You may recall I threw down the gauntlet to a few co-workers at the beginning of the month. The goal was to see who could log the most miles via the Nike+ system and our iPods. It came down to me and my boss (a few of the others had some excuses-wrong shoes, late getting the sensor, etc). My boss is a treadmill guy (won't run outside if it's under 60 degrees!), so he had somewhat of an advantage, as I do not have one in the house. I was able to get out there pretty much every day and log some distance.
I did have 4 days with no mileage (stupid global warming visited Denver!), but still put in 103.68 miles in for February. Longest individual run was a smidge over 6 miles, and there were a few days where I got two workouts in. Nike tells me I burned over 18,000 calories, which explains why my pants fit a little better.
We start a new challenge tomorrow (hopefully I have shamed some co-workers into getting involved), that runs til the end of March. We have the annual family vacation in San Diego coming up in a few weeks. Should be nicer to run along the beach, instead of dodging snowbanks and ice patches in Colorado.
Rangel has one of the powerful jobs in government. The New York Democrat is chairman of the House Ways and Means committee. The committee has jurisdiction over all taxation. And that's the rub. Rangel has a problem paying all his taxes.
The chairman failed to report more than a half million dollars in income. He later amended his financial disclosure forms. Perhaps it was a senior moment. The public servant simply forgot about his New Jersey real estate and a quarter million dollar account.
But perhaps he's just corrupt. There are other investigations. Possibly still more absent taxes, this time regarding rental income and a Dominican villa. There's the four rent-stabilized Harlem apartments used by Rangel, reportedly, well below market value. House lawmakers cannot accept gifts worth more than $50.
Rangel's cloud grew still larger on Thursday. The House ethics committee ruled that Rangel violated Congressional rules by accepting Caribbean junkets.
What is interesting to observe is what Nancy Pelosi said back in 2004:
Don't get Pelosi wrong. Surely, if a powerful House member "has proven himself to be ethically unfit" we know "the burden" indeed "falls upon" his party to oust him. In such a case, party leaders would obviously ask: "Do they want to remove the ethical cloud that hangs over the Capitol?"
So Pelosi explained in October 2004. The subject was Tom DeLay. The House ethics committee had admonished the Republican majority leader. DeLay used the Federal Aviation Administration to track Democratic state rivals. He hosted a fundraiser with energy lobbyists while energy legislation was under consideration.
Pelosi argued: "We must stop the influence of special interests so that the people know that we are here for the people's interests."
And what she is saying now:
Some Democratic lawmakers are calling for Rangel to step down. But not the House leader. She says slow down. Don't jump to those conclusions. She told reporters Friday, "There's obviously more to come and we'll see what happens with that."
This year already looks like an awful political storm for Democrats. Pelosi is hoping one more cloud won't matter. This is what many party leaders do when they are in the eye of the storm. They forget how ugly it looks from the outside.
Always scanning the interwebs to find new and useless stuff for you guys to check out. Today is no different, as I have come across this gem. Seems some dude scans CraigsList and other online classified ad sites. He then inquires, and tries to bait people into responding. A "prank call" of sorts in the modern era. An example:
Racist Microwave Buyer
Posted at: 2009-11-16 13:02:45
Original ad: WANTED - Microwave I am looking for a used microwave. WHITE ONLY
From Me to *********@************.org:
I have a LG microwave that I want to sell for $30. I am aware that your ad said whites only, but I am an African American. I sincerly hope that this won't be a problem for you, and we can put race issues aside and just do business.
Thank you, Jamal
From Amy ****** to Me:
I am so sorry that you misread my ad. I meant the microwave should be white, because it would match my kitchen.
Amy
From Me to Amy ******:
Oh, so because I am black, you think that I can't read? It really is amazing that the world we live in is still so racist. I'm sorry, but your insults have left me feeling sick. I don't think I can sell my microwave to a bigot.
Sincerely offended, Jamal
From Amy ****** to Me:
I wasn't suggesting that you couldn't read. I'm not racist. If you read my whole email you would see that the ad was looking for a white microwave, not a white person. I changed the ad to avoid any confusion.
Amy
From Me to Amy ******:
So now you think that because I am black, I am too lazy to read your whole e-mails. Your racism is overwhelming. You will never get my microwave from me. I will, however, sell you a burning cross for your next klan meeting. Does $20 for the cross sound fair?
From Amy ****** to Me:
I can't write anything without you being offended! I give up!
I would imagine if they had done a test run prior to this segment, it wouldn't have made it on the air. The dude saying "Here it comes!" towards the end probably wasn't a good idea either.
These individuals and others emerged briefly throughout the daylong summit hosted by Obama as both Democratic and Republican lawmakers invoked their own personal stories, along with anecdotes from friends and constituents, to try to prove their points. There was a similarity to the touching or troubling stories of people in need even when the tellers were at loggerheads.
Among the vignettes heard Thursday:
-The one from Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y. drew some stunned looks. She talked of a constituent who had no insurance, had no dentures, and had to wear her death sister's ill-fitting teeth. "You will not believe this, and I know you won't, but it's true," Slaughter said.
"She wore her dead sister's teeth, which of course were uncomfortable and did not fit. Do you ever believe that in America that that's where we would be?"
- Everyone got to know Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., a little better when he warned of insurance companies that drop people because of their health history and talked of his own medical situation. "I sit here with two artificial hips, a little bit of arthritis, and I have a kidney stone," he said.
-Obama himself retold the story of his mother's death from cancer, saying that she spent the last six months of her life battling insurance companies. He talked about his daughters, too, telling of rushing Malia to the emergency room with asthma, and Sasha requiring a spinal tap and antibiotics as a baby because she had meningitis.
"In each of those instances, I remember thinking while sitting in the emergency room, what would have happened if I didn't have reliable health care?" the president asked.
-Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the Republicans' leadoff speaker, introduced viewers and fellow lawmakers to "a friend of mine from Tullahoma, Tennessee" whose wife had breast cancer. The couple's health costs would have been unaffordable without help from their employer and Alexander's friend told the senator something needed to be done about the health system - but the Democrats' bill wasn't the answer.
"'I hope you'll kill that health care bill,'" Alexander quoted his friend as saying.
-"I've seen grown men cry," revealed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., describing a Michigan man with a bedridden wife and dwindling finances. In Pelosi's telling, the circumstances argued for health care overhaul.
The answer of course is that they are all "props". Cantor used the actual bill to show how massive it is. The politicians used the stories of constituents to show how the system is broken.
But Obama didn't stop the pols from telling their sob stories, or chastise them after they told them. Why?
It's Sales 101.
When crafting your sale, you use the numbers that better state your case. If I can save your business .9%, that isn't a big deal. But if that .9% represents a cost savings of $273,018, which number do you think I'll use? Conversely, if my competitor tells my client he can save $273,018 by switching to his product from mine, I'll point out that he's only saving .9%, so what's the point of switching for such a low amount.
Obama did the same thing yesterday.
He "let" the pols tell their tales of woe (is there really a large portion of the population using their dead relatives dentures?), but rebuked Cantor for showing what is the actual piece of legislation.
So spare me your "outrage" over the antics of Cantor. He was doing his sales job, just like you were, Mr. President.
Schultz wants to "rip out Cheney's heart, kick it around, and stuff it back in." He wants Cheney to "shoot someone in the face again". Class, pure class.
The House of Representatives reauthorized the Patriot Act for one year Thursday.
The vote was 315-97 .
Many liberals in the House opposed the controversial act, saying it tramps Constitutional protections and civil liberties.
Congress adopted the Patriot Act shortly after September 11th.
Many lawmakers wanted to rewrite or even kill some of the most controversial provisions in the act. But Congressional leaders didn’t have the appetite for a major battle with the economy and health care reform swinging in the balance.
Many of the renewed provisions involve wiretaps and eavesdropping measures.
The Senate ok'd the package earlier this week. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law.
I applaud this move by the House. The Patriot Act is a necessary component to our National Security. What's funny is how the very same Democrats who railed against Bush overstepping his authority with the Patriot Act have now voted (again) to keep it.
Curious how in the past, every time it came up for renewal, there was lots of debate on the necessity of the Act, if it was Constitutional, etc.
Did you even know it was up for a vote this week?
I wonder what has changed in respect to the Patriot Act now, as compared to years past. Could it be who occupies the White House?
The Lefties used to say Bush was using the Constitution as toilet paper. Will they say the same of Obama? I guess we can't blame the President too much on this one. He did inheiret the Patriot Act from Bush after all. Can't wait to hear the Left speaking "Truth to Power" on the abuses of this Administration.
I do seem to recall an anouncement from way back in December of 2005 of some sort:
