Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

Remember how we were all promised that tax cuts (predominantly for the rich!) were going to help us all? The economy was going to soar! It would be like the good old days; remember the Clinton years when the nation was out of debt and we did have a booming economy?

Well, the latest report released by the Census Bureau shows that those were empty promises. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi pretty much summed it up: "Since President Bush took office, 5.4 million more Americans are living in poverty, 6.8 million more are without health insurance, and overall median household income has declined by $1,300," Pelosi said. "Every segment of American society have seen their income decline under the Bush Administration, with the middle class and working families losing the most ground. And paychecks for full- time workers were down again in 2005."

Today's New York Times editorial reports that "Even the best number from yesterday’s Census Bureau report for 2005 is bad news for most Americans." The Times goes on to report that 15.9 percent of Americans had no health insurance in 2005 and 12.6 million were living in poverty.

From a personal standpoint, I feel the economic crunch all the time. A full-time job and occasional freelance work still doesn't pay the bills. And I live in an area with a relatively low cost of living. My financial situation is much worse today than it was five years ago.

Meanwhile, our government spends $244 million per day on the Iraq war. Probably a few people in this country that could use a few of those dollars.

So, About Sen. Allen

I had written to Senator George Allen a week or more ago telling him of my shock and horror regarding his "macaca" comment. Yesterday, I, and presumably many others who complained, received an e-mail from the office of Sen. Allen. It was the expected fluff that one would expect (you can see it at left), but what was interesting is the fact that the Allen campaign failed to hide the e-mail addresses that it sent this letter to, so I now have the e-mail addresses of hundreds of people with a beef against Allen and they have my e-mail address.

Seriously, how many blunders can this guy make? Racial comments directed toward a guy with a video camera? Changing his story a few times? A half-hearted apology accompanied by a virtual retraction of that apology by his campaign manager? Sending an e-mail violating the privacy of many of his constituents? By my count that's way more than three strikes. Time for Allen to be out!

A Lesson in Saving

We've all done it: written an e-mail or created some sort of document and then lost it when an application quit or the computer crashed. One reason I have not blogged in a while is just such a reason.

Last week I wrote what I, of course, thought was a fabulous blog entry about the events that had taken place a week ago today. It was the first day of school here at RU and at Virginia Tech, but in the area near Tech an escaped inmate was supposedly on the loose. And not just any escaped inmate, this guy had allegedly killed a hospital security guard and a law enforcement officer and had injured another officer. My blog entry, long and filled with links, discussed the situation and its coverage in the media in detail. Then as I was adding a photo, my Web browser unexpectedly quit and I lost the entry, the Web pages I was using, everything. A crushing blow. Why didn't I save a draft? Aaaargh! So now all I can say about that story is for more information, read about the day's events here.

But in other news, Democratic Underground features Virginia Sen. George Allen as its top Conservative Idiot of the Week for his apology attempt after the "macaca" debacle. You can read about Allen here and check out the week's other idiots here.

Oh No He Didn't ... Unfortunately, He Did

As a resident of the proud Commonwealth of Virginia, I have to say that I am saddened and embarrassed by the words and actions of Virginia Sen. George Allen. Allen, a rich, white, arrogant and apparently racist Republican with plenty of entitlement issues was at a campaign stop in far southwest Virginia. You can see what happened here or here and you can read today's editorial in The New York Times about the incident or this article in Salon.

I'll be honest. I haven't really paid a lot of attention to this senatorial race thus far and really know little about Allen's opponent Jim Webb but after Allen's outrageous and offensive remarks, I know I would never vote for George Allen or support George Allen in any way.

And if you're unhappy with Allen's remarks and his degradation of fellow Virginians (and Americans!) then let him now about it by sending him an e-mail!

Is It Really Mid-August Already

Where DOES the time go? I guess it is time that I blogged again after taking a brief hiatus. Part of that time off included a trip to Maryland, where I graduated from Goucher College with an MFA in Creative Nonfiction. Some fellow Gophers (that's right, it's the Goucher Gophers) have chatted about the trip, so rather than boring you with my take on the weekend, I'll direct you to the blogs of Taryn and Dave.

Since then, it's been back to work, finishing a freelance project, sending my manuscript to a publisher, overeating, hanging out, and watching what may be the worst movie ever. Thank goodness it was just on DVD from Netflix.

Anyway, I am back from my very brief respite and will be posting more soon.

Happy Birthday, MTV!

I realize I just posted a day ago that I wouldn't be posting for a week or more but I just had to give a quick nod to MTV. Yes, I'm old enough to be one of those people who say, "I remember when MTV actually used to be about music, back when they played videos all day!"

Indeed on this date in 1981, MTV launched just after midnight with The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star," which interestingly is one of my six-year-old daughter's favorite songs. VH1 Classic is playing the first 24 hours of MTV today and will do so again on Saturday, Aug. 5.

I can't recall the very first video I ever saw on MTV but I do know it marked a major milestone in popular culture. Me and my friends would sometimes watch MTV for hours on end, watching one video after another. Coming from a small town in Alabama, MTV is where we learned fashion and learned to dance. And as The Buggles predicted, it did have a major impact on radio. Rarely did I listen to radio at home anymore. Instead, if I wanted music on, I had my television tuned to MTV.

That pattern continued through college when a combination of getting older and MTV playing fewer and fewer videos limited my time with the station that had done so much to shape my high school and college years.

These days, I rarely stop by MTV when channel surfing. Very little on the station interests me anymore. But I still vividly remember the original five veejays: Alan Hunter, Mark Goodman, J.J. Jackson, Martha Quinn and Nina Blackwood. I remember watching videos such as Michael Jackson's "Thriller" over and over again. So on this, the 25th anniversary of MTV's launch, I had to take a couple minutes to say happy birthday to a long lost friend.