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- There are 7,000 positions to fill in the embryonic Barack Obama administration. Want one? Listen for the snap of the latex glove. According to this CNN story, you’ll tell everything there is to tell about yourself on the application, including the names and telephone numbers of past live-in lovers and whether anyone in your family owns a gun.
- Another foot; another “what the hell’s going on up there?”
- I am so glad that Jennifer Aniston has finally weighed in on Brad and Angelina. I have been unable to eat, sleep, or form a linear fucking thought.
- I saw regular unleaded for $1.989 today.
- Count me in the “General Motors needs to file Chapter 11” camp. (The very worst thing to do is just slide a federal wad their way.) The way I see it, bankruptcy proceedings are the only plausible venue in which they could cleanly renegotiate the union agreements that were steadily killing them well before $4 gas eviscerated the big truck market.
- No one’s giving Alabama a chance against Florida in the SEC championship game. Stewart Mandel has us playing Utah in the Sugar Bowl instead of the winner of the Big 12 South orgy for the BCS title. No respect; just how I like it.
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars is nowhere near as tragic as negative reviews may have led you to believe. My expectations were quite low after seeing it so roundly savaged, and it’s just fine, with lots of great action. If you’ve been hesitant, but would normally buy a newly-released-to-home-video Star Wars movie, please do so without reservation.
- The U.S. smoking rate is under 20% for the first time. At 3:00 today I entered my sixth smoke-free week (compliance: 100%, and I have a rough patch here and there, but I’ve not been dangerously close even once). The 32nd annual Great American Smokeout is a week from today. Why not try? I won’t lie; it’s hard. In fact, of the things in your life that are completely under your control, it’s probably the hardest thing you’ll ever do. But you really can turn minutes to hours to days to weeks to months to years to the rest of your life. Give it some thought.
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BoWilliams.com
I paid $1.949 for gas at Costco tonight. Woot!
Oh, come on! You can’t honestly tell me that you don’t think that every single person who was ever even REMOTELY associated with the Bush administration had to go through AT LEAST as rigorous a background check! Hell, just to chaperone my daughters’ field trips, I needed to be fingerprinted. Welcome to the USA in the age of the Patriot Act.
Seriously with the gas prices? The best I’ve seen in New England is $2.11.
It isn’t the Patriot Act. I had to go through essentially the same thing for security clearance back in ’92. The only difference was the online stuff. They didn’t ask for disclosure for that stuff then. I had a real good time (not) with the agents that came to “interview” me.
I’m going to say stuff a couple more times because I don’t think I manage to work the word stuff into enough conversations.
BCS? Hell, my Gators haven’t beaten South Carolina and FSU yet. They could lose 2 games before they play ‘Bama.
Or not.
I ain’t applyin’ for no stinkin’ government job. And I’ll cohabit as I want to, and currently am.
When we scary Canadians became citizens, the range of questions we had to answer – including was I ever a guard at Nazi concentration camp – were extensive and I think I also had to answer if I had ever been a part of the communist party. Lo and behold, the grand “no riffraff” continuum.
A hearty congrats on the notsmokingness!! I know how hard it is and I applaud your resolve! I’ve just about reached week three of working out every day and the positive changes are further incentive to keep going. What changes have you noticed since you stopped?
As for the feet popping up on shorelines in B.C. and WA, wtf? Foot-severing cult of aliens? Someone wanting to get nefarious grave robbing and icky sideline into post-mortem amputation into the news? Sure! these feet just happen to fall off bodies…
Bo— I had a nice visit from Pearl today. You might want to see my second blog post of this date.
Mrs. Chili – Get used to it. What you are seeing is the end of Obama’s honeymoon with the media. CNN will turn on him like a pack of wild dogs. Every little thing he does now is up for criticism. In a truly ingenious PR stunt, one media outlet is now admitting that during the election they wrote more favorably for Obama but I’m sure NOW they are going to strive to be more objective (i.e. dig up as much dirt as they can so they can sell more copy). Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking Obama here – it’s certainly possible that his background checks aren’t that different from Bush. It doesn’t matter, though. It’s news now and it’ll be that way for the next four years!
azn8tive: Yup, saw that at Sam’s today as well. So no further drops in the area so far.
Mrs. Chili: “Does anyone in your family own a gun?” Wow.
‘seester: I know there are no questions about gun ownership. “Live-in lovers” might be snared under a roommates section.
O’Mama: Congratulations on your exercise! Stay at it! I’ve got to move more myself. And thanks for the continued engagement and kudos. It helps.
Most of the positive changes have been in smell and taste, and I’m told I’m snoring less. I’m also (finally) sleeping better. (When I’m smoking, it yanks my bedtime instantly to the other side of midnight, as opposed to 10:30 or 11 when I’m not.)
Gerry: Stop reading your spam folder.
Lea: That’s an interesting take and one I had not yet heard spelled out so explicitly. Thanks for the fodder; commencing rumination…
And here’s a benefit of not smoking you may (or may not) have overlooked. You no longer stink. At least not like a stale ashtray.
Lea, you’re absolutely right – the “honeymoon” is definitely over. That’s fine, though – I don’t pay very much attention to the media, anyway – even when they’re riffing on the republicans – so it doesn’t affect me that much. I’m just waiting it out to see how things actually go. My optimism is certainly tempered (I am, after all, a Cranky Yankee and skepticism is my birthright), but I’m still holding out hope that this administration will do at least SOME good.
Bo: excellent advice, it was actually nice, considering how depressed and sad I’ve been all week to lash out at a troll
I’ll accept that it is idiot’s work, of course.
U guys are kidding yourself. The Obamagasm continues on in full force. Obama will get a free ride from a majority of the media for at least a year. Meanwhile we’ll get regaled about historic events such as the first turd excreted by a black president in the oval office bathroom. I can’t even watch the news channels anymore.
Lee: I’m open to any possibility. We’re in uncharted waters here.
There’s not a Prez-elect that could turn shit around right now. What really bothers me about this buy-out crap is that the government is essentially saying that our economy can’t make it unless we all live beyond our means. What that boils down to is this: we are fucked. Royally fucked. Our basic problem is that our expectations are too high. What we now see as essentials are really not. How many families that will qualify for a low interest mortgage have high def TVs and SUVs? And the rest of use who pay our bills will subsidize them. Live within your mean, people! For cryin’ out loud!
I have long contended that in at least one area of critical importance (government spending), the GOP and the Dems are Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee (or Frick and Frack). They have debates about how much money the federal government does not have is going to be spent on something or other. They never mention how many of our tax dollars are going to be spent each year on interest payments on the debts they run up. The GOP calls the Dems a “tax and spend” party. The GOP is a “don’t tax but spend anyway” party. I guess what that boils down to is whether those who are taxpayers now are going to foot the bills for current profligate spending, or whether their children (and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, etc.) are going to end up paying.
What the government is saying currently is that no matter how badly a major corporation (like auto company, banking company, insurance company, etc.) is run, our progeny (who don’t get to vote, or even draw breath yet) will be happy to backstop their incompetence.
I have seldom agreed with President Bush, but I do on the bailouts of auto companies.
Oh, yeah, and how about that “globalization.” Isn’t there an absolute corollary of that process?: You better be able to compete. GM, etc., forgot that part.
We own 3 “Japanese” cars (outright, I might add). The quotation marks are there because at least one of them was built in Indiana (or Ohio, who cares), and doubtless the parts in all of them are from many countries. Truth is, I gave country of manufacture no thought at all when making purchasing decisions. Why should I? Our government advocates “free markets” and “globalization” and who am I to argue?
Does anyone but me know who Frick and Frack were?
I do!