DJHJD
Sunday, April 04, 2010
The Intelligence Debate - Hitchens on the Catholic church as a force of evil
The Intelligence² Debate - Christopher Hitchens (Unedited)
Uploaded by Xrunner17. - Check out other Film & TV videos.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Economizing and being green
"What a fool I was, what a dominated fool,
to think that you were the earth and the sky,
What a fool I was, What an elevated fool,
What a mutton-headed dote was I!
No, my reverberated friend,
you are not the beginning and the end."
"Without You", from the musical "My Fair Lady" by Lerner and Lowe
It occurs to me that the drum thumping we're hearing about "being green" is just a new way to sell us stuff.
I bought my first car of my own choosing in 1977. I bought my first brand new car in 1978. I have slavishly followed the introduction of new chrome trim, of slightly more horsepower, of new upholstery since well before I had a driver license.
I have spent, in a rough estimate, $117,800 in depreciation since 1977, plus all of the interest to have a few weeks of feeling like I had the newest, most up to date ..whatever.
Call it an even hundred fifty thou. To have six brand spankin' new GM cars and three brand spankin' new Ford cars that made me feel like I was the leader of the pack for a total of three months each, so twenty-seven months.
Five Thousand, Five Hundred, Fifty Five and 55/100 Dollars per month. $185.00 a day.
The point of this is that last week, I drove my twelve year old Buick to Dallas and back the same day. She achieved more than 28 miles per gallon on the freeway.
I paid $3800 for her, and she'll be worth $3800 tomorrow, next week and next year.
There is no loan, so she's costing me nothing, sitting out there in the car port. Just the insurance, which is only sixty bucks a month.
What do I give away by not having the newest, the most up to date car?
Fuel economy? Nothing.
Comfort? Nothing.
Gadgets? Nothing, once I install a new stereo into her.
Unique appearance? Find another one; I'm practically driving a flying saucer
Environmental emissions? Sure, my emissions aren't as clean as a brand new car - BUT I'm not consuming any new natural resources, or contributing to any new emissions related to the manufacturing process.
So, owning the car costs me nothing but the repairs, the gas mileage is equivalent to nearly anything sold newly, my safety features are up to date, my toys and features are up to date and this thing will NEVER cost me interest or depreciation.
And yet, the pull of the new car is so very strong.
But I'm done being a fool.
to think that you were the earth and the sky,
What a fool I was, What an elevated fool,
What a mutton-headed dote was I!
No, my reverberated friend,
you are not the beginning and the end."
"Without You", from the musical "My Fair Lady" by Lerner and Lowe
It occurs to me that the drum thumping we're hearing about "being green" is just a new way to sell us stuff.
I bought my first car of my own choosing in 1977. I bought my first brand new car in 1978. I have slavishly followed the introduction of new chrome trim, of slightly more horsepower, of new upholstery since well before I had a driver license.
I have spent, in a rough estimate, $117,800 in depreciation since 1977, plus all of the interest to have a few weeks of feeling like I had the newest, most up to date ..whatever.
Call it an even hundred fifty thou. To have six brand spankin' new GM cars and three brand spankin' new Ford cars that made me feel like I was the leader of the pack for a total of three months each, so twenty-seven months.
Five Thousand, Five Hundred, Fifty Five and 55/100 Dollars per month. $185.00 a day.
The point of this is that last week, I drove my twelve year old Buick to Dallas and back the same day. She achieved more than 28 miles per gallon on the freeway.
I paid $3800 for her, and she'll be worth $3800 tomorrow, next week and next year.
There is no loan, so she's costing me nothing, sitting out there in the car port. Just the insurance, which is only sixty bucks a month.
What do I give away by not having the newest, the most up to date car?
Fuel economy? Nothing.
Comfort? Nothing.
Gadgets? Nothing, once I install a new stereo into her.
Unique appearance? Find another one; I'm practically driving a flying saucer
Environmental emissions? Sure, my emissions aren't as clean as a brand new car - BUT I'm not consuming any new natural resources, or contributing to any new emissions related to the manufacturing process.
So, owning the car costs me nothing but the repairs, the gas mileage is equivalent to nearly anything sold newly, my safety features are up to date, my toys and features are up to date and this thing will NEVER cost me interest or depreciation.
And yet, the pull of the new car is so very strong.
But I'm done being a fool.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
The Dark Side of Women
(a little story forwarded to me by my Dark Side gal pal Ruth)
A woman was in town on a shopping trip. She began her day by finding the most perfect shoes in the first shop and a beautiful dress on sale in the second. In the third, everything had just been reduced by 50 percent when her mobile phone rang.
It was a female doctor notifying her that her husband had just been in a terrible car accident and was in critical condition in the ICU. The woman told the doctor to inform her husband where she was and that she'd be there as soon as possible.
As she hung up she realized she was leaving what was shaping up to be her best day ever in the boutiques. She decided to get in a couple more shops before heading to the hospital. She ended up shopping the rest of the morning, finishing her trip with a cup of coffee and a beautiful chocolate cake slice, compliments of the last shop . She was jubilant. Then she remembered her husband. Feeling guilty, she dashed to the hospital. She saw the woman doctor in the corridor and asked about her husband's condition.
The doctor glared at her and shouted, "You went ahead and finished your shopping trip, didn't you!? I hope you're proud of yourself! While you were out for the past four hours enjoying yourself in town, your husband has been languishing in the Intensive Care Unit!
It's just as well you went ahead and finished, because it will more than likely be the last shopping trip you ever take! For the rest of his life he will require round-the-clock care. And he will now be your career!"
The woman, overcome with guilt, broke down and sobbed.
Then the woman doctor chuckled and said, "I'm just messing with you. He's dead. Show me what you bought."
A woman was in town on a shopping trip. She began her day by finding the most perfect shoes in the first shop and a beautiful dress on sale in the second. In the third, everything had just been reduced by 50 percent when her mobile phone rang.
It was a female doctor notifying her that her husband had just been in a terrible car accident and was in critical condition in the ICU. The woman told the doctor to inform her husband where she was and that she'd be there as soon as possible.
As she hung up she realized she was leaving what was shaping up to be her best day ever in the boutiques. She decided to get in a couple more shops before heading to the hospital. She ended up shopping the rest of the morning, finishing her trip with a cup of coffee and a beautiful chocolate cake slice, compliments of the last shop . She was jubilant. Then she remembered her husband. Feeling guilty, she dashed to the hospital. She saw the woman doctor in the corridor and asked about her husband's condition.
The doctor glared at her and shouted, "You went ahead and finished your shopping trip, didn't you!? I hope you're proud of yourself! While you were out for the past four hours enjoying yourself in town, your husband has been languishing in the Intensive Care Unit!
It's just as well you went ahead and finished, because it will more than likely be the last shopping trip you ever take! For the rest of his life he will require round-the-clock care. And he will now be your career!"
The woman, overcome with guilt, broke down and sobbed.
Then the woman doctor chuckled and said, "I'm just messing with you. He's dead. Show me what you bought."
Monday, February 15, 2010
Just a little larger
A weekend of dichotomy.
The laundry room is working again, thank GAWD. Three loads of laundry, completed. Clothing put up.
Yesterday was very satisfying, leading review courses at UH. Had dinner with Lance, which was also very satisfying.
Today, just light housework and the aforementioned laundry.
We haven't heard a peep from that birther Orly Tait lately - did she go underground?
Newly fixated upon -
It's amazing how much of what we want or need is already right there waiting for us. My leather desk chair, non-working these last couple of years, has been lingering around and hoping for salvation for some time. My "other" desk chair, which was never very comfortable, had a working support strut, but was missing other important parts.
I was going to figure out how to pull apart the "good" but broken chair and fix it, and put the "bad" but mostly unbroken chair out by the curb and .. as it turns out, the bases for the two chairs were identical. With Dina's help, I swapped them out and VOILA! I have my "good" chair back and the "bad" chair is in pieces.
Dina was amazed at the expression on my face when we finally had the chair put together, in place and I sat down in it for the first time.
I must admit that it's VERY pleasing. Chairy, in fact.
I keep finding other elements that are just .. THERE when I need them; they fall to hand.
These are all very good things! And there will be happiness.
I'm starting to move into a place where life and its course are directed and chosen, rather than making do and settling. Exciting times!
The laundry room is working again, thank GAWD. Three loads of laundry, completed. Clothing put up.
Yesterday was very satisfying, leading review courses at UH. Had dinner with Lance, which was also very satisfying.
Today, just light housework and the aforementioned laundry.
We haven't heard a peep from that birther Orly Tait lately - did she go underground?
Newly fixated upon -
- Samson, the white chow chow
- the 1/100th scale remote control Titanic model
- changing my own patterns and focus - some more
- finding my own "style", rather than adapting to incorporate hand me downs
- setting my own path, rather than reacting
- Stock #4404
It's amazing how much of what we want or need is already right there waiting for us. My leather desk chair, non-working these last couple of years, has been lingering around and hoping for salvation for some time. My "other" desk chair, which was never very comfortable, had a working support strut, but was missing other important parts.
I was going to figure out how to pull apart the "good" but broken chair and fix it, and put the "bad" but mostly unbroken chair out by the curb and .. as it turns out, the bases for the two chairs were identical. With Dina's help, I swapped them out and VOILA! I have my "good" chair back and the "bad" chair is in pieces.
Dina was amazed at the expression on my face when we finally had the chair put together, in place and I sat down in it for the first time.
I must admit that it's VERY pleasing. Chairy, in fact.
I keep finding other elements that are just .. THERE when I need them; they fall to hand.
These are all very good things! And there will be happiness.
I'm starting to move into a place where life and its course are directed and chosen, rather than making do and settling. Exciting times!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Just my prognostication
I've not before today been so very excited to make a friend with someone I have never met. Today, I saw an opportunity to send Dahlia Lithwick a compliment for her outstanding work in tracking the United States Supreme Court (referred to in the news and blog business as SCOTUS). While it may have seemed heavily frosted, I only expressed how I really felt and she added me as a friend.
I am honored and thrilled. She's the business, the dope, the real deal.
Monday night, I had also the great pleasure of having dinner with Lance at Johnny Carrabba's non-mainstream restaurant. We talked, as usual, about a great many things, and he asked me my thoughts about SCOTUS and their recent decision regarding the free speech of corporations to intercede in politics and elections.
In case you have been hiding in your living room with your color TV and your radial tires, hoping to be left alone, the Five Supremes (the fascisti plus Kennedy) decided that corporations had unlimited free speech rights, and could not be limited in that speech to how much money they spent to promote their own goals and ideas. Now, the only focus has been on the unlimited speech of corporations; their ruling also applies to individuals.
So, if you're an individual with unlimited funds, and you wish to produce a movie, a symphony, a television series to promote your political ideology, knock yourself out.
However, even Bill Gates pales in personal resource as compared to the likes of the multinational corporations that already hold sway over our governmental processes.
Bill Gates entire fortune approximates the quarterly profits of ExxonMobil, for instance.
Lance asked me what I thought the outcome of this decision would be.
As does my new FB friend Dahlia, I try to take a longer view toward things -
I think that indeed, there will be a Niagra Falls torrent of money into "soft" campaign manipulation - corporations can now create their own political ads, their own films, television programs, books, print ads, billboards, magazines, door hangars, push cards, polls, sky writers...
However, I think that the normal and unintended consequence of such decisions will far more quickly come to light here.
The "rights" offered by SCOTUS to political speech are not restricted to "citizen" corporations of these United States. That, plus the tendency of any organization or individual to hang itself when given enough rope will put a final stop to this entire Randian intrusion into our public affairs.
Hypothesis: Large, foreign corporation desires to take over "domestic" corporation. They create ads, movies, films, video, television imploring government action in FAVOR of their desire. Their "target" has not the resources to fight them off.
Per SCOTUS, that's just fine.
Hypothesis: Well established Congresscritter behaves in traditional manner, and publicly, legislatively supports "domestic" corporation against aggression, or supports any position antagonistic to large corporation. Large corporation create ads, movies, films, video, television directly in opposition to well established Congresscritter.
If something were worth, say, a couple of billion dollars in increased profits to any one corporation, why would they not open the financial floodgates?
The entire "race for the presidency" in 2008 consumed just over $1B (Billion. A thousand million in US counting.) If, say, the remaining "sisters" (no one remembers the Seven Sisters. Life used to be so poetic) got together to promote fossil fuels, they could dredge up over a billion dollars with (four? three?) phone calls.
How could well established politicians even begin to cope with a billion dollars of antiphony?
I'll tell you how -
Hypothesis: Congresscritters will have to abandon even the fiction that they are now representing "the People", as "the People" cannot financially compete with the newly right-ed corporate world.
Congresscritters will be whipsawed back and forth between whichever checkbook is screaming the loudest.
You know what's going to be fun about that?
The Congresscritters will HATE it. They'll hate every second of it. They can no longer maintain their fiction that they're elected to serve the people (this ad hominem does not include Alan Grayson of Orlando, bless the man) they can no longer ensure their own succession to their elected office, and even if they do the bidding of what seems to be the loudest checkbook, there will be no continuity in their ability to bet on the right horse.
The media and publication world will be awash in "creative" product that shills for more corporate profit.
Yes, we have that now. Product placement has given away to vaguely disguised creative product that exists solely to promote. Cynic though I may be, has it occurred to anyone that "Ugly Betty" is canceled shortly after all of the big designers and design houses have been featured thereon?
If you were a Veep in charge of increase profits (and your bonus) and you realized you could get your clothing successfully hawked at every Wal-Mart in the world by having glamorous models flounce around wearing them while being glamorized by the star designer him/herself, the whole while the advertising impact is subtly poured into the consumer's blood stream by a hinky, loveable heroine and amusing dialogue, wouldn't you haul out the checkbook?
It's actually CHEAPER to underwrite a season of a show like Ugly Betty than it is to throw down advertising in magazines, newspapers, internet banners, internet websites, social networking sites, radio, cable, television ...
"Hey, let's just underwrite or create a hit show!"
And the people won't realize that they're drinking the Kool-Aid.
All of it, all of it legitimized by the tortured "logic" of Justice Kennedy's law clerks. My new friend Dahlia has analyzed this, in a series of articles you can find starting with this one.
Did anyone notice that (so far as I could see) the ENTIRE house, EVERY Congresscritter stood and applauded the President's remarks castigating SCOTUS for this decision?
Why would they do that? Is it that they realize that the end to their gravy ladling is neigh?
If, to assure their own elected continuity, they have to create a Constitional amendment to reign in this insanity, so aptly predicted by Paddy Cheyefsky, the battle will be on between the real live little boy created by SCOTUS and known to use as the multi-national corporations and the Congresscritters who gladly labor in their behalf, but are unwilling to participate in an all out bloodbath.
Each one of those corporate leaders will want THEIRS to be the surviving holding company, and the new generals will be the investment bankers who will profit from every skirmish, whether won or lost.
I promised prognostication. Here it is - via metaphor, then clarification.
When you own a house, and you have a dripping water pipe, most of the time you may wonder from time to time why your water bill has increased but you note nothing amiss.
After a time, the drip grows into a constant trickle, and you may find a little dampness, which you mop up, and wonder whether maybe you shouldn't look into it. Yet, there is no impetus.
After a further time, the trickle becomes a steady leak, which undermines foundations, saturates floor plates, and risers, rafters and studs. You may smell some mustiness, or some dampness - but, there's been a lot of rain after all.
One evening, you come home from your day at the modern salt mines - you have labored with no purpose, you have striven for fewer wages, you have accepted longer hours, and shorter vacations, and fewer benefits - and you find that the ceiling has collapsed in a soggy heap of destroyed sheet rock, water pours down from a clearly broken pipe and the floor is ankle deep in water. The carpeting is ruined, the furniture is wet to the knee, the electronics are shorted out -
Will your insurance cover it?
Hey, guess what - the insurance companies have managed to get that considered part of a flood policy, which you didn't buy, because after all - it doesn't flood where you are.
What SCOTUS has done here is to apply the heavy pipe wrench to loosen the pipe right where it's been leaking for thirty years.
And we, the People are about to walk into a soggy, wet mess and find we have no insurance.
In the longer view, I feel that we have begun to see the force that will bring down this house we have been living in. This house with the leaky pipes, that has for so long seemed sound and sturdy.
The salesman has been telling us all along that this is just the right house for us.
In parody of the current featured saleswoman, the People are about to question just how well that "Ayn-ey Rand-ey style of governing" has worked out for us.
(cross posted on Daily Kos)
I am honored and thrilled. She's the business, the dope, the real deal.
Monday night, I had also the great pleasure of having dinner with Lance at Johnny Carrabba's non-mainstream restaurant. We talked, as usual, about a great many things, and he asked me my thoughts about SCOTUS and their recent decision regarding the free speech of corporations to intercede in politics and elections.
In case you have been hiding in your living room with your color TV and your radial tires, hoping to be left alone, the Five Supremes (the fascisti plus Kennedy) decided that corporations had unlimited free speech rights, and could not be limited in that speech to how much money they spent to promote their own goals and ideas. Now, the only focus has been on the unlimited speech of corporations; their ruling also applies to individuals.
So, if you're an individual with unlimited funds, and you wish to produce a movie, a symphony, a television series to promote your political ideology, knock yourself out.
However, even Bill Gates pales in personal resource as compared to the likes of the multinational corporations that already hold sway over our governmental processes.
Bill Gates entire fortune approximates the quarterly profits of ExxonMobil, for instance.
Lance asked me what I thought the outcome of this decision would be.
As does my new FB friend Dahlia, I try to take a longer view toward things -
I think that indeed, there will be a Niagra Falls torrent of money into "soft" campaign manipulation - corporations can now create their own political ads, their own films, television programs, books, print ads, billboards, magazines, door hangars, push cards, polls, sky writers...
However, I think that the normal and unintended consequence of such decisions will far more quickly come to light here.
The "rights" offered by SCOTUS to political speech are not restricted to "citizen" corporations of these United States. That, plus the tendency of any organization or individual to hang itself when given enough rope will put a final stop to this entire Randian intrusion into our public affairs.
Hypothesis: Large, foreign corporation desires to take over "domestic" corporation. They create ads, movies, films, video, television imploring government action in FAVOR of their desire. Their "target" has not the resources to fight them off.
Per SCOTUS, that's just fine.
Hypothesis: Well established Congresscritter behaves in traditional manner, and publicly, legislatively supports "domestic" corporation against aggression, or supports any position antagonistic to large corporation. Large corporation create ads, movies, films, video, television directly in opposition to well established Congresscritter.
If something were worth, say, a couple of billion dollars in increased profits to any one corporation, why would they not open the financial floodgates?
The entire "race for the presidency" in 2008 consumed just over $1B (Billion. A thousand million in US counting.) If, say, the remaining "sisters" (no one remembers the Seven Sisters. Life used to be so poetic) got together to promote fossil fuels, they could dredge up over a billion dollars with (four? three?) phone calls.
How could well established politicians even begin to cope with a billion dollars of antiphony?
I'll tell you how -
Hypothesis: Congresscritters will have to abandon even the fiction that they are now representing "the People", as "the People" cannot financially compete with the newly right-ed corporate world.
Congresscritters will be whipsawed back and forth between whichever checkbook is screaming the loudest.
You know what's going to be fun about that?
The Congresscritters will HATE it. They'll hate every second of it. They can no longer maintain their fiction that they're elected to serve the people (this ad hominem does not include Alan Grayson of Orlando, bless the man) they can no longer ensure their own succession to their elected office, and even if they do the bidding of what seems to be the loudest checkbook, there will be no continuity in their ability to bet on the right horse.
The media and publication world will be awash in "creative" product that shills for more corporate profit.
Yes, we have that now. Product placement has given away to vaguely disguised creative product that exists solely to promote. Cynic though I may be, has it occurred to anyone that "Ugly Betty" is canceled shortly after all of the big designers and design houses have been featured thereon?
If you were a Veep in charge of increase profits (and your bonus) and you realized you could get your clothing successfully hawked at every Wal-Mart in the world by having glamorous models flounce around wearing them while being glamorized by the star designer him/herself, the whole while the advertising impact is subtly poured into the consumer's blood stream by a hinky, loveable heroine and amusing dialogue, wouldn't you haul out the checkbook?
It's actually CHEAPER to underwrite a season of a show like Ugly Betty than it is to throw down advertising in magazines, newspapers, internet banners, internet websites, social networking sites, radio, cable, television ...
"Hey, let's just underwrite or create a hit show!"
And the people won't realize that they're drinking the Kool-Aid.
All of it, all of it legitimized by the tortured "logic" of Justice Kennedy's law clerks. My new friend Dahlia has analyzed this, in a series of articles you can find starting with this one.
Did anyone notice that (so far as I could see) the ENTIRE house, EVERY Congresscritter stood and applauded the President's remarks castigating SCOTUS for this decision?
Why would they do that? Is it that they realize that the end to their gravy ladling is neigh?
If, to assure their own elected continuity, they have to create a Constitional amendment to reign in this insanity, so aptly predicted by Paddy Cheyefsky, the battle will be on between the real live little boy created by SCOTUS and known to use as the multi-national corporations and the Congresscritters who gladly labor in their behalf, but are unwilling to participate in an all out bloodbath.
You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it, is that clear?! You think you have merely stopped a business deal -- that is not the case! The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back. It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity, it is ecological balance! You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations! There are no peoples! There are no Russians. There are no Arabs! There are no third worlds! There is no West! There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multi-variate, multi-national dominion of dollars! petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars!, Reichmarks, rubles, rin, pounds and shekels! It is the international system of currency that determines the totality of life on this planet! That is the natural order of things today! That is the atomic, subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And you have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and you will atone! Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? (pause) You get up on your little twenty-one inch screen, and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T and Dupont, Dow, Union Carbide and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today. What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state -- Karl Marx? They pull out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories and minimax solutions and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments just like we do.So, the battle is now no longer between nations. With the advent of this torrent of corporate communication, the battle will quickly become that of Dassault and EADS versus Boeing, Hyundai versus Tata, AT&T versus Deutsche Telekomm, SkyTeam versus Star, Con-Agra versus A-D-M.
We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably deter- mined by the immutable by-laws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale! It has been since man crawled out of the slime, and our children, Mr.Beale, will live to see that perfect world in which there is no war and famine, oppression and brutality --one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock, all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused. And I have chosen you to preach this evangel, Mr. Beale.
(Ned Beatty as as Arthur Jensen, to Howard Beale played by Peter Finch, in the movie Network, 1976, written by Paddy Chayefsky)
Each one of those corporate leaders will want THEIRS to be the surviving holding company, and the new generals will be the investment bankers who will profit from every skirmish, whether won or lost.
I promised prognostication. Here it is - via metaphor, then clarification.
When you own a house, and you have a dripping water pipe, most of the time you may wonder from time to time why your water bill has increased but you note nothing amiss.
After a time, the drip grows into a constant trickle, and you may find a little dampness, which you mop up, and wonder whether maybe you shouldn't look into it. Yet, there is no impetus.
After a further time, the trickle becomes a steady leak, which undermines foundations, saturates floor plates, and risers, rafters and studs. You may smell some mustiness, or some dampness - but, there's been a lot of rain after all.
One evening, you come home from your day at the modern salt mines - you have labored with no purpose, you have striven for fewer wages, you have accepted longer hours, and shorter vacations, and fewer benefits - and you find that the ceiling has collapsed in a soggy heap of destroyed sheet rock, water pours down from a clearly broken pipe and the floor is ankle deep in water. The carpeting is ruined, the furniture is wet to the knee, the electronics are shorted out -
Will your insurance cover it?
Hey, guess what - the insurance companies have managed to get that considered part of a flood policy, which you didn't buy, because after all - it doesn't flood where you are.
What SCOTUS has done here is to apply the heavy pipe wrench to loosen the pipe right where it's been leaking for thirty years.
And we, the People are about to walk into a soggy, wet mess and find we have no insurance.
In the longer view, I feel that we have begun to see the force that will bring down this house we have been living in. This house with the leaky pipes, that has for so long seemed sound and sturdy.
The salesman has been telling us all along that this is just the right house for us.
In parody of the current featured saleswoman, the People are about to question just how well that "Ayn-ey Rand-ey style of governing" has worked out for us.
(cross posted on Daily Kos)
The heat is ON
And not in a kitschy, 80's music sort of a way. The heat is on, because it's fricking COLD outside (hence inside).
I awoke two hours ago, and got up - it's thunder-y and gray outside. I still need to do laundry, but .. it's too cold to schlepp it outside I think.
It's raining consistently outside now. I have a done of work to accomplish (again) today, so - nearly time to run off!
I *finally* drove the new Camaro the other day. I've been to three dealers previously, and been told a.) we don't let anyone DRIVE them but buyers, b.) you'll have to give a $500 deposit to test drive it, and c.) we have no new ones, only used ones with zero mileage and a $4500 per unit markup.
However, that nice Joe Mahlow at Mac Haik Chevy was a unique experience in the auto selling world. Allow me to share with you my experience that recommends him quite highly:
I LOVE THE NEW CAMARO!
It drives very, very well - it's actually a sweet drive.
YES, it's tank-like in terms of outside viewing, but have any of the (under 40) reviewers so complaining about that issue EVER driven (when they were young and feeling their oats) a pre-1981 Camaro? We are not talking about floor to ceiling windows here.
I think that a lot of reviewers miss the point entirely about the new Camaro - and, largely, the new Mustang and Challenger - these are not cars to provide for sensible transportation of an owner and their belongings/friends. These are cars that are to provide persons who are a bit older a connection to that sense of pride, excitement and uniqueness that they enjoyed prior to the ascension of a B roll actor to the Presidency in having owned one of these cars in their youth.
I can appreciate that perhaps the Challenger has some features that are better than the Camaro, and that the redesigned Mustang may be a better driving and handling car than is either the Challenger or the Camaro, but the point is utterly missed.
If GM/Ford/FiatChry fka DamilerCo can capture the hearts and memories of a few tens of thousands of the millions upon millions of people who owned or were thwarted in their desires for their youthful dream car, they'll succeed mightily. Just as has VW succeeded in this country with the New Beetle, the 'Murrican manufacturers are tapping into an aging market demographic of people who just want to drive what they felt good about BACK THEN, but updated for fuel economy, safety and convenience.
I, for one, am captivated. I was never a Mustang man, and although I loved the Pentastar ponies, I was a Camaro kook from the get-go. My hip and crazy cool Aunt Liz had a 1969 Camaro RS/SS convertible - black, black buckets, black top, hidden headlamps, Rallye II wheels, full console, four little secondary gauges on the console ..
That. Car. Was. Cool. Embodied.
Okay, so it drove atrociously, it rode poorly, it had no back seat, a mail slot trunk, and it was impossible to see out of, unless the top was down - BUT ..
My 1979 Camaro remains the favorite car I've ever owned. Ever. Ever ever. But, that has little to do with its build quality, its ride quality, its handling ..
It was how I FELT.
The 2010 Camaro gets me back there.
I awoke two hours ago, and got up - it's thunder-y and gray outside. I still need to do laundry, but .. it's too cold to schlepp it outside I think.
It's raining consistently outside now. I have a done of work to accomplish (again) today, so - nearly time to run off!
I *finally* drove the new Camaro the other day. I've been to three dealers previously, and been told a.) we don't let anyone DRIVE them but buyers, b.) you'll have to give a $500 deposit to test drive it, and c.) we have no new ones, only used ones with zero mileage and a $4500 per unit markup.
However, that nice Joe Mahlow at Mac Haik Chevy was a unique experience in the auto selling world. Allow me to share with you my experience that recommends him quite highly:
- He answered my internet inquiry. He spelled everything correctly, and answered the questions posed cogently and specifically.
- He greeted me, took me to the car we were discussing, answered questions, and seemed to be understanding that an internet buyer processes and decides differently than does a "traditional" buyer
- He was very amenable to a follow up visit, as my time was limited.
- He responded to my follow up email and answered my questions, and shared available choices with me
I LOVE THE NEW CAMARO!
It drives very, very well - it's actually a sweet drive.
YES, it's tank-like in terms of outside viewing, but have any of the (under 40) reviewers so complaining about that issue EVER driven (when they were young and feeling their oats) a pre-1981 Camaro? We are not talking about floor to ceiling windows here.
I think that a lot of reviewers miss the point entirely about the new Camaro - and, largely, the new Mustang and Challenger - these are not cars to provide for sensible transportation of an owner and their belongings/friends. These are cars that are to provide persons who are a bit older a connection to that sense of pride, excitement and uniqueness that they enjoyed prior to the ascension of a B roll actor to the Presidency in having owned one of these cars in their youth.
I can appreciate that perhaps the Challenger has some features that are better than the Camaro, and that the redesigned Mustang may be a better driving and handling car than is either the Challenger or the Camaro, but the point is utterly missed.
If GM/Ford/FiatChry fka DamilerCo can capture the hearts and memories of a few tens of thousands of the millions upon millions of people who owned or were thwarted in their desires for their youthful dream car, they'll succeed mightily. Just as has VW succeeded in this country with the New Beetle, the 'Murrican manufacturers are tapping into an aging market demographic of people who just want to drive what they felt good about BACK THEN, but updated for fuel economy, safety and convenience.
I, for one, am captivated. I was never a Mustang man, and although I loved the Pentastar ponies, I was a Camaro kook from the get-go. My hip and crazy cool Aunt Liz had a 1969 Camaro RS/SS convertible - black, black buckets, black top, hidden headlamps, Rallye II wheels, full console, four little secondary gauges on the console ..
That. Car. Was. Cool. Embodied.
Okay, so it drove atrociously, it rode poorly, it had no back seat, a mail slot trunk, and it was impossible to see out of, unless the top was down - BUT ..
My 1979 Camaro remains the favorite car I've ever owned. Ever. Ever ever. But, that has little to do with its build quality, its ride quality, its handling ..
It was how I FELT.
The 2010 Camaro gets me back there.
Monday, February 08, 2010
Midnight Moonlight matinee
I am up, apartment tidied and readied, everything organized to take to the car, about to have breakfast and head out (post shower) which at 0714 is pretty damned amazing. I normally am stepping into consciousness at this hour..
Had a dream last night about writing unusual financial articles regarding cars - was reviewing used sales by model and considering increases in sales together with average reported used sales values to determine which cars were GOING to be dogs, and which levels of trade could suggest mechanical/reliability issues. The dream then segued into the Chevy Camaro, and I was driving one (loaned by someone; I still didn't like spending my money on cars) - the hood wouldn't latch, the valance between the radiator and front fascia was so weak and flimsy that it seemed it would break even more than it had, and the boot cover (this car, in the dream, was a convertible) wouldn't latch down - the only way to GET it to stay down was to put the top UP.
But, then I got in it and drove it like I was JoDB (JoDB is my friend who used to race Porsche cars and now sells Audis) or something. THAT part was awesome. Especially since we were parked inside of the old Manhattan post office, which had also been the New York Fed. I had a delightful but willful dark chocolate colored male Chow Chow dog who didn't like the back seat of the Camaro so much.
And then .. I woke up.
Not as disturbing as previous nightly dreams, but..
We're currently experiencing pollen from both ash and juniper (cedar) which, according to the "newz" is "mild to moderate".
I protest that they are not wise to the ways of the ash and juniper pollens. I've been crazy whacked out from the pollens now for more than three weeks. Pollen.com suggests that the pollen is "medium-high" which again calls into question the ability of those at our local "newzpaper" to .. um .. read.
If you're one who dreads pollination, you should zip on over to pollen.com and fill out a free profile. Without having to subscribe to a barrage of ads from big pharma, you can check out pollen counts by zip code, what is in season and get a four day allergy forecast by email each morning.
If you're allergic to cat dander, all I can suggest is to stay away from the old lady on the corner with the cats.
Had a dream last night about writing unusual financial articles regarding cars - was reviewing used sales by model and considering increases in sales together with average reported used sales values to determine which cars were GOING to be dogs, and which levels of trade could suggest mechanical/reliability issues. The dream then segued into the Chevy Camaro, and I was driving one (loaned by someone; I still didn't like spending my money on cars) - the hood wouldn't latch, the valance between the radiator and front fascia was so weak and flimsy that it seemed it would break even more than it had, and the boot cover (this car, in the dream, was a convertible) wouldn't latch down - the only way to GET it to stay down was to put the top UP.
But, then I got in it and drove it like I was JoDB (JoDB is my friend who used to race Porsche cars and now sells Audis) or something. THAT part was awesome. Especially since we were parked inside of the old Manhattan post office, which had also been the New York Fed. I had a delightful but willful dark chocolate colored male Chow Chow dog who didn't like the back seat of the Camaro so much.
And then .. I woke up.
Not as disturbing as previous nightly dreams, but..
We're currently experiencing pollen from both ash and juniper (cedar) which, according to the "newz" is "mild to moderate".
I protest that they are not wise to the ways of the ash and juniper pollens. I've been crazy whacked out from the pollens now for more than three weeks. Pollen.com suggests that the pollen is "medium-high" which again calls into question the ability of those at our local "newzpaper" to .. um .. read.
If you're one who dreads pollination, you should zip on over to pollen.com and fill out a free profile. Without having to subscribe to a barrage of ads from big pharma, you can check out pollen counts by zip code, what is in season and get a four day allergy forecast by email each morning.
If you're allergic to cat dander, all I can suggest is to stay away from the old lady on the corner with the cats.
Friday, January 29, 2010
WHOOP DOODLE!
San Francisco! I love this place.
On the way here, I sat next a guy flying ultimately to Sacramento. His inbound flight had been delayed by the heavy thundershowers in Houston early this morning, and he mis-connected to his early SMF flight. He was routed onto my flight, and then to a connection to Sacto.
He and the other woman in our row were both kvetching about Continental. Basically, Continental was clearly inadequate because they didn't call the guy's original outbound back to the gate.
"I could see it through the window, they'd pushed back but they were just sitting there!"
I said nothing. I just kept reading my book.
The woman on the aisle started in - our flight was scheduled at 11:05, and it was 11:08 - they had already told us we had a very minor maintenance issue - but SHE just KNEW that we were going to be sitting there - captive on the plane.
Moments later, we were told that the maintenance issue was that a seat back wouldn't lock, and mechanics were working on it. She just KNEW that they were making an excuse - Continental was clearly about to cancel the flight.
More people boarded - a steady trickle of people looking for overhead space and a seat.
Now, she just KNEW that Continental was holding out flight to accommodate a few other passengers, that they could cancel another Continental flight later today.
They then closed up the boarding door, but we didn't push back right away. We were now about twelve minutes after scheduled departure.
My row-mates now began to postulate on just how late we were going to be; my SMF bound neighbor was convinced he was now going to get stuck in SFO, as he'd clearly miss his connection.
The flight crew then told us that the jetway wasn't retracting, that the ground techs were working on it, and that they expected to arrive on time in spite of the late departure.
"Now, why would they say THAT?" More speculation.
I kept reading my book. I reflected on my own judgment of their conversation, and decided I needed to take a chill pill.
We were flying on a brand-spanking new airplane, with in seat DirecTV at every seat. We had six flight attendants, were served a free hot meal, had three drink services, and we arrived on the dot. Not a single moment later than the schedule had suggested.
As we taxied into the gate (without delay), my seat mate was suggesting that he had nearly taken a cab across Houston to Hobby Airport, to catch a Southwest flight home.
My ability to hold my tongue evaporated.
"Yes, I've heard that they have better weather"
"Huh? At Hobby?"
"No. Southwest. They have far better weather than does Continental"
I mean, really? We just flew across the continent in a brand new, clean, safe, comfortable airplane, you just got to watch two feature films AND Fox News at your seat, you were fed for free, we arrived right on time AND for three hundred dollars?
A trip from Houston to San Francisco just fifty years ago would have taken a day. Seventy years ago would have taken two and a half. A hundred and fifty years ago, it would have taken MONTHS.
I have a lot more to say about this issue, but I'm gonna stop bitching, and go with David to have some Goat Hill pizza
On the way here, I sat next a guy flying ultimately to Sacramento. His inbound flight had been delayed by the heavy thundershowers in Houston early this morning, and he mis-connected to his early SMF flight. He was routed onto my flight, and then to a connection to Sacto.
He and the other woman in our row were both kvetching about Continental. Basically, Continental was clearly inadequate because they didn't call the guy's original outbound back to the gate.
"I could see it through the window, they'd pushed back but they were just sitting there!"
I said nothing. I just kept reading my book.
The woman on the aisle started in - our flight was scheduled at 11:05, and it was 11:08 - they had already told us we had a very minor maintenance issue - but SHE just KNEW that we were going to be sitting there - captive on the plane.
Moments later, we were told that the maintenance issue was that a seat back wouldn't lock, and mechanics were working on it. She just KNEW that they were making an excuse - Continental was clearly about to cancel the flight.
More people boarded - a steady trickle of people looking for overhead space and a seat.
Now, she just KNEW that Continental was holding out flight to accommodate a few other passengers, that they could cancel another Continental flight later today.
They then closed up the boarding door, but we didn't push back right away. We were now about twelve minutes after scheduled departure.
My row-mates now began to postulate on just how late we were going to be; my SMF bound neighbor was convinced he was now going to get stuck in SFO, as he'd clearly miss his connection.
The flight crew then told us that the jetway wasn't retracting, that the ground techs were working on it, and that they expected to arrive on time in spite of the late departure.
"Now, why would they say THAT?" More speculation.
I kept reading my book. I reflected on my own judgment of their conversation, and decided I needed to take a chill pill.
We were flying on a brand-spanking new airplane, with in seat DirecTV at every seat. We had six flight attendants, were served a free hot meal, had three drink services, and we arrived on the dot. Not a single moment later than the schedule had suggested.
As we taxied into the gate (without delay), my seat mate was suggesting that he had nearly taken a cab across Houston to Hobby Airport, to catch a Southwest flight home.
My ability to hold my tongue evaporated.
"Yes, I've heard that they have better weather"
"Huh? At Hobby?"
"No. Southwest. They have far better weather than does Continental"
I mean, really? We just flew across the continent in a brand new, clean, safe, comfortable airplane, you just got to watch two feature films AND Fox News at your seat, you were fed for free, we arrived right on time AND for three hundred dollars?
A trip from Houston to San Francisco just fifty years ago would have taken a day. Seventy years ago would have taken two and a half. A hundred and fifty years ago, it would have taken MONTHS.
I have a lot more to say about this issue, but I'm gonna stop bitching, and go with David to have some Goat Hill pizza
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Midnight Nightmare Moonlight multi-plex
Involuntarily and unwittingly joining a Mafia-like organization involving rental apartments
Lots of dreams in which my mother is a significant actor
Speaking one last time in church, with hundreds of devoted patrons, and David Boreanaz as the minister
Mayhem and mystery
Please tell me it's just sinus related, due to the fact that all of the trees are pollinating...
Lots of dreams in which my mother is a significant actor
Speaking one last time in church, with hundreds of devoted patrons, and David Boreanaz as the minister
Mayhem and mystery
Please tell me it's just sinus related, due to the fact that all of the trees are pollinating...
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Environmentally unsound, but still worth doing --
This weekend's "honey do" list (for me, from me and by me) -
Yet.
So, when I moved to Houston in 1981, we had just finished a period where arrested individuals of color could be found floating face down in the Bayou with their hands behind their backs. That time, thankfully, has passed, but I continue to object people throwing things into the Bayou.
However - I am oft motivated to ignore my own feelings about the Bayou and express my frustration and displeasure in exactly the same way that the po-leece used to do.
Point in fact - WordPress.
Point in fact - the intense pusillanimous political pissing contest
Point in fact - people who drive trucks that are too large for parking spaces, and block traffic with them
Point in fact - the notion that government is incompetent, therefore tax collections should be denied government, but government should continue to supply road maintenance, infrastructure improvement, fire and police protection, be fully staffed at all times, have no waiting lines or fees, and be Doris Day perky while doing so.
Point in fact - people who want airfare to be $200, regardless of where they are flying, but then expect champagne, no line, a hot meal, unlimited baggage allowance and no weather, no delays, and to be first up and first off the airplane.
Point in fact - people who refuse to leave their cell phones idle during a movie or theater performance.
That is a whole class of people about whom I wouldn't mind reading that they were found floating face down in the bayou with their cell phone clenched in their hands - behind their backs.
- Laundry
- Clean the apartment
- Wax the car
- Work on my exterior signage for tax season
- Help a friend with some demand letters tomorrow at lunch
- Try to get my WordPress install finished so I can start putting up content
- Photograph/describe/upload listings for eBay
- Write at least four chapters of book #1
- Outline (new) book #6
- Read the rest of Dan Brown's new book
- Map out the 4G integrated vehicle system I want designed/installed
Yet.
So, when I moved to Houston in 1981, we had just finished a period where arrested individuals of color could be found floating face down in the Bayou with their hands behind their backs. That time, thankfully, has passed, but I continue to object people throwing things into the Bayou.
However - I am oft motivated to ignore my own feelings about the Bayou and express my frustration and displeasure in exactly the same way that the po-leece used to do.
Point in fact - WordPress.
Point in fact - the intense pusillanimous political pissing contest
Point in fact - people who drive trucks that are too large for parking spaces, and block traffic with them
Point in fact - the notion that government is incompetent, therefore tax collections should be denied government, but government should continue to supply road maintenance, infrastructure improvement, fire and police protection, be fully staffed at all times, have no waiting lines or fees, and be Doris Day perky while doing so.
Point in fact - people who want airfare to be $200, regardless of where they are flying, but then expect champagne, no line, a hot meal, unlimited baggage allowance and no weather, no delays, and to be first up and first off the airplane.
Point in fact - people who refuse to leave their cell phones idle during a movie or theater performance.
That is a whole class of people about whom I wouldn't mind reading that they were found floating face down in the bayou with their cell phone clenched in their hands - behind their backs.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Not paying it forward, just throwing it forward
I offer this with the caveat that I have assembled these facts in only a couple of hours of research and a history from my own memory of having watched all of this, and followed the bouncing bank ball. The story is essential accurate, but isn't represented to be a thorough and complete examination.
Early today, Guy sent me a portion of an article from the New York Times that points out JP Morgan Chase may have made over $12,000,000,000 in profits last year, but that they are losing a bunch of money on their consumer credit operation.
Here's the thing - Chase, back when it was Chemical and Chase (does anyone remember that Chemical acquired Chase Manhattan to cover over their own dreadful reputation in 1996?) had very little in the way of credit card operations.
Bank One "merged" with Chase in 2004. It was running for cover because of .. losses in its card services unit. At the time, Bank One was the largest credit card issuer in the country (I think - if not THE largest, one of the largest). It became that by swallowing up First USA - which WAS an "innovator" and the fourth largest issuer of Visa and MasterCard.
Why did it buy First USA? First USA was up to its earrings in desperation.
First USA was founded as MNet in 1985 - a division of MCorp, which was originally the Mercantile Trust Company of Dallas, Texas. MCorp (and its banking subsidiary MBank) aggressively expanded during the initial go-go years of the 1980s, and established a huge credit card operation, issuing over 1.3 Million credit cards.
MCorp, its growth dampened by over expansion, sold its best assets (is this not the most oft repeated story in American business? Expand wildly, mostly on borrowed money, sell off the best elements in desperation, then what's left folds up like a cheap tent) and the first to go was its highly profitable credit card business. Sold to Lomas and Nettleton (another storied name, lost to history) it became Lomas Bank, and started buying up everything that was issuing credit cards. Bright Banc (I haven't thought of them in twenty years) and Dollar Dry Dock were swallowed up and then .. wait for it .. Lomas ran into financial trouble and .. sold off Lomas Bank to a spin off, financed by Merrill - and run by the SAME EXECUTIVES THAT MADE THIS.. oh, I can't go on.
Now, they're called First USA. And they're the 13th largest issuer of credit cards. But, they have no depository bank upon which to build their massive issue of unsecured debt. AND, they represent the beginning of the sub-prime curve, Bright Banc having been one of the first issuers of First Premier type, nearly 100% APR credit cards to people with atrocious credit.
They owed $2.1 Billion in 1992 (when that really meant something - about $3.2 Billion in 2009 dollars). So, they raised money - in the highly fashionable way of selling a very small portion of the outstanding stock for a whale of a lot of money, making their own holdings immensely valuable. Then, they can release the un-offered stock into the market at the "market" price, reaping huge profits.
First USA focused on people who carried large balances, rather than paying them down each month. They introduced variable rate credit cards. In 1994, they were huge. The financial media spoke of them in divine terms.
Maybe you remember that Bank One was a merged bank of Bank One (Ohio) and FirstChicagoNBD (which was itself a combination of four of the largest banks in Detroit and Chicago).
I will let this quote demonstrate that First USA was a black hole by 1997:
Hey, so that court decision was in 2004. Guess what else happened then?
Bank One sold itself to Chase.
Chase, known for conservative management, acquired the leading combined "go go" big bank in the country, including their enormous sucking sound known as "Bank One Card Services".
Then, just to make SURE that they were well positioned, they acquired Washington Mutual, the owners of Long Beach Mortgage (one of the largest sub-prime mortgage lenders) and Providian Financial (one of the largest sub-prime credit card issuers).
Is it any surprise at all that Chase is "hemorrhaging money"?
Let's review:
Who's going to acquire Chase? Note that I don't even discuss Chase's recent acquisition of Bearn Stearns.
How many times has the taxpayer bailed out this behemoth of over-expansion, risky lending, directors and "investment banks" profiting for themselves at the expense of "regular" stockholders?
Why is having megalithic financial institutions like this sensible?
P.S. - Just as with the seizure/closure of MBank, the seizure/closure of Washington Mutual has shareholders suing to regain some value for their lost stock positions, claiming that the FDIC acted to benefit Chase, rather than shareholders. Give it six years.
Current value currency conversions are approximate and are done for free on the Dollar Times website.
Early today, Guy sent me a portion of an article from the New York Times that points out JP Morgan Chase may have made over $12,000,000,000 in profits last year, but that they are losing a bunch of money on their consumer credit operation.
Chase’s consumer businesses, however, are still hemorrhaging money. Chase Card Services, its big credit card unit, lost $2.23 billion in 2009 and is unlikely to turn a profit this year. Chase retail services eked out a $93 million profit for 2009, though it posted $399 million annual loss in the fourth quarter. To try to stop the bleeding, the bank agreed to temporarily modify about 600,000 mortgages. Only about 89,000 of those adjustments have been made permanent.
Here's the thing - Chase, back when it was Chemical and Chase (does anyone remember that Chemical acquired Chase Manhattan to cover over their own dreadful reputation in 1996?) had very little in the way of credit card operations.
Bank One "merged" with Chase in 2004. It was running for cover because of .. losses in its card services unit. At the time, Bank One was the largest credit card issuer in the country (I think - if not THE largest, one of the largest). It became that by swallowing up First USA - which WAS an "innovator" and the fourth largest issuer of Visa and MasterCard.
Why did it buy First USA? First USA was up to its earrings in desperation.
First USA was founded as MNet in 1985 - a division of MCorp, which was originally the Mercantile Trust Company of Dallas, Texas. MCorp (and its banking subsidiary MBank) aggressively expanded during the initial go-go years of the 1980s, and established a huge credit card operation, issuing over 1.3 Million credit cards.
This will be amusing and important in a moment, but the banking operations of MBank were sold to Bank One for.. a bag of oranges in the late 1980s
MCorp, its growth dampened by over expansion, sold its best assets (is this not the most oft repeated story in American business? Expand wildly, mostly on borrowed money, sell off the best elements in desperation, then what's left folds up like a cheap tent) and the first to go was its highly profitable credit card business. Sold to Lomas and Nettleton (another storied name, lost to history) it became Lomas Bank, and started buying up everything that was issuing credit cards. Bright Banc (I haven't thought of them in twenty years) and Dollar Dry Dock were swallowed up and then .. wait for it .. Lomas ran into financial trouble and .. sold off Lomas Bank to a spin off, financed by Merrill - and run by the SAME EXECUTIVES THAT MADE THIS.. oh, I can't go on.
Now, they're called First USA. And they're the 13th largest issuer of credit cards. But, they have no depository bank upon which to build their massive issue of unsecured debt. AND, they represent the beginning of the sub-prime curve, Bright Banc having been one of the first issuers of First Premier type, nearly 100% APR credit cards to people with atrocious credit.
They owed $2.1 Billion in 1992 (when that really meant something - about $3.2 Billion in 2009 dollars). So, they raised money - in the highly fashionable way of selling a very small portion of the outstanding stock for a whale of a lot of money, making their own holdings immensely valuable. Then, they can release the un-offered stock into the market at the "market" price, reaping huge profits.
First USA focused on people who carried large balances, rather than paying them down each month. They introduced variable rate credit cards. In 1994, they were huge. The financial media spoke of them in divine terms.
Maybe you remember that Bank One was a merged bank of Bank One (Ohio) and FirstChicagoNBD (which was itself a combination of four of the largest banks in Detroit and Chicago).
I will let this quote demonstrate that First USA was a black hole by 1997:
In its decision, the Court held that Old Banc One Shareholders who purchased their stock after the August 1998 Prospectus was disseminated would have been more likely to vote against the merger had information regarding problems plaintiffs allege at Banc One's credit card division, First USA Bank, N.A., been disclosed before the merger.
Hey, so that court decision was in 2004. Guess what else happened then?
Bank One sold itself to Chase.
Chase, known for conservative management, acquired the leading combined "go go" big bank in the country, including their enormous sucking sound known as "Bank One Card Services".
Then, just to make SURE that they were well positioned, they acquired Washington Mutual, the owners of Long Beach Mortgage (one of the largest sub-prime mortgage lenders) and Providian Financial (one of the largest sub-prime credit card issuers).
Is it any surprise at all that Chase is "hemorrhaging money"?
Let's review:
- MBank, which exploded in expansion, failed.
- MNet became Lomas Bank, which exploded in expansion, and failed.
- MBank was given to Bank One Ohio for less than the physical plant asset value.
- Texas Commerce Bank, exposed to huge loan losses in the oil market crash of the mid 1980's, sold itself to Chemical Bank.
- FirstCity, which failed TWICE under the weight of enormous loans made in the energy industry, had the largest non-manufacturer auto loan business in the country.
- Chemical Bank (still called Texas Commerce in Texas) acquired all of the assets of FirstCity.
- Washington Mutual acquires Home Savings and expands to be the largest Savings and Loan in the country, competing directly against the huge "money center" banks (Citi, Chase, Wells, NCNB/Nations)
- Chemical Bank, which had made huge loans to LDCs (Latin America, at high, variable rates of interest), causing political unrest (one must ask ones' self whether illegal immigration from Mexico would have occurred in the absence of Citibank and Chemical's massive loans to Mexico in the 1970s and 1980s that Mexico couldn't repay) acquired Chase Manhattan to gain Chase's pristine reputation.
- Bank One, owner of First USA and MBank LIES to persuade FirstChicagoNBD shareholders to merge with it, providing almost seven years of cover for the credit card mess
- Bank One, including FirstChicago "merges" with Chase nee Chemical.
- Chase acquires Washington Mutual.
Who's going to acquire Chase? Note that I don't even discuss Chase's recent acquisition of Bearn Stearns.
How many times has the taxpayer bailed out this behemoth of over-expansion, risky lending, directors and "investment banks" profiting for themselves at the expense of "regular" stockholders?
Why is having megalithic financial institutions like this sensible?
P.S. - Just as with the seizure/closure of MBank, the seizure/closure of Washington Mutual has shareholders suing to regain some value for their lost stock positions, claiming that the FDIC acted to benefit Chase, rather than shareholders. Give it six years.
Current value currency conversions are approximate and are done for free on the Dollar Times website.
Overcast? Yes. Grumpy? No.
The gentle sounds of rain on the skylight in my kitchen always makes me smile.
Why do I keep having dreams about my Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner? Last night, my trusty Dirt Devil and I went outside to vacuum out the trunk of Victoria Regina (whose butt I complimented yesterday on Twitter). There was dust and debris EVERYWHERE and the vacuum quietly pulled it all into itself.
Weird.
I think that this underscores the idea that dreams are frequently timely and vivid, but don't convey some huge meaning. It's the brain's playtime, and the things that one has been focusing on tend to star in the latest episode.
Except that I had a BIG dream the other night about a friend from high school.
I got SO MUCH DONE today, I'm just giddy. All of the filing that was within the four walls of my office is done, and done RIGHT. The 2009 income/expense documents and receipts are all sorted and organized. I even cleaned up computer folders.
It feels like FREEDOM. Applying myself to a very short list of tasks tomorrow, I will find that there is NOTHING in my life left undone.
Why do I keep having dreams about my Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner? Last night, my trusty Dirt Devil and I went outside to vacuum out the trunk of Victoria Regina (whose butt I complimented yesterday on Twitter). There was dust and debris EVERYWHERE and the vacuum quietly pulled it all into itself.
Weird.
I think that this underscores the idea that dreams are frequently timely and vivid, but don't convey some huge meaning. It's the brain's playtime, and the things that one has been focusing on tend to star in the latest episode.
Except that I had a BIG dream the other night about a friend from high school.
I got SO MUCH DONE today, I'm just giddy. All of the filing that was within the four walls of my office is done, and done RIGHT. The 2009 income/expense documents and receipts are all sorted and organized. I even cleaned up computer folders.
It feels like FREEDOM. Applying myself to a very short list of tasks tomorrow, I will find that there is NOTHING in my life left undone.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Once fragged, no de-fragging
De-fragging is just the next step after investing months of releasing so much "stuff" in my life - now, I'm releasing mental "stuff" in the way of projects either started and unfinished, or conceived but not started.
This all arose from my disassociating myself from the church, first intending that it be a ramping down of responsibility and activity, and then a total break. I began to get a sense of what additional time and mental energy would be available and then realized that I had a goodly number of OTHER mental and time vampires camped out in my head.
First, the stuff, then the relationships, now the unfinished business.
This is creating so much freedom and excitement for me!
I don't know that focusing on just the one thing is going to make me an international star, but I'm going to focus on it, finish it and finish it well to the best of my abilities.
More as it develops!
This all arose from my disassociating myself from the church, first intending that it be a ramping down of responsibility and activity, and then a total break. I began to get a sense of what additional time and mental energy would be available and then realized that I had a goodly number of OTHER mental and time vampires camped out in my head.
First, the stuff, then the relationships, now the unfinished business.
This is creating so much freedom and excitement for me!
I don't know that focusing on just the one thing is going to make me an international star, but I'm going to focus on it, finish it and finish it well to the best of my abilities.
More as it develops!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
The Life of Reilly
Funny how things work out.
Back in the 1970s, my mother's family had regular reunions, during which Uncle Woody would present his latest findings on the family lineage. He made several trips to Ireland to track back as far as he could, getting back to a single male in the 1840s.
As is most often the case, the grandkids weren't in the least bit interested. We'd wander off to the shuffleboard court, or to horse around near the lake when Uncle Woody would start his spiel. I knew that the family had come over to the New World during the potato famine and that was about all I was interested in.
A few years ago, I started noticing that most of the county names in Northern Michigan were identical to county names in Ireland, and that many of the city names were as well. This led to a very cursory review of Irish counties, during which I discovered that County Cavan was likely where my sole ancestor was from. Cavan, interestingly, means "Handsome" and Cavanagh means "Follower of Cavan", rendered here in more modern times as "Kevin.
County Cavan was devastated by the potato famine.
County Cavan for years was dominated by a single family - the O'Reillys. The O'Reillys were so powerful and wealthy that, in the 1600s, they had their own currency. Their success, power and wealth led to the very common phrase "The Life of Reilly".
Seemingly, my ancestor was not of that particular background.
It was a conversation with an extraordinarily handsome man from County Meath, adjacent to County Cavan that induced me to do a little more looking around. County Meath, lead to County Cavan, lead to "what's that mean" and now I know.
His name isn't Kevin, or it would be just TOO funny.
Just funny how things turn out.
Back in the 1970s, my mother's family had regular reunions, during which Uncle Woody would present his latest findings on the family lineage. He made several trips to Ireland to track back as far as he could, getting back to a single male in the 1840s.
As is most often the case, the grandkids weren't in the least bit interested. We'd wander off to the shuffleboard court, or to horse around near the lake when Uncle Woody would start his spiel. I knew that the family had come over to the New World during the potato famine and that was about all I was interested in.
A few years ago, I started noticing that most of the county names in Northern Michigan were identical to county names in Ireland, and that many of the city names were as well. This led to a very cursory review of Irish counties, during which I discovered that County Cavan was likely where my sole ancestor was from. Cavan, interestingly, means "Handsome" and Cavanagh means "Follower of Cavan", rendered here in more modern times as "Kevin.
County Cavan was devastated by the potato famine.
County Cavan for years was dominated by a single family - the O'Reillys. The O'Reillys were so powerful and wealthy that, in the 1600s, they had their own currency. Their success, power and wealth led to the very common phrase "The Life of Reilly".
Seemingly, my ancestor was not of that particular background.
It was a conversation with an extraordinarily handsome man from County Meath, adjacent to County Cavan that induced me to do a little more looking around. County Meath, lead to County Cavan, lead to "what's that mean" and now I know.
His name isn't Kevin, or it would be just TOO funny.
Just funny how things turn out.
Sunday without church
I'm sitting in my slightly adjusted living room, enjoying the sunshine flooding in through the patio door and the dryness associated with having the heat on. It's still only 62 degrees (EPA Energy Star settings, remember?) but the windows aren't all covered with condensed water vapor.
Or, I guess it would be more accurate to say that the windows aren't covered in water droplets, as a result of condensation.
Church for today was called off due to the lasting temperatures, and that we have no heat in the building.
Don't get me wrong, every year in Houston the temperatures drop down like this, but the ground and the infrastructure doesn't cold soak as it has this year. We rarely get ice forming on the roads and ground.
So, the church is cold soaked today. My old theater buddy Erin posted on FB just a minute ago that her church didn't have heat today either, so don't think that something is/was WRONG that the place I've spent the last eight years of Sundays was too cold this morning.
Which is just fine, as I didn't want to go today anyway. I'm waiting for brunch with a sleepy friend, and then I'm going to work on some spec work projects. Spec, meaning no one's going to pay me for doing them up front - I may earn something from them later on.
Everything's dusted, everything's vacuumed and I just LOVE having a place that I can cruise through in no time flat, leaving everything nearly Edgar certified! I did NOT however shampoo the white upholstered dining chairs, which I think will be required soon.
Tax season is about to start and I'm READY. I've already heard from a few tax folks, and I just LOVE hearing from them. I know, you already think I'm nuts, but filling out forms and figuring out what dry strings of words mean is something I'm brilliant at, and that I can bring comfort to others doing that AND that they support me for doing that which I do well already is just symbiotically grand.
Douglas Hord
Create Your Badge
Or, I guess it would be more accurate to say that the windows aren't covered in water droplets, as a result of condensation.
Church for today was called off due to the lasting temperatures, and that we have no heat in the building.
Don't get me wrong, every year in Houston the temperatures drop down like this, but the ground and the infrastructure doesn't cold soak as it has this year. We rarely get ice forming on the roads and ground.
So, the church is cold soaked today. My old theater buddy Erin posted on FB just a minute ago that her church didn't have heat today either, so don't think that something is/was WRONG that the place I've spent the last eight years of Sundays was too cold this morning.
Which is just fine, as I didn't want to go today anyway. I'm waiting for brunch with a sleepy friend, and then I'm going to work on some spec work projects. Spec, meaning no one's going to pay me for doing them up front - I may earn something from them later on.
Everything's dusted, everything's vacuumed and I just LOVE having a place that I can cruise through in no time flat, leaving everything nearly Edgar certified! I did NOT however shampoo the white upholstered dining chairs, which I think will be required soon.
Tax season is about to start and I'm READY. I've already heard from a few tax folks, and I just LOVE hearing from them. I know, you already think I'm nuts, but filling out forms and figuring out what dry strings of words mean is something I'm brilliant at, and that I can bring comfort to others doing that AND that they support me for doing that which I do well already is just symbiotically grand.
Douglas Hord
Create Your Badge
Saturday, January 09, 2010
So, I gave in and turned on the heat
And nothing happened. Nothing at all.
After sharing that the temperature has been between 58 and 64 in the apartment for days, I finally decided that it was time to bring the temperature up just a tad.
So, I switched the programmable thermostat to "heat" and confirmed that it was set for "Energy Star" programming.
Which keeps the heat at about 62 degrees. So, for the first hour that the heat was turned on, it didn't COME on.
Until just a moment ago. It will heat for a few minutes and then, it will shut off.
Why is it that people run their air conditioners until the temperature is below 70 in the summer, and then run their heaters until the temperature is above 75 in the winter?
The point I've been making is that a human can be quite comfortable between 62 and 70 degrees in the winter - you just have to THINK. Something most people refuse to engage in.
After sharing that the temperature has been between 58 and 64 in the apartment for days, I finally decided that it was time to bring the temperature up just a tad.
So, I switched the programmable thermostat to "heat" and confirmed that it was set for "Energy Star" programming.
Which keeps the heat at about 62 degrees. So, for the first hour that the heat was turned on, it didn't COME on.
Until just a moment ago. It will heat for a few minutes and then, it will shut off.
Why is it that people run their air conditioners until the temperature is below 70 in the summer, and then run their heaters until the temperature is above 75 in the winter?
The point I've been making is that a human can be quite comfortable between 62 and 70 degrees in the winter - you just have to THINK. Something most people refuse to engage in.
I still haven't turned on the heat (Saturday morning update edition)
When I awoke this morning, I could tell it was a mite chillier in the bedroom than it had been the morning before. I was very comfortable all night, and as I set foot into the apartment, I didn't think it was all that much colder - it wasn't - 57. Another gloriously sunny day today suggests that there will be more solar heat collection today.
If I were to clean the apartment today, it would go a long way to keeping me warm and happy.
If I were to clean the apartment today, it would go a long way to keeping me warm and happy.
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