People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy.
Anton Chekhov
The Beginning of the End: Last Shuttle Flight Takes Off
Before I started working on my MBA part-time at UH, I worked for a NASA contractor at Clear Lake City (i.e., "Houston"). I was working as a FORTRAN programmer/analyst on programs involving the remote manipulator arm. And, of course, I'll never forget as I was heading down the home stretch of completing my dissertation and planning its defense the Challenger disaster. It's tragic that we'll have seen our space program diminished to hitching rides on Russian space cabs.
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| (Courtesy of AP Photo/John Raoux) |
Betty Ford: Former First Lady: RIP
Others may disagree, but history may have been much different if Gerald Ford hadn't preemptively pardoned Richard Nixon. It cost him my vote in the 1976 election. But Ford was remarkable in several respects--unlike George W. Bush, Gerald Ford wasn't afraid to wield a veto, he was one of the few Congressmen to subsequently assume the Presidency, he provided a national breath of fresh air after the bizarre Watergate incident (the Democrats were in the process of nominated an unelectable George McGovern, and the correct political strategy would have been to give the Democrats all the rope they needed to hang themselves). I remember at the beginning of his Presidency, there was a news clip of an ordinary American family in action. Gerald Ford was one of the nicest men to assume the Presidency. Comedian Chevy Chase was constantly lampooning Ford's pratfalls, and as a native Texan, I found it utterly charming he once tried to eat a tamale with the corn husk on.
Betty Ford is probably one of the most consequential First Ladies ever. She was remarkably candid, much more so on contentious political issues (e.g., the ERA, abortion rights, etc.), she had known issues with addictions (alcohol and pain pills), and had a masectomy. In a political world where the current President cannot cope without political spin and teleprompters, Ford spoke her mind and the former President always stood behind his wife's rights to speak up.
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| Courtesy of mommyslittledirtysecret |
The Audacity of Indifference:
9.2% Official Unemployment
18,000 New Jobs
Barack Obama just can't deal with the jobs problem because he just conceptually doesn't get the fact that growth in goods and services is what triggers new hiring. You trigger growth from a policy standpoint by making for a more consistent public policy standpoint, no convoluted laws requiring hiring accountants, lawyers, and other personnel, no change under one's feet involving employee costs (like health care policies); you get better growth by making it cheaper and easier to do business in the US--not by adding unproductive union interference making exporting plants and personnel a no-brainer. You open up trade between nations.
Pelosi's War on Entitlement Sustainability
I'm ready to explode on this issue because EVERY SINGLE DEMOCRAT I KNOW is a demagogue on this issue. Do you think it's MORAL or ETHICAL to get windfall benefits YOU NEVER FULLY PAID FOR? I think it's stealing from our subsequent generations whom will end up with our bills. Let us be clear: when you have been INADEQUATELY funding an entitlement due to actuarial factors to the point that many people are getting 3 times or even more of every penny put into the system, who do you think pays off the balance? The "Entitlement Fairy"? There's no such thing as a free lunch. IF I HEAR PELOSI ONE MORE TIME ENGAGE IN THE SAME MORONIC CLASS WARFARE ARGUMENT TALKING ABOUT $70B IN HIGHER-INCOME TAXES VERSUS ANY CUTS TO THE 60% OF A $3.7T BUDGET IN ENTITLEMENTS, MICHELE BACHMANN HAS MY PERMISSION TO KICK PELOSI'S BONY ASS. (After all, that's where you'll find her brains.)
What part of $50T of unfunded entitlement liabilities when our annual tax revenues is roughly $2.2T does Pelosi not grasp? What part of the austerity steps being taken by Greece for facing their day of reckoning does Pelosi not understand?
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
ELO, "Evil Woman"
