NSA wiretapping

I think this story has been adequately covered by other blogs, so I'm just going to refer you to Daily Kos, and say that I pretty much agree with the assessment.

More on the Maytag plant closings

NPR has a good story and podcast today on the closing plant in Newton, Iowa.

Chris is gone

I was wrong. But, c'mon. Everybody was wrong. We all thought he was going to win it all.

My hometown gets screwed by a giant corporation

Today's news hit me like a ton of bricks.

I grew up in Herrin, a small town of 11,000 people in Southern Illinois.

Growing up, there were two major industries in the area. The first was coal mining, which is now mostly gone. I understand the reasoning behind the Clean Air Act, but with the environmental benefits there was a cost... It made Southern Illinois coal essentially useless, and cost alot of jobs.

The other industry was a factory. A washer and dryer factory. When I was very young, it was a Norge factory. Norge was later bought out by Magic Chef, which was later bought out by Maytag. Amazingly, in these days of companies buying out other comapnies, eliminating some jobs and moving others overseas, the Herrin factory survived.

But now, that has changed. About six weeks ago, Maytag was bought out by Whirlpool. Today, Whirlpool announced that they are closing the Herrin facility.

I'm not sure if it's quite sunk in yet how devastating this will be on my hometown. A little math here (with some rough guesses)... There are 11,000 people in Herrin, lets say two thirds of those are people are of working age. That's about 7,500 people. Now, lets say half of the 1,000 employees that lost their job today live inside the Herrin city limits. That's 500. So that's about 6 or 7 percent of the working people in my hometown that lost their job, effective the end of 2006.

I'm ususally not big on economic boycotts, I think they're largely ineffective and I think that once corporations grow beyond a certain size, they're all going to be about equally evil anyway. I mean, I've seen Roger and Me, but if a Chevy were to be the best product out there next time I'm looking for a car, I'd probably buy a Chevy.

But someday, when I'm in the market for a refrigerator, washer or dryer, it's hard to see myself buying a Maytag or Whirlpool product. It's kind of petty, because I doubt their competitors are model citizens, but I just don't think I'd want to look at a Maytag or Whirlpool product in my house.

So, this news kind of put a damper on my day. Life will go on for Herrin, I suppose, but how many service jobs can one small town have? My heart also goes out to the people of Newton, Iowa and Searcy, Arkansas, two other communities that will be going through the same thing.

Do my eyes deceive me?

Chris posted something that looks like a clear, concise, Democratic agenda that makes sense.

Celebrity baby names

So White Stripes singer Jack White named his daughter Scarlett. This actually isn't so bad. I mean, it's not like Pilot Inspektor or Banjo. But Scarlett White is a big oxymoronic.

Cutting down on junk mail, and being green

I got this from a friend, and I'm assuming this works. If not, sorry for the inconvenience.

I got some tips on how to cut down on junk mail at my volunteer job. It turns out there is a number you can call to opt out of credit card and insurance offers. It is 888-567-8688. You will be off the list for 5 yrs.

There is also a national mailing list. Yeah, I didn't know there was such a thing either. All 4 credit bureaus (equifax, etc. )give the list our info. But you can get off the list by sending in your name, address and signature to Mail Preference Service, c/o Direct Marketing Association, P.O. Box 643, Carmel, NY 10512

Johnny Damon

As the Onion points out, Johnny Damon is probably thinking about starting a band.

Idol

Chris, Taylor and Elliott were all good. Chris had two outstanding performances, Taylor wasn't great on the first one but gave the best performance of the night on his second try. Elliott also had an outstanding second performance that made up for a lackluster first effort.

Katherine, on the other hand, just blew it. She deserves to go home. I think she will. No way Chris goes home, and Taylor seems safe too. Elliott was good enough that I don't think it'll be him either. So I think we're looking at an all male final three.

The Nose Knows Mickey

Speaking of Dara, she posted this picture of me over on the PH4H Blog.



My, that's a big nose. A quite an impressive picture of Mickey too.

My question: Why is Mickey holding his ass? And why's he so happy about it?

Blonde joke

Dara posted what has to be the best blonde joke I've ever read.