Pork For All

Oink:

House Republicans beat back a Democratic challenge Tuesday to Majority Leader Tom DeLay, defeating an effort to cut $200 million from NASA’s Moon-Mars initiative and spend the money instead to aid local police.
By a 230-196 vote, the House rejected an amendment by Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., to transfer $200 million from the space agency to two Clinton-era grant programs that President Bush wants to phase out.
. . .
DeLay’s Houston district is home to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. After a House subcommittee last year slashed NASA’s budget by $1 billion, DeLay forced negotiators to restore the money, then set about abolishing the subcommittee and spreading its jurisdiction over NASA, the Environmental Protection Agency, housing and veterans’ programs among other panels.

Rightist often try to portray Democrats as big government spenders. In reality, there’s little difference in the level of spending. The primary difference between the two is where it gets directed. Democrats have their pet projects and constituencies, and so do Republicans. You just don’t hear about this on the radio very often.

Best/Worst Jobs

The people at CareerJournal.com have assembled lists of some of the “best” and “worst” jobs.
The Best
* Accountant
* Actuary
* Bank officer
* Biologist
* Computer-systems analyst
* Financial planner
* Parole officer
* Software engineer
* Statistician
* Web-site manager
The Worst
* Construction worker (laborer)
* Cowboy
* Dancer
* Fisherman
* Garbage collector
* Ironworker
* Lumberjack
* Roofer
* Seaman
* Welder
I don’t know how good the methodology was for this, but the jobs on the second list don’t have any appeal for me. So no argument there. I didn’t find my education test ride in biology or statistics all that pleasant, but apparently their real world application is more enjoyable.

Pop News

A day away from blogging yesterday. Did I miss anything important?
Nope.
Imagine if the news channels spend 1/4 of the time they have devoted to Jacko discussing the Downing Street Memo. Of course that would require the liberal media’s belief that the cause for the war in Iraq was still a newsworthy story. And sadly that’s not the case.

Bicyclist Killed On I-24

No drivers to blame for this accident:

A man on a bicycle was struck and killed on an interstate in Nashville.
Police said 42-year-old Darrell Elliott was hit by a motorcycle on Interstate 24 and was flipped into the path of an S-U-V early yesterday.
Officers said Elliott was riding the bicycle in the center lane of the interstate just after one a-m.

Authorities suspect alcohol may have been a factor. I’d say so. I’ve thought of doing some crazy things on a bike over the years. But riding in the middle of the interstate in the middle of the night wasn’t one of them.

Please Let It End

The Jacko trial. I’m tired of hearing about it.
“Just don’t watch any of the coverage,” you may say.
The truth is one can’t want any extended segments on news TV without being treated to in depth reports on how long the jury has deliberated, profiles of the jurors, what jail conditions Jacko will face if convicted, what X said about the affair, or Jacko’s latest medical ailment.
The only thing I can think of that is lamer than all the media folks sitting around the courthouse analyzing the deliberations is the so-called ~~losers~~ fans who are camped out at the courthouse. What’s up with that? How empty does one’s life have to be to waste it like that?

Exporting Compassion

Our president, yesterday:

Q Thank you, Mr. President. Prime Minister Blair has been pushing for wealthy nations to double aid to Africa. With American aid levels among the lowest in the G8 as per portion of national income, and the problems on the continent so dire, why isn’t doubling U.S. aid a good idea?
PRESIDENT BUSH: [. . .] Now, in terms of whether or not the formula that you commented upon are the right way to analyze the United States commitment to her, I don’t think it is. I mean, I don’t think — there’s a lot of things that aren’t counted in our desire to spread compassion. But our country is — has taken the lead in Africa, and we’ll stay there. It’s the right thing to do. It’s important to help Africa get on her feet.

Yes indeed. We so much want to load up American air tankers with compassion and bombard all Africa with it. Let compassion flow across the plains of Sudan!
Really, how is Bush’s talk of spreading compassion all that different than Clinton’s “feel your pain” line that was endlessly blasted by rightists thereafter?