Field Notes

18 Million for a Website???

Now that it is being reported by ABC, I feel fairly confident that this is not just a right-wing hoax:

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: For those concerned about stimulus spending, the General Services Administration sends word tonight that $18 million in additional funds are being spent to redesign the Recovery.gov Web site.

The new Web site promises to give taxpayers more information about where their money is going than the current version of the site.

“Recovery.gov 2.0 will use innovative and interactive technologies to help taxpayers see where their dollars are being spent,” James A. Williams, commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, says in a press release announcing the contract awarded to Maryland-based Smartronix Inc. “Armed with easy access to this information, taxpayers can make government more accountable for its decisions.”  

The contract calls for spending $9.5 million through January, and as much as $18 million through 2014, according to the GSA press release.

“We are pleased that another major milestone has been achieved," Earl E. Devaney, chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, says in the press release. “We thank the GSA for its assistance and look forward to working with Smartronix."

That's EIGHTEEN MILLION DOLLARS!

That's 360 $50,000 jobs

That's about 500 first-year teachers in many parts of our country!

That's 180 University of Illinois students getting a four year free ride!

That's 3,600 kids getting a free year of Community College with books!

That's us finally getting a light at Bell and Route 6 as well as McKinley Woods Road and 6!

That's a lifetime supply of blood pressure medicine for those of us that have had it!!

That's just plain nuts!

They spend 18 million dollars to show us how they waste money and they are proud of it!

What will it take for us to finally wake up? 

WHAT???

The Delay to Digital TV

While eating lunch I clicked on CSPAN.

Our Profiles in Courage in the House are currently debating whether we should postpone the conversion to digital TV (no more bunny ears) for another few months because everyone is not ready for the transition. 

This move has been very well publicized.  Truthfully, if you've not heard about it, you probably don't watch TV, so you are unaffected by this news anyway.

They are also debating just how much more of our money to spend to help people be able to view their TV once the transition takes place.

The bubbling sound you hear in the background is my blood boiling.

#1  Are they actually taking up time on the floor of the House to talk about TV?  Do we not have enough real issues to deal with?

#2  If you are a person who honestly thinks that we the people should be funding millions of dollars on converter boxes so people can watch TV, congratulations, you are well on your way to becoming a socialist.  There is honestly nothing our officials will not slip their hands into the taxpayer's pockets to pay for.  They have a total inability to say no.  Buying votes matters more than making hard choices, or even not so hard choices.

When politicians make speeches about making hard financial choices, what exactly are they talking about?  Name one.  Give an example please.  In my mind, this one does not seem to be a real toughy as we ring up a trillion dollar deficit that will be saddled on our kids and grandkids. 

It is time to say no to something...anything.  There has to be a point that we say, "NO!" 

That's what it means to make a tough decision speech makers. 

People are losing jobs...losing the equity in their homes...losing their retirement savings and they are debating over TV and throwing around more of our hard earned cash. 

Nothing ever changes with this crew.

Follow Up:  What a relief.  Moments ago our congressional heroes voted for a delay.  Bunny ears are safe for at least another few months!  Way to use that political capital for something that really matters!  Maybe tomorrow you can take up a debate on a return to tinfoil wrapping for Ho Ho's.  I sure do miss that...the new wrappers are just not as good.

Land of Stinkin'

That was a little too easy.

I've just spend about an hour watching our state, and Chicago in particular, get bashed up one side and down the other on the national media for its well known rampant corruption. 

It's hard to disagree with anything that was said.  Illinois is a complete joke when it comes to corruption.  We don't wonder if our politicians are crooked, we wonder how crooked they are.  Yesterday the bar was raised, or lowered, beyond what most people could have ever imagined. 

Here's the deal.  We keep hitting the lever and voting them in.  We don't live in a monarchy.  These people are not foisted upon us.  We apply our bumper stickers, we put out our lawn signs and we vote in people we know to be crooked!  Blago got reelected by a majority of Illinois residents who knew in their gut this guy was corrupt.  But hey, he's my party's guy, what choice do I have, right? 

I just don't get it. 

Further, once they are in, they are in to stay...no questions asked.  I am willing to bet most people didn't even know Dick Durbin was running in the past election until they looked at the ballot in the voting booth.  There was not one ounce of a serious challenge.  Elections are when we hold people to account...not when we hold their coronation.  This is sheer insanity. 

Bottom line...you get what you vote for.  Congratulations Illinois.  We got us a winner!

Got a spare brain?

I found a good use for it.

Read this news blurb:

The CEOs of the Big Three automakers reportedly flew private luxury jets to Washington to plead for a $25 billion taxpayer bailout to save their debt-ridden industry — ringing up tens of thousands in charges even as they cried poverty.

HELLO! 

Do these people not have a clue??  AIG, Wall Street, Detroit, Washington...wake up!

What you do matters.  SouthWest has great rates, and you'd actually earn a crazy little thing called credibility...it's only the currency of leadership!

Clueless, just clueless!

No Coffee, Day 2

Have you yet learned the lesson of the attic?

It goes something like this...that item is in the attic for a reason, and it is usually not a good one. 

Typically the reason is that you didn't have the heart to just throw the hunk of junk out.  You had hopes that it would cure itself up there...you hoped for an advance in technology...maybe they will find a cure for old, junky electronic items.

Mr. Coffee was Mr. Nada this morning.

Kim got up first, so she brewed a pot.  Eight cups.  I came down and a couple trickles were left.  I asked her, rather incredulously, how many cups she had.  3/4 of one cup.  This pot is brewing so slowly that it is making steam before it is making coffee!

Then I remembered...this pot needed to be cleaned out with vinegar about once every two weeks...no joke.

So I am sitting right now with a cup of what looks like espresso. 

Brewed two pots...got 1 1/2 cups out of it.

I'm going shopping today.

Savor the Good Life??

A few years back I got a new coffee maker as a Father's Day gift.  It was amazing.  It's the kind that grinds the beans in the machine...way cool!  It's made by Cuisinart.  That will be relevant by the time I am done.

A few weeks after getting it, I realized one flaw.  It was a real pain to clean.  The designers had obviously not thought through how to clean it without a specialized tool kit or a power washers...but so what, it was worth the pain for great coffee.

One morning I woke to make the coffee.  Started the machine up...no grinding noise.  Now I have whole beans and no grinder.

I Googled my machine.  That's when I learned...this is one of the more expensive lemons on the market make by a rather unsympathetic company with a snobby French name.  Great!

So, for a mere $10 (should be free...it's their broken machine!) and shipping the old machine back we could get a replacement.  So we did.

Machine #2 had it's own little idiosyncrasy.  During the grinding process, the door likes to fly open, spewing grounds everywhere and, if you were not in the room, complete the brewing process all over the counter and floor.

Came down today to make coffee.  Put in the beans.  Closed the door.  Hit the button.  Dead.

No grinding noise, no coffee brewing, just an insidious beeping noise!

Perhaps I should call my congressman...he might bail me out.  Or maybe my senator...no wait, he's busy trying to win a national beauty contest.

Cuisinart...your coffee pot rots!

Mind you, all this is being said by a guy that is three hours over due for the first cup of the day!  I am about to go pour coffee beans on my cereal!

Love their tag line by the way....Savor the Good Life!  I just want to savor my coffee!

scott mcclellen is a toad

Let me give a couple reminders before my rant. 

First, this is my personal blog...it is not a church blog.  In no way do I speak for anyone but me.

Second, I do not do political on the blog for more reasons that worth enumerating here.  This is not political...it's about character and moral behavior.

Scott McClellan is the former Bush Press Secretary who, if you ask me, was never up to the task.

He, like many other toadies before him, has gone tell-all in a book to get his fifteen minutes of fame and five million dollars.

So why would I zero in on him.  I've been watching him on interviews, both right and left, and have been talking back at the TV to excess.

This is what I find unbearable.  Mr. McClellan now says he had opinions that were contrary to the President's, but he kept them to himself because he wanted to be loyal.  Loyal?  Mr. Communications Director, in what dictionary are you finding your definitions? 

Loyal people do not withhold their true opinions in the name of loyalty.  They recognize this, not as loyalty, but an ultimate form of betrayal.  If they have the best interests of the person they are serving at heart, they express their position fully, taking every necessary risk to make the other person better.  To remain silent while drawing a paycheck, but admit to dissent when the job is done reveals a fatal character flaw.

The part I love is that he is candy-coating this as a necessary book to help change the tone in Washington.

Still spinning Scott?  Wow!

Only in Illinois

We've driven into St. Louis twice in recent months as Brian checks out schools.

St. Louis has a beautiful skyline. 

Driving down I-55, the city appears over the hill in Collinsville.  It's an amazing site.

To get to the city instead of where we used live, we stay on I-55 instead of jumping on I-255.

From this direction there is a great view of the city...sorry, used to be a great view.   

The leaders of our fine state, in all their wisdom, decided to block this view with a landfill!

The image is not the easiest to see...you may have to click and blow it up.  Just over the left corner of the landfill, you can see the top of the arch.

Apparently in Illinois utility trumps beauty.  Think of all the flat, desolate, no where spots in this state...and this is where we choose to dump our trash!

It's about as brilliant as placing a gas station at the end of an airport!

Gander Gobbler Sale

I like Gander Mountain.  Cool store for sporting equipment and clothing.

Sometime this week I was driving and heard their proud announcement that they will be open Thanksgiving Day starting at 3.

Last year I purchased several Christmas gifts at their store, mostly gift cards amounting to a couple hundred bucks. 

This year they will not get a thin dime...nor will any store that violates Thanksgiving.

One day...one day these greed monsters can stop treating their employees like serfs and allow them one day, free of labor to be with family and friends.  One day, but no...greed rules. 

Let's face it...my little boycott means little to them...but I am sick of standing by and watching the fabric of our nation and our families unravel at the alter of consumerism.

They will be hearing from me as well, by phone, letter and who knows, maybe blog.