While We Were Sleeping

Canada and the EU have begun working on a "free trade" agreement which would include the free movement of workers and reciprocal recognition of professional licenses and India is actively pursuing free trade agreements with both Japan and China.

Just in case anyone was still confused enough to believe that our current financial crisis would be resolved with a return to "business as usual", that is simply not going to happen.

I realize this hasn't gotten much (um, try any) media attention what with oh-so-much-more weighty matters in the headlines like Sarah Palin's clothing budget and what the latest ill thought out remark Joe Biden just made but in real-world terms this is likely to have a whole lot more impact on all of us than either of the above. I'm not going to waste anyone's time writing a thousand word essay on why this is relevant to us, a simple look at who buys our goods and who sells us goods and some basic mathematical calculations ought to make it all crystal clear to everyone except maybe Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich.

The days of the US dominating the world economy are done, we screwed the pooch on that one and frankly there is absolutely nothing we can do to change that. So what's left? Try for a seat at the table. A little humility could go a long way here folks.

There is the big question: are we going to start dealing with reality or are we going to continue pretending we are the lords of the universe in spite of all evidence to the contrary? I hope for all our sakes we choose the first option. Or we could just become a giant tax-haven destination offering fine restaurants and cheap real estate to the rest of the world. You choose.

Just something to think about.

Wading Through Pig Slop

Well I certainly pushed someone's button with the last post so let's clarify a couple of things.

Numero uno and most importantly: I have no intention or even any desire of shushing every voice of opposition. What I am saying and will continue to say is that in the name of "freedom of speech" and being "fair and balanced" we've actually ended up sponsoring lunatics.

If you cannot tell the difference between Peggy Noonan and Sarah Palin or George Will and Bill O'Reilly then you are part of the problem. Joe Scarborough may annoy the hell out of me but he is neither dangerous nor an idiot, I'd never mistake him for Lou Dobbs. If the differences listed aren't apparent enough for you then consider the fact that I have heard all of the above express the very same concern I am expressing, albeit in politer terms, over the last couple of months. They are, if anything, more horrified than I am at what the "Republican base" has become, a conglomeration of extremists of nearly every type.

The same comparisons can be made on the left, try Dennis Kucinich versus Al Gore for starters. Sorry fellow Lefties, Dennis is King of silly season and would have us all in soup lines left to do his thing. The difference is no one has given crazies on the left their own television shows, much if any media air time and thus far anyway they aren't holding rallies where followers feel free to call for death to their opponents nor is there a chance in hell I'd support it if it happened. I'm sure that will earn me no love from the left but see that's the thing...I don't care. If the only love I can get is from the deranged or the hopelessly naive then I'd call it a job well done to be detested. On the other hand I'm not inclined to declare war on them for the very simple reason that they aren't advocating for or attempting to incite violence upon anyone nor are they in any position of power to do so. If Cindy Sheehan got her own talk show and gathered the faithful to rally for some crazy agenda would I call for her removal? You betcha.

I didn't sign on to live in Crazy Extremist Land and I'm going to do whatever little I can do to stop anyone trying to lead us down any path heading us in that direction. That ought to get me on just about everybody's kill-on-sight list.

This brings us to the Bill Ayers versus the Alaska secessionist movement. A lot has been made of Obama knowing and working on the same board with Ayers and only a few whispers regarding Palin and the secessionists. In a perfect world neither candidate would have these associations but welcome to the real world where it often becomes necessary to work with, to some extent even socialize with, highly imperfect and sometimes even dangerous individuals.

Blowing up people you disagree with regardless of your intentions is never the correct answer, I know that, most Americans know that and for damned sure Sen. Obama knows that. If you believe Sen. Obama would actually sympathize with such action or in any way facilitate such actions then I have no problem at all saying you are as crazy and dangerous as Mr. Ayers was at his worst. Unfortunately for Sen. Obama, he like most of us, did not get to hand pick who he worked with or who he lives near.

Alaska seceding from the US to form it's own independant nation is kind of a no-brainer for anyone with even half a brain though I confess it would be amusing to see them try to go even 6 months minus their federal subsidies. Even Sarah Palin knows this and if you're thinking she is secretly plotting to gain office to free Alaska then you are also insane. The even sadder truth is that these secessionist movements are neither brand new nor isolated to Alaska and as the public discourse has become increasingly vile they have gained momentum. These groups and their sympathizers are scattered all across the country, in nearly every state and are often heavily concentrated in rural and semi-rural communities. Trust me on this one because we have them here in Pahrumpistan. You'd have a tough go of it getting elected to anything without "making nice" with at least some of them.

Kind of makes my original point: our complete lack of discrimination between "free speech" and "crazy speech" led to a situation in which Gov. Palin would never have been elected mayor much less become the Republican VP candidate had she not been somewhat cozy with a pack of insane secessionists. As much as I do not like Palin and consider much of her rhetoric dangerous even I understand this. You were wondering why we struggle to find decent leaders?

The old saying that "cream always rises to the top" is true when you're talking about a pail of milk but doesn't work out so well when you throw it in a trough full of muck.

Blood In The Streets

Not yet anyway but that would be next if we continue.

I'm not quite certain why I'm writing this at all, certainly it is highly unlikely anyone will listen to me anyway and in all fairness I'm not even certain I care. Maybe it just seems fair that I at least put this out there so I can say I tried to tell you and then laugh at the carnage with a clear conscience.

You need to stop. Now.

It doesn't matter if you're a conservative who blames irresponsible borrowers or a liberal who blames greedy corporations, you need to knock it the fuck off and accept that everyone had a part in this and no one from the riskiest low-income borrower to the most reprehensible corporate CEO did anything that over 90% of the human race would not have done given half a chance and more importantly, it's done and now we get to deal with it.

So what can we do? First off you can stop panic selling. At this late stage of the game you are not only destroying yourself but you are also destroying the only mechanism that has any potential to save your asses from living in a cave with no toilet paper.

I've done my part, I've bought up all I can afford to buy up while most of the public was busy locking in losses from which many will never recover but I'm only one person and I sure as hell am not Warren Buffet. Even he is going to give up on you if you continue on the present course of run-around-in-circles, scream-and-shout.

If you think you are screwed now just continue panicking and find out what really screwed is.

Next up, stop with the "neither candidate has the answers", "they're all crooks" blah, blah, blah, bullshit. Most of our elected officials are no better OR worse than most of us. We're truly fortunate that at least 1/4 of them are actually smarter than most of us. Believe me they have a vested interest in our survival and stand to gain nothing by impoverishing us all and eating our brains. While you're pondering that keep in mind most of you were more than happy to toss at least 25% of our population out with the garbage as long as you didn't think you were in that group.

Most of us only behaved better than the average CEO or pol because most of us have never been in any position to get away with the things they do. Given the opportunity many of us would be eating each others brains, if you doubt that look at Somalia or Iraq or any number of countries where economies and governments have failed.

Which brings us to point #2: understand that your neighbors survival is as critical to your well-being as it is to his. Probably has a lot to do with why I'm bothering to write this because I damned sure do not love most of you. Neither hard core conservatives nor hardcore liberals tend to get this (for very different reasons) but for the moment they had better at least try and fake it.

Point #3 is take a tip from the ancestors. Humans survived and exercised social control in the very distant past by a very simple mechanism: social ostracism. I would suggest that we drop the PC bullshit of "oh, I respect John McCain even though I disagree" and "Palin is being abused because she is a woman". John McCain is an asshole and a bully and that is all he has EVER been and Sarah Palin is being dissed because she is a raving lunatic. Gay people are not destroying America nor are immigrants and no I will not "respect your belief" that the earth was created in 7 days and is only 8,000 years old. I will call you an idiot and I will shun you both socially and financially in every possible way. It's way past time we stopped politely coughing when our friends/family members/etc utter this nonsense. The next time someone says something utterly retarded within your earshot....call them on it.

That pretty much wraps it up, stop tolerating and accepting stupidity and acting as though Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck have as much credibility and reason to be on the air as Tom Brokaw or the late, great Walter Cronkite. They don't and you know it and they've been allowed to spew their poison in the name of "fairness" and through our own inaction. I believe in free speech and fairness as much as the next person but providing airtime and a public forum for the basest and least intelligent among us is not "free speech", it's public sponsorship of insanity. No one is stopping these lunatics from getting their own blogs, there's no need to give them air time. If we're going to continue with this we might as well give Charles Manson his own talk show and let the insanity run its course.

All of that may seem to some like it isn't even connected but it is, all of the above are directly connected to how we've gotten to where we are today. Naturally you do not have to believe me, can call me an idiot, and we can continue on the current course. Let me know how that works out for you.

People With Better Things To Do

I remember posting last year when many were still cluelessly waiting for Al Gore to announce his candidacy that he is totally over us. Naturally my message did not get out there since now the same folks are cluelessly waiting for Gore to resolve the Democratic nomination. Hear this: ain't gonna happen. You'll be lucky if Gore even tells you who he's going to vote for because my bet is he won't.

People, get a clue, we, the American people, threw this guy out with the garbage and we are about to do same once again to another, possibly even more outstanding, candidate. Gore is sitting back laughing his ass off at us and rightly so. Exactly why in the hell does anyone believe Gore is going to take time and energy away from doing what he wants to do to attempt to save fools from themselves???

Following that train of thought I'm not at all worried for the future of Barack Obama. Worried about the future of the rest of us, yes, Sen. Obama, no. Gore and Obama are both great examples of People With Better Things To Do. Actually I'd include Bill Richardson in that group. All have a great deal to offer and all took the time to offer up their service but when rejected these are not people ala McCan't or Clinton who live only for the day they can be King of the Mountain. They are all people who will move on, do great things and simply shake their heads at the rest of us. They don't need us and they are not going to spend their lives trying to convince us that we need them, it's a one-shot, take it or leave it offer.

Gore can't very well say it but I can: we, the American voters, are too stupid to find our assholes in the dark with a flashlight. So there it is, Gore is not going to jump back on his white horse to solve the current dilemma because frankly Scarlett, he no longer gives a damn what we do.

Edwards will do what Edwards has always done, straddle the fence until he feels one choice or the other is "safe" for his political future. If that choice turns out to be wrong he'll offer up another of his now famous mea culpas. Repeat after me: never had a backbone and never will. The only truly smart thing the man ever did was marry Elizabeth. If you doubt that, watch
what happens when she's gone.

The whole "Clinton needs to stop" thing? Count me out, let her run it right into the ground because I'm having my own "frankly Scarlett" moment. She could not run anything into the ground without the help of her supporters so if we are stupid enough to nominate her then we most certainly deserve to get exactly what we'll get. Let the chips fall where they may. If we had ever really wanted better government and better leaders we'd have them.

Nations always end up with exactly the leaders they deserve and that includes the good old US of A.

The Assmonkeys Cometh

Barely 24 hours after what was the most definitive speech ever given on race and here come the assmonkeys attempting to chip, chip, chip away at what was possibly the finest example of true statesmanship we will see in this century.

They just can't stand it, not five minutes after Sen. Obama's speech there was the Prince of Assmonkeys, Pat Buchanan, parsing every tidbit through his own personal hateful, racist, sexist fucktard filter on MSNBC. Pat, you might think Rev. Jeremiah Wright hates you but he's your biggest fan compared to what I feel for you. Trust me on that one.

Obama spoke truths that I and millions of other American citizens have known almost since birth, if that was "shocking" or surprising to some then all it points to is how fucking blind and insulated some of you are. When were you planning to wake up? When the anger and violence has destroyed all of us? When we have no nation left to salvage?

Sound extreme? You really think a nation as divided as ours can continue to function effectively while continuing to ignore the needs and feelings of at least a third of its citizens? How the hell has that been working out for us? Looking at the big picture any sane person would have to conclude "not very damned well".

Anyone who didn't "get" the speech or doesn't "get" the bigger picture here, you're probably beyond human help and it's time the rest of us moved on without you because the time for holding back to appease you is past. Sure, "we" could lose the election but I can personally guarentee you this: even if you "win" the election, you lose, in fact we'll all lose. Chew on that fer a while Bubba-heads.

Barack Hussein Obama, yes, I used his middle name because it is a perfectly fine name and there is not a motherfucking thing wrong with it, has given me and mine something we have never had to any great extent, pride in one of our leaders and pride in our country for being able to produce such a person. That is also correct, I said I have never had tremendous pride in my country until now and I am a white middle class woman. My name is not Michelle and I am not running for any office so I will not parse that for you nor will I apologize to a country that's done nothing but try to kick me in the teeth every step up from the bottom. I have more than a slight suspicion there are many others like me out there too so if any of ya'll are thinking this is just a "black issue", think again m'fers.

I could not be prouder of Sen. Obama if he were my own son or father or brother. What he said yesterday reached down into the ugly ball of rage I carry with me every day of my life and I didn't cry that cute little cry so many women manage where a few tears escape while they artfully dab them away from their make-up, no, it was more like the nearly-choking-to-death cry that anyone who has ever felt real pain knows. Make-up be damned.

Yeah babies, it's personal at a level I never thought I'd live to see. I'm just one but our names and faces are many. Stick that one in your pipe and smoke it.

White People Can't Hear?

I've previously expressed my own feelings of alienation from "my own kind" or anyway whatever that is based on how I look, my age, my gender, my income bracket, blah, blah, blah and last night only confirmed it. Rather todays reading through of the blogs has confirmed it.

Apparently just about every white blogger in the country only had their white-o-centric ears on when they listened to last nights debate. I had my Latino-mom-ears on and I heard Obama loud and clear and he spoke to me and to my children and to my sisters' children. He offered us all a seat at the table, not tablescraps. No, I am not a Latina, I just borrow the ears sometimes, same as I had my Black-mom-eyes on when I looked at Sen. Obama's little girls on the stage in Iowa surrounded by crowds of cheering white people. Both times I saw and heard the future and it was good.

I don't know how to explain this to you my white brethren and some will never get it and we'll just have to wait on them to die off but for those who would call themselves "progressive" let me explain something to you: there is a world of difference between "sympathy" and "empathy". I've never wasted much time feeling "sorry" for anyone, if you want to even begin to try and understand someone try on their shoes.

Common Sense: Not So Common

I've had at least a gazillion things floating around in my head that I could have posted about but the thing is, they're really all about the same thing: the almost total lack of common sense in this country today. If you stop and think about it that's the key to just about every other problem facing us. What we used to call "horse sense", good, old fashioned, down-to-earth pragmatism, is nearly non-existent in the public dialogue today and frankly it was the one thing that distinguished the US from nearly every other nation on the planet. It was what made us great.

My better half has a knack for nailing an issue without ever trying and often some of his most offhand remarks will sum up an issue in a simple sentence that I, in my infinite wordiness, would have needed at least a 200 page essay to explain. Case in point: some political talking head or other posed the question, "who is your least favorite candidate" and Dear One passing through the kitchen spit out "everyone currently running".

Ding, we have a winner. That's exactly right, I couldn't even begin to improve on that answer.

I watched the pundits scrambling to weigh in on whether or not Gore would run now that he's won the Nobel prize with great amusement. When you win a Gold medal in the Olympics do you set your sights on winning the sack race at the county fair? The US presidency used to be a prized and respected office, today it's a stepping stone to a great book deal and a career as a public speaker. It's one way of obtaining "street cred" to go on and actually accomplish something for those who have any real ability. For those who don't, it's tenure and a fat pension. It is impossible to accomplish anything of real value while holding public office and everyone who is anyone knows this so for the most part, smart, capable people do not run for office.

We the People with a little help from our friends in the media made it so. For the record: while Fox news does come to mind in the forefront I include 90% of the rest of them as well. Lately I find myself filtering my news intake through Mika Brzezinski and Jon Stewart. What does it say about a nation that can only tell the truth on the Comedy channel?

How did we get so stupid? I dunno, maybe we could start by taking a look at our schools. I'm going to piss off a whole lot of teachers here but I have to say it: more than half of our teachers are as useless as tits on a bull. That's right kids, idiots are raising our young. Given the current system what makes anyone think that someone capable of having an independent thought would seek a career in education? Toss in the fact that whoever came up with the idea that tossing 500 or 1000 adolescents together and expecting them to learn anything we'd like them to learn ought to be drawn and quartered. Cost effective maybe but you get exactly what you pay for, children who've been raised by other children.

I loved the ruckus over schools banning children from playing "tag". Mr. Principal of one such elementary school went on air to explain that some children were harassing other children during the course of this game. When asked by the interviewer why the school did not simply discipline the children who misbehaved Mr. Principal explained that the school did not "have the resources to manage the problem". Parents in the district were applauding this move. M'kay, you just had the principle of your childs school go on national television and admit that he and and his cadre of teachers could not manage a group of 10 year olds. What part of "entrusting your child to such a group of idiots makes you an even bigger idiot" are people not understanding? That is what Dear One would refer to as "shit-for-brains".

With that in mind is it so surprising that all we can focus on in an election is what lapel pin or hair style a candidate is sporting? Is it any more surprising that few if any sane, capable people would even consider running for public office? Oh yes, just what I'd love to do, go on national television and debate how to meddle in the people's private affairs by legislating weight control, smoking, and sexual preferences while the dollar is doing a cliff dive and we are spending billions of dollars trying to do something or other, we aren't quite certain what, in Iraq. That's a job interview for an idiot.

Sometimes it isn't just the right wing that's insane. What the hell makes the left think that ending the "War on Drugs" but declaring war on smokers and chunky people makes any kind of sense at all? Move to the back of the class. If you don't like smokers or fat people, don't associate with them and mind your own damned business. Maybe they don't like you either and maybe, just maybe, most of us would rather not reallocate more assets to a "War on Fried Chicken".

Then there's that whole "Global Warming" thing. I did not post about it the other day when all the blogs got together on it because, because, while it is most certainly a worthy issue I think most people are once again a little slow on the uptake. It's here, it isn't going away and no one knows how much or how fast regardless of how we spin it. "Tipping point" my ass, we passed that decades back so it's moot. Stop adding fuel to the fire or don't and gamble on hotter being better, your choice. Frankly I see an upside to Florida disappearing into the ocean, it troubles me not one bit and that is the coldhearted truth.

The not-so-common, common sense thing to do would be to focus on how to adapt to the changes. Tip of the day: don't plan to retire in the Florida Keys. If you already own a home down there, well, you're fucked. Cut your losses and get out while you might still be able to get something out of your investment...there's always a bigger sucker right behind you. Or sit there and whine, it's all the same to me.

You have no idea how it warms my cold little heart to see water wars erupting between Georgia and Mississippi, North and South Carolina, etc. Having spent my entire life in the southwestern deserts I can only laugh hysterically when observing an Alabama farmer complaining on TV about the severe drought whilst in the background he is running giant overhead sprinklers over his crops at high noon. Apparently the news about evaporation has never made it to Alabama.

We're so busy with the Great Immigration Debate that we've failed to realize it's about to become a moot point. Immigrants, in particular the bulk of Mexican immigrants, come here for employment. Now that we're on a collision course with rising unemployment and economic slow down, THEY AREN'T COMING. While we weren't looking, have you taken a gander at Mexico's burgeoning economy? Care to guess how many "US companies" are now owned by Mexican companies? I don't know the exact number but it's quite a few....didja know that Rinker Materials, one of the largest US building material manufacturers is now owned by Mexico's Cemex? Hopefully they'll be smart enough to move headquarters out of West Palm Beach or I'm selling my Cemex stock. Besides all that, Canada is recruiting them, at least till their right wing nutbag "culture warriors" try to dent that action. I'm seeing Moose Tacos in the not-so-distant future. Yo quiero Toronto Bell.

We've been screaming about our idiotic congress and I have to agree, 90% of them are idiots but I don't see much point in replacing them with another group of equally idiotic political shit-for-brains people. Maybe it's time we looked in the mirror when we seek the source of senatorial stupidity. Maybe if we stopped behaving like morons we could entice someone other than morons to run for office, ya think?

Stop and think people. What are our priorities and what exactly do we want government to be responsible for: national energy policy, fiscal responsibility, national infrastructure and foreign policy or controlling our obese, chain-smoking neighbors? Are we more concerned with climate change or monitoring the height of our neighbors grass? Do we want affordable healthcare for everyone or would we rather use our healthcare system like a slot machine and sue every time an outcome doesn't please us? Keep it up people, pretty soon you'll be delivering your own babies at home because no one wants to be an OB-GYN nowadays...too many lawsuits.

It's way past time we went back to using a little common sense and got a grip on reality. Reality is you can't control everyone else and sometimes bad things happen in spite of all best efforts and no, you don't get a million dollars every time an outcome doesn't please you and expect the system to be able to function effectively and there will always be people and behaviors that don't suit you and no, you cannot behead your neighbor because he's an obnoxious drunk who doesn't mow his lawn. Quit behaving like spoiled teenagers and grow up and deal with it.

Flying in the Face of Both Left and Right

While the rest of us were looking up Brittany's skirt South Africa has been busy with some projects that it might not hurt us to look at for ideas concerning our own mining industries, maybe the way we do business in general.

Platinum firm's black rights deal

South African mining group Anglo Platinum is to sell mines to two black-led firms in a deal worth about 35 billion rand ($4.85bn; £2.4bn).

The move will see the two companies - Anooraq Resources and Mvela Resources - controlling two of Angloplat's biggest platinum mines in the country.

It is also planning to distribute 1.5% of shares to its mostly black workers.

Anooraq, which will buy a 51% stake in Lebowa Platinum and 1% of the Ga-Phasha Project, was the first black economic empowerment company with a primary listing outside South Africa.

It is almost 65% owned and controlled by a firm that is in turn owned by 15 BEE groups, including women's investment concerns.

Information about BEE (Black Economic Empowerment)

Detailed statement from Anooraq (worth a read)

Employee and community ownership, who would have thought.

For a country renowned for our business acumen and innovation we're remarkably non-innovative and this above all else will cost us dearly in the new economic landscape.

As I Was Saying

Flippers fuel foreclosures

Flippers and other speculators investing in single-family homes helped drive up prices in many hot housing markets during the boom. Now they're contributing heavily to mortgage delinquencies in several of those markets.

Defaults in non-owner occupied houses are driving defaults in four of the states with the fastest rising default rates in the nation, according to a report released Thursday by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

"Defaults are on the rise in most parts of the country, but...it is not always the case of a homeowner losing his or her home," Doug Duncan, the MBA's chief economist, said in a statement, "but [it's] often the case of an investor gambling on a continued increase in home values and losing that gamble."

Several sun-belt states were magnets for real estate speculators during the home-price boom. Coastal California led the early charge, but as prices there raced ahead of affordability, many investors abandoned those markets for Central Valley cities as well as Las Vegas, Phoenix and other Arizona towns.

As of June 30, in Nevada, 32 percent of all prime mortgages in default and 24 percent of subprime defaults were on non-owner occupied properties, according to the MBA. The numbers for Arizona were 26 percent prime and 18 percent subprime. In California, they were 21 percent and 15 percent respectively.

The default rates in Florida for non-owner occupied homes were 25 percent for prime loans and 14 percent for subprime ones.

In the rest of the nation, non-owners accounted for just 13 percent of prime loan defaults and 11 percent of subprime.

Now you have someone much more 'portant than moi to 'splain this one. It's good to be validated even when it is 5 or 6 years after the fact.

Granted it's a moot point now that el Jefe Bush has done a complete 360 and decided to bail them out. Apparently even the Shrub came to realize that rich people losing money would be the end of the Republican party.

Countrywide is happy, Beazer Homes is happy, Wall Street is happy and even most of our Democratic leadership is happy. The fact that this bailout likely will not save any actual low-income families (check...only qualified borrowers will receive assistance, I'll leave it to you to figure out who and what will determine who is qualified, it shouldn't be too difficult) will be glossed over and maybe, just maybe, a few people who truly need to help will be allowed to reap some benefit. After all we'll be needing one or two token families to interview on CNN.

I'm not even terribly upset over this one, why should I be when I won't be the one crying because I can't afford a house two years down the road.

Oh, and Georgie....thanks for the chump change today.