the dem primary

18 below now, should get down to 23 below by midmorning and after that we will be slowly, degree by degree crawling out from under the vortex.  I went out yesterday to get a photo of the frozen river, but my phone froze up, or something, I'm not sure, my fingers were too frozen to deal with it.  I stepped out of one door of the towers and came back in another.  Was out for about 3 minutes.  I could have probably done ten but my body screamed why in the name of God do that, and that was a good enough argument for me.

They send that icebreaker down the river regularly when it freezes over/  There's hardly any commerce going on on the river this time of year but I think it is some maritime regulation.  Kind of interesting to watch, it thrusts over the ice then crashes down on it humping its way down the river.


I've been watching the dem candidates of late.  The themes from the left seem to be Medicare for all and soaking the rich (2% surtax on income over 50 million, something like that).  Doesn't sound too bad.

The Medicare for all is getting flak because of how much it will cost, but the fact is we will spend that much caring for the sick anyway.  This way the money will come out of taxes instead of the pockets of consumers or of the companies who now pay for insurance for their employees.  And of course we should be able to save all the middleman costs that the insurance companies take from the process.  They of course are not going to like that so this will not be an easy thing to do. 

The surtax on the rich seems simple enough.  They have plenty, and they recently got a windfall from the latest republican tax cut, so why shouldn't they fork over a lousy two percent. don't they owe something to the country they live in?  Of course they are not going to like this either so that will be another big fight.

Joe Biden is riding high from name recognition and may become the hero of the moderates, but what do the moderates stand for?  More of the same, just not so Trumpy?

The parties never look good in a primary fight.  Sometimes I think the dems should put all the names in a hat and pull one out and all kumbaya up behind them.