Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the White House. One from Illinois, one from Tennessee and a third from Virginia. They all go with a White House official to the fence.
The Virginia contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. “Well”, he says, “I figure it will run about $900- $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me.”
The Tennessee contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, “I can do this job for $700- $300 for materials, $300 for my crew, and $100 profit for me”.
The Illinois contractor doesn’t measure or figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, “$2,700.”
The official, incredulous, whispers back, “You didn’t even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?”
The Illinois contractor whispers back, “$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire that guy from Tennessee to fix the fence.”
“Done!” replies the government official.
NOW YOU KNOW HOW WE GOT INTO THIS MESS WITH OUR ECONOMY!!!
You can bet that in a year when an Ohio plumber became more famous than the Dalai Lama, a hockey mom from Alaska came within a heartbeat of the White House, gas hit $4 a gallon, and rich automakers begged Congress for $25 billion, Dave Barry might have a few words to say.
In light if the current financial chaos around the world, and listening to our two wonderful options for president blabber back and forth, it’s hard not to worry. I haven’t lost millions of dollars in my 401k, or thousands for that matter, but the uncertainty of the future definitely has many people at least a little bit worried.
Will I be able to provide for my family in the coming year? Will my business continue to thrive in the struggling economy? Is it time to shut off the HD package on the DirecTV account, and the unlimited text messaging on the iPhone? I don’t know the answers to these questions.
Yeah… there’s question, and there’s worry. But here’s the reality of it all… we aren’t really in control of what happens.
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life“?
It’s hard for me to watch Paris Hilton be the one to say this… but is it so hard to believe that maybe both sides have some decent ideas? Is it that far fetched to think we can work together to solve some of these problems? I still say we vote on a President without a running mate and the loser gets the VP gig. That’s just my opinion, I may be wrong, plus there’s not any rich people or various lucrative businesses knocking on my door to give me piles of cash either…
Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Mc Cain were flying to a debate.
Barack looked at Hillary, Chuckled and said, “You know I could throw a $1,000 bill out of the window right now and make somebody very happy.”
Hillary shrugged her shoulders and replied, “I could throw ten $100 bills out of the window and make ten people very happy.”
John added, “That being the case, I could throw one hundred $10 bills out of the window and make a hundred people very happy.”
Hearing their exchange, the pilot rolled his eyes and said to his copilot, “Such big-shots back there. I could throw all three of them out of the window and make 156 million people very happy.”
Wow! This comes from a great web site called globalwarming.org, the website of the Cooler Heads Coalition, an international group of non-profit organizations dedicated to smarter thinking on the subject of global warming and climate change.
In August, New York Governor George Pataki announced a $17 million aid package to four private companies to develop wind farms in various parts of the state. But, according to Glenn Schleede, president of Energy Market & Policy Analysis, New Yorkers should be wary of the environmental claims of wind power.
The New York Energy Plan estimates that the eight wind farms, with a combined 250 wind turbines, would produce approximately 900,000 kilo-watt hours (kWh) of electricity per year. But this is a drop in the bucket compared to the states total electricity demand. For example, this amount equals 58/100 of 1 percent of the total electricity imported into New York in 2000. It is only 15 percent of the energy that will be produced from a single gas-fired combined cycle plant that is scheduled to come online in Athens, NY in 2003.
The wind power industry often claims that “electricity generated by the wind turbines will displace on a kWh for kWh basis electricity that would be generated by fossil-fuel generating units and any associated emissions.” But that simply is not true, says Schleede. “Such claims are generally exaggerated. For example, they do not take into account that any fossil-fueled generating unit that is kept available to back up the intermittent electricity from the wind farm will be giving off emissions while it is running at less than peak efficiency or in spinning reserve mode. Nor do they take into account the fact that other alternatives for reducing emissions are likely to be far more cost-effective.”
New Yorkers should also be aware that there is growing opposition to wind farms wherever they are proposed, in Europe, Australia and in nearly every state in the U.S., says Schleede. “Opposition is due to a variety of reasons including scenic and property value impairment, noise, bird kills, flicker effects of spinning blades after sunrise and before sunset, potential safety hazards from blade and ice throws, interference with telecommunications, and higher costs of electricity.”
Ever wondered what the most powerful man in the world listens to in his spare time? In a rare departure from formal media interviews, George Bush has revealed what is on his personal “clunker” iPod. Click Here (WMP)
Rolling Stone magazine rejected an ad from the nation’s largest Bible publisher, USA Today reports Tuesday.
Though the message doesn’t mention God, it does tout publisher Zondervan’s new Bible translation aimed at “spiritually intrigued 18-to-34-year-olds.”
“The magazine rejected Zondervan’s Bible ad just weeks before its scheduled run date, citing an unwritten policy against accepting ads containing religious messages,” the paper noted.
USA Today reported that Zondervan executives say the entertainment magazine was key in its $1 million campaign to reach young adults who have rarely, if ever, seen Bible ads before. Surveys show that 53 percent of this age group read the Bible less than once a year or never, although they are huge buyers of books on spiritual and religious themes.
Today’s New International Version of the Bible (TNIV) is a modern English translation from Zondervan, publisher of the world’s best-selling English translation, the 1978 New International Version. The TNIV features updated language and scholarship.
The ad features a young male unsure about life. The ad copy says the Bible is “real truth” in a world of “endless media noise and political spin.”
USA Today said Rolling Stone was angry about the ad’s slogan: “Timeless Truth; Today’s Language.”
“And that assertion of ‘truth’ evidently triggered the rebuff from Rolling Stone,” the paper said.
