Ostrich, meet sand

Financial Crisis Is Absent From Agendas of Parties, Candidates

Many Democrats shy away from tackling the credit crisis because of the party's historical support for Fannie and Freddie. The Republicans, for their part, are reluctant to draw attention to a crisis that occurred on their watch. The subprime meltdown isn't the only item missing from the parties' agendas. The list also includes the Democrats' failure to set out a strategy for countering Russia's assertiveness and the Republicans' silence on income inequality.

I LOVE Schumer's condescending quote:

Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said conventions aren't the place to discuss detailed plans for dealing with the markets.

``The conventions are aimed at the average voter,'' he said Aug. 25 in Denver. ``You don't go into Quinlan's bar and ask them what to do about the'' Securities and Exchange Commission.

Of course his job is secure for four more years and then he can retire on his huge pension.

My second favorite quote is:

``We feel like we've taken a big step to stabilize the situation,'' said Senator Tom Carper of Delaware, a Democrat on the Banking Committee.

Seriously? Oy! Senator, you've done jack-all to "stabilize the situation".

``We are in the midst of the worst financial crisis since World War II,'' Stanley Fisher, governor of the Bank of Israel and a former IMF official, told central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Aug. 23.

Not that anyone inside the United States is listening. It's an election year and no politican will listen to, let alone accept, the truth about anything. As the article mentions towards the end, this situation is very similar to the 1930's.

History repeats itself people. I don't think either McCain or Obama have what it takes to deal with what is to come.

Happy Friday

So the Olympics end today.

yawn

I haven't watched any of it. But I bet one thing wasn't clear in the televised events:


Sex and the Olympic City

Ah yes, the swimmers. For some reason the International Olympic Committee insists on bunching the swimming events towards the beginning of the Games with the inevitable consequence that the aquatics folk get going earlier - sexually I mean - than everyone else. So much so that, at the outset of the Sydney Olympics, Jonathan Edwards, a Christian and triple jumper extraordinaire, caused a ripple by telling them publicly to keep a lid on it. Edwards was simply concerned about getting woken up by creaking floorboards, but given his biblical credentials, it became a story about morality. Not that his intervention made a blind bit of difference. There is a famous story from Seoul in 1988 that there were so many used condoms on the roof terrace of the British team's residential block the night after the swimming concluded that the British Olympic Association sent out an edict banning outdoor sex. Here in Beijing, organisers have realised that such prohibitions are about as useful as banning breathing and have, instead, handed out thousands of free condoms to the athletes. If you can't stop 'em, at least make it safe.

Ah, gotta love the hypocrisy, no? The whole article is really interesting.

Well that's a relief!

I've just found out that residents of southwestern Connecticut can rest in peace as that dangerous outlaw has finally been captured:

Saugatuck Sheep Finally Captured

Last Thursday, a female sheep that has eluded capture for almost a year was caught by Westport Animal Control, assisted by Bridgeport's Beardsley Zoo.
The female sheep (also called a ewe) spent the past year wandering around the Treadwell Avenue area in Saugatuck, causing a disturbance in the neighborhood by wandering onto people's property and leaving droppings on their lawns.

She was found on Echo Lane and was brought to Westport Animal Control, where she spent the night.

Part of the ewe's notoriety was her size. "This sheep was the biggest sheep I've ever seen. I would estimate that it was about 200 pounds," said Lt. Thomas Casimiro of the Westport Police Depart­ment.

Ewes normally weigh between 100 and 225 pounds. That should give some idea of how large this female was at 200 pounds.

While many of the residents on the street knew of the sheep's existence, few ever saw it.

"We tried a few times to catch the sheep, but it kept getting away. It was hard to catch it because we were trying hard not to hurt it. That's when we tried to get the zoo involved," Casimiro said.

The other reason for the sheep's notoriety was that no one knew where the sheep came from.

"We don't know where the sheep came from," Casimiro said. "We don't know if it got loose from Stew Leonard's, or if it escaped from a truck on I-95." The only identification the sheep had was a blue tag in its right ear.

Dangerous times we live in... dangerous times. Thankfully that ewe is off the streets and we can all live in peace again. Oh, and God Bless the Westport Police Department - Connecticut's Finest! - for their year-long pursuit of that desperado!




I wonder how much wool (fleece) you can get from a 200 pound sheep?

Wedding Bell Blues

Bill
I love you so
I always will
I look at you and see
the passion eyes of May
Oh but am I ever gonna see
my wedding day?
Oh I was on your side Bill
when you were losin'
I'd never scheme or lie Bill
There's been no foolin'
but kisses and love won't carry me
till you marry me Bill
Bill
I love you so
I always will
and in your voice I hear
a choir of carousels
Oh but am I ever gonna hear
my wedding bells?
I was the one came runnin'
when you were lonely
I haven't lived one day
not loving you only
but kisses and love won't carry me
till you marry me Bill
Bill
I love you so
I always will
and though devotion rules my heart
I take no bows
Oh but Bill you know
I wanna take my wedding vows
Come on Bill
Come on Bill
I got the wedding bell blues


by Laura Nyro

I have a wedding to go tomorrow at Harkness State Park. Tomorrow's forecast is for thunderstorms and a high of 79F. Gack! I don't do well in heat or humidity.

~ ~ ~

The Olympics start tomorrow. I'm sorry if you're a fan, but I think the Olympics are a gignormous waste of time and money. I've read Bushy's statement on human rights, which he made in Thailand:

In a speech in Thailand, Mr. Bush praised U.S. economic and diplomatic ties with Beijing. But he said the United States "stands in firm opposition" to China's detention of political, human rights and religious activists.

Mr. Bush urged China to trust its people with greater freedom, saying that is the only way for China to develop to its full potential.

Ye gods and little fishes. I'm not going to rant. Not even a little bit. It's pointless; and boring for everyone else.

China had a response.

And life goes on.

You all have a good, safe, and cool weekend!

11 dead on K2

In K2 aftermath, lessons learned

Had you heard about this? I hadn't.

The search for survivors on the world's second-tallest peak ended Tuesday, when the severely frostbitten Italian climber Marco Confortola made it to safety after 11 lives were lost in one of the most tragic accidents of modern mountaineering.

I just don't understand the human need to test boundries like mountain climbing or deep-sea diving or going into space. I think these people are amazing and have brought back important knowledge for the rest of us, they've changed the way we view the world and the universe... but it's just not my idea of a good time.

Rest in Peace

Alexander Solzhenitsyn died yesterday at the age of 89.

His wife, Natalya, told the Interfax news agency that her husband, who suffered along with millions of Russians in the prison camp system, died as he had hoped to die.

"He wanted to die in the summer — and he died in the summer," she said. "He wanted to die at home — and he died at home. In general I should say that Alexander Isaevich lived a difficult but happy life."

It is the first most complicated name I remember learning. Funny, the things that stick in your head. I remember my parents trying to explain to an eight year old who he was and why he was so important. I didn't read his books until college and so I didn't understand, really, why he was so important until then. It takes time to discern, to comprehend.


Solzhenitsyn at Nobelprize.org
Solzhenitsyn at Spartacus
Solzhenitsyn at Wiki
BBC

Question to ponder

I just read an email from a friend detailing things to be done before going on vacation for two weeks. One of the To Do items was to clean her house first.

Me starts wondering why.

Why do we clean before we go on vacation?

I can just hear my Mother (yeah, I hear dead people) saying it's because you (meaning her) don't want to come back to a dirty house.

Me... don't care. I'd rather walk away from the disaster and deal with it when I come back all (hopefully) fully relaxed and refreshed.

Sadly this pondering is mute for me 'cuz I ain't going no where soon.

I will be housecleaning, however.

We're not telling you how to vote

but...

Wal-Mart warning managers of labor bill

Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Friday it has held meetings with U.S. store managers warning them of issues that could arise if Democrats win power and pass a law that would make it easier for workers to unionize, but stressed it was not telling workers how to vote.

No, of course not.