Back in the Fall, the Democratic National Committee announced that because the Michigan Democratic Party violated party rules, they would lose their delegates at the nominating convention. Shortly after, ALL of the Democratic candidates agreed not to campaign there, and five of the candidates (Obama, Biden, Richardson, Edwards, and Kucinich) filed paperwork to withdraw from the primary.

At the time, Clinton claimed that it was "unnecessary" to withdraw from the primary since it would not count anyway.

Here's what Clinton told Newsweek when asked about her recent claim that the Michigan delegates should be seated at the convention:

"He had a choice to be on the ballot. He chose not to be. I chose to stay on the ballot. So that was a choice he made. His campaign then ran a very vigorous effort to try to defeat me with uncommitted delegates, and he lost. So it wasn't as though there wasn't a contest. There was a contest. And I won."

EDIT: 99catsaway linked to this article which explains how Senator Clinton did against "Uncommitted" in Michigan:

Among men, for example, the battle was neck and neck. Clinton got 47 percent and the anonymous/non-existent opposition got 43 percent. (Clinton did substantially better among women, winning 58-37.)...

Among black voters, Clinton was crushed by "uncommitted," 26-70....

Clinton ran poorly among young voters of all races, losing those under the age of 30 by 39-48 percent; splitting voters from 30 to 44 by 46-48 percent; solidly carrying the 45 to 56 age group by 54-34 percent; and winning voters 60 and older by a landslide 67-31 percent.

The only name on the ballot, Clinton won Michigan by a mere 15%.

Just a day after I made my post questioning Hillary Clinton's claim that she "helped pass the Family and Medical Leave Act," a story from The Telegraph is making waves today.

Last week, on CNN's morning news program, Senator Clinton said, "I helped to bring peace to Northern Ireland."

This past weekend, former First Minister of Northern Ireland David Trimble, responded. Mr. Trimble, who along with John Hume, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work towards peace in the region, had this to say:

"I don’t know there was much she did apart from accompanying Bill [Clinton] going around... I don’t want to rain on the thing for her but being a cheerleader for something is slightly different from being a principal player."

CNN did some fact-checking of Clinton's foreign policy claims, which revealed another questionable claim:

"I negotiated open borders to let fleeing refugees into safety from Kosovo," she said on CNN's American Morning.... It's not clear how much she helped since CNN reported at the time that Macedonia reopened its border to Kosovar refugees before Clinton's visit.

Some may find it interesting that, for the most part, I haven't been very outspoken about the Democratic Primary up until this week. That's because for a while, the dialogue was (mostly) about issues, policies, and plans. I had my preferred candidate, but no animosity towards the other. In the past few weeks, however, Senator Clinton's campaign has really taken a turn for the mean, nasty, and negative.

She publicly mocked Obama and his supporters for having hope! Her sarcastic routine in Rhode Island really pissed me off. It's not often anyone criticizes me for being an idealist -- but I actually do believe that our country needs unity. I do believe that our next leader needs more than just the right ideas, but also must come to the White House with the charisma necessary to sell those ideas to detractors. No, Senator Clinton, I don't expect the "sky to open up," the "light to shine down," or "celestial choirs" to sing. But a quick look at our nation's history will show that when we have a well-liked, charismatic leader, the United States has been incredibly productive.

From disparaging a charismatic message of hope, to the trumped-up resume, to the fear-factor advertising, to suggesting that pledged delegates (the ones that we all voted for in the primary) could change allegiance at the convention, Clinton seems to be in full-on desperation mode, and has no qualms about bringing the party down with her. It's pretty upsetting.

I'm not sure, but someone realized that two of them sounded pretty damn close.

Click here [mp3] to listen to two different Linkin Park songs at the same time: "Pushing me Away" in the right speaker, and "Numb" in the left. It's absurd how similar they are. I recommend using headphones for best results.

I've been pretty annoyed with Hillary Clinton's claims comparing her experience to Barack Obama's, including this statement on Monday where she seemed to suggest that the Republican opponent would be a better choice:

"I think that I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House, I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House, and Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002."

This, of course, completely ignores the fact that Obama has spent more years in elected office than she has, and implies that her years as First Lady of Arkansas and of the United States should be considered as the experience that makes her more fit to lead the country.

Someone over at Daily Kos decided to take a closer look at one of the examples of experience Clinton lists on her web site:

"As First Lady, she helped pass the Family and Medical Leave Act"

A quick check of the congressional record reveals that the FMLA, written by Chris Dodd, first passed the congress in 1990, but was vetoed by George H.W. Bush. Override vote needed 2/3 in the house, but only got about 54%. FMLA passed congress again in 1992, but was vetoed yet again. This time, the override failed the house with 60%.

A 1992 (Bill) Clinton campaign brochure promised that if elected, Clinton would sign FMLA into law. Once he was was elected, Congress acted quickly to pass it a third time. On his 16th day in office, President Clinton signed the bill, the first of his presidency.

FMLA had strong support in the legislature before Clinton was even elected. It passed three times, and nearly survived a veto the second time. All he had to do was affix his signature to it. Can someone please explain to me exactly what Hillary did to "help pass" it?

Senator Clinton touts 35 years of experience. She spent 20 (yes, twenty) of those as either First Lady of Arkansas or of the United States. She also spent several of them practicing corporate law, and even sat on the board of Wal-Mart.

Her opponent has worked as a community organizer, practicing civil and voting rights law, lecturing on constitutional law, and has spent 8 years as an elected member of legislature.

If supporters of Senator Clinton don't like Obama's healthcare policy, that's fine. If they disagree with his vote against the war in Iraq, or don't like his thoughts about ending it, that's fine too. But if they support their candidate making the absurd claim that she has a lifetime of experience but Obama has only made a speech, they're being duped.

Both candidates have sponsored and/or co-sponsored legislation in the US Senate. Both have served on important committees. Both have fought hard for the rights of underrepresented Americans. Both Senators Clinton and Obama have comparable experience when it comes to answering the doomsday phone that rings at 3am in Clinton's campaign ad (not much - like anyone who has not been President).

I don't however, think that Clinton is doing the Democratic Party, or the country, any good by breaking what Gary Hart describes as the "Final Rule" of politics: "Do not provide ammunition to the opposition party that can be used to destroy your party's nominee."

By repeatedly telling the public that McCain, the candidate who was proud to support and receive the endorsement of George W. Bush, is better suited to be Commander-In-Chief than Obama... well, I'll let Gary Hart say it:

"For her now to claim that Senator Obama is not qualified to answer the crisis phone is the height of irony if not chutzpah, and calls into question whether her primary loyalty is to the Democratic party and the nation or to her own ambition."

I got a vaccine today, and it was one of the more unpleasant ones we have. Fortunately, no systemic side effects (yet), but the local reaction is freakin annoying. My damn arm hurts like hell. I can't even sleep properly since every time I roll over, it feels like someone punched me in the arm.

Ow, frickity ow!!

So, remember a while back I talked about applying to the degree program at the Extension School?

Well, response letters from admissions are supposed to be mailed on or after March 1st, but I have a funny feeling computing services might have spilled the beans. Here's why:

Up till now, I've been an un-matriculated student. I just take classes a la carte. For any semester that I've been registered for at least one class, FAS computing services gives me an e-mail account and access to some online resources (library, etc.). At the end of each semester, since I'm not officially in a degree program, that all gets disabled unless I register for the following semester.

Since I'll be away this Spring, I didn't register for any classes. As such, I got an e-mail back in January telling me that my computing services account would be deactivated.

Today, I got this message:

The record of your FAS appointment/registration has been updated. As a result, your FAS account has been extended, and the expiration date that was recently set on your account has been removed. Your account will continue without interruption for the duration of your current appointment/registration. No additional action on your part is required.

Seeing as how I didn't do anything on my end, I'm hoping that the update was due to admissions accepting my application, and the registrar switching me to a degree candidate.

99catsaway is convinced that she has an Internet connectivity curse, seeing as how she's on her second ISP in a row that mysteriously quits working, both of which have sent technicians at the wrong time, who don't call to confirm, or who simply don't bring the required parts to fix the problem.

Anyway, if she's got the Internet curse, I've definitely got the Gift Card Curse. Just a few days after making this post about gift cards gone bad on Sunday, I had another issue today.

I had to be on the Cape early this morning. I'm not a huge fan of the coffee at Dunkin Donuts (I do like their commercials, though), but I knew that there were several along the way that were open early. Besides, I still had that DD gift card that a co-worker had included in a Christmas Card back in December. Free breakfast!

Before I walked into the store, I called the customer service line on the back of the card to find out how much it was worth (I had never checked or used the card). The interactive system reported that my card was worth $5.

I got into Dunk's, ordered $4.62 in coffee and bagel sandwich, and handed the manager who took my order the gift card. After a few moments, the register gave an unsatisfied beep. The manager told me, "Sorry, hun, there's nothing left on that card."

When I told her that I had just moments ago checked the balance over the phone, she tried again, but got the same result. Her computer screen, she told me, wasn't reporting a communication error... it showed that my card had zero value.

I was already holding up the line, so I paid cash and was on my way. I got home a little while ago, and figured I'd check verify my card balance online:



Oh well... Add that to the list of gift cards that I need to take the time to straighten out. This is definitely getting old.

My roommate just told me about this cool web site: SongTapper.com. You tap out a song with your space bar, and it identifies the song! Really! It works!

I have no idea how they do it... but it's pretty impressive.

I've grown more and more annoyed by gift cards lately. My frustration has nothing to do with proper gift giving protocol, but with the logistics of having money tied up in a particular company or format.

I won a $25 gift card to Stop and Shop in a charity raffle. I don't normally shop at that chain, but a few weeks ago I stopped in to use the card. At the self-checkout lane, the system wouldn't recognize my card. I figured this form of payment needed full-service, and asked the attendant for help. She looked at my card and told me "I think there should be a sign saying that we can't take those." I asked if I could try again at a full-service lane, and she pointed out signs that had been taped up at several other registers as she told me, "No, it's the whole store." Oh well, I had another form of payment, and needed groceries anyway, so I paid for them and was on my way. Later that week, I tried another location. I asked the head cashier about my gift card before shopping, and found that that this location, too, was unable to accept them. Hopefully, the problem was temporary... I'll have to try again sometime.

I also have a gift card to Panera Bread that I've had trouble with. I got two $15 cards as part of a credit card rewards program. My first card was spent with no troubles, but apparently the magnetic strip on the second one is out of whack. I can confirm the $15 balance on their web site or on the phone by punching in the card number, but at the nearest store, I have twice been told they can't use the number - only the mag strip. This is probably not the case, and I'm guessing that if I asked for the right person, they'd figure out how to do it. But it's always busy when I go in there, and I don't want to hold up the line while someone looks up a procedure. One staffer suggested I request a replacement card through the web site, but I would need the original receipt for that. I didn't buy the card, so no receipt. Oh well, one of these days I'll get that one resolved.

Both of these situations are a minor annoyance. Since the cards were rewards or prizes, the impact on me is negligible. Which is why I don't think anyone should feel bad for me. You should, however, feel bad for anyone who holds a Sharper Image gift card right now. If you hadn't heard, the chain has been struggling, and filed for Chapter Eleven bankruptcy this week. According to a statement on their web site, they intend to "continue business as usual," but with one major exception: "The Sharper Image is suspending the acceptance of Gift Cards, Reward Cards, Gift Certificates, or Merchandise Certificates as a form of payment."

The Consumerist covered the story, and included some comments from the California Department of Consumer Affairs... they don't seem too promising:

Consumers should weigh the potential benefits of a successful or partially successful claim, against the inconvenience and expense of pursuing the claim...

Your prospects for receiving your money are better if the a store chooses to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This means the store intends to reorganize, emerge from bankruptcy and continue doing business. But many retail stores fail to achieve that goal... "

So, they can be inconvenient to use, they sometimes expire or devalue over time (although not here in MA), and if the store enters bankruptcy, card holders become "creditors" who may or may not ever get anything in return.

Why do we use these things? The next time I have occasion to give someone a $20 gift card, remind me to give them a twenty-dollar bill instead!

PS - I have no idea why I'm awake at 5:15 am on a Sunday. I should go back to bed!

Okay, so I've been way too amused by this site lately. It's dumb, it's juvenile, but it's been keeping me laughing all day.

Doesn't that title sound like something from an old movie?

Anyway, for anyone reading who didn't know this already, I'm going to be deploying to Iraq with several other members of my Air National Guard unit. I'll be doing my thing as an Air Force medic for about 60 days.

I just got my orders today... early March through early June. I realize that's a lot longer than 60 days, but it's because it includes time to out-process, travel time, as well as some extra time on Active Duty orders once I'm back...

The dates might change a little bit, but only by a few days in either direction.

It's officially less than 3 weeks away. I'm expecting my deployment to be relatively safe (for a war, at least), seeing as how I'll be at a base within a base... and there's a pretty good chance I won't ever leave the complex.

For better or for worse, it will be one of the most unique experiences of my life.

Even though I will probably have some level of Internet access, I don't think I'll be doing much posting here while I'm gone. I'll have to look into the rules and regulations about that sort of thing, and I'll post if and when I'm able to, but I think my primary means of updating friends will be via e-mail. I'll set up a list like I used during Basic Training so that I can send e-mails to lots of friends at once.

I will also make a post with my contact info over there... it will be a friends-only post, not public... so If you're not on my friends list, and want my contact info, let me know so I can make sure to get it to you (if appropriate, of course).

Stay tuned for more "getting ready to ship out" posts over the next few weeks.

A few months back, I heard about TheGreatHatsby, an AIM-bot which apparently stalked LiveJournal's Latest Posts [Possibly NSFW] page and sent messages to two random LJ users who had recently updated. The bot would start out by saying "I say, old bean, have you seen my hat?" and then send everything one person said to the other, and vice versa... inserting its own screen name in place of the each user's.

Well, just MOMENTS after I made my last post, I got an IM from devourablesalmon. Here's how it went:

devourablesalmon: Hi.
Me: hello?
devourablesalmon: hello
Me: do I know you?
devourablesalmon: who is this?
devourablesalmon: Guess not. Why?
Me: I was just about to ask you the same question. I'm Eric... and you just IMed me, didn't you?
devourablesalmon: No, not to my knowledge
Me: Hmm... that's weird. I've never seen your screen name before, but I got an IM from you 2 minutes ago that just said: "Hi."
devourablesalmon: yeah, that is strange. I've been idle for awhile on AIM now.
Me: A while back, I heard about some random IM-bot that IMs two random people who both have LiveJournals... and sends each person whatever the other person writes
Me: I just moments ago updated my LiveJournal.... so maybe that's it?
Me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheGreatHatsby
devourablesalmon: Wait, how did you know I had a live journal?
Me: I didn't know... I just guessed based on hearing about that Great Hatsby bot
devourablesalmon: ok
Me: I'm guessing we're not even seeing each other's screen names
Me: yours is showing up as devourable-salmon
devourablesalmon: Yours as well
Me: yeah
Me: some people have too much time on their hands!
devourablesalmon: indeed
Me: I'm glad I had heard about that bot a few months back.... otherwise, this would be entirely too creepy. Anyway, nice talking to you... whoever you are.
devourablesalmon: same here :) Later.

Of course, those words weren't from the bot... they were from some other random LiveJournal user. So much for citing my sources, eh? My Academic Writing professor would be very displeased!

Anyway, according to the Riced Out Yugo Hatsby Bot Verifier, devourablesalmon is NOT a Hatsby authorized bot. I guess it's a rogue Hatsby impersonating bot. Seriously? Don't people have other things to do with their time?

Ugh. I had a bit of a fight with my roommate this morning about cleaning.

Back in November, I asked him to clean the bathroom next, since I was pretty sure he hadn't done it in a while. He surprised me by admitting he hadn't ever cleaned the bathroom. When he moved in four months earlier, I told him then that we didn't have an official cleaning schedule, but that we tried to take turns cleaning the common rooms: kitchen, living room, and bathroom.

I next asked him about cleaning the bathroom sometime last month. He got defensive, and said, "Just because you don't ever SEE me clean the bathroom doesn't mean I don't do it. I've cleaned it plenty!"

I was away at drill weekend yesterday and Saturday, but was hoping that maybe this would be an example of him cleaning when I didn't notice. When I saw that it was still completely gross today, I asked if he could clean the bathroom sometime this week. He responded, "This week? Uh, I could try."

I asked him when he last cleaned the bathroom, and he told me, "Last month."

"January?" I asked, "Are you sure?"

He rolled his eyes at me and replied, "Oh, right, I guess it's February now... so technically the month before that... December. And I cleaned it in November, too!"

I wasn't convinced, and asked if he mopped the floor when he cleaned the bathroom. He told me yes, so I asked him where we keep the mop bucket. He pointed to our back hallway and said, "Back there."

I asked him to go find it, and said that if he had mopped the floor twice, certainly he'd know where we keep it.

He stormed off to the back hallway, and came back empty handed. Without saying a word to me, he went into his room and shut the door in my face.

Through the door, I told him, "Not doing your share of the cleaning is one thing, lying to my face about it brings being a shit-head to a whole new level."

This is all less than 2 weeks after this month's rent-check debacle: On January 31st, my other roommate (who pays the utilities and calculates everyone's pro-rated share of the rent to make things even) gave us our monthly numbers, along with his check. I wrote my check, and asked "Mr. Can't Find the Bucket" to write his too so we could leave it outside our front door like we're supposed to on the 1st.

He told me, "Oh, I'll do it in the morning, don't worry."

The next day, as I scrambled home from a half-day of work to drive to NJ to see my grandmother in the hospital, I bumped into our landlord. There were no checks out front... and my roommate had not written one out. I called him on his cell several times, and sent a few text messages, but didn't get any reply. I eventually just wrote a check for his share and mine, and then (since I don't keep that much money in my checking account) had to run to the ATM to withdraw cash from my savings, then the bank to deposit it in checking (two different banks) so the combined rent check wouldn't bounce.

When I eventually heard back from my roommate, I explained that my messages to him were so upset since I was in a lousy position having to face our landlord with no rent checks, and since I was now almost an hour delayed getting on the road to see my grandmother.

"Don't worry about it," he told me. "I understand. It's no big deal. You know how crazy it can be in the morning trying to get out to work... I'll try to write the check the night before next month."

From Al Norman at Huffington Post, via Universal Hub and Blue Mass. Group:

Wal-Mart's financial self-dealing allows it to pay rent to itself through a maze of eight corporate subsidiaries created in November of 1996, including Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). The rent appears as an expense on state tax forms, and is thus deducted from its taxable revenues.

Under the agreement with itself, Wal-Mart pays 2.5% of gross sales monthly as rent to its own REIT, which then wires the money quarterly to Wal-Mart Property Company in the form of a dividend, which is then paid to Wal-Mart Stores as a tax-exempt "dividends received." All of these transactions are handled through a "cash management agreement" between all the parties. Neither the REIT nor the Property Company ever had any employees.

The REITs don't pay taxes, as long as they pay 90% of their income out in dividends to shareholders. In Wal-Mart's case, the REITs are owned by Wal-Mart subsidiaries which are registered in Delaware, a state that has no corporate income tax.

If I ever buy a home, someone remind me to create a subsidiary of myself in Delaware, and then rent my own home to myself from that subsidiary. It's actually a brilliant plan.

Governor Patrick tried to close the loophole that allows this in '07, so (according to Sprawl Busters - admittedly not a neutral party) Wal-Mart paid $208,678 to Beacon Hill lobbyists last year, "five times what the company spent the previous year.".

The Blue Mass. Group post also mentions that MA House Speaker Sal DiMasi "is not a big fan of combined reporting or of the other loophole-closures in the Gov's bill," apparently in fear that they will make for a less welcoming business climate.

Maybe it was because I was in early for a meeting yesterday (today?), but by the end of the day, I was exhausted. I came home, made some dinner, and by 8 pm, I was sound asleep. I just now woke up.... at 12:30 am.

I'm still tired, but I couldn't get back to sleep. I'm very thirsty. Must drink water.

Also, my legs ache.

I can already tell that this is going to be a long weekend. We have a 3-day drill weekend that starts Friday. I'll probably drive down that morning (rather than the night before)... at about 5:30 am. I'll hopefully spend the day getting ready for my deployment (which is now only about a month away!), then I come back up to Boston to go see Sarah Vowell and David Rakoff. Saturday morning, I'll wake up early and start all over again, but stay down on base Saturday night through Sunday.

Also, it's pouring. Thunder and lightening and everything. Isn't it still winter? This feels much more like spring.... albeit a cold spring. Speaking of cold springs, I'm still thirsty.

It's 2pm, and I'm dragging along here at work today... so I decided to hit up the vending machine in the basement and induce a sugar rush with some Skittles. I put in my coins and selected my Skittles (E3). The display read "WINNER," and the machine dispensed my candy without touching my available credit. Since I didn't want anything else, I hit the coin return button and got all of my change back!

How random is that? I didn't realize the vending machine was a contest, but apparently, I won!

On a much lighter note...

I think I've already mentioned that I kicked butt on my final paper in religion class. I don't, however, think I've posted about my final grades for the semester:



Go me!

Instead of spending this past weekend in Houston with Rose, I spent it in NJ with my family. Late Wednesday night, my grandmother was hospitalized for fluid in her lungs. On Thursday morning, she seemed to be responding well to the diuretic, but that afternoon she became unresponsive. By Thursday evening doctors started thinking that it might be the end of the road. I drove down on Friday, and brought a suit...

My mother's mother hasn't been herself for quite a while now. She was diagnosed with vascular dementia (and small vessel disease) a couple of years back, and has been losing cognitive and fine-motor function fairly rapidly ever since. First, she started losing words from her vocabulary... then she began to forget who people were, and where she was. This made her increasingly anxious and depressed, so her doctor began treating her with psychotropic medications. Between the meds and the dementia, she's been in a bit of a non-verbal haze... and doesn't stay awake for very long even during the day. She's also lost her ability to take care of herself unassisted... she's had a health care aide living with her for a while.

Anyway, back to Friday. By the time I got to her hospital room that evening, my grandmother was doing significantly better... awake, responsive, and even getting a few words out. She was pretty exhausted, and didn't stay awake for very long periods of time... but that's about how she was the week before, and it was a lot better than totally unresponsive.

She was discharged from the hospital yesterday... and as far as I know, she's back home now... with the health care aide... back to her non-verbal, non-ambulatory, not awake much, usual state.

I think on Thursday night, everyone had gotten used to the idea of it being the end. We all agreed that she has lived a rich, fulfilling 86 years, seen and done a lot in her life, and that she never wanted to linger on in this sort of condition. We were ready for it.

Now, nobody seems sure what to think or feel. In a way, it's nice that she recovered... but she's not really back to herself... she won't ever be. And she's not living much of a life anymore...

Anyway, it was great to be there, both for my Grandmother (who seemed to realize who I was), and for my mother.

I was watching an old episode of Family Feud on Game Show Network yesterday. I would guess it was from the very early 80's. Here's how one question and answer went:

Richard Dawson: We asked 100 people, the top five answers are on the board. Name the most important machine in an office:

Contestant: A computer?

Dawson: [Turning to the big board] Show me computer!

The 5th spot flipped over to reveal "Adding Machine/Calculator." A whopping 7 people said it.

So much has changed in 3 decades, huh?

Dear Mainstream Media,

Please consider referring to this coming Tuesday, February 5th, as "Super Duper OMFG WTF LOLLERSKATES Tuesday." I think it would be fun, don't you? Of course, Fox would probably insist on calling it "Super Duper OMG YOU HATE BUSH Tuesday," but that's okay. I say, let them!

Sincerely,
ericjay