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Shared by thejoker101

Fiscal responsibility!

According to the Pentagon, in just this first week of our war “kinetic military action” in Libya, the military has already spent $550 million. From Politico:

The Pentagon says it has spent $550 million on U.S. military operations in Libya since efforts to protect civilians from Muammar Qadhafi’s regime began 10 days ago.

Details of expenditures on the Libya mission show the Defense Department spending more than 60 percent of the $550 million on bombs and missiles, Pentagon spokeswoman Navy Cmdr. Kathleen Kesler told POLITICO. The rest of the costs, she said, “are for higher operating tempo of U.S. forces and deployment costs.”

Instead of going to war with acting in a kinetic military manner toward Libya, we could have spent that money on many great things here at home. For example, we could have:

• Provided private health insurance this year for over 42,000 families;
• Provided 17,000 Americans with jobs;
• Fully paid for about 10,000 students to attend four years at a public university;
• Paid off the state of Oklahoma’s projected 2012 budget short fall.

Of course, President Obama decided that it was far more important to spend this money on military actions against a country that even he acknowledged wasn’t a direct threat to our safety.

 

Originally found here.

Shared by thejoker101

I always like to read interesting tidbits about the inner workings of my favorite game show.

Ed wants to know:

I have a question I’d like to ask, if I may. When Alex tells you the category for Final Jeopardy when you make your wager but before the question, are you also able to write “What is” to begin your answer? Or do you have to wait until you get the question to begin? It seems like that would be a few seconds longer to think if you’re having a difficult time with the answer.

During the commercial break before Final Jeopardy, the show stops tape so that the contestants have all the time they need to make their wagers. Once wagers are locked in, contestants are instructed to write the correct question word (“Who” or “What,” depending) on their panels. (No “is”/”are”/”was”/”were” though! No hints on gender or number are forthcoming.)

It’s true that this gives you more time to think/write once the clue is revealed and the music starts, but I think the real rationale behind the rule is to keep a nervous contestant from accidentally omitting the “who” or “what” in Final Jeopardy. I’m hazy on the details, but I believe that at least once in the early Trebek days (before contestants were instructed to pre-write the question phrasing) someone lost a game despite a correct Final Jeopardy answer because they didn’t PIITFOAQ. (This acronym, pronounced “pit-folk,” is how in-the-know Jeopardy! types abbreviate “phrase it in the form of a question.”) To avoid another audience-aggravating event of that kind, they started prompting for the “Who” and “What” off-camera.

Oh, just kidding about PIITFOAQ. But I wish that was a word.

Originally found here.

Amazing perspective.

Originally found here.