Weighing In

Only not talking body weight here. Just so much going on in the news, the world, I feel the need to comment. So I'm summarizing (hopefully!) instead of doing tons of posts.

New Poster Family for Why Abstinence-Only and No Sex Ed DOES NOT WORK: Sarah Palin's family. Seriously. First her daughter gets pregnant "out of wedlock". Now her son, married for two months, is going to be a father. Only thing, from the picture I saw this morning, his wife looks well over 2 months pregnant. Soooo.

Bachmann Migraines: I'm kinda split on this. I have sympathy as a migraine sufferer. Yet I know how they can take a person out of the loop for awhile. And even if you are "functioning" you don't always make the best decisions. Especially depending on the kinds of meds you're on! I don't like her anyway because I think she's absolutely nuts. But it does make me wonder, what would disqualify someone form running, for medical reasons? I mean, look at Cheney (VP), FDR. Is it physical or mental? Who decides? The public I guess. But there is so much medical misinformation out there.

Debt Ceiling Crisis: Wish the Republicans would tell the fanatics/tea party faction to take a flying leap. What they want would tank the economy- and increase unemployment. Wish the Democrats would tell the fanatics in their party to take a flying leap. What they want will tank the economy, albeit over a longer period of time.

Gang of 6 Plan: On the surface it sounds good. Compromise from both sides required. We have to tackle SS and Medicare. BUT we have to have tax reform, increase income. Cleaning up corporate - and other - loopholes would be great. Not thrilled with some of the suggestions, like keeping EIC and Child Tax Credit, but eliminating mortgage interest credit. Lowering top tax rates 35% to 29% without seeing an equivalent increase in income at that level from closing loopholes. They gotta go hand in hand, and should actually be more in my opinion than the reduction. From some reviews I've read on the Economist's website, it seems to me this one will help lower and higher income, and squeeze the middle. Being at the lower middle with no kids, no investments (capital gains, what's that?), and only mortgage interest deduction, this would increase my taxes.

Cut, Cap, & Balance: No dice. Really think this idea would hurt the economy quickly, put us back into recession, distract from what needs to be done, and not help in the long run. Hate the constitutional ammendment. Why do we need an amendment to tell us what we already know we have to do? It would also eliminate the government's ability to respond in economic downturns, emergencies (Katrina, anyone?), and so on. I really think the government should have that flexibility. Not to mention the wasted time and money when it won't get out of Congress and if by some miracle it does, it is facing almost certain veto. Why kick a dead horse? We also have got to raise revenues. Capping spending to such a low percentage of GDP when faced with an increasing burden in SS/Medicare, well, how's that supposed to work? Oh, that's right. No more ss, medicare, food stamps. If you're poor, you just don't work hard enough is what the right seems to say/feel. At least, that's how it comes across to me!

overview of debt ceiling plans

Taxes/No Taxes: No ifs, ands or buts about it we have got to have more revenue. Cutting spending alone isn't going to be enough. Especially if they cut willy-nilly and abruptly. Although I think increases in taxes (whether by closing loopholes, allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire, or adding new taxes) they should be phased in from the top down over several years to avoid great shock to the economy, and to avoid harming the poorest among us. I also think we desperately need tax reform. Refunds should be limited to how much you have paid in. If you paid X amount, that's the most you can get back. No getting back more than that. Then some of that savings can be used to shore up effective programs like food stamps (which are pathetic in the amount you can get, and actually have a better positive economic effect than many programs) and child health care programs. Which would hopefully help those on the bottom rung of the ladder that would be hurt by the refund cap.

Women are 51% of Population, 16.6% of Congress: What is up with that? I'm sorry, but men, be they white or black, don't truly represent me or my life. They can try, and some may do well. But I truly think men and women think and react differently. Having more of my view/perspective as a woman in Congress would be more beneficial to me! Read an interesting opinion piece yesterday(don't like the headline, but some of the discussion is thought-provoking).

Casey Anthony: Get over it people. She was found not-guilty of the murder so cut it out. Move on. GET A LIFE. And when is Nancy Grace going to get the pants sued off of her? Some of what she says seems like libel or slander to me. Wonder what the legal definition is? I truly wish CNN (and other news networks!) would stop pandering to this woman and having her on.

Murdoch & the Hacking Scandal: Well, duh. People are suprised at this? What the heck did they think was gonna happen with increasing monopolies in the media, and increasing partisanship, and increasing sensationalistic reporting. Just, duh! I think something needs to be done to break up these monopolies, and to require news to be fact-based, with no opinion or asides. Don't interpret, just report!!!! Anything that is opinion and interpretation needs to have a warning label, and something on the screen stating THIS IS JUST OUR OPINION/INTERPRETATION. PLEASE THINK FOR YOURSELF.

There's more rumbling around in my head, but that's all I can get out for now. :)

Review: A Discovery of Witches

A Discovery of Witches: A Novel

So I read this book recently. It's a very large book. More of a tome. I'd been eyeing it at the bookstore, but wasn't willing to spend that much on a new author in hardback. And I must admit, the sheer size of it was intimidating.

A few weeks ago I saw it on one of the "new books" carts at the library, waiting to be reshelved. I took it as a sign, and grabbed it.

I almost didn't read it after noticing on the inside flap that it is the first book in a trilogy. All I could think was "It's book one and it's this big?"

I have to admit, it was very engaging at first. In a strange sort of way. I say strange, because the writing was heavy, ponderous, almost on the professorial level. Wich kind of fit, because the main character is actually a professor doing research. The premise is good, and different.

I don't know if any of this could be considered spoilers, so read on at your own peril.

Modern Living

So I got invited to my second birthday party for a dog last weekend. Yes, you read that correctly. The first party was a year ago, and really, I thought it was just a fluke, more of an in-family joke than a serious party. Although there were four-footed guests, and cake.

This recent party invite was from an acquaintance with whom I walk my dogs occasionally. I've invited her to my house for Thanksgiving, etc, because her family won't let her bring her dog to their house (I could care less - there're always dogs at my house from my extended family on holidays).

I took Leia, leaving Max home for several reasons, mainly because I didn't want to stress him out due to his heart condition. At least not until his meds arrive. (They are a special order - they have to actually compound the meds specifically for him because he's so little.)

So here's the pickle I was in: to gift or not to gift? Ah, that was the question! Or questions:

• Do I bring the dog a present?
• Or just bring the hostess a gift?
• Or maybe just bring a dish like for a pot luck?

Somehow I don't think Debrett's or Miss Manners address this situation. Or do they? From things I've seen on TV, I think the uber rich are more into this dog-party thing than us peons are. (Which could be changing!)

I finally settled on a $5 "fun pak" from Wal-Mart with dog toys in it. Which apparently was the correct choice, as everyone else brought gifts.

Ahh, the joys of modern living.

Cable Madness

It has been a crazy summer. My oldest niece spent the first two plus weeks of June visiting me. It was a whirlwind of fun. I'll be posting more on that as I get the pictures together for uploading.

After months of thinking about it, I finally decided to cancel my cable. It's just getting more and more expensive, and I only watch the same few channels. Unfortunately, none of those channels are available over the air (OTA). But I'll get to that. But here is what I've learned over the last week:

1) Going cable free is not as easy as you would think.

2) If you have a newer TV, ie, an HD ready TV, it probably has an internal digital tuner. If it does, you can just plug the rabbit ears (antenna) directly into the TV. And voila.

3) Okay, maybe not so voila. Don't forget to change the setting on your TV from Cable to Antenna/OTA.

4) And arranging those darn rabbit ears is tricky. Very tricky. Do what I didn't and go to www.antennaweb.org and www.tvfool.com to find out what channels you should be able to get, and what direction to point the antenna in.

So the first night I spent 4.5 hours (no exaggeration) rearranging my home theater system/DVD player and Wii trying to get a digital converter and the antenna added to the mix. I could not get everything to play well together. And when I was done (gave up) I only had 2 OTA channels: NBC and CBS or the CW. I had to get up and turn the tuning knob on the antenna one click to switch between CBS and the CW. Fun. Not. That was Friday starting out the long 4th of July weekend.

Amazingly I made it. Thanks to Netflix instant over the internet. I did hook the computer up, but its wireless is unbelievably slow so I need to get it actually wired. But I need another ethernet cable and am too lazy to go to the store yet.

Did some research after that, and realized my tv has a built-in tuner. So I was using the digital converter to convert a digital signal to analog to watch on my HDTV. And I'd also forgotten to change the TV setting from cable to antenna. Not my most stellar hour. Or hours.

Undid all the rearranging I did, got rid of the converter, changed the tv setting and pointed the rabbit ears correctly. Now I have all three networks, Fox, the CW, a barely viewable (but audible) PBS, and two religious channels I'd rather not have.

Still not sure how I'm going to last. I'm missing my morning CNN and Weather Channel more than I thought I would.

However, if I can get the computer hooked up correctly, I can watch new episodes online after they air. Not that I'm following any new shows. Just "In Plain Sight" on USA. Which I know I can watch online. Still working on a solution for new episodes of "Dr Who". So. I am still feeling at a loss, even though I have the TV turned on the same amount of time as before. Just have to think about it a little more. And I did turn the radio on instead of TV the other night. Listened to music and played solitaire.

And I'm listening to music to go to sleep instead of TV. I need an alarm clock I can plug my iPod into. I already know which one I want. :) So here's to a cable free summer!