Sturm und Drang

Is German for "storm and stress." According to -ISMS and -OLOGIES, (a book that found its way to my desk) "The phrase comes from the title of the 1776 play Der Wirrwarr, oder Strum and Drang (Confusion, or Storm and Stress")"

While this week has been very busy, it started quite amusingly. Sunday night, Megan had the brilliant idea of going back to the Banana Bar for a karaoke night.

I was painfully close to singing a country tune, but I got away with singing two songs with all the girls. I have a new respect for the Backstreet Boys.


"No matter the distance- I want you to know that deep down inside of meeeeeee.."

Thanks again megan. Just to recap: Megan loves karaoke. Caitlin, Emily, Jackie and I sang to a whopping crowd of .. 9 people. Four of which made a career singing at the Banana Bar, so (DJ, Mark, Lopez and Hedge) count as fellow entertainers.

So it was a great start to the week.

The past few days have been busy as usual. I wrote a story about Tim Geithner, the newly sworn in treasury secretary. It was an easy story considering we all knew Senate would vote to confirm him-- even though his history with taxes was less than legitimate.

I also wrote about Senate's debate on the reauthorization of SCHIP. States Children Health Insurance Program has been covering low-income uninsured kids for about 10 years now.. I'm staying current on the debate.. They still haven't voted on anything solid.. there only amendments to amendments so far (12:40 pm et).. Its notable to say that all of the amendments that were proposed to Senate Tuesday(2), Wednesday (6) and today (4 so far) were from republican senators. They were all rejected. I wonder why?

That also brings me to another topic: the stimulus bill. While I am still unsure of the impact it will have directly on me, I'm bothered that not one republican House member voted aye. The fact that it passed without bi-partisanship type agreements has really got me to thinking about the breadth of democratic power.

There is a common theme to this blog.. I admit. I am pulling for the little guy. I feel bad for the minority.

currently, I am working on sending similar but different copies of the SCHIP story to papers in Texas. The abilene reporter newspaper misprinted my byline (which makes the story useless to me in print) . I've got a few good contacts for this "version" that I could not include in the last story because of time. So.. should be a good day.. :)

Emily just informed me about a Mr. Larry Kilgore from Texas. I'm not always proud of those Texans - and this is one of those times. Apparently, he ran for governor of Texas in 2006 against Rick Perry. Kilgore believes in secession from the U.S. and believes "that Texas needs to become a free nation where those counties whose citizens value biblical law must be free to govern themselves according to it; those whose citizens reject biblical law must be free to create their own forms of legislation..." He got 18 percent of the vote too!

Oh Mr. Kilgore.