Uncle Joe is back!

So I've been home from the USC Furman baseball game for a few hours (South Carolina broke the 1-1 tie with a waa run shot in the top of the 12th and won 3-1.I was following some Super Tuesday results so I was already aware that Uncle Joe wa see having a good night but it's really getting fascinating. 

If you follow me on Facebook, you know I'm a progressive. I was the proverbial "Bernie Bro" in 2016. I really didn't have anything against Hillary Clinton- when she won the nomination I expected her to win and I was disappointed when she didn't. 

I've seen the arguments against Bernie Sanders winning the nomination and the counter arguments in favor of him and I see merits to both arguments. There's a reason why we refer to him as "Uncle" Joe. He's beloved by most of the electorate. Bernie is polarizing. I absolutely agree with both Bernie and Elizabeth. We need universal Health Care. We need to at least bring the cost of college down. We need to eliminate student debt. But this idea of rugged individualism; this sink or sink capitalism; this "pull yourself up by your bootstraps (which is actually a physical impossibility) is so engrained in the American psyche that some people will never in a million years vote for someone who self-identified as a socialist, even if they add "democratic" to the term.

The superdelegates are going to ensure that Joe Biden is the nominee if they can. The "Bernie Bros" are going to be upset. So how do you placate them?

On election night in 2018 I started to turn my attention to 2020 and my first thought...and I posted it on Facebook...was a Biden/Warren ticket. Bear with me here.

If Uncle Joe is the nominee (or Bernie for that matter) it's almost a foregone conclusion that a women will have to be the VP nominee to try to make up for the disappointment of not having our first female president. 

Other possibilities are Kamala Harris,  who challenged Joe in an early debate,  and don't forget the original rumor that Joe was going to announce before hand that Stacey Abrams who be his running mate. 

Or how about a real longshot....Michelle Obama. You could really but the Obama/Biden collilisio back together,  only it'd be Biden/Obama this time. A little far fetched I'll admit but I can dream.

THIS blog is not made of recycled materials.

I've been wanting to write a blog because it's been a while, but I didn't want to repeat myself.

I thought about writing about the upcoming South Carolina primary and why I like all the candidates and even though I'm a progressive at heart, I'll be voting for Mayor Pete, but I decided not to.

We're  on the the road to Wrestlemania. I thought about doing another wrestling blog, but no. I need something else. 

I thought maybe I'd blog about the shows I'm watching now, but that would just be recycling and old idea. 

Recycling? I've been making some environmental changes recently. AH HA!

I live in an unincorporated area of Greenville and I don't get city garbage or recycling services. We have to pay for our own. When my family first moved out to Taylors,  we had to take our trash to the dump ourselves, but private trash services started popping up. I used to take my trash to my parents bin, then when I got more financially stable I started paying for my own service. I also used their recycling service which is every other week whereas the trash is weekly. Our pickup day is Thursday barring a holiday during the week occasionally shifting it to Friday. 

The price for their recycling service went up recently,  and my bill at the beginning of the year was almost $100. They also changed the frequency of billing which explains some of the increase, but it was too high. I stopped my recycling service with them and started investigating local recycling centers. I found one in Greer that seems easy for me to get to, but I have had so much else to do on my days off lately, I haven't found the time yet.

I had already started to make some small changes. I have a tumbler from the Human Rights Campaign that I try to take with me and just have ice water with my lunch. The tough part is remembering to take it home after work or take it with you went I walk from the parking lot to my car. I try to take it to my car on my break as it's in my hand on on my mind.

When I do forget it, or I want something else, I buy aluminum cans and not plastic. This limits my choices on zero sugar drinks, the normal choice is Sparkling Ice caffeine. 

I bought a camping fork and tried to use it instead of plastic but I left 8t somewhere. Perhaps I should buy one and take it with me to work as well.

I'm also starting to investigate more environmentally friendly products I use every day.i frequently get ads in my Facebook feed for these products and I've ordered a few.

The first one that caught my attention was "Dr. Squatch" soap and shampoo. Most commercial soaps and shampoos are made with the same chemicals that are in dish and laundry detergent. "Dr. Squatch" is also in natural bars which eliminates plastic bottles. I have made my first order but I missed that they have a starter kit. 

Another product that caught my eye was "Who gives a crap?" toilet paper. It comes in a box with individually wrapped rolls using 100% recycled paper., no plastic wrappers. They also make other products like paper towels which I will get in my free trial. I have also for several years used bath poofs, which wear out and have to be thrown out. I am going back to washcloths, and I need new ones....an excuse to shop! Also in the comments a suggestion was made that the paper wrapping makes funny gift wrap. I'm a bagger not a wrapper but it could do instead of tissue paper, but which lead to funny ideas about my nephew's birthday presents. (It's not until Cinco de Mayo but I'm a planner when it comes to gifts).

I've looked at laundry detergents. I'm currently using pods and my latest purchase was Myers which is plant based. It doesn't smell bad but it's not very fragrant. It also doesn't fully dissolve and it leaves little chunks which sometimes make it into the dryer and rattle. I need to do more investigating on that issue. I've read that powder is better than anything else. 

I don't have any more thoughts on the matter. I'm contemplating breakfast and whether to go shopping before work at the Publix closer to me or wait until closer to my shift at my store and shop then. It may be IHOP then shopping at Publix at Thornblade closer to my shift at 10:30. Have a good day and if you recycle any of this, some credit would be nice.

Vote for the person not the party.

I don't normally like writing two blogs so close together,  mainly because I've learned I'm only allowed two a month but I've had an epiphany today.

So often I criticize Republicans for putting party above principle. I think it's an apt criticism with so many Republicans in Congress particularly the Senate refusing to be impartial and supporting Donald trump even though the evidence against him is overwhelming. I was about to commit a similar transgression. 

I've blogged previously about my plans to vote in Greenville county's Republican primary for sherriff despite being a pretty solid Democrat. I voted absentee on Thursday for Darrius Hall, the only Republican African American in the race. Democratic candidate Paul Guy spoke today at the North Greenville Democrats meeting and I was going to vote for him in the March 10th election simply because he is a Democrat. 

I found Paul Guy to be inarticulate. He made a joke about former sheriff Steve Loftis,  who's son was just wonderful to me when I first started working at Publix. His wife was a frequent customer,  I often helped her to her car with her groceries. 

Paul Guy also repeated the popular misconception that Marijuana (along with cigarettes and alcohol) are "gateway drugs". I smoked cigarettes for 10 years, I've smoked marijuana a handful of times and while I've never been a heavy drinker,  I've had my share of alcohol. And I never once even thought about trying anything else. It's true I've never really put my self in a position to be faced with such temptation, but I disagree strongly with this characterization of drug use.

I looked up Darrius Hall's Facebook page and within hours he accepted my friend request. There will most likely be a runoff in the Republican primary. I'm hoping if it comes to that, I can vote for Darrius again.  A.T. " Tommy" Smith is likely to be the eventual nominee. Even though I think there some dirty doings going on with other candidates signs and acting sherriff Johnny Mack Brown, Tommy graduated from Wade Hampton High School and USC. (That's the real USC--South Carolina if anyone in other parts of the country are reading this.)

I hope people will heed my advice. Don't just vote for someone,  especially a local candidate,  on whether they have (R) or (D) beside their name. Do your research on candidates you are considering voting for. Go to local events if you can, I know it's hard for us working folks but when you have a chance, go. I hadn't been to a NGCD meeting in a long time but I went to hear Paul Guy speak and yes, I was disappointed but I learned. I'm making a more informed decision now.

Why $15/hour is not "burger flippers owning yachts".

So with my "Santa" money I was able to get my oil changed today but that's about all. I had to stop them from the almost $900 in recommended maintenance. I was given a laundry list of maintenance I need to have done on my car. Here's the thing..

I'm certain that if i were able to afford to have more regular maintenance done on my car, not as much would have to be done the next time.

I saw a meme i really liked on Facebook recently.  It's  about the difference between a poor man and a wealthy man buying boots. A wealthy person can buy one expensive pair of shoes and it will be the best and last a long time. A poor person, however, has to save up to buy a new pair of shoes and has to buy a cheaper pair, which wears out sooner so they have to buy new shoes more often.

I've even heard coworkers of mine in political conversations use the "burger flippers owning yachts" analogy when discussing a proposed $15/hour minimum wage saying it's too much. That's not the case at all. It's about things like my current situation,  not being able to have regular maintenance on my car leads to more costs down the road. Being low income is expensive. My tax refund is most likely all going to go to maintenance on my car. 

And when did we decide in America that some occupations are more "worthy" of a living wage than others? There was a time in this country when a fast food job was just a job after school to earn extra money but that's not the case anymore. Those jobs are now how people earn their living. This idea that somehow,  for example,  the fact that I'm "just a cashier" means I'm lazy or did something in my life to deserve to have to struggle to make ends meet is ridiculous. It took me a long time to find my calling in life but I believe I have found it. I like my job as a cashier. I don't see myself doing anything else for a living. Does that mean I should have to struggle to pay my bills? Does that mean someone sitting at a desk is more worthy of a good life than me? I don't think so. 

The cost of living has skyrocketed since the 1970s but our wages have remained stagnant. I used to drink the Libertarian Kool-aid on minimum wage laws but not anymore. Our minimum wage needs to be raised not so "burger flippers can own yachts" but so that people can live a decent life, can afford basic necessities and not "just get by" but thrive.

Gawd and Footbawl

I originally started to write this as a blog, then I decided it would be better as a Facebook post,  I tried to go back to bed and decided it was worthy of publishing as a blog. 

I'm up early again and while I don't think that is what is keeping me up tonight..I think I slept for a while....I have something on my mind. I started to write a blog because I thought it would be too long for a Facebook post but I changed my mind. It's something that happens during and after sporting events and has occurred several times during the end of the college football season. It's people, including Clemson coach Dabo Sweeney, thanking God for things that if there is an all powerful omnipotent being, I doubt seriously he or she or they would give a rats rectum about. 

Earlier this month during the halftimes of the college football conference championship games,  the Dr. Pepper tuition challenges took place. College students threw (in most cases chest passed) footballs into a giant replica soda can. The winner got $100K in tuition money and the runner-up got $25K. Twitter erupted with many tweets that contained pointed criticisms about the "hunger games" nature of it. Students were basically competing to not be saddled with massive debt. One winning contest implored people who don't believe in God to change their minds.

I'm a secular humanist for lack of a better term. That doesn't mean I take people's beliefs lightly. Most of my friends attend some type of religious service on Sunday. I have friends who are very open about how finding God saved them from addiction or guides their life in some way. Even though I don't believe that power comes from a magical being sitting on a cloud, I do think that prayer and faith have power in and of themselves. 

If there is a God, however, I doubt that he or she or they hands out athletic abilities like candy at Halloween. I also seriously doubt that a being with that much power and influence over life, the universe and everything (slipped in a "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy reference there) gives a flying fart about who wins an American college football game. Or the Dr. Pepper tuition challenge for that matter.

2020 Vision

I usually wait until after Christmas to write an end of the year blog, but not being able to sleep in the early morning of a day off affords me the opportunity to get it out of the way.

No bowl game for the Gamecocks this year. I'm not ready to give up on Will Muschamp yet (or have USC pay that massive buyout). The win over Georgia was enough to give him one more year.

In a lot of ways 2019 has been an improvement over 2018. I really struggled financially in the summer of 2018 with huge cuts to my hours. That has not been the case this year and even though I still live pretty much paycheck to paycheck,  I'm getting by better this year.

Lots to look forward to in 2020. Vince McMahon is making another (And I suspect much more serious) run at winter/spring football with the XFL coming back. The only real rooting interest I have is former Gamecock place kicker and diabetic superstar Elliott Fry of the Saint Louis Battlehawks, who I am still massively in love with and proud of.

Summer Olympics in Tokyo which I'm always a sucker for, as much more for the opening and closing ceremonies as the athletic events.  

And then there is the election. Or should I say elections. We will have 5 and maybe as many as 7 opportunities to vote here in Greenville County, SC in 2020.

The past two elections I have voted absentee the Thursday before the election. Both times I probably could have voted on election day, especially in 2018, but all I had to do was mention that I was scheduled to work and no follow up questions were asked.

The first is the Republican primary on January 7th to replace our disgraced sheriff. Now as you know if you follow me, I am a Democrat. With a Capital D. There is however only 1 democratic candidate where as there are 5 Republicans.  As South Carolina is an open primary state, we can vote for the primary of our choice. I plan to vote for Darrius Hall, an African American candidate, not only for diversity but Democratic candidate Paul Guy is also African American and we could make a bunch of "Blazing Saddles" references. I know I'm repeating a joke I made on Facebook but....

With 5 candidates in the primary,  there's almost surely to be a runoff which would happen January 21st.

February 29th, a rare Saturday election, is the Democratic presidential primary, and Mayor Pete is my guy. If I'm honest, however,  ideologically I'm closer to Bernie Sanders (I was the proverbial 'Bernie Bro' in 2016), and I'm really loving Elizabeth Warren, however I believe Mayor Pete may be less scary to more conservative voters. My main problems with Joe Biden are his lack of plans to reform marijuana laws and the fact that I just don't see him energizing the young voters that we will need to turn out to rid us of the orange menace. It's obvious the Republican senators are not going to do their job.

March 10th will be the general election for sherriff where I plan to vote for Democrat Paul Guy. The nice thing is, there are two college baseball games at Fluor Field the week before (I always look forward to college baseball season). Tuesday the 3rd at 6:00 will be South Carolina vs Furman and Wednesday the 4th at 4:00 will be USC Upstate vs Michigan State. I will certainly know my schedule for the following week on the night of Tuesday the 3rd. I'll watch "Days of our Lives" on Wednesday the 4th then go to county square,  where I always park for free, vote and then head to the game. 

June 9th is the Federal, State and County primary elections,  of course I will vote in the Democratic one. I don't know if there will be many contested races, I know I'm supporting Kim Nelson for Congress and Jaime Harrison for Senate (SEND LYNDSEY HOME!).

Any runoff would be June 23rd but I'm not anticipating there will be any 3 way or more races. There were 5 Democrats running for Congress in district 4 in 2018, however (and 13 Republicans).

And then November 3rd, 2020 will be the day. I have voted Libertarian for president every year since 1992, even last year. In October of 2016 I went on a vote trading website and before I knew what happened it said I had agreed to vote for Gary Johnson here in South Carolina if a voter in North Carolina voted for Hillary. I tried to contact the guy with no result and I now think the website may have been a scam. I also felt because of the electoral college,  a vote for Hillary wouldn't mean anything but a vote for Gary Johnson would add to his national total and get him to the magic 5% to get major party status. It didn't  work out that way. Not going to happen this year. I voted straight (or rather 'Gay' heehee) party Democrat in 2018, the first time I had done so.

(As a side note, I know some people question whether we should vote straight party or not. When we had the old punchcard system,  it was a bit of a problem because people would punch that and not select races with no candidate in the party they voted for or for ballot questions. Now with the electronic voting machines,  it simply preselects the candidates for that party and still takes you through the rest of the ballot. I also don't feel it sends any messge like we can't think for ourselves or anything like that.)

Well if you've stuck with me this long, you either enjoyed this or felt obligated as my friend, either way I appreciate it. I do this just for my own enjoyment,  and also sometimes it helps me sleep if I have things on my mind and can't shut it off.

Merry/Happy Christmas/Holidays and a joyous 2020! 

This is beyond Liberal vs Conservative, this is Good vs Evil!

I've had a blog post brewing in my mind for some time now but I kept putting it off. I can't do it any longer.

Ladies and Gentlemen,  I don't know who really reads my blogs. I only "publicize" on Facebook and maybe Twitter and most of my friends,  many of whom are conservative politically,  probably just scroll past. I have to say this. This is mainly directed at people my age, generally referred to as "Generation X".

We have been lied to our whole lives.

I'm not just talking about Santa Claus and the Easter bunny,  I mean the political party that calls itself the "Grand Old Party".

I've  blogged previously about my conservative past. How I went to elementary school with the son of Carroll Campbell,  who ran for Congress when we were in school and years later would become Governor of South Carolina.  I didn't see him or his family after elementary school,  but the Republican Governor of South Carolina knew who I was.

I remember Jimmy Carter being the butt of our jokes. I was part of the Reagan revolution. There's still residue from the Reagan/Bush '84 bumper stickers on the door to mine and my sister Katie's old bedrooms in my parents house.

We were told that if we cut taxes on the wealthy and ended regulations,  it would magically trickle down to everyday Americans.

We were raised to hate Communists,  Socialists and those big scary "Tax and Spend" Democrats.

The Republican party was the financially responsible party. The party of freedom,  justice and liberty for all.

I came out of the closet as a gay man in the spring of 1991. It became clear that liberty and justice for all promised by Republicans only applied to white, heterosexual Christians. I became involved in the Libertarian Party,  still not wanting to join those "wacko liberal" Democrats.

I still drank the cutting taxes and regulations kool-aid. I don't think I was ever 100% sold on minimum wage laws causing unemployment but I went along with it.

Then I joined Facebook. And started getting different perspectives on things. I saw how deficits went up under Republican administrations and fell during Democratic ones. For all the negativity hurled at the Clintons....Bill had a budget surplus. He lead this country through one of the greatest economic recoveries ever.

I've watched how Republicans try to blame social security and Medicare for the deficit but those are paid with a separate tax, it has nothing to do with the deficit.

I've watched as state legislatures across the country try to gerrymander legislative districts so despite Democrats getting more votes,  Republicans still get more seats.

I've seen Republicans, namely "Moscow Mitch" block legislation that would better protect our elections and make it easier for people to exercise their right to vote.

And today I'm reading posts on the internet on how the Republican legislature in North Carolina took advantage of Democrats attending a 9/11 memorial ceremony to override the Democratic Governor's veto and pass a budget that strips 500,000 North Carolinians of health care.

That is downright evil.

I used to believe that Republicans were just being financially responsible.  They opposed social security and Medicare and other social services because they were just too expensive. I was wrong.

Our Republican leadership in South Carolina is still pushing the "lower taxes and ending regulations " agenda. If this was the answer,  South Carolina would be one of the richest states in the country,  but it's the opposite.  Instead of lifting people out of poverty, they oppose any social programs that will better our lives. They want you to believe that if you're a Christian,  you can't vote for those "Godless" Democrats. You have to hate gay people and immigrants and you have to oppose women's reproductive rights.

Anyone who knows me or follows me on Facebook knows I'm not religious.  I'm suspicious of organized religion. I know, however,  I was raised with "love thy neighbor", "do into others as you would have done unto you" and "judge not lest ye be judged".

As far as I see it, it's not the Republicans who are fiscally responsible, protecting freedoms or following Christ's example.

I've seen the light. It's not Republican Red....it's a big blue Democratic one!