Tired of News Overload Tirades

Sometimes I miss the '70's when the evening news was condensed into about 20 minutes a night with 5 minutes dedicated to weather and sports. Any need for more specific information was to be found in the next day's newspaper.
Nowadays, the same daily or continuing stories are expanded ad nauseum to 24 hours a day. Worse, the various outlets- CNBC, MSNBC, FOX, CNN, etc.- go to ridiculous lengths to bias their stories. With so much competition for ratings, each news source, in the business to stay on the air, culls a particular audience through a liberal or conservative hyperbole that drives me nuts. From Leiberman to O'Reilly, Wolfe to Rachel, the emphasis is more on expounding viewers' leaning than objective reporting. They (cable news dudes and dudettes) become the focus of our attention rather than the content of their reports. They are TV stars in their own minds, forever aware of the ratings they pull, and theatrical to draw an increase in such. There once was a time when we looked to our newsmen- can you say "Cronkite"?- with respect and trust, when the news reports were relatively free of editorialization. When the news report was just that. A report. Aah. I must be getting old.

We're hosting Thanksgiving!

Yes we are. Load 'em up and fire 'em in the front door. My last head count was 27 heads. Stop to think, that's 27 forks, knives, spoons, plates, glasses, chairs, place settings- you think about that- all for a great day. Can't wait. I've ordered 2 turkeys- a 20 pounder to be roasted in the oven boob side down and loaded- not with dressing (dries out the meat) but with onions, celery, other stuff (no, not stuffing), though there certainly will be stuffing, homemade if I don't screw it up and am forced to pull out the Stove Top. Oh, yeah, the second bird, a 14 pounder, will be hyped and deep fried. Also expect my homemade pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie (I think), the usual other typical Turkey day fixins, and maybe even a pot of Wassail.

You talkin' to me?

Rife With Consternation

How does it work? Who gets my money? Blue Cross/ Blue Shield or the United States Government? Work work work, work work work. Self pay. No Caterpillar, no group policy, no break. Nada. Imagine- 25 years in business and insurance premiums paid surpassing $150,000- and that's just for health insurance. Don't forget life, auto, business liability, comp., inland marine, completed operations, home owner's, contractor's, liability umbrella.......... At this point, all I look for is a better deal.If Blue Cross has to cut it's rates to compete with a public option, go public option. If my rates are to go up, tank public option. If nationalized health care costs me, forget it. If it saves me dough, then I say go.The problem is, we taxpayers can't get a straight answer from our lawmakers because they must maintain their party loyalty. Good or bad, costly or cost effective, socialism or social rescue. It all depends on which side of the fence you reside and just how far from the fence you sit. My bet is that the real reason a straight answer is not to be found rests on the probability that nobody can accurately project the cost, success or failure potential of the bill. I can only hope that whatever way this thing goes- left or right- my pocketbook doesn't have to carry more burden. Ciao.

Truncated.

Don't even bother reading 2 posts down. The whole thing is messed up. I'll reissue it some other time. Sorry.

Sorry

I lost (below) some part of my diatribe listing all the insurances I pay besides health. Don't know what happened. You can still get the gist

What I Do

These are some examples of what I do during the day- hands on, not by proxy. I wield the tools and cut the wood. Still fun after all these years.