Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Keep Governors Out of Jail


In the wake of the arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, now is the time to start an aggressive program to keep our governors out of prison. We must reach out to this at-risk group, help them stay out of jail, and show them how to become productive members of society. The following graph shows that governors are now incarcerated at a higher rate than whites and hispanics.


Convicted US governors from the past 30 years:
GovernorStateTermNotes
John RowlandConnecticut1995-2004resigned in 2004, convicted and sent to prison
Don SiegelmanAlabama1999-2003convicted in 2006 on corruption charges and sent to prison
George RyanIllinois1999-2003convicted in 2006 on corruption charges and sent to prison
Bob TaftOhio1999-2007convicted of misdemeanors for failing to report gifts, remained in office
Fife SymingtonArizona1991-1997convicted in 1997 and forced to resign, conviction was eventually overturned
Jim TuckerArkansas1992-1996convicted in 1996 and forced to resign, received probation and house detention due to poor health
Guy HuntAlabama1987-1993convicted in 1992, sentenced to parole, later granted a pardon by the parole board based on innocence
Edwin EdwardsLouisiana1972–1980, 1984–1988, and 1992–1996convicted in 1998 and sent to prison
Marvin MandelMaryland1969-1979convicted in 1977, sent to prison, conviction was overturned in 1987
Rod BlagojevichIllinois2002-presentarrested on December 9, 2008

Please help keep our governors out of prison!

- schneid

Friday, December 05, 2008

Fitness notes 12/5

I worked out 2-3 times the week before Thanksgiving, swam and went on a hike during the week of Thanksgiving, and worked out twice this week. This week really should've been 3-4 times, but it's a start. I'm going to start playing volleyball with my friend Tim next week. It has been, oh, almost 7 years since I've played regularly in an indoor volleyball league. It should be fun and I'm looking forward to it.

And if it ever warms up to 50 (it's like 12 degrees today), I'd like to start running with the other Tim again.

- schneid

Thursday, December 04, 2008

summer blend gas

I love that term - "summer blend gas". Whenever I think about it, I'm reminded of one of my favorite lines from Seinfeld. Jerry is buying a car from David Puddy, and says "That undercoating, that’s just a rip-off, isn’t it?", and Puddy says "Oh, we don't even know what that is."

The plunging oil prices made me think of that. Watch out, by the way. We're not even close to the bottom of this recession. Unemployment, housing, stock market, and everything else are still on their way down. Why? There's no reason for them to go up. There are a lot more people that are going to default on their mortgages and lose their jobs. You can't improve the economy if people aren't working, regardless of what Wall Street or Washington would have you believe.

- schneid