Open Letter to Arlen Specter

Dear Senator Specter,

WTF?

Sincerely,
Random Muser

P.S. Welcome to the party.

I Totally Get How This Kid Feels

I twitter. It started last August when I noticed that dooce had a link on her site to her twitter page. Twitter is hard to explain, and I have yet to convince any of my friends to join. I mostly follow the twitterings of blog authors, politicos, reporters, local businesses and the odd celebrity. My own tweets typically consist of inane musings, political observations, and the odd random link.

I've discovered many interesting websites from other people's tweets...and this evening I believe I ran across the mother of all links. Demi Moore (aka @mrskutcher) posted a link to this utilitarian website. The site is essentially a White Pages for the best viral websites/youtube videos (and by viral, I don't mean to suggest that you should be worried about updating your anti-spyware software before visiting these sites...although you can never be too safe).

The title of the web page reads: "GREG RUTTER'S DEFINITIVE LIST OF THE 99 THINGS YOU SHOULD HAVE ALREADY EXPERIENCED ON THE INTERNET UNLESS YOU'RE A LOSER OR OLD OR SOMETHING," and while I admit that earlier today I was contemplating the rapidly closing window of my youth, I don't consider myself to be an old fogy quite yet (I mean, I twitter for goodness sake), so I decided that I needed to check out several of the links that I hadn't come across yet. That's when I came across THE FUNNIEST YOUTUBE VIDEO EVER. It's right here, and you must check it out. I laughed so hard at this video that I cried and had to cross my legs to keep from peeing my pants. Perhaps the fact that I can completely relate to this kid speaks volumes about me...or maybe it's just a really funny video. You decide. Oh, and if you know where I can get some of what that kid had, let me know.

Adios, Au Revoir and Auf Wiedersehen

I'm off. Flight to San Juan, via Newark, leaves in 6 hours. Not sure if I'll get any sleep tonight as I'm still doing laundry, but who cares...soon enough I'll be napping on the beach. On the itinerary, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados. Oh, and rum. Lots and lots of rum. I hope my liver is up for the challenge.

Remind Me Again, Why is Bipartisanship a Good Idea?

To reiterate my point on Obama's desire for bipartisan support of his fiscal stimulus plan, but in a much more forceful and cohesive manner, here's Paul "Mr. Genius" Krugman (no, I'm not being facetious, he won the Nobel Prize in Economics for goodness sakes) on why bipartisanship won't work with Obama's plan. Also, can we all stop calling it a "stimulus" bill and call it what it really is... a JOBS bill?

Or maybe not...

Guess the 60 seat majority in the Senate is out, which begs the question why Sen. Gregg is still going to get the nod for Commerce Secretary. I get the desire to be bi-partisan, you know, the whole no blue-state/red- state, touchy-feely, kum ba yah thing, but I'm starting to think it could all be for naught.

I'm going with Rachel Maddow on this one and suggest that our new President pick up the book "He's Just Not That Into You" (or get a private screening of the upcoming movie)- cause, let's face it, the republicans are just not into him...and they never will be.

Every Vote Counts

With the fire sale outside Norm Coleman's soon-to-be former office in the Capitol, and the news that Republican Sen. Judd Gregg is on the list for Commerce Secretary, it's starting to look like the Dems may be able to pull out a 60 seat majority in the Senate after all.

See, every vote does count (especially in Minnesota)!

Survivor's Guilt

I should have known when my hair wouldn't cooperate this morning and insisted on being parted on the right (instead of on the left like I've parted it every day of my life for as long as I can remember), that today wasn't going to be a normal day. Even when the coffee pot made hot water instead of coffee this morning, I still didn't get the hint. It wasn't until I arrived at work this morning to the news of layoffs that I realized how much life had changed in a mere 14 hours.

Luckily I'm still employed, but not everyone on my team was so lucky and I'm feeling an enormous amount of guilt right now. I know its irrational for me to feel guilty, but I can't help it. I feel for those that were sent home today and for their families. I want to tell management to cut my salary, take away my promotion, eliminate my benefits...do anything to keep these people employed - and at the same time I feel a certain sense of relief and gratefulness that I wasn't the one packing up my personal belongings and being escorted out of the building. I also feel a sense of foreboding and uncertainty. I made the cut today, but how long will my luck last. I guess all I can do is embrace the survivor's guilt, and be comforted in the fact that I'm not going to be spending my night trying to figure out where to line up for an unemployment check tomorrow.