Quick digg Tip
If you ever find a story online about girls and animé, submit it.
Washington’s Potential Political “Nightmare” Team
I know I’m supposed to appreciate and respect the fact that, in America, anyone can run for political office. That’s one of the basic freedoms we share, and one of the great things about our democratic system.
But … it also means you end up with some real freaking lunatics on the ballot when you’re still in the primaries.
You’ve heard of the “Dream Team,” right? Well, in Washington, we could end up with the “Nightmare Team.” Depending on how things go in this month’s primary and then in the general election, here’s a look at who might end up running the state for the next few years:
Governor
One candidate proposes to force Boeing to convert from aircraft production into a company that produces solar and wind power equipment. This same candidate also wants to ban single-occupant vehicles (except in places where there’s no public transportation).
Another candidate proposes helping the economy by encouraging construction of homes made of strawbale, wood, and clay. (Those homes would be cheaper, the candidate says, and we wouldn’t have such mortgage problems like we have now.)
Another candidate lists as his “elected experience” the fact that he’s served nine years on the board of directors of a national hotel chain.
That’s better than another candidate, whose sole elected experience is being voted Treasurer at his local Moose Lodge.
A fifth candidate lists as his significant career experience the fact that he’s created an “air engine” that can power cars, and will let us stop relying on fossil fuels while ending global warming.
And those are the more normal options. The winner of this competition is a candidate who:
- believes that a pro-Israeli faction forced the U.S. to start the war in Iraq. The actual quote from his platform is: “AIPAC and other Jewish Zionist Lobbies who represent less than 2% of American People are using the United States through their mighty power in the News Media, Financial Institutions, Hollywood and Entertainment Industry, Both Political Parties, Congress and the White House as Proxy to wage war against any country perceived to be threat to Israel, like in Iraq.”
- wants to amend the Constitution so that state governments, not Congress, vote on when we go to war
Superintendent of Schools
It’s possible that this office could be in the hands of a gentleman whose Candidate Statement begins with the exhortation, Viva Chavez! Yes, as in Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He goes on to accuse the media of lying, and says “we’re at war with our own government” and with corporate America. Oh, and he calls Bill Gates a “software terrorist.”
U.S. Congress, District 4
This is my local district. One of the candidates believes an across-the-board 10% income tax will fund all levels of government. He wants the Federal, State, and Local governments to each receive 3.33% of that 10% tax … as if funding a military costs the same as cleaning up the park down the street from me.
Legislative District 16
One of the candidates lists “Poker pro” as his occupation.
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So there you have it. Should be an interesting primary, and with the way people on the other side of the mountains often vote, it could be an interesting general election, too!
Another Week of Blogging
I knew last weekend’s cross-country travel would slow me down on the blogging front, but had no idea how swamped I’d be this week at work — and that’s what really put the kibosh on my plans. Here’s all I managed to crank out for the week:
West Richland Real Estate Blog
Richland Real Estate Blog
Pasco Real Estate Blog
@U2 Blog
Small Business Search Marketing
That’s it! Pretty lame. My other excuse is that I’m also busy starting yet another blog. 
Money School is Now in Session
I don’t remember learning much about money as a kid. But I remember having it, because my dad started me working around the house and at his office building at around 10-11 years old. He paid me pretty well, and I spent it pretty well. Well, for a little while I did; when I decided I wanted to go to the prestigious, all-boys, private, Catholic high school — the one with a $2,000+ annual tuition — that’s when I learned to save money.
At Casa McGee, we’re not waiting for our son or daughter to tell us they want to go to some private school to start teaching them about money. It began tonight:
We’re using Dave Ramsey’s “Financial Peace Jr.” system, which basically works like this:
- The child has a list of jobs to do each week. Rather than “giving an allowance”, you’re paying the child for the work done. Just like real life, if you don’t work, you don’t get paid.
- If the child doesn’t do a certain job, does it poorly, or does something else s/he’s not allowed to do, the child gets “fined” and receives less money at the end of the week.
- The money earned gets divided into three categories: GIVE, SAVE, and SPEND. We’ve decided that our kids have to put 20% of their salary in the GIVE envelope, and 40% each in the SAVE and SPEND envelopes.
- The child can use the SPEND money, and some of the SAVE money, to purchase a desired item or experience. There’s a chart where s/he lists what the item is, how much it costs, how much s/he’ll put away each week toward the purchase, and how long it should take to have enough money.
I think this’ll be good. I’m hoping they learn financial discipline; the value of work; that money isn’t just for spending; that giving to the less fortunate is important; and that good money management has rewards.
The kids are excited. I think that’s half the battle right there.
The Weekly Blogging Recap
Slow week of blogging this week — busy with work, busy getting ready for some travel, busy with some new projects, busy, busy, busy. But here’s what I did manage to write over the past week:
The Fan
Pasco Real Estate Blog
West Richland Real Estate Blog
Richland Real Estate Blog
@U2 Blog
Small Business Search Marketing
- July ‘08: Best Search/Marketing Posts
- Latest SEL Column: Being a Small, Online Retailer
- Traffic Marks: Terrific New Linkbuilding Tool
- GroupThink: You Have One Page to Optimize…
- Why Reputation Management Matters for Small Businesses
- She Paid $1750 for What?
- 5 Things to Do Today
With my new iPhone keeping me busy, not to mention being out of touch a bit this week, next week’s recap will probably be even more sparse.
Pasco Pet Store Sells Sick Puppies
How does something like this happen?
There’s a story in our local paper that talks about a Petland store in Pasco that recently sold four puppies that were sick with Parvo. Two of the four have died. Yikes!
Here’s the part I don’t get:
It’s unclear whether the puppies were infected at the store or before arriving in Pasco from a Midwest supplier, Washburn said. The local Petland no longer will take puppies from that supplier, she said.
A Midwest supplier? I guess I never thought about it much, but … a Midwest supplier? So, like, there are dog factories and distribution chains just like we have with food, toys, furniture, auto parts, and everything else? Do they ship these dogs in big 18-wheelers, too? I’m not one of those animal freaks all of a sudden, but that just seems strange to me. But I suppose pet stores need (animal) inventory just like any other place….
Still, when all of the animal shelters in the Tri-Cities are overflowing (wish I could find that link) with unwanted pets, what on earth are people doing buying dogs at a chain pet store that come from the Midwest?
This whole thing is bizarre … maybe it’s just me?
[where: 5109 N Road 68, Pasco, WA 99301]
iPhone = “In Transit”
That’s the FedEx tracking record for my iPhone. Ordered it back on the 18th. Arriving tomorrow.
Me = Psyched.
Sparky, the Crazy Puppy
I just remembered a week or two ago that I have a personal account on YouTube (in addition to the @U2 account and several other blog-related accounts). Since I recently bought the latest and greatest version of Apple’s iLife software, and since we recently got a puppy, I combined those two into my very first uploaded video on YouTube. (I’m such an early adopter.) It lasts a minute and there’s audio. Here it is:
Agreeing with the 2008 Consumer Action Credit Card Survey
Mrs. McGee and I are doing our best to get rid of all credit cards in our possession. Unfortunately, it’s slow going because we did some pretty stupid things in our 16+ years of wedded bliss. But we’re making progress, and we’ll eventually get there. Everything will be purchased with cash or debit cards, with (I assume) the exception of homes.
Why?
Because we agree with this sentiment:
2008 Consumer Action Credit Card Survey Declares Credit Cards ‘Really !@$% Evil!’
Amen.
Latest Flickr Photos Found in the Wild
I usually don’t think of London and baseball going together, so this seems a bit out of the ordinary: The Popular blog Londonist used a baseball photo of mine on a recent post about “International Baseball”:
Looks nice, doesn’t it? I think so. And here are a couple other places people have been using my photos:
- CBS-5 in San Francisco used my Santa Clara sunset shot from February on a blog post.
- And on The Consumerist, Meg Marco used an old photo of a local McDonald’s drive-through on a recent post.
