Sunday, August 3, 2008
FEINGOLD: A New Democratic Party
Russ Feingold is an independent voice for Wisconsin and the nation in the United States Senate - an effective legislator who works across party lines, and a respected leader in both domestic and foreign policy.
A leading defender of privacy and personal freedoms, Feingold cast the Senate's lone vote against the USA PATRIOT Act, and has fought to change the Act to protect the civil liberties of law-abiding Americans. He strongly opposed the President’s decision to go to war in Iraq, and was the first Senator to call for a timetable to redeploy troops out of Iraq. Well known for pushing through campaign finance reform in the Senate with Republican Senator John McCain, Feingold has also been a tireless advocate for restoring fiscal discipline in Congress and reducing the federal deficit.
So why am I blogging about a random Senator from Wisconsin? I'd read and heard things here and there about him so I did some more research and found some pretty interesting things.
Feingold's senatorial career began in 1992, with a victory over incumbent Republican Senator Bob Kasten. Feingold, who had little name recognition in the state and was campaigning in a primary against a pair of millionaire opponents, adopted several proposals to gain the electorate's attention. The most memorable of these was a series of five promises written on Feingold's garage door in the form of a contract[8]. These were:
I will rely on Wisconsin citizens for most of my contributions.
I will live in Middleton, Wisconsin. My children will go to school here and I will spend most of my time here in Wisconsin.
I will accept no pay raise during my six-year term in office.
I will hold a "Listening Session" in each of Wisconsin's 72 counties each year of my six-year term in office.
I will hire the majority of my Senate staff from individuals who are from Wisconsin or have Wisconsin backgrounds.
Feingold is also a well-known advocate for reductions in pork barrel spending and corporate welfare. Citizens Against Government Waste, the Concord Coalition, and Taxpayers for Common Sense, three nonpartisan organizations dedicated to those causes, have repeatedly commended him.[40]
Feingold, who was elected to Congress on a promise not to accept pay raises while in office, has so far returned over $50,000 in such raises to the U.S. Treasury.[41] In addition, he is notoriously frugal in his office's spending, and sends back the money that he does not use. In one six-month period in 1999, for example, his office received $1.787 million in appropriations and returned $145,000, a higher percentage than any other senator.[42]
Feingold was the only senator to vote against the USA PATRIOT Act when first voted on in 2001.[43] At the time, Feingold stated that provisions in the act infringed upon citizens' civil liberties.[44]
When the bill was up for renewal in late December 2005, Feingold led a bipartisan coalition of senators that included Lisa Murkowski, Ken Salazar, Larry Craig, Dick Durbin, and John Sununu to remove some of the act's more controversial provisions. He led a successful filibuster against renewal of the act. This ultimately led to a compromise on some of its provisions. This compromise bill passed the Senate on March 2, 2006, by a vote of 89-10. Feingold was among the ten senators who voted nay, stating that the bill still lacked necessary protections for some civil liberties.
Following Democratic victories in the November 2006 mid-term elections, Feingold announced that he would not run for president in 2008. He said that running for president would detract from his focus on the Senate, and the likely prying into his recent divorce "would dismantle both my professional life (in the Senate) and my personal life."[1] In his parting comments, he warned his supporters against supporting anyone for the presidency who voted for the Iraq War, whether they later regretted it or not, saying his first choice for president in 2008 was someone who voted against the war, and his second choice is someone who wasn't in Congress but spoke out against the war at the time.[29]
On February 22nd 2008, he stated that he voted for Barack Obama as the Democratic Party nominee for the 2008 Presidential Election.
On August 1st, Russ Feingold wrote to the president
http://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/releases/08/08/20080801sp.html
A leading defender of privacy and personal freedoms, Feingold cast the Senate's lone vote against the USA PATRIOT Act, and has fought to change the Act to protect the civil liberties of law-abiding Americans. He strongly opposed the President’s decision to go to war in Iraq, and was the first Senator to call for a timetable to redeploy troops out of Iraq. Well known for pushing through campaign finance reform in the Senate with Republican Senator John McCain, Feingold has also been a tireless advocate for restoring fiscal discipline in Congress and reducing the federal deficit.
So why am I blogging about a random Senator from Wisconsin? I'd read and heard things here and there about him so I did some more research and found some pretty interesting things.
Feingold's senatorial career began in 1992, with a victory over incumbent Republican Senator Bob Kasten. Feingold, who had little name recognition in the state and was campaigning in a primary against a pair of millionaire opponents, adopted several proposals to gain the electorate's attention. The most memorable of these was a series of five promises written on Feingold's garage door in the form of a contract[8]. These were:
I will rely on Wisconsin citizens for most of my contributions.
I will live in Middleton, Wisconsin. My children will go to school here and I will spend most of my time here in Wisconsin.
I will accept no pay raise during my six-year term in office.
I will hold a "Listening Session" in each of Wisconsin's 72 counties each year of my six-year term in office.
I will hire the majority of my Senate staff from individuals who are from Wisconsin or have Wisconsin backgrounds.
Feingold is also a well-known advocate for reductions in pork barrel spending and corporate welfare. Citizens Against Government Waste, the Concord Coalition, and Taxpayers for Common Sense, three nonpartisan organizations dedicated to those causes, have repeatedly commended him.[40]
Feingold, who was elected to Congress on a promise not to accept pay raises while in office, has so far returned over $50,000 in such raises to the U.S. Treasury.[41] In addition, he is notoriously frugal in his office's spending, and sends back the money that he does not use. In one six-month period in 1999, for example, his office received $1.787 million in appropriations and returned $145,000, a higher percentage than any other senator.[42]
Feingold was the only senator to vote against the USA PATRIOT Act when first voted on in 2001.[43] At the time, Feingold stated that provisions in the act infringed upon citizens' civil liberties.[44]
When the bill was up for renewal in late December 2005, Feingold led a bipartisan coalition of senators that included Lisa Murkowski, Ken Salazar, Larry Craig, Dick Durbin, and John Sununu to remove some of the act's more controversial provisions. He led a successful filibuster against renewal of the act. This ultimately led to a compromise on some of its provisions. This compromise bill passed the Senate on March 2, 2006, by a vote of 89-10. Feingold was among the ten senators who voted nay, stating that the bill still lacked necessary protections for some civil liberties.
Following Democratic victories in the November 2006 mid-term elections, Feingold announced that he would not run for president in 2008. He said that running for president would detract from his focus on the Senate, and the likely prying into his recent divorce "would dismantle both my professional life (in the Senate) and my personal life."[1] In his parting comments, he warned his supporters against supporting anyone for the presidency who voted for the Iraq War, whether they later regretted it or not, saying his first choice for president in 2008 was someone who voted against the war, and his second choice is someone who wasn't in Congress but spoke out against the war at the time.[29]
On February 22nd 2008, he stated that he voted for Barack Obama as the Democratic Party nominee for the 2008 Presidential Election.
On August 1st, Russ Feingold wrote to the president
http://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/releases/08/08/20080801sp.html
Something The Lord Made
Yesterday I watched a movie with my family. Something The Lord Made was released in 2004. Part medical drama and part civil rights era piece, the film features two fine performances from Alan Rickman and Mos Def. The movie itself, is pretty good, but Mos Def really impressed me. I'd previously enjoyed his roles in Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy and 16 Blocks (regardless of reviews). I've now read that he will be starring as Chuck Berry in Cadillac Records, a film about the Chess Records. Mos Def playing Chuck Berry! That rules.
Wordle
While crawling around for information on ECM ( Enterprise Content Management ) I stumbled upon http://blogs.oracle.com/fusionecm/ . It was here that I was introduced to a nifty new tool called Wordle.
http://wordle.net/
Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.
This isnt groundbreaking or anything, but its very user friendly and fun. I've been using it to create greate brainstorming graphics for work. I've been putting together literature and selling points for our new Imaging department. Here is an example of what I made.
http://wordle.net/
Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.
This isnt groundbreaking or anything, but its very user friendly and fun. I've been using it to create greate brainstorming graphics for work. I've been putting together literature and selling points for our new Imaging department. Here is an example of what I made.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Jeph's 10 Commandments of Texas Hold Em'
I've been asked various times for advice, strategy, tips, etc. Before an afternoon multi player tournament in Tampa, I grabbed a napkin and started to write the "10 Commandments of Texas Hold Em". I eventually sat in front of the computer and finished it. Since then I've passed it around the poker community and received some praise. I thought I might share.
1. Know Your Game.
Know your game, know your table, know your player(s). You are a well rounded player, use the right technique for the game you’re playing (no limit, limit, tournament, cash game, deep stack, turbo, etc)
2. Every player’s weakness is your strength
Your knowledge of the game will only get you so far. You must continually learn and re-learn your player. That player is only a chip stack to you. You may pick up someone’s tells, betting patterns and technique, but, if you aren’t careful they will pick up on yours. Use everything you know to your advantage, use everything they know against them. Chance will dictate that sometimes you lose, but your biggest weakness is not taking advantage of every possible, legitimate opportunity.
3. A Good Hand is only as Good as you play it
The ingredients of a good hand will be found in how well you play the hand (as it is involved on the table). Getting away from a hand that was once good, but has recently busted, is just as good as the hand that doubles you up. Blaming your hands misfortune on another players poor judgement wont change the outcome of the hand.
4. Action should always be dictated by its situation
Before making any action (check, bet, fold, raise), determine exactly what you’re expecting to happen. Watch the results. If they’re wrong, you made a bad move. Even if you win the hand and/or win more than expected. Your action should invoke the player to do exactly what you want.
5. The Tall Tale Tell
There are many different styles and strategies, but really you have two different players. One who is ahead and one who is behind. When faced with making a call against another player, this is the most basic, yet critical rule. While trying to read a player, there are many tells (breathing, shaking, coughing, smirking, chatting, etc). Strong is weak and weak is strong. Poker is a constant sale, consider what you're investing in. Like any investment, buy low and sell high.
6. Showdowns, Showdowns, Showdowns
All of your homework and notes should be taken during every showdown, regardless if you're in the hand. Every poker player lies. This is your opportunity to see exactly what the player was holding, and more importantly HOW THEY PLAYED the hand.
7. Always assess every hand and make an absolute judgement
What you learn from being wrong, is much more valueable than anything you already know.
8. Your poker style should be comfortable to your personal style.
Try to force something else and you will look desperate and weak. Putting on an act to fool people, doesn't accomplish much. "If you can't spot the sucker during the first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker".
9. Dont become emotionally involved
You're the calm, cool, collected player. Don’t allow yourself to be trapped. The information that you collect at a table, may not be applicable until a later hand. Yes, other players will make the same strategic moves that you do and you may have to LET THEM. Players at YOUR table should NOT WANT to be in a hand with you, KEEP IT THAT WAY. Keeping a player "honest" or "paying to see", these are amateur terms. You dont NEED to see, you know and you'll evaluate the hand accordingly, without paying them off.
10. Chance can dictate a hand, but not your game.
Every player goes through some swings of misfortune. If you convince yourself of anything other than your original knowledge of the game, you will find yourself off course, in a slump and losing. Stick to your game and grind it out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)