Palin quits

Sarah Palin is resigning as governor. The thought is that she's planning to run for president in 2012. I can't think of any easier way of assuring an Obama landslide.

Healthcare details get better

This just in. A new plan being floated in congress significantly reduces the cost of universal coverage, by providing a public plan and penalizing employers who do not offer their employees insurance.

Both of these provisions are very good.

First, a public plan is needed to assist those who work but are not insured and ineligible for medicaid. Republicans absolutely hate this idea, but have never come up with a better plan. They say that this creates bureaucracy, but that is not true. HMOs are just as bureaucratic, this just reduces the cost by eliminating the overhead (read: profit taking) that comes from the insurers, which does add significant costs.

Second, employers who have more than 25 people working for them will have to pay $750 a year for full time and $375 for part time workers who are not offered health insurance. This will provide billions in funding to the plan.

Smart GPS is coming, in some cases it is already here

Starting in the late 90's people started having access to navigation systems in their vehicles, which allowed them to plot out a route and ditch the map for good. The problem with these early systems is that they relied on fixed data, generally DVD's. The DVD's are now gone in favor of hard drives that can be updated, but most of the information still lags reality.

Smart GPS is now here. The easiest way to get it for most is to just use your cell phone, provided that your carrier offers GPS. For example, my carrier Sprint offers free GPS to anyone on an unlimited data plan. Smart GPS tells you when the HOV lane is open or closed, and whether there's a traffic jam up ahead. It automatically reroutes you if there is construction, and knows about new roads as soon as they are built.

FDA Warns on Acetaminophen

The FDA is moving to ban vicodin and percocet, drugs that mix narcotics with acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol which is the active ingredient in Tylenol. While one of the most commonly used over the counter medicines in the United States. it is also one of the most deadly.

I do not have any Tylenol (or generic equivalents) in my house for good reason: it is very easy to accidentally overdose on it. Even taking the recommended dosage can lead someone to have liver problems, especially if mixed with even a drop of alcohol, even if the alcohol was consumed a day before. Aspirin and Ibuprofen are safer in regards to the liver.

Madoff gets 150 years

Bernie Madoff has been sentenced to 150 years in prison. I am a bit shocked by this sentence, and am probably in the minority in stating that I think it is much too harsh.

Madoff is in his 70s. A sentence of 20 years would basically amount to a death sentence, so why lay on the time? Likely to send a message, but I think when you sentence anyone this old to prison for more than a handful of years, the system is doing just that.

However, we need to take this into context. He did not kill anyone, he merely scammed people out of around $15B. Horrible? Yes, but not as bad as taking a life, and murders routinely get 20 years or less in prison.

So why would a sentence of 20 years be better? He would not be in a medium-maximum security but a low-minimum security if his sentence was less. That reduces the chances of him being assaulted in jail, which is virtually assured in a medium-maximum security facility. I'm not saying this guy deserves to be on a country club, but certainly don't want to see a 70 year old man suffer.

Billy Mays Dead at 50

"Hi. Billy Mays here..." will not be heard on any new commercials. Billy Mays died this morning. I thought that his commercials were always fun to watch, and he also had a show on Discovery called Pitchmen, which was pretty decent.

"Gayby Boom"

Interesting article over at CNN of the children raised by gay parents. Interestingly enough, one of them has become a hardcore conservative, albeit one that completely supports gay marriage.

This is just more evidence against those who argue that gay men and women should not be able to adopt or raise children.

Energy Bill Passes House

A major energy bill has just barely passed in the house. The bill will now move to the senate. We can only hope it will pass in the senate. This is a major piece of legislation that will greatly change how our country tackles environmental and energy related concerns.

While the naysayers will tell you this will raise your taxes, what it really does is allow us to finally try to right climate change, something that is expensive but something that we are all in together.

It should be noted that Americans would be willing to pay $19/month to handle climate change. The proposed plan will cost approximately $15/month to the average family.

Netflix prize has been won!

Wow, that took a lot longer than anyone thought.

Michael Jackson 1958-2009

It is sad to see the passing of such a talented artist, even though he was a bit odd. The work he did through the 70s, 80s, and early 90s will likely not be matched for some time.

SCOTUS says no to strip searches at schools

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/25/scotus.strip.search/index.html

In a victory for the right to privacy, the Supreme Court has ruled
that it is illegal to strip search students, at least in the case
presented. I think it is unlikely that schools will continue this
practice. However, the plaintiff is not able to sue the school based
on this ruling, so it is only a partial victory for her.

Governor of South Carolina Scandal

This whole scandar with Mark Sanford gets better by the minute.

 

First, he disappears and not even his wife or staff knew where he went.  He shows up several days later, saying that he went on a hike of the appalacian trail... during naked hike day. 

 

OK, so right now that's pretty bizarre, but then someone said they had spotted him at the Atlanta airport.  Ooops!! 

 

So then he says he took a spontaneous trip to Argentina and walked around.

 

Just now he reported he was having an affair. 

 

Bobby Jindal, Sarah Palin, Mark Sanford.  All of them rising starts within the GOP who have now fallen.  Who is left?

 

 

Infrastructure under stress

Last night I watched the excellent History special "The Crumbling of America". This documentary raised several areas of concern for every American. They detailed several classes of infrastructure that are degrading quickly:

Bridges

Dams - Some states, such as Alabama, do not even have a dam inspector.

Levees - Surprisingly, the state most in danger is California, particularly Sacamento.

Roads

Sewers

Water Mains - Montgomery Co. MD, a rich suburb of DC, was singled out in this segment.

For anyone who has drived around the Rust Belt (e.g. Detroit) this will not come as any surprise. As a country, we spent several decades and a lot of money building this infrastructure. But since the boom in the 50s and 60s the state and federal governments have not taken action to properly maintain these roads, generally because they were too busy spending money on other items, which they deemed more important.

At this point, it will likely cost several trillion dollars to repair our infrastructure. Some of this will be done with the recent stimulus package. While republicans may balk at this figure and claim that it is the responsibility of the states, the states simply do not have the money to undertake this project. Once the tap water shuts off for weeks due to major water main breaks, or a bridge near your house fails and you need to drive an extra 50 miles to work each day, I think this issue would hit home with any American.

This is going to cost a lot to fix. This is also not a partisan issue. Today in Detroit, the democratic city council voted against an increase in the sewer/water tax. Sure, people in Detroit may have trouble affording an increased water bill; but if the infrastructure which delivers and cleans the water fails, they will be paying a lot more.

Deadly Metro Crash on Red Line

At least 6 people are dead in the worst accident in the history of the Metro. Early reports indicate that both trains were stopped and then one started moving towards the other. I would think that the train in which the operator was killed was likely the one that moved, since that would carry them forward, unless the positions of the train were somehow reversed.

JD Power Quality Results have some surprises

The JD Power quality rankings are a bit interesting this year.

 

Lexus is #1, followed by Porsche.  Cadillac is in number 3.  Most surprising is Hyundai at #4, ahead of Toyota, Honda, Ford, and others.  The best domestic brand other than Cadillac is Ford.

 

Unsuprisingly, BMW, Audi, Volvo, and Saab are all below average.  Subaru is way down there too, which IS a surprise.

 

And bankrupt Chrysler has all of its brands below average.

 

http://www.autonews.com/article/20090622/ANA05/906229989/1197