Balancing the Budget is Easy
Posted: April 17, 2011 Filed under: Media, Politics, Techology, video games | Tags: Budget Crisis, David Leonhardt, Deficit, Government shutdown, Joe Biden, Medicare, New York Times, President Obama, Ryan Paul, United States, United States Congress Leave a comment »Will Congress balance the budget? Will there be a government shut-down? Are we going to rob from the rich to give to the poor, or are we going to rob from the poor to give to the rich? Are we going to become communists? Are we going to become corporate fascists? Are we all going to die?
Every time I feel myself getting sucked into the media hysteria that is the budget deficit, I go back to an interactive deficit puzzle created presumably by the New York Times economics columnist David Leonhardt in November of last year.
This interactive deficit puzzle has soothed me many times, and each time I begin the puzzle, I am reminded of how simple and effective it is. I can balance the budget without hurting the elderly or the poor, and upon balancing the budget, I am left feeling joyful. My euphoria only lasts for a few minutes though, because in completing Leonhardt’s puzzle, I am left wondering why the budget has taken months to balance when I can balance it in less than five minutes… has every member of Congress sat down and used a tool like this?
I know all those fogies in Congress probably don’t remember anything from their last economics class, so maybe a puzzle/tool/application like Leonhardt’s would be most helpful in getting these elected officials to think about budget deficit concepts in terms of money and not social agenda. Leonhardt’s project breaks down US spending and tax areas in concise and understandable language, and with its point and click format, even new computer-using Congressmen can understand how to solve the deficit.
Can’t the Speaker of the House and Joe Biden send out a mass e-mail to all Congressmen demanding everyone use Leonhardt’s interactive puzzle before the next session? That mass e-mail should close with a line something like… “Any elected official that refuses to use Leonhardt’s puzzle because it is on the New York Times site will be barred from the floor.”
^^ If the rest of the United States looks like this, I just might move to Canada. Collecting firewood is only fun the first couple of times… ^^
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Rahm’s second fake twitter, followed (perhaps written) by Karl Rove
Posted: February 16, 2011 Filed under: Chicago, Internet, Politics, Strange | Tags: Chicago, Humour, Illinois, Karl Rove, Online Communities, Rahm Emanuel, Twitter Leave a comment »The original fake Rahm’s twitter account has been getting more press lately, following the real Rahm Emanuel’s offer of $2,500 to the author if he/she reveals him/herself. See NBC’s article about it here, and here is USA Today’s.
Perhaps inspired by the popularity of this fake twitter, a new fake Rahm Emanuel twitter was created about 5 days ago, @MayorRahmE. This newer fake twitter has a little bit more than 300 followers, and is significantly lacking the wit (or any sense of humor, really) and intelligence of the original. The very first tweet on this new fake twitter is below:
This new fake twitter writes in CAPS AT IRREGULAR INTERVALS and seems to make fun of Rahm (and his ballet skills) directly, rather than indirectly like the ingenious original fake twitter.
Surprisingly, one of the original followers of this new, bad fake Rahm twitter is Karl Rove, or who ever is in charge of his twitter. Karl Rove does not follow the better, original fake Rahm twitter.
I’ve been in three separate publications in the last 24 hours
Posted: February 16, 2011 Filed under: Chicago, Internet, Politics, video games | Tags: Chicago, Gamer, girl gamer, Huffington Post, RedEye, Video game Leave a comment »
Wednesday was named after this god ^^^ Image via Wikipedia
….and it wasn’t because I submitted any articles!
First, I was quoted in the Tribune’s RedEye on an article about female gamers….
Eordogh, a freelance video game writer, said she used to play PC games under the screen name “Laser Kitty,” but changed it to “Laser Gandalf” because of the perverted or sexualized comments she’d receive from male players who concluded she was female.
“When I play online, I get a lot of comments like ‘Show me your boobs,’ ” Eordogh said. “If a girl wants to be sexy, that’s fine, but I wish I wasn’t held to the same standards. I just want to play games, not be stereotyped.”
- “Play girls: the life of a female gamer in Chicago“, by Ryan Smith
I say something else too, but I want you to click the link. I made sure to get 2 hard copies of the RedEye yesterday.
…
And it was brought to my attention this morning, that there is a photo of me on the Huffington Post under an article titled Ladies Love Rahm. The photograph was taken on Saturday when I got to ask Rahm Emanuel a softball question. An internet/twitter colleague found the photo in the AP database. To see a larger version of the picture, click here.
UPDATED:
And, a photo of me is on Gawker as well! (With Rahm Emanuel of course)
I got to ask Rahm Emanuel a question, in person…
Posted: February 15, 2011 Filed under: Chicago, Politics | Tags: Barack Obama, Chicago, Journalism, Journalist, mayoral races, Rahm Emanuel 3 Comments »… Check out my post about my experience on my hyperlocal neighborhood blog here.
The whole experience made me question what kind of journalist I want to become. I started the Albany Park Post blog under citizen journalist sentiments, and if I were to get a degree in Journalism, it would only be if I decided to become a serious, hard-hitting journalist – something I never thought I would want to be. I know whatever I am doing now, let’s call it a freelance writer thing, I am not doing it properly. I am still paralyzed by various personal fears – for instance, I’ve been sitting on a large story about a local art institution for months, and I haven’t finished it because I don’t want to be sued (the female in my story is a little odd, and the suing type).
“If you’re not pissing someone off, you’re not doing it right”… I get that. But growing up, I wanted to be a lot of things… and a hard-hitting news journalist was never one of them.
Rahm Emanuel goes from Top Dog to Underdog
Posted: January 26, 2011 Filed under: Chicago, Media, Politics | Tags: Appellate court, Barack Obama, Chicago, Chicago mayor, Illinois, Illinois Supreme Court, Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, White House Leave a comment »
Rahm is bored by Jan's speech. Image via Wikipedia
I don’t know what it is about Chicago and the new Millennium, but this city is determined to remain in the media spotlight. In two years, Chicago has tirelessly churned out nationally compelling news stories: Obama’s presidency, Blagojevich’s absurdity, the botched privatization of the parking meters, the failed Olympic bid, last years violent summer including Derrion Albert’s death, King Daley’s shocking retirement, and now, the latest, Rahm Emanuel’s right to run for mayor of Chicago. Read the rest of this entry »
Tennessee Tea Party advocates editing textbooks, a move from the Communist playbook
Posted: January 16, 2011 Filed under: Politics | Tags: china, Communism, founding fathers, List of national founders, Politics, Tea Party, Tennessee, Thomas Jefferson, United States, Washington Leave a comment »
Image via Wikipedia
Tea Partiers in Tennessee want to selectively edit history textbooks by removing all negative portrayals of our founding fathers. For a political party so focused on avoiding a Communist America, the Tea Party in Tennessee appears to know nothing of Communist history.
The act of editing educational textbooks, with the purpose of making certain leaders more favorable, was employed by the U.S.S.R in many (unwilling) Eastern Europe satellites. Oh, and Communist China still does it. Oops. Read the rest of this entry »
How’s this for irony:
Posted: January 12, 2011 Filed under: Politics, Strange | Tags: Arizona, Blood Libel, Gabrielle Giffords, Jared Lee Loughner, Jews, Sarah Palin, Tucson Arizona Leave a comment »“Journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn,” Palin said in the statement.
pulled from WaPo’s “Blood Libel”, social sin and Sarah Palin
…
“And once again we’re reminded that words matter. Communication is the heart and soul of American democratic governance, but there hasn’t been much fruitful discourse of late — among members of Congress, between the people and their representatives or in the public sphere. We need to get better at communicating not only quickly, but civilly.” – Joanne B Freeman, in NYT’s When Congress Was Armed and Dangerous
September 11th has come and gone….
Posted: September 12, 2010 Filed under: New York City, Politics, War | Tags: Mosque, quran burning, September 11 2001, Terrorism, United States, War on Terrorism, Warfare and Conflict, WTC, wtc monument Leave a comment »Should I have written about September 11th yesterday, considering I was there on 2001, stuck in midtown when the city went into lockdown?
I didn’t want my voice to be part of the media circle-jerk, or the mosque protest/Quran burning madness.
Maybe I will write about it for the 10 year anniversary.
Wait… Did I just write “10 year”? Has it been 9 years already?
And no memorial has been built on that site yet (the lights don’t count, sorry)….?
Shameful. Absolutely shameful.
China develops new missile, tells the US to ‘Beat It’
Posted: August 23, 2010 Filed under: Politics, Techology, War | Tags: Chinese military, DF-21D, Japanese military, pacific power, US Navy, US- China debt Leave a comment »In case you have not heard, China has developed a new version of its already powerful “East Wind” missile, named DF-21D. The DF-21D makes the US military shake in their boots, as it shifts power over the Pacific Ocean to China.
Explained in laymen’s terms, the US navy cannot defend against this missile. This Chinese missile flies en mass into space, re-enters the earth’s atmosphere at enormous speeds on top of US carriers (making it hard for the US to pick up on radar) and then before impact, explodes into even smaller missiles. It is almost like shrapnel in principle (big explosive, with tiny ones inside), except this missile is specifically designed to destroy US carriers.
(notice the above video was created when news of the the DF-21D came out.)
Yeah, so the US no longer controls the Pacific. A little worrisome, but not really, because China would never do anything to hurt the US, considering we owe them almost a TRILLION dollars. If anything, this is to remind the US to leave North Korea and Taiwan alone.
And just for fun, here are Japanese and American Navy commercials re-mixed:
Both videos are also found on CollegeHumor, a site I visit dailyjust to watch their internet video selection (superb!) and original sketches.
Explaining Jobbik, the 'Tea Party' of Hungary
Posted: April 26, 2010 Filed under: Politics, Travel | Tags: anti semitic, Budapest, deportation, EU, European Union, Fidesz, Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union, Hungarian, Hungary, illegal immigration, IMF, International Monetary Fund, Jobbik, Krisztina Morvai, Movement for a Better Hungary, Prime minister, pro-palestine, Socialists, Tea Party, Treaty of Trianon, United States, Viktor Orbán, welfare 7 Comments »
Image via Wikipedia
I would like to interrupt my regularly scheduled video game posts to comment on the recent right wing party’s victory in the Hungarian Parliament. Hungary now has a new Prime Minister-in-waiting; Viktor Orbán, and a new ruling party; Fidesz. Fidesz, the center right party:
made history as the first Hungarian political party to capture a two-thirds majority in the 386-seat parliament since Hungary’s first post-communist elections in 1990.
Fidesz defeated the ruling Socialists who have been in power for eight years, amid public anger over scandals and the economy.
Sunday’s election results give the ruling Socialists 59 seats and the far-right Jobbik Party, 47 seats
via Business Weeks Hungary’s Center Right Sweep Parliamentary Elections
I couldn’t help but notice how “Jobbik” has been portrayed over the past couple of weeks. Jobbik voicing “anti-Semitic and anti-Gypsy rhetoric“? I don’t claim to be an expert, but when I was in Budapest over Christmas, I encountered people my own age who were very sympathetic to Jobbik. I am talking about people who work in ad agencies, PR firms, TV stations and soon-to-be lawyers. One law student, attending a prestigious law school in Budapest, is being taught by Krisztina Morvai, a fellow leader of the Jobbik party (to note, how can Morvai be anti-semitic when she has had 3 children with a “Jewish” man? Also to wonder, if someone is pro-Palestine, does that make them anti-semitic? ). The Jobbik supporters I met weren’t anti-semitic, and no more anti-gypsy than any one else in Hungary, …or Europe for that matter. Why would my generation of college-educated, internet browsing individuals be sympathetic to a party that was “Hitler-esque”? I don’t want to use the word “slander” to describe the media coverage, as that is what Jobbik is calling all this negative attention, but I have to agree the coverage certainly isn’t balanced.
What really gets me are the media sources, which are almost entirely from “socialist” countries. It makes sense then that any news reaching the US about Jobbik would have a negative spin. None of the stories talk about Jobbik’s economic policies, or ideas on agricultural reform, or how to root out corruption in government. I would like to take this moment and explain a few things about Jobbik:
