Gas Pains

Tom grew up in Milwaukee, bartended in Wauwatosa in the '70s and moved here in 1984.

Commentary, observations and musings about the outdoors, life in general and maybe Tosa politics and personalities will be the order of the day. He savors a lively debate as much as terrific cooking.

Random Musings and Idle Chit Chat

Economics, Firearms, Governor Scott Walker, Governor Walker, Scott Walker Deer Manager, Scott Walker Deer Management, Koch Brothers, Walker and the Koch Brothers, Mayor Didier, Mayor Didier and the Koch Brothers, Americans for Prosperity, Odds and Ends, Random Musings and Idle Chit Chat, Raising a Puppy, The Day Job, Taxation

Just last week we celebrated an important anniversary in America's exploration of outer space.  On May 5th, 1961 - Alan Shepard was the first American in space. 

 NASA Photo

And I got to stay home from school to watch the launch and recovery on television.  Fifty years have passed like a flash and I remember it as if it was yesterday.

I also remember exactly where I was and what I was doing the morning of September 11, 2001.  And the night I stayed-up to hear the President's words about the killing of Osama Bin Laden have been seared in my memory. 

It's funny how you can remember extraordinary events but struggle with remembering someone's birth date.

Which is precisely why you should have a photo ID with your date of birth and current address.  My pal Christine McLaughlin recently lamented the voter ID law that the Republican legislature is going to pass.  I hate to break it to you Christine - but I think I am going to be able to pack one of my pistols under my jacket with fewer obstacles than for some folks to vote. 

You had best get used to this idea.

It's a screwy world for sure that we live in.

Remember my wagers?  A handful of puzzled readers have inquired about the status of my screwy but friendly bets.  Alas, I report that absolutely no stalwart personality has taken me up on any or all of my flirtations with gaming.  I wonder why this is?  It occurred to me the other day that it was only a few years ago that I ran into then candidate for Mayor Jill Didier when an Americans for Prosperity meeting collided with a Woodland Owners meeting.  Some of us tree farmers still fume about those prosperous people helping themselves to our soda pop and snacks.  Which strikes me as odd for an event underwritten by the famously wealthy Koch brothers.  Who coincidently are big players in the forest products industry.  To whom I might sell some pulp logs in the near future.  

I wonder how the stars are aligning for Tosa's Chief Executive?

While on the subject of forests the Kochs and our Mayor's political ambitions I noticed the other day that there is more politics in my woods. 

I don't expect most any of you to remember this arcane bit of trivia unless you hunt deer.  

During the gubernatorial campaign Scott Walker promised he was going to take the politics out of the woods and put the deer back in. I was there and witnessed it up close and personal - the direct quote with my own two ears.  

Guess what?  We now have politicians ambitiously advancing deer management legislation. 

Yes-siree.  A bunch of barstool biologists with a time horizon shorter than an election cycle want to try their hand at managing the State's big game resources.  How's that for a well-thought-out long range plan?

What used to be ordinary doublespeak has been carefully refined into inversion politics for the gullible. 

Like I said - it's a screwy world.

Speaking of being screwed did you know that in a typical 9 to 5 job the average taxpayer has to work two hours and thirteen minutes to earn enough to pay that day's share of taxes at the federal, state and local level?  In Wisconsin you can add an additional five minutes to that figure.  Want to include the federal deficit?  You'll have to work through lunch.  I find this analogy stunning in making an enormous complexity simple to understand.  This must explain the longer hours I've been putting-in lately. 

Which is tiring.  Especially when you pull the 5 AM puppy potty shift.

In closing, I want all 76 of my readers to know that the puppy training is coming along just fine.  And puppy potty training is a cinch compared to some of the more baffling of vicissitudes in life.

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