So, as expected, and despite the thousands of protesters, the NY State legislature approved an emergency spending bill that includes a one day per week furlough for unionized employees. It’s Governor Blinky’s revenge against the unions for the sin of insisting that the State abide by the contract it signed. Nobody ever offered state workers more money when times were good, but of course they’re happy to go after them when times are tough and the governor and legislature mismanage the state to the point of bankruptcy. To close a $9.2 billion deficit, Blinky and his posse want to screw state employees (but only those represented by a union) out of $250 million by giving them eight weeks of unpaid time off. That only leaves another $9.175 billion to go. God forbid they should raise taxes on rich people.

Of course, the unions are already challenging this furlough as illegal (which, although I’m no lawyer, seems pretty clear to me: it’s both an illegal lockout and a contract violation). My old union – CSEA – has already filed for a restraining order, and I expect the other unions to follow suit. Especially after Blinky yesterday said the unions “…just want to frolic along do commercials and have rallies.” Oh, and do our jobs and get paid, unlike you and the legislature, whose only actual job is to get a budget in place by April 1st, which you never, ever manage to do. Of course, you keep getting paid, don’t you?

Go frolic yourself, Governor.

It was a pretty miserable weekend, weather-wise. Especially yesterday – it snowed most of the day, was windy as hell, and while the official high temp for the day was 42, it never made it higher than 38 at my house. I did manage to get the grass cut, though (wasn’t easy; it was thick and wet – and cold – but I didn’t want the lawn police after me). Then I stayed up too late last night (damn Treme), so now I’m pretty beat, and facing a day with multiple meetings. Bleh.

I’d hoped Obama would pick a woman for the Supreme Court, but he picked Elena Kagan instead. OK, OK, I know that wasn’t very nice. But you have to admit, she’s no Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Lena Horne died. Only 92, too.

Speaking of old broads, I don’t normally bother to record SNL these days, let alone actually watch it, but I made an exception this week so I could watch Betty White host it. She was great. No dried out muffin there.

On Press the Meat today, Eric Holder is on to defend his shameful use of the Criminal Justice system to prosecute criminals. Plus, a roundtable of Douchebag Dave Brooks, the Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne, BBC World News America’s Katty Kay, and Author Wes Moore.

Over at Faze then Nation, it’s John Brennan, Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, Christopher Dodd, Dick Shelby, and the Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Thad Allen.

Brennan also heads over to Fux News, and Weaselface Wallace also has two of the most disgusting people I can think of: racist xenophobe (and those are his better qualities) Peter King of NY, and Senator from the terrorist haven of Connecticut, Joey Lieberman. Plus “power player” Jennifer Griffin and the usual bunch of fuxheads.

Speaking of disgusting people, the Goebbels network has Guidi Ruliani, plus Eric Holder and a roundtable of George :jerk: Will, Shelby Steele, Robin Wright, and John Podesta.

On CNN, Fareed Zakaria has counter-terrorism expert Richard Clarke, and then a discussion on how a guy with a good job, a wife, kids and a mortgage gets radicalized (I think it’s probably the wife, kids, job, and mortgage).

Hard to believe it’s Mother’s Day again (especially since it’s snowing here). So, happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers out there.

The good news is that I got on the presale list to buy tickets for the upcoming Roger Waters “The Wall” tour for Philly, Buffalo, NYC, Long Island, and Hartford. Great, I thought. Until I found out how much the tickets cost. I was fully prepared to be outraged by (yet pay) prices of $50, maybe even $75. Turns out the good seats cost $440 a pair. And the “cheap” seats go for like $240. And then I’d have to travel (most likely drive to Buffalo, see the show, and then drive back, to both avoid the cost of a hotel, and also because I don’t have anybody who could babysit the dogs). So, no Roger Waters for me. I’m sure it’s an expensive production, and I’d really like to see it, but I’ll just have to wait for the DVD. Even if I wasn’t about to get a 20% pay cut for who knows how long (the answer, Andy, is I don’t know how long it’ll last, because Governor Blinky intends to continue it until the state legislature passes a budget), I just can’t justify that much money to see a show. Bummer.

Once again, Bill Maher insisted on having that schmuck David Frum on his show last night. He’s not only worthless and adds absolutely nothing to the conversation, but it looks like his hair was styled by BP. I expected the woman (whose name escapes me, even though I just watched the show; sorry, that’s what happens when you get old) who was the former Fox VP of something or other to be a typical plastic twit, but she was actually pretty lucid and not annoying.

Bill was kind of annoying when Sarah Silverman was on, I thought. Mostly because he wouldn’t STFU while she was talking.

Big goings on here in town last night, as Stephen Strasburg made his AAA pitching debut in front of close to 14,000 people (on a pretty cold and crappy night), which was the largest crowd to see a game in Syracuse’s 135 years of baseball history. For those keeping score (which would be, like, nobody), he allowed one hit and one walk in six innings (he was on a six inning or 90 pitch limit – and he only threw 65 pitches). I’m not really a baseball fan, but it looks like this kid is gonna be pretty impressive. I think he’s the best pitcher we’ve seen in these parts since Ron Guidry was here. We’ve got him for five or six starts, and then he’s off to DC in early June.

Oh well, it’s a cold, rainy morning here. I guess that gets me out of doing any work outside.

Interesting developments in the British parliamentary elections. The Tories have picked up a lot of seats (92 so far), and have a plurality of 291 seats to Labour’s 251 and the Liberal Democrats’ 52, with 621 of 650 seats declared as of this writing (the balance of seats have gone to minor parties like the Scottish National Party, Sinn Fein, the Green Party, etc.). 326 seats are required for a majority, so it’s looking like no party will have what it takes to put together a majority government. That’s what they call a “hung parliament,” and now somebody will need to wheel and deal and try to put together some sort of coalition. And that coalition promises to be be pretty fragile, so the next PM will have a pretty rough road ahead, I think.

Otherwise, it’s just nice that Friday’s finally here. It’s actually been a pretty quick week. Not as quick as they weeks will be starting May 17th, of course, ‘cuz my furlough is looking all but certain at this point in time. For me, a 20% pay cut is gonna be kinda sucky. For people with families who aren’t making much money and live paycheck to paycheck, well, I don’t know what they’ll do. I guess it’ll be time for people to decide between paying the mortgage or buying food. The people making the most money are, of course, unaffected by all this, as are our brave state legislators.

Since I’m salaried, I’m sure they’ll just expect me to work longer hours to make up for my extra unpaid day off. And I know all this makes me really motivated to get out there and be productive, so I’ll be happy to do it. Honest.

Speaking of which, time to get going, I guess.

A bit of a milestone yesterday, as I took the dogs to the park for the first time since March. My foot is still sore, but I figured I’d better give this cortisone shot a workout. And we had lots of fun: we went swimming, and played with other doggies, and had tug of war with a stick. All-in-all, a good time. Except it was too damn hot. Sadly, thunderstorms moved in last night, and the doggies don’t like thunderstorms. So, not much sleep for me last night.

Stephen Strasburg has been promoted by the Washington Nationals from their AA club in Harrisburg to their AAA affiliate in Syracuse, where he’ll be making his first start tomorrow night. You’ve probably never heard of him, though he’s apparently a pretty big deal, being a pitcher who possesses a 100 MPH fastball. Strasburg was the #1 pick in last year’s MLB draft, and has already signed a $15 million contract (which should go a long way around here). He isn’t expected to be in Syracuse for long, though, as he’s on the fast track for the majors, and is expcected to get about six starts here before moving on up to DC.

Speaking of big news, Aerosmith has been announced as one of the acts at the NY State Fair in August (presumably we’ll have enough money to pay them). Back in the day, that might have excited me, but now? Not so much. I’d hoped to see Roger Waters doing The Wall this October in Buffalo, but, sadly, was not chosen as part of the presale drawing for tickets, and will probably have to pay out the ass for tickets. Plus I have nobody to babysit the dogs. Oh well.

It’s looking like the furlough of NY State employees (including me) for one day a week until a budget is in place is going to happen, as the NY Legislature can’t even be bothered to work a five-day week to try and get something in place (not to worry, though; they continue to receive full pay). Our Governor now seems to be saying that he’d be willing to forgo the furlough if State employees would agree to a week’s pay lag instead, but it’s hard to tell, ‘cuz he seems to keep just throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks. So, the good news is, I get an extra day off. The bad news is, I’ll be screwed out of 20% of my pay.

Not today, though, so I gotta go.

Here in NY State, we still don’t have a budget (which, in theory, is due on April 1st every year, but has only been on time once since 1983, I think). What that means (aside from the fact that schools and municipalities have no idea how much state aid to expect, so they can’t budget accurately) that the Governor submits a temporary emergency budget bill every once in a while, and the legislature can either vote it up or down (but always up, because the alternative means shutting down state government). So, anyway, in his next emergency bill, our Governor is including a one day a week furlough for state employees who aren’t considered “essential” (or who aren’t management toadies). State unions are pretty powerful, but voting down the budget means the state wouldn’t have the authority to spend money after May 9th. So, could be I’ll be getting an extra day off every week for a while (which would amount to a 20% pay cut). Pretty hard to make that up in office supplies, but I’ll do my best.

Of course, if they shut down the government instead, I don’t know how things will work. I believe there was a time a long time ago when they paid people in “vouchers” that some banks were kind enough to honor. Or maybe they’ll just shut down every hospital and state agency, the SUNY system, the State DOT, you name it. That’s really what I’d prefer. State employees are always easy targets when times get tough because of mismanagement at the legislative level. Let “the people” see what it’s like when we aren’t there doing our jobs every day.

Our current fiscal problems are a direct result of George Pataki cutting taxes for rich people and reducing pension contributions for state and local municipalities when times were good. The comptroller at the time (H. Carl McCall) warned him that the good times would end and he needed to put some money away, but that’s not how the short-sighted and ignorant Republicans roll. So, here we are.

Speaking of short-sighted and ignorant, Papa John Boehner and Mary Landrieu want to double down on offshore oil drilling. I mean, all that oil washing up on shore and killing wildlife just means we need more oil to make up for it. Drill baby, drill.

It’s Cinco de Mayo everywhere but Arizona, where it’s “Muestre mis sus documentos” day. Actually every day is documentos day in Arizona.

I say, celebrate fifth of May with a fifth of bourbon. Especially if you’re a furloughed state employee.

I guess by now everybody’s heard about Virginia’s AG – Ken Cuckoonelli – deciding the State Seal was too racy because one of the goddess of virtue’s boobs is “exposed,” and handing out lapel pins to his staff featuring a cleaned-up version. What is is with right-wingers and boobs, anyway? I mean, I consider myself a fairly representative member of the straight male population, and I’ve always kind of liked boobs. I don’t have the same obsession with them that some guys do, I really don’t like the fake ones (they remind me of my sister’s Barbie dolls and – with all due respect to Barbie – fake plastic bumps just don’t do it for me), and I’m not especially partial to the Dolly Parton look, but, all-in-all, it’s pretty rare that I say to myself, “good god, cover those things up.” Even more strange is the fact that the VA seal is a cartoon, and even at that, it’s not a particularly salacious, graphic, or erotic cartoon (I mean, Peter Griffin has bigger boobs). They make the Spirit of Justice’s boob that had John Ashcroft all hot and bothered look like a porn star.

Maybe Cuckoonelli ought to be more worried about kids killing other kids at the University of Virginia, and less worried about cartoon boobs.

Speaking of killing college kids, it was 40 years ago today that the Ohio National Guard decided to open fire on a bunch of college kids at Kent State. I was only about 9 years old, and it’s hard for me to tell if I really remember it when it happened or not. I mean, I feel as if I remember it, ‘cuz it’s become such a big part of the history of the Vietnam War era, but who really knows. I’m sure it didn’t have the impact on me that it would if it had happened when I was college age. Hard to believe it’s been so long (actually, the hard part is believing that I’ve gotten so damn old).

Looks like they caught the Times Square SUV bomber, and he appears to be an American of Pakistani descent. I have to confess, I was rather hoping it would turn out to be a teabagger. Good thing he wasn’t much of a bomb maker.

Oh well, thanks to the web host having database issues again, I didn’t have much time this morning, so I guess I better get going. It’s finally podiatrist day.

My old high school had a reunion of sorts over the weekend, to celebrate (I guess) everybody hitting the big five-oh this year. Much like the 10th, 20th, 25th, 30th years, I didn’t really consider going. Not that I don’t have a certain amount of curiosity, of course, but not enough to overcome my apathy. It’s not like high school was the pinnacle of my life, and while there are a few people I wouldn’t mind seeing again (one’s dead, so I guess that aint happening), I don’t really want to see them all that much. Wouldn’t mind running into them somewhere, but after a few minutes of “hey, gee, how ya been? Not bad, how you been,” I think I’d get pretty bored. Besides, I’m pretty sure the people I’d wanna talk to aren’t the kind of people who’d go to a high school reunion. We spent most of high school out in the woods getting stoned. Now that’s a reunion I might actually attend.

I heard a bit of Obama’s speech to Louisiana residents yesterday while driving around. Something about fixing everything and compensating people and whatnot. It sounded like another load of bullshit to me, in light of the fact that it’s been, what, almost five years since Katrina, and New Orleans is still not rebuilt. The AP story I read said that Obama “rushed” to southern Louisiana to inspect the forces or rally the troops or whatever it is that presidents do when they fly around looking at a big pile of shit seeming concerned and trying to look “presidential.’ Yes, the President rushed right down. I mean, the burning rig sunk a mere 10 days ago or something.

Not that there’s much he can do, really. Except promise to fix everything, compensate people for everything they’ve lost, and insist that he’ll make BP pay the bill. Yeah, like that’ll happen. After a decade or so of lawsuits, maybe some people will get 5 cents on the dollar for their lost businesses and ways of life. In the meantime, I predict record profits for Exxon (and BP, for that matter), and $120 a barrel oil – which will lead to the reprise of the clamor to drill baby drill as soon as everybody forgets that’s what got us here in the first place.

Meanwhile, the dead sea turtles keep washing up on shore down south and the rich folks up north get ready to sue to prevent wind farms from obstructing the beautiful views from their gated communities.

Speaking of washing up, time to get ready to face another week.

Oh, today is a huge day in booblehead history. For the first time ever, it’s Press the Meat in HD. If only Timmuh was still with us – imagine his marvelous potato head in HD! As it is, we’ll have to settle for Sec State Hillary Clinton. Then we’ll talk oil spill with Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano (I’d imagine the almost car bomb in Times Square might come up, too), Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, Adm. Thad Allen.

Oh, and did I hear that somebody is introducing legislation to keep oil companies from profiting from a “shortage” of crude due to the loss of this drilling platform? No? Didn’t think so.

We’ll also get to bask in the Hi Def glow of Florida Governor Charlie H. Crist’s bronze patina, and hear the words of wisdom offered by today’s political roundtable of Tennessee cracker Lamar Alexander, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Indiana schmuck Mike (half) Pence (speaking of Indiana, have I mentioned that Notre Dame sucks lately?), New Mexico’s Bill Richardson (who better not go to AZ, ‘cuz he don’t look like a regular American to me; speaking of which, Arpaio? What the hell is that? Don’t sound white to me, and how did some prevert with a pink panties fetish get to be a sheriff, anyway?).

On Faze the Nation, we’ll see LA congresscritter Charlie Melancon, Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez (what is it with all these foreigners in IL, anyway? First that Kenyan guy, and now a Mexican elected to congress), the bane of St. John McCain’s existence, J.D. Hayworth (this guy has “child molester” written all over him – he’s almost as creepy looking as Papa John Boehner), and the virtually useless Senator from Louisiana, Mary Landrieu.

More oil talk on Fux News, as Weaselface Wallace gets sloppy seconds on Janet Napolitano and Ken Salazar, plus Minnesota Timberwolf draft pick, possible illegal alien, and Republican candidate for FL Senate, Marco Rubio. Oh, and the usual collection of fuxheads, of course.

The Goebbels network gets sloppy thirds on Napolitano and Salazar, plus Jake the mens’ room Tapper has an exclusive interview with BP American Chairman Lamar McKay. Then, it’s a roundtable of truly epic proportions, with Bill Maher, Al Sharpton, Katrina vanden Heuvel, This Weak’s designated schmuck, Matthew Dowd, and of course the man with no place else to go, George :jerk: Will (who looked like an even bigger asshole than usual on Colbert the other night).

Over at CNN, Fareed Zakaria has an exclusive interview with bald headed prick Goldman Sachs Chairman & CEO Lloyd Blankfein (who made $68 million in 2007, which is almost as much as IT guys, school teachers, and nurses make). I’m pretty sure Lloyd feels our pain.

No time for booblehead watching for me, today. There’s too much to do, and too little time to do it in. Laundry, dog walking, post hole digging, dog food shopping…. It’s just too much. Although yesterday we put together the Chipper that Granny bought, and she mulched ever leaf and twig in a three-block radius, while I added a second doggie shit hole to the back yard (the first one was getting pretty full; the new one is a roomy five-gallon bucket size, and it was a pain, ‘cuz I hit a rock the size of a bowling ball down hear the bottom and had to pound on it with a chisel ’til I could break it up and pull it out).

I probably should have taken pictures.

Have a good Sunday.