Wild At Heart
As we celebrate the Fourth Of July, a lot of interesting thigs are going on in this country but the one thing most on my mind is the shutting down of the government of Minnesota. I'm guessing residents are pining for the days of Jesse "the Body" Ventura but it makes me wonder just why the Republicans and Democrats continue to fight over various small issues while ignoring the real issues we, as Americans, care about. The state was shut down this weekend for the inability of politicians to put forth some sort of financial plan they have been working on for months. Why this weekend? With the fact that most government offices are closed for the holiday anyway, why close the State parks and Zoo which have there biggest weekend financially and ruin the plans of the public who wants to enjoy their weekends, many of which have been planned for awhile. Couldn't the money raised this weekend gone to balancing the budget in some way. Why not wait until Tuesday to close things down so you can reap the windfall of the weekend and not overly effect the people you represent. I know people can do staycations but give me a break and don't act like spoiled children. I always expect more from public officials but they can be so disappointing in the way they run the government. I do hope the Governor and the higher up politicians are also not getting paid. It is totally crappy that your low wage employees get the boot and the rich at the top just get paid to jerk themselves off. Take a pay cut and work over the holiday to fix this budget. If you couldn't get it done before the holiday, you don't get the holiday off!
Watching these events unfold, one can wonder what might happen if US Gov't does not raise our debt ceiling. I am not a financial guru in any way, shape or form, but I do realize what needs to be done in this country. Despite that idiot "no taxes" Norquist (why does he have to be a Republican), the answer is simple. We need a two prong approach to balancing our budget. The first aspect is taxing the rich. I'm sure George W though our surplus was a great thing when he took office and got rid of a lot of those tax dollars but the wars have taken a huge bite out of that and we need those dollars back to prevent us becoming the next Greece which 10 years ago seemed so unlikely. But thanks to government deregulations of the banks allowing the financial crisis and housing bust, disasters like the BP Oil spill and Katrina, our involvement in too many wars, increased Homeland Security measures in the wake of 9/11 and increased US jobs going overseas, we are spending way more than we are bringing in and not having those extra tax dollars from the rich is really hurting us and putting us in debt to China. I'm not sure why this is OK because it seems to be against our best interests to be in their pocket.
While the idea of increased taxes is one side of the coin, we also do have to restructure and reduce our government spending. We cannot allow our US Gov to be overcharged by companies like Halliburton for war costs. We need to make sure we are not spending $2,000 for a toilet seat or other such overcharges that were brought to light in the 80's. We must also make sure when cutting programs to really look at what we are cutting. Too many times we seem to cut programs that really work and make money while various "pet projects" that just boost the ego of various politicians are given a pass. We also need to make sure allocated money projects for bridges and the such is being spent properly. A recent report showed numerous projects across the country that were stopped or never started after getting federal funding. While these projects go away, there seems to be an inability of people actually keeping track so this money just sits around and due to all the goddamn red tape, is unable to be easily retreited back into the gov't coffers. I think this is an area that could be easily fixed. If someone gets money for a projects and 5 years it is found the projects has been stopped, the government needs to be able to get that money back quickly. With all our technology this should be easy to track and take care of. Then again, the gov't can be very backwards at times. I think the gov't should take the time to really analyse how things are run and streamline properly like any good business so seemingly simple issues like this can be fixed. Red tape needs to be kept to a minimum.
With all this financial crisis looming inthis country, it makes the financial wrangling of the NBA and NFL even more annoying. I don't want to hear about millionaires complaining about how to divide billions of dollars and then says they can can relate to the fans. I'm sorry, with rare exception, you can't relate to the fans. When I have to wonder if I can afford $40 to see the Lions play in the upper level seats for just one game a season and live in a cheap apartment and decide I can't also afford to buy a Mike's Hard Lemonade and a hot dog because they are way too expensive (can buy a four pack and a pack of dogs at the store for the same price), don't tell me you understand. When you drive your expensive cars (which cost more than my total income for 2 or 3 years), don't patronize me but try to actually do something for me (like charge less for preseason games or not black out games that don't sell out in that stadium my tax dollars helped build), part of me is starting to really hope that there are no games in either sport despite the fact I do like my football.
It is times like this when I sit back and realize the the people in big business and the government really do care more about themselves than this country, or else they would really try to make the changes needed to keep this country great. On the 4th, we are supposed to take pride in how great our country is, but like the Liberty Bell, there is a big crack across our future if something isn't done soon to stem the tide of bad decisions. Let us hope that our leaders in washigton can stop fighting each other and start fighting for us to restore the greatest that this country should have. We always make fun of the French but when we see footage on the news of their citizens standing up and challenging their governments bad decisions, I wish we could be more like them. They did give us the Statue of Liberty after all so maybe we should take something from that.
With all that heavy thinking, here are some concert ideas for this week.
Wednesday (7/6) - Brian Culbertson & Average White Band @ Chene Park, Charlie Daniels Band @ Heritage Landing (Muskegon)
Thursday (7/7) - 100 Monkeys @ St Andrews Hall, Spinners & Temptation @ Pine Knob, Maze feat Frankie Beverly @ Motorcity Casino
Friday (7/8) - Peter Frampton @ Pine Knob, Three Dog Night @ Renaissance Center, Pistol Day Parade & Sponge @ Civic Center Park (Woodhaven),Vans warped Tour w/Aggrolites, Foxy Shazam, Less Than Jake, Expendables and Street Dogs @ Comerica Park, Duende @ Pike Room, Maze feat Frankie Beverly @ Motorcity Casino
Saturday (7/9) - Cut Copy @ Royal Oak Music Theatre, Sugarland & Sara Bareilles @ Pine Knob, Gin Blossoms & the Tubes @ Civic Center Park (Woodhaven)
Sunday (7/10) - Matisyahu & Tea Leaf Green @ St Andrews Hall, Kid Cudi @ Pine Knob
The mothership recently landed here in Rochester in the form of Bootsy Collins. With flashy outfits and support by a number of P-funk alum, he put on a stellar funk show just shy of Clinton himself. While only on stage for 45 minutes of the 2 hours set, his band is well capable of holding our attention between his costume changes as seen in the pictures below. Enjoy the funkadelic pics!!
and lastly a shot of the Riverfront just beyond the Bootsy Collins stage
These shots are from the first half of the show. I actually have some more I will be posting later in the week. Check back often!!