I took The Old Girl to the airport at 5am this morning as she's off to Auckland for a couple of days. It was dark. And cold.
I'd put the golf clubs in the car intending to play a few holes on the way home. When I stopped at the golf club it was still dark. And still cold. I continued on to home.
I've put the lounge heat pump on to take the chill off the house a bit. That reminds me - I plan to research the electricity usage over the last couple of years in preparation for a battle discussion with the electricity provider Greypower. The last two months bills have been $228 and $250 when the normal monthly bill is about $180. Somethings going on and it hasn't been extra appliances. Sheesh!
I can do my computer research and correspondence in the study today and tomorrow. Yee-haw! If you readers are lucky I might even pump out a few extra posts as well. I trust that these will be better received than Richard's and Robert's posts.
"I just read my grandson Richard's blog. Sheesh! If I'd known this is how he'd turn out I would have become a nun and gone celibate."
You know that I've criticised the choice of Joe Biden as Democratic contender for the US presidency before. See: HE'S HAD IT
I criticised his choice at the 2020 election as well as even then he was too old and getting doddery and it was a miracle that he won. Well, given that he was up against the orange fool who'd just about bankrupted the country and caused international chaos a trained monkey could have done the job.
Thinking back I'd have preferred that Joe Biden had also been the contender against Trump in the 2016 elections instead of Hillary Clinton who I thought was a flawed choice. He was younger and a better communicator then and fresh off being vice president under Obama for two terms. He'd likely have been voted in as president and would have done a good job ...
... not that he hasn't done a good job in his current role of president elected in 2020. Under Biden's presidency the US economy has bounced back, relationships have largely been restored with friendly foreign countries, unfriendly foreign countries have been given the cold shoulder (again) and important domestic social support mechanisms replaced. This has been done even though the Trump-led Republican party has had significant power or control in Congress, the Senate and the Supreme Court.
Friday's presidential debate however showed Biden as being shaky and seemingly unsure of himself. I know, I know, I've watched the debate and have read much of the transcripts and almost everything that Biden said was 'on point' and mostly true whereas everything that Trump said was bluster, braggadocio and lies but Trump had the advantage of seeming stronger and in control and this is the point. In politics, particularly US politics smoke and mirrors carries as much importance as competence and knowledge. The punters want a show and pizzazz. Most of them don't listen properly to what's said like in Kennedy's famous speech where he said "Ich bin ein Berliner" or Reagan later in Berlin saying "Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall". In these cases simplicity not political truth is the rally cry and stuff that simple Americans love.
Biden's supporters have pointed out that he admitted he didn't have a strong performance but that his message was right. The problem is with a message that is right is that if viewers and listeners don't hear the message properly it could just as well have been wrong. The big danger is that the uncommitted and wavering Republican voters might have liked Trump's message better even though it was as full of bullshit as Robert's Sunday sermon regurgitating posts. The supporters are trying to prop up old Joe again like they did last time. Sadly it's time to let him go.
This doesn't mean that he can't be influential. If Biden's plans and intentions are good - and I believe that they are - he can take an advisory role to the new contender kind of like what Obama has done. America has to get over this idea of the supremacy of a president. He's just a figurehead really and his, or her ability to get things done properly are due to a strong 'cabinet' just like Westminster-based democracies. Anything else is too much like China, Russia, North Korea and the worst authoritarian states in the world.
No, it's time for Joe to go and it'll have to happen quickly. Whether the new contender is Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer or other frontrunners I don't care as long as they keep with the current agenda. That's when the old orange fool will be taken to task.
I'm sad to report that the veracity of The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ has been questioned and, by none other than that promulgator of fantasy, lies and falsehoods Robert the Catholic Guy.
After he'd been told that he managed to achieve the phenomenal score of 5 out of 10 he audaciously said this:
Here are the correct answers:
1. What word is spelled incorrectly in every single dictionary?
Answer: Incorrectly
2. What is it that lives if it is fed, and dies if you give it a drink?
Answer: Fire
3. What word would you use to describe a man who does not have all his fingers on one hand?
Answer: Normal (people usually half half the amount of their fingers on one hand)
4. How can someone go 25 days without sleep?
Answer: They sleep at night
5. How do you make the number one disappear?
Answer: Put the letter 'g' in front of 'one ' and you get 'gone'
6. What’s greater than God and more evil than the devil. Rich people want it, poor people have it. And if you eat it, you’ll die?
Answer: Nothing
7. If you spell “sit in the tub” s-o-a-k, and you spell “a funny story” j-o-k-e, how do you spell “the white of an egg”?
Answer: egg-white
8. A cowboy rode into town on Friday. He stayed in town for three days and rode out on Friday. How is that possible?
Answer: His horse's name was Friday
9. Is it legal for a man to marry his widow’s sister?
Answer: It's not illegal just impossible as the man would be dead
10. How can you keep a cannibal fed for life?
Answer: Make him a Catholic and get him to consume Communion every day
Robert got 5 of these right and Richard claims to have had the same answers. Unfortunately the rules state that if a contestant unjustly queries the judges ruling then he forfeits any claims to achievement and participation certificates. Sorry but rules are rules. Furthermore, as Richard was going to receive half of the certificate that Robert might have been awarded that is now impossible as half of nothing is - well, nothing. Sorry about that Richard.
