When Marine 1 flew over to take George W. Bush out of Washington, the crowd (which was much more dispersed by that point) sang "Nah nah nah nah, hey hey, goodbye". Now, none of us knew for sure that that was him, and he certainly couldn't hear us, but it did let us let out the frustrations that have been felt. Yes, it is time for a change.

I guess I was ahead of my time. See this post.

I really don't know, since my TV and radio diet has decreased so much over the years. As far as I am concerned, the last campaign ads I saw, good or bad, were made in the Clinton era, Bill not Hillary!

I just listened to the "I Have a Dream" speech on Great Speeches in History. I think I will reload it for Emily at some point before we go to the Inauguration. Of course, there isn't a Disney movie about the civil rights movement, so I don't think she will get it. :-/

I am hearing about proposed tax rates and small businesses at risk under Obama.

The tax rates as proposed don't endanger as many small businesses as claimed. See this. The number of small businesses in the US is greatly exaggerated. Most are not self-supporting.

The layoffs of the '80s and early '90s made going into business for yourself a very attractive idea for job security and flexibility. A lot of the sideline small businesses are someone's dream of being free of "the man". Tax rates that kick in at $200,000 are not going to stop people from dreaming that.

Now, the financial bailout, the changes in state taxes with the recession, and the general poor state of the economy will make more of these sidelines unprofitable. There will be fewer small businesses (whether self-supporting or not) in the next four years. But the cause of that is not this presidential election.

This is sparked by comments from someone who runs a NASCAR racing team---as their full-time job. The carbon emissions alone are blowing my mind--but that is a subject for another post.

Copy this sentence into your livejournal if you're in a heterosexual marriage, and you don't want it "protected" by the bigots who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow.

We missed (mostly) the debates last night. I had Spanish class, and T turned it on, but played music with Emily in addition.

T and I walked to Emily's school while she rode her bike. The training wheels are bent and need to be replaced. In the winter is not the right time to learn to ride a two-wheeler (your frequency of practice is too low), so we will get a replacement set.

Emily's class has a field trip to an orchard next week. They are learning about "living things" in science. This is also why we have beans growing in our house.  They have 5 (five!) field trips planned for the year (although the principal might cancel one for reasons of expense). I have volunteered to be a chaperone.

The upset in the investment banks is feeding-forward in all sorts of ways.
And the round after round of hurricanes isn't helping. Evacuating takes time and money. Watching the news/weather alerts/etc. isn't so good for making decisions to spend money.

Of course, the beat of economic life here is determined by awarded contracts and the federal budget. Congress is in for a short session, before the election. Target adjournment is Sept. 26th (for the House).

If you want to know the status of the federal budget, this is NOT the place to go. Although it seems sensible!

This is called inside-the-Beltway poker. But it's more fun than regular poker.

If McCain wins this year, what will Sarah Palin do in 2012? McCain probably won't run for President again at 76.
a) run for President. She'll have four years of vice-presidential experience under her belt. McCain *should* give her a foreign policy portfolio to train her up and ensure that she can run credibly then.

b) run for governor of Alaska again. More executive experience. Might shore up her family-values image.

c) Run for Senator from Alaska. This is arguably her best bet. She could probably have her choice of committees to sit on, The big-name ones are Judiciary, Foreign Relations, Armed Services, Energy and Natural Resources (not so big-name in the past, but a good match for her state and previous experience). Other interesting ones are Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (a grab-bag, but good for a family-values image, maybe) or Appropriations (more appropriate if she wants a name cutting pork). Ones that I don't think would be useful for her--Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry; Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; Budget; Commerce, Science and Transportation; Environment and Public Works; Finance; Indian Affairs; Rules and Administration; Small Business and Entrepreneurship or Veteran's Affairs.

To figure what she could do, we'd have to figure out who'll be the governor (Sean Parnell is the Lieutenant Governor, BUT he is currently in a race for Representative), and who'll be the two Senators. Can she displace one of them? Remember that Ted Stevens is up for re-election this year and may be fatally tainted, or he may not be, who knows what lurks in the minds of voters. Lisa Murkowski (R) is the junior Senator. She will be facing re-election in 2010.

If McCain loses this year, she'll spend the rest of her term as governor. How long is the term for governor of Alaska (different states have slightly different rules)? I can't find this information in Wikipedia. Should she run again? Should she see if she can run for Senator from Alaska?

Who should she pick for a running mate when she runs for President at the head of the ticket?