American Idol Tweets

"Now on ‘Idol,’ Viewers Can Tweet While Contestants Sing" - NY Times

So how MUCH lower can this show get? Please, someone take the show out of its misery!

The 2013 Razzies

Quoting People:

  The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, Adam Sandler and Rihanna are among the "winners" of the 33rd annual Golden Raspberry Awards – the Razzies – which are not so much handed out as they are thrown at those who are voted as perpetrating Hollywood's worst achievements of the year...Sandler, who last year monopolized the Razzies – and set a record by winning in 10 categories with the "comedy" Jack & Jill – this year got only two awards: for worst actor of the year and worst screenplay, both for That's My Boy.

So I have two questions: 1) How many years in a row has Sandler won a Razzie? And 2) When will Sandler realize his career is over. He's just not the same actor he once was.

Sasha's commentary for February 21, 2013

What a day. I skipped work because on the way to work I was doing 50 when I should have done 40, and skid off the road, in the process damaging a four month old tire. I'd be the first to admit that I'm probably a hazard on the road. Kudos to the Moira Highway Department, the Volunteer fire department, a mechanic named Tom and numerous strangers for helping me out this afternoon.

Anyways, I'm gearing up for the Spring. I'm making plans to leave my current job and take a gamble with New York City, my city, the city I was conceived and born in. No matter where I am in the world, whether it be Denver, Colorado; Seattle, Washington; Kiev, Ukraine; Ferndale/Brushton/Brandon/Carmel/Brewster, New York or even Weehawken, New Jersey (which is coincidentally right across the river from Midtown Manhattan), New York City will always be home for me in some manner.

The big news is that former Utah governor and one-time presidential candidate Jon Huntsman has come out in favor of same-sex marriage. What Huntsman did in what is probably the most conservative state in the nation during his term, giving same-sex couples some rights. I wish he did more, but considering where he's coming from, it's impressive.

And while we're on the marriage topic, girls, if you want to marry me, be prepared to keep your last name. You're not my property, you're an individual, an equal. Men don't change their last names when they get married, so why should women?

Sasha's commentary for 18 February 2013

I haven't done one of these because I've been dreaming about a girl...story of my life!

M'kay, so, some really unusual things are happening in this world.

Lady Gaga tore something in her hips or something, and now has a wheelchair. Her cancelled tour will be missed. I gotta say though, Emma is a cute name for a wheelchair. I was thinking Molly for some reason.

Harry Styles of One Direction is now (very brief though) discussing her breakup. So, if Taylor Swift could date an 18-year-old and she's 23, can we not have a double standard. Of course, my brother's girlfriend's parents dread that their 18-year-old is going out with a 22 year old. I think we still live in a world where a young lady of the college age group dating someone older than 21 is creepy.

Travis Barker, of Blink 182, is afraid to fly and it's understandable, but also doesn't make sense, considering the fact that flying is one of the safest forms of transportation. If it's post-traumatic stress disorder, then by all means I wish him well. Surviving a plane crash is by no means easy.

Lukashenko is at it AGAIN! According to NBC News, a Belarussian border guard was sentenced to, of all things, a maximum security prison for two years "for failing to report a border crossing by a Swedish plane that parachuted hundreds of teddy bears into the country carrying pro-democracy protest messages." Where's my WTF face? I pray that I can get a new passport, learn Russian, hope for a revolution and civil disorder in the country and go there and record it all. And help people who might get hurt, the whole nine yards. But it appears that Sweden and Belarus have bad blood.

Russia's the next big thing, at least in real estate. What will it take for Ukraine to go down that road?

Tomorrow I'll do something autism related. I'll have the time, thanks to flight sim.

Pardon the cobwebs....

On the other hand, whoever wants to take over being sick from me is a friend indeed. Not like that will ever happen though. Oh well though, I was bound to come down with something anyways. (Picture is the same as on my Twitter feed)

What To and Not Do as Lieutenant Governor

Rick Sheehy, the (now-former) lieutenant governor of Kansas, and presumed sucessor to Gov. Dave Heinhman, resigned on Saturday morning after it was made public that he used his state-issued cell phone to place thousands of late-night calls to women. 

Quoting CNN:

Local media reported that Sheehy’s wife filed for divorce last year after a 29-year marriage she called “irretrievably broken.”
Sheehy said the split involved a “personal family matter,” according to the World-Herald, and that he had no plans to leave his job or quit his campaign.

It's pretty clear why him and his wife split up. He was probably fooling around, just like some of our elected officials do. I might believe in same sex marriage and having kids before marriage (but if you plan to have kids out of wedlock, please, for the love of God, guys, make sure your significant other/mother of your child is not in a relationship with anyone else AND has your engagement ring on her finger) but infidelity is something I CANNOT tolerate.

However, I want to, when I reach that point in my life and political career, run for lieutenant governor of New York. NY is the state where I was born, where I was raised, and at least have my kids spend some of their childhood here. The job is kind of like most lieutenant gubernatorial jobs in the United States: "get up, read the paper, see if the governor is dead, if not, go back to sleep" in the words of California political insiders. One of the perks of being Lieutenant Governor of New York, in the words of former Lt. Gov and MTA chairman Richard Ravitch, was a car with a driver. Now, if I ever take the job, I'll drive myself, but that being said, there's still a few things the guy does. Quoting the NYS Constitution (Article IV, statute 6):

The lieutenant-governor shall possess the same qualifications of
eligibility for office as the governor. The lieutenant-governor shall be
the president of the senate but shall have only a casting vote therein.
The lieutenant- governor shall receive for his or her services an annual
salary to be fixed by joint resolution of the senate and assembly.
In case of vacancy in the offices of both governor and lieutenant-governor,
a governor and lieutenant-governor shall be elected for the
remainder of the term at the next general election happening not less
than three months after both offices shall have become vacant. No
election of a lieutenant-governor shall be had in any event except at the
time of electing a governor.
In case of vacancy in the offices of both governor and lieutenant-governor
or if both of them shall be impeached, absent from the state or
otherwise unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office of
governor, the temporary president of the senate shall act as governor
until the inability shall cease or until a governor shall be elected.
In case of vacancy in the office of lieutenant-governor alone, or if the
lieutenant-governor shall be impeached, absent from the state or
otherwise unable to discharge the duties of office, the temporary
president of the senate shall perform all the duties of lieutenant-governor
during such vacancy or inability.
If, when the duty of acting as governor devolves upon the temporary
president of the senate, there be a vacancy in such office or the
temporary president of the senate shall be absent from the state or
otherwise unable to discharge the duties of governor, the speaker of the
assembly shall act as governor during such vacancy or inability.
The legislature may provide for the devolution of the duty of acting
as governor in any case not provided for in this article. (Formerly §§7
and 8. Renumbered and amended by Constitutional Convention of 1938
and approved by vote of the people November 8, 1938; further amended
by vote of the people November 6, 1945; November 3, 1953; November
5, 1963; November 6, 2001.)

 And (Article VI, statute 24):

§24. The assembly shall have the power of impeachment by a vote of
a majority of all the members elected thereto. The court for the trial of
impeachments shall be composed of the president of the senate, the
senators, or the major part of them, and the judges of the court of
appeals, or the major part of them. On the trial of an impeachment
against the governor or lieutenant-governor, neither the lieutenant-governor
nor the temporary president of the senate shall act as a
member of the court. No judicial officer shall exercise his or her office
after articles of impeachment against him or her shall have been
preferred to the senate, until he or she shall have been acquitted. Before
the trial of an impeachment, the members of the court shall take an oath
or affirmation truly and impartially to try the impeachment according
to the evidence, and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence
of two-thirds of the members present. Judgment in cases of
impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, or
removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any public
office of honor, trust, or profit under this state; but the party impeached
shall be liable to indictment and punishment according to law.
(Amended by vote of the people November 6, 2001.)

And according to Wikipedia, the Lieutenant Governor of New York sits on the SUNY ESF (Environmental Science and Forestry) Board of Trustees. Wonder if that means I can audit ESF and Syracuse University classes.

My lieutenant governor, Robert (Bob) J. Duffy, has duties that include: "Chair of the Regional Economic Development Councils", "Chair of the Spending and Government Efficiency (SAGE) Commission" and the aforementioned job as President of the State Senate.

And there are some lieutenant governors who have eyed the job. Take Matt Denn of Delaware. For him, the job is pretty much being another set of eyes for the governor and for helping get things accomplished in a teamwork manner. Sure, there's a narrow legal status for the deputy, but it's still a powerful position to some extent.

So the job is this: Wake up in the morning, report to your boss, sit on whatever committee he/she tells you to sit on and/or work on your pet projects. And if you are alerted that you're the top guy now, well, welcome! So, I look forward to in a few years campaigning for the job, despite what my family says. But if the stress gets to them, I'd be glad to sit out.

I'll deal with the Super Bowl tomorrow. The East Coast creamed the West.