The army's payroll system

Today in the NYT is an article about the antiquated armed forces payroll system. In particular it mentions that there have been material overpayments to certain soldiers' families; those who have been wounded or killed in action. If the soldier lost his or her life, the army is forgiving any erroneous overpayment. If only wounded, the military is sending debt collectors to collect for their own errors.

So you go to Iraq, get your foot blown off, come home to a job given to someone else, your wife leaves with the kids and you have the government chasing you becaused they mistakenly paid you money that you desperately need.

We bought into it

An appropriate quote from Voltaire: "Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities." So, I guess Bagdhad is just suffering from the early throes of democracy, not unbelievable Islamic sectarian violence driven by what we have done. George says we've only killed 30,000; its probably closer to 130,000. I don't figure they're happy we dropped-in. What can we do ...............

Sports that make sense

In my years on the planet there are certain sports I love to do and others that make squat-sense to me. The reasons are consistent. - I like solitary aerobic sports where you don't have to schedule places or other people. - I like sports that once you have your basic equipment, you have what you need. You don't have to buy new stuff, once you've got what you need then, except for maintenance and supplies, you're done. - Also, sports that require that you pay money each time seem stupid - downhill skiing and golf come to mind (although I do have a semi-life rule that says when I can no longer physically do anything else, I will play golf). - So, my favorites are: ROAD BIKING BODY SURFING CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING RUNNING I may find some more but these keep me going right now.

This is a good one - George W trying to speak the language he demands Immigrants' speak

This is from Mr. Bush's February 4, 2005 explanation of how he will "save" our Social Security system. Take notes, class, there will be a test: Ladies and Gentlemen, The President of the United States: "Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to what has been promised. DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE TO YOU? IT'S KIND OF MUDDLED. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. This is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- that that growth is affect, it will help on the red." Got that? [Taken from Palast-05/7/06 ZNET Commentaries]

Richard Thompson

Spent the morning rolling around in the surf. There is a real connection for me there. Now listening to Richard Thompson - I had to go dig up this quote and slap it on the blog .... "Personally, being somewhat envious of Richard's songwriting and guitar playing, it's somewhat satisfying he's not yet achieved household-name status. It serves him right for being so good." David Byrne By the way... any of you five people who read this, David Byrne's blog is really good and all over the place. A couple of days ago he was talking about the simplicity of human genes and how sets of rules can determine how cells turn into whatever they decide to turn into when we (and everything else) are zygotes; to the morality/legality of using peoples' images when taken in public places. He is all over the map, but one of the most consistently interesting sites I go to. [journal.davidbyrne.com]

The Streets of San Diego

I ride a bike a lot around San Diego and the streets and pavement surfaces are, for the most part, a joke. Potholes filled with water (I assume coming from somewhere below), asphalt seams everywhere, holes appearing randomly, etc. My favorite, aside from the mammoth hole that was dug and just filled on Grand Ave. in Pacific Beach, was the entire repaving of La Jolla Blvd. in Bird Rock. The entire main drag was completely redone in front of a ritzy new housing development called SeaHaus. These are upscale condo homes with ocean views if you have a top unit blah, blah. Anyway the work was done last August and the street is already falling apart. There are potholes and the fancy crosswalks are simply crumbling away -- I have never quite seen anything like it. Now I know that this is a sandy foundation kind-of-environment but don't professional road contractors know how to deal with this? I remember nothing like this in San Francisco.

I am the ...........

The DECIDER!, no wait, er, the WAR PRESIDENT!, er wait. A man leading the most powerful country in the world with no clue.