|
SubscriptionsSites I Read
|
|
|
|
| CCLXXXII
Parts of Jupiter have gotten 10 degrees hotter--in just 10 years! I'm calling on President Obama to put together an intergalactic cap-and-trade carbon credit system to help limit extraterrestrials' emissions from their space cruisers before Jupiter springs a hole in its atmosphere and becomes uninhabitable.
| | |
| http://blogmaverick.com/2009/02/09/the-mark-cuban-stimulus-plan-open-source-funding/
| | |
| CCLXXX
In my daily commute to work, I briefly experience four neighborhoods. To come home, I leave work in Abington by boarding a bus. This bus goes to Logan. There, I descend underground to enter the subway to Center City. Under 15th and Broad, I transfer to another rail service and exit north of Penn's campus. At both ends of my underground journey, "hack" cabbies offer sketchy rides. I have never understood their service; regular old taxi cabs pass both the 40th and Market and Broad and Olney areas fairly frequently. Since they drive unmarked cars, they stand outside. Since they're cab drivers, they have lots of cash. Since they're in a city, they keep their cash on them. Since I'm a daily commuter through this space, the hacks don't chant their spiels as I walk by. But they're right there; I walk in between them to get to my bus or to go down the stairs.
Friday night I got out of work late. Thank goodness. As the bus pulled toward Olney, it stopped and several police cars flew by. Between the two sets of stairs to the subway, someone tried to rob the drivers. The police confronted the robber, but the robber shot one of the policeman with a gun he had concealed in his coat pocket. The police shot the robber. The policeman died of multiple gunshot wounds; the robber has undergone surgery and has survived so far. All of this apparently happened while our bus was stopped, waiting in the traffic to get to the stairs. To be clear, I was probably still several blocks away while the gun fight occured, based on the reported time that the shooting occured.
We walked through a corridor of police tape to get down our stairs, hearing rumors that a cop was dead. People stopped and stared.
The transfer under City Hall was less dangerous. A man was involved in a drug purchase and a domestic dispute at the same time. The woman stomped away and sat down on my bench. Actually, on my duffle bag. He came over and jawed with her and knocked her earring off. The entire time, I was assuming that this was a scheme to distract me and steal things from my bag. Fortunately, I only had tissue paper in the bag, so it wouldn't have mattered. She tried to tell me which trolley to take.
There were no cabbies at my exit at 40th and Market. Could have been the news of what happened at Olney; could have been an earlier incident. Apparently that day one of the hacks picked up a girl and raped her.
The hacks were back at work today, peddling their services on the same corners.
| | |
| CCLXXIX
As a firm supporter of President Obama's plan for hope and change, I am disappointed. Here I was hoping for "transparent," "ethical," and "new" politics. You know, like he promised. (And like the "new tone" former President Bush ran on in 2000!)
The list of tax cheats, lobbyists, and questionable choices runs quite long. This seems more like left-overs politics. Or Chicago politics--the land where the sequel to a political career is jail time.
-President Obama tried to appoint Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico Commerce Secretary. Gov. Richardson is under investigation for corruption. The best part is that the company to which he allegedly sold contracts for donations is also being investigated for antitrust violations.
-Obama's second appointee to CIA director--his first one withdrew after Obama felt pressured by blogs--was a lobbyist for various banks which received federal bailout money. One of Obama's campaign promises was "No lobbyist appointments." The new Director also has ties to the EVIL CARLYLE GROUP, for the conspiracy theorists out there.
-Other appointees to the health and defense departments are lobbyists, too.
-Back during the campaign, Obama chose former Fannie Mae CEO James Johnson to head his Vice Presidential selection committee, and for advice on housing matters. Clearly, Jim Johnson is a wise man whose opinion should be sought out.
-Obama's appointment for head of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, is late on several years worth of taxes. The ambiguous wording of the article's headline is especially funny. When you read Obama's actual quote, you see that he says that "this [is] an embarrassment for him [Geithner]"--not an embarrassment for Obama.
-Nancy Killefer was tabbed to be Obama's new Chief Performance Officer. She has withdrawn her candidacy over back taxes.
-Then there's Mr. President's appointment to Secretary of State. Hillary Clinton has been investigated for many things, including, but not limited to, Whitewater, Filegate, Travelgate... Anyways, to keep the theme going, the Clintons have at least admitted that they did not properly file their taxes regarding the Whitewater matter.
-Obama has finally admitted an error--actually, a "screw up"--in his appointment for head of Health and Human Services. (Still no apology for the other choices.) Former Senator Tom Daschle has also suffered from an allergy to taxpaying. (No wonder these guys don't mind raising taxes... they don't pay them!) Note that this article calls Obama's transition smooth and praises his managerial prowess--totally ignoring this list of issues, situations, and scandals. Also note that you have to look pretty far down in most articles to find out that "taxes weren't the only issue being raised about Daschle's finances."
Obama has an ethics problem in his administration (already). He should fire whoever it is that is recommending these "rivals" and "all-stars" to him.
| | |
| Hawaii ends universal child health care and other programs
Unfortunately, federal programs never die, so once the US switches to federal health insurance, it will be a permanent annual drain on the budget.*
*I almost never say that something will "lead to a deficit." Why? Because generally, no one thing leads to deficits. We're talking about a debt of $11 trillion, and an annual budget of $3 trillion. How does spending $700 billion "lead to deficits", but the original $3 trillion budget didn't contribute to the deficit at all? Therefore, it unfairly assigns relative value to different items in the budget if one program is targeted as "leading to a deficit" (unless that one thing single-handedly exceeds the revenue for an entire year--which is north of $2 trillion).
| | |
|
