The economic stimulus deal has convinced me that there is no hope for United States politics. Let's collectively borrow $146,000,000,000 and have ourselves a great little shopping spree! That'll fix everything! It's like looting the safe while the ship is sinking: you're going to miss the lifeboats.

I don't think I'm going to vote in the upcoming election. I just don't see the point. It doesn't matter who wins, the Democrats and Republicans pull the same crap and the only difference is the spin they put on it. The system in the United States is broken, it's only a matter of time until it implodes.

The addition $42 billion dollars in war funding requested by the Bush Administration is political move designed to allow both the Democrats and the Republicans to appeal to their bases. It smells of backroom dealing. The Democrats in congress will not approve this additional funding, but instead will fund the war at the originally requested levels. The Republicans can then appeal to their base by saying that the Democrats aren't giving the troops the funding they need, and the Democrats can appeal to their base by saying the actually did something by turning down the Bush Administration's additional request.

In the end, nothing changes.

For years now, the Canadian dollar has been growing stronger while the U.S. dollar has been growing weaker, with the U.S. Dollar dollar falling as low as C$1.0555 yesterday. Long gone are the days when traveling from the United States to Canada felt like winning the lottery in the currency exchange.

With the slump in stock prices and the now overtly worried fed things don't look to well for the United States. Add in the Chinese using threats of liquidating their U.S. debt holdings to ward off trade sanctions, I see no reason to believe that this trend will not continue. The Chinese threat, even if never acted on, demonstrates effectively the direness of the financial situation in the United States after almost 7 years of Bush's borrow and spend policies.

My prediction: Within the next 6 months, the Canadian dollar will surpass the U.S. dollar.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer and legislative leaders Thursday announced agreement on a bill that allows for convicted sex offenders to be confined after they complete their prison sentences -- a measure that could affect hundreds of inmates and cost the state more than $80 million a year to carry out, officials said. The still-to-be-introduced legislation -- which must be approved by both houses and signed by the governor -- will create a new system by which mental-health experts would decide at the end of a sexual predator's sentence if an offender is fit to return to the community or should be held in a psychiatric center. full article

What better place to house violent sex offender than with heavily drugged mentally ill folk who are undoubtedly aware that no pays attention anything they say. Wouldn't a better plan be to actually keep violent sex offenders in prison? They claim these sex offenders are a risk to the public, but apparently putting at risk mental patients (who've often committed no crime) is not a concern because "crazies" aren't people.

Under this new law, in New York you will be drugged and locked up with a mass of outgoing convicted sex offenders if you say the wrong thing to a therapist or psychiatrist. The safest option if you live in the State of New York: never under any circumstance say anything to a therapist or psychiatrist.

Bush's $2.9 trillion dollar budget proposal seeks to cut FEMA funding by 14%. Does he somehow believe that FEMA has been too well funded to handle disasters? Does he WANT another Katrina-style disaster? Perhaps he simply needs to scrape more money up for his failed wars and hopes that the public view this as punishing FEMA rather than further crippling an agency that was already decimated by his post-9/11 homeland security reforms.

I'm going to be landing in Saint Louis this Friday on a one-way airline ticket. It will be the first time my brother, my sister, my parents, and I will all be in the same place at the same time in over a decade. I'm looking very much forward to this.

Sunday, we will all be heading down for the day to Murphysboro, Illinois - where I was born - to see my family down there.

Sometime during my stay in Missouri I hope to see type_40.

I also want to find a way to get to Columbia, I haven't seen the town for a long while and I'd really like to meet up with ceruleanct11. However my tight budget and the infrequent bus schedule very well might thwart that endeavour.

I plan to go home via rail and/or bus, but that leg of the trip has not been fully set in place. I will definitely be stopping in Saint Thomas, Ontario on the way back to spend some time with goldmourn.

I'm also hoping to meet up with likeamermaid on my journey, but if that will occur is not certain as of yet.

While this isn't well planned out, I have a good feeling about it. I'm sure it will be an adventure at the very least.

Good returns from yesterday. I stayed up to around 1am watching them come in, then went to bed. It seems that Bush might actually have to deal with reality.

I'm confident that the democrats will pull off at least a 50-50 split in the senate, which while still giving Republicans the edge would probably lead to a system of sharing committees and staff budget as it did last time. The democrats could still pull off a complete victory and take the senate – they hold the edge in both still-contested seats but they have to take both of them.

Is it just me or do critical election results drag on more than they used to. Yeah, I know there have been historic messes such as Hayes vs. Tilden, but the frequency of messes seems to have greatly increased of late.

I've been getting out more, which is good. My cycle of vertigo episodes appears to be waning, but I am still not free of this wave. If I keep improving at this rate perhaps in a week I'll stop carrying a staff or cane with me when I go out.

My primary care nurse has yet to produce the referral to the neurologist I wanted. I have given up on her being of much use and have located on my own a doctor of oral pathology who is an expert on Behçet's Disease as well as a sufferer himself. He should be able to rule in or rule out Behçet's as an explanation for my symptoms. Unfortunately, I'll have to pay for the appointment out of pocket, which will definitely be a strain on the coming month's already tight budget.

Mostly I just clean my underwear nowadays. Doing other laundry is nearly impossible. I'm not able to budget anymore, I end up spending what little I have on fucking chips or somesuch small bullshit items. I never end up having enough to use machines. The house_of_clocks affords limited opportunities to dry larger items, and when I do clean larger items it is a long drawn out chore that only gets a handful of things cleaned. And now with the cold weather and lack of heat even that cleaning for larger items is not really available. It's going to be a long, cold, depressing winter.

Holy fucking hell, Batman. Another monster in the gulf. And there are still idiots who deny global warming and it's effects. Hurricane season still has over a month to go. I hope Rita stumbles, but while possible, that doesn't seem likely.

The money-grubbing, gas-guzzling, carbon-dioxide-spewing, SUV-loving Republicans want the poor to pay for all this. Can't touch the tax breaks for the rich, in fact we need to implement more. Take it out of Medicare and Medicaid, because the poor, elderly, and disabled don't really need health insurance. Take it out of the funding for alternative fuel sources, because we need more fucking global warming. Anything, but make sure the rich get richer. Feed Halliburton and Bechtel the federal reconstruction dollars, because we can trust Bush's cronies to do a fine job and not rip us off. These people with their propaganda machine mass media are robbing the country blind with one hand and stabbing it with the other. I've had it. I've fucking had it. I've so fucking had it with the vile scum running this country. They need to leave now.

I remember when the Republicans used to complain wildly about "unfunded mandates". They don't do that anymore, because Bush is king of the unfunded mandate. Almost every bill the Republicans have rammed down our throats has included them, from No Child Left Behind to the PATRIOT Act. Compared to Bush and his cronies in congress, the pressure the Democrats had put on state and local budgets is like dew dripping from a leaf next to a pissing elephant.

still don't have oil
it will still be a stretch, but i think we might actually be able to afford it soon with the help of citizen's energy
joe kennedy is cool
i'd rather him be governor than romney
we would see a much more reasonable approach to the state budget
we need to reverse the tax cuts to the wealthy
even in massachusetts reach the tentacles of the help the rich, screw the poor philosophy
scary
we've got to devise a way to stop the republicans before it's too late
they're everywhere
what's wrong with people in this country?
why can't they see that they tread the path of evil, greed, and hate.
fucking ferengi
ferengi who've found religion
ferengi society is based on the rules of acquisition
a republican's wet dream
just add a couple of jesus's here and there and it's perfect

Ate way too much today, but I learned two lessons that will help me in the future.

1) Budget in a meal at purpleglitter's. This means smaller meals away from her house.

2) If I'm going to make this work, I need to lay off the pot. Find another drug of choice or don't do any at all. The munchies are killer.

Sara came over today. We went over to Spy Pond to feed the geese, but the geese were elsewhere. There were however, many ducks. So we stood around and fed the ducks. As soon as we ran out of food, the geese arrived. I felt bad we didn't have anything left to give them, so we walked back to the house_of_clocks. On the way back, I noticed my fliers were gone. Who took them down, I don't know, but I've got better one's to put up now. Sara thought my old fliers were a bit too ravenous, which might make people less likely to read them, so we toned down the rhetoric a bit (at least at the begining of the flier) and produced a new set of fliers that will go up tonight.

FEED THE GEESE As you walk into this park, you can't help but notice the beautiful birds. Pretty ducks, magnificent geese and regal swans make Spy Pond their seasonal home. The so-called "Friends of Spy Pond" take issue with the natural behavior of these birds. One cannot miss the signs posted by the "Friends", instructing visitors not to feed the geese and other birds claiming that this is for the good of the birds. However, their own literature states that every April the "Friends" gather to addle (kill) the eggs of the geese that nest around Spy Pond. They also claim that stopping the geese is for the good of the grass, as though people would rather see lush grass than natural beauty. However, this claim is easily put to rest as well, as the majority of the damage to the grass around Spy Pond is caused by human foot traffic. The fact is that they can't stand nature intruding on their precious park. Now, in the middle of a major town budget crisis, they want the Town of Arlington to erect an eyesore of a fence around the pond, to prevent these birds from "trampling" the grass, forgetting that birds can fly. This absurdity would funnel money away from our schools and libraries to fund their special-interest anti-bird paranoia. The "Friends of Spy Pond" must be stopped. Feed the geese. Write to Town Hall. Spy Pond should be for everyone, including the geese.

I'm going to go down to Spy pond tonight and post the following message on the bulletin boards there:

GEESE ARE GOOD The so-called "Friends of Spy Pond" have an all out war against geese, ignoring the fact that many people enjoy seeing the birds, part of nature, in their waterside park. I'm sure you've all seen the signs put up by the "Friends" not to feed the geese. They feebly try to make the claim this is for the good of the birds, however, every April the "Friends" go out and addle (or kill) the eggs of the geese that nest around Spy Pond. They also claim that stopping the geese is for the good of the grass. People would rather see nice lush grass than beautiful birds. However this claim is easily put to rest as well, as the majority of the damage to the grass around Spy Pond is caused by human foot traffic. The fact of the matter is they simply hate animals. They can't stand nature intruding on their precious park. Now they want the Town of Arlington to erect an eyesore of a fence around the pond to stop these birds from getting on the grass, in the middle of gigantic town budget crisis. This is taking money away from our schools and libraries to fund their special-interest anti-bird paranoia. The "Friends of Spy Pond" must be stopped. Feed the geese. Write town hall. Spy Pond should be for everyone, including the geese.

I'm about to fire up the last of my pot. I don't know when I'm going to get more. It's not in the budget this month, and I don't think I can squeeze it in the budget for next month. And, who knows what March will bring. All in all, it may be quite a while before I have a supply of pot again. It's a sad thing, the last bowl. I look into the sober future. Poverty enforced sobriety

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Someday, I'll smoke again
Don't know where. Don't know when.

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Going to fire it up now. Maybe meditate a bit first.

I just created three new communities!

pauper - Living Poor
Welcome, fellow paupers. This forum is to discuss the issues surrounding being poor. Bargain hunting, dealing with slumlords, getting fired, finding a McJob, and trying to make ends meet are all valid subjects here.

spiralpauper - Poor and Mentally Ill
This forum is discuss the issues surrounding being poor and having a mental illness. Poverty and mental illness can feed each other, making it often difficult to escape either. Lack of money makes it harder to get the necessary care for mental illnesses. And, mental illnesses can make it difficult to make money, as it may be harder to get a job or properly budget. Dealing with public assistance, finding good low-budget therapists, self medication, self help, and just making ends meet are all valid subjects here. lovjad came up with the idea for this one.

transpauper - Poor and Transgender or Genderqueer
People in the transgender and genderqueer communities face unique challenges when they don't have access to financial resources. Transgender and genderqueer people have a tougher time escaping the trap of poverty, as we may face job and housing discrimination. Finding housing, dealing with discrimination, self medication, worrying about homelessness, and just making ends meet are all valid topics here.

In about 40 minutes Lake and I will go to Market Basket for groceries for the remainder of the month. We have $50 budgeted to accomplish this. That comes down to $2.50 per day per person for food (and coffee). I smell a lot of beans and rice in our future.