Any new ideas?

Why is it that the worst ideas just never seem to die? Michael Lind writes in salon.com about the two new ideas to come from the bright, new stars of the G.O.P.: attacking Iran and privatizing Social Security.

Sarah Palin suggests that if President Obama were to show stronger support for Israel and attack Iran that voters might perceive him as being "stronger." She says that he's not doing enough to make Americans feel safe and that he should pull out the "war card." I guess escalating the war in Afghanistan against the Taliban isn't enough. I guess that it's not enough that we're already occupying two Muslim nations in the Middle East. Let's make it a nice, round threesome! I'm sure that will resonate great with voters who are already tired of thousands of Americans dead in Iraq (for no good reason) and years of trying to tame Afghanistan (when no other nation in all of recorded history couldn't) and going into a trillion dollar deficit in the process. Is this what she would do if she were elected president in 2012!? "Gosh darnit, our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan have done so much to make 'real Americans™' and our neighbors and friends in Israel and around the world, we need to continue the good work of the Bush Doctrine and declare war on every Muslim nation in the Middle East."

The other bright idea, privatizing Medicare has been around for so long that I actually laugh when I hear it. I was simply and utterly shocked when the GOP's ranking member on the House Budget Committee actually announced the contents of the party's "shadow bill." It privatizes Social Security, has vouchers for Medicare and completely does away with Medicaid.

"That's what Americans are demanding, Rep. Ryan. Millions of Americans are not content to have lost much or all of their 401K and other private retirement savings in the stock market in the last decade, with nothing but Social Security remaining to rescue them in their retirement years. No, Americans are angry because they weren't allowed to lose all of their Social Security money, as well, in the stock market." You'd think with all the populist backlash against Wall Street giving themselves big bonuses after driving the economy into a ditch the last thing you want to do is give them all the government's money for Americans' retirements. That's like arriving at the scene of an accident caused by a drunk driver and instead of arresting them you give them a bigger, more expensive car and a case of liquor and send them on their merry way.

I wish I could...

...just remove myself from the problems of the world. Rush Limbaugh is thankfully recovering from his heart attack (or heart flutter or whatever landed him in the hospital). I may consider him to be a horrible, rotten person and one of the greatest contributors to the partisan deadlock that is hindering us from fixing the problems we are as a nation facing, but I do not wish him ill; I don't pray for his death. Having been discharged from the (I am assuming) private, VIP, suite at the hospital in Hawai'i where he was being cared for he had this pearl of wisdom to share: "Based on what happened to me here, I don't think there is one thing wrong with the American healthcare system. It is working just fine, just dandy." I should hope so with the amount of money Limbaugh has to toss around. For the average, working schlub it would mean possible lost wages, medications to buy after meeting a hefty yearly deductible and running the risk of having his health insurance coverage rescinded. For millions of other Americans out of work or unable to afford health insurance it would most likely mean financial ruin and possible bankruptcy due to insurmountable bills from the ER, the hospital, the surgeons, etc., lost time from work, missed mortgage payments, etc, etc...

For Rush to come out of the hospital and say this is akin to a hedge fund manager stating "The recession is an amazing opportunity to grab up some under-valued stocks and properties and thanks to all the TARP money we received we don't have to worry about liquidity and are allowed to take greater risks than normal." Meanwhile unemployment is 10%, average people are losing their homes and watching their lives and their children's futures evaporate. But AIG executives are complaining that a $500,000/year compensation without a bonus is simply too low a figure for them to accept...

It must be nice to live in their world.

An end to flickr

So, I have been doing this project where I am doing a daily self-portrait with my camera, sometimes messing around with it in Photoshop and posting it to flickr. Well, when I started this little project I had a temporary flickr "pro" account because I am a DSL customer of AT&T/Yahoo, which owns the company. At the end of January, I got an email from flickr saying that my free "pro" status would be coming to an end because it was only an introductory free trial, seeing as I am a customer of their aren't company. The trial was to end on February 1st. February 1st came and went and I was still a "pro" user. March 1st rolls around... I am still a pro user. This is cool I think as I continue to upload my self portraits, pictures of family get-togethers, pictures I took going for a ride through Eastern Connecticut on a snowy day with my son.

I'm digging it; really enjoying it.

Last night as I was uploading the self-portrait for day twenty-seven of this 365 day project and there is the notification on the upload page:
my free "pro" trial is over and I have already used up 20% of my allowed upload capacity for the month. I am not going to be able to continue my 365 day project on flickr.

Now, even though the flickr pro account only costs 24.95 a year, I just cannot do it. I am the sole bread-winner in a family living in the most expensive state in the union. I do not own a cell phone. I have only the most basic cable. I buy used video games for my old PS2 (you know... the really old fat ones with no network hookup.) Eating out and splurging usually means take home Chinese food for about $30. I have a thermos I bring to work so I don't have to buy coffee. I'm not frugal; ask my wife... we live on the cheap because that's what we have to do to survive. The only real two luxuries we allow ourselves are Netflix and a DSL connection. So, $24.95 to be able to upload more pictures? No, thanks. So the project is on hold - maybe I'll start it up again if I can find a decent place to upload photos without too many limits.