An Unannounced Victory?

This has been circulating around the Internet and I thought it deserved some comment, so my comments follow after it. I want to note that I simply copied it directly from an email, with no editing. I've put the "story" in BOLD. One comment beforehand: Hmm, "Investor's Business Daily"....Now that sounds like a VERY reliable news source (ahem!), right from the "Sit On Their Ass Class." You know the ones I mean...those veritable patriots who gave us the likes of Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, bailouts for the superwealthy, and bankruptcy and foreclosure for millions of ordinary Americans.

READY FOR A SHOCK?> > > >> > Ready for a shock? Below is an article from the London Times > about our military. Interesting, it is! Our media coverage is shameful!> > Winning Isn't News> > By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY> Iraq: What would happen if the U.S. won a war but the media didn't tell the American public? Apparently, we have to rely on a British > newspaper for the news that we've defeated the last remnants of al-Qaida in > > Iraq .> > London's Sunday Times called it 'the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.' A terrorist force that once numbered more than 12,000, with strongholds in the west and central regions of Iraq, has over two years been reduced to a mere 1,200 fighters, backed against > the wall in the northern city of Mosul.> > > The destruction of al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) is one of the most > unlikely and unforeseen events in the l ong history of American warfare. We can > thank President Bush's surge strategy, in which he bucked both Republican and > Democratic leaders inWashington by increasing our forces there instead of > surrendering.> > > We can also thank the leadership of the new general he placed > in charge there, David Petraeus, who may be the foremost expert in the world on > counter-insurgency warfare. And we can thank those serving in our military in > Iraq who engaged local Iraqi tribal leaders and convince d them America was > their friend and AQI their enemy.> > > Al-Qaida's loss of the hearts and minds of ordinary Iraqis > began in Anbar Province, which had been written off as a basket case, and > spread out from there.> > > Now, in Operation Lion's Roar the Iraqi army and the U.S. 3rd > Armored Cavalry Regiment is destroying the fraction of terrorists who are left. > More than 1,000 AQI operatives have already been apprehended.> > > Sunday Times (London) reporter Marie Colvin, traveling with > Iraqi forces in Mosul, found little AQI presence even in bullet-ridden > residential areas that were once insurgency strongholds, and reported that the > terrorists have lost control of its Mosul urban base, with what is left of the > organization having fled south into the countryside.> > > Meanwhile, the State Department reports that Iraqi Prime > Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government has achieved 'satisfactory' progress on > 15 of the 18 political benchmarks 'a big change for the better from a year ago.'> > > Things are going so well that Maliki has even for the first > time floated the idea of a timetable for withdrawal of American forces. He did > so while visiting the United Arab Emirates ,which over the weekend announced > that it was forgiving almost $7 billion of debt owed by Baghdad, an impressive > vote of confidence from a fellow Arab state in the future of a free Iraq.> > > But where are the headlines and the front-page st ories about > all this good news? As the Media Research Center pointed out last week, 'the > CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News and CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 were silent > Tuesday night about the benchmarks 'that signaled political progress.'> > > The war in Iraq has been turned around 180 degrees both > militarily and politically because the president stuck to his guns. Yet apart > from IBD, Fox News Channel and parts of the foreign press, the media don't seem > to consider this historic event a big story.> > > Copyright 2008 Investor's Business Daily. All Rights Reserved.> > > Addendum: The reason you haven't seen this on American > television or read about it in the American press is simple--journalism is > 'dead' in this country. They are controlled by Liberal Democrats who would > rather see our troops defeated than recognize a successful Republican initiated > response to 9/11.> > > Media probably were holding 'til after coronation of BHO in > order to give him credit.> > God bless our troops, God bless our current President and God > bless the U.S.A.

So why aren't we celebrating? First, we all see things colored by our own sunglasses. I see it as here we are back to the grand "American media conspiracies." If only the damned media would tell us the truth about Iraq, we'd all be as happy as termites in a woodpile. Maybe some have forgotten "Mission Accomplished?" Wars are made up of battles. Winning many battles, or even most of the battles does NOT always end a war, nor does it necessarily guarantee victory. The overall situation in Iraq is not one of victory, in spite of what the article claims, athough without question, the "surge" helped make things better. The question, however, remains: "For how long?" Lots of political and religious factions could pull the country apart.

Defeating Saddam was not all that difficult. True, he WAS a ruthless, blood lusting dictator, but so were Hitler and Stalin, and I don't recall that we invaded Germany or the Soviet Union in the 1930s. In fact, our supposed "allies" in the Middle East, like Saudi Arabia, aren't exactly pillars of democracy, and we haven't invaded them, either.

Bush took us into Iraq under false pretenses. Notice I didn't say "lies," although we may find out that was the case. No matter all the blather about "The CIA director said," "A slam dunk," "Iraqis will greet us as liberators," and all of the other sayings and such that have been used to justify this war, the final decision came down to ONE man....George W. Bush, and he blew it! It was up to this ONE man to get to the bottom of the stories about "weapons of mass destruction." His decision has cost thousands upon thousands of lives, and it continues to cost lives, including the lives of many thousands of brave American soldiers. It has left many more thousands terribly wounded. All of this based on a faulty premise. I'm sorry, but I can't celebrate that! The CIA Director, now "blamed" for all of the poor information, wasn't "blamed" back then; he was honored by none other than George W. Bush, himself! In the corporate world so beloved by Bush and Company, George W. Bush would run companies into the ground, cost thousands their livelihood, but still make millions of dollars himself. Sound familiar? So much for any semblance of a "meritocracy."

As for bashing "the media," "the media" will survive such. For one thing, there ISN'T such a thing as a monolithic media in this country. The American news media is diverse, just as American society is diverse. Often times when one segment of society hears something they don't like, the inclination is to blame "the media." And this blame game isn't limited to one party or philosophy. Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, liberals, populists, progressives, Fascists, Communists, etc, all blame "the media" for some sort of conspiracy to hide the truth from us, or I should say, from "non believers." These conspiracies are in our minds; hatched in our own imaginations because someone said something we didn't like. Perhaps too often, we're in denial about realities we'd just as soon NOT know, or face, but reality spares no one, and it shows no preference or mercy for race, religion, politics, economic status, or......

Word History:
Brink- Noun-The word came into use in English during the 1200s, and linguists assume it was borrowed from either Danish, where it meant "shore, embankment, grassy edge," or Middle Low German, where it meant "edge," and some say, "hillside." You can see the similarity in meanings, and interestingly, it was spelled exactly the same way in both Danish and Low German; "brink." This makes me (just my opinion) wonder if it may have been borrowed from both; that is, one reinforced the other. Trade matters between England and the Continent brought new words into English, and "brink" may well have been one of them. Danish and Low German have something of a "common border," if you will, in northern Europe. In fact, this same general area is the ancestral homeland of English; that is, the various Germanic dialects that became English. Anyway, it goes back further to Old Germanic "brenkon," which had the same connotation of "edge, hillside," and itself was probably derived from Indo European "bhreng," which had a notion of "edge," but also something "that projects" (the latter would account for the "hillside and embankment" meanings. Indo European also gave Lithuanian*** "brinkti," which means "to swell;" and that gives that "project" notion again.

***Lithuanian is another Indo European language related to English further down the "family tree." In fact, many linguists say it is the language that has changed the least, and is thus the closest modern language to original Indo European.

U.S. Infrastructure

Below is the link to a column by Thomas Friedman of the NY Times. Maybe you'll agree, maybe not, but this is a subject well worth thinking about.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/24/opinion/24friedman.html?_r=1

Hodgepodge

Well this will be a real mixture of topics:

Many states are scaling back Medicaid, with terrible effect for REAL people. The cutbacks are spreading as the economy worsens. If your state hasn't already been hit, it is likely to be hit soon.

I saw a television interview recently (about two weeks ago) with a lady who heads an organization about worldwide child poverty. She mentioned what I consider to be a startling statistic; that is, of all the developed countries of the world, the United States has the HIGHEST rate of child poverty!!! With the economy in tatters, the situation can only grow worse. So much for "compassionate conservatism!" Without FUNDAMENTAL economic reform, I can't imagine that things will get much better.

I saw, on CNN, I believe, and interview with George W. Bush. He was asked about the economy, and he said something to the effect "We have abandoned our free market principles to save the free market system!" If the situation were not so serious, it would be funny. Talk about trying to have it both ways! Don't be surprised! Just like with Iraq, Bush told us that we had to invade quickly because of "weapons of mass destruction," and Americans, including Randy, went along (a small number of Americans held out, and THEY WERE RIGHT!), but when we didn't find weapons of mass destruction, Bush changed the reason for our invading to "freeing Iraqis from Saddam," and then to "spreading democracy to the Middle East." Nonetheless, we were "treated" to "Mission Accomplished," followed not long thereafter with Bush's comment about an Iraqi insurgency, "Bring it on!" So, with the economy, he and his bunch pushed this free market crap to the point that it has virtually destroyed us, and it might well do so yet, but whatever the outcome, the country will be feeling the effects of George W. Bush and his philosophy for many, many years to come as we try to recover from his nonsense.

Well, many Republicans (and a few Democrats) in Congress got something right. A few months ago, when the Bush Administration and Ben Bernanke, the Bush-appointed Chairman of the Federal Reserve, told the country that Congress had to pass legislation providing 700 billion dollars IMMEDIATELY to buy up bad assets from banks, in order to save the banking system and to save the country from "The Great Depression, Part Two," a fair number of Republicans and a few Democrats questioned such a move. They were called obstructionists by some, but it turns out, THEY WERE RIGHT!!! After some cajoling by members of both parties, and some "deals" thrown in (aka "bribes;" hey, you've got to call them what they were!), enough of these reluctant folks switched their votes, allowing the measure to pass. I was WRONG,*** as I took the administration and Bernanke at their word; something I seriously regret. Let's see...how's that saying go? "Fool me once (Iraq), shame on you (Bush); fool me twice, shame on me!!!" Shame! Shame! Randy. I'm not alone, as many Democrats and some Republicans in both houses of Congress were taken in by the administration malarkey.

Let's see, I just complimented some Republicans, and, no, I haven't been drinking, but now I have to bash many of these same folks. To hear them tell it, the problem with the American auto industry is that American workers make too much money!!! Not only that, they want American workers to make only as much as workers for foreign owned companies in the U.S.!!! So much for the flag waving!!! The egg is dripping from their faces, however, as some of these folks gave interviews during this whole ordeal about the auto industry, saying that American owned companies needed to pattern themselves after the foreign owned companies, because they "make money." Hmm, then came Toyota's (a Japanese owned company) statement that they have seen auto sales and profits plummet; likewise Honda, another Japanese owned auto company. Now, I don't have anything against Toyota or Honda, but the Republicans can't have it both ways! Further, I found it deeply disturbing that I heard recent comments by some Republicans and pro-business people, who, when questioned about their feelings against the American auto industry, said that "we have profitable American auto companies; they're called Toyota and Honda!" If you're a younger person, hold on, because these same people may ask you to go fight in a war....for THIS country! I guarantee you, they'll be waving the flag then, and spouting all kinds of patriotic slogans! BEWARE!!! They'll want you to work for foreign wages and benefits, but they'll want you to fight like an American!!!

***I'm not afraid to admit mistakes, as I won't turn into a pumpkin. POOF! Hey, why am I turning orange?

Word History:
Bright-adjective-This word goes way back to Indo European "bhereg," which meant "gleam," and even meant "white." The Old Germanic offshoot was "berkhtaz," and a form of the word was used in many Germanic dialects of old: Old High German had "beraht," Old Norse had "bjartr," Gothic had "bairhts," Old Saxon had "beraht." In Old English it was "beorht," (meaning "bright, splendid") and then "bryht," as the "r" sound swapped places with the vowel sound (what linguists call "metathesis"), and obviously the vowel sound firmed into a "y" or long "i" sound. During the 1700s, the word also came to be applied to intelligence. Interestingly, as far as I can find, the word has died out in all of the other Germanic languages, remaining only in English.

Bank Execs Get Bailout Money

Nice to know where our money went, right? Well the link below is to an article about how numerous bank execs got over 1.6 billion $$$$ of that money! Are you mad? I sure as hell hope you are!!! See... unregulated capitalism doesn't work, unless your rich! Of course, this ISN'T capitalism, it is socialism, that delightful word so scorned by the monied class, and especially the sit on their ass class. It didn't stop them from putting their hands out and and filling up on taxpayer dough.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28337800/

Moody Blues-Videos

For music fans, here is a link to Universal Music's site for videos of "The Moody Blues:"

http://www.universalmusic.com/artist/the-moody-blues

Conservatism Unravels, Part Four

With the country in recession and unemployment around 7%, and with George H.W. Bush seemingly unable to offer anything new to the country, the election of 1992 brought an end to the conservative dominance of the White House which began with the election of 1980. The election of Bill Clinton brought new opportunities for conservatives, however. While Democrats controlled both houses of Congress, it was still not easy sailing for the Clinton Administration. The administration seemed unable to get their own appointments to various government positions in order, as many nominees were found to have something in their life's record to give Republicans a target, and the Republicans frequently hit the bulls eye. To keep the "firing" metaphor in place, the administration began to be known to the media as the "administration that can't shoot straight." Then the administration announced that it was offering up a "stimulus" plan of something like sixteen billion dollars. Economists in both parties had a laugh, as even at that time, sixteen billion was a drop in the bucket in the multi-trillion dollar American economy. Social issues, a tax increase on the wealthy, "midnight basketball" as a solution to then rampant crime, and Hillary Clinton's secretive health care plan brought Republicans, their Religious Right allies, independents, and many "Reagan Democrats" back to the ballot box in droves for the midterm elections, and Republicans took control of both houses of Congress, in a sweeping landslide.
It needs to be noted that Clinton and Gore were NOT all that far from the Republicans on one thing....TRADE! To this day, some Democrats are in denial about Clinton and his trade policies. It was Bill Clinton and Al Gore who pushed through NAFTA, with Gore in a famous and highly watched television debate with Ross Perot about American trade policy. Clinton brought together ALL of the living ex-presidents to endorse his trade policy.*** Those favoring these policies scoffed and made fun of Perot's premise that Americans would hear "a large sucking sound,"^^^ and that sound would be American manufacturing jobs going southwards, primarily to Mexico. It wasn't long before things like washing machines came labeled "Made in Mexico."
To be continued.... (a word history is below)

***It was quite a remarkable picture; Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and George Bush (Sr.). Those in BOLD were Republicans.
^^^This was before the Monica Lewinski scandal.

Word History:
"I"-Pronoun-It doesn't get any more personal than this word! It goes back to Indo European "ego/egom." To my knowledge (ah, you better watch that statement), all of the Indo European languages still share a form of this word for the first person singular pronoun, and it passed into Old Germanic as "eka." In Old English it was "ik/ic/ich," and it wasn't until the 1300s that many in English began using the shortened form "I." The capital letter began to be used to avoid any misreading. Interestingly, the form "ich/ik" continued in use in parts of southern England until the 18th Century!!! In the closest relatives of English, German has "ich," but it should be noted, that in my experience, in southern German dialects they say "I," pronounced like our long "e," and it shows how these dialects shortened the form, just as happened in English. Dutch has "ik," Norwegian and Danish have "jeg," Swedish has "jag." By the way, some linguists feel it is possible that the affirmative "aye," (as in "All those in favor say "aye") is actually just another form of "I."

No Kill Animal Shelter

For those of you lucky enough to have some extra money stashed in an old coffee can, and looking for a worthy cause, you might want to consider a donation, even just a few bucks, to this "no kill" animal shelter. Even better, you might want to adopt a new "friend" for yourself or someone close to you. For Cleveland area folks, the shelter is on Brookpark Road.

http://www.northeastohiospca.org/

A Little Of Everything

A few thoughts on some things:

First, I no longer follow professional sports and I haven't for quite a number of years now. Whiny players and whiny owners... put them all in a bag and shake it up and you won't know which one will hop out first! This situation, probably more than others, has given my progressivism and populism a shot in the arm. It just shows, to paraphrase a famous saying, "Money changes people, and lots of money changes people absolutely!" If you're a regular reader, you already know that I am VERY pro-worker, but in the case of whiny pro-athletes, I'm not sure which side is worse, the players or the owners, so I detest both with equal passion. In Cleveland, we don't have many "professional" teams, or at least it seems that way, and I don't go against them, but I just don't pay much attention to them. Of course, someone's got to win, so I'd just as soon it be our own whiny millionaires, as some other town's. And, we need something here to lift the spirits of this beleaguered community. Having said that, I heard this from someone who said they heard it on one of the local sports programs. I kept chuckling for 24 hours, so help me!!! Just so everyone understands, even though I pay little attention to sports here, even I knew that the Cleveland Browns were "supposed" to be pretty good this season. That hasn't happened, and they have (CORRECTLY!) become the butt of jokes in these parts. (Hey, you want millions? Then play and coach like deserving millionaires, not a bunch of dweebs!) Anyhow, and I'm not claiming this is exactly how the story went, but you'll get the gist of it...

A guy parked in a lot so he could do some shopping. He left two Cleveland Browns' tickets on the dashboard. When he came back, he found that the car had been broken into, and now there were FOUR tickets!!!

About the governor of Illinois, Blagojevich, or maybe it should be "Son-of-a vich:" ("Vatt?" "No vich!") Everyone is innocent until proven guilty, so once that's over....FRY HIM!!!

Yesterday I heard on the radio that Census statistics show how devastated some states have been economically since, I believe it said, the year 2000. Try though I have, I couldn't find out where they got the story, but I believe it!!! Come to Ohio, if you don't already live here, and you can see for yourselves. Anyway, the report mentioned how incomes have fallen, and believe me, I know it! If I find the overall Census stats, I'll post them here at some point.

Word History:
Lot (Lottery)-Noun-This goes back to Old Germanic "khlut/khlutom." The word denoted the use of some objects, often times pieces of wood with names on them, which were then put into some container which was then shaken, the first "lot" to fall out (or be drawn out by hand) was used to determine the selection of a person for something, or to give them a share of something; thus we still say, "cast lots." Land was often distributed this way, and this gave us "lot," for a piece of land, as the process transferred its name to the parcel of land. It wasn't until the 1800s that the word also took on the meaning of "many, a large number, or bunch," and this idea may have come from land being distributed in many "lots;" that is, a large number of drawings were held to distribute land. In Old English the word was spelled "hlot," with the "h" obviously becoming silent over time.*** German has "Los" (an eventual sound shift made many "t" sounds in German become "s" sounds; thus, for example, we say "kettle," but they say "Kessel.") which means "lot, portion, share of something, but also a ticket of chance." The word also is used in other Germanic languages, for example, Swedish has "lott."


The word was either borrowed directly into Latin, or via Old French, and eventually gave Italian "lotteria," which eventually came into many of the Germanic languages, including English, as "lottery." Old French had the root word from Frankish, a Germanic language, which gave its name to the French language.

***The Old English verb, meaning "to cast lots," was "hleotan." To "cast your lot with," originally meant to share in the winnings of something.

Conservatism Unravels, Part Three

So Reagan was leaving office having negotiated some substantial deals with Gorbachev, the then leader of the Soviet Union. While Reagan has been given credit by conservatives, Republicans and some Democrats for bringing down the Soviet Union and Communism in eastern Europe, in general, it is, in my opinion, something like the Dems claiming that FDR ended the Depression; that is, there is certainly some truth, but also some exaggeration involved. Reagan developed a good relationship with Gorbachev, a man who also deserves some credit for the demise of the Soviet Union, although he probably didn't want things to actually turn out exactly as they did. Gorbachev's "openness" policy helped curb the police state that the Communist Party had developed from the very inception of Bolshevik rule, which was simply an exchange of a Tsarist police state for a Soviet police state.

While Communism lost control of various nations by the early 1990s, the problems associated with their rise didn't go away. There still remains in the world and in our own society a debate about basic treatment of workers and some sort of basic fairness to society, including income and services like health care. Remember, the old members of the Bolshevik Party didn't just decide one day to form a radical political movement just for the hell of it. They were reacting to brutal treatment by the Russian business class and by the Russian government, a government ruled by the upper class. This is not an attempt to sanitize the Bolsheviks, later called Communists, but the fact remains that what seems to have been a fairly large segment of the Russian population favored some major changes in the economic life of the country, although most did NOT favor the Bolsheviks. In fact, within the particular socialist party from which the Bolsheviks came, the Bolsheviks were a minority. That's how they got their name, as "Bolshevik" means "minority," as opposed to the far larger segment of this socialist party called the "Mensheviks," meaning "majority." Anyway, Reagan certainly helped to bring Communism to its knees in eastern Europe, with his enormous military build up, but he did so at the expense of the American budget deficit, which ballooned to extraordinary heights.

In his campaign for the White House, George Bush (Sr.) had some difficulties within his own Republican Party, as many on the far right were lukewarm, at best, toward him. The media picked up on this tension and dubbed Bush as being the dreaded "M" word, meaning "moderate,"*** primarily based upon his perceived stands on many social issues and possibly on taxes.^^^ The anti tax mantra of the Republicans had become so strong, that in his acceptance speech to the Republican National Convention, Bush felt forced to declare that he would never raise taxes, and uttered a line that helped get him elected, but which then turned on him: "Read my lips...no new taxes!!!" Of course, never to be counted out for doing something stupid, Democrats helped Bush's campaign by putting presidential candidate Michael Dukakis in an army tank, with an extra large helmet that made him look something akin to Snoopy of the Peanuts cartoon strip doing some stunt. The thing was, Snoopy was more popular than Dukakis, and Bush won handily.

I've often felt that politics is so unfair. Sometimes, the wrong people are made to pay for the sins of others. To me, thus it was with Bush. He formed a very formidable alliance, even with many Muslim nations as participants, to oust Saddam Hussein's army from Kuwait. The "Gulf War" sent Bush's popularity soaring higher than any president in history, but then the American economy started to falter. The deficits incurred under Reagan became even worse under Bush, as revenues from the slow economy and spending on the war took a toll. Bush made a deal with Democrats (who controlled both houses of Congress) to raise taxes. The right wing of the Republican Party went ballistic.

As the economy sagged, so did Bush's poll numbers. Conservative Pat Buchanan chose to run against Bush in the Republican primaries and gave Bush a bloody nose, and the "read my lips" part of Bush's 1988 speech was used against him. Bush never really recovered. Further, Buchanan had proven himself to be quite popular with the hardcore conservative base of the party, and he demanded a prominent role at the Republican Convention. Buchanan's speech to the convention turned off many moderate (there's that "M" word again) voters, as he tossed out the red meat of intolerance to the social conservatives and members of the Religious Right. Ross Perot, a billionaire businessman, also entered the general election fray, and at times, led Bush in the polls. In the end, many Republicans "came home" and voted for Bush and saved him the embarrassment of finishing third. Conservatism seemed to be running out of steam... or was it? Bush lost, but Republicans actually gained seats in the House of Representatives!!! Enter...Bill Clinton, the guy conservatives love to hate. (Of course, even some Democrats aren't all that thrilled with him either, at times!) To be continued.... (Some word histories are further below)

***Bush and other Republicans had frequently dared Democrats to use "liberal" to describe themselves, with the implication being that "liberal" had become a sort of dirty word, and that Democrats were trying to disassociate themselves with the term. Bush said that Dems were afraid of the "L word." And he was RIGHT!

^^^And THEY were right! After he left office, Bush talked about being able to express his own views on many social issues, without the worry of having to placate the right wing of his party. As to taxes, just read further in the main text.

Word History:
Skill-The basic idea behind this word is "the ability to make distinctions; that is, to have the knowledge to make distinctions, discernment." It came to English during the 1200s from Old Norse "skil," which also meant "distinction, discernment." Old Norse is a North Germanic language. It is related to the Old Norse verb "skilja," which meant "distinguish, separate." It goes back to Old Germanic "skaljo," (from the root word "skel") also meaning "separate, divide." Middle Low German had "schillen," meaning "to differ," and Dutch has "geschil," meaning "difference" (the notion being, if you can separate things, you can discern the difference). Within a short time in English (by the early 1300s), the word had developed further, with the idea that if you had the mental ability to make distinctions, you were clever. Then finally that progressed quickly to the modern meaning of "being able to do something well."

Workers Rise To the Occasion!

Below is the link to an article about workers taking over the building of their now closed company. They say the company closed without the proper legal notification and while still owing them. Go for it workers!!! I'll bet the big shots didn't walk away being owed anything! With the economy deteriorating before our very eyes, we may see more of this kind of situation, or perhaps even worse.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28084616/

Housing Crisis Deepens

Below is the link to an article on how the housing crisis is deepening, not stabilizing, in spite of the Fed's and the Bush Administration's attempts to shove money into the hands of bankers. This top down approach will not work, in my opinion, and the numbers seem to indicate such. With unemployment soaring (more than a half million Americans lost their jobs in November alone), the housing situation can only worsen. There needs to be money injected into the system far downstream of the Wall Streeters and big money bankers. If YOU lose your job, how would YOU cope with the situation? Could you pay your current mortgage, or current rent? Assuming you have some kind of employer sponsored health care coverage, would you be able to afford coverage on your own if you lost your job?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28069420/

Defending My Bailout Plan

This link is for the related blog:

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2008/11/bailout-money-no-questions-asked.html

For those of you who think I'm nuts for proposing such a plan (Hey, hold it down to a low roar...who asked ya, anyway?), I just want to make a few points. First, if every American got $25-30,000, it would almost have to help the ailing auto industry, as I'm sure many people would want to get a new vehicle. It would almost just as assuredly stop foreclosures, as most people who are behind on payments, or about to be, would make their mortgage payments, thus taking this issue off the table (for awhile, at least), and giving prices some stabilization. Further, many people might put money down on a new home (or an existing home for sale). With foreclosures virtually ended, that has to help the banks and other lending entities. With Americans spending much of their "bailout" money, it would also have to increase employment, giving the new administration time to get plans into effect to increase alternative energy sources and rebuild America's infrastructure.

One last thing, while you might have thought my plan sounded way out, with no possibility of happening, I just want to tell you what Ben Bernanke said in a speech several years ago, before he was Fed Chairman. At that time, in talking about deflation and possible "depression like" conditions, Mr. Bernanke said that he'd recommend "dropping money from helicopters." This, folks, is the same thing I'm saying, but with out the copters. Hey Ben!!! Just mail us the checks and save the money from all those choppers.

Some Words About Words

I thought I'd do a couple of word histories separately here:

Along-It is supposed that this word goes back to the Indo European words "anti" ("against, opposite") and "dlonghos" ("long"). Old Germanic (called Proto Germanic) had "andi/anda" and "lang." When the compound was formed, I don't exactly know, but it may be a West Germanic creation, as German has "entlang," which also means "along," and indeed in Old English it was spelled "andlang," which eventually became "anlang/onlang/onlong," and finally in around 1500 the modern version began to persist. Originally, the meaning was simply "a long way," but this eventually was extended somewhat to "the whole length of something, lengthwise."


Winter-This came from Old Germanic "wentruz," and possibly traces back to an Indo European root meaning either "wet" or "white," making winter "the wet season" or "the white season." The word is used extensively in the Germanic languages, and besides the English word, German, Dutch and Frisian have "Winter," Danish, Norwegian and Swedish have "vinter." In Old Saxon it was spelled "wintar."

They Dropped The Ball

Check out the link below. It is how the Bush Administration dropped the regulatory ball for lending institutions, thus bringing on the current crisis. We have rules and regulations in society for a reason. If Randy walked up to you, gun or knife in hand, and threatened you, and you called out to a nearby policeman for help, how would you feel if that officer said, "I can't do anything about it, it's a free country, and if this guy wants to threaten you, oh well!"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28001417/