Being an informed citizen takes a lot of work. In my case it involves reading the paper on the subway on my way to school. It takes me 10 minutes, and I do it at least once a week. Today, during my weekly ritual, I had a couple things reinforced. 1) I'm still at the point where I'm pretty turned off by both candidates and 2) I need to quit dentistry to become a bank executive.
1) As I've said before, this election's only value thus far for me is comedic. Here are some quotes from the 4 candidates:
Obama: "Our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes - and I see many of them in the audience here today." I though the term "fallen hero" meant they had fallen in battle, or in other words: they are dead. Who are you looking at???
Biden: "You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. ...I'm not joking." Wow, and people want a person like this in the Oval Office? How is the media not all over this comment?
McCain: "Across this country, this is the agenda I have set before my fellow prisoners. The same standards must be applied to my opponent." Huh? Are McCain's rallies all taking place in prisons? Who is he talking to???
Palin: "They are also building schools so that there is hope and opportunity in our neighboring country of Afghanistan." Wow, hand me a map. Saying Russia is our neighbor is one thing... According to Delta, it is 7,411 miles from the good ol' USA to Afghanistan. Define "neighbor".
2) In a Federal hearing on October 6, Mr. Fuld, CEO of the formerly-known-as company Lehman Brothers, denied having taken home more than $480 million in bonuses since 2000. He uncomfortably stated it was not THAT much. It was a more palsy sum of over $300 million! In bonuses! This from a company that was asking for Federal Aid to help keep them from collapsing. The good news is we are making strides. AIG's CFO had his "golden parachute" taken away from him. He was slated to get $10 million in his severance package. No better way to say "thanks for the bad bets" like an 8 figure severance.
How do I get into that career path?
As a side-note. Here is reason #468 that I love New York. For the past few months I've been riding my bike to the Staten Island Ferry, where I chain it up at a bike rack literally 10 feet away from a booth where a security guard it stationed 24/7. Two nights ago I came home to find my bike, chain & helmet were all gone. When I talked to the security guard all he could say was, "Sorry, I didn't see anything. That's not my job." Really? You didn't see someone with a huge pair of bolt cutters come clip my chain and then make off with everything? Unbelievable.
