So, Rebecca, Braelyn and Spencer are gone. Rebecca has been in Maui since last Monday. Spencer went to the S.D.’s house last Thursday. Braelyn is in Wyoming with my parents since last Monday. Rebecca and Braelyn return on Tuesday. Spencer was supposed to come home today, but the S.D. is now having him stay another night, so he won’t return until tomorrow. Me and Hoover and the psycho other dog are lazy bums. I am truly bored. I figured this would be a relaxing week, and while it has been, I have done absolutely nothing, and I am tired of doing absolutely nothing. Oh, I have plenty of work I could be doing… don’t want to. I have plenty of Booster Club stuff I could be doing… don’t want to. Maybe a trip to the casino would cure some of my boredom, but then again, it could be costly… I haven’t been in ages.
Sidebar… I referred to the other dog as psycho. Let me explain. On multiple occasions, including moments ago, I have witnessed her very slowly and cautiously walking backwards and staring at the floor in front of her as she does it. It is very methodical. I don’t know if she is seeing things, or maybe our house is in fact haunted, as Spencer often suggests. I don’t know what it is, but I must say it is a bit freaky. Maybe it is from eating too much of Hoover’s crap (yes, she does that all the time and just absolutely disgusts me). I need to get my video camera and set it beside me as I veg in this chair fiddling on my laptop, so I can video it if she does it again. I don’t know about her…
Tonight the NCAA basketball selection show is on… this I do look forward to. I should be putting up a pool on my website, feel free to join. Don’t know yet if I will, but if I do, you should definitely participate.
I have stopped taking guitar lessons this month, but plan to resume in a month or two. Just too much going on with work and stuff that I needed a hiatus from it. However, I have been messing around on the guitar the past few days… I should be getting lots of practice, considering how bored I am, but my fingers get to hurting and so do my ears since I still suck so bad, so it gets discouraging. So, I just sit here and mess around on this stupid laptop.
Sad to say, this morning when I woke up I started my normal routine of reviewing MSNBC.COM to see what the headlines are (surprise, folks, I do not turn to Fox for my news). I couldn’t have been more pissed off reading the article about how Obama is considering taxing some people’s health benefits (aka MINE) to help pay for universal healthcare. Sure, why not… my taxes are already going to be going up, why not hit me again? It is truly sad that I actually sat in the chair getting my haircut thinking about outher countries to move to. I then remember that I do live in the greatest country in the world and would be foolish to move somewhere else. Nowhere is perfect. Now, I know Lisa Hilger and perhaps a few other lefties out there will respond with the traditional leftist line of “now you know how we felt for the last 8 years”. That’s just one of those rehearsed lines, doesn’t prove or disprove any stance, so I am quick to discount things like that.
You know, fact of the matter is, while I do not think GW Bush was the best president, or even in the top few, I can say this… I proudly support the Republican stance on taxes, and whole heartedly disagree with disproportionally taxing the upper class to pay for the lower class. Don’t get me wrong, I most certainly do realize that there are those who are legitimately struggling while working very hard, and that these people do need help. I am reminded to my oldest sister’s struggles a few years back when her husband was very ill, awaiting a kidney transplant. My sister is a teacher (who chooses to teach in a lower economic school, mind you) and my brother in law, at the time, was working for a fire truck manufacturing plant in Casper. Their medical bills were piling up, and finances were most certainly tight. But they worked (literally) through it… Mike continued working as much as he could through it all. They didn’t sit back waiting for the government to bail them out… they perservered. I am proud of them for that. They cut expenses, took some hits on their credit, etc. but today they are better people for it. By the way, I should point out that I am also so proud of my sister for having been an educator for so many years but not a card carrying member of the teachers’ union… er, “professional organization”… you know, the one that protects the very poor teachers that are ruining public education… yeah, that one. Wow, I am all over the place….
Back to my political talking points… I, Ryan Elledge, support smaller government with less interference. I support health care for those who truly need help getting it, but I don’t support mandates to small businesses and penalties to those businesses who just can’t afford better plans. I do not believe in nor support in any way the ACLU. I love GITMO and the fact that it helps keep the really bad people in the world from doing more really bad things. I admire and support our troops and their actions, and I pray that they will continue to get the funding that they need… which, by the way, they need more of (I am thankful that it looks like there is a 4% increase in the DOD budget under Obama… while it is not much more, it is more and not less, so that is a surprise to me from the Big BO). I think unions ruin business… they had there place in history, but now they should be history… and of course I think this because I believe someone who starts a business and puts his/her butt on the line should get to make the rules for the business, not the people working for him/her. I think the legal system is a mess and contributes to a lot of the pitfalls in our country, including our health care issues. I support COBRA, but not the new Obama changes to COBRA where employees terminated for cause get 65% of their COBRA paid by the very business who had to let them go (yes, I know the business will get tax credits, but it creates a financial strain on the business). You know, higher taxes on businesses and making them pay these things ultimately leads to additional layoffs… it is the anti-job creation model. For those of you who don’t understand what I am talking about, just know that I deal with these things daily as an executive for a tech company which employees nearly 200 people). I think I am OK with Obama reversing the stem cell policy of Bush, but I honestly don’t know enough about it to really have a good opinion. I do love the idea that it can help cure other illnesses, and that is why I at least think it might be ok. I, of course, do not like Obama’s strategy of blaming the last administration for every ill that we have, because the President just does’t have that much power… it takes a joint effort of the three branches, and the Dem’s have controlled congress since 2006. I don’t like Pelosi… at all. Ultimate hypocrit right there. Oddly enough, I hear Dems bashing and fearing here, too… just not sure how she is in the position she is in. I just throw my hands up on that one. I do support a major overhaul of the tax system in the United States. On the surface, I like the idea of getting rid of the income tax and turning to taxation on what you buy… get the drug dealers, prostitutes, gamblers, etc. all paying their fair share (oh and guess what, the rich will continue to carry the tax burden since they have the means to buy more). I do not believe in abortion, unless the birth would put the mother’s health at risk or in the case of rape. Better put, I don’t believe in abortion as a form of birth control. I support the legalization of marijuana, and I actually applaud the Obama administration for pulling the hounds off going after state-legalized dispenseries… and no, I don’t support it because I am a user, I just believe that the government and our jails would be better off with the taxes which would be generated from it being legal, the decrease in prisoners who possess/use/distribute it, and the savings to the budget for not fighting it (you should watch Marijuana, Inc. on CNBC if you haven’t already).
Ugh, I am done for now, that is too much for anyone to really read or care about on this fine Sunday afternoon. I just know that I like fairness, and I really don’t feel like we’re heading to fairness right now. I am not implying or suggesting everything was fair under the Bush administration… no doubt there was some BS that shouldn’t have happened and people playing by different rules, but I would be surprised if anyone could ever convince me that the current changes and suggestions are fair. Time will tell, I guess… but I suggest in 2 more years when the problems persist, we’ll still be blaming the previous 8 years.
I miss my Braelyn and my Rebecca (the house is a disaster!). Can’t wait to see you both in a few days. My thoughts and prayers are with my sister Wenday and her family as they cope with having to put down their dog this past week.
Hope you all have a great week, whether you agree with me or you don’t.
–RElledge
