Meet me on Facebook

Because I've been using Facebook so much lately, a lot of my newer stuff is there. I also don't feel so much of a need to write like I used to. So, I'm probably not going to keep this blog going much longer.

But, you can find me on Facebook. Do a search for uman (at) sunflower {dot} com and add me.

Cheers.

Addicts?

A realization I made a shared with a friend today:

This NPR Planet Money Podcast is great:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2009/02/get_tougher_please.html#more

 Their interviewees also argue for nationalization and explain why the government doesn’t want to.  It’s all variations of fear and denial. 

It’s starting to seem like the country is an addict and acting like addicts—unable to face reality, unable to tell the truth, unable to do what needs to be done, unable to comprehend what life would be like if they stopped living like addicts.

 

Put an end to stupid House Resolutions

One of the things I have been following lately is the Congressional legislative agenda. And I am absolutely amazed at how much time the House spends doing stupid things. In the midst of the worst recession in our history, here is the bulk of today's legislative agenda:

H.Res. 128­­ - Honoring Miami University for its 200 years of commitment to extraordinary higher education (Rep. Boehner – Education and Labor)

H.Res. 134 - Recognizing the 50th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s visit to India, and the positive influence that the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi had on Dr. King’s work during the Civil Rights Movement (Rep. Lewis (GA) – Judiciary)

H.Con.Res. 35 - Honoring and praising the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) on the occasion of its 100th anniversary (Rep. Al Green (TX) – Judiciary)

H.Res. 71 - Acknowledging the lifelong service of Griffin Boyette Bell to the State of Georgia and the United States as a legal icon (Rep. Kingston – Judiciary)

H.Res. 129 - Recognizing the historical significance of the Merced Assembly Center to the Nation and the importance of establishing an appropriate memorial at that site to serve as a place for remembering the hardships endured by Japanese Americans, so that the United States remains vigilant in protecting our Nation's core values of equality, due process of law, justice, and fundamental fairness (Rep. Cardoza – Judiciary)

H.Res. 114 - Supporting the goals and ideals of "National Girls and Women in Sports Day" (Rep. Sires – Education and Labor)

H.Res. 60 - Recognizing and commending University of Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford for winning the 2008 Heisman Trophy and for his academic and athletic accomplishments (Rep. Fallin – Education and Labor)

H.Res. 71 - Acknowledging the lifelong service of Griffin Boyette Bell to the State of Georgia and the United States as a legal icon (Rep. Kingston – Judiciary)
H.Res. 117 - Supporting the goals and ideals of National Engineers Week (Rep. Lipinski – Science and Technology)

H.Res. __ - Honoring John Dingell for holding the record as the longest serving Member of the House of Representatives (Rep. Kildee - House Administration)

Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

From Barbara Crafton

Can anything good come out of Nazareth?
John 1:46

Of course it can. Something good can come out of anywhere. Whatever else national origin or race or sexual orientation or religion or gender may confer on us, they seem not to carry automatic goodness or automatic evil. Those permate whole human family, and every segment has its share of both. I can't tell whether you are a good person or not just by looking at your passport. I will need to know more.

I wonder if bigotry is not the greatest of human evils, and the one at the root of all the others. The world would be such a different place if we didn't have it -- imagine what America would be like without racism, what marriage and families would be like if women had always been accorded equality with men, if the world had no memory of anything else. What if religion had never made exclusive claims on its believers, had never insisted that everyone outside the organization was doomed to an eternity in hell? Certainly, we would have had fewer wars.

Bigotry is the devil's perversion of love. He takes the natural love we feel for our own kind and refracts it into hatred and fear of the other. He makes us think we are being loyal to our own when we reject everyone else. Ugly and sad, this business, and it permeates everything we do.

But it can be cut off at the knees simply by a decision not to act in accordance with its dictates, and that decision can be made at any time by anybody. We do it ourselves, each of us. And sometimes we do it together, a wonder to behold. For, whatever has happened in the past, it is never too late to do a good thing.
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110-year-old lizard is now a dad

110-year-old lizard is now a dad

By Doug Gross
CNN

(CNN) — It took about 110 years and some delicate surgery on his most private parts, but Henry — a lizard-like creature from New Zealand — is now a dad.

Henry, a tuatara who, as far as curators at Southland Museum in New Zealand know, had never mated before, hooked up with Mildred, a younger woman of about 80, in March.

In July she laid 11 healthy eggs and, this week, all 11 of them hatched — the last one on Wednesday.

Stimulus Package

So according to a CNN article, here is what is in the stimulus package:
$142 billion for education,
$111 billion for health care,
$90 billion for infrastructure,
$72 billion for aid and benefits,
$54 billion for energy,
$16 billion for science and technology and
$13 billion for housing.

This just doesn't seem right. Housing is what started all this mess--people who have houses they can't afford and now aren't worth what they paid. So why is housing the SMALLEST part of the stimulus package?

Education is important, but it surprises me that it is the highest on the list. I was under the impression that this was going to be an infrastructure-based package.

Sick & Australian Open

I've been really sick (again). Actually, I haven't really stopped being sick since Dec 28th. Both a cold and a UTI/kidney infection. The cold is down to a cough that still hasn't quite gone away. It seems like just as I get better, I get worse. The UTI got really bad a couple of days ago. Fever, shakes, fast breathing. I started my 3rd set of antibiotics this week. We'll see how it goes.

The only good thing is that I've had plenty of time to watch TV, which means watching a lot of the Australian Open. Lots of Rafa Nadal (w00t!). The final should be nice.

Billions in bonuses using our money

This just makes me so freaking mad that it makes my eyes cross. If it were up to me, Obama would not get one more penny of the bailout until this crap was not only stopped, but reversed. Every executive who took a bonus should not only be required to give it back, they should be fired.

After losing billions, taking billions from taxpayers and avoiding disaster only by selling itself to Bank of America, Merrill Lynch was still ready to give a multimillion-dollar “performance” bonus to its chief executive, John Thain. It refrained only after a storm of protest that reached from Main Street to Capitol Hill.

As it turns out, the outrage was not enough to stop the flow of money to other executives. According to a report in The Financial Times on Thursday, Merrill granted $3 billion to $4 billion in bonuses in December — part of a total compensation budget of $15 billion for the year that was just slightly less than that of 2007.

Full story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/opinion/23fri2.html

White House in Technological Dark Ages

"It's like going from xbox to Atari."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/21/AR2009012104249_2.html

Hopefully Obama can get that fixed.

Pres. Obama Day 1

• Freeze salaries of top WH employees
• Ban on lobbyists for 2 years
• Ban on gifts
• New transparency rules for Freedom of Information Act requests
• Farcical Guantanamo Bay "trials" put on hold
• Draft order to close Guantanamo Bay released
• Discussion with Sec Def to end the war in Iraq within 16 months held
• Calls to every Middle East head of state
• Nomination of George Mitchell as special Middle East Envoy
• Directing agencies to tap into knowledge of "ordinary Americans" to find answers (whatever that means)
  
• New White House web site (whitehouse.gov) with list of all presidential executive orders
• $800 billion fiscal stimulus plan sent to Congress

Not bad for a first day, I think.

Idiot Sightings

IDIOT SIGHTING:
We had to have the garage door repaired. The Sears repairman told us that one of our problems was that we did not have a 'large' enough motor on the opener. I thought for a minute, and said that we had the largest one Sears made at that time, a 1/2 horsepower. He shook his head and said, 'Lady, you need a 1/4 horsepower.' I responded that 1/2 was larger than 1/4. He said, 'NO, it's not.' Four is larger than two..'

We haven't used Sears repair since.

IDIOT SIGHTING
My daughter and I went through the McDonald's take-out window and I gave the clerk a $5 bill. Our total was $4.25, so I also handed her a quarter. She said, 'you gave me too much money.' I said, 'Yes I know, but this way you can just give me a dollar bill back.' She sighed and went to get the manager who asked me to repeat my request. I did so, and he handed me back the quarter, and said 'We're sorry but they could not do that kind of thing.' The clerk then proceeded to give me back$1 and 75 cents in change.

Do not confuse the clerks at McD's.

IDIOT SIGHTING:
I live in a semi rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the local township administrative office to request the removal of the DEER CROSSING sign on our road. The reason: 'Too many deer are being hit by cars out here! I don't think this is a good place for them to be crossing anymore.'
From Kingman, KS.

IDIOT SIGHTING IN FOOD SERVICE:
My daughter went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a taco. She asked the person behind the counter for 'minimal lettuce.' He said he was sorry, but they only had iceberg lettuce.
From Kansas City

IDIOT SIGHTING:
I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an airport employee asked, and “Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge?” To which I replied, 'If it was without my knowledge, how would I know?' He smiled knowingly and nodded, 'That's why we ask.'
Happened in Birmingham, Ala.

IDIOT SIGHTING:
The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it's safe to cross the street. I was crossing with an intellectually challenged coworker of mine. She asked if I knew what the buzzer was for. I explained that it signals blind people when the light is red. Appalled, she responded, 'What on earth are blind people doing driving?!'
She was a probation officer in Wichita , KS

IDIOT SIGHTING:
At a good-bye luncheon for an old and dear coworker. She was leaving the company due to 'downsizing.' Our manager commented cheerfully, 'This is fun. We should do this more often.' Not another word was spoken. We all just looked at each other with that deer-in-the-headlights stare.
This was a lunch at Texas Instruments.

IDIOT SIGHTING:
I work with an individual who plugged her power strip back into itself and for the sake of her life, couldn't understand why her system would not turn on.
A deputy with the Dallas County Sheriffs office, no less.

IDIOT SIGHTING:
When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it. We went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the driver’s side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. 'Hey,' I announced to the technician, 'it's open!' His reply, 'I know. I already got that side.'
This was at the Ford dealership in Canton, Mississippi

Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson's invocation

Here is a video of Bishop Gene Robinson's invocation on Saturday that HBO refused forgot to air.