Top Campaign Issue so far...

Do you know what it is?

You probably do... more than likely it's the biggest issue for you as well.

Nope... not abortion.

Nope... not protecting the sanctity of marriage.

Nope... not national security.

It's gas prices. The American people are apparently most concerned with which candidate will "drill for more oil".

I can't believe that with all the HUGE issues swirling around in the political climate (did we forget that we're currently fighting 2 wars???) it could come down to which candidate supports drilling.

Do Americans even know that the President has no control over the drilling?
Congress is the body that has limited the areas we can drill in. And we haven't even drilled in all the places that the oil companies have been permitted to drill.

It's just amazing to me... We really need to educate ourselves and start to make decisions based on information rather than emotion.

working for the man

My apologies for not having been able to post every day since I voiced my goal. I didn't think about the fact that I was leaving the country on Sept 30th. I went on a cruise to Bermuda for a week. I will post some pictures and a recap soon.

Today's post is about the instability in my job.

Being a contractor for the government, you never really feel completely secure. I've felt more secure than most because I've worked my way into a position that makes it difficult to eliminate me. It's not that exciting (I build and maintain databases) but they need me. I know too much about the research... that's my real security.

Last week, I started working for a new employer. The government ended the contract with my old employer and moved me and a few coworkers to this new contracting agency. Sadly, in that move I lost a company sponsored 401k and 10 days of PTO. Hey, when you're asked by the government to underbid someone else, you've gotta cut costs somewhere... and you know it ain't gonna be from your profitabiliy.

Sadly, I used half of my PTO last week for the cruise... in my first week of employment with the new contractor.

Elsewhere in my employment news, the government has mentioned that they want to bring me on as a true full time government employee! I wish I could be more excited about this, but it's not the 1st time they've mentioned it in the past 4 years... nor the 2nd... not even the 3rd. So we'll see... until December... and I'm definitely not holding my breath.

There's been a hiring freeze in place since Bush took office, so instead of just hiring the workers, we're hiring them through another agency and paying more for each one. The same number of people are still working for the government, they're just not technically employed by the government.

So... anyone got any tips on which is the best retirement account for me to open up?

Under the Bridge, down by the sea

... is apparently the only place registered sex offenders can live anywhere near Miami.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/04/05/bridge.sex.offenders/index.html

Now, I'm not Pro-Sex Offender or anything... I think that besides murder it's one of the most vile things you can do to a person.

But I really can't see how these residency restrictions are constitutional... NOR can I see how forcing people who are trying to get their lives back in order to live under a bridge on the beach is helpful to society in any way shape or form.

I welcome any and all comments...

State of the Union

I actually watched most of the State of the Union address last night... instead of the 4 or 6 minutes I usually put into it.

The reason was that Bush actually had to compromise a little this year. For the past 6 years, he could pretty much say whatever the Republicans wanted him to say since they had all the power.

This year, you could actually hear some cracking in his back as he tried to bend over backwards to steer clear of impeachment.

I especially liked his "20 in 10" proposal... limit the US gas use by 20% in the next 10 years. Great idea!!

Wait... weren't you the one who pushed through an energy bill with so many loopholes for energy companies and other entities that it more than offset the 1.8 mpg improvements you required for SUV's and "light trucks"... by 2011?

Well, regardless of your past "initiatives"... if you actually follow through with this proposal, it will help everyone in the world.

As for the Health Insurance Tax Reform initiative... or whatever you're calling it... I'm not so sure I like its current version. But I think it's a step in the right direction.

As it stand now, though, it seems that you would like the middle class to purchase health insurance for the poor. I don't have a problem pitching in to help them out, and lower health care costs for everyone in the process... but shouldn't the people who can help the easiest also lend a hand???

The middle class are the people who are losing ground the fastest in this country, and your proposal will help dwindle their spendable income just a little more. Plus, I don't know how it works in your large, rich, fortune 500 companies, but out here in the real world, it's quite rare for an employer to fully fund the cost of an employee's health insurance... unless of course you're part of a union that has negotiated for decades to make this part of the overall compensation package. So what I take from your proposal is that you'd like the union members and the middle class to "resolve" the current problem of 45+ million uninsured Americans, and lower themselves in the class wars just a little more...

You know what's sad... we're probably willing to do it. Because we're compassionate and patriotic citizens who are willing to go out of our way to help a fellow American...

Oh, and in case you missed the speech... here's a link to it on YouTube

Now that's just no good

Cellphone Tapping - short video (45 sec)

Seriously?!?!... if it was on Fox News, then it isn't a matter of national security, I guess.

Hell, I haven't even finished the book 1984, and it's already coming true.

One blog CAN make a difference

[update: WPIX CBS-5 pulled every YouTube video showing this story, so here's the link to the WPIX website... check out the video in the upper right corner rather than spending the time reading the article... ]

Of course it helps to have more than a handful of readers ;)

But if all of the low-reader bloggers stick together, we also can make a difference.

If you feel that this type of radio broadcasting is unacceptable, especially when this broadcaster is a subsidiary of Disney, please repost this video to your blog.

1984

Yes, the book. I'm finally getting around to reading it... okay listening to it on my mp3 player while I ride the train to work or walk around town.

It's a very interesting book that I felt I needed to 'read' at some point. Well, I just realized that I'm only half way through it... DAMMIT!!


I got to the end of the first section of audiobook (they break them up so you can download them faster) thinking that I was almost at the end of the book... nope. I completely forgot that there was more than one section.

I think I might go crazy before I finish this book... I'm really glad I'm not reading it, or I'd have burned the book already.

I love the concept, but it's just soooo repetitive and nothing has really happened so far.

I'll let you know what I really think once I finish the second half in a week or so.

DAMN! It's just too warm!

I couldn't have said this better myself, so I'm not going to try...

Please read this and PLEASE make your opinions known so that our representatives know for certain that we want them to be aggressive in their action to do the right thing.

Hey, Thanks God... that's good to know

I just can't get enough of this guy! Pat Robertson... seriously, he just cracks me up over and over. I really wish that more comedians could be this consistently entertaining with their material. (Jerry Seinfeld excluded of course... "What is the deal with [insert subject here]?" will never get old.)

Most recently, Robertson was reported to have been enlightened by God about a catastrophic terror attack to take place in America this year, affecting major cities and likely millions of Americans...

but don't worry... according to God, it won't happen until the second half of the year, and most likely not until after September... so you still have plenty of time to stock up on your duct tape and plastic sheets!!

God also declined to inform him of the actual location so that something could be done to stop the event(s). So there you have it... Robertson has informed the world that God wants America to suffer a catastrophic attack, likely as punishment for screwing with the rest of the world so much. But doesn't God know us well enough by now to realize that after the attack we are going to spar with any country who had any link to 10/22/07?

Another attack would likely send our country into turmoil and enhance the downward spiral leading to our self-imposed demise. What we need to realize is that we are a large nation with a great number of fiscal responsibilities to our citizens. We can't just go around spending trillions of dollars that we don't have invading other countries with our high-tech equipment and bleeding our nation's treasury dry. (and it likely already is)

If Robertson is right... snicker... and we are going to be attacked again before Bush leaves office, then we've got a lot of thinking to do.

First, I guess that would mean that conservatives aren't that great at protecting our national security.

Second, will we allow Bush to send an immediate retaliatory force to whatever country or countries allowed this to happen?

Third, if we do send a force, do we simply "cut and run" from Iraq, or send every enlisted troop we have around the world to enact our revenge?

And fourth, how much debt do we really want to allow China to hold over our heads?

Of course, there are plenty more questions that we'd need to ask ourselves, but I don't want this post to become a book...

(it's funny how the initial idea for some posts morph entirely into some other creature by the time I post them... sort of like this one... I had intended to look back on Robertson's past predicitions and see if any of them were actually realized.)

It's a good thing that Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson is a crackpot... but it's sad that so many American's take his word as gospel.

I mean, here's a guy who adopted the name "Pat" (a nickname given to him by his brother because the sibling liked to "pat him on the cheeks and say 'pat, pat, pat'" while he did it) because he felt that Marion was to girly-sounding. Then again, I guess I can't really talk... since I made the mistake of calling myself "Little Chris" in college... eventually shortened to Little (or Lil), it's a name I haven't been able to shake for 12 years.

Anyway... just don't forget to buy a year's supply of duct tape and plastic sheets in the next few months... Pat has an idea that you'll be needing them!