Random Thoughts, Notes, & Incidents

In the News:

Davis Appeals to New Yorkers - With the continuing energy crisis Governor Gray Davis has found his popularity and approval ratings slipping away here in California, and has gone on the PR offensive. Davis has written an op-ed piece explaining his position, and why he thinks W is a prick, and put it before the public.

What's baffling about this is that the piece did not run in San Francisco, or Los Angeles, or even Sacramento. It ran in the New York Times. Hell, even the Washington Post would have made more sense than that. Has there been some sort of weird, inter-state re-districting that I should be aware of? Is Gray thinking about running for Governor of New York, too?

$300 to Save America - Well, the W tax cut has passed, and the IRS has been ordered to send out the refund checks. Checks of up to $300 per tax payer (up to $600 per couple) will be mailed out between mid-July and the end of September.

"This will give a much needed boost to the economy and could very well make the difference between an economy that continues to grow and one that slips into recession," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com.

Right. My wife and I will be getting $600 (the maximum), and with that we're supposed to rescue America from a recession? Isn't that just putting the pressure on just a little too high?

Hey, with what's happening here in California, we'll be lucky if that just covers our electric bills for the summer. And with my current job situation, that money is only going to help pay rent. It may prevent us from being homeless for an extra two or three weeks, but we won't be going on any wild shopping sprees here.

The only thing worse than the administration saying that this token refund is going to save the economy from ruin is the newspapers actually printing this propaganda as if it were a fact. Give me a break. (And the $600).

Trebek Not a Felon - I know that we've all been waiting for the resolution of this one: A review of airport security tapes has shown that Jeopardy host Alex Trebek did not assault a security guard at the baggage x-ray machine.

I don't know about you, but I'm actually a little disappointed. I think old Alex could have used a bit more of a macho image.