Mutual Admiration Society

So today I want to shine some "lyte" on echo chambers.  Fox News has launched "Fox Nation", a website dedicated to the opinions of Fox viewers.  Kind of like a Facebook for folks who actually think Fox is fair and balanced.  I think they need to pay royalties to Stephen Colbert for stealing the moniker of "nation".  

The faithful will get to read blogs by their favorite Fox personalities.  Wow, like watching Bill O'Reilly isn't painful enough.  I think Fox is hoping to emulate the wildly successful Huffington Post and give Internet savvy right-wingers a place to congregate.  Like talk radio doesn't give them a place to vent already.  

I want to check in occasionally just to count the typos.  Given the incredible depth that the right-wing opposition has shown towards the Obama administration so far, I am sure we will be treated to rants about FEMA camps, teleprompters, and other pressing issues.

Of course, the folks at Fox insist it will be all about fair play and free speech.  People can criticize Fox, but NO ONE ELSE.  Yeah, right.  Fox News has been such a beacon of unbiased coverage and a bastion of hard-hitting investigative journalism, I can only imagine what their opinion-based website will be like.

What slays me is that most conservative Republicans actually believe that Fox News is fair and balanced.  That lifting talking points from Republican National Committee memos and presenting them as news is an unbiased take on current events.  Journalism as taught at the University of North Korea.

What the right is trying to do is play catch-up on the Internets.  The progressives own the web right now and it has hurt the right in the last two election cycles.  The problem for the right-wing is that you only need to talk on TV and radio.  You actually have to right, I mean write on the web.  Writing is a higher order skill than talking.  You have to be literate and it helps to know things like punctuation and grammar.  All caps and a lot of exclamation points just won't cut it.  It is also important to have ideas, and so far the Republicans have shown the paucity of their ideology.  Just look at their alternative budget, nineteen pages and NO NUMBERS.

This will only serve as another way for right-wing, conservative ditto heads to break their arms patting themselves on the back.  They will continue to reinforce their ever-shrinking worldview: where tax cuts work, Ronald Reagan is king, and the sky is red.  Oh! And where Sarah Palin is smart.

Good luck with that.     

God Help Us

Today I want to shed a little "lyte" on evolution.  To be perfectly honest, I believe in evolution.  I am not a creationist nor am I in favor of its half-breed sibling, "intelligent design".  I believe in science.  I do not worship it, but I know it the best way we have to explain our natural world.

Apparently, the great state of Texas disagrees with me.  The State Board of Education ruled last week that, "all sides" of the "debate" about evolution should be taught-in science class.  News flash, there is no debate about evolution, evolution just is.  Critics like to say that evolution is "just a theory."  Okay, so are cells.  Are we debating "all sides" of the cellular theory?  Another criticism is that so far the fossil record doesn't fully support evolution.  We haven't found the "missing link" ergo, the whole theory is thrown into question.  Well, the fossil record does not support creationism either.  We have not found the fossilized remains of Adam or of Eve.  Or of the infamous apple.

Many Christians also conveniently ignore the fact that there are two creation stories put forth in Genesis.  The first is the seven day story, with man and woman being created at the same time and both of them being created in God's image.  The second story is the one about Adam and Eve.  This one has man being created first (figures) and woman being formed from man's rib after he decided that animals just didn't provide the "companionship" that he required.  So which story is true?  Which story should be taught alongside evolution in Texas science classrooms?  

And while they are so interested in teaching "all sides" then I have to assume that all creation stories from all religions, countries, and eras will be taught.  You can't leave out Marduk from Babylonian myths, or the various egg myths, or the world starting out as an enormous ocean balanced on the back of a giant trout.  Don't forget to cover Buddhism, which counsels that debating the origins of the world is a waste of time because it only causes "madness and vexation".  I think Buddha was onto something.

I am sure this type of open debate will do wonders for our future generations of scientists.  It will ensure that they will approach every scientific experiment with the question, "What would Jesus do?"  

Saran Rap

Today I am shedding some "lyte" on the new national past time of twittering.  If you haven't heard of it, Twitter is a site that lets you post 140 character "twits" on well, whatever.  It's really another form of social networking, but with more immediacy.

Well, apparently, some folks can't be bothered to write 140 characters (or less).  A New York Times article talks about celebrities who have ghostwriters for their Twitter accounts.  It boggles the mind.  One of these people is the rapper 50 Cent.  He has one of his managers write for him.  Of course, the manager claims that the Twitters are still the essence of 50 Cent.  He just doesn't have the time to write.  

Brittney Spears is looking for someone to ghostwrite her Twitters.  I don't find that too surprising.  She doesn't write her own music, and her life is full of court appearances to have time to do the grueling work of string together 140 characters.

Politicians use Twitter.  A few Congressmen (and women) were twittering during Obama's address to the joint houses last month.  Obama uses staff to Twitter.  Many politicians use staff members to Twitter.  It makes sense.  They are busy people, who want to give the appearance of accessibility, without having to take time to b actually accessible.  I'll give our President a pass, he is a little tied with the economy, Afghanistan, flooding in North Dakota, and that's just this week.

What slays me is the whole idea of Twittering.  The notion of posting an online diary of your moment-to-moment existence is so 21st century.  Back in the old days people kept diaries or journals, and no one would read them or even know of their existence until that person died.  Now you can Twitter and the whole world can know what you ate for breakfast, how your underwear is crawling up your crack, and what you're watching on TV (while Twittering, IMing, texting, etc.,).

I am not sure if I want a window onto your world.  Most of you, frankly, are not that interesting.  Okay, maybe President Obama is that interesting, but the rest of you?  Let's keep the myth intact.  I may say, "I wonder what they're thinking?", but really?  I don't want to know.

WTF?

I want to shed a little "lyte" on insanity.  You know the definition of insanity?  It is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.  

The House Republicans announced their alternative budget today.  And guess what they are proposing?  Tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans!  I wish I was kidding, but I am not.  You can't make this stuff up.  They want to cut the tax rate from 35% to 25% for those making more than $100,000.  Everyone else would pay a 10% rate.

That's it.  That's the whole alternative that the Republicans have come up with to President Obama's budget proposal.  More money for the only people who still have money in this country.  When pressed for details, House Minority Leader John Boehner couldn't provide any.  But he did promise more details next week-when the budget comes up for a vote.  Remember the Republican's faux outrage over the lack of time to debate the stimulus package?  How does that jive with presenting the details of your alternative budget on the same week that you are voting on it?

Of course, if you are only proposing one thing, no one will need a lot of time to debate it.  And when that one thing has been proven to shrink, no tank, our economy, I have a feeling I know how that debate will go.  It would be funny if it weren't so sad.  Here we are in the greatest crisis of our generation, and the opposition just wants to turn up the dial on the very thing that helped to create those deficits they claim they care so much about.

What is the color of the sky in the Republican's world?  I desperately want to believe that Republicans are not malevolent, just misguided, but to suggest tax cuts for the wealthiest 10% as a viable solution to our budget woes, at a time when millions are out of work, smacks not of just hubris, but down right hostility towards average Americans.  You know, that pesky 90%.  Remember, elections matter.  Continue this insanity and you will not just be consigned to the wilderness, you will be in exile for a long, long time.

Enough is Enough

I want to shed a little "lyte" on the concept of "enough".  A large portion of this economic meltdown can be attributed to the dearly held assumption that unlimited growth is good.  It is not. The only things that experience unchecked growth in nature are viruses and cancer.  Both of these things can kill their hosts.

Our country has long believed that the American Dream was a constantly rising arc of consumption:  a bigger house, a newer car, a younger wife, etc., culminating in a nirvana of excess.  This is madness.  It is not sustainable or responsible.  We need to embrace the idea of enough.

More is not better.  More is madness.  We need to return to a sustainable model of consumption.  This constant chasing of more is causing undue stress on ourselves and on our planet.  This upwardly mobile insanity leads people to believe that you truly can get something for nothing.

Work is not bad.  Earning your money by actually making something or providing a worthwhile service is much more noble than helping money make more money.  Our tax code needs to support this endeavor.  Increase the capital gains tax so we take money making money more than people earning a living.  

We need to transition back to valuing the customer more than the shareholder.  A shareholder is a bottomless pit, always wanting bigger dividends.  A customer is in a relationship with a company, seeking a superior product or service.  Running your business for your customers is a long-term, sustainable proposition, running your business for your stockholders is a short-term road to disaster.

Also, the time has come for us as Americans to define ourselves as citizens, not as consumers.  A citizen is responsible, concerned with the greater good.  A consumer consumes, that's it.  Consumers do not contribute, they are takers not givers.  Our economy needs to reflect this change, and no longer be so dependent on consumption as a determination of our wealth.  We need to be citizens who make things or do things for other citizens.

Here's an idea:  you want to increase the GDP in a big way?  Put a value on the raising of children.  It is the most important product that we create and service that we perform.  It has the greatest effect on our future prosperity.  It is walking the talk that, "Children are our greatest resource."

We need to grow up and our economy needs to reflect our values.  Otherwise, we will end up doing this again and again.  Enough.

Little League

Today I am shedding some "lyte" on trust.  Namely, the fact that China no longer trusts us to lead the world's economy.

Some of you may ask, "So what? Who cares what China thinks? "  Well, we should because China is our banker.  They own us and continue to own more of us everyday.  China, along with Japan to a lesser extent, buys our debt.  Our economic boom?  Financed by China.  Our economic recovery?  Financed by China.  If they stop buying our debt, we are screwed.  Luckily, so would China because all the bonds and T-Bills they have already purchased would be worthless.  So we are in a symbiotic  economic relationship with a (gasp!) communist country with a lousy record on human rights.  And we were worried about socialism.

So China is getting nervous.  Our financial shenanigans of the past eight years have shown that there were no grown-ups in the room.  The economic free fall has worried them further.  And the spending spree our government is forced to do now to turn the economy around is worrying our bankers big time.  Now there is an essay out by Zhou Xiochuan, the governor of China's central bank, that suggests that the dollar should no longer be the world's standard currency for financial transactions.  

This essay comes out before the meeting of the G20 and it is China's attempt to start flexing some serious muscle at our expense.  We can't argue their logic.  Yes, we did totally deregulate our financial markets.  Yes, we did keep our interest rates artificially low for too long, encouraging more and more borrowing.  Yes, we come up with exotic investments like collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps that made a lot of money out of nothing.  Can we blame them for questioning the wisdom of continuing to reward our bad behavior?  Should we be surprised that maybe the world doesn't appreciate it when they have to suffer because of our lack of self-control and foresight?

I doubt that the dollar will be taken out of commission anytime soon.  But this should act as wake-up call that our financial decisions now have world-wide repercussions.  And the world just might get tired of our game playing and not only will we no longer be the world champions, we might be sent down to the minors. 

Burning Down the House

I want to shed some "lyte" on accountability.  There seems to be a growing chorus calling for Timothy Geithner, the newly appointed Treasury Secretary, to resign.  Part of this is blowback over the AIG bonus debacle and the revelation that Geithner asked Senator Chris Dodd to remove language forbidding such bonuses from the stimulus bill.  Geithner feared, and rightly so, that such restrictions would be illegal and subject the government to litigation.  Part is also due to the fact that after a whole 2 months in office, Secretary Geithner has not presented the perfect plan to clean up the whole toxic asset problem that plagues our banking industry.

Am I alone in thinking that we might be expecting too much, too soon?  This economic meltdown was 30 years in the making, and we want it fixed by the vernal equinox?  And if it isn't, then heads must roll?  Our nation of late has a rich history of holding no one responsible for anything.  If I could give former President Bush a suggestion for the title of his memoir of the eight years of mind-boggling incompetence we witnessed under his administration, it would be, "Mistakes Were Made."

Refresh my memory. Who was fired after 9/11?  Oh, that's right, no one.  I don't recall anyone being called up before Congress to face a grilling on how the greatest terror attack happened on their watch.  In fact, the administration had to be forced to form a 9/11 commission to find out what happened and conveniently ignored the findings.  I don't remember anyone out in the streets of Washington, or in front of the CIA headquarters Langley, Virginia, demanding that the people who missed the myriad of clues that this attack was imminent be killed or at least, fired. In fact, the president dismissed the CIA personnel that briefed him that such an attack was going to happen with, and I quote, "You've covered your ass, you can go now."  This is same president who ignored the presidential daily briefing titled, "Bin Ladin Determined To Attack In The United States."  Where were the calls for his impeachment?  Why wasn't George Tennant fired?  No, he was awarded the Medal of Freedom.

What about our botched invasion and occupation of Iraq?  Why wasn't Rumsfeld called before Congress to explain why there were no weapons of mass destruction, or why are there was so much looting in the aftermath.  When asked in a press conference, Rumsfeld answered, "Stuff happens."  Stuff happens?  Where were the pitchforks and the torches then?  How come Rumsfeld wasn't fired until November, 2006, the day after the mid-terms that saw the Democrats return to power in Congress?

How about the government response (or lack thereof) to Hurricane Katrina?  We watched an American city drown in front of our very eyes.  Our President did a fly over.  Apparently, major news networks were capable of getting to New Orleans, but our government wasn't.  Where was the outrage?  The demands that something be done?  And four years later, New Orleans is still struggling.

Are these calls for Geithner's resignation because this time the crisis is about money?  Our personal safety, our stature in the world, our ability to take of our citizens in a time of dire need, no big deal.  Hurt my money, and hear the howls.  The calls for accountability ring a little hollow, especially when we are holding the fireman accountable for the fire.  

Much Ado About Nothing

Today I am shedding a little "lyte" overreaction.  Congress, the mainstream media, the blogosphere, hell even my dog, are all up in arms over the bonuses awarded to executives at AIG.  I'm guilty, I blogged about it myself.

But in our rush to lynch AIG, we need to direct our anger at another set of letters, the SEC or the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Now, they had nothing to do with this brouhaha over bonuses, but they do have a lot to do with how our economy tanked in the first place.

For the last eight years, the SEC has presided over a financial sector gone mad.  Where were they?  I know the Bernie Madoff's shenanigans were brought to their attention.  They did nothing. I know that they were investigating AIG's financial products division back in 2006, but again the investigation was called off.  A question needs to be asked, why were these investigations called off and who made that call?  Bernie Madoff hadn't made a single trade, but the SEC couldn't discover that?  Remember, he turned himself in, no one caught him doing anything.

Now the pitchforks and torches are being directed at Senator Chris Dodd for removing the bonus cap language from the stimulus bill.  He apparently did this at the request of the Treasury Department.  More than likely this request was made in an effort to cull bipartisan support for the bill.  The Republicans are suddenly reversing themselves on limiting executive compensation; they were against it, now they are for it.  Sort of.  They don't want to do anything about it, they want the Treasury Secretary (who they claim they have no confidence in) to do it.  Maybe so they can blame the administration?  Or maybe because, once again, they don't have a clue or a plan.

It seems like a lot of energy and indignation is being spent on something that will do nothing for the economy, but will give a lot egos some air time.  AIG showed incredible tone deafness in awarding these bonuses, but they are legal and constitute a mere one-tenth of 1% of all the monies they have received to date.  

We need to ignore the sideshow and focus on the main event, or we risk wasting this opportunity.  We must eliminate the "you're only as good as your last quarter" mindset that awards greed and punishes prudence.  We need our corporations to focus on pleasing their customers, not their shareholders.  We need to regulate our financial markets and make sure those regulations are enforced, not ignored.  We need to identify the true architects of this disaster and make sure they never have the chance or the incentive to do it again.  We need to put down the pitchforks and put on our thinking caps.    

  

Just Say Know

I want to shed some "lyte" on sex education.  Today the National Center for Health Statistics released a study that shows for the second year in a row, the birth rate for girls between the ages of 15 to 19 rose by 1.4%.  Last year the birth rate for the same age group shot up an incredible 3.4%.

I think the jury is in on the effectiveness of "abstinence only" sex education.  A one year rise is an anomaly, two years in a row?  A disturbing trend.  It certainly doesn't help that the teenage daughter of the one the candidates for the vice presidency of this country was pregnant during the campaign.  High profile teen pregnancies like Jamie Lynn Spears have done nothing to discourage teens from having unprotected sex.

I find it amusing and sad that we have no problem with commercials that advertise for erectile dysfunction drugs, but an honest conversation about birth control?  Please, the pill is being marketed to control PMDD, or to clear up your skin.  Not a mention of its true purpose, to prevent pregnancy.  I certainly haven't seen any commercials for the morning-after pill, called Plan B.  Can you image how Focus on the Family would react if it was advertised, say, during the Super Bowl?

Telling teenagers not to have sex is fine, but not informing them about contraceptives is criminal.  And too many parents rely on the school to educate their kids about sex.  Sweet, weeping Jesus, why not just have the school raise them for you?  You should start talking to your kids about sex as soon as they start asking about it.  You don't have to tell them all the details, keep it age appropriate.  If they don't ask, use any teaching opportunity, like, a high profile teenage pregnancy to get the conversation going.  Trust me, they are talking about sex with their friends.  

My husband and I have been debating the whole sex issue since our kids started high school.  I want to give them condoms.  I don't want them to not have them when they need them.  My husband went even further and suggested we put them on the pill.  Even I thought that was too close to giving them tacit permission to have sex.  But I have been talking to my kids about sex for years.  

Look people, it is another bodily function.  You potty-train them, no one farms that chore out.  Think of sex education in the same light.  Take a deep breath, and start the conversation.  Knowledge is power, and we need to empower our kids to make smart decisions.  Just Say Know. 

We're Mad As Hell...

Today I want to shed some "lyte" on anger.  The big story is how there is a groundswell of populist anger over the bonuses paid to bailout recipient, AIG.  How this populist anger may spill over to the current administration.

We need to be careful, because once a mob gets out its pitchforks and lights its torches, it will run on emotion, not logic and will mow down anything in its way.  We need to be clear as to who is responsible for AIG's behavior and the lack of consequences for it.

AIG is being bailed out under TARP.  That plan was the brainchild of Henry Paulson, former Treasury Secretary under George W. Bush.  Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, put very little limitations or restrictions in place for the use of TARP funds.  So, recipients of such funds were and are pretty much free to do what they want with them.  Obama's hands are tied, he didn't create this mess, he is just trying to clean it up.

I mentioned yesterday that AIG used a large portion of its TARP funds to pay back companies that also received bailout monies.  Guess who one of these companies are?  If you said "Goldman Sachs", you get a gold star for the day.

Now am I the only one who finds it a bit convenient that the guy who created TARP, which just hands money to the very institutions that engineered and profited from the meltdown (with no restrictions), just happened to head one of these very same companies?  Or that this same person let one of the biggest competitors to his former company, Lehman Brothers, fail, while insisting that AIG had to be saved, just so it could pay his former company billions of dollars?  I'm beginning to feel like Mel Gibson in "Conspiracy".

Paulson's machinations are like the fox guarding the henhouse.  So when the mob starts moving, they shouldn't head towards the White House, they need to go on Google Earth and find the location for Henry Paulson.  They need to direct their very justifiable anger towards the guy who helped start the fire, not the guy who is putting it out.  

Oink Oink

I am shedding a little "lyte" on greed today.  It is all over the blogosphere and the networks that AIG is awarding nearly $165 million in bonuses to the very division that helped to AIG to post a record $61 billion loss in February.

That loss is the largest ever posted by a corporation in history.  Furthermore, AIG used a large part of their $150 billion bailout to make payments to other banks that also had received bailout funds.  Oops!  I just threw up in my mouth.

The government's hands are tied because when the TARP legislation passed, it didn't include any restrictions on bonuses or on how the bailout funds could be used.  AIG isn't the only one playing fast and loose with our money.  We have already heard about the rush to pay bonuses at Merrill Lynch.

A friend of ours sent us a 30 year old video clip of Milton Friedman extolling greed.  We all remember the phrase "Greed is good!" from the movie "Wall Street".  News flash, greed is a good motivator but is a piss poor regulator.  Greed profits the few at the expense of the many.  Our money has helped fuel this mess, now our money is being used to clean it up.  But we are told that it is "contractual obligations" that force companies like AIG to pay bonuses for non-performance.

Contractual obligations?  What about their obligations to their shareholders?  To the taxpayers?  If a corporation is considered an individual in the eyes of the law, what about its obligation as a citizen?  

And don't forget, we are borrowing this money.  From China, who is starting to get nervous about buying our T-bills.  Does the behavior exhibited by AIG do anything to reassure China?  I think not, and we would be in a lot of serious trouble if China stops buying our debt.  You think the economy is in a hole now, you can't imagine how bad it would get if our credit got cut off.

So knock it off!  Suck it up.  Sorry AIG executives, you just might have to live on your salaries this year.  Or we'll turn your name into something more representative of  your true selves, like PIG. 

If I Were A Rich Girl

Today I am shedding a little "lyte" on wealth.  I do not come from money.  I do not have a lot of money.  But I am incredibly wealthy.

I am not talking about myself in comparison to others.  Though by virtue of owning my own home and having two cars in my driveway, I am wealthier than most.  By having access to enough food and clean water, I am wealthier than many.  By having my health, I am wealthier than some.

No, I am truly rich in the stuff you cannot buy.  I will be celebrating my 25th wedding anniversary this summer.  I love my husband more today than I did yesterday.  He is my hero.  We are true soul mates and not a day goes by that I do not thank the universe for his presence in my life.

I have awesome kids.  Now everyone thinks their kids are great, but so what.  I know my kids are great.  They work hard in school.  They help out at home.  They are both involved in volunteering and are polite to strangers and gentle with little kids.  They are smart, funny, and growing into being interesting, engaged, contributing citizens of the world.

My sister is a constant source of support and love.  We may be separated geographically, but we are so connected emotionally.  She and her kids are all the extended family I have on my side, but they are all I need.

My father-in-law is another source of love and support.  He wraps his love in a lot of acerbic wit, but when the chips are down, his love is there.  Remember, love is not an emotion, it is a verb, and my father-in-law lives that truth everyday.

I have two incredible best friends.  One here in town, the other in another state.  Between the two of them, I am nestled like the creamy center of an Oreo cookie.  They laugh with me, cry with me, and fight for me.  

I even have great pets.  I am a cat person, but my dog loves me anyway.  My cats love me, but you know cats, they don't like to show it.  My pets are constantly showering me with the kind of unconditional love that makes me want to put them all in sweaters and carry them with me everywhere.  But I won't because my dog weighs about 70 pounds, and have you ever tried dressing a cat?

So, there you have it.  I know I have left some folks out of this blog:  my co-workers, some very loyal friends, and my brother who I am just starting to reconcile with after a long estrangement.  But my point is this, wealth is a state of mind.  Right now, a lot of attention is being paid to the monetary aspects of wealth, but it is the intangibles that are your true measure of what it is to be wealthy.  The rest is just stuff.  So go out there and practice a little wealth creation.  Call your mother, hug your child, take your dog for a walk.  That's a stimulus package that will pay off immediately.

We Won't Get Fooled Again??

I want to shed some "lyte" on investigative journalism.  Last night Jon Stewart, host of the "Daily Show" had Jim Cramer, a financial talk show host from CNBC, on his show.  All this week, the media has been all atwitter about a feud between the two and Jim Cramer bravely faced the lion last night.  

What I find sad is that it seems that the only worthwhile investigative journalism is happening at Comedy Central.  Not at CNN, or MSNBC, or any of the big Three.  (Note that Ieft out Fox News, it is not a news network, it is a propaganda arm for the conservative right.)  Jon Stewart asked some pointed questions, and had at his disposal an arsenal of video clips to counter the meek "I tried, but they lied." defense of Cramer.  Just an aside, I hate the word "try", I had a boss who used to say, "Try denotes failure."

This isn't the first time that Stewart has turned his withering eye and wit on subject that the mainstream media holds at arm's length.  "The Daily Show" was way ahead of the curve on the Iraq invasion and occupation as well.  They were hip to the fact that the previous administration was a house of cards from day one.  But why should we have to rely on a comedy show to tell us the truth when we have armies of TV, radio, and print reporters?

You hear a lot about the demise of newspapers these days.  Most of the time the blame is laid at the feet of the medium I am using right now, the Internet.  But I think conventional wisdom is missing an important point.  One reason people are moving away from newspapers and other traditional information sources is that over the past 8 years they have consistently ignored, covered-up or abetted lies foisted upon the American people.  

The run up to the invasion of Iraq, the decimation of our civil liberties, the aftermath of Katrina.  These are just a few examples of the failures of the Fourth Estate to do its job.  When you have a former male prostitute as part of the White House press corp, people will question the validity of all the press.  

Sooner or later the American people catch on.  Yes, we have short attention spans and are distracted by shiny things like the "octo-mom", but our noses work and we can tell when something smells.  

So mainstream media, I would sit down and watch Jon Stewart's interview of Jim Cramer.  You all need reminding of what your job truly is: asking the tough questions, digging for the truth, and using the bully pulpit you have to inform the public.  Unfortunately, that is virtually impossible since the people who sign your checks are the very people you should be investigating. 

Pirate's Treasure

I want to shed a little "lyte" on memory.  I have blogged before about how short America's collective memory is.  We are a nation built upon the idea of a fresh start.  When Andy Warhol made his famous statement about the duration of fame, little did he know that the phrase "fifteen minutes of fame" would be enshrined in our collective consciousness.  I bet most people who use the phrase have no idea who coined it.  But that's the way we roll here in the United States.

Across the world, not so much.  Especially in the Middle East.  There is a strong persistence of memory in that part of the world.  They hold on to grudges and remember slights and insults for generations.  No, make that for millenniums.  And that makes our reaction to 9/11 so dangerous and short-sighted.  No one argues with the invasion of Afghanistan.  But the detainment and torture that took place at Guatanamo?  That's a gift that will keep on giving for generations to come.  Our great-great-great grandchildren will be in danger of retaliatory attacks for what has happened there.

But the biggie is our invasion and occupation of Iraq.  The crimes that we committed at Abu Ghrarib will haunt our nation for thousands of years.  Yes, I said thousands.  Now, I can hear the chorus, "Come on, surely you exaggerate!"  No, I'm not.  Muslims are still arguing and killing each other over who was supposed to succeed Muhammad.  He died 1500 years ago.  

A little history; don't sigh and roll your eyes, this is important.  When Muhammad died, Islam was ruled by series of rulers called caliphs.  The first three are referred to as the "Rashidun".  But there were Muslims who thought that members of Muhammad's family were the rightful leaders of the religion, these leaders where called "imans".  The Sunnis are the largest group and follow the Rashidun.  The Shiites are the second largest and follow the imans.  And the two groups have been murdering each other ever since.

Now, Al Queda is a Sunni organization.  Iraq is a predominately Shiite.  Remember when President Bush insisted that we had to invade Iraq in order to prevent Al Queda from gaining a "terrorist foothold in the region"?  He was lying.  There is no way that Al Queda could do that, the Shiite majority would hunt them down and kill them.  Al Queda can thrive in Afghanistan, the Sunnis are the majority there.  But Al Queda will never take over Iraq.

So, every Muslim knows that our country invaded and occupied Iraq illegally.  Our ignorance is not a defense, it only enrages them further.  And these people hold onto their anger like pirate treasure.  They pass it down from generation to generation.  And the anger does not dim over time, Muslims a thousand years from now will be just as angry as Muslims are today.  So we are not safer, in fact we gave them enough emotional ammunition to last lifetimes.

This is just part of the legacy that we inherited from the previous administration.  The economy will bubble and burst.  Our civil rights will wax and wane.  But the consequences of our actions in Iraq will be with us for a long, long time.  Future generations had better learn these hard lessons and more importantly, remember them.

    

A Spoonful of Sugar

I want to shed some "lyte" on health insurance today.  My family and I have been on COBRA for almost a year.  We spent over $8,000.00 to keep our insurance last year.  We can't get private insurance because one of my kids gets allergy shots and no one will insure them.  We can't just have them on the COBRA coverage because the coverage is through my husband.  I could split us up, my husband and one kid on COBRA, myself and our other child on private insurance.  But it would only save us a little money and I would still need to keep myself and our other kid on COBRA for our dental insurance.

I never thought about insurance much until my husband experienced his layoff last year.  Until then, insurance was pretty much a given.  We had it and we used it.  Now I am scrapping up the cash to make our $600 plus payment each month.  It is scary.  And we don't qualify for the COBRA reduction because our coverage is from 5/08 and the start date for the reductions is 9/08.  

I want universal healthcare.  I am sick of this crap.  It slays me that Republican congressmen and women have the balls to say that we don't want government run healthcare, when they are on f*@#ing government run healthcare.  They'll give you the argument that private businesses are more cost efficient.  Bull.  Medicare's administrative costs are about 3%, the most efficient private healthcare provider is around 15%.  They'll tell you that if we have "socialized" medicine, you'll have to wait for care.  Bull.  If you want elective surgery, sure.  But if you need treatment, you get it.  Period.

We are the only industrialized nation to not have universal coverage.  How can we compete with Japan, Germany, China, India, etc., when our companies have to shoulder the increasing crippling costs of their employees healthcare?  And if our free market system is so great, why are our infant mortality rates higher and life expectancies lower?

And President Obama isn't trying to take away your healthcare.  If you like your coverage, fine, stay with it.  What he wants is for the government to provide an alternative to private insurers.  And free market advocates are afraid to have private insurers compete with the government.  Why?  Because there is a good chance more of us will opt for that nasty government run insurance.  Apparently competition is only good when it benefits business, not individuals.

What we have in this country is a for-profit medical complex.  It isn't healthcare, because there is no profit in health, only in sickness.  If you're healthy, you don't see your doctor that often, and you don't take any pharmaceuticals.  Doctors and drug companies make money off of treating symptoms of chronic conditions.  Now, don't get me wrong, if your appendix is infected, you need a doctor.  But if you have, say, high cholesterol, you need to first change your diet, exercise, and check out natural remedies.  If you go to your doctor, you are put on a statin.  FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.  You become a virtual ATM for the doctor and the drug company, needing regular check-ups, lab tests for liver enzymes, and paying for the statin itself.  This is just one example.  Doctors have no incentive to cure you, but they huge monetary incentive to treat your symptoms with prescribed medicines.

So we need healthcare reform.  The quicker, the better.  It will stimulate our economy, lowering operating costs for businesses.  More importantly, it will encourage us to take care of ourselves better.  And that's medicine anyone can swallow.   

Are We There Yet?

Today I am shedding "lyte" on anticipation.  You know how it is on road trip with your kids?  And like every 10 seconds, one of them asks,"Are we there yet?"  You have to stop yourself from reaching back and smacking them repeatedly while yelling, "We'll get there when we get there!  Now shut up and let me drive!"  Right now the media's theme is that the recovery is taking too long.  And I am afraid we as a society will buy into this crap.

President Obama has been office 8 weeks as of today.  That's 56 days for those of you who forgot how to multiply.  And the rumblings are starting.  "Why don't we have a bank bailout plan yet?"  "When is the stimulus going to work?"  "The Dow has dropped like a rock since inauguration, it must be Obama's fault!"  Now if I recall, the Dow dropped like a rock when George W. Bush came into office, courtesy of the dot com bubble bursting, and no one blamed the new president.  Oh no, that was all President Clinton's fault.  

Why are we holding President Obama to such a high standard?  Heck, when 9/11 happened, people said we couldn't hold President Bush accountable since he "just got into office."  So why are we expecting our current president to fix the worst economy since the Great Depression in just a few weeks? 

This economic fix we're in was decades in the making.  It started in the 80's when the "Great Deregulator" (my nickname) Ronald Reagan came into office and systematically began the process of dismantling a lot of oversight and regulation of financial markets.  President Bush and President Clinton helped the process along.  But it really took off under George Bush.  

When you reduce the capital gains tax, allow financial institutions to leverage themselves at 30 to 1, keep interest rates artificially low so there's lots of cheap money available, and expect the market to regulate itself, is it any wonder that our entire financial system implodes?  When you lend money to people with no provable income, no down payment, and low credit scores, to buy homes that are beyond their means, then take those loans, chop them up, rename them "securities", give them AAA bond ratings based on no due diligence, should we be surprised when the whole scheme tanks as these people predictably default on their loans?

But never mind that.  We are addicted to instant gratification and we want our recovery and we want it NOW.  Sorry folks, this going to take awhile.  And not everything is going to work.  This isn't a day trip to the wine country.  More like a cross-country slog to the "whine" country.  And we have more than one driver for this bus.  The President proposes, Congress disposes.  This ride is going to be a long one and it is only going to seem longer if we continue to sigh and ask every mile, "Are we there yet?"  We'll get there when we get there.  So shut up before I reach back there and smack ya'.    

The Most Horrible Day of The Year

Today I want to shed a little "lyte" on outdated traditions.  Yesterday marked the beginning of Daylight Savings Time.  Or as we call it around my house "The Most Horrible Day of The Year."  

I love to sleep.  When my kids were little, I would crave sleep like a heroin junkie craves their next fix.  My favorite fantasy was to run away to hotel, not for an illicit encounter, but for a night or two of uninterrupted rest.  So I hate Daylight Savings Time.

You would think losing an hour of sleep would be no big deal.  Ha!  It throws me off for flipping weeks.  All I think about when I look at the clock in the morning is "If not for DST, I would still be in bed."  I constantly calculate what the "real" time is.  I could move to Arizona, they don't follow Daylight Savings Time.  But I love where I live, so I deal with it; albeit badly and with a lot of whining.

And the whole reason we have stupid Daylight Savings Time is for farming.  Yes, farming.  To give farmers an extra hour of daylight to sow their crops.  Know any farmers?  This whole deal was created when a majority of our citizens were farmers.  News flash, farmers are a frickin' minority.  Slightly less than 2% of the total US population live on farms.  So 98% of us get to lose an hour's sleep for a handful of people who get up early anyway, so why couldn't they just sow their crops in morning?

Ever wonder why we have a 9 month schedule for schools?  Those frickin' farmers again!  This time it's so their kids can work the farm in summer.  Do you know any children who work on a farm other than migrant workers?  Most states would prosecute you under child labor laws if you made your kid bale hay.  Not mention that the Department of Child and Family Services would be investigating.  You would probably have to go on Dr. Phil and apologize.  And your kid would write a memoir and get invited to be on "Oprah".

And as if you need another reason to despise George W. Bush, he lengthened Daylight Savings Time!  To save energy, he claimed.  As far as I am concerned, it is another Katrina.  So I am calling on President Obama to abolish Daylight Savings Time.  He is changing everything else, so why not this?  And let's go on a 12 month school schedule, most working parents would cheer this move.  Wake up America!  We are no longer a nation of farmers.  Now go back to bed America and enjoy that extra hour sleep.  I need a nap.    

 

"Pretty Scary It Is"

So today I am shedding a little "lyte" on attention spans.  Specifically, our lack of attention to what is important and our laser-like focus on what is not.  

This has been rough week in our economy.  Stocks are down, unemployment is up, it seems like there is nothing but bad news everywhere you turn.  And what makes the cover of the New York Times?  The fact that President Obama's hair is turning gray.  I wish I was kidding, but I am not.  What is wrong with this country?  We are facing some of the most serious problems in my lifetime and the paper of record is obsessed with the color of our president's hair.  Sweet weeping Jesus.   Remember what we were obsessing about this time last year?  The primaries; and were Hillary's tears genuine or not.  And about flag lapel pins.  Or are you supposed to put your hand over your heart when you pledge allegiance or when the national anthem is played?  These discussions were eating up some serious air time on our cable new networks and our collective attention span.  Seems like so long ago.

But the truth is that there were plenty of red flags waving last year.  The thing was, we were too busy trying to figure out if Obama really was referring to Sarah Palin when he made that "lipstick on pig" comment.  I was thankful when the economy started tanking in September because it refocused the campaign on actual issues.  Everybody got real serious real fast.  

But apparently not serious enough.  Now we want a recovery and we want it now.  Obama has been in office six weeks and he hasn't fixed it yet.  Is that why his hair is turning gray?  Look, destruction is a faster process than creation.  And right now we need a lot of creation:  job creation, idea creation, capital creation.  This creative process needs money and since we rid ourselves of that pesky budget surplus with a stroke of the pen back in 2000, we have to borrow the money.  That's reality, not some liberal conspiracy to "grow government".  

Any business person will tell you, it takes money to make money.  The government is the only body capable of stepping into this morass and put us on the right course.  A runaway free market got us into this mess, responsible governance will help get us out.  

But suddenly, the Republicans are now against wasteful spending.  No more earmarks!  Never mind that earmarks only constitute 1% of the federal budget.  Or that over 40% of the earmarks in the omnibus spending bill that they have stalled in the Senate are earmarks that they put in.  Don't confuse them with the facts.  As Stephen Colbert said, "Facts have a well-known liberal bias."

So what should we be paying attention to?  What is truly important?  Our relationships, our health, and our peace of mind.  Don't be led; pay attention, decide what is important to you and align your life accordingly.  Don't panic, panic only leads to fear and as Yoda said, "Fear leads to the dark side."  And it is dark enough already.  

 

 

Only Love Can Break Your Heart

Today I want to shed a little "lyte" on marriage.  A loaded topic for sure, and one I will probably revisit again and again.  In the interest of full disclosure, I have been married for almost 25 years and am in what would be considered a "happy" marriage.  Thank goodness, because a recent study done by doctoral candidate Nancy Henry of the University of Utah shows that an unhappy marriage could be fatal.

I am not talking about domestic violence.  I am talking about women's cardiovascular health.  One in two women will develop heart disease in their lifetime.  Heart disease kills more women that all the cancers combined.  A woman's first heart attack is often her last, since a women is more likely to die from her first heart attack.  

So what's the link between marriage and heart disease?  Women in unhappy marriages are more likely to develop metabolic syndrome; a deadly combination of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugars.  The trigger for the development of this syndrome?  An atmosphere of negativity that leads to depression.  Studies have shown that women are more likely to suffer from depression from men.  Now it seems that the strains of living in a contentious marriage weigh more heavily on the wife than on the husband.  This can lead to depression which can contribute to the development of metabolic syndrome, greatly increasing the wife's chances of getting heart disease and suffering a heart attach or stroke.

Why does negativity hurt wives more than husbands?  The theory is that women may ruminate on the negative more than a man.  Another study done to measure gender differences in reaction to relationship conflict bears this out.  The study showed that women's blood pressure rates stayed elevated longer than men's after an argument.  I know this is true in my own marriage.  I have often marveled at my husband's ability to get over a fight so much faster than me.  I get mad and stay mad.  Even after we make up, I'll replay the fight in all it's technicolor details...for days.  Well, I better get better at getting over it or it might kill me.

I have known for years that marriage is better for men that it is for women.  Actuary tables bear out this little-publicized truth.  Unmarried men have the shortest life span, followed by married men, than married women.  Single women live the longest.  No one talks about this, our society is predicated on the belief that women "need" companionship like we need air, water and food.  Just like dirty air, unclean water, and unhealthy food can kill us, apparently so can an unsatisfactory marriage.  

 Scores of novels, poems, movies and songs have been based on the agony of a broken heart.  Now science is showing that love really can break a women's heart.  Be careful out there ladies.  Better no marriage than a bad one.

Gaia Will Thank Me

So today I am shedding "lyte" on conscious consumption.  Specifically, how small changes can have big impacts on our environment.  

Last night after dinner, I was asking one of kids if they were enjoying these cereal bars that I had scored for free from one of my jobs.  They told me that they were at lunch, telling the other kids about the awesome cereal bars that they had in their lunch.  When the other kids saw them, they were mocked.  Now, these bars claim to mimic, albeit badly, cinnamon toast.  But according to my child's peers, they are lame and taste like crap.

My child then explained to the table at large, "My mom is a nut job who only gives us organic stuff to eat."   This child then froze, realizing that the story was being told to the aforementioned "nut job".  I was stung; here I was, merely trying to extend my child's life span and I was being summed up in terms used to describe people who wear tinfoil hats and worship pyramids.  

A "nut job"; I'll own it.  I had a friend who moved to the West Coast after high school.  When she came home for a visit she told me, "I've found a whole state of people just like you, it's called California."  I started recycling decades ago.  I once had a party in the early 90's  and used all reusable plastic dinnerware and recycled all the cans & bottles, I was trying to demonstrate to my father-in-law that it was possible to have fun without overloading our landfills.  I showed my skeptical father-in-law that at the end of the evening I had only one bag of garbage as opposed to several.  He was underwhelmed and told me knew he was at a "yuppie" party because there was a vegetable tray.  This from a man who thinks global warming is a Democratic conspiracy.

I have used cloth grocery bags for years.  I used to have remind myself to use them, so I taped a piece of paper with a sketch of a bag and the words "Don't Forget The Bags" to my steering wheel.  One time we valet parked our car.  When the valet brought our car up at the end of our stay, he said,"I just have to ask, why did you need to remind yourself to bring your luggage?"  When I explained that all I was doing was trying to save the earth.  Thinking globally, acting locally.  He smirked, shook his head, but he took my tip.  I guess he was thinking green too.

I replaced most of our light bulbs with compact fluorescents.  When we have the money, I want to switch out our standard power surge protectors for the smart ones that let you turn off certain devices and leave others on.  Now I am not doing this to feel smug and superior.  I am far from perfect, I drive an SUV.  Though I will admit, I thought about, in more prosperous times, of purchasing carbon offsets for it.  When gas was sky high last summer, I rode my bike to work.  In 100 degree heat.

If being a "nut job" means caring for mother earth, so be it.  If being a "nut job" means feeding my family healthy and organic, so be it.  If being a "nut job" means thinking about what I buy, and what to do with it when I am done, so be it.  Now, I gotta go, my tinfoil hat design class starts in ten minutes.           

 

A Bitter Harvest

Today I want to shed a little "lyte" on reaping what you sow.  My family has been a victim of this economic downturn.  My husband is unemployed, I had to cash out my kid's college fund to pay our bills, and I watch the value of our home go down with each passing day.

I am pissed.  The policies pursued by the previous administration has broken my country and it is going to take time to fix it.  I never voted for the former President, hell, I never supported the clown, even after 9/11, I knew he was an idiot before he even got the nomination in 1999.  He is a trust-fund baby who never succeeded at a single business venture.  He couldn't find oil in Texas for crying out loud.  

He was a C student, a faux cowboy with a serious Oedipus complex.  I couldn't bear to hear his voice or watch him on TV.  It chaps my butt that Clinton got impeached for lying about having consensual sex with an adult, but W lied about WMDs and as a result, over 4000 Americans are dead, countless Iraqis are dead and displaced, but W will never probably have to answer for his crimes.

And let's not forget that until this year, the Iraqi invasion and occupation were off the books.  Always treated as an "emergency appropriation" in order to hide the true cost of the whole mess.  Do you know how they are trying to track how much money we sent over there?  By how much the planes weighed!  I wish I was kidding, but since no one bothered with any type of oversight, the only record we have is the plane's manifest and they are comparing the weight of the plane empty versus the weight of the plane once the money was loaded onto it.  They can then extrapolate how much money was on it, of course we have no idea what denominations were used since a $1 bill weighs the same as a $100 bill.  And Jesus wept.

Can we even calculate the human cost?  Thousands of Americans dead, and tens of thousands of Americans wounded.  Hundreds of thousands of dead or missing Iraqis and over 20% of the country's population has either left or been displaced.  Not to mention the price of our shame over Abu Gharib.  A single picture can recruit ten thousand terrorists.

This is just the Iraqi invasion and occupation.  I haven't even started on Bush's domestic policies.  That's a topic for another post.  I can only handle so much vitriol in one day.  My issue is that the former president doesn't even have the courage to own his mistakes.  "Mistakes were made."  That is the mantra of the previous administration.  Like mistakes don't have faces attached to them.  Or consequences.  W won't have to pay the price for his choices.  Unfortunately, we the people get to reap this bitter harvest.