I am home after a fun few days on the road. And, I’m back to my usual sorting through materials from various sources online. People often ask me where I come up with the tidbits I mention in conversation or talk about here. So, I decided I will periodically post links to thinks I’ve found interesting for one reason or another. You can check them out or ignore them as you wish!
1. Cantor is in a difficult spot regarding disaster aid. Now that it’s not his area affected, and he’s a big “no spending” guy, he’s vocal about not giving aid to those affected by Irene without having offsets. However, he was singing a completely different tune when it was his area affected a few years ago. I think this is one of the most difficult issues for those who purport no funding for anything. State’s rights take a big backseat when people want federal disaster aid. I wish people would wake up to this when they’re in the voting booth.
I saw something recently online that said – more eloquently than I’m about to say – If you don’t want to pay taxes to support a federal government then don’t drive on federal highways, eat food that has been inspected for safety, send your kids to public schools, use electricity or the internet, or expect disaster aid. All good points, I think.
This story seems to sum up the difficulty of being absolute about anything – especially when your comments are public.
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/178829-cantor-has-history-of-pushing-for-unfunded-disaster-relief
2. Google is launching offline versions of mail and calendar. My reaction when I read this was, “Who is ever offline?” It was then that I realized I might be out of step with the rest of the world. I am always connected to email, calendar, web, etc. as long as I have cell phone signal. I’ve forgotten what the last numbers were on smart phones, but there’s significant penetration.
I guess I thought anyone who NEEDED to be connected all the time already was. And people who didn’t particularly care to be connected all the time weren’t. The logical progression of that to me is – if you need/want to be connected, you can be. But, obviously, google is more in touch than I am!
http://mashable.com/2011/08/31/gmail-offline-2/
3. NPR posted this: Provocative Read: 10 ‘More Important’ Events Than The Sept. 11 Attacks
I absolutely despise what I see as the annual “celebration” of 9-11. I’ve written about it before so won’t rehash it here. While I see a reason for noting the day, I think we have overreacted tremendously to it – from starting wars to our annual “rah-rah celebration” to justify them. For the first time, I feel like I’m not alone in this assessment.
—–
Leave a Reply