Solve the federal budget deficit

The NY Times has published a fun interactive graphic that lets you do what Congress and the President have not been able to manage:  balancing the federal budget.

Try your hand at it:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html

Then email it to the candidates for U.S. Senate and ask them to fill it out.  Any that refuse to reveal their preferences don't deserve serious consideration.

Amazon.com: please charge me sales tax

I love Amazon.com, but it is not fair to brick and mortar retailers that Amazon gets away with undercutting prices by avoiding sales tax.  Also, it reduces state tax revenue, forcing us to cut back services or pay more in other taxes and fees.  As a loyal Amazon customer, I ask you:  please start chargning me sales tax.

Where's the snow?

I got an automated call from the City of Newton last night at 4:22 AM informing me that a snow emergency had been declared.  Did anyone else get awakened by this informative message or was I the only recipient?  It is a little cool for June 25, but I don't see any flakes (although there may be some running Newton's automated calling system).

I'm moderating two debates Sunday

On Sunday, I will be moderating the candidate forums sponsored by the Ward 6 Democratic Committee in the races for Alderman-At-Large from Ward 6 and Ward 8.  The debates will take place at the NewTV studio starting at 12:30 PM and will be subsequently cablecast.  Actually, I'm not sure if the word "debate" is correct, since the candidates will mostly be answering my questions, not debating one another, although we will have an interactive segment.

If you have questions that you would like me to ask the candidates, please email your suggestions to ken@kenparker.org.