Tag: complaint

What have we done?

In the House, Suddenly Righteous Republicans

Anne Kornblut of the New York Times asked McHenry if his complaint might come across as whining.

“I’m not whining,” he whined.

So, when the Republicans were in power, Nancy Pelosi submitted a bill asking for fair treatment of the Democratic minority. The Republicans ignored it. Now, the Republicans are submitting the same bill with the roles reversed, and are mad that the Democrats aren’t jumping to do what they ask. The Republicans even had it delivered by a new member who could argue with something resembling a straight face that he had nothing to do with the Republicans actions a few years ago.

This is a pretty crappy thing to do on both sides, especially the Republicans. But the Washington Post has to go and ruin the article by the above quote. “Ooh, let’s call the Republicans ‘whiners’. That’ll show them.” On a related note – Cindy Sheehan is not helping anything. Defunding the Iraq war is the worst idea I’ve heard since someone thought, “Hey, it would be cool if George W. Bush was the President!”

I think my point here is that, when we “cleaned house” and got rid of some of the biggest problem Republicans in office, we seem to have replaced them with equally bad (though in different ways) Democrats. My mom doesn’t like Nancy Pelosi. And my mom has an incredible gift for finding the good in anyone, so if she can’t see anything positive in Nancy Pelosi, it’s probably not there.  And yes, I know my mom doesn’t know her personally, nor is she a professional political analyst. Actually, I don’t think I have a point. I’m just terribly frustrated that there doesn’t seem to be a single person anywhere in American politics who seems to represent my views. There’s no one I can get behind and say, “Hey, this person speaks for me”.  Am I asking too much?  Should the leaders I helped elect occasionally say things I agree with?  There are things I believe in on both sides of the political spectrum (Although not on the strange third axis of political thought where George W. Bush lives).

Is this my least coherent post ever?  Vote in the comments.  It’s not even 8:30AM. I swear I’m not drunk.

Bipartisan government – the wifes take

So, apparently the other human being who lives with me doesn’t agree with my post about the Democrats being big meanies who don’t want to compromise.  She says, and it’s certainly a valid point, that the Republicans have shown no interest in compromise, and the Democrats have things they need to get done.  So they should just do them.  Getting the majority is no small feat, and they need to make things happen quickly or run the risk of losing ground in the 2008 elections, where Republicans will be eager to play up any failures by the new majority.

I think that was Mike‘s point in the comments, too – they need to jump in and get some things done, and then they can worry about compromising.

On some level, I have this optimistic view that the Democrats will rush in and stand on principle, doing things the Right Way even if it means they lose, and then eventually that Right Way will win out, and the country will be better off.  Why I think that, I don’t know.  I’m not usually that optimistic.  I think I hold Democrats to a higher standard than I do Republicans.

In any event, my view has been tempered somewhat.  But I still don’t like the sound of what they’re doing.

News Flash – People take cabs at 2am on New Years Day

I went to a party at a friend’s house for the New Year.  It was a cool party.  It became uncool, however, through no fault of the hostess, at about 2am.  My wife and I had planned to take a cab to my mom’s house, only a few miles away, where the spare room was all set up for us.  We had both been drinking, and had no intention of driving anywhere.

So I went to Google maps and looked for a cab in the area.  First company didn’t even answer the phone.  The second one told me there was a two hour wait for a cab.  The third said they had no cabs.

Was this a shock?  Were they unprepared for people to want cabs after parties for New Year’s?  I can’t imagine demand was much higher than last year.

It worked out okay, as the hostess had a fold-out couch that we could sleep on that wasn’t even uncomfortable.  But it was annoying.  You suck, Annapolis cab companies.

A new age of bipartisan government

Democrats To Start Without GOP Input – washingtonpost.com

As they prepare to take control of Congress this week and face up to campaign pledges to restore bipartisanship and openness, Democrats are planning to largely sideline Republicans from the first burst of lawmaking.

Oh, wait, never mind.  It’s great to talk about bipartisanship and compromise to get elected, but then let’s just throw that out the window and pass some laws really quickly before anyone can do anything about it.  This is not how our government is supposed to work.

Don’t get me wrong, I approve of some of the laws they want to pass.  More stem cell research?  I approve.  Tightening ethics rules for lawmakers?  Sure.  Cutting interest rates on student loans?  Well, maybe.  I don’t know that cutting the interest rates is really going to help the kids who graduate with $100,000 in debt, but maybe it will.  I’ve spoken at length on the minimum wage, and how it should be tied to real, local economic indicators and shouldn’t be a tool of politicians to appeal to liberals and poor people.  Yes, it should be raised, because if you assume we need a minimum wage, we certainly need to raise it from what it is now because it hasn’t changed in, what, ten years?  At least adjust it for inflation.

I wish the Democrats would notice that they’re alienating a lot of the people who could really be helping them.  After the colossal mess that President Bush has made of absolutely everything, many people (Like me, for example) are desperate for someone to bring back a little sanity to the federal government.  The Democrats would just have to come through on some of the promises they made before the elections and I’d be happy to support them.  But they aren’t even in office yet, and they’ve already broken a big promise to compromise and keep everyone involved.

Are you trying to force me to vote Libertarian, Nancy Pelosi?  Because I’ll do it.  You watch.

Awesome playoff scenario

NFL.com – NFL News

**Packers clinch strength of victory tiebreaker over NY Giants if all of the following occur: ARI win, DET win, MIA win, MIN win, SF win, CAR loss, HOU loss, TB loss.

Because the Redskins and the worst defensive coordinator ever, Gregg Williams, couldn’t even begin to stop Tiki Barber and the Giants (He had TWO 50+ yard touchdown runs.  TWO!), Green Bay has a very slim chance to make the playoffs.  Eight games need to have exactly the right outcomes, or else the Giants go to the playoffs.  I think this could be the coolest playoff scenario ever.  Except that it will probably end up with the Giants going to the playoffs, and I hate the Giants.

The Redskins, on the other hand, should be embarrassed.  The Giants had lost six of seven games, were without one of their best defensive players (Michael Strahan), one of their best offensive players (Jeremy Shockey), and, for all intents and purposes, based on how he’s been playing, without their quarterback (Eli “The Whiner” Manning).

And the Redskins let the Giants come into their house and run for 250 yards.  Joe Gibbs is a Hall of Fame coach.  But that man on the sidelines is not Joe Gibbs.  I think a brain-sucking parasite had taken over his body and delegated all playcalling to a Ouija board run by a couple of chimpanzees who don’t even watch the games.

On behalf of the Redskins, I’d like to apologize to the NFC teams who had a shot at the playoffs if the Giants lost.  We let you down, and we’re sorry.

And to the Giants:  I can’t wait until you get knocked out of the playoffs in a three-touchdown loss to someone.  Have fun!

Soon you can eat a clone

FDA OKs Food From Cloned Animals – washingtonpost.com

Because scientists concluded there is no difference between food from clones and food from other animals, “it would be unlikely that FDA would require labeling in those cases,” Sundlof said.

I saw this today on Accidental Hedonist, and now on the Washington Post. The issue here is not safety, or how different or not different clones are from normal animals. The issue is that some people don’t like the idea of cloning, and don’t want to eat a cloned animal.

Personally, I don’t care if the animal was cloned. I don’t care if nano-scale assembly robots built my prime rib from individual carbon atoms. I’ll eat it either way. But I want to know what I’m eating. Give people the information to choose for themselves, and I’m happy.

Angry letter to Safeway

Well, it wasn’t really angry, exactly.  Puzzled is probably more accurate.  But it’s here, along with Safeway’s response.  Well, along with a summary of Safeway’s response, because their email to me had a “don’t share this with anyone or we’ll shoot you” note at the bottom.

_Note:  Safeway did not actually threaten to shoot me.  I just said that for effect. _

Inefficient use of resources

I’ve been driving the wife to work this week, due to her unfortunate knee incident (She’s seeing an orthopedist on Monday, we think she hurt her MCL), and that involves taking 66 into the city.  Now, at 7am, that’s not bad.  It’s HOV-2, and traffic is light.

However, they already have the metered ramps turned on.  Along the entrance ramps to 66, they have traffic lights, where they allow one car per lane to go at a time.  The light is red, someone arrives at the light, it turns green for one car.  Great system when traffic is heavy – it prevents a big pile of cars trying to merge all at once.  Unless the backup gets really bad, and then it doesn’t do any good.

My point, and I do have one, is that these meters have sensors in the road so they know when a car comes.  So they know how heavy traffic is.  And therefore, they could turn themselves off when there is one car coming by every minute or two, when the lights are totally unnecessary.  They could also turn themselves off when the traffic is so heavy that they don’t make any difference at all.

Is that too much to ask?  I have the email of someone at VDOT now from the whole Seven Corners debacle.  I haven’t contacted him yet.  I should – now that the election is over, I’ve been swept under the rug, it seems.