i don't pretend to be any sort of expert on financial markets or even understand what is happening with the bankruptcies and bailouts, but i did find it interesting that this administration passed on lehman brothers and then put the hook into the deep end to rescue aig. i get that lehman's was smaller, the failure of aig posed a bigger threat to the economy blah blah blah ...
but then i came across this interesting tidbit on the huffington post - the bush family is quite connected to lehman's. wouldn't that just have been a massive conflict of interest if the government had provided a bail out? could it be that ethical, and dare i say jesus-like, behavior has finally surfaced after 8 years of corruption and callous disregard for what is right and fair?
17 September 2008
16 September 2008
trying to make sense of it all
some times i feel like living in dc, particularly during an election, is like living the opening paragraph of "a tale of two cities" - you remember the lines from the book you sort of read in middle school ...
it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way ...
these are the best of times and the worst of times. dc is politics and politics are dc. and while politics are exciting, it's insane that we are forced to watch and re watch campaign ad after campaign ad even though there's more of a chance that the nationals will win this year's national league pennant than the voters of this area electing anyone but a democrat. sure you would expect that npr would offer political commentary, but it's not something you would necessarily expect between the latest offerings from the jonas brothers and taylor swift. that's dc reality.
foolishness and wisdom abound. foolishness rules the day - has anyone else noticed that sarah palin is getting a pass or that the royal they are attempting to trick women into believing that palin is an acceptable substitute for hillary clinton? i've heard little wisdom. until today ...
saturday, tim wise posted this fantastic critique entitled "white privilege, white entitlement, and the 2008 election" on buzzflash.org. read the article and read the comments - they're quite telling. pass on the link when you're done.
07 September 2008
a stroke?
we returned yesterday from a glorious, summer-ending week at the beach only to be greeted by one pissed off cat that pissed on whatever he could find and another cat with clear neurological issues. while, the first cat mocked us as we cleaned, the second was taken on an after hours trip to the animal hospital. the details ...
about 10:30 pm i noticed that hubert's head was twitching and shaking. calmly, we performed our own exam and noticed that the twitching and shaking became worse when we pressed on his neck directly below his ear. then, we FREAKED! kristin uttered the unfathomable - brain tumor - and i quickly jumped to a world without our beloved big-boned fat cat. we called the animal hospital and they told us to bring him in right away.
he was such a trooper on the way in - no meowing, just a calm and collected kitty. it's like he wanted to leave us with one final beautiful memory. he valiantly made it through the triage and waited patiently to be seen by the doctor. all the while, i prepared myself to say goodbye and attempted to remain stoic.
finally, at 1:00 am the doctor called us into the exam room. she performed the routine exam and then moved on to the neurological tests - eye exams and the like. she poked and prodded, stuck and swabbed. after what seemed an eternity, she took a deep breath and gave her diagnosis - ear wax and a bill for $110.
about 10:30 pm i noticed that hubert's head was twitching and shaking. calmly, we performed our own exam and noticed that the twitching and shaking became worse when we pressed on his neck directly below his ear. then, we FREAKED! kristin uttered the unfathomable - brain tumor - and i quickly jumped to a world without our beloved big-boned fat cat. we called the animal hospital and they told us to bring him in right away.
he was such a trooper on the way in - no meowing, just a calm and collected kitty. it's like he wanted to leave us with one final beautiful memory. he valiantly made it through the triage and waited patiently to be seen by the doctor. all the while, i prepared myself to say goodbye and attempted to remain stoic.
finally, at 1:00 am the doctor called us into the exam room. she performed the routine exam and then moved on to the neurological tests - eye exams and the like. she poked and prodded, stuck and swabbed. after what seemed an eternity, she took a deep breath and gave her diagnosis - ear wax and a bill for $110.
28 August 2008
... is that an african name?
recently, i was telling a friend about a new neighbor that's moved in. she's really tall with long hair, a nice figure, flipper-like feet and the hands of a meat packer. i also shared that her name is Nay Nay Boo. my friend inquired as to the origin of the name and wondered if it was twi, ga or one of the other ghanaian languages. it was then that i informed her that the name is in fact strongly rooted in the english language and is commonly translated as "transsexual prostitute."
19 August 2008
feeling poor?
will help you put your feelings in perspective.
things didn't look so bad when i found out that my salary puts me in the top 0.66% globally. now the challenge is to spend smarter ...
17 August 2008
the south of jetty house homos
the house band. every good bar has one. and i'm happy to report that my beach, north shores south of jetty, has our own version of the house band - the house homos.
let me paint the picture - north shores, the best strip of sand south of provincetown, is divided in half - literally. a rock jetty divides north and south and gay boys and lesbians. boys to the north and girls to the south (the boys also get the people with dogs and we get the stray heterosexual family here and there.) i don't believe there's any official rule on the books, but it plays out that way weekend after weekend and year after year. until now ...
as of this year, south of jetty is sponsoring the house homos - a fabulous look-alike couple from philadelphia. they know all the old girls and are the life of the party. want to know what happened last night at the only lesbian bar - the house homos know. who's the best contractor in rehoboth -ask the house homos. where should i go for dinner - oh, house homos!
let me paint the picture - north shores, the best strip of sand south of provincetown, is divided in half - literally. a rock jetty divides north and south and gay boys and lesbians. boys to the north and girls to the south (the boys also get the people with dogs and we get the stray heterosexual family here and there.) i don't believe there's any official rule on the books, but it plays out that way weekend after weekend and year after year. until now ...
as of this year, south of jetty is sponsoring the house homos - a fabulous look-alike couple from philadelphia. they know all the old girls and are the life of the party. want to know what happened last night at the only lesbian bar - the house homos know. who's the best contractor in rehoboth -ask the house homos. where should i go for dinner - oh, house homos!
13 August 2008
the housing crisis - who's not getting blamed
my partner and i have been talking recently about the housing crisis and, if groups must be blamed, who's deserving of the blame. clearly, no one factor led to the bubble bursting - lenders flowed money like water gushing from an open spigot, builders constructed more new housing on spec than could ever be purchased, individuals borrowed more money than they could ever pay back, and the government regulators sat back and watched it all happen.
however, one key piece of the equation that is rarely mentioned - the realtors. unscrupulous realtors preyed on uninformed, or just plain stupid, consumers. case in point - we bought our house at the tail end of the housing boom. with good credit scores and a solid employment history, we were easily approved and given the opportunity to borrow more money than we were capable of paying back. but, we were informed consumers, knew our limits, and signed on for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage that was within our budget. while noble, and certainly the correct decision, it severely limited our housing options ... and the number of realtors that were willing to work with us. we were clear on what we wanted (a house - row house was fine - in the city, with a yard) and how much we were willing and able to spend, but that did not stop one realtor from telling us that we just weren't looking at the "right" mortgage. she informed us that she could get us into a $750,000 house (the amount for which we had been approved) with manageable monthly payments. what she didn't mention was that we would have multiple mortgages, each with a varying rate, and each with payments that would balloon after the initial low introductory rate. simply put, our manageable mortgage payment would last for a limited amount of time and then we would be faced with a payment that we could not afford - stop me if you've heard this story before ...
all that got me to thinking, what are those realtors doing to keep their profession out of the mix, out of the media. i haven't been able to deconstruct it all quite yet, but i'm thinking advertising dollars and political contributions have something to with it. opensecrets.org shows that the national association of realtors has donated in excess of $32 million dollars in the past 18 years to a variety of candidates and political parties. i realize that $32 million may not be that much, but it would be interesting to research the exact recipients of those dollars. something tells me there are a few key committee chairpersons in that group. it would also be interesting to see how much this group spends annually on advertising on television and in newspapers - surely in excess of $32 million. i think i might consider keeping my journalist mouth shut if a potential investigative target was contributing to my salary.
those are my initial thoughts and now i'm hoping that kristin, with her highly analytical and far superior mind, will pick up the baton and run with the rest of the thought in one of her blog posts on the center of concern website.
however, one key piece of the equation that is rarely mentioned - the realtors. unscrupulous realtors preyed on uninformed, or just plain stupid, consumers. case in point - we bought our house at the tail end of the housing boom. with good credit scores and a solid employment history, we were easily approved and given the opportunity to borrow more money than we were capable of paying back. but, we were informed consumers, knew our limits, and signed on for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage that was within our budget. while noble, and certainly the correct decision, it severely limited our housing options ... and the number of realtors that were willing to work with us. we were clear on what we wanted (a house - row house was fine - in the city, with a yard) and how much we were willing and able to spend, but that did not stop one realtor from telling us that we just weren't looking at the "right" mortgage. she informed us that she could get us into a $750,000 house (the amount for which we had been approved) with manageable monthly payments. what she didn't mention was that we would have multiple mortgages, each with a varying rate, and each with payments that would balloon after the initial low introductory rate. simply put, our manageable mortgage payment would last for a limited amount of time and then we would be faced with a payment that we could not afford - stop me if you've heard this story before ...
all that got me to thinking, what are those realtors doing to keep their profession out of the mix, out of the media. i haven't been able to deconstruct it all quite yet, but i'm thinking advertising dollars and political contributions have something to with it. opensecrets.org shows that the national association of realtors has donated in excess of $32 million dollars in the past 18 years to a variety of candidates and political parties. i realize that $32 million may not be that much, but it would be interesting to research the exact recipients of those dollars. something tells me there are a few key committee chairpersons in that group. it would also be interesting to see how much this group spends annually on advertising on television and in newspapers - surely in excess of $32 million. i think i might consider keeping my journalist mouth shut if a potential investigative target was contributing to my salary.
those are my initial thoughts and now i'm hoping that kristin, with her highly analytical and far superior mind, will pick up the baton and run with the rest of the thought in one of her blog posts on the center of concern website.
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