Need some wood?

John Kerry: And you know why he gets that count? [that 800,000 "small businesses" would pay more taxes under Kerry's tax plan] The president got $84 from a timber company that [he] owns, and he's counted as a small business. Dick Cheney's counted as a small business. That's how they do things. That's just not right.

George Bush: I own a timber company? That's news to me ... Need some wood?

Not sure if you guys watched the debates from the last presidential go around ('04) but the above was probably my favorite exchange of the whole campaign. But, in all seriousness I don't really use this blog to talk about politics, and I'm not one to tell others what to believe or vote for. I did want to take the occasion of the announced federal budget to say on thing though. The budget is at a new record (though not the highest percent of GDP ever spent, a topic for another time). I know sometimes my post use a lot of links in them, but I hope this is one you'll click on, and read (it's really short). The main point on want to make is that the government is taking your money whether you want them to or not, so why not tell them how you'd like it to be spent, and how much of it they should take? One interesting item from the link is this tidbit. If that much money is being spent on my family, I'd like to know what on and have some input... turns out I'm not really a Buick kinda guy. Without wanting to preach politics, I do wish people would be more involved (get an RSS feed reader like google reader and have some news and political blogs sent to it... this isn't rocket science people) and take some responsibility... our current congress with its 9% approval rating didn't get into office by itself.

Ok, I'm stepping down off the soapbox. In other Music Snob news, put another Built to Spill track on the SPs, as an autobiographical piece. I'm the kind of person who hates to see animals suffer, to the point I even hate squishing (some) bugs. Well, at least ladybugs and certain other types if possible I'll toss out the front door without squishing. I don't have the heart to smash fireflies and dragonflies for instance. Houseflies are another bug entirely. Oh man do I hate flies. I'm not typically violent and can usually keep my cool, but they get my blood boiling and our apartment was full of them this weekend. We had our carpets cleaned Friday afternoon, which was nice as they look and feel much nicer, but that meant the front door had to remain propped open for half an hour plus. I was going into a frenzy on those things all weekend. When I start swatting them, I guess I vent on them... so maybe flies in the apartments not so bad. Never mind, it can't be good for my blood pressure.

Also put another Interpol track on the SPs that I like, love the part in the middle (The "I know you tried" part). A really "pop"track from Pascal. Don't listen too often as music that sugary can cause cavities. And finally, a very catchy track from Sigur Ros. They might not be the easiest to get into, but this is a song I would consider to be a single, that is a song that could be played with success on mainstream radio. I like Sigur Ros, but have to say I bet hanging out with them is probably goes one of two ways, they're either very cool (and you find yourself smiling and nodding a lot when they talk), or it's more like hanging out with certain kids we've all know. You know... the type were you actually cringe when they say certain things, and you think to yourself "people just don't think that way/say stuff like that out loud do they? Huh, apparently they do." Then other people stick up for them and say stuff like "Oh, they're just really artistic/creative" and you think to yourself "now I remember why I don't like being described as artsy, and since when does creativity equal dorkness/social inadequacy?" Good times with the artsy nerds.

P.S. All the artsy people I know are of the cool variety, so this wasn't a veiled jab at any of them... just so you know.