To get things started, the three things in the title of this post are not really connected. Saturday night, my wife and I went to a local
tavern that advertised live music. They had a band called “The Fridge Raiders”. I’m not sure where that name came from. It was a more-or less typical bar band. They played from ten until about one, taking three short breaks. They were pretty good for a bar band, and we had a great time watching them.
It’s a shame that more people weren’t in there, though. There weren’t more than 10 to 15 people in the bar all night. The bar was clean and the folks seemed friendly. Draft beers were $4 (not bad) and they had Sam Adams. The bar also had the cleanest bathroom that I have ever seen in a tavern. We had a great time there. I really like live music – even if it’s just a bar band. I took a video with my N95 – it’s taking forever to load, so I’ll put it at the end of the post. We stayed until just about closing time. On Sunday morning, we met a friend and went to the Four Seasons M/C Club’s Frosty Ball Run. This was an 
organized 40 mile run that started at about eleven. Not too early, and that’s a good thing. The bike hadn’t been out in about a month, but ran really well. The temperatures weren’t too frosty, either. We had a high temperature of about 55 F. Not cold at all, especially with gloves and leather. That’s Monica to the right in front of some of the many bikes before the start.
Formation motorcycle riding is neat. You don’t have to worry so much about being seen because it’s difficult to miss a group of 20 or so riders. There were about 300 bikes at the starting point leaving in groups of 20 or so. The ride was about as organized as you might expect a group of bikers to be on a Sunday morning. I had what must have been the quietest bike there. No big, full-throated Harley sound when I blip my throttle, just a well-muted exhaust burble – kinda like a station wagon. I’m more or less doomed to ride with a case of open pipe envy because the fuel injection on my Boulevard C-50 is tuned for the back pressure of my exhaust system. If I monkey with it, I’ll have to monkey with the injection system, too. Way too much trouble for me, although i’ve read about folks doing it…
News
Well, our elected representatives have passed that big, stupid spending bill. It is loaded with pork spending – much 
of which is supporting a transfer of power from the states and the people to the federal government. Folks, why does the government want to keep my medical records? And what does that have to do with stimulus? Buried in that bill are provisions for the government to set up a medical record keeping system for everybody in the country. Your medical records, some of the most private information that one could have, are now going to be the property of the government. The big reason for this (supposedly) is to help reduce medical errors and increase efficiency. How can getting the government involved reduce errors and increase efficiency?? Hey, if Joe the Plumber had a history of treatment for an STD, would the same government people that went through his other records have had a shot at spreading that information around as well??
I don’t know about you, but my medical records are private. I will do everything I can to resist the government getting their mitts on that information. I’m amazed that the same government that allows women to kill their own unborn babies in the name of “privacy” sees nothing wrong with taking everyone’s private medical medical information and storing it themselves. This can only be a prelude to more messing around by our government in our medical system. What if some bureaucrat decides that too many people are using chiropractors, for example? Some people consider chiropractors in the same category as witch doctors and snake-oil salesmen. My mother, who has had some serious pain relieved by visits to a chiropractor, would probably disagree. It’s a free country – if we want to have our spine manipulated, it should be up to us. Now, some nanny bureaucrat will make that decision….
Even the Congressional Budget Office (run by the majority party and as partisan an office as there ever was) says 
that this pork-filled monstrosity of a bill will likely damage our economy in the long run. the text of the bill (1071 pages) was released late on Thursday night and it was passed by the both houses on Friday.
Did any of the members read this bill?? Nope, there was no time – our elected representatived passed this HUGE bill WITHOUT READING IT!!! Isn’t reading legislation before they vote on it something that one might expect a congressional representative to do? Wouldn’t it be considered a part of their job description??
It adds over $10,000 of additional debt for every family in the United States. Simply, that means that our children and grandchildren will be paying the interest on this stupid pork bill – money that they won’t have to do other things.
For what? Those of you that voted for change – well you’ve got it now. Your government is STEALING from our children – not to save our economy (50 million for the National Endowment of the Arts (always money well spent) and $300 million to update the federal automobile fleet) is NOT necessary spending. Only a small percentage of this spending is expected to reach the economy this year, anyway.
Thanks, Congress.
As promised, that video from last Saturday. It’s a Tom Petty song. Check out the drummer – he is having a really great time.
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9183939344045568371&hl=en]
Greg
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