February 2009
Productive Day
Today’s to-do list
Meet Ellen at 9:00 (check)
Go to Ikea to buy bed (check)
Transport bed home (check)
Pick up car (check)
Vacuum bedroom (check)
Put bed together (check)
Pick up Obama Inaugural poster from Post Office (check)
Eat lunch (check)
Go to K-Mart, Target to buy sheets (check)
Buy frame for Obama Poster (check)
Make bed (check)
Wash old sheets/comforter, put away...
“If you are secretary of agriculture, interior or something like that, it may...”
– A spokesman for Defense Secretary Gates, on why Gates doesn’t need Obama’s e-mail address. I don’t think Vilsack will be sitting next to Gates at the first Cabinet meeting.
January 2009
“Which is ironic, because if you read Obama’s biography, you’d know...”
– Stephen Colbert, on the similarities between the new Pepsi logo and the Obama campaign logo.
“If you somehow take that bonus out of the economy, it really will create...”
– Rudy Giuliani, defending Wall Street bonuses.
I want someone to do some research on how the extremely wealthy spend their money. I would be willing to bet that someone who makes $2,000,000 a year does not spend more in general consumer spending than someone making $400,000 a year.
McCaskill proposes Compensation Limits →
I hope this becomes law. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) proposed a law today that would limit all employees at companies that receive money from the bailout to compensation equal to the Presidents, currently $400,000.
I think its brilliant and should have been part of the initial package. In fact, I even wrote an e-mail to McCaskill suggesting such a bill (though I doubt my letter made it up the...
Livin the Dream →
Nebraska holds open walk-on tryouts for interested full-time students.
The Billable Hour: Making Honest People Into... →
Super Bowl Pick
This year, I have a clear rooting interest in the Super Bowl. In terms of NFL, my first concern is a good game. Beyond that my rooting interest is as follows
New England Patriots - I loved when they beat the Rams in 2001;
Green Bay Packers - my best friend in elementary school was a Packer fan;
anyone playing the Rams - you would hate the Rams too, if you were forced to watch what they...
“The problem is not that Obama was unwilling to compromise, it’s that the...”
– Daily Kos: The House Vote Was Not a Failure for Obama (via think4yourself)
“
What happened yesterday is that Republicans decided that they would rather have a stunt, demonstrating their allegiance to the unsupported mythology of Reaganomics and undiluted party politics, rather than an honest...
Blago convicted →
Blago was convicted unanimously by the Illinois Senate today. The Senate also voted to permanently ban Blago from holding office in Illinois again. I disagree with the permanent ban. What if he really didn’t do anything wrong and the people want to re-elect him as governor? He should have that right (at least until he is convicted of a crime). I am going to miss Blago.
WatchBetter Know a Beatle - Sir Paul McCartney. You should watch this.
“What is the most tender cut of the McCartney?”
– Stephen Colbert, discussing self-canibalization in a hilarious interview with Paul McCartney.
“Meals on Wheels is hardly the only entity in Houston, or around the country,...”
– This is hilarious, the stations are getting charity tax deductions for those annoying commercials my Mom hates.
Attention recent graduates
Another tax tidbit that I got from 6 phone calls to my university (3 phone calls), my bank (1 phone call), the IRS (1 phone call) and my student loan provider (1 phone call). The 1098-T that you receive from your school shows what you were charged for in that year. This is not necessarily what you paid in that year.
In my case, my Spring 2008 tuition was charged in December 2007, so it was...
Yes, Western Nebraska is That Empty →
A man was arrested yesterday for driving the east in the west bound lanes of I-80 in Western Nebraska for 40 miles. No one was hurt.
While this story is a little funny, it reminds me of a fraternity brother who drove drunk on the wrong side of the interstate and hit a police officer heard on, killing them both. RIP Bastean.
“Bush liked to distinguish between terrorists and the moderate, freedom-loving...”
– Roger Cohen
Unfriending on Facebook →
Interesting article about social protocol in terms of deleting friends. I actually know a few people who have set up multiple facebook accounts. One is for all of their virtual friends and one is for their group of close friends. She updates both, but only puts personal stuff on the close friends page and that page is not searchable.
I am definitely someone who has too many facebook friends. ...
Obama signs first bill →
Obama signed the Equal-Pay Act today, enacting his first law as President. I love this law. First, its a good law. Second, its telling the Roberts court to shove it. Third, it demonstrates the checks and balances of our system.
The law comes out of a recent Supreme Court case. Lilly Ledbetter worked for Goodyear for 19 years. As she neared retirement, she discovered that she had been paid...
“I did a lot of things that were mostly right.”
– Blago. Sorry, but “mostly right” is “partly wrong.” Not good enough.
This is kind of weird
So, the article I posted on Obama’s White House has taken off like mad. This morning when I got it, it had 35 notes. Two hours ago it had 69 notes. At this posting, it has 105 notes. I am kind of proud of that. I think that is a little sad.
“According to the National Association for Law Placement, 16 percent of the class...”
– NYTimes. I can’t believe this. There is no way that 16% of all law school graduates are making over $160K. That figure is absurdly high. The only way 16% are making that much is if you manipulate the figures - eliminate all unemployed graduates; eliminate all government lawyers; and only look...
Obama's White House →
Great article describing how Obama runs the White House in terms of dress code, hours, etc. A must read.
Republicans vote in block against stimulus bill →
This surprised me, not that it passed, and not that most Republicans voted against it, but that the Republicans were able to get all the Republicans to vote together. I can’t believe that every Republican think its a bad bill. I think by having everyone vote against it, it seems more political than good government.
Post Office Wants to Go to 5-day Delivery →
The Post Office has asked Congress to remove a requirement that it have 6-day delivery because of reduced volume and higher costs. The costs - health care, retirement accounts, and fuel - are the same costs effecting everyone. The reduced volume comes from the use of the internet - alot fewer letters are going out.
If Congress grants permission for this, I would want to add two caveats:
Cut...
“My children’s school was canceled today because of what? Some ice.”
– Barack Obama, making fun of how cowardly the DC area is about winter (via blogonthe) (via think4yourself)
Economy sob stories →
This article illustrates the economic crisis through a few people who are left without work and looking for jobs. While I feel bad for anyone who can’t find work, these people are not the most sympathetic. One woman quit her $80,000 a year job in July 2007 to start law school, quit law school after a year, and now can’t find full-time employment. Another guy, quit his $55,000 a year...
Pope reinstates controversial Catholics →
Pope Benedict has reinstated 4 ultra-conservative Bishops who were previously ex-communicated two decades ago. The Bishops are all members of the Society of St. Pius X, which is a Catholic group that rejects all Vatican II changes and does not believe that the Holocaust occurred. I have a few problems with this:
(1) Is it really right for a German Pope to re-instate bishops who don’t believe the...
“A tractor-trailer overturned on the inner loop of the Capital Beltway. The...”
– Washington Post, haha.
Stimulus bill to dramatically help schools →
A significant portion of the stimulus (almost 20%) would go towards education programs. This funding would go to all levels of education from pre-K to college. This spending is necessary for two reasons: (1) No Child Left Behind created many undfunded mandates - particularly in special education - that states have never been able to be properly funded. Or if they were properly funded, they took...
Come on rich people, don't screw it up
In DC, they give out free newspapers on the metro. In general, these papers have basic stories (nothing in depth) on the regular news stories of the day. This morning, one of the article in the business section was how wealthy people are ashamed of their luxury spending and are thus trying to hide it. For example, so fancy stores were having customers request delivery or to put items in plain...
Worst Job Ever
A month ago, I created a top 5 list of jobs that I would have like to have. Since then, I have been thinking of what would be the worst job I could ever have. At first, I thought it would something disgusting, like cleaning septic tanks or something. But, I don’t think that would be the worst thing for me. The worst part about a job for me is when I am completely bored.
The more I think...
Crazy Republican: Franken stole MN election →
For everyone of this guy’s arguments, see www.fivethirtyeight.com.
My favorite part: “recount officials have accepted Franken votes tallied on election night, even when the physical ballots were nowhere to be found for the recount.
Let’s say, through error or design, some overly enthusiastic election night official fed Franken votes through a voting machine twice: In some parts...
“Mr. Hart turns down an offer of five grand for a bloody nose and some bruises...”
– Being Alive Not Good Enough for Some | Real Clear Politics (via think4yourself)
I disagree. My guess is that the $5,000 required a waiver of all liability for the airline. No passenger should take that at this stage. The pilot performed amazingly, but these people still took off on a flight to...
The 28th Amendment? →
Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) is proposing to amend the Constitution to require special elections for mid-term Senatorial appointments. The link provides a decent breakdown of the likelihood of the Amendment passing.
“Scumbag Million-hairs”
– The Daily Show segment on Blagojevich.
What a bunch of pansies!
For three days, everyone has been talking about the snow storm coming. Then today, when the storm hits, we get a whole inch! And, my work let out early. Whatever, I’ll take it.