Welcome to AvantaLand

...I was inspired to find and take the following quiz again.

My Political Views
I am a left social libertarian
Left: 4, Libertarian: 4.01

Political Spectrum Quiz


My Foreign Policy Views
Score: -2.81

Political Spectrum Quiz


My Culture War Stance
Score: -5.36

Political Spectrum Quiz


Not a whole lot of change from the the last time I took it.

Anger grows in quake-hit Haiti over aid delay

Ummm. Folks? Your country's entire infrastructure collapsed in that quake. And you're on an island. Your neighbor, the Dominican Republic, was Johnny-on-the-spot with assistance and the rest of the world is doing its level best to get relief workers, food, water, and other necessities to you as quickly as we can.

But....

The Port-au-Prince airport runways are too short to handle the biggest cargo planes we have, so we're using the smaller ones. The control tower is non-functional so pilots have to coordinate takeoffs and landings with each other by sight and by radio. It's a miracle no planes have crashed. There isn't enough jet fuel for return flights and space to park the empty planes is filling up. The cranes that usually offload cargo ships were knocked into the harbor, making large shipments by sea impossible. The roads are in sorry shape, so delivery of what aid can get through is hampered.

We understand your situation is desperate, and we're getting stuff to you just as fast as humanly possible. But seriously, how is stacking corpses in the street as roadblocks going to help?

( Text of articles for posterity )

...or has Dick Cheney uttered more words in public in the last three weeks than in the previous eight years? I never thought I'd say this, but these days it seems the most dangerous place in the world is between him and a microphone/TV camera.

Dick. Darlin'. Shut the hell up. Your time is over. Go away like a good little ex-vice-president.

The Shrub leaves office. And there was much rejoicing!

Obama won. Obama won. Obama won.

If I type it often enough, it will become real and not a fantasy come true.

On a more somber note, how sad that his grandmother passed away the day before her baby boy made history. And how ironic that McCain's concession speech was the best speech the man delivered during his entire campaign.

But Obama won!

Spielberg directs a public service announcement. About voting.



*avanta7 peruses her list of email addresses, including the addresses in her "work" folder*
*whistles innocently*

So the White House wants to bail out Wall Street investment firms to the tune of 700 billion (yes, that's with a "B") dollars. With little or no oversight. Yeah. That'll work.

Spouse and I came up with another idea.

If the U.S. Government has that much money to give away, how about giving it back to us taxpayers? Seriously. Like it did with our "economic incentive" payments earlier this year. Give every individual who filed a tax return last year -- note, that's individuals, not corporations or businesses -- another rebate to the tune of, say, well, how about $2,000,000? Each. Given that the population of the US is somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 million, and not all of those individuals filed tax returns, the total cost would be less than $6 billion, a mere fraction of the $700 billion proposal to prop up Wall Street. We taxpayers could then use our bailout funds to, gee, pay our mortgages, credit cards, and car loans; fund our children's education; buy health and life insurance; and be well set for retirement. The money goes back into the economy, foreclosures and other loan defaults come to a screeching halt, local businesses and real estate markets begin to flourish once more, the investment firms are flush and solvent again...it's a win/win!

And with the leftover $694 billion? Hmm, how about using a goodly portion to fully fund green energy programs including mass transit systems; social service programs; health care programs; environmental preservation and clean-up programs; education programs; and so on and so on. This country's social ills and issues could be, if not resolved, then certainly well alleviated if only the programs that address them were properly funded.

If only. The saddest words in the English language.


ETA: Never mind. As atabei gently pointed out below, my figures are, umm, embarrassingly incorrect. This is what happens when one tries to figure large sums in one's head while taking sedatives. *hangs head in shame*

Oh well.

It's time once again for another installment of current media brouhahas about which I couldn't give a flying flip. Believe me, the irony of blogging about "news stories" which mean little or nothing to me, and thus providing them even more exposure (limited though it may be), does not escape me.

• The Olympic Games -- I haven't paid attention to the Olympics since 1980, when the US boycotted the Moscow Games over the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. Granted, the USSR was in the wrong, but did the US need to punish its own athletes by not allowing them to compete in the Games? The ensuing tit-for-tat Soviet avoidance of the 1984 L.A. Games rang the final death knell for my emotional involvement with the Olympics. I fully realize I'm virtually alone in my lack of passion for this quadrennial event. Still don't care. But it's fine if you do.
  
  
• John Edward's extramarital affair -- Oh, for pity's sake. People cheat on their spouses all the time. It doesn't make it right, but it doesn't make it any of my business either.
  
  
• Pictures of the Jolie-Pitt twins -- Specifically, how much money People Magazine paid for them. At least the money will go to a good cause.

What are your favorite non-issues currently dominating the media?

Oh. And now they're extending the steroid probe to horse racing. Good to know my taxes pay for investigating the important issues.

Well. Okay. They let warrantless domestic telephone tapping lapse. They are partially redeemed.

I ran across a Candidate Calculator through a link on someone's LJ to another LJ to another...the glories of surfing the 'net, yes?

Anyway, I took the little quiz and was intrigued by my results, which included at least one candidate I wasn't aware was in the race. Several new bookmarks have been added to my list. I have some additional research to do between now and the California primary in March. Or is it February now? Must check...it's February. Gah. I have to get my voter registration switched to this county right away!