Framing the Dialogue

Archive for March, 2010

Spring Road Trip

This morning I got an early start (around 7:30 am) for a road trip and got home around 8:00 pm.  As you may have guessed it wasn’t really a pleasure trip even though it was a bright and sunny day.  Round trip was around 500 miles traveling 4.5 hours each way for a 2 hour meeting.  Sigh.  My trip started in Pennsylvania took me into West Virginia to Ohio then back to West Virginia and then to Ohio and back to West Virginia, Ohio, West Virginia and finally home to Pennsylvania.  This poor soul got nailed in PA. 

A few observations:

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Harbingers of Spring Part Deux

Last year I posted about things that let us know that Spring has sprung.  This is technically not an update, just my take on Spring a year later. 

Spring where I live tis the season for potholes.  Most municipalities open tip lines so that concerned citizens can report the most outrageous potholes.  They don’t actually fix the potholes, they just want to know where they should not drive.  This looks like a small hole yet it is obviously very deep.  Fortunately some good Samaritan sunk a shopping cart into the hole to warn their fellow motorists.

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Update – Left Hand-Right Hand

March 28, 2010 Update:

I love to read the Sunday paper with breakfast on the weekends.  Today I was treated to another classic example of government gone bad with our money.  The headline read “Transit bridge projects in jeopardy” as the Port Authority of Allegheny County complains that they may have to defer repairs to some of the “poor” bridges that they own.  Spokespersons take a matter of fact approach to the unsafe structures;  “This kind of thing is fairly common — every year we have more capital projects than can be funded, so the ones that don’t make the final budget stay in the queue for another year.”

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The Digital Photography Book

There may be thousands of photography books available and many of them have now been edited to include digital photography.  Less than ten years ago I was the only person in my family that had a camera.  We often bought the kids disposable cameras to use on vacations.  I bought my first digital camera (an Olympus for around $700) and I seem to remember that it had around 3 MP.  I took both it and my 35mm film camera on vacation that year to compare both. 

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One Education Under Obama

Somewhat lost in all of the ballyhoo over health care was a provision snuck in late in the process.  Did the Democrats add some language to provide some relief to doctors against excessive lawsuits?  Maybe they snuck in an allowance for insurance companies to be allowed to sell health care insurance across state lines and spread the risk?  How about a provision to allow more use of health savings accounts that accumulate throughout your lifetime?  What about loosening requirements for insurance plans to cover everything from addadicktomies, to botox injections (sorry Ms. Pelosi), to counselling when someone is mean to you?  I know they added a provision to make health insurance more portable?

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Goin Galt…Please

“If you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater the effort the heavier the world bore down upon his shoulders — what would you tell him to do?”

I am beginning to believe that the only chance for America is for the wealth builders to stand up to the leaches in government and the citizenry.  All to often lately corporations are looking to get their piece and go along to survive rather than thrive.  Are they out there?  A few have made some noise…

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The 4-Hour Workweek

Who wouldn’t be intrigued by the title? The 4-Hour Workweek might be everyone’s dream but can it be done?  If you follow the advice of author Timothy Ferriss you can achieve such a work week as he has done.  The last chapter of the book contains letters from previous readers (This is the expanded and updated edition) who have taken his advise and have achieved that dream.

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Update – A Third Party

March 20, 2010 Update: 

Just when I thought that I was convinced that we should probably support Republicans I hear this…

South Carolina’s Senator Lindsey Graham has joined with Chuckie Schummer to restart immigration reform.  We should feel comfortable that Sen. Graham wants “A tough but fair path to legalization” for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants already in the U.S., the most controversial component in the reform proposal.”  Even John McCain finally gets it on immigration reform.  Like health care reform, the American public doesn’t want it.

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News Briefs – Volume V

News briefs are my collection of interesting news stories that may not warrant a full post…

Brief 1:  This article may get a scientist the “Titanic” award for going down with his ship.  Professor Neville Nicholls had the temerity to claim that January 2010 was the “hottest January we have ever seen.”  My only guess that the ole Prof was referring to the amount of heat climate change snake oil salesmen like Al Gore and him are taking because of the obvious fraud they have been perpatrating against the world.  The Great Senator James Inhofe and some colleagues are calling for a Senate investigation of the global warming scam.  Go Jim!

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I Dream of Health Care

In approximately 72 hours President Barack Hussein Obama’s wish will likely come true when socialized medicine-lite is passed.  Obama wishes and Pelosi crosses her arms, blinks and one sixth more of the United States economy is under federal government control.  Unfortunately this is not a humorous sit-com.

Like most Americans I do not want government involved in every aspect of my life and I am against this health care bill.  I can say “like most Americans” because most Americans are against the passage of this bill.  Democrats in Congress and Obama don’t care what we don’t want.  They obviously know what is best for us.  They can spin about how much this is pared down, but we all know that this is the camel’s nose under the tent. 

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