Super Caucus

Super Bowl 50 is set with Carolina and Denver preparing to do battle on February 7th. I could really care less although I suppose I will watch some of it.

The game would have been more interesting to me if Carolina went into it undefeated. Having a chance to watch an undefeated team win a championship was more enticing.

I suppose that since an "old man" is the quarterback of Denver that I will pull for Denver to win since I can empathize with being called, "old."


Here on the East Coast of the US we are still digging out from a top-ten blizzard from this past weekend. Most schools have been closed for two days even though the snow basically stopped falling 3 days ago.

I am not sure what lesson that teaches kids. We do what we can to open businesses and get to work. We do what we can to open up government offices so people can get to work and people can go get their free stuff, but we say educating our children is a top priority and we keep them home from school.

Efforts would have been much better served doing whatever we could to get kids to school and having them educated than they would have been opening up government offices where politicians can go about making stupid new laws.


My final four picks for The Bachelor are still in the hunt.

Can you see this post has no real point?


The new podcast is off to a blistering start with 14 listens to the first two episodes. Three of them are from hypnosis show fans outside of this country. Two are probably from Mike, who is on the show. That basically means that hardly any of my "friends" have decided to support this particular project from the beginning. That is sad for me.
I understand that there are certainly lots of options from which people can choose when deciding how to be entertained. Hundreds of TV shows, hundreds of radio shows and now toss in everything at one's fingertips online and its difficult to expect to have an immediate audience.

But I did think that there would have been a few more who would tune in to it.

So basically I do the podcasts and this blog for myself. They help chronicle my thoughts and provide reminders of what I was going through in life during the times I wrote or recorded anything. I suppose when I pass away they will be of more value but I certainly won't care then.


I am a political junkie and this year's Presidential campaign season has been very interesting. Its a critical one for sure no matter which side one takes.

Democrats want to continue whatever successes and progressions they think they have made and Republicans want to repair the damage they think has been done.

All politics are personal and local. Any decision that a government will make will affect some people positively and some people negatively. There is no avoiding that.

For my case, these past 7 years have been a disaster. Policies that were created directly influenced and damaged major parts of my life. So you can imagine that I want no part of what any of the three Democrats have to offer.

I understand that people are wired differently and that two people can see the exact same thing right in front of them and have two completely different opinions about what they see.

But I am having a real problem understanding how anyone could possibly support Hillary Clinton. Seriously...how bad must someone's wires be crossed to think she would be a good President? The FBI is about to recommend that she be indicted for crimes and people still don't care. Actual crimes...no big deal to her fans.

How could anyone with any sense support an avowed Socialist in Bernie Sanders? (Although I know the answer is piss poor education.) He is telling people to their faces that he is going to raise their taxes and not just on rich people; a middle-class tax raise would happen under him. People still "feel the Bern." People are calling him an "outsider" when he has been in the Senate and the House for decades. Its complete idiocracy.

O'Malley? What a phony stooge this clown is.

On the other side we have Donald Trump who is still leading the polls. Here I can understand why people are gravitating to him even though he is as awkward as can be. I am not sure that he is my guy but, let's face it, anyone who is running against any of those other three is getting my vote.

Here is a guy with his own money. I have heard more complaints over the years about how politicians have been bought and sold. Trump even says he has done the buying. He doesn't need lobbyists money so he isn't beholden to anyone.
Now, I'm not naive. He would certainly benefit from policies that could be implemented in an administration of his. Every single President would, for that matter, if they so chose.
But I don't get the feeling he could be bought. I hear a lot of people saying the same thing.

He talks about winning and making America number one again. Who could be against that? Oh, Democrats apparently. Cries of jingoism fall upon my deaf ears when I hear that term bandied about. I WANT TO LIVE IN THE BEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. Why would anyone want to live in a place that isn't? Why would anyone want their children to live in any place other than the absolute best?

Trump is in real estate. He has a vested interest in having America be, or stay, number one. It increases his value. I don't see anyone else with that type of interest.

I like Marco Rubio and I know the Democrats are afraid of him. But I fear his lack of personal wealth, to be honest. People are certainly allowed to change their minds over the course of their life times but his recent change when it came to immigration is pretty scary. Did he make that decision because he got a lot of phone calls from constituents or from potential big-money donors?

Trump isn't politically correct. GOOD. Many people appreciate that too. He made a mistake by talking about keeping ALL muslims out of the country. It might have been better to mention some specific countries, but everyone can make a mistake even if its major.


One simply also has to read his book, "The Art of the Deal" to understand him better also. His approach to what he is doing now is right in the book. I'm not going to lay it out here; read it for yourself. His campaign and his approach should not be of any surprise. People also believe he will be able to negotiate better deals on their behalves.

Trump has had success in business. Most people want to know that a leader can succeed. Who wants a leader without a proven track record of success?

Oops...apparently 50 million or so in each of the past two Presidential elections.

Anyway, I can see why Trump is leading. He stands up, speaks his mind, and tells people he wants to make us number one. Its pretty basic.

I recently heard he wants to repeal the ACA and essentially replace it with universal government coverage. People still don't seem to care because they believe he will be able to generate more revenues for the country which would then be able to afford such a program.
I think that is a dis-qualifier, myself, but I might not be able to fight the power on that one.

Ted Cruz is the smartest guy in any room into which he walks. I would love to see him debate any candidate from the other side. It would be a slaughter. The establishment Republicans can't stand him though because he stands up to them (which is good in my view) and the Democrats hate him because he is religious so I think he is going to have a hard time. But never count out someone this smart. His ground game is strong and so is his message.

I still love Chris Christie. He is Governor across the state line from me and I know the difficulties he has had trying to navigate his way through a heavy Liberal state. But every time he speaks he grabs me. He is not politically correct either, and I like that. I believe he is willing to take on nearly impossible subjects to speak about in a way that is sensible and non-offensive while taking a clear leadership position while doing so. His thoughts about Social Security and pension reforms need to be heard by more people because he is dead on target.

I don't really see anyone else on the R side making big strides. I think Dr. Carson will make an amazing Surgeon General or a great VP candidate. Carly Fiorina would make a great first female President instead of the one who thinks she is entitled to be the first. She would be an excellent choice for VP also.
Rick Santorum is a stand-up guy. He continues to have his religion be his downfall and I just don't understand that. But that seems to be why.
Etc., etc.

Perhaps the only one on the R side I DON'T want to see get the nomination is Jeb Bush. I would have voted for him over his brother in the past. I think he is a competent leader but this country should NEVER have one family have so much power. A Clinton versus Bush Presidential election would make for a very difficult vote for me because I don't want either of them. If that is the case I truly think this country will be in need for a true revolution...a hard revolution and not a cold one or a socialist one. Because that would, to me, prove that the system is rigged. I never wanted to ever believe that to be the case but if those two people, out the 360 million people in this country (maybe 80 million capable of running) just happened to be the final two, I will know it to be rigged.

This coming Monday is the first test when the Iowa caucuses are held. I truly don't understand why Iowa and/or New Hampshire hold so much weight. The sampling is far too small and with so many people running this cannot be something which should keep somebody in or out. But, I guess, with those who need heavy duty political donations which become more available once actual votes start to get taken, the answer lies somewhere there.

Anyway, that is my rant for this day. I will record more and post up a new podcast this week. Unfortunately it will probably just me on it since I have had the flu and don't want to give to Mike. He couldn't even park here anyway with the snow. Hopefully he will record something on his end, though, and post it up himself.

Done.