Sunday, April 05, 2009
Conservatism
I've been thinking a lot about conservatism lately, so when my Dad sent me a couple of recordings of Rush Limbaugh on the subject, I decided to record my feelings in a letter to him. I'm not going to link to that hate monger Rush Limbaugh, but you can probably find the cpac videos on you tube.
On to the letter:
* On the videos themselves, can anyone show me proof that Joe Biden said Bobby Jindal missed a day of work at 7-11 to give his response to Obama's state of the union as Rush joked? It's true that he said that "You cannot go to a 7/11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent" which is bad but also years ago so we've all been over that plenty by now.
But pretending that a successful Indian like Jindal or many who work in the silicon valley cannot get further than 7-11 is way worse (7-11 may be the American dream to some, so Biden's comment may be referring simply to the American dream.) The comment about Jindal appears, to my limited search, to be a Limbaugh original. Can anyone point me to video or respectable-news quote attributing Biden? All I can find following that speech is "conservative" ann coulter calling Jindal the "Slumdog candidate" so Rush not only proves himself a racist, but other Republicans follow his leadership.
On to the letter:
To me conservatism is about personal responsibility and the belief that if you work hard and everyone around you is held accountable, you can make a good life for yourself. It's not about people, it's about yourself.
That means that if I work really hard, I can get a promotion. If my employer produces a good product, they will be profitable. If the United States has the best morals, we can be the most admired country in the world. You can see what is not conservatism by reversing those: If my employer produces a good product, I get a promotion? If America has the best morals then my employer will produce good products? No, the work has to start from the bottom, and we can't rely on the organizations we are a part of to give us what we want just because as a whole they are strong.
Along with the rewards of personal responsibility are the accountabilities. If I don't do a good job at work, I'll be demoted or unemployed. If my employer doesn't produce the products that people want, then they need to cut costs and figure out who is not doing their job right. And if the United States doesn't have the strong morals, then it will need to figure out why and fix it.
But there's something troubling about that belief lately, and it's causing me to doubt. External and uncontrollable factors are creeping in. People who made bad decisions about buying a home are causing turbulence in the financial markets, and it could cause my employer to loose sales, and it could cause profits to be down, and cause arbitrary layoffs of good employees like me.
People lied to us about the Iraq war committed crimes, and they are getting away with it. I don't know whether the former president should have immunity in such matters, but if he tells someone to do something illegal then one or both of them needs to be held accountable. If not, future generations will blindly follow commands because they have no personal responsibility.
Climate change is happening on a broad scale, energy prices are bound to continue upwards, terrorism will still exist in the world and many other systematic problems will plague our world and "conservatism" as I see it cannot solve any of those problems. Really, these systematic failures prove to me that conservatism is false, and that's rather unfortunate.
We have to work together to get out of the financial mess and keep the greedy few accountable on Wall Street. (That includes an end to pussyfooting around with 90% taxes on bonuses and just fire those who lead companies that take bailout money.) We have to work together to make sure that the people who permitted torture in Guantanamo are locked away for a very long time. We need to work together to slow climate change, repair relations with the "others" and drop our dependence on foreign energy.
I hope that big government is NOT the way to do this, but I know that "conservatism" as defined in the dictionary as "preserving the status quo" will not get us there. Nor will listening to a drug addled hate monger like Rush Limbaugh. At the beginning of the 3rd recording he says "Stop assuming that the way to beat them is with better policy ideas." Well Mr. Limbaugh, if you have no ideas stop wasting so much air. The only way to get past all this is with creative thinking, something that we Americans are good at.
We need to be progressive, we need to work together, and we need to understand that there's no easy way out of the mistakes we've already made.
* On the videos themselves, can anyone show me proof that Joe Biden said Bobby Jindal missed a day of work at 7-11 to give his response to Obama's state of the union as Rush joked? It's true that he said that "You cannot go to a 7/11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent" which is bad but also years ago so we've all been over that plenty by now.
But pretending that a successful Indian like Jindal or many who work in the silicon valley cannot get further than 7-11 is way worse (7-11 may be the American dream to some, so Biden's comment may be referring simply to the American dream.) The comment about Jindal appears, to my limited search, to be a Limbaugh original. Can anyone point me to video or respectable-news quote attributing Biden? All I can find following that speech is "conservative" ann coulter calling Jindal the "Slumdog candidate" so Rush not only proves himself a racist, but other Republicans follow his leadership.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Multiplayer iPhone games
I love the iPhone as a gaming system. I've never been much into games, until the Wii that is, but I do think a good game is worth spending money for and doesn't have to be complicated. It's not easy to find multiplayer games for the iPhone though, so here's my list so far.
- Galcon: If you have a friend and you're looking to play a game with them, this is probably the best implementation of fun there is. You own planets, and you shoot little ships at other planets to colonize them. The gameplay is simple enough to learn, but the strategy takes a long time. It's a good 30 second game that is fun for hours. It's also really fun as a solo game, but if you don't have a friend to play with you might as well buy the free version which has everything but the ability to play against someone. This game costs 5$ but as mentioned, try out the free version first.
- Touch Hockey: FS5: It's your basic air hockey game and the controls are good and responsive. There's also a free version of this one you can try out to see if you like paying 2$ to play with your friend.
- Uno: This one has some issues with the computer players. It's an impressive game to be sure, but unless you set some gameplay options, which do not persist between games, the computer players can clobber you with their speed. Also, it appears you need to play it in solo mode to unlock some things like icons and stuff so I can't give it my full support at 5$ and no trail version.
- Fieldrunners: This is not a multiplayer game but if you get as addicted to it as either my girlfriend or I, you'll have no problems getting together, firing it up and ignoring eachother until one breaks a score record of the other. I could very easily replace a 90$ a month cable bill (if I still had one) with this 5$ application for the past 2 months and it shows no sign of wearing out as I just recently started playing Crossroads in Medium hardness mode.
Any other good multiplayer games I should try? Let me know!
- Galcon: If you have a friend and you're looking to play a game with them, this is probably the best implementation of fun there is. You own planets, and you shoot little ships at other planets to colonize them. The gameplay is simple enough to learn, but the strategy takes a long time. It's a good 30 second game that is fun for hours. It's also really fun as a solo game, but if you don't have a friend to play with you might as well buy the free version which has everything but the ability to play against someone. This game costs 5$ but as mentioned, try out the free version first.
- Touch Hockey: FS5: It's your basic air hockey game and the controls are good and responsive. There's also a free version of this one you can try out to see if you like paying 2$ to play with your friend.
- Uno: This one has some issues with the computer players. It's an impressive game to be sure, but unless you set some gameplay options, which do not persist between games, the computer players can clobber you with their speed. Also, it appears you need to play it in solo mode to unlock some things like icons and stuff so I can't give it my full support at 5$ and no trail version.
- Fieldrunners: This is not a multiplayer game but if you get as addicted to it as either my girlfriend or I, you'll have no problems getting together, firing it up and ignoring eachother until one breaks a score record of the other. I could very easily replace a 90$ a month cable bill (if I still had one) with this 5$ application for the past 2 months and it shows no sign of wearing out as I just recently started playing Crossroads in Medium hardness mode.
Any other good multiplayer games I should try? Let me know!
Monday, February 02, 2009
New Car
Some people think it's funny how I buy things. I'll hold out against buying, or buy a really low cost version of something for as long as I can. People then associate me with someone who has something against nice things. I resisted getting a cell phone for a long time back when it was the cool thing to do. Then when I got one, I researched everything and got a really nice, small one that I loved. Even today I have a 3G iPhone which is a far cry from my former anti-cell self. Likewise my new car has a lot of cool stuff and is Much better than my old car.
Her name is Audry.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
New York
The grand New York post!
We left Saturday at the leisurely hour of 10:30am for our 1:30pm flight. It was nice not having to scramble to get everything together, but it was a shame to lose a whole day to travel. Thu and I took the SouthAndEastBayShuttle.com and although they took pretty good care of us, Sunnyvale was the first stop so we had to spend a lot more time getting there than anyone else. The flight took less than the expected five and a half hours, but with time change that meant we didn't land until about 10:30pm. We arrived and figured out the AirTrain and LIRR to get into Manhattan, where we met Tabitha and Kyra at the Penn station. We had soup and hot chocolate before traveling up East Harlem where Tab lives.
On Sunday we went with my sisters and the roommates to morning brunch at Isabella's at 77th. The place was very nice, if crowded, and you get a drink included with breakfast (starting at noon). New York is cold in November, but that's not so inconvenient as the extreme HEAT indoors. Seriously you guys, the thermostat is not binary. After brunch we went to a craft market to stock up on cold weather gear and I got some fingerless gloves that transformed into mittens. They were quite practical but Christian said they were girly. I had seen someone with a British accent wearing some on the train the night before, so I decided not to let it bother me.
In the afternoon, my sisters had plans to see a play starring Harry Potter so we went to the Nintendo Store and to the Empire State building. We got to the top just as the sun was slipping behind the horizon, so it was very neat. We went shoe shopping briefly because Thu's feet were starting to hurt and we saw the Times Square new years eve ball inside Macy's! Then we headed up to 107th for a restaurant called Thai Market which was very good. To finish the night, we went back to Tab's place to start making an Apple pie for Thanksgiving dinner.
Monday we had breakfast at Tab's house and then went walking around the north part of Central Park. We tried to go to the New York museum, but it was closed on Mondays. We did see the conservatory garden which was quite different now in the cold than it was in June when I was here.
At 1:30, my parents landed at JFK so we headed back uptown to meet them as they came off the bus. Knowing they would be hungry when they arrived, we went to Reggio's coffee shop in the Village where the first cappuccino machine was brought over to America. Then we all went to the Pod hotel to check out the rooms and to get Thu and I checked in. We went back to Tab's for dinner prepared by Chrystelle and some games and then Thu and I had to take all our stuff to the hotel at about 11:30.
On Tuesday I had gotten tickets for the family to see the Rockettes, which my friend Michelle was an assistant choreographer for. We met for bagels in the morning, but the rain made it hard to eat around the cart so we found shelter in a public building. The show was very impressive, and a good time was had by all. Thu and Christian came with the family. We found the same Brazilian restaurant our family ate at last time we were in NY, but I was not as impressed this time. In the afternoon we went to St. John's cathedral and Columbia university. Then we wanted to try to get somebody tickets for Wicked through the lottery so we all entered our names. I won! Thu and I grabbed some Pizza while the family went to China Town for Dim Sum and to meet our friend Becca at the bus station coming from Boston. The show was fantastic, and the seats were superb.
Wednesday morning we decided to go to the Moma museum and Dave's friend was able to hook us up with free tickets. Most of us stayed for a while to keep out of Tab's way while she prepared turkey dinner but Mom went back early to help. By about 5pm we were all back at here place helping and getting her small, but not so small, apartment ready for eating Turkey. Dinner went well and we had plenty of food. We had planned on seeing the parade balloons being blown up this night, but we were too tired from eating.
Thursday morning we got up early so we could get to 66th street 2.5 hours early. Crowds grew and grew until there was standing room only and everyone kept warm by proximity. Finally the parade started and we saw classics as well as new acts. I saw Rick Astly and yelled out "Rick Roll!" He looked directly in my direction and looked horrified/dismayed, as if I had ruined a magic trick. Turns out he later disappeared into the cartoon's float he rode on and rick rolled the entire nation in front of Macy's.
After the parade we enjoyed mob-rule to get onto the subway (Someone had opened the emergency gates and everyone flowed in, despite the illegality of it but who was going to stop thousands of people trying to get on the train?) We rode up to 90th for Starbucks and Carmines for our second Turkey. This time we had the Balches and Rebecca, so an 18lb turkey was all that would suffice. Since we got there early and had Christian with us, we had excellent service and plenty of company.
At this point, some went home to nap but Mom, Dad, Thu and I went down to Belvedere castle and WTC. Then we met up with the girls for ice skating but were too tired to join, and just watched. Somehow, my parents had enough energy to join the girls for a movie but we decided to go home and finally sleep off the turkey.
On Friday morning, Thu and I packed up and went up to Tab's apartment at 120th and had breakfast with Mom, Dad, and Kyra as they prepared to fly home. Then we went with Tab to do some Black Friday dress shopping, and some excellent pizza at Patsies in the village. We got some cupcakes and then went to karaoke for drinks and songs with Dave, Chrystelle and Christian and of course Tabitha. Then we stumbled over to Mojitos for more drinks and guac, before finally heading home. We tried to watch Wall-E but only got through the Presto short and Up teaser trailer.
On Saturday, we went to the central park and Columbus circle to try and see the indoor snow. It never did snow before we went back to Tab's to make turkey sandwiches and prepare for our flight home. Although the seats in Delta flights are really hard and we were surrounded by Russians who didn't follow the airline educate, we got home without too much problem. The plane got home 45 minutes early, but we circled the airport for at least that long before getting back home.
Our vacation didn't end there, because Sunday was our scheduled Couple's massage at Watercourse Way in Palo Alto. What a great way to end a high-impact vacation! I have never felt so rich-- not wealthy like I had lots of money but upper-class like I was some great thinker or beloved figurehead. The steam room, dry brushing, massage, hot stones and hot oil really took out the knots from cold, stressful walking and sleeping of the week before.
We left Saturday at the leisurely hour of 10:30am for our 1:30pm flight. It was nice not having to scramble to get everything together, but it was a shame to lose a whole day to travel. Thu and I took the SouthAndEastBayShuttle.com and although they took pretty good care of us, Sunnyvale was the first stop so we had to spend a lot more time getting there than anyone else. The flight took less than the expected five and a half hours, but with time change that meant we didn't land until about 10:30pm. We arrived and figured out the AirTrain and LIRR to get into Manhattan, where we met Tabitha and Kyra at the Penn station. We had soup and hot chocolate before traveling up East Harlem where Tab lives.
On Sunday we went with my sisters and the roommates to morning brunch at Isabella's at 77th. The place was very nice, if crowded, and you get a drink included with breakfast (starting at noon). New York is cold in November, but that's not so inconvenient as the extreme HEAT indoors. Seriously you guys, the thermostat is not binary. After brunch we went to a craft market to stock up on cold weather gear and I got some fingerless gloves that transformed into mittens. They were quite practical but Christian said they were girly. I had seen someone with a British accent wearing some on the train the night before, so I decided not to let it bother me.
In the afternoon, my sisters had plans to see a play starring Harry Potter so we went to the Nintendo Store and to the Empire State building. We got to the top just as the sun was slipping behind the horizon, so it was very neat. We went shoe shopping briefly because Thu's feet were starting to hurt and we saw the Times Square new years eve ball inside Macy's! Then we headed up to 107th for a restaurant called Thai Market which was very good. To finish the night, we went back to Tab's place to start making an Apple pie for Thanksgiving dinner.
Monday we had breakfast at Tab's house and then went walking around the north part of Central Park. We tried to go to the New York museum, but it was closed on Mondays. We did see the conservatory garden which was quite different now in the cold than it was in June when I was here.
At 1:30, my parents landed at JFK so we headed back uptown to meet them as they came off the bus. Knowing they would be hungry when they arrived, we went to Reggio's coffee shop in the Village where the first cappuccino machine was brought over to America. Then we all went to the Pod hotel to check out the rooms and to get Thu and I checked in. We went back to Tab's for dinner prepared by Chrystelle and some games and then Thu and I had to take all our stuff to the hotel at about 11:30.
On Tuesday I had gotten tickets for the family to see the Rockettes, which my friend Michelle was an assistant choreographer for. We met for bagels in the morning, but the rain made it hard to eat around the cart so we found shelter in a public building. The show was very impressive, and a good time was had by all. Thu and Christian came with the family. We found the same Brazilian restaurant our family ate at last time we were in NY, but I was not as impressed this time. In the afternoon we went to St. John's cathedral and Columbia university. Then we wanted to try to get somebody tickets for Wicked through the lottery so we all entered our names. I won! Thu and I grabbed some Pizza while the family went to China Town for Dim Sum and to meet our friend Becca at the bus station coming from Boston. The show was fantastic, and the seats were superb.
Wednesday morning we decided to go to the Moma museum and Dave's friend was able to hook us up with free tickets. Most of us stayed for a while to keep out of Tab's way while she prepared turkey dinner but Mom went back early to help. By about 5pm we were all back at here place helping and getting her small, but not so small, apartment ready for eating Turkey. Dinner went well and we had plenty of food. We had planned on seeing the parade balloons being blown up this night, but we were too tired from eating.
Thursday morning we got up early so we could get to 66th street 2.5 hours early. Crowds grew and grew until there was standing room only and everyone kept warm by proximity. Finally the parade started and we saw classics as well as new acts. I saw Rick Astly and yelled out "Rick Roll!" He looked directly in my direction and looked horrified/dismayed, as if I had ruined a magic trick. Turns out he later disappeared into the cartoon's float he rode on and rick rolled the entire nation in front of Macy's.
After the parade we enjoyed mob-rule to get onto the subway (Someone had opened the emergency gates and everyone flowed in, despite the illegality of it but who was going to stop thousands of people trying to get on the train?) We rode up to 90th for Starbucks and Carmines for our second Turkey. This time we had the Balches and Rebecca, so an 18lb turkey was all that would suffice. Since we got there early and had Christian with us, we had excellent service and plenty of company.
At this point, some went home to nap but Mom, Dad, Thu and I went down to Belvedere castle and WTC. Then we met up with the girls for ice skating but were too tired to join, and just watched. Somehow, my parents had enough energy to join the girls for a movie but we decided to go home and finally sleep off the turkey.
On Friday morning, Thu and I packed up and went up to Tab's apartment at 120th and had breakfast with Mom, Dad, and Kyra as they prepared to fly home. Then we went with Tab to do some Black Friday dress shopping, and some excellent pizza at Patsies in the village. We got some cupcakes and then went to karaoke for drinks and songs with Dave, Chrystelle and Christian and of course Tabitha. Then we stumbled over to Mojitos for more drinks and guac, before finally heading home. We tried to watch Wall-E but only got through the Presto short and Up teaser trailer.
On Saturday, we went to the central park and Columbus circle to try and see the indoor snow. It never did snow before we went back to Tab's to make turkey sandwiches and prepare for our flight home. Although the seats in Delta flights are really hard and we were surrounded by Russians who didn't follow the airline educate, we got home without too much problem. The plane got home 45 minutes early, but we circled the airport for at least that long before getting back home.
Our vacation didn't end there, because Sunday was our scheduled Couple's massage at Watercourse Way in Palo Alto. What a great way to end a high-impact vacation! I have never felt so rich-- not wealthy like I had lots of money but upper-class like I was some great thinker or beloved figurehead. The steam room, dry brushing, massage, hot stones and hot oil really took out the knots from cold, stressful walking and sleeping of the week before.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Historic
The election is over but I still want to keep campaigning. I nominate this as the best quote from Barack's speech.
"This victory alone is not the change we seek--it is only the chance for us to make that change."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-barack-obama-speech,0,524762.story
McCain also had a very nice speech. But it was absolutely ruined by his supporters, booing whenever Barack was mentioned. You stay classy, Arizona.
http://www.freep.com/article/20081104/NEWS15/81105013/1118/RSS
"This victory alone is not the change we seek--it is only the chance for us to make that change."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-barack-obama-speech,0,524762.story
McCain also had a very nice speech. But it was absolutely ruined by his supporters, booing whenever Barack was mentioned. You stay classy, Arizona.
http://www.freep.com/article/20081104/NEWS15/81105013/1118/RSS
Monday, November 03, 2008
Winner 2008: YouTube!
There have been some fantastic videos this year. On election night (since I already voted!) I will be kicking back, watching the election coverage and re-visiting some of my favorite videos this year. You know what? Forget that. It's election-eve, I'm gonna do it now.
I'm not going to embed these since you loose the full-screen button.
- Palin vs. McCain debate
- Synchronized Debates
- Wassup beer commercial parody I didn't like the original and I didn't think I'd like the parody, but this really packs a lot of current events into one package.
- McCain's QVC infomercial
- Yes we can The video that got me interested in Obama.
- Palin rock You may have to sign in to enjoy this one :)
- 3 anti-Prop 8 ads in that endearing Mac style
- The vet who did not vet
- Just neat Obama video
- Will Ferrell as President Bush
- The hilarious presidential roast
- Colin Powell endorses Obama
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2nsGtd7y3c
- Another cool video
- Explaining the economic crisis
- A message from Sarah Palin
- Lil O'Reilly
- Money as debt
- The great schlep
- Disney presents: Sarah Palin movie
- Backwards candidate
I'm not going to embed these since you loose the full-screen button.
- Palin vs. McCain debate
- Synchronized Debates
- Wassup beer commercial parody I didn't like the original and I didn't think I'd like the parody, but this really packs a lot of current events into one package.
- McCain's QVC infomercial
- Yes we can The video that got me interested in Obama.
- Palin rock You may have to sign in to enjoy this one :)
- 3 anti-Prop 8 ads in that endearing Mac style
- The vet who did not vet
- Just neat Obama video
- Will Ferrell as President Bush
- The hilarious presidential roast
- Colin Powell endorses Obama
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2nsGtd7y3c
- Another cool video
- Explaining the economic crisis
- A message from Sarah Palin
- Lil O'Reilly
- Money as debt
- The great schlep
- Disney presents: Sarah Palin movie
- Backwards candidate
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Getting into the election now
I have never been so informed about an election until this year. In fact, with exception of Apple products I've probably never been so informed about a single issue in all my life. That's not to say I'm a political expert, just interested.
So when my friend asked me where to go for information on the election, I was taken aback because all my information was gleaned over months of daily news reports, speech videos, friends and relatives. How do you get involved this late in the election without all that previous knowledge? Not only knowledge of lipstick and celebrity status, but how anger, experience, the Clintons, age, race, and elitism factor into this race.
I told her how I felt, and planned to gather some resources to help her determine her own view. Here's what I would have sent her, but I found a better site down below for this sort of one shot election decision below.
http://origin.barackobama.com/issues/ - Barack's plan
http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/ - McCain's plan
http://www.electoral-vote.com/ - good for daily news and a snapshot of how the election is going.
http://labs.google.com/inquotes/ - Choose what topic you want to know about and get random quotes from candidates on the subject.
http://factcheck.org/, http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/ - Reports on the truthfulness of various ads. I take issue with their method of "unbias". They give equal time to each candidate but not all lies deserve the same weight. Factcheck.org videos are the worst, with the formula being 1 McCain, 1 Obama and one 3rd party ad checked even when there are 3 gregarious lies by McCain and the Obama lie is only a lie in certain contexts.
http://troykoelling.blogspot.com/2008/10/do-you-know-where-money-comes-from-this.html - My own blog pointing to videos about money and the financial crisis.
But then I found this site glassbooth.org. First, it lets you rank issues as important or not. Don't worry if you think it seems like you are supporting an issue you care about, because on the next page it takes only the issues you care about and asks you whether you support or oppose it, and how strongly you feel this way. Finally, it compares your answers with various candidates and shows you which one you are most like. Most importantly, it lets you "find out why" the candidate is aligned with you or not with links to their votes and quotes. Glassbooth.org is a very good site.
If you are interested, I matched 71% with Barack Obama and 58% with John McCain.
So that's my advice for being informed when you go vote. Next challenge: Amendments and Propositions.
So when my friend asked me where to go for information on the election, I was taken aback because all my information was gleaned over months of daily news reports, speech videos, friends and relatives. How do you get involved this late in the election without all that previous knowledge? Not only knowledge of lipstick and celebrity status, but how anger, experience, the Clintons, age, race, and elitism factor into this race.
I told her how I felt, and planned to gather some resources to help her determine her own view. Here's what I would have sent her, but I found a better site down below for this sort of one shot election decision below.
http://origin.barackobama.com/issues/ - Barack's plan
http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/ - McCain's plan
http://www.electoral-vote.com/ - good for daily news and a snapshot of how the election is going.
http://labs.google.com/inquotes/ - Choose what topic you want to know about and get random quotes from candidates on the subject.
http://factcheck.org/, http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/ - Reports on the truthfulness of various ads. I take issue with their method of "unbias". They give equal time to each candidate but not all lies deserve the same weight. Factcheck.org videos are the worst, with the formula being 1 McCain, 1 Obama and one 3rd party ad checked even when there are 3 gregarious lies by McCain and the Obama lie is only a lie in certain contexts.
http://troykoelling.blogspot.com/2008/10/do-you-know-where-money-comes-from-this.html - My own blog pointing to videos about money and the financial crisis.
But then I found this site glassbooth.org. First, it lets you rank issues as important or not. Don't worry if you think it seems like you are supporting an issue you care about, because on the next page it takes only the issues you care about and asks you whether you support or oppose it, and how strongly you feel this way. Finally, it compares your answers with various candidates and shows you which one you are most like. Most importantly, it lets you "find out why" the candidate is aligned with you or not with links to their votes and quotes. Glassbooth.org is a very good site.
If you are interested, I matched 71% with Barack Obama and 58% with John McCain.
So that's my advice for being informed when you go vote. Next challenge: Amendments and Propositions.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Money is debt
Do you know where money comes from? This video is entirely fascinating and relevant, despite being released two years ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy-fD78zyvI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfXavRTM4Fg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yvRZoM-2r8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0p8LepIuVM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzXZ_Hs1g6U
It's 45 minutes, so get comfortable. Despite that, I've watched it 3 times in the last 2 weeks and learned something new each time. I'm not sure the solutions are viable, but the problems are real, frightening, and immediate. The proof is in the news.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy-fD78zyvI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfXavRTM4Fg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yvRZoM-2r8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0p8LepIuVM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzXZ_Hs1g6U
It's 45 minutes, so get comfortable. Despite that, I've watched it 3 times in the last 2 weeks and learned something new each time. I'm not sure the solutions are viable, but the problems are real, frightening, and immediate. The proof is in the news.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
McCain gambles
McCain is gambling with his political campaign, and so far it's working. Three notable gambles: 1) Sarah Palin 2) Canceling the RNC for the hurricane 3) Pausing the campaign to return to Washington for the economic crisis.
Time magazine profiles each candidate's gambling habits: Candidates' Vices" Craps and Poker
I'm trying to write shorter blog posts, but let me say a quick thing about each of McCain's gambles. Sarah Palin has turned into a pinup girl. The press is allowed to take pictures but no video or audio, and no questions. The RNC hurricane (a better name Might be Gustav but who will remember that?) ended up being a non issue, and McCain played the right bet here. The campaign pause is a total publicity stunt. He has not stopped TV commercials and has made appearances on 5 (five) television networks since he announced he would stop campaigning. If people called "STUNT!" on any of these things, they would realize they cannot vote for John McCain.
Here by accident, is a nice video wrapup of this blog post
Time magazine profiles each candidate's gambling habits: Candidates' Vices" Craps and Poker
I'm trying to write shorter blog posts, but let me say a quick thing about each of McCain's gambles. Sarah Palin has turned into a pinup girl. The press is allowed to take pictures but no video or audio, and no questions. The RNC hurricane (a better name Might be Gustav but who will remember that?) ended up being a non issue, and McCain played the right bet here. The campaign pause is a total publicity stunt. He has not stopped TV commercials and has made appearances on 5 (five) television networks since he announced he would stop campaigning. If people called "STUNT!" on any of these things, they would realize they cannot vote for John McCain.
Here by accident, is a nice video wrapup of this blog post
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Costs
"Americans in general want a clean, prosperous environment, with lots to do, good paying jobs, nice homes, good transportation, healthy food. But what are we willing to do to get there?" asked a friend. She mentioned that one way she is adjusting to the changes that the US is facing is by a 12$/month unlimited bus pass. I'm jealous! Here's the rest of my reply:
First and foremost, I think that as Americans we need to pay more attention to the total costs associated with our actions. Your bus pass is partially paid by taxes, probably on some people who don't use public transportation very much, if at all. But even though their tax money isn't getting them from point A to point B, they receiving lighter traffic because you seek out alternative means of transportation. They are ensuring that somebody drives less and saves the environment. And they are keeping the bus driver employed, off the streets and earning money to be taxed by the local government. All in all, that sounds like a good cost!
The federal government also has programs that need to be paid for by taxes, but Bush recklessly offered tax cuts (favoring the rich) without cutting the programs those taxes paid for. This irresponsibility caused the budget deficit to rise higher than ever before. Just take a look at this graph, where the national debt (as percent of GDP) is clearly rising over the periods of Regan, Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. http://zfacts.com/p/318.html
But both McCain and Obama know that raising taxes on people who are just scraping by will not help the economy. The difference is that Barack recognizes that there are some people who can afford to continue paying for the programs their representatives voted into place. He has not proposed raising taxes on the rich. Taxes for people making $250k will return to what they were when Bush took office, because Barack is just going to let the tax cuts expire as they are scheduled to do. The republicans have done a good job painting this as a tax increase, but in fact this is just the post-Thanksgiving sale at Bloomingdale's expiring on Friday night.
What are the costs of the Iraq war? Ten billion US dollars a month, Four thousand US casualties and Twenty thousand Iraqi people dead. What are the costs of the Paulson bailout plan? Seven hundred billion dollars per year, non-reviewable, and non-recoupable by us, the tax payers.
You are right that we are going to have to make adjustments no matter who gets elected in November. But to me, the adjustments are in how we pay for these mistakes. We can't just put it on our Chinese Express credit card and hope the problem goes away.
So the image I would like to see the United States follow is one of more intelligence. You know I was called "elitist" for saying that? (by my own mother!) Where else in the world can you elect a candidate because he's not too smart, not too rich, and not too handsome? I think we should be selecting the best president we can, and right now that is Barack Obama.
First and foremost, I think that as Americans we need to pay more attention to the total costs associated with our actions. Your bus pass is partially paid by taxes, probably on some people who don't use public transportation very much, if at all. But even though their tax money isn't getting them from point A to point B, they receiving lighter traffic because you seek out alternative means of transportation. They are ensuring that somebody drives less and saves the environment. And they are keeping the bus driver employed, off the streets and earning money to be taxed by the local government. All in all, that sounds like a good cost!
The federal government also has programs that need to be paid for by taxes, but Bush recklessly offered tax cuts (favoring the rich) without cutting the programs those taxes paid for. This irresponsibility caused the budget deficit to rise higher than ever before. Just take a look at this graph, where the national debt (as percent of GDP) is clearly rising over the periods of Regan, Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. http://zfacts.com/p/318.html
But both McCain and Obama know that raising taxes on people who are just scraping by will not help the economy. The difference is that Barack recognizes that there are some people who can afford to continue paying for the programs their representatives voted into place. He has not proposed raising taxes on the rich. Taxes for people making $250k will return to what they were when Bush took office, because Barack is just going to let the tax cuts expire as they are scheduled to do. The republicans have done a good job painting this as a tax increase, but in fact this is just the post-Thanksgiving sale at Bloomingdale's expiring on Friday night.
What are the costs of the Iraq war? Ten billion US dollars a month, Four thousand US casualties and Twenty thousand Iraqi people dead. What are the costs of the Paulson bailout plan? Seven hundred billion dollars per year, non-reviewable, and non-recoupable by us, the tax payers.
You are right that we are going to have to make adjustments no matter who gets elected in November. But to me, the adjustments are in how we pay for these mistakes. We can't just put it on our Chinese Express credit card and hope the problem goes away.
So the image I would like to see the United States follow is one of more intelligence. You know I was called "elitist" for saying that? (by my own mother!) Where else in the world can you elect a candidate because he's not too smart, not too rich, and not too handsome? I think we should be selecting the best president we can, and right now that is Barack Obama.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Golden Parachute
John McCain admits that the economy is not one of his strong suits, so one of McCain's personal economic advisors is Carly Fiorina. She successfully ran the IPO of Lucent in 1996 and she was named by Fortune magazine as the most powerful woman in business in 1998. But she does not think John McCain or Sarah Palin would be qualified to run a business. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/16/fiorina-palin-couldnt-do_n_126827.html
How hard could it be? Well, Fiorina, who successfully ran the IPO of Lucent then went on to smash HP into the ground. On her watch, HP's market value was cut in half and the board of directors asked her to leave.
Now here's what really gets me angry: failures are rewarded. Fiorina was awarded a $21 million dollar cash severance along with the ~$21 stock valuation she held (a valuation that would have been higher had she not wrecked the company). Is this what she thinks happens to people who loose their job? No wonder McCain thinks the economy is doing alright, the unemployment rate is higher than ever so clearly all those people have a nice severance hidden away.
The HP fiasco is personal too. My Dad's aunt was an employee for HP for many years and one of the nicest people you will ever meet. She was within months of retirement when Fiorina led the merger with Compaq, and she was made redundant. Months away from a big party, cake, pension and health care, she was laid off.
Ultimately, a "Golden Parachute" is up to the company's board to dole out but it's encouraging to hear Barack put workers first in this situation:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gG5qWh
How hard could it be? Well, Fiorina, who successfully ran the IPO of Lucent then went on to smash HP into the ground. On her watch, HP's market value was cut in half and the board of directors asked her to leave.
Now here's what really gets me angry: failures are rewarded. Fiorina was awarded a $21 million dollar cash severance along with the ~$21 stock valuation she held (a valuation that would have been higher had she not wrecked the company). Is this what she thinks happens to people who loose their job? No wonder McCain thinks the economy is doing alright, the unemployment rate is higher than ever so clearly all those people have a nice severance hidden away.
The HP fiasco is personal too. My Dad's aunt was an employee for HP for many years and one of the nicest people you will ever meet. She was within months of retirement when Fiorina led the merger with Compaq, and she was made redundant. Months away from a big party, cake, pension and health care, she was laid off.
Ultimately, a "Golden Parachute" is up to the company's board to dole out but it's encouraging to hear Barack put workers first in this situation:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gG5qWh
