Taking Note of a Few Things: The Money For Nothing Edition

Equal pay for equal work sounds so simple when you are on the short end of the stick. However, it should be equal pay for equal revenue when it comes to careers in sports and entertainment.

WNBA players do not deserve the same pay as their counterparts in the NBA. The revenue generated by the WNBA pales when compared to what the NBA brings in. Consequently, NBA players are paid a lot more than the WNBA players and receive other perks like better travel and hotel accommodations when on the road. Money buys things and the WNBA lacks it.

Keep in mind, the NBA has a 50 year head start on the WNBA. WNBA players never had to travel by train and players of color have never been forced to stay in black only hotels as was common in the early days of the NBA. It took decades for the NBA players to fight for equality on just a racial level and it would be decades later before the big money rolled in.

An NBA season has twice as many games as the WNBA. They play to fuller areas, have more television coverage, higher ticket prices, and generate more revenue through merchandise sales. All of these factor into the pool of money available to pay player salaries. It’s time to put to rest the salary complaints by the women.

If equal pay for equal work were applied to everything, every singer would be entitled to the same income as Taylor Swift. Let’s face it, more people would prefer to see a Taylor Swift concert than a Taylor Dayne performance. A movie star whose name appears above the film title is of more value than the guy no one can put a face to his name.

The bigger issue with pay is still in careers where men and women are assigned the same task in non revenue generating careers. Nurses, cops, teachers, trash collectors and countless other professions are where women are lagging behind men.  Salary scales do not discriminate unless someone in authority is allowed to determine your placement and unfairly favors men over women.

A lot of attention was given to a home that was built next to a Los Angeles freeway that is part of a homeless encampment. I laughed each time articles referred to it as an unhoused home complete with electricity. If it looks like a home, has electricity like a home, and is lived in like a home, then it is safe to say the people living in it are not unhoused.

While I am impressed with the engineering marvels of some of the homes/shelters built by those who either cannot afford the price of housing or who prefer life on the streets, the problem is they are located on public land. Stealing power from the grid is still theft. The cost of that energy is passed on to paying customers like me. Stealing public land to live on is taking away access to it by tax paying folks like me.

You do not need to be homeless to know the cost of housing is out of control in this state. The price of everything is exorbitant. California taxpayers pay far more in federal taxes than we receive in services which results in us paying much higher state taxes. This results in our state often being left on the hook to pay for programs the right sees as unnecessary. However, if the services are not provided, problems like homelessness get worse and do not disappear.

Californians are robbed of the money we pay in federal taxes so other parts of the nation, many of which laugh at us for our way of life and politics, can receive a greater share of federally funded projects. If we were funded equally by the federal government, we could afford more social benefits for those who struggle each day.

In case USC is interested, I am available to speak at this year’s graduation ceremony. Everyone knows I do not have any opinions about anything and have never said or written a thought that can be construed as controversial. I only ask that you allow me to wear an OJ Simpson jersey while I talk about the importance of losing yourself in pursuit of money as the only path in life to happiness.

I’ve mentioned before how I am not a fan of today’s country music. It’s not much more than formulaic fluff that is today’s pop music and nothing like what I appreciated in the 70’s. One exception would be Chris Stapleton. He easily fits in with Willie, Waylon, and the rest of the outlaws.

I will admit I never saw a rematch between Biden and Trump being this close at this point in the election. Biden’s age never was something I considered as an issue, but more than that, I never thought so many Americans would be this disenchanted with a sitting president who has had so much economic success while his opponent is dealing with multiple trials.

This election has made me realize not only is hate a major issue in our country, but that we as a nation care more about someone’s age than we do someone’s character. Americans simply do not care about a potential president’s horrific behavior if they think that person will put a few more dollars in their wallets each month. Voters lack the capacity to think long term and have shown me just how easily they are manipulated by social media.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qrriKcwvlY

Republicans are no longer conservatives. At their best, they are disruptionists and at their worst, they are anti-America. A true conservative would deplore the stances Trump controlled Republicans have taken on one issue after another. They’d turn on a candidate who brags about how he will be a dictator on day one and ignore our constitutional foundation.

As noted earlier, it is official. The Kennedy family has turned their back on RFK Jr. and come out in full support of President Biden. I am pretty sure the Trump family won’t be turning their backs on Agent Orange.

I scrolled through a list of the thirty hardest colleges to get into and noticed Diablo Valley Community College, where I began my post high school education, was not on the list. Neither was Chico State where I earned my BA and teaching credential.

It dawned on me that in today’s world, a high school graduate can earn a MA while never leaving their childhood bedroom. Now that schools offer online versions of almost every course, a kid’s bedroom can be their personal dorm room.

My dad was anything but thrilled to see my mug around the house for an extra two years. I think he said about three words to me during that time. Actually, it was just the same word repeated; why?

Health and fitness sites still love to run “articles” about the clothing choices of female celebs while offering up the serious and hard core workouts done by men. At what point do we consider whether the issue is driven by the media or by women who claim to not want to be sexualized despite wearing skimpy gym outfits?

It’s time to remind you that the average Hollywood actor does not turn into a Marvel superhero without the help of performance enhancing drugs. If the movie industry had a neutral organization perform drug testing on actors and actresses, we would see nothing but failed tests. Claims of working out with a personal trainer four times a day while living on chicken breasts, tuna, and brown rice are bullshit. It’s not what they are ingesting into their digestive tracts nearly as much as what they are injecting.

The heat index today was in the low 90’s with humidity at 43%. Laverne and Shirley’s new favorite pleasure involves me watering the plants and lawn. They spent over thirty minutes chasing and jumping at the water while fruitlessly chomping at it. By the time I finished, they hardly had enough energy to drag themselves to the patio shade to nap. Once they were dry, they spent the rest of their day snoozing on the cool tile floor of the kitchen.

I may need to purchase a hide-a-bed.  Once I have new flooring installed, I think the coolest place to sleep on warm summer nights will be in the front room where I can enjoy the nice cross breeze between the front door and back slider.

I will admit that it has taken a lot of patience on my part getting used to Laverne. She has her nose in everything that goes on here and is overly bossy with her sister, Shirley. Laverne will do whatever she damn well pleases and is impervious to any consequence. She loves to quietly park herself on the kitchen floor behind me with the hope I step back and trip over her. I am certain her goal is to have me fall to my death just so she can devour me.

Shirle is a total sweetheart.

Thanks to the two mutts,  I have a wonderful collection of chewed up sweatshirts, t-shirts, and pants. They have no trouble reaching up and grabbing stuff off my counter so pretty much anything I own is within their reach.

They are also silent assassins. This evening, I may have caught Laverne trying to sneak off with a sweatshirt she has already torn up, but she got away with the freshly washed kitchen towel and made a meal out of it.

For the love of Pete, HELP!

I have a stubborn eye infection and am on a self-prescribed antibiotic. It’s a common antibiotic that I have used in the past to clear up saddle sores from long bike rides. Like any good doctor, I did my research on Google and found the antibiotic I purchased from overseas is perfect for what I have diagnosed. Once it clears up, I might have to bill Medicare $460.00 for my office visit, tests, and prescription.

At what point do I purchase everything I left behind in Tennessee last year?  I was forced to use my circular saw to try and cut down a small tree between my house and my next door neighbor. I am continually reminded of the tools I no longer have that every once in a while, I could use. However, I don’t want so many that I do not have a place to store them.

It’s getting close to the time for me to build a new and larger storage shed. I figure a new shed is cheaper than having a garage built to hold everything just so I can’t park my car inside it.

I slept on the floor again last night. It isn’t even uncomfortable anymore. I find it is cooler and with all the extra room, the dogs don’t push me out of my queen size bed. It doesn’t matter where I sleep, they still know when it is time to wake me up. Their appetites never lie.

Money does not grow on trees,  however, thankfully it is automatically deposited into my bank accounts each month. Now that I am retired, it is like someone is paying me to be a kid again.