what recession?

while the nation is lingering around 10% unemployment and families are cutting back in order to make ends meet, "The number of federal workers earning $150,000 or more a year has soared tenfold in the past five years." in fact, "Federal workers earning $150,000 or more make up 3.9% of the workforce, up from 0.4% in 2005."






















on a similar note, a recent analysis of the net worth of congress found that we now have approximately 237 millionaires in congress or 44% of our representatives compared to 1% of all americans. despite a yearly salary of $174,000, the average senator has a net worth of $1.7 million and the average representative has a net worth of $622,000. and while some in congress saw their net worths drop in recent years due to the economic downturn, others actually profited from investments in companies that received federal bailouts.

so what should happen from here? well the white house is proposing a 1.4% pay raise for all federal employees in the next budget.

why not?

//

political fundraising

in a previous post i noted my objection to the decision in citizen united v. FEC that essentially determined that corporations have free speech rights akin to individuals and therefore could not be stifled in their political contributions.

in recent weeks, president obama and other prominent democrats have been complaining about the chamber of commerce's political advertising and making accusations that our political system is being influenced by shadowy figures and possibly foreign entities. of course, this is without any proof whatsoever. the chamber of commerce denies using foreign money. factcheck.org can't find any wrongdoing. in fact, when obamas senior advisor david axelrod was asked for evidence of the chamber of commerce using secret foreign money the best response he could provide was "well, can you show me evidence that it's not?" so now the focus has moved to the chamber revealing their list of donors. however, being a tax exempt organization the president knows that the chamber is under no legal obligation to do so.

it is interesting that there is a demand for donor lists. in 2008, obama made a pledge to use public campaign financing but then quickly backtracked on that pledge when he saw how much more money could be raised via private funding. with this private funding came a closer inspection of the source of these funds. go here to see a thorough list of articles that illustrate the pledge and possible foreign sourced funds being given to the obama campaign.

opensecrets.org has an excellent breakdown of where all the campaign cash is coming from this campaign season.
here's a snapshot:
** 53% of all business contributions go to democrats
** 53% of all ideological contributions go to democrats
** 93% of all labor contributions go to democrats

considering the majority of campaign contributions are being steered towards the democratic party, the white house complaints about the chamber of commerce just seem like sour grapes that the chamber doesn't agree with the administrations policies. or is it really a realization and fear that the chamber's anti-administration message has become more resonant with the public?

//

wasted toll money

in previous posts ive discussed the cost per mile that every state spends on their roads. ranked #1 is new jersey at and astounding $749,000+/mile. those must be some mighty fine roads!

then i see this article today about the new jersey turnpike. i guess its no wonder that tolls continue to go up for taxpayers.

Auditors say the New Jersey Turnpike Authority wasted $43 million on unneeded perks and bonuses. In one case, an employee with a base salary of $73,469 earned $321,985 when all payouts and bonuses were included.
...
The biggest expense uncovered in the audit was $30 million in unjustified bonuses to employees and management in 2008 and 2009 without consideration of performance.
...
The Comptroller's Office audit released Tuesday says taxpayers also paid $430,000 for free E-ZPass transponders and nearly $90,000 in scholarships for workers' kids.
...
the excesses happened as tolls increased on the Turnpike and Garden State Parkway in 2008. They're slated to rise again in 2012.

but people continue to vote for the same people and never learn the lesson.

//

silly season

the election season always brings out both the best and worst from politicians, their supporters and all the talking heads analyzing it. it always reminds me of that monty python sketch, "election night special" featuring the results between the sensible party and the silly party.


and the state of new york is certainly getting their fill of entertainment this fall with the cast of characters running for governor. one of them is jimmy mcmillan representing the "rent is 2 damn high" party.

jimmy mcmillan















another is kristin davis, a former madam, representing the anti-prohibition party. she states as her qualifications that she is the only candidate that can manage all the "whores" in the legislature.

kristin davis
















on the one hand its good to see that any citizen can turn in the paperwork and run for office. on the other hand, when you have a debate and are required to give equal time to every group, it seems, well...just plain silly sometimes.


//

more patriotic taxpayers missing

alright, i didnt want to write again about politicians not paying their taxes but im getting tired of seeing it in the news so often. todays tax evasion story is a woman in massachusetts, running for state AUDITOR no less, that thinks its ok to claim two residencies as her primary home therefore receiving tax exemptions twice. in the article she states that she is completely within the "letter and spirit of the law." sure.

didnt vice president biden not long ago scold us that its patriotic to pay taxes?

i originally started this post and then let it sit for awhile because of previous posts about paying/not paying taxes. the story that prompted it was about residents of nantucket that are looking to pay less in property taxes. basically all the residents on seaside hulbert ave have asked for a tax abatement. some of these residents include family members that own/operate fidelity investments, ceo of gillette, a former NFL team owners, and of course senator john kerry.

this of course is the same senator kerry that was recently caught mooring his massive $7 million yacht in rhode island though he claims his intention was never to avoid paying $500,000 massachusetts taxes on it. yup.

a few years ago massachusetts voted to lower the tax rate from 5.85% to 5.3% and there was a massive outcry that this would result in cuts to necessary programs and services. in order to help solve this problem the state said that they would allow taxpayers to continue to pay the "voluntary right tax"" instead of the new lower amount. in 2008, a total of 1953 residents in the state or roughly 0.02% of the population opted to pay the higher amount.

joe biden must be disappointed in all of us.


//

pay up

everyone knows that paying taxes is necessary in order for our government and society to function properly. but no one likes to pay them. including many federal employees and aides within the oval office.

the washington post has done some excellent investigative journalism and found that over 280,000 capitol hill employees owe $9.3 million in back taxes! and apparently $9 million is the general amount owed year to year, making it one of the few non-partisan agreements between the republican and democratic parties.






















you can check the sortable list of departments that owe taxes for yourself but heres some highlights:
** white house aides -- 41 people for $831,000
** house of representatives -- 421 people for $6.5 million
** senate -- 217 people for $2.7 million
** labor department -- 463 people for $7.4 million
** federal reserve -- 81 people for $1.0 million
** justice department -- 1971 people for $14.3 million
** homeland security -- 4856 people for $37 million
** health & human services -- 2841 people for $37.3 million

so ive been audited several times over the past few years and in a couple cases owed another $1000. yet the IRS cant seem to track down the federal employees who every year owe $9 million? a spokesman for the group taxpayers for common sense states in the article that since congress writes the tax laws that they need to be held to a higher standard in regards to paying their taxes. how about we begin with that they are held to the SAME standards as everyone else.

//

9 years ago

september 11th will forever be one of those events from history that everyone remembers where they were when they first heard or saw the news about the world trade towers being attacked.

for me, i had recently been laid off and had a bunch of airline miles to use, so i went to visit a buddy in anchorage alaska. a trip that was supposed to be a week turned into a month; partially because i still didnt have a job and then partially because there was no air travel allowed. i remember sleeping on the couch when the phone rang. it was a friends mom who was calling to see if he was being recalled into the air force and whether the united states was going to war. we turned on the tv and basically stared at it for the next few days.

being in alaska on september 11th was surreal. you are so far away from "the lower 48" that you get the feeling you are in another country. i both wanted to be home but also somewhat glad that i was so far away at the same time. and the fact that the planes originated out of boston made it even more eerie. i started playing mind games about whether i could have been on one of those planes. what if my buddy lived in LA, the destination of the flights, instead of anchorage?

when flights finally resumed and i got back to boston it wasnt the boston that i had left. at the time i lived across the street from the coast guard station. it was now surrounded with sand bags and concrete barriers with security at checkpoints carrying automatic weapons. being without a job i wanted to just go to lower manhattan and volunteer in any way that i could. but by that point citizens were being asked to stay away so that professionals could do their jobs of trying to locate people and clear debris.

to this day i will not watch video of those planes hitting the towers and it strikes a still raw nerve seeing any photos. there have been discussions about making 9/11 a holiday and national day of remembrance. while at first this seemed like a good idea to me, i would hate to see it just become another three day weekend complete with car sale promotions and backyard barbeques.

nine years ago my cousin was having the time of his life in high school. now he is a marine serving in afghanistan. today i will be recalling the horrors of watching the news that fateful morning and praying for the safety of my cousin.

never forget.

//

go hokies!

this weekend marks the start to the college football season including a big one monday night on espn -- #3 boise state versus #10 virginia tech. i believe that over the past few years, the argument that boise state should be considered in the national champions debate has become increasingly annoying. therefore, i would love to see virginia tech run all over them tonight.

i jumped on the boise state bandwagon with everyone else back in 2007 when boise state defeated oklahoma in the fiesta bowl using an exciting offensive game plan including several trick plays.



this was also the game that prompted one of the stars of the boise state team to propose to his cheerleader girlfriend on the sideline while on national television adding to the charm surrounding the team and school.

















but boise state going undefeated by beating up on teams in the weak western athletic conference is not enough for me to start considering them a college football powerhouse. in fact, boise state knows it too. starting in 2011 they decided to switch to the tougher mountain west conference so that they can gain more respect.

should boise state win handily tonight, they will get consideration in the national champions argument despite the fact that they only face one of two ranked opponents this year with the remainder of their games coming against the aforementioned weak conference teams. but should they lose tonight, there is little chance they will climb back into the top of the college football polls.

heres to the hokies helping end the "boise state should be the national champs" discussions tonight instead of letting it drag out all year.

//

health care reform and mid-term elections

i saw this on politico recently and found it interesting. apparently the democrats are circulating a memo detailing how to talk to voters this fall about the passing of health care reform. most of the slides are fairly standard -- keep it simple, give personal stories, and say thats its not a perfect law but that its a good start.

the interesting part is the final bullet point of the final slide. listed under things not to do:

















but didnt the president among others say it WILL reduce the deficit?


so why should politicians stay away from mentioning it during the midterm elections? makes you wonder where the truth lies.

//

larry king

larry king began his interviewing career in the late 1950s on the radio. but he will probably be most remembered for hosting "larry king live" on cnn starting in 1985. he has conducted thousands of interviews of the years and has become the go-to interviewer for anyone dealing with a media crisis mostly due to the fact that he asks softball questions and basically just allows his subject to say whatever they want without much follow-up questioning. and some of his comments and questions are so asinine you have to wonder how he has kept his job for so long.

so this week, the person dealing with a media firestorm was dr laura schlessinger for her on-air usage of "the n-word." heres some links to an audio recording and transcript of what she said on her radio show. in my opinion, dr laura was making a valid point albeit it in a clumsy, misguided way. but in a world where people like al sharpton roam just waiting in the shadows for anyone to say anything of near insensitivity, dr laura had to spend her week on an apology tour. aka, larry kings domain.

you only need to listen to first 25 seconds of the below video to understand why larry has lost his mojo. but heres a partial transcript:

KING: Before we get to the announcement, the one thing that you said was interesting. You said that on HBO, black comics use the N- word.

SCHLESSINGER: Rap music.

KING: But, Jewish comics can kid Jews, Hispanic comics, Josh Lopez, kids Hispanics all the time. Gay comics kid the gay situation. It's OK, isn't it? But not OK when the non-N-person (emphasis mine) uses it.

NON N-PERSON?!?! thats the best way for you to say that larry? good grief!

well, at least he announced that he is retiring from his cnn post which will be taken over by piers morgan of "americas got talent" fame. but maybe not any time soon enough.

British journalist and "America's Got Talent" judge Piers Morgan, who is widely thought to be King's replacement, is apparently having trouble obtaining a work visa, according to several sources...

As a British citizen, Morgan needs a special visa that will allow him to work full-time in the US -- and those types of visas are increasingly difficult to get, according to lawyers who specialize in the field.

so for better or worse, the larry king live unintentional comedy hour rolls on.

//

let's go to the movies

after a year of filming around the streets of charlestown and right around my house, the trailers for ben afflecks new movie "the town" have started airing. perhaps im a little biased because it takes place in my neighborhood, but it looks like its going to be another good one from bennie. my question is about bens next film topic. he won critical acclaim for "gone baby gone" taking place in south boston. now "the town" features charlestown. which boston neighborhood is next?

heres the trailer:


on a personal note, a friend of ours (who i will refer to as Detective McMurty to conceal his identity) was able to get a small part in the film as well. in the trailer he played one of the gangsters firing a gun in the car while wearing a nun mask. and if youre into oddball, strangely funny short films you can check out more of his work here.

theres a part of me that wants to go see "the expendables" but you know its only going to be good in how bad it is. the volume of action stars crammed into one movie though is staggering: bruce willis, sly stallone, arnold, jason stratham, jet li, mickey rourke, steve austin, dolph lundgren, randy couture. wow! and YOU KNOW every one of them will have some sort of clever tag line as that terrorize and destroy. im sure california residents are just happy that arnold had some extra time in his schedule to film a movie as his state falls to shambles.

lastly, i finally got around to watching "crazy heart." i know im late to the game on this one, but if you havent seen it, you should. what a great movie. excellent acting. superb music from t. bone burnett once again on the soundtrack. who knew that jeff bridges and colin farrell(!) had such good singing voices? and for colin to morph into a american country western accent was impressive.

so make yourself some popcorn and settle into the couch or venture out to the theatre to escape the summer heat and get lost in the movies.

enjoy!!

//

all over the place

it's the dog days of summer and there's no reason to be thinking too hard on a sunday. plus i feel like i've been away from making updates recently. so here's some ramblings and musings with no particular focus.

do you know where the phrase "dog days of summer" originated? i had always assumed that it simply meant that it was hot outside which would result in dogs lying around in the shade. nope, it has to do with the stars. canis major or "the big dog" is a constellation. sirius is the brightest star within this constellation and is sometimes called "the dog star." during the summer months, roughly july and august, the sun, earth and canis major are in alignment. so go download an app to your phone that allows you to find the canis major constellation.
~~~~~~~~~~

jersey shore is back! i didn't like the fact that the same cast was just being moved to miami. i wanted it to be a fresh batch of maniacs hanging out in seaside. now they all have some level of celebrity attached to them which taints the reality experiment. though i have to admit that there was something nice about seeing familiar faces and not having to get to know them. you can already predict some things for this season:
** sammi sweatheart and ronnie will get back together...
** ...though it will result in constant bickering and arguing.
** angelina will get punched in the face. probably by jwoww.
** the hot tub will get polluted

is there a drinking game for the jersey shore? there should be! theres so much you could incorporate.
** take a drink when:
> every time snooki whines
> angelina says "classy"
> the situation says "grenade"
> ronron juice is seen or discussed
** multiple drinks for:
> pauly d in the dj booth
> fights
> dance floor scenes that include beating back the beat
~~~~~~~~~~

why do they measure movies by box office dollars and not actual ticket sales? how do you compare movies between eras when obviously more recent movies obviously make more money because tickets cost more? the music industry uses album sales and not the money generated from album sales, so why can't the movie industry figure it out? for example: gone with the wind ranks #124 on worldwide box office sales but #1 when you adjust for ticket price inflation. in the reverse, avatar is #1 for sales yet #14 when adjusted.
~~~~~~~~~~

who is buying this?! and why?





















~~~~~~~~~~

speaking of beer. while on vacation i had the pleasure of stopping in two places that served cask beer. cask ale beer is the term for unfiltered beer served from a cask without additional nitrogen or carbon dioxide pressure. it may also be referred to as "real ale." it's difficult to describe how it tastes differently than beer with carbonation from a keg, but it just does. find one in your area.
~~~~~~~~~~

i feel like i'm late to the game but i can not stop playing "wagon wheel" by old crow medicine show. apparently portions of the song were written by bob dylan but never recorded then lyrics were added by OCMS. it appears that the band is in europe right now but keep an eye out for when they are in your area.
~~~~~~~~~~

that's it for now. hopefully that didn't tax the brain too much. labor day and the end of the summer is going to be here before you know it so go enjoy some sunshine, or go fishing, or float down a river, or play golf, or see some live music in an amphitheatre or just sit and relax.

//

MA vacation hotspots

so it's the vacation time of year. the MA legislature recently released a list of the top 1000 places to visit in MA in order to help boost tourism. according to one state rep, "The difficult part was getting down to 1,000 places," from the initial list of over 13000.

so when the list is finally finalized and released...

A list of the top 1,000 attractions released with much fanfare by the Legislature last week was intended to promote tourism, but the Boston Herald reports that some sites don’t exist any more, some are closed to the public, and some are listed in the wrong towns.

The list – which actually has 996 places – included the Baker Robinson Whale Oil Refinery in New Bedford, which has been gutted to make way for a hotel; and Worcester’s African Cultural Center and Ashland State Park, both closed.

One place, St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Adams, was ordered closed by the Springfield Diocese two years ago although parishioners remain in vigil.

oh well, at least they are trying. come visit us in new england!

//

global warming flashback

last friday the nixon library released 100,000 pages of presidential records. among those pages are memos that show the nixon administration was debating the possible effects of climate change.

a memo from nixons democratic advisor daniel moynihan:

Moynihan wrote in a September 1969 memo that it was "pretty clearly agreed" that carbon dioxide content would rise 25 percent by 2000, "This could increase the average temperature near the earth's surface by 7 degrees Fahrenheit," he wrote. "This in turn could raise the level of the sea by 10 feet. Goodbye New York. Goodbye Washington, for that matter."

so how correct were those statements from 40 years ago?

regarding the CO2 levels:


















regarding the temperature increase:










regarding the sea level rise:













so moynihan predicted:
** a 25% increase in CO2 levels yet it appears that CO2 rose by 64%.
** a 7 degree fahrenheit rise in global temperature yet it only rose 0.6 degrees celsius or 1.08 degrees fahrenheit
** a 10 foot rise in sea level yet we only witnessed a 75mm or 2.9 inch rise. im sure residents of new york city and washington dc are grateful that my moynihans predictions of their cities being submerged were inaccurate.

so despite a carbon dioxide level increase that was more than double what was being predicted, the global temperature and sea level rise predictions were drastically off.

now, im not saying that we shouldnt do anything to get away from fossil fuel usage and move to renewable energy supplies. or that we shouldnt be doing things to generally protect the global environment. however, it has to be taken with a grain of salt when people start trying to predict what the climate will be like in 20, 40 or 100 years from now.

//

the boys of summer

so i had the opportunity to enjoy myself in the bleacher seats at fenway park earlier this week and watch my red sox beat tampa bay. as is typical when im at a game, i feel like i have ADD. sure im paying attention to the play on the field but there is so much downtime during a game that i start watching the crowd, dugouts, umpires, bat & ball boys, security, field crew...you get my point.

a few years ago major league baseball decided to be a little more fan friendly. part of this initiative was throwing balls into the stands as fan souvenirs at the end of innings. which got me to thinking about how many balls does a major league baseball team use during the course of a season and at what cost?

MLB seems to be fairly tightlipped on any specifics but after doing some research it seems to break down fairly close to this.

** the home team is required to have 5 dozen balls at the ready for a game
** a balls typical lifespan is 6-9 pitches
** there are roughly 250-300 pitches thrown per game
** which means that 35-50 balls are used per game
** which means that each team uses 2800-4100 baseballs in a season
** which means MLB uses between 84000-123000 baseballs during the course of a season (i did read in some places that it could be as high as 160,000 but in doing the math it seemed a little too high)

** im assuming that MLB has a special bulk contract with rawlings since they use so many balls in a season. but lets stipulate that they pay the normal rate.
** rawlings charges $170 for a dozen baseballs
** which means every team spends between $39000-$174000 per season on baseballs
** which means MLB spends between $1.1M-$1.7M per season on baseballs


so my initial thought from the bleachers was that giving away baseballs to fans was an expensive way to gain fan loyalty to the team and league. but if you consider that the average ticket price at fenway park is now slightly over $50 (MLB baseball average is $27), it may not be such a bad idea. 35000 fans at $50 each is just shy of $2 million PER GAME! or the cost for 11 seasons worth of baseballs.

happy 4th of july everyone!



//

sheep

steve jobs told me i need a new one so im in line. whats wrong with people?! its just a phone, not love.

In fact, the launch of the iPhone 4 may have drawn the largest crowds ever. In New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Tokyo, Paris and London, thousands of would-be customers queued up, some camping out overnight, to get a chance to buy the phone.

its just as bad at my local mall:



//

thanks for doing your part whales!

in case you needed another reason to save the whales; its because they are doing their part to bring down carbon emissions.

The latest discovery? Sperm whale feces might actually be a key element in the Southern Ocean's ability to regulate atmospheric CO2 levels.

According to the results of a recent scientific study, it has been determined that consuming prey at depth and defecating iron-rich liquid feces into the photic zone, sperm whales are able to stimulate new primary production and carbon export to the deep ocean.

Researches involved with the study learned that Southern Ocean sperm whales defecate 50 tonnes of iron into the photic zone each year, facilitating the export of 400,000 tons of carbon per year to the deep ocean.

fortune magazines take on MA and federal healthcare

i know, i know, i seem to be harping on the comparison between the massachusetts and federal healthcare designs lately. but fortune magazine wrote a great summary of lessons to be learned from massachusetts.

Lesson 1: The Massachusetts plan does not control costs.

When Massachusetts launched its reform program in 2006, it already had the highest medical costs in the nation. Today, the burden is still rising far faster than wages or inflation, from those already lofty levels.

Lesson 2: Community rating, guaranteed issue and mandated benefits swell costs.

Under guaranteed issue, insurers must accept all enrollees regardless of their medical condition; under community rating, they must charge all customers similar premiums, even if their costs are far different. The result is that prices rise steeply for young, healthy customers, who must pay far more than their actual costs. It also give them a strong incentive to drop insurance; then, they can "game the system" by signing up anytime they need surgery or get diabetes.

Lesson 3: Huge subsidies for low-to-medium earners could prove extremely expensive.

And surprisingly, the federal plans would probably prove a lot more costly than the ones in Massachusetts, where the state prides itself on restraining what they pay by squeezing providers, who then shift the added costs to private customers.

Lesson 4: The exchanges reward people for working less and earning less.

But it's clear in Massachusetts that low-to-medium earning families often suffer financially if they get a raise, work overtime, move to a higher paying job -- or if a spouse rejoins the workforce.

Lesson 5: The generous plans and added mandates give employers an incentive to drop health insurance.

The problem is simple: If employers stop paying for health care, employees will flood into the government-subsidized programs, enormously raising the cost to already fragile budgets.

i promise a new topic next time. im really getting into to the world cup so maybe something in that direction.

GO CELTICS!!!

do as i say not as i do

the president from yesterdays high school graduation commencement in michigan:

In remarks to be delivered Monday evening at Kalamazoo Central High School, Obama says it's easy to blame others when problems arise. "We see it every day out in Washington, with folks calling each other names and making all sorts of accusations on TV," the president said.

the president on the economy:

By any measure my administration has inherited a fiscal disaster.

"After they drove the car into the ditch, made it as difficult as possible for us to pull it back, now they want the keys back," said Obama, who also pointed to the 1.3-trillion-deficit he said he inherited from his predecessor, George W. Bush.

the president on terrorists and foreign wars:

He described his role as "clean[ing] up the mess" left by Bush.

the president on why massachusetts elected a republican to fill ted kennedys former senate seat:

"The same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office," Obama said. "People are angry, and they're frustrated. Not just because of what's happened in the last year or two years, but what's happened over the last eight years."

the president on the BP oil spill:

For too long, for a decade or more, there has been a cozy relationship between the oil companies and the federal agency that permits them to drill.

the white house strategy for the midterm elections:

Two years later the president is tentatively unveiling the strategy he and fellow Democrats will pursue in this fall’s election season, and it has a heavy dose of ... looking backward. It’s going to be as much about history as hope, and more about attacking Republicans than promoting his own vision.

actions speak louder than words mr president.

MA healthcare premiums rising

just a quick post today.

at the risk of beating an issue into the ground, here are some figures from todays boston globe regarding the rising cost of healthcare in massachusetts. again recall that the massachusetts healthcare system is generally what the federal plan used as a model.

so how does this sytem control health costs again?

blame canada?

you would think that based upon the outcry from president obama, homeland security secretary janet napolitano, and various city councils (boston and LA among others) regarding the new arizona illegal immigration enforcement law that the government does not want to protect our borders. but you would be wrong, you're just thinking about the wrong border.

the department of homeland security is pursuing taking 4.9 acres from a vermont dairy farm by eminent domain in order to expand the morses line port of entry station despite the fact that this border crossing is described thusly:

On average, 2½ cars pass through an hour. The pace is so slow that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents who man it have been known to fill out their days by driving golf balls in an adjoining meadow, shooting skeet or washing their cars.

so this must be based on data that homeland security has gathered right? nope. based upon a DHS study of illegal immigration, here is a breakdown of the country of origin of illegal immigrants:



im fairly certain that those coming from south of the united states are not entering illegally through canada. but apparently the federal government has other ideas.

a ground zero mosque?!

this is just nauseating.

this makes no sense even if you just think about it from strictly a PR angle. lets build a mosque in the exact spot where individuals used a perverted form of islam as their basis in attacking americans? and to open it on the anniversary of that attack?

who can think this is a good idea?

Plans are under way for a Muslim house of worship, topped by a 13-story cultural center with a swimming pool, in a building damaged by the fuselage of a jet flown by extremists into the World Trade Center.

The opening date shall live in infamy: Sept. 11, 2011. The 10th anniversary of the day a hole was punched in the city's heart.

healthcare already costs more!

how long has it been since the healthcare reform bill was signed into law...7 weeks? and now we hear from the CBO a revised estimate about the cost. yup, the CBO underestimated the costs in their original report and are now saying it will be $115 billion more costly.

Congressional Budget Office estimates released Tuesday predict the health care overhaul will likely cost about $115 billion more in discretionary spending over ten years than the original cost projections.

The additional spending — if approved over the years by Congress — would bring the total estimated cost of the overhaul to over $1 trillion.

we havent even implemented this reform yet. how many more times do you think this estimate will be revised? mrs pelosi was right, we did need to pass the bill in order to see what was in it.

yet another taxpayer shakedown

from the boston globe on february 27th:

Despite new taxes, an improving economy, and staffing cuts, Boston is still facing a $42 million shortfall in the next budget year that could require more pink slips at City Hall, city officials said yesterday.

To close the gap, major city agencies have been asked to trim budgets by 1 percent, cuts that “may require layoffs,’’ said Lisa Calise Signori, the city’s director of administration and finance.

“Everything has to be on the table,’’ Signori said.

which logically leads to a story from the boston globe today:

A labor arbitration panel has ruled that Boston firefighters must submit to random drug and alcohol testing in exchange for a 19 percent raise over four years, a significant bump that will dwarf the pay increases for other city unions.

The decision, released yesterday after a bitter four-year standoff, is largely a victory for the firefighters, who the city says will receive a wage boost that is 5 percent higher than what police unions received. The size of the award puts Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s administration in a precarious position as negotiations begin this spring with the city’s 44 collective bargaining units, heightening expectations for raises.

im at the point where i want to just give up.

how can such a huge raise be justified in this economy?

why does adding a drug test equal a bump in pay? god forbid we have firefighters that arent high on the job.

why did it take so long to have a drug testing policy?

why are government employees unionized with the very politicians they elect negotiating their contracts?

where will all this extra money come from?

if a firefighter fails a drug test, will he be fired or "put into rehab" while being paid?


EVERYONE needs to go this november! if youre an incumbent, you automatically do not have my vote.

primary care shortage

the passing of the health care reform bill will put a greater emphasis on the need for primary care physicians. the trends dont look positive in supporting those needs.

** the US health care system has about 100,000 family physicians and will need 139,531 in 10 years.

** the number of US medical school students going into primary care has dropped 51.8% since 1997.

** it is predicted that there will be a shortage of 40,000 family physicians in 2020, when the demand is expected to spike due to the aging baby boomers.

** it takes 10-11 years to train a physician which means many more medical students need to begin opting for primary care now in order to meet these rising needs.

dunkin donuts math

im a big fan of dunkin donut iced coffees. just look at the name of this blog; i drink a lot of them. i typically order a medium iced coffee, cream, one sugar. since ive been seeing their billboards recently advertising the new dark roast blend i thought i would give it a try. but since it made me stray from rotely ordering how i normally do, i happened to look up at the menu board.

medium hot coffee $1.79
medium iced coffee $2.25

hmmm, is there really $0.46 worth more coffee in an iced coffee? i know the cups are larger but its mostly filled with ice.

so, naturally, i bought one of each to measure.

the hot coffee measured out to 15oz. once you remove the ice, the iced coffee measured out to 13oz.

why am i paying more for less coffee? shouldnt i just get a hot coffee and pay a nickel for a cup of ice instead?

i contacted dunkin donuts to ask the same question. ill let you know what they say.


**UPDATE: i heard back from customer service via email but also contacted a friend of mine that works for dunkin donuts marketing and both responded the same way.

"it is a little difficult to compare hot and iced coffee as they are totally different products. our iced coffee is double brewed so in fact you are getting twice the coffee in that product."

the idea being your coffee will get watered down with the ice so it needs to be doubly strong. shouldnt i get a jolt of caffeine with that first sip then? im not sure that i believe their response.

thank you comcast!

most of the time when im commenting on a companys customer service its because of how awful they performed. but not comcast in this case. and if im going to complain about bad service then i should also praise great service.

my internet went out last friday. the customer service agent on the phone did her best to solve the problem but couldnt do resolve the issue remotely, so she scheduled a tech to come to the house. i was blown away that they were available to come on easter sunday in the middle of the afternoon! even though he had to be away from his family and missing out on easter dinner, pierre the technician, was courteous, friendly and quickly diagnosed and fixed the problem.

i dont know if comcast has changed internally somehow or they if they just recognize the growing competition for cable service. but whatever the reason, its a welcome change and i thank them for it. keep up the great work!

april fool

so by now you may have heard the statements from representative hank johnson and his concerns about the stability of guam as an island. but i just cant listen to this clip enough. im not sure if mr johnsons statements or the admirals deadpan response are funnier.

if you havent seen it:



i have seen at least one response in defense of mr johnson.

if the statements in the defense are true, that they are just old friends essentially doing a comedy routine, then im perturbed that time and money is being wasted during a congressional hearing for this nonsense.

if this wasnt some sort of rehashed routine, im more than a little nervous that we have individuals like mr johnson writing the laws of the land.

what do you think? whos the fool?

paying for health care reform

well you have to hand it to nancy pelosi for her ability to twist arms and cut deals right to the end in order to get the health care reform bill passed by 3 votes. we may not be able to sustain another bloated entitlement program but just try to "take away" the peoples health care once it is enacted.

of course we dont start seeing too many benefits right away, but we sure do get to start paying for it. thats right, the federal government will be collecting taxes for 10 years to pay for 6 years of health care. and you WILL pay. in fact part of the bill adds 16000+ IRS agents to the federal payroll to be sure you do.

to better understand the budgetary gimmicks being employed in order to show that this reform bill will save the country money, check out this piece from douglas holtz-eakin in the ny times. he is the former director of the congressional budget office so im assuming he knows what hes talking about. heres his short answer as to why the current CBO analysis shows the healthcare reform bill saving money:

The answer, unfortunately, is that the budget office is required to take written legislation at face value and not second-guess the plausibility of what it is handed. So fantasy in, fantasy out. (emphasis mine)

In reality, if you strip out all the gimmicks and budgetary games and rework the calculus, a wholly different picture emerges: The health care reform legislation would raise, not lower, federal deficits, by $562 billion.

since were talking about federal entitlement programs, did anyone find it a tad ironic that the same week that the healthcare reform bill was signed into law that a report came out stating that for the 1st time social security "will pay out more in benefits than it receives in payroll taxes, an important threshold it was not expected to cross until at least 2016."

im betting that social security wont be allowed to fail because, well, just try taking away someones benefits after they are already receiving them.

olympic lies

firstly, i dont know why i didnt write anything during the recent winter olympics. i watched more olympic action this year than in years past and really enjoyed all of it. thank you to canada for putting on a great games.

the one thing i wanted to comment on is directed at the post games analysis and commentary. heres the general theme - "the united states performed extremely well in the vancouver games hauling in the most medals with a total of 37. yeah, but, the united states has basically invented some olympic sports simply so they can win more medals."

so i had to look into the legitmacy of what will be named for the remainder of this posting as The Theory.

the three events that always seem to get mentioned during these statements are the snowboarding halfpipe, snowboard cross and skier cross.

snowboard halfpipe






ive listed the top 5 countries based on their average finish. however in regards to the number of competitors, on the mens side there were 6 countries that placed 4 snowboarders in the top 40 finishers. on the womens side the usa placed 4 snowboarders in the top 40 finishers but there were 5 other countries with 3 snowboarders in the top 40.

final tally, the rest of the world is equal to the usa for the number of competitive snowboarders and the usa placed 2nd (men) and 3rd (women) for average finish.

so for the halfpipe, The Theory is busted.

---------------------------------
snowboard cross







again the top 5 countries are listed based on the average finish of their athletes. for the men, 4 countries had 4 snowboarders finish in the top 40. for the women, 3 countries had 3+ snowboarders finish in the top 40.

final tally, again the rest of the world has an equal number of snowboarders competing in snowboard cross. the usa placed 3rd (men) and 6th (women) for average finish of their snowboarders.

so for snowboard cross, The Theory is busted.

------------------------------
skier cross






on the mens side there were 4 countries with 4 skiers finishing in the top 40. on the womens side there were 3 countries with 4 skiers finishing in the top 40. notably, the usa had Zero top 40 finshers on the womens side and the top finisher for the usa men was 23rd.

final tally, the rest of the world exceeds the usa for the number of top 40 athletes. the usa finished 13th (men) and Did Not Qualify (women) in regards to average finish of their skiers.

so for skier cross, The Theory is busted.


lets do a quick comparison. curling always catches everyones eye when the winter olympics comes around every four years before dropping off the collective radar again. this year canada took the gold medal for both mens and womens curling with records of 9-0 and 8-1 respectively. so who is inventing sports for their countries benefit?

so dont perpetuate The Theory and tell those spouting it that they are just plain WRONG!

health care reform and cost containment

since congress continues to dither with if, when and how they plan on passing the health care reform bill, lets dive back into it. in doing some research i came across some interesting figures in regards to costs of existing programs. this highlights why i believe that any kind of reform to the system needs to have cost controls in place.

united kingdom's national health service
when this program was created in 1946 to provide free health care to all citizens, it was estimated to cost ₤260 million. the actual cost turned out to be ₤358 million.

medicare - hospital insurance
this is the part A portion of medicare and when created in 1965 it was estimated to cost $9 billion in 1990. the actual costs in 1990 turned out to be $67 billion.

medicare - the entire program
in 1967 it was estimated that this entire program would cost the US taxpayer $12 billion. by the time 1990 rolled around, it actually cost $110 billion.

massachusetts commonwealth care
this is the most recent example and has been shown as a model for how health care reform could work on a national level. i say, its an example of how out of control the costs could get on a national level. the program started in 2006 and the estimated cost for 2008 was $472 million. it actually cost $628 million.


and what happens when the actual costs exceed the estimates? either you can increase taxes and continue to find the money to fund the program or certain individuals or services need to be cut. i know it makes some people furious to say this, but the second option is called rationing of care. heres a somewhat chilling quote from the british health minister when faced with this exact situation:

If the present [budget] estimates are not to be exceeded, services must be withheld which the community has proved it urgently needs—dental treatment and spectacles must be refused, beds must be closed, staff dismissed, and waiting lists already appallingly long must grow even longer. I do not think my colleagues will wish this to happen; I hope they will share my view that the additional money must be found to prevent its happening. But if they do not, I shall need their assistance in determining which services should be withheld and which developments cancelled.

how about one more? i will keep it local but use a non-healthcare related example. The Big Dig. this project essentially moved the bridge through downtown boston into a tunnel under the city. it was estimated to cost $2.6 billion. it ended up costing $22 billion. and the ceiling tiles fall down and kill people.


which leads us to todays debate. we are told by the president and congress that this health care reform bill will costs the taxpayer in the neighborhood of $1 trillion over the next 10 years. based on the historical evidence, do you think this reform will cost more or less than $1 trillion? we know the answer already. without cost containment it will cost more than predicted, it will continue to grow and it will never go unfunded.

Support Matt Brown #3

i know i tend to complain here a lot but im taking a break on this posting and counting my blessings instead. this past week i was sitting in a norwood diner and saw a poster of a high school hockey player that just hit a raw nerve.




matt brown is a sophomore at norwood high school. about a month ago during a game against weymouth, he was going for the puck, got bumped, lost his balance and hit his head on the glass. im sure this type of play happens all the time during the course of a hockey game. sadly, matt hit the glass in one of those freaky ways and sustained a spinal cord injury at the C4-C5 vertebra. he underwent immediate surgery to stablize the spinal cord and has since been moved to atlanta to a rehab center. he currently is paralyzed from the chest down though he has reported being able to feel touches on his arm and leg. despite his condition he has remained upbeat and says that no one did anything malicious to him during the game.

ive participated in many sporting eventss throughout my life, and even when there are big collisions, you dont really think that maybe this is the last time you will play. as i sat in the diner, i just kept thinking about this 15 year old kid with his whole life ahead of him, now in a rehab facility miles away from his family and friends and a world away from the life he once knew.

so what can you do? at the very least, say a prayer and put the brown family into your thoughts for a few quiet minutes. if you want to do more, you can visit matt's blog for information on making charitable donations.

Donate to Matt Brown #3

the census and the super bowl

Faced with record levels of red ink into the foreseeable future, Washington is spending $2.5 million to create buzz for the census - by advertising during the Super Bowl.

The Census Bureau is hoping to exploit the strong ratings from this annual attraction, aiming to get more participation from people who now seem disinclined to mail back a government questionnaire or even answer the door.

Census officials call it a good investment, saying the front-end costs of purchasing the ads can be quickly recouped if they succeed in encouraging people to mail back their census forms.

and this is only $2.5 million of their overall $133 million ad campaign!

i understand that they are trying to hype the census in order to get as many people to complete it as possible. and i know this isnt the first time that the government has advertised the census during the super bowl.

however, during the current economic situation arent you just stirring the pot of citizens concerned about the government wasting tax dollars? at the very least its a bad PR decision right?

while im annoyed that tax dollars, in my mind, are being mismanaged on this effort, i can get past it. the one statement from this article that most stuck out was the last paragraph

you can make a succesful argument that running the ads during the super bowl is a good advertising strategy but how do you make the argument that the front end costs can be quickly recouped? its not a product; the census will bring in $0 to taxpayers. so how are ANY costs being recouped?

poor new hampshire

last week was a sad week for new hampshire. mt washington's claim on the highest recorded wind speed record was taken over. and the fact that it was only 7 years ago that the famous man in the mountain fell makes it a little sadder.

back in may 2003, the man in the mountain was lost. here's a before and after shot:











mt washington had held the record for highest recorded wind speed - of 231 mph - since 1934. but now the world meterological society has analyzed some data of a typhoon in australia from april 1996 and found that wind speeds reached 253.5 mph during the storm, eclipsing the mt washington record and staking it's claim on the top spot.

given the nasty weather that blows past mt washington's peak, i don't think it will be long before it hosts the record once again.

state of the union

my only thoughts on the state of the union address is to the amount of attention and response being given to supreme court justice samuel alito's apparent mouthing of "not true" to president obama's comments on the recent citizens united vs fec ruling.

in case you missed alito, here it is:



firstly, the only reason this is even getting any play is due to the infamous shout of "you lie!" from rep. joe wilson when obama was addressing congress regarding the health care bill.

now my overall opinion is that the office of the presidency should be shown the utmost respect and we can not have individuals shouting out comments during addresses to congress and the american people. but the question is, why are people feeling compelled to do so?

joe wilson
during the president's address to congress he denied that health care would be provided to illegal immigrants, prompting joe wilson's outburst of "you lie!"

while, technically, the bill did not state that healthcare would be provided for illegal immigrants, it also did not allow for any checks of citizenship. the federation for american immigration reform (fair) argues that illegal immigrants can not be denied health care specifically because there isn't anything in the bill to check for citizenship. several days after the presidents address, the white house had to strengthen its position stating that illegal immigrants would be barred from purchasing health care coverage through the exchange stating that "verification requirements are something we would work out with congress."

justice alito
during the state of the union, president obama stated, "the supreme court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests -- including foreign corporations -- to spend without limit in our elections. well, I don't think american elections should be bankrolled by america's most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities."

however, "under current law, election spending by non-U.S. persons and entities is prohibited, and that prohibition is unaffected by the ruling in citizens united. thus, the existing restriction on expenditures by foreign corporations remains in place not because they are corporations but because they are foreign."

so, what's more egregious -- an individual objecting to a statement (even if it's in the hallowed halls of congress) or congress and the american people being presented with information that is not completely factual?

fired mcdonalds worker

other than the obvious questions of why is someone being fired over a single slice of cheese, what else stands out in this article to you?

McDonald's 'wrong' to fire worker over cheese slice

"The dismissal was too severe a measure," the district court in Leeuwarden, in the north of the Netherlands, said in a written judgment.

"It is just a slice of cheese."

A written warning would have been a more appropriate punishment, said the court, which ordered the fast-food chain to pay the worker the salary for the remaining five months of her contract - a total of 4,265.47 euros (£3,660).

The company was also ordered to pay court costs.

The worker was fired at a McDonald's branch in the northern town of Lemmer in March last year for giving a colleague on a break a more expensive cheese burger instead of the hamburger she had paid for.

McDonald's claimed she had broken the rules, which prohibit any free gifts to family, friends or colleagues.

to me it was this line: "...the court... ordered the fast-food chain to pay the worker the salary for the remaining five months of her contract..."

you mean to tell me that european mcdonalds workers are hired by contract? and ones that are at least 5 months in length? wow.

campaign finance reform overturned

i have reservations about the recent supreme court decision that declares the mccain-feingold campaign finance reform bill unconstitutional, thus allowing corporations and unions to make unlimited donations to campaigning politicians.

the case hinged on whether the 1st amendment of the corporations/unions was being infringed upon. but does a corporation/union as an entity, not the collection of citizens, have this protection? to me it seems that the ability to pour an unchecked number of dollars into campaign coffers leads down a path of corruption and the drowning out of the individual voices.

i doubt these contributions will be made to the upstart challenger looking to unseat the well known, national party backed incumbent. so i guess we'll just to wait and see what happens during the next campaign cycle but i fear that any and all contributions will be going to the large party, establishment candidates.

which essentially means that elections can be bought.

health care reform

im not even going to try to delve into every issue about health care reform and the existing bills, just a few thoughts.

firstly, i do believe that some reform needs to happen as there are too many people either being denied coverage/care or being forced into bankruptcy due to their medical bills. i just dont understand why the entire system needs to be overhauled in order to accomplish some of these goals.

i am against a single payer government plan. there is no way to say that it would compete "fairly" against private industry when the government is not only adminstering the plan but is also writing the rules. private industry requires a company to prosper or the company fails and goes out of business. a government run plan will never fail, it will simply raise more taxes to make sure the program continues. also, why would a company choose to pay for medical coverage for their employees when it may be cheaper to pay the fine for not covering them and have them go onto the government plan, aka the taxpayers dime?

some sort of tort reform is necessary. i freely admit that if there was some sort of catastropic malpractice error that injured my family or myself that i would want someone to pay for that error. but you have physicians that can not afford malpractice insurance in some states because it is so high. and you have the current situation where law suits are taken up in those states without some sort of cap on penalties, ex: pennsylvania. in some cases this results in physicians deciding to move to another state or to stop practicing medicine altogether.

there need to be cost controls in place. MA has been held up as a great example of universal health care coverage. MA requires all its citizens to have health care coverage or you pay a penalty. because of this, 96%-98% of MA residents have some form of coverage. the first year this program went into effect, it cost the state approximately $100 million. within 2 years, the cost to the state was approximately $600 million. the estimated cost for 2009 is $1.3 BILLION!. now imagine that program being administered on the national level with 300 million people and trillions of dollars at stake. has the government ever reined in a bloated program? my gut feeling is no. it simply delves into the bottomless taxpayer trough.

one way that may help control some costs is to allow insurance to be sold between states. currently you can only buy a plan from within the state that you live. more competition means the price comes down.

the reform bill in its somewhat current state doesnt make sense to me. how will we add 30 million people getting coverage, make cuts to medicare and expect BETTER coverage at a LOWER cost? that just doesnt make sense. there are places such as the mayo clinic that have already stated that they will no longer accept medicare patients due to the low reimbursement rates.

couldnt simple laws be enacted by congress to forbid actions such as denial of coverage due to a pre-existing condition without overhauling the entire system. little incremental steps could work and they would be less scary to the general populace.

i know polls are just polls but if only 40% (if its even that high) of americans agree with the plan, does it make sense to make shady deals with fence sitting senators in order for them to agree to passing the bill?

as i stated previously, my hope is that without the democrats supermajority, there will need to be bipartisan action to get something accomplished. which also means that the republicans need to step up and offer ideas, not just be content with obstructing passage of anything.

Brown Pulls Off The Upset!

though i made an effort to rally support for scott brown, deep down i thought it would go to martha coakley in a tight race. i just wasnt sure that the statewide support was there for a republican in the bluest of blue states that hasnt voted in a republican senator since 1972.

my hope is that this actually leads to some bipartisan action in washington. the behind closed door deals to ram through legislation is not what the american people need or want. president obama and the congressional leadership should take this as a serious sign that americans want their legislators to work together, not to battle in their mini turf wars.

congrats to scott brown. now get to work!

Scott Brown for Senate!!

january 19th will be historical. go vote for scott brown!! its time that someone in washington actually represented so many of us in massachusetts. im tired of being walked on.

martha coakley says that there arent any terrorists left in afghanistan...



...and dont dare ask her about it, as she will simply as for the next question and have one of her thugs push to the ground...



...as her campaign pays union members $50 to wave her signs...



...plus her campaign cant even spell our states name correctly (psst, martha. theres no 'e' at the end.)