David's Tangled Thoughts

I've been skimming through the foreign press trying to get the international pulse on how "America's" financial problem is going down. Wow, they are majorly leaning on my reflex nerve. My favorite is the pinning of blame on the republicans for the bill's failure in the House of Representatives. The reality is that the democrats had the votes to pass this all along but when the voting process started and they found out that the republicans weren't on board they chickened out because this bailout (and let's call it what it is) is unpopular with the public. If they passed this bill over the Republicans--who was gonna get the blame? They did not bother to whip their party in line because if this went south, they were going to as well. The fact that 2/3 of republicans and 1/3 of democrats voted no does not, in my mind, show clear partisan jerkoffity--just that it was a stupid plan anyways. BTW, hope you bought today.

<<--See also: "But no one does egg rolls and fried rice like you do! " I was late getting off work and I didn’t feel like cooking so I called up my favorite Chinese takeaway, Tasty Chen’s. I’m very particular about who prepares my Chinese food and in the whole entire area, there are only two restaurants that I like. Tasty Chen’s is one of those two. The place is run by a husband and wife and customers will frequently see their two kids there when they are not at school. I know them and they know me. Well not personally but enough. So there I am driving down the bypass when I make the call and place the order. When the line was picked up, I did not hear the expected “Riiiiice Kitchen,” with the heavy accent. Instead, I heard a nice voice that spoke very clear English. I just don’t remember what was said because I was thrown for a loop. Had I called the wrong number? Did they hire someone? I get Tasty Chen’s and I get even more confused. The lady who answered t

I watched last night’s presidential debate with mild interest. I don’t watch the debates to find out more about the candidate. I’ve already gotten all the information that I need and am 75% sure of which candidate I am going to vote for. At this point in the game, I’m more interested in how the candidates can torpedo their own campaign and the number one best place for that opportunity is at a debate. One the more annoying things that I find about debates is right afterwards when people ask, “who won the debate?” I hate it because it is subjective. Obama could have stuttered while making out unrealistic promises and there would still be people who said that he was perfect. Last night’s debate started out as I would have expected, with talk about the financial crisis which seems to be creeping along but it dove right into foreign policy at which point both of them resumed their broken record talk. But getting aside from the topics, did either of the senators screw it up? Sen. Obam

What the hell was I smoking last night? Actually nothing but if I’m having these kind of wacky dreams, I better have been on something! It started, I think, at college like campus in the middle of a forest. Think of Endor in Star Wars Episode VI. I was sitting in the outdoor amphitheater of a college building that appeared to have been built in the mid 80’s. It was contemporary, white, and made almost entirely of concrete. It had elevated pathways, also made of the concrete that would wind through the forest to connect to other buildings. So I was sitting there talking with Jesus when we come under attack. Arrows hit near us and I grab my Lord and push him to run for cover. We jump over the railings and on to the ground. Then we run under the elevated walkway and use it as a sort of cover. We loose our attackers but I stopped in my tracks when I heard some noise coming from ahead. So Jesus and I start crawling through the brush and spy on the Sheriff of Nottingham and Sir Guy

For the first time since getting out of college, I’ve been reading three books simultaneously. I’m reading “ America’s Constitution: A Biography ” by Akhil Amar which, to my delight, is a fascinating read. Along with that book, I’m reading “The Federalist” which is the collection of the Federalist Papers —articles written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay arguing for the ratification of the US Constitution. That has proven to be a little more time consuming but I’m making my way through it. The third book I just got done with—finally! I’m not going to name this third book because I’m sure that the author or one of his fans would stumble onto this blog and give me crap about it. Yes, I’m just that spineless. The book club that I belong to assigned this particular book which is a set of short and true stories about the author. Most of the books that I’ve read for this club have been pretty decent and enjoyable. This particular, author, I have come to believe is o

I’m not sure about anyone else but in elementary through high school, I liked having fire or tornado drills. Sometimes I wished that I lived in 60’s California so I could also do earthquake and nuclear attack drills. I had no love for the drills themselves. What was so good about them, though, was that they broke the daily monotony of school. It was a distraction – 10 minutes away from boring spelling class or brain numbing physics. Sure it’s not about fun and games, after all, I’ve been in a real fire situation before and it was not pretty. When I was in the Philippines, I was enrolled at Beehive Learning Center which was near downtown so it was close to other buildings. One day, the building next door caught on fire. The place was lacked a fire alarm. Instead, the principal (I can’t remember if she was actually called that) ran down the hallway shouting for everyone to get out. Despite the efforts to keep us calm and controlled, once we made it downstairs, it was a free for

What the hell does Cuba need a space program for? Article here .

<<--See also: “Suggested but not required, for now.” My current passport is set to expire next year and I am now considering whether or not I want to renew soon. I could wait until next summer to make a decision but considering that some places require your passport to be at least six months old when entering, means I’d have to start the renewal process in the next few months. The cost is $75 for a renewal but I’m considering the new Passport Card with it which would cost an extra $20. A few years ago, the government, in consideration of border security (ha!) wanted to tighten the land and sea borders—essentially with Canada and Mexico. Although flying to these countries required passports, traveling by car or boat only required a driver’s license or birth certificate. In some instances, all a traveler had to do was verbally declare their residency. So the government considered making passports needed for non-air crossings as well. Imagine how disruptive that would hav

Shortly after my last post, around 3:30, I went down to the basement to see if any water was coming up through the cracks. I could see a bit coming up and so I shopvac’d it up. It only took a few seconds to do and judging at the rate it was seeping up, I thought I’d come back in an hour and do another round. One hour later, the entire floor was covered in water. An hour after that, all rooms in the basement were covered in water. At six, there was enough water to cover my toes and deep enough to cause a frog to go swimming by me. Yes, you read that right. It happened. The cracks weren’t the problem this time. Water was coming up from the well and it was coming in faster than we could suck it out. Luckily my grandma has a pump so she came around and pumped out the water all night long. Water is no longer coming in and the water is pretty much all gone. Not too much got ruined. Some old clothes, toys, and other crap but I wouldn’t cry over them. My mom is going a little craz

It’s been raining steadily for the last two days. This area is sitting underneath a line of showers that, at its maximum, was connecting a low in Canada with Hurricane Ike down in Texas. The moisture is moving up this stationary line delivering the rain that we could have used over the entire summer. What is left of Ike is now just getting here. Hopefully, then, we’ll be seeing the sun tomorrow. For right now, I’m keeping an eye on the basement which has a tendency to start leaking in water whenever there is a large rainstorm. So far there’s just been a little puddle which is surprising since I would have expected the ground to be supersaturated by now. The lake which formed in our yard yesterday is growing. Check it out: WNDU article

I filled up my car today at Walmart at $3.95/gal. Since Ike was aiming for Houston and the area's refineries, the stations were jacking up the price. Even with oil prices going down to nearly $100/barrel, it doesn't help much when it can't be processed. My sister called saying that gas was $5.00/gal in Comstock. Gov. Granholm appealed to residents not to panic at the pumps. Reports from Florida said that gas was near $6.00/gal in some places. As far as I know, our area hasn't seen a run on the pumps. I'm not going anywhere this week except to travel between home and work. Hopefully, I can ride this price surge out with my tank of gas until the end of the week.

Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens. Their citizenship being conferred upon them by statute rather than by the Constitution. Because they are residents of Puerto Rico, they can not vote in Presidential Elections. However, if they move and become a resident of one of the states, they are granted full rights, obligations, and benefits just as any other citizen of that state and of the United States. Congress maintains the ability to strip Puerto Ricans of their citizenship. Question: Can a Puerto Rican who is now a resident of one of the states, lose their citizenship if Congress passed a law stripping Puerto Ricans of their citizenship? Because I'm a citizen as enfranchised by the U.S. Constitution, I can not lose that status. As far as I understand it, the Puerto Rican who moves to the U.S. becomes enfranchised by the Constitution as well and so it seems reasonable that that status can not be revoked as well. Would a

I've got a little time to blog before I head off to work this morning. I woke up and saw that my alarm was going to go off in about 20 minutes so there wasn't any point in trying to go back to sleep. Don't you hate it when that happens? I probably want to smash my alarm clock even more. HR contacted me on Friday about setting up some time to "train" the new accounting administrator. I'll be running her through a few of the things that I do and although the information could be useful to her, she's not ever going to do the work that I do. I'm not going to bother to teach her how to operate computer programs that she'll never use. Instead, I'm going to give her an overview so that she has an idea of what info she will be using, where it came from, and why it was put together. After work, I may head to the gym. I tried at the begining of this summer to get back in there but then some issues came up and I just didn't have the drive to sh

<<--See also: " I wish you all could be fired. " A short blurb appeared on WNDU that reported that Michigan lawmakers are considering another income tax increase. They raised our fucking taxes not even one year ago and now they are setting up to do it again! It was because of the tax increases that went into effect last October that State House Speaker Andy Dillon got put on the recall ballot . It’s kind of sad that even if he gets recalled, he’ll only be fired for two months because in all likelihood, his district is going to reelect him.

<<--See also: " Canada has elections? " It’s all but official, but it looks like Canada is heading for an election on Oct. 14th. I am looking at this story with detached amusement because Prime Minister Stephen Harper is calling for the dissolution of Parliament and new elections which flies in the face of a law he touted and later passed that called for fixed elections… which this is not. I’m also amused since I’m one of five Americans who are actually paying scant attention to our neighbors to the north. Just kidding. The simplified version of this story is that PM Harper ran with a promise to have fixed elections every four years. He even got the bill passed into law. Of course, the fine print still allows for elections if a no-confidence vote passes. Apparently, Mr. Harper and the conservatives, reading the tea leaves, decided that their party would fare better if they called for elections now than if they waited until next year when the next election was due

<<--See also: “ Why I’m glad to be on the west side. ” It appears that Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick wanted to avoid getting the boot by Gov. Granholm. Before my Governor could convene a meeting that would decide whether or not to remove the mayor, Mr. Kilpatrick decided to plea for a deal. From the Detroit Free Press : I n a courtroom this morning, Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to two felony counts of obstructing justice by committing perjury. He will spend four months in jail, pay up to $1 million in restitution, and serve five years' probation. He also agreed not to run for office during that five-year span. In addition, the mayor agreed to a no-contest plea to one count of felonious assault for shoving a sheriff's deputy in July who had tried to serve a subpoena on Kilpatrick's friend… The deals also call for Kilpatrick to turn over his state pension to the City of Detroit, which paid $8.4 million to settle two whistle-blower lawsuits three former cops filed agains

Today is Labor Day and I headed to the usual shopping areas to check out the holiday sales. There wasn’t anything that interested me. Don’t worry, this isn’t a shopping post but as I was pulling into Walmart (no hyphen), I parked behind this car that is pictured. I know the family. The N’s can’t seem to get a break from tragedy. My Dad went to school with two brothers from that family. The first ended up in some kind of gambling brawl and was killed. The second one was my elementary school counselor—who committed suicide. Now I was looking at another member of that family that died young. And that brings me to something else… I hate those “In Memory Of…” decals that put on their cars. Ugh. They give me the heebie jeebies. Putting up words on a car that should be on tombstone seems to be tempting fate considering how many people die in those contraptions.