apple juice

This is what I’m talking about!

Amtrak Unveils Ambitious Northeast Corridor Plan, But It Would Take 30 Years to be Realized

“After months of sitting on the sidelines as states and regional agencies promoted major new high-speed rail investments, Amtrak has finally announced what it hopes to achieve over the next thirty years: A brand-new, 426-mile, two-track corridor running from Boston to Washington, bringing true high-speed rail to the Northeast Corridor for the first time.”

(Via the transport politic.)

The Tea Kettle Movement

“how can you take seriously a movement that sat largely silent while the Bush administration launched two wars and a new entitlement, Medicare prescription drugs — while cutting taxes — but is now, suddenly, mad as hell about the deficit and won’t take it anymore from President Obama? Say what? Where were you folks for eight years?”

Exactly.

Yeah, I’m thinking about politics again…

“…the biggest problem in this country is…they’re big babies. I mean, people keep saying they don’t want any tax increases, but they don’t want to have their Medicare cut, they don’t want to have their Medicaid [cut] or they don’t want to have their Social Security touched an inch. Well, it’s about time someone tells them, you can’t have it, baby…You have to make a choice. And I fear that—and I always thought, you see, that that was the Conservative position. The Conservative is the Grinch who says no. And, in some ways, I think this in the long run, looking back in history, was Reagan’s greatest bad legacy, which is he tried to tell people you can have it all. We can’t have it all.”

–Andrew Sullivan on Fareed Zakaria

Let me just remind everyone that it was Clinton who last had a balanced budget and made debt payments.

If you really want to scare yourself, check out the Wikipedia entry on the United States Federal Budget

There are different ways to solve these problems. We have limited resources, and we have choices to make.

What are your priorities?

 

If you think expanding regional high-speed rail is a good thing for the country, then you may want to reconsider voting republican…

Republican Wave Could Spell Trouble for High-Speed Rail Projects from Coast to Coast

Two things totally freaking me out:

Can a municipal service like a library hold so central a place that it should be entrusted to a profit-driven contractor only as a last resort — and maybe not even then?

Anger as a Private Company Takes Over Libraries

and…

U.S. Tries to Make It Easier to Wiretap the Internet

Several privacy and technology advocates argued that requiring interception capabilities would create holes that would inevitably be exploited by hackers.

Steven M. Bellovin, a Columbia University computer science professor, pointed to an episode in Greece: In 2005, it was discovered that hackers had taken advantage of a legally mandated wiretap function to spy on top officials’ phones, including the prime minister’s.

“I think it’s a disaster waiting to happen,” he said. “If they start building in all these back doors, they will be exploited.”

Two incredibly bad ideas, in my opinion.

As quoted in daring fireball:

“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Ben Franklin

Raising Minimalist Children in a Society of Excess:

“Don’t feel guilty. Modern parents are made to feel as if they are depriving their children of ‘the best’ if they don’t sign them up for every lesson, take them to every movie, or buy them every brain-enhancing toy. Advertising companies are paying billions of dollars to make you think this. It is not reality… it is a fictional version of reality they are selling. Let it go. Don’t ‘buy’ into it. You are not depriving your children; you are enhancing their mental and emotional development by letting the real world around them captivate and interest them. Do you think the Smiths’ kids are really better off because they spend all their free time in front of a television or playing with a DSI?”

Amen!

However, the temple for waisted male self-esteem is Old Navy, where I easily slid into a size 34 pair of the brand’s Dress Pant. Where no other 34s had been hospitable, Old Navy’s fit snugly. The final measurement? Five inches larger than the label. You can eat all the slow-churn ice cream and brats you want, and still consider yourself slender in these.

Sonja called me from the store today. I found an awesome pair of pants for you, do you fit in a 34? Maybe? I replied.

As it turns out, that wasn’t such a bad answer:

Are Your Pants Lying to You?