In the US, politicans who bring up any concept of Socialized Medicine are vilified and crucified.
But the US Government just socialized mortgages by taking over Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, I didn’t hear one right wing Republican stand up and scream that it is not the government’s role to bail out failing businesses. In fact, the only person I’ve heard pointing out the real truth here in the national media is Jim Jubak.
And the 5 trillion which just hit the national US Debt, is not being included in the current government’s budget projections. If they had planned for that expense, then they would have a much larger deficit, and that would be really bad for the Republican party. They would have to cut back somewhere, or *gasp*, raise taxes to pay for it. Either way, that would be bad for their election hopes.
I hear that Sarah Palin has a couple hundred million stashed away somewhere, maybe that could be used to pay down some debt. Oh wait, that’s free money. A gift from the other 49 to #49, and they can use it for whatever they want.
Isn’t that called a transfer payment then (not even an earmark)?
Sounds awfully Socialist to me.
Socialized medicine in the US is disliked by business because it affects profits. Socialized debt relief in the US is liked by big business because it affects profits.
I would rather have my government running the medical system than the banking system. Let the banks rise and fall on their own. Lift the people up when they need a hand, not the other way around.
Okay, so it’s been almost a month, where have I been?
1. Enjoying the summer. Neighborhood barbeques, going to Eastern Washington, playing with the kids in the yard and going to the park. My Saturdays and Sundays are much busier than they were a couple of years ago. The kids are doing great, learning new words all the time. They love to talk on the phone and it’s fun to call home from work and talk to them. We are now working on the jealousy and discipline stuff, and that’s hard, but hopefully this phase will pass quickly. Timeouts are getting common again, but less for safety issues, and more for trouble caused.
2. Working. I’ve been pretty busy at work, with 3 different projects for 3 different clients going live in the last three weeks. It seems like it all came together in the last 8 days, and we’ve been driving pretty hard for that, and I’ve even been… gasp… working from home at night and on the weekends. That should wrap up after this weekend though and get back to normal.
3. Writing. I’ve been writing consistently (almost every day) since I bought my new laptop, and it’s going very well. Hopefully I’ll have something to show for all the effort by the end of the year, but if not, at least it’s gotten my creative juices flowing again. It does make it harder to sleep when my mind is on all the time, but I’m getting use to it.
I’ve slowed down on my movie watching and reading a bit lately since my spare time has been more spoken for, for here’s a summary of what I have read or watched since the last update.
Book: The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldemann. Ehhh. It was okay, but not thrilling
Book: The Dead Zone by Stephen King. Pretty Good. Made me want to go out and NetFlix the TV series based on the book. We watched the first three episodes. If I was ever stuck on bed rest for a few months, I get more episodes sometime in the second month, but I’m not going to spend my valuable time watching borderline TV right now.
Book: The Wastelands by Stephen King (Book 3 of the Dark Tower Series). I really like this series. King has done a wonderful job with the main characters, and I’m already into book 4 (Wizard and Glass).
Movie: Inside Man – how can good actors just thud so badly? Bad writing.
Movie: Zodiac – Mildly Scary, but good movie, especially if you weren’t around in the early 70s to know much about the Zodiac Killer in California.
Movie: 21 – College Kids from MIT try to break Vegas. Could have been better.
Movie: Collateral – This was on Lisa’s to-watch list for a couple of years and it finally arrived. Not a horrible flick. A Saturday night, just kick back and root for the good guy movie
Movie: The Bucket List – We saw this 2 days before Morgan Freeman’s big car wreck. It was a good watch with some funny lines.
Movie: Death at a Funeral – Some funny moments, but not a brilliant movie like ‘Hott Fuzz’
Anyway, that’s been the last month or so. I’ll try to write more often in the future. As the weather gets bad, it gets easier to find the time, but with the good weather, we’re outside as much as we can be.
Yes, I’ve been slacking, but with good reason. Here are some recent pics of the kids
As you can see, Lorelai is a HAM!
http://www.komonews.com/news/27349064.html
I am amazed this hasn’t caught national attention yet? Where is the ACLU? Why aren’t they protesting this? This isn’t an immigration issue. It’s a constitutional issue.
Just wow.
Today was the first day I drove to work since starting my job in January. That’s pretty much 5 days a week of riding public transit for 7 months (give or take a day or two for holidays and work from home. It’s 35 miles from door to door each way for me to work. That’s 70 miles a day. 350 miles a week. 26 weeks. 9100 miles. My truck gets about 16 mpg (yes, I know, that sucks). That about 569 gallons of gas. At $4.00 per gallon = $2275 for gas. Now add $10 a day for parking (50 * 26 = 1300). That’s a total of $3575 every six months, or 7150 a year. I pay 1683 for my commuter pass on the train for the year. No parking cost. I drive 3 miles a day back and forth to the train station. That $195 worth of gas (48 gallons for the year). That’s a total of $1878.
So by taking the train, I’ve saved myself $5272. I’ve also been able to cut my insurance bill by $15 a month for driving so few miles, and instead on needing to replace my truck in 2 years, I should be able to make it last another 5. Plus now I’m doing oil changes because three months have passed, not 3000 miles.
Someone told me I could buy a pass on Craig’s List for really cheap. Basically I could buy one that is being sold by someone who gets it subsidized by their company. It’s technically illegal, but the cards aren’t tracked, so no one would ever know, except me. But I’m already saving money, and I’m using public transit, so why shouldn’t I pay for it? People looked at me like I was an idiot when I said that, but I really wonder what they think is going to happen if people who use things don’t pay for it?
Anyway, I drove today because I had to go to the Department of Homeland Security for my Biannual Biometrics Scan (people who are in process for getting permanent residence get to do all kinds of fun things). I got there just as people started to queue up for a Citizenship ceremony. There were people there from all over the world, with their families in tow, just so happy and nervous to be there. I was lucky that I got there when I did, because by the time I got through security the line was out the door and down the sidewalk.
As I watched them go through the last of the paperwork process, led by a middle aged gentleman who obviously loved what he was doing, I wondered if I would ever decide to take the plunge and apply for US Citizenship. As a Canadian, I can have dual citizenship, and having American citizenship would allow me to take certain jobs, to come and go more freely, and to vote. But I really haven’t decided yet. I don’t know that I can be two things right now. I am still Canadian, no matter how long I’ve lived outside the country, I still consider myself Canadian. Perhaps at one time, I wanted to be American more than anything else. And I am happy to be living here, with an amazing wife and incredible children, a nice house and ‘the American dream’. But I can’t say I want to ‘become’ American. I can’t put my finger on it yet. perhaps someday, my daughter will come up to me and ask me why I don’t vote here, and I’ll realize that it’s time to take the leap. But for now, I’m happy remaining Canadian. Maybe it’s because I still have the thought in the back of my head that someone will come up to me and make me an offer to run for Prime Minister of Canada. Since I can’t be President in the US, and I haven’t gotten them to buy off on me as Supreme Emperor yet, I don’t want to bury the possibility of leading Canada at some point.
Oh, and the other thing being on the train has allowed me to do is to read a ridiculous number of books this year. The latest reads include:
The Wandering Fire / The Darkest Road by Guy Gavriel Kay. I don’t usually give my sister much credit for good taste in books, but wow. Just wow. If you liked Lord of the Rings, you will love these books (Start with the first one of the trilogy, The Summer Tree). I’ve never had so many goose pimply moments in a book series. It’s almost as good as the Hyperion Trilogy by Dan Simmons, and a heck of a lot easier to read. And as a former World of Warcraft player, let me tell you that there are parts of the game of WoW which are definitely stolen (homage paid to?) from these books.
I also finished the second book of the Steven King Gunslinger Series (The Drawing of the Three), which is pretty good. If you start this series, makes sure you have lots of time on your hands. It’s seven books long, and characters from many of his other novels make appearances in these books. When I’m done, I have to go back and reread The Stand and read The Shining (yikes)
And yes, I am using my new laptop to write (not at the moment), but on the train each morning. The creative juices are flowing again, and I’m hoping that writing in a scheduled way really helps me to eliminate my procrastination. I’m already finding I’m cutting back even more on TV in order to read and write. If I could only shake my addiction to ‘The Daily Show with John Stewart’, I could go entire nights without turning on the tube. It’s amazing how at one time I couldn’t live without ESPN, now I can’t remember the last time I watched Sportscenter.
Those of you who have known me for a while know that I’ve played Fantasy Football a lot in the last few years. Well it doesn’t look like it is going to happen this year. Last year’s commissioner embezzled the league fees and got fired from his job for illegally selling airline passes on EBay, and the league just kind of fell apart. So this year, I am just going to try to watch the games for the sake of the games, not the money. Who knows, I may be able to cancel my NFL Sunday ticket soon too. Depends on how much the Lions suck this year.
Well, I was going to read tonight, but it looks like it’s bed time, so till I have another update. C ya.
And, oh, Eclecta… Fire the prick.
Look at me! I’m blogging… from the train! I’m mobile now! Lookout world. Holy exclamation points, Batman.
Okay, I got my new laptop half an hour ago and ran to catch the early train home so we can drive out to Eastern Washington tonight. Now I’m sitting here, hands on the keyboard of my new Toshiba Satellite U405-2854, wondering, so what else can this thing do?
A coworker and I were talking about now that the Olympics and the NFL Season are starting up, most of the American public will divert their attention from Barak O’McCainia to more of what they really care about. I said there is a reason why elections are held in November. People care about football and Christmas presents in Novemeber.
But hold the election on April 15th each year (tax day), and see how much people care about who’s running up the biggest deficit in American history. I’m betting there would be major changes a’coming then.
Joe Beernink 