Does God speak to you, too?

"Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you any more. There's no more money to spend - you used up all of that. You can't start another war because you used up the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare - helping poor people.

Listen to your Mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit cards are maxed out. No one's speaking to you. Mission accomplished.

"Now it's time to do what you've always done best - lose interest and walk away. Like you did with your military service and the oil company and the baseball team. It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job.

How about cowboy or space man? Now I know what you're saying - there's so many other things that you as President could involve yourself in. Please don't. I know, I know. There's a lot left to do. There's a war with Venezuela. Eliminating the sales tax on yachts. Turning the space program over to the church. And Social Security to Fannie Mae. Giving embryos the vote.

"But, Sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why? Because you govern like Billy Joel drives. You've performed so poorly I'm surprised that you haven't given yourself a medal. You're a catastrophe that walks like a man. Herbert Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire city to rising water and snakes.

"On your watch, we've lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the Pentagon, and the City of New Orleans. Maybe you're just not lucky. I'm not saying you don't love this country. I'm just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side.

"So, yes, God does speak to you. What he is saying is, 'Take a hint.'

Tuesday that follows Monday

Oof, what a day I have lined up for tomorrow. Meeting with Kevin H for the first time in .. six years? Five? Delivering a loan app to CP after that, then working with a client on his business valuation. THEN, dinner with Rosita, a board meeting, and back here. Before the lunch meeting, I have to get a full day's work done, best as I can tell.

Had a brief excitement today, thinking that I had at least one apartment complex that I could finance; turns out the guy wants to build townhouses - which is SO not easy to do. There are some shopping centers also - hopefully, these will come together.

Since I've decided that I want the Lucerne, but I don't want to borrow money for it - more cash needs to come in, and within the next couple of weeks. LOTS more money. Or whatever. But, new Lucerne, paid for, mine, plus debts retired. Oh, and a new wardrobe. And etc.

Babs cooked up the notion to have a Cinco de Mayo party on Friday evening. Fun! We're going to have some amusement, for sure!

Okay, it's only 10:30 and I'm whipped. I think it's time for some snoozing.

Monday, Monday ver. 776.01

Another day, another Monday. Mitch made progress today with the lenders (as in, it looks like I can clearly stay here beyond my June 30 current deadline) and there is an increased prospect that I could buy the house eventually.

We worked on the reunion again today. I think that's getting close to finished. I pinged the airline today about group travel rates. I have to print and sign the contracts this week. And pay the deposits. Yurg. This is motivating me to get my travel agency license set up, though. Later this week.

Now, it's time to work again on work work. Tomorrow, I need to be up early to log onto about sixty different websites and submit, pay, sign up, blah, blah. Have to run through a valuation of a client's company and meet with him tomorrow.

And, then it's a meeting with Tom to talk about websites and such. Another 14 hour day tomorrow.

Holy schmoly. This is my life these days.

Sunday night thoughts

An afternoon of spending some money on stuff I really wanted; a DVD rack, a curio case for my 20th Century Limited china, cleaning up around here, putting together the rack and putting the DVDs in it, then Chuck, Ben and Robert to watch the Sopranos, and here I am. We watched Bill Maher rip apart a bunch of people, and I've been reading about all kinds of fun new scandals. I've read Condi's latest statements about Iran, and it's clear to me that they're using the SAME arguments, the SAME horsehit excuses and the same nonsense about other countries being involved in our belligerance as they did with Iraq.

Lovely.

Heard from the Child today; his favorite fratmate is headed to Iraq. I asked him what he'd think about the US nuking Iran, and he only began to comment about that they're a muslim nation, so they deserve it.

WHAT IS HAPPENING TO US?

I thought Tom was coming over tonight. Haven't heard from him, though. I need to meet up with him Tuesday, I guess.

I have a huge workload tomorrow. Yurg. I still don't have the print server working on this computer, so I'll have to plug another printer to it.

At least the house is clean. Having BCR over on Sunday nights does accomplish that.

Fun conversation in church today ..

Saturday late night

Another silly gay themed movie, this one Spanish. Closeted gay boy gets hit on head with disco ball while singing karaoke with his boyfriend, then wakes up interested in girls.

Brought home the mutt hut that I bought for Barney today; assembled it, and he walked RIGHT into it. Hopefully, this will give him some place that he is smart enough to shelter in when it rains or whatever.

Jackie figured out the dog door today - outbound only. We'll have to see if she can figure it out INBOUND, as in - sheltering when it rains.

The pool is gorgeous - Mitch had it cleaned again today.

I should go to bed - it's already 11:30, and I was up WAY early today.

Saturday Morning Scandalrama, Sponsored by the Bush Administration

source article from Daily Kos

by SusanG
Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 10:37:58 AM PDT
While we're wallowing in the Republican Whorefest at the Watergate it's easy to lose sight of plain old-fashioned, money-based GOP corruption stories clicking across the news wires at a NASCAR pace. As a public service, I bring you three separate stories about shenanigans - and keep in mind, these are all articles from just this morning. There is not time enough in a day to keep track of the daily skullduggery without borrowing the ATT/NSA database.


First, there's trouble brewing at the VA:


WASHINGTON -- A subcommittee of the House Veterans Affairs Committee has opened a preliminary inquiry into a veterans administration contract with QTC Management Inc., a firm headed by former Veterans Secretary Anthony J. Principi.

It appears that Mr. Principi may have steered $1.2 billion worth of contracts to his own company, some of them recommended by a congressional committee headed by - you guessed it - Mr. Principi, before he joined QTC.

Second, we encounter Lester Crawford, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, under investigation for "financial improprieties and making false statements to Congress."

It seems that Mr. Crawford sold $50,000 worth of shares in a company regulated by the agency just a month before he resigned as FDA head to go off into the wild blue yonder of Washington lobbying. Under Mr. Crawford's leadership, the FDA also played games with the approval of contraceptive Plan B, which was being delayed in heading to market - allegedly under political pressure from the conservative right - despite research studies citing its safety.

Third, the Los Angeles Times got hold of internal reports that show that Parsons Corp., awarded billions of dollars worth of contracts to build Iraqi health and safety facilities and infrastructure, has fallen (as the Times quaintly phrases it) "dramatically short of a number of goals."


The firm was to have rebuilt Iraq's health and security infrastructure. However, an audit and interviews show it will finish only 20 of 150 planned health clinics, and nearly $70 million of medical equipment meant for the clinics sits unused.

... The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to properly monitor Parsons' performance, stonewalled investigative efforts and exercised "poor cost controls" as Parsons spent $186 million on a contract to build the health clinics, according to a draft copy of an audit obtained by The Times. About $60 million of that was spent by Parsons on management and administration.

The reports and interviews taken together suggest a wholesale failure in two of the most crucial areas of the Iraq reconstruction -- health and safety -- which were supposed to win Iraqi goodwill and reduce the threat to American soldiers.


Yes, your taxpayer dollars at work. Or rather, your children's and your grandchildren's debit card run up, all in the interests of feeding the Republican Party and its cronies.

Friday night - business is concluded and it's time to pizza

What a fun evening (already!) I hung up the CD/Cassette racks in the under-stair closet, emptied out the cabinet under the stereo equipment (which allows for me moving said stereo equipment, probably tomorrow afternoon) and unloaded one of the very last boxes that hasn't been gone through yet. Tomorrow, I'm going to pick up another curio case that's much like the tall one that I have, and I can display my 20th Century Limited stuff - two sets of china, a rack of highball glasses from the 75th anniversary train, a menu, etc. The other curio is smaller, and I can paint it black semi-gloss to match, and display my Continental service items, both in the dining room, which will look cool. Once I get Mitchell's bedroom furniture out of there, anyway.

Next week sometime, I plan to buy a new and better bed for my bedroom, and put the mattress and box spring that I have now upstairs with the antique bedroom set in the middle bedroom. And get a cooktop.

Mitch had someone by today, who checked out repairing the sheetrock in the dining room. He has to get the upstairs bathroom fixed first. Or I do.

Today, he was telling me that he wanted to negotiate with the banks that hold the mortgages, and get a reduction in debt plus pay money in to bring the lien down to what is necessary to get the house price down to market value. He acknowledge that he got a ton of money out of the purchase.

Progress.

Had more new business come in today; had a client call and say that he has an offer to sell his business, and I am needed to help him value his business and salary. That needs doing right away. Also had a request to evaulate the financial contributions of a number of investors in a company so that they can get their shares issued and so on. MORE work that needs doing ASAP. Cool!

This morning, I went to Baby Barnaby's with Mary, and saw that they're closing on Monday to honor the immigration boycott. How could I participate in this on Monday? Answer the phone calls with "I apologize, but I cannot help you today, but you can call back tomorrow?" Strange.

I just found a gorgeous wrought iron bed on craigslist that I think would be great for my bedroom.

I'm watching a movie from Netflix - "Hard," which is .. um .. pathetic, kind of. It's a gay themed movie. At least no one's infected with HIV in this thing. Stupid.

Okay, the cop was just found out. Being gay. You know. The serial killer tricked with the cop, and handcuffed said new cop to the bedframe. And left with his badge and gun.

(chuckles)

Planning on getting up at 5:00 tomorrow morning. Driving to Clear Lake to help start up the NV garage sale. Then, around 0900, heading up to 1960 to have my study session. Then, back to NV's garage sale, I think. Or just back here.

If there's anything left over, the only thing that I want is the Franklin Mint zinc train set, which they can bring back to me. That would be easy to bring to church on Sunday. I also have to bring back the plastic pool.

The doctor this morning checked out my heart thoroughly. My blood pressure was somewhat elevated, but that may have been because of the incompetance on the front desk. My blood values were okay, not great, but okay. He was asking me lots ot detailed questions about my chest pains, and suggested that they were not what was indicative of heart problems. He thought it may be acid reflux, and that I should be taking antacids in the event that I have these chest pains again.

I'm going back in two weeks.

It's probably stress related.

So, this weekend - stress minimized, if I can at all help it.

Show Us the Money

Source Article

by mcjoan
Fri Apr 28, 2006 at 10:35:34 AM CST

The Washington Post reports on another scandal today, one more along the usual lines of Republican chicanery, this one dealing with money. Lots and lots of taxpayers' money.

The cost of the war in Iraq will reach $320 billion after the expected passage next month of an emergency spending bill currently before the Senate, and that total is likely to more than double before the war ends, the Congressional Research Service estimated this week. . . .

Once the war spending bill is passed, military and diplomatic costs will have reached $101.8 billion this fiscal year, up from $87.3 billion in 2005, $77.3 billion in 2004 and $51 billion in 2003, the year of the invasion, congressional analysts said. Even if a gradual troop withdrawal begins this year, war costs in Iraq and Afghanistan are likely to rise by an additional $371 billion during the phaseout, the report said, citing a Congressional Budget Office study. When factoring in costs of the war in Afghanistan, the $811 billion total for both wars would have far exceeded the inflation-adjusted $549 billion cost of the Vietnam War.

Yglesias picks up on the really interesting part of the story:

The report apparently contains such phrases as "These factors, however, are not enough to explain a 50-percent increase of over $20 billion in operating costs" and "These reasons are not sufficient, however, to explain the level of increases." Relatedly, the Post reports that "Of the total war spending, the CRS analysis found $4 billion that could not be tracked. It did identify $2.5 billion diverted from other spending authorizations in 2001 and 2002 to prepare for the invasion." I'm fairly sure you're not allowed to "divert" money from other spending authorizations, and you're certainly not supposed to lose $4 billion in untrackable spending. Nor does it sound entirely appropriate for the Pentagon to be running its operation in such a way that the CRS can't discern the causes of 50 percent spending increases.

Can you say "Halliburton?"

Republican "Family Values" in action

Source article

Sex sells. The dam is already breaking.

The San Diego Tribune provides the outline:

A source close to the bribery case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, told the Union-Tribune that Mitchell Wade, who pleaded guilty in February to bribing Cunningham, told federal prosecutors that he periodically helped arrange for a prostitute for the then-congressman.

A limousine would pick up Cunningham and a prostitute and take them to the ADCS hospitality suite, Wade reportedly told investigators. Federal agents are investigating whether other legislators had similar arrangements with Wilkes or Wade, a business associate of Wilkes who ran his own defense contracting company, MZM Inc.

The CIA director appears to be implicated, and perhaps as many as half a dozen Republican congressmen could be snared in this sex scandal.

Last night on MSNBC's Scarborough Country, Dean Calbreath of the San Diego Union Tribune - which recently won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Cunningham case - said that "as many as a half a dozen" members of Congress could ultimately be implicated in the prostitution scandal

And in the world of the Republicans' culture of corruption, even the limo company who drove the prostitutes around got lavishly rewarded:

I've learned from a well-connected source that those under intense scrutiny by the FBI are current and former lawmakers on Defense and Intelligence comittees--including one person who now holds a powerful intelligence post. I've also been able to learn the name of the limousine service that was used to ferry the guests and other attendees to the parties: Shirlington Limousine and Transportation of Arlington, Virginia. Wilkes, I've learned, even hired Shirlington as his personal limousine service.

It gets even more interesting: the man who has been identified as the CEO of Shirlington has a 62-page rap sheet (I recently obtained a copy) that runs from at least 1979 through 1989 and lists charges of petit larceny, robbery, receiving stolen goods, assault, and more. Curiously--or perhaps not so curiously given the company's connections--Shirlington Limousine is also a Department of Homeland Security contractor; according to the Washington Post, last fall it won a $21.2 million contract for shuttle services and transportation support.

Amazing.

Things conservatives believe

Source

So what is it exactly that conservatives believe? Yglesias gives us a clue:

Human Events lists the "ten most harmful government programs," two of which -- income tax withholding and earmarking -- aren't programs at all. The super-popular pillars of the social insurance state -- Social Security (#1), Medicare (#2), and Medicaid (#7) -- all make the list, along with genuinely harmful farm subsidies at number five in a tie with "contraceptive funding." Rounding things out are affirmative action and the obscure-until-last-fall Davis-Bacon Act.

Good idea, folks. Why don't you run against Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. And of course all that contraceptive funding. The government is spending way too much money on that one, isn't it.

Just to hammer home the point that wingers are somewhat lacking in the soul department, we have Bay Buchanan at Crooks and Liars:

"I think Katrina has worn its welcome.- I think the American people are tired of it."

Got that all you displaced Gulf Coast residents? Sit down and shut up. We're tired of hearing about it.

Incompetance

Legacy Health (formerly the Montrose Clinic) may be cheap, but their office practices leave a great deal to be desired. Their reception desk people uniformly make appointment errors the responsibility of the patient. Today, my regular bi-weekly appointment is "canceled" - and when informing me of this, I'm asked why? your appointment was canceled. How should I have known that? well, you canceled it. If I had, why would I have driven 17 miles and paid $2 in tolls to be here on time? why are you here? Then, I'm required to retell my medical history and my reason for the (cxld) appointment to the same guy who, six weeks ago when trying to draw my blood, punctured me in three places, caused me great discomfort and, when unable to draw blood (because he was digging around in the back of my hand, having gone through my vein like a lawn dart) he asked whether I'd been drinking enough water. So, I sit here, with no indication of whether or if I'll be seen. I haven't eaten (these are all fasting appointments) so, severe bitchiness will surely be soon. And, given the level of care given to the uninsured in this country, I should consider myself quite lucky.

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Hump Day Discord

I'm loving the cooler temperature this morning!

The thunder last night was so strange - as it started to rumble through the sky, I woke and thought someone was moving furniture upstairs. Then, I could hear the wind rustling the bushes, and realized that it was the storm, muchly delayed.

And went back to sleep.

Chest pains, chest pains, chest pains last night. Kept me awake part of the night. I don't know enough to know whether this is stress or something to worry about.

So I'm worried.

On the other hand, I should think that if my heart were indeed causing me difficulty, I'd have known all about it a few weeks ago when I was exercising three times a week quite vigorously. Nothing was happening then.

Today, what is there to do? Complete the 501 application, and work on the mortgage book, and .. what?

Today is Chuck's birthday. I'm taking him to dinner; he says it should be somewhere casual and inexpensive. I would really like to take him to Rouge; unless I collect a client payment today, that's out of today's budget.

The car salesman says that the new Lucerne will be in sometime between May 10 and 20th, so I guess the 15th is when it will arrive. Another three weeks, and I'll have to figure out how this is going to work.

Jayne came over last night, and she LOVED the house. She thinks I should keep it if it can be bought at the right price.

a bit later

Okay, the fax machine SORT of works. Not REALLY works, but SORT of works. I've been thinking that it may need replacement, but yurg. WHY NOW?

Is it because I have the multi-cultural, inter-asian loan deal that's fifteen months in the making hopefully closing in a week?

still later

Well, Chuck and I had dinner at Rouge (which was fabulous and wonderful,) he loved the watch I gave him, and we then went to see "Inside Man," which was terrific. I got home at around 1:30, which left me a bit .. tired. Yurg.

Monday, Monday ver. 775.01

Well, an interesting day indeed. The yard's cleaned up, and I don't feel anymore like the neighborhood hoodlum. The pool is now .. BLUE. Well, cloudy and blue. But, the leaves are all out of the bottom thereof. The patio's edged, the hoses put away, and .. heavens to mergatroid, it seems like things are starting to come together here.

It will probably have all the light fixtures replaced, all the outside pressure washed, the flower beds cleaned up, the hedges and bushes trimmed up, and everything working just in time for me to move out.

Ah, well.

Worked today on loans - turned down the loan for Guns' girlfriend, met with two nice gay boys and told them not to buy a house, worked on the loan in Brownsville, and worked with the guy from Florida on his credit. That's all caught up now. Worked on the 501(c) application all afternoon - more on that to do in the morning. Worked on setting myself up with a new job. Worked on the class reunion with Babs.

Tomorrow, more on the 501 application, then, nothing to stop me from working on my student course books. I was thinking about adding some end of section study questions, and moving all the elements around some. So, tomorrow, I'm going to work on that, and then meet up with Rick and ask him to modify the data file for me so that I can submit it for approval.

Tom is working on my several websites - that's VERY exciting to me. He was working on my high school reunion site today. That will probably be deployed by the end of the week. After that one comes my business site. Wow.

That means that later this week, I'll be writing content for it.

Tomorrow morning, before I get started on work, I'm cleaning up the car. Totally cleaning up the car. Inside and out, under the hood and everywhere.

Mitch told me (again) that he was picking up his TV and bedroom furniture this weekend, but also called to say that he had a phone line installed over here, and that he needed to put in an answering machine.

Uh, no?

My "date" for tonight is AWOL. My "date" from the other night has a girlfriend. Blarg. I'm sticking with the proto-husband, period.

How extravagant should I get for his birthday on Wednesday?

Sunday evening commentary

Today was quite the day. I didn't sleep well last night, because I was twitching at every thump, click and bark. After about four hours of sleep, I was up and getting ready for church, where we talked about forgiveness. I have to admit that I did a bang-up job of facilitating the conversation, and people were VERY pleased. As I stood there leading the conversation, I kept thinking about the elements of my own life in which I need to apply some forgiveness. I've been working with being grateful for the things that I do have, consistent with what we were discussing, whatever Chuck teases me about to the contrary.

After church, dropped off the car load of stuff for the church garage sale - and, even though the car was chock full, it feels like I've done a rather pathetic job of culling through all this stuff and letting go. Of course, this week the Divo eBay sale kicks off, which will release a bunch more stuff, but still .. it just felt so ... feeble. Like, I should give away about 70% of clothes, since they don't fit and I don't wear them. Chuck was telling me this afternoon that I MUST do some serious clothes shopping.

Tomorrow, I have a hugely full day. Oh, my. I have so damned much to do it's frightening. I have to execute well, and be on three different sides of the county at one time. Yurg. At least I'll have Babs' help tomorrow. She'll have to do some of my running around for me.

Chuck bought my bowling ball. I bought a cassette tape case that wall mounts just like my CD cases, which need to be put up on the wall in the closet.

Maybe tomorrow evening.

After dropping off the stuff, we had greek food, then off to Berryhill for Philip's 40th birthday. That was weird. Pleasant with Philip and Melissa, but weird. We
were there a while, then I dropped Chuck off at home, drove home and cleaned like a whirlwind for a few hours until Chuck came over followed by Ben and Robert - nicknamed T&D. We watched the Sopranos, then Real Time with Bill Maher.

T&D were in a weird space. It was great having the house cleaned, the snacks prepared and ready for them, and so on. Kind of the way I like to run my ship - all organized, tidy and hosting people for pleasant times.

Today, a woman at church interacted with Chuck from the perception that he and I were in a commited partnership. He's not, but he is my proto-husband. This is a concept that I created - proto following from the use of the word proto in this sense - "`proto' is a combining form in a word like `protolanguage' that refers to the hypothetical ancestor of another language or group of languages.

So, proto-husband is the hypothetical husband, or precursor husband. The pre-husband. husband 1.0 beta.

And, I think I'm quite okay with that. He's a great companion, and I love being with him. Maybe proto-husband is just the right thing for now.

Anyway, he's still here - we're watching "Constantine" and computing on our respective laptops.

He thinks my internet connection is slow. It's not that great, true.

This week, I have the utility bills to pay, and I want to manifest a cooktop. A black, ceramic/glass, downdraft, electric 30" cooktop in great shape for cheap.

Only twenty days to figure out how to finance my new car. Loans to close before that.

I asked yesterday about being made the corporate secretary (more like board secretary/legal counsel) for a forming international non-profit. It pays wonderfully, and involves a lot of higher brain function work. It would be the kind of job that would allow me to get caught up, stay in a house like this. Have options.

So, Cassandra the psychic told me that this house was numerologically bad. So, if it's done unto me as I believe, doesn't that mean that this poor house is NOT cursed by the lottery of its address assignment, but that its subject to the beliefs of the person who owns or occupies it?

If I had the cash flow and down payment to afford this house, and the wherewithal to repair and rehab it, why would it be bad for me financially? Unless I believed that it was possible, anyway.

I don't believe in pre-destiny.

Or, is this my being resistant to changing, just as I was in living in that apartment for eight years?

I love this house, but I'm still engaged in fear. Fear of Guns' temper (I fired him as a client last night, and he's pissed. You should hear the voice mail he left me. Such vitriol. I'm still processing that whole deal - my side of it - within the framework of what we talked about today at NV) Fear of Mitchell showing up drunk. Fear of whatever the heck else coming in the door. Fear of .. lack. Fear of not having enough motivation. Fear of .. what? What is it that drives all of this fear of mine? Last night, I just lay there letting the fear and adreneline wash over me. I didn't resist it, just let it come on ahead.

What is it, though?

What? Maybe a clue would be helpful.

This movie is nearly over .. so it's going to be time to hit the sack.

We're All Partisans Now

Source article

mschmitt's picture
By Mark Schmitt | bio

Bloomberg reports that six Republican-held congressional seats in New York State may be seriously in play in November, a pretty nice downpayment on the 15 seats Democrats would need to take back the House. This confirms something that one of the serious analysts of congressional campaigns told me a month ago: that with a national tide in favor of Democrats, and the strength of Senator Clinton's reelection bid and Eliot Spitzer's gubernatorial campaign, all the Republican seats in that state could be vulnerable.

section break

As a Democrat, I see this as is great news. (And incidentally, if you’re looking for just one campaign to support in this group, may I suggest Dan Maffei, who’s running against Rep. James Walsh in the Syracuse district, which hasn't appeared on a lot of "hot races" lists even though it's the only Republican-held New York district that Kerry carried in 2004. I’ve known Dan for almost ten years, and I’m enthusiastic about his candidacy not just because I think he can win, but because he would make a great member of Congress, with deep roots in Syracuse but also having worked for Senators Bradley and Moynihan and for the Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee.) [UPDATE: I corrected the error in this paragraph which said that NY-25 was the only district in the state Kerry carried.]

With that experiment in violating the FEC’s regulations on blogs completed, I’ll return to the main point: Six Republican seats in New York could switch. Three of Connecticut’s five seats are held by Republicans; at least two are in play and possibly the third. Several Philadelphia-suburb Republican seats are vulnerable, along with a few in Ohio. I notice that even Frank Wolf of Virginia is potentially vulnerable, having been outraised by a great opponent, health policy expert Judy Feder. These are seats that were once as reliably Republican as Mississippi’s were reliably Democratic, the wealthy green suburbs of the Eastern Seaboard and industrial Midwest, where the Bush family has its roots.

One consequence of this outcome, however, is that the partisanship we’ve been discussing in the Book Club will become all the more acute. Not all of the Republicans who hold these seats now advertise themselves as "moderates," but many are allies on environmental causes and/or try to maintain good relationships with organized labor.

This November, even if the Democrats fall short of capturing the House, we are likely to find a Congress made up of two parties that are more ideologically homogenous and more regionally based than ever in history. There will be no truly conservative Democrats (some opportunists, of course), but that’s been the case since 1994 and the party-switches that followed. But there will also be no significant number of Republicans who are pro-environment (simple measure: the 34 Republicans who voted against Rep. Pombo’s near-repeal of the Endangered Species Act includes all of the NY, CT, PA representatives mentioned above.)

This will be an enormous challenge for, for example, environmental activists, because they are accustomed to operating across party lines, and in general it means that those trying to move any good policy will find themselves, through no choice of their own, more deeply embedded within the Democratic Party and more consistently opposed to Republican policies. The alternative is to wait around for the Northeastern moderates to reappear, which is as futile as waiting for Waco, Texas, to suddenly start electing Democrats. [Another error caught in comments: Waco is represented by Democrat Chet Edwards, one of the few survivors of the DeLay redistricting. Let's substitute "Gwinnett County, GA," for Waco.]

This is an important point about partisanship that needs to be made: Even someone who doesn’t have an ounce of partisanship, who has no interest in or respect for the Democratic Party, but who cares about one or several issues, is going to find herself increasingly in the position of a partisan. Since resistance is futile, it’s best to embrace the role.

A Short And Simple Democratic Agenda

Source Article

by georgia10
Sat Apr 22, 2006 at 04:44:53 PM PDT

At the DNC's spring meeting today in New Orleans, Howard Dean laid out a six-point Democratic agenda:

Dean said that Democrats will fight for a six-point plan that includes raising the minimum wage, tax ``fairness'' for the middle class, ``a complete ban on gifts and travel from lobbyists,'' the inspection of all cargo coming into U.S. ports, fixing the Medicare drug plan and ``transition'' in Iraq.

If you haven't noticed, Democrats have been making a concerted effort to explain in plan and simple terms what Democrats stand for. Yes, Democrats have finally trained themselves to drop the clause-laden, inaccessible rhetoric of the past, and are beginning to embrace a much more effective method of educating voters about the Democratic Party.

For example, last fall, Rahm Emanuel laid out a five-point plan on Meet The Press that included (1) making college education affordable for every American; (2) holding a summit to fix the budget; (3) achieving energy independence in part by switching to a hybrid economy; (4) creating an institute on science and technology to spur American innovation; and (5) universal health care.

Recall that earlier this month, Senator Kerry also described in plain terms the Democratic agenda:

Tell the truth. Fire the incompetents. Find Osama bin Laden and secure our ports and our homeland. Bring our troops home from Iraq. Obey the law and protect our civil rights," Mr. Kerry said in ticking off his list, which also included supporting health care, education, lobbying reform and alternatives to oil, as well as reducing the deficit.

Senator Kennedy's new book, America: Back on Track, is centered around seven main points of change, from reclaiming our constitutional democracy to making our economy work for all, not just the rich.

Six points, five points, seven points, ten points--the general idea is that Democrats are taking affirmative steps to shatter the myth that "Democrats don't have any ideas."

We don't need a "Contract with America." We don't need to think of new ideas. We are a party full of ideas, and we're finally able to express them in a concise and confident manner to the American people.

Fundy Values:

Source article

Not quite an oxymoron, just misguided (by defensiveness).
by shock
Thu Apr 20, 2006 at 09:33:02 PM PDT

As I've written about here before (for example, here and here), I was raised as a fundamentalist and a Republican and have undergone a radical shift in beliefs in my adult life. While reading the comments for the highly-recommended diary, Romans 13: the reason fundamentalists still support GWB (for example, this thread), my memory was jogged to something I'd written a few years ago to a group of my friends who'd been (playfully, but genuinely) asking me to try to help them make sense of the fundamentalist mindset with respect to politics. I think this may be somewhat useful to some people here.

First, I am not posting this to try to defend the fundamentalist belief set, but rather because way back then we found it useful for strategizing going into the 2004 election in our area. That is, I hope this generates ideas for people here and/or politicians as to how to approach fundamentalists in the future.

* shock's diary :: ::
*

Despite all of the discussion about this topic here (and in the liberal press, among which I highly recommend Jim Wallis' book), I still believe that this is very important and still necessary. The voting power of this subset of our population cannot be denied -- and they are growing more influential. For example, in an episode of Frontline called "The Jesus Factor" that looked at how Republicans (in particular Bush) appeal to Christians, the following two points were made:

1. It is possible to win the presidency by carrying only the Evangelical Christian vote. (With some turnout assumptions, of course.)
2. The single most predictive "variable" as to which way a person voted in the last presidential election was whether or not they attended church (a religious service) on a weekly basis. This beat out class, race, income, education, etc.

This has long been recognized by Republican strategists. We now recognize it too. How we are going to deal with it is still up in there air. One option is to write off the fundy vote (and instead try to recruit more progressive voters into the voting pool -- essential because of #1). I'm partial to this to an extent. But, as a former fundy who was "reformed" and am now very politically active on for the "good guys", I'd like to think that there are better ways than writing off everyone like I used to be. In what follows, I offer first a rather-shallow analysis/diagnosis and then some modest suggestions.



Core "Conservative" values

(Snarkiness aside: I understand that to many here the phrase seems like an oxymoron, but I assure you that many fundies really do believe that they are operating within a self-consistent framework of values, whether they are or not. Remember, I'm presenting this through their viewpoint, not ours, and so I make no comments on some of the hypocricy.)

For many (or most?) conservatives, the core of their political views come from their religious values. (Thus, when their politics are attacked, it is likely to trigger a deeper defensive response than you might expect. More on this below.)

What follows is what I consider to be a core set of conservative ideals that I have heard expressed to various extents by religious conservatives that I know (especially my parents). The list is by no means meant to be exhaustive and lots of these overlap. I divided them into two main categories. The first are the values that stem directly from "Western religion" (as exemplified here primarily by modern Christianity, which I understand the best). The second set are more secular, but typically accompany the first. (It is obviously possible to adopt subsets of these.)

* Religion-based
1. "Decisiveness" ("clarity")
Little or no moral ambiguity
--> "Categorical" politics of generalizations and labels
Good vs. Evil worldview ("We" are the "Good Guys". Period.)
--> Security (protection from and battle against "evil") is very important
--> Strong patriotism / loyalty.
2. "Morality"
Actions are either right or wrong.
--> Against adultery (any sex outside marriage), homosexuality, abortion.
Human Laws are (or should be) based upon God's absolute law
--> Religion in government, Prayer in schools
(Given "clarity", it is possible to decide what is "moral".)
3. "Discipline and Accountability" ("individual responsibility")
--> Against abortion.
Pro death penalty
Low spending on social programs (e.g. welfare)
"Authoritarian" government in terms of law enforcement
(Given the "morality" and "clarity", there are no qualms about punishing "guilty" people.)
4. (Nuclear) "Family values"
Traditional (paternalistic) Gender Roles
--> Against adultery and homosexuality and feminism.
Want "values" (morality) taught at home, not from school (or "liberal TV")
--> Against sex education, teaching about evolution, etc.
The "Home" is a sacred place: anything that threatens its sanctity is "evil"
--> Pro guns, Favor tough law enforcement, Even "neighborhood diversity" is bad
* Non-Religious
1. "Freedom"
Security is a requirement for this to work
Free Market Capitalism
--> Pro corporation
--> Consumerism (the less savvy or informed people are the better!)
--> Globalization and the active spread of the capitalistic system
Small Government (less laws and regulations)
For some, also partly due to view that it is amoral! (But interestingly, this one sometimes goes against the authoritarianism and morality of Social Conservatives.)
--> Pro guns
2. "Stability"
Don't rock the boat. Change is unpredictable and therefore destabilizing. (Predictability is good for the markets.)
--> Maintain traditional distinctions (based on class/race/gender/etc.)



Main Point: Religious conservatives feel they are under attack!


1. Moral attack

Commercial (entertainment) media is:
1) Socially liberal
Negative portrayal of religion (or minimization), sexual promiscuity, acceptance of non-traditional gender roles and homosexuality), depicting rebellious behavior, etc.
2) YET economically conservative
Pro-consumerism, pro-corporation, pro-war (good for business), etc.
(But most Republicans don't notice #2 because they never question "the system".)
#1 has created the perception among many socially conservative (religious) Republicans that they (their value systems) are under attack. Notice that mainstream entertainment media routinely violates every single one of the religion-based values above! This leads to an "embattled" feeling that everyone else in America disagrees with them and thinks they are prudes. There is a feeling of marginalization that leads to (self-righteous) anger.
"Evil is winning! Society is falling apart!"
--> Quest for media reform
--> A Victorian style culture that over-reacts to promiscuity (think Lewinsky)

2. Intellectual attack

Not only are their values attacked, but also their intelligence:
* Science is portrayed as a quest to supplant religion.
* Intellectuals / academics look down upon and even ridicule religious people.
Many religious conservatives are keenly aware of this. As a reaction, scientists are perceived as arrogant know-it-alls who are out of touch with reality.
--> Home schooling movement
--> Rejection of "nuance" in politics
--> Anti-intellectualism (rejection of "book smarts") leading to things like the discounting of scientific evidence for global warming.

3. Personal attack

Furthermore, conservatives are (rightly, but not in their eyes) portrayed as bigots for their stand against homosexuality and affirmative action.
--> Mistrust of all "diversity" programs

4. Political attack

Finally, they believe they are under political attack. They believe (wrongly) that the country was founded on religious principles and that these are slowly but surely being removed from the government. (Note that, as many here have written about, most do NOT believe that a separation between church and state is written into the constitution and many are willing to argue this tooth and nail. Believe it or not, many have undertaken to prove this point historically -- and these attempts are rightly refuted by the likes of Frederick Clarkson.)

They point to the removal of prayer from government and schools, the gradual removal of religious symbols, the "pledge controversy", Roe vs. Wade, etc. as evidence of this sustained attack.
--> Strong reaction to "political correctness"



Consequences

In addition to causing them to take more extreme political positions related to the above points, this perception that they are under moral, intellectual and political attack has more general consequences as well. Importantly, it causes them to become even more conservative because it:
1) Further reinforces their fundamental notion of a struggle between Good and Evil;
2) Causes to unite to "defend" themselves and their way of life, empowering right-wing organizations (e.g. the "Moral Majority", "Christian Coalition", and even Fox News). In doing so, this polarizes and homogenizes their world even further.

These, in turn, lead them to favor government policies and institutions that will help "defend" them against the onslaught AND (importantly) give more more power to their organizations (which they perceive as "defending" them as well). They also lead them to the urge to go on the "offensive" and "fight back". (A favorite quote of theirs is the one about the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.)



Possible Approaches

Obviously: take them off the defensive.

But how?
I don't know, and here I am just brainstorming. I have a couple of ideas though.

At a personal level:

Call attention to their defensiveness. Acknowledge that they have legitimate reasons to be defensive. (They really do!) And, of course, don't try to "proselytize" them to change their values (at first)... this would obviously just make them even more defensive!

A LOT of their values hinge upon the first one in the list -- the sense of moral absolutes and Good vs. Evil. This can be undermined using their own principles in several ways. For example, although the Bible does clearly reinforce notions of Good and Evil and an eternal struggle, there are also passages that challenge the traditional conservative notion of moral absolutes, man's judgment of other people, and how people should react to evil, including many famous ones, like Matthew 5:38-32, Matthew 5:43-45, Matthew 7:1-5, Matthew 12:1-14 (where Jesus actually breaks one of the 10 commandments! --> situational ethics), Romans 12:14-21, etc. (I can provide more examples for more contexts as well.)

Also, providing specific examples of where there are gray areas in their own lives might be helpful. (Of course this can be accomplished by asking questions about their views, not by just flat out telling them.)

Finally (although it wasn't out at the time I originally wrote this), I would highly recommend Jim Wallis' book to help expand the rhetoric about values to include things like poverty (as he so rightly says, budgets are statements of our morals/values).

At a political level:

Liberal/Progressive goals and policies shouldn't change but they can be couched in terms of the above values. For example, Lakoff's now-famous (and much discussed) example of reframing "taxes" as being like dues to imply that "everyone should want to do their fair share" makes an appeal to the value that I call above "personal responsibility" or "accountability".

When conservative political leaders fail to uphold these values, it is probably useful to (gently) point it out -- again couching it into their system. For example, one flaw of Bush that is more important to conservatives than you think is his lack of accountability. (That's why those questions at his [third!] press conference about whether he would admit any mistakes were very important. I personally couldn't believe he wasn't prepared for that!) His pattern is to blame others. Recall that he campaigned on the promise to restore "moral integrity" and "accountability" to the White House. It is very easy (especially now, a few years later!) to show that he failed to do this -- especially the accountability part. Indeed, his reaction to all of the scandals -- not just the scandals themselves -- is hurting him deeply in the accountability department. (And of course the scandals themselves are hurting him in the "clarity" department. Some people are starting to wonder if we are really on the side of Good. But I personally believe he is more vulnerable on his accountability failures because they are so blatant and so obviously his own fault, by definition.)

What else?

Friday night late

What an interesting afternoon. The Berryhill guy came by around 1:00 and spent four hours here, talking to me about his business decisions. Four hours. "Me being friendly." Well, it is his birthday this weekend.

So, I didn't get the work done that I planned to. Babs worked on my class reunion planning all afternoon, and created a list of everyone for whom we didn't have email contact information. She worked on the classmates.com website, and couldn't get them added into the "missing" classmates list, so tonight I gave it a shot. I spent an hour inputing the 220 names, clicked on "send," and .. poof .. it was all gone.

How annoying is that?

I spent a bunch of time talking to another consultant about a mutual client, and dug up some bylaws for him. So, I guess I worked until about 9:00 tonight.

Lately, I've been having deep and sharp chest pains. Strange. It's in my sternum, not underneath. I think. However, it's keeping me awake. At night. Yep. I'm giong to speak to the doctor about it on Friday.

The blood glucose medication causes heart attack after long term useage. Fun stuff.

I need to go see Lloyd. My body is very sore lately, which is from stress or .. from stress.

A busy morning tomorrow. Ruby's packed with stuff for the church garage sale, and riding on her butt. I don't know whether I should unload everything out of her before running around the County tomorrow morning, or whatever.

I'm invited to Philip's birthday party tomorrow night. (sigh)

I'm watching the Enron movie on DVD. It's very very interesting.

I'm wide awake (of course,) and have to pop out of bed in the morning and do a bunch of work before leaving for the north part of the county for a study group. Yurg.

Friday .. with my left shoulder hanging off my ear

We start our morning with so much amusement that I don't know quite where to turn.

Last night, as I was driving home from my class, I had a text message from Wolfram, asking me to join him at the Mining Company. My gut reaction was to just delete the message, but I foolishly replied with something to the effect of "what the .. ?"

After spending some time with Tom, I toddled over to meet .. Wolfram. And Babs. And CHUCK?! Wolfram was .. well, mugging on Chuck, who was excited to see me. I was NOT excited to see Wolfram, but was very happy to see Babs and Chuck. It was just weird. I left shortly after 11:30, and headed home.

Also, I had a conversation last night with someone who doesn't understand the way that taxes are collected - the assertion was made that the high property taxes in Texas were the cause of the $8.2Billion surplus currently enjoyed by the State.

So, everyone - please pay close attention - here we go (this is only valid for residents of the State of Texas - if you live somewhere else, you should skip this part)

In Texas, we pay the following taxes:

Property taxes
Sales taxes
Gasoline tax
User fees
Business Franchise Tax
Occupation Tax
Oil & Gas Severance tax

We'll start with the easy ones:

Oil & Gas Severance taxes are charged to oil/gas producers for raw product that they extract from the ground that's in Texas, including the offshore area. It's based on the market price, this tax. For nearly eighty years, this tax alone carried the weight of government services in this state, and provided cheap college education and low personal tax burdens. Once the oil in Texas wells began to run low and production shifted elsewhere (approximately 1978) this tax had to be replaced by other taxes. This tax is assessed and collected by the State of Texas, and goes into general revenue, although a significant portion goes to the permanent education fund, which is shared by the University of Texas (Austin only, Texas A&M (College Station only,) and to a lesser degree, Texas Tech and University of Houston.

Occupation tax - this is a tax that was created in about 1989 to increase cash flow to the State of Texas. A number of occupations are "taxed," with an annual renewal fee, including lawyers. The attorney occupation tax is $200/year. This tax is assessed and collected by the State of Texas, and goes into general revenue.

Business Franchise Tax - a tax that has been with us for a very long time, this is a tax on business "capital" - retained earnings over expenses. This tax is quite low, and only applies to companies that have more than $150,000 in taxable income or capital annually. This tax is collected by the State of Texas, and goes into general revenue.

User fees - these are not direct taxes, but are collected by local and state governments to support delivery of services, most of which used to be free. When you change your address with the DPS, a $10 fee is collected. If you order a certified copy of a document, you pay a fee to the county clerk. These user fees are CAPPED by the State of Texas, not set nor collected by the State of Texas, unless it's a Texas state agency charging the fee. In either event, some portion of the user fee goes to support the agency collecting the fee, and some part goes to general revenue for the agency/county/state. Lately, the State of Texas has whalloped its citizens with "add on" user fees, if you're arrested for DWI - the DPS now assesses you a $1000/year fee to keep your driver license for three years. If you get a speeding ticket, you pay your fine to the local government that issued the ticket, AND you pay the State a fee for unsafe driving.

Gasoline tax - when you drive your Expedition up to the pump and drain $75 worth of unleaded into your tank, a portion of the $3.00 that you pay per gallon is STATE gasoline tax. Texas has one of the lowest fuel taxes in the nation, but this is a State tax, and goes into the general revenue fund.

Sales tax - for years, Texas had no sales tax (our meager services were paid for by the oil & gas severance tax) but, starting in the 1960s a sales tax was gradually added into the mix. Currently, the State of Texas charges 6.25% of everything you purchase (except automobiles, which are taxed at 6.25% of the first $1500 and then at $6.00 of the balance) except for food and some services. Watch out, though, as they're looking to start collecting sales tax on everything from legal services to medical services. Your city, county and transit authority can, by local vote, add to this sales tax. In Houston, we pay 1% to the city and 1% to Metro. In Pasadena (Texas,) they pay the same net sales tax, 8.25%, but it is broken down differently. The sales taxes are collected by the State of Texas, and those parts collected on behalf of the city, county or transit authority are distributed by the state to those local jurisdictions. The money is deposited into general revenue. This is a partially state and partially local tax.

Property tax - if you own property, you are taxed by the city, county, school district and whatever other local taxing authority smacks down a levy on property values. These taxes are set LOCALLY, and are capped by the State of Texas. Capped means that the State tells the local governments that one cannot be charged more than a certain percentage of one's property values.

In the City of Houston, the average taxpayer pays property tax to:

Harris County
City of Houston
[Houston] Independent School District
Harris County Hospital District
Houston Port Authority
Houston Community College District

If you're lucky enough to live outside of City water and sewer services, you pay a Municipal Utility District (MUD) tax.

These tax rates are SET and ASSESSED by the local government that collects them. The property values are set county wide by an independent agency called the appraisal district.

The appraisal districts track market values in the county, and then issue an annual statement of what one's property is worth. This sets the taxable valuation, on which the local tax rate is applied.

The only control a local homeowner has over their tax assessment is to contest the property tax valuation issued by the appraisal district. Otherwise, everyone pays the SAME rate, unless they're disabled, over 65 or meet other exemption criterion. Agricultural land, if in use, is generally exempt from tax. In the City of Houston (and Houston ISD) the approximate tax rate is 3.10% of one's assessed valuation. Therefore, if one owns a property that's assesed at $100,000 in value, one will be paying approximately $3100 in property tax, spread out over all of the taxing authorities.

NONE OF THIS MONEY IS COLLECTED BY THE STATE OF TEXAS. This money is assessed locally, collected locally, and goes to support the operations and services provided by local government.

In fact, the State of Texas cannot interfere with local property tax collections.

All of the statewide discussion about reducing property taxes revolves around the State's oversight of EDUCATION; they can dictate how much property tax the school districts assess.

None of it has a whit to do with how much you're paying your school district locally; it all has to do with spin and state politics. The State Supreme court has held that the State's system of financing education was unconstitutional because a child in a school district with high property values is funded at a much higher level than is a child in a rural school district with low property values.

So, the State of Texas, which has been aware that it had to revamp its system of public school financing, has been passing the buck for years and is now up against the wall. They have to create a new and approvable structure by the summer, or the Supremes (of Texas) have indicated a willingness to shut down public schools entirely.

Those elected officials in Texas, looking to create a statewide system of collecting and distributing money to support public education (required under the Supreme Court's order) are trying to sell this "new" tax by calling for a reduction in the tax RATE assessed by local districts. They can't change the rate that the districts charge, so they're talking about capping valuation.

And, I can promise you, they'll institute a new tax and nothing will substantially change about local property taxes.

If you're upset about your property tax rates, blame the general increase in property valuation - the RATE hasn't changed in years and years, except by the barest of fractions.

And, get very clear, the taxes collected to support local schools are NOT held by, managed by, collected by or ever touched by the State of Texas. Anything you've heard to the contrary is ignorant, inflammatory and uninformed.

What else were we going to talk about today?

Another busy weekend, revolving around church business and activities. The pool is yet green, and Mitch's ongoing promises to get it (and anything else) handled are just so much excelsior.

Ruby's loaded down with stuff for the church garage sale. She rides dreadfully. I'm glad that she'll be unloaded in a few hours.

Thursday ... has the heat broken yet?

So, Dennis (The Minx) has taken to blogging, and he's damned good at it! Fun to read. Daily, I head over to his little piece to see what he's had to say, and when he's posted it always puts a grin on my face.

I also have a big old smile on my face because Daniel came last night and cleaned the garage. When Barbara looked in there this morning, she was verbally impressed. She's now helping me load up with car with the garage sale stuff for next weekend, which will empty out the unstair closet and allow me to push MORE stuff in there.

Mitch claims that he's having someone come to pick up his giant TV this weekend. Of course, he's made that claim before. However ..

And, hanging up all of the pictures in my room makes me much happier - many of the pictures are old magazine ads for the Lockheed Constellation that I've had in a drawer for years, because there was no place to put them. That's very cool. Unfortunately, I now have to deal with the concept of ALL of the unframed posters that are occupying the "extra" room. Perhaps it's time to throw in the towel and push them out onto eBay. Some of them are EXTREMELY rare.

I met with Tom (there's almost no one sweeter than Tom is) last night for nearly three and a half hours about my various web projects. He's already built a template (that's very very cool) for them, and is going to work already on getting a timeline/project order done, and starting the work on them. How wonderful! I've been waiting for so long to make some strides in this area.

Okay, it's time to be productive..

This is interesting - based on this, Rummy WON'T be leaving

Source from TPM

In all seriousness, I think the real story here continues to be that things are so bad at the White House, the level of denial and secrets to be kept, the self-bamboozlement and bad-faith so profound, that they just can't manage to bring in any new blood.

With Rumsfeld, or any other cabinet secretary, there's a related problem -- the importance of which has, I think, not been fully appreciated or aired. If Rumsfeld goes, you need to nominate someone else and get them through a senate confirmation. That means an open airing of the disaster of this administration's national security policy. Every particular; all about Iraq. Think how much they don't want that ...

Finally, can they find anyone on the outside who wants in? This, remember, seems to be the problem with Treasury Secretary Snow. He has already, in essence, been fired. But they can't come up with anyone crazy enough to take the job.
-- Josh Marshall

More republican "conservative fiscal policy"

Source article

Tax Gimmickry
The Washington Post | Editorial

Monday 17 April 2006

Paying for tax cuts for the wealthy with ... more tax cuts for the wealthy!

Much to the chagrin of the White House and the GOP leadership, lawmakers didn't get a new round of tax cuts done in time for tax day today. But when Congress comes back from its recess, it's expected to take up a deal to extend President Bush's capital gains and dividend tax cuts. To make their budget-busting tax policy appear less costly than it is, the lawmakers are resorting to a gimmick that is even more egregious than their usual tactics.

This one would, as usual, hide the cost of tax cuts that primarily benefit upper-income Americans. But it would accomplish that budgetary smoke and mirrors with a new tax provision, involving retirement savings accounts, that also benefits the well-to-do. And, to top things off, this new tax provision, while masking the cost of the tax cuts by bringing in more revenue in the short term, would in the long run worsen the fiscal situation by piling on more debt. No one who's serious about controlling the deficit - whatever one's position on extending the tax cuts - could support this dishonest approach.

The gimmick is intended to get around a Senate rule that requires 60 votes to approve a tax bill if it's going to deepen the deficit more than five years down the road; if it won't have that long-term impact, a simple majority could suffice for passage. Unfortunately for Senate leaders, a two-year extension of the capital gains and dividend tax cuts, now set to expire in 2008, would cost $20 billion over the next five years - but $30 billion more in the five years after that. Taxpayers will scramble to take advantage of the lower rates now, thereby lessening tax revenue later. So to pass the cuts with only 51 votes, legislators have to find some way to offset that second five-year revenue loss.

Enter the retirement savings gimmick. As it's being discussed behind the scenes, this would let wealthier Americans use savings plans known as Roth IRAs. With traditional IRAs, taxpayers get to deduct the contributions they make from their income for that year; they pay taxes on the savings once they are withdrawn. Roth IRAs flip that arrangement around: Contributors pay taxes on the income they put into the accounts, but their savings then grow tax-free. So letting more people put money into Roth IRAs would increase tax revenue for a while - offsetting, at least in theory, the cost of the capital gains cuts. But the Roth change would cost money down the road, as revenue once subject to taxation would grow tax-free.

Bottom line: A Senate rule designed to make it harder to increase the deficit would be circumvented with a maneuver that would end up increasing the deficit. And a tax cut for wealthier Americans that would cost $50 billion over 10 years would be "paid for" in part by another tax cut for the well-off, which would end up costing billions more. That's amazing - even from this Congress.

Hump Day dynamo

Interesting morning, from a blog perspective. Lots of thoughtful .. thoughts that are worth sharing, which I'll do in a few later posts today.

I've been nesting some more. This is troublesome, as it makes me love this place EVEN MORE. I'm fixing to go hang the pictures in the bedroom, and then later tonight, I'm going to move the stereo equipment (which I said I was going to do on Sunday and on Monday, but I was tired, so give me a break.)

Mitchell called this morning, said he was going to work out the mortgage issue here, and that he would have someone come and clean the pool this weekend so don't hire the pool cleaner people. Now, if I can get him to bring the lawn mower back..

I just haven't felt like doing anything at all. I've been nesting all day. I've hung about 20 pictures, put some more things away, etc. Very exciting stuff. I'm having dinner with Tom to talk about him working on my websites - that in about an hour, so I'm just about to get cleaned up.

Tuesday trials

Yeah, well - I wrote in this WHOLE long entry for today, and then .. firefox just .. shuts down. Third time today.

That's my life this week so far.

Ruby's butt cost $95 to fix - the repair shop, however, wanted to do $500 in additional work, telling me I had an oil pan gasket leak (but there's no oil on the garage floor) that the brake lines and power steering pump needed to be flushed and filled, and that the coolant needed to be flushed and filled. Since I just went through the most Royal of all screwings on the flushing and filling just back in September and then had the water pump replaced (and the engine torn down, with the coolant replaced) in October, I didn't feel like their advice was sound. In fact, I pretty much think they're a rip-off operation. And, they didn't give me the $25 coupon that I had received in the mail as an inducement to come do business with them in the first place.

On the phone, I got to listen to them shuck and jive about how they didn't try to screw me on the shocks, after all - they could have tried to drill me for $400 there.

Funny, but ..

Anyway.

This morning, I awoke to six huge dog turds in the middle of Lake Urine - and, of course, several people are TAKING THE DOG'S SIDE. Uh, thanks. Fourteen years of waste terrorism by that little bastard, but it's because I treat them badly and should pamper them more.

Screw that.

And, two clients' checks are coming BACK to me in my account tonight. Lovely. That should only cost about $160 in charge back fees.

So, I am actively trying to get in touch with EITHER of the recruiters that have an interest in me, but the first one left a message with his mouth full, and I couldn't get his phone number down - the second one is apparently in the custody of the Shi'ite terrorists in Baghdad, and won't be available for several more days.

Either way, I need to get away from "betting on the come," and into "you'll have $X.XX deposited into your account on the 1st and 15th."

Going to Jeffrey and Steven's for dinner here in a few minutes. Cleaned up the dining room today. It looks a ton better, even with no table, the bed and dresser up against the wall, and the huge sheet rock hole in the ceiling.

two quick things

Two things that I cooked up on my own ..

First - bushenanigans

Second - Aberzombie and Bitch

Either describe cultural and behavioral traits that are less than flattering to our little collective.

It's a small world - after all -

So, what if something happened to you that was SO .. bizarre? Funny? Hilarious? Unbelieveable? That youjust HAD to tell someone, but you can't tell a soul?

Well, it happened to me tonight. And, I think we're going to go out again!

T shot me an IM tonight asking me if I was ready for him to move back in. I told him no. I did tell him that, unless and until he's actually ended it with the boyfriend (who's a lying, cheating ho-bag) that I was not willing to be used as leverage.

He's been very quiet ever since.

Found a GORGEOUS house in League City. HOO baby. I've decided if I'm going to move, and I want (as I do) a big house with a pool, I should look at moving down near Clear Lake (it seeming to make more sense than anything else.) It's only three hundred thou. But, it's GORGEMOUS. I'm sure that there are others.

Anyway, that's the view from here in the western suburbs. Buenos Noches!

Monday, Monday ver. 774.01

Well an interesting day all around.

Ruby's butt is going to cost $250 to fix tomorrow (since I can't drive her in this condition, I have little choice.) I have a bunch of tax returns to do up tomorrow. That's a good thing, because I can get paid for them. I need to cook up some more cabbage this week, as the pool is going to cost $360 to clean up and then there are the REST of the obligations due .. yowie. And the fact that the yard is a disaster.

I have three loans going on suddenly. That's good; they'll all close as the next thirty days go by. Tomorrow was supposed to be the meeting with the Dutch investors who need book keeping. I wonder what happened to them. No word from my friend who was making the introduction.

Been talking today to a very nice guy - he lives just up the street. He just got laid off today. Divorced, my age, red hair, very handsome. He hosted singles cruises. Can you spell "FABULAIR?"

Where and when is there enough time in the day to get everything done? I spent some time today moving books upstairs into book cases. I have all the 110 year old books from my grandfather's house that are going to Half Price books in the morning.

Then, there is the big load of metaphysical books that are in a suitcase in the closet, but they have no home for the moment.

Running into resistance with the new car financing. Blarg. I don't know yet what the magic formula is going to be.

Anyway. More to be done. Until later!

Sunday evening commentary

Okay, so I've decided to do some more nesting. I'm going to set up the home theater equipment, probably tomorrow. I'm going to hang up the pictures in my bedroom, and I'm going to put up shelves in the built ins in the "great" room to put up the books.

Ruby busted yet another rear shock today. I think this time, I'm going to NOT get replacement shocks from Auto Zone and I'm going to take her to a different mechanic to have them replaced. Well, at least take it to a different mechanic. If they tell me that the problem isn't the shocks, then I'll see about saving the $150 for the replacement shocks.

Lots of catch up for tomorrow, including tax work. Blarg. LOTS. People with a ton of questions, all of which need to be answered.

All answers will be dispensed.

Started thinking about how to organize the web presentation/magazine articles/DVD on the Seven Deadly Sins and the Science of Mind. It's going to take a ton of work, but I think it will be valuable for both me and for NV.

Watching this DVD that I've been putting off a while. I'll be mailing back three or four tomorrow morning. Along with a few envelopes addressed to the IRS.

We'll see what tomorrow brings. I think that we'll have some good progress.

Werkin, werkin, werkin

I've been working like crazy today; I've saved about $11,000 in people's liability by knowing that they were overlooking something. I've printed through a few reams of paper today, shredded about a ream, and mailed out a mailbox full. Yurg.

I'm catching up. I mean it. I'm really catching up here.

I've decided today that I'm done playing small. I have decided that it's time to start making some real money, and not indulging any stories about what limits me.

Talked to Susan; she was telling me that this is NOT the house to buy - under any circumstances. She was talking about the market response to the marketing effort here, but she was also talking about the house being too big for one person.

Um .. oh, really?

Actually, what would REALLY work for me would be to find another house of just this floorplan, and make it mine. If it were priced right ..

The fortunate thing is that I have a few realtor friends who can help me find just that.

Okay, that decision having been made, it's time to move along.

Tomorrow - the final deadly sin of Sloth. Very fun stuff.

Money-saving tips for last-minute U.S. tax filers:

Let's take a look at the standard Form 1040 and see where you should focus your tax-cutting efforts:

Taxpayer name: Here's a tax-saving opportunity few taxpayers take advantage of: Instead of simply writing your name, write your name plus the word "DECEASED." This can save you big money down the road.

Presidential Election Campaign Fund checkoff box: If you check this box, $3 of your taxes will be earmarked for a special fund to pay for presidential campaigns. Notice that the government does not permit you to earmark the money for poor people, or sick people, or national defense. No, the government permits you to earmark money only for the purpose of enabling politicians to produce TV commercials designed to appeal to voters who have the IQ of a Vienna sausage.

Exemptions: In calculating your dependants, you should bear two things in mind: 1. The more dependants you have, the less tax you owe. 2. Nowhere in the U.S. tax code does it explicitly state, in so many words, that these dependants cannot be imaginary, if you are catching my drift.

Of course, there's always the chance that, even if you cheat in a responsible manner, you'll be called in for a tax audit. This is not the "end of the world." Remember that, as a taxpayer, you have certain rights. For example, the auditor cannot use a cattle-prod setting greater than 5,000 volts.

If you're called in for an audit, the important thing is: Don't panic. Gather up all your financial records, consult with your lawyer and your accountant and then, on the appointed day, flee to Uzbekistan.

---From Dave Barry's Money Secrets (2006, Crown)

For everyone who thinks that Republicans are fiscal conservatives

(copied message)

These guys are good. Good at squandering, anyway. Government spending in March hit an all-time one-month high for the month of March.

In its monthly accounting of the government's books, the Treasury Department reported Wednesday that federal spending totaled $250 billion last month, up 13.7 percent from March 2005.
Government receipts also were up, rising 10.6 percent from a year ago, to $164.6 billion. That left a deficit for the month of $85.5 billion, a record imbalance for March.

Here's a fun factoid. March broke the previous single-month outlay which was set in . . . February. Let's go for broke and see how much we can spend in April! Records are made to be broken, after all.

There is a tiny bit of good news here.


Even though the deficit was a record for March, it was below the all-time monthly high of $119.2 billion, which was set in February.
That's what an incompetent administration and the Rubber-Stamp Republican Congress will get you.

(back to being me)

So, who are we choosing next time to keep these people at the helm? After all the new bankruptcy laws that keep consumers from having relief from indebtedness doesn't affect the Feds.

Oh, wait - we're blowing money faster than a Baptist in a titty bar because we had to invade Iraq. After all, they had those mobile bio-weapons trailers. We FOUND those, right?

Nope. We knew that they weren't weapons BEFORE we attacked. WAY before. So, if they lied about the weapons of mass destruction, and they knowingly lied about it before we attacked, and Saddam invited the inspectors into EVERY site they asked to see before we attacked, and Saddam destroyed and dismantled everything that the international inspectors asked them to - and Geo. W. has publicly, repeatedly admitted that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 - no connection at all...

WHY ARE WE THERE? Can one of you who pulled the lever for Geo. W explain this to me in a way that doesn't involve rhetoric or Fox news bullet points? Just the facts, ma'am. I'm willing to listen, but you ain't talking. You're just slogging away, telling me that the Liberals are dangerous and bad for the economy.

When has it ever been this bad before? In the economy, in the national debt, in public confidence, in international reputation ..

next article

(April 13, 2006 -- 12:09 AM EDT // link)
Here's another question on those bio-weapons mobile trailers that never were.

When did the administration let Congress in on the fact that those mobile weapons labs weren't bio-weapons labs at all and that we'd just been conned by some emigres on the make?

We're focusing now on the president's flogging of this bogus story shortly after the Defense Intelligence Agency gave a definitive verdict on the falsity of the claim. But when did they tell Congress? And how late did other administration heavies continue to make this claim?

My recollection is that with most of these stories like the trailers and the tubes and the nuclear this and that, most of this stuff wasn't definitively knocked down for many, many months after the war. Like old soldiers these fables didn't die so much as they faded away. The certainty diminished. More doubts were raised. But for what always struck me as deeply cynical reasons, the White House never publicly pulled the plug on any of these tales because as long as they kept some level of uncertainty hanging in the air they didn't have to address the fact that the central argument for the war had turned out to be false.

Hell, you've still got Hitchens publicly holding out for the Niger canard. And that's just an example of the fact that you can always find folks deep enough in the tank to churn out tall tales for the true believers to eat up.

Anyway, when did the White House tell Congress that the mobile weapons story was bunk?

A reader pointed me toward this portion of the congressional record from July 17th, 2003 in which Senators Durbin and McConnell discuss then heated WMD debate. They both discuss the mobile bio-weapons trailers with the assumption that that was what they were. And this was the day after then CIA Director George Tenet gave five hours of closed door Senate testimony on the WMD debacle. That certainly suggests that Tenet didn't knock down the mobile lab fable in that lengthy session dedicated to the topic of pre-war WMD intelligence.

What does Durbin say?

And how late were administration figures pushing the mobile bio-labs story?

Here's what Vice President Cheney said to Juan Williams on January 24th 2004 ...

In terms of the question what is there now, we know for example that prior to our going in that he had spent time and effort acquiring mobile biological weapons labs, and we're quite confident he did, in fact, have such a program. We've found a couple of semi trailers at this point which we believe were, in fact, part of that program. Now it's not clear at this stage whether or not he used any of that to produce or whether he was simply getting ready for the next war. That, in my mind, is a serious danger in the hands of a man like Saddam Hussein, and I would deem that conclusive evidence, if you will, that he did, in fact, have programs for weapons of mass destruction.
Cheney's persistence in lying to the public about al Qaida and WMD claims is almost the stuff of legend. So even though the baldness of this lie still sort of grabs me, I can't say it's exactly shocking.

But again, Congress. For how many months did the White House continue to tell the Congress that the mobile bio-weapons story was true even while they knew it was false? For months? Or was it more like a year?

Humpy humpy

What a day, what a day. Another day, another ream or two of paper. Only a few more days of this. Babs is priceless running around and picking up documents, checks and delivering product. I'm hoping that next week she can apply equal effort to the Fabulair calendar next week after we've knocked out all these corporate returns that are due .. oh, Friday.

I'm loving this BBC series "Hustle," that Guy has introduced me to. It's fabulous. The movies that I've been getting from Netflix lately have sucked major butt.

The pool is green again. It looks sort of like something from a horror movie now. Should I spend several hundred dollars having the pool cleaned up, or should I just try to find another place to have the pool party on Memorial Day?

Driving home from dinner tonight, XM83 was playing lots of FABULOUS old (dinosaur) disco music. YAY. It was making me very happy. Chuck has been making fun of me about my taste in music - boom chuckawuckawucka boom chuckawuckawucka boom chuckawuckawucka boom!

I think there are still .. twelve corporate returns to finish? Only a few personal returns yet.

It's just a damned shame about this house - I'm liking it SO much, the layout, the room and everything - it's just terrific. Of course, it needs a bunch of work - Kurtis today was telling me that it needs about $20,000 to totally queen it out. Today, I found this article on MSN that described "green" remodelling materials and techniques. I'd totally pimp this place out and see about getting it as far off the grid as possible. With a new roof, a ton of insulation (both made out of 100% recycled consumer product) double glazed windows (especially upstairs) and a new tankless water heater, I could get its energy consumption down by about half. Then, by installing a wind turbine, I could get its energy consumption down to near zero. Rainwater harvesting would bring the environmental footprint down to near zero.

All this room and luxury and nearly free to operate.

However, the two late night crackhead visits and the crackhead girlfriend letting herself in here have left me twitchy - anytime the house creaks or pops or a car is outside, I jump.

I half expect to see someone peering in the windows whenever I look out.

Not the best feeling. Strangely, though, I'm not nervous, worried or anxious about it.

Interesting also that my long held crap about money is rattling around like mad, but it's not really affecting my faith or anxiety level. It's like I'm observing these issues, not living in them. Weird. Never had this experience before.

Hopefully, that's a good thing.

Okay, time for sleep. Maybe I'm going to turn the alarm off for tomorrow morning and sleep in.

Michael the married guy was by two days ago. Can't shake him out of my head. I like him a lot.

Tuesday that follows Monday

A week left before tax returns have to be mailed off. I'm only about six feet underground with everything, but not so badly that I can't power out of it in the morning.

The pool is green again. I think I've found a cook top that would be very cheap, but .. I'm also not thinking that spending a dime here is the best plan.

Guy was coming over tonight, so I was finally motivated to move the wireless router to a place that would give a stronger signal. Or something. If I were going to stay here, I'd figure some better solution -

So, today I received the SECOND missive from someone who hates immigrants, people of color and anyone who isn't white and middle class, asserting that Teddy Roosevelt had been ugly about the concept of immigrants who don't attempt to integrate themselves into our society.

Right at that VERY moment, someone posted a passage from Leviticus on dailykos.com - it was beautiful. I just cut and pasted the passage into a reply email - let's look at the whole thing here...

Feds to Deny Health Care to Undocumented Workers
by SusanG
Tue Apr 11, 2006 at 03:01:59 PM PDT
Terrific:


Born out of ongoing efforts in Washington to clamp down on illegal immigration, the new federal requirement compels anyone seeking Medicaid coverage to provide a birth certificate, a passport, or another form of identification in order to sign up for benefits or renew them.
...
The requirement was tucked into the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, which President Bush signed into law earlier this year.
...
The intent is to prevent undocumented immigrants from posing as citizens and taking advantage of taxpayer-funded healthcare benefits that are afforded only to legal residents.

Three points:

1. From a purely selfish public health point of view, is it really a good idea to deny diagnosis and treatment to 12 million people ... ever? But particularly when there are concerns about a pandemic? This should make going to the supermarket a total crap shoot for the rest of us, yes?

2. Attention! All you Christianists who want to embed the Bible in the Constitution! Embed Leviticus 19:33-34 in there while you're at it:


" 'When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

3. Hey! GOP! Quit sneaking (or "tucking") appalling shit into legislation under the dead of night. It's a tip-off that you're ashamed of the crap you're trying to pull and that a majority of Americans - who at heart a generous people - would not approve. If you think you have terrific ideas that will lead to the public strewing flowers and candy in your path, come out in the open and say so. If you think we need convincing, make your case and convince us. But you're looking like midnight cowards with these actions, and rightly so.

I'm wondering how many of these Bush-crazed zealots think it's going to be a good idea when we drop nukes on Iran in a few weeks. They're going to probably tell me how evil the Iranians are, and how it is only the most appropriate disposition of force, considering how we're buried up to our ears in Iraq.

I wonder what they're going to say when the Iranian Navy sinks a few of our big assed ships. With those sneaky, Russian built missles that the Russians developed because they couldn't keep up with the American weaponry, especially the Navy. So, they created an anti-ship missile that's faster than anything we have to shoot it down, flies lower than we can detect, and has a warhead strong enough to break the back of a Nimitz aircraft carrier.

I've been saying we had too many of those damned things, anyway. I wonder if the Iranians need a scrapped aircraft carrier as an artificial reef? Perhaps we'll offer up one of the older carriers, so that we get the best ROI. Send the least capable and oldest ships into harm's way in this one.

After all, we're sinking the Oriskany off the coast of Pensacola. It's a proven technique to enhance undersea life.

I'm getting more and more excited about the Lucerne. I need to go to the credit union next week.

Tomorrow, at least, I have a nearly unrestricted day for work. Today, I had a doctor's appointment at 9, breakfast with Mary at 10, and the Chiropractor at noon. I got home at 2:30. Yurg. I did get a lot done this afternoon, but having had a full day to work would have been better.

Favorable reviews of the Lucerne -

I'm feeling validated .. here are two short articles about the car, first from CNN/Money magazine. The second is from just a few weeks ago in the Austin American Statesman.

This well-thought-out machine offers a bit of hope for troubled automaker General Motors' future.

FORTUNE Small Business Magazine
By Alex Taylor III, FSB contributor
April 7, 2006: 4:14 PM EDT

NEW YORK (FORTUNE Small Business Magazine) - It takes me only a few minutes to figure out whether I'm comfortable in a new car. Sure, familiarity helps, but so do good ergonomics, intuitive controls, fine materials, and accommodating seats.

The 2006 Buick Lucerne felt as comfortable as an old sweater from the moment I climbed into it, and my appreciation only grew after logging close to 300 miles on the odometer over the span of 36 hours. This is one well-thought-out machine.
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A GM winner: The Buick Lucerne
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BUICK LUCERNE '06

* CSX V-8: 275 horsepower

* 0-60 mph: 7.6 seconds

* Base sticker price: $35,256

Does liking a Buick make me an old fogey? I hope not -- both for my sake and for General Motors'. Buick has been taking a beating lately because of fears that it is dying along with its customers.

There's some truth to that. Buick buyers are among the grayest for any brand, with a median age of 65, and as they move to that great parking lot in the sky, their children and grandchildren are moving on to other nameplates. Short of cash, GM has accelerated Buick's decline by diverting scarce resources elsewhere, leaving the division with a hodgepodge of vehicles that are long in the tooth, badly cribbed from other models, or both.

With the 2005 LaCrosse, its first shot at reviving Buick, GM failed to add enough spice, but it has cooked up a winner with the Lucerne. The recipe is the same: Take an existing platform (in this case the Cadillac DTS) and give it a new look. The difference is the attitude.

The Lucerne has a rakish stance -- new for Buick -- and seems to be leaning slightly forward on its tires. Its metal skin is wrapped tightly around the frame, especially in the rear fenders, and it's devoid of ornamentation. The front end is forgettable -- the gaping Buick grille evokes no emotion of any kind, and the headlamps are nondescript -- but the rest of the car looks stylish and contemporary. Fake portholes, an amusing retro touch, identify it at once as a Buick.

Sliding behind the wheel, I immediately noticed that Buick has channeled Toyota's knack for making intuitive switches and controls. A special award goes to the audio system, which allows you to toggle effortlessly between AM, FM, and XM Satellite. It became quickly indispensible during my drive in a part of upstate New York that is starved of radio signals. One complaint: The headlamp/wiper stalk, which seemingly populates everything in the GM lineup, is a bit too familiar.

The Lucerne comes with a V-6 standard, but the V-8, Buick's first in a decade, is the way to go here. It's GM's proven Northstar engine, and it puts out 275 horsepower, enough to push the Lucerne to 60 miles an hour in 7.6 seconds. For a front-wheel-drive car, the Lucerne tracks through corners with a minimum of fuss and never feels unstable. This is a big sedan, yet it's responsive enough to be fun to drive. The base sticker price for the V-8 version: $35,256. The CXS test model I drove, with iridescent sharkskin paint, temperature-controlled seats, and other goodies, came to $38,480.

In its struggles for survival, GM has introduced several new models that were supposed to save the company but failed to live up to their billing. Almost no hype surrounded the industry launch of the Lucerne at the end of 2005 -- the car appears in dealerships this month -- but it delivers a near-perfect blend of brand, concept, and execution and offers a bit of hope for GM's future.

COMMENTARY: PETE SZILAGYI
Buick's best ever?
Probably. Updated Lucerne comfortable, roomy, classy – a premium car without premium price tag.

By Pete Szilagyi
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Saturday, March 25, 2006

ith General Motors' problems gone public, everybody's an expert on the company's miscues.

Here's my take: GM should have moved more creative capital to Buick in the 1990s and regularly updated its core lineup of sedans instead of trying to become an SUV company.

GENERAL MOTORS
(enlarge photo)

The Buick Lucerne is front-wheel drive, a benefit when driving in wet weather.

GENERAL MOTORS
(enlarge photo)

The Lucerne's roomy cabin is modestly but smartly furnished with unobtrusive dials, two 12-volt plugs and an MP3 player plug-in.

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When the Buick Lucerne was launched late in 2005, my cynical side thought it might be a warmed-over, "oops, they did it again," ditto of a 1980s design. Then I looked more carefully and drove one for a week.

The Lucerne seems to be a fine car, following Buick's traditional values of plush comfort, roominess and a dose of filigree. It's technologically up-to-date, and an engineering and stylistic success. Probably Buick's best ever.

Like the Chrysler 300 and Mercury Montego, the Lucerne is a modern version of the full-size American road car. As befits the class, Lucerne's cabin is like a living room, but one with smart, modern and efficient furnishings. Even large drivers should be comfortable in the wide seats, though lumbar support might be insufficient. The trunk is roomy enough to hold golf bags and ice chests.

The Lucerne is cousin to the Cadillac DTS, which basically gives Buick buyers premium DNA at more affordable prices, in this case $26,000 to $35,000. That makes the Lucerne lineup $8,000 to $10,000 less than DTS models, which are dressier but not necessarily better equipped than the Buicks.

The Lucerne has three trim levels — CX, CXL, CXS — starting with a 197-horsepower, 3.8-liter V-6. But the 275-horsepower V-8 is better matched to the Lucerne's weight. Gas mileage is just a couple of gallons fewer than the V-6's, though premium gas is recommended for the V-8 and not for the V-6.

My test model, a CXL with V-8 (total sticker price, $34,595) seemed to be a good balance of price vs. performance.

The Buick is front-wheel drive, an important plus for wet-weather traction but a negative for aggressive driving. It suits the Buick's personality well, with the torque V-8 pulling this sizable car along smartly for urban errands and highway cruising. One more gear in the automatic transmission would be helpful.

Although the CXL's electro-magnetic steering felt overly light, the body structure was stiffer and driving dynamics sharper than in previous Buicks. Insulation from road and wind noise was impressive.

Wisely, stylists weren't influenced by what's cool in Japan and Europe. They created what is clearly a Buick, right down to the faux portholes on the front fender. Moreover, they knew when to stop.

Inside, simplicity seemed to be the goal as well. Dials and buttons are unobtrusive. Two 12-volt plugs and an MP3 player plug-in are provided front and center. Yes!

The dashboard, console and door panels are relatively plain, with pleasingly tactile surfaces. It is the "less is more" school of design. It's hard to believe I almost wrote off this car.

In his 24 years of writing a column for the Austin American-Statesman, Pete Szilagyi has driven more than 1,200 new cars and trucks. You may reach him at petesz@macconnect.com.

According to Pete . . .

Target audience: Buick aims Lucerne at middle-agers falling out of love with their SUVs and ready for the traditional Detroit luxury car.

Highs: Styling, ergonomics, engine, roominess.

Lows: Needs a 5-speed automatic, better lumbar support.

Bottom line: The 21st century Buick.