2004-12-17

Less spending in 2nd Term?

According to this article President Bush is going to freeze domestic spending next year. So the our national debt will still increase by billions (if not trillions) of dollars over the next few months. Why not cut spending instead? We do not need a lot of useless features of the government, like the FDA, ATF, DEA, FCC, etc. A good solution would be to have a sunset clause for all federal administrations. A nice dream, but unlikely at this point. At least one of the most enefficient of the agencies (NASA) is coming under attack left and right by private enterprise such as the Space Ship One.

Another question: why should we have non domestic spending at all? Foreign aid and "foreign intervention" are big parts of that. Iraq was a mistake, everyone but Bush will admit that by now, including several key republicans. The problem is that Iraq is not our worst foreign policy. That distinction is reserved for foreign aid. Is it right for us to take our people's money and give it to other countries, many of which American do not support? For example, we give foreign aid to Israel. Many Arab Americans are rightfully upset about this, since they do not wish to support that country. Likewise, do Jewish Americans enjoy it when their tax dollars go to fundamentalist muslim nations? Probably not. How about we cut all of the bullshit and just make all foreign aid privately funded. That way people can take their own decisions.

2004-12-15

Salt or Sand?

The winter season begins with a nice, big snowfall. Consequently, my car is covered with more salt than 100 supersize fries from mcdonald's. Which brings to mind the question: salt or sand? Some locales use only salt, some use only sand, and some use both. Salt, of course, works by combining with the water into an aqueous (saline) solution that has a slightly lower freezing point than garden variety H2O. The problem is that salt is corrosive and leads to lots oxidation (rust) on cars. Sand doesn't really melt the ice that much, but does provide traction. So I was just pondering what is a better idea for cities to use, salt or sand. Looking at my car, I'd give up a little traction for a little less corrosion. I have a feeling if you added up all the costs of using salt (such as corrosion) and compared it to the extra amounts of accidents from using sand, it would be better to use the sand. Oh well, just my ramblings, because I hate washing my car every fucking week!

2004-12-13

Finally, the final final is finished

Now my second to last semester is officially over. Hopefully the results will be above my par, though I doubt it. I'm guaranteed an A in only one class, the other 4 are all up in the air, and the final that I took today didn't go so well, at least I don't think so. The rest of today is going to be spent doing mostly nothing, since I'm really tired from staying up so late last night and getting up early this morning. It snowed today too, woo-hoo. People say the snow is beautiful...its really beautiful when your trying to drive through a foot of it in a sports car...

Its almost over

I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel... my last (and only) final during finals week is in about 7 hours. I studied for it a lot today with my crazy CF group members (one of the few cool class groups i've had at CMU)... I don't feel really prepared for the test, but I'm done studying anyway. So for the rest of the week not much is going on, I'll probably just chill with all my friends here before they leave. If any of you guys reads this and wants to go bar hoppin tomorrow night, give me a call.