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What to call the ex-Pope, Sequestration woes, and thanks for all the fish

Today brought a little relief for me. First, I found out that my bunch won’t be getting the old sequestration up the butt, at least no furloughs, and at least for now. That is, of course, if sequestration comes knocking Friday, as it seems to be headed that way. At any rate I can now rest until next month until the next manufactured crisis and threats from the Tea Party emerge once more to shut down the government.

And relief for all those others who have been frantically worrying … we now know what the Pope will be called once he retires. Are you ready? He will be called Ben Bernanke. No, just kidding. He will be called Benedict XVI, Pope Emeritus. I don’t know if I could sleep at night if I didn’t know what to call the pope after he sails off into the sunset in his little Ex-Pope Sailboat named the “Così lungo. E ringrazia per tutto il pesce.”  Look it up in one of the online translators and only if you are a friend of Douglas Adams.

I find humor in strange places. Under the bed. Under the table. Under water. Underground. Undercover. Really, I’ve never been undercover, in the TV police style. I participated in a surveillance once of someone, who someone else, thought that the first someone might torch his house. Stake-out! In a hotel room, no less. Maybe I will tell you about it sometime, if I haven’t already.

Seriously, although it looks as if I may have dodged the sequestration bullet, hundreds of thousands, perhaps, will likely not. The Republican Tea Party Boys and Girls in the House are patting themselves on the back for all the cut dollars. Meanwhile, the more established of the GOP House members are, as my Daddy used to say,  “Sweating like a whore in church.” These wise men know that if Sequestration takes place, and then the closure of government later on, it will cause an economic disaster. Our unemployment numbers were finally going the right way. Some folks are even seeing a healthy economy emerge. But when you have thousands go without work, for even a day, that represents money not spent. It doesn’t take an economist to figure all this stuff out.

It’s so terribly depressing. But at least we know what to call the Pope after he retires. Aren’t you glad? I know I am certainly relieved, and I am not even Catholic.

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Sequestration might not be such a bad thing for me, was it not such a bad thing

You know, I would kind of like the looming Sequestration was it not that I am squarely in its sights.

The runaway train of automatic spending cuts seems hell-bent on crashing somewhere even though the president has called the top Republicans a week before the magic date of March 1. I am just guessing but if Congress and the Obama administration do anything at all, they will kick the can down the road a little more and we’ll have to go through all of this stressful crap over again. Yes, I’m worried. And my dog is worried. Actually, I have no dog. But if I did have one, it would be worried.

My part-time job is my money-maker at the moment. I must find someway to supplement it or do something else. Of course, any of that is down the path. If furloughs hit if or when Sequestration comes it will be incremental, like death by a thousand paper cuts.

So you have federal guys who will lose nearly a quarter of their annual salary. Some government contractors — especially ones working for the Pentagon — could see their jobs go “poof.” The Sequestration will cause even more economic chaos than one might imagine with the loss of jobs and the loss of spending dollars for both working folks and the unemployed. You could see even longer lines going through security at the airport. Maybe stacked up flights. We may lose some of the gains made at controlling the borders because la migra might see furloughs. The job loss could cause economic panic, a return to 2008 and the almost-Depression, through a lack of spending and shattered economic confidence.

That takes me back to the lead. The Republicans have it all planned out. The Sequestration will make the deep cuts the GOP wants and they are already blaming it on the Democrats and especially Obama. But not so fast GOP. The Republicans might be good at running out the clock. Yet Obama still has the public on his side. Once the damage is done from the massive spending cuts, the ticked-off will look for someone to blame. That blame has an easy target nicknamed the Grand Old Party.

It will be a windfall for Democrats, of whom I am one. It will also be a disaster for those who will be hurt by Sequestration, of whom I also am one. So there you go — you’ve got your classic win-lose. And such a victory doesn’t look very sweet right now.

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A what-questration are you talking about?

This President’s Day off has been spent updating my resume. That task does not mean I am looking for another job. Rather, I am looking for additional jobs. I have to do something, considering the prospect looming only 10 or so days away when “Sequestration” could begin. Here is a handy-dandy little guide as to just what Sequestration is although I could give an answer in three words or less: “It’s a bitch.”

As a career, part-time worker for Sam I face the possibility of as many as 22 days on furlough. Just what that means to me I am unsure. I don’t work every day. I don’t work the same hours every day. Thus, I don’t make the same amount of pay each week, or more importantly, every two weeks. Two is when I get my paycheck. Except when there is a banking holiday like today. I have to wait an extra day to get my pay then.

Unless you work for the government or are somehow tied to the government of Sam, then you may not have thought much about Sequestration. The talking heads on TV speak of it as just another concept to debate. I have hoped for a last-minute deal between the administration and Congress as in the past. But it doesn’t seem to be coming. Sequestration may have what some Democrats think are positive consequences. I think the President may figure if an economic calamity comes he can blame it on the GOP. The Republicans don’t seem to care. A sequester might possibly make the cuts to government that all the little knot-headed Tea Party people want. A win-win as politicians might say.  It may also drive us into another recession or depression. If such does not happen on a national scale surely it will on a personal level.

So when your stock prices start falling like flies into a pesticide fog, remember what happened. Oh that sequestration thing. I think I spoke to some homeless guy on the street a while back who told me that it was what had caused his slide.

Yes, I imagine that had something to do with it, and thank you for your concern, a**hole!

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Coming near you: The Big “S” for Sequestration

There are a number of reasons to fear “Sequestration,” the automatic delete switch that flips on U.S. government finances come March 1. Sequestration sounds kind of like “castration.” Perhaps it will not be as painful as castration, but if it happens it surely will bring on some real hurt of its own.

The majority of the public doesn’t seem to give a rat’s ass whether these painful cuts hit the federal government itself or its workforce. Among the possibilities are 22 days of furloughs set over a particular period for federal employees. That won’t happen immediately and it will not happen consecutively. Still, being deprived of almost three-quarters of a month’s salary is not a pleasant prospect, particularly for those whose general schedule (GS) are toward the end of the scales and especially for those in that situation who work part-time. Let’s just say “I know a little ’bout it,” as I always like to bring up some song lyrics from the good ol’ days such as that one from Lynyrd Skynyrd. Happy memories from a rockin’ tune sometimes makes the hurt go away for 3 minutes or so.

I don’t ask anyone to feel my potential pain but here are a few points to ponder if we get s**t-slapped by the “Big S:”

Watch as it hurts fiscal oversight. What oversight you say that is, boys?

¡Buenos dias, la migra! What’s a few million more illegal immigrants?

Cuts to training for 80% of American Army ground forces. Over hill, over dale, we will just sit on our tail …

And not just the Army. The wolf is at the door of the U.S. Armed Forces, says deputy SECDEF

Oh this is just folks with a vested interest crying wolf, you say. Well, read on …

It’s happening, says GOP senator Coburn!

Yes, I agree with Coburn. At least with his saying: “It’s a stupid way to govern … ”

Screw the poor, again, right? Right. And whomever else happens to be in the Republicans’ way.

 

 

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American comes to SE Texas: Will its new paint job & updated eagle follow?

Commercial air service returns to our local airport next month when American Eagle begins flights between Jack Brooks Regional Airport (BPT) and Dallas-Fort Worth International (DFW). Whether this will bring American’s “new look” or its oldest, I suppose we shall have to wait and see.

American has just unveiled its new look with a new logo. Perhaps it is because the airline has taken a new order of Boeing 777-300ERs for delivery so they figured it might be a good time to repaint its old fleet as well. As the airline’s chief commercial officer explains:

AMERICAN AIRLINES NEW LOOK
“Just drop me off at that next mountain top, Cap’n!” A new paint job and logo for American Airlines. Could there be new fares to match?

“Our new logo and livery are designed to reflect the passion for progress and the soaring spirit, which is uniquely American,” said Virasb Vahidi, American’s CCO. “Our core colors — red, white and blue — have been updated to reflect a more vibrant and welcoming spirit. The new tail, with stripes flying proudly, is a bold reflection of American’s origin and name. And our new flight symbol, an updated eagle, incorporates the many icons that people have come to associate with American, including the ‘A’ and the star.”

There is nothing like an updated eagle to get your motors running. Just ask the Philadelphia Eagles and the wonders the updated eagles have done the team in recent years.

But seriously it is nice that we are finally getting an airline to our little airport even if one has to fly to D-FW first, no matter where they are going. It would have been nice to have an airline that flies to Hobby or G.H.W. Bush in Houston, a 20-30-minute flight from Brooks. Continental, under the guise of Colgan Air, did that. But Colgan quit the friendly skies as part of its parent firm’s, Pinnacle Airlines, restructuring plan.

I am not sure but I would think the public relations folks for the Jack Brooks airport, owned by Jefferson County, Texas, did not write this little factoid in BPT’s Wikipedia page:

“Jack Brooks Regional Airport has the distinction of being the only destination that Southwest Airlines has ended scheduled daily service to (1980), and has never returned.”

Ouch. And I don’t know if that is a fact, Jack. I don’t know why anyone would lie about such a matter. Then again, in Wikipedia, anything’s possible.

One attraction of the new airline is that with the initial flights, at least, it doesn’t seem as if they’ll clean out the old bank account. Since I don’t talk regularly to American, or any other airline for that matter, I have no idea what they are up to with what seem to be reasonable fares (certain March and April round-trip, no extras, flight from Beaumont to El Paso via Dallas, for $223 plus tax (and check bags, and seating INSIDE the plane rather than on the wing … ) Check it out yourself if you are interested. Surely there’s a catch. After all you have to find someway to pay for a new paint job and an updated eagle. Of course, with my bank account at the present time, a bag of Munchos would wipe me out.