Posts Tagged ‘government’

One Choice Vote

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

A couple years ago I registered to vote; however, on the day of the election there was some kind of crisis at work, and I was not able to participate. So this year was the first that I participated in the U.S. election process.

Here in Thompsonville, the line was very short. I think I had one person standing in front of me, and then I had a few minutes of waiting before a voting booth was cleared. It was educational in a small but significant way. The first thing I realized is that I had absolutely no opinion about 80-90% of the candidates, either personally or in terms of their platforms (I’m including all positions, including local government). I voted on a few people that I had some opinion of, but mostly stuck to laws and propositions.

(more…)

Troops Deployed on U.S. Soil

Friday, October 24th, 2008

According to an article on the Huffington Post website, “The Battle Plan III: Deployment and Its Dangers“:

On October 1, 2008, President Bush deployed a brigade — which means three to four thousand warriors — somewhere in America.”

(more…)

An Economical Number of Stars

Friday, October 10th, 2008

Or, Our Galaxy of Debt

From Justin Kim’s Notes on Facebook:

Quote from Physicist Richard Feynman: “There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it’s only a hundred billion. It’s less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.”

(more…)

Express Your Voice on the U.S. Federal Government Bail-Out

Thursday, September 25th, 2008

Personally I oppose this measure. I’ve copied my letter to my congressman below, which contains my reasons.

Regardless of whether you oppose or support, I urge you to let your representative know what you think right now.

(more…)

Tax Time

Monday, April 7th, 2008

Although I always do my own taxes, and it usually is a fairly smooth process, it is also time-consuming and sometimes stressful.

I’m usually quite meticulous about hanging onto even the smallest receipts until I’ve accounted for the spending. I even record the 50¢ or so I pay for snacks that I bring home from work. Of course, sometimes things slip through, and so every so often I compare the cash I have with what I think I should have, and the difference goes to miscellaneous expense and/or my best guess. Because I am so careful, it really bothers me when I have a bill that I cannot account for, or when a discrepancy shows up in a balance. This doesn’t happen too often, but there’s usually one or two snurks in each year’s tax preparation.

(more…)