OoOoOoooH! Shiny!

After a LONG (and perhaps very much needed) Break from Politics, I have decided to return to my regularly scheduled programming. It’s been too long and I have decided, well…shit….It’s what I do best.

Watch this space for new commentary on today’s biggest issues.

PS: Yes, I will still publish a few Pics….

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I live in a house full of cats.  When I’m working, I’m often surround by them as well.

I either have a basket cat, a window cat, a cat that steals your seat or an annoying Maine Coon cat that likes to plop himself right in front of the monitor demanding attention RIGHT NOW!

Above is Twiglet. She likes to knock glasses of liquid off objects for fun–often with “CRAP, CAT YOU FRIED MY KEYBOARD!”  results. Cats are great fun–they inspired the CHEZBURGER network, an entire internet language and even new deities. As you can see, Twigs is what I would call a “Purgatory cat”. Pat ceiling cat, Part basement cat. Good when she wants to be–bad all the time.

They make great photo ops, especially when cute.

Awww…Look how cute! A Panda bear snow sculpture that was done the evening of Feb 5. There were several in front of our home and it was a nice touch to the mountains of snow that seemed to get bigger with each dig out.  There were school closings, news of massive federal and state government closings and a lot of really annoyed people who were just starting to develop bad cases of massive cabin fever. Myself included.

What happens as the snow melts? After the media stops paying attention, the legions of dump trucks and earth movers taking the snow mountains from corners finishes their jobs? what about the not so pretty business of cleaning up the wreckage that is left after the snow melts?

Sat, Feb 13. Remember that picture I took of our car? yeah, we had to dig it out. We had to leave our home on Sat for several reasons. One, we were sick of being stuck inside. Most of the people parked on the street had the same general idea. This is when you dig your spot out and put a chair there to save it. If someone poaches a spot, they will probably get a passive aggressive note.

We were lucky. No spot poachers!

Naturally, when you save a spot, you want to place an object that is of little value. On a walk on Saturday, I was amazed at the items just randomly left all over the streets and sidewalks.

I wonder if these are meant to be mere throw away chairs?

Random trash cans and other place holders just littered the streets as we walked to grab coffee. The melting snow also uncovered the horrible reality that snow can cause accidents. Here, littered on the street was the parts of a car, no doubt left behind as the snow melted.

Oh the car insurance industry is going to have an actuarial field day with these past storms….

City trash removal was a serious joke. Trash? Recycling removed from your premises? HAHA! if they can’t get through, they can’t remove the trash. This starts the “put your trash bags in any visible receptacle” move.

Trash bags left in nearly every alley. Recycling wasn’t picked up for DAYS. I believe it went when the trash men arrived. Recycling was left behind everywhere. People drank a lot of beer.

Random objects littered the fronts of people’s homes. Were they used to keep parking spaces? probably.

The destruction wasn’t limited to just trash and objects left behind. Snow movers, construction equipment and salt trucks used to plow and remove large snow mountains may have been responsible in backing into some decorative lamp posts lining Patterson park in Baltimore. On our Saturday walk, we came across a few.

It’s raining and about 41 degrees as I post this. No doubt that most of the snow will have gone by next Saturday. The landscape will still be littered, the salt washed into the bay, the massive snow mountains a bleak reminder that while it can be exciting and pretty, snow is a destructive force that can not only make for nasty driving conditions, it can really mess up a city that doesn’t know how to effectively handle a massive snow dumping.

Bring on spring. I’m finished with Winter.

Yeah, I’ve been a real effin slacker on this thing. I know, I know—My two loyal readers must be pissed to high hell. I used to have scathing commentary worthy of pissing off most conservative shit for brains, but alas, my mind has been occupied.
You see, I was shitcanned at the onset of 2009. In a job market like this one, I have a major comeptitive disadvantage. I have an education focusing primarily on Art (photography to be exact) and I really have little to no desire to be someones corporate bitch.
I have no desire to be rich and famous, no desire to play the stock market. Hell, I even gave my fucking house back to the bank. I’m through with owning a home, having “assets” or anything beyond a savings account that allows for a safety cushion and a few material indugences. all I care about is making a modest living off of doing something I want to do without some money hungry boss hell bent on “Numbers” and “Productivity” breathign down my neck. I want to be my own cog in my own machine.
It’s tough trying to get people to pay for what some consider a luxury during a massive recession. However, there are still Models who are desperate for a professional looking portfolio, a Hungry bride who wants to one up her best friend, a Mother who wants to preserve her belly for her child in the future and children to take pics of.
It’s hard to ignore the crazy, tho. The whole healthcare debate, the greed of the Insurance companies and their republican friends, the fact that people just want money more then the welfare of their peers (which, in Econ 101, I learned would generate more wealth because more people could actively contribute) or even the fact that most people favor an active reform of the whole system. Corporations are usuing the recession to constantly lay people off even if they’re porfitable, the fact that people actiavely loose their unemployment benefits and repiblicans waste time trying to “punish” groups like ACORN instead of saving the country from Tent Cities is just….I don’t know. It’s now that you can really see the true intentions of most of your happy Goppers. They care only for themselves and would love to see all of us who have lost their jobs, homes, retirement savings, investments, livelyhoods, and positive outlook just short of burn in hell because if it doesn’t directly affect them—It’s not their fault–It’s OURS.

Changes are afoot on this thing. I know I haven’t maintained the political bitchiness that this blog was once known for, but hell, I am content with the way things are. Not perfect in any way, but at least my President can think critically.
There are a number of funny as shit instances committed by various members of the GOP. As always, Michael Steel remains a farce to the Black community. I think every time the man speaks, MLK weeps in heaven.
Family Values—HOOT! what a Hoot. It’s just amazing that gay people are a threat to the “sanctity of Marriage” but screwing around on your wife isn’t really THAT bad.
My personal fav of ALL this is the fact that the same God fearing “Jesus Loves you” Crowd wants desperately to stop any kind of care to uninsured people. Now, this always gets me because I’m fairly familiar with the Bible and that guy named Jesus. I believe there is a story that he went out and helped lepers and prostitutes–some of the most maligned folks of his time. If jesus was alive today, he wouldn’t be Rich and would more than likely be uninsured. Today’s God fearing republicans would turn him away.

Think on that for a bit. My sleepy blog will return with some good bitchin’. I promise. Some people are bored at work, dammit.

to  the Corporate world.

I’ve seen so much hypocrisy during my 15 years working for “the man”. The last ten years was the worst example. Blame always laid at the feet of the lowest on the totem pole. Their incompetence was my responsibility. These were the very same folks who preached “personal responsibility, accountability and taking charge”. They lined there pockets while I lost four hours of my life every day to cover their incompetence up.  In the end, I lost the job and they walked away counting the money. What happened to hard work yields rewards? I don’t think it does anymore. I think dishonesty, greed and destruction of your peers at any means necessary yields the rewards.

Ho can we change this feeling? How can we take back the meaning of hard work? I have a few solutions, but I want more to chime in. My thoughts are  to bring business back to the community. I believe that a return to community business and lending will bring the country back to a community based business model where large and small businesses work together for the improvement of each community.  What are your thoughts? It’s quite obvious that the days of huge mega conglomerates that mistreat their employees are dying a slow death…..at least–that’s what I believe.

First of all, I’m not dead, nor is this site.  I won’t let it die—I;ve renewed it for another two frikken years.

I’ve been busy–startingour own business. Yeah–can you believe that we’re crazy enough to actually want to do something like this in an economy that sucks so bad you can actually hear the sucking sound? Well–I believe we can succeed because the product we’re offering is not like anything in this area. Trust me on this one—we’re doing something very different.

We’re starting to take pictures using creative lighting—not just your run of the mill regular snapshots of people smiling —we’re creatin’ art.  iffin you want a sample of what we are doing, please ask! we will be happy to share a sample. If you know of anyone willing to buy shit–then pass it on. nothing better than a little help.

Something has shifted. Well–in my own view, of course. We are all aware that shit is fucked up beyond recognition economically speaking, and things aren’t going to change anytime soon.  A few months ago I ran into a lovely couple who has recently retired and they were taking the time to travel to the Fishbowl to take in the sights. The economy was tanking and a few friends of mine were talking about how bad things were going to get. The couple chimed in and said they had lost a substantial amount of their retirement fund and would have to live modestly for a while Instead of the vacation they wanted–they took a weekend to DC.  I flat out told them that retirement will probably never be an option for me. what I will end up doing—is owning my own business and being my own boss. My idea of retirement is NOT having to listen to some asshole tell me what to do even when it’s the worst idea in the world.  It will be my ideas my way. THAT is retriement utopia to me. What about you? It’s clear that your 401k isn’t going to leave you with a small home in the mountains with lazy days of fishing and golf—tell me—what is your idea?

talking heads about “Bank Nationalization” It’s very VERY strange how that meme was mentioned while Bush was in office and immediately poopooed. To Republicans, Nationalization=socialism, which somehow……=communism which, we all know, in their mind = totalitarianism.

Any intelligent person knows that each of the above systems of economics are completely Utopian and cannot be obtained. Even pure capitalism in the Ayn Rand, Alan “Bubbles” Greenspan sense is a utopia. It cannot be obtained. As bubbles said, “there is a fundamental flaw” in which he did not account for. Yeah–that flaw, Human hubris and greed, doesn’t have a mathematical equation to “predict” how a person will behave given a vast amount of money and ways to “hide” it from “regulators” (were there any?)

I watched the Frontline that was on last week. (MPT 22 didn’t show it, MPT 26 did—dunno why….)  Anyhow, it finally answered a few questions that I had for a while.

1. Why did Paulson let Lehman Bros. Fail? Answer: he Hated the CEO.

2. Why did everything else get a slide? Answer: Paulson was their friend.

Last night, Obama put that damn meme to rest. Goppers need to rest assured that their beloved “free market” system isn’t going buh bye. They’re just going to have a few rules to play by so that everyone gets a fucking chance.