Do you remember the proposed $7500 tax credit in the new housing bill for first time home buyers?  Well, turns out it is really an interest free loan, and not a true credit.  More on this below.

"Nobody works around here longer than 90 days."  That was my mother's analysis of the job market in my Northern Indiana hometown.  It was depressing news.  I asked because I wanted to know the chances of my brother finding a decent job after just having another child.  It was one of the saddest and most depressing things I heard while home this past holiday season.

With the madness of the primary season, let's not forget about the plight of the American worker.  Through personal and family experiences, I would like to examine this plight in greater detail.  More on that and the "90 day job" below.

I wanted to take a break in the primary action and discuss something of great importance: food.  My recent trip home for the holidays reminded me of the great comfort of childhood foods.  There are certain foods that I taste and I am transported back to holidays of past.  One holiday treat my mother makes that makes me the most nostalgic is a fudge. Come with my on a culinary escapade after the break.

The annual National Book Festival is taking place on the National Mall tomorrow in Washington, D.C. from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Will any other Kossacks be there?  More details below!

As of 11 a.m., the United Auto Workers will be on strike against General Motors.  The deadline was imposed after intense negotiations have failed to produce favorable contract details including benefits for retiring workers.  So why should you care?

When the Department of Defense starts a new acquisitions project or program, the entire process is regulated by "Defense Acquisitions."  Anyone in a program management role has to know this system intimately to move the program forward and to navigate the DoD approval and funding process.  

More on the relationship between military decision making and the Surge below.

One of my favorite science quotes is comprised of two words from Galileo Galilei: "oculate certitudine"...which loosely translates as "visible certainty."  More below on why these two simple words changed the nature of science.

After being away on travel for several weeks, I thought I would hastily throw together another installment of I Fucking Hate.  

Someone suggested a couple weeks ago that I focus on music topics again.  So tonight, I thought we might talk about songs with garbled, misheard, or just horrible lyrics.

One of the most important aspects of any movie is the soundtrack.  The music provides almost another actor in telling the story on the screen.  That is why when the soundtrack is bad, it can distract from the entire movie.  That is why I have picked "Soundtracks" for this week's I F**king Hate installment.

It is time for another edition of I F**king Hate (IFH).  I think for tonight's IFH, we will swing back to the world of music.  This time, let's focus our attention specifically on lyrics.  What lyrics drive you up the wall?  Not that the song is bad, but the lyrics are just plain horrible or make no sense.  I got a couple examples below.  What do you think?

Murdoch's News Corp has been in the news lately because of the take over bid for Dow Jones which is the parent company for The Wall Street Journal.  It now appears that both the SEC and the NY State Attorney General's office have initiated investigations into possible improprieties.  More below!

It was with great interest that I read this post at the Talking Points Memo about the inability of the management of Powerline to name any Bush Administration official that has been implicated in any scandal of note with the exception of Scooter Libby.  TPM, of course, provided a list previously compiled with the help of their readers of administration officials rocked by scandal (either indicted or convicted).  What got me thinking tonight was the comments on the original Powerline blog entry and the amazing amount of either sheer ignorance or willful self-deception that is perpetrated by many Republicans/conservatives just to make sense of the world.  More on this below.

Time for this week’s installment of I Fucking Hate (IFH)!  Here’s how the game works: each week I pick a topic that we discuss (or just dis).  You get more street cred if you can make a reference that makes us all go "Damn!, I forgot about that one!."  Last week, we focused our attention on all the junk on TV.  I am building on that theme, and moving from the small screen to the large screen.  More  Hatin’ below!

For those policy wonks on DailyKos, check out this really cool 2008 Presidential Budget Request interactive poster.

You can zoom and to see the details and the actual numbers.  A little more analysis after the jump.

Time for another edition of I F**king Hate (IFH:X).  See last week's diary for more information.

For those that are just joining the game, here is how it works:  For each IFH:X edition, there is a new topic to discuss or just dis. The topic is usually a pop culture reference as that is my strongest worthless trivia category (that, and I don’t really know much about anything else).  You get more points from me if you drag something from the memory hole.

I thought I would post a couple of my pictures from the big event tonight in Washington DC to raise funds for YearlyKos.  For those with dial up, I will just add links to the photos, and not the actual photos.  If anyone else has photos, please add them!

Also see teacherken's diary with a more accurate description of the evening's events.

Time for some Saturday night fun that is in no way related to corrupt government officials, illegal wars, "lost" emails, talk radio racism, or those other topics that make us stress out.  I tried this to modest success a couple weeks ago.  The game is called: "I Fucking Hate..."

I want to share an interesting game with you all...see if we can generate a little "non-politcal" discussion on this late Sunday/early Monday.  The game is called "I Fucking Hate: (Blank).  The rules of the game are below.