Why I will never go to Singapore

I read last night with some amazement that chewing gum is illegal in Singapore. It is a punishable misdemeanor offense that is supposed to deter littering. Now I'm not a big gum chewer but we're a much, much bigger country and I know lots of people that chew gum regularly and I haven't noticed that we have a particular problem with used gum. If you want to talk about coffee cups, cigarette butts, newspapers and myriad other things then I'll agree that litter can be a problem. I don't recall ever having to modify my walking path, needing to make an unplanned trip to the car wash or not having my 9 iron approach shot land where I want because of chewing gum. Have any of you experienced significant problems or inconvenience directly caused by gum? And remember Mike Fay? In Singapore they cane people for misdemeanors like littering! I don't think that would be fun. I'll pass on the Bazooka until I get home, thanks.

Central Falls, Rhode Island

I've been waiting for something like what happened at this high school for a long time. I remember when I was in high school I wanted all the teachers fired too, but for altogether different reasons. After getting the details of the entire process I applaud the Superintendent for having the gumption to do this. I mean come on now. This school has ranked in the lowest 5 percent of school districts in Rhode Island year after year! This wasn't a one time thing! Over 50% of students drop out before graduation! Math proficiency numbers are an astounding 7%! So according to Federal law you have 4 choices when this happens:

1. Close the school down,
2. Turn it into a charter school,
3. Follow a 'transformation' model with longer days and eating lunch with the kids, or
4. Fire all the teachers and come up with what's called a turnaround plan.

Well presented with these options the union said everything was just peaches and cream and wanted no changes, including option 3 which seems pretty painless. That makes the choice pretty simple to me. Off with their heads! Of course the teachers are now saying "they gave their heart and soul to the students" and "I've been in this school for 28 years...". I assume that was as a teacher and not 28 years as a student. One teacher proudly noted that they raised their reading scores 21 percent in 2 years! That's good but what are the scores now, 22%? Well maybe you're all genuinely nice people and as well intentioned as anyone but as far as being teachers you apparently suck at it. But they can apply for teaching jobs in other districts after the current school year ends. Oh boy, I bet they'll be scooped up in a hurry!

A Little More on the 2010 Winter Olympics

A few random observations on the 2010 Winter Olympics:

• It was nice to see the Canadians relax and poke a bit of fun at themselves for the torch problems during the opening ceremony. You have to be able to laugh at yourself before you have the right to laugh at anyone else!
• The Canadian hockey team was absolutely loaded! It's like the New York Yankees on ice.
• Why does the host country get to practice on some Olympic venues before the games start? Especially on the ski slopes where that gives the hosts a decided advantage. An ice rink is an ice rink but each ski slope and bobsled run is unique so, in fairness, everybody should get to see it for the first time at the same time.
• Why did Lindsay Vonn keep running into things? Although I don't think any tears need to be shed - with her celebrity and good looks my guess is she'll do OK without skiing.
• I never heard of "Platinum" medals. Maybe I should pay more attention.

All in all I enjoyed the games and the competition. Good job Vancouver.

What Country Am I From?

I'm sitting here watching the Olympics and they just showed a couple skating for Georgia, the country not the state. The woman is a US Citizen that lives in the US whose mother is Japanese (not sure about the father). Apparently she has a sister and brother also involved in this Olympics that are representing Japan. I guess just before things started the government in Georgia did a rush job on her citizenship papers so she could skate on the Georgian team. But she is a US Citizen and lives here. Shouldn't that put her on the American team? I don't get it.

BTW, I've been away for quite a while because I got bored with the blog as nobody responded. I also got into a downward spiral because of my extended unemployment. I'm still out of work but things are looking much, much better at this point. So all I need now is for people to actively participate. You don't have to agree with me, just participate!

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished!

Can you really believe that some policeman actually gave a guy a ticket for jaywalking after he saved a couple of lives? The good samaritan was seriously injured but the women he was helping escaped without injury. First of all, do any of you actually know anyone that has ever received a ticket for jaywalking? I don't. And if the women crossed WITH the well meaning criminal shouldn't they get tickets too? Officer, aren't there some old ladies out there driving Buick's the size of aircraft carriers that maybe park a few inches too far away from the curb that you could focus your considerable yet misdirected energies on? You must be new.

My Stimulus Plan

Now that the president has signed the new economic stimulus plan the pundits are all over it saying that it won't work for this reason, that reason, and all these other reasons. I don't know if it will work or not but at least it's SOMETHING! The non-plan of the last eight years didn't work out so well, and the Republican plan (see my prior Partisan Politics post) to simply give tax cuts instead of money was both laughable and typical. If I made $250,000+ per year I'd love a tax break. However if I'm currently making $0 per year what the hell does a tax break do for me? As a talking head on TV pointed out last night the tax breaks in the current plan would result in roughly $13 more per week in the pockets of the average family. That won't even pay for a neighborhood kid to shovel your driveway! Notice I said the 'average' family here, so Donald Trump and Bill Gates would probably see a more robust difference but they're probably not really concerned with having their driveway cleared. But here's my idea - unlike the last stimulus plan where checks were mailed that recipients either paid bills with or stuffed into their mattress I say the treasury issue a debit card to each taxpayer for $10,000. You can't put it in the bank or pay your electric bill with it but only buy a product or a service like plane tickets, a TV, furniture or even put it towards a new car as a down payment.  That accomplishes two things: people are able to purchase new or replacement items for their homes or go lay on a beach for a week and try to forget this whole mess, and products would start moving off the shelves in stores and lots. And then factories would need to make more furniture and televisions and cars so they'd need people to build or assemble those things. People would be brought back from unemployment and this entire current cycle will start spinning in the right direction. It can snowball upwards just like it has snowballed down. Anybody with me on this?

Partisan Politics Alive and Well

I see by the vote in The House that we've put partisan politics behind us and are moving forward for the good of the country, the average working family. Well that lasted a long time, didn't it? The Republicans ALL voted against the plan. That means not 1 in that entire group thought it might be a good idea and it might help their constituents. Not 1. Interesting. They all favor tax cuts instead of spending (we all know they're told how to vote by the few that run that particular party). Maybe we should have given Iraq a tax cut instead of pumping billions of dollars into that fiasco. I can't verify this but I think I read a week or two ago that the Iraqi government (such as it is) has an $8 Billion surplus. That's Billion with a B. So why are we spending our money? You'd think they'd be so grateful for us saving them from that tyrant Saddam that they would say "No, I insist! This war is on me!". To get back to my point, what the Republicans need to realize is that a tax cut isn't going to do a bloody thing for people that are out of work. It will sure help people with jobs making lots of money, but my guess is that they're not the ones needing help. If you get people back to work then they'll start paying taxes. See how that works? It's really not very complicated.

Low-Tech Solution

We've all obviously heard about the airplane that had to ditch into the Hudson River recently and I'm sure we would all agree that the pilot did an absolutely masterful job of avoiding a total catastrophe. I guess it has been pretty much determined that what brought them down was flying directly into a flock of Canadian geese which choked both engines. Well my son, who designs jet engines for a major manufacturer, told me how they test for something like that. They have a giant tube in the test lab where they set up an engine and start it running at normal speed. Then through that tube they shoot frozen chickens into the engine to see if it will stall. They're probably generic, not Perdue or anything like that. So if you're ever flying somewhere and you run into a batch of chickens at 20,000 feed that just returned from Alaska you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Glad I could help.

Football Fans

I will readily admit that I am a pro football fan, following my home team faithfully and watching the games and paying attention any news about the team. I assume that I'm one of thousands and thousands of pro football fans that share the same enthusiasm for their favorite teams. However in watching the playoffs this year I noticed what seemed to be an inordinate number of people in the stands that were wearing team jersey's with what I assume was the number of their favorite player. There were also lots and lots of people in the stands with their faces (or more) painted with team colors, favorite numbers, clever sayings, etc. And I'm not even going to get started on the signs encouraging their team to kill the bad guys. The spirit these fans show is great. However these are middle aged and older men! College kids can get away with this stuff, usually because they're generously lubricated and well, it's college! Little kids all have their sports hero's and always want so-and-so's jersey for their birthday or Christmas or something. I have to laugh when I see men at the home improvement store wearing a Tom Brady jersey. I almost want to ask them "Do you think you are Tom Brady?" or "Are you hoping Giselle will walk down the aisle from the lumber department and think you're Tom and take you home with her?". If you're middle aged or more you don't play football any more unless it's with your kids in the back yard or your relatives at a summer reunion. I don't care who or what you were in middle school or high school or even college - it's OVER! If I tried to play right now there would be a loud snapping sound and somebody would have to sit on the ground with me until the paramedics arrived. I think it's great that you enjoy the game and support your team but unless you're an Oakland Raiders fan - don't dress up. We can see you and you won't like what we're thinking.

Opportunity for US Oil Companies

Joe Kennedy, son of the late Senator Robert Kennedy, runs a company called Citizens Energy in Boston. They help supply free heating oil to those in need from oil donated by Venezuela. Well apparently there's a little unrest down there right now and coupled with the downturn in the global economy it doesn't look like they'll be able to come through this year, leaving many elderly and poor having to decide between heat and food. Now if I recall correctly didn't the big US oil companies report record profits recently? Considering how the general public feels about the oil companies and the politicians that are in their pockets wouldn't this be a great opportunity to get a little positive PR by donating some heating oil to those people that really need it? And it also makes me wonder why we had to obtain the free oil from outside the US in the first place!

Computer Viruses

Is there a valid reason why some very skilled and talented people spend their time attempting to make others miserable? My computer has been laid up recently because of a virus that I somehow caught. I bought and installed one of the leading anti-virus software packages and it's told me a number of times how it has found and removed a little gem called "Spyware Guard 2008" only to have it reinstall itself and reopen within a few minutes. Imagine what that talent could accomplish if used in a more positive direction!

A Little PR Needed

It's a given that consumers drive our economy. And we constantly hear that consumer confidence is way down and going lower. Apparently Holiday shopping this year was down by varying estimates, but I heard one the other night on a national news program saying it was down by 2-plus percent. So that means if a store made $100 last year this year it made around $98. Somehow this does not strike me as a major catastrophe. Both electronic and print media are repeatedly telling us that the worst is yet to come for the economy and that unemployment will rise by millions of jobs in 2009. Is it any wonder consumers are holding back on spending? Now I'm not asking those in the media to outright lie to us and tell us that our homes will be worth at least 3 times what they are now by midsummer or that there will be such a demand for any type of skill in the job market that we'll all be making at least 6 figures within weeks but maybe a little more positive depiction of things overall might help even if a little bit. If everyone felt a little better about the upcoming year then maybe they'd spend that little extra to get something that they wanted or needed, and then the snowball effect begins in the positive just like we've seen in 2008 going the other direction. Let's get away from the "gloom and doom" news every night and maybe things just might start to look a little brighter! Happy 2009 everyone!

Guns & Roses

Plaxico Burress always struck me as a pretty good football player, albeit a little "odd". He caught the pass that was ultimately the winning score in last years Super Bowl I believe. He's a pro football player which also means he makes lots of money. So now he goes to a nightclub and decides to bring along an unregistered handgun to protect himself. Maybe I'm different, but I don't usually go to places where I think I'll need a gun to defend myself. Now I realize that pro athletes can be easy targets because of the money they make. But a gun? And he tops off the evening by shooting himself! Maybe he tried to rob himself. Maybe it was just mistaken identity. Maybe he had too much to drink and didn't remember which end of the gun the bullet came out of. I read yesterday that he's being sued by some woman that he rear-ended and that his auto insurance had lapsed. Are you serious? This guy needs to have a guardian appointed to make sure he doesn't go out and lie down on a highway somewhere.

Bet you're wondering about the roses part, aren't you? Those will have to be shared by the New York Yankees, agent Scott Boras and first baseman Mark Teixeira. Teixeira is a good ball player, he was a free agent and he was able to accept bids and go to the one he thought best. He seems like a nice enough guy whenever I've seen him interviews , so good for him. Scott Boras is what people see to call a "super agent" because he only seems to represent elite players. Upper level players who have other agents, like Manny Ramirez, fire their existing agents and go to Boras so he can represent (read: squeeze every last nickel from teams) them. Nobody really knows what is said behind closed doors in negotiations and I'm sure there's posturing and bluffing on both sides but this guy always seems to come out a winner. I just have a feeling that if I shook his hand the next thing I'd want to do is make sure I still had my wallet. And the final recipient of the roses is the Yankees. I can only fantasize what it must be like to be able to print your own money, to be able to just get anything you want by simply paying more for it than anyone else can or will. They are playing by the rules so good for them. I believe they've had the highest payroll in baseball for a number of years and still haven't won anything lately. There must be a lesson in that somewhere. In 2009 the Yankees will have 9 players being paid a combined $159.1 million - more than any other team in baseball. For that kind of money they should win their division by 20 plus games, blow through the playoffs and take the World Series in 3 games. I know it's a best of seven series but I think the other team will be so disheartened that they won't even show up for the fourth game.

Bernie Madoff

Well I guess they've really taught this guy a lesson for stealing untold amounts of money from schools, religious organizations and just about everyone! He's under house arrest so he's supposedly confined to his ritzy zillion dollar digs although he was on the news yesterday walking down the street shoving photographers and reporters. Doesn't sound like he was very confined to me. I wonder if I bilked millions of dollars from people if they'd let me stay at home? My guess is that I'd be given an orange jumpsuit and a number to call my own and I'd be a guest of the state for a pretty long time. Why are criminals treated differently if they're rich? A criminal is a criminal is a criminal!

Airport Security

I saw a spot on TV last night about airport security, and that so many people were complaining about it and being rude to the inspectors. I only travel by air a couple of times a year so it's not a real big deal to me. My wife usually gets the full treatment because she has a replacement knee which lights up every little device they have at the airport, so we're used to her being carted off to the side where they check her up, down and sideways while I attempt to recover all carry-ons, shoes, watches, keys, loose change and whatever else. Now only once did we encounter a security person that might have been considered a bit "over zealous". Maybe she watched a Rambo double-header the night before but she was only doing her job. If you are in a hurry then it's not their fault that they're trying to protect you and the hundreds of other people that are flying that day. Remember the old adage "lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part!". The only problem we had occurred in Atlanta when we were returning from a graduation with a 9 week old puppy. We were at the airport in plenty of time however they decided to open only 2 security lines for the literally hundreds of people attempting to make a flight. They opened up 2 other lines as soon as we got to the original ones, of course. However we missed our flight by 5 minutes because of security. The airline did put us on a later flight and the puppy was an absolute gem - not a whimper at all. So yes, that was dumb on their part but it did all work out. We shouldn't be angry with the people that are attempting to keep us safe - we should be angry with the people that made all this this necessary in the first place!

Punishing the innocent

Earlier today somebody sent me a video clip of a news account of CitiGroup and AIG reporting on the huge bonuses given to top executives. I think that's the same CitiGroup that put thousands of people out on the street not too long ago, and AIG has already had a small "reduction" with more to follow at any moment. Of all those people that were sent packing, how many of them do you think actually had an active role in the daily operation of those companies? Do you think they made key decisions regarding the direction that either of those two companies would take? My guess is no, that they were just ordinary people doing their jobs as instructed. So if they didn't cause the problem, why were they let go? And the senior executives that did make the decisions that resulted in financial chaos, why are they being rewarded for their stupidity? AIG said their bonuses were to keep the top executives from leaving and going to other companies. Considering the bang-up job they did I think I'd actually prefer them working for my competition! And it's more than these two companies, but they were brought to mind today so they win. I don't think you'd have to search very far to find people that think there's something fundamentally wrong with this. How about if we bring the little people back and whack all the top executives? The average person apparently has a better idea of right and wrong and it sounds like they'd also have a lot more common sense! And the companies would probably still save money!

And while I'm at it, what the hell is an "orderly bankruptcy"? Do they all march out in single file? If this wasn't so sad it would be hilarious.

Time to Get Creative

The Fed lowered their benchmark interest rate today to basically nothing which kicked off an immediate jump on Wall Street. If nothing else, this recession has caused lots of ordinary people like me to pay more attention to how the overall economy works. It's like a big wheel where every spoke feeds into the next spoke all the way around. Granted the banks and mortgage companies shot themselves in their collective feet by giving large mortgages to mostly well-meaning people that had no chance of paying them. Should the consumers have known better? Probably. But I remember when I bought my first house. I had stars in my eyes and thought that it was the most wonderful thing I could ever imagine which is what most of these people also thought I'm sure. The mortgage brokers fed into this and probably assured them that the $400,000 house they were buying today would easily be worth $800,000 in a couple of months. But to get back to my main point, consumers drive this economy. We buy cars, food, clothing, furniture, toys and we take vacations. However right now we're not buying much of anything because we either have already lost our jobs or are worried that we will lose our jobs. That's because if nobody buys anything then they don't need to make those products. So then the factories tell us they'll have to lay off thousands of people because nobody is buying their products or visiting their resort and restaurants. Is this the chicken and the egg or what? There are things that I personally would buy both for myself and others but I won't because I hear every day that it's going to get much worse. That's because the companies ran themselves into the ground with bad debt related to the mortgage stuff and other very creative "financial instruments" which is a term them all love. This had nothing to do with you or me. So now the Fed has lowered rates. They've given tons of money to banks that I thought were for loans to consumers. Maybe some of it has actually found its way to the consumers but I'm not seeing any mention of it. Maybe it was meant for businesses to help them get through this current situation and keep people employed, but every night it's a few thousand layoffs at this company, a few thousand layoffs at that company which puts more people out of work and more people worried about being out of work and fewer people spending any money. Maybe it's time to try something different. The modern version of the WPA will probably help to some degree and I hope the new administration has more ideas that hopefully won't take 15 months to put into motion. What's the answer? At this point I don't know. But I do know this: repeating the same action over and over hoping for a different result doesn't get it done. Anybody have any ideas? We can't afford not to listen.

A Parting Shot

To begin, let me make sure everyone understands that I am a self employed software consultant and project manager so although I cannot technically be "laid off" we realize that we are owed no unemployment compensation if we suddenly find ourselves on the bench as we like to call it. I was under contract since January of 1995 to a large international insurance company that just received a large dose of government aid and usually is just referred by 3 letters. On December 1 I was summarily told that my contract had just ended without warning. OK, it's a little abrupt but I have to admit I was surprised considering what I was in charge of for this company, but they're up to their hubcaps in problems and I guess it could happen. I have been attempting to find something else but between the economy and the holidays things are moving a bit slowly out there which comes as no surprise. However last week I received a Christmas card in the mail from, oddly enough, the guy that told me I was all done a couple of weeks before. I opened the card and realized it was pretty generic and actually was signed by his wife, not him. However there was a computer printed, very festive looking letter folded inside. That letter went on to tell people receiving their cards that they would be stopping after this year because 'with so many people having trouble meeting day to day expenses and more people needing help with basic necessities like food ... that they will donate the money normally spent on cards to a local food pantry'. However we all would remain in their thoughts in the future. Hmmm. Do they realize that they sent these cards to the people that they just terminated without warning 3 weeks before Christmas? Is receiving and reading this card supposed to make everything OK? I don't think so. Now I can't speak for any of the others that were sent packing the day I was, and I'm not ready to have to start looking for a bridge to move my family under, but I found this to be completely inappropriate. At 42 cents postage each they should have saved the $2.10 this year and kept those cards. Sometimes the less you say the better off you are. I think this was one of those times. We all know how to close our mouths, the secret is in knowing when!

Vladimir Lenin

Why is there a statue of Vladimir Lenin, the Communist leader, in Seattle? I don't recall ever hearing about him growing up or migrating there.

Political Arrogance

What exactly is the deal with Governor Blagojevich in Illinois? These people must absolutely think that they're invicible to do the incredibly stupid things they've done! And there are 2 city councilors in Boston who have been charged with accepting bribes, one of whom was photographed stuffing a wad of cash into her bra in a coffee shop or restaurant. Yeah, nothing wrong here - people stuff lumps of cash into their underwear all the time! The Governor wanted to sell Obama's former Senate seat? He should have tried eBay or Craig's List. He probably wouldn't have made as much money but if he slid it in between the lawnmowers and used electric guitars nobody probably would have noticed.