20 December 09

Workout notes First, 3100 yards of swimming. 500 warm up, 500 of drill/swim (fins), 5 x 200 on the 3:30 (3:19, 3:16, 3:15, 3:16, 3:15), 100 back, 5 x 100 IM, 5 x 100 (alternate paddle/free).

Then I jogged 1 mile on the treadmill (12 minutes, 1.15 miles), then did 6 miles on the elliptical. I had to force myself to quit the workout; it is almost as if I feel that “if I didn’t aggravate the injury, I didn’t do enough”.

I got to talk to a couple of friends while I was on the elliptical.

Injury wise: I felt some stiffness at first but not much more than that; however my feet hurt just a bit. I need to wear good running shoes again.

In the pool, I was a bit surly when a couple of people appeared to challenge me: one person with fins, another who kept up with me and actually passed me…for all of 1 length.

There was one kick-butt swimmer and another very attractive young woman who swam as if he hates the water and wants to beat it up.

Then there was this old guy in the far lane who usually swims for about an hour straight on the weekend; I doubt if he covers much more than 1000-1500 yards. He lifts his head, “plunks” his arm into the water and mostly just splashes in place. But he is ever faithful; there almost every weekend.

Attitude I’ve been told by more than one person that the Rat character reminds them of me???

Social Did you know that 1 in 8 Americans are on food stamps?

With food stamp use at record highs and climbing every month, a program once scorned as a failed welfare scheme now helps feed one in eight Americans and one in four children.

t has grown so rapidly in places so diverse that it is becoming nearly as ordinary as the groceries it buys. More than 36 million people use inconspicuous plastic cards for staples like milk, bread and cheese, swiping them at counters in blighted cities and in suburbs pocked with foreclosure signs.

Virtually all have incomes near or below the federal poverty line, but their eclectic ranks testify to the range of people struggling with basic needs. They include single mothers and married couples, the newly jobless and the chronically poor, longtime recipients of welfare checks and workers whose reduced hours or slender wages leave pantries bare.

So, has the stigma gone down? Well, it depends…on whether YOU are the ones using them or if someone else is using them:

Two profiled users, both fathers and husbands, admit to using the stamps in desperation but one is too ashamed to tell anyone and the other sees his situation as different from the irresponsible, freeloading poor (women) who are relying on the benefits. We’ve got a long way to go to help these men hold their heads up high and see the solidarity with other Americans struggling to get by.

Check out the following quotes:

It’s embarrassing,” said Mr. Dawson, 29, a taciturn man with a wispy goatee who is so uneasy about the monthly benefit of $300 that he has not told his parents. “I always thought it was people trying to milk the system. But we just felt like we really needed the help right now.” [...]

Like many new beneficiaries here, Mr. Dawson argues that people often abuse the program and is quick to say he is different. While some people “choose not to get married, just so they can apply for benefits,” he is a married, churchgoing man who works and owns his home. While “some people put piles of steaks in their carts,” he will not use the government’s money for luxuries like coffee or soda. “To me, that’s just morally wrong,” he said.

See: if it happens to me, it is different! I kind of wonder what “churchgoing” is supposed to represent.

Of course, there are some that abuse the system; surf to the article for an example.

A couple of good “facepalms”

1. A policeman in Washington DC pulled his gun….to control….a snowball fight.

(hat tip: Legal Satyricon)

2. From a facebook post (in St. Louis):

Last Spring, stopped at a red light, I saw a pretty young thing in a red Honda blow through and get hit by a jeep that had the green. As her car came to a stop pointed the wrong way, I could see she was STILL texting! Then I got the green and left; I am not sure if reality intruded on its own, or if someone had to text her that she had been in an accident.

Hmmm, if this lass isn’t one of our students, our university is probably actively recruiting her.

NFL Note 20 December 09

Right now I am watching an exciting Miami-Tennessee game. It is 24-24 with 1:09 to play and will probably go into overtime as a Titian punt was downed at the Dolphin 2 yard line.

But here was an interesting thing from the announcer: Tennessee was up 24-6 and Miami had a 4′th and 3 at the Tennessee 27. So the Dolphins lined up for a field goal and the announcers said that was a questionable decision. They made the kick.

Well, come the 4′th quarter when the Dolphins had closed to 24-16 and were driving…I’ll bet that they were glad that they had that 3 points!

On another note, my wife and I had entertained the idea of driving to St. Louis to see the Rams (aka Lambs) play but decided against it when it appeared that she would have a meeting associated with her play. Well, it appears that there is no meeting and the Rams played the Texans to a 16-13 loss, and even lead at the half.

(photos from yahoo)

Back to the game. We are in overtime and Tennessee just intercepted Miami at the 42 (Miami’s), and now they got 15 more yards on a personal foul. I don’t agree with the call; basically a Dolphin made sure that the defensive back was down. They now have it at the 27 so unless they fumble, the Titans should win the game; though they lost 2 yards. So the kick is from 46 yards, but the kicker has a monster leg. Good..game over. Relief for the Titans, heartbreak for the Dolphins.

A note on the Bears-Ravens
It only took 1:26 for the Bears to turn it over; this time just past midfield.
It took the Ravens only 4-5 plays to cash in with a touchdown.
Bears drive into the red zone, throw interception number 2…all in under 10 minutes of game time.
Groan.
No problem; Baltimore drives it 81 yards; 14-0, Ravens. This looks like one of those games in which a SEC school plays “northernmost southwest boot-hill state” type of teams.

Update The Bears mount a good drive lead by their running attack. But on 4′th and goal for the 1, they try a pass and fail. BUT, the defense pins the Ravens and force a punt, which is run back 50 yards for a TD. It is now 14-7 Ravens, though it appears that the Ravens are about to kick a field goal.

Wow…bad snap and the Ravens miss a field goal. The punt/kick snappers have a very important job.
But the Bears went out of bounds twice and gave it back with 1:30 left in the half. This was poor clock management by the Bears.

Second Half: same as the first. The Ravens score after only 1:30 into the second half to go up 21-7, and then the Bears fumble the kickoff and the Ravens recover.

Ravens drive it 50 yards; 28-7, Ravens.

The Bears fumble it AGAIN…on the 8 yard line, but a Raven personal foul puts them back; the Bear defense holds the Ravens to a field goal…”only” 31-7 right now.

DemConWatch:: Netroots vs. “Grown-Up Democrats”

more about "DemConWatch:: Netroots vs. “Grown-Up …", posted with vodpod

I agree somewhat. Here is what I disagree with: the Iraq war was a bit more cut and dried (did we really “know” that Iraq had WMD? How easy or difficult would it be?). But getting HCR passed does involve some messy compromise; my guess is that those Obama town halls in states where he lost (and lost big time, in the case of Arkansas) wouldn’t be all that effective (the one in Connecticut might be).

But Mr. Moulitsas is right on about many (if not most) of us having donated money, worked on campaigns, etc. Many of us have graduate or professional degrees, positions of responsibility and many of us (including Mr. Moulitsas) have served in the military (myself included).

But yeah, what Chris Matthews says appears to be the old “if you were mature and wise, you would have been wrong about the Iraq war” (and many other things) canard.

(hat tip: DefConWatch)

On the other hand, this bill, however imperfect, is not only a step in the right direction (albeit an imperfect one), but also a huge defeat for the Republicans.:

The United States is on the doorstep of comprehensive health care reform. It’s a staggering achievement, about which I’ll have more to say later. but the under-appreciated thing that strikes me at the moment is that it never would have happened if the Republican Party had played its cards right.

At the outset of this debate, moderate Democrats were desperate for a bipartisan bill. They were willing to do almost anything to get it, including negotiate fruitlessly for months on end. We can’t know for sure, but Democrats appeared willing to make enormous substantive concessions to win the assent of even a few Republicans. A few GOP defectors could have lured a chunk of Democrats to sign something far more limited than what President Obama is going to sign. And remember, it would have taken only one Democrat to agree to partial reform in order to kill comprehensive reform. I can easily imagine a scenario where Ben Nelson refused to vote for anything larger than, say, a $400 billion bill that Chuck Grassley and a couple other Republicans were offering.

But Republicans wouldn’t make that deal. The GOP leadership put immense pressure on all its members to withhold consent from any health care bill. The strategy had some logic to it: If all 40 Republicans voted no, then Democrats would need 60 votes to succeed, a monumentally difficult task. And if they did succeed, the bill would be seen as partisan and therefore too liberal, too big government. The spasm of anti-government activism over the summer helped lock the GOP into this strategy — no Republican could afford to risk the wrath of Tea Partiers convinced that any reform signed by Obama equaled socialism and death panels.

The rest of this New Republic article talks about some specifics, including Senator Snowe.

So, could progressives have done substantially better, or could we do better by reconciliation? Nate Silver analyzes this.

I tend to agree; the reconciliation process causes problems and would be better used for stuff that has widespread public support.

Saints: 13-1

Ok, you knew it, didn’t you? The Cowboys played a great first half and lead 17-3 at the break. Then in the third, they pushed the lead to 24-3….

Then the Saints came back; two drives and now it is 24-17.

But the Cowboys drive, convert a key 3′rd and 7 and get it deep into New Orleans territory. So no time outs left, 2:20 left in the game and the Cowboys try a short field goal which will ice the game; they miss the 24 yard field goal.

Sound familiar? That’s right, the Redskins were in a very similar position and…yes…missed a 23 yard field goal.

So the Saints had life. But this time the Cowboy defense held and eventually sacked Brees and made him fumble.

The defense came up with the big stop at the end.

So the Saints are 13-1 and the Cowboys move to 9-5 and lead the wild card teams. But if they win next week at Washington (a huge IF) then they’ll play Philadelphia for the division title.

(photos from yahoo)

19 December 09

Workout notes weights (squats: 45, 95, 135, 235) on the Smith machine; tried to get depth. Then I did 2 sets of curls, military press, bench press with weights: 25, MP: 35, BP 50, 55, lat pulls.

Then I did some yoga, then 1 mile of “running” on the track, 4 miles on the elliptical.
The 1 mile “run”: no real pain; some faint tightness that I wouldn’t have ordinarily noticed toward the end.

Liberals: We are prone to forming circular firing squads.
Alan Grayson: many liberals love his outspokenness. But it turns out that a Republican PAC to oppose him. (fine, so far). But the PAC violated the established rules:

Grayson claims that Langley falsely reported to the Federal Election Commission that her PAC supports or opposes more than one candidate. Grayson’s factual assertion seems to be completely meritorious. It seems clear that Langley’s website is solely devoted to getting rid of Grayson. Grayson also claims that Langley falsely represents that she is one of Grayson’s constituents. She doesn’t live in his district. That seems to be a meritorious claim too. Grayson claims that Langley could not have simply made an innocent mistake about which congressional district she lives in — as she is the head of the Lake County Republican Party. Meh, I think that Grayson presumes way too much here. If you can run for Vice President and you can’t name a single newspaper, you can be the head of the Republican Party in a district where the average IQ is about at the level of an alligator with downs syndrome that got hit by a pickup truck after drinking too much moonshine.

The thing is, I am sure that Grayson’s allegations are true. I am sure that Langley isn’t just some innocent member of the public who is fed up with Grayson. I’m sure that the Republican Party put her up to this stunt.

So Rep. Grayson filed a complaint and the penalty for this type of fraud is up to 5 years in prison. But:

I truly admired Alan Grayson. I think that his policies are good for America. I think that his style is exactly what the liberals need. But, anyone who behaves with such dishonor and such disdain for First Amendment principles needs to be tossed out on his ass – no matter who it is that he’s going after.

So he attacks Grayson for Grayson asking the law to make the Republicans follow the established rules? Come on…this isn’t the case of some moronic teabagger setting up their own web page on their own. It isn’t a fair fight when only one side has to play by the rules.

Groan.

Then we have people going after Obama because he can’t….uh…make conservatives vote like liberals?

Things have gotten so bad at Daily Kos that some of the President’s supporters have actually left (not me).

Being a liberal is a lot like this:

But, in the end, it sure beats being on the other side:

(hat tip: Jerry Coyne)

And it beats hanging around people who write like this.

Health Care Reform
It appears that we have the 60 votes for cloture. True, things can still go wrong.

Liberal pressure probably made this a better bill than it might have been, even if it isn’t what liberals had hoped for. After all, the votes were never there for what we wanted. The people who failed were the moderates, who could have made it happen quicker.