Onwards and Upwards

Well. Hissy fit well and properly thrown, onwards and upwards.

I note that the fine folks in Berkeley continue to work to ensure the USMC recruiting office feels fully unwelcome, with the Mayor of that city joining the Code Pink sorts in protest outside their office. Not surprisingly, I continue to favor diverting all federal funding to the city to the USMC and their dependents - and frankly, I suggest that we'd be far better off with cities in general being forced to stand on their own without federal funds, as we'd see a much more direct link between city funding and spending, and perhaps see reasoned decisions on a more frequent basis.

When "bright shiny new program" is more obviously linked to "bright shiny new tax" rather than "increased federal largesse" that seemingly comes from some magic money pot in the sky (actually, just a different part of your wallet and mine), I suspect that voters will tend to be much more proactive in counseling city council members on the notion of "priorities".

Nothing new on the USMC vs. Toledo, OH front that I've seen.

And in other news, I'm intrigued to observe reports of campaign funds in the hundreds of thousands of dollars being diverted to the campaigns of the various Dem super-delegates - now, if I were running for office, and offered each voter $50 to vote for me (or more obliquely, "just because I liked them") aside from burning through a potload of money, wouldn't that be considered vote-buying and officially naughty? Just wondering...

Of course, while all that's going on, it's kind of nice to see Hillary getting waxed - but it's my hope that Huckabee has the sense that God gave a goose and retires from the field. The GOP is going to be fighting an uphill battle from square one to retain what offices it has outside of bedrock GOP areas, and the last thing it needs is party infighting.

And as regards yesterdays hissy, well - I'll try not to inflict it to terribly often. I know that other folks have it substantially worse, and that in the grand scheme of things, what seems a poo blizzard in my life is but a mild drizzle compared to the monsoons of misery in the lives of others. But being in the midst of it, it's occasionally a bit difficult to see that, and to consistently attribute the proper proportion to "consequences of bad decisions" vs. simple misfortune.

I've actually quite a lot to be grateful for - family I can still speak to comfortably, a couple of delightful nieces, a roof over my head, food to eat on a consistent basis, and a number of other triviata that strike me as significant. Regardless, now and again a wee bit o' venting is necessary.

Ah well. Off we go to muddle through. :)