Holy Buck, Fatman!

I’ve been a member of the “These low interest rates don’t look very good” club since about 2004, when the real estate market was spinning out of control. Bubble talk and everything. In 2006, my husband and I streamlined our 1/1 ARM loan into a 30 year fixed, collectively breathing a sigh of reliefe. He got a better paying job and we started to save.  I decided to take my yearly bonus and pack it away tightly into a CD as a part of our 6 months worth of home expenses. I was weary about “investing” it in a volatile stock market.  Let it sit there until the fever broke.

We have no CC debt. We save into a slush fund. My 401K is mainly invested in international funds. I am making what most call an ultra conservative choice with our cash on hand. I said yes. I forsee a financial nightmare.

Credit Standards have been tightened after the collapse of the subprime market. Investors who were banking on flipping a home for an inflated price with a “No Doc” is now in a position for default.  Families sold “McMansions” that were vastly overpriced are starting to feel the crunch of their ARMs as they adjust. People relying on the HELOCs to fund their daughters lavish weddings, make needless upgrades on homes in the hopes to flip them for profit and those wishing to consolidate debt are now in a position that will crunch their wallets.   Since personal savings is at a negative rate in this country, I only see retail sales slowing to a near crawl.  people are overexteended. Welcome to 1929…..er, I mean 2007.

Are the financial markets in a panic? Well, if pumping 35 billion to offset the lack of liquidity for the Mortgage market, I’d say something is amiss.  This is happening all over the world as investment funds backed by defaulting subprime mortgages are failing one by one—like dominoes falling.

I don’t give advice. But I will say that I myself have decided that putting away cash and living a bit more frugal has it’s advantages. Storing cash away and staying away from the stock market sounds like a damn good idea until we weed out all the damn Greenspan worshippers.

AT$T provided the bandwith for the webcast for Lollapalloza.  What net viewers didn’t hear  was a chant during Pearl Jam’s Performance of “Daughter”. From PJ’s Blog:

During the performance of “Daughter” the following lyrics were sung to the tune of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall” but were cut from the webcast:

- “George Bush, leave this world alone.” (the second time it was sung); and

- “George Bush find yourself another home.”

AT$T’s “Content Monitor” had wiped that part out.

Translation: AT$T fucking censored it.

This will continue to happen more if we do not stop corporations from changing net neutrality. Visit Save the Internet and voice your concern with your congress critter. This is UNACCEPTABLE and will happen more and more if we don’t get outraged.

h/t shakes 

When he wrote 1984.

Not to long ago, I received a telephone call from an individual that described themselves as “security” from our office telephone and internet provider. They asked a simple question, “Did you make a telephone call to the United Arab Emerites?” the security officer for nameless telecom provider said.

“No, not me personally, but I’m pretty certain that someone in our office did.” I responded. It wasn’t uncommon for anyone of my coworkers to make telephone calls overseas. It wasn’t uncommon for them to make telephone calls to countries like the UAE. It was, to us, simply doing business.

After providing my name and the name of the person who placed the call, I hung up the phone and sighed deeply. It was entirely possibly that the person whom identified himself as a “security officer” for nameless telecom company was, in fact, an employee or contractor for the NSA. The call was from an unidentified/blocked number, and while it is generally not my policy to pick up those calls (they are usually from telemarkers and sales douchbags) They kept calling back until I was so annoyed that I picked up the phone. Also, the nameless telecom company was a rather small one. (until a recent buyout) While it is entirely possible that they were simply giving us a courtesy call regarding unauthorized overseas calls, I highly doubt that was the case. We do business with people all over the world on a daily basis. To single out one phone call from the UAE makes me think that this call was not from nameless telcom company’s “security department”.

Yesterday, 16 Democrats from the Senate and 41 Democrats from the House, (apparently eager to get on with their three week vacations) passed a peice of shit legislation that will essentially legalize warrantless wiretapping and information gathering on any correspondence from outside the US. One of those YAY voters happens to be our own Babs Mikulski. Babs—I loved you for your valiant efforts to save my wonderful neighborhood of Fells Point. But, this….this is Unforgivable! I know that her vote was probably because the NSA *LIVES* in MD, employs tons of military, civilians and contractors and they most likely threw her some $$$. Money talks, people. Money talks. I still, after years of admiration for her, can’t be admirable this time around. Babs, you broke my heart. I sincerely doubt that voting against  this “reform” was going to lose those jobs. Quite the contrary! It could have allowed for more to be employed to come up with programs that would effectively gather intelligence without “casting a wide net”. There are some seriously smart cookies in IT. I’m guessing that they could have thought of ways to effectively protect the privacy of Americans.

I read all the reactions I could yesterday. I digested it and let it fester. I know that all the e mails I write to my friends overseas are being read by some guy in an NSA cubicle who is trying to determine if I am an “enemy combatant.” I just hope that some of my more scathing criticisms do not cross the desk of an NSA cubicle monkey with extreme right wing views. “Enemy Combatant” could be interpreted as “someone who doesn’t like the Bush Administration.”

Seriously, what is stopping one guy from sicking the dawgs on anyone in this country anymore? What happens if Molly homemaker didn’t like my Blog opinion and she turns me into the FBI as a suspected terrorist? What if I organize against a huge corporation and suddenly get a visit from the Department of Homeland Security?

The stories linked above are written by the people who have dealt with such inquiries and as far as I know are true. They are listening–and someone who is listening might have the wrong idea. Lets all hope that doesn’t happen.

The above quote was brought to you by our President of the United States. Uh huh. Yeah. Get sick? Just go to the Emergency room! Can’t pay for it, Well TOUGH SHIT!

The question is, will we be wise about how we pay for health care. I believe the best way to do so is to enable more people to have private insurance. And the reason I emphasize private insurance, the best health care plan — the best health care policy is one that emphasizes private health. In other words, the opposite of that would be government control of health care.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, There is a new Michael Moore film out entitled “SiCKO“. MM decided that instead of focusing on the problem of the uninsured here in America, he was going to focus on the insured folks who are getting screwed. Yes, that’s RIGHT—The INSURED that are members of Privately Owned Corporations that put shareholder profit above the health of the individual by systematically denying claims, playing statistics games (you know, deny all claims based on the theory that only a certain percentage will fight back until the claim is paid) and telling Doctors how to administer care to their patients.

It’s a fact that profit is much more important to people like Chimpy McFlysuit. His quote above doesn’t say that profit maximization is what he really advocates, but we all know that is the case. When it comes to the health insurance industry, well..profit is what the shareholders demand. What does that mean? Lifesaving procedures are often denied, resulting in the untimely death of millions of Americans.

I’ve had personal experience with this. When my father was battling cancer, he was often faced with subsequent claim denials for medication and treatment that was vital to his survival. My Mom was a diligent caregiver and spent hours on the phone to get the decisions reversed while my father waited for some Cubicle Monkey, often reading from a script provided by the insurance corporations, to tell him that he could go ahead with his treatment. Did the Cubicle Monkey know what an Autologous Stem cell Transplant was? Probably not, but it was on the list of “shit that you deny automatically because it contains rather large medical terms that probably cost a lot.”

Never mind that it could have saved my father ’s life. He waited for three months for that approval and in those three months his health declined sharply. When they went to collect his Stem Cells for subsequent transplant, his body had failed to make enough due to prolonged exposure to the cancer that was coursing through his veins. In short, the transplant was done, but since the doctors could not adequately collect enough healthy stem cells from him, the transplant failed. Two years later, My father died.

Could prompt approval allowed Dr.s to harvest more healthy Stem Cells, therefore increasing the odds of the transplant grafting? Sure. Was it solely the fault of the Insurance Company? I’m not sure, but I believe that they played a rather large hand in delaying treatment and possibly contributing to the decrease in odds.

I can probably bet that most Americans have similar stories dealing with health insurance companies.  But, hey—we can all simply Go to the Emergency Room to get that Care!

…Bill Clinton is wallowing in some serious schadenfreude right about now.

You see, David Vitter (R-LA) was one of the loudest Goppers calling for Pres. Bill to step down because of a blow job.

Vitter, a hardline christian conservative always advocated “traditional family values” such as marriage being one man one woman, the outlawing of any type of abortion,and generally crusading to make sure that YOUR LIFE is *just like his*. He was so pure and righteous that it earned him the beloved and most coveted position that allows you to freely persecute anyone who doesn’t follow the same biblically inerrant lifestyle.

Except, of course, when he was caught with his pants down. Vitter was a customer of the notroious DC Madam, Deborah Palfrey.

Hypocrisy, anyone? Well, No. The MSM believes Vitter’s Hypocrisy is not the story. Except, well…that it is the story. Anyone who claims to be “better” then someone else because they follow a strict moral code while paying for sex behind his wife’s back is a hypocrite. What is even more amazing is that this isn’t the first time he has been rumored to shack up with working ladies.

I still can’t quite understand how all these high profile GOP men spout rhetoric about “traditional values” and end up engaging in extra marital affairs. My curiosity always gets the best of me and wonders, “why?”

Do their wives not put out? Do they want to engage in teh anal sex and wifey ain’t having it? Do they marry their wives for procreation only and continue with the glorious work of spreading their sperm to as many women as possible? Do they even talk to their wives? Are their wives sickened by the mere thought of sexual intercourse because their Moms told them that it was a sick, disgusting, sinful act and only needed to be done for the purpose of having kids? What makes these men want to stray? And why is it that all my friends(some are teh gay, too!) in committed marriages/unions who are “liberal and godless” all have healthy committed relationships with their spouses? Why is it that the Pew Research center found that a happy and healthy sexual relationship with your spouse is a key to a good, faithful marriage to a majority of Americans?

Sexual repression never does the human soul any good. Demonizing sex creates a subculture of people seeking to fullfil their desires in unhealthy ways. It leads to secretive behavior that can ultimately endanager the health of an unknowing spouse. You know, like paying a prostitute.

Neocon hypocrisy only stresses this. Neocons need to realize that their god didn’t make sex feel good because he didn’t want people to do it; he made it feel good because it is good to do it!

Wingnuts always invoke that argument when talking about the evil “Clenis” (That’s Bill Clinton’s Penis, Circa 1997/98 for those who don’t know political slang)  They cry about not caring about the act of the Blow Job, but the act of lying under oath.

Fast Forward to  2007 and we are faced with this “Scooter” Libby idiot who was CONVICTED of obstruction of justice and other crimes. He gets handed a sentence befitting of the crime and what does Chimpy McFlysuit do? he Fucking COMMUTES THE FUCKING SENTENCE!

The guy was found guilty of lying, then COVERING IT UP. However, to a wingnut, that is okay. If you are rich and connected, it’s perfectly okay for you to do whatever you want! They can do anything because, as digby so eloquently says, they are so, so special.

From now on, if any fucking wingnut invokes the “Clenis” I will scream. Scream, folks. SCREAM.

Imagine working a crap job at the local fast food joint and some guy, who claims to have some “anger management” issues decided that you were too rude and punched you in the face.

From the general tone of the story, however, it seems that the police chief simply dismissed the man’s actions and  said, “Well, he just had a bad day.”

UNACCEPTABLE. Why is ANYONE making excuses for this guy?

You don’t go hitting 19 year old service workers in the face because the service wasn’t up to your standard. Sure, maybe manners do need to stressed, but I sincerely doubt that it merited a punch in the face.

What is this world coming too: This lovely clip illustrates how materialistic we have become. Sure, It’s “LA”, but my guess is that some Mom in Northern Virgina is thinking of doing the exact same thing. The most frightening thing is when the kid says she doesn’t want to do it, but the Mom makes her. File Under: People who shouldn’t be allowed to procreate.

Darth Bush and his Empire Minions have been working overtime on ensuring the safety of the American People(tm) through making sure that the beef industry does NOT, yes, I repeat, DOES NOT VOLUNTARILY test for Mad Cow Disease. It makes one wonder how wingnuts, who advocate small government and little meddling in corporate structure, are going to explain this one….

LiveJournal, in an attempt to “Think of the Children” deletes thousands of what they “thought” were inappropriate themed journals. Indeed, some probably needed to be done away with, but others included Sci-Fi fan fictions, discussion groups on Vladmir Nabokov’s Lolita, journals that belonged to role players fictional characters, and other things that have flourished within the live journal communities. The group “Warriors for Innocence” are  responsible for reporting what they deemed to be pedophilia simply by searching a few keywords and coming up with things they don’t understand. They clearly believe they should be doing *MY* job as a parent. I say to them: BACK OFF. Policing the internet and protecting my child from predators is a job for myself.   This looks like a clear attack on the freaks and geeks of fanfiction, some who have been known to elaborate on such works as “Romeo and Juliet”. I wonder if the overlords at LiveJournal thought about deleting “Pro Ana” communities or kids that cut themselves. I’ve always maintained that censorship will not come from the government, it will come from the corporations that own your soul.

I’ve been squawking about the PNAC for years and yet it has been falling upon deaf ears. This catchy illustration actually brings attention to what has been out there for years, and sheds light on what is literally in plain view for all to see. This war is about money; control of money through oil. The only way for them to do that is to establish a permanent presence in the middle east, and prevent anyone from accepting Euros when purchasing oil.

It’s a shame that people aren’t more vocal about their displeasure. I’m sure if a favorite got voted off “American Idol”, all hell would break loose and the American media would be reporting about it for days. We simply don’t care about other people’s sons dying, or  anything that has happened in a place most people cannot connect to. Any attempts to recycle, ration or simply save for the sake of the troops stationed overseas are limited to a $1.99 magnetic ribbon that is placed on the back of the gas guzzling SUV’s.  There is no limiting excess and there is no thinking about what the families of the troops might be feeling as their husbands, dads, brothers and sisters tours are extended for yet another term.

Maybe we need to think about that a little more, get a little more angry and start really holding our elected officals  accountable.

Love,

President Shit Sandwich