God Damn the Republican Governor

Gutted like a catfish. God Damn the Republican Governor, House and Senate of Florida. In one selfish move they gutted the retirement plans of thousands of State workers. Thousands of workers have planned retirement strategies for decades that include a promised benefit called DROP (stands for Deferred Retirement Option Program). This program paid retirement benefits into an annuity of some kind while the worker finished the final five years of employment. And, it is fully funded in the FRS trust.The purpose was to keep senior and well experienced people around longer, and to give them a cash lump sum when they actually stopped working. This cash in most cases formed the heart of the person’s retirement plan.
The benefit is now gone as of July 1st. No matter that someone has planned for 30 years and is eligible one week or one day after that date. No matter. Sod off. Meanwhile the very rich legislators and governor suck the coffers dry with their very generous retirement benefits, health benefits and “all they can steal” benefits. Think I’m pissed?
Thank you Tea Party. You just broke a system that was the model for the country, was solvent and was working. Oh yeah, and the same gang also is requiring all state employees to contribute 3% of their gross salary to their retirement plans. No raises for the past 5 years and this amounts to a 3% pay cut. Three percent OFF THE TOP. GROSS. Imagine a 20k employee losing 3% of their wages off the top. What kind of sadistic moron would do that? Rich legislators and a rich governor, that's who.
I hope somebody sues the ass off all these greedy bastards for breach of contract or something. I’ll contribute to that fund.
Image: www.kathysgetaways.com

So today the French used ‘copters to “take out” Gbagbo’s heavy stuff he ordered used against civilians. The UN passes an “all necessary means” resolution to help the beleaguered population of Ivory Coast keep from being genocided. (New word? My spell checker doesn’t like it.) This is basically the same type of resolution they passed for Libya. Then the US started the “no fly zone” and now others are doing that there. In Ivory Coast it’s the French. I think it is about time the free world kick the ass of any despot that kills their own people. Period. Even if we have to do it with Tomahawk missiles. BTW, the Tomahawk missiles already blown up cost more than the entire government contribution to NPR. So it’s OK to blow up s**t and pay to replace it, but not fund (get ready bobby) middle-of-the-road honest reporting. What crap. Somebody (get ready Rich) needs to do something Image: www.worldwidehippies.com.

The real meaning of words

Jen sent me an email with photos that illustrate words. Those here depict misery of some sort. I have never had to deal with circumstances that these three people are going through. I have never felt that level of pain, departure or sorrow (photos in that order). I see that they are all war related, but these deep feelings of pain, departure and sorrow are felt in all sorts of situations. I deeply hope no one that reads this ever goes through what these people went through. Hope. There were some happy ones too. Let me know and I'll forward the lot.

Pressure Washing and Emmett Kelly Sr.

Fact: When washing a car, pool or deck, the dirtier it is the more satisfaction you feel in peeling off the grime. Fact: When doing a mindless job like pressure washing a deck, the mind tends to wander. So, there I was, pressure washing away, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Get that spot there. Get that overlap here. Back and forth. Back and forth. Then, from the blue, my brain says “Emmett Kelly”. Emmett Kelly? Where the hell did that come from? Back and forth. Get that spot. Now louder: “EMMETT KELLY!!!” Brains are really funny things sometimes. Instead of just telling you something, they sometimes just tease with a cryptic message like “Emmett Kelly”. So I stopped washing and thought for a second about Emmett Kelly. He was the famous clown named “Weary Willie” who invented the clown trick of sweeping away a spotlight on the ground of the circus. Hmmmm. Then it struck like a bolt from the blue: I was trying to pressure wash a shadow from an overhanging branch. No wonder the damn thing wouldn’t go away. The brain connection was clear, but why didn’t my fevered glob of fat and water just say “DUMMY!!! You are trying to wash away a shadow!!!”. There is no accounting for a brain. Image: http://www.findagrave.com/ Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Kelly