Dear Congress, and other short stories
It's been a while since I ventured into LJ land. I wrote this all up before, and LJ had a temper tantrum, so I'm trying to post it again without any layout nightmares. I'm pretty angry at Congress right now, so let me get the political stuff out of the way.
1) JUST PASS THE GODDAMN STIMULUS PACKAGE ALREADY! It doesn't matter if it's filibuster proof--if the Republicans filibuster, they'll alienate everyone so just let them hang themselves! And to everyone ranting about how much "pork" is in this stimulus package: the government NEEDS TO SPEND MONEY in order to stimulate the economy. HOW is state aid pork? States are going to use the money to either a) keep threatened critical projects going, like, oh, say, not laying off teachers, or b) start new projects, like repairing critical infrastructure. Renovating the Commerce Department in Washington is pork? Well, folks, lets think about this: renovations require construction workers, electricians, plumbers, etc. as well as people to manufacture all the products being used. THAT'S CREATING JOBS. Buying a new fleet of government cars is pork? THEY'RE AMERICAN CARS, YOU IDIOTS, and in case you haven't noticed, the American car companies are pretty fucked right now and could use the business.
Here. Rachel Maddow summarizes it quite nicely in the first few minutes of this clip.
Look, Republicans, ordinarily I would revel in unholy glee at your self destruction. The problem is that for every day you delay, thousands and thousands of people lose their jobs and livelihood. I met a guy who took a part time job in the shoe department at Macy's because the newspaper that he wrote for had to lay him off (btw, Macy's is a good company. Once they heard that he was getting laid off from his other job, they gave him a full work week so he could keep putting food on the table for his daughter). Yes, the Democratic leadership could have been more bipartisan instead of planning the whole package behind closed doors, but given how you're blocking the package at every turn, can you blame them? One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. You've been hawking tax cuts for 30 years, and REALLY hawking them for the last 10. Given where we are, how would you say that's been working out? Look, I'm sorry the primary economic principles of your party are being proven wrong, but shouting them louder won't make them work. SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE, and there isn't time to assuage your hurt feelings. Please, for the sake of the country which you all claim to love, PASS THE STIMULUS PACKAGE. And make sure there's some actual "stimulus" left in it, please.
2) President Obama, I adore you, but you couldn't have vetted your people a little more carefully about taxes? Am I the only one who finds it ironic that government officials have such bad tax records? It's really rather shameful. That said, thank you, President Obama, for taking responsibility. We haven't seen anything like that in the last decade.
3) Fucking Dick Cheney and his fucking fearmongering. Jon Stewart, no one can say it better than you:
(Unfortunately, LJ is still throwing a temper tantrum, so please follow this link.)
*takes a deep breath* Okay, things in my life:
~Oh, the Mendelssohn concert was gorgeous. Parking was cost an arm and a leg, but that's just the way it is in that area. My friend and I went out to dinner beforehand and got to catch up. She's been doing her job as well as several other people's because they all kept getting sick. Last week, she'd already worked 40 hours by Thursday afternoon, so they told her to go home early on Friday. At some point, hopefully she'll have time to go to the Science Museum with me--there's an exhibit on mythological creatures that we both want to go to, and because she works at the Symphony she gets in free, and might even get a plus one.
~I've been going to a career counselor, and I really like her a lot. I'm finally feeling in control, even though my bank account is quickly approaching $0.00. There's a fellowship in some Boston schools that actually sounds like it'd be perfect for me. The pay is probably crap, and it doesn't start until next fall, but I think it would be a good match. I finally sent in the application yesterday, which I'd been trying to do all week, but kept hitting snafus. The most time consuming was trying to get my GPA from college. I couldn't remember it, and I didn't write it down anywhere. I called up the registrar's office to see if they could tell me, but they said I had to send in a signed written statement before they could do anything. I did that Wednesday morning, and didn't hear anything. Finally I called them yesterday, and the guy there (who remembered me from senior year) said it was just sitting in a queue, but he'd take care of it. Anyway, I got it sent off, and am waiting to hear back.
~Last Friday, my mother had to throw a dinner party for 150 people. It was for our church, and she kind of got roped into running it. Earlier in the week she slipped on the inch-and-a-half of ice coating our driveway and wrenched her back, which meant that a lot of the actual cooking was done by me. She'd mostly planned pre-made stuff from Costco, so it was just a matter of actually cooking it, not making it from scratch. One of the dishes was pork loin, and my mother wanted to brine it first to make sure it stayed juicy. We had a bin full of meat. Seriously, it was a bin with 28 pork loins all piled on top of each other. We also got four crock pots of meatballs, and three trays packed with salmon fillets.
Observe the sheer quantity of meat:
That's a lot of food, and that's just the protein segment of the meal.
After I'd finished getting everything in the oven at church and there were enough people to help my mother set up the rest, I went to Common Ground in Cambridge with my brother, his girlfriend, and a couple of our friends. They have reallllly superior pub food there, including fried pickles. Yes, yes, it sounds revolting, especially if you don't really like pickles (like me!) but then you taste them and they're delicious. Try them, I promise, you'll like them.
~Went to visit one of my middle school friends down in Mattapoisett (right next to the MA/RI border), who has 1) mono, 2) pink eye, and 3) a sinus infection. I don't know what she did to make her karma bad enough to get all three of those at once. She felt well enough to go out for dinner last Saturday, so we drove into Providence and went to an Indian restaurant. There are a surprising number of one-way streets, and many of them are steep. The Garmin got confused a couple times, but we found our way eventually.
~Rosie's been having ups and downs. She's on an appetite stimulant to try to get some weight back, and that was really helping for a couple weeks. Now, every few days she'll refuse to eat anything--including the little ball of ground beef that has the appetite stimulant pill. Sometimes she's just fine, and doing things she hasn't in a couple years--prancing around the house, excitedly greeting me when I come home, etc.--but sometimes she just lies in her little corner all day and does nothing. There's just a huge variation. Today is one of the not-eating days.
~I've started knitting again. I haven't done it in a couple years, but it feels good. I think I'm going to take it in to the after school and see if the kids are interested. If they are, maybe I can start teaching them some basics.
~There was snow. At least twice, there was snow, and rather a lot of it. It keeps blurring together for me.
~Just watched the Secret Life of Bees, which was amazing. I love Queen Latifa and Jennifer Hudson, and getting the two of them in the same film was awesome. I think I probably should hate Dakota Fanning, but she's so incredibly talented that I can't. I keep comparing her to Lindsay Lohan as a kid, who I first saw in the Parent Trap remake. The difference between them is that Lohan was the child actress they got when they needed someone for a kiddie movie; Fanning is the actress they get when they have a film with a child role. Please, Dakota, don't turn into Lindsay Lohan. You are much better than she was.
I think that's it. My father has been wanting to do some bonding, so I think we're going to go see a movie this afternoon.
1) JUST PASS THE GODDAMN STIMULUS PACKAGE ALREADY! It doesn't matter if it's filibuster proof--if the Republicans filibuster, they'll alienate everyone so just let them hang themselves! And to everyone ranting about how much "pork" is in this stimulus package: the government NEEDS TO SPEND MONEY in order to stimulate the economy. HOW is state aid pork? States are going to use the money to either a) keep threatened critical projects going, like, oh, say, not laying off teachers, or b) start new projects, like repairing critical infrastructure. Renovating the Commerce Department in Washington is pork? Well, folks, lets think about this: renovations require construction workers, electricians, plumbers, etc. as well as people to manufacture all the products being used. THAT'S CREATING JOBS. Buying a new fleet of government cars is pork? THEY'RE AMERICAN CARS, YOU IDIOTS, and in case you haven't noticed, the American car companies are pretty fucked right now and could use the business.
Here. Rachel Maddow summarizes it quite nicely in the first few minutes of this clip.
Click to viewLook, Republicans, ordinarily I would revel in unholy glee at your self destruction. The problem is that for every day you delay, thousands and thousands of people lose their jobs and livelihood. I met a guy who took a part time job in the shoe department at Macy's because the newspaper that he wrote for had to lay him off (btw, Macy's is a good company. Once they heard that he was getting laid off from his other job, they gave him a full work week so he could keep putting food on the table for his daughter). Yes, the Democratic leadership could have been more bipartisan instead of planning the whole package behind closed doors, but given how you're blocking the package at every turn, can you blame them? One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. You've been hawking tax cuts for 30 years, and REALLY hawking them for the last 10. Given where we are, how would you say that's been working out? Look, I'm sorry the primary economic principles of your party are being proven wrong, but shouting them louder won't make them work. SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE, and there isn't time to assuage your hurt feelings. Please, for the sake of the country which you all claim to love, PASS THE STIMULUS PACKAGE. And make sure there's some actual "stimulus" left in it, please.
2) President Obama, I adore you, but you couldn't have vetted your people a little more carefully about taxes? Am I the only one who finds it ironic that government officials have such bad tax records? It's really rather shameful. That said, thank you, President Obama, for taking responsibility. We haven't seen anything like that in the last decade.
3) Fucking Dick Cheney and his fucking fearmongering. Jon Stewart, no one can say it better than you:
(Unfortunately, LJ is still throwing a temper tantrum, so please follow this link.)
*takes a deep breath* Okay, things in my life:
~Oh, the Mendelssohn concert was gorgeous. Parking was cost an arm and a leg, but that's just the way it is in that area. My friend and I went out to dinner beforehand and got to catch up. She's been doing her job as well as several other people's because they all kept getting sick. Last week, she'd already worked 40 hours by Thursday afternoon, so they told her to go home early on Friday. At some point, hopefully she'll have time to go to the Science Museum with me--there's an exhibit on mythological creatures that we both want to go to, and because she works at the Symphony she gets in free, and might even get a plus one.
~I've been going to a career counselor, and I really like her a lot. I'm finally feeling in control, even though my bank account is quickly approaching $0.00. There's a fellowship in some Boston schools that actually sounds like it'd be perfect for me. The pay is probably crap, and it doesn't start until next fall, but I think it would be a good match. I finally sent in the application yesterday, which I'd been trying to do all week, but kept hitting snafus. The most time consuming was trying to get my GPA from college. I couldn't remember it, and I didn't write it down anywhere. I called up the registrar's office to see if they could tell me, but they said I had to send in a signed written statement before they could do anything. I did that Wednesday morning, and didn't hear anything. Finally I called them yesterday, and the guy there (who remembered me from senior year) said it was just sitting in a queue, but he'd take care of it. Anyway, I got it sent off, and am waiting to hear back.
~Last Friday, my mother had to throw a dinner party for 150 people. It was for our church, and she kind of got roped into running it. Earlier in the week she slipped on the inch-and-a-half of ice coating our driveway and wrenched her back, which meant that a lot of the actual cooking was done by me. She'd mostly planned pre-made stuff from Costco, so it was just a matter of actually cooking it, not making it from scratch. One of the dishes was pork loin, and my mother wanted to brine it first to make sure it stayed juicy. We had a bin full of meat. Seriously, it was a bin with 28 pork loins all piled on top of each other. We also got four crock pots of meatballs, and three trays packed with salmon fillets.
Observe the sheer quantity of meat:
That's a lot of food, and that's just the protein segment of the meal.
After I'd finished getting everything in the oven at church and there were enough people to help my mother set up the rest, I went to Common Ground in Cambridge with my brother, his girlfriend, and a couple of our friends. They have reallllly superior pub food there, including fried pickles. Yes, yes, it sounds revolting, especially if you don't really like pickles (like me!) but then you taste them and they're delicious. Try them, I promise, you'll like them.
~Went to visit one of my middle school friends down in Mattapoisett (right next to the MA/RI border), who has 1) mono, 2) pink eye, and 3) a sinus infection. I don't know what she did to make her karma bad enough to get all three of those at once. She felt well enough to go out for dinner last Saturday, so we drove into Providence and went to an Indian restaurant. There are a surprising number of one-way streets, and many of them are steep. The Garmin got confused a couple times, but we found our way eventually.
~Rosie's been having ups and downs. She's on an appetite stimulant to try to get some weight back, and that was really helping for a couple weeks. Now, every few days she'll refuse to eat anything--including the little ball of ground beef that has the appetite stimulant pill. Sometimes she's just fine, and doing things she hasn't in a couple years--prancing around the house, excitedly greeting me when I come home, etc.--but sometimes she just lies in her little corner all day and does nothing. There's just a huge variation. Today is one of the not-eating days.
~I've started knitting again. I haven't done it in a couple years, but it feels good. I think I'm going to take it in to the after school and see if the kids are interested. If they are, maybe I can start teaching them some basics.
~There was snow. At least twice, there was snow, and rather a lot of it. It keeps blurring together for me.
~Just watched the Secret Life of Bees, which was amazing. I love Queen Latifa and Jennifer Hudson, and getting the two of them in the same film was awesome. I think I probably should hate Dakota Fanning, but she's so incredibly talented that I can't. I keep comparing her to Lindsay Lohan as a kid, who I first saw in the Parent Trap remake. The difference between them is that Lohan was the child actress they got when they needed someone for a kiddie movie; Fanning is the actress they get when they have a film with a child role. Please, Dakota, don't turn into Lindsay Lohan. You are much better than she was.
I think that's it. My father has been wanting to do some bonding, so I think we're going to go see a movie this afternoon.