Archive for November, 2008
The Old Man on the Lawn
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 | General | 2 Comments
During the campaign, reporters described Senator McCain as the old man yelling to kids to get off his lawn. This disturbs me because I thought that was my Job ( so much for job security). Let me explain.
Last year we moved into a new house and by new I don’t mean different, it was built, as they say, from the ground up. The lot on which it was built had had an older house on it and it had been empty for a while. This led to people deciding to use the land as a public thoroughfare. Older people used it to get to the stores, younger ones used it to get to the park, bicyclists rode through to avoid getting over exercised.
Of course that was before we moved in. Now surely these people would recognize my right to enjoy my land without these people re enacting the Oklahoma Land rush. Obviously, my new neighbors were more serious about re enacting than some Civil War buffs. The Trespassing continued.
At first when we realized that our invaders had no intention of changing we politely asked them to get off of our land. When we were standing there they did get off our land. When we were not outside policing however they defiantly walked across.
We had thought about getting a fence but we wanted one of those 6ft. plastic fences and they were out of our financial reach right now. We figured that a chain link would be climbed over and a wooded one requires a lot of upkeep. Then a miracle.
The property in back of us was a commercial office building and they were expanding their parking lot. The owner introduced himself and told us that the city was requiring him to put up a fence. We could hardly contain our glee when he told us he was putting up a 6 ft. plastic fence that would effectively prevent our trespassing neighbors from annoying us. Everything comes to him who waits.
Godless Republicans
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 | Politics | No Comments
When I was younger I thought that there were clear differences between the Republicans and the Democrats. To me the Republicans were the party of business and the Democrats were the party of social justice. The Republicans were more likely to lower our taxes and the Democrats to raise them. The Democrats were more likely to extend unemployment benefits and the Republicans were more likely to put us on unemployment
They seem to have changed. It might be difficult to suggest that the Democrats will be turning into Republicans because they may have to raise taxes this term. If Paris Hilton’s had been elected she would probably raise taxes (the possible tax exception being Prada bags). The problem seems to be that Republicans seems to be afraid of socialism and communism but a theocracy is all right.
There are more registered Democrats then Republicans. Assuming that all the Democrats vote for Democrats and Republicans for Republicans then the Democrats always win. Despite the media’s insistence that women or blacks or blue eyed Eskimos were the swing vote minority that won the election, the real swing vote were independents.
McCain and the Republicans made a big deal about Sarah Palin invigorating the base. which is one of the reasons they lost. They should have worked on the independents. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that If the Democrats outnumber the Republicans they have to get votes somewhere.
The Independents are for the most part middle of the road. They see a need for taxes and social programs. They don’t like extremes in politics or religion.
I think that this is one of the mistakes that the Republicans made. They seem to be going from a political party to a theological party. They include in their platforms things that are more concerned with religion than politics. Yes I’m talking about abortion. I don’t understand how a party that doesn’t like the government to intrude on their life with taxes and governmental regulations is fully willing to force someone to have a baby.
I don’t understand how the Christian Right was all for Sarah Palin when she chose to run for office. She has a special needs child at home. I know people with special needs children and it comsumes most of their time. They don’t have time to run for the PTA let alone the Vice Presidency. Her husband might be filling in but from what I understand he is away from the house weeks at a time for his employment. So who is taking care of Trig?
Okay, I digressed, the point I was trying to make was that the Republicans should become Godless. Get away from the Bush and Palin belief that God has annointed them for a new religious crusade (remember how well those crusades turned out for us) and get back to the Coolidge Idea: The business of America Is business.
Will that mean that they will lose the Christian right? Where will they go? Will they threaten to vote Democratic? Even Hillary supporters’ claim that they would vote for McCain had more of a chance; because they hoped that he would turn rogue once he got into office. They should aim for the center and let the rest follow. If you aim for the center you have more chance of hitting the bullseye.
Warren
P.S. They are misinforming us again. Having worked at GM I know that union members do get 95% of their pay but half of that is Unemployment Benefits which all of the unemployed are entitled to. The problem with GM is that while Japanese CEOs earn no more than 50 times what the lowest paid worker makes;American CEOs make upwards of 500 times the lowest workers pay.
P.P.S. I would like to thank all of the people who have sent in comments. You have encouraged me to keep on going (possibly to the regret of some). I had considered replying to some (especially those young nymphomaniacs with daddy issues) but my wife informs me it would not be in my best interests.
Warren
Credit Gang Bang
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 | Economics | 1 Comment
I knew I shouldn’t have started down that dark alley, when the first one came at me. I should have ran when the first one said ” I have something for you”. Soon others were around me on all sides telling me how wonderful it would be to be with them. I submitted.
This sort of explains how I got so many credit cards. The problem is that I just became a victim of the credit crunch. Credit cards actually are more like a Catch 22 but I had written the title and the first paragraph before I realized it . So why did I leave it? Well, first of all, it was suggestive and we all know sex sells, even in a bad economy. Second with the credit crunch sometimes I feel violated.
I just recently had my credit limit lowered on one of my cards. It was only lowered $200 but it infuriated me because for the last ten years on all of my credit cards I have paid well before the due date, paid more then the minimum and have only made one mistake, I thought that it would matter.
This credit card company that lowered my limit had the nerve to write “If in future months we receive Minimum Payment due on or before the Payment due Date , we will consider increasing you credit limit”. Did I miss something? Well obviously, I did. So I called them. thank goodness it was an 800 number because obviously my credit wouldn’t have covered the call to India. I explained the situation and basically he told me that according to my FICO score I was more of a threat to the economy then Lehman, AIG . Freddie and Fannie combined. I asked what I could do and he said according to his religion, my only hope was to be reincarnated as Bill Gates.
It seems that I made the mistake of thinking that my credit limits were the amount I could charge. It seems that my limit is actually twice what I can charge. In the down the rabbit hole world of the credit card companies if I have a $1000 limit I can only charge $500 before the Red Queen starts saying “Off with his credit”. These companies get antsy If you go over the 50% ratio of a good credit obsessed drone and I don’t understand. They report that they make most of their money on credit cards from fees and penalties. I’m surprised that they aren’t including advertisements for big screen tvs with my bill.
If you go over your limit they sock you with a fee and then raise your interest rate to a level that makes most loan sharks envious. I can understand that the companies use to lose money because many people use to declare bankruptcy in order to get out of paying. They have since changed the law in the credit companies’ favor so that the only way you can get away from paying is if you file bankruptcy and then die or vice versa.
The Catch 22 is that my FICO score will now be lower because I don’t have as much credit. I had thought of paying off the card that lowered my limit and then turning it back in, but again that would lower my score cause I’d have less credit. I can’t just pay the minimum because a change like that would lower my score. I could pay off the one card and apply for another with better terms but once again that would ding my credit score.
How did we get in this mess? I think it’s the fault of the banks, our wanting to keep up with the Jones and Madison Avenue. Advertisers makes sure that the programs( think My Super Sweet 16) they sponsor tell us that our self worth is intrinsically tied to a bigger car, big screen tv or a Name brand pocketbook. I remember reading about a problem that a manufacturer was having in recruiting workers in a foreign country to work in a factory they had just built. They were offering more money then any job around and yet no one came. They sent in a group of psychologists and they solved the problem. They gave all the women in the town Sears Roebuck catalogs. When they saw what they could get; the workers turned up. We buy the stuff and when we can’t pay cash we put it on plastic. The Banks push the plastic like a drug dealer, the difference being that they are legally allowed at schools, like colleges.
With our economy bleeding manufacturing jobs we may soon be at the bottom of the food chain, a country that doesn’t make anything and has to buy everything from other nations. We have to change.
First we can get rid of the Fair Issac company (FICO). The fair has got to be a name and not the way of doing business. Then we should pay off our credit cards and never use them, and finally we should burn our Sears catalogs.
Looking Ahead
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 | Politics | No Comments
The election will soon be over and so it’s time to discuss the next election. If Obama wins, then one of our most revered Political icons will have met defeat. Thank God!!!! If I never hear about Joe the Plumber again I will be grateful. If McCain wins, at least I will be entertained and fearful.
I hope that President McCain will at least keep up two of the programs that he seems to have implemented. The first being the habit of letting Sarah Palin do most of the talking. I am not as infatuated by Gov. Palin as most men seem to be but I am a man. I would rather get the bad news from a woman then a seventy two year old. When Sen. McCain first went on the campaign with Gov. Palin, she seemed to be his personal cheerleader. It was sort of like a twisted political version of The Girls Next Door. The second program is more a game then a program. Every time McCain or Palin reference Joe the Plumber I put a dollar in a jar; some college students probably take a drink but I think I’ll need the money more In a McCain presidency.
If Obama wins, I think we won’t have to worry about another election till 2016. With the economy being in such bad shape he may not run in 2012. We will know more about that after he gets in office. If he doesn’t accomplish many of the things he promises, 2012 may turn out to be a real show.
Palin thinks that she will be able to cinch the nomination and Hillary Clinton will probably be the Democratic nominee. I hope that at least they will change the debate structure so that we can have an entertaining debate. I guess you can see where I’m going with this, I think we should have a knock down, dragged out “Cat Fight”. They can pull hair, clothsline each other, throw political or literal mud at each other, but can’t rip off their clothes. I know the men previously talked about would love to see Sarah naked but that would leave it open for Hillary to be sans Pantsuit.
I don’t know who Hillary would choose for Vice President but I suspect Sarah might enlist Joe the Plumber (Get out those jars again). If this happens, history will be made again because two women will be running for President. Hillary would have the chance to go even further by selecting a qualified women for Vice President something that didn’t happen this time.
VOTE
Warren