Insipid Christmas Music

Oh dear, I'm going to step on some toes here.  But it seems here in Utah there is just a great demand for overly sentimental, minimally pleasing music.  Don't get me wrong.  I love Christmas music and I tune a radio station in my car to one that plays nothing else at this time of year.  And I like a combination of old traditional tunes as well as some modern.  Sadly, a lot of the modern music falls short.  In fact, some force me to change the station.

I'll begin with a long-time favorite here and elsewhere:  Mannheim Steamroller.  I find those orchestrations so trite, so tiresome, I feel more on edge than entertained.

And that very popular "Mary Did You Know?" is just like fingernails on the blackboard for me.  Seems just about everyone wants to do this one, and I have yet to hear an arrangement I like.

Now I'll step on what might be considered sacred ground locally, local favorite son Michael McLean's "The Forgotten Carols".  I was thrilled to have the opportunity a few years ago to attend a performance of the "Carols" -- thrilled that is until I sat through it.  A maudlin story and (ironically) forgettable music made me wonder what everyone else saw in this offering.

And it goes downhill from there.  Seems every local musician who has achieved any amount of fame has composed a series of original tunes as well as predicatable arrangements of traditional carols that all sound the same.  *Snore....*

And now I have to include the most sacred cow of all: The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  I have a vinyl Christsmas album they put out in the 60's that is just wonderful.  The sound is crisp and bright, the arrangements very nicely done.  But of late the choir has attempted to achieve a 'one voice' sound through its very difficult system of auditions, accepting only those who can make their voices imitate the one acceptable tone and quality for the choir.  The result is a bland homogenized sound that frankly never sounds fresh or appealing any longer.  And I'm a great fan of choral music.  But sadly this old treasure has devolved into musical obscurity.

The sad thing is that locals fail to discriminate between the good and the bad and just encourage the insipid by buying up tickets and applauding wildly at the end of mediocre performances.  In fact, those concert-goers truly seem to fail to even recognize they are being served the musical equivalent of cold oatmeal.

I seem to remain remarkably alone in my curmudgeonly assessment.  You'll all be out there amongst the lights and festivities soaking up the atmosphere.  I'll be at home playing my old vinyl records and the few newer recordings that are truly well-done.  Like one of my favorites I'll offer here (these good Christmas videos tend to get taken down, so enjoy while it's there).

North Salt Lake but looks like Kuwait

UPDATE:  There were no injuries in the explosion but several houses were damaged including one that was knocked off its foundation and has now been condemned.
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I felt a power bump and explosion this morning and went out to see three refineries pouring out black smoke. News reports say there was an explosion at the Silver Eagle refinery. I'm guessing that was what caused the power bump knocking the others offline -- though that could be entirely wrong. We'll wait for reports.

The Silver Eagle is actually not in North Salt Lake but I believe in West Bountiful. Nevertheless, the black-smoke-filled skies make the whole southern end of the county today look like the burning oil fields of Kuwait.

This is the third serious incident at Silver Eagle in I think about three years. Regulatory agencies need to step up review of processes and procedures I'd say. (Click to view pictures larger.)

 

 

 

Healtcare and happy people

I have a new post at OneUtah on the topic of healthcare reform and the public option. I've been thinking about this a lot since a conversaton with my sister about an Oprah segment about Denmark, the so-called happiest country. It troubles me that American politics are so tied up in profit-making enterprises more than looking out for the welfare of the its citizens.

I don't expect to see a public option come out of any legislation that is passed. I think we'll see something so watered down that many people will again fall through the cracks. As I said in my OneUtah post:

In the U.S. we make wealth a priority. And we take care of education, K through 12 anyway. But we are shamefully unwilling to address the healthcare needs of ALL American citizens. It is unfathomable to me that we have such a discriminatory system that provides the best healthcare for our elected leaders and for government workers, but it’s a crap shoot for everyone else, many with high premiums and deductibles, an unbelievable number with no insurance at all, and even the well-insured driven to bankruptcy–the double jeopardy of being struck by a catastophic illness in the U.S.

The truth is, before we'll have real healthcare reform, we're going to need some political reform. We're going to need to remove the money factor that allows big busioness to not only affect the outcome of elections through financial supply, but also allows them to write their own self-providential legislation.

Any bets on when that might change?

In the following clips, Jon Stewart answers the question: Do we really want to become Sweden?

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Stockholm Syndrome Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Stockholm Syndrome Pt. 2
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

North Salt Lake curbside recyling may be doomed before it starts

North Salt Lake plans to start its new curbside recycling program by March of 2010.  Residents will be provided with a recycling container into which we can place paper, cardboard, plastics, and metals.  No glass yet, but that is planned for the future.  Pickup will be every two weeks on your regular garbage pickup day.  Cost is expected to be $4 per month, depending on how many people participate--the more participants, the lower the cost per residence.  Residents can opt out by filling out a form provided by the city.  If 20% of households opt out, the city may cancel its plans for the program.

If you opt out now, you can opt in at any time.  However, if you opt in, you can NEVER opt out.

Do you see my concern?  I don't even know what my cost is going to be and by opting in, I'm giving the city a blank check to charge me whatever they deem appropriate.  I'm supposed to opt in and just trust them?

I really want this program.  I would use this program.  I don't need a second trash can, I can't even halfway fill my current one except when I have yard clippings.  Still, I'm willing to pay $4 a month to send as much of my trash as possible to a recycling facility.  But am I willing to pay more than $4?  $6?  $8? $10?  What's the ceiling?

I'm worried about this blank check thing. I hate to predict failure before the thing even has a chance to get off the ground, but let's sum up:

• City can't quote how much residents will have to pay for recycling until it is known how many residents will participate.
• Residents can opt out and later opt in.
  
• Residents who opt in can never opt out and will just have to pay whatever the city LATER decides..
• You must opt out by November 25th or you are automatically in.
  

Result:  More than 20% of residents will opt out in order to wait to find out how much the program will cost them, and the city will then cancel the program.

I hate coupons, I use coupons

I'll be blunt.  If manufacturers and stores can sell it for 20 cents less or $2 less, then they should just lower the damn price and stop making us play the games - not to mention wasting a bunch of trees.

For the better part of my life I have tossed those coupon booklets that come with the newspaper.  Whenever I have taken the time to look through and cut out the few coupons I might use, which takes more time than I like, I end up swearing off doing that ever again.  You take the coupons to the store and they're either out of the item, don't carry the item, or there's a good generic brand that's even less than the name brand with coupon.  If you don't use them right away, you put them in a place (I've tried various methods over time, but the result is always the same), and then they end up expiring before you remember to use them. 

And that's the other thing about coupons, you have to put on your reading glasses to see the little expiration dates on each and every one before you haul them to the store (okay haul is a little dramatic).

For years I even resisted getting a Smith's discount card as it irritated me that they collected information about my shopping habits.  I would just say I forgot it, and they would give me the discounts anyway.  But when I finally gave in and sighned up for their card, I started getting printed Smith's coupons every time I checked out.  These are sometimes for things I do buy, but often are for things they think I'd like to try.  They are more often wrong than not.

Now Smith's has a new "Rewards" program and I am resisting signing up, even though every few months I'll get cash rewards that I can spend in their store.  Dammit!  If they can give me cash for shopping in their store, then they can damn well just reduce some of the prices.  Of course, the whole gimmick of the thing is to get you to do all your shopping there.  But I generally do.  And this tactic just irritates the hell out of me.  Can you tell from all the swearing?

Sorting through all the crap just irritates me.  But if I find I can save a dollar on something, I'll usually use the coupon.  I confess, since the economy turned bad and I have been living on my own, I have returned to looking at the coupon booklets some of the time (not always), as well as the ones that spit out from the register at Smith's.  Most I discard immediately.  I will not cut out a coupon for 25 cents -- or for 50 cents if I have to buy two boxes of $4 cereal to get it.  I will not save a coupon for something I don't normally buy.  I glance through my saved coupons now and then before shopping, but mostly forget them.  I keep them arranged by expiration date as that makes more sense to me.  I never have so many it takes more than a minute to look through them.

Yes, I know some of you out there pay practically nothing for your groceries because of your careful "couponing".  Well, I'm here to tell you, you're part of the problem.  Because you so willingly play their game, it forces the rest of us to either do it too, or pay more for our products.  And for hell sakes, what are you going to do with six cans of eel soup anyway? (You know you have to buy a lot of crap like sugared cereals that you shouldn't or wouldn't normally buy.)  When the Grocery Guru comes on the TV, I change the channel.

The one coupon I love to get and I highly recommend to everyone is the Walgreen's $5 coupon off a $25 (sometimes $20) purchase.  You have to sign up for their email notifications, but I don't mind that.  I shop at Walgreen's for shampoos and moisturizers and other personal hygiene-type things.  It's easy to spend $25 at Walgreen's.  What I like is that Walgreen's doesn't tell me what I have to buy--their coupon applies to anything except drugs.  And as a bonus, sometimes their register also spits out a $2 coupon I can use on my next visit.  And when I visit Walgreen's, I'll take along coupons for the shampoo or moisturizer too as you can use BOTH the manufaturer's coupon and Walgreen's coupon on the same things.

Okay, I'm thinking since I shop at Smith's, I'll eventually capitulate and get their stinkin' Rewards card.  But I'm not going to be happy about it.  Damn commies!

In Utah, standing ovations are us

Just spent another truly wonderful evening with friends at dinner and the symphony. This year the Utah Symphony offered custom seasons where you could select four or more performances--we took advantage. Between the four of us we haved picked up eight different performances, though not all are going to all. What smart marketing on the part of the symphony. If you can't sell full seasons, get those people who want to pick and choose from the calendar. Of course, certain performances are bound to be sellouts pretty fast. Like the season opener with Beethoven's Fifth. It was a sellout.

Which leads me to a running joke we have in our group. In Utah, standing ovations are us.

People who don't attend the symphony regularly, sometimes fail to pick up on the etiquette. For example, applause between movements. You can sometimes see the conductor almost bristle as he waits for applause to die down before starting the next movement. Such was the case with the season opener of Beethoven. Please Utah. Do NOT applaud between movements--wait until the end of the entire piece. This is unlike ballet and opera where soloists are vigorously rewarded immediately following their solos.

And the other little quirk we have in Utah is standing while we applaud for everyone and everything. There is nothing special about a standing ovation in Utah because we give it to everyone whether the performance was exceptional or not. I suppose there's nothing wrong with unbridled enthusiasm and certainly the artists appreciate it. But those of us who attend a fair number of performances throughout the year recognize that it begins to look a little insincere after awhile.

Still and all, it doesn't spoil the event, does it. Last night's wonderful performance included a very unusual segment with a bassoon soloist -- a very modern piece that some of us liked and some did not. I loved it. We also had Richard III and then the Romeo and Juliet. A lot of percussionists -- six! And some unique percussion work with cymbals, antique cymbals, sticks and more. I was particularly fascinated with the artist whose job was the triangle. There is more technique there than you might think. And yes, we stood and applauded at the end.

We started the evening with a fabulous leisurely dinner on the patio at Caffe Molise (two F's one S) with a live jazz combo playing nostalgic music. We shared a tiramisu after dinner to stretch out our time at the table just to hear more of the combo.

And even before that we all got killer free parking spots on the street! My friends have learned from me that in parking you just need to have a positive attitude!

I judge it a truly perfect and memorable evening.

A banner year for hobo spiders in Utah

I don't think it's my imagination, there are more hobo spiders this year than usual. There have been two local television news stories just this week on them (here and here).

I always set the sticky spider traps in my garage and basement and only spray when I feel it is necessary. It became necessary about a month ago when I found four hobo spiders in one trap by the overhead garage door. That scared me and I set to finishing that garage clean-up project I had long ago started, and then sprayed the garage and basement thoroughly. I didn't check all the sticky traps in the basement at the time, but later found a half dozen hobos in one trap in my utility room -- inside the house!! -- and some deads ones nearby. Well, the spraying must have worked. I set fresh traps and have so far only caught a collection of little tiny spiders and no more of the big hobos. However, after the news stories, I'll spray again and probably spray the foundation of the house as well. They are mating and nesting and I could have baby hobos next. I'm afraid they going to have to die.

In the past I've seen exactly three hobo spiders in and around my yard: two were outside in the garden and one actually came running in to my house from the garage as I stood at the open door. Since I've set sticky traps for years and never seen this number and never had them show up in my house like this, I have to say I think it might be an unusual year for them. Some officials disagree. Who knows.

Hobo spiders are poisonous and the bite can have a necrotic effect. I've known two people who were bitten by them and I can tell you the bite is not only painful, it will swell up severely and can be infected and very difficult to treat. Doctors will prescribe antibiotics, cortisone, and other treatments. The bite takes a long time to begin to subside and finally heal. It will be months. You want to avoid being bitten by one of these. You probably won't die, but you can have some serious health effects and damage from them.

The hobo is easy to identify. Besides being a larger spider, it has two very distinctive antenna-like projections to the front with black knobs on the end. I'm not posting a picture here as I just can't stand to look at them, but here's a web site with pictures and much more information. The sticky traps I buy are available in Home Depot and Smith's locally, and have a picture of the hobo on the front. I have to store them face down on the shelf I am so repulsed by the picture.

But I'm not as afraid of them as I once was. I know they are here, I know I haven't trapped or killed them all, and I am just alert to them. They are not known to be climbers, and so far I've never seen one on the main floor of my house. They are fast and aggressive, but I'm a whole lot bigger than they are and if I see one I'll step on it no matter how gross it seems. I always wear shoes in my basement and garage.

Some of my co-workers yesterday mentioned seeing hobos in their own homes and yard. I don't think it's just a popular topic this year, I suspect there might be a population boom.

Party of NO will not support Health Care Reform, no way no how.

Rachel Maddow tells us today that the Obama administration has finally realized it will not receive any Republican support for health care reform. None. Zero. In an attempt at bipartisanship, three key Republicans were given equal voice on the finance committee that will determine what bill will make it to a vote. However, it is quite clear those Republicans have no intention of seeing health care reform on their watch if they can stop it.

One committee member, Senator Mike Enzi, gave the Republican radio address this last week in which he suggested old people would be denied care and allowed to die - the death panel canard. And a second appointee to the committee, Senator Chuck Grassley rushed out an "Air Gram" asking voters for their support in defeating health care reform and saying he has always been opposed to Obama-care". These are the key Republican senators on health care reform.

And, as Rachel says, thanks to obviousness, the Obama administration now gets it.

Rachel's guest Bernie Sanders says the Republicans are enormously obstructionist in this issue and have no desire to address the crisis the American people are facing, such as millions of bankruptcies due to health costs and 18,000 people a year dying because they don't get access to the health care they should. Sanders urges everyone to contact their Democratic senators and tell them you support using the super majority to block any Republican filibuster in the senate. With that, the Democrats will need just a simple majority to pass the bill.

As I have suggested before, the Democrats have some political capital, and they ought to start spending some of it. We the voters gave them that power in the last election, and we expect them to do this job.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This is just a snippet of the entire video clip. Go here for the entire video to see the key Republicans in the senate expressing their unwillingness to even consider Obama's reform plan.

Cross-posted at OneUtah

A Totally Awesome Jail Sentence

The most obnoxious character ever to invade our television screens is going to jail for 10 days. To borrow his totally irritating tag line for both his late computer business as well as his deceased gun business: Totally Awesome!

"Super Dell" Schanze has been sentenced to 10 days in jail for violations during a traffic stop.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports justice court Judge Keith M. Stoney sentenced Schanze on Friday to 10 days in the Utah County Jail, fined him $670 and placed him on two years' unsupervised probation.

Schanze was pulled over in Saratoga Springs Aug. 18 of last year for driving erratically. Officers found a loaded gun in a fanny pack Schanze was wearing. Prosecutors said his concealed-carry permit had expired, and no one in the car was wearing a seat belt.

Schanze has had a number of run-ins with the law for things like racing through a neighborhood and drawing a gun on residents, or buzzing I-15 drivers with his paraglider. And he flaunts his apparent belief that the laws don't apply to and can't touch him. I've blogged about this before. The most important thing about this sentence is the two years' probation. The nutcase has got to figure out how to stay out of trouble for two years.

Watch if you dare, the guy's home video of himself practice shooting while his little kids are buckled up safely in the truck. Is this his idea of babysitting?

Blogging and Investigative Journalism

Chris Matthews this morning devoted a good portion of his program to the topic of the slow demise of printed newspapers. He asked the very important question: If newspapers do disappear, who will be doing the in-depth investigational reporting? Particularly of concern are local politics. Someone on the program brought up the topic of blogs as one alternative news source people are turning to.

The problem, however, is that bloggers are notoriously bad at fact-checking, although the truth may eventually get hammered out in the comments. And it is the rare blogger who is doing actual investigative legwork and producing original content.

As a purely recreational blogger, I don't want people to rely on my posts as a source of news. I might present something newsworthy, but it is usually as a preface to my own opinion on the topic. I don't get paid to do this. I don't even place income-generating ads on my own blogs. That's not why I'm here. I already have a full-time job that keeps me busy and pays the bills. I do try to use reliable sources, but they are from other media and not my own original work.

I've already written in the past about plans for online news sources to go to pay-only viewing. There are rumblings from the owner of the Salt Lake Tribune. And even a firm announcement from Rupert Murdoch. Those who need their Foxnews.com fix, may want to prepare to pay for it.

(8/5/2009) Stung by a collapse in advertising revenue . . ., Murdoch declared that the era of a free-for-all in online news was over. . .

Murdoch said he had completed a review of the possibility of charging and that he was willing to take the risk of leading the industry towards a pay-per-view model: "I believe that if we're successful, we'll be followed fast by other media." . . .

In the meantime, online sources are finding a number of ways to generate ad income. When reading the Tribune, I don't mind the stationary ads on a page, but I really hate the ones that pop up when I roll over which often have obnxious sound and Flash graphics and won't go away until I click "Close". The cable news folks have made it a little smoother, making me watch a 15-second or 30-second commercial before each video. And most of those are well-produced and not jarring.

No doubt, there is going to be and evolution and perhaps a revolution in how news is delivered. But I don't think blogs will fill the roll of generating original news stories and will continue in the roll of promoting stories of interest with added commentary.

A new Justice

Today Sonia Sotomayor will be sworn in as a Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. It is another historical moment in a series since the last election. She is the third woman and the first Hispanic to serve in that position. I only know of her what I have read in the news. We'll all learn more in future court sessions. Today I congratulate her on her new job and wish for her wisdom and insight in the performance of her duties.

And yes, I'm thrilled with this appointment.

I steal a story about a dead duck

The following story appeared in a blog I like to follow, Troutbirder. I hope he will forgive me for republishing it here verbatim. Enjoy.

Washington, D.C. Thursday night, the President, and his disappearing side-kick Joe Biden, were tossing back a few cold ones with the comedy team of Gates & Crowley.

Meanwhile, the big story was happening in Big Lake, MN (where else!), where a distraught woman brought her pet, a very limp duck – an Aflac look-a-like – into a veterinary surgeon.

The vet laid the pet on the table, then pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the bird's chest. After a moment or two, the vet shook his head sadly and said, "I'm sorry, your duck has passed away."

The distressed woman wailed, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am sure. The duck is dead," replied the vet.

"How can you be so sure?" she protested. "I mean you haven't done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something."

The vet rolled his eyes, turned around and left the room. He returned a few minutes later with a black Labrador Retriever. As the duck's owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table and sniffed the duck from top to bottom. He then looked up at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head. The vet patted the dog on the head and took it out of the room.

A few minutes later he returned with a cat. The cat jumped on the table and also delicately sniffed the bird from head to foot. The cat sat back on its haunches, shook its head, meowed softly and strolled out of the room.

The vet looked at the woman and said, "I'm sorry, but as I said, this is most definitely, 100% certifiably, a dead duck." The vet turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and produced a bill, which he handed to the woman.

The duck's owner, still in shock, took the bill. "$550!" she cried. "$550! – just to tell me my duck is dead!"

The vet shrugged, "I'm sorry. If you had just taken my word for it, the bill would have been $20, but with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan, it's now $550."

And that’s the way it is!

From cousin Roger

Where I've Been

As some of you know, we had a very sad event in our family this month. On July 3rd, my ex-husband died of a massive heart attack. It has been a long process from there to here. I learned a lot of things in the process. I learned that even though I grieved at the loss of my marriage, I now have to grieve all over again for the loss of the man with whom I spent 28 years. I learned that we raised a daughter who is incredibly strong and capable, and who can function in a crisis. I already knew what a good father my husband had been to my sons, his stepsons; they feel the loss just as if losing their own father. I learned what a wonderful support network I have of family and friends. I learned what caring friends my husband had throughout his life. And I've learned that things don't return to normal just because you want them to. I think I have a lot more to learn.

I haven't written much in RedStateBlues or OneUtah blogs except in the comments because I simply had nothing to say. When I did write, I seemed alternately overly snarky or overly emotional. I couldn't find my voice. My life and the world seemed changed. I wrote some in my personal blog, My So-Called Life, and I found that easier and even somewhat therapeutic. I spent more time playing with friends on FaceBook, but all the while feeling guilty that I've neglected my writing.

I can't promise that with this writing I'm fully back, but I am trying this again. The post that follows this one is just copied from another blog that I follow. It made me laugh, and I decided to use it verbatim to get us all past this sad moment.

Four Corners - right where we thought it was, and I eat my words

Well, turns out I was wrong back in April when I wrote that the marker we had known as the point where four states joined was actually off by more than a mile. My fellow blogger at OneUtah, Rich Warnick, happens to be a geographer and decided to do some digging on this story. He was good enough to send me his findings.

Turns out, Four Corners is marked exactly where it should be (this link takes you to a very good article by William Stone of the National Geodetic Survey). And if I had done even a little research (and ditto for the sources I cited), I wouldn't be having to retract my words now.

The reason is a bit technical for those of us who don't think much about longitudinal values and where the starting point for them might be. But, the Wikipedia link Rich sent me explains in understandable terms:

The misunderstanding has to do with the changeover between longitude values referenced to the Greenwich Meridian and those referenced to the Washington Meridian of 1850. This meridian was repealed by Congress on August 22, 1912 to allow the Greenwich meridian to become the legal prime meridian of the United States.

Many western states have borders that are meridians of "longitude west of Washington," that is, west of the 1850 meridian through the Old Naval Observatory. These boundaries do not convert evenly to degrees west of Greenwich. For example, Utah's eastern border is 109 degrees, 03 minutes West- which seems weird, until you realize it was originally defined as exactly 32 degrees west of Washington.

As Rich told me, "Somebody made the incorrect assumption that the Four Corners Monument was actually supposed to be at 109 degrees west longitude. That was the basis for the wrong reporting."

Mea culpa. I should have known there was something not quite right about this story. Again, in the immortal words of Gilda Radner's Emily Litella, "Never mind."

F-22 Fighters - the other white meat

Yes, it's another form of pork sought by Utah's senators Hatch and Bennett and Rep. Bishop who fought the cuts to production of the outdated fighter jets, despite the Defense Departments' strong support for those cuts. Of course, they are concerned about the loss of jobs at Hill Air Force Base--we're all concerned about that. According to the Tribune, over 100 workers at Hill help maintain these fighters. However, the article also points out:

While Hill will feel some impact from the F-22 cut, the Air Force has named the base as one of the main maintenance facilities for the F-35 and the unpiloted drones, which are effective weapons in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But it was a victory for Obama in the senate vote:

The Senate, by a vote of 58-40, approved an amendment proposed by Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) to strip $1.75 billion in funding for the F-22 fighter.

This was not so much a partisan fight as a fight for the folks back home. Where you sat on this issue depended a great deal on whether or not your state benefited from the manufacture of the planes.

"It's What Eisenhower Warned us About," tweeted McCain before the vote. The F-22s have not been used in Iraq or Afghanistan and military experts agree they're not suited for American campaigns, yet lobbying and regional concerns have kept the program funded year after year. The victory over the military-industrial complex is arguably its most significant setback since World War II. For McCain, it was "probably the most impactful amendment that I have seen in this body on almost any issue."

This vote could never have happened under a Bush/Cheney administration that valued military spending so much, the cost of war was not even in the budget. At least now there is some real consideration for what our military needs are as opposed to the pork barrel desires of congress.