Pardon The Interruption

This picture is awesome.

I wonder if these guys are popular in Japan.

Obama's New Budget Doesn't Add Up

I don't understand the math for the Department of Education in Obama's new budget.

First, we have a new $8 billion program to get community colleges to actually train people for jobs that are going unfilled.

Second, we have a reduction of college loan interest rates from 6.8% to 3.4%. According to House Education and Workforce Committee Ranking Member George Mille (D-CA) and Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX), this will give more than $2,800 per year to about 7 million undergraduates.

Seven million times $2.800 is about $17.6 billion.

Finally, there's the $2,500 "partly refundable" tax credit for college education. There are about 21 million students currently enrolled in college programs that would qualify for this credit. This tax credit is aimed at "low income families", which the government defines as families earning less than $160,000. Wow. That's almost 4 times the median household income, and enough to put a family in the top 5% of household income. That's what happens when you let millionaires write the laws: they decide that someone earning $80 an hour is "low income".

Anyway, let's be conservative and assume that only 80% of those 21 million qualify for the credit. That's another $42 billion.

Forty-two billion plus $17.6 billion plus $8 billion is $67.6 billion.

But the article says that the Dept. Of Education budget is only going up by 2.4% (to $69.8 billion).

So there are $67.6 billion in new programs squeezed into a $1.6 billion budget increase?

Which means these proposed expenditures are hiding somewhere else in the budget...

50 Albums For A Desert Island

Rank	Artist	Album
1	The Beat	I Just Can't Stop It
2	Red Hot Chili Peppers	Californication
3	Oingo Boingo	Dead Man's Party
4	U2	War
5	The Police	Outlandos d'Amour
6	The Clash	London Calling
7	Madonna	Like A Prayer
8	R.E.M.	Murmur
9	Duran Duran	Rio
10	Bruce Springsteen	Born To Run
11	Fleetwood Mac	Rumours
12	Dire Straits	Love Over Gold
13	Queen	A Night At The Opera
14	The B-52's	The B-52's
15	Good Charlotte	The Chronicles Of Life And Death
16	Elvis Costello	This Year's Model
17	Rush	Permanent Waves
18	The Who	Who's Next
19	Yes	90125
20	David Bowie	Changes
21	Everclear	So Much For The Afterglow
22	Elton John	Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
23	Van Morrison	Astral Weeks
24	Blues Traveler	Four
25	The Rolling Stones	Let It Bleed
26	Depeche Mode	Violator
27	311	Transistor
28	Genesis	Abacab
29	Public Enemy	Fear Of A Black Planet
30	Roxy Music	Avalon
31	Sting	Ten Summoner's Tales
32	The Cure	The Head On The Door
33	Hole	Live Through This
34	No Doubt	Tragic Kingdom
35	The Specials	The Specials
36	The Offspring	Smash
37	Peter Gabriel	Peter Gabriel (1982)
38	Jethro Tull	Aqualung
39	New Order	Substance
40	Cake	Comfort Eagle
41	Owl City	Ocean Eyes
42	The Smiths	The Queen Is Dead
43	Led Zeppelin	Led Zeppelin II
44	The Pretenders	The Pretenders
45	The Eagles	Hotel California
46	Barenaked Ladies	Gordon
47	Billy Joel	Glass Houses
48	Talking Heads	Remain in Light
49	James Taylor	Sweet Baby James
50	Coldplay	A Rush Of Blood To The Head

Worst Ad In Super Bowl History?

OK. I realizing I'm feeling hyperbolic tonight. But my jaw dropped when I saw this Silverado ad in the first quarter.

The first 38 seconds were an amusing depiction of the impending 2012 apocalypse. But then our driver meets up with his friends and wonders why one of them hasn't arrived yet:

Chevy Driver 1: “Where’s Dave?”

Worst Call In Super Bowl History

Photo by Ed Yourdon

I realize that it's hyberbolic to call today's safety call the worst in 46 Super Bowls. But somebody needs to do it. Right now, there are thousands of people out there Googling "worst super bowl call ever", and they need to be able to find something.

I'm Not Concerned About The Very Poor

Photos by Gage Skidmore and Robert Couse-Baker

Sources: Congressional Budget Office, New York Times

Click graphic for larger version (http://bit.ly/xKp1K6).

The Truth About Gingrich And Romney

Graph by Clay Dreslough