Ostrich, meet sand

Financial Crisis Is Absent From Agendas of Parties, Candidates

Many Democrats shy away from tackling the credit crisis because of the party's historical support for Fannie and Freddie. The Republicans, for their part, are reluctant to draw attention to a crisis that occurred on their watch. The subprime meltdown isn't the only item missing from the parties' agendas. The list also includes the Democrats' failure to set out a strategy for countering Russia's assertiveness and the Republicans' silence on income inequality.

I LOVE Schumer's condescending quote:

Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said conventions aren't the place to discuss detailed plans for dealing with the markets.

``The conventions are aimed at the average voter,'' he said Aug. 25 in Denver. ``You don't go into Quinlan's bar and ask them what to do about the'' Securities and Exchange Commission.

Of course his job is secure for four more years and then he can retire on his huge pension.

My second favorite quote is:

``We feel like we've taken a big step to stabilize the situation,'' said Senator Tom Carper of Delaware, a Democrat on the Banking Committee.

Seriously? Oy! Senator, you've done jack-all to "stabilize the situation".

``We are in the midst of the worst financial crisis since World War II,'' Stanley Fisher, governor of the Bank of Israel and a former IMF official, told central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Aug. 23.

Not that anyone inside the United States is listening. It's an election year and no politican will listen to, let alone accept, the truth about anything. As the article mentions towards the end, this situation is very similar to the 1930's.

History repeats itself people. I don't think either McCain or Obama have what it takes to deal with what is to come.

Happy Friday

So the Olympics end today.

yawn

I haven't watched any of it. But I bet one thing wasn't clear in the televised events:


Sex and the Olympic City

Ah yes, the swimmers. For some reason the International Olympic Committee insists on bunching the swimming events towards the beginning of the Games with the inevitable consequence that the aquatics folk get going earlier - sexually I mean - than everyone else. So much so that, at the outset of the Sydney Olympics, Jonathan Edwards, a Christian and triple jumper extraordinaire, caused a ripple by telling them publicly to keep a lid on it. Edwards was simply concerned about getting woken up by creaking floorboards, but given his biblical credentials, it became a story about morality. Not that his intervention made a blind bit of difference. There is a famous story from Seoul in 1988 that there were so many used condoms on the roof terrace of the British team's residential block the night after the swimming concluded that the British Olympic Association sent out an edict banning outdoor sex. Here in Beijing, organisers have realised that such prohibitions are about as useful as banning breathing and have, instead, handed out thousands of free condoms to the athletes. If you can't stop 'em, at least make it safe.

Ah, gotta love the hypocrisy, no? The whole article is really interesting.

Well that's a relief!

I've just found out that residents of southwestern Connecticut can rest in peace as that dangerous outlaw has finally been captured:

Saugatuck Sheep Finally Captured

Last Thursday, a female sheep that has eluded capture for almost a year was caught by Westport Animal Control, assisted by Bridgeport's Beardsley Zoo.
The female sheep (also called a ewe) spent the past year wandering around the Treadwell Avenue area in Saugatuck, causing a disturbance in the neighborhood by wandering onto people's property and leaving droppings on their lawns.

She was found on Echo Lane and was brought to Westport Animal Control, where she spent the night.

Part of the ewe's notoriety was her size. "This sheep was the biggest sheep I've ever seen. I would estimate that it was about 200 pounds," said Lt. Thomas Casimiro of the Westport Police Depart­ment.

Ewes normally weigh between 100 and 225 pounds. That should give some idea of how large this female was at 200 pounds.

While many of the residents on the street knew of the sheep's existence, few ever saw it.

"We tried a few times to catch the sheep, but it kept getting away. It was hard to catch it because we were trying hard not to hurt it. That's when we tried to get the zoo involved," Casimiro said.

The other reason for the sheep's notoriety was that no one knew where the sheep came from.

"We don't know where the sheep came from," Casimiro said. "We don't know if it got loose from Stew Leonard's, or if it escaped from a truck on I-95." The only identification the sheep had was a blue tag in its right ear.

Dangerous times we live in... dangerous times. Thankfully that ewe is off the streets and we can all live in peace again. Oh, and God Bless the Westport Police Department - Connecticut's Finest! - for their year-long pursuit of that desperado!




I wonder how much wool (fleece) you can get from a 200 pound sheep?

Wedding Bell Blues

Bill
I love you so
I always will
I look at you and see
the passion eyes of May
Oh but am I ever gonna see
my wedding day?
Oh I was on your side Bill
when you were losin'
I'd never scheme or lie Bill
There's been no foolin'
but kisses and love won't carry me
till you marry me Bill
Bill
I love you so
I always will
and in your voice I hear
a choir of carousels
Oh but am I ever gonna hear
my wedding bells?
I was the one came runnin'
when you were lonely
I haven't lived one day
not loving you only
but kisses and love won't carry me
till you marry me Bill
Bill
I love you so
I always will
and though devotion rules my heart
I take no bows
Oh but Bill you know
I wanna take my wedding vows
Come on Bill
Come on Bill
I got the wedding bell blues


by Laura Nyro

I have a wedding to go tomorrow at Harkness State Park. Tomorrow's forecast is for thunderstorms and a high of 79F. Gack! I don't do well in heat or humidity.

~ ~ ~

The Olympics start tomorrow. I'm sorry if you're a fan, but I think the Olympics are a gignormous waste of time and money. I've read Bushy's statement on human rights, which he made in Thailand:

In a speech in Thailand, Mr. Bush praised U.S. economic and diplomatic ties with Beijing. But he said the United States "stands in firm opposition" to China's detention of political, human rights and religious activists.

Mr. Bush urged China to trust its people with greater freedom, saying that is the only way for China to develop to its full potential.

Ye gods and little fishes. I'm not going to rant. Not even a little bit. It's pointless; and boring for everyone else.

China had a response.

And life goes on.

You all have a good, safe, and cool weekend!

11 dead on K2

In K2 aftermath, lessons learned

Had you heard about this? I hadn't.

The search for survivors on the world's second-tallest peak ended Tuesday, when the severely frostbitten Italian climber Marco Confortola made it to safety after 11 lives were lost in one of the most tragic accidents of modern mountaineering.

I just don't understand the human need to test boundries like mountain climbing or deep-sea diving or going into space. I think these people are amazing and have brought back important knowledge for the rest of us, they've changed the way we view the world and the universe... but it's just not my idea of a good time.

Rest in Peace

Alexander Solzhenitsyn died yesterday at the age of 89.

His wife, Natalya, told the Interfax news agency that her husband, who suffered along with millions of Russians in the prison camp system, died as he had hoped to die.

"He wanted to die in the summer — and he died in the summer," she said. "He wanted to die at home — and he died at home. In general I should say that Alexander Isaevich lived a difficult but happy life."

It is the first most complicated name I remember learning. Funny, the things that stick in your head. I remember my parents trying to explain to an eight year old who he was and why he was so important. I didn't read his books until college and so I didn't understand, really, why he was so important until then. It takes time to discern, to comprehend.


Solzhenitsyn at Nobelprize.org
Solzhenitsyn at Spartacus
Solzhenitsyn at Wiki
BBC

Question to ponder

I just read an email from a friend detailing things to be done before going on vacation for two weeks. One of the To Do items was to clean her house first.

Me starts wondering why.

Why do we clean before we go on vacation?

I can just hear my Mother (yeah, I hear dead people) saying it's because you (meaning her) don't want to come back to a dirty house.

Me... don't care. I'd rather walk away from the disaster and deal with it when I come back all (hopefully) fully relaxed and refreshed.

Sadly this pondering is mute for me 'cuz I ain't going no where soon.

I will be housecleaning, however.

We're not telling you how to vote

but...

Wal-Mart warning managers of labor bill

Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Friday it has held meetings with U.S. store managers warning them of issues that could arise if Democrats win power and pass a law that would make it easier for workers to unionize, but stressed it was not telling workers how to vote.

No, of course not.

The Last of July

I'm not sorry to see the month go. It hasn't been horrible, just frustrating with petty annoyances and some frim-fram sauce on the side.

Tomorrow is Claudius' birthday. Happy 2,018! If you've never read or seen I Claudius, you should - it's fantastic! It's not really historically accurate, but it's a good time, so I give it a pass on accuracy.

I missed the hen party. I ended up with a stomach flu for two days. Blech! Oh well. The wedding is a week from tomorrow ~ 08-08-08. They lucked out on getting that date, the one the originally wanted. It's to be outdoors and I'm scanning the weather channel site for the 10-day forecast and I'm not liking what I'm seeing. I don't do well in extreme heat and humitity.

sigh

Project Runway was a bit blah last night. Either I'm getting tired of the show or the show is getting tired. One of the contestants is named Suade. He talks about himself in the third person, which is why I remember his name. It's not just annoying, it's childish and stupid. There's another contestant, my age, who is dangerously into Leatha (leather). A Tanorexic. And then a whole bunch of other people who just sorta fade into each other. I can't even remember who won or who lost last night. I was too busy with crewel to notice.

It's not that we're in a recession or anything...

Merrill posts $4.9 billion loss, sells Bloomberg stake

We're going from bad to worse. But Freddie is looking at offering US$10 billion in new shares. I really wonder who would be insane enough to buy them.

The main buyers for any new-stock issues are likely to be existing shareholders worldwide, the paper said, citing one person involved in the discussion.

Any sale would have to offer a high rate of return to attract buyers, given the near-14 percent yield on Freddie's preference shares, the paper added.

During the last major recession faced by the US, the Japanese came to the rescue by buying up the United States, mostly in real estate. I'm thinking this time it might be the Chinese, though they seem to be a tad busy in Africa these days.

We have a "bad air" alert in CT for the weekend. Tomorrow night I'm going up to the Casino with my sister and friends to celebrate another friends impending doom... um, marriage. Hen party, bachelorette, I'm not sure what we're calling this, but it will involved gambling and alcohol and food in air conditioning, so I don't care.

If you're not afraid of the "bad air" we're going to be having in CT this weekend, you might be interested in a road trip. I spotted this article,
134 miles of Yankee Charm in the NYT this morning. It's not a cheap trip given current gas prices, but it would be a nice one. Probably better to do in October when it's cooler and the leaves are peeping.

Back again

Yes, I disappeared again.

Did you miss me?

probably not

I've moved... again. Back in Bridgeport. Full circle in four years. It's a nice little two-bedroom condo and I'm mostly unpacked. Still some boxes to empty.

Still in the same job, sadly. I should probably do something about that.

Let's see... news: The Anglicans have their knickers in a knot; the Pope is in Australia for World Brainwashing (um) Youth Day; Obama raked in some serious cash last month, but he is still behind McCain; US economy is... a sick joke; Tony Snow died (RIP) and Bush admitted his love for the man - in the national Cathedral no less! And some nutjob geek is in jail for holding San Franciso hostage.

Not much new, is there? Oh, wait, I've picked up a new addiction ~ knitting. I kinda suck at it at the moment, but hope springs eternal!

Kitchen-Floor Conflict Intensifies As Rival House Cats Claim Same Empty Bag


"MAPLEWOOD, MO—Ongoing turmoil in the troubled kitchen-floor region of the Branson household reached a boiling point Tuesday, as relations between rival house cats Boswell and Johnson erupted into fresh violence. Observers said the arrival of a new brown paper-bag in the area ignited long-standing tensions and set off another round of territorial conflict between the two factions in the most serious aggression since the devastating stove-side siege of 2005."

How many must suffer before President Bush finally intervenes? Clearly we need a UN Peace-keeping mission in Maplewood, Missouri, to bring peace to the is destable region. And why aren't the Candidates addressing this, the most serious issue facing America today? Why? Write your Representatives and Senators and DEMAND they deal with this war today!

~ ~ ~



Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters

RIP Margaret Truman Daniel

This was surprising:

Truman's daughter dies at 83

.

Shortly before her father's death in 1972 Daniel published Harry S Truman under her maiden name. A critically acclaimed full length biography of her father, the book used extensive sources from the Truman Library.

I liked David McCullough's book better, but it was still good.

She lost her husband and one son in 2000.

Rest In Peace

"He was a colossus. He was an heroic figure who not only knocked off Everest but lived a life of determination, humility, and generosity," said Clark.

Sir Edmund Hillary died in Auckland, New Zealand, on Friday 11 January. He was 88 years old.

"The legendary mountaineer, adventurer, and philanthropist is the best-known New Zealander ever to have lived. But most of all he was a quintessential Kiwi," New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said on Friday in announcing Hillary's death.

Hillary scaled the world's highest mountain in 1953, telling companions after the climb: "We knocked the bastard off."

Arse-trinkets

Arse-trinkets.

Right. Okay then, that's it, I'm moving to England.

Arse-trinkets!

These tight, elasticated, supposedly saucy partitions across the mid-derriere are, in terms of both comfort and aesthetics, as cruel as the partition between India and Pakistan. There is catastrophic physical displacement. Entire body parts are split asunder, and undertake vast migrations. With my own eyes, I have seen women walking around out there with anything between two and eight buttocks – and placed anywhere between the hip and the mid-thigh. This enforced deformity is not the fault of the pants. They are little guys, simply overwhelmed by the task that faces them. They are outnumbered. They are the Alamo. They are, indeed, often in terrible danger – many look like they’re on the verge of being absorbed by their owners. A&E departments must have had a few emergency admissions for “emergency admissions” in their time.

Women, this manner of underwear cannot be an act of sanity. Why are we starving our bottoms of the resources – like an extra metre of material – to stay comfortable? Why have we succumbed to pantorexia? It is, of course, all a symptom of women’s continuing, demented belief that, at any moment, they might face some snap inspection of their “total hotness,” and have to reveal their underwear to a baying crowd, possibly featuring George Clooney. In this respect, women have communally lost all reason. Ladies! On how many occasions in the past year have you needed to wear sexy pants? In other words, to break this right down, how many times this year have you suddenly, unexpectedly, had sex in a brightly lit room, with a hard-to-please erotic connoisseur? Exactly. On those kind of odds, you might just as well be keeping a backgammon board down there, to entertain a group of elderly ladies in the event of emergencies. It’s more likely to happen.

Read the whole article - it's hysterical!

There is no point here

For reasons I can't explain I've gotten quite addicted to reading the Daily Mail out of the UK. The Great Cosmic Muffin knows it's not because of their award-winning journalism - but I hit their website every morning and a couple times a day.

Is there a 12-step program for this?

Yesterday's fun article was The great pay divide: Why pole dancers, bishops and RAF pilots earn the SAME salary. Some of the jobs are paid the same here in the US (multiply the pound by 2 to get what those jobs would pay here). The PM gets US$376k and other Ministers receive anywhere from US$200k to US$1mil - the Chief of the Metropolitan Police comes within the same range. That seems odd - shouldn't the PM get more than the rest? However, it's more than the US Congress people get... which if memory serves is around US$240k (I'm too lazy to go look it up). Look at the miliary salaries - British Navy Captain, upwards of US$150k; US Navy Captain, I can't figure out the pay-grade nonsense completely but it looks like a comparable position is in the high US$80's to 90's. Big difference.

The point the DM is making:

The comparisons they drew are fascinating - and raise questions about just how a job's worth is judged.

The fortunes of farmers have dropped so dramatically over the past 50 years that they now share the same bracket as sewer cleaners, mortuary assistants and checkout staff, at £10,000 - £20,000.

The real-life James Bonds in MI5 earn the same as binmen, vicars, carpenters and NHS nurses, £20,000 - £30,000.

A bit higher up on £30,000 - £40,000 are the pole dancers and RAF pilots, along with bishops, police constables, sandwich shop managers, vets, London cab drivers, architects and paramedics.

can be said here as well (for that matter, everywhere). What is what we do actually worth? Who and how determines that? If you want to see what you can or should be earning in your own field, try Monster.com.

I am, apparently, grossly overpaid right now. Not good news as I'll be job-hunting soon.

Just. Great.

Maybe I should move to the UK and take up pole dancing.

Or a binman in Birmingham. Oh, wait, that'd be a pay cut. But still, the shear joy of saying I'm a binman in Birmingham might make up for the pay cut.

Yeah, I need help.

Oh, speaking of... the Daily Mail was the first to inform me of Who's the daddy: Pregnant Jamie Lynn Spears dumped by boyfriend who demands proof of paternity. They got Jaime Lynn's age wrong, however... she's 16. They may have been confusing her with this darling lass.

The ho's are back in town...

I just can't wait to read their Mama's parenting book! Damn shame it's been postponed.

in case you're wondering, when I googled "binmen from birmingham", that image came up. google also, rudely, tried to correct my search term to "lineman from birmingham". I hate nit-picky search engines.

Credit Crisis

FYI

Mortgage Lender's Bankruptcy Would Have Severe Impact on Consumers

"Countrywide is at ground zero of the mortgage crisis," commented Weiss. "It exhausted many of its extraordinary financing options last year and is ill-prepared for the rising mortgage defaults and home foreclosures that are widely expected this year. Already, the credit quality of Countrywide's mortgage servicing portfolio has deteriorated, with 7.2% of the mortgages it's servicing delinquent in December, up sharply from 6.5% in November and 4.6% a year earlier."

Weiss' conclusion: "With the mortgage market and economy continuing to slide, it's likely Countrywide will suffer intolerable losses. Thus, in the absence of extraordinary intervention, we believe it could be difficult for Countrywide to avoid failure, with a potentially severe impact on consumers."

Read the entire article. I hope you're not trying to sell in this market - which is only going to get worse.

Silly Season 2008

So Hillary and John won in New Hampshire.

Big. Freakin'. Deal.

The press is acting like it's election day - it's only one caucus and one primary down folks. Chill, please.

All day yesterday the political press is burying Hil in Iowa and proclaiming Obama as God's Second (and favorite) Child.

I've been sick of political theatre since Pelosi took impeachment off the table but it is now nearly impossible to avoid the insanity.

And it's only January. May the Great Cosmic Muffin have mercy on what's left of my soul.

I don't even want to address Bushies trip to Israel. With his BFF Condie. Don't they look cute together?

~ ~ ~

Heart-breaking and horrifying news out of Alabama: Man tells cops he tossed four children off Ala. bridge

"Lam Luong, 37, will face four counts of capital murder, prosecutors say. "That's as bad as it gets under Alabama law," District Attorney John Tyson Jr. tells the Press-Register.

Lt. Richard Cayton of the Mobile County Sheriff's Office tells the paper that searchers on boats and helicopters haven't found any signs of the children, who ranged in age from 4 months to 3 years old."

Apparently it was an act of revenge against his wife but so far no reason is given as to what he was getting even with her for. Whatever it was, it couldn't have been bad enough for this. No doubt there will be a diminished capacity plea, eventually.

~ ~ ~

From the Who Gives A Shit File, we have a story on Worst Dressed Of the Year.

Victoria Beckham, in case you're wondering.

In a huge act of charity Mr. Blackwell left Britney Spears off the list this year. The man should get a humanitarian award for that.

Frankly I find his stupid list incredibly mean-spirited most of the time - and utterly pointless. Who the hell cares what he thinks?

Happy New Year

Yes, I'm alive!

Yes, you should be afraid.

2007 sucked monkeyballs with hot chili sauce on the side.

Really.

I'm kinda, sorta, back from beyond, hoping 2008 will be better but I'm not holding my breath.

Thank you Homo Escapeons for keeping tabs on me. Muchly appreciated!

Back for a minute

Go to Free Rice and build your vocabulary while earning free rice to feed the hungry.

~ ~ ~

I've been MIA due to on-going family issues. It's likely to remain that way for some time to come.

Everyone in the US have a safe, healthy and happy Thanksgiving next week. If you've got some extra food or money, contact your local food pantry or homeless shelter and donate what you can.