Time for part 2 of my reading of the bailout bill!  I didn't get very far.  I skipped Title II and went right to Title III - Commerce, Justice, and Science.  I'll get back to Title II.  Title III just lasts a few pages, going from page 82 through page 89. Oh, before I get started - check out Part I to read my disclaimer and my thoughts on Title I.

Title III has 3 components.  I started with Commerce.  There is 1 billion for the 2010 census, which is good, because I’m looking for work and might be a Census taker.  This makes sense (no pun intended) in a bill trying to create jobs.

Then the bill goes on to want 3 billion (for those that are more visual $3,000,000,000) to get wireless and broadband access to all areas.  The media has toted this as being for wireless access in rural areas.  I'm a little biased against this.  I don't see how this will create jobs.  Sure, a few will be needed to set up the infrastructure... but then when it's there, there will not be such a need.  Granted, the same could be said about the Census Takers (or Enumerators, as they are called).  But then again, I want to be an enumerator and not a wireless broadband structure creator.

650 million for digital converter boxes.... wait... what?  Weren't we supposed to already be ready for the switch?  Apparently this is now getting pushed back until a future date.

            Provided, That these funds shall be available for coupons and related activities, including but
            not limited to education, consumer support and outreach, as deemed appropriate and
            necessary to ensure a timely conversion of analog to digital television. (pg 85)

I talked with a good friend in the TV biz.  She was furious (and rightly so in my mind).  Not switching will cost many companies millions of dollars... aren't we in a recession, and losing money in a company causes workers to be fired?  How can this help?

Onward to the NOAA (National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration). This is a hard one for me.  I’m a scientist by nature, so I want to fund more scientific research… and I understand that while I do not necessarily agree with some of the habitat restoration, 400 million seems fair to keep things like polar bears from dying away.  But lets not forget that another 600 million (aka, 1 billion total) must go to developing a climate model.  We HAVE a climate model.  We HAVE data stations.  What we NEED are data stations in places like third world countries, where the data is slim to none, and some of the oceans.. I’ll find a picture eventually.  I don’t really believe in the hype that is global warming, but being a geologist, I’ll let this stand for me.  I’m biased, what can I say? Maybe my former roommates (both IT specialists) want the money for the rural wireless access because they work with computers….. who knows?

On to the justice area.  I like justice.

4 Billion for police, eh?  I’m okay with that.  My dad was a police officer for a long time, and I know the benefit that having a place with good police can do for you.  I do not believe that the police are bad, and I believe that a community without police very often suffers some dire consequences.  Even if there is no “official” police, someone steps up and does the work.  So 4 billion for police… I’m in.  PLUS this will create jobs.

Just in case you’re keeping count – 8.65 billion at this point, just for Title III.

Yay, the science section!  For some reason, I think I should be hearing that woman that use to be in front of all the SimCity games… you know, the one who in that RIDICULOUSLY sultry voice said “reticulating splines…”  I still don’t know what that means, but the Science part makes me wonder... makes me yearn...

400 million for science in the beginning, but 250 million MUST be for climate research?  What the heck?  Didn’t we already give climate research money earlier?  Aeronautics gets a paltry 150 million.  ONLY 150 millions?  My brothers fly planes.  According to them, there have been no major advances in airplane technology in decades.  We need research to continue to advance.   Does this cover anything for NASA?  Or is this the part of the bailout bill intended for major airline companies?  They already gouge out your eyes and require your left kidney to fly in this country - why give them more money?

50 million goes to cross-agencies to help with natural disaster and emergency costs – Katrina, anyone?  I’m not saying this is a bad idea, in fact, I think it’s a good idea, but this is supposed to CREATE JOBS.  How does giving more money to this area in THIS BILL create jobs?

Now, the NSF.  I like them.  My married friends keep trying to apply to get money from them.  2.5 billion.  This is good… we need the NSF…. But, so little in such a big package?  Research grants DO provide jobs, just perhaps not as many as other items.  Still, at least this is better than nothing.

Title III wraps up with some basic comments about more money for education.  Science education, based on NSF documents, gets 100 million… I don’t LIKE saying this, but I don’t see how teaching children who are already in school science, without making more jobs available, helps stimulate the economy.  Maybe those research grants. 

That wraps up Title III of the HR 1.  Page 89!  I skipped rural construction, and Title IV is Defense – woo hoo!  But don't worry, I'll get back to Title III.

The Who:  Consider this my disclaimer!  My name is Laura H., and I'm a recent college grad.  I work for a mining company that will soon lay me off due to economic hardship (the fall of metal prices being key).  I have no political background except what I was forced to take in high school and college.  I consider myself (borrowing a great phrase from a former roommate) a "crunchy conservative:"  I have liberal tendencies, but tend to view things conservatively.  I'm financially self-sufficient, have no car payment,  and have relatively little debt.

The What:  My take on HR 1, bantered about in the media as the almost $1 trillion dollar bailout bill to help jump-start the economy.  With no political background, I'm going to read it in chunks (all 680 pages or so!) and tell you the most fun things about it, things maybe you didn't know.

The Where:  I'm going to post this on Facebook, Myspace, and my World of Warcraft Website.  I might get more energetic.  If you like it, tell your friends!

The When:  It'll probably take me about 2 weeks to go through the whole bill, and I might not stay in order.  But never fear, I'll not only post a link to the amended 680-page bill, I'll tell you what section I'm going for.

The How:  I found a .pdf that supposedly is the amended 680 page version of HR 1.  I'm not sure it's real, but I'm willing to give it a shot.  Anytime I quote from my particular version (which I will link at the end of this post, along with any other websites I use) I'll

        do something like this so you know it's a quote (and I will cite my work.)

The Why:  When I was at my first community college, I had to read a shortened version of The Patriot Act that was passed by our government.  It was scary stuff, and I learned a lot.  I decided to do it for HR 1 because it's a huge deal for the American People, I have a LOT of time on my hands, and I consider it a fantastic learning experience.  I'm not in it to change anybody's mind about our government, but if anything I write makes you stop and think a little, I'll consider myself content.  I welcome comments and questions regarding my opinions, especially if you know what you're talking about.

PART I

I decided to start at the beginning here, and began with the introduction.  The general introduction and Title I - General Provisions lasted until page 69.  I admit, I skimmed a whole lot of this.  A lot of it was "reference Subsection A" and "pursuant to the course in subsection C" and similar legal jargon.

According to the beginning, the purpose of this act, known as the "American Investment and Recovery Act of 2009" (p. 2) is to:

     (1) To preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery.
     (2) To assist those most impacted by the recession.
     (3) To provide investments needed to increase economic efficiency   by spurring technological advances in science and health.
     (4) To invest in transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits.
     (5) To stabilize State and local government budgets, in order to minimize and avoid
            reductions in essential services and counterproductive state and local tax increases. (p. 2-3).

My first thought was "there are 5 goals here, and there are 680 pages to this amended bill."  Oh dear god.  So do the math.  I'm not an engineer, and got out my calculator.  Granting that you might need 2 pages for introduction and 5 pages for citations and/or credit (leaving 673 pages) it's roughly 134.6 pages per goal.  Considering that I personally could condense #4 and #5, and it would make MORE sense, I am not impressed with the current verbosity.

After this I came to Title I - General Provisions, which lasted until midway down page 69.   This covered grant receivers and grant givers (all my grad-student friends, REJOICE!), then detailed grants to the EPA, DOT, and DOHUD (Dept. of Housing and Urban Devlopment).  Nothing about schools yet (all my grad-student friends, WALLOW IN YOUR MISERY!).

Then there came a lot of items about the Inspectors General.  Interestingly enough, I had always thought it was "Inspector Generals."  I was wrong.  All combined in the DOE, NSF, NBA, NASA, DVA, DOHUD, DOT, DOJ, DHS, the other DOE, DOA (tee hee), and the DOD (and I'm forgetting an agency or two) get $193,500,000.  I did the math again and got $208,500,000.  Ok, I'm not sure my math skills are going great, but you get the idea.  And that's just for the Inspectors General. 

According to Wikipedia.org, "In a civilian or military administration, an Inspector General is a high ranking official charged with the mission to inspect and report on some bodies in their field of competency. The plural of the term is Inspectors General."  Even they knew about the plural.  According to HR1, the Inspectors General of the alphabet soup I listed earlier are independent of their respective agencies, which means they don't have to do what the agency leaders want if they think it's against the law.

My FAVORITE part of Title I came on page 14:

     SEC. 1112. ADDITIONAL ASSURANCE OF APPROPRIATE USE OF FUNDS.
     None of the funds provided by this Act may be made
     available to the State of Illinois, or any agency of the
     State, unless: (1) the use of such funds by the State is
     approved in legislation enacted by the State after the date
     of the enactment of this Act; or (2) Rod R. Blagojevich
     no longer holds the office of Governor of the State of Illinois.

Check it out, man!  Blagojevich got his OWN MENTION as someone we CAN'T GIVE MONEY too!!!!!!  How AWESOME is that?

On page 15, the Act mentions that unless you participate in the E-verify system, used by the INS, you can't get any money either.  Page 16 has a lovely item listing that all agencies have to post on Recovery.gov what they are using our money for. Staffing issues, locations of offices, and how the Inspectors General remain independent is listed further on.  It also states how no whistle-blower can get fired or otherwise impugned for being a Good Citizen.

Well, I think that sums up enough of what I read on pages 1-69.  Stay tuned for Part II.  It's just going to get better.

My Link:  http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/hr1_engrossed.pdf

Dear Blog,

Round two.  For the last 4 days I've been in the town of Kaman, which doesn't have internet access of any kind, or anything else that remotely resembles civilization.  We stayed at a hydroelectric dam power plant thing in the dorms, and had rooms with actual beds.

The work was about the normal.  The area we were in looks very very similar to the Tri-Cities area where I grew up, so I was at home.  It was very dry *FINALLY!* and the wind was up.  I think I burned off all the minor freckles on my nose.

The highlight of the week was making team names for our groups.  Our team was Team Blitzball, and we worked closely in conjunction with Team Chocobo Fan Club.  There are 3 of us that pal around together and talk video games and zombie preparation readiness and WoW together.  Life can be beautiful.

The rest of the week will be spent making maps on mylar and plotting points and writing a description of things that need to be described before I get to rest on Sunday.

The people are good.  The Horde Character still wants to know what to re-roll on our server.  She and I debate the merits of WoW ALL the time.  I'm creating a post on the Geology of WoW, so that will have to be posted soon.

Only one person annoys the crap out of me, so I think that's a plus.

Eating a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, and I've finally stopped throwing up.  I think *knock on wood* I may be healthy.  

The children follow me around still, and now I'm getting more shouts of "I Love You!" when I greet them with "Merhaba," or hello in Turkish.  There are market's here, but I haven't heard anyone call them a souk yet.  We barter all the time.

Dear Blog, 

So I'm taking Gar's advice and moving this to the Blog area.  Do people actually read these things?  We'll find out.

 Turkey has a vast array of interesting bugs.  I don't mean the macro kind, I mean the micro kind.  I've been sick twice now, once with a massive sinus infection that gave me some killer antibiotics and now with a fantastic stomach flu.

 The days are long and require 8 hours of field hiking and mapping.  I'd just like to say that I hate field work.  I want a cubicle career, I think.

 All that taken into account, things here are still going well.

 The weridest thing about Turkey is the call to prayer 5 times a day.  We've finally gotten to the point where we can sleep through the 5 AM prayers, which probably means we'd all make bad bad muslims.

You know you're in a theocracy when in EVERY town you get a call to prayer and it echoes throughout the hills so you get it in bad stereo effect.

 It's cheap here.  Very very cheap.  In one week I spent 20 dollars and got only fun stuff.  Cookies are like 50 cents for a roll of 10 cookies.  It's great.  And you wanta Fanta, don't you?

With this written, I'm off to do a cross section before I start throwing up again.

Love, PG