People I Am Sick to Death of Hearing About

There are a very few "news" shows that I watch on a fairly regular occasion as I feel most "news" rarely portray information without spinning it to either a political agenda or for entertainment. The 24-hour cycle of news has lead to a sickening overexposure to everything as there has to be thousands of show hours devoted to stupid crap like the Balloon Boy. As such, here is my list of people I pray will drop off the face of the earth really fucking soon.

1) Tiger Woods. Granted, I care absolutely nothing about golf, but I don't remember hearing this much about Tiger when he first emerged a few years ago. It seems like his whole career has been eclipsed by whatever bullshit is going on. Was he beaten? Was he drunk? Is he going to get a moving violation? Who was that old lady in his house? Who cares? I don't really mind the invasion of his privacy (though I'm sure he does), but I don't need to know every minute detail of the man's life now that he's had an affair or an apparent bad driver. I'm sure there are other celebrities to stalk who have more interesting nonsense going on.

2) The White House Crashers. I am so done with these people, I don't even know their names. I know they come from Virginia (at least Northern Virginia) and they lied about having invitations (or not) and knowing the governor (or not), and they want a reality show. You know, go ahead and give these jackasses a show on Bravo. In fact, send them to whatever cave the great John Gulager from Project Greenlight is hiding in.

3) US Senators and other random politicians. When I was in 12th grade government class, the principles of the workings of our republic system enamored me. That was right around the 2000 elections and I stayed close on politics since. Now, less than ten years later, I am disenfranchised and want to through the whole thing out and start over. Mainly, because I'm sick of people from all walks and all political perspectives bitch about one thing or another. I know nothing will ever change this, but I am sick of politicians. There's a reason they have a bad rap. At least lawyers get you off of stuff from time to time.

Stars of the Week: 7/5/2009

Here is a celebration of various stories deemed worthy enough to have a star in my Google Reader.

Consumerist: E.U. Agrees To Universal Standard For Phone Chargers
Nice in theory, but then I would have to change out all of my mini-USB cords and freakin' Apple products probably still wouldn't apply. Get on the ball Steve!

Variety: BET Awards salutes Michael Jackson
Does anything about Michael Jackson really belong on BET anymore? Just asking ...

FT.com: Deficit forces California to issue IOUs
Why am I reminded of the scene in Dumb and Dumber with the briefcase full of slips of paper?

Can't Pay Your Bills? Pull a Dumb and Dumber!

"That's as good as money, sir. Those are IOUs." - Lloyd Christmas, Dumber and Dumber

California can't balance its budget so the state will be issuing IOUs to vendors and recipients of state aid. This coming after the state held onto tax refunds and delayed payment because the state didn't have the cash to give the taxpayers THEIR MONEY BACK.

I wonder if I can start mailing my creditors and landlord IOUs. Nah, I'm not a Terminator so I guess I'll just have to pay up like everyone else (except government).

The debacle is held up because Democrats in the state legistlature want to raise taxes but Schwarzenegger refuses to and instead wants to reduce spending to close the budget gap. While there have been several (too many to link here) articles from both sides about the effect tax increases have on the ecomonies affected, let's think about this from the perspective of a typical American family.

If you are making x amount per month but suddenly your expenses rise to x + y, can you really go to your company (where you get your money from) and demand more? If so, please drop me a line and let me know where you work so I can get into some of that action.

If you or I were in that situation where revenue was overrun by expenses, you either work more, spend less, or go into debt. California took the third option to the extreme and look at how that's going. I guess the state of California wouldn't qualify for one of those exclusive black AmEx cards now. That would certainly help as long as they paid more than the minimum payment.

Reuters: California misses budget deadline, readies "IOUs"

Sarah Palin Drinking Game

Here's an idea to combine two American institutions, drinking and politics: the Sarah Palin drinking game.

Similar to other drinking games (my favorite being the 24/Dammit! game), take a shot or drink whenever Sarah Palin says any of the following:

• Alaska
• Job Creation
• Maverick

You should be pretty toasty in no time!

For the record, I like Sarah Palin but thought these items came up with astounding frequency in the debate last week.

Don't Drag Everyone Else Down

Idaho Senator Larry Craig clearly has no conscience.

Shortly after pleading guilty to charges stemming from being arrested for soliciting sex from an undercover police officer in a Minnesota airport, Craig stated he would be resigning from his elected position. Then, he apparently had a change of heart and attempted to withdraw his guilty plea.

Even as the request to rescind his plea has been declined, Craig has rejected the notion of leaving with a shred of dignity and stated he would fulfill the remainder of his term.

“As I continued to work for Idaho over the past three weeks here in the Senate, I have seen that it is possible for me to work here effectively,” Mr. Craig said in his statement, saying that he believed he could do more for his state than an interim replacement.

We have to give credit to Senator Craig for bringing more awareness to his state and it is likely that he would be able to further tarnish the reputation of elected officials in general far more than a temporary replacement.