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$1 trillion deficit!

WASHINGTON Reuters – The U.S. budget deficit almost hit $1 trillion during the first six months of this fiscal year which began on October 1, according to estimates released on Monday by the Congressional Budget Office.

The government likely recorded $953 billion in red ink from October through March including $290 billion for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, which was to provide much-needed cash to struggling financial institutions, the CBO said.

Receipts during the six-month period dropped about $160 billion, or 14 percent, over the same period in fiscal 2008. Nearly half of the drop, $73 billion, came from a fall in corporate income tax receipts.

A trillion dollars. And no one is saying a word about it!

via U.S. deficit nearly $1 trillion in first half of FY2009.

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Quote of the Day

Queen Elizabeth’s speech to her troops at Tilbury, on the eve of the Spanish Armada (and their intended invasion of England):

My loving people, we have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit our selves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear, I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects; and therefore I am come amongst you, as you see, at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live and die amongst you all; to lay down for my God, and for my kingdom, and my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust. I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field. I know already, for your forwardness you have deserved rewards and crowns; and We do assure you in the word of a prince, they shall be duly paid you. In the mean time, my lieutenant general shall be in my stead, than whom never prince commanded a more noble or worthy subject; not doubting but by your obedience to my general, by your concord in the camp, and your valour in the field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over those enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people.

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SONGS I LOVE: “Little Bit”

Most of my friends (especially Scott) know that I will sometimes find a new song that I like and listen to it over and over and over and over again.

The latest tune in my “endless loop” is Swedish pop star Lykke Li’s 2008 song “Little Bit” – specifically, a remix of the song by LA wondertwins The Villans. I discovered the remix last week, and have listened to it at least 100 times so far.

A popular indie music site described Lykke Li’s music as “a mix of soul, electro and powdered-sugar pop”. The original version is pretty good, but this remix is absolutely infectious!

Have a listen:

[audio:little_bit.mp3]
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More Shuffle Stupidity

I’ve been knocking the new 3G iPod Shuffle pretty hard lately, and now there’s word that there’s yet another problem with Apple’s diminutive music player.

It appears that the player’s controller (which was moved to the headphone cord) is not water-resistant, so when people workout with it, sweat trickles in and causes all sorts of problems, from the volume maxing itself out to the Shuffle ceasing to operate completely. Word is that simply letting the player dry out completely “fixes” the problem, and at least one user has said that Apple wants to take a look at his player to further investigate the problem. This thread at the Apple support forums has the complete details.

If true, this is a hilarious black eye for Apple, because the Shuffle is supposed to be the “iPod for working out”, right?

Good job, Cupertino!

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Giants release Burress

No surprise here – the Giants got rid of Plexiglass. He’s an awesome player, but apparently a horrible human being. This (and not money) is why the Steelers got rid of him back in 2004(?).

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The New York Giants released Super Bowl hero Plaxico Burress on Friday, a little more than four months after the talented but troubled wide receiver accidentally shot himself in the thigh in a New York City nightclub.

Burress’ four-year tenure with the Giants was highlighted by a game-winning touchdown catch in the Super Bowl against the previously undefeated New England Patriots in February 2008, but it also was dogged by fines and suspensions.

via Giants release Burress 4 months after shooting.

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Jim Cofer: Now on Twitter

As you might have noticed from the “Twitter Updates” posts below, I have now joined Twitter!

I don’t have much of an interest in Twitter itself (it seems to me like Facebook for people with really short attention spans), but I thought I might as well join up and get some two-way communication going between Twitter and my blog. Thanks to a WordPress plug-in called Twitter Tools, new posts on this blog are automatically entered into Twitter. I opted out of posting a daily “Twitter Roundup” on my site, going instead for a “weekly digest” of all my tweets.

If you want to follow me (or this blog) on Twitter, go here:

http://www.twitter.com/jimcofer.