In My Mind's Eye

There are many dangers to being unemployed - not having enought money to pay bills, looking for a job in this economy, boredom. But the biggest danger I've seen so far is that I read too much news, and actually have started reading the 1000+ page healthcare bill from Congress. I've only gotten through the first 50 pages. To put it nicely, reading a 1000 page book on just about any other subject would be better than trying to read through this bill. There is quite a bit of "see section xxxx, x, x, x,.1" in this that I'm not sure I'll ever quite understand all the ins and outs, and yet, I'm doing it. Within the first 50 pages, I've already found places where both sides have been wrong. It is a fact that 5 years after the bill is passed you may not be able to keep your current insurance even if you like it. And if you switch your insurance in that 5 year period, you will have to use the government exchange. You can still buy a private plan, but th

The word "stupidly" seems to have made a comeback in the last week. It all started when the press asked President Obama how he felt about the arrest of Henry Louis Gates for disorderly conduct. Professor Gates, a Harvard Professor, was arrested after a passer-by reported what looked like an attempted break-in. It turns out it wasn't a break-in, just the Professor trying to get in his own house. Now, I have locked myself out of the house and had to crawl in a window on more than one occasion, but have never had my neighbors or anyone else call the cops. However, had that been the case, I would have been happy to provide the officers with proof that I lived in said residence, and then let them go on their way. It's their job to investigate when something like that is reported, and I would be grateful that someone actually was trying to protect my private property. Mr. Gates wasn't so grateful, and for some reason unknown to any of us, he started bullying and

When Congress was in the process of writing and passing the $787 billion stimulus, many Conservatives and Libertarians took to calling it the "Porkulus". Of course, that was based on the few things people actually found out before it passed. Now we can "track" our stimulus money. So this funny tidbit appeared on one of my many daily reading sites: We, the taxpayers, have bought ourselves $16 million worth of canned pork from Lakeside Foods in Plainview, MN. It's actually listed as "Canned Pork" on the recovery.gov website. If only I had the time to go through every project listed to see what we are actually buying. I just thought, since some of us claimed that the stimulus was packed with pork projects and election payoffs, that actually spending that kind of money on canned pork was...ironic. Of course, I'm still waiting for the QUACAA to become available online so we can actually read it before it becomes law, and the President is pushing

So, yet again yesterday, our President decided to hold a mini sales pitch, er... press conference, to sell his Health Care Reform. This comes after ABC's fawning 2 hour coverage, and after earlier this week all 3 major networks gave him the time to talk about it. I guess it's a good thing it's summer, and most programs on TV are re-runs. At least he won't be pissing off the average American Idol fan by pre-empting their show. (Yes, remember all those "stimulus" news conferences?) Let's face it, the President is a darn good salesman. He sold the American Public his campaign, and they bought it. And not long after he won the election, he sold his Stimulus Plan, and manage to drum up enough support in the polls that Congress passed it. It also appears to have worked for Cap and Trade, but then, most people didn't support that. Congress voted for it anyway. So with 60% of Americans not feeling an urgency to increase the deficit with another governme

I had not expected to be gone this long but as I mentioned in the very beginnings of this blog, I am sick of politics. I have continued to read the news, but all I really do is ... read. I haven't really had any desire to comment on anything I've read. I've simply been sitting back and watching. Current things in the news: North Korea has threatened the U.S. Iranian leaders crushed (literally) dissent in the recent elections The Honduras Congress and Supreme Court ruled that the president couldn't unconstitutionally seek a third term The US Congress barely passed a "Cap and Trade" bill Both the US Congress and Senate are pushing for a huge health care overhaul Michael Jackson died There are six things posted above, and just to be fun, can anyone guess which one of those things is getting the most news coverage? Yes, you are correct. It's Michael Jackson. Let me start by saying this: It's a tragedy that Michael Jackson died at the age of 50. He

Just in case you were wondering, no, I did not watch the inauguration. (for two reasons) 1 - I had to work, and they don't pay me to watch television while I'm at work. I did hear of some places where people sat glued to the rare televisions that appear in offices. 2 - I haven't watched an inauguration since 1985 - Ronald Reagan's 2nd term. I don't remember much about that inauguration as I was only 9 years old. I did read President Obama's speech. That's the best I could do for that day. I'm no fan of Obama's, and most people who know even a little about me could back that up. However, the day after his election, I did write a piece on my facebook saying we should give him a chance to prove us (his dissenters) wrong. This opinion of mine contrasts greatly with many Conservative and Republican commentators who say we should give him as much of a chance as the other side gave Bush. However, I have always held to the belief that we are, better,