"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. ...But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself."
~ Friedrich Nietzsche
I don't know if you've been reading the election follow-up stories. There are a lot of them; from both sides.
McCain supporters are desperately searching for a scapegoat, without actually looking too closely at the Republican party and eight years of bad choices. It's easy to blame Bush, but members of the GOP didn't question or challenge him at the time. So, suck it up people. You had your chance.
What has actually amazed me, in what I've been reading, is the common theme; one word repeated over and over again. Relief!
I first heard the word from my daughter, shortly after we listened to the concession and victory speeches. We both cried that night. I'm not sure why I was moved to tears; it started with McCain's speech and just grew through Obama's. Looking back, it makes sense.
We have been living on the edge of a precipice - financial struggles, two unwinnable wars, and a two-year high-pressure presidential campaign. Inundated with speeches, media hype, lies and half-truths was nothing compared to the fear that McCain/Palin would be given 4 years to complete the destruction of our country. I, like millions of Americans, was terrified by the possibilities.
Seeing the numbers come in, slowly and steadily putting Obama in the White House, one could hardly feel anything but relief.
God Bless America and God Help Obama. He's gonna need it.
Okay - this is a real 'Duh!?' moment. I was reading the AP article about how, for the bailout to work, the housing market has to mend. Maybe I don't get it. (Wouldn't be the first time.)
There's $700 billion (big B) designated to pull Wall Street's head out of its ahem and it may be next year - or later - before the bucks start to flow? Wrong Answer people! Let's get that money where it needs to be - and do it now!
Now, at the risk of shining a light on my lack of understanding, this is what I see: We know which lenders and financial institutions habitually took advantage of consumers, right? These consumers were talked into more house or more mortgage than they could afford, right? Well, isn't that where we start?
You see, that is what I have never understood - through this entire housing crisis. When a mortgagee has trouble making payments, few banks will work with them - even in the face of artificially inflated property values. Instead they foreclose, evict a family, and - find any logic here, I dare you - auction off the home for a fraction of the mortgage value, writing off the difference!!
Take some of that pretty bailout money - and rewrite those mortgages. (Someone somewhere is holding the paper from these lenders.) Home values have consistently dropped for months now - so adjust the value of the mortgage to reflect the value of the home. Apply a realistic finance rate - and keep these families in their homes!
Of course, for speculators and 'flippers' this refi does not apply. You tried to make money in an inflated market - if you lost your shirt, you'll just have to play for the skins.
I read Op/Ed articles quite a bit. With the exception of one slightly cuckoo columnist, I find that even when I disagree with the writer, I still enjoy their perspective. One of my favorite reads is Ted Rall's column. He pulls no punches.
This latest column, exploring the Palin Parenting Program, is spot-on.
Not only is it highly improbable that Bristol and her boyfriend made the choice to marry and raise the baby, it's highly probable that 'Mom' brooks no disagreement once she's determined a course of action. An unusual segment of the teen population notwithstanding, getting pregnant at 17 and without benefit of marriage is not a teen's personal choice - whether male or female. It's an accident, rarely remedied by interfering overbearing parents. The whole situation is just going to destroy those three young lives.
There is absolutely no benefit in compounding one mistake with another and another.
I realize that I'm a little late to the party, but a friend sent a link to a very disturbing YouTube video today Kill and Destroy. (Although there are no graphic images, I've chosen to offer a link, rather than embed the video.) This is, in my humble opinion, important viewing.
After watching Kill and Destroy, I started researching the information it put forth. I am - without question - not an Obama supporter - never have been, but I prefer to have my facts straight before I blithely post something. Let me tell you - it was not difficult to find information on this topic!
A quick Google search turned up thousands of related pages and sites. Some of the most compelling, though I'm not sure I agree with her politics, come from Illinois nurse, Jill Stanek.
I have never trusted Obama or virtually anything that comes out of his mouth. It is my opinion that we couldn't do worse for this country than putting this man in the White House.
We had a rough time with our electronics last night.
It started with being unable to get on the Internet. We were, supposedly, connected, but couldn't get into any sites - no matter which site we tried. Even the ones I was in at the time.
Then, the cable started going 'snowy' every few minutes.
Apparently, our bank also had problems because our monthly deposit didn't show up at midnight - it showed up after 6:00am. Needless to say - we were just a tad freaked out.
Did anyone else have problems about 12:00AM GMT -7:00 ?
We were watching this video from YouTube earlier and, being the skeptic I am, I had to look into this. According to Snopes, this is a True Story. Although, it's not quite what it seems.
These domesticated elephants are trained to use the paintbrushes and recreate the same picture, over and over. When they want a new color, they drop the brush. Obviously, they are not able to pick up a paintbrush, so their trainers give them a new one. That is, beyond the repetitive training, the only intervention by humans in the 'painting' process.
The organization that trains these elephants and sells the artwork offers this mission statement:
The Asian Elephant Art & Conservation Project (AEACP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to saving the diminishing number of Asian elephants left on our planet through its work with domesticated elephants. The AEACP raises funds through donations and the sale of artwork created by elephants in order to fulfill its mission.
Asian Elephants are seriously threatened in the wild, with populations estimated at less than 35,000. I'm not certain that I agree with teaching an elephant to paint, but I do support any efforts to protect these beautiful animals.
In the interest of my sanity, of which I have precious little, I have been doing some computer parts shopping. Rather than looking for a complete desktop system, it occured to me that we could simply replace the broken parts, find a monitor, and upgrade the memory for less than a brand new unit. Especially when most of the ones I've found are waaaay more than we really need.
Well, I've learned why I don't build computers for a living. Just looking at all of the computer memory options made my head spin. About the most I remember from the good-ol'-days, when I worked on my 386, is that the faster the CPU, the better the power system needs to be. (A couple of burned out units taught me that one - fast!)
I think I'll go back to pricing full systems and leave the rebuilding to those with better skills.
Bush to Phase Out Environment by 2009 This 'article' is posted in the Humor section of Yahoo!News. As with all good humor, there is a grain (in this case a silo-full) of truth running through it.
Species after species, habitat after habitat, this administration has acted in the worst interests of the country and the planet. It's easy to tell from where Bush and Cheney come. Big business and the oil industry, in particular, have their full support and concern.
Who needs clean air and water? Apparently, not Americans or the rest of the world, since the administration refuses to sign Kyoto. What value are animals that can't be found in the meat department of the local supermarket? Obviously no value, especially if their natural habitat happens to exist within 5 miles of 5 gallons of oil.
They are good little autocrats who deserve the disdain of all Americans. The world already sees them for the fools that they are.
