We were supposed to spend today driving to the central time zone, to attend the SAAs in St. Louis, until we changed our minds about 2.2 days back. Mostly we were looking forward to visiting with friends…. I detest those hotel meeting room chairs—they’re hideously uncomfortable after about 20 minutes, and I was facing all day, as in from 8 am to 10 pm (minus food breaks) in one on Thursday. The presentations would have been interesting (some of them, anyway), but the endurance-contest part would have been taxing. Still, the people part is uplifting. Have fun, those of you in Missouri!

On the natural history front: another dramatic earthquake—and, remember, the tremors continue in the SoCal area. The new one in China, as I understand it, has a geological relationship to the big one they had in 2008, almost two years ago. I had been thinking the Pacific Rim has been experiencing the shaking, but this one is quite a ways from the Rim of Fahr (Southern pronunciation). I will stay tuned for the next one, and for the laymen discussions of the patterns by the geologists….

In household news, we got the Prius back from the body shop yesterday, and my heart filled when I saw it in the driveway this morning. Cars are mostly just machines to me, but that one I have a soft spot for!

On to the blog entry I drafted this morning….

Let’s be frank. Calm frankness is okay. (Don’t drop the PC card on me!)

So, let’s be frank.

Ms. Palin (T-party, AK) rails against public money on health care. Except for her aging parents (I’m guessing)—love that Medic-air/aid, whatever. And for her youngest child. Remember, that kid is on the dole—okay, I don’t KNOW that, but I’m guessing. Special programs. Subsidized by people from far away, who may actually outright pay for them. People from a long way from AK (pronounced ack). Be assured that I don’t begrudge this, I am merely noting it (frankness again). All too often, special needs, in this country, means special demands on the taxpayer.

So, she rails against the Prez’s/Congress’s new plan. The rest can stand. She can see how those near and dear to her benefit from those public plans.

And, this Woman of The People has high standards for herself. If you hire her to give a speech, you will, too. The CSU Stanislaus Foundation at the California State University Stanislaus used wiggle room to contract with Ms. Palin to speak there at a $500 per plate fund-raising dinner, according to the SF Chronicle. Notes a NYTimes blogger:

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the documents do not specifically identify the “speaker” as Ms. Palin, but the contract included specifics on travel arrangements from Anchorage. The documents state that the speaker must fly first class from Anchorage to California if she flies commercial. If not, “the private aircraft MUST BE a Lear 60 or larger …” The Associated Press reported. Other perks include a suite and two single rooms at a luxury hotel near the campus. The contract, however, does not specify how much the speaker will be paid for her services.

And the NYT blogger also notes: She-Who-Has-Been-Played-On-TV-By-Tina-Fey must have “water bottles with “bendable straws.”” No tea for her!

The h-word looms large.

This entry was posted in personal on Wednesday, 14 April 2010 at 6:11 pm.
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