10/13/10

Now that I'm a Democrat for the first time, I'm trying to learn a little bit more about my party.  Here in my district I don't get a whole lot of information, since the incumbent has been in office since the First Triumvirate and he gets re-elected every two years as a matter of entitlement. (Or does he?)  Anyhow, in trying to learn a little more, I've been checking out some ads from people outside my region.










As those silly kids on the internet sometimes say - lolwut? Maybe this new political party of mine is a little closer to my views than I had realized.  Especially if they can keep Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie from mugging women in parking garages... or something.




You'll have to forgive me, I suppose, but I find the whole spectacle to be simply hilarious. Two years ago we had Republicans lining up to have their pictures taken with The One™ and now we have Democrats trying to capture some of that John Boehner magic?  We, the voters, get the government we deserve.  Always have, always will.

On a less sarcastic (but somewhat related) note, is this jackass being serious?




As I told you folks at the time, I've gone to two gatherings that could in some way be described as Tea Party events. I'm not sure who did the official organizing in either case, but the nature of the crowds were fairly obvious. The first was on April 15th of last year and the second was on September 12th. Whatever you may or may not think about their political philosophies, the people at those rallies are some of the kindest and most generous people you will ever meet. Personally, I didn't find either event to be all that interesting. Sorta reminded me of the old parents' weekend at college when everybody shows up and gets introduced to everybody else, then goes back home on Sunday night. It's all well enough I guess, but I like a little more action.

As boring as I found those crowds to be, to portray the desire for a smaller and less corrupt federal government as some sort of barbarian disregard for human life is sick and twisted. As a fellow Democrat, I hope Mr. Matthews can find his way back to the real world. Trumka is a dishonest hack and always will be, but Matthews used to be somewhat coherent. I'll guarantee you that the "Tea Partiers" like my aunt and uncle would be the first ones working to help their fellow citizens in need while others sat on their asses and waited for a government bureaucrat to take care of them.  To me, this garbage goes a step beyond the knee-jerk tendency to imply that they're all just a bunch of inbred racists.  Alas, someone must be paying the advertising bills.  We get the media that we deserve.  Always have, always will.

Since my blog is officially about back injuries and ass pain though, I suppose we had better get back on topic now.  I had 222 miles of driving and five, count 'em, five stops on my one trailer today.  Swartz Creek, Saginaw, Saginaw, Bridgeport, and Frankenmuth.  The trip took eight hours in total and my leg/ass/back/etc. held up fairly well.  I was in a decent amount of pain when I got out of bed this morning, but it seemed to get better as the day progressed. 

By the time I finished work, I decided to press on and try my hand at getting back in the gym.  As was the case last week, before the weekend of excruciating pain rolled around, I felt better while I was working out than I had all day beforehand.  We'll have to see if there are any physical consequences to follow, but the workout was definitely helpful in a psychological sense.  Too much time between workouts can lead one to feel that he's backsliding a bit.  After an extra few days off, my muscles were quite well rested and I turned in a pretty strong performance, so now I can think I'm a tough guy or something.  Plus the folks at the Mayo Clinic say that regular exercise is supposed to be helpful.  They would know better than I would.