I KNEW I lost a blog around here somewhere....

Hey look, a blog post! :)
To tell the truth, I was more than a bit burned out after the election was finally over. Huge relief and all that jazz. I just never really bothered thinking about blogging much after that... sent a few links to friends, popped some stuff on Facebook, whatever. Still... I missed it a bunch, in a way... so here I am.

A couple of quick things to post -
Holy crap I'm glad Obama won - exactly for this reason right here. She's pretty much toast. I hate to say it so crassly, but I also hate my backspace key. Pancreatic cancer really, really sucks. It's a very deadly cancer that has a very low 5-year survival rate. For an incredible reading experience about it, check out the blog and health reports of Randy Pausch, a the author of "the Last Lecture". Here's hoping Obama picks someone interesting... and preferably without so many tax issues.

Speaking of which, what the hell is going on there?? I thought he knew how to vet his candidates. Well whatever... at least we got to hear Obama admit he was wrong about something. I actually can't remember another president doing that in my lifetime about something happening as a current event. Sure, GW admitted in his last press conference that he MIGHT have made a FEW mistakes... but that's not what I'm talking about.

I'm also pretty happy about the initial symbolic gestures - the torture reforms, the changes to the FOIFA request processes, etc. I'm a lot less happy about the stimulus packages though... I think they're a huge waste of money and time. I think that if you want to do anything, you should slow the hell down and take a really hard look at things. Stop bailing out companies and processes that don't work. Take a significant portion of the "bailout" and instead of using it for refurbishments of pre-existing structures and roads, use it toward the energy policies of this country.

Help to string a better power grid. Throw tax incentives that MEAN something to people that generate a portion of their own power. Fix the more fragile points of the grid that could potentially cause huge blackouts (remember the one what, 5 years ago, that took out most of the midwest and NY? That can still happen). Take another portion and help to run fiber around the country and provide very cheap broadband access to everyone who wants it. Throwing money in that direction keeps it IN this country and also is a true investment in the future of our communities. The stimulus packages being rammed through congress right now are just a frighteningly disorganized mass of "hey let's spend here!! OH and HERE!!! and... OH THERE TOO!!!!" It's almost like a frantic shopping spree, and the speed at which it's moving reminds me a LOT of the Patriot Act's progress through congress.

Oh, and there's this: The republicans suck at what they're doing. Period. You'd think they'd wake up and smell the absolute smack in the face they were just dealt and perhaps come up with some innovative ideas - instead, they just bitch and moan and say "NOT ENOUGH TAX CUTS" and don't bring up any real ideas. Talk about disappointing, guys. You can do better than this...

This is gonna be an interesting time to be alive, I think. :)