Created with Wordle using a transcript from NYT

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People are getting irritated and saying President Obama needs to just quit trying to deal with the minority Republicans and just push through the stimulus bill.  I like to remind these folks that 48% of the people did not vote for Obama. I only raise that to indicate that there is a need for the President to address the concerns of the entire nation. According to Gallop, only 52% support it and the vast majority have concerns that it will have any impact on the economy. http://www.gallup.com/poll/114097/Americans-Support-Stimulus-Major-Changes.aspx

I’m actually in favor of a stimulus bill.  I don’t like the idea of bailing out failing companies, but if we can help retool, retrain, better educate the workforce and help them through that transition, I’m ok with that. What I’m not in favor of is politicians using this as an opportunity to slip in pet projects and paybacks. I’m assuming you aren’t going to read through the stimulus plan.  I was only able to get through half of it before I started feeling ill.  Check out the details here:http://readthestimulus.org

There are several programs for construction projects, health care assistance, etc. that I guess might help the economy.  Below are items in the first 235 pages of the stimulus plan that I just didn’t understand why there were there?  Don’t these other federal departments have budgets?  Why are there stimulus $$$ to help the census, create nationwide wireless lawn enforcement network, have NASA build a climate monitoring satellite or any number of other things?  I’m not questioning whether any of these line items are important.  I want to know why they are in an emergency stimulus package?

[edit] Mitt Romney suggests in an article on CNN that moving up already planned Department spending is a valid way to stimulate the economy.  I guess that’s possible if those Departments dropped their future budgets to compensate for moving the funds “up”, but I’m skeptical that would take place.

1. $1b ‘‘Periodic Censuses and Programs’’
2. $650m ‘‘Digital-to-Analog Converter Box Program’’
3. $200m ‘‘Tactical Law Enforcement Wireless Communications’’
4. $300m ‘‘Violence Against Women Prevention and Prosecution Program
5. $1.5b OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ASSISTANCE For an additional amount for ‘‘State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance’’
6. $100m ‘‘State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance’’, for competitive grants to provide assistance and equipment to local law enforcement along the Southern border and in High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas to combat criminal narcotics activity stemming from the Southern border, of which $10,000,000 shall be transferred to ‘‘Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Salaries and Expenses’’ for the ATF Project Gunrunner. 
7. $300m  ‘‘State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance’’, for assistance to Indian tribes
8. $500m SCIENCE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION SCIENCE For an additional amount for ‘‘Science’’
9. $250m AERONAUTICS For an additional amount for ‘‘Aeronautics’’
10. $500m EXPLORATION For an additional amount for ‘‘Exploration’’
11. $3.3b “Operation and Maintenance, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Army/Navy/Marine Corps/Air Force Reserves, Army/Air National Guard”
12. $1.4b advanced to the Colorado River Dam Fund;  Reclamation Fund or the Bureau of Reclamation
13. $246m ‘Office of the Under Secretary for Management’’, solely for planning, design, and construction costs, including site security, information technology infrastructure, furniture, fixtures, and related costs to consolidate the Department of Homeland Security headquarters
14. $1.2b TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION AVIATION SECURITY For an additional amount for ‘‘Aviation Security’’, for procurement and installation of checked baggage explosives detection systems and checkpoint explosives detection equipment
15. $14m  SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, ACQUISITION, AND OPERATIONS For an additional amount for ‘‘Research, Development, Acquisition, and Operations’’, for cyber security research
16. $7.6m OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL SALARIES AND EXPENSES For an additional amount for ‘‘Office of Inspector General’’
17. $20m DEPARTMENT-WIDE PROGRAMS CENTRAL HAZARDOUS MATERIALS FUND For an additional amount for ‘‘Central Hazardous Materials Fund’
18. $800m ENVIROMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE SUPERFUND (INCLUDING TRANSFERS OF FUNDS) For an additional amount for ‘‘Hazardous Substance Superfund’’
19. $200m LEAKING UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK TRUST FUND PROGRAM For an additional amount for ‘‘Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund Program’’, for cleanup activities
20.  $300m shall be for Diesel Emission Reduction Act grants pursuant to title VII, subtitle G of the Energy Policy Act of 2005
21. $650m WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT For an additional amount for ‘‘Wildland Fire Management’’, for hazardous fuels reduction and hazard mitigation activities in areas at high risk of catastrophic wildfire, of which $350,000,000 is available for work on State and private lands using all the authorities available to the Forest Service
22. $150m SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION FACILITIES CAPITAL For an additional amount for ‘‘Facilities Capital’’
23. $1.1b DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES HEALTH RESOURCES AND SERVICES ADMINISTRATION HEALTH RESOURCES AND SERVICES For an additional amount for ‘‘Health Resources and Services’’, of which $88,000,000 shall be for necessary expenses related to leasing and renovating a headquarters building for Public Health Service agencies and other components of the Department of Health and Human Services, including renovation and fit-out costs, and of which $1,000,000,000 shall be for grants for construction, renovation and equipment for health centers receiving operating grants under section 330 of the Public Health Service Act
24. $412m CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION DISEASE CONTROL, RESEARCH, AND TRAINING For an additional amount for ‘‘Disease Control, Research, and Training’’ for acquisition of real property, equipment, construction, and renovation of facilities, including necessary repairs and improvements to leased laboratories
25. $500m BUILDINGS AND FACILITIES For an additional amount for ‘‘Buildings and Facilities’’, to fund high-priority repair, construction and improvement projects for National Institutes of Health facilities on the Bethesda, Maryland campus and other agency locations
26. $700m AGENCY FOR HEALTHCARE RESEARCH AND QUALITY HEALTHCARE RESEARCH AND QUALITY (INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS) For an additional amount for ‘‘Healthcare Research and Quality’’ to carry out titles III and IX of the Public Health Service Act, part A of title XI of the Social Security Act, and section 1013 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, $700,000,000 for comparative clinical effectiveness research, which shall remain available through September 30, 2010: Provided, That of the amount appropriated in this paragraph, $400,000,000 shall be transferred to the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health (‘‘Office of the Director’’) to conduct or support comparative clinical effectiveness research under section 301 and title IV of the Public Health Service Act
27. $5b OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL COORDINATOR FOR HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS) For an additional amount for ‘‘Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’’
28. $870m  ‘‘Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund’’ to prepare for and respond to an influenza pandemic, for activities including the development and purchase of vaccine, antivirals, necessary medical supplies, diagnostics, and other surveillance tools
29. $20m TITLE IX—LEGISLATIVE BRANCH GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABLIITY OFFICE SALARIES AND EXPENSES For an additional amount for ‘‘Salaries and Expenses’’ of the Government Accountability Office
30. $65m  NATIONAL CEMETERY ADMINISTRATION For an additional amount for ‘‘National Cemetery Administration’’, of which $59,476,000 shall be for capital infrastructure and memorial and monument repairs; and $5,485,000 shall be for energy efficiency initiatives.
31. $60m RELATED AGENCY DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE—CIVIL CEMETERIAL EXPENSES, ARMY SALARY AND EXPENSES For an additional amount for ‘‘Cemeterial Expenses, Army’’
32. TITLE XI—STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS DEPARTMENT OF STATE ADMINISTRATION OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR PROGRAMS For an additional amount for ‘‘Diplomatic and Consular Programs’’ for urgent domestic facilities requirements, $180,500,000, to remain available until September 30, 2010, of which up to $45,000,000 shall be available for passport and visa facilities and systems, and up to $75,000,000 shall be available for a consolidated security training facility in the United States
33. $524m CAPITAL INVESTMENT FUND For an additional amount for ‘‘Capital Investment Fund’’, of which up to $120,000,000 shall be available for the design and construction of a backup information management facility in the United States to support continuity of critical mission operations and programs, and up to $98,527,000 shall be available to carry out the Department of State’s responsibilities under the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative
34. $100m UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUNDS APPROPRIATED TO THE PRESIDENT CAPITAL INVESTMENT FUND For an additional amount for ‘‘Capital Investment Fund’’, of which $34,000,000 shall be available for information technology modernization programs and of which up to$35,000,000 shall be available for implementation of the Global Acquisition System
35. $200m FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING FOR FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT For an additional amount for necessary investments in Federal Aviation Administration infrastructure: Provided, That funding provided under this heading shall be used to make improvements to power systems, air route traffic control centers, air traffic control towers, terminal radar approach control facilities, and navigation and landing equipment

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Oh, give me a break.  Obama’s staff is complaining that they didn’t all have phone numbers, blackberries or other equipment setup on their first day?  They are whining because they are using “6 year old” Microsoft software? 

Obama Staff Arrives to White House Stuck in Dark Ages of Technology – washingtonpost.com.

Have none of these people ever had a job working in corporate America?  There were people working in those offices up until the week before.  The IT staff has to clean that equipment up, cut phone numbers, establish new ones (I’m sure people would complain if they were getting calls on the old ones).  It takes days (and, yes, in some cases weeks) to fully equip new hires.  No one likes it, but that’s the way it works in even well-oiled operations.

I can’t imagine the security requirements for setting things up.  I worked for just 6 months at a bank and it was locked down tight.  Besides keeping people from stealing information they had no right to access, you need to prevent morons from downloading viruses that would infect entire networks.  Can you imagine the issues with viruses on the White House network?  Oh, I’m sure there are no hackers targeting that installation.

Now, 6 year old MS software.  What software?  Is it Office 2003?  Is it Windows XP?  How many of you are running the same?  People bitch about Vista and if you have used the latest Office, it has some nice features, but a total change in user experience making it a pain to transition to with little payoff.

So, did no one in this tech savvy transition team bother to check into the IC/helpdesk/IT processes/desktop stack before this week?

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Yesterday, I did the following tweet:

It’s an Obama Nation… That works no matter your point of view and on so many levels.
about 17 hours ago from TweetDeck

A friend called me on it with a reference to a post I made criticizing name calling and other negativities that came out of this election.

I still stand by that post.   I’m not calling the President an abomination. I’m using the negative implication of “Obama Nation” in response to the worship and blind adoration taking place.  Here are a couple of examples:

1) His staff said one of the first things he would do when entering office was close gitmo. Turns out that was more campaign rhetoric. Once elected, he backed off from that.

2) The inaugural fund for yesterday had a budget of $41m. When Bush spent the full budget 8 years ago, the media pounded him. Yesterday cost over $150m. What was the coverage? Isn’t this glorious?

A fellow twitter of mine pointed out an article on Media Matters that states this is an apples to oranges comparison.  They suggest the Bush number’s don’t represent the cost of security and other items and if those were added, they would be similar.  I’m adding a link here for transparency, but I have an issue with it.  There seems no more evidence on that article than to the contrary.  The article even states organizations such as MSNBC is reporting the ~$150m number.

Obviously, there has to be security for the inauguration day activities and I wouldn’t possibly believe they shouldn’t occur, but here are the facts:

• The inauguration activities still cost more than was budgeted
• Bush was reemed in the press for spending within the budget (max amount) during a time of war
• No one is being critical of Obama spending over the budget amount during a time of war AND economic crisis
• While there needed to be a celebration, did they really need 11 balls?

Overall, this is a bad example to set when the nation needs to learn how to be fiscally responsible.

3) The hollywood nitwits put out videos like this:  

Now they are going to start doing those things? They need a president they voted for before they act like responsible, engaged citizens? And they are proud of that?

Yes, I still stand by that post.

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I received this from a friend.  It’s insane what our government thinks it’s ok to do with our tax money.  They aren’t helping anyone, they are simply postponing the inevitable fall of companies that do not know how to create a viable business plan and compete.  They are grandstanding with a self-created hero complex where government swoops in and saves the day.

If we add in the Citi bailout, the total cost of the bailout now exceeds $4.6165 trillion dollars.

The bailout has cost more than all of these big budget government expenditures – combined:

    • Marshall Plan: Cost: $12.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion
    • Louisiana Purchase: Cost: $15 million, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion
    • Race to the Moon: Cost: $36.4 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion
    • S&L Crisis: Cost: $153 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion
    • Korean War: Cost: $54 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion
    • The New Deal: Cost: $32 billion (Est), Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion (Est)
    • Invasion of Iraq: Cost: $551 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion
    • Vietnam War: Cost: $111 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion
    • NASA: Cost: $416.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion

    TOTAL: $3.92 trillion

 

The only expenditure that comes close is WWII, and even that cost less.

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