Ways to Spend Your $600 Tax Rebate

Green Up Your Home:

• New Energy Efficient Fridge
• New Lights – Compact Florescent

The cost of this is wildly variable depending on your home or apartment, but $600 can go a long way toward saving your energy bill and the earth at the same time. Many homeowners have an old fridge in the garage where old food goes to die, and it’s typically incredibly inefficient. For under $600 you can get a cheap fridge with a good Energy Star rating and save literally hundreds of dollars a year on your electic bill. If you use bottled water, get one of those faucet-attached water filters (Brita, Pur, etc.) and a stockpile of new filters. The quality of water is just as good or better, it’s more convenient than the jug or bottle, and you won’t be wasting all the plastic and fuel used to bottle and ship bottled water.

$600 is enough for almost anyone to replace all the bulbs in their home with compact fluorescents. They cost a lot more up front, but they last a lot longer (5–8 years) and use a third of the electricity to put out the same amount of light. They pay for themselves with a reduced electric bill in usually 3–4 months. You can probably do the water filter, light bulbs, and buy easy window insulation kits for all your windows with just your one measly $600 rebate check. Best of all, you’ll probably save more than $600 on your energy bills over the next year. I guess it takes money to make money.

So go ahead and splurge on yourself in a way that will pay you back, and your neighbor and world.

10 things you should know about John McCain

McCain is so far out of touch with faith, we should all be scared. (Up next – more photos).

In case you were wondering, this is a political post.  A re-posting of information from MoveOn.Org, it is worth a read.  Post comments on your thoughts – think critically about the post and let me know your views.

10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don’t):

1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has “evolved,” yet he’s continued to oppose key civil rights laws.

2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain “will make Cheney look like Gandhi.”

3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.

4. McCain opposes a woman’s right to choose. He said, “I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned.”

5. The Children’s Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children’s health care bill last year, then defended Bush’s veto of the bill.

6. He’s one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a “second job” and skip their vacations.

7. Many of McCain’s fellow Republican senators say he’s too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: “The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He’s erratic. He’s hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.”

8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.

9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his “spiritual guide,” Rod Parsley, believes America’s founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a “false religion.” McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church “the Antichrist” and a “false cult.”

10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.

John McCain is not who the Washington press corps make him out to be.

I have sources for the information if you are interested please let me know.

Barack vs. Hillary

Hmmm, which to choose.  Quite some time ago, we heard Barack at the Target Center, and the day after we heard Hillary at Augsburg College.  The two of them were very different.  Barack had 20,000 attendees where Hillary had 20% of that (4,000 for you non-math folks).  Both rallies were stump speeches as well as motivational.  They were very different- Barack was motivational talking about the issues and encouraging people to stay connected because the tasks at hand are more than one man (or woman).  Hillary was more “I’m the best” type of motivation.

While just looking at the issues, both candidates look very similar, but believe me, they are quite different.  More on the two of them later.

Something really odd was that because of class, neither of us were able to caucus (Minnesota is a caucus state – boo).

Iron Man – Inventor, Businessman, Genius

Richard’s results:
You are Iron Man

Iron Man 80% Superman 60% Green Lantern 55% Spider-Man 45% Catwoman 45% Hulk 45% Batman 45% Supergirl 43% The Flash 40% Robin 28% Wonder Woman 23%

Inventor. Businessman. Genius.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test