I know I've talked about this before since I already have clip art for this topic but I find it really damn irritating to get these credit card applications in the mail these days.  It seems I'm ripping up 1 or 2 of these things a day.  They all say I can have a great variable interest rate of 18.99% or higher.  Some of these things come from companies whose cards I've already closed because they said they were going to jack my low fixed rate cards up to 20-some-percent. 

Again, I've already talked about this stuff but I've also noticed that all these applications are coming from banks who got "bailed out" because they're "too big to fail" and stuff last year.  So, we bail them out so they stay in business and they're supposed to start lending money to the little people again, right?  Did they fail to mention that they'd being bleeding us to death at the same time?  I don't think I heard that. 

Anyway, I've sworn off the damn things.  I have store cards that I use for some of the benefits but the run of the mill Citi, Bank of America, etc. cards have no chance in hell of making me a customer again.  I have also taken a liking to the Move Your Money idea.  Now, thankfully, my beautiful and intelligent wife of mine already knew the benefits of keeping our money in a credit union.  It's been there for the past 7 wonderful years we've been married so I know I didn't help create that "financial crisis" everyone's jabbering about.  What about you though?  Did you help screw up the economy?  Is your money paying for multimillion dollar bonuses for CEOs who wouldn't mind sticking "it" to you for few more bucks? 

Update: Bill Maher talks about this movement and why it's important.

Frequent visitors to my website (me) will notice strange things in the short term future.  I'm working on overhauling pretty much the entire visual design.  I drew up a new logo because the font I used for the original one was not free to use.  Unfortunately for me (and the author), I hadn't made one penny off the damn thing so I think we're square.  Starting with the logo, I've taken a great deal of effort to find a new design that I think is "hip" enough for today's internets.  Anyway, I have three areas of the site complete and will be swinging around to the rest of them in the next few days.

The Daily Nonpareil, the newspaper for Council Bluffs, posted an opinion article about the Council Bluffs School District's plan to fire 50 teachers to save money.  I posted the following comment, which they might not post, about that idea and the general state of education in the U.S.:

When my son hit 5, I had a tough decision of whether to send him to Council Bluffs schools or open enroll him into Lewis Central.  The PEOPLE, i.e., the teachers, principals, etc., I met in each district were all nice, well-meaning individuals. The thing that tipped the scales, however, was when I found out the kindergarten classes in Longfellow would hold a minimum of 25 children not counting kids outside their preschool.  I looked around at the TWO classrooms sharing ONE actual room and said, "Nope, not here."

Education in this country, let alone this city, is absolutely terrible. As long as our society continues to clamor for smaller tax bills, spending less on schools and salaries for teachers, we will NEVER compete with the rest of the world.  The people who spend tens of thousands of dollars getting a degree in education, the ones who actually know their stuff and have a passion to teach, will NOT work for $25,000 a year just to compete with spoiled, unruly kids glued to cell phones and parents who do NOTHING towards their children's education but complain.  I commend the teachers who already do this despite spending their own time and money on supplies for their students.  As long as this "culture" against education carries on, our technical and academic edge on China and Europe will dwindle down until we are a nation of proles fed solely on beer, football and cheap TVs. 

The situation of the Council Bluffs schools can more than likely be attributed to years of horrible administration of the already limited tax revenue from the city, state and federal governments and the short attention span most residents have towards education.  People without children ignorantly ask "Why should I spend tax money on schools and teachers?"  It's increasingly disheartening to hear the same words fall out of the mouth of politicians.  Where will your doctors come from? Who will design and build your bridges, roads and homes?  Should our children really spend most of their school days working towards the slim chance of becoming twitter proficient NBA players rather than learning how the world works, i.e., science, mathematics & physics?  The likelihood of your "snowflake" becoming the next computer programmer or biologist is a lot larger (and more rewarding) than being the next Tiger Woods. 

Those are larger questions than the one posted here, but the answer to this one is NOT to punish the teachers and in turn punish the students. The answer is to work up from the students towards the teachers and administrators to find out where the waste is occurring.  Getting rid of a few complacent administrators will save more money than firing 50 teachers.

Am I the only one who sees education as a "public good"? Something we all should strive for as a society?!?

I love Grumpy Old Men.  Now I'm not declaring affection towards the elderly but of a great movie from 1995 starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.  If you've never seen it, the film's about a couple of old men, duh, from Waubasha, Minnesota.  They spend most of the film cussing at and fighting with each another.  The sequel, Grumpier Old Men, is just as good as the first although it has a section that ought to bring a tear to your eye. 

In my opinion, the characters are endearing despite the high ratio of grump to old men.  As the film progresses, you truly get the idea of what it's like to be, to lack better words, old and lonely.  The movie is especially endearing to me because it reminds me of Minnesota.  I've actually been in Waubasha, too!