Soxy

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 17, 2011 -> 06:08 PM) I think this is a worth-while editorial with an additional note on how the WI situation came about... The programs he established through votes in January were some corporate tax cuts and additional money for Health-Savings accounts. The Governor actually generated his own fiscal imbalance to start this. Which further underscores the point that this is not about the budget at all--it is a union busting bill. UGH! And next week we'll have to deal with his plan to break UW-Madison off from the rest of the UW System and basically try to privatize us piece by piece. I lived in MN when Jesse Ventura was gov--and holy crap I wish he was my gov again.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 17, 2011 -> 03:58 PM) Pretty sure that would violate a number of Federal labor laws, so I'm doubting that's the case. That is the bill. There is no collective bargaining for state employees (except for a select few unions that endorsed Walker).

Wisconsin democrats didn't show up to the vote today to prevent a quorum being met. Walker tells the state police to round them up and bring them in. Democrats high tail it to Illinois. linky link

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 16, 2011 -> 01:00 PM) That's because the goal is not the pay cuts or the balanced budget. The goal is to piss off liberals. Oh clearly. That is absolutely clear--after doing the debt restructuring that he wants to do the budget will actually be balanced. This is retribution plain and simple. Why else would unions that endorsed him get to keep their collective bargaining rights? f***ing Walker.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 16, 2011 -> 08:43 AM) lol wut? Use them to what, teach classes in their place? Seriously, this guy has seemed like an idiot from day one. Not for making the cuts, mind you - some of those are probably necesary, even though I'm sure it sucks for a lot of people. But for going past that point, and doing things like threatening to use the National Guard against strikes, or turning down $1B in federal funding just to make a political point. Seriously, I would love to see some 18 year old guardsman come in and teach my class about the finer points of the visual cortex. I would show up to watch that. I am not super pissed about the paycut--we get a really cheap rate on insurance and retirement and all that so it's fair I should pay more. However, a modest cost of living increase every biennium is not, in my opinion, too much to ask for. Especially when facing a 7-10% paycut. I AM super pissed that he is refusing to negotiate and is trying to end collective bargaining.. This unilateral crap is nonsense.

I saw The King's Speech over the weekend--a-f***ing-mazing. The two hours just flew by. I also had forgotten how great of an actress Helena Bonham Carter is when she isn't trying to out-crazy everyone in the world. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful film.

Well your friendly neighbor to the north is having a bit of a meltdown. Scott Walker's "Budget Repair Bill" dissolves state workers right to collective bargaining (unless, of course, your union endorsed him in the election) and gives state workers what amounts to about a 7-10% paycut (depending upon the furlough situation it could be slightly more than 10%). This is particularly rough for UW system employees, some of whom haven't had a cost of living increase in over 5 years. Big rallies in Madison tomorrow. Private unions (and public unions whose collective bargaining units would not be disbanded) are expected to turn out. Students have also been protesting on behalf of their faculty and staff. Walker has also threatened to use the national guard in case workers strike.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 17, 2010 -> 02:23 PM) So scientists reviewing other scientists to determine if their research is warranted is the perfect system. No excess spending could possibly happen there! Look, in general I agree with you. A complete waste of money isn't going to slip by. BUT, it's a bunch of scientists, who by their nature are going to approve projects that otherwise might not be so....resourceful. Their ideology is that learning X about Y is ALWAYS beneficial, almost regardless of cost. So the process is having scientists determining not whether it's worth ANY money, but HOW MUCH money. That's better left to, you know, representatives and legislators. Uhhhhhhhhh, how much experience with NSF, NIH, NIMH grants do you have? Because that's just not how it works.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 20, 2010 -> 02:05 PM) Means everything to me. Feel free to not care though, doesn't matter to me. This is a step in a maturation process in society, I am just expressing my desire for that process to go as quickly as possible. Homeslice, don't feed the trolls.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 13, 2010 -> 10:38 AM) Illinois also got a chunk of that money, and so did some other states, though CA got the biggest piece. And the IL legislature is looking at a package to woo that rail company to move to Illinois instead of Wisconsin, since Illinois is continuing to do the rail projects and is so near where the current facility is. Not a good start for the new governor of WI - throwing away thousands of jobs and unknown increased tourism dollars to save $2M a year. And he is already pissing off state employees, rejecting contracts for employees and generally being an asshat. He has discussed privatizing the UW system. I call him That Idiot Walker.

Some combination of the following: veggie samosas mashed potatoes bing cherries kheer the wild rice burger my friend jeff makes ice cold coca cola

QUOTE (shipps @ Dec 12, 2010 -> 12:36 PM) I know, I know...we live in Chicago. We have a sucky winter every year what else would I expect. This year it has been ridiculous in how early and harsh it has showed itself. Me and the wife are edging closer and closer to moving out of this city just because of the weather alone. Austin, TX here we come because this is a frickin joke. Winter, ha. You don't know winter. . .

Happy Happy Birthday!

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 03:11 PM) Your link got swear-filtered into disfunctionality. Rats.

And now, for the most disturbing "trend" I've heard about in, oh, a million years: stay at home daughters.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 02:11 PM) The DoD report came out, and it turns out that most military members support a repeal of DADT, and encouraged by that report, GOP Senator Scott Brown (MA) also supports repeal of DADT. http://scottbrown.senate.gov/public/index....a4-2314e6991fb5 I am pretty shocked that the policy is still on the books, quite frankly. I have been enjoying the Daily Show's coverage of McCain's responses to the incoming data.

No, although I do enjoy the tv show Psych.

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Nov 30, 2010 -> 12:43 PM) Soxy, I'm pretty sure you are right about I'm being way too nitpicky about a film I actually did think was pretty good. But some of the subtleties edited out of the film are actually among my favorite flourishes in the books. I agree. I was also really bothered by the omission of

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Nov 29, 2010 -> 02:24 PM) Finally saw the film last night. Enjoyable but as always I am disappointed by what the films changed/added/omitted compare to the book. I understand they have to streamline it to make a 2-hour movie, but some of the changes seemed unnecessary or illogical. Off the top of my head, here are some of the things that bugged me the most out of about a dozen or so deviations/omissions I noticed: Now, maybe I missed it, but I agree with everything you've said. And in terms of your "maybe I missed it"

QUOTE (G&T @ Nov 30, 2010 -> 10:22 AM) As I understand it, this would be the correct way to use the term gender. Gender is a personal description of your sexuality while "sex" is the biological description. At least, I am pretty sure that's how the law views the terms. I think maybe it's more psychological than your sexuality. But you are 100% right--sex is biological; gender is not necessarily the same.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 27, 2010 -> 03:59 PM) Well do you see worms in the poop? No, but I haven't looked too closely either. My main thought is just that this damn dog has been the worst of everything--so why not expand the run to worms.

I think part of the problem is that she is a first time dog owner and got a massively expensive pug puppy (which, frankly, pisses me off as the owner of two rescues). She did basically no research into the breed (and if she had she would find that they are impossible to train, difficult to housebreak and a walking health problem). And, judging from the dogs behavior, she does no training with it. Ugh. I feel so dumb for saying I would do this. But I think, generally, when you ask someone a favor like this it is implicit that the dog is housebroken and knows basic manners. I am not saying my dogs are perfect--but they are housebroken and understand house rules. I just feel so bad for my poor monster dogs. The big dumb lab mix is absolutely traumatized. I am just hoping that the reason the dog is eating its business ISN'T because it has worms. Because if it gives my girls worms I am going to have someone's head.

So, I stupidly volunteered to puppy sit for a colleague while she went home for Turkey day. It has been a nightmare. She failed to mention until I literally was walking out the door with the dog that it wasn't housebroken. I have spent the whole weekend cleaning up dog pee and poo (except that has been a race because the stupid thing tries to eat it asap which grosses me out). I would drop it off at the boarders--but it hasn't had its bordatella shots so they wouldn't take it. Additionally it has been terrorizing my poor dogs. The big dumb one has been hiding on my bed the whole time and looking all sadly at me. And, I didn't realize until it had happened multiple times, but the puppy kept peeing on that dogs' bed. So, it looks like I will be buying her a new bed (it was almost time anyway) and shampooing my carpets over my Christmas vacation. Ugh. So much for my lovely nice long weekend.

Not a lot of stores up here that are having sales worth hitting. I've done the 6am thing before--but only for JoAnn fabrics. I did buy a bunch of 4.99 and 3.99 dvds from Amazon and the 2nd season of Mad Men.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 22, 2010 -> 11:17 AM) I read books 1-3 then lost interest (probably because I busted through them in a month). My favorite movie thus far was number 4 (I think), with that awesome fight scene in the ministry between Potter, Dumbledor and Valdemort all shot in IMAX 3D. Ever since, I've been bored out of my mind with the movies, though this one had its moments. My main complaint was that the last movie and this movie had WAY too much wasted screen time. I get that they're trying to make money, but take out all of those scenes where the characters are staring at each other without saying anything or staring off into space "thinking," and the last two movies could have been 50% shorter. Maybe the relationships between characters matter more in the books, but in the movies it just doesn't come off very well. A lot of the relationships seem forced despite devoting so much time to it. I'm going to try and read the remaining books prior to the next movie coming out so I know what's going on. I think I have missed a lot of the experience by not knowing the little details from the books. The ministry scene was from the 5th movie. And the later books, I think are way different from the first ones. They are pretty dark. You can still plow through them in a few days, though. They're a nice diversion and a fun read.