2012 Election Eve

I've tried to keep most of my political thoughts to a minimum lately (primarily because I haven't felt like they were encouraging any beneficial communication), but on the eve of the 2012 election, I wanted to say a few things.

Regardless of who wins the election, I have no allusions that they alone will solve all our problems or drive us off the cliffs of destruction. The President does not rule the world, write all the laws, pick winners and losers, etc. I hope and pray that whoever is elected tomorrow is inspired and committed to helping lead this nation forward and will work to heal the divide that separates much of our society. I believe our country to have significant un-tapped potential and that the contentious differences that divide us as a nation threaten that potential. Working together, we are far more capable than we are as individuals, interest groups, political parties, etc.

As human beings, we should be able to bridge differences and foster common interests. We are more alike than we are different. As Americans, we should look at our nation's history and realize the dangers of a divided society. Encouraging division distracts us from addressing the challenges that face us. We need to come together rather than continuing to drift apart. Given the time of night... that is all.

Political Tests

I had a funny encounter with one of my more distant cousins at the family reunion.  He said I have a trustworthy face and should run for politics.  He asked if I had ever thought about it and said I should talk to another of our cousins about his political connections.  Knowing my political leanings and the fact that they're on the other end of the spectrum from cousin #2, I thought he (cousin #1) was joking.  The look on my face must have given away my dismay at his suggestion because he then asked me if I was a democrat to which I gave my typical response, "I'm a left leaning independent".  He looked at me like I had 2 heads for a moment and then asked if I've ever taken a political test to determine my position.  I hadn't and didn't think I needed to.  I took a few minutes last night to find and complete 2 such tests.  No real surprise in the results.

First one: http://www.politicalcompass.org/test

Second one: http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz

Link to quiz results

Third one: http://www.people-press.org/typology/quiz/

Gas Prices

I just heard an interesting news story on NPR about why gas prices are going up. No, they didn't blame the President so settle down. Yes, the sanctions in place to hamper Iran from exporting its oil has lowered global supply, but it turns out the U.S. is actually exporting more oil than we're importing because of the low cost of natural gas in the U.S.  Additionally, they said a bunch of oil refineries have closed this year.  Quite interesting.

State of the Union Facts

Does anyone know how to fact check any of these?
• Since the last SOTU, the economy has created 1.9 million private sector jobs.
• The top 1 percent take home 24 percent of the nation’s income, up from about 9 percent in 1976.
• Private sector job creation under Obama in 2011 was larger than seven out of the eight years Bush was president.
• The top 1 percent of Americans own 40 percent of our country’s wealth while the bottom 80 percent owns only 7 percent.
• Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 2.5 million young adults gained health insurance.
• For every one job opening, there are four people looking for work.
• Last year, China spent 9 percent of its GDP on infrastructure. The U.S. spent 2.5 percent.
• 2.65 million seniors saved an average of $569 on prescriptions last year thanks to the Affordable Care Act.
• Union membership is at a 70-year low. • Unemployment benefits have lifted 3.2 million people out of poverty.
• The United States used to have the world’s largest percentage of college graduates. We’re now #14.
• One quarter of all contributions to federal campaigns come from 0.01 percent of Americans.
• 47.8 percent of households that receive food stamps are working, because having a job is not enough to keep them out of poverty.
• In the last three years, 30 major corporations spent more on lobbying than they paid in taxes.
• 50 percent of U.S. workers make less than $26,364 per year.
• More than one in 70 homes faced foreclosure last year.
• Since 1985, the federal tax rate for the 400 wealthiest Americans dropped from 29 percent to 18 percent.

Garage Work Bench

So I love my garage (I don't know how I lived without one for so many years - ignorance was bliss), and I've somehow managed to fill it quite nicely. It makes me wonder where all this stuff lived before I had such a nice storage location. In the garage along one side, I have these built in shelves which are quite handy. However, after the first few months of living here, I noticed I didn't have anywhere to put things when I was looking through some of the stuff on the shelves. One of the things that I'm always pulling off the shelf to look through is my container of nuts, bolts, nails, screws, etc (every man should have at least one of these things). Anyway... I found myself using my (gasp) car hood as a place to set things. Less than ideal. What I needed was a work bench, but I didn't want to build anything too grand and didn't want to dedicate the floor space to something either. So I came up with an idea I thought would work. I have to say that I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.  I had the piece of plywood laying around.  I had to buy the chains, the carabiners, the hinges, screws, and bolts.  I think it cost me around $10.

Moneyball

Had a chance to see this over the weekend at the $1.25 theater.  Earliest movie time I've ever been to of 10:20am.  Nice quiet theater with all of 6 other people or so.  Yes, not the nicest theater, but it didn't change the film I'm sure.

A very good movie, and I'm certainly not a baseball fan.  Yes, I've seen a bunch of  baseball movies (The Natural, The Sand Lot, The Rookie, Major League, League of Their Own, For Love of the Game, Field of Dreams, The Fan, come to mind), but my wife too enjoyed it and she's no sports fan.  Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill were both very good in it.  Sorry, ladies... Brad kept his shirt on the entire movie (Jonah, too, remained fully clothed).  It was nice to see Jonah in a film where he isn't playing the same role he seems to.  Did you know BTW that Jonah Hill is the voice of one of the characters from How to Train Your Dragon?  Me either.  It was a surprise when I saw that on imdb.

Candide

Author: Voltaire
After I finished reading The Last Symbol, I needed another book, but didn't have a chance to pick anything up.  We were headed out of town and I thought I'd have some time to read.  I didn't want to take what I was reading at the time, The Power of Pause, because I wanted something different.  We have quite a few books around the house including a bunch of "classics" that we've acquired over time.  I've attempted to read a few of them in the past, but really struggled to get into them.  I needed something though and Candide looked short enough that I didn't think it would be too much of a commitment.

Needless to say, I didn't have the time while out of town that I thought.  So foolish of me thinking I'd have time for myself while on vacation with my boys.  Not that I'm complaining.

Anyway... Candide was more dense than it appeared.  It was easy enough to read as far as the language went, and it contained numerous historical references and footnotes, which were interesting at times.  It was odd in how the timeline of the book raced and paused.  One sentence would be describing a conversation about the struggles of life and the next would say something like "Candide and his company arrived in Portual two months later."  Huh?  What just happened to the conversation.  I can't say I got anything from the book other than the satisfaction of having finished one of the "classics" that's been sitting on my shelves.

Reservoir Dogs

This had been on my list of movies to see (again) for some time (Apr 2009).  Jo and I finally watched it about a month ago thanks to Netflix.  After watching it with Jo, I felt like I had to apologize.  I think the way the movie was filmed was cool and the plot is engaging, but it didn't live up to the spot on the pedestal I had placed it in my memory.  Maybe I'll have to talk to Jeff more about it's appeal.

The Power of Pause

Becoming More by Doing Less

Author: Terry Hershey
Loyola Press

We heard Terry speak in Seattle at the EE convention in 2010 and really enjoyed his presentation. The idea of slowing down some to smell the roses struck me and this book talks about finding the sacrament and grace in all the ordinary of our daily lives.

While the book was quite different than I thought it was going to be (I expected it to be more of a self-help book), I certainly got a different perspective from it, and I'm sure Terry would agree that it's not intended to be a self-help book.