My favorite part is the 20 seconds of wiffle ball footage, cause that's the test of a good Sjambok.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Remember that bailout?....
Oh yeah what ever happened with that? How did the buying up toxic mortgages go? Nope not doing that anymore... okay... Well what are you doing? The answer... not much. According to Bill Moyers Journal, Paulson has destroyed confidence that he or anyone in the Bush administration can do anything to stop this or turn it around. We will basically be coasting (without wheels) into the next administration. An excellent (or at least workable) plan for preventing foreclosures has actually been proposed by someone in the Bush administration and Paulson and Bush said... no thank you (more on that later).
Anyway, check out the transcripts for this week's Bill Moyers Journal. I will give you some choice exerps, this weeks guest is Joe Nocera, a writer for the NY Times... (Bill Moyers was out this week).
DEBORAH AMOS: When there was talk in the beginning about the bailout plan, that was one of the major issues that Hank Paulson talked about that we have to fix the mortgage crisis. He acknowledges that it is at the basis of what the problem is. And yet he hasn't addressed it. Why?
JOE NOCERA: It's so hard to figure out. Number one, as Barney Frank said this week in one of those hearings, Mr. Secretary, it is explicit in the legislation that preventing foreclosures is one of the things this money is for, which he kind of keeps denying. Secondly, he makes this distinction between investing in the financial institutions, which he does call investing, and giving money to homeowners or doing something for homeowners, which he calls spending. In other words, he sees that as a government spending program. And he's opposed to that. But if you don't do something for homeowners, not only will it hurt the economy, it'll hurt neighborhoods. It'll hurt the next door neighbor. And by the way, it'll go all the way up the chain of Wall Street and you'll start to see the write offs all over again and the same problems all over again.
DEBORAH AMOS: The counter-argument has been about moral hazard. That if you bail out homeowners, there'll be more people who will say, "I need help."
JOE NOCERA: And there's more than a little truth to that. And the moral hazard is a real argument. And it has driven a lot of the thinking in Treasury about what to do about homeowners. It's like if you give people incentive to foreclose, more people will decide, "Hey, I'm about to foreclose." So my problem with it really is that if you're going to say that about homeowners, why don't say the same thing about financial institutions? Why doesn't moral hazard work for them as well? And, you know, the government has bent over backwards to give money to financial institutions whether they need it or not. And they just don't seem to have the same set of standards.
Turns out there actually is a plan out there that looks like it will work to help struggling homeowners that helps solve some of the moral hazard argument. It was proposed by the head of the FDIC Sheila Bair, a Bush appointee...
JOE NOCERA: Well, she has been in this position where she has, the FDIC took over a bank in California, IndyMac, and they have used it as a petri dish to experiment with mortgage modifications to see what can be done, what can't be done, how many can we do. Now, the program is still in its beginning stages. There are 60,000 mortgages at IndyMac. And I think they've only modified 3,000 or 4,000. But she does view this as a way to do major modifications. And the idea is, you know, you get it down to 31 percent of their income, however you have to do it. Income, interest rate readjustments, even some principle readjustments. You broaden the length of the loan. You make them fixed rates. There's a lot of things she's doing.
DEBORAH AMOS: And they work?
JOE NOCERA: They absolutely do work. Now, what she wants to do on the federal level is cut a deal with banks that basically says if you modify mortgages so you take a bit of a hit and you do same thing we're doing at IndyMac, we will guarantee that you won't lose any more money on those deals. In other words, if the person re-defaults after you do a modification, the government will guarantee to cover the loss on the re-default. The estimate for that at the moment is about $40 billion. She has been negotiating with the White House for well over a month on this and the Treasury Department. And they basically think it's too much money and they don't want to spend it. And they also think her criteria is too broad, and they want to narrow it. So she finally, in disgust really, just posted her plan on the FDIC website and basically said, "Here, America, is what I want to do and they won't let me do it." She is completely broken with the administration.
There you go, 700 Billion to throw at Wall Street, and 40 Billion to actually help real Americans facing foreclosure... and the 40 Billion is too much money... Here is a link to an article about her plan.
This post is too long and boring as it is, but I will leave you with this uplifting paragraph..
DEBORAH AMOS: For you, what's the headline this week?
JOE NOCERA: I think the headline this week is "Government Throws in the Towel." It's a terrible thing to say, but I do think that's the headline this week. The one good headline, we haven't really talked about it much, is that the Democrats told the auto companies to come back with a plan in 12 to 14 days. And you think to yourself, "Guys, don't you realize you should have come up with a plan in the first place?" You can't just come up and beg for money after all the problems you've had.
Anyway, check out the transcripts for this week's Bill Moyers Journal. I will give you some choice exerps, this weeks guest is Joe Nocera, a writer for the NY Times... (Bill Moyers was out this week).
DEBORAH AMOS: When there was talk in the beginning about the bailout plan, that was one of the major issues that Hank Paulson talked about that we have to fix the mortgage crisis. He acknowledges that it is at the basis of what the problem is. And yet he hasn't addressed it. Why?
JOE NOCERA: It's so hard to figure out. Number one, as Barney Frank said this week in one of those hearings, Mr. Secretary, it is explicit in the legislation that preventing foreclosures is one of the things this money is for, which he kind of keeps denying. Secondly, he makes this distinction between investing in the financial institutions, which he does call investing, and giving money to homeowners or doing something for homeowners, which he calls spending. In other words, he sees that as a government spending program. And he's opposed to that. But if you don't do something for homeowners, not only will it hurt the economy, it'll hurt neighborhoods. It'll hurt the next door neighbor. And by the way, it'll go all the way up the chain of Wall Street and you'll start to see the write offs all over again and the same problems all over again.
DEBORAH AMOS: The counter-argument has been about moral hazard. That if you bail out homeowners, there'll be more people who will say, "I need help."
JOE NOCERA: And there's more than a little truth to that. And the moral hazard is a real argument. And it has driven a lot of the thinking in Treasury about what to do about homeowners. It's like if you give people incentive to foreclose, more people will decide, "Hey, I'm about to foreclose." So my problem with it really is that if you're going to say that about homeowners, why don't say the same thing about financial institutions? Why doesn't moral hazard work for them as well? And, you know, the government has bent over backwards to give money to financial institutions whether they need it or not. And they just don't seem to have the same set of standards.
Turns out there actually is a plan out there that looks like it will work to help struggling homeowners that helps solve some of the moral hazard argument. It was proposed by the head of the FDIC Sheila Bair, a Bush appointee...
JOE NOCERA: Well, she has been in this position where she has, the FDIC took over a bank in California, IndyMac, and they have used it as a petri dish to experiment with mortgage modifications to see what can be done, what can't be done, how many can we do. Now, the program is still in its beginning stages. There are 60,000 mortgages at IndyMac. And I think they've only modified 3,000 or 4,000. But she does view this as a way to do major modifications. And the idea is, you know, you get it down to 31 percent of their income, however you have to do it. Income, interest rate readjustments, even some principle readjustments. You broaden the length of the loan. You make them fixed rates. There's a lot of things she's doing.
DEBORAH AMOS: And they work?
JOE NOCERA: They absolutely do work. Now, what she wants to do on the federal level is cut a deal with banks that basically says if you modify mortgages so you take a bit of a hit and you do same thing we're doing at IndyMac, we will guarantee that you won't lose any more money on those deals. In other words, if the person re-defaults after you do a modification, the government will guarantee to cover the loss on the re-default. The estimate for that at the moment is about $40 billion. She has been negotiating with the White House for well over a month on this and the Treasury Department. And they basically think it's too much money and they don't want to spend it. And they also think her criteria is too broad, and they want to narrow it. So she finally, in disgust really, just posted her plan on the FDIC website and basically said, "Here, America, is what I want to do and they won't let me do it." She is completely broken with the administration.
There you go, 700 Billion to throw at Wall Street, and 40 Billion to actually help real Americans facing foreclosure... and the 40 Billion is too much money... Here is a link to an article about her plan.
This post is too long and boring as it is, but I will leave you with this uplifting paragraph..
DEBORAH AMOS: For you, what's the headline this week?
JOE NOCERA: I think the headline this week is "Government Throws in the Towel." It's a terrible thing to say, but I do think that's the headline this week. The one good headline, we haven't really talked about it much, is that the Democrats told the auto companies to come back with a plan in 12 to 14 days. And you think to yourself, "Guys, don't you realize you should have come up with a plan in the first place?" You can't just come up and beg for money after all the problems you've had.
an epidemic of civic ignorance
“It can truly be said that we are suffering from an epidemic of civic ignorance,” Bunting said. “The extent of failure is pervasive, cutting across every segment of the American population."
Check out this article. God we are dumb. Maybe we deserve a horrible government.
-- Only 27 percent of Americans know that the Bill of Rights prohibits the government from establishing an official religion in the U.S.
-- 54 percent do not know that the Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war, not the president.
Politicians are worse than the average American if you can imagine that...
-- Seventy-nine (79) percent of elected officeholders did not know that the Bill of Rights expressly forbids the government establishment of an official religion.
-- A large number (43 percent) of politicians did not know what the Electoral College does.
Is it elitist to suggest that you should have to pass an utterly simple civics test to be able to vote?... Okay, of course it is elitist, quite elitist, but I don't care anymore. If you have no understanding of government, history, or current events, I don't think you should be able to vote period. Why should that person be able to elect officials for people who do know what is going on? I am not talking hard here... I am talking super super easy like ... Who is the current president, the current vice president? Was Saddam Hussein responsible for 9/11? How many states are there? Name a 1st amendment right... anything from of the bill of rights for that matter. Whose side was Japan on in WW2? Which countries border the US? Name a branch of government... any branch..
To be safe, make 50% a passing grade... again, I am not talking hard here whatsoever....
I think this would serve 2 purposes, 1) it would exclude people from voting who don't know what the hell they are doing, which is good for everyone (including the people who failed the test it could be argued) and 2) it would cause people who may be borderline passing, but still want to vote to actually bone up on basic government facts to pass the test. People would have a reason (other than the obvious one) for learning about current events, history, and the government. How does the old expression go?... "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention." Maybe this would get people to pay attention.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Shalom, Shalom!!
I was flipping through the radio dial on the ride home and I heard U2's Vertigo... but it wasn't quite right......My first inkling that something was wrong occurred when instead of "Hello, Hello", I heard "Shalom, Shalom"
Watch if you dare!!!
Here is the chorus...
Shalom, shalom
I'm at a place called Jericho
Christ's in town, and all I know is the Dude's really something
I can feel
His love reaching me now
Read Luke 19 you'll see how
Cause He's real! Real!
Here are some of Apologetix's other "hits"
Corinthians...... In the End by Linkin Park
Sounds of Silas.... Sounds of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel
Hotel Can't Afford Ya... Hotel California by The Eagles
JC's Mom.. Stacey's Mom by Fountains Of Wayne
The Real Sin Savior..... The Real Slim Shady by Eminem
Look Yourself...... Lose Yourself by Eminem
I could go on with the cringe inducing titles but you get the point. I just had to share this with everyone as Rx and I have been yelling "Shalom, Shalom" to eachother for the last coupla days...
Watch if you dare!!!
Here is the chorus...
Shalom, shalom
I'm at a place called Jericho
Christ's in town, and all I know is the Dude's really something
I can feel
His love reaching me now
Read Luke 19 you'll see how
Cause He's real! Real!
Here are some of Apologetix's other "hits"
Corinthians...... In the End by Linkin Park
Sounds of Silas.... Sounds of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel
Hotel Can't Afford Ya... Hotel California by The Eagles
JC's Mom.. Stacey's Mom by Fountains Of Wayne
The Real Sin Savior..... The Real Slim Shady by Eminem
Look Yourself...... Lose Yourself by Eminem
I could go on with the cringe inducing titles but you get the point. I just had to share this with everyone as Rx and I have been yelling "Shalom, Shalom" to eachother for the last coupla days...
Monday, November 17, 2008
Bathroom Decor
These are my foot X-rays.. They are uninteresting (and negative) by themselves, but their new location makes them unique. 
I decided to put them up in our bathroom window. Every morning it is really bright in the bathroom because of the east facing window. This is quite a rude awakening. It reminded me of a light box for X-ray viewing. I recently got some X-rays of my foot so I decided to just put them up. This 4 x 3 foot room is the only room Roxanne allows me to have complete artistic freedom in. She gets the rest of the house. Taking into account my unique style, I consider myself lucky I have this room as my canvas.
For some reason Rx gets free Dog Fancy and Cat Fancy magazines. I have been decorating the other walls of the bathroom with each month's "centerfolds" . My favs are the Maine Coons at the top of the previous picture.
The Boston Terrior is nice too..
Thursday, November 13, 2008
changing table
Thanks mom for this awesome changing table... I finally got it assembled. I have Mr. Froggie strapped in for scale. The baby room is coming together!!!!
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