Return of the Blog-i

I am a bad blogger . . . But I promise to be better. I've decided to adopt Wil Wheaton's strategy and devote at least 10 minutes a day to blogging, even if I have nothing in particular to say. So here goes . . .

• First, the deficit. Since the State of the Union, Bush has been running around the country telling anyone who will listen that he intends to cut the deficit in half by 2009. This sounds great, but the key word here is "deficit." He's not talking about cutting the $8 Trillion national debt in half, in fact he's promising to increase it, but at half the rate that we did this year. The "deficit" is the amount of money that the government spends each year that exceeds what it brings in in taxes. What Bush is saying is, "In four more years, we'll only be half as irreponsible as we are today." This year, we spent $455 billion that we didn't have. If all goes "well" for Bush, he hopes that we only spend $225 billion that we don't have by 2009. Lovely. What a guy. I got into more detail about this in this post, but I'd like to re-iterate here, that there was NO DEFICIT when Bush took office. Bill Clinton left him with a $31 billion surplus.
  
• Second, on a personal note, it looks like there will be some changes for me on the employment front. All good. I don't want to jinx it with a big announcement just yet, but I will just say that if things go well, your potential will soon be MY passion.
  
• I'm also really glad that Trevor and Sara are back in the good ol' US of A. I hope they stick around permanently, but it's great to know that we have them for 5 months.
  
• I saw the Pink Panther with Phil, and I'm happy to announce that it doesn't suck. Not nearly as funny/clever/witty as the Peter Sellars version, but not sucky.
  
• We've seen some excellent documentaries lately via Netflix. Southern Comfort, which is about female to male transexuals in the deep South. The most fascinating part is I kept thinking, "Why don't they move?" But it occured to me that these people would feel out of place in New York or LA or Seattle--they love the South, they just wish that people wouldn't discriminate against them. The second one was Murderball, which is nominated for an Oscar, about wheelchiar rugby players. It was excellent, as both a human interest story, and a great sports epic. Both are highly recommended.
• 10 Minutes is up . . .

--Tinfoil Out