Humpday Happenings...
A little more snow on top of the sleet...helluva way to reach mid-week, but we're doing okay, I suppose.
Still waiting to see a plow truck come through...haven't seen one since that last big snowfall last week.
Goes to show that the SOUTH side of town doesn't matter (except to those fostering a mentality that provides specific portions of our city's populace free stuff at everyone else's expense)...God, how I love PROGRESS!
Anyway, let's take a look-see as to what's been going on in the REST of this part of the multiverse.
*** You know I'm always busting on those numbnuts that drive around for AGES without proper illumination on their vehicles.
And I bust on the city for not readily ENFORCING the appropriate laws governing such occurrences.
Well, imagine MY surprise when I do the daily "walk-around" of the Wifeymobile (old habits die hard) and discover that HER license plate bulb has given up the ghost!
Now this is something I have NEVER personally encountered...and I've been driving since the mid 1970s.
In fact, I don't even recall my DAD changing out his license bulb...because it never blew the hell out.
I know my 26 year-old car has never needed a license bulb, and Wifey's car is over 15 years old, and never required a swapout before today.
So, I told her the situation, and mentioned if she DOES get pulled over (our luck, naturally), to politely inform the officer that I have (here at home) a list of over a few HUNDRED other vehicles that are AHEAD OF HER IN LINE for being written up FIRST.
THAT should allow us plenty of time to get to Auto Zone and get some replacement bulbs...LOL!
I might have a bulb in my "stash", but given the manner and frequency that automotive engineers LOVE to change things, the possibility of having the EXACT replacement can be slim to none (on a good day).
I mean, we went to K-Mart last week to get "refills" for the last LT24 bulb I used for HER car's side running light...and that store DID NOT HAVE THEM.
(WTF???)
K-Mart used to carry damn near every replacement bulb for cars...what's up with that?
Oh...it must be because it's a SOUTH SIDE store...and the fact that most everyone else around here doesn't care if THEIR bulb blows out (they'll never get pulled over for it, anyway)...I got it now.
Yeah, that definitely explains it...totally logical.
So that means a possible trip to Auto Zone to "stock up" on all the bulbs we might need.
I still have replacements for MY Firebird...see, they used to have a "bulb set" you could buy that carried all the standard bulbs needed for cars...but that was a while ago, and I haven't seen such sets in a long time.
I have poked about online, and the replacement for the offending bulb is a number 194 type.
I might even have one of them still floating around somewhere...we'll have to see. Knowing the way I like to keep spares about, I might luck out on this one.
It's that whole BEING PREPARED thing...
*** We're seeing more and more of these state "protests" regarding the right-to-work gig and pension benefits, unions, and such.
Now, there's one thing you have to know about pensions...they're no longer GUARANTEED (as in generations past).
We are talking about the PRIVATE sector, however.
If you're a government "employee" (aka a civil servant, for example) you DO get the pension, no matter what the cost to the taxpayer (that probably does not or will not receive a pension).
Imagine that...treating the "servants" better than the ones who OWN THE MANOR and pay the freight.
Amazing.
Trouble is, this is becoming harder to sustain for a number of reasons.
--People are LIVING LONGER, ergo, those pensions "pay off" for MORE years.
--Governments need to cut BACK in order to survive and still provide needed services, so that money isn't going to be there in as great an abundance as it once was. They call it a BUDGET for a reason...ask anyone who manages a household.
The alternative is wholesale LAYOFFS, and the LAST thing we need is MORE people on the dole, collecting close to TWO YEARS of U/C.
(that's because the JOBS simply aren't there for these people to get back into)
We've certainly allowed the government to paint itself into a very nice corner, in that regard.
Much of the protests we're seeing in place like Madison, Wisconsin are being falsely labelled.
The governor there is TRYING to avoid the whole LAYOFF thing, and the best way to do it, is to keep people IN THEIR JOBS.
But, in order to do THAT, the unions running the dog-and-pony show for their members have GOT to understand that pricing themselves over the budgetary restraints of a depressed economy isn't in the best interest of all concerned.
Now, I'm no freaking economist, but I like to know I have enough common sense to see the writing on the wall here.
I've also held jobs that were union as well as NON-union.
And, it's always better to keep working than to to be NOT working...because those damn bills keep a'coming, regardless of YOUR personal employment status.
So if these government employees and service workers have to have a pay freeze, or even a marginal decrease in pay, in order to help defray the (rising) costs of retirement benefits or employer-based healthcare, it's a pretty damn small pill to swallow, considering the alternative, don'cha think?
The same applies to any and all school systems or corporations.
Unions cannot simply keep demanding more when there is no more "more" to be gotten, right?
The initial thrust of establishing unions was to give workers a voice when it came to UNFAIR business practices, UNSAFE working conditions, and the like.
Nothing was ever said about having union members (especially those in government positions) become some of the highest paid people in the nation, and screw the eventual cost of all this.
Unions need to step back a few paces and get back to doing what they USED to do...protecting the worker, and not reaching into others pockets to line their own. When my father, who was once pro-union, at one point changed HIS mind and told us WHY, it became very clear that HE was right.
In the end...union or not...we ALL wind up paying.
And that simply isn't right to share THAT (lack of) "wealth".
*** Lastly today, in case you've been hiding in some cave, watching the shadows on the wall, it IS getting pretty dangerous out there.
With all this turmoil will come a level of chaos...no getting around that.
In St. Petersburg, Florida, they've had a THIRD police officer gunned down in the last 30 DAYS...that's some serious sh*t!
When it becomes that dangerous for those carrying guns FOR A LIVING, you got to wonder.
What WE have to do is keep OUR wits about us (while everyone else is losing theirs and blaming it on us...Kipling would be proud).
Now, this isn't an easy road to hoe, and many of us might be treading on ground we've never been to before.
We need to stay vigilant...and we need to prepare ourselves for as many eventualities as we can imagine.
We need to become informed, and we also need to learn the truth...and hold onto that.
This nation has always prided itself on it's PEOPLE.
And during times of trouble, it was always the PEOPLE that made us triumphant.
Every one of has the capacity to advance through adversity...if we avail ourselves of it.
It's not some magic elixir of hope, or a sense of feigned superiority.
it used to be called FAITH. And we need courage from within to provide that faith.
Faith in OURSELVES...our FELLOW MAN...our GOD.
When all else would fail...faith would see us through.
Just something to think about...
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.