Posted on 1st March 2010 by Ben Krasner in Politics - U.S. National
Department of Transportation, Highway Trust Fund, Jim Bunning, Unemployment Benefits
- Many feel Jim Bunning is being nothing more than a headache for Democrats in Washington, D.C.
It seems Jim Bunning is back in the news for a couple of his efforts over the past week. Democrats publicly ripped Bunning for blocking a heavily followed bill dealing largely with the proposed extension of federal unemployment benefits and the Department of Transportation is none-too-pleased with him, either.
Working on emotionally charged issues – as saving or creating jobs and unemployment benefits certainly are these days – Bunning single-handedly threw a filibuster into the works (what else is new from the GOP in Washington) to block a bill which would have both extended federal unemployment benefits and provide a short-term extension of the Highway Trust Fund which was set up to pay for projects around the country. As a result of the bill not passing, more than a million of the unemployed will be losing their federal unemployment benefits this month and up to 2,000 employees at the Transportation Department will be sent home without pay due to insufficient funding on projects.
In his defense, let me point out that Bunning’s one and only objection to the bill is the funding issue itself. This is a good thing and something that no politician should ever be put on trial for… I believe the item that has most people hot under the collar is purely the timing of the effort. Now that “pay as you go” has become a key phrase in recent politics, Bunning, who is retiring at the end of the year, is likely looking to go out to pasture in noble fashion (like most politicians try to do) by finally showing that Republicans are interested in appropriate finance and budgeting. This is a great time to start, after all… while the Democrats hold control and are trying to push bills through quicker than a quarter mile in the movie ‘The Fast and the Furious”. NOW the republicans wise up – convenient.
So the question is simply this: is this decision to block this bill in balance? What we have is a bill that about 1.2 – 1.4 million people are relying on to either bridge the gap until they can (or want to) secure employment or to stay afloat for a while longer along with an unknown amount of people involved with the construction projects that are now put on hold and who may need to be added to the unemployment circuit. The cost attached to this bill is $10 billion. Doing quick math we’re talking about $8,333 for each of the 1.2 million (using the lower number) people on the unemployment chopping block, and that number does NOT include the funding for the DOT projects that is a part of the bill.
Does that seem to be at all in balance? We’re not talking about a couple pet projects, here, we’re talking about people – somewhere between a million and 1.5 million individuals. If you’re still teetering on the edge of that decision, consider the sunk costs (what we’ve already spent, in essence) of the stimulus as a whole. I know that when you’re budgeting and planning you’re never supposed to be looking at sunk costs, but I find them relevant when we’re talking about people – not just capital investment and marketing. So while I give a golf clap of applause to Bunning for trying to play ball the right way on his way out the door, I think we need to take another look at what we’re doing on the bills at hand.
My guess is Bunning is financially right, here, but has simply not been able to do HIS JOB as a politician in Washington; and that is convince people he’s right, rally them to his cause and find a solution. There’s not much I can’t stand more than those who are unwilling to act to find a solution to problems staring them right in the face. My guess is I’m not alone on that one, either, judging by the reaction around the web after this news broke.
Posted on 1st March 2010 by Ben Krasner in Day to Day Goodies
Playstation 3, Sony
- Playstation Network Living In Shades Of Gray, Today.
Sony Playstation Network users came upon an interesting problem, today, as it appears that the Playstation 3 consoles built prior to the “thin” revision all believed that 2010 was a leap year. Woops. The Playstation Network blog updated users about the situation earlier, today. For everyone freaking out (addicts), Sony says that the problem should be corrected within 24 hours.
What else will be changed within 24 hours? Oh yeah, the PS3 systems will no longer be looking for a date that doesn’t exist anymore. Wow what a great bug fix – just let it run its course!
Update: Sony Playstation Network blog says the network service has been restored – now that everyone’s PS3 says it is March FIRST – still a day behind. But hey, Sony says users can adjust the clock setting manually. Wow, ain’t that special! All it took was a post from the Senior Director of Corporate Communications & Social Media to get that solid message across.
In essence they are saying, ‘We know that a problem exists… it will fix itself after it doesn’t get fixed at all but the clock is no longer looking for a date that doesn’t exist. Now get lost and if you really must have the clock set to the right date and time you can do it yourself. If we feel like doing a firmware update later maybe we’ll let you know about that.’
Posted on 27th February 2010 by Ben Krasner in In The News
Chile, Earthquake
The country of Chile has been struck with one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded – a magnitude 8.8 quake that has destroyed buildings and infrastructure and sent a Tsunami racing west/northwest alarming those lands, countries and vessels in the Pacific. A ’state of catastrophe” was declared by the Chilean President and massive damage and an incredible death toll are both expected and feared.
The earthquake was felt as far away as Sao Paulo, Brazil. Wow!
Check out this NY times page that has great maps of the epicenter of the event and the geology behind it, plus some tsunami forecasting.
Quite the slide show of the earthquake pictures at Yahoo.
Unbelievable. Thoughts and prayers go out to all of those affected.
Posted on 27th February 2010 by Ben Krasner in Sports Commentary
Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Major Leage Baseball, Ronnie Belliard
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/baseball/mlb/02/26/belliard.dodgers.ap/index.html?eref=sihp
Sorry Ronnie… wait, no I’m not. This kind of news is always hilarious to me. First and foremost it should be disclosed that I am a Detroit Tigers fan and I have loved to detest this cocky dude ever since he spent a few years as a player for the Cleveland Indians. Obviously, he’s been a good enough baseball player to have a pretty decent career but he’s never been short on times when his testiness and seeming desire to resemble Manny Ramirez at every chance possible hasn’t made him one of my least favorite players of all.
Reading that an athlete is overweight and, per a mutually agreed upon contract, needs to lose some amount of weight or else he won’t get paid or the contract is voided always makes me laugh. These are supposedly athletes, right? They make a living because of their athleticism, right? We’re talking about their ability to run, throw, jump, push, tackle, kick… whatever they do in whatever sport they are involved in… better than any above average man. At the core of these abilities is taking care of one’s body – or so you would think. And yet they have to write up a contract that says, “you will not get fat or this contract is void!”
We’re talking about a second baseman, here. This is not a first baseman who hardly ever has to run or a left tackle in football that NEEDS a certain amount of weight and needs to just be sure that he doesn’t balloon into something ridiculous. We’re talking about a guy who needs to be the second most mobile player on the infield and a guy who needs to have deep range to chase ground balls, cut off the outfield, scoot to the bag and turn to make unbelievably difficult double plays. Carrying extra weight is not an option at second base or short stop. Better get on the treads bro! Otherwise the Dodgers will be fielding a second baseman who actually looks like one. While you’re at it, stop staring at everyone like their holding back the next coming of Lou Whittaker.
TGNRYP6KKU9Z
Posted on 24th February 2010 by Ben Krasner in Uncategorized
2010 Winter Olympics, USA Hockey
Jonas Hiller put on an inspired performance and got some help from the goal posts as he stymied the USA Men’s Hockey Team through two periods to give his Switzerland squad a chance at an upset in the first elimination round of the 2010 Olympic Men’s Hockey Tournament, Wednesday. But Zach Parise scored on a deflection 2 minutes into the third period and added an empty netter just before the end of regulation to beat the Swiss and send USA into the semifinal round.
The USA men will face the winner of Wednesday night’s game between the Czech Republic and Finland for the right to head to the gold medal match.
Links to stories:
ESPN.com – Switzerland vs. United States
CNNSI.com – Zach Parise Powers Team USA Into Olympic Semifinals
NBColympics.com – Americans Edge Swiss 2-0 To Advance To Semifinal
Posted on 24th February 2010 by Ben Krasner in In The News
GM, Hummer
General Motors to shut down hummer after potential deal with Chinese manufacturing company falls through
We love our Hummer H3 but this one’s all about brand perception and high gas prices, folks. Hardly a day goes by where we don’t have to correct someone about the gas mileage of our H3. People automatically assume that it has gas mileage numbers hovering around 8 or 9 miles per gallon when it actually has better gas mileage than the Jeep Liberty that Natalie drove for years – a vehicle that people assumed got significantly better gas mileage than it actually did. My how timing really is everything.
With the switch to more fuel-efficient utility vehicles built on car chassis (read STATION WAGONS) rather than those which trucks are based on, it may have only been a matter of time before this was going to happen anyway. It just seems to me that GM could produce a niche level of the H2 and/or H3 to harness the still present off-roading consumers who are going to be quickly running out of options when it comes to buying something new. It looks to me that GM is surrendering that completely to Jeep and, if so, Jeep brand managers should be sending GM gift baskets and thank you notes as it may be THE niche that keeps that entire Chrysler affair alive.
Or… does GM have a play up its sleeve for later? What if GM lets the hummer brand disappear for a while until they can get righted (assuming they can) and eventually buys Jeep (or the government rolls Jeep into GM, however you would want to look at that) which is the only seemingly viable part of the Chrysler group? I don’t know but I just have a hard time coming to grips with a total lack of off-road capable vehicles with the exception of trucks.
For what it’s worth, again, The H3 has been a great ride for us – it gave us the space we were after while staying reasonable in size and a small boost to fuel economy over our Jeep Liberty. Our lease is almost up so we’re going to have to figure out what to do with our vehicles promptly. I suppose we could buy the thing, but that might be difficult to justify financially. Oh well, all things change. If they didn’t they would just stay the same.
