Back in the saddle….

Today’s workout: Not sure; I think I’ll do yoga class and then go home and do miles on the home treadmill. I want to stay near a bathroom and it is raining pretty hard outside.

Science

Did you know that there is a chimp that throws rocks at his human visitors (in a zoo)? What is interesting is that this chimp actually gathers rocks ahead of time; not just on the days of the visit but he would start his stone gathering a few days prior to visiting season opening!

The more that the animal kingdom is studied, the closer the animals (as a whole) appear to us.

Politics:

The economy: why change won’t be easy. Of course there will be resistance and opposition from the “screw em if they aren’t rich” Republicans. But compromise will be just as difficult among the Democrats for a variety of reasons:

Democratic leaders in Congress did not expect much Republican support as they pressed President Obama’s ambitious legislative agenda. But the pushback they are receiving from some of their own has come as an unwelcome surprise.

As the Senate inches closer to approving a $410 billion spending bill, the internal revolt has served as a warning to party leaders pursuing Obama’s far-reaching plans for health-care, energy and education reform.

Those goals, spelled out in Obama’s 2010 budget blueprint, continue to enjoy broad Democratic support. But as the ideas develop into detailed legislation, they will transform from abstract objectives into a tangle of difficult trade-offs. Crop subsidies, the student loan program and Medicare radiology rules are all currently niche concerns, but any one could become the next crisis for party leaders, with the potential to derail a major agenda item. One major proposal, to limit itemized deductions for wealthy taxpayers, has already raised doubts among prominent Democrats in both chambers.

Example: a raise in the amount of money for Pell grants hurts some private lenders; Senator Nelson in Nebraska doesn’t like that. Some language could signal a significant policy change toward Cuba; Senator Menendez doesn’t like that. Doing away with unneeded agribusiness subsidies to firms making large profits rubs many farm-state Senators the wrong way.

Either way one goes, you are going to step on many toes.

You can see some of what President Obama is trying to do here.

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