Good morning, all.  Frosty but clear this morning with early temps at about 40F.  Supposed to reach the mid 60s by later this afternoon.  Still cleaning up the gardens for winter.  Other not much going on there.

We won't be watching the Vice-Presidential debates.  We really can't stand the sight of Ryan.  This election cycle has been hyped out of all proportion.  And most of the issues that concern people at my level aren't addressed.  I absolutely hate this endless cycle of electioneering.  I expect that the electioneering for the 2014 and 2016 elections will start before inauguration day in 2013.

I noticed a headline at NBC.com announcing Romney now has a lead in three so-called swing states.  They are all citing Romney's enthusiasm and Obama's listlessness in the first debate as key.  I find it absolutely amazing that they aren't citing Obama's comment during the debate that there wasn't much difference between his position and Romney's on Social Security.  I wonder how many Social Security recipients, like me, wonder why we should vote for either one.  Obama has tried over the last week to back track on that or to explain it away but the suspicion still lingers that we are merely a bargaining chip in budget negotiations.

I just love the comment by Kodak that 'this action will pose challenges for retirees.'  No shit!  Another defrauding workers of their earned benefits.  And make no mistake.  The health care and pensions are deferred wages people worked for under contracts to which the company agreed.  They were happy enough to agree then because the payments were somewhere far down the road and they didn't have to pay as much in wages as they might--because workers got health benefits in lieu of wages.  Now the courts are letting such companies out of those contracts--contracts most never fully funded anyway.

This bit of ego simply blows my mind.  This jerk is one of the best reasons I see for voting for Obama.

Peter van Buren at Tomdispatch poses six questions that he is absolutely sure won't be asked much less answered.  I agree--they won't be asked and, if they were, won't be answered.