Blax Alternate

Healthcare Reform, Reforming Judaism, and Independent Thinking

2009-11-08T18:39:00.001-07:00

Do you know who you are deep down inside? Or do you conform to others' expectations, riding lock step with the herd, lacking independence? While in the process of passing historic health care legislation, it would appear that most of the members of Congress in the House opted to stay with the herd and not stick their necks out. The legislation passed largely along party lines, and mostly along the lines of liberal versus conservative. One Republican from Louisiana was brave enough to lend his support, and one has to give some credit to Representative Joseph Cao for showing independence. It would be nice if Democrats and Republicans alike had mixed it up, with the bill passing with equal support.

When given the chance to do something, Cao chose to be his own self, and put people above party. There will always be costs to most things that need to be done, whether one is trying to improve health care for Americans, or invade Iraq to improve life for Iraqis. Sometimes when Republicans make their choices, cost is only a concern when it comes to big issues they don't really want to back due to some ideological calculation that does not factually pan out.

Should the Senate do its part, and with a final version of legislation passed, years from now we will look hard to find all of those who were against this legislation. Nearly everyone who is against it has benefited from government action in the healthcare sphere, whether they admit it or not. Reminds us of one of our teacher friends who is viciously against this change, wearing the t-shirt that he loves urging Obama to keep the change. Meanwhile, he works for the taxpayers, who supply his monthly wage and healthcare coverage.

There are only 57 Democrats and two independents in the Senate. Two Republicans have signalled they could approve a compromise health bill.

If it is passed, lawmakers from both houses will try to reconcile the two versions before the programme can be signed into law by the president.

In Saturday's vote, the bill was supported by 219 Democrats and one Republican - Joseph Cao from New Orleans. Opposed were 176 Republicans and 39 Democrats.

(B.B.C.)

*

Meanwhile, back in the winter wonderland that is Iceland (in our imagination anyway, reality be darned), the krona has begun to stabilize. The government moved interest rates down a point to 11%, which is a sure sign of some strength in the currency, and a drop from the 18% rates in March. Since Iceland was basically the truck that overturned on the economic disaster highway, with other cars passing with less damage (South Korea, China), its recovery is due special significance. They may be without McDonald's now, that company opting to pull out the country (no doubt boosting Icelandic healthcare in one swoop), but they can take their Big Mac money and save it with some confidence. If America is the bull in the china shop and suffering through rampaging unemployment, Iceland is a canary in the coal mine, so we watch it.

*

We also watch home builders, the canary in the American economic mine. The news thus far has improved, sort of. One the one hand, losses continue. On the other hand, new orders are up from lows. On the one hand, buyers in certain markets like Arizona are buying foreclosed homes instead. On the other hand, the company is paring debt and increasing cash to $2 billion. If we count on our toes, we can throw in the Senate's move to extend and expand credits for new home buyers ($8k) and existing owners ($6500). So, overall, good news, yes?

*

When the cat is away trying to keep people employed, solve impossible Mid-East problems, and reform healthcare, the mouse gets the chance to eat the cheese. In this case, African cheese (which, if you didn't know, is made out of oil and minerals).

Besides the financial assistance, Mr. Wen also promised to form a partnership to address climate change in Africa, including the building of 100 clean-energy projects across the continent. Beijing will also remove tariffs on most exports to China from the least-developed African nations that do not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and sponsor an array of other programs in health, education, culture and agriculture.

The gestures are likely to further cement China’s good relations with many African nations, and may help address rising concern in some quarters that China is merely replacing Europe as a colonial power.

China’s focus on extracting oil and minerals from Africa has drawn some criticism from African scholars, and labor and safety conditions at some Chinese-run mines and smelters have set off outcries by African workers. Some critics say that the flood of low-cost Chinese goods into African cities has displaced products once made by local workers.

(N.Y. Times)

This is kind of mind blowing for this American mind. One always imagines that the United States should be doing this. Maybe not actually giving away $10 billion and fostering goodwill (and grabbing construction opportunities), but at least having the means to do it. Up is down. Left is right.

*

Who are we anymore? Such questions abound, and especially in the Jewish community. British authorities have taken it upon themselves to temporarily and situationally resolve the issue. Orthodox Jews are not pleased with the interference, but it brings to mind many interesting questions that extend beyond the self-identity of the Jewish population.

The case began when a 12-year-old boy, an observant Jew whose father is Jewish and whose mother is a Jewish convert, applied to the school, JFS. Founded in 1732 as the Jews’ Free School, it is a centerpiece of North London’s Jewish community. It has around 1,900 students, but it gets far more applicants than it accepts.

(N.Y. Times)

The problem is that the school follows the standard Orthodox definition of Jewishness as laid out by the chief rabbi of the commonwealth. "You are not a Jew", went the rejection.

In appeals, the court eventually ruled that deciding "Jewishness" based on ethnicity is discriminatory. One wonders if this could be extended to the building of a modern state as well. Can Israel be, and remain, truly Jewish without actually discriminating against others? To the extent you grow lax in that self definition of what it means to be Jewish, do you not lose the essence of what you are trying to preserve?

Of course members of the Jewish community are hugely divided on the issue:

Lauren Lesin-Davis, chairman of the board of governors at King David, a Jewish school in Liverpool, told the BBC that the ruling violated more than 5,000 years of Jewish tradition.

“You cannot come in and start telling people how their whole lives should change, that the whole essence of their life and their religion is completely wrong,” she said.

But others are in complete sympathy with M.

“How dare they question our beliefs and our Jewishness?” David Lightman, an observant Jewish father whose daughter was also denied a place at the school because it did not recognize her mother’s conversion, told reporters recently. “I find it offensive and very upsetting.”

(N.Y. Times)

If you are Jewish, is it because you are biologically Jewish (via father and/or mom), or specifically biologically Jewish on your mother's side? Does the practice of Jewish tradition and law, being observant, make you Jewish? One rabbi, likely in some jest, states "that having a ham sandwich on the afternoon of Yom Kippur does not make you less Jewish", thus sticking to a specifically biological determination. If that is the case, what does that say for Israel and its future development? How are those identity questions resolved in a land filled with different types of Jews, topped with a mix of Arabs and others?

*

Often it is hard to know what identity to establish and how to find our true selves. Is a Christian even a Christian who is one that self identifies or is the Christian the one who quietly follows the words and lead of Christ? Is a baker the one who wears the baker outfit with poofy hat but never touches an oven, or the man who produces delightful sweets and breads sans uniform? Are you identified by your fruit in the same way you are what you eat?

This weekend at least, Representative Cao of Louisiana knows he is his own person, one Republican on a lonely path in pursuit of change.

Bloomberg Wins, the Fed Chills, the Senate Pays Up, and

2009-11-05T16:18:00.041-07:00

New York, New York, home of the ambitious. Billionaire Bloomberg gets another term as New York City's mayor, term limit laws having been properly adjusted to smooth his way. Meanwhile Andrew Cuomo, New York's attorney general, is making his own political moves in the form of suing Intel for violations of antitrust law.

In looking at the allegations, one could argue that Intel has every capitalistic right to reward and manipulate the customer base in favor of its own products. AMD, the smaller chip competitor, is rightfully peeved, but it's not truly Intels place to create a happy market for all. You could also make the case that AMD's building of a new chip manufacturing foundry in New York makes Cuomo's dubious effort even a bit more dubious.

Finally, you could wonder if this is the exact right time to engage in tearing down a particular company. We are, after all, smack dab in the middle of pretty sloppily attired economic times. Why now Mr. Cuomo?

Keith N. Hylton, a professor at the Boston University School of Law, said that Mr. Cuomo could benefit politically by taking such a prominent stand on behalf of local workers and consumers. “An attorney general is understood to be an aspiring governor,” he said. “They are politicians, and they want to be on the gravy train for big cases.”

During the news conference, Mr. Cuomo said that thwarting Intel’s abusive actions was important to consumers and businesses worldwide. “It is not just about New York,” he said.

(N.Y. Times)

We're thinking it's all about New York, for Mr. Cuomo.

*

Mickey (as in Mouse) is going to go all hardcore on us, which is odd, because we were pretty sure he was the manliest, toughest, most hardcore fake living mouse ever. Can he get any harder, any badder? Badass Mickey? Let's just hope he does not go all the way street, and be the Vanilla Ice of mice, wording it to our mammas.

*

Blow the trumpets. The Lords of Washington have spoken:

After nearly a month of gridlock, the Senate voted unanimously to extend unemployment benefits for some 1.3 million jobless Americans expected to lose benefits by the end of the year.

If, as expected, the House adopts the Senate version of the bill, it means workers in all states will be eligible for an additional 14 weeks of federal unemployment benefits. In states with unemployment rates higher than 8.5 percent, workers will be able to extend their federal unemployment benefits a further six weeks.

(Christian Science Monitor)

This is awesome news for those who are unemployed, and one marvels at the unanimity, but frankly, the same enthusiasm should be shown in working out healthcare legislation. It's that serious.

It probably would have also made sense for most stimulus to be funneled directly to each state to use to fill budget gaps, as opposed to dubious building projects, but little late for that now. Just seems like there would be a lot less people out of work RIGHT NOW, if budgets were not so tight.

Somewhat related to that, it amazes how the Arizona legislature would rather throw people out of work in an effort to close a budget gap, rather than impose a small tax that nobody will even notice they have to pay. While low taxes are really good, zero taxes via total unemployment and lack of income is even worse; it's very bad for the voter and the economy.

*

The Fed cut interest rates to near zero last December and has pumped more than $1 trillion into the economy to tame a severe financial crisis and the deepest recession since the 1930s.

Now that the economy is starting to recover, financial markets are increasingly wondering when the Fed and other central banks around the globe will begin to remove the extraordinary economic support they have provided.

(Reuters)

When the Fed stops trying to heal our inflated economy by inflating the economy, when they start to tighten up monetary policy, that's the exact moment when you should be sitting there with short positions in gold. The smug or delusional (as all gold enthusiasts are one or the other, when not both) enthusiasm for that product far exceeds its true value, pumped and hyped like every other product on earth. We've gone, essentially, from an inflated housing market, to an inflated oil market (last year) to now an inflated gold market. Short of the type of doom posited in the 2012, there is no reason to be up to you buttox in gold.

In any case, the Fed has decided to keep rates at virtual zero until that exact moment when the economy is trending in the right direction, and so long as inflation does not come a loitering. This is probably the right thing, keeping borrowing cost low, and we are sure the reluctance of banks to make any dubious loans will keep things in check this time around.

*

This will probably annoy some... the first lady making a cameo on Iron Chef in her continued promotion of healthy eating. If it annoys you (still seething over last year's political losses, or gloating over Republican wins in N.J. and Virginia yesterday), or you find room to be snarky, then it's a good time to examine your priorities and outlook.

The first lady came through the door of the South Portico in a pumpkin-orange dress with teal blue shoes and short sweater, announced the secret ingredient and talked to the chefs about getting children to eat vegetables.

“It’s important for these kids to have a hands-on experience,” she said. “And now we’re expanding the tours of the garden to any public school children that come to Washington, D.C., and we’re doing those on a regular basis, and it’s been just a wonderful educational addition.” She suggested that the chefs might want to consider cooking some of the exceptionally large sweet potatoes in the garden. “We are sweet potato lovers,” she said, “especially the president.”

(N.Y. Times)

Goldman Sachs Fixes NYC Marathon, Winner Won't Show U.S. Birth Certificate

2009-11-02T04:42:00.021-07:00

It's Monday. An American (named Meb, out of Africa... hmmm) won the N.Y.C. marathon yesterday. We always view the marathon as the start of the holiday and true fall season. Here in Arizona even more, when the air does not even begin to turn cold until, now.

Things are quite cold for Goldman, Sachs, and Greg Gordon at McClatchy gives us still another piece on Goldman, filled with a bunch of isolated facts that, taken together, are meant to imply guilt except that, 1) every other firm did much of the same thing and 2) none of these things done were illegal. You can read the comments after the piece, and marvel at people's willingness to comment strongly on issues and businesses beyond their understanding. One can read Mr. Gordon's entire piece, with quotes from academics and lots of "ifs, ands or mayhapses," but he never gets around to breaking any ground on the matter, or proving any ill gotten gains.

The idea that you should expose your hedges to all your clients, and to the public, borders on the absurd. If Goldman was not considered a Jewish, we might not even be having this single-minded focus on one firm, that, thankfully, is still running, making money and keeping our financial system from totally falling into the toilet.

That various firms that bought mortgage securities want to backdate Goldman's prescience (to the beginning of time no doubt), despite the fact that at one time everyone, EVERYONE, was working under the assumption that home prices would continue to rise indefinitely. A few individuals, firms, and companies thought otherwise, or paid close enough attention to come to their senses faster than others (who often were motivated entirely by short term greed). Nobody is to blame for anyone overpaying for an asset, be it a tulip, gold, a home, a dot com company or a mortgage backed asset. Further, you don't fault a financial firm for hedging its exposure in its various lines of business. As individuals don't we both invest in our homes, paying for it over time, while simultaneously holding insurance to protect against lost? That's a duality that is not overly complicated, unless one is being willfully ignorant.

*

I am sitting here listening to Florence and the Machine, the song "Girl With One Eye" and not quite sure if they are a passing sonic fancy, much like Macy Gray and Amy Winehouse. Sometimes a voice is so unique that is seems contrived, even when not. Time will tell.

*

In other news:

Afghans decide to make life complicated... what is it with this sitting out elections just to undermine everything. Oh Abdullah, Abdullah. Might be time to call it a day and focus on Americans. We can't raise the dead by beating a dead horse.
New biography out on Ayn Rand, whose thoughts seem to permeate the conservative mind of late, leading them to mental perdition. Ayn did you see that rational market crash? Oh wait, you are dead. N.Y. Mag argues that her philosophy (like many philosophies), is merely the personal face of bias seeking a logical looking mask. Her bootstraps assertion of nobody helping her on her arrival in the United States is pointed out as a falsehood, but it's the type of myth by which certain types of conservatives inebriate themselves. Like most people, and ideas, Ayn is partially right, and partially wrong. People without discernment should stay away.
Democrats are fighting, fighting, to hold on to things like New Jersey. Jon Corzine, governor of New Jersey, is in a close race. Given the ex-Goldman superpower mythology that is out there, he is probably getting ready to put his fist together with some other ex-Goldmanite and say, "Wonder Twin powers, activate, form of "landslide", shape of "avalanche". Christopher Christie, the Republican opponent, has a superhero on his side as well. South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson was on hand to say, "You Lie!" on behalf of his brother in arms.
The Yankees won again, needing one more. That is a sign of good things. It will stimulate the inflation of payrolls by teams in other cities, which is good for consumer spending across the land. Ever notice that places like Afghanistan don't have strong sports leagues? Yea... build some sports leagues and everything would be peachy over there. 40,000 more athletes, not troops. Let the Taliban have a team too. They can call them the Taliban Yankees.

Asia Not So Sick, America Sniffles, Homeowners Walk

2009-10-26T04:02:00.002-07:00

We struggled to find news that is interesting, though news occurs despite the disinterest. Things here are in a holding pattern, though the average person sees the layoffs and home losses as evidence of change for the worse, and not realizing that this is the bad fruit from seeds of the past, and lagging in its economic import. That man getting unemployment today, had that decision made for him months or a year ago. It takes a while for the ice to melt, for things to unwind.

It is in Asia, elsewhere, that we are getting a glimpse of something new. Wait, let me take that back. The healthcare legislation that will surely pass soon, once cobbled together from the egos of the participants, will be something new. Like most change, it is bitterly fought. Lincoln is a saint today, but quite a shifty one in his own time, potentially wrecking the economic system to move the United States toward a better union. No doubt he would have been labeled a communist had that epithet been around to be tossed about with abandon. Yes, there is change here, but it is clocked and meanwhile we wait.

The Asian nations are talking more boldly, suffering the ills of a stalled economic world quite well. Considering that most economic meltdowns would normally take down countries in Asia or South America, or, even Russia, Asia's robustness is fascinating. South Korea's economy is growing at its fastest pace in seven years, so the N.Y. Times tells us.

South Korea has been recovering from its worst downturn since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis as a weaker currency and government stimulus programs overseas boost exports. Record-low interest rates and government spending at home have also helped stimulate Asia's fourth-largest economy.

The unemployment rate fell in September to a nine-month low of 3.4 percent, consumer and business sentiment have risen and the current account -- South Korea's broadest measure of trade -- is firmly back in surplus after a deficit last year for the first time since 1997.

(N.Y.Times)

But it's not just South Korea, but others, like China, that are growing at a fair clip, despite demand problems here in the United States. This is not the expected norm in the world as it was.

At their recent conference in Thailand (B.B.C), leaders of an Asian block of nations talked confident, arguing for an economic bloc similar to the European Union. The leader of our ally Japan suggested, "It would be meaningful for us to have the aspiration that East Asia is going to lead the world", by way of encouraging the heads of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to form a free trade group.

While China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand were considered a part of such thoughts, there was considerable debate as to whether the United States should be included. (Which, when we think about it, seems like one of those debates about whether to include Russia in NATO: depending on who is allowed into a given group, the group runs the risk of subverting its reason for being).

Regardless, the clear indicator is that the world is moving forward, even if the United States struggles against change.

*

If we are waiting here in the States for things to resolve, unwind, repair... then we have to wait through episodes and people like Andres Duque, a homeowner who has decided he would rather not pay his mortgage because it is under water. The banks are taking all the criticism, despite the fact that a healthy banking system is the foundation on which capitalism rests, and regardless of whatever bad business decisions were made. It is obvious that everyone from Wall Street to Main, from mortgage dealer to man on the street, miscalculated amidst the euphoria of rising home prices.

Now those caught in the error of their greed or foolishness are opting to abandon their obligations. These same people will also wonder why banks are failing, or why the rates on their credit cards are rising, or why the economy is not going to their liking.

Andres Duque thought he got a real steal when he paid $125,000 for his Little Haiti condo. But four years later, similar units are selling for $35,000 and even less.

And so, faced with the prospect of being underwater on his mortgage -- owing more than the unit is worth -- for the next 20 years, Duque, 33, made what seemed to him like a rational choice: to cut and run.

He stopped paying the mortgage, basically forcing the lender to take the condo off his hands through foreclosure.

"I was able to pay off all my credit cards," said Duque, who is biding his time in the condo, waiting until they come and evict him. "In a way, it was the best thing that happened to me because all my income is not being consumed by this freaking monster of a debt."

(McClatchy)

The point could be made that the banks should take the hit for loaning money for overpriced assets and that if they take the home back, they still have something. But let's not forget that the money in that home loan went to someone... a previous owner, a builder. The main problem though is two fold. One, the more losses you pass on to the banks (out of owner necessity or whim in not paying mortgage), the longer you go when a given bank is not making loans to your business, your employer, your local entrepreneurs. Second, by walking away from the contract, the nature of contracts comes into question, and we become more like those banana places we don't wish to live in. (And an unintended third, your financial institutions will never trust you again, making it onerous to get the simplest credit terms).

Not sure, but with their savings habits, this seems a problem not cropping up in Asia, and one suspects most would be too ashamed to walk off an obligation when still able to pay.

October 15th: Buggers in the Classroom

2009-10-15T21:58:00.000-07:00

Today was payday. No, tomorrow was payday, but by accidental good fortune, Farthing's credit union always processed his paycheck a full 24 hours before it should have. Thus, Farthing was always happiest a day earlier than most everyone else, whose lighter spirits coincided also with the end of the work week.
The damper was the arrival of the potential new student. Today was the day of reckoning, of evaluation. Lorna was out on bus duty with three other staff, helping to remove the students from the buses which were lined and curbed in the lengthy parking lot like stacked planes. The staff began at the far end, and worked their way back, escorting the kids toward the path behind the long gate that ran the length of the sidewalk next to the buses. "Walk on down to class," the drifters and pause'rs were urged.

"Level 7. This is Lorna in the bus bay. The Bumble Bee is on his way back. And, I see Elvis has also entered the building," she said, via walkie talkie.

"That's the new kid!" said Flannery, back in the room, while Farthing sat at the computer fiddling with the morning's music selection. He was not sure what type of mood he was in, conflicted between the euphoria of an available paycheck and the gloom of being killed by a strange new kid with unknown powers of destruction. Amelia always liked George Strait, and the music player on the desktop was stacked with that singer's straight talk.

The Bumble Bee was a short little seventeen year old who looked about eight and acted about five, and all due to some syndrome beyond his control. When he arrived from his bus, the room had to be notified, as the Bee often liked to lag and drift and say hello and look around as though all was wondrously new, even though, well, it wasn't. He was a man at leisure, with the clothing and posture of an old man; he liked to say hello really loud to the ladies, and smile admiringly at the bigger kids, and make like a walk down a crowded Mumbai lane in the evening; if there was food misplaced or lying about, he might take a moment to eat all of it, and arrive at the room a good deal later than he should and with innocence and chocolate on his lips.

You had to check his lunch to make sure he had not huddled in some until now unknown crack in the wall to munch it all. If he did, he would make a good go of lying about it, suggesting negligence on the part of the sandwich maker back at the ranch called home. There was always a slightly supernatural edge to his explanations because the facts never stacked up. But Bumble Bee was a good kid and the school was the best place for him to be. Each day when he walked in the classroom door, whether with the crumbs of guilt or smile of innocence, he was happy to be exactly where he was.

"Hi Flannery. I am here! You see me?" said Bumble. It was always some variation of that. He wanted to be sure that you saw him.

Soon after, the new student arrived with mother and speech pathologist and several administrators. He was not actually going to be a permanent part of the class just yet. They wanted to see how the kid did for an hour or two. Would he participate? Would he stay seated? Would he remain quiet or start to flap his arms and yelp? Would he take instruction or lash out with a pencil and kill Flannery dead.

Farthing wore his white shirt, because if blood was to fly, he wanted it to look as vivid as possible so that there would be no question of whether the child should be placed permanently in the class. "We would love to have him, but, well, Farthing's shirt is just a bloody mess and that will be a bugger to get that stain out," the family would be told, and the student sent off to a better, more appropriate place.

In actuality Farthing suspected the morning would prove uneventful, but liked to imagine some mayhem as it made for a more interesting workday.

October 5th: Exit Amelia, Enter the Hulk

2009-10-11T05:22:00.005-07:00

Farthing adjusted, or tried to. They were a classroom of four, but several someones in neighboring classes got fired, or suspended indefinitely, which meant that Amelia would be pulled from the class and placed in charge of another. She was needed more, elsewhere, and the lack of her presence in Level 7 changed things just so. Farthing was not entirely pleased at this disturbance in the force, but thought it was a great opportunity for Amelia.

It was the beginning of the second week of Amelia's absence when news arrived that a new student would be placed in their class. They were down to just twelve students from twenty-two the previous year. It was an oddly matched bunch, hitting the extremes of the capability spectrum, and with several kids having physical ailments that made them quite delicate. The Wonder Twins, as he called them, would not be coming on Friday's field trip to Cardinal's stadium because of that frailty: too much walking, steps and sun, slopes and light, would make it difficult going. Their mother decided to keep them home that day. He wondered what would happen when the new student arrived the next week. He was expected to be tall, burly, unruly and quite unplaceable with any other school. The powers, working with the district and parents, decided to give it a go and evaluate him.

As Farther listened to the description of this soon arriving stranger, he pictured Bruce Banner in teen form, exploding without undue provocation into a Hulk, and with children tossed about the room and running for their lives.

"Get the mats!!" Flannery cries, trying to restrain the new kid.
"Children, over here, get in the corner," Lorna commands, shielding the kids with her motherly resolve.
"I am trying Flannery, I've got to 'ave more time," Farthing answers, racing to the office between Level 7 and 6 to get the mat on which the marauder and destructor of continuity can be restrained.

The new kid flings the chairs and pulls down the metal cabinet and stands with feet atop two student tables and yanks down the cardboard street sign hanging from the ceiling that Amelia helped Farthing hang for their "Classroom City" unit. Farthing runs with the red mat toward Flannery, who is holding the new kid by the leg and being dragged across the floor. New kid is tall, 7'7 or even taller, and grabs at Farthing to rip his head off his shoulders and eat it. Farther ducks, hitting his head on the table, knocked out cold. New kid turns on Flannery and smashes him in the chest with free foot. "Lorna call the administrators!" Flannery shouts, barely able to catch a breath. Cheryl next door approaches through the office, asks what in the world is going on, and says Level 7 needs to keep it down as they are working on a government unit next door. She turns and leaves.

This outcome would not be possible if the curve of continuity had not been interrupted with the departure of Amelia to Level 5. Farthing wondered if the student arriving next Thursday would be the harbinger of a descent into classroom hell. But it would be an adventure as well. You couldn't know what to expect with the students and often the picture given to you as their official bio was not quite the reality that greeted you. You never knew. All you could do was clear the mind, and wait and see and interact.

Level 4 was suffering its own version of change. Linda was fired, and to listen to Linda tell it, it was entirely without cause; she was dismissed because Anna, that room's teacher, had it in for her. You could sit and listen to the explanation, and nod your head, and totally buy into the theory, so long as you discounted the multiple other possible theories that were more scientific. Sometimes missing a lot of work, or getting arrested and failing to clarify it to your employer, or taking cell phone calls from felonious boyfriends in prison during class, or interacting via internet with your students can get your fired, depending on who you work for. But Linda, no conspiracy theorist, knew the truth, and named names: Anna.

It was not an easy job, especially at the lower levels that Anna taught in. Each child came with a disability or three, and no two children, even with the same issue, were quite the same. Atop these foundations of born difficulty, lay the edifice of personality created by biology and the environment. The kids arrived at the school with behaviors that often had little to do with the uncontrollable elements of their primary disability. The same things you saw in standard kids--the indulged child, the faulty molding by parents--manifested itself atop the base disability. The task then, was to differentiate between those behaviors that were innate, unresolvable, and those that could be modified in such a way as to make the child's life easier when they entered society. As the kids proceeded through each level, they improved drastically, although, others eventually reverted as their time to go approached. "It seems like with autism in particular, they close right up again as they hit their teens," more than one teacher had commented.

The teachers at the lower levels had to deal with the worst of the behavioral issues. It appeared a thankless task that involved constant redirection, constant behavior modification and more than a few trips to the restroom to deal with bowel issues gone wild. Compared to what they did, and had to deal with, Farthing felt blessed.

He might have to deal with a potential destroyer of the classroom, and the loss of Amelia to another room, but he did not have to spend time redirecting poop from the floor to the toilet. Lacking that and a host of other indignities, life could be considered not too bad.

On Monday Greenspan Predicts Colts Will Win On Previous Sunday

2009-10-05T04:25:00.008-07:00

Former (and fallen) Fed God Allen Greenspan goes on the record to predict that employment will pass 10%. Given the year long move upwards, with the current number at 9.8%, one begins to understand why his predictive clarity (about the danger of over-inflating the economy) was a bit faulty in the past. No doubt Greenspan also thinks a bunch of people will lose their homes soon too.

Greenspan told the ABC program "This Week" that he expected 3 percent growth in the third quarter, up from the 2.5 percent he previously predicted. However, he said a "pretty awful" September employment report released Friday showed the jobless rate continued to climb.

A slowing or halt in job losses is different from reversing the rise in unemployment, Greenspan noted, adding that the nation's unemployment rate -- currently 9.8 percent -- is "going to penetrate the 10 percent barrier before heading down."

That prediction matches previous comments by President Obama and others, who say that unemployment is a lagging indicator in an economic recovery.

Obama said Saturday his administration would focus on job creation, and Greenspan said he supported that approach. However, Greenspan said it was too soon to consider another economic stimulus package or other major spending plan.

(C.N.N.)

Someone needs to ask Greenspan if the sun will rise, or if Christmas will come. Those are things we really worry about.

We've assumed for a long time that 2009 will be a year long mess of job and home deflation, and it takes a while for actions announced by corporations to show up in the stats. Anyone fretting over unemployment numbers at this stage is just not paying attention to where we were last year, and how long it takes for layoffs to work through the system. It's a sorry state when someone like Greenspan is pointing out the obvious and such is printed as news.

Starting Out in the Evening, via Netflix, with Lili Taylor, Sans Company

2009-10-04T21:13:00.000-07:00

Ah Netflix.... the poor man's cable. I love how you can just pull open a flick directly over your computer. Just finished watching a movie about an aged writer trying to write what will be his last novel, and living at the tail end of a literary era fast fading. He meets a young woman working on her college thesis who lures him back to some form of life, while using him and his connections to her own ends. The surprise for me was finding the ever interesting Lili Taylor playing the writer's daughter, and struggling with the desire for children. The film, Starting Out in the Evening, examines what it means when everyone pursues their own freedom; invariably when there is no compromise, pain and loneliness intrude.

In other words, true freewill is a beast wrapped up in a blessing. Frank Langella does a good job as he is slowly lifted by film's end out of his coffin of inaction. The characters that he struggles to create for his last novel follow his lead, failing to exist or do anything at all. By the end of the film Leonard Schiller, our author, has gained some insight and knows he must take action while the clock of his life still ticks. The delight for me, though, is Taylor. There is always a realness about her, whether in Mystic Pizza or Household Saints or here as Langella's daughter.

This cheap film shot quickly and in Manhattan shows that one need not spend millions to tell a story. On the other hand those folks used to rapid action and spectacle should surely avoid this. The dark, the talk, the silence will surely cause sleep among those inclined to sleep deeply through things.

Sarah Palin's Ghostwriter's Brain Writes Faster than Obama's Brain

2009-09-29T04:38:00.005-07:00

Stunningly swift. Sarah Palin has completed her 400 page opus masterpiece in a mere four months. This from a woman who could barely consciously crack a newspaper open and remember what she read. Her ghost writer is to be applauded for the extra effort in getting the book ready in time for the holidays.

One does not want to let too much time pass between the heights of popularity and the depths of disillusionment; you strike the pig shaped pinata while the getting is good. Palin was probably paid a bundle for this and the quick release of the book, if anything, is a sign that the publishers are not willing to gamble on Palin's long term level of ripeness.

For months after the release will have to listen to her enthusiastic blind mice chatter about how her effort trumps that of Obama, for is it not a lengthy work? Oy vey. Brace yourselves.

Daily Update: Waiting for the Miracle to Come Edition

2009-09-27T21:24:00.002-07:00

It's been odd observing the relative economic tranquility around the world. We half expected total collapse in South America and more signs of difficulty in certain Asian economies, but reality has proven otherwise. That is good for the world, and both good and bad for the United States. When you suffer, and the world does not, that "world" might begin to conclude that they don't need you, or don't need to listen to you. Being ignored or discounted is not America's default psychology, and the adjustment might be rough going for traditional thinkers.

In this year of populism run amok, with politicians and citizens enraged at various forces they pretend not to understand, or don't understand, we can hardly engage the world in a fashion that would benefit our own interests. We are still upset over losing manufacturing and jobs to overseas lands, not truly reflecting on the fact that every developed nation will face similar situations, and to the extent that people in China and India begin to have real incomes--and that process has begun--it offers a lot more opportunity than if the world were just shut down into several regional fiefdoms. We wonder if people are looking ahead.

Certainly certain institutions have that foresight. HSBC, the massive bank that has always spread itself across Europe and Asia, has decided to base its chief executive in Hong Kong in an acknowledgement of the importance of that region. We always believe that a nation's major corporations should leave ultimate authority in the home region. But, we also feel like smart businesses will make sure that their top personnel is focused on where opportunity can be had. HSBC is doing its part to stay attuned to opportunity.

The increasing shift in economic power from the west to the east was demonstrated yesterday when HSBC announced it was moving its chief executive Michael Geoghegan from London to Hong Kong.

The decision by the UK's biggest bank and largest company to move its chief executive to Asia comes at time when the traditional G7 power base is being overtaken by the wider group of nations in the G20, reflecting the growth in emerging markets such as China and India.

(UK Guardian)

*

Norway's massive sovereign fund, font of oil revenue, continues to do well. A while back there were worries about falling oil income and declining stock shares, but the managers of the fund did not panic, using the opportunity of low prices to buy more assets.

Recent rises are the result of Slyngstad buying $175bn (£107.5bn) worth of equities when world markets crashed earlier this year, following the Norwegian government's decision to increase the share of equities in the fund from 40% to 60%.

(UK Guardian)

It would be awesome to see an American fund like this, but dedicated to healthcare or some other problem but what works so well in Norway would face political propaganda problems here. Namely, it would be referred to as socialist. Never you mind the number of programs in the United States that are some variation on socialism anyway. Any innovations in terms of how stuff is financed in this country would face unspeakable slander, which is why reforming healthcare now is such a never ending battle. We lack the foresight of Norwegians, who are saving money, growing money, and thinking about future generations while at the same time solving present day problems.

*

And now, for those awake and alive, some music to take you into the week. The great Leonard Cohen had his first concert in Israel in more than twenty years. The sold out event was being used as a forum to promote reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. That battle is not ending any time soon, but the concept of forgiveness is important.

Baby, I've been waiting,
I've been waiting
Night and day
I didn't see the time,
I waited half my life away
There were lots of invitations
And I know you sent me some,
But I was waiting
For the miracle,
For the miracle to come

I know you really loved me
but, you see,
my hands were tied
I know it must have hurt you,
it must have hurt your pride
to have to stand
beneath my window
with your bugle
and your drum,
and me I'm up there waiting
for the miracle,
for the miracle to come

Ah I don't believe you'd like it,
You wouldn't like it here
There ain't no entertainment
and the judgements are severe
The Maestro says it's Mozart
but it sounds like bubble gum
when you're waiting
for the miracle,
for the miracle to come

Waiting for the miracle
There's nothing left to do
I haven't been this happy
since the end of World War II

Nothing left to do
when you know
that you've been taken
Nothing left to do
when you're begging for a crumb
Nothing left to do
when you've got to go on waiting
waiting for the miracle to come

I dreamed about you, baby
It was just the other night
Most of you was naked
Ah but some of you was light
The sands of time were falling
from your fingers and your thumb,
and you were waiting
for the miracle,
for the miracle to come

Ah baby, let's get married,
We've been alone too long
Let's be alone together
Let's see if we're that strong
Yeah let's do something crazy,
Something absolutely wrong
While we're waiting
For the miracle,
for the miracle to come

Nothing left to do ...

When you've fallen
on the highway
and you're lying
in the rain,
and they ask you
how you're doing
of course you'll say
you can't complain --
If you're squeezed
for information,
that's when you've got to
play it dumb:
You just say
you're out there waiting
for the miracle,
for the miracle to come

Sometimes I wonder if I am sitting about waiting for the miracle to come, or if anything short of a miracle, the miracle, is compromise.

Efficient Market Hypothesis Re-examined; Wall Street Still Pursues Mammon

2009-09-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

One of the great theories that seems to be approaching old age and senility is the efficient market hypothesis. Wikipedia describes the theory as follows:

In finance, the efficient-market hypothesis (EMH) asserts that financial markets are "informationally efficient", or that prices on traded assets (e.g., stocks, bonds, or property) already reflect all known information, and instantly change to reflect new information. Therefore, according to theory, it is impossible to consistently outperform the market by using any information that the market already knows, except through luck.

(Wikipedia)

We've always thought the theory bunk and rather defiant of the human element and human nature. People neither absorb available information at the same time, or process it in rational fashion. Nor does the available information always reflect the underlying truth of any given asset.

Via the New York Times we have academics now exploring the human element that makes economic and risk modeling less precise. If this is part of the outcome of the near collapse of the financial markets, it is a welcome philosophical adjustment in our opinion.

In related observations, there have been any number of articles demonstrating some surprise or resignation that Wall Street is back to its old ways, and resuming the pursuit of massive profits. An article last week (also N.Y. Times) noted that Wall Street is now hoping to make a market of people's insurance policies, packaging them into securities.

So the wheel goes round and round.

In the the efficient markets article, the interest among college students (at least at MIT) remains high for the very skills that helped contribute to past difficulties, all though this time the hope is to reinvent the wheel:

When a bridge over a river collapses, the engineers who built the bridge have to take responsibility. But typically, critics call for improvement and smarter, better-trained engineers — not fewer of them. The same pattern seems to apply to financial engineers. At M.I.T., the Sloan School of Management is starting a one-year master’s in finance this fall because the field has become too complex to be adequately covered as part of a traditional M.B.A. program, and because of student demand. The new finance program, Mr. Lo noted, had 179 applicants for 25 places.

In the aftermath of the economic crisis, financial engineers, experts say, will probably shift more to risk management and econometric analysis and concentrate less on devising exotic new instruments. Still, the recent efforts by investment banks to create a trading market for “life settlements,” life insurance policies that the ill or elderly sell for cash, suggest that inventive sales people are browsing for new asset classes to securitize, bundle and trade.

(N.Y.Times)

It really is about time people dispensed with standard EMH theories altogether. It's also probably about time that Washington seriously writes some financial legislation that limits leverage and speculation by major banks.

New York City On A Sunday Morning...

2009-09-06T10:06:00.001-07:00

I grew up in New York City, which is like growing up on Mytikas, the highest peak of Mt.Olympus, looking down on the rest of the nation. The only important "other" places were (almost) similar such cities, maybe Paris or London. Maybe Hong Kong or San Francisco or Chicago.

I traveled into high school in Manhattan from Queens, taking the E or F train, or the7 line if I was feeling bored and wanted a glimpse of Shea Stadium and the tennis center. I imagined that if someone was trying to kill me, I was shifty and unorthodox, never taking the same route. Hard to pin down.

Sometimes it all depended on what I wanted to eat. When the High School of Music and Art (now LaGuardia Arts) was still uptown on the hill, I had choices of glazed donuts, Jamaican beef patties, sandwiches or candy, depending on whether I took a number or a letter train.

I didn't appreciate New York when I was there. I did and didn't. I felt a contentment, but bristled at the rude and the dirty. I dreamed of small towns, and quaint markets, and going to a high school with a football program. Music and Art was short on athletics, as were many city schools.

Eventually the school moved from Harlem downtown, joining with the School of Performing Arts in a new structure across from Lincoln Center. Many students detested the move, not wanting to leave what they called "the castle on the hill" which overlooked the black part of Harlem down below. I was delighted. A new building, with new studios and being in the center of the city. In the mornings I used to stop at a magazine shop to pick up various photography and music magazines. I flipped through whatever I bought as I crossed the street toward Lincoln Center, happy to be where I was.

At that time I wanted to be a folk singer, but was too afraid to sing in front of people. I also couldn't sing. There was something delightful about a someone who could write an engaging tune with just a voice and guitar. I listened to the music thinking, "I could do that." The pop on the radio was electronic and blippy and the best qualities of that music could not be replicated even by the artists themselves, let alone the listener. I wanted music I could sing to, strum my own guitar to. I listened to people like Shawn Colvin, John Gorka, and this duo called Buskin and Batteau.

There were a couple of folk music shows that came on the radio, one by a guy named Vin Scelsa called "Idiot's Delight" and I listened eagerly, the music becoming a soundtrack to my version of New York City. Pete Fornatale was another dj who imposed his own taste and creativity into my life.

I had my favorite spots. As art students we were required to go to the museums and draw what we saw. I was too much the introvert. I didn't want tourists looking over my shoulder and thinking what a lousy artist I was. I didn't want to mess up in front of people. I took surreptitious photographs and then recreated what I saw back home in the comfort of Queens. I disliked the Museum of Modern Art before I had ever entered, and disliked it after I exited. I loved the Met, but liked the quiet solitude of the Frick the best. "That's real art!" I said to myself, thinking that if I could paint, that's how I would paint. Oil painting was my focus at school, but I had long concluded that my skills were far below those of my more dedicated classmates.

They spent their time dreaming of a future career in the arts, and I spent my time contemplating whether to have beef patties or donuts for breakfast that morning, and whether taking the route that lead to the best food would deprive me of the route that led to whatever girl I liked at the time.

Sometimes I wandered down to 34th street near Macys, my favorite landmark. There were a lot of camera stores with all sorts of electronic gear stacked up in the windows at prices that seemed to good to be true. I planned what camera I would get, lusting after some indestructible looking Nikon, and assuring myself that the Leica right there would be my alternate when I wanted to give the Nikon a rest. Usually the only thing I ever purchased was Kodak Tri-X or Plus X black and white film. I was way into black and white pictures, feeling that color looked fake, and removed all the mystery. I took a free photography class at the School of Visual Arts to expand my skills.

The teacher sent us out onto the streets to photograph stuff. Again, I was too timid to point my camera if people might end up in the frame. I shot a lot of streets and buildings. Somewhere downtown, and at night, I photographed a man with crutches leaning against a shop window. The light from the window flooded past his dark body onto the sidewalk. Later I showed the picture to my dad, "Hey, see, I got this homeless guy sleeping." My dad told me the man was not in fact sleeping. He was on heroin and out on his feet. "Oh, well the light looks neat doesn't it?" He, my father, was not as enthusiastic at my photo with an actual person in it.

Other times I made my way to Chinatown for fireworks or knives. Near Thanksgiving I wanted to feel Dickens, and to buy a freshly killed bird and wander through the streets holding it by the neck, while beaming merchants yelled "Good day to ya" (in Chinese?) from their street stalls. I wanted to be like Scrooge, but happy, and go into a shop and say, "I will take that bird right there, and some figgy pudding" Chinatown was the best way to replicate that, and I bought a whole duck. On my subway ride home I was excited, and presented the duck to my parents. At Thanksgiving, and once cooked, the duck shrunk down to nothing, fat leaching out, and I thought, "Next time, I will get the pheasant, or a goose!"

I loved Buskin and Batteau, and every time I traveled downtown to this big music shop, they never had any of their albums in stock. Other times I would make the trip and be distracted by something else, instead of what I came for. By the time I was really determined to get their music, they broke up. They were always on independent labels and never easy to find anyway. The two men were, among other things, jingle writers, and I remember listening to a concert where they ran through a bunch of the jingles they had created. My favorite song of theirs was "Guinevere," and while other folk singers had done the tune some justice, nobody could do it better than them.

On this Sunday morning, they crossed my mind and I was glad to find that not only have Buskin and Batteau gotten back together, but they are touring, and with videos on Youtube and albums for sale. Thank you technology! Of course I must let you have a listen, those few who come here to see what I am lately ranting and raving about.

August 28: Birthday Celebrations

2009-09-04T01:00:00.001-07:00

He stared up at the street sign. Virgina Road. Virginia. Virgin. The forty year old virgin. He had set his computer to download the movie while he was at work today, and he wondered now if his computer accomplished that task without interruption. It all depended on the connection, and whether the anonymous neighbor with the unsecured wireless network had left it open. His normal hookup involved plugging his computer into his phone, using it as a modem, and from all evidence, his phone did not really like being used that way. He always hoped for the good connection. But usually it was slow going.

He got out of the car, having reached his apartment complex, and said "Catch you later" to the driver.

He used to travel to work via bus north and then wait a bit before transferring to a second bus west. Now that light rail was running, he could shave more than a half hour off his time. Instead of heading east for the bus, he now walked west, and despite it all being in the neighborhood, there was a distinct economic difference between those two directional opposites.

West was better, with his preferred street lined with watercolors--purple, pink-- and all the yards neatly flowered and grassed. In the mornings the bees, the birds, and a few dogs with their owners attached by leash were all outdoors to start the day. It could have been a street on Cape Cod, or some small college town back East, and far different from the beige developments that overwhelmed what was left of the Phoenix landscape. On the little street to light rail people had grass, and trees not merely palm, and one bold multilevel home set back off the curb home had a huge sculpture dominating the lawn; it said, "I am a little more unique, for I have art and culture on my grass."

The other morning a woman smiled at him as she walked by with two dogs, and he thought, "Finally, an attractive pet lover out here." There were always more women than men doing the early morning dog walk, and mostly rather plain faced. Sometimes it was an old woman passing by and giving him a big smile. "Good morning," he always said with as much jolliness as he could muster so that she would not fear that he might be a killer getting an early start on a day of psycho-nontherapy.

Hoover Street was so pleasant that the distance of the block was not the bother it could have been. This morning he did not get that walk, opting instead to ride with a coworker. It was hot, he was hungry and not in the mood to deal with the public. This also meant his arrival would be later than normal and cutting into his decompression time.

That afternoon at the school it was time for birthday celebrations, always held the last Friday of each month. By holding one big celebration, and largely banning parents from involvement (interference), it simplified the process, while avoiding the types of snack food arms races that could develop if each child had their own day, and their own parent to stage manage. Today there were just two with birthdays: Charlie Brown, a student, and Vitalia, an assistant in the upper level division.

The school was divided between a lower level, which included practically everyone below the age of ten, and the upper level, dominated by those from 13 to 15, but including a few approaching 18 or even 21 and whose special circumstances dictated their continued attendance at the school.

"We won't ask Vitalia's age, but I've had a wonderful, wonderful time working with you " said Cheryl, the teacher with whom she worked.
"Aw, and I'm not gonna tell my age either. It's a secret, " she said laughing.
"Vitalia just turned 21," shouted one of the kids.
"Okay, okay, do any of the students have something to say to Charlie or Vitalia?" asked Flannery.
Hands shot up.
"Bart, go ahead, give it up," said Flannery.
"I just, you know... I wanna say you are my favorite teacher ever. And I really like you, and I think you are the best teacher and I like being your teacher...you being our teacher."

Bart stood with hands in pocket, round arms eclipsed by the huge oval arm holes on his muscle shirt, and Farthing wondered what rationale in the home allowed such a thing. It was the type shirt that even a fully muscular grown man could barely pull off without snickers and typecasting by others. He also wondered why Vitalia was this child's favorite. He remembered a kid from the previous year, who pretty much fawned over every teacher but him. He liked to think of the child as the arch villain of his classroom life, though he never let on.

Several of the boys requested birthday hugs. "You mean you want to give a hug?" they were corrected, as each approached Vitalia. Farthing thought it a bit shady, knowing that boys, whether standard or with disabilities, were virtually the same creatures, and all perverse; at 13 years of age they might use any excuse to get close to a fully featured female. He raised his eyebrow. Had he been a woman, and had it been his birthday, and had he been asked that question, his response would be, "No! But you can hug Charlie sitting here next to me, or you can go home and hug your mom." Farthing, being a man, didn't trust them. Or himself. It was never totally clear.

"Okay, let's sing Happy Birthday," said Cheryl, "And we will do both versions!" and they did. Then it was out with the ice cream and chocolate chip cookies, with all the teachers lending a hand to construct ice cream sandwiches. After distribution, the teachers sat at the back table, commenting on ice cream, and cookie, and how good it would have been had they been frozen for a while.

Bart watched, then lifted a finger as he approached Vitalia at the desk as if to say something, but the words never got out of his mouth before she redirected him: "Bart, talk to you friends" with her fingers pointing the way back. He shoved his hands in his pocket and walked away, shoulders bent, but peeked back around for a one last glance look that certainly was not the one last glance.

"Hey, look at that. Notice the kids who are talking and those who are not." said Cheryl.
"Uhm, yea it looks like..." began Farthing.
"All the kids with autism are the ones sitting alone," she continued.
"Yea, that's odd to see that played out. Almost to a person," he added.

Flannery approached. "Hey, see that? You can really tell which of our kids have autism."
"We were just talking about that," said Cheryl.

Farthing watched the kids, some smiling into the air, some flipping frantically through books, others huddled up front like a clique of cool kids. He also knew that if he were he a kid, regular or standard, he would be seated alone, flipping a book, and wondering things nobody could fathom or understand.

Why is America So Angry? Because It's Stupid....

2009-08-31T04:15:00.002-07:00

McClatchy asks, "Why is America So Angry" and goes on to point out various lunacies that are being spread across a gullible population. Do you really want to know why America is angry? We have the answer.

Put simply, America is angry because the economy is awful and when people have no jobs or money, they look to blame someone. But Americans are not always economically or historically astute, and the Republican Party has made sure to place the economic blame for the past (and the future) on Obama. In the off chance that a few people might be aware that our troubles precede the Obama Administration, they have offered up a host of side fantasies in order to make people more willing to blame Obama for everything. He is socialist. He is racist. He is a crooked Chicago politician . He is a foreigner. He is violating the constitution either now, or will do so shortly when he revokes all our freedoms and takes our guns and beheads us all. (Oh, and for the pure racists, his wife looks angry, ugly and like a monkey).

Essentially if your shit doesn't stink, well, that's all Obama's fault, despite the ironic benefit.

A good proportion of anti-Obama hatred comes from things he "may" do at some secret moment in the future, or from misinterpretations of policies that are otherwise clear and obvious when viewed rationally.

We also can't ignore how various religious fears (of the anti-Christ and "one world government") play into the overall irrational hatred for a man who to date has done very little that resembles anything he is accused of.

Smearing and bearing false witness has been taken to a new level of art by people who usually claim to be more familiar with morality and the Bible, and Obama being black aids this process, in the same way a film like "The Hangover" can draw easy laughs by reducing ethnic characters to ridiculousness. We have pointed out in the past the tendency of late for films to have the white characters ape or copy perceived "ethnic" ways of speaking or dancing. "Look at that white girl, that Sandra Bullock, doing that wacky dance and rapping, that's so funny when white people act ridiculous." A ridiculousness that is seen as normative for blacks.

Obama's mere existence in the job he is in was one giant head fuck for a bunch of people who just could not fathom it. They reached for explanations that would conform to their own bias, not reality. Hence all the personal attacks based on partial or outright lies. I am justified at disliking this man if he is secretly ineligible to be president. Or, I am justified in calling him a racist because his pastor made statements relating to God judging America (a theme that most conservative churches preach constantly, if a bit more delicately).

In this framework, it is not the Bush Administration who bailed out the bankers (thus instituting, as they imagine it, "socialism"), and it is not the Bush Administration that allowed (with the aid of all of Congress) mortgage brokers to go hog wild in the pursuit of sales, and it is not the Bush Administration who let Lehman Brothers fail or allowed interest rates to be so low as to inflate the economy. In fact the whole previous eight years don't exist at all, with all troubles beginning on January 20th, and, according to anger, amazingly unresolved by January 21st.

Everything will be laid at Obama, the man with the odd name, who does not deserve to be in his job merely because people have fantasies about what he might do if the world conformed to the nonsense in their heads.

There that cabal sits, tucked away in their homes wondering how they ended up jobless, insuranceless and bitter, and looking for easy, lazy answers.

Cerberus Bombs, Israel Considers Bombing, Consumers Confused...

2009-08-31T03:39:00.005-07:00

Cerberus, an up till so five minutes ago major hedge fund group, has investors wanting to yank their money from the firm , and all because of a carefully crafted bet on the auto industry gone wrong. We stand amazed, thinking, "Wow, who could have imagined." You know, because the auto industry in the U.S. has always been a font of easy profits and low overhead, with no unions or regulations or more creative competitors to contend with.

Investors in Cerberus are seeking the return of more than $5.5 billion (£3.3 billion) from the fund, which has made a series of poor investments, including the acquisition of GMAC, General Motors’ finance division, and of Chrysler, the bankrupt carmaker.

(U.K. Times)

We could have told them not to go there, but sometimes when smart, one is too smart for one's own good. Now, it is sad tidings. What does this mean for the average fella, who right now is saying "What the hell does this have to do with me?" between bits of another delicious Tyson Any'tizer?

Nothing. Other than than just because you are smart does not mean you have all the right answers (a point Republicans were making by putting stupidity in the form of Palin on a pedestal... point kinda backfired), and that you should not automatically assume the private sector is more efficient for every task (a point Democrats are kinda making now with a desire to inject more public into healthcare's private sector).

See, everyone has a bit of truth! A happy thought for the start of the week.

*

Humans are complicated. In July consumer spending rose, while consumer sentiment fell. Apparently what people were thinking ("Oh crap the world is going to pieces") did not interfere with their desire to have more stuff ("Oh snap, I can trade in my clunker for that SUV that gets 2 extra miles per gallon and look good when the world goes to pieces").

*

We know. Too much good tidings right? Football season is starting. The annoying kids are now back in school. The quality of Hollywood movie releases will improve as the fall moves in. The air starts smelling sweeter in places with seasons. The auto companies are still around, as are major banks, and maybe, just maybe, we won't be denied health insurance (though, according to Republicans, at the expense of, well, freedom, but hey, can't have everything right?).

But, we must bust up this seasonal euphoria with the following:

Iran has until late September to respond to the latest international proposal aimed at stopping the Islamic Republic from developing a nuclear weapon....But if diplomacy fails, the world should be prepared for an Israeli attack on Iran's suspected nuclear weapons facilities. As Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently acknowledged:

"The window between a strike on Iran and their getting nuclear weapons is a pretty narrow window."

(L.A. Times)

On first glance this looks slightly bad, but keep in mind you just traded in your clunker for that new more fuel efficient car. That's 2 miles farther away from the mega-disaster that will certainly end up raining down on your city when Iran strikes back by any means unnecessary. Also, you won't have to rely on Hollywood to provide you with interesting entertainment this tv season.

Kennedy Dies, Eunuch McCain Denies...

2009-08-26T02:21:00.020-07:00

Ted Kennedy is now dead, which if anything, shows the utility of delay tactics employed Republicans to do nothing on healthcare as slowly as they can. We will now be witness to elaborate words and celebrations by a set of politicians who would applaud the man, while fighting against every thing he was for. We have never been fans of Kennedy, but also, we lack that special spirit that will turn many Republican politicians into pontificating hypocrites.

Our local Senator McCain, who was holding forth at Grace Bible Church in Sun City, expounding on healthcare much like a eunuch describing how he would rock your vaginal world, had this to say:

John McCain of Arizona, last year's Republican presidential candidate, this week told ABC that he believed Kennedy's absence was making it more difficult to reach agreement on the health care bill.

(U.S.A. Today)

Everyone is loved a little more, when they are dead. But don't expect the death of Kennedy to inspire McCain to grow one and come up with a robust and fruitful healthcare vision of his own.

Meanwhile the beat--the hate--goes on. And let's be clear, never has one man (Obama) been on the receiving end of so much outright nonsense by those lacking either intellectual understanding, moral clarity, or honest intent. They will tell you it's about the policies, the increasing national debt, but none of these people who are so critical of Obama now, so concerned about the unborn pieces of sperm in the gonads who will be burdened with future debt, raised a single, shrieking hysterical voice over the issue when Republicans were busy running up the debt, and cutting taxes.

In the age of Eunuch Republicanism, you do nothing. You talk of what you would have done. You talk of what shouldn't be done. You make up stuff. But ultimately, you do nothing. And you never remind people that whether you do something, or nothing, healthcare spending, and spending in general, will rise, and in part because you did nothing when you controlled the entire government.

If Obama is hamstrung, it comes from two sources: Republican fiscal irresponsibility in the past, and Republican inspired stupidity in the present. Those who disliked the mockery of Bush in the past, now find it a crucial moment to exact verbal, if not intellectual, revenge.

One would hope that they have at least the integrity not to kiss the head of Kennedy while dancing on the grave.

August 22: One Week Down, A Bazillion Weaknesses to Go.

2009-08-22T22:46:00.002-07:00

It was Saturday night and Alexander Farthing was at home eating a late meal of Jamaican beef patties. He picked them up at Lee Lee's Oriental market, but it was not the right brand. These were a bit too sweet, with hints of cinnamon or something not quite right. He had to choose between the $7 pack of two of the wrong brand or the $14 pack of ten of his preferred brand. He opted for the smaller pack in a weak effort to remain somewhat loyal to his twin goals of eating better and not spending the last dollar of his small paycheck. He was only seven days into the school year, so his pay on Friday covered two days, which was about enough money to be regrettably blown entirely by accident. A beef patty here, a McD's spicy chicken there, a movie, and suddenly he could find himself eating Ramen noodles for the next two weeks.

Two days before he had arrived late for work by about a half hour, and it was enough to discombobulate his entire day. Farthing was a creature of habit, and up until now, and through his first year, and contra previous work habits at other more distant jobs, he was rarely late. Arriving early was the thing that left him at maximum tranquility. He could get off the bus, have time to hit the restroom, do some prep work, and eat breakfast, and all at leisure.

"What happened, is everything okay?" asked Shamus the Teacher when Farthing arrived, and the other two assistants stared at him as though his head was made of something unusual. "I'm fine, just woke up late," he said, somewhat ashamed at the utter dullness of his excuse. He wished for a more riveting explanation. "My two year old started a race riot at her preschool,and my ex-girlfriend tried to shoot me" he did not say to anyone, and it was moments like this when he realized the utility of having a child or life drama, neither of which he had.

The students arrived on the previous Tuesday, but one could never be sure who would actually be on the roster. There was a recession on, and the state was cutting back money to the districts, and the districts were moving many services in house instead of subcontracting them out to private schools. There was also some esoteric school contract bidding change that one of the owners of the school had explained in somewhat vague fashion during the staff meeting, and which caused Farthing to wonder if he should have a backup plan.

The Sunflower school was small, perhaps 80 or so kids in seven levels of instruction, and targeted towards their individual educational needs. Indeed it was a school for those with developmental disabilities of one type or another, and each student arrived as a registered member of one of the many school districts in the Phoenix area. Thus while the school was privately owned, it still remained dependent on the state and city districts, their whims, finances and preferences.

Thursday's late arrival only served to dampen Farthing's normally euphoric moment which occurred every other Thursday at 8:24 a.m., when his paycheck would hit his bank account a full day earlier than those of his coworkers. He glanced at an email on his cell phone alerting him to the new deposit, but arriving late was gnawing at him. It was a bad sign so early in the year. Bad habits were a slippery slope. If you are late on day six, then certainly by the one hundredth day you will be missing entire weeks.

Enterprise Rent-A-Deathtrap Bad for Your Healthcare

2009-08-17T04:42:00.005-07:00

In case you were still believing in the inherent superiority of the private sector over government initiatives, and thus ignoring many of the points made in previous writings, we here and now present more evidence for your review.

There is no end to the number of reminders that can be given that show that the private sector is not automatically more virtuous or productive. We can certainly affirm that the private sector is not any more attuned to the welfare of its customers than the public sector is. About face and agree with our wisdom, and toss aside the oft repeated mantra that the entire government can be reduced down to the particular rudeness or inefficiency found in stereotypes of the motor vehicle department and the post office.

We bring forth from our bunny hat, Enterprise Car Rent-a-Car. They can alternatively be called Enterprise Death Rentals if we were to take lessons in ridiculous exaggeration from unemployed people like former governor of Alaska Sarah Palin, who fears no combination of words so long as they are entirely untrue.

Turns out that Enterprise is far more concerned with making an extra few bucks than in maintaining a certain level of safety for people renting and buying their vehicles. The particular form of dollar over customer care involved the lovely (ha ha) Impala.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the nation's largest private buyer of new cars and seller of used ones, chose to "delete" a standard safety feature from thousands of Chevrolet Impala fleet vehicles, saving millions of dollars.

(McClatchey)

Which brings us back to healthcare. One wonders what happens when the inclination for greater profits runs up against the necessity of required treatments. Who will win that battle? Accountants or patients?

BB&T, Ayn Rand, Self Interest and Other Inconsistencies

2009-08-16T11:45:00.003-07:00

If you are a strong proponent of Ayn Rand's style of independent "be your own person" thinking, one should at least stick to the principles that one is pushing, or it all rather violates an internal logic. There are those in business who hang at the breast of Rand, sucking in every word and theme of hers, and fervently believing in the pursuit of self interest as the answer to every ill, with government as the great beast that stands in the way.

In fact John A Allison, chairman of BB&T is one of those suckers, and was profiled back on August 1 in the New York Times in an article titled, "Give Me Liberty but Not a Bailout".

If Mr. Allison’s speech sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because it’s based on the philosophy ofAyn Rand, who celebrated the virtues of reason, self-interest and laissez-faire capitalism while maintaining that altruism is a destructive force. In Ms. Rand’s world, nothing is more heroic — and sexy — than a hard-working businessman free to pursue his wealth. And nothing is worse than a pesky bureaucrat trying to restrict business and redistribute wealth.

There is more.

But Mr. Allison, who remains BB&T’s chairman after retiring as chief executive in December, has emerged as perhaps the most vocal proponent of Ms. Rand’s ideas and of the dangers of government meddling in the markets. For a dedicated Randian like him, the government’s headlong rush to try to rescue and fix the economy is a horrifying realization of his worst fears.

Fast forward to now, with Colonial BancGroup falling into insolvency, and the FDIC stepping in to unwind that regional bank, and with the assistance of BB&T.

Ah, here is a bold bank, willing to take a chance on picking up some assets, but going forth rationally and independantly, taking no handouts, a firm believer in the independent businessman pursuing his own self interest to the benefit of all.

Yea not quite.

Kelly King, BB&T’s chief executive, called the deal “an exciting growth opportunity” that will allow it to gain market share with minimal risk to the bank because of its loss-sharing agreement with the government.

(N.Y. Times)

It's always good to be careful of those who align themselves to ideologies, and especially those philosophies that are functionally incompatible with human nature. Rand, ever so dismissive of faith and religion, would hardly survive in a world lacking the contributions of those of faith. Remove them, and much of the good drains from the world, leaving not rationality, but man's slavery to his own pursuit of ephemeral happiness.

Aug 13th: The Room Shan't Be Hot, Ever.

2009-08-15T05:02:00.003-07:00

Sometimes it rains when you least expect it. And when you are merely a man on the backside of the desert, and filled with frequently flaring lust for water, rain is relief and joy and rest. To have to rise and actually go to work in such coziness defied the nature of the gift, and he imagined God laughing aloft the cloud. "I will give you what you want, but you shan't fully enjoy it, and must work instead of sleep."

God would say shan't as surely as he would tempt and mock. Alexander Farthing hardly expected any less from an invisible God, and walked through certain days certain that he was heaven's favorite source of amusement.

He showered, got dressed, grabbed his umbrella and backpack and headed off to his second year at Sunshadow School up somewhere north. In the desert, and if when one hails from regions filled with rain and distinct seasons, you begin to imagine the rain as brighter than the light from the sun, and more than mere water.

It was late August in Phoenix, and school districts one by one began drawing their students back in, cutting vacations and leisure short. No matter that it was hot, 115 degrees of hot, and that if by some unfortunate accident you managed to knock yourself out, you would lay there baking into a loaf of man on the sidewalk. It was the nature of the city and its satellite cities to make as though all was normal, and you were not in the oven. Phoenix toddled after New York, Chicago, or Atlanta, smiling along the way saying, "Aren't we all fabulous cities, and what friends we are." But no city in the middle of a desert is normal, no matter the appearance and pretenses. It takes an irrational type of man to start a city in a desert, and to try to force the desert into the normative behavior of a non-desert region. It took a crazy person, or a bunch of crazies actually, and no amount of stadiums or new light rail trains would obscure that lack of practicality.

Thursday and Friday there would be no real work. Just arranging the room, pulling books to use for the reading, language and math groups, and sitting through various meetings. On Thursday at 9 am the staff gathered themselves in a circle on chairs fit for much smaller derrieres. The owner of the school welcomed them back, and invited each staff member to share their summer experiences. Farthing was not born with the constitution to be a sharer, nor did his summer circumstances lend themselves to animated story telling: he was not pregnant with future man-child, he hadn't biked with his best coworker friend 20 miles or gone to a family reunion in New Mexico, he had not been to Disney, nor bought the house next door so that his granddaughter could be within a hug's distance. Such were the tales told, and as interesting as they were, it upped the pressure. When away from school, you ought to return with a story to tell, no?

It seemed an equal balance between those who did a lot, and those who did nothing, but even those who didn't travel or "vacation" had accomplished a lot; Farthing was among the do nothings, having neglected for practical reasons to pro-rate his salary at the previous year's start, and leaving himself in permanent mental dichotomy for the entire summer break, both wanting the summer to end in order to have money and something meaningful to do, and wanting the summer to never end in order to avoid ever having to do anything meaningful at all.

He assumed that the lazy, hungry, bored and ambitious parts of his brain would re-harmonize sometime in September. His first free paycheck, one he could blow without spontaneous homelessness, would come on September 18th. He had calculated that out, and set that day as his first moment of potential optimum happiness. He hoped the arrival of students next week would provide sufficient distraction till that date arrived. That was over a month away.

And today was Thursday, the first day, with tables to move, and coworkers to say hello to, and daydreaming to be set aside. He arrived early, as was his deliberate habit, and, back in the room, he turned the air conditioner down to 72. The desert is hot. No reason for the room to be, ever.

Government and Private Sector Equally Competent or Incompetent

2009-08-13T05:30:00.054-07:00

We are all for big business, and little business, and Wall Street. When you live in a hut on the prairie of some underdeveloped place, you stay that way without strong institutions and markets.

We are not for specious arguments, like the one that says that the private sector is more efficient than the government. As a principal, it is better to leave things to the private sector (the people), but it remains to be proven that in aggregate, the government has done worse handling what's on its plate when compared to the entire private sector universe.

Some dispute that point by reminding us that when the private sector goofs up, when someone can't cut it and remain profitable, they fail. And that is true. But in the process of creative destruction that is capitalism, an awful lot goes up in that smoke, including money, jobs, lives. There is a cost from someone's pocket. Closer to the point, you don't factor out the private sector failures and run the successes up against the government's entire record.

Here (via Dealbreaker) we have Exxon in court battling New York State over some waste accusations. We contain not a bit of knowledge on whether the charges are legit, or just New York hitting the biggest, most profitable target. The charge is that Exxon poisoned the groundwater. We will ignore that for a moment and focus on what Exxon had to say in response:

The wells are “located in an industrial cesspool that has nothing to do with MTBE,”Peter Sacripanti, a lawyer for Exxon Mobil at McDermott Will & Emery in New York, told jurors in his opening statement.

The groundwater contains pharmaceutical and human waste, dry-cleaning fluid from a company once located near the site, and 70,000 gallons of diesel fuel spill at a nearby bus depot, he said.

(Bloomberg)

Now let us ask ourselves some questions that have nothing to do with Exxon's guilt or innocence. Who, pray tell, spilled pharmaceutical waste? Who spilled dry cleaning fluid? Who spilled 70,000 gallons of diesel fuel? And finally, who possibly contaminated the groundwater with methyl tertiary butyl ether?

Was it the government, or was it the private sector?

Also, who is making an effort to resolve the issue on behalf of people who want clean water?

Is it the government or the private sector?

Daily Update: U.K. Annoyed Over American Healthcare Hyperbole, and Stuff

2009-08-12T19:45:00.001-07:00

The town hall meetings around the country have continued, amounting to not much at all. We can lay the blame at the feet of Republicans: all fire and rain, with little ability to listen, offer alternatives, or voice legitimate concerns in a coherent way. The overriding fear seems to be a megalith government taking control and turning the United States into some form of Russia, albeit the chronic worriers have yet to realize that Russia is not the thoroughly socialist republic of past reputation. (Ever since Putin started posing topless to show off his muscular everyman body, has Russia been reliably anything anymore?). Everyone now is reading parts of the still under adjustment legislation, a document so full of vagueness and legalese as to make all the newfound amateur politicians fear conspiracy, Satan, and worse. Apparently they were hoping for something more precise, and reading in evil where none lies.

"Oh look, on page so and so the government does not explicitly say that illegal aliens would not be covered," says the newly energized legislative Joe. Or, "Hey, can you believe that after a certain period, new policies must conform to the government's guidelines on acceptable care!!!!!!!," and as if there were no current Federal guidelines that existing policies and insurance companies must comply with. "Anger, Fear, and Lunacy," as Reuuters calls it.

Overseas in Britain, it would appear they are growing tired of the hits their system is taking by those who have determined that single payer systems in the United Kingdom and Canada are the be all and end all of misery.

The Associated Press reports:

"People have been saying some untruths in the States," a spokesman for Britain Department of Health said in a telephone interview. "There's been all these ridiculous claims made by the American health lobby about Obama's health care plan ... and they've used the NHS as an example. A lot of it has been untrue."

He spoke anonymously in line with department policy.

A particularly outlandish example of a U.S. editorial, printed in the Investor's Business Daily, claimed that renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, who is disabled, "wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless."

Hawking, who was born and lives in Britain, personally debunked the claim. "I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS," he told The Guardian newspaper. Investor's Business Daily has since corrected the editorial.

(AP)

*

Let's not let the continued healthcare fracas divert our attention from more important news, like Louisville coach Rick Pitino admitting he had an affair with an apparently crazy lady who may have carried for two seconds his child that he might have helped abort before she went on to marry one of his assistant coaches a few months after the consensual interaction which she now calls a rape but which her ex-husband assistant coach suggests is a bizarre accusation. Whew! The University of Louisville as of the current moment sees no violation of the morals clause in Pitino's contract, so sex in restaurants with women not your wife, condomless, and helping women not your wife get either an abortion or healthcare to fund an abortion is a-ok. Don't hate!

*

That was not quite important news, but the continued unwinding of the extended measures the government has taken to save the American financial system from collapse is very important news. It's also news that people busy accusing the government of socialism are probably ignoring, and right about the time when unemployment begins to reverse, these people will be deep in their bunkers hiding from the un-American world that ABP (Apostate Black President) has brought down upon them. All sorts of things, like healthcare you can't lose, will be wreaking havoc upon those not safely in the mental bunker.

In any case, the Fed (evil is as evil does) announced it will end its Treasury buying market manipulation that was designed to keep interest rates low for the common man; a sign of a return to normal that will in no way satisfy the conspiracists who will see every action as its own equal and opposite evil action:

The Fed's moves were an acknowledgment that there are signs the economy is stabilizing, but also that risks remain, said Doug Roberts, chief investment strategist for New Jersey-based Channel Capital Research, a research firm. The central bank does not want to withdraw economic support too soon, he said, "they believe the economy is still pretty weak."

Also helping stocks Wednesday afternoon was a better-than-expected earnings report from Toll Brothers. The large home builder said that although revenue continues to fall, for the first time since the end of 2005 it saw an increase in the number of contracts it signed during its fiscal third quarter.

(Washington Post)

This is just the beginning of the Fed unwinding efforts to support the credit markets. More signs of thawing? Toll Brothers reporting better than expected earning, and hedge funder John Paulson buying a bazillion shares of Bank of America. This is as near as one might ever come to Jesus telling you that the bottom is nigh, and to buy banks and be rich later.

*

Today I saw a movie with a friend. I wanted to see Julie and Julia, mostly for the Julia part, and the food part, and remembrances of things past when Julia Child's big head appeared on the black and white tv on PBS when I was growing up. But no. Instead I was lead to see G.I. Joe. I endured my just punishment in order to appear pro-democracy to my lovely female companion (ironic eh? a female fan of G.I. Joe). While greatly admiring the balanced use of ethnic characters, as in, doofy Wayans brother balanced by more serious black guy, the overall depiction of G.I.'s as some quasi international group of superfriends was more annoying. I also question the ability of women to do superhuman stuff in movies that is particularly physical; call me crazy, but , it never works out quite that way in real life, like when stuff has to get moved around (unless the nearest guys are too lazy to lend a hand). I had one of the original G.I. Joe dolls, including one with Kung Fu grip. Plus some gear: shovels, guns, butter. I never imagined G.I. Joe really being so international, or with the General commanding them saying, "Let's call out the Joes!"

It was also kind of funny seeing both the Joes' and Cobra's secret lairs easily penetrated despite ever increasing technological ridiculousness. Somewhere deep in the G.I. Joe organization's human resource department, someone must have said, "Ya know, we can save by buying Walmart radar systems and letting all the guards go to aerobics class on the opposite side of the secret lair at the same time. It's not like Cobra is gonna penetrate our largely unguarded perimeter with huge drill ships."

Bad movie. Bad, bad movie.

*

Is there a reason why Obama will not prove that he is not part of Cobra? It's a question not yet asked, but is probably on someone's agenda of legitimate concern.

Delightful Facebook Chat on Obama, Birth Certificates, the MSM and Truth

2009-08-10T18:06:00.001-07:00

And here, a nice little back and forth between me and one of my more reflexively conservative friends, whose name I have changed. It was in response to a McClatchy article titled, "Right-wing conspiracy buffs harass Obama on his birth".

I posted the link to it on my Facebook page, with the comment, "Some edifying reading for a few associates of mine. You know who you are. A little MSM concoction no doubt," and of course, someone just had to respond:

Fred:
I doubt you had me in mind, but since I happened upon your post . . .

Main point, from article: " . . . it's true that the 2007 document issued by the state of Hawaii, called a Certification of Live Birth, isn't a copy of the original 1961 document. Obama could ask for that from Hawaii but hasn't, without explanation. The longer, original form would show more details, including the name of the doctor, according to copies of other 1961 birth certificates.

JUST RELEASE THE FRICKIN" DOCUMENT!
There will always be justifiable questions until this is done. Why not release it?

Second point: MSM once again going to bat for Obama & ridiculing dissenters (labeling them "birthers") Where was all of this media "fact-checking" when McCain was falsely accused of adultery, Palin supposedly adopting her own grandchild as her own child, infamous Dan Rather faked memos about Bush & Air National Guard, not mentioning the multitude of inaccuracies & falsehoods with "Global Climate Change"!?
30 July at 18:34 · Delete

Finn:
Some good points. Let me twist your words a little:

1) Because mainstream media (MSM) can be biased on some issues, and with some people, determining the truth of what they are reporting in a specific instance should be ignored.
2) Because McCain (born in Panama without much interrogation on that matter) was the recipient of lies, Obama is due for like treatment.
3) Despite the claims of the Republican governor, two Honolulu papers at the time of his birth, the Hawaii State Health Department in 1961 supplying the info to the papers, the current director of the Hawaii Dept of Health affirming, plus several Republicans agreeing he is legit... you, RICK, believe otherwise?

Is that what you are saying Rick? That you don't believe that our current president was born in the U.S.? Do you have the courage of your convictions (or imagination) to say that plainly?

Say it. "I do not believe the president is a citizen". Bet ya can't, sans verbal sophistry.

Fred:
As you said, you twisted my words. I'm simply pointing out the media bias, yet again. Of course I would prefer the consistent media position to be fairness and honesty for all, not falsehoods for all.

Someone who wonders why Mr. Obama will not release his Certification of Live Birth (if others can see it, why not everyone?) is not the same as someone who publicly cries out "He is not a citizen!".

Why won't Obama release it and silence all doubt? Isn't that a legitimate question? Do you have the answer?
30 July at 20:31 · Delete

Finn:
I think your answer is revealing enough. Unwilling to commit to your own pot stirring. That should be enlightening for those willing to be enlightened.

I hardly expected you to answer my really simple question about what you personally believe on the matter. You dance well... for a teacher.

Fred:
C'mon, Finn,- who's dancing? You've not even attempted to answer the simple question regarding the live birth certificate.

Surely you can see where not releasing it raises questions & doubts, so once again- what possible, rational reason for NOT releasing it could there be, especially when all doubt would be removed and then the "birthers" could rightly be denounced and discredited?
31 July at 03:57 · Delete

Finn:
Ah, it must be cloudy back East, so I will repeat.

Not releasing raises no questions and doubts unless you don't believe the official copy in use (that the government accepts for every purpose), that you believe Obama is a liar, that you believe the head of Hawaii's Health Dept is a liar, that you believe the Republican governor is a liar, that you believe the newspapers that printed the birth records were highly prescient liars.

In light of all of that evidence, and the American system of innocent until proven guilty, (a guilt that would make the entire government unified in deceit) you have, again, my answer to your question.

So, be bold and just indulge me my curiosity and tell me EXACTLY how you would answer my question. Do you, Rick, feel he is a citizen? Or must we assume your sophistry in not answering is wisdom, not wanting to go on the record either way?

Fred:
I think he is a citizen, Tim. Happy?

But why not totally discredit the "birthers" by releasing the live birth certificate? Where is the wisdom in not doing so? You still haven't given a rational reason to hide the live birth certificate or only let a select few view it when releasing it would erase any doubts at all. Will you now indulge me and be bold and attempt to explain why not just release the document?

So much for "complete transparency", and I'm surprised that you cannot, objectively, see where continuing to hide the live birth certificate would fuel conspiracy theories.
31 July at 05:40 · Delete

Finn:
It's not a matter of being happy or not. It's about truth, and how much time smart people spend debating obvious truths, or knowingly winking at falsehoods.

So why not discredit the "birthers"? I probably would have said, "Fine, here's the long form" ages ago. I also lack discipline.

Complete transparency, which Obama lacks in a few areas, ought not to be begin with indulging a motley crew of conspiracy theorists, in the same way people don't try to re-prove the Holocaust to debunkers. Why? They will ignore the existing facts because... they dislike you.

And in the topsy method they use, you are forced to waste time disproving their accusation,when in reality the burden of proof should be on them.

I highly doubt Obama would want to be the first and last president to dignify stupidity with 100% attention in the middle of two wars, the greatest financial crisis since the depression, and a healthcare overhaul.

~~Ahab~~ Fred:
I think he's already dignified stupidity in more ways than one, but look no further than his "beer summit" held yesterday . . .

At any rate, I do appreciate you at least addressing my question. I don't buy your reply, however. Just end the "debate" once & for all and release the form to the public. Simple, easy, can be done by his handlers, not himself.

But you did lead me to think of an even grander, much more plausible conspiracy . . .
31 July at 12:02 · Delete

Even the left has acknowledged (James Carville amongst many others) that Rahm Emanuel coordinated "mainstream" media & White House attacks on Rush Limbaugh & pressed members of the GOP to denounce him . . . It's very likely that it's a strategy to further split conservatives from the GOP by NOT releasing the easily-released document and thereby fueling more momentum into the "birther" movement. Pressure the GOP to denounce these people at the peril of losing even more votes. That would be a Machiavellian reasoning for keeping the birth certificate "debate" alive . . .

Think about it- you yourself pressured me into making a yes or no statement regarding the issue, even though my own opinion is really as stated- why won't the dude just release his live birth certificate? But if I were a politician there would be a political cost to denouncing a movement that some of my supporters may believe in . . .
31 July at 12:05 · Delete

Too bad conservatives didn't have the balls (or have the "mainstream" media at their disposal to their dirty work for them) to pressure the democrats to denounce their left-wing base back when they were only on the fringe (late 1990's early 2000's) rather than now, when the far-left is now running the country, God help us . . .
31 July at 12:06 · Delete

Finn:
The beer summit was probably the "mission accomplished" of stupidities, but it hurt nobody, and was an attempt to correct a wrong (speaking too quickly without the facts) on the President's part.

But to get back on point without commenting on broader MSM biases (of which they have many, and against conservatives), this issue in particular demands that people be truthful. Not snicker, hide and mock, knowing the truth, while engaging in tit for tat.

The proper Republican response should have been "Forget that nonsense; here is our plan to stabilize the credit markets" or "Here is our plan to fix healthcare". That beats setting straw men on fire.

As for God, he will help those who keep his word, and we would know them by their love. (But let's not go down that road or we would all have a lot of explaining to do in terms of our own attitudes and ways of expression).
31 July at 17:19 · Delete

***

Pretty much every discussion takes this path. One of us points to the specifics of truth, while the other points to the broader issue of media bias. Both are relevant, but you don't solve media bias by engaging in lies either, or ignoring factual points on any given issue.

Healthcare, Republicans, Obama and Beyond

2009-07-30T22:28:00.004-07:00

Sitting here thinking that after all the huffing and rumbling and backtracking and embracing is done, we won't get anything really set in stone next week.

We will wait till everyone in Congress goes home to hang out. We will wait while they test the sentiments in the home district. We will wait while they eat hot dogs on Labor day.

They will come back. There will be a big bruising fight over whether or not the health plan should include funding for abortion. That will all but kill any sort of single payer option (or rekill it), and certainly doom any package that includes a government-run option.

Heads will rub together. Democrats will get scared of failure. Some sort of co-op or pooled buying system will emerge, along with one or two of Obama's healthcare pillars. Most Republicans will denounce it. It will pass.

For the next year Republicans will continue to decry the health plan, even as, under their feet, the economy begins to reemerge from coma.

Repulicans will struggle, and lose influence. Unless they get someone armed with truth and creativity. That person is out there somewhere. (It's not Sarah).

Senator Kay and Governor Rick of Texas Getting Fungy with Money

2009-07-29T11:16:00.000-07:00

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas will be running against Governor Perry for his job. She is taking the line that he should have accepted Federal stimulus money to help with unemployment, which is rising. Perry takes the line that he is standing up to the government, always a good thing among a certain sector of the Republican base that lacks discernment about when you should stand up, and when you should be practical, shut up, and sit down.

What is funny, the oddity, is the ridiculousness of both their positions, though Kay comes out a bit more sensible by a centimeter of rationality.

Senator Hutchison initially rejected the stimulus package, and one assumes for reasons that can be reduced down to 1) it won't work and 2) it adds to the deficit and 3) it would likely be filled with a huge amount of wasteful spending. Those reasons are all somewhat valid, but in the face of the biggest economic setback since the depression, one should come with alternatives if you are taking that line. Republicans, generally, have not been overly articulate in providing those alternatives.The line has often been cut taxes and rough it out.

We are left with Kay now criticizing the current governor for money she voted against. In effect, had she gotten her way on the stimulus package, she would have no ammunition to drop on Perry's head. Her rationale is that since the unnecessary evil (stimulus) was done, Texas might as well not be overly dignified in losing its share.

Texas thus becomes the guy at the office party who thinks office birthday parties are stupid and a waste of time and money, and who has contributed nothing, but makes sure he gets a slice of the cake. You know, so it won't go to waste; one has to be sociable and all:

Hutchison said she voted against "every dollar" of stimulus spending but contends that, once the recovery expenditure was approved by Congress, Texas was entitled to get "its share of those dollars." She said she avoided raising the issue while the Legislature was meeting this year to avoid injecting politics into the session.

The surge in unemployment claims over the past year has drained the state’s unemployment trust fund, forcing the Texas Workforce Commission to seek a federal loan of at least $643 million to continue paying benefits. Texas employers also face an increase in the taxes they pay to support the fund, beginning in January.

(Star Telegram)

Meanwhile Perry's position lacks a certain sense as well. Or shall we call it, a highly nuanced way of approaching a problem. He rejected the money for unemployment because it had strings attached that, in theory, might force Texas to be more generous with their unemployment funds in the future. Instead, and with Texas short of funds, they will seek a loan for the money to cover unemployment benefits.

Perry goes on to say that that's what the Feds are there for, and it worked for them in 2003. Thus, he would rather take on a loan, debt, to provide seven weeks or so of benefits, instead of taking the Federal free money, simply because he does not want to have to expand the benefits of a program down the road that is, as of today, not quite funded.

The stimulus money, he said, would have provided less than seven weeks of benefits and would have slapped Texas employers with long-term taxes by requiring the state to expand its benefits program. But Hutchison said she obtained a Labor Department ruling saying Texas could have reversed the added unemployment benefits without penalty.

Everyone wants the money. Everyone needs the money. But everyone wants to pretend, ideologically, that they don't. Fungibility games.

Mind you, it's not like the strings attached to the package are exceptionally evil or onerous. They ought to be part of the general unemployment package to begin with. The requirements, for Texas, include providing unemployment benefits to part-time workers and calculating benefits based on the four most recent quarters instead of the past 18 months.

One suspects that both politicians should be praying that the economy does not improve, or that if it does, people's memories are incredibly short.