Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
No Sympathy From Me
In a stunning display of wrongly placed tribute and sympathy, the Huffington Post pays memorial to one of their writers, the suicide murderer, Carol Anne Burger.
Burger apparently stabbed her ex-lover 222 times with a Phillips-head screwdriver, stuffed the body in a car trunk, abandoned the car, and then shot herself before police could question her. Yeah, such a great person really deserves a sympathetic tribute. If it had been a conservative writer you know that the media would be all over it with their twisted acrimony and spiteful conviction of "conservative values."
Burger apparently stabbed her ex-lover 222 times with a Phillips-head screwdriver, stuffed the body in a car trunk, abandoned the car, and then shot herself before police could question her. Yeah, such a great person really deserves a sympathetic tribute. If it had been a conservative writer you know that the media would be all over it with their twisted acrimony and spiteful conviction of "conservative values."
Monday, October 27, 2008
The Golden Fiddle
(this has nothing to do with the website of the same name)
Welcome to the readers of goldenfiddle.tumblr.com! Please allow me to explain that this posting is somewhat snarky and tongue-in-cheek.
"The Devil Went Down to Georgia" originally by Charlie Daniels Band:
Of course, Johnny earned his golden fiddle by accepting the Devil's challenge and out-fiddling the Devil, but what the story doesn't say is that anything you get from the Devil, whether you've earned it or not, isn't really free and isn't really yours to keep forever. You can't take it with you when you die.
A lot of people in the last couple of decades have "earned" their golden fiddles, too. But now that they are trying to cash them in they are learning that they are truly worthless. They built entire empires upon the wealth (and talent, or luck, or whatever) they thought their golden fiddles represented. However, not even modern high-tech people can really outwit or win any bet with the Devil, despite all of their humanistic, postmodern, intellectual, and other philosophical hubris. Mankind has not really evolved so much in the last few thousands of years.
Sounds pretty familiar, doesn't it? Well, we can't really expect those who reject religion and faith and proclaim that it is evil and irrational to actually read the scriptures and learn that it is full of such sociological and historical wisdom. That particular passage from the Bible pretty accurately describes all the behaviors that have caused the fall of every great empire. It's kind of funny that so many so-called intellectuals have ignored such a valuable resource and have remained ignorant of these causes-and-effects that recur every so often. They are not so smart, and their minds don't function all that great after all. In their delusions of grandeur they have fallen into the exact same traps as so many before them.
And the Devil always gets the last laugh. And he always gets his golden fiddles back somehow. But this time the Devil is coming to all of America to reclaim all those golden fiddles so he can redistribute them. Unfortunately, he is also taking much more than some ill-gotten golden fiddles. He wants to take all the other fiddles too, including those humble homemade heirlooms that were never touched by the Devil at all.
Welcome to the readers of goldenfiddle.tumblr.com! Please allow me to explain that this posting is somewhat snarky and tongue-in-cheek.
"The Devil Went Down to Georgia" originally by Charlie Daniels Band:
Of course, Johnny earned his golden fiddle by accepting the Devil's challenge and out-fiddling the Devil, but what the story doesn't say is that anything you get from the Devil, whether you've earned it or not, isn't really free and isn't really yours to keep forever. You can't take it with you when you die.
A lot of people in the last couple of decades have "earned" their golden fiddles, too. But now that they are trying to cash them in they are learning that they are truly worthless. They built entire empires upon the wealth (and talent, or luck, or whatever) they thought their golden fiddles represented. However, not even modern high-tech people can really outwit or win any bet with the Devil, despite all of their humanistic, postmodern, intellectual, and other philosophical hubris. Mankind has not really evolved so much in the last few thousands of years.
2 Timothy 3
Godlessness in the Last Days
1 Remember that there will be difficult times in the last days. 2 People will be selfish, greedy, boastful, and conceited; they will be insulting, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, and irreligious; 3 they will be unkind, merciless, slanderers, violent, and fierce; they will hate the good; 4 they will be treacherous, reckless, and swollen with pride; they will love pleasure rather than God; 5 they will hold to the outward form of our religion, but reject its real power. Keep away from such people. 6 Some of them go into people's houses and gain control over weak women who are burdened by the guilt of their sins and driven by all kinds of desires, 7 women who are always trying to learn but who can never come to know the truth. 8 As Jannes and Jambres were opposed to Moses, so also these people are opposed to the truth—people whose minds do not function and who are failures in the faith. 9 But they will not get very far, because everyone will see how stupid they are. That is just what happened to Jannes and Jambres.
Sounds pretty familiar, doesn't it? Well, we can't really expect those who reject religion and faith and proclaim that it is evil and irrational to actually read the scriptures and learn that it is full of such sociological and historical wisdom. That particular passage from the Bible pretty accurately describes all the behaviors that have caused the fall of every great empire. It's kind of funny that so many so-called intellectuals have ignored such a valuable resource and have remained ignorant of these causes-and-effects that recur every so often. They are not so smart, and their minds don't function all that great after all. In their delusions of grandeur they have fallen into the exact same traps as so many before them.
And the Devil always gets the last laugh. And he always gets his golden fiddles back somehow. But this time the Devil is coming to all of America to reclaim all those golden fiddles so he can redistribute them. Unfortunately, he is also taking much more than some ill-gotten golden fiddles. He wants to take all the other fiddles too, including those humble homemade heirlooms that were never touched by the Devil at all.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Nesting
Over the last week I've been taking a 'mental health media holiday' because all the doom and gloom on TV was really ruining my mood and well-being. Instead of the news I've watched only fun and frivolous shows like Project Runway 5 and some of the other shows on Bravo. And most of my time and energy has been spent on home-making, or nesting. There have been many little projects and seasonal cleaning tasks that have gotten finished, as well as some rearranging and redecorating. Sometimes it's just time to do those things and to concentrate on refreshing the living spaces.
I can't do anything to make the rest of the world better, but I can make my own little world better. The stock market is going to be very volatile for a while, so there's no point in watching its every swing. There will be a pretty serious global recession whether or not the government becomes fully socialist and no matter who is elected President. These are things that I have no control over even though my family always tells me that I should run for President to straighten out everyone and everything. ;-) I just tell them that I'd rather be Queen of the World for a week. :-)
I've done my fair share of analyzing and thinking about all the world's problems and I've written them here and there. That's about all I can do and if no one pays attention then that's just how it goes. I can't fret about it too much any more. We are prepared for the worst but are hoping for better. That's the only thing we can do now.
This nesting thing is a very old biological instinct and somehow I find it comforting to follow that basic drive and to fulfill that purpose of my life. After all my chosen career is being a home-maker. Oh, and tomorrow is our big Halloween party so getting things ready for that has been a motive too.
I can't do anything to make the rest of the world better, but I can make my own little world better. The stock market is going to be very volatile for a while, so there's no point in watching its every swing. There will be a pretty serious global recession whether or not the government becomes fully socialist and no matter who is elected President. These are things that I have no control over even though my family always tells me that I should run for President to straighten out everyone and everything. ;-) I just tell them that I'd rather be Queen of the World for a week. :-)
I've done my fair share of analyzing and thinking about all the world's problems and I've written them here and there. That's about all I can do and if no one pays attention then that's just how it goes. I can't fret about it too much any more. We are prepared for the worst but are hoping for better. That's the only thing we can do now.
This nesting thing is a very old biological instinct and somehow I find it comforting to follow that basic drive and to fulfill that purpose of my life. After all my chosen career is being a home-maker. Oh, and tomorrow is our big Halloween party so getting things ready for that has been a motive too.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Here I Go Again
... spouting off about things I probably don't understand...
The law of diminishing returns and fractional-reserve banking
I've been trying to figure out how exactly our world has come to this global financial crisis. A lot of people are blaming Capitalism. A lot of people are blaming Greed. A lot of people are blaming Bush. And a lot of other people are blaming a lot of other things. I've done a bit of blaming too. ;-)
While it's pretty clear that greed, corruption, and irresponsibility are very big parts of this problem, I have to wonder why it was so easy for those things to take control. A lot of people blame "deregulation" and the "free market." Well, I guess you can try to regulate away some of the bad motives and poor choices of people, but after all these thousands of years of civilization it's apparent that man-made regulations and rules don't always work.
And in a truly free market the bad things would fail anyway because the benefits of the cheating, etc., always follow the law of diminishing returns, and also because people would eventually figure out who are the corrupt people and would not give them their business. Of course, we have to have some way of keeping all the bad guys from getting together and creating mafias and such, but in reality it probably could be argued that even mafias are better managed than many government entities. ;-)
Anyway, it is wrong to say that greed and corruption are inherent qualities of Capitalism. I think looking at history will show us that greed and corruption occur in all kinds of systems, probably in close-to-equal proportions. Greed is not the same thing as desiring a fair profit from hard work. On the other hand, greed could be defined as not wanting someone else to have a fair profit from his hard work, as is a motivation of communistic systems because all people expect the same profit regardless of how hard they work themselves. Greed and jealousy are often the motives for desiring everyone to have "economic parity" because some people just can't accept that others will have more than they.
Well, all of that isn't really the point I want to make. I want to discover the source of all the bad decisions that led to the collapse of the global banking system. What it all boils down to is that all of these banks were lending more money than they actually had. The official name of that is "fractional-reserve banking." (Please click the link above so I don't have to spend time explaining it.) As a principle this "fractional-reserve" is not really a bad thing. It has many benefits. However, as with any other principle it has to be properly applied.
Let me go off on a tangent here about the law of diminishing returns. This is a perfectly natural law that is consistent with the reality and the Laws of Nature that shape reality. All systems have some entropy. Economies are not so special that they can break this law. Some "intellectual" economists apparently think it's okay and fine to drop the assumption of diminishing returns, and one of them has even been awarded a Nobel Prize.
I guess I'm not "intellectual" enough to see how that is worthy of any prizes. It seems pretty dumb to me because it looks about the same as some physicists deciding to drop the second law of thermodynamics in order to make their calculations add up. Incidentally, there actually are some physicists who try to do this and even try to say that we can reverse the arrow of time. Will this be the next big idea in Economics?*
Okay, back to the fractional-reserve. Somehow someone decided that it was a good idea for banks to lend out 10 times as much as their capital. I suspect that they are using similar methods and calculations as the previously mentioned Nobelist, and honestly, I just don't think it takes a genius to see that extending an order of magnitude of credit will result is some serious, exponential problems down the line. It would be much more realistic and less problematic to select a much lower amount than "times 10."
I mean, Lord have mercy, what kind of retarded idiot is going to believe that the Universe is going to magically unfold so that he suffers no losses from being completely unrealistic? Who was the dumbass who said that it was a good idea for banks to lend so much more than they have? I really want to know. He needs to be spanked very hard and possibly even imprisoned for being so stupid and causing this global meltdown. It does not take a genius to figure out that if you lend $10 for every $1 you actually possess it won't take long for it all to catch up with you, even if you're charging interest. (Unless you are in a mafia which breaks the legs of people who don't pay back their loans.) ;-)
Again, I want to say that the problem is not with banks and capitalism, per se. It is with the bad ideas and bad policies and bad practices that they've operated under. Somebody decided that these things would make the economies grow and make everyone rich and happy, or at least themselves rich and happy. But you know what? It was all an illusion and alchemy based on some dummies deciding that they have the power to overcome the very Laws of Nature.
Surely it must be apparent enough to everyone in the world who is witnessing our global banking failures to see and agree that ignoring the law of diminishing returns is just begging for disaster. Come on. It just doesn't take a genius to see how that works out.
*Okay, so here's my Nobel-worthy Economics idea. ;-) Let's just say "hocus-pocus" and turn back the arrow of time and erase all debt. Then we can just start all over again. But next time let's not drop the assumption of diminishing returns and let's not lend (or borrow) 10 times more than what we can afford. :-)
The law of diminishing returns and fractional-reserve banking
I've been trying to figure out how exactly our world has come to this global financial crisis. A lot of people are blaming Capitalism. A lot of people are blaming Greed. A lot of people are blaming Bush. And a lot of other people are blaming a lot of other things. I've done a bit of blaming too. ;-)
While it's pretty clear that greed, corruption, and irresponsibility are very big parts of this problem, I have to wonder why it was so easy for those things to take control. A lot of people blame "deregulation" and the "free market." Well, I guess you can try to regulate away some of the bad motives and poor choices of people, but after all these thousands of years of civilization it's apparent that man-made regulations and rules don't always work.
And in a truly free market the bad things would fail anyway because the benefits of the cheating, etc., always follow the law of diminishing returns, and also because people would eventually figure out who are the corrupt people and would not give them their business. Of course, we have to have some way of keeping all the bad guys from getting together and creating mafias and such, but in reality it probably could be argued that even mafias are better managed than many government entities. ;-)
Anyway, it is wrong to say that greed and corruption are inherent qualities of Capitalism. I think looking at history will show us that greed and corruption occur in all kinds of systems, probably in close-to-equal proportions. Greed is not the same thing as desiring a fair profit from hard work. On the other hand, greed could be defined as not wanting someone else to have a fair profit from his hard work, as is a motivation of communistic systems because all people expect the same profit regardless of how hard they work themselves. Greed and jealousy are often the motives for desiring everyone to have "economic parity" because some people just can't accept that others will have more than they.
Well, all of that isn't really the point I want to make. I want to discover the source of all the bad decisions that led to the collapse of the global banking system. What it all boils down to is that all of these banks were lending more money than they actually had. The official name of that is "fractional-reserve banking." (Please click the link above so I don't have to spend time explaining it.) As a principle this "fractional-reserve" is not really a bad thing. It has many benefits. However, as with any other principle it has to be properly applied.
Let me go off on a tangent here about the law of diminishing returns. This is a perfectly natural law that is consistent with the reality and the Laws of Nature that shape reality. All systems have some entropy. Economies are not so special that they can break this law. Some "intellectual" economists apparently think it's okay and fine to drop the assumption of diminishing returns, and one of them has even been awarded a Nobel Prize.
I guess I'm not "intellectual" enough to see how that is worthy of any prizes. It seems pretty dumb to me because it looks about the same as some physicists deciding to drop the second law of thermodynamics in order to make their calculations add up. Incidentally, there actually are some physicists who try to do this and even try to say that we can reverse the arrow of time. Will this be the next big idea in Economics?*
Okay, back to the fractional-reserve. Somehow someone decided that it was a good idea for banks to lend out 10 times as much as their capital. I suspect that they are using similar methods and calculations as the previously mentioned Nobelist, and honestly, I just don't think it takes a genius to see that extending an order of magnitude of credit will result is some serious, exponential problems down the line. It would be much more realistic and less problematic to select a much lower amount than "times 10."
I mean, Lord have mercy, what kind of retarded idiot is going to believe that the Universe is going to magically unfold so that he suffers no losses from being completely unrealistic? Who was the dumbass who said that it was a good idea for banks to lend so much more than they have? I really want to know. He needs to be spanked very hard and possibly even imprisoned for being so stupid and causing this global meltdown. It does not take a genius to figure out that if you lend $10 for every $1 you actually possess it won't take long for it all to catch up with you, even if you're charging interest. (Unless you are in a mafia which breaks the legs of people who don't pay back their loans.) ;-)
Again, I want to say that the problem is not with banks and capitalism, per se. It is with the bad ideas and bad policies and bad practices that they've operated under. Somebody decided that these things would make the economies grow and make everyone rich and happy, or at least themselves rich and happy. But you know what? It was all an illusion and alchemy based on some dummies deciding that they have the power to overcome the very Laws of Nature.
Surely it must be apparent enough to everyone in the world who is witnessing our global banking failures to see and agree that ignoring the law of diminishing returns is just begging for disaster. Come on. It just doesn't take a genius to see how that works out.
*Okay, so here's my Nobel-worthy Economics idea. ;-) Let's just say "hocus-pocus" and turn back the arrow of time and erase all debt. Then we can just start all over again. But next time let's not drop the assumption of diminishing returns and let's not lend (or borrow) 10 times more than what we can afford. :-)
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Hot, Close, and Real
Mood swings, market swings.
Okay, here are my simple solutions.
1. The US automakers really should switch from making so many cars to making parts for new power plants. If we really want to get serious about "energy independence" then we can't really afford to pussy-foot around about it. Do it now. Like right now, not next month or next year. Duh!
2. Forget about "redistributing wealth". There isn't any wealth left to redistribute. Essentially, all the wealth was illusion anyway that has vanished now.
3. Stop lowering the interest rates. How many times do they have to fail to figure out that something isn't working? All those times that Greenspan lowered the rates over the last few years only increased the problems instead of helping anything. You know, in 1990 when I bought my first car the interest rate was 12.9%. As it should have been for someone just getting out of school and just beginning a new job and not having earned better rates with an established credit history. And guess what? I survived. Higher interest rates are a "natural" control over too much credit being extended.
4. Stop pushing people to keep borrowing. Didn't anyone ever listen to their grandparents' advice? Sure, credit is necessary for big purchases like cars and homes, but come on people, stop freaking living on credit! Make do. It's possible and it's necessary.
more to come...
Okay, here are my simple solutions.
1. The US automakers really should switch from making so many cars to making parts for new power plants. If we really want to get serious about "energy independence" then we can't really afford to pussy-foot around about it. Do it now. Like right now, not next month or next year. Duh!
2. Forget about "redistributing wealth". There isn't any wealth left to redistribute. Essentially, all the wealth was illusion anyway that has vanished now.
3. Stop lowering the interest rates. How many times do they have to fail to figure out that something isn't working? All those times that Greenspan lowered the rates over the last few years only increased the problems instead of helping anything. You know, in 1990 when I bought my first car the interest rate was 12.9%. As it should have been for someone just getting out of school and just beginning a new job and not having earned better rates with an established credit history. And guess what? I survived. Higher interest rates are a "natural" control over too much credit being extended.
4. Stop pushing people to keep borrowing. Didn't anyone ever listen to their grandparents' advice? Sure, credit is necessary for big purchases like cars and homes, but come on people, stop freaking living on credit! Make do. It's possible and it's necessary.
more to come...
Crazy Train
All aboard!
HA HA HA HA HA HA!
I I I I I I I I
Crazy, but that's how it goes
Millions of people living as foes
Maybe, it's not too late
To learn how to love
And forget how to hate
Mental wounds not healing
Life's a bitter shame
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
I've listened to preachers
I've listened to fools
I've watched all the dropouts
Who make their own rules
One person conditioned to rule and control
The media sells it and you live the role
Mental wounds still screaming
Driving me insane
I’m going off the rails on a crazy train
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
I know that things are going wrong for me
You gotta listen to my words
Yeah yeah yeah
Heirs of the Cold War, that's what we've become
Inherited troubles, I'm mentally numb!
Crazy, I just cannot bear
I'm living with something that just isn't fair!
Mental wounds not healing
Who and what’s to blame
I’m going off the rails on a crazy train
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
All these 28 years since it was released this song still says so much.
Well, if it hasn't been apparent enough over the last several days, those of us who tend towards some mental fragility are being stressed to points of breaking due to the financial meltdown. Okay, so maybe the mental health pork added to the big bailout will actually be helpful. ;-)
I just don't get it. What is wrong with all these people who are panicking and creating an even worse mess than it has to be?
I'm worried too. But I'm not as worried about the stock market as I am about the movement towards so much government power over the economy. Now we hear that the US Treasury is wanting to buy shares in some big banks, but they are calling it "capital injection". Well, I might like an injection too. :-) But I don't see it happening any time soon, if ever.
And what really concerns me is that our next President will inherit this increased power. At this point neither candidate looks capable of handling it properly. McCain lost me during the last debate when he pandered to the "buy our troubled mortgages at taxpayer expense" crowd. Well, it looks like he's already lost the election anyway, but if we could put Sarah Palin in the top spot instead it would be an improvement. She might not be an "intellectual" but honestly how well are all the intellectuals handling these things? I don't see any Nobel Economics winners coming forward with brilliant solutions to anything. And sorry, Neil Cavuto, but the economics "nerds" don't really look too smart right now either. Sure, they might be in demand for commentary, but where are the real goods? ;-)
All Aboard! The Crazy Train is leaving the station.
Too Hot, Too Close, Too Real
This is the mantra that I use to fight off the thoughts I should not entertain. Not that it always works, but the more I do it the easier it gets. Whether or not it actually solves anything isn't really the point, I guess. But maybe the lesson here is that sometimes it's better to pretend things don't really exist or matter, or at least to tell yourself that those things are too intense and overwhelming to approach, even in your mind. I guess it's kind of like when all the elitist "experts" tell the average people not to talk or offer ideas about things they can't possibly understand enough to have a valid opinion. So, the next time I'm tempted to offer any kind of commentary or solutions to all the big problems in the world, I'll just say "too hot, too close, too real" and leave it at that. ;-)
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Is He Shaved?
(I said "shaved" not "saved") ;-)
A Happy Day-late Birthday to Vladimir Putin:
Well, I have to say he just doesn't look too manly without any chest hair. Does he shave it off? Ick.
A Happy Day-late Birthday to Vladimir Putin:
Well, I have to say he just doesn't look too manly without any chest hair. Does he shave it off? Ick.
Carry Each Other
It would be pleasing if Bono was included in this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
Is it getting better?
Or do you feel the same?
Will it make it easier on you now?
You got someone to blame
You say
One love
One life
When it's one need
In the night
One love
We get to share it
Leaves you baby if you
Don't care for it
Did I disappoint you?
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without
Well it's
Too late
Tonight
To drag the past out into the light
We're one, but we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other
One
Have you come here for forgiveness?
Have you come to raise the dead?
Have you come here to play Jesus?
To the lepers in your head
Did I ask too much?
More than a lot?
You gave me nothing,
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
See we
Hurt each other
Then we do it again
You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love is a higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't keep holding on
To what you got
When all you've got is hurt
One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other
One...
One...
extended version
Can You hear us coming Lord
Can You hear us call
Feel us knocking
We're knocking at Your door
Haha, Lutheran Guilt
I grew up Lutheran, and of course, it did influence me quite a bit.
I just want to needlessly apologize for my last post and for any hurt feelings my rant might have caused the weak at heart. (Though, I did warn them to proceed at their own peril.) However, I don't think it is necessary to delete it because then this post wouldn't make any sense. ;-)
I'm sorry for being an imperfect person, please forgive me.
I just want to needlessly apologize for my last post and for any hurt feelings my rant might have caused the weak at heart. (Though, I did warn them to proceed at their own peril.) However, I don't think it is necessary to delete it because then this post wouldn't make any sense. ;-)
I'm sorry for being an imperfect person, please forgive me.
Emotional Bailout
Warning: Personal Pity Party and Raw, Unedited, and Indelicate Statements. Proceed at your own peril.
I need some kind of hundred billion dollar emotional bailout. All the big things that have happened in the last couple of years have completely overwhelmed and overextended my emotional credit. Last night I got really sad missing my dad, but then I thought it was probably better that he wasn't having to see this financial meltdown that would have wiped out all of his retirement funds that had already seen so many declines in the last few years. At least I paid off his house the day before he died.
We won't have the money to pay a large tax bill because of all the outstanding accounts receivable that people just can't pay because they don't have the money either. Well, I'll just put a note on our tax return that we just don't have it and so they'll just have to deal with it and if they have any concern about all the "Joe Sixpacks" then forgive us for not having the money just like they've forgiven all the crooks on Wall Street. Don't take our house either. Jesus Fucking Christ, they want to pay for all those other houses of people who didn't do things right, but then they'll threaten to put a lien or something on ours? That just makes me so sick that I want to do bad things.
By the way, I find that term "Joe Sixpack" extremely offensive and racist. If all the media people can said that with impunity, and all the Sarah Palin haters can call her terrible things and throw around the term "white trash" with impunity, then I can say some things with impunity too. I'm sick of having to look at Obama's nappy head. Why doesn't he just grow an afro or dreadlocks or something? And I'm tired of looking at his blue lips telling lies and avoiding real answers. Okay, so I say these things that might offend someone, but no one seems to mind if I'm offended. Freedom of Speech goes both ways, people.
See, my emotional accounts are bankrupt, and I don't see any kind of bailout coming, so what to do? If people want to beat me up for saying some offensive things about Obama, go ahead and kick me when I'm down. You know, it was less than a year ago that I was laid up in the hospital for 5 days after my appendix blew. We're still paying for that too. Our insurance covered some of it, but all this year we've been paying $320 a month on the remaining balance and have another five months to pay on it. We will probably have to reduce that monthly payment now, and the hospital will not like it. Too bad for them. Just two months after that my dad got sick, and two months after that he died. Now I've got at least another $1000 to pay for my skin cancer treatments. Where is that money going to come from? The stress of all these things is more than I can stand, and all the world seems to care about is how they can beat me up even more for being a white American.
If you find this post ugly and unbearable, well, too fucking bad for you. Welcome to my life, and my struggles, and my desperation. I need a bailout too, an emotional one at least. But let's be completely honest, my skin color, lifestyle, and heritage are being held against me in insidious and blatant ways, and to say the least it is exhausting and bleeding me dry.
I hope everyone else is happy with that because I just don't care anymore.
It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
"Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie
I need some kind of hundred billion dollar emotional bailout. All the big things that have happened in the last couple of years have completely overwhelmed and overextended my emotional credit. Last night I got really sad missing my dad, but then I thought it was probably better that he wasn't having to see this financial meltdown that would have wiped out all of his retirement funds that had already seen so many declines in the last few years. At least I paid off his house the day before he died.
We won't have the money to pay a large tax bill because of all the outstanding accounts receivable that people just can't pay because they don't have the money either. Well, I'll just put a note on our tax return that we just don't have it and so they'll just have to deal with it and if they have any concern about all the "Joe Sixpacks" then forgive us for not having the money just like they've forgiven all the crooks on Wall Street. Don't take our house either. Jesus Fucking Christ, they want to pay for all those other houses of people who didn't do things right, but then they'll threaten to put a lien or something on ours? That just makes me so sick that I want to do bad things.
By the way, I find that term "Joe Sixpack" extremely offensive and racist. If all the media people can said that with impunity, and all the Sarah Palin haters can call her terrible things and throw around the term "white trash" with impunity, then I can say some things with impunity too. I'm sick of having to look at Obama's nappy head. Why doesn't he just grow an afro or dreadlocks or something? And I'm tired of looking at his blue lips telling lies and avoiding real answers. Okay, so I say these things that might offend someone, but no one seems to mind if I'm offended. Freedom of Speech goes both ways, people.
See, my emotional accounts are bankrupt, and I don't see any kind of bailout coming, so what to do? If people want to beat me up for saying some offensive things about Obama, go ahead and kick me when I'm down. You know, it was less than a year ago that I was laid up in the hospital for 5 days after my appendix blew. We're still paying for that too. Our insurance covered some of it, but all this year we've been paying $320 a month on the remaining balance and have another five months to pay on it. We will probably have to reduce that monthly payment now, and the hospital will not like it. Too bad for them. Just two months after that my dad got sick, and two months after that he died. Now I've got at least another $1000 to pay for my skin cancer treatments. Where is that money going to come from? The stress of all these things is more than I can stand, and all the world seems to care about is how they can beat me up even more for being a white American.
If you find this post ugly and unbearable, well, too fucking bad for you. Welcome to my life, and my struggles, and my desperation. I need a bailout too, an emotional one at least. But let's be completely honest, my skin color, lifestyle, and heritage are being held against me in insidious and blatant ways, and to say the least it is exhausting and bleeding me dry.
I hope everyone else is happy with that because I just don't care anymore.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Under Pressure
Mm ba ba de
Um bum ba de
Um bu bu bum da de
Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on you no man ask for
Under pressure - that tears a building down
Splits a family in two
Puts people on streets
Um ba ba be
Um ba ba be
De day da
Ee day da - that's o.k.
It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming 'Let me out'
Pray tomorrow - gets me higher
Pressure on people - people on streets
Day day de mm hm
Da da da ba ba
O.k.
Chippin' around - kick my brains around the floor
These are the days it never rains but it pours
Ee do ba be
Ee da ba ba ba
Um bo bo
Be lap
People on streets - ee da de da de
People on streets - ee da de da de da de da
It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming 'Let me out'
Pray tomorrow - gets me higher high high
Pressure on people - people on streets
Turned away from it all like a blind man
Sat on a fence but it don't work
Keep coming up with love
but it's so slashed and torn
Why - why - why ?
Love love love love love
Insanity laughs under pressure we're cracking
Can't we give ourselves one more chance
Why can't we give love that one more chance
Why can't we give love give love give love give love
give love give love give love give love give love
'Cause love's such an old fashioned word
And love dares you to care for
The people on the edge of the night
And loves dares you to change our way of
Caring about ourselves
This is our last dance
This is our last dance
This is ourselves
Under pressure
Under pressure
Pressure
Monday, October 06, 2008
California Should Rescue Itself
Most populous state in country, 11th in median income with $54,385, and the largest state economy in the USA, and The Arnold is asking the US Treasury for a $7,000,000,000 loan.
Hollywood should have more of its $28,500 per plate fundraisers like the last one that raised $11,000,000 for Obama's campaign. Deomcrats have so far donated $87,684,794 to the campaigns. How about all those big shot, ultra-liberal stars put their money where their mouths are and start being more "patriotic" (as their second in command has suggested) by donating more taxes to rescue their own state? Oh, I guess they only believe in socialism when they don't have to pay for it.
All the loudmouth, hateful Hollywood liberals who are bashing Sarah Palin should really put their time, energy, and resources into actually doing some good for their own 'homeland'.
If they'd actually allow some oil drilling off their coast, they could be as rich and well-funded as Palin's Alaska. Do we need much more evidence that Hollywood has completely lost all credibility and influence? Yeah, and TV and film producers got some pork out of that big bailout too. I'm not ever going to pay to watch any of their stupid movies again. And if Matt Damon is such a sissy that Palin scares him, then his nuts would just shrivel up and fall off if he ever met me. ;-)
As of 2007, the gross state product (GSP) is about $1.812 trillion, the largest in the United States. California is responsible for 13 percent of the United States gross domestic product (GDP). As of 2006, California's GDP is larger than all but eight countries in the world (all but eleven countries by Purchasing Power Parity). California is facing a $16 billion budget deficit for the 2008-09 budget year.
Hollywood should have more of its $28,500 per plate fundraisers like the last one that raised $11,000,000 for Obama's campaign. Deomcrats have so far donated $87,684,794 to the campaigns. How about all those big shot, ultra-liberal stars put their money where their mouths are and start being more "patriotic" (as their second in command has suggested) by donating more taxes to rescue their own state? Oh, I guess they only believe in socialism when they don't have to pay for it.
All the loudmouth, hateful Hollywood liberals who are bashing Sarah Palin should really put their time, energy, and resources into actually doing some good for their own 'homeland'.
If they'd actually allow some oil drilling off their coast, they could be as rich and well-funded as Palin's Alaska. Do we need much more evidence that Hollywood has completely lost all credibility and influence? Yeah, and TV and film producers got some pork out of that big bailout too. I'm not ever going to pay to watch any of their stupid movies again. And if Matt Damon is such a sissy that Palin scares him, then his nuts would just shrivel up and fall off if he ever met me. ;-)
Dear Treasury Secretary Paulson,
I am writing from Main Street, so to speak, to let you know that our small business is in need of your assistance. While you've been so exceptionally generous in helping save the asses profits of the big guys, and I guess we will have to see how well that works out, we little guys are suffering too.
Instead of adding to the modest debt we have been working so hard to eliminate (and avoid), I am requesting that you send us abailout grant of $50,000 $100,000 to recover the costs of all our outstanding accounts receivable. This amount comes from all the people who have not paid us for our products and services rendered, and frankly, I'm using the accounting tricks of the big guys to inflate that amount. What's fair is fair.
Without this expected income we are not able to pay our own bills from the suppliers and possibly won't be able to cover our payroll. It is very concerning that we might have to lay off our employee due to this problem, and that will hurt all of us.
As a small sole proprietorship, if we cannot pay our bills then those we owe can actually try to sue us for our home or other real assets. You surely realize these are much more serious consequence for us than any of the consequences for the CEOs of the failing financial services companies that you've already agreed to help. As far as I can tell, none of them will have their personal assets seized to cover their inability to keep their companies solvent, even if it is their own fault. Clearly, that is very unjust, don't you agree?
The amount we are requesting is such a tiny percentage of your previous "rescue" packages, and as such we believe that this very modest allocation will actually be very immediately effective in relieving our local economy.
However, out of our own benevolence and altruism, we are open to some negotiation. It might be acceptable to us to be absolved from all federal taxes for some period of time, measured in years not months. Please do consider this option. Although it is not really the most helpful for us, it is better than nothing.
I expect to hear from you or your representatives regarding our request as soon as possible.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Rae Ann
Office Manager/Bookkeeper
[edited for privacy] Heating and Air Conditioning
Knoxville, TN
Instead of adding to the modest debt we have been working so hard to eliminate (and avoid), I am requesting that you send us a
Without this expected income we are not able to pay our own bills from the suppliers and possibly won't be able to cover our payroll. It is very concerning that we might have to lay off our employee due to this problem, and that will hurt all of us.
As a small sole proprietorship, if we cannot pay our bills then those we owe can actually try to sue us for our home or other real assets. You surely realize these are much more serious consequence for us than any of the consequences for the CEOs of the failing financial services companies that you've already agreed to help. As far as I can tell, none of them will have their personal assets seized to cover their inability to keep their companies solvent, even if it is their own fault. Clearly, that is very unjust, don't you agree?
The amount we are requesting is such a tiny percentage of your previous "rescue" packages, and as such we believe that this very modest allocation will actually be very immediately effective in relieving our local economy.
However, out of our own benevolence and altruism, we are open to some negotiation. It might be acceptable to us to be absolved from all federal taxes for some period of time, measured in years not months. Please do consider this option. Although it is not really the most helpful for us, it is better than nothing.
I expect to hear from you or your representatives regarding our request as soon as possible.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Rae Ann
Office Manager/Bookkeeper
[edited for privacy] Heating and Air Conditioning
Knoxville, TN
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Viruses of the Soul
Title comes from a previous post, Broken-Hearted Savior.
As we've seen so dramatically in recent days and weeks, all these viruses of the soul have overwhelmed humanity and is seriously threatening its health overall.
Hubris, greed, intolerance, condescension, bigotry, hatred, maliciousness, treachery, and on and on and on. There are too many viruses that have overtaken most of the souls in the world.
I feel sick to my stomach knowing that there are so many evil, rotten people in the world and that they are somehow controlling us all. My heart is broken to see all the providential principles upon which our country was formed being throw in the trash. It breaks my heart to hear supposed allies betraying and belittling those of us who cling to our righteousness. Well, all you hateful and heartless atheists, see where you are taking things now? Are you happy to see all the good things die? Does the world really look like it's that much better without God, or faith in something other than your human hubris? I don't see it.
I don't want to stay in a world so full of pestilent souls. If there is such a thing as the Rapture, I want it now. The humanity is very, very sick and I want away from it.
Dawkins calls religion "viruses of the mind." The viruses of the soul are hubris, greed, and other purely human traits that separate us from God/Love. The war on religion and God that so many militant atheists are trying to fight is nothing less than an attack on the Freedom of Thought which is the root of our First Amendment right of Freedom of Speech and Religion. It's terribly unfortunate that 'distinguished' scholars can't or won't see that, ignoring it like a (spiritual) mole that is destined to become a malignant melanoma (of the soul).
As we've seen so dramatically in recent days and weeks, all these viruses of the soul have overwhelmed humanity and is seriously threatening its health overall.
Hubris, greed, intolerance, condescension, bigotry, hatred, maliciousness, treachery, and on and on and on. There are too many viruses that have overtaken most of the souls in the world.
I feel sick to my stomach knowing that there are so many evil, rotten people in the world and that they are somehow controlling us all. My heart is broken to see all the providential principles upon which our country was formed being throw in the trash. It breaks my heart to hear supposed allies betraying and belittling those of us who cling to our righteousness. Well, all you hateful and heartless atheists, see where you are taking things now? Are you happy to see all the good things die? Does the world really look like it's that much better without God, or faith in something other than your human hubris? I don't see it.
I don't want to stay in a world so full of pestilent souls. If there is such a thing as the Rapture, I want it now. The humanity is very, very sick and I want away from it.
Friday, October 03, 2008
O'Reilly Got His Groove Back!
I'm impressed. Bill seems to have regained the power of his testicles. ;-) (Apparently the code from Fox doesn't work here, so I'll look on youtube later. But right now I have to take a child to the dentist.)
http://www.foxnews.com/oreilly/index.html?playerId=oreillyhomeplayer&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralObject=3129030&referralPlaylistId=bbeb11095dff273e354ffbd0dfa4c070c9e8730b&maven_dartZone=undefined&maven_dartSite=undefined
From Youtube:
http://www.foxnews.com/oreilly/index.html?playerId=oreillyhomeplayer&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralObject=3129030&referralPlaylistId=bbeb11095dff273e354ffbd0dfa4c070c9e8730b&maven_dartZone=undefined&maven_dartSite=undefined
From Youtube:
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Congressional Term Limits
It just hit me. The best solution and prevention of Congressional corruption and inefficacy is term limits. Let's demand it! Sign a petition if you like.
Dear Foreign Friends and Populist Comrades,
I do understand all of your concern about the current "crisis" in the US economy and that you are also very deeply concerned about how it will affect you and your own economies. Please don't assume that the American people don't care about you. We do. But we also would appreciate your understanding about our own reluctance to throw hundreds of billions of dollars into something that has not been adequately explained and justified. We Americans are generally pretty cautious and careful about demands for huge amounts of money without some assurance that it's not some exaggerated version of a Nigerian email scam.
I hope now that the Senate has passed its "rescue plan" (new name for "bailout" that's actually just their lipstick on the pig) and is sending it down to the House, all of you people around the world who have been throwing blame and hatred towards the "ordinary" Americans will finally begin to appreciate us and maybe even send us a little love for all the sacrifices we are going to make for the *global* economy's benefit.
I was thinking last night that perhaps, since it looks like the US economy is the cash cow that keeps the global economy fed, then perhaps we should just extend this socialism to everyone who depends on us. You know, if we fall, they all fall, so wouldn't it be fair to ask for all to contribute? If every man, woman, and child in America is going to have to be 2-3 thousand dollars more in debt to prop up the global economy, then why wouldn't it be fair to ask every man, woman, and child in the *world* to contribute about $50 which would cover about half of the original $700 billion. Well, what's fair is fair, right?
We "ordinary" Americans have had the weight of the world put on our shoulders and the strain is really too much. What we need right now, instead of blame and derision, is a little love and appreciation for our philosophical and practical sacrifices to join the populist socialist comrades around the world.
I'm willing to say that it isn't really the club that I wanted to join, and all of us "ordinary" and "populist" Americans have been involuntarily drafted into it. Generally, our true populism is not socialist nor communist in nature, and that is why America has been so different from the rest of the world. But now you might have some reason to celebrate our coerced conversion. Actually, it would be pretty nice to see some footage on the news of people around the world sending us praise and blessings, instead of all the previous scenes over the years of people cheering about our tragedies. Well, it's a nice but unrealistic thought.
So please, the next time you are thinking evil thoughts about all the selfish and stupid American masses, stop and try to remember that we are paying the largest price, philosophically and fiscally, to keep your world functioning. And while you're at it, the most helpful and constructive thing you can do is to write and send a $50 check to the US Treasury. That would be the best expression of appreciation possible, but I would personally be happy with a "thank you" or "bless you" or even "I love you." :-)
Sincerely,
Your Comrade (in name only), Rae Ann
PS Here is a video that I always thought had a socialist/communist look to it (but it's a great, fun song):
I hope now that the Senate has passed its "rescue plan" (new name for "bailout" that's actually just their lipstick on the pig) and is sending it down to the House, all of you people around the world who have been throwing blame and hatred towards the "ordinary" Americans will finally begin to appreciate us and maybe even send us a little love for all the sacrifices we are going to make for the *global* economy's benefit.
I was thinking last night that perhaps, since it looks like the US economy is the cash cow that keeps the global economy fed, then perhaps we should just extend this socialism to everyone who depends on us. You know, if we fall, they all fall, so wouldn't it be fair to ask for all to contribute? If every man, woman, and child in America is going to have to be 2-3 thousand dollars more in debt to prop up the global economy, then why wouldn't it be fair to ask every man, woman, and child in the *world* to contribute about $50 which would cover about half of the original $700 billion. Well, what's fair is fair, right?
We "ordinary" Americans have had the weight of the world put on our shoulders and the strain is really too much. What we need right now, instead of blame and derision, is a little love and appreciation for our philosophical and practical sacrifices to join the populist socialist comrades around the world.
I'm willing to say that it isn't really the club that I wanted to join, and all of us "ordinary" and "populist" Americans have been involuntarily drafted into it. Generally, our true populism is not socialist nor communist in nature, and that is why America has been so different from the rest of the world. But now you might have some reason to celebrate our coerced conversion. Actually, it would be pretty nice to see some footage on the news of people around the world sending us praise and blessings, instead of all the previous scenes over the years of people cheering about our tragedies. Well, it's a nice but unrealistic thought.
So please, the next time you are thinking evil thoughts about all the selfish and stupid American masses, stop and try to remember that we are paying the largest price, philosophically and fiscally, to keep your world functioning. And while you're at it, the most helpful and constructive thing you can do is to write and send a $50 check to the US Treasury. That would be the best expression of appreciation possible, but I would personally be happy with a "thank you" or "bless you" or even "I love you." :-)
Sincerely,
Your Comrade (in name only), Rae Ann
PS Here is a video that I always thought had a socialist/communist look to it (but it's a great, fun song):
We can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're, no friends of mine
Say, we can go where we want to
A place where they will never find
And we can act like we come from out of this world
Leave the real one far behind
...
We can dance if we want to
We've got all your life and mine
As long as we abuse it, never going to lose it
Everything will work out right
I say, we can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't dance, and if they don't dance
Well they're no friends of mine
I say, we can dance, we can dance
Everything's out of control
We can dance, we can dance
We're doing it from pole to pole
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody look at your hands
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody's taking the chance
...
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
"Emergency" Senate Pork
I've actually taken some time to read through the Senate version of the "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008". Every interested person who wants to express an "educated" opinion about it should actually read it.
The basic bill is not very different from the original House bill, but it's still full of porcine garbage. For example:
Now seriously, this is supposed to be the 'biggest national crisis' since the Great Depression, and they're wasting time talking about a "carbon audit" of the tax code? But that's not all of it. There's so much more, including funding for race tracks! (look it up!) Well, how about a carbon audit of the race tracks too? ;-)
On the more reasonable side, there are some extensions of some current but about to expire tax credits and other incentives meant to stimulate business. Those are supposed to make the socialism a little more palatable to the conservatives, but I think it still looks like lipstick on a pig that still stinks really bad. ;-)
As for that carbon audit at a cost of $1.5 million, I guess that's supposed to look like pocket change compared to hundreds of billions. Great. So some climate scientists will get more funding to waste time studying something that is completely irrelevant and unimportant.
My prediction is that this bill with pass the Senate tonight, and then it will go back to the House to have even more "emergency" pork added to it, and then back to the Senate again. But honestly, the way that everyone has chastised the "ordinary" Americans for not supporting the bailout is just scapegoating us because it's easy. But the real villains here are those Congress members who are delaying this "urgent" legislation to avert "catastrophe" by squabbling over carbon audits, wooden toy arrows, race tracks, "substance use disorder" benefits, TV and film production tax breaks, and lots of other non-emergency nonsense.
The basic bill is not very different from the original House bill, but it's still full of porcine garbage. For example:
SEC. 117. CARBON AUDIT OF THE TAX CODE.
(a) STUDY.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences to undertake a comprehensive review of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to identify the types of and specific tax provisions that have the largest effects on carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions and to estimate the magnitude of those effects.
(b) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the National Academy of Sciences shall submit to Congress a report containing the results of study authorized under this section.
(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $1,500,000 for the period of fiscal years 2009 and 2010.
Now seriously, this is supposed to be the 'biggest national crisis' since the Great Depression, and they're wasting time talking about a "carbon audit" of the tax code? But that's not all of it. There's so much more, including funding for race tracks! (look it up!) Well, how about a carbon audit of the race tracks too? ;-)
On the more reasonable side, there are some extensions of some current but about to expire tax credits and other incentives meant to stimulate business. Those are supposed to make the socialism a little more palatable to the conservatives, but I think it still looks like lipstick on a pig that still stinks really bad. ;-)
As for that carbon audit at a cost of $1.5 million, I guess that's supposed to look like pocket change compared to hundreds of billions. Great. So some climate scientists will get more funding to waste time studying something that is completely irrelevant and unimportant.
My prediction is that this bill with pass the Senate tonight, and then it will go back to the House to have even more "emergency" pork added to it, and then back to the Senate again. But honestly, the way that everyone has chastised the "ordinary" Americans for not supporting the bailout is just scapegoating us because it's easy. But the real villains here are those Congress members who are delaying this "urgent" legislation to avert "catastrophe" by squabbling over carbon audits, wooden toy arrows, race tracks, "substance use disorder" benefits, TV and film production tax breaks, and lots of other non-emergency nonsense.
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