Week 1 is finished of work for The Bivings Group. So far, I'm enjoying it a lot.

DC has had some interesting experiences in the last week, most notably with the arrival of Sens. Obama and McCain to meet with President Bush. Sen. Obama received a warm welcome from cheering crowds outside the Mayflower Hotel where he was staying. No such reception was reported for Sen. McCain. Washington, DC is 85% Democratic.

There was also some debate this week over whether or not fire hydrants work properly in the District, a holdover from a fire in Adams Morgan last year where fire hydrants failed to properly maintain water pressure and forced the fire department to take emergency measures to douse the flames.

And construction on the inaugural stage has begun in ernest, with Sen. Barbara Boxer, chair of the Inaugural Committee, pounding in the first stake this last week. Washington will be transformed into a large, open-air prison fairground over the next few months while the country prepares to inaugurate the next President.

8:41 pm | Comment (2) | Print | Categories: Election '08, Washington, DC

I spent the last week at ZendCon in California, and now I'm heading back to Washington to start my new job tomorrow. Should be exciting.

ZendCon was a lot of fun. I had a great time staying with Thomas, and I enjoyed seeing many of you. For those I didn't see, I'll be back at Christmas, and I have the last week of the year off, so that should be enjoyable.

Thanks everyone for a great time, and I'll talk to you all from the East Coast.

12:59 pm | Comment (0) | Print | Categories: Adventures, Travel, zendcon08

Today is my last day at DC PHP. I received an offer from The Bivings Group two weeks ago that was impossible to refuse; they're two blocks from my current residence and they offered me a considerable salary increase. But still, I will miss DC PHP.

I've learned a lot here in the past eight months, about development, about how to design well, and about how development should be done. There is still much left to learn, but the lessons I have learned here are beneficial and important.

Tomorrow I head for ZendCon; see everyone in California!

11:05 am | Comment (0) | Print | Categories: DC PHP

3:28 pm | Comment (5) | Print | Categories: Apple, Bizarre

Conservative registrars have been caught red-handed scaring students, who tend to be liberal, out of registering to vote, saying that they will lose tax benefits, health insurance, and scholarships for registering to vote with their school as their address.

Though the New York Times and the Obama campaign both seem to say that the releases are not political, student voter registrations are intensely political. Students tend to be more liberal, as a whole, and with Virginia being one state where tens of thousands of students could make the difference, it would be hard to argue that there is no political benefit to the Republican party.

This isn't the first time that college students have been prevented from registering to vote. In the 1970's, some African American college students were barred from registering at their college addresses, prompting a Supreme Court ruling that allows students to register at either address.

This is of course not the first effort by the Republican party to prevent people from voting. Faulty "identification laws" that disenfranchise poor and older voters have been passed in numerous states, including Ohio, and challenges have been mounting against voter registrations (see the felon crisis in 2004 in Florida, which targeted minority populations).

But scaring students is a new low, even for Republicans, and they ought to be ashamed.

8:20 am | Comment (0) | Print | Categories: Election '08

The automobile industry is going to press Congress for $50 billion in loans. The automakers insist that the loans are necessary, with high fuel prices and low demand for profitable SUVs and trucks eating profits and running up huge losses.

In an election year, it will be hard for Congress to say no to protecting American jobs and innovating right here.

But saying no is exactly what Congress should do.

The American automobile industry is famous for claiming market principles should drive the auto industry when Congress tries to increase fuel efficiency or safety standards. And this is not the first bailout of the American auto industry that taxpayers have funded.

The truth is that the market is doing what the market does - killing old industries and rewarding new ones. American automobile manufacturing has been in decline for years. The truth is that the Europeans and the Asians are much better at producing cars than we are.

The human face of these industry losses are the people who find themselves unemployed. Congress should spend the $50 billion in training, business investment, and other aid, rather than pouring it into an industry that will eventually fail.

When automakers from Detroit tell Congress that we're "shipping American jobs overseas" they should be quietly reminded that Toyota produces many if not most of the vehicles it sells in America, in America. So does Honda, Hyundai, and others. VW produces its cars in North America, primarily in Mexico. They should also be reminded that Ford Motor Company, which will make such a claim, produces most of its parts in Mexico, then ships them to Detroit for assembly. For Asian car makers, manufacturing the cars here is cheaper than shipping them overseas, and good, high-paying American jobs come from these investments.

Ford may have invented the assembly line, but his Japanese and European competitors invented better automobiles. That's how markets work. Propping up a failing industry will only prolong the inevitable, cost the taxpayers billions, and do nothing to encourage innovation. It may be unpopular to say no in an election year, but it is right.

Auto industry to press Congress for $50B in loans ~ AP, 9/7/2008

1:20 pm | Comment (0) | Print | Categories: Economics, Politics, Washington, DC

10:51 am | Comment (0) | Print | Categories: Election '08, Humorous

Note to John McCain: You really need to vet people who work for your campaign!

Though the news has been dominated by news about Palin, she's not the first mistake that John McCain has made. From staffers also being tied to Jack Abramoff, to staffers being on the Georgian (country) payroll while McCain was issuing strong statements of support, John McCain's campaign is amateur hour.

Palin's scandals now threaten to sink the McCain campaign - from her daughter (who sadly should never have been brought into this in the first place) to a corruption investigation by her own Republican-controlled legislature, to her ties to the "Bridge to Nowhere," if she's not personally corrupt she certainly appears to be so. And with people knowing so little about who she is, these few days are going to be critical to her image in the country.

As we draw nearer to the convention, FiveThirtyEight.com's polling model shows an ever-increasing certainty of an Obama victory in November. Their model adjusts automatically for post-convention bumps, meaning that the numbers are likely accurate. It's mistakes like the incomplete vetting and attempted cover-up in the McCain campaign that are the reason for these strong Obama poll numbers. The reality is that after eight years of a liar, Americans want honesty, and they're viewing McCain as increasingly dishonest, whether that be the case or not. And for McCain, this is not the time for scandal.

9:38 pm | Comment (0) | Print | Categories: Election '08