Partisanship is a good thing

Here in the States we've recently had our Congress hold the Attorney General in Contempt of Congress for failing to turn over documents relating to a weapons walking program that the ATF was running.  Basically, the ATF lost track of a goodly number of the weapons and at least one of them was used in the murder of a Federal Agent.  Not too surprisingly, the vote went largely down party lines, although several Democrats defected and if I recall correctly one Republican abstained.  The cries were raised, even before the votes, that partisanship was rearing its ugly head again, and the people should be outraged.

Personally, I'm deeply thankful for it, and I rather wish we had more of it.

Obama-care Ruling

I will start this out by saying I was at first disappointed and confused by the US Supreme Court's ruling on Obama-care.  At first, it really didn't make sense to me and I was joining in with the crowd who were screaming about a massive increase in government power, and how there was now no limit on it because all they had to do was tax you on something to try and force you to do it.

Right now, I'm feeling glad that I made myself take a step back and think about it, because if you look at it honestly and openly, we've let Congress have that power for years and years, it's just been phrased differently.

Congressional Approval ratings in the US

Yeah, I have politics on the brain again, or more accurately the way they're covered here in the US.

Taxation in the United States

Yeah, it's a mess.  While we're far from alone in having a screwed up tax system, it's the one I deal with so it's the one I care the most about.  All this talk of the Buffet rule lately got me thinking about it, and apparently I'm in the mood to write today :-)

Meh

Not a whole lot to report.  Market's been in kinda a slump so not a lot happening there.  I've been slacking a bit on the exercises, which is part of the reason I'm posting today, writing about it tends to help me remember to do it ;)  Costume might not make it due to finances, but there's still hope if I can find something suitable at one of the local Goodwill type places.  Might check on my way home tonight, we'll see.

Victory!

Made my first stock sale today, 21% return in a little over a month.  Taxes are going to take a chunk of course, but at my current bracket it won't hurt much.  Probably could have gotten more, but didn't feel like pushing my luck.  Putting the money right back to work, maybe someday this silly hobby of mine might actually turn out useful.  Can't really afford to just throw a ton of money at it, so I just toss a little at a time in the fund and let time and patience pay off.  It'll take a while, but five or six years down the road I might be able to use it to treat us to something special now and then.  Not looking to get rich off of it, it's just a combination of fun and a way to make a little fun money on the side.

Insert clever title here

Been slacking a little on the exercise lately.  Need to get back into it.  Hopefully going to bed extremely early last night will help, been staying up to late lately and it was starting to wear on me.  The Daylight Savings Time change didn't help either.