McCain's Plan for a "Gas-Tax Holiday"

Senator John McCain of Arizona, in what he hopes would stimulate the seemingly downturning economy, has urged Congress to suspend the Federal Gas Taxes from Memorial Day to Labor Day (the basic "Summer season" when gas prices typically rise) in what's being referred to as a "Gas-Tax Holiday".

By reducing gas prices, McCain hopes for the same trickle-down effect that's hoped for by issuing the rebate checks that will start coming out next month. It doesn't really look good for this plan to work with the rebate checks, as many people are planning to pay down debt and/or save their $600, rather than going out and spending it and boosting their local economies. With the plan to suspend gas taxes, will this lead to people's spending money elsewhere? I don't think so. I think it's going to unfortunately lead to people not worrying as much about trying to cut back on gas usage, which should be a strong focus, economy or no economy. It leads to less of a focus on efficient cars and allows people to keep on driving as much as they want.

Now don't get me wrong. I def would like to see actions taken to help stimulate the economy, but I don't think this is the way at all. I don't have the perfect solution myself, but allowing people to afford more gas and drive more seems to be counterintuitive, as all trends are leading towards the hopes of driving less and finding cleaner, cheaper, and more efficient methods of travel. Maybe much greater tax breaks on more efficient cars, be they used or new, would be one better move. Perhaps not just for hybrid vehicles or electric cars, but cars with a specifically high efficiency, such as getting over 25mpg, for example.

Whatever we need to do to help the economy, I think we must still focus on also helping the environment that we're living in at the same time. I know there are answers to do both and we need to work to discover these, rather than peddling easy answers that might sound good on paper to someone who is struggling to make ends meet. We need to help those that are struggling, while helping all of us to keep our heads above water and do it while not helping to add to the ridiculously high levels of pollution we're already putting out...

Is This Art?!?!

Costa Rican artist, Guillermo Vargas aka Habacuc, took his "art" to inconceivably cruel levels last year in the form of animal suffering. Vargas paid a few local boys in Nicaragua to help him to capture a dog and he then tied this dog in an art gallery where it was on display for days without food or water, until it died. This was his concept of "art", entitled "You are what you read", which was "written" on the wall in dog food. This cruelty to the poor animal didn't earn him any punishment for his misdeeds, however. Quite the contrary. Instead of being punished for these actions, he has been selected to represent Costa Rica in the "Bienal Centroamericana Honduras 2008", a visual art gathering of selected artists.

Is this so-called "art" really what should be held up as representative of a country and on a lesser scale, "rewarded" at all? This horrible and inhumane treatement of animals shouldn't be condoned! The reasoning behind it was to supposedly show the suffering and make people realize that while they were looking at it and perhaps feeling pity in an art gallery, that they would not stop and help the same dog had it been in the alley behind their house or in their own neighborhood. While the message might be true, to actually allow it to happen and overtly take actions to ensure the suffering of this poor creature are just terrible. It's not art. It's just ridiculous cruelty and hard to imagine that someone could be so cruel as to do something like this, all in the name of art. If he were really trying to help prevent cruelty to animals and make people think, there are many organizations dedicated to such purposes that he could have supported, worked with, or created artwork for/about. I may not be the quintessential visual art critic, but I don't consider this art at all.
[Although there has been much said and written about this, I haven't found absolutely conclusive evidence that this did happen, though I do believe that it did.]

The Printed Word

Well, I don't remember how I had gotten contacted by Michele Melendez, a national correspondent with Newhouse News Service, but she got in contact with me just before Christmas in 2006. She was writing an article about "hangover cures" and asked me if I'd be interested in being interviewed. Sure, it's not the first topic I'd like to be interviewed about, but I figured why not? It's not like people were beating down my door and asking me my opinions on the occupation of Iraq or what I thought of the state of affairs of the post-Cold War Eastern European situation... I figured I better toss my two cents wherever I could get them to stick and I had two cents' worth of words on this.

Here's the article below-->

(Here's a link to it in the Seattle Times)

No scientific proof for hangover cures

BY MICHELE M. MELENDEZ

c.2006 Newhouse News Service

More stories by Michele Melendez

Bad news for New Year’s Eve revelers who toast with a few too many: There’s no conclusive scientific proof that anything cures a hangover.

But there are home-tested remedies that partiers swear by — a greasy breakfast, raw eggs, tripe soup, a gallon of sports drink, a brisk run. Some even make sense, as fluids and exercise help rehydrate and push blood more quickly through the body.

While “hangover” refers literally to something that remains from an earlier time, its medical term, “veisalgia,” says it all. The word mashes the Norwegian “kveis,” meaning “uneasiness following debauchery” and the Greek “algia,” for “pain.”

Then things become less certain.

“There are so many different biochemical changes that occur after drinking alcohol that no one’s entirely positive which one is the key one that causes people to feel (a) hangover,” said Dr. Stefan Kertesz, assistant professor of preventive and general internal medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Besides its dehydrating power, alcohol can irritate the stomach and intestines to cause nausea and vomiting. It can also lower blood sugar, depriving the brain of energy and leading to fatigue.

The punishment usually kicks in several hours after drinking stops, when blood-alcohol concentration falls, and may include headache, lethargy, dizziness and sensitivity to light and sound. Research suggests that hangover symptoms and severity may depend on a person’s weight, the duration of the binge and the amount and type of alcohol consumed, among other factors.

What to do when you overindulge?

“There’s not really any scientifically documented remedy, but there are some folk remedies that may work, exercise being one in particular,” said Barbara Mark, a clinical nutrition instructor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

The idea: Get moving to boost blood flow.

“When you have less fluid in the body, your blood kind of gets sluggish … it’s a little bit thicker,” Mark said. “So, you’re not getting oxygen and nutrients to your body.”
Exercise is a tough sell when you’re in a hangover hole. It might be easier to drink water before, during and after imbibing alcohol, to replenish liquids. Yet in the midst of celebrating, that isn’t always a priority.

“Once the party gets started, it’s not normally within my mental capacity to think about the consequences of the next day,” said Travis of Sacramento, Calif. If he remembers before going to bed, he said, he’ll take aspirin and drink a ton of water.

Most remedies are left for after the festivities.

“I think that sleep is probably the best one,” said Lennon Duggan, 22, a bartender at the Washington, D.C., landmark bar and restaurant Madam’s Organ. “I think a lot of Gatorade, seltzer or Orangina, something like that. The greasy food helps. Bloody Mary or a mimosa, depending, but sometimes you’re not really ready to get back in there.”

Nor should you be, physicians advise. “Resist any temptation to treat your hangover with more alcohol,” says no less a source than the Mayo Clinic’s Web site. “It’ll only make you feel worse.”

Lane Allison, 36, of Overland Park, Kan., developed his antidote in college: raw eggs, Fruit Punch Gatorade and ice, blended: “You get the protein from the egg. You get rehydrated with the Gatorade. The ice makes it slushy.”

If raw egg inspires the woozies, how about a steamy, spicy bowl of a cow’s stomach lining? Menudo, a Mexican tripe soup, is legendary for its purported ability to kill hangovers.

Just as you reach for chicken soup when you’re otherwise feeling sick, said Jesse Chavez, 30, of Northridge, Calif., “It’s menudo when you have a hangover.”

Vietnamese cuisine also offers a hangover-battling soup: pho, a broth-noodle combination.
“The bowls are fairly large, so the broth alone gives you a lot … to help rehydrate you, along with salt to perhaps help you retain some of that water,” said Sione Kinahoi Phillips, 30, of Edmonds, Wash. “I don’t know if the rice noodles can act like breads and such starchy foods that people recommend to eat.”

Phillips adds hot sauce to make him feel like he’s “sweating out the hangover.”

When Sara Sanders, 44, of Aiken, S.C., feels a little green after drinking, she seeks help from the Green Giant. That brand of frozen Brussels sprouts alleviates her headaches and nausea, though she says fresh sprouts work just as well.

A friend told her about the treatment after a Christmas party years ago. “The next day, everybody was feeling rough,” Sanders said.

Still others believe in the power of vitamin pills to restore balance, including C and B. And a variety of supplements are marketed to prevent or ease hangover symptoms using assorted ingredients. The Apothecary’s Garden Hangover Drops, for example, include ginseng, a Chinese herb.

“It’s a fun pick-me-up, when you feel like you’re dragging,” said Laura Bertoldi, a sales representative with Belgravia Imports of Portsmouth, R.I., the U.S. importer of the English sweets. But, she adds, “They are certainly not a cure.”

So, with no sure-fire remedies, Santa Fe, N.M., nutritionist Kaayla T. Daniel offers this: “Contemplate a New Year’s resolution not to drink to excess.”
Dec. 29, 2006

Pinching the Proverbial Penny: Dollar Stores, Discounteurs, and More!

What with talks of a recession, inflation, housing trouble, and shrinking jobs and growing gasoline bills all ringing in the ears of Americans, who isn't in for saving another buck or two? Every place you can cut back on the spending will either allow a little more for other places, a little more for the savings, or maybe a little less in the red. Well, there's a lot of simple things and shopping tips that'll save those few cents and might just all add up to common sense...

Dollar Stores? I've been a frequent (perhaps frighteningly so) shopper of Dollar Stores all my life. I am just obsessed. The idea that each thing you come upon in the store is only going to cost you one dollar excites me to the core! But that's just me... In terms of approaching one, there are a number of great deals you can find here. Perhaps they do have a lot of junk, such as their tools (which can actually be pretty useful, just not for industrial or automotive purposes, but most simple household tasks can be done), kitchen knives (almost the same parenthetical comment as for the tools!), and children's toys (I just can't help questioning myself, but cheap toys are great to let children destroy on a weekend trip or such), but there are some great values to be found for a dollar as well!

Some of the good values I've found:

Dish Soap
Bar Soap
Sponges
Scrub Brushes
Vacuum Bags
Picture Frames
Colanders
Sunglasses
Food (Really? Yes, but you be the judge and not all food is equal...)
Many randomly useful items like bike bells, automotive funnels, auto sun shades, etc.

Now, for $1, just about any of those is typically a steal of a bargain and well worth the asking price! There are some foods I'll be skeptical about, but you can use your own judgment in what you'd be comfortable with. I don't mind buying cheap tools that work well enough for small simple tasks, so long as I remember that I have a Craftsman toolset for "real jobs".

Big Lots and other such stores...

"Closeout Retailers" such as Big Lots! or Tuesday Morning offer great bargains on all sorts of brand name items! I mean you can find some ridiculously cheap prices! You just might not be 100% certain as to what you'll find in the stores and it can be like a treasure hunt going into these. These stores can get closeout and overstocked items from other locations for cheap and sell them for cheaper than you'll find in traditional retail stores. You just might walk in the next time and find the supplies are gone. Now here at Big Lots!, I've bought some food. They've got cans of sardines that are $.65/can! Tomato paste for $.25/can! Most all of their boxes of cold cereal were under $2 (Shrek Cereal was $1/box [I bought 3!]!)! Crazy prices for food when bills are seeming like they are going to overwhelm you! There's also great prices on all sorts of random toys, children's items, bath and beauty, furniture, towels, and more! If you are looking to trim the fat from your shopping bills, a few stops here a month could really do the trick.

Coupons? Yes! I know it sounds corny and feels just the same, but clipping coupons, printing them out online (Coupons.com, Ultimate Coupons, etc.) can really save you big money! It doesn't take a whole lot to really start adding up! By just checking the sale ads for your local groceries and maybe a few websites, you can really get all you want to eat for cheap!

US Rare Coin & Bullion Reserve

Now, I'm not one to diss on infomercials, typically... I'm a sucker for a lot of them and will sit and watch a whole lot of them. One, in particular, has become my fave for sure, being the Magic Bullet one. Classic. Characters? Check. The diner waitress with the cig hanging suspended from her pursed lips, the middle-aged party animal, this thing is well scripted!

Now, this morning I was watching television and saw what I think had to be the most ridiculous infomercial I've seen. Ever. I know they are typically written to "idiots", basically with lines easy enough and questions simple enough that anyone can see them through to the end, but this one really takes the cake in insulting the intelligence of the viewers. It was from the US Rare Coin & Bullion Reserve. Don't worry if you missed the infomercial because they have a website so you don't have to miss out on your opportunity to get some gold, like all of the major investors are moving their money into gold. Just check out http://www.usmoneyreserve.com/ or call 1-800-314-3612 today!

Really, though, why do I think they are not quite the investment managers I want telling me where I should direct my investment capital? It's mostly their arguments in favor of gold over cash. Here are some of their "reasons" for investing in gold:

• The War in Iraq


• Nuclear Weapons


• Gas could go to $10 a gallon


• Experts predict $2000/oz price of gold in the future

Why is the war on Iraq reason to invest in gold? Here's what they have to say-->

"Now its fifth year, the war in Iraq has cost U.S. taxpayers nearly $400 billion dollars, or more than $200 million a day. With the U.S. economy already burdened with a national debt of more than $9 trillion, many people are deciding that the safest place for their money is in Gold. "

Who are these people that are deciding that the safest place is gold?

How about "Nuclear Weapons" being a reason? Well, on the infomercial, the host claims that if a nuclear weapon is detonated anywhere on the planet that gold prices will skyrocket. And don't forget that North Korea already has nuclear weapons! Why will gold skyrocket as a result of a nuclear weapon? I guess more people will decide that while money can burn, gold will be the safest place to invest, what with nuclear weapons being detonated somewhere.

Gas could go up to $10/gallon? Wow. I heard this one repeated a couple of times on the segment, but couldn't make the connection between this and buying gold. I guess if gas gets so expensive, it'll just be easier to pay in gold. I guess this also really puts that $4/gallon gas prediction in its place...

Experts predict $2000/ounce gold prices in the future? The site says, "While no one can predict with absolute accuracy whether a Gold Coin’s future value will go up or down, troubling economic and world conditions have many experts pointing to Gold’s tremendous upside potential and the possibility of it reaching as high as $2,000/oz. in the future." Who are these "experts"? Unknown. Is this in the far-off-distant-spaceship-flying future? Maybe. It's a little bit hazy...

The host has two "guards" bring out a platform with $50,000 in cash and $50,000 in gold coins. He holds up the $50k in cash, which is in 3 small bundles, in his hands and talks about how you can put this in the bank and earn 3% and in a year, you'll have an additional $1500. He then starts feeling through the gold and explains that if you invest $50,000 in gold and it goes up to $2000/ounce, you'll have $160,000! He then has another guard bring out $160,000, which is in a large case and looks like millions of dollars in comparison to the $50,000.

The biggest thing is that he constantly says that you need to buy gold in case gold prices take off. Is that really a safe investment? To invest just in case you might make a profit? I try to follow investment trends and strategy, rather than investing just in case it might help.

The worst thing of all is that there is a constant ringing of phones in the background throughout the whole "show". I guess it's to show that tons of people are calling in to order, but doesn't really make sense when he's walking all over the place with this ringing phone sound. Especially when he's showing you their high security safe where they're shipping all of your orders from. Who is taking orders in there?!?!

Long story short, well, maybe not so short, you should probably def buy some gold just in case it shoots up in value. The market is set and experts are saying that it's going to increase in value in the future!

On Hillary Clinton's Dangerous Mission to Bosnia...

I was just bothered by Hillary Clinton's response to her misrepresentation of her trip to Bosnia in 1996. In an article on the AP, she is quoted as saying, "I went to 80 countries, you know. I gave contemporaneous accounts, I wrote about a lot of this in my book. You know, I think that, a minor blip, you know, if I said something that, you know, I say a lot of things -- millions of words a day -- so if I misspoke, that was just a misstatement,"... If this seems acceptable as an answer to people, isn't that just a free pass for her to say whatever she wants about her achievements, her experience, her qualifications? If she is allowed to just dismiss it as a "minor blip" or a "misstatement" instead of the misrepresentation of the facts that it was, attempting to build on her experience argument, it kind of allows her to continue on in this vein...
She described the incident as follows... "Everyone else was told to sit on their bulletproof vests," Clinton said. "And we came in, in an evasive maneuver. ... There was no greeting ceremony, and we basically were told to run to our cars. Now, that is what happened." She actually ended with those words of "...Now, that is what happened.", which seems very direct and pointed for a description that doesn't even loosely base itself on what video of the event shows happened. Credibility being such an issue and words having played such a role as in when Obama was asked to not only denounce but reject Farrakhan's comments and support of Obama in an earlier debate, this seems like a pretty flippant overlooking of her own very misleading description of the trip to Bosnia...

End of the Writer's Strike

What with the end of the writer's strike, it's still felt like ages since new episodes of many great shows have come out. It's been tough, but the day is finally starting to approach for many new episodes to come out! The Simpsons' new episodes will always hold me through, but there's been a large gap in my weekly schedule, once filled by hours of mindless entertainment.

It looks like the Office will be returning on the week of April 3rd! I'm really excited for that! It's probably the biggest one I've been waiting for...

...Except for the Flight of the Conchords! It looks like this will remain on hiatus for some time to come still. One problem that I was afraid of that seems to be playing a role, is how much of their already existing material (songs) they've used up. I guess they've used up most all of their old music so they'll have to be writing new material for the new episodes, which will take greater time. I've heard various different timelines about when they'll be coming out with new season two episodes, but it doesn't look too soon yet...

How I Met Your Mother is going to be coming out with new episodes on March 17th! That's just a week away, if I'm not mistaken! This is one show I never really expected to like when I first started watching it, but the pieces really fell together well and it clicked. I'm excited to see new episodes of this one!

In the meantime, there has been new "episodes" of American Idol for this season going on and they're already eliminating "stars". Also, America's Next Top Model is in their latest "cycle" (what Tyra calls each season) and new episodes of this are currently airing. Probably most reality shows have been continuing on with new episodes, for those that have cared.