251. Fairy Dust or Sugar?

"Still seeking votes for his proposed health care overhaul, President Barack Obama appears ready to reverse his position and allow unpopular deal-sweetening measures in the hopes of finding Democratic support for legislation whose future will be decided in coming days," so states the Associated Press in their article. It also mentions his visit to a cancer patient who dropped her insurance after it went to $8,500 a year. Let me see now. Hmmm. Our insurance was over $9,900 a year a few years ago and then we modified it 2-3 times selecting larger and larger deductibles to make the premiums more affordable (down to around $8,220 per year -- like this patient's premiums before canceling). What you HAVE to do to keep costs down. We also switched carriers to get an even lower premium (down to $5,688 per year) -- we won't compare this to hers because we were healthy. So, what does this mean? We pay out-of-pocket $10,000 plus the premium $8,220 or $18,220 per year. Surely that would be cheaper than NO insurance and paying for cancer treatments! I suppose I would have more sympathy for this patient had the insurance company canceled her policy on her. She took the risk to pocket the $8,500 per year and save or spend it instead. No different than investing in the stock market versus putting the investment money under your mattress. Without the specifics (President Non-specific Obama doesn't give specifics), we only get the tear-jerky version of the story. Sure, now she will never be able to get insurance since she dropped it and has cancer. My questions are: did she already have cancer when she dropped it? How old is she? Is this a family policy or individual policy she dropped? Is she out of work? If so, why? What is her income (surely no less than ours)?

But, the real PrOblem I have here is Obama using this wOman to draw the tears of the OhiOans and OhiO Senator to get the senatOr's Obamacare vOte! He's Pitting the Public against this senatOr using a tear-jerker stOry. MOre campaign crap rather than hOnesty. Can't we reverse the PinOcchiO stOry and turn Obama back tO the useless wOOd he's made Of?

250. Both Parties After the Employer-tax Exclusion Money

This article re GOP Representative Ryan's Roadmap reveals that the Republicans have a thorny road also towards Health Care. After Goolging employer-tax exclusion, I was presented with a high level explanation from Ezra Klein of the Washington Post. But, the best article I found was one referenced by Mr. Klein here. In short, both parties want to tap the now untaxed, hidden costs of employer Health Care by taxing it and distributing the new revenue. The Dems want to use it on "programs". The Reps want to give it back to the tax payers as a credit. But, the important issues discussed in the latter highlighted article is the unbelievable complexity in the current tax laws that bind this exclusion to not on the normal health care insurance, but also disability, health savings accounts, and other things, meaning it will be a bugger-bear to repeal entirely and no longer easy to dissect. The article also brings up dozens of considerations that have yet to be examined and a few that are practically impossible to predict. The bottom line conclusion of the report was to first decide WHY it should be repealed. Both parties have already decided it should be repealed, but have yet to state the WHY other than to provide real/virtual money to help pay for their reform ideas. Meanwhile, HOW will the repeal affect the lives of taxpayers? I would think the companies providing the Health Care policies would first cut back on all the perks in them to reduce the premium costs, but then also charge the employee more (their apportionment of the cost) while increasing their pay that amount (to give the impression that it's no change in cost) which would now be TAXED. Now, the Republicans would give some or all of it back to the employee as a credit on their tax return (how about those who don't have a large enough income to file taxes?), while the Democrats would run with the new taxes and apply them to new things in their "government" takeover of Health Care. You decide. But consider the complexity in this ONE issue (i.e., read the latter article) and tell me HOW any body can even comprehend the Democratic 2700+ bill when this SINGLE issue is monumental in itself! Hence, why the Republicans want to address the Health Care issues one at a time in a logical order of best return and less risk. This s no longer a Life of Riley -- hey youngsters, see Wikipedia for this ("The expression, 'Living the life of Riley' suggests an ideal contented life, possibly living on someone else's money, time or work."). My head is spinning from just this issue!

249. O's Back To Dealing Aces from Up His Sleeve

You just can't reform a cheat and liar! Not ONE dime! Bipartisan! NO SPECIAL deals for states! Yeah, right! Axelrod now claims O only meant special deals for a SINGLE state, like Nebraska's deal. But if it applies to than one state, like one for Montana and Connecticut, than the special deal is fine. Obamacare votes are still not there. So, the Dem continue to lie and cheat the taxpayers and BUY senator votes, not to mention, rewrite other laws or procedures to weasel their PARTISAN Health Care bill through the house. What did I mean by the last statement? Well, they can't get enough votes for the House's interests, so they now want to vote the Senate Bill in and then, after it is signed by O make changes to it to appease the members of the House who would have voted NO by including their BUY OUT deal for them. BUT, they can't do that. So instead, they want to claim that they already voted for the Senate bill before by changing some procedures and then implement the nuclear provision (majority vote in the Senate) to sneak the bill through. Don't we have the most corrupt administration ever? This is looking more and more like a Fascist government. I think the states should get ready to sue the government for passing an unconstitutional bill and drag the 2700+ page kludge into the Supreme Courts lounge for a couple of years, or until the Republicans can repeal it. For more information re the latest House voting outlook and O's change-of-mind, see this article. I especially loved the comments to the article after it. SOOn I'll be capitalizing my P's and O's since O is back tO his PinOcchiO ways. Aren't yOu just lOving all the hOPe and change we're getting?

248. A Better Way to Dumb Down our Kids?

Continuing to throw out as much diversion (from anti Obama-Care) as possible and focusing on image improvement, President O chalks more categories of interest on his blackboard for you and I to concentrate on. Here is his new fire: Education, specifically, REWRITE Child Left Behind. Again, without any specifics, O utilizes his rhetoric and, what else can I call it these days but trickery, to convince the people of the "pains" in his heart and desires to make it ALL right (or Left?). Will his plans for education dumb our children down even more? And at what cost (oh come on now, its just Monopoly money).

What do I think? Heck, I'm just a dog who learned from my master. I was taught what I wanted to learn and I was given unbelievable time and attention, not to forget, challenges. I didn't learn what I know from the dog parks where distractions abound and only "come here" and sometimes "stay" and "fetch" are taught and practiced. No, I learned to fade left or right, in and out, sit, and stay from hand signals. I learned to fetch objects without seeing where they were thrown. I learned to pick live animals up in my mouth without hurting them rather than sinking in my canines and drawing blood. I wasn't dumbed down! So, who benefited most? Me , my master, or everybody around me? Yes, yes, yes to all of these. More than you can say about our human children who go to public schools. Right?

Will we see a revolutionary change where our cream-of-the-crop scholars will get the opportunity to excel and land premier jobs in research and technology, teaching, management, and entrepreneurship? Will those who want a blue-collar job get the education to allow them to design and build better houses (even green ones), better highways and bridges, etc.? Or will we continue to educate everyone to at a minimum flip burgers only?

By this time I suppose you see how I feel. "Child Left Behind" just doesn't ring my bells for a better America. Children wouldn't be left behind if jobs were available to the parents and the cost-of-living was affordable to even the poorest. If every parent could get some of the misery out of their lives, they would have more time and money available for their children; hence, less time unsupervised, more things available to them to keep them off the streets and out of trouble. I truly believe the HOME is the key in keeping kids in school until they graduate and not just more undirected or misdirected money for schools and teachers. States and municipalities need to step up and make some "easy" hard decisions. A good example was a school district in Kansas City that recognized that their student base declined from 75,000 students to less than 11,000 today in the last 10-15 years due to suburbia living. Why spend the money on x-number of schools when they only need y-number of schools? Why shouldn't they take only the cream-of-the-crop teachers to teach more of the students? Wow -- a solution that actually SAVES money rather than taking more taxpayer money. Wouldn't this lower school taxes? Wouldn't this leave more money in the parent's pockets? Wouldn't the parents be able to better provide for their children? Wouldn't the children better appreciate the parents? Wouldn't the children be less distracted by the low-lives and vices on the streets? Was a Federal government organization (people and expenses) and taxpayer money needed for this solution? Then, why do we continue to throw money from helicopters? Isn't this how the Federal government handles fraud in Medicare? That is, instead of stopping the fraud and recapturing the money we just keep throwing more money into the hole.

Unless I see something revolutionary from the O that CUTS costs in education AND benefits both the cream-of-the-crops students and helps both the disadvantaged students AND their parents, I will again have to jump all over O and call his latest scheme just another hoax, a trick to make him look appealing. Please O, do SOMETHING right (sorry for the pun -- not left). Maybe name your program "Child RIGHT to Graduation" rather than "Child LEFT behind".

247. Kudos for Obama

It's finally nice to find something positive re our president. But the donation of his Nobel Peace Prize to charities (see this article) shows his heart is in the right place (sometimes). I would like to think so all the time and just blame all the mismanagement on a very poorly selected staff and administration due to his belief in others doing the right thing too. Is there still hope?

246. The Blistering Continues

As the private industries start to recover from the recession and get to the point of creating more jobs, O and his idiots continue to try to destroy the industries (insurance, health, banks, any with a profit). This article about his 0.15% tax on bank liabilities/profits is another way of getting federal money to spend, spend, spend. So, make some stupid decisions on bailouts and then blame others, but this time with punishment charges. O, O, O ... when you going to wise up? Most sixth graders wouldn't have followed your path with nose attached to incompetent advisers without rebelling after just ONE MONTH. Why is it that with over 1 YEAR in office you still yield to the rotten scents spewed from your administration adviser's butts? Can't you see the damage you are imposing on America? Or do you see it? You aren't going to resolve your deficit problems with taxing our livelihood. You need to reboot AFTER running CCleaner to rid your self of the garbage stinking up your White House and Congress.

245. Dodd the Dudd

O wants a new Export group, Dodd wants a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency as noted here. The USS Government is being built board by board, UNLESS WE STOP IT! Here's a guy (we'll now call him Mr. Dudd), who with Mr. Blabber (Barney Frank) pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with their CRA stick (Community Recovery Act -- thank you Jimmy Carter) to prime the mortgage meltdown and cause the housing crisis (read this for an update if you don't already know this). Now he wants We the People to believe he can once again ignore Republican and conservative input, close his door, and secretly pen another kludge of a bill for his Democratic sheep to follow. Do you want a financial regulation bill drafted by a crook like Mr. Dudd who not only had dirty hands in the housing crisis, but also received low rate loan from his pals for his house but knew nothing about how special and privileged it was compared to all others obtaining a mortgage at that time? Mr. Dudd and Mr. Blabber. Front and Center. The plank awaits you. Do these jerks believe We the People will tire if they just keep their foots on the trash accelerator? Sounds like a Toyota story. How do we stop the fools? 2010 elections are a start. Please, pour me a cup to tea.

244. Time to Export O to Shrink the Deficit

Here we go again building up the government! Check out this article about O's latest awakening that by increasing exports we can reduce the deficit. Is this guy naive or what? Like private companies have not already been focused on the world markets for the last several DECADES! Is O just waking up? So to accelerate marketing American products we need a new government organization! Time to abandon ship O! We need you OFF our ship. Once again, CUT CORPORATE TAXES and you will see American companies increase their output, INCREASE JOBS, AND flood the export market with more products. HELLO! You really awake O, or still dreaming your 3-decade old dreams? Does he really think he can pull the wool over the eyes of We the People? Even the less savvy and uninformed people in America are becoming knowledgeable beyond his pranks. Stay awake America and shout this guy OUT.

243. Nice Management O

This article makes a clear case that O should be managing a Girl Scout cookie drive instead of the Federal Government. Holy Thin Mints Batman! I wonder how many cookies a missed $1.2 Trillion would buy? Enough to feed the WORLD? Let's spend another $2-3 to screw up Health Care. Jimmy Carter must be smiling that he no longer holds the status of worse president ever.

242. Time to Give a Market Update

It has been a week since Post 237 Convergence Day. As expected then, the market hovered for a while then rose to current levels around 10560 at this time. Now where? I expect about 4 more days around this level, pushing the 10600-10625 mark before taking a breather. How long a breather? Not long. Signs, I mean the red squeaky toy, indicate a strong pull upward. Are we learning the words from the administration are only words and no action? Seriously though, China, the country to be watched, announced it expects a strong growth year despite their banking restrictions -- good for them, good for commodities, good for their importers. Greece it fighting hard to regain stability on their own and had some successful bond sales. UK still upbeat. Euro Zone negotiating with India re free trade. Southeastern Asian countries, like Indonesia, Singapore, etc. discussing their own free trade talks. Iraq continues on. Afghanistan and Pakistan showing some positive signs of progress. Please O -- keep your mouth shut for a while and let the world progress. The Health Bill NEEDS to be KILLED. America needs to get back on the track. Out with the jerks -- TY Rangel (Mr. Cheat) for resigning. Maybe the NY Governor will too! And isn't it time for the glitzy Hollywood bunch to retreat from socialism and their imaginary false thought that they control this country? Like they helped California any -- into bankruptcy maybe! We're at a point where the negative news is simply the word of news people who think they only need to report negative news. We the People are wiser and having been forced this crap for decades are finally wising up. Let's just get rid of the naysayers and bad-news and bad-policy controllers. The market will take a breather in 4 days. Then we're going to get back on track upward once we right the train. The anointed One WILL NOT speak the word protectionism! (We sincerely hope).

241. Are Schools the Problem?

This article addresses throwing money at the schools to resolve the issue (problem, or is it a symptom) of school dropouts. I commend the current and past presidents for their dedication to resolving the issue and am sure we do get something from the additional dollars flowing into the education system. But do we really think new desks, supplies, even an additional guidance counselor is going to resolve issues for dropping out like: teen pregnancy, drugs, financial hardship? WHERE ARE THE PARENTS? I wish I knew the solution to the issue. How do we ensure the families, probably largely single-parent, can provide and WILL provide a positive environment to instill confidence and self esteem for their teens? My answer is you just can't expect 100% success when at least the three problems I have already listed are high on the list of removing kids from our schools. Plus we must realistically assume not everyone will be intelligent enough to cope with a college curiculum and not everyone wants a college education, nor do we need everyone to get a college education. Building houses has always been a dream -- college kept me from this. I wish I had spent much more time with auto mechanics, welding, building, creating. So, the question is how do we measure worth. And, who can measure what is worthy for another individual? Do we say Bill Gates is a failure because he dropped out of college? Do we think the thousands who never went to college who own or owned their own businesses, for example our Peggy, haven't accomplished anything or contributed to the fullest to this country? So, here is what I think: of the 30% (using some statistic from the article without any clarification of accuracy), a significant part will be people who contribute to the country in capacities needed by this country. Has anybody ever reported the number of homeless that ARE educated? We need to continue to improve our schools, but not to try to get 100% to graduate. We need to try to get those already committed to a college much more better prepared and skilled. America is floundering because our focus is to make everybody equal despite THEIR wishes and capacities. This robs those who can excel beyond belief by giving the time and money to those who eventually throw their high school diploma in the trash. So, Mr. President, give us the specifics instead of just throwing money at the schools. How can we ensure America's future? With more high school graduations, or just higher educated and skilled people? How do we solve teenage drug addiction? How do we help pregnant teenagers who do want to go to college? The issues are much more difficult to address than to drop more money from helicopters without deep consideration and plans. It's always so easy to create a smoke screen. It's about time we ask for substance.

240. Mr. Arrogance

O is unbelievable. Hold your nose and dive into this -- "I want it my way and only my way!" How I hate whiny kids, let alone grown men. I just want to slap him in the head like Gibbs does to Tony on NCIS. Hello! Anything in there? Screw The People! What's $1 Trillion Dollars (hee-hee, really $3+ Trillion)! People. We can't let today's clowns and circus destroy the dreams of our children and grandchildren. I can already hear the money presses warming up.

239. Here's More Wasted Money

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They sound like names for beagles, but continue to act like innocent pit bulls. The government created and supported these companies that got us into the housing crisis with their poor lending practices driven by the National Recovery Act and Mr. Babble (Barney Frank). Why the government just didn't let them dry up on the vine I don't know. It's time to feed them to the private sector and let it turn Fannie and Freddie into real company names. Once again the government throws our money away. Let's just face it that they can NOT operate outside of government influence even though they are suppose to. I chalk this down as yet another government failure. And they have the audacity to ask for more money (see here)! Let's watch the Dems salute. My salute is a little different! I can smell rotten miles away -- use some Common Scents.

238. Just Do It RIGHT!

I'm getting tired of the constant throwing of money at symptoms to remove the pain of probems! Why not address the problem head on and do what's right? Why do we prolong the agony of the unemployed by continuing to throw bread crumbs their way to give them the sense of helping them when all that it being done is prolonging their unemployment? Jobs are not available because small businesses are uncertain of the future -- mainly their costs, which include health insurance, taxes, labor union salary raises, etc. So, what is the problem and what is the symptom? The symptom is unemployment. The problem is small businesses need risk relief. So, CUT CORPORATE TAXES and give them something they can hang their hat on. Let them IMMEDIATELY shop for health insurance across state lines. Curb the constant interrupting and bullying by unions. I'll guarantee doing those three things will spur small business growth. Remember, they don't necessarily need higher consumer demand to grow their business into NEW markets -- more regions, states, countries, products, etc. Give the small businesses relief! The symptom will disappear and the problem will be resolved. Now you might understand why the JOBS bill mentioned here is not totally accepted. Why throw money at highways only? Might as well dump cash on the streets. To increase jobs, you have to increase equipment, meaning there will be far less jobs created because of new equipment costs. And who gets the money and jobs? Government. We need to stop frivolously dropping money from helicopters -- think of dropping food over Africa. Does that incentivize those people to work? Does it create jobs? The money we offer is nothing more than food coupons for our unemployed. Our unemployed don't come close in comparison to starved Africans."'The most vulnerable families in America are going to suffer because of this political decision by one senator,' said Senator Dick Durbin..." How? Living in the house they took too much of a loan out for? Fast food, chips, liquor and soda? Here's a thought -- why not limit Food Stamps ONLY to nutritious food! Sorry for sounding callous, but somebody needs to address the PROBLEM, NOT the SYMPTOMS. Meanwhile President O wants the Republicans to stop playing hardball with him and negotiate when HE WON'T! What a leader! It's time to clear Congress of incompetents, starting with Pelosi and Reid -- and we can't ignore Mr. Babble (Frank) and Mr. Cheat (Rangel).

237. Convergence Day

First, let me apologize for the obvious error in Post 223. For some reason I had the DJIA in the 11 thousands rather than the 10 thousands. Thus, the convergence I mentioned should have been 10200 hit during the day today (and less). So, where do we go from here? According to Williams %R Down for about a week. According to the convergence curves UP. My guess is that we'll muddle through the next week around this point then break upward as stated in Post 223. Give it a week since Obama and crew are hard at work confusing the public and threatening to force us to eat over a TRILLION dollars for Health Care. Looks like Politics will muddy the waters and bring uncertainty back to the U.S. Market. None of the good news, like 72% of the companies reporting earnings reported earnings above expectations, took hold. It's time for the real investors to show their cards and get the market rolling. It's time for Obama to FOCUS ON THE ECONOMY AND JOBS and defer for years an OVERALL Health Care plan kludge. He should immediately go after FRAUD and address TORT Reform and ALLOW Small businesses to shop for health insurance across state lines forcing insurance companies to create larger pools and drop costs! Gee I hate BLOCKHEADS!

236. The Health Care Fiasco Summit

While biking this morning (stationary of course) I tuned in to the Health Care Summit meeting. Guess I hit it early because the "leaders" were preaching their unbipartisan bills while the big O sat and smirked at the Republicans. When the Republicans did speak, they were concise and exactly on point. Their message was ACT IMMEDIATELY ON THE HIGHEST PAYBACK ISSUES. Did the Dems get it? Nope. Old Harry interrupted the first discussion calling "filibuster" after he preached about personal issues and Nevada. The others did nothing bu defend their bills when none of the Republicans even mentioned the bills. Now, if I had been leading the meeting, I would have had my flip chart stand and would have captured the MOST IMPORTANT issues the public were facing and the MOST IMPORTANT suggestions to meet those issues -- as the Republicans tried to explain. For example, 50% of small businesses have a problem with Health Insurance costs which could be addressed with a simple policy allowing them to shop across state lines which would force insurance companies to create larger pools NATIONALLY to compete AND bring insurance costs down for those 50% of the people. Maybe even low enough for some of those uninsureds to jump aboard. Did the Dems get the message? Nope. Two other early issues from the Republicans were to IMMEDIATELY get 7.5% back by clamping down on fraud, plus another 7.5% by clamping down on frivolous suits and rewards. Again, despite little expense involved to resolve actual Health Costs, not just insurance, and to resolve the issues IMMEDIATELY, the Dems didn't get it. Obama NEVER acknowledged anything the Republicans said -- only repeated the main issue and called on a Democrat to defend their bills! It didn't take me long to dismiss this summit as a totally waste of taxpayer dollars. I wish the public would know what a planning session like this should be like and HOW it should be led. Maybe then they would see what I did -- a rookie in the driver's seat who shouldn't be there. I can't see how this meeting could have been revived after I switched back to FM music! We'll see if the critics call it an "F" too? I'm sure the Dems will call it an "A+" as usual -- blind to the public. I best part of the Fox News coverage was the man in the street who asked what the important issues were. The public was unanimous -- quit screwing with Health Care and address JOBS and the ECONOMY! Most said defer Health Care discussions until the economy and jobs pick up. You listening O? I doubt it. Please don't -- we need Hope and Change in November and 2012. You blew your last chance to turn things around!

235. I Love this Country

I went down this morning to sign up my Dog for welfare. At first the lady said, Dogs are not eligible to draw welfare. So I explained to her that my Dog is unemployed, lazy, can't speak English and has no frigging clue who his Daddy is. So she looked in her policy book to see what it takes to qualify. My Dog gets his first check Friday. Damn this is a great country.

234. Did O Forget We Want Health COSTS reduced?

I haven't actually read O's 11-page proposal yet (11 pages for 1+ year's in office) on Health Care, but this article nets out a few things. Seems O's focus is on reducing insurance costs, NOT Health Costs which would in addition reduce insurance costs. His plan is also to take over the insurance industry and tax investments. Oh, what a sweet deal -- yuck! Here are a few snippets from the article:

"The new White House plan would give the federal government the power to regulate the health insurance industry much like a public utility. The Health and Human Services Department — in conjunction with state authorities — would be able to deny substantial premium increases, limit them or demand rebates for consumers"

"... but also includes a new tax on investment income that Republicans object to."

" It could include ideas Democrats and Republicans have both supported, such as federal funding for high-risk pools that would extend coverage to people denied because of medical problems, and a new insurance marketplace for small employers and individuals buying their own policies."

"A Medicare payroll tax increase on upper-income earners would help plug the revenue gap. For the first time, Medicare taxes would be assessed on investment income, not just wages. "

"... leaves in a special Medicaid deal for Louisiana."

"Estimated to cost about $1 trillion over 10 years, Obama's plan would be paid for by a mix of Medicare cuts, tax increases and new fees on health care industries."

Do you get it folks? Tax investments, cut medicare, regulate the health insurance industry, tax the industry. Now that's how to create jobs and strengthen businesses. Forget cutting business income tax which WOULD grow businesses and jobs. I'm believing O no longer stands for just Obama, but for Ostrich. One in the same -- head in the sand.

Here is the Obama Proposal. I need a time out before I delve into this. I already got hung up after the first few paragraphs -- not only can't I stand to hear him anymore, now it takes great effort to read his BS. Need to clear my mind after reading the summary article.

233. Need Some Feather Ruffling?

I don't want you to miss O's Health Care bill. Here's a lookie at nothing but the hype and promises due somewhere on the Internet. I would expect to find it on the White House website. So, take your high blood pressure medicine, Valium, or drug of choice BEFORE you enter the crazy zone. Hopefully we'll learn what tactic he plans to use to corner the opposition. Wouldn't it be nice if he didn't publish anything about what HE wants and just holds a real strategic/tactical planning session to determine what the requirements really are before pushing solutions that don't come close to the real requirements? Dream on folks. I would venture to guess you'll need a hair dryer to preen those feathers after reading, thank God it isn't verbal, words. :-)

232. Speedo Aquabeat MP3 Player

Humans! Just can't enjoy a swim without music blaring in their ears. Master tried out his new waterproof MP3 player today. Results of the 4.5 mile test: Overall enjoyable. However, a lot of trial and error occurred until he was able to select the right ear buds and connections. He thinks he has it now. Swam 50 laps without a problem until he stopped to talk to another swimmer and took out one of the buds. This reset the problems until he completely dried his ear and blew out the speck of water that entered the speaker in the bud causing a muting effect. Tomorrow is the second test. Apparently the Speedo MP3 set up as advertised without a hitch. He was impressed with the speed of copying music to it -- about 5 albums of songs in about 1-2 minutes. From what I hear, it plays the songs in alphabetical order meaning the songs across 5 albums are pseudo-shuffled. There is also a Playlist application where a specific order can be set. Now he's looking for his notes on the free "tempo" program that inspects the songs and matches it with the tempo (swim stroke) desired. Phew! I just chase sticks and ducks! Really. Is this necessary? According to him, swimming 4 miles with music was like 1 without -- only thoughts are counting and music enjoyment. Show off is up to 59 miles so far this month -- doesn't he know that's torture (almost water boarding).