Tags: economy, Election 2008, McCain, Politics
October 2, 2008 – 8:24 am
John McCain is supposed to be absolutely opposed to pork barrel spending and the addition of pet projects to bills. I would have expected him to vote against the Senate’s new 700 Billion dollar bail out plan with an additional 150 Billion in pork barrel spending, but did he? As president he has vowed to Veto all bills with this kind of junk attached. He isn’t starting now, I guess if the addition helps get some of your colleagues to vote in favor of a bill which you believe desperately needs to pass, then it is ok. What does aid for rural schools have to do with saving our ailing economy? (Note I said ailing, not failing.)
Tags: Garden, strawberries
September 27, 2008 – 9:37 am
I was out in the garden cleaning up the strawberry patch today. I replanted the shoots, cultivated and fertilized and as it turns out I have a surplus of shoots, even after expanding my patch to 3 rows from two. If anybody wants strawberries for their garden I have about 30 or 40 shoots. Now is the time to plant them, there is just enough time for them to get established before winter. Cover them with “straw” or mulch or pine needles from the Christmas Tree for the winter and you can have yummy berries in June.
Tags: Decicsion 08, Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Politics, Presidential Debate
September 26, 2008 – 9:21 pm
What a worthless debate! I was looking forward to the debate because I thought I might learn a little more about the candidates. Commentators said they clearly delineated themselves on the issue of foreign policy, but I’m just as lost as ever.
I saw a debate over little things like semantics. What’s a strategy and what’s a tactic — who cares? It may be important militarily and as commander and chief but to the American public, I don’t think it matters. I say the surge is a package of a strategy which delivered specific tactics with a goal. They’re both right, there were tactics and strategies involved in the surge.
I saw both candidates making statements explicitly designed to mislead the American people. Like Obama stated, they disagreed over the issue of a timetable, not funding the troops, but there were other things too. Whenever they talk about the other voting against a bill, there are always many other reasons why someone would vote against a bill. McCain himself says he would veto any bill with pork barrel spending in it. That means he might vote against funding the troops if it also funded Grizzly Bear DNA Tests.
One thing I can’t stand is that McCain knows what Obama thinks and Obama knows what McCain thinks but I don’t know what either one thinks because they’re too busy telling me what the other thinks. My father proposes a debate format where the candidates are not allowed to talk to their opponent, about their opponent, or about what their opponent would do, or about what their opponent has said. The candidates would be forced to say what they would do, what they have done, what they think.
Basically, I think their both slime. I think their both confused. I think neither one is ready to be president. I want new choices.
Who won the debate? I don’t know, but I know who lost: the audience. I gained so little by watching the debate.
September 25, 2008 – 9:21 pm
I admire people who are secure in their political convictions, probably because I’m so insecure in mine. Looking at the glass half full, I guess I’m just open minded. 
I’ve always thought I was a conservative. I’m a registered Republican, but honestly I’m not sure why. I received a very poor political education. U.S. Government courses in my high school were a laughing stock, as was economics. Lucky for me I took ECON 101 in college to make up for those losses. I guess I should have taken some Government courses as well.
I guess the reason why I don’t know with which party I should align myself is that the media doesn’t tell me how the candidates (or parties) rate on the different issues. They tell us about their temperament, they tell us the polls, they tell us where they are campaigning and fundraising. It’s not just the media however, the candidates seem to be afraid to take a stance on issues. It’s as if everyone seems to think we should just vote for someone like a popularity contest. The party that doesn’t opposed birth control could probably win eventually because most people end up in the same party as their parents. I’m not content with that. I was taught to make an informed decision, but as hard as I try I can’t find the information I want.
Since the candidates won’t tell me what they’re going to do I’ll tell them (and you) what I want and maybe all of you (I think someone reads this) can help me decide which candidate will make me happiest. Don’t forget the third party candidates. It’s an easy thing to do since they’re not allowed in the debates and the media denies their existence.
Here is where I stand:
- I refuse to vote for a candidate simply because they belong to a particular party.
- I feel like a president should be able to make good sound decisions.
- I want a president who wants a balanced budget and wants to pay down the national debt.
- I want a flat tax or fair tax system.
- The tax code is way too complex and totally unfair, lets figure out how much money the government needs and collect it from all residents based on their income.
- I support a welfare system that helps those in great need and encourages individuals to improve their situation in as short a time as possible.
- I want better healthcare. The private system could work, but something has to be done about prices. I think I am for a single payer plan, privately administered.
- I believe in free trade and in a free economy.
- I don’t believe we have either currently
- I think we should tighten border security and I don’t think any illegal immigrants should have a free ride to citizenship.
- I think No Child Left Behind is a big joke.
Tags: bailout, crisis, debt, finance, government, money, Politics
September 24, 2008 – 8:38 pm
I bet you wouldn’t lend it to Wall Street to help them (and us) out of the current financial crisis but that is exactly what Secretary Paulson wants to do. 700 billion dollars works out to about $5000 per American household but the total cost of bailouts, including those that have already taken place could very well add up to $10,000 for every U.S. household.
Congress wants to add some individual aid for troubled mortgages, but I say scrap the corporate bailout and help the individuals. The financial corporations are just going to get themselves into trouble again. I took out a sub-prime mortgage about two years ago in order to purchase my first home. With home prices falling I am now likely in an upside down mortgage (i.e. I owe more than my home is worth). I’ll tell you what I would do with $10,000. I would put it on my mortgage and pull it out of that upside down state and bringing myself closer to a point where I could refinance and lower my payments. What would I do with lower payments? I would probably (definitely) spend more money in the American economy. Would others do the same? Most likely. I say let Wall Street fail and bail out the consumer! We’ll re-spark the economy.
Speaking of sub-prime mortgages. Because of the nature of my loan I am forced to pay for Private Mortgage Insurance every month, it is a significant amount of money. I have to pay this because these kinds of loans are risky and this is an insurance policy that is supposed to cover the cost of failures in this area. Where is that money going? Shouldn’t it be used to help out these financial institutions? If that isn’t what it’s for I want it back! Oh and by the way, although I took out a sub-prime mortgage I manage to make my payments. I did research, I knew what I was getting in to. I knew it was difficult, but I planned accordingly so I could make the payments. I have to be responsible and cut-back but the benefits of home ownership make it worth it for me. Obviously if I knew what the market was going to do I would have saved my money and waited for prices to fall before buying my home. Despite my crystal ball failing, nobody is suffering on my account but me. I wish the same could be said for others, like those CEOs who took the same risks I did, but on a much grander scale and some how managed to profit from it while others suffer!
As a last note: I realize that the 10,000 is a loan, but it is being added to my debt load and what do I get in return? Hopefully the government will profit from lending my money to Wall Street, but undoubtedly I will not earn any interest on the money. In fact when they get the money back the government probably won’t even bother to pay down the debt because they will have added so much other spending to government by then that they’ll need it to keep the institution running. It wouldn’t surprise me if the income derived from these loans is written into the next budget to help “balance the budget.” The profits should go only one place, to pay back the loan the government is taking out to finance this bail out. Our government has too much debt. The whole world has too much debt. How about some real fiscal responsibility!
Tags: bicycle, bike, helmets, litter, playground, police, respect
September 20, 2008 – 7:37 pm
We went to the playground tonight and I need to stop doing that. We had a fun time with the boys. We put them in the bike trailer and rode over and let them play for a quick 15 minutes because the weather was so nice. Here is why I need to stop doing that. Just before the park I stopped at a stop sign (good thing to do) but the two kids behind me (on one bike) did not, they just flew right by in front of the oncoming POLICE car. The officer didn’t even stop and say something to them. He wasn’t in a hurry either, he pulled into the playground parking lot turned around and left. These kids were probably 10 and they don’t respect a stop sign. If they looked (I hope they did or they’ll be dead pretty soon) then they don’t respect the law either. This week they are running stop signs on their bikes, next week it’ll be in a car and they’ll kill someone. I wish the officer had stopped and simply explained to these boys the importance of stopping at a stop sign (oh, and wearing helmets since it’s a law in this town for everyone under 18.) Why do they bother passing the laws if they aren’t going to enforce them. These kids now know they can get away with breaking both of these laws (even when the police are present).
While at the park an older kid walked past a trash can and no more than 5 seconds later dropped his food wrapper onto the ground with no thought. I almost jumped up and tore into him, but I refrained. I was still grumpy about the police officer doing nothing. The playground is nasty there is trash everywhere. There is no respect for anything in this town.
On a separate note. I saw a child still teetering on his legs and still in a diaper (probably about monkey’s age (18 mos) drinking a brown carbonated liquid (full of sugar and probably caffeine) out of a bottle. What? See dear, a little Kool-Aid is okay for the kids. I’m sure it’ll do less harm than the Coke in the Bottle.
Photo by pfly.
Tags: apple, ipod, ipod touch
September 20, 2008 – 4:02 pm
Last night I broke down and purchased the 2.1 software update for my iPod touch. I was saddened to lose my jailbroken state but I could get it back. The only application I will really miss is the Spanish dictionary I had installed. I could of course purchase one but I am pretty cheap. That is one of the reasons I decided to break down and buy the update. Among other things I got the apps I didn’t get when I bought my touch and for which Apple wanted me to pay an extra $20, but I only had to pay $9.99.
I have lots of new apps I love also. The maps app is pretty sweet. I didn’t think it could possibly find my location with any accuracy but when I asked it to find my location it placed me within about 25 feet of my house. The map search was really good as well but as with all thins Touch you have to be on WiFi. I could really enjoy an iPhone, especially the new one with GPS.
With the remote App I can control my iTunes library playing on my computer. Now I just need some speakers throughout the house so I can listen from other places.
I was able to retain my Tap Tap Revenge since it is avaible in Apple’s App store as well as my level.
Perhaps the best App is this Wordpress editor which allows me to write blog posts without being connected to the Internet and publish them when I get home.
I am looking forward to a really good LDS Scriptures App that will have linked notes and allow me to highlight and annotate. Several people claim to be working on it.
I wish the update could supply me with GPS, a built in speaker, and volume controls on the side. (The latter two are available on the next gen iPod Touch)
Tags: ahoy, pirate, talk like a pirate day
September 19, 2008 – 2:47 pm
RRRR, Ahoy! blog readers. It be talk like a pirate day. Curious how a day can become Talk like a pirate day. It doesn’t take an act of congress. Check out this article on wikipedia. If you need to searrrrrrch something today try using Google Pirate.
If you were going to make your own day, what would it be?
September 17, 2008 – 7:12 pm
The alarm at work works! I was working in the IT room at closing time making sure the server came up before we left and well, everyone else left. I took one step to call the IT guy and let him know the server was up and the alarm went off. I wasn’t worried, and in fact everyone was still outside getting into their cars. But I guess its good to know the alarm works as it should. The alarm company was on the phone within about 20 seconds. I’m sure they’ll talk about this one for a long time to come.
Photo courtesy of Leo Reynolds.
Tags: budget, finance, groceries, money, poverty
September 11, 2008 – 8:41 pm
I usually listen to KUNM on my way to and from work. I love NPR, I think it is no nonsense news and information. This morning on the KUNM Call in Show they were discussing household energy prices and how they would affect New Mexico households this winter. The best part of the discussion was when a gentleman called in and commented on how we’re not really as poor as it sounds. I tend to agree.
They mentioned that New Mexico has a lot of impoverished households, in fact almost 1 in 5 New Mexico households fall below the national poverty live. This is troubling because it would in fact be difficult to live at these levels. I believe it was stated that 1 in 3 NM households are below double the federal poverty level ( this is still not a lot of money, but you can live on it.) Even at or below the poverty level it is possible for American families to live better than most of the citizens of the World. If you figure in government aid, these people can live as well as I do.
Here is a staggering statistic. They said that the average food costs for a family of 3 was $550 a month. The average household expense for food among American families surveyed by the ERS for the USDA was $38 per person per week in 2003. It must be higher today. That means that the average household the size of mine spent over $600 a month for food in 2003. For households at or below the poverty level it was $27 per person per week or, $430 a month for a family of 4. This may not seem like a lot to you, but it seems like a lot to me. My family of 4 spends an average of $310 a month for food including both the grocery store and eating out.
The caller also pointed out that people generally are not good about their energy use. They leave lights on, they leave their TVs on, they don’t carpool to work.
What we need to do is educate the impoverished, not give them money. They need to learn how to use energy efficiently, cook inexpensively (and healthily), and manage their funds appropriately.
I’m not saying that it is easy to live on a small amount of money, but with the government aid these people are receiving, if they would manage themselves well, they would be able to rise out of poverty.
