So, I love music. Lots of rock and metal, but I can find something in most genres I can appreciate if not seek out.
Classic NWOBHM, New Wave of British Heavy Metal, is something I've been getting into recently. Iron Maiden in particular is a band I've come to love.
Mashups are a where two songs are "mashed" together. Something DJs have been doing for years but with the advent of youtube its been getting highly popular.
Here is a mashup of the Monkees song "I'm a Believer" with Iron Maiden's "The Trooper." You all know "I'm a Believer" so I'll just post the original The Trooper and the mashup.
I personally find this to be brilliant. Oh, and I WILL be able to play The Trooper on guitar one day. Well, maybe not the solos, cause they're just silly.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Wisconsin Update
Well, as of this writing the blatant assault on worker's rights continues in Wisconsin. Not sure how its being reported nationally, but the Democrats and union heads have agreed to the pension and insurance concessions, if the Governor would budge on pretty much stripping the unions of any union power.
He has refused.
According to the Democrats he has refused to even bother to return phone calls on the issue.
As if it wasn't apparent before this is a politically motivated move, this proves it as the economic aspects have been worked out.
He just refuses to discuss the non-economic sides of the issue. Lovely.
He has refused.
According to the Democrats he has refused to even bother to return phone calls on the issue.
As if it wasn't apparent before this is a politically motivated move, this proves it as the economic aspects have been worked out.
He just refuses to discuss the non-economic sides of the issue. Lovely.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Politics as budget policy
If you're following the situation in Wisconsin right now you're probably feeling a surge of emotion. Most likely you feel a surge of sympathy for the state workers who are unfairly being targeted as the source of all the state's budget woes.
Or you are excited by the crusading Governor who's going to reign in those unions and right the ship!
Well, hang on. Let me illustrate for you how this is nothing but a power grab and will do a little, but not much to help fix their budget.
First, this is nothing more than a chance to essentially destroy the unions in Wisconsin that primarily vote Democrat. By stripping unions of the power to collectively bargain on anything but wages, taking away their right to collect dues, and forcing them to apply for recertification every year they are pretty much saying "We want you to go away."
Interestingly enough, the police, firefighter and state trooper unions aren't going to be effected under this law. Those unions tend to vote Republican in higher numbers. Oddly though, those are the unions that also wrack up the most money in overtime as teachers and most state employees (outside of DOT employees and a few others) generally do no get paid any overtime at all no matter how many hours they work.
Second, this smacks in the face the Republican ideal of "people's rights to make decisions." There is no effort being made to go to the unions and work with them and letting the union's members speak. Its an all out assault on them, stripping away what was agreed too, rightly or wrongly, without actually attempting to work out the issue.
Remember back when everyone was upset the AIG bankers were still getting their multi-million dollar bonuses as AIG was bailed out. But Obama said that they couldn't break the contracts? Well, apparently Wisconsin has no such qualms. And this isn't about multi-million dollar bankers. This is about average everyday people. People who are being unfairly targeted by those jealous that the economic situation hasn't struck them as hard.
Are certain state contracts stupid? Yup. 30 years and then you can instantly start collecting your pension doesn't work. (Note, that's not teachers, who work as hard if not harder than pretty much anyone outside of law enforcement. They have to work between 35-36 years to get their full pension.) However, making radical attacks on these union contracts (and actually the unions themselves) with no attempt to negotiate is 100% political, because let's get to the numbers.
The Republicans claim that by doing this they will be saving the state 300 million over the next two years. Ok, that's nice, but the financial concessions are being accepted this goes way beyond that.
Let me put this out here: Wisconsin, Illinois, many states, and our federal gov't, are in ugly financial condition. The states even more so as they have fewer options on what to do about things.
The "budget cutting" in Wisconsin is every bit as much a political ploy as the Texas redistricting of 2003. However now, it directly effects people's lives, every day working folk, simply because a legislature wasn't able to control itself in the past.
Now, I'm not blindly pro-union. They too often are ancient behemoths, out of touch with reality. They need to reform themselves to the new way of the world. But we the worker NEED them. We need them as almost as badly as we did in the 30s. This blatant political assault on public unions is a BAD THING and sadly just another case of the two-party system utterly failing its constituency.
*Edit:Fixed a numbers mistake
Or you are excited by the crusading Governor who's going to reign in those unions and right the ship!
Well, hang on. Let me illustrate for you how this is nothing but a power grab and will do a little, but not much to help fix their budget.
First, this is nothing more than a chance to essentially destroy the unions in Wisconsin that primarily vote Democrat. By stripping unions of the power to collectively bargain on anything but wages, taking away their right to collect dues, and forcing them to apply for recertification every year they are pretty much saying "We want you to go away."
Interestingly enough, the police, firefighter and state trooper unions aren't going to be effected under this law. Those unions tend to vote Republican in higher numbers. Oddly though, those are the unions that also wrack up the most money in overtime as teachers and most state employees (outside of DOT employees and a few others) generally do no get paid any overtime at all no matter how many hours they work.
Second, this smacks in the face the Republican ideal of "people's rights to make decisions." There is no effort being made to go to the unions and work with them and letting the union's members speak. Its an all out assault on them, stripping away what was agreed too, rightly or wrongly, without actually attempting to work out the issue.
Remember back when everyone was upset the AIG bankers were still getting their multi-million dollar bonuses as AIG was bailed out. But Obama said that they couldn't break the contracts? Well, apparently Wisconsin has no such qualms. And this isn't about multi-million dollar bankers. This is about average everyday people. People who are being unfairly targeted by those jealous that the economic situation hasn't struck them as hard.
Are certain state contracts stupid? Yup. 30 years and then you can instantly start collecting your pension doesn't work. (Note, that's not teachers, who work as hard if not harder than pretty much anyone outside of law enforcement. They have to work between 35-36 years to get their full pension.) However, making radical attacks on these union contracts (and actually the unions themselves) with no attempt to negotiate is 100% political, because let's get to the numbers.
The Republicans claim that by doing this they will be saving the state 300 million over the next two years. Ok, that's nice, but the financial concessions are being accepted this goes way beyond that.
Let me put this out here: Wisconsin, Illinois, many states, and our federal gov't, are in ugly financial condition. The states even more so as they have fewer options on what to do about things.
The "budget cutting" in Wisconsin is every bit as much a political ploy as the Texas redistricting of 2003. However now, it directly effects people's lives, every day working folk, simply because a legislature wasn't able to control itself in the past.
Now, I'm not blindly pro-union. They too often are ancient behemoths, out of touch with reality. They need to reform themselves to the new way of the world. But we the worker NEED them. We need them as almost as badly as we did in the 30s. This blatant political assault on public unions is a BAD THING and sadly just another case of the two-party system utterly failing its constituency.
*Edit:Fixed a numbers mistake
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Spring
Well, its not here yet, but today, its sunny about 50ish out. I'm stuck inside working, and the sun will be preparing to set when I head home, but that's ok. Its a taste of what's just a matter of weeks away.
I'm trying to prepare for spring. My goal this year is to ride at least 2,000 miles on my bike.
If you're not a cyclist, that may sound like a lot. Its not really, because if you do even a few longer rides the miles add up fast.
As of today with a guesstimated average of 10mph on my indoor trainer I'd done a paltry 37.7 miles or thereabouts in the last 8 days.
I'm hoping to have a few hundred under my legs by the time it gets nice enough for me to ride out regularly.
I've missed biking the last few years and not only because I've put on more than a few pounds. There's a peacefulness associated with it that I don't get from any other form of physical activity. Its very theraputic, which while my life isn't overly stressful is something we can all use.
Looking forward to the coming time when its in the 50s every day. Then instead of getting up early and wandering to the basement, I can wander outside and put in a few miles.
We'll see how close to my goal I get.
I'm trying to prepare for spring. My goal this year is to ride at least 2,000 miles on my bike.
If you're not a cyclist, that may sound like a lot. Its not really, because if you do even a few longer rides the miles add up fast.
As of today with a guesstimated average of 10mph on my indoor trainer I'd done a paltry 37.7 miles or thereabouts in the last 8 days.
I'm hoping to have a few hundred under my legs by the time it gets nice enough for me to ride out regularly.
I've missed biking the last few years and not only because I've put on more than a few pounds. There's a peacefulness associated with it that I don't get from any other form of physical activity. Its very theraputic, which while my life isn't overly stressful is something we can all use.
Looking forward to the coming time when its in the 50s every day. Then instead of getting up early and wandering to the basement, I can wander outside and put in a few miles.
We'll see how close to my goal I get.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
We ain't broke
The current whining and handwringing in Congress over the US being so far in debt, the deficit, and other financial woes isn't a bad thing except they keep saying we're going broke.
They need to shut up and stop fearmongering. The US isn't close to broke. They just don't want to do the necessary things to help right the ship.
Here is a lovely column on the subject, but what the Republicans in Congress (and our President who suddenly has moved amazingly centrist when it comes to fiscal policy) need to understand:
You look like horrible evil people when you're attempting to cut subsidies to help pay poor people's energy bills in the winter and yet a man who made 5 BILLION, yes, 5,000,000,000 last year paid only 15% federal tax on the bulk of it. (To say nothing of wanting to cut all funding for the CPB which helps fund PBS and NPR.)
Is there wasteful spending in Congress? Of course! Are there programs that can be cut/merged/etc? Of course! Should we make some higher tax brackets on the super-rich? OF FREAKING COURSE!!!!!!
Why someone who makes millions of dollars a year pays the same percentage of tax as someone who makes hundreds of thousands is nonsensical. They may even pay less, percentage-wise, depending on how they made most of their money.
I'm all for attempting to reshape the Federal budget, but what is killing us right now is not the social safety net programs.
Its two wars that went un-funded for most of their terms.
Its a defense budget that keeps gobbling more and more money (oh, wait, they're going to try to cut $12 billion a year for the next few years...that's 1.8% a year off the DoD budget).
(An aside on defense spending. "The U.S. Department of Defense budget accounted in fiscal year 2010 for about 19% of the United States federal budgeted expenditures and 28% of estimated tax revenues. Including non-DOD expenditures, defense spending was approximately 28–38% of budgeted expenditures and 42–57% of estimated tax revenues. According to the Congressional Budget Office, defense spending grew 9% annually on average from fiscal year 2000–2009.")
Its the lowest tax rates in 50 years on the richest 1% of the people in America.
Its the corporations that are sitting on a collective 2 TRILLION in cash but aren't hiring new workers, opening new plants, or generally creating jobs that would get America working.
I completely understand that we must be cautious because whenever a dollar is allocated its almost impossible to unallocate it down the road. However, just because bad decisions were made in the past, they don't need to be compounded by bad decisions now.
Also, a personal note on the article. Its written pretty fairly , but I must point out that while the last budget surplus we had was under a Democratic President (Clinton) he was a very moderate Democrat and actually fell more towards the right fiscally. He had a Republican majority in Congress when they did more than just cut taxes and spend as well. Just wanted to add that clarification.
So America, wake up and stop panicing. We aren't on the brink of federal financial meltdown. The people in power just don't want to derail their gravy train of donations from Wall Street in implementing sensible tax rates for the super-rich or a tax on large financial transactions.
They need to shut up and stop fearmongering. The US isn't close to broke. They just don't want to do the necessary things to help right the ship.
Here is a lovely column on the subject, but what the Republicans in Congress (and our President who suddenly has moved amazingly centrist when it comes to fiscal policy) need to understand:
You look like horrible evil people when you're attempting to cut subsidies to help pay poor people's energy bills in the winter and yet a man who made 5 BILLION, yes, 5,000,000,000 last year paid only 15% federal tax on the bulk of it. (To say nothing of wanting to cut all funding for the CPB which helps fund PBS and NPR.)
Is there wasteful spending in Congress? Of course! Are there programs that can be cut/merged/etc? Of course! Should we make some higher tax brackets on the super-rich? OF FREAKING COURSE!!!!!!
Why someone who makes millions of dollars a year pays the same percentage of tax as someone who makes hundreds of thousands is nonsensical. They may even pay less, percentage-wise, depending on how they made most of their money.
I'm all for attempting to reshape the Federal budget, but what is killing us right now is not the social safety net programs.
Its two wars that went un-funded for most of their terms.
Its a defense budget that keeps gobbling more and more money (oh, wait, they're going to try to cut $12 billion a year for the next few years...that's 1.8% a year off the DoD budget).
(An aside on defense spending. "The U.S. Department of Defense budget accounted in fiscal year 2010 for about 19% of the United States federal budgeted expenditures and 28% of estimated tax revenues. Including non-DOD expenditures, defense spending was approximately 28–38% of budgeted expenditures and 42–57% of estimated tax revenues. According to the Congressional Budget Office, defense spending grew 9% annually on average from fiscal year 2000–2009.")
Its the lowest tax rates in 50 years on the richest 1% of the people in America.
Its the corporations that are sitting on a collective 2 TRILLION in cash but aren't hiring new workers, opening new plants, or generally creating jobs that would get America working.
I completely understand that we must be cautious because whenever a dollar is allocated its almost impossible to unallocate it down the road. However, just because bad decisions were made in the past, they don't need to be compounded by bad decisions now.
Also, a personal note on the article. Its written pretty fairly , but I must point out that while the last budget surplus we had was under a Democratic President (Clinton) he was a very moderate Democrat and actually fell more towards the right fiscally. He had a Republican majority in Congress when they did more than just cut taxes and spend as well. Just wanted to add that clarification.
So America, wake up and stop panicing. We aren't on the brink of federal financial meltdown. The people in power just don't want to derail their gravy train of donations from Wall Street in implementing sensible tax rates for the super-rich or a tax on large financial transactions.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
An Old School Republican's take on the last 30 years
Mother Jones did a great article based off interviews with David Stockman, Reagan's first budget director.
He's a fiscal conservative, but he's a true fiscal conservative. He understands that just cutting taxes while spending the same amount, more, or with tiny spending decreases doesn't work.
He's appalled by the continual military spending going up and up (his suggest chop 100-150 billion off the Pentagon's budget in one year, currently we're aiming to lower it by 78 billion over a total of 5 years) and was against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Also, he views the "casino" that is Wall Street as bad for Main Street and the US economy as a whole. He supports the "Tobin tax" which would tax financial transactions and could generate 100 billion dollars a year. It also might have the effect of making the market a place where middle class people might actually be able to make some money. But yes, a Republican who supports a tax!
Its a very interesting and informative read and I just wanted to share it.
He's a fiscal conservative, but he's a true fiscal conservative. He understands that just cutting taxes while spending the same amount, more, or with tiny spending decreases doesn't work.
He's appalled by the continual military spending going up and up (his suggest chop 100-150 billion off the Pentagon's budget in one year, currently we're aiming to lower it by 78 billion over a total of 5 years) and was against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Also, he views the "casino" that is Wall Street as bad for Main Street and the US economy as a whole. He supports the "Tobin tax" which would tax financial transactions and could generate 100 billion dollars a year. It also might have the effect of making the market a place where middle class people might actually be able to make some money. But yes, a Republican who supports a tax!
Its a very interesting and informative read and I just wanted to share it.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Opinion meet Fact
Just a nice article on the "massive spending" Obama has done. Well written, explains their methodology, good stuff.
You can read it here.
You can read it here.
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