March 15th, 2008 Brian
We have a sub-prime crisis that is ravaging consumers and multinational banks alike. So what do I open today? a notice that I’m eligible for the Economic Stimulus Payment that could pay me up to $600 this year.
Dear Taxpayer,
We are pleased to inform you that the United States Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed into law the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, which provides for economic stimulus payments to be made to over 120 American households. Under this new law, you may e entitled to a payment of up to $600 (%1,200 if filing a joint return), plus additional amounts for each qualifying child.
Some may be saying yipee, but I’m sitting here thinking, what does this really do? What am I going to do with $600? I’d prefer the gov’t use it to pay down the debt, but that isn’t going to happen. How does $600 really solve anyone’s problems? At most this is maybe one month of rent, one month of child care, one month of food for a family. It is a small statement and its going to some people who have no need for it. That money would be better spent providing healthcare and other services that would save people much money in the long run. Citizens of this country would benefit more from better healthcare both in cost and care, a solvent Social Security system, VA benefits for war wounded, than they will from this $600 infusion. This is nothing but pandering and is more likely to end up going towards a new plasma TV that it is going to help cover the bare necessities. Does anyone else find this vaguely insulting?
“You lose your home or job? here’s $600 bucks, have a round on me.”
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March 5th, 2008 Brian
Well, that was disappointing and anti-climactic, but is it really anything we didn’t expect? The last few days have arguably been Obama’s worst few days in the whole campaign. He was down by 10-20 points in Ohio and Texas after Wisconsin so its obvious that his message was resonating. But this isn’t the time to grovel, that should have been over after breakfast.
We may have lost a battle but we still are winning the war. We can’t sit back now and become complacent or think that this is too hard to stand up for what is right and good anymore. That isn’t an option. If we really care about what our future will look like, if we really believe Barak Obama can make a difference for us all, then we owe it to ourselves and to each other to keep fighting, and fight harder. This is where we dig in and push for the finish line.
We are being tested and we must not fold when times get hard. We need to show the pundits, the cynics, the doubters, and the Republicans out there who would have us rot into oblivion that this movement isn’t an empty call for change, but a promise to fight for our future.
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Get involved! I know I’m going to do more than just write blog posts now. Go to www.barakobama.com and sign-up to make phone calls in upcoming states. Write letters to the editor, join groups of other Obama activists. We may be late to the cause but I know I sure won’t be giving up.
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February 15th, 2008 Brian
This thing is big pimpin’, at least for me that is. This is a Alesis Ion Virtual Analogue Synthesizer. They are now discontinued, but you can still find them on Ebay rather easily. Seeing as this is my first hardware synthesizer, the multitude of sounds you can make are just unbelievable. There is something about being able to touch the knobs on the keyboard while playing rather than simply tweaking a parameter in anSoftware Synth that makes this more rewarding. I chose this one because of its flexibility and because it allows you easy access to many of the parameters right at your finger tips rather than going through an endless number of menus. Look for some new BaseWest tracks in the near future, I’m just starting to see just the basics of what I can do with this.
You can check out some of my current music at my Myspace page.
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February 15th, 2008 Brian
I was previously an Edwards supporter. As is probably apparent from other posts I’m now an aggressive advocate for Barak Obama over Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination and for President. Obama has inspired a generation and maybe even generations, he seeks to change and reform a system that is at the root of so much failure from government, he’s not Hillary Clinton, and well he’s right on most all the issues for me. The last two are important, but the first two are what really separates him from anyone else in this election. I’m not going to go into all the issues he’s right on since well that’d just be a laundry list and that’s not particularly interesting to read.
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