows and people that are close to me know, why do I have to explain myself? It's hard having rhino skin sometimes. ... A negative story about Allen Iverson is going to sell regardless. Nobody wants to talk about what I do for [charities]. That's how this world is."

Several times Allen Iverson said he had no regrets about anything in his playing career. It was a decorated career that included 11 All-Star Games, four scoring titles and the 2001 Most Valuable Player Award. He was one of the biggest draws in the NBA during that time and his popularity with young kids led Reebok to sign him to a lifetime contract.


His career also included moments where he quarreled with coaches and management and had off-court issues with the law. One of his most memorable moments was a rant during the 2002 playoffs about his habits in practice.

Allen Iverson said Wednesday he didn't regret that, either.

"It wasn't just about that I didn't like practice or care about practice or anything like that," Iverson said. "If I could go back and do it all over again, I would never have done the interview. As far as how I expressed practice, practice, practice over and over again, I wouldn't take that back. That sound bite -- because it's great for the media and great for the fans, they love it -- but they had no idea my best friend just got killed. They had no idea that press conference wasn't about practice, it was about me not being traded from Philadelphia. That's what I thought I was at that podium to talk about."

Earlier this week, LeBron James said Iverson was the best "pound-for-pound" player in league history because of his abilities and toughness despite being 6-foot and just 160 pounds. As he reflected on his career,Allen  Iverson said influencing players like James and the league's culture is one of his legacies.


"I took an ass kicking for me being me in my career," Iverson said. "For me looking the way I look and me dressing the way I dress. It was just being me. Now, look around, now all of the guys in the NBA have tattoos. You used to think the suspect was the guy with the cornrows. Now you see the police officers with the cornrows. I took a beating for those type of things and I'm proud to say I changed a lot with this culture and this game."

Allen Iverson said he's not sure what his future holds. He is working on a documentary about his life and has been doing speaking engagements, recently speaking to players at SMU, where former 76ers coach Larry Brown now works.

Although he delayed his retirement announcement to exhaust all his professional basketball opportunities and believes he could still be effective in the NBA today, he said he arrived at the decision on his own terms.
"I promise you it is a happy day for me," he said. "I thought this day would be a tough day but it's a happy day."

But for a fan like me...It's a very sad and meloncholy day.

The Tao of Barack Obama

The Government shutdown is over and The Tea Party clearly lost that round....I think I may have stated pre-maturely that that sounded the death knell of the Tea Party....Now that my elation has subsided and I'm capable of sober thought again...I realize that that may not be so....Not yet anyway...

Ohhh ,Poll numbers will shift, issues will change and members of Congress -- in both parties -- will have spent several weeks back in their home states telling supporters how they fought the good fight in Washington.

So, even if the president stared down Sen. Ted Cruz and the Tea Party idiots in the House to get the government re-opened, he shouldn't get too complacent. Shouldn't get too elated just yet.

With the Tea Party's negatives at 49 percent, they're  been momentarily spanked, but  you can be sure they'll find a way to make President Obama's life difficult next year.

But for this week, anyway, the takeaway from the GOP's failure to defund Obamacare -- their stated goal at the outset of the shutdown -- is that they'll have a hard time working their political will until they decide to take the president seriously.

Yeah that's right...They really don't take him seriously and this is why they lost and lost so decisively...

Because faced with a shutdown and potentially caving in to the threat of a default that could upend world markets, President Obama opted to stand tall and try to avoid instant lame-duck status.
It probably wasn't a tough choice, and Republicans made it easy for him by calculating that President Obama wouldn't have the guts to call their bluff.

In effect, their game plan -- break President Obama with Obamacare -- and their unwillingness to approach him as a worthwhile adversary, worked to their detriment. Here's how they underestimated him..

The Brother has got skills!

Although now it seems like it was meant to happen all along, six years ago, conventional wisdom said that a black guy probably couldn't be elected president...Buttttt, it has happened...Not only that, but it's happened twice.

So whether or not Republicans ever decide to reach accommodation with President Obama on the critical issues of the day, when challenging him, they ought to keep in mind that a guy from Honolulu, who first ran for president in his late forties and beat a war hero and a governor's son en route to winning the White House, probably has some political skill...

They believed their own Hype!

It is said that the biggest fool is the man who believes his own lies...President Obama has consistently run a middle course during his tenure, and most voters recognize this. If he really had turned out to be the muslim-socialist apologist-in-chief that his opponents often say he is, then they'd have been able to grab the upper hand in this fight.

But after the president adopted Mitt Romney's health coverage plan, made good on his 2008 promise to "kill Bin Laden" and used the occasion of his March on Washington 50th anniversary speech to lecture that "too often" calls for civil rights have been "framed as a mere desire for government support," President Obama's clearly dismissed any suggestion that he's a flaming left-winger.

Fool Me Once, Shame on you...but Fool Me Twice....

Soooo...while the precedent for the shutdown-debt-ceiling standoff was set when President Obama and Democrats agreed to a lower, "sequester"-level budget resolution in an effort to avoid a government default back in 2011, it should have been apparent why this time was different.

President Obama had to compromise two years ago, because Republicans hadn't yet shown voters that they'd turn a default threat into a routine negotiation tactic. This time, though, the president could claim that he was forced to end the threat, even if it meant negotiating way past the 11th hour.

In the end, just like members of Congress, President Obama's a politician. He'll horse-trade (think "Don't ask, don't tell"), he'll dodge (think Guantánamo Bay) and he'll offer concessions that his supporters (like yours truly) don't like (think "chained CPI" for Social Security). But nobody, Nobody with an ounce of self respect will bargain with adversaries if they won't take him seriously. And with this president, there are bargains to be had.

Next time, they should make him an offer that isn't quite so easy to refuse.  Let's pray there is no next time for the Tea Party.

Need I Say Anymore?

Wekend Humor

Three guys are at the gates of Heaven, and God tells them, "We have a special today! If you died a terrible death, you're in for free."

 So God asks the first guy his story. "I was a hard working man and a loving husband, but I began to suspect that my wife was cheating on me. One day, I called in sick to work and left for home to hide and closely watch my apartment. I saw a man go in, and I decided to wait a few minutes to catch them in the act. Then, I started banging on my door. They wouldn't open it, so I broke down the door and walked in to see my wife sitting naked, but the man wasn't in sight. I went to the balcony, where I saw a naked man hanging on the edge. I began to stomp on his hands until he fell down, but there were bushes, so I got my fridge and tossed it on him. In the process of tossing the fridge, I also fell over and died."

God replies, "Wow, that's pretty bad, finding out your wife cheated and falling off your balcony. You pass."

The second guy says, "God, my only crime was that I enjoyed dancing naked in my apartment while eating pickles out of the jar. I was doing just that one day, when I slipped on a pickle and fell over my balcony. Luckily, I was able to grab on to the ledge below mine. After a few minutes, a man came and I thought he was going to rescue me, but he began to stomp on my hands. I fell, but luckily, I fell into the bushes. I thought I had survived, but that man threw a fridge at me and I died!"

 God replies, "Wow, that's very cruel, being crushed to death."

The third man says, "I died naked  while hiding in a fridge."

Everybody have a groovy weekend!

I Think The (Tea)Party is Over!

Well...After extremists in The Republican Party shut down the government ,nearly ruined the nations credit rating and cost the nation about 24 billion....The Money Boys are finally running out of patience with them...
We might be witnessing the beginning of the end of the Tea Party....

There have been several reports out over the past few days about an evidently riled business-lobby community in the wake of the government shutdown and Congress’s flirtation with default, and that — especially in the event of another fiscal showdown this January/February — several major business groups are apparently thinking about pulling on their extra-establishmenty boots and doin’ work on behalf of what they see as more moderate and “business-friendly” candidates in next year’s pre-midterm primaries. Via the Financial Times:

In particular, attention is focusing on how to tilt the balance of power within the Republican party towards more moderate members who are less likely than staunch conservative Tea Party lawmakers to encourage brinkmanship over the budget.

“The shutdown exposed how high the stakes are. It is time to get back involved,” says David French, senior vice-president for government relations and chief lobbyist at the National Retail Federation (NRF), which represents many US retailers. …

Mr French said he did not believe the relationship was “profoundly damaged” and noted that on “95 per cent of the items” even the most ardent Tea Partiers and the business community were in agreement. Moreover, he said many of the disagreements were over “tactics” rather than policy and that Democrats shared some of the blame in the US political dysfunction.

But he added that if the business community was “particularly angry at the Tea Party, it is because they risked a whole lot in order to make a point I think any direct mail marketer could make with a first-class stamp”.

 If this is true and more business groups do wind up throwing their support behind what they see as more centered  or moderate candidates, though, how much of an impact will it have? Politico points out some of the skepticism:

 Despite the public grousing and aggressive posture of top executives and Washington operatives, there’s little evidence that trade associations and other business-minded groups will actually be able to move the needle in the 2014 election.
 
“The Senate Conservatives Fund, Heritage Action and FreedomWorks are really just eating the lunch of some of the normal business groups,” said Dan Mattoon, former executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee. …

“Fundamentally, if the business community wants to be more engaged in the grass-roots politics, they have to have a permanent presence there,” Heritage Action’s Dan Holler said. “Arguably, there are local businesses at every level. They could be the conduit for that message. The problem is the policies big business groups are trying to sell don’t resonate outside of Washington.”

Advocates of pushing the primary envelope are looking largely to the Chamber of Commerce to lead the charge. The business group has long had one of the most active political operations in Washington and also is used to soliciting big checks from its members. …
Chamber President Thomas Donohue “is all in,” the source said.

But Chamber President Thomas Donohue was coy on whether or not any of this is actually happening at a recent breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor:

 "We have no idea what we are going to have on the table. We still have to see who is running, we still have to see what happens on the next activity on the deficit. We still have to see what the circumstances are,” Mr. Donohue said. The chamber will begin making decisions about its congressional election activities in the first quarter of 2014, according to Bruce Josten, the chamber’s executive vice president for government affairs, who also spoke at the breakfast.
Donohue was asked about Senator Cruz, who argued that the House should tie a vote to fund the government with defunding of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. “I don’t know Senator Cruz,” he said. “We are all getting to watch him. I sort of think about him as a tennis player. You know if you are going to rush the net all the time you better have a lot of motion to the left and the right. He hasn’t proved that to me yet.”

 Hmmm. I imagine  we’ll eventually see how all of this plays out next year, and in the midterm elections.. but going back to the Financial Times piece, I would merely highlight a couple of points made in their conclusion via a conversation with House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa.

Darrell Issa, the Republican congressman who chairs the House oversight committee and is a former businessman, said business would be helped if John Boehner, the Republican Speaker, had 20 more Republican votes to help get legislation passed, which in turn would weaken the more hardline arm of the party.
But he warned that teaching a lesson to hardliners should not come at the expense of handing the House majority back to Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the lower chamber, whose policies on energy such as cap and trade, for instance, are seen as far more dangerous to business interests.
Mr Issa also pointed a finger of blame at the companies themselves, in a sign that frayed relations between business and Republicans cut both ways, saying they were often too focused on their narrow self-interest. “Microsoft, IBM, Archer Daniels – they do not have an ideology. They will give money to people who hurt 80 per cent of what they care about if it helps their bottom line,” he said.

I'm watching all of this dysfunction amongst conservatives and extremists in the Republican party and smiling softly...I'm hoping that this division continues and the eventually the entire thing falls apart and we get more liberal and progressive candidates elected... Our country has been damaged enough by the Republican Party....It truly is time for a change and if we get that change by a GOP implosion....well....I'm good with that!

Another Word From Our Sponser

Last night,I had a vivid dream....I woke up angry....After I sat on the side of the bed for awhile...I realized that I had been dreaming...dreaming about somebody who has been dead for years....

I also realized that I was still bitter about something this person did to me years ago...
Something I should have put behind me...Especially since the person is dead.

It occurred to me that many of us are inmates in that prison called Bitterness....We stay locked up for years in our jail cells of bitterness and anger about real and imagined slights...We stay angry at people who don't know we are angry at them or if they do know...They don't care...So who are we hurting?

The difference in this prison called Bitterness is that we have the keys in our cells to release ourselves....but we have misplaced them and can't find them..So we stay imprisoned....Find those keys...Unlock those doors...Get over it..Get over yourself....I do not know about life being short or not...but it's definitely not as long as we think it is...Free yourself from the prison of bitterness...(Drops the mike and leaves the podium!)

Keith's Favorite Quotes

"The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering."

-Bruce Lee

I was Prepared To Talk Trash Today but.....

I was prepared to talk trash this morning but......................we lost the game.

In an unexpected defensive tussle, the depleted Dallas Cowboys delivered the knockout punch....to the Eagles!

Tony Romo threw for 317 yards and one touchdown, a banged-up defense shut down Chip Kelly's prolific offense and the Cowboys overcame a sluggish start to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 17-3 on Sunday to take sole possession of first place in the NFC East.
At least there won't be a quarterback controversy in Philadelphia after this one. Nick Foles was just awful in this one,leaving with a head injury.

"Obviously, our defense was outstanding," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. "That offense challenges you in so many ways. They have a really good scheme. Our defense played sound, played together. They were physical and our tackling was outstanding."


Two teams that averaged a combined 58.2 points per game and allowed a combined 55.2 totaled 13 punts in a first half that ended with Dallas (4-3) leading 3-0. It was more two inept offenses than two dominant defenses.

A Cowboys defensive line missing three of its projected starters pressured and harassed Foles until putting him out on the final play of the third quarter. With Michael Vick inactive because of a hamstring injury, Matt Barkley made his NFL debut and threw three interceptions in the fourth quarter...OUCH!

"I was maybe a little too aggressive on some of those throws, trying to advance the ball down the field and help our team win," Barkley said. "I learned a lot today. I'll learn even more watching the tape."
The Eagles (3-4) have lost a franchise-worst nine straight games at home. Their last win at the Linc was over the New York Giants on Sept. 30, 2012.

Dallas played without four-time All-Pro defensive end DeMarcus Ware, who missed the first game in his nine-year career because of a quadriceps injury. Anthony Spencer, the end opposite Ware, is out for the season after knee surgery. Four-time Pro Bowl tackle Jay Ratliff was released during the week after failing a physical.

Didn't matter...They won without them today.

Nicky Foles, coming off an impressive performance at Tampa Bay last week that earned him NFC Player of the Week honors, had his worst game since his first career start at Washington last November.

He finished 11 of 29 for 80 yards and was sacked three times. Foles misfired on several throws to open receivers, including a low throw to Jason Avant in the end zone in the third quarter.

"All of us on offense, our decision making wasn't very good," Kelly said. "It was all of us on offense. It's not just one guy."

Kelly is hopeful Vick will return this week. (Yes..so is everybody else)There was no word on the extent of Foles' injury.

The Eagles sorely missed Vick's scrambling ability. Also, Vick's presence makes LeSean McCoy more dangerous because teams have to be wary of both in Kelly's read-zone offense.

Shady McCoy, the NFL's leading rusher, was held to 55 yards on 18 carries.
"We knew it was going to be an extreme challenge coming in, and I felt we answered the bell," said linebacker Sean Lee, who had one of the picks on Barkley.

Yeah, they answered the bell and rung ours....Oh well...There is always next week!

Keith's Music Spotlight

For the romantics in you...Enjoy!

And Now A Message From Our Sponser

I know I usually only  post a "Weekend Humor " Post on Friday....But in lieu of the past week's near catastrophic debt ceiling and default battle in D.C.   I'm not feeling much to laugh about and I'm not feeling too  professional either ,feel me?

So for all of those Tea Party individuals who created this near disastor...It brings me great pleasure to watch you walk away with your tails behind your backs, struggling to put a good spin on what was a huge defeat...

You lost....but the real losers were all of those innocent people who had to go without a paycheck for no fault of their own because of your shenanignans....Shame on you....I hope all of you Tea Party folks get exactly what you have coming to you....Unemployment in next years mid term elections!

Weekend Humor

A cocky State Highways employee ...

A cocky State Highways employee stopped at a farm and talked with an old farmer. He told the farmer, "I need to inspect your farm for a possible new road."

The old farmer said, "OK, but don't go in that field." The Highways employee said, "I have the authority of the State Government to go where I want. See this card? I am allowed to go wherever I wish on farm land."

So the old farmer went about his farm chores.

Later, he heard loud screams and saw the State Highways employee running for the fence and close behind was the farmer's prize bull. The bull was madder than a nest full of hornets and the bull was gaining on the employee at every step!!

The old farmer called out, "Well, You can always show him your card!!"


Everybody have a groovy weekend!

Down To the Wire!

Well...That certainly was a close one wasn't it?   At the last minute...These guys brokered a deal...A half assed deal, but a deal averting a catastrophe just the same...These Tea Party folks are counting on you and I to have short memories next year come mid-term elections...Don't have one...Remember this and make them pay for this...

Yeah, a deal was reached to avoid defaulting and to re-open the government...but check this out...

The deal would only reopen the government through January 15, 2014, and increase the nation's borrowing authority through February 7, 2014....Then...we could possibly go through all of this again...Enough is enough...

Up against one last deadline, Congress raced to pass legislation Wednesday avoiding a threatened national default and ending a 16-day partial government shutdown along the strict terms set by President Barack Obama when the twin crises began.

"We fought the good fight. We just didn't win," conceded House Speaker John Boehner as lawmakers lined up to vote on a bill that fell far short of Republican wishes.

Oh really Mr. Speaker?  No you didn't win....But in not winning...All of us lost...Especially working people and the families they may have been supporting,who got furloughed and went without checks...And for what?

A Senate vote was set first on the legislation, which would permit the Treasury to borrow normally through Feb. 7 or perhaps a few weeks longer, and fund the government through Jan. 15. More than two million federal workers — those who had remained on the job and those who had been furloughed — would be paid under the agreement.

Across the Capitol, members of the House marked time until their turn came to vote.
After weeks of gridlock, the measure had support from the White House, most if not all Democrats in Congress and many Republicans fearful of the economic impact of a default. As a result, there was little or no doubt it would pass both houses and reach the White House in time for President Obama's signature before the administration's Oct. 17 deadline.

That was the day that Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said the Treasury would reach the current $16.7 trillion debt limit, and could no longer borrow to meet its obligations.

Tea party-aligned lawmakers who triggered the shutdown that began on Oct. 1 said they would vote against the legislation. Significantly, though, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and others agreed not to use the Senate's cumbersome 18th century rules to slow the bill's progress.  Gee Thank You....

Need any further proof that these Tea Party folk are batshit crazy?

"The compromise we reached will provide our economy with the stability it desperately needs," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, declaring that the nation "came to the brink of disaster" before sealing an agreement.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who negotiated the deal with Reid, emphasized that it preserved a round of spending cuts negotiated two years ago with Obama and Democrats. As a result, he said, "Government spending (in one major category of programs) has declined for two years in a row for the first time since the Korean War, and we're not going back on this agreement," he added.

Mitch McConnell made no mention of the polls showing that the shutdown and flirtation with default have sent Republicans' public approval plummeting and have left the party badly split nationally as well as in his home state of Kentucky. He received a prompt reminder, though.

"When the stakes are highest Mitch McConnell can always be counted on to sell out conservatives," said Matt Bevin, who is challenging the party leader from the right in a 2014 election primary.
More broadly, national tea party groups and their allies underscored the internal divide. The Club for Growth urged lawmakers to vote against the congressional measure, and said it would factor in the organization's decision when it decides which candidates to support in midterm elections next year.
"There are no significant changes to Obamacare, nothing on the other major entitlements that are racked with trillions in unfunded liabilities, and no meaningful spending cuts either. If this bill passes, Congress will kick the can down the road, yet again," the group said.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce came out in favor of the bill.


Simplicity at the end, there was next to nothing in the agreement beyond authorization for the Treasury to resume borrowing and funding for the government to reopen.

House and Senate negotiators are to meet this fall to see if progress is possible on a broad deficit-reduction compromise of the type that has proved elusive in the current era of divided government.
Additionally, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is to be required to produce a report stating that her agency is capable of verifying the incomes of individuals who apply for federal subsidies under the health care law known as Obamacare.

President Obama had insisted repeatedly he would not pay "ransom" by yielding to Republican demands for significant changes to the health care overhaul in exchange for funding the government and permitting Treasury the borrowing latitude to pay the nation's bills.
Other issues fell by the wayside in a final deal, including a Republican proposal for the suspension of a medical device tax in Obamacare and a Democratic call to delay a fee on companies for everyone who receives health coverage under an employer-sponsored plan.

The gradual withering of Republicans' Obamacare-related demands defined the arc of the struggle that has occupied virtually all of Congress' time for the past three weeks.

The shutdown began on Oct. 1 after Senator Ted Cruz and his tea party allies in the House demanded the defunding of the health care law as a trade for providing essential government funding.
President Obama and Senator Harry  Reid refused, then refused again and again as Boehner gradually scaled back Republican demands.

The shutdown initially idled about 800,000 workers, but that soon fell to about 350,000 after Congress agreed to let furloughed Pentagon employees return to work. While there was widespread inconvenience, the mail was delivered, Medicare continued to pay doctors who treated seniors and there was no interruption in Social Security benefits.


Still, national parks were closed to the detriment of tourists and local businesses, government research scientists were sent home and Food and Drug Administration inspectors worked only sporadically.
President Obama and Speaker  Boehner both came to the same conclusion — that they would allow the shutdown to persist for two weeks, until it became politically possible to reopen government and address the threat of default at the same time.

As Republican polls sank, House Speaker John Boehner refused to let the House vote on legislation to reopen the entire government, insisting on a piecemeal approach that the White House and Reid rejected as insufficient.

As the Oct. 17 debt-limit deadline approached, there were warnings from European officials as well as Cabinet members and bankers in this country that failure to raise the debt limit invited an international economic disaster far worse than the near-meltdown of 2008.

On Tuesday, the Fitch credit rating agency said it was reviewing its AAA rating on U.S. government debt for possible downgrade.

By then, the endgame was underway...

Late last week, President Obama met with Speaker ,John  Boehner and House Republicans at the White House. The session resulted in brief follow-up talks in which GOP aides suggested easing the across-the-board spending cuts in exchange for changes in benefit programs such as making Medicare more expensive for better-off beneficiaries.

After that faltered, Senators Reid and McConnell announced over the weekend they were seeking a deal to solve the crises, and expressed hope they could quickly come to an agreement.

That effort was suspended on Tuesday, a day of suspense in which House Speaker Boehner made one last stab at a conservatives' solution. When his rank and file refused to coalesce around any proposal, he gave up and McConnell and Reid returned to their labors.

 So, a disaster has been averted and the Tea Party and The Republican Party in General has suffered a major defeat...and again I ask...For what?  They held this country and in some way the entire world hostage and didn't achieve  one , not one of their demands...

Soooo... The government was shut down literally for absolutely no damned reason at all. First it was Obamacare... Then it was the debt... Then it was Obamacare again... Then it was the President won't negotiate.. Then it was the individual mandate vs. the business mandate... Then it was Congressional staffers and Congress having to take cuts... Then it was...oh hell I'm lost.....



Since the Republicans have taken over the House we have had TWO debt ceiling debacles in two years. We have had a government shutdown that has affected all of us. And its evident that Speaker of the House,John Boehner doesn't know what the hell he is doing by letting 30-40 extremists control his party.

Remember this... Elections have consequences and more importantly the ONLY thing that is worse is NOT voting. Your personal mission over the next year is simple folks. All conversations about voting should begin with you telling persons you will only debate with registered voters.

Next...don't forget this....They are counting on you forgetting this... I am certain they will manufacture some crisis to make you forget what they did...As Michael Baisden used to say, don't go for the old banana in the tailpipe....Vote all of these clowns out of office...They should have never been elected in the first place...

Because when my money is on the line, when my well being is on the line, when my pursuit of happiness is on the line...I've got no time to be going down to the wire...and I'm sure you don't either!

And damn...this is the fourth pain pill I've popped today....I'm going to go and sleep now!

Frustration

I'm frustrated....I only have the full use of one good arm...I have to strain to use the other....I had just finished writing what I thought was a brilliant post on the current government shutdown and I accidentally lost control of my bad arm and eliminated the entire post...

It was indeed one of my best...it was witty and filled with metaphors and analogies and well...No need in talking about it...you, the reader will never see it...It's lost out there in cyberspace...

So I'm frustrated...I've got six more weeks to learn how to operate with one good arm and a semi good, surgically repaired arm...while under the influence of powerful pain killers...I suppose the quality of my writing is showing (or not showing) as it may be.

So picture this...I'm frustrated...If you're an American Citizen , who is employed and depends on the government for any reason whatsoever...You probably are frustrated too...Not as much as I personally am with my own limitations...but you are frustrated....

So here is the current situation...and I pray I don't lose this...The White House soundly rejected a House plan to avoid default as Senate Democratic and Republican continued working on a deal that would extend U.S. borrowing.


The White House says the latest proposal from Republican leaders in the House of Representatives for reopening the government and extending the nation's borrowing cap is a partisan effort to appease tea party conservatives. It praises bipartisan negotiations in the Senate as a good-faith effort to end the partial government shutdown and avoid an economy-shaking default.

The White House also announced it will meet with House Democratic leaders Tuesday afternoon as negotiations continue and a deadline to raise the debt ceiling moves ever closer.

White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage says a House Republican proposal that would attach health care law changes to shut-down and debt ceiling measures is a "partisan attempt to appease a small group of tea party Republicans who forced the government shut down in the first place."

Meanwhile, A Senate agreement to reopen the government and forestall an economy-rattling default on U.S. obligations was getting close on Tuesday morning.

Congressional aides predicted Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky(what a team!) could seal an agreement on Tuesday, just two days before the Treasury Department says it will run out of borrowing capacity.

We can only hope...


The emerging pact (of this unholy union) would reopen the government through Jan. 15 and permit the Treasury to borrow normally until early to mid-February, easing dual crises that have sapped confidence in the economy and taken a sledgehammer to the GOP's poll numbers.

"The general framework is there" between Reid and McConnell, said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. He said conversations with the House were continuing and he thought it would be midday Tuesday at the earliest before a plan was finalized.

As expected..Many House conservatives were unhappy about the emerging framework, though it remained to be seen whether they would seek to change it.

The plan is a far cry from the assault on "Obamacare" that Tea Party Republicans originally demanded as a condition for a short-term funding bill to keep the government fully operational. It lacks the budget cuts demanded by Republicans in exchange for increasing the government's $16.7 trillion borrowing cap. Nor does the framework contain any of a secondary set of House GOP demands, like a one-year delay in the health law's mandate that individuals buy insurance. Instead, it appeared likely to tighten income verification requirements for individuals who qualify for Obamacare subsidies and may repeal a $63 fee that companies must pay for each person they cover under the big health care overhaul beginning in 2014.

Democratic and Republican aides described the outlines of the potential agreement on condition of anonymity because the discussions were ongoing.

But with GOP poll numbers plummeting and the country growing weary of a shutdown entering its third week, Senate Republicans in particular were eager to end the shutdown — and avoid an even greater crisis if the government were to default later this month.

Any legislation backed by both Reid and McConnell can be expected to sail through the Senate, though any individual senators could delay it. But it's another story in the House, where it wasn't winning a lot of fans among conservatives...As to be expected...

As the Senate opened for business Monday, Senator, Harry Reid said he was "very optimistic we will reach an agreement this week that's reasonable in nature."

Moments later,Dr. No...I mean Senator Mitch  McConnell seconded Reid's assessment.
"We have had an opportunity over the last couple of days to have some very constructive exchanges of views about how to move forward," McConnell said. "Those discussions continue, and I share (the) optimism that we're going to get a result that will be acceptable to both sides."

The Earth is coming to an end! 

 

In addition to approving legislation to fund the government until late this year and avert a possible debt crisis later this week or month, the potential pact would set up broader budget negotiations between the GOP-controlled House and Democratic-led Senate. One goal of those talks would be to ease automatic spending cuts that began in March and could deepen in January, when about $20 billion in further cuts are set to slam the Pentagon.

Democrats were standing against a GOP-backed proposal to suspend a medical device tax that was enacted as part of the health care law.

Democrats also were seeking to preserve the Treasury Department's ability to use extraordinary accounting measures to buy additional time after the government reaches any extended debt ceiling. Such measures have permitted Treasury to avert a default for almost five months since the government officially hit the debt limit in mid-May, but wouldn't buy anywhere near that kind of time next year, experts said.

Some lawmakers are frustrated that defusing the immediate standoff simply sets up another fight next year.
"It's punting because no one, Democrats, Republicans wants to face up — and the American people — to the tough reality that we're in," said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. "It's all a temporary fix."

Is your level of frustration rising with each and everyday of this posturing, from both sides?  Yeah ,mine is too...With this and with only the use of one good arm and half of another arm....

Let me click on the save button...So I don't lose this...

Mending (My somewhat random thoughts at the moment)

Today, It's back to the hospital for my first post op visit...I'll have my stitches removed and this huge bandage ...My arm will still be in a sling...

I'll be told when I can go back to work, when I can drive...You know,all the little things you tend to take for granted..until you can't do them for what ever reason...

In the past week...I've learned how to shave one handed...How to bathe myself one handed and how television really sucks during the day when I'm at work....Social Networks are really dead too during the day...Purely, the most interesting conversation on the networks and the blogs are after 5:00, with the exception of course of my blogs.

The swelling in my arm has gone down...I have to remember to go to the jeweler and have my wedding band re sized and returned to my left ring finger....My hand feels kind of naked without it...

I'd like to return to work next week if at all possible...Again...that's on the Doc...

I've been too sore and uninterested in writing for the past few days...My little break has been good..Hundreds of new ideas brewing in my head right now...Not!

Nice to be writing a post again just the same...

Recovery

Recovering from surgery!  Will be back soon!

Dear Congress Part II

Dear Congress

The Barbershop Of My Youth

I Went back to the barbershop in my old neighborhood this morning...I was telling the barber that his father used to cut my hair when I was a little kid and that I used to fall asleep while my hair was being cut and he used to pop me behind the ear with this long silver comb he had and go.."Come on boy, you here to get a hair cut ,not to sleep.."

Which was how I got another of my many nicknames...''Sleepy"

He used to call me "Sleepy Nelson"(Don't ask where the Nelson came from!)

"You the sleepiest boy I ever known." he'd say...

He cut my hair the day before I left to attend Shippensburg State College...He cut my hair before I left to go to Air Force boot camp and he cut my hair the final time, two days before I got married, which was also the same year he died..Those were good times...Glad to see his son...Who is only about five years younger than me is still running the shop!

Weekend Humor

A drunk stammers out of a bar and runs into two priests. He runs up to them and says, ''I'm Jesus Christ.'' The first priest says, ''No, son, I'm Jesus Christ.''

So the drunk says it to the second priest. The second priest replies, ''No, son, I'm Jesus Christ.''

The drunk says, ''Look, man,I can prove it.'' and walks back into the bar with the priests.

The bartender takes one look at the drunk and exclaims, ''Jesus Christ, you're here again?''

Everybody have a groovy weekend...don't let the government shutdown get you down.

What I've Learned

1.Some People hate this President more than they love the American People.

2.My mother told me once...Always make your bed...Especially when you're a guest at somebody's home...That way ,you'll get invited back...My Mom was smart like that!

3.It's really sad that some adults act like children...Most children want to be adults one day.

4.Sometimes I think God is getting to the point where he's about to say...''Yeah, maybe I need to reboot this thing."

5.Life doesn't negotiate...It just happens!

6.When I was young I wanted to be famous...To have my photo on the cover of Rolling Stone...Now,I appreciate being just a private citizen.

7.Fame can be as addicitive as any narcotic.

8.My mother used to always tell me to wear clean underwear...."If you get hit by a car and have to go to the hospital you don't want to have on dirty drawers" she would say....Seems to me that if I got hit by a car...My drawers might be dirty anyway....But that's just me!

9.Sometimes when you meet a lot of your heroes in person, they don't turn out to be who you thought they were.

10.My grandmother always said...There are very few co-incidences...She was right!



Peace!

Three Weeks Ago

Game Of Chicken

In what at first looked like a game of chicken between President Obama and his Democrats and The Republican/Tea Party...It now is becoming very clear that a government shutdown...Another Government shutdown could be a very real possibility by tomorrow...

I'm getting more than a little tired of the gamesmanship of the nut fringe of the Republican Party....What good can come of this?

I'll wait!!!!

(Crickets!!)

Yeah, just what I thought....


What looked last week like a game of political hot potato has become a high-stakes game of chicken, with continued operation of the federal government and possible wider impact on the overall economy hanging in the balance.

In a move that makes a shutdown appear very likely, House Republicans approved a spending plan early Sunday morning that would delay so called Obamacare for a year and repeal its tax on medical devices.

The temporary budget resolution now goes back to the Senate, where Democrats have consistently said any changes to President Barack Obama's signature health care law would be a deal-killer.

On top of that, Obama has already issued a veto threat.

If Washington can't reach a deal, a government may very well be shutdown by the time you are reading this sometime on Tuesday Morning...

Congress could avert a shutdown by passing a temporary spending measure while the two chambers work out their differences.

"Tomorrow, the Senate will do exactly what we said we would do and reject these (House) measures," Adam Jentleson, spokesman for Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, said in a statement issued Sunday evening. Jentleson continued, "At that point, (House) Republicans will be faced with the same choice they have always faced: put the Senate's clean funding bill on the floor and let it pass with bipartisan votes, or force a Republican government shutdown."

You know what I think?   I think the President should call the Republican/Tea Party's bluff....But that's just me...

A Senate Democratic leadership aide told CNN that on Monday the Senate will take one simple majority vote to table the various parts of the House bill with which the Senate Democratic majority disagrees. Then the Senate plans to send the same funding bill -- a bill without any changes to Obamacare -- back to the House that the House's Republican majority rejected very early Sunday morning.

This game plan avoids taking a separate vote to reinstate a controversial tax on medical devices that is repealed in the House bill. The medical devices tax has become a target of the House GOP because some Democrats do not support it three years after Obama signed the health care law.

The same aide also said that he fears House Republicans will force a shutdown of a few days before they ultimately accept the Senate's version of the funding bill. The aide noted that Democrats had already compromised in the Senate version of the funding bill by accepting a lower funding level than they wanted.

The aide had no knowledge of or expectations for any last-minute negotiations with the White House or anyone else to resolve the stand off.

As the countdown to a shutdown marched on, House Republican leaders remained defiant Sunday in their effort to chip away at , The Affordable Car Act ,also known (to them) asObamacare.

"If the Senate stalls until Monday afternoon instead of working today, it would be an act of breathtaking arrogance by the Senate Democratic leadership," House Speaker John Boehner said Sunday afternoon in a written statement. Boehner added, "I call on the Democratic leaders of the Senate to act today on the measure passed by the House last night." Who is he kidding? He knows better.

House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-California, one of Boehner's top lieutenants, said Sunday that if the Senate rejects the latest House bill, House Republicans will send the Senate another bill that both funds the government and contains provisions regarding Obamacare.

"I think the House will get back together -- in enough time -- send another provision, not to shut the government down, but to fund it," McCarthy said on "Fox News Sunday," "and it will have other options in there (about Obamacare) for the Senate to look at again."

"We are not shutting the government down," McCarthy insisted when asked whether he was willing to risk the first shutdown of the federal government since 1996. "While the president was out golfing (Saturday) and the senators went home, we were here working till 1 a.m. to make sure we didn't shut the government down, that we put a funding bill across."

Asked whether the House would consider passing a funding bill without any provisions regarding Obamacare and with votes from House Democrats, McCarthy would not commit to that course of action and, instead, said again that the next bill the House passes will address Obamacare in some way.

McCarthy did, however, leave open the possibility of a stopgap funding measure that funded the federal government for a few days in order to avoid a shutdown.

"We will not shut the government down," McCarthy said. "If we have to negotiate a little longer, we will continue to negotiate."

"We do not want to shut the government down," McCarthy added.

Boehner's and McCarthy's focus on House GOP efforts to avoid a shutdown by working late into the night Saturday were echoed by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, chairwoman of the House GOP Conference.

We were there almost till midnight last night, working on the bill, passing the bill, got even some Democrat support in the House, and yet the Senate won't even come back today," McMorris Rodgers, of Washington state, said Sunday on CNN's State of the Union.

"They're the ones playing games," she continued. "They need to act. They're the ones that are truly threatening a government shutdown by not being here and acting."

The House Republicans held a news conference on the steps of the Senate side of the Capitol Sunday evening where GOP lawmakers sought to fix blame for a shutdown on the Democratically-controlled Senate.

Can't we all Just get along?

"This is the old football strategy," Rep. Tim Griffin of Arkansas said while holding a football. "When you get to where you want to be in a football game, you run out the clock."

And Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, was more blunt. The GOP lawmaker said Obama wants a shutdown, and she had a message for her colleagues in the upper chamber. "Senate, get on back to town," she said.

On the Democratic side, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida continued to insist that Republicans stop their effort to link continued funding of the government or raising the debt ceiling to repealing, delaying, or modifying Obamacare.

"I hope (the current stalemate) ends with cooler heads prevailing on the Republican side of the aisle," the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee said Sunday on CNN's State of the Union.

The Florida Democrat compared the Republican strategy -- linking funds for the government with changes and delays to the health care law -- to holding the economy hostage and playing chicken with the country's economic stability.

"That's totally and wholly irresponsible," she said of the GOP's strategy.

"Would you," Wasserman Schultz added, "if you didn't like the redesign of your kitchen -- would you burn the whole house down? Or would you try to make modifications to the kitchen? These people have come unhinged."

Yes...I agree..

 The Democrat said that once the threat of the government shutdown was taken off the table, her party and Republicans should work together to ensure smooth implementation of Obamacare.

The decision to vote late Saturday night on the House amendments modifying an earlier Senate funding bill emerged from a rare weekend GOP caucus meeting called by House Speaker John Boehner. The votes, taken after midnight Sunday, were 231-192 for the Obamacare delay, and 248-174 for the medical device tax repeal, mostly along party lines.

Two Democrats broke rank and voted for the Obamacare delay: Mike McIntyre of North Carolina and Jim Matheson of Utah.

Seventeen Democrats voted for the tax repeal.

Meanwhile, a bill to guarantee pay for military personnel during any shutdown passed 423-0.

House Republicans had said they wanted to stop as much of the president's health law as possible. The medical device tax is one of the more controversial taxes in the law, with Republicans saying it sends jobs overseas.

Democrats, particularly those from states or districts with medical device manufacturers, have spoken out against the tax.

"Republicans have pointed out over and over (Saturday) that many Democrats in the Senate are already on record voting for this repeal," said Dana Bash, CNN's chief.congressional correspondent. "So that's why they're trying to put Democrats there in a box."

"But we're already being told by Democratic sources in the Senate that they feel they're going to keep all of their senators in line," she said.

Before the House vote late Saturday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called the Republican strategy "pointless" and said the Democratic-led Senate would reject the GOP alternatives. The White House said Obama would veto the House proposal if it reached his desk.

A separate White House statement said voting for the GOP measure "is voting for a shutdown."

Tea party conservatives want to halt Obamacare now, just as full implementation of its individual health care exchanges begins in the new fiscal year starting Tuesday.

More moderate Republicans, such as veteran Sens. John McCain of Arizona and John Cornyn of Texas, criticize the strategy of tying a government shutdown to undermining the health care reform law passed by Democrats in 2010 and upheld by the Supreme Court last year.

President Obama said Friday that new exchanges for private health insurance under the reforms will open this week as scheduled -- even if there is a government shutdown.

"The House Republicans are so concerned with appeasing the tea party that they have threatened a government shutdown or worse unless I gut or repeal the Affordable Care Act," President Obama said. "That's not going to happen."

And it shouldn't have to happen.  These Tea Party goofs are just engaging in political theatre...The Affordable Care Act was voted into law in 2010....It was upheld by the Supreme Court...LAST YEAR...The truth of the matter is...They don't have a solution, they don't have an alternative plan..They've got nothing.....Their main goal is just to disrupt the President as much as possible...

And so I ask again....In the end...What good will come of all of this....

That's alright...I've got plenty of time!

I'll wait!