Trying to Play Catch Up

It sucks not feeling well. I’ve been having problems since the week before Christmas. In fact everything seemed to start when I flew out to Springfield for Christmas on December 20. My strange pain in my gut or abdomen or wherever it exactly is is still causing me problems. I’m almost sorry it wasn’t an appendicitis. I would have had the operation and at least I would be on the mend. The pain went away for a little while and then I got the office cold/virus or whatever the hell it was. At one point in time everyone at work was coughing or sneezing or both. It was rather gross to be honest. I got over that just in time to go to New York. It was such a great trip and a great break from everything going on here.

Then I got home and the pain in my gut returned. What fun!

In other news on my health, there is an outside chance I might have a hernia. I have an appointment with the hernia guy in a couple of weeks. Hope nothing bad happens between now and then. I have to say I’m glad I changed my deductible on my health insurance for this year. I lowered the amount of the deductible I pay. It means my premium went up but it also means that the insurance kicks in early. After the emergency room visit which cost over $4,000, I’m glad I made the change. Also thankful my insurance “year” goes to the end of April.

Needless to say my plans in January went a little awry. Well actually more than a little. I had a whold bunch of things I was going to start doing when I get back from Christmas but well. I went to the gym a grand total of 3 times for the entire month. I’m hoping I can return to a more normal schedule shortly. I went on Tuesday and had a training session on Thursday of this week. I felt pretty good after training session. Because of that I plan to go to a class tomorrow. Next week I’m going to add in a spinning class on Wednesday. I think slowly gearing up is the best idea right now.

It also meant I fell way behind on posts to the blog. So now I’ll try and play catch up on some topics.

Obama’s Inauguration and Thoughts on the First Term

All I can say how thankful I am that he won re-election and was sworn in. I was impressed with the fact that every once in a while we can do things right in this country. This is one of them. The peaceful transition of power or in this the continuation of someone in office.

Here are a few thoughts on the first term:

• It was good the Affordable Care Act passed. Finally an attempt to rein in out of control health care costs and insure people. Having sat in an emergency room where people were there because they had no other place to go, creating a system where people can get insurance is a really good idea. And the alternative offered by the Republicans keep things the way they were. In other words using emergency rooms as the last resort. I also liked it because I got money back on the premiums I paid to my insurance company.
  
• The stimulus package and the bail out of the auto industry. The stimulus package probably could have been better targeted and should have been bigger but it prevented the economy from going into a deeper recession. And the auto bailout definitely prevented a complete economic collapse.
  
• The repeal of the silly don’t ask/don’t tell policy.
  
• The attempt at the grand bargain on the deficit. Even though it didn’t work. It exposed once and for all what the Republicans goals were. Party first country second.
  
• The reaction to Newtown. I’m not sure there will be any changes to the current gun policy but Obama is going to try his best to see something is done.

The Next Four Years

Well the Republicans have certainly shown that they will not be changing their tune anytime soon. Yes, they’ve made noises on immigration reform. But they are only doing this because of the shellacking they got among Latinos in the last election. The notion that Republicans have come to their senses and are actually doing something good for the country are just silly. This is a move to attempt to win future elections.

Just like all the move to change the way states award votes in the electoral college. It is not to make the results of the election more representative; it’s to allow Republicans to win presidential elections. If they were really interested in a more “representative” and “democratic” process, these “reforms” would be introduced in red states as well. But the only places Republicans are considering these “reforms” are in blue states. Their attempts at voter suppression through voter ID laws having failed, they are now trying this tactic to win elections. Once again party first, country last. (Arthur and I discuss this is the next episode of 2political.)

The sequestration will be the big event in the next month. It looks like the cuts will go into effect. What modest recovery the country is in will be stopped. It’s even possible we’ll go into another recession. On this issue a plague on both parties. Once again politicians play games while the livelihood of the vast majorities of Americans is held in the balance. An epic fail.

That's it for right now. I hope to get back to a normal posting schedule soon.