Sunset

Sunset the other night...

SO-dium bicarbonate, sodi-UM bicarbonate

Shawn and I are watching this week's CSI and the lab tech just told the CSIs "that white crusty stuff you found was sodium bicarbonate.  Specifically the type that's used in industrial cleaning."

I'm pretty sure that sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3), being a chemical with a known molecular formula, is the same whether it's used for baking or used for cleaning.

When I pointed this out to Shawn, he told me that I didn't hear the difference - one was SO-dium bicarbonate, while the other is sodi-UM bicarbonate.

Observations

So I wrote a whole entry on my observations on mentoring and how they could make the program better...but at the same time I don't think I'll post it until I feel less pissed off because I have a feeling it's pretty inflammatory, and so I shall wait to post it...

Shutterbug: Birds

Foreground:  American Finch
Background:  House Finch

For those of you who don't know what size that is, a House Finch is roughly the same size as the common house sparrow.


-Catch of the Day
-Unlikely Duos
-Murals
-Those were the days
-Milestones
-State Parks
-Birds
-At the Fair
-EEK!
-Fall Leaves
-Curious Cats
-Man's Best Friend
-Heroes
-Cemeteries
-At the Cook-off
-Fun with Photoshop
-Baby, It's Cold Outside
-Going Nuts
-Yard Art
-Up Close and Personal
-Pet Tricks
-Oooops!
-Water Towers
-Night Photography

I have also realized that chances are likely that some of these I'll never get around to - like At the Cook-off or At the Fair  - mostly because I don't go to those things.  So I may remove them and add some more new challenges.

Random Thoughts

1.  I'm still stewing over the republican debate from like 2 weeks ago - you know, the one where Gingrich got all bent out of whack because the moderator was asking him about whether he actually asked his second wife for an open marriage?  Yeah.  That one.  In his 'answer' he said that he didn't think it was a valid question to ask.  I'm sorry, but if you ever mention "defending the sanctity of marriage" as one of your tenets for becoming president, then yes, you asking your second wife for an open marriage is a perfectly valid question to ask.  We'll ignore the fact that you have been married 3 times*, and admitted to cheating on 2 of the three.  Which, by the way, degrade the sanctity of marriage much more than allowing homosexual persons to get married.
* I don't care if you get divorced, I don't think it makes you a bad person, nor do I think you should be punished for it, but again, I'm just using the republican talking point against them.

2.  Let's ignore the whole Stop Online Piracy Act (as it is currently off the table), but if SOPA had passed, I'm sure you'd be able to get my blog shut down for me posting a picture that has been passed around Facebook (not to mention that Facebook would be shut down) for the last couple of weeks.  The picture I'm talking about is of course this one:   

3.  Where the hell can I get myself a shit load of Girl Scout cookies? Because I have never wanted to support them more than I do right now.

4.  Sorry my blog has been so political recently (besides, I figure if you're reading my blog, it really isn't for my entries on republican candidates, but then, you probably also aren't reading this thing for my rapier wit.  Perhaps I shall distract you with a picture of my diabetic cat (a cat, whose blood sugar was at 61 this evening so we didn't give him a shot).  Yes, that will do, sugar cat, that will do.

Presidential Candidate: Mitt Romney

Note:  Per a request from Lon, I'm going to skip over Ron Paul for now.  I also may come back to do Buddy Roemer (it will depend on if he's dropped out or not)

Synopsis:  A robot has decided to take his personality chip for a spin and see if his study of the human race has paid off enough to win the presidential nomination

Current Job: None - he pretty much goes around stumping for other republicans at this point in time.  He is the ex-governor of Massachusetts, which while he was governor, managed to essentially obtain universal healthcare for the state.

Spouse: Ann, who is a breast cancer survivor and suffers from MS

Kids:  5 - all boys. 

Stance on:

• Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act:  Repeal and replace
  
• Roe V Wade: Would like to overturn Roe v Wade; but feels that anti-abortion legislation should be on a state level, not national.
• Funding Planned Parenthood: Against. 
• Embryonic Stem Cell Research:  Against (because it is creating life in order to destroy it)
• Afghanistan: The decisions about Afghanistan should be made by our military's top brass.
• Iran:   We must create stronger sanctions against Iran to prevent them from obtaining nuclear weapons
  
• Budget: Cut spending, limit amount allowed to be spent.
• Taxes:  Lower Corporate taxes, set new limits on personal tax rates
  
• Mexico/US border: Build a high-tech fence and provide the manpower to back it up.
• Education: Education should not be confined to Teacher's Unions.  Admits there is a problem and recommends providing incentives to students (such as top performing students get full scholarships to state schools)
• Energy:  We need to rely more on America's oil sources.
  
• LGBT issues: Against marriages and even civil unions (as of 2008), but of course we all know how much he waffles.

Miscellaneous:


Chances of Winning:  If the media is to be believed, it is now a two man race between Gingrich and Romney.

Who would vote for him:  Older slightly liberal leaning folks.  Those that are scared by Gingrich.

Clips from the fake news (since that's all I need):
-Colbert Report: Clinching the Nomination
-The Daily Show: Earning more in a day than the median American
-Fox News:  State of the Union Reaction




Campaign Talking Points (from his website): 

Tax Reform

• Keep personal income tax at the same rates; however eliminate taxes on Dividends, Interest and Capital Gains for those with an adjusted gross income of less than $200,000.
• Eliminate the death tax
• Overhaul the system to provide lower, flatter rates over a wide base.
• Reduce the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%
• Switch to a Territorial tax system (instead of Worldwide) for corporations.

Regulatory Reform

• Repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
• Repeal Dodd-Frank
• Streamline the FDA approval process
• Enact comprehensive patent reform (it takes too long to get a patent)
• Repeal Sarbanes/Oxley

Labor Reform

• Allow businesses to reallocate their capital as they see fit
• Support states in pursuing "Right to work" laws
• Prohibit the use for political purposes of funds automatically deducted from worker paychecks
• Eliminate redundancy in federal retraining programs by consolidating programs and funding streams, centering as much activity as possible in a single agency
• Give states authority to manage retraining programs by block granting federal funds
• Facilitate the creation of Personal Reemployment Accounts
• Encourage greater private sector involvement in retraining programs
• Raise visa caps for highly skilled workers
• Grant permanent residency to eligible graduates with advanced degrees in math, science, and engineering

Financial Reform

• Immediately cut non-security discretionary spending by 5 percent
• Reform and restructure Medicaid as block grant to states
• Align wages and benefits of government workers with market rates
• Reduce federal workforce by 10 percent via attrition
• Undertake fundamental restructuring of government programs and services
• Cap federal spending at 20 percent of GDP
• Pursue a Balanced Budget Amendment

Energy Reform

• Create a One-Stop-Shop to streamline the permitting process for common activities
• Amend the Clean Air Act to remove carbon dioxide from its purview.
• More nuclear power plant approvals
• Open America's reserves (I take this to mean drill in ANWR)
• Regulations to make it easier to produce oil from oil shale
• Support pipelines to get oil from Canada into the US.
• Concentrate alternative energy research funding on basic research

Healthcare Reform

• Repeal and replace Obamacare
• Give states the responsibility, flexibility, and resources to act
• Empower citizens to buy their own insurance
• Focus federal regulation of health care on making markets work
• Reform the medical liability system
• Make health care more like a market and less like a government program

Trade

• The US needs to pursue new free trade agreements across the pacific.
• Support World Trade Organization Negotiations
• Complete the the Trans-Pacific Partnership
• Put China on notice about needing to play by the rules and honor the agreements already signed.

Presidential Candidate: Jon Huntsman

Synopsis:  Not well known Technocrat, Mormon ex-governor of Utah throws his hat in the ring for 2012 presidential nomination.

Current Job: Recently vacated his job as Ambassador to China; now running for president.

Spouse: Mary Kaye

Kids:  7 - 5 bio-kids and 2 adopted - one from China and one from India, who is Hindu and as such, the family does celebrate Diwali.  Additionally, even though Jon was raised Mormon, his wife was raised Episcopalian, Jon did attend Lutheran school, and his kids attended Catholic school.

Stance on:

• Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act:  Repeal
  
• Roe V Wade: Would like to overturn Roe v Wade.
• Funding Planned Parenthood: Against.  Is fine with PP's non-abortion health services, but has said he will veto any budget that includes funding of Planned Parenthood.
• Embryonic Stem Cell Research:  Supports Stem Cell Research, but not of the embryonic kind.
• Afghanistan: If we don't have a winning strategy, we should just cut our losses and get out.
• Iran:   Unclear
  
• Budget: Is pro tax cut, and thinks we need to spend less
• Taxes:  would like to implement a flat tax rate
  
• Mexico/US border: Does not like the idea of a fence, but also feels that we're at a point where there's no other option
• Education:  Feels the government shouldn't be running schools, but should be a clearinghouse of ideas.
• Energy:  We need to end our dependence on foreign oil and need to start researching new energy sources
  
• LGBT issues:  Is against gay marriage, but is pro gay union.  Feels that it should be the states' right to decide.

Miscellaneous:

• Professes a firm belief in Science and rejects the theory that faith and evolution are mutually exclusive.
• Believes that we should trust scientists when it comes to global warming.
• Is pro-life but also refused to sign a pledge to only appoint pro-lifers to the cabinet and stop federal funding of abortions in the event that he became president.

Chances of Winning:  Probably not very good since most of the independents that are voting in republican primaries are leaning toward Ron Paul.  Also, he doesn't get much media coverage which means most people don't know much about him.  It's possible that he could become a running mate for someone trying to appeal to the younger generation.

Who would vote for him:  younger, more liberal leaning folks.  Would possibly do better running as an independent or democrat.

Clips from the fake news (since that's all I need):
-Colbert Report: Huntsman Interview
-The Daily Show: Scientists?!
-Fox News:  Are you a candidate?




Campaign Talking Points (from his website): 
Huntsman has one of the most comprehensive websites of the candidates I've researched.

Tax Reform

• Simplify the the personal income tax code and lower rates which will eliminate all deductions and credits, but would also lower the brackets to 8%, 14% and 23% (currently 15%, 25% and 34%)
• Eliminate the alternative minimum tax
• Reduce the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%
• Shift to a Territorial Tax System which will allow US based multinational corporations to bring jobs to America.
• Implement a Tax Holiday for repatriation of corporate profits which will allow companies to make capital investments 
• Eliminate taxes on capital gains and dividends in order to eliminate the double-taxation on investments - He feels that people do not invest their money in the stock market because whatever they earn is going to be taxed even though the money that was initially put up was taxed via income taxes.

Regulatory Reform

• Repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
• Repeal Dodd-Frank
• Streamline the FDA approval process
• Enact comprehensive patent reform (it takes too long to get a patent)
• Repeal Sarbanes/Oxley
• End the EPA regulatory overreach by nixing the Ozone Standard Revision and Joint Fuel Efficiency rules (the fuel efficiency rules ban converting heavy duty equipment to natural gas)
• Develop and deliver new alternative energies by expediting the environmental permitting process
• Implement a cultural change in regulatory agencies by mandating that timelines are kept and citizens are treated as customers
• Will instruct the National Labor Relations Board to allow Boeing to move to South Carolina (otherwise Boeing will have to move to a foreign country) in order to keep American jobs in America.
• Will require the Commodities Future Trading Commission to do a cost-benefit analysis before implementing any regulations
• Privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
• Will require all government agencies (including the 'independent' ones) to do a cost-benefit analysis before implementing any regulations.

Financial Reform

• End "too big to fail"
• Maximize derivatives transparency
• Repeal Dodd-Frank
• End Wall Street's reliance on excessive short term leverage
• Eliminate the tax deduction of interest paid which puts an emphasis on debt instead of equity (it's unclear if this is meant for corporations only or if it's also meant for homeowners)
• Fix the Basel 3 Accord which makes it easier to invest at a lower rate in sovereign debt
• Ensure a stable dollar policy
• Dismantle Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae as they stand now
• Restore the rule of law to prevent things such as the Robo-signings
• Work with Europe to end the European Sovereign Debt Crisis

Energy Independence

• Streamline approval for new energy production (drilling can be done in the US, in the Gulf, and in Alaska)
• Break down barriers to using Fracking to obtain natural gas
• Embrace emerging technologies like Coal-to-liquid fuel
• Purchase more oil from Canada
• Eliminate the subsidies that make us more dependent on one type of fuel source (read:  gas prices are going to skyrocket)
• Ensure that Transportation Fuel markets are competitive
• Eliminate regulations that limit energy innovations and transportation fuels from reaching the consumer
• End regulatory road blocks to alternative fuels
• Spur investment in modernizing our power grid (what happens if everyone decides to go with electric cars that require being plugged in at night?)
• Encourage state-based solutions to air quality and other problems - Iowa has wind, but not geothermal power, California has geothermal, but no wind.
• Force Washington to face the facts - energy policy must be based on sound science, transparent government, and thorough public debate.

Energy Security

• We must break oil's monopoly as being our primary fuel
• We should open American lands to oil drilling - including the Gulf and Alaska
• We should research oil shale as a viable oil supply
• We need to create other means of energy

Trade

• The US needs to pursue new free trade agreements across the pacific.
• Support World Trade Organization Negotiations
• Complete the the Trans-Pacific Partnership

National Security

• We are done with Iraq and Afghanistan
• We must alter our methods in order to fight the new methods employed by the terrorists
• We must take care of our veterans
• Above all, we cannot allow the terrorists to obtain weapons of mass destruction.

Education

• Parents know what's best for their kids - Washington should just be a clearing house of ideas and should encourage a more innovative education system
• Establish meaningful and transparent national standards benchmarked against the world and let the states determine how best to get there  (The US should be setting standards not trying to just meet them)
• The federal government shouldn't be in the habit of running schools, but schools that do well should be rewarded and those that do poorly should be punished.
• Scale down the department of education
• School should allow kids to find out what they're good at and let them capitalize on it - when a kid graduates from high school, they should be both college and career ready
• We shouldn't push for all kids to go to college
• We should fund early intervention and preschools
• Will work to make sure that colleges have the means to attract the best and brightest while trying to bring the cost of college down

Foreign Policy

• To be good abroad, we must be great at home - we need to manage our resources well and choose where to exercise our power even better
• Aggressive promotion of trade liberalization
• We should remain steadfast in our traditional alliances, but we also must work on creating strong and lasting relationships with world powers - specifically mentions working with India and China.
• We need to create a better and more lasting relationship with Mexico
• We need to maintain our military as one of the leading forces by allowing the military to adapt to threats of the 21st century.

Presidential Candidate: Newt Gingrich

Synopsis:  Former Speaker of the House who previously had called for the impeachment of Clinton during the Monica Scandal whilst cheating on his dying wife is running for president. 

Current Job:  Retired Politician

Spouse:  Callista, President of the Gingrich Production Company.  Note:  3rd wife.  Newt keeps finds his new wife while cheating on his current wife.  If I were Callista, I'd have a P.I., and divorce lawyer on retainer.

Kids:  2 (with his first wife, Jackie)

Stance on:

• Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act:  Repeal and replace (see below)
  
• Roe V Wade: Rather than overturning RvW, he'd like to rework the legal system.  That being said, he says he's okay with abortion in the case of rape, incest and health of mother.
• Funding Planned Parenthood: Against
• Embryonic Stem Cell Research:  Against
• Afghanistan: Hasn't commented much on it, but feels that we are pulling out too quickly.
• Iran:   put pressure on Iraq to end contact with Iran
  
• Budget: Downsize the government, stop spending beyond our means, it must be balanced
• Taxes:  opposes high taxes, encourage research and development with tax incentives, will ask the public before implementing any major tax reform, get rid of the marriage tax and cut middle class taxes, encourage investment by getting rid of capital gains tax, can use the tax code to reinforce families
  
• Mexico/US border: Secure the border, but doesn't sound like he'd build a fence along the entire thing.
• Education: wants to have charter schools, will push for patriotic education, wouldn't charge interest on math and science degree loans, would allow prayer in schools. (see education segment below from his website)
• Energy:  believes the Kyoto treaty is bad for the nation and the environment, give incentives for renewable resources and conservation, open ANWR to drilling, supports eliminating the gas tax (but if you see below, he wants to add gas royalties)
  
• LGBT issues:  Against giving domestic partner rights (but thinks they should have the ability to leave estates to partners and the right to see them in the hospital), constitutional amendment to protect the traditional family, gays should not be allowed to adopt children, believes homosexuality is a sin, but gays should be allowed to be teachers.

Miscellaneous:

• Worked as a consultant for Freddie Mac (during the years of growth in the housing bubble), to the tune of $1.6 million.
• Had 84 ethics sanctions levied against him by congress while he was still in congress.  Had to pay $300,000 in restitution.
• Wants to mine the moon.  Which I suppose means we'd have a space program again...
• Is calling to bring back various programs that were popular during his Speaker of the House days...which were the days when Clinton was in office...so is he saying that the government under Clinton wasn't that bad? 
• Has said in the past that he would like to give rewards to girls who graduate high school as virgins.
• Is considered the worst candidate for women's rights based on past voting records (beating both Bachmann and Santorum).  He has voted almost 100% pro-life during his congress days.  Perry, who just recently started saying that abortion should not be allowed in any case, is actually the best bet for women's rights based on history which is a very scary idea.

Chances of Winning:  If we are to believe the Iowa Caucus, not too good.  BUT he still seems to be the darling of the media, so he might have a better chance than predicted, however he should have too many skeletons in his closet to win over the party.

Who would vote for him:  Looks like he's trying to go for the retiree vote.  And based on his commercials, he's trying to take votes away from those who would be voting for Romney.  But I'm not sure exactly who would normally vote for him...maybe republicans who liked the Clinton days, or republicans who find Santorum scary?

Clips from the fake news (since that's all I need):
-Colbert Report:  Gingrich:  Bond Villian
-The Daily Show:  Even the republicans are scared of him
-Fox News:  Bret Baier catches up with the former house speaker




Campaign Talking Points (from his website): 

Repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")

• Replace it with an alternative that saves money by empowering doctors and patients to make decisions instead of bureaucrats.
• Allow people to shop for insurance across state lines
• Give a 'generous tax credit' to offset the cost of insurance OR the ability to deduct (up to a certain amount) the value of their health insurance.
• Create a "High Risk Pool" that requires states to cover the uninsured who will not be covered by insurance carriers
• reinforce laws that prohibit insurers from dropping people who become sick
• Allow workers to have access to Health Savings Accounts
• Limit healthcare fraud by moving to a paperless system
• Stop junk malpractice lawsuits which drive up the cost of healthcare
• Inform patients on cost and quality of care
• End tax-payer paid abortions
• Defund Planned Parenthood
• Ban funding to organizations that promote abortions overseas
• Protect healthcare workers' right to conscience by not forcing them to recommend, or participate in, something they are morally against (abortions specifically listed, but I assume birth control would also be included in this)

Return to Robust Job creation

• Dramatically reduce taxes on businesses and allowing more deductions
• Require those on extended unemployment to take training classes to be more hireable
• Allow an optional flat 15% Federal income tax. It would preserve deductions for charitable donations, home ownership, and create a new personal deduction of $12,000 per American  
• Repeal Sarbanes-Oxley Act
• Repeal Community Reinvestment Act
• Repeal Frank Dodd Law
• Break up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (but he didn't recommend this while he was a consultant for them?  odd, that)
• Replace the EPA with "Environmental Solutions Agency" that works with businesses and governments

Unleash America's Full Energy Production Potential

• oil, natural gas, coal, biofuel, wind, nuclear, oil shale and more
• reduce America's dependency on foreign oil
• cut bureaucratic red tape for responsible drilling (both off shore and on land)
• Development of processes to use oil shale as a source of oil.  We supposedly have 3x the amount of oil of Saudi Arabia all stuck in oil shale.
• Give coastal states federal revenue to allow off-shore drilling
• reduce frivolous environmental lawsuits by requiring the loser to pay all legal fees for the winning side
• Finance cleaner energy research with new oil and gas royalties (I'm hearing that our gas prices will go up...what about you?)
• Replace the EPA with the ESA (outlined above) which will work with businesses and governments to achieve better environmental outcomes while considering the impact of federal environmental policies on job creation and and the cost of energy. (I'm taking this to mean that if companies say "no, we don't want to help the environment" this agency will acquiesce to their wishes)

Save Medicare and Social Security

• Give seniors the choice to go with either Medicare or a personalized system in the private sector
• Reform Medicaid to allow states more freedom to "personalize" their systems to provide better care and provide health insurance for low-income families.
• Reward quality care by providing larger reimbursements to providers who provide better care
• Incentivize patients to seek out facilities that provide quality care
• Allow Medicare and Medicaid to provide benefits that encourage, incentivize, and reward healthy behavior.
• Protect the frail, elderly and infirm from the state's arbitrary decision to terminate life (ummm....Terry Schiavo maybe....?  It's just mostly that I don't understand how it's the state's decision unless it's something like a homeless person, a person that has no next of kin, or someone in jail with the death penalty...)

Balance the Federal Budget

• No points listed.

Control the Mexican/American Border by Jan 1, 2014

• Establish English as the official language of America
• Reform legal Visa system (an entrepreneur who wants to create jobs in America shouldn't have to spend $1000's in legal fees first; College graduates in America shouldn't have to go to their home countries in order to get a work visa - will try to implement a system where they get a work visa upon graduation instead; a farmer should have the ability to hire cheap legal labor)
• Visas should have biometric technology
• Make it easier to deport criminals and gang members
• Defend 2nd Amendment rights to stop Mexican gangs at the border (um...that seems like a bad idea - seems like we're more likely to have people going about shooting Mexicans because "they could have been in a gang")
• Make it easier for law-abiding visitors to come to the US (A Brazilian who wants to visit Disneyworld and spend $1000's while he's at it, shouldn't have to wait 4 months to get a visa) 
• Create a temporary or day labor work visa system with biometric technology run by one of the credit card companies (which have low fraud rates).
• Create a path for "earned" legality - those that have been living her illegally can 'earn' legality by becoming involved with their community, passing a background check, proving they can support themselves without the help of Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, buy private health insurance, be proficient (or within a specified amount of time) in English.  Once the person in question is legal, he will have to pay a $5000 fine for being in the US illegally.
• Minors brought to the US illegally by their parents can earn their legal status by joining the military when they are of age.  Unlike the DREAM act, there won't be a way for the child to petition to get their parents legal status.
• Ensure those that become citizens learn American history and exceptionalizm.
• Once the "path to legality" and the worker program is implemented, anyone entering the US illegally should face more severe penalties.  Those helping people enter the US illegally will face even more severe penalties.
• There is a point of "secure the border to prevent terrorist organizations from sneaking weapons and agents into the US" (This must be a recent problem because I was under the impression that most of the terrorists that we think of and are concerned about actually enter the US via plane and not by crossing either the Canadian or Mexico borders...)
• possibly move up to one half of the war department bureaucrats to Texas, Arizona and New Mexico
• Round-the-clock drone flights monitoring the border
• multi-layer, strategic fencing in urban areas

Revitalize our National Security System

• Restructure and adequate fund our security agencies within a grand strategy
• Victory over those who seek to kill us or limit American power
• Two of the points on his "solutions" page essentially point to declaring war on Radical Islam
• Protect those who abide by our same values (views America as the 'abiding alternative to tyranny')
• Military must be used judiciously and with clear, obtainable goals that are understood by congress
• "Incentivize" math and sciences in order to create bigger and better weapons (I want to know how he's going to do that - by making all new graduate mechanical and computer engineers work for Lockheed-Martin, JPL, or Sikorski upon graduation?)

Maximize Speed and Impact of Medical Breakthroughs

• Remove unnecessary obstacles that block new treatments from reaching patients.
• Emphasize spending toward urgent national priorities (such as diseases of the brain - e.g. parkinson's, autism, alzheimer's)
• Modernize the FDA to get drugs that work to patients quicker

Restore the Proper Role of the Judiciary Branch

• Allow the president and/or congress to remove judges who do not uphold the constitution.
• Nominate conservative judges who base their decisions on the constitution.
• Combat judicial activism

Enforce the 10th Amendment

• Transfer powers currently under Federal purview to the individual States

Enforce the 2nd Amendment

• Newt is a member of the NRA
• Allow imports of guns that can legally be made in the US.

Education

• Let parents pick which school their kid is to go to
• Institute a Pell Grant-type system for Kindergarten through 12th grade 
• Require transparency and accountability for achievement
• Implement a "no limits" charter system - that is, all money allocated for student education goes to the school, schools manage their own staff regardless of tenure rules, schools define their own curriculum, schools are not exempt from reporting requirements, states to allow schools to "franchise" their model without limitation, state has no caps on the number of charter schools, process of approving charter schools is quick and efficient.
• Pay for Performance for teachers
• Welcome business talent into the classrooms - allow the retired physicist or the working engineer to come into the class room and teach a few hours a week.  The theory is that those that aren't trained teachers are going to bring more adult expectations to the classroom.
• All students must take American History classes.
• All students must be able to read, and reading assignments should reinforce American History.
• Protect the rights of home-schooled children by allowing them to participate in the same tax-payer funded extra curriculars that public school children participate in
• Encourage schools to think outside the box - a la Daniel's program in Indiana (students who graduate high school early are given the money saved on them by skipping grades as an automatic college scholarship), College of the Ozarks in Missouri (work study that allows college kids to graduate debt free), and the Virtual Florida school (a 24/7 individualized schooling over the internet)
• Shrink the Department of Education - it's only role should be to do research and collect data - not mandate what schools should be teaching.
• Allow teachers to use historical examples involving religion.  
• Allow teachers to answer questions about religion and/or discussing it objectively in the classrooms.

Miscellaneous

• Protect religious expression in public places by allowing crosses, creches, and menorahs
• Would eliminate the 39 Bureaucratic positions that are not accountable to congress (created by Obama)
• Respect each sovereign nation's choice of capital and have an embassy in that location (the only one we discriminate against is Isreal - Isreal's capital is Jerusalem but our embassy is in Tel Aviv)
• End all lawsuits against states that are immigration related (specifically in Arizona and South Carolina).  "The Obama Administration refuses to enforce federal immigration laws, and instead sues states who are merely trying to enforce the laws that the federal government neglects."
• Approve the Keystone XL pipeline (map).  A pipeline to transport oil to the gulf coast refineries.

Family

The requisite Family Portrait for Christmas:

My family - Me, Shawn, Dani, Mom and Dad.

Presidential Candidate: Michele Bachmann

Synopsis:  The TEA party "it" girl since Sarah Palin announced that she would not run for president. Also has replaced Sarah Palin in most liberals' nightmares.

Current Job:  Congresswoman representing Minnesota

Spouse:  Marcus, a Christian Counsellor.

Kids:  5 bio-kids, plus 23 foster kids throughout the years.

Stance on:

• Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act:  Against.  Will repeal if elected.
• Roe V Wade:  Repeal it
• Funding Planned Parenthood:  Against
• Embryonic Stem Cell Research:  Against.  Believes that research can kill women.
• Afghanistan:  We should stay there longer.  It is a mistake to leave so early.
• Iran:  Unclear.  But believes we should fight the war on terror until it is won. Also states on her website that a nuclear-capable Iran is a real threat.
• Budget:  Massive spending cuts, get rid of the Department of Education, Department of Commerce and the EPA.
• Taxes:  reduce number of brackets.  lower business taxes
• Mexico/US border:  Build a fence.  Not just one, but two.
• Education:  Unclear
• Energy:  Allow drilling in ANWR and deepwater oil rigs.  Explore oil shale and open federal lands to logging/mining operations.
• LGBT issues:  Against.  Has a comment on her website about Obama caring about being politically correct even if it is to the detriment of our military (which I'm assuming means she's against the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell) 

Miscellaneous:

• HPV vaccine:  Thinks it causes mental retardation in persons heretofore known to be 'normal'

Chances of Winning:  Let's put it this way, she has a much better chance of being selected as a running mate, and that's falling pretty quickly...   [edited 01/06/12:  After the Iowa Caucus, Ms. Bachmann has since suspended her bid for the presidency]

Who would vote for her:  Social conservatives, Fiscal conservatives, Evangelicals

Clips from the Fake News (since that's all I need):
-Colbert Report:  Bachmann compares herself to John Wayne.  Gacy, that is.
-The Daily Show:  Bachmann clips.
-Fox News: Interview before the Iowa Caucus (though I assume the video will change as the days go on)




Campaign Talking Points (from her website): 

American jobs, right now

• Cut federal government spending
• Cut federal jobs
• Repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (as this is preventing jobs from being created)
• Cut taxes (reduce number of tax brackets and cut taxes of businesses)
• Legalize American energy production and America's natural resources (revive the logging and metal mining industries, and allow mining/drilling/logging on federal lands)
• Repeal job-killing red-tape
• Increase exports, specifically mentioned are to Columbia, Panama and South Korea
• Allow investment in America by allowing the private sector to control the markets with little government involvement
• Foster innovation (no indication of how this is to be done)
• Enforce Immigration laws

Job creation and growth

• Obama has sucked it up thus far
• Obamacare places a burden on companies (by requiring them to provide healthcare to their employees)
• The EPA kills jobs by having carbon regulation mandates
• Bachmann will cut spending, reduce taxes, kill the Internal Revenue Code, repeal Obamacare, and stop Cap-and-trade so companies can function once again.

No debt ceiling increase

• The only way she'll allow an increase in the debt ceiling is if Obamacare is repealed.

A healthier nation

• Repeal Obamacare, stabilize Medicare
• Allow families and doctors to make decisions about insurance, quality of care and course of treatment.

A more secure nation

• Israel is our true friend
• True threat is a nucularly armed Iran
• Current president is more concerned about political correctness than making sure our military is fully funded in both money and personnel.
• Will not rest until the war on terror is won.

Affordable energy

• Allow drilling in ANWR
• Allow deepwater-drilling (the BP oil spill was just a fluke)
• Explore use of Oil Shale for oil

Gifting

A gift from my mom - a pitcher made by my cousin's wife, Dany.  She blogs at WellieBellie and she (and my cousin) sell their wares via etsy at Art Haus Ceramics.  They also do some art shows in Colorado, so keep your eyes peeled.

The yellow flowers (which are fake) are from my works' Christmas party from a few weeks ago. 

The pictures in the background were taken by yours truly (and Shawn), and in order from left to right, top to bottom are a gulf fritillary from my back yard (mine), a church in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland (Shawn), a lamp at Treasure Island in Las Vegas (mine), a ghost plant succulent in my front yard (mine), coneflowers from Mount Vernon (Shawn), and a California Poppy in our front yard (mine).  You can read how to set up your photos like this in this blog entry:  Procrastination: Over

Grr...Arg!

Do you realize that I have had at least 13 phone numbers in my life?  I found this out today when Shawn was filling out an application for his HSA at a credit union.  He had decided to set up a regular savings account at the same time and opted to make it a joint account.

Apparently they do a quick and dirty history check or credit check or something because they give you like 4 multiple choice questions that you have to answer correctly before they'll let you open the account.  One of those questions is "which of the following was your phone number?" and then give you 4 options.  I went with "none of the above" because none of the numbers looked familiar.  That was apparently the wrong answer.

Now Shawn has to wait until (likely) Tuesday when they will call me/email me to ask me God knows what to figure out that I am who I say I am.  All because I didn't remember a phone number that I had at some point in my life.

Voting

This year, I may do something I've never done before. I may actually vote in the republican primary in Texas. You see, Texas is different than other states - you can easily switch parties back and forth every 2 years. (mostly because they send you a new voter registration card which has political affiliation blank). Since I am a firm believer in "one shall not complain when one did not participate", I have decided that I can only complain about those up for election if I at least made a decision on who should be there.

As Obama will be running for re-election, and there really isn't any choice that can be made for third parties (no primary elections); ipso facto, the republican primary is the only point where 'decision' comes in prior to the big November election.

As I usually don't keep track of who wants to run while they're all switching around all the time - "is he running, is he not" type stuff, I have decided that I should research each of the (still running) candidates and create a comparison. I'll try to do 1 a week...which should keep me busy until primary day...which I think is in March.

2011: Meme version

1. What did you do in 2011 that you had never done before?
I participated in an organized biking event (the Austin Livestrong Challenge). We rode 65 miles through the rolling hill country of Texas.

2. Do you keep New Year's resolutions and will you make more for next year?
I stopped making New Year's resolutions because you have to want to change, you can't just say "ah it's a new year, I need to change". well, I mean I guess you could, but it just seems odd. As Yoda said, "Do or do not, there is no try."

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes - my sister-in-law had her third child in late October. Shawn's cousin, Heather, gave birth to her first kid around the same time. AND Shawn's other cousin, Val, gave birth to her second kid in June, I think... Also, my friend's wife had a baby at the end of May.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Thankfully, no

5. What countries did you visit?
None. We be boring.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you didn't get in 2011?
a calm year, cat-wise. So perhaps no trips to the e-vet?

7. What dates from 2011 will be etched in your memory and why?
May 29, June 13 and December 15 - Mah boobs. The 29th being when I found the lump, the 13th being when I got the biopsy proving that it was benign, and the 15th because it was my 6-month follow-up (in which the lump has doubled in size, thus meaning I get to have surgery in early 2012. yay).

8. What is your biggest achievement of the year?
Not being bitten by a rattlesnake while in Washington State.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not realizing I was walking over a rattlesnake while in Washington.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Yes - I'm going to consider the lump as an illness.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My cat's life...well, both of them, really...

12. Whose behavior merited recognition?
My bosses, my husband.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Those involved with the Penn State Scandal.

14. Where did most of your money go?
The money that I actually spent? It was spent on the cats. sigh...

15. What did you get really excited about?
Going to an Indian wedding in Washington.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?
I don't know...Phoenix's Listomania?

17. Compared to this time last year, are you a) happier or sadder, b) thinner or fatter, c) richer or poorer?
Same, fatter by 2 pounds, and probably richer.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
vacations, and exercising.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
it's probably tied between less internet surfing and less watching TV.

20. How will you spend Christmas?
Christmas Eve will be with my family (they're currently on their way here - Yay!!), and Christmas day will be with Shawn's family. Boxing Day will be with Shawn's extended family.

21. Did you fall in love in 2011?
I've been in love for a while now, so other than falling in love with TV shows, no.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
I do like Once Upon a Time, But Misfits will probably the one I remember as being in 2011.

23. What was the best book you read?
Altar of Eden by James Rollins, probably... Especially since I re-read a bunch of my other books.

24. What was your greatest musical discovery?
"Where soul meets body" by Death Cab for Cutie. Even though, of course, that song came out in 2005...

25. What did you want and get?
To travel to a new state (Washington)

26. What did you want and not get?
To go to Olympic National Park. Also, to go to Vancouver with the husband for his conference (which was over our anniversary), but alas, I was at my own conference in Maryland. That's right, we spent our anniversary in different countries and couldn't even call each other.

27. What was your favorite film of 2011?
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 I would surmise...we don't get out much...

28. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
I had a party for the first time in many, many years. I turned 30.

29. What one thing would have made your year immensely more satisfying?
Not having a lump...

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept of 2011?
plain tee shirts and jeans.

31. What kept you sane?
my family and my friends.

32. What political issues stirred you the most?
Bachmann just scares the shit out of me...

33. Who did you miss?
my family and friends who don't live close by.

34. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011?
Feel your ta-tas.

35. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Not really a song, but I love the HEB commercial where the little kids are all dressed for the thanksgiving pageant and there's a line in there about the cousin's bringing the tamales, "a delicioso treat" as the third tamale kid trips and takes a header into the stage. It's awesome.

CATZ!

1) When your previously heretofore cat with the feeding tube decides to hork up said feeding tube and chew off the end of it, try not to freak out. This is more stressful to the human than the cat. But when that cat opts to re-swallow the still attached feeding tube only to somehow sneeze it into her nasal passages thus causing her to breathe funny (i.e. horribly and stutteringly), it probably really is as stressful to the cat as it is to the humans who have been awake for approximately 3.2 seconds.

2) When you finally make the call that you will take the possibly not breathing and gasping for air cat to the emergency vet, be prepared to wait for a while because the cat will act normal and breathe normally as soon as you get to the vet. You will then question if you just happened to dream it all up.

3) The emergency vet will recommend taking some x-rays to check on the tube placement. These x-rays will indicate that the tube is behind the soft palette instead of in the esophagus as expected. The vet will try to get the tube in the correct orientation. You are welcome to wait in the front lobby watching reruns of Victoria Stilwell's "It's me or the dog" while talking to the receptionist with whom you are on a first name basis because your cat used to be at the e-vet all the time 2 months ago.

4) After the surgery, the cat in question will sneeze upon waking up, thus causing the tube to go into her nasal passages again.

5) The vet will just take the damn tube out.

6) Now you can go home and pray that your cat will eat and drink enough to not need any more feed tube nonsense.

7) Be relieved that the cat does indeed eat and drink.

8) A few days later, take the other cat to the vet because he's got the runs (to make sure it's not worms or other nasties).

9) Try not to be surprised when the vet calls later to state that they think the cat may have a touch of the diabetes (This is much more tolerable if you can pretend that the pronunciation is 'die-uh-bet-us' instead of 'die-us-beet-ees').

10) Do not get worried when the vet also says they will be sending blood to the lab to test for both the diabetes and FELV. Especially since you have been vaccinating your cat against said FELV disease since before birth. It does not help that the tech tells you that the FELV vaccine is not 100% and that her cat, in fact, did get FELV despite being fully vaccinated. Try not to freak out too much when you realize that your possibly FELV+ cat donated blood to your kidney problems cat a month ago.

11) Talk to the vet post blood results to find out that, indeed, your cat has the diabetes. It is expected that you will have to give said cat insulin shots. Do not be alarmed that the insulin recommended for cats costs $100 for a 100-unit vial.

12) Go to the vet to go over how to give your cat the insulin. Try to come up with a way to feed your kidney-issues cat a high carb, low protein diet throughout the day while giving your diabetes cat a high protein, low carb diet with only 2 feedings per day. Keep in mind that never the twain shall meet (i.e. they must eat their own food. bad things happen when they eat the other food).

13) Pay $50 for a bag of low-carb dry food (jeebus christ, cat!) Also, the food has quite a bit of "by-product". Not even the cheap cat food at the pet store has this much by-product in the first 5 ingredients.

14) Read online that you really can feed cats high-protein wet food on a non-prescription diet that is damn close to the prescription diet, and a mite-bit cheaper.

15) Go to PetSmart and spend the better part of an hour in the wet cat food isle reading ingredient lists trying to figure out which ones are low-carb and which ones are not (hint: generally the 'gravy' varieties are higher carb). Seriously think about finding out if you can cook meals for cheaper.

16) Go get a blood glucose meter to track your diabetes cat.

17) Go buy a second blood glucose meter and strips because you didn't realize that glucose meters don't come with test strips and it will take a week for the test strips to come in from Amazon. NOTE: The reason you will buy a secondary glucose meter and test strips is because it will be $40 cheaper than buying just the strips for your first meter.

18) Go home and spend an hour or so trying to get a drop of blood from your cat. Do not get frustrated that every time you manage to get a drop of blood on his ear, he will shake his head thus leaving you to start from square one.

19) Eventually give up on finding out his 'pre' blood sugar. Feed him some food and give him his insulin shot (which he doesn't even realize you're doing. JUST GET THE HELL AWAY FROM MY EARS, EVIL WOMAN!

20) Wait almost 2 hours and finally get a good blood drop and test.

Pickles

"Yeah, I guess I'll take a few mason jars. I can make my own pickles...I love pickled foods."

"well, be careful. Back in the early days they figure people died from stomach cancer way more than other cancers because pickling was the most common form of food preservation. Just so you know."

"No offense, Katina, but if I die from stomach cancer, I think that will come as a surprise to just about everyone."

Black Friday

So I'm not one to usually go shopping on Black Friday. I hate crowds, and I hate driving around a bunch of psycho drivers who are all trying to get the best parking spot available. Furthermore, I hate getting up at 3 in the morning to go stand in lines for a product that I may or may not be able to get, plus standing in an equally long line in order to get out.

Shawn, on the other hand, has no problems with any of the Black Friday craziness.

Thus we found ourselves leaving the house at 1030 on Thanksgiving to go stand in lines at two different stores. Both of which opened at midnight. Only one of which I expected to have a line (Best Buy). I figured for sure that Old Navy wouldn't have anyone standing at the door. I was wrong. By the time I showed up (at like 1040), there were already 35 people in line. (compared to the Best Buy line which had to be at a couple hundred, though...)

And that's about when the crazy started. There were some kids in line (and I say kids because they were in high school) at the front and they were really there to hold spots for about 10 of their friends. Which is no different than the girls right in front of me who took turns holding each others' spot in line because they were all dumb and wore shorts and t-shirts so they were switching of running to the car to get warm. But I digress. The point was that most people in the line felt that holding spots for people who had heretofore never shown up counted as "cutting in line." After copious amounts of yelling and two of the girls in front of me going and threatening bodily harm, the group of boys got out of line and instead stood across the cross walk.

Now then, at this point, we (the lady behind me and I) figured out that the reason for all the crazy was that Old Navy was giving away a Kodak Easyshare Sport camera to the first 40 customers who purchased $40 worth of clothing. It was also at this point that the lady and I were lamenting that we didn't want to be involved in any Black Friday stampede craziness, we just wanted some $15 jeans. I told her that the deals were valid online as well; but you would have to pay shipping and tax (though shipping was free at $50). So she left while I continued to wait (it wasn't like if I left I'd be able to go home anyway because I was still waiting for Shawn).

At 1145, the manager on duty came out and started handing out the wristbands signifying that you were one of the first 40. Imagine my surprise when I was actually customer 39 and got a wrist band. And shortly after that point, the group of kids at the front realized that they were going to have to purchase $40 worth of clothing to even get the camera and they decided it wasn't worth it so they gave their wrist bands to the people behind me.

It was about this time that Shawn joined me as he had found out that the item he wanted at Best Buy was already sold out (as Best Buy also hands out vouchers for their high ticket items). And so we commenced with our plan of 'get in, get out.' With the added benefit of "get a free camera! Yay!"

Now to do shot comparisons between my existing point and shoot and the new one.

Breaky

Down here in Texas, there are a bunch of people who have sports decals on their cars, usually these decals include their child's name and, based on the decal, you can figure out which sport and which school they're at. I've blogged about this before.

A while ago, Shawn saw one that had the cat's name under the little cat stick figure. The cat's name: Burger Foot. (thank god I know what my next cat's name is going to be, though Shawn has asked what happens when Actual Burger Foot meets New Burger Foot. I said he was right, maybe we need to name our cat Taco Paw.)

On Wednesday, driving to work, I pulled up behind a car that had a karate decal with Breaky^2 underneath it.

Shawn calmly asked if I thought there were any other sports that their son, Breaky Squared, partook in.

I could not stop laughing.

Sadness on the state of the world

1. The whole Penn State thing. So disappointing. So sad.
2. The fact that protests in foreign countries are democratic but protests in the US are terrorism
3. British gangs are grooming girls for the sex trade. And these aren't disadvantaged kids - these are the kids that have involved parents and are at good schools and don't do drugs.
4. Congress will be voting soon on whether to censor the internet in the US. The bill, as written, has the possibility of actually causing the internet to not exist.
5. The Republican Debates. And because of these debates, I will likely be doing something I never thought I'd do - vote in a republican primary. Because I feel I should probably at least vote on which whackadoo will be running in the presidential election.
6. All the Monsanto genetically modified foods. And it's one thing if they actually were doing it for the whole "help the starving kids in Africa" thing...but they're not. They're doing it to make money. (posted because earlier this year Obama allowed Monsanto to start producing and selling their Genetically Modified Alfalfa. This essentially guarantees that at some point in the future you will no longer be able to purchase, with 100% certainty, milk or meat that is organic.)

On having kids

The other day Shawn and I were having another one of "why we won't have kids" conversations when Shawn stated the following:

"I have worked very hard to make sure that you don't get pregnant."

Yes. That's right. Apparently me going to the doctor every year to get my pill script refilled (which, by the way, is the only form of birth control we use) voluntarily and without prompting from him PLUS remembering to take said pill every night (again, without prompting - or hell, him even noticing) can be directly and irrevocably attributed to him.

Well, you know what they say - behind every woman's success is a man looking to take credit. Wait, they don't say that? hunh. Coulda fooled me.