Friday Fish Wrap: April 8. 2011

Before you even continue reading this, I want you to go to the following website: ALERTID.

Here’s what it’s about:

AlertID uses the newest online technology to create instant, two-way communications between citizens and federal, state, and local authorities to provide immediate information on crime, terrorism or natural disasters that can threaten the safety of your family and community.

Using the unique AlertID system, you are constantly connected to neighbors, local police and fire departments, as well as federal and state agencies to exchange critical information that can help keep your family and community safe, whether the threat is national, local, or personal such as a missing child.

Take action now to make your home, your neighborhood and your country a safer place to live.

And, I can tell you, it rocks big time. I signed both of us up, and took a look at their map which showed our home … and a home burglary just up the street that I never knew about. This is one of the ways the internet and cellphones can help keep us safer, and make our communities more responsive in the event of something of immediate concern.

Now, back to what I was going to say.

The ‘Shutdown’. Obama regrets the possibility of a shutdown. Unfortunately, that’s all he seems prepared to do. You’d think there was no alternatives to Obama’s lame, middle-center budget - which keeps the Bush tax cuts or the looming meat-axe and artless bludgeoning of America by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-WI. But there is another way. It’s the Peoples Budget, put forth by the Progressive Caucus.

Here’s what it can accomplish:

The CPC proposal:

• Eliminates the deficits and creates a surplus by 2021
• Puts America back to work with a “Make it in America” jobs program
• Protects the social safety net
• Ends the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
• Is FAIR (Fixing America’s Inequality Responsibly)

What the proposal accomplishes:

• Primary budget balance by 2014.
• Budget surplus by 2021.
• Reduces public debt as a share of GDP to 64.4% by 2021, down 16.9 percentage points from
a baseline fully adjusted for both the doc fix and the AMT patch.
• Reduces deficits by $5.7 trillion over 2012-21
• Both outlays and revenue equal 22.3% of GDP by 2021

You can read more about this budget, what it hopes to do and how, by clicking here.

It never ceases to amaze me that anybody other than the far to the right TeaBagger fringe would even consider Paul Ryan’s budget - which will destroy many of the social safety net programs that have served generations of Americans very well indeed. It will get rid of Medicare and Medicaid, food stamps, child care and pretty much anything that benefits the working American - except for the military budget.

Even Ryan is afraid to go after that sacred cow.

But Ryan has no fear when it comes to thrusting older Americans back into the eager arms of a for-profit health insurance market. PPO’s and Medicare Advantage programs have been shown to increase health care costs for seniors. So why is Ryan proposing to hand them an entire generation of Americans? Is that the way to hold ballooning healthcare costs down?

This is called ‘anything except a public option’. What nonsense.

And the war on women is another nasty part of this showdown. Bending over and dropping trou to the far rightwing ideology about abortion - they figure that defunding and closing down Planned Parenthood will play well to that base. What they’re not telling them is that if fewer abortions are really the goal, shutting down family planning services provided by Planned Parenthood will have exactly the opposite effect. The problem is that this right-wing TeaBaggers are too damn stupid to connect the dots.

Sheesh.

The biggest part of the big dig out here is over. We now have a septic system and leach field that should last about 50 years longer than the two of us.

All I have to do now, is figure out what to do with the lawn, and get the sprinkler system repaired. Monday, they will return to put in a new paver driveway over where the septic leach field had to go. Well, there went about $10K.

If anybody out there has a suggestion on somebody to repair the sprinkler system lines and the sod, let me know about it.

The way that I deal with stress from projects like this is riding my bike. The good news is that the weather is getting good enough - not perfect, mind you. It spit snow pellets all day today - that I can get at least two or three days in per week. It’s been really great to be back out there.

Today’s Reno Gazette-Journal says that Gov. Brian Sandoval wants to be prepared for how the federal government shutdown might affect Nevada. This is a good thing to be doing, since his budget will essentially be a shutdown for the state - this will give him practice in running a state with the lights out and doors locked.

The way things went down in Carson City at the Taxation Committee hearing on mining tax deductions yesterday didn’t give me much hope either.

Like I said, it’s cycling weather. Get out there and relieve the stress of staying informed.

Sheesh. Try and have a good weekend despite all of it.

-maven