The Budget Cut Sham

during this most recent round of budget cut talks, amid all the back-slapping, finger pointing and partisan speeches, people forgot to actually look and see whether anything was being done. other than the posturing...not really.

the headlines you saw and will hear about are that $38 billion was cut from the budget. but when the congressional budget office studied it, they report that in reality only $352 million is being cut. how can that be? heres an example:

For instance, Congress allotted more than $20 million necessary to build the Capitol Visitor Center at the U.S. Capitol building. The visitor center is now completed, but the U.S. Capitol still is technically owed the rest of its budget for that project. The budget deal the House votes on today takes back $15 million from that project.

only in washington is coming in under budget and then deciding to not use the money originally allocated considered a budget cut.

so now we have two budgets out there to discuss and hash over; one from president obama and one from congressman paul ryan. if you listen to the heated rhetoric from both sides, you would come to conclusion that these two budget proposals are polar opposites of one another. in reality, there is a 7% difference in the spending.

the washington post and the boston globe have put out some useful tools to help illustrate the difference between the plans as well as to look at federal spending for the past 30 years.

it was interesting to review the head-to-head comparison in contrast with the stereotypes or misinformation that you hear day-to-day.
** "the republicans draconian cuts are stealing away social security" -- the GOP budget calls for $1 billion less in spending than obamas budget ($770B v. $769B)
** "president obama doesnt care about national security" -- obamas budget calls for $3 billion MORE spending than the GOP budget ($703B v. $700B)

there are real budget problems that we need to grapple with in the coming years. medicare and social security currently account for about 1/3 of the budget. with baby boomers aging and retiring, this percentage is only going to increase. in light of the bickering over the $38B in "cuts", i dont see how our elected leaders are possibly going to address the big issues. the real answer that no one will discuss because it may effect their future elections is that we need to BOTH raise taxes on everyone AND cut unnecessary spending.

i can swallow a tax increase but only after the federal government illustrates some ability to rein in the spending. but when you see things like harry reid complaining about the "heartless" loss of federal funds for a cowboy poetry festival or watch as massachusetts builds a shrine to ted kennedy with $38M in taxpayer money, you dont get the sense that any spending restraint can happen.

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Only Citizens Pay Taxes, Not Corporations

recently, i made a reference to GE not paying any taxes this year despite earning $12-14 BILLION in profits. then i saw this statement from senator bernie sanders of vermont and am extremely outraged.

i get hounded from the IRS because i try to claim a few deductions, meanwhile check out how these corporations are able to manipulate the tax code:

1. Exxon Mobil made $19 billion in profits in 2009. Exxon not only paid no federal income taxes, it actually received a $156 million rebate from the IRS, according to its SEC filings.

2. Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS last year, although it made $4.4 billion in profits and received a bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department of nearly $1 trillion.

3. Over the past five years, while General Electric made $26 billion in profits in the United States, it received a $4.1 billion refund from the IRS.

4. Chevron received a $19 million refund from the IRS last year after it made $10 billion in profits in 2009.

5. Boeing, which received a $30 billion contract from the Pentagon to build 179 airborne tankers, got a $124 million refund from the IRS last year.

6. Valero Energy, the 25th largest company in America with $68 billion in sales last year received a $157 million tax refund check from the IRS and, over the past three years, it received a $134 million tax break from the oil and gas manufacturing tax deduction.

7. Goldman Sachs in 2008 only paid 1.1 percent of its income in taxes even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion and received an almost $800 billion from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department.

8. Citigroup last year made more than $4 billion in profits but paid no federal income taxes. It received a $2.5 trillion bailout from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury.

9. ConocoPhillips, the fifth largest oil company in the United States, made $16 billion in profits from 2007 through 2009, but received $451 million in tax breaks through the oil and gas manufacturing deduction.

10. Over the past five years, Carnival Cruise Lines made more than $11 billion in profits, but its federal income tax rate during those years was just 1.1 percent.

im not saying that these companies have done anything illegal, but enough is enough. the president has made reference to closing the loopholes in the tax code. its now past time that the president and congress do something about it.

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is it a full time job or not?

got a chuckle from a post at massachusetts liberal commenting on the lack of activity in the first two months of the year. if it's a part-time job, let's pay them that way.

Milk carton Legislature

It's March 7 -- do you know what your full time Legislature has done?

Two months into the first year of their two-year session, the Great and General Court of the Commonwealth has approved exactly one law -- authorizing the Mayor of Medford to appoint a director of budget and personnel. The House and Senate have met -- formally or informally -- 22 times in two months and have held sessions commemorating John F. Kennedy's City on the Hill speech and the 200th anniversary of Massachusetts General Hospital.

Oh, and they took a week off for vacation.

music on a desert island

everyones done it before. you get shipwrecked on an island. you can only take 5 albums with you -- as apparently this island has a cd player and power source. ive slightly cheated by choosing one double album, which i have deemed legal. but you cant choose box sets. what are your album choices?

my current top 5 "stuck on a desert island" albums, in no particular order and subject to change at any moment.

1. nirvana "mtv unplugged"
i wasnt a huge nirvana fan during their heyday and i actually didnt pick up this album until 1996 which was 3 years after it was released and 2 years after kurt cobain died. just a great collection of live music with some interesting covers. it will always remind me of the year i spent living in atlanta as this cd got a lot of rotation from me at the time.












* * * * * *
2. johnny cash "live at folsom prison"
come on, The Man In Black, says it all. the ultimate in country music. you hear the prisoners cheering for him and the performance is periodically interrupted by prison guards making announcements. you even get a duet of "jackson" with june carter. no, thats not where my sons name originated.












* * * * * *
3. kings of leon "only by the night"
just a top to bottom great album. sure, some of the songs got overplayed on the radio but i still turned up the volume every time they came on.













* * * * * *
4. dave matthews band "live at red rocks"
im a big dave fan. though i still very much enjoy some of their newer stuff, this live collection of the early stuff will always be the best music for me. im sure getting to know this band during my college years and watching their rise to stardom has something to do with it too. in fact, this album was released the summer after i graduated. i was on a cross country trip but drove through colorado 2 months before this show.













* * * * * *
5. david gray "white ladder"
you have to have something to relax to on the list. another top to bottom solid album. incidentally i found out about david gray when he was opening for dave matthews band shows in 1999. this is always my go-to, quiet sunday morning music.













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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?

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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?

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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.

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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.


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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.


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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!!

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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.
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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
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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.
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who is buying this?! and why?





















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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.
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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.
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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.

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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!

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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.

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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!



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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:



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