The liquor store

Tonight was the first night on the job at the liquor store. It was pretty easy work and with 20% off on everything in the store, it was really great that I landed this job. It's extra money and totally worth it.

In today's news, the NYT's David Brooks writes an excellent article on the closed-mindedness of so-called "open-minded" liberals. It's absolutely amazing how liberals can be so understanding of the plight of Islamists and be so intolerant of Middle-American values. It really goes back to the whole hypocrisy of being open-minded to everything except those who don't agree with you.

Ah, well, tomorrow is another day, and another day at the liquor store. One piece of good news is that on December 18 is the Pajama-Jammy-Jam hosted by my friend Melinda. Should be...interesting.

Go see it

Go see The Incredibles. It's simply one of the best movies I've ever seen.

What political capital?

Today, George W. Bush gave a speech telling reporters that he was going to spend the political capital he earned during the election to push through Social Security reform and overhaul the tax code. It certainly was a poor choice of words, given that he has yet to veto a spending bill. Not exactly a great fiscal conservative, Bush.

Regardless, the political capital he's talking about is the gains Republicans made in both the House and Senate. Republicans, as conventional wisdom goes, have been an incredibly disciplined party, unlike the Democrats. However, seriously reforming either is a pipe dream, though overhauling the tax code is infinitely more likely (given that messing with Social Security has zero chance) and will likely cause fractures among the Republican party.

An idea floated to reform the tax code is to change it to the VAT, which would eliminate the need for any sort of income tax. That in turn, will close virtually all existing loopholes to hide income, as it is essentially a consumption tax and is unavoidable and extremely difficult to cheat. I'll have to come back to that another time, as I've got to get some more personal blogging done.

So it's just one more day to the weekend (laying low tonight, watching The OC), and I hope that I can get some people to head out on Friday, as Saturday is my first day of work at the liquor store. For $10/hour, it's a pretty easy job, composing of stocking, cashiering, and some light janitorial duties. Not bad at all. It will eat into some of my social life, but hey, my calendar hasn't been exactly packed.

Ironically, this Saturday, I actually have some plans to attend a cocktail party at Melinda's Saturday night, so I've got to get to East Boston after work. Should be fun!

Bush wins!

So today John Kerry conceded the election to George Bush. I respect him for that. It's pretty late tonight, so I'll have to write about it more tomorrow.

It was a long day today at work. I should've gone to bed earlier than I did. I tried to take my mind off of the election last night by watching cartoons, but when Adult Swim started to show Harvey Birdman 24 times in a row (the same episode, no less), I turned it to Fox News. That was my mistake, because I watched it until 1:30 in the morning. I was absolutely petrified that if I went to bed, somehow Kerry would wind up winning Ohio.

However, that was not the case, and in the morning, I paid for it. So sleepy.

Tomorrow is another day.

Sundays

Sundays are for recovering from Saturday. The Hong Kong was a lot of fun. It was sad to have to say goodbye to my buddy Matt, but I suppose if you had to choose a way to head out of town, going to the Hong Kong is a great way to do it. All was well there. Much scorpion bowls and drunkenness. Really fun. Several shots passed my way, too. I'm glad I've still got it.

Leaving, however, changed the story. Jessica from Matt's research group apparently had too much to drink all over Leslie's table and floor. I haven't had to clean someone up since college, but I'm glad that I did a good job of it. I hope that she's alright.

I've done all the errands I needed to do today, and tomorrow is the start of another work week. With any luck, I'll start the liquor store job tomorrow, as well.

A challenge

Make the case for John Kerry without ever mentioning the Bush administration or using its policies as a foil.

A toughie, to be sure.

My support of Bush

I had thought that I would write a long post about my support of George W. Bush, but I thought that there is power in succinctness:

"I am more afraid of an army of one hundred sheep led by a lion than an army of one hundred lions led by a sheep." - Charles Maurice, Prince de Talleyrand-Perigord

I support George W. Bush.