It may be a day or two more before I can start walking again...

The problem isn't the knee.  It's muscle spasms in the quadricep, hamstring and calf of the right leg and if they persist more than 48 more hours, I'm going to have to get over to the VA to get a doctor to look at it.  Meanwhile I'm going to just keep gently stretching out the muscles and trying to limit my salt intake even more than it is already limited.

I was very sad to learn of the death of Michael Clarke Duncan yesterday.  I have always enjoyed his work, and loved that he was able to do roles that didn't revolve around his size, as he did in "Talladega Nights" and other works.  His failed TV series "The Finder" was a smart, well-written show that deserved more of an opportunity than it got. 

As for the Wild Turkey....er Centrist Party, we need to address the issue of Paul Ryan's Medicare proposals.  Before we do, an interesting poll from NBC & and the Wall Street Journal from February of 2011.  In that poll, 44% of respondents said that replacing Medicare with a voucher system was acceptable.

Clearly those 44% don't fully grasp the difference between being handed a voucher for coverage and getting the coverages currently guaranteed by Medicare.  A voucher system would be nothing more than a cost-shifting measure that would put the burden of more of the cost of healthcare for seniors on the invidivuals.  Vouchers would require more coverage from so-called "supplemental" plans, meaning higher premiums, higher co-payments and forcing seniors to spend more for the same level of coverage.

So the Centrist Party solution will be to keep the Medicare benefits as they are now.  What we will do differently is spend more money on fraud detection.  Hire more investigators.  We will also privatize claims processing completely, so that it is done by outside firms, but with copious amounts of government oversight and inspection.  Currently Medicare's acceptable standard for fraudulent and erroneous claims processing is 5%.  We will lower than to 1%, which is more in line with insurance industry standards.

Also, absent a major reform/simplification of the income tax process, we will pass a special tax break for senior citizens.  Normally you have to itemize your deductions to claim a deduction for medical expenses, and only those medical expenses that are more than 7.5% of your Adjusted Gross Income are deductible.  We will pass legislation making Medicare premiums paid by seniors an adjustment to income, meaning that they will not pay income tax on the amount of premiums they pay annually.  It's not a big thing, but it will seem big to the seniors.

There's a sports bar owner near Detroit who is not very happy this morning.  His name is Steve Mallie and for a long time he's taken pride in the fact that his place held the record for the world's largest hamburger.  When someone broke a record set at Mallie's, he'd immediately plan and carry out the plan to take it back.  The last record was for a burger of more than 300 pounds.  Well, a Minnesota casino may have put the record out of the reach of Mallie's, by cooking up a burger than weighs in at more than 1 ton.  It weighed 2,014 pounds and according to the guy there from the Guiness Book of World Records to verify it as a record-setter, it actually tasted pretty good.  I'm assuming he just had a small portion and didn't try to eat the whole thing.

If you're in the Detroit area and short of cash, stop in at Mallie's.  All you have to do is eat the 10 lb monster burger in 2 hours or less, and not only is the burger free, you'll get $100 in cash.  Good luck.

Paul Ryan seems to have weathered the storm over his claims of having run a marathon in a time much faster than he actually ran it.  I'm sure the reason we've never heard anything about any marathon times run by President Obama is because if he had turned in a fast time, the birthers would use that to argue he really is Kenyan.

Those of you who were worried about the Social Security Administration's purchase of 174,000 bullets can relax.  The ammo was for the nearly 300 agents of the agency's Office of the Inspector General, who carry guns, have law enforcement powers and make arrests.  It comes out to less than 600 rounds per officer and most will be expended on the firing range during the next fiscal year as they do their required practice and qualification firing.  Although if you are a conspiracy theorist, theorize away.