Death Knell

In case you haven't pursued my personal info and just happen to be a passerby and not a loyal friend that I guilt into reading my ramblings, you may not be aware that I work in publishing. (Silly reader, you thought I was just a civilian who had a way with words? Alas, I am a professional bullshitter, poorly paid, much maligned and generally regarded as suspect by anyone who sees nothing wrong with a sign for the Kwik Mart.)

Publishing is an industry that has been declining of late. Or so the media seems so fond of telling me on practically a daily basis. (Salon talks about newspapers in particular here and here. Newsweek has review popular authors like David Baldacci and Jodi Picoult and bemoaned the declining popularity of "Literature.") Oh yeah, and then there was this lovely ode to Amazon's Kindle also from Newsweek.

I get it—print is dead or at least on life support. Thus goes the way of the dodo the only thing I am really good at (despite the evidence to the contrary I am providing by ending my sentences with prepositions). And if you hadn't already convinced me with the news listed above, then the continuing layoffs that my friends have experienced again this week, should clue me in. 

So what's a girl with newsprint on her fingers and clauses in her heart to do?

I got nothing. Except my stubborn insistence that despite all the dang technology those IT folks throw at us, all the online information and networking available, there will always be stubborn old coots like myself that want something of heft to hold in our hands while we sit on the beach, or while we ride the train to work, or when we curl up in bed at night. 

Almost 570 years ago, Gutenberg brought us the printing press and ushered in a new era of communication. But lest we forget, the art of storytelling existed long before letters were mechanically embedded into paper. Our earliest ancestors found ways to share their tales, whether it was through oral traditions or cave paintings like those found at Lascaux, France. Something tells me that won't change. What will change is the methods, perhaps, of how we do this.

Don't count publishing out just yet.

Left of Center

Unless we are talking about the Little Rascals, I think that in general "gangs" are not such a hot idea.

Recently, 15 so-called "moderate" Democrats (including my state's own Kay Hagan) have formed a gang to try and dial back President Obama's agenda a bit. One of the group's main goals appears to be to restrain the new administration's spending. Evan Byah is the ringleader and wants the group to be known as the Practical Caucus. Alrighty then.

You know, I certainly am not going to sit back and say that Obama's plan to get our country out of its economic troubles is absolutely going to work. But I do know that the previous administration's financial policies sure did help to get us into this fix and to continue in that vein just isn't the answer. (More on the GOP's fiscal ideas in a moment.) 

But back to my Democratic buddies. I get that some of these people come from more moderate states. And as I mentioned above, I get that Obama's plan may not be THE answer, but it is a start or at the very least an attempt. And at this point, I would dare to venture that the majority of Americans want to see some action taken, even if it may be ineffectual or wrong. The waiting game won't accomplish anything. I don't want to be the one caught twiddling my thumbs while more of my friends lose their jobs, or even more go without insurance (either because of losing said job or because they can't afford insurance and oh, say, their house payment).

Here's a who's who of the group:

Mark Begich of Alaska
Michael Bennet of Colorado
Kay Hagan of North Carolina
Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire
Mark Udall of Colorado
Mark Warner of Virginia
Herb Kohl of Wisconsin
Mary Landrieu of Louisiana
Claire McCaskill of Missouri
Ben Nelson of Nebraska
Bill Nelson of Florida
Evan Bayh of Indiana
Blanche Lambert Lincoln of Arkansas
Thomas R. Carper of Delaware
Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut (An Independent)

The first six are all newbie Senators. Hope this works for them. I guess if you are a Democrat and not happy that your Senator is taking this stance, you need to let them know. Send them an email and voice your opinion. After all, they were voted to represent you.

While I appreciate that the Republicans FINALLY submitted their own budget plan, it appears to be a rather slim document without any real numbers. Therefore, I don't really think there is much cause for rejoicing just yet. Nineteen pages with no hard figures? Boys and girls, can't we do better than this? I mean either come up with your own REAL solution or just accept that you don't have the answer. And then let's everyone move on.

Endings vs. Beginnings

I feel like I have bought a LOT of sympathy cards lately. It has not been a good couple of weeks for grandparents. The juxtaposition of this with today being the first day of spring really struck me. I have my own little theory of how things work, we could call it the Broad Way, if we were so inclined, and while it hasn't been codified or compiled in any logical manner it exists in a free floating form in my head. (Much as just about anything exists in my head, although if you should never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line, then equally true is never go against Broad when 80s music trivia is on the line. Lethal.)

The Broad Way strongly espouses that reincarnation is a possibility, because why would God be wasteful? The Broad Way has also concluded that most people create a lot of the drama in their own lives; loving someone involves so much more than being in love with them; and sometimes a half hour spent in Target is all you need to cleanse a troubled soul. I could go on, but you get the idea.

But all the recent losses for my friends and their families coupled with the idea of spring as a time of rebirth makes me pause. Which leads me to think that the Broad Way needs an amendment. Let's call it the teeter totter amendment—equal good and bad must happen in the world for things to stay in balance. I don't think there can be an change for the future without some sort of loss from the past. Change can be good or bad.  So can loss. Sometimes we loose things and it turns out to be the best thing in the world for us, it kicks us in the butt and helps us to move forward. Sometimes we gain things that restrict our ability to live the way we should.

Where am I going with this? Good question. Not sure I have a good answer, but to put it into a worldview/political perspective, I noticed today's headline on the local paper put my state's unemployment rate at 9.9%. That is the average of course, some counties are higher, some lower, but overall that is a high number. Obviously that is bad. Ben Bernecke has recently said that the US recession could be over by the end of this year. While the end of the recession certainly won't mean that all the people who have lost jobs have found new ones, it will mean that our economy will be on a more stable footing and hopefully the massive job losses will be a thing of the past. Good. Perhaps even better, would be if we came out of this with a better grasp on how our money is invested and what gains are realistic and sustainable.

So today is the first day of spring. New things are coming, it is a beginning.

Drowning in Debt

Should I believe the article in the February 23 Newsweek that claims the stories about consumer debt have been blown out of proportion? Is this another case of the media getting ahead of itself, taking one story and conflating it into something larger? (i.e. the debate about vaccines and autism—although frankly I still have my doubts about that one, if vaccines aren't the culprit, then something is; or more recently the poor teenage girl who committed suicide and MSNBC blamed it on sexting?—completely ignoring that the girl had a friend commit suicide and teenagers are especially susceptible to something called suicide contagion.)

The article give the hard data as this—$2.6 trillion in consumer debt in 2007, about $8,500 per American (this does not include mortgages, but pretty much all other debt).  The number in 2003 was only $2 trillion. So yes our debt has increased. But apparently during the same time mortgage debt doubled.  The author says that while the horror stories get the attention, those are small potatoes compared to the millions of Americans who are paying down their debt and saving more.

I guess I will believe this more once we have information for last year and even the first half of this year. It isn't that I don't believe that the credit card side of America's money problems haven't been blown out of proportion, but I am not completely convinced just yet. I mean how does the lack of cost of living increases for people's salaries play into this, as well as lost incomes due to job loss, etc. I am most certainly not a banker or economist (thank the lord!) but it seems to me that there is more to this picture than simply the "hard data."

But then I am a touchy, feely liberal . . .

Gone With the Wind

Thankfully I was able to make it home in time to hear President Obama's first address to Congress. Regretfully, it ran past my bedtime and I found myself falling asleep around the 10pm mark.

One of my preferred strategies for dealing with things is the so-called "Scarlett O'Hara defense." This is where you pledge to not worry about something unpleasant until tomorrow, "because after all tomorrow is another day." Believe it or not this can be quite effective. But early in Obama's speech he did a good job of kicking 'ole Scarlett to the curb—"And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day."

Ahem. Basically Obama took all of us, politicians and regular Americans to task last night. And what should have felt like a trip out to the old woodshed of yore, didn't turn out to be as painful as one might imagine due to Obama's masterful oratorical skills. Dude can blend a tongue lashing with optimism in a way I never quite imagined—"Well, I do not accept a future where the jobs and industries of tomorrow take root beyond our borders, and I know you don't, either. It is time for America to lead again."

When he started in on healthcare, to be perfectly frank, my jaw dropped. An American goes bankrupt every 30 seconds from healthcare costs? That boggles my mind and yet it all makes so much sense. When the majority of people with healthcare have it through their employers, and when you have employers who are offering what can only be described as catastrophic plans with ridiculously high deductibles then you have a recipe for disaster on an epic scale. Lose your job, lose your healthcare coverage. And god forbid you are someone with a healthcare problem and try to buy a plan on your own, you will probably spend more than your mortgage, if you can even find someone willing to cover you. I would LOVE to hear a realistic plan from the GOP to solve this little quagmire. And savings accounts aren't going to cut it.

"We are not quitters." Maybe it is time to let Scarlett rest in peace and just remember that phrase when things get you down. After all it came from a brave, southern girl too, someone real and the time has come for Americans to deal in reality. 

With Interest

If you want something cheerful, I hope you skipped President Obama's first press conference on Monday night. He was informed and deliberate and thoughtful, and depressing as hell. But as serious as things are, I guess I would rather hear the truth than the lies that we have become so accustomed to over the previous eight years.

Things just seem to be unraveling all over (like the time the spawn pulled the needle out of my knitting . . .), but I might be projecting some other things on the political arena as well.

Back on topic. Maxine Waters is my new hero. At least for the moment. She gave the bankers a talking to yesterday that in my opinion is long overdue. First she expressed her disapproval of the bankers in general. Next she lined up her first shot, asking them to raise their hands if they had raised interest rates on credit cards since receiving their portions of last fall's $700 billion bailout. Hands were raised all around. She followed up, asking if they reduced people's line of credit for shopping at certain stores. No hands were raised on that. I wished if she had just asked if they had lowered the lines of credit. Because I know they have done that.

Olbermann did a nice bit on this whole thing last night, highlighting Barney Frank's question as to why these yeah-who's need bonuses and what they would do differently if they didn't get them. Waters is interviewed about half way into the interview.

Waters may be a bit of a nut, but Olbermann is right, she raised the issues that REAL Americans care about. Yes I hate these jack asses have private jets and desks worth tens of thousands of dollars, but what I hate more is that they are fucking with our lives everyday through our credit cards, our mortgages, our lending. And I want it to stop. And I want them to be charged interest.

'Atta Boy!

Now this is what I am talking about:

[D]on't come to the table with the same tired arguments and worn ideas that helped to create this crisis.

President Obama, during a speech to House Democrats, where he admonished Republicans for their opposition to the stimulus bill.

Retreat and Retrench

I am weeping copious tears today for the poor, beleaguered executives at Wells Fargo who are going to have to forgo their retreat to Sin City this year because we pesky middle class Americans are all up in arms at their lack of frugality. And woe is me! It is going to cost them. Something tells me that it is going to cost them way more than cash. I particularly love what Barney Frank had to say to the banking industry in general:

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., said banks were acting "stupid" and making it harder for lawmakers to defend them.

"People really hate you," he said, imploring banks to do everything possible to avoid offending people. "And they're starting to hate us just for hanging out with you."

Yeah I would say that pretty much pegs it. Meanwhile in other financial news, Obama's decision to cap CEO salaries at $500,000 for any company taking a future government bailout has been lauded by those on Wall Street as draconian. Are you freakin' kidding me? If that is draconian, maybe they should just give the CEO's a 10th of that, a salary that the average American would consider themselves damn blessed to have.

Meanwhile, the Senate Democrats can't seem to grow a pair and force the Republicans to actually filibuster Obama's proposed stimulus package. The Dems have 58 seats so it seems logical that they could come up with 50 votes to pass the thing. But no! They would rather lie down and roll over while the GOP forces them to meet the 60 vote threshold a filibuster demands without working for it. What is going on here? Is this some sort of bizarro version of battered spouse syndrome? The Democrats are so used to being whipped by the Republicans that they can't stand up and take charge, rather they continue to cower and submit? Today my party of choice is making me sick.

Adding to my general feeling of malaise is the fact that Cheney has decided to re-emerge. (Is this like the groundhog? A Cheney sighting means we will have eight more weeks of fear-mongering  or some other Bush Administration-related bullshit?) And what tender morsel of glee does the Dark Lord have to convey to us today?

"When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry," Cheney said in an interview with Politico. He added that protecting the country is "a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business... These are evil people. And we’re not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek."

Right Dick. It is so much better that we inter people without cause or reason indefinitely. Cheney talked about the recidivism rate of the Gitmo detainees at 11%. Alrighty. But, maybe you ask, what is the recidivism rate of a normal U.S. prison? That would be 65%. Just go away Cheney, sane people do not care to buy the crazy that you are peddling.

You know, I don't know what the answer is to our current economic nightmare (aside from wishing this was an episode of Dallas and we will wake up and find out it was all a dream), but I do know that no one—meaning the politicians—seem to be talking about the credit card debt that faces most Americans. Only my boyfriend Jon Stewart seems to be pushing for this to be acknowledged. Twice in the last two weeks, he has questioned guests (newscaster, Gwen Ifill, and economist, Lawrence Lindsey) as to why the government can't give the American people a bailout to pay off their debts, thus giving the banks liquidity and giving the consumers cash to spend and/or save—preferably both. (Isn't it ironic that just last year everyone bitched about how Americans weren't saving and now they are bitching that we aren't spending? Make up your minds already.)

Admittedly I am no economist, but sounds like a fine idea to me. Maybe we all need to start contacting our Representatives and Senators asking why this idea isn't on the table?

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It's the End of the World As We Know It . . .

And I feel like shit. There I said it. Pollyanna is on vacay today and my mood is sour, sour, sour. It is raining. I am hungry. And I have a heinous meeting tonight that I have been dreading for weeks. Perhaps tomorrow I will hoist up my bra straps and get back on my happy horse, but not today folks.

Let's start with yesterday's layoffs. Anytime someone, anyone gets laid off it sucks. No matter what your back up plan, no matter how prepared you are, even if you know it is nothing personal or at all related to your job performance it sucks. It sucks financially, it sucks for your self-esteem, and it certainly doesn't make our economy any better. (Maybe I should have titled this post "It Sucks"—that seems to be my true theme here.)

How many got the axe yesterday when Microsoft, Caterpillar, Home Depot, Sprint and the merging Wyeth and Pfizer, among others, lowered the boom? According to AP about 40,000. Lovely. And in that 40,000 were three of my friends. They were three of 10 who got laid off at one of my previous employers. I have had friends laid off before, and while I know that three or 10 seems like chump change in comparison to 40,000, I knew most of these people and that makes it all different. Everything is relative gentle readers.

And what is best served with a delicious main course of "It Sucks?" Why a healthy spoonful of "We Know It Sucks," as consumer confidence declined again in January (wonder how much lower the numbers would be if the stats had come out after people knew about all the layoffs?) Did I mention I was hungry?

Meanwhile, the GOP bone heads in Congress are trying to rally support to block Obama's economic stimulus plan. Dang. I sure do hope John Boehner (or as I like to call him Boner) have some money socked away in their mattress's for a rainy day. I wonder how many of his (and the other Republicans) constituents have been hit by yesterday's layoffs and are desperately looking for something, anything to give them some hope or a way to keep their families feed and sheltered? I wonder if they will like that the GOP is trying to block the new administration's efforts to help? I wonder if they wouldn't like an explanation from the previous Congress and administration on where exactly that previous bailout money went? It isn't like the banks are giving loans to average folks like me these days. Hell no. They are too busy giving back door bonuses to their high dollar employees like Merrill Lynch did before their buyout by Bank of America went through. Classy, real classy folks.

Forgive my ranting, but it makes me angry and I don't know what to do with my anger. (If you can id the movie I stole that line from, I might just smile a little today. Maybe.)

Rush's Rant

I do not and will never understand the appeal of Rush Limbaugh. To me, the man is vile and endemic of what is so wrong with conservatives. Rush had this to say the other day:

My hope, and please understand me when I say this. I disagree fervently with the people on our side of the aisle who have caved and who say, 'Well, I hope he succeeds. We've got to give him a chance.' Why? They didn't give Bush a chance in 2000. Before he was inaugurated, the search-and-destroy mission had begun. I'm not talking about search-and-destroy, but I've been listening to Barack Obama for a year-and-a-half. I know what his politics are. I know what his plans are, as he has stated them. I don't want them to succeed.

On one hand I am forced to agree with Rush. I did hope that Bush would fail. No let me rephrase that, I KNEW Bush would fail. His policies were not about looking out for the best interests of the majority, they were exclusionary and meant to divide rather than unite us as Americans. So Rush's basic premise is accurate, but there is a bit more going on here, obviously.

First, Obama and Bush are not only different men from different parties with different belief systems and different goals, but Obama is president during a time that is dramatically different than the one in which Bush became our commander in chief.  Bush inherited from the Clinton Administration a country in really pretty good shape, both in terms of our economy and our perception in the world. Obama has not been gifted with either of these luxuries. America's reputation around the world is in shreds and our economy continues to spiral down. (Is it just me or does it remind you of those nightmares where you are falling and there is no bottom?)

What this means is Bush failing and Obama failing as president become two entirely different matters. Of course, Bush's failures have led us to this situation that somehow, someway, Obama must resolve. But if Obama fails, what does that mean for America and Americans?

And the bigger question here, in relation to Mr. Limbaugh, is how DARE he be so cavalier with the future of our country? I am sure I am not alone with any of you gentle readers in personally being affected by this seemingly, over night breakdown of our economy. I have my own woes, which are slight in comparison to the woe's of my friends who have been left without jobs, health care, etc. as a result of the greed of bankers, brokers and their ilk.

I am quite comfortable in apologizing for my part in creating this mess by wishing Bush would fail. But I can not abide the thought that someone would wish for Obama to fail, guaranteeing a further decline for our country. That is truly unamerican and Rush should be ashamed.

Shoe-capades

In case you hadn't heard, an Iraqi reporter chucked his wing tips at Dubya. In Arab cultures this ain't exactly a form of friendly greeting. I get that the dude is pissed and has much to be upset about, it isn't like we have left his country in better shape.

I admit that I giggled, somewhat profusely, when I first heard of the shoe throwing. I mean come on, if anyone deserves a good bean on the head it is Bush. The problem comes when we consider what good such a display does. Most of us just want to forget that Bush is still "in charge" and move on to the next chapter. (According to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 79% of us won't be missing Bush come January 21, 2009. Additionally, the same poll shows that people aren't even coping to voting for the man anymore. Welcome, gentle readers to a little bit of revisionist theatre.)

So dude with the size 10 dogs has reminded us that Bush is still in charge. Great, thanks and merry Christmas to you too. Second, he has actually created some sympathy for Dubya, something I can never quite cotton to. Although it does seem a bit late in the game to be staging petulant protests if you ask me. Seven years into the quagmire that has become Iraq, part of me would expect the Iraqis to simply be immune to it all at this point, but I suppose one never gets immune to occupation. Sadly, this was one time that Bush managed to not only not look like an idiot, but didn't sound like one entirely either. Now that doesn't make my morning oatmeal sit well at all.

Finally, I guess it all just seemed like an act of desperation, and unfortunately I think we as Americans need to be gearing up for a lot more of those in our future. My good friend and fellow blogger on life matters, Creative Kerfuffle, posted today about the general malaise that seems to be gripping us from sea to shining sea. I agree, things have been perkier. And with ugly incidents like what happened this morning in my hometown becoming more and more common as people's desperation and poverty collide, it is highly unlikely that people's moods are going to improve any time soon. And yet, the Pollyanna in me just won't die. (God knows I have tried to knife that snarky little bitch on

numerous occasions.)

So gentle reader, you may be asking, Broad how do you stay sunny side up? Well, I like to look to that paragon of rationality, Scarlett O'Hara in times like this, whose credo could be summed up as—you do what you have to do to survive and when it all gets to be too much you just say, "I'll think about that tomorrow, after all tomorrow is another day" and you pray that the next day dawns with a solution.

But you never, never throw your shoes.

Forgive Us Our Debts

I admit that I am one of the many Americans burdened with credit card debt. Shit happens, and when you start out in the lowly world of publishing you ain't making the big bucks, you know? I used to steal canned food from my parents and call it grocery shopping. Enough of my whining, dry your tears and let's get back on topic.

But I have been especially intrigued of late with all the bellyaching we are hearing from retailers and credit card companies, etc. as our economy takes a nosedive. For instance, I saw a news clip with a handful of shoppers interviewed and one lady was talking about cutting back this holiday season because the money just wasn't there. Sounds reasonable and responsible to me. Of course Bank of America and their ilk would disagree (as would GAP and Macy's). They want us up to our eyeballs in bills that we can barely pay, that is their bread and butter.

Which leads me to Mr. Paulson's recent "redefining" of the big bailout package to the financial industry. Ole Hank is now saying some of that chunk of change is going to the credit card companies so they can ease up and give us poor schmucks more rope to hang ourselves. (Does this mean me telling BP to stuff their card where the sun doesn't shine after they reduced my credit limit, even though I am not carrying a balance, was wasted effort? That soon they would have been sending me a letter saying "Oops! Our bad, here have even more money!" And yes, BP is now dead to me. So I will be purchasing my sweet crude elsewhere thank you!)

First, I don't cotton to the Treasury Secretary monkeying around with this money. What's to stop him from deciding next week that he thinks he needs to shore up the craps tables at Caesar's Palace? It isn't like we locked down any hard and fast rules in regards to this money, like our friends across the pond did.

Second, I have no freakin' sympathy for the credit card companies (not that I have any for Wall Street either for that matter). They are only reaping what they have sown (to continue my biblical metaphor). 

Thirdly, we Americans have stuffed ourselves with useless junk (myself included) in the same way we have with food (ditto) and now it is time to pay the piper. So what if we have to scale back and not buy the kiddies their 10 millionth video game where women wear nothing and people get their heads blown off graphically. So what if we have to make our own lattes at home or buy cotton instead of cashmere. It isn't the end of the world. As much as I LOVE Christmas and shopping and the whole consumer kit and kaboodle, I know when to say uncle. And the time is now.

Free Fall

As I have mentioned previously I don't know squat about the stock market. But I am starting to figure out that retirement may turn out to be more than a distant dream. And while it isn't really in my nature to panic, the fact that the market dropped yesterday to below 9,000 at closing and today upon opening sunk even lower has even me taking notice.

What looked for some time to just be our own little homegrown problem seems to be making the global rounds. Some crazy bank stuff is happening in Iceland. And the rest of the world seems to be getting beyond miffed with us for pulling them down. Way to make friends and influence people Wall Street.

And to top it all off, the spouse shares this morning that the top muckety-mucks at AIG just went on a "retreat" that cost over $400,000. Why do I get the sneaking suspicion that my tax dollars just paid for some fat, pasty broker to get a facial???

Is it any wonder that our economy is in a free fall folks? More and more I am starting to wonder if we don't all deserve this harsh bump of reality. But maybe I am just grumpy because I am having a bad hair day.

I Want My Bailout

If Wall Street gets its $700 billion, shouldn't I be able to just write off a couple of my credit cards? Trust me, they are small potatoes compared to that disaster.

That being said, this whole situation cries out for a giant WTF. I mean really folks. I just don't know what to think about this nightmare. So let's start with what I do know.

First, I don't know crap about economics, never took a class and consider my major mathematical accomplishment to be that I do balance my checkbook. However these banks sold mortgages around to each other is something that simply escapes me. It just makes no sense. Maybe banks shouldn't do things that don't make sense to the mathematically and economically challenged individuals like me and we wouldn't be in this whole stitch. Too late, and we are, so moving on.

Second, I really don't like the idea of handing over money to the jackasses who didn't know how to deal with it in the first place. You might as well hand heroin to a junkie and tell them to enjoy. Not smart. That being said, it would seem to me after yesterday's nose diving stock numbers that if nothing else this money will make those dudes and dudettes in the ridiculous jackets chill out and stop gesturing as wildly. (Which always leads me to think of the scene from Ferris Bueller where they visit the Chicago Exchange—classic. But I digress.)

Thirdly, if giving these asshats a big, fat check is the only solution, then just freakin' do it already. Stop your dithering, Republicans. It isn't exactly like you guys have been the party of fiscal responsibility the last eight years. And you pick NOW to finally stand up to Dubya? Really, killing thousands of our men and women in uniform was something you could get behind, but handing fistfuls of cash to your Wall Street cronies and funders—that wakes you up in the middle of the night? Again I say—WTF? The GOP has been funneling money to these people with their tax loop holes and other manner of nonsense for years and god knows they have returned the favor, pouring money into your campaigns. So way to develop a conscience now you chicken shits.

Lastly, while I say better late than never on the GOP and this whole conscience thing they are giving a whirl, I still can't help but catch the faint whiff of bullshit in the air. I mean, come on! Nancy Pelosi gets up there yesterday, says vote for this and by the way, you and your monkey in the oval office got us into this mess in the first place and what do the House Republicans do? They grab up their blankies and sippy cups and hightail it out of there. So not only did you create this disaster in the first place with all of your deregulation, and you won't cop to it, but now you won't do anything to fix it because some "woman" insulted you.

Dear god. Go the fuck home and see what your constituents have to say about this. God knows I don't want to be moving my family into a refrigerator box ghetto anytime soon or (shudder) even worse, my parents basement.

Calamity George

Time to set the DVR's gentle readers, our illustrious leader will address the nation this eve to allay our fears about the economy and expound on the three (I SHIT YOU NOT!) page document that Congress received from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke explaining why they needed $700 billion and fast, no questions asked to fix this mess.

Um, dudes . . . I don't think so.

Something tells me ole Georgie Boy doesn't have the vocabulary to make this disaster make sense. But it might be good for kicks and giggles, if of course your heart doesn't explode from your elevated blood pressure.

And just when the networks were finally unveiling some new shows to watch.

Now They Have Gone Too Far

With the economy tanking more and more each day (and yes I have been aware—I just haven't posted about it because if the good people at Bank of America thought I were even attempting to sound self-righteous about money and debt I would get another concerned phone call from them about "is my debt causing me stress?" No, you people harassing me is causing me stress. Without people like me, Kevin at the call center wouldn't have a job. Oops! I think I might have started to rant there . . . how unusual and also I don't frankly understand most of what is going down. All I do know is that the fat cats are going to walk away with millions and my 401K is dying a slow death. Maybe I need to practice welcoming people to Walmart for my "retirement" gig. Now back to your regularly scheduled rant) it is good to know that you can still seek consolation in the certainties in life—like chocolate.

Au contraire mon frere! Perhaps in responsible to everyone's metaphorical belt tightening, the good folks at Hersey's have REMOVED chocolate from many of their candies. Yep, gentle readers, you are now buying chocolate-less chocolate. Don't ask me how.

Crispy on the Outside as the scoop.

Irony, Anyone?

Today's news is all about the freeing of Ingrid Betancourt in Columbia, along with several American hostages, all of whom have been held for years by the FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia, a terrorist group. This is great news. Betancourt was a candidate for president in Columbia when she was abducted six year ago. For me, the most poignant moment was the mother of two embracing her 19 year old son and 22 year old daughter. Just think, these young adults were 13 and 16 when their mother was kidnapped, still children.

Anyway, apparently McCain is big buddies with the president of Columbia. And while this daring rescue attempt has been in the works for a long while—the Columbian defense department had people infiltrating the terrorist group to pull this off for years now—it seems singularly ironic that McCain, and his lapdogs Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, were on hand in Columbia the day the rescue was completed. Fox News, of course, tried to spin it like McCain had some hand in freeing these people, which makes the network seem like an even bigger farce than they usually appear to be.

Meanwhile, McCain has shaken up his campaign staff and seems to be leaning even more in the direction of Bush-land by having Karl Rove's top disciple, Steve Schmidt, leading the campaign and two of Rove's other former advisors have also been named as a part of McCain's camp. WTF? If McCain doesn't want to come off as the second coming of Dubya, this is SO not the way to go. Any idiot can see that. But what puzzles me even more is why Mac would think that Bush still has the winning ticket for the presidency. His approval ratings continue to inch southward and today the latest figures came out on jobs and we have lost even more jobs than they initially believed for the months of April and May. So far this year, the country has lost 438,000 jobs, an average of 73,000 a month. DAMN. The Mac camp's response? We need to stick with the economic agenda of the last eight years. Why you may ask? Because "The American people cannot afford an economic agenda that will take our country in the wrong direction and cost jobs." Hello! Are they even paying attention???