Texas has more public employees than California
But has a smaller public budget than California
Because they pay their employees 30% less
They can afford to do this because housing prices are lower.

So the point here is, the key to getting more people employed is to lower housing cost.

Allowing home values to plumet is possibly good for improving employment rates.

Interesting. Must investigate this further.

Universal Health Care – Sure, I support universal health care because I want everyone to be taken cared of. But more importantly, I support universal health care because I absolutely hate the process of buying health insurance. Even worse, I hate having to rely on my employer to provide me with medical coverage. Why would anyone want their employer to be responsible for their health and well-being?

Illegal immigration – Yes, arresting and deporting illegal immigrants is tragic because is destroys families. However, I am more interested in protecting illegal immigrants because it is absolute stupidity to believe that the US agricultural economy could survive without this labor force.

Education Funding – Everyone should have an equal opportunity at a quality education…. Because… I am sick of dealing with incompetent, ghetto, and ignorant people.

Environmental Protection – Trees are nice, who wouldn’t want to hug them? But even if that’s not your thing, how could you argue against protecting the limited resources we have on this planet. You have to be a special kind of stupid to think that we can drill our to prosperity.

If you really want to do this with your life you have to believe that you’re necessary. And you are. People want to live like this in their cars and their big fucking houses that they can’t even pay for? Then you’re necessary. The only reason they all get to continue living like kings is because we’ve got our fingers on the scales in their favor. I take my hand off and the whole world gets really fucking fair really fucking quickly and nobody actually wants that. They say they do but they don’t. They want what we have to give them, but they also want to play innocent and pretend they have no idea where it came from. That’s more hypocrisy than I’m willing to swallow. Fuck them. Fuck normal people.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/dealbook-dialogue-lynn-stout/

For me, a financial derivative is like a “sidebet” at a poker game.

Sidebets are annoying because they are usually called for by loud and obnoxious players who have no patience to wait for the next round.

To put things into perspective. The US Economy is like a $3x$6 poker game that has people making $200 dollar sidebets. If you are familiar with 3×6 poker, usually $200 is your entire bankroll. If you are making $200 sidebets, you basically got your entire bankroll riding on one hand.

It doesn’t make any sense. You might as well be playing roulette.

http://gun.io/blog/the-governments-200000-useless-android-application/

It’s having some moderate success. You should check it out.

Although the site list many reasons why we Occupy, I really have just one reason

“We Occupy to remind you that you are being cheated.”

But I am not as eloquent as this guy, who wrote a very powerful letter defending the Occupy Movement.

My favorite line is

“I’m a liberal, so I probably dream bigger than you. For instance, I want everybody to have healthcare. I want lazy people to have healthcare. I want stupid people to have healthcare. I want drug addicts to have healthcare. I want bums who refuse to work even when given the opportunity to have healthcare. I’m willing to pay for that with my taxes, because I want to live in a society where it doesn’t matter how much of a loser you are, if you need medical care you can get it.”

There really is no need for me to say more… Just watch the video…

He’s the U.S. Representative for California’s 3rd congressional district, which is most of Sacramento, including Elk Grove.

He’s one of those typical Republican mouth piece that blames everything on Obama and the democrat. He’s the iconic symbol of partisanship.

I am particularly interested in him because he represents a district that is very close to where I live. I hope he gets kicked out when redistricting happens and he can no longer win by gerrymandering.

If not. I will be sure to campaign against him.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Lungren

I started the day by going to the mall with wife. I hate going to the mall. Especially around this time of the year. But coincidentally, at the mall we ran into some friends of our. More coincidentally, this friend is one of the few friends I knew who was in law enforcement.

Although the tragic pepper spraying incident at UC Davis just occurred less than 24 hours ago, I did not bring it up during our conversation because I knew that I did not agree with this friend’s politics.

But alas, he brought it up, and my wife talked with him about it for nearly 30 minutes. His position is that it was a necessary and justified procedure. He also noted that as a law enforcement official, he has to take the safest course of action so that at the end of the day he can go home to his wife and kids in one piece.

I sat there quietly staring at my feet and trying really hard not to turn red with anger.

In hindsight, I admit I was wrong. I should have been more open minded to his point view and engaged him in open dialogue. I did not do that. I refused to listen to his point of view. That is my loss.

I ended the conversation by saying that I wanted to go home to attend the press conference at UCD Surge II.

When we arrived, we saw 4-5 police cars pull into the area. However, they did not drive up to the area where the press conference was held. Surrounding the press conference building, were a group of about 200+ students standing with their arms linked. We all stood there for around 3 hours, in the freezing cold, waiting for the Chancellor to appear.

While standing around, there were constant reminders that if she does arrive, everyone is to be completely silent. There were also chants of “you can leave, we will not harm you”. To be honest, it was rather boring waiting for so long. We thought of leaving because we did not think she is still inside. But we had already invested so much time we had to see it through.

At some point someone even announced that there were riot police getting ready to storm in and that we should be prepared. That actually got me really excited, and helped me fend of the cold for a few more minutes. Sadly, we never saw any cops within the vicinity.

When we received word that the Chancellor was coming out, everyone got into a long line and sat down quietly. It was pretty amazing. There were around 300 people there, and we managed to get organized in what seems like less than 10 minutes.

As planned, everyone sat quietly with their iPhones in hand. We saw the Chancellor walk out in silence, mobbed by TV cameras, got in to her car, which her husband was driving, and drove slowly away.

It was a really cool protest. It really fit with my vision of how protesting should be. After all, we are students and graduates of one of the most prestigious institutions in the United States. I never expected us to be any less than respectful and smart. Also, it was a very diverse crowd. Whites, asians, indians, blacks, muslims? In fact, one of the person taking charge of some of the announcement was a girl wearing a hijab. I thought that was kind of symbolic, since we are in the midst of an “Arab Spring”. It made me chuckle thinking that if FauxNews was here, the headline would have been “Muslims Incite Riot at Public University”.

I went home and did not think much of the protest. But when I woke up, the event had became a huge buzz all over the national media. Everyone was commending the protestors for their silence. To a lot of people, it was a powerful image of something they have not seen before.

I am glad I was able to take part in it. I encourage anyone who is on the sideline to take part in events like this. You never know how your participation could change your life, or the life of people around the world.

It blew my blind that these people said they have donated upwards of $1000, and were thinking of donating more. One person even said that if it turns out he IS guilty of sexual harassment, they would still consider donating to him.

Let me be clear. It’s not only ridiculous because it Herman Cain, but it’s ridiculous that any average American would give $1000 to ANY political candidate.

For the same reasons that we have surgeon general warnings on cigarette cartons, as a society striving for righteousness and equality, we need to some how educate people about the ridiculous choices they make.

I put this in the same category as people who took out mortgages they can’t afford. But at least for people who took out a bad mortgage, they got a roof to sleep under for a couple years. What does giving $1000 dollars to a talking head, lying sack of crap gets you?