Christmastime at Walmart.

This is the bailout as advertised - buy up the junk bonds on taxpayer's bill so that maybe in a few years they'll be worth something and we won't be left holding a gigantic bag.
This plan was boneheaded enough that people were momentarily up in arms against it. That's incredible in and of itself. At least until the media return to the old standby of asking us to trust in the superiority of the thought process our political minds. And then the bailout passed.

But before Paulson could completely destroy us, Britain and the governments of Europe forced his hand, and he was somewhat forced into directly injecting cash into the largest banks. An unwanted loan in a time when everyone is refusing to lend. The idea was that this was supposed to ease the mistrust, to prove there was actual money there to back the loans and thereby free the banks up to loan amongst themselves again. This was the solution which the experts quizzed by Ira Glass had staked their hope upon. This American Life had swayed me.

Unsurprisingly in retrospect, the banks didn't start lending this extra money. They bought up some smaller banks, the ones that didn't get the money. They paid some VIPs they owed. They tucked the rest away for a rainy day. Loans still aren't being made. Quite a bit of our money is now sitting out there. We're back at square one, except the DOW is drunkenly stumbling and we owe more in taxes now.

-------

We cannot continue as we have for years, buying more, living on debt and hoping against hope that the bubble that is our entire economy doesn't burst. They always do. The whole world's economy as we can now clearly see, has also been banking on this ever-growing bubble. Even on an individual level - with the money people earn stagnating, more people getting older (more kids entering a shrinking job market, more seniors citizens needing ever increasingly expensive health care), the sudden jump in the last 20 years of personal debt isn't going to fix itself. So far the Federal response to this has been to ask us to dive a little deeper into our wallets out and keep this economy working. Christmastime at Wal-Mart. Like the Christians in my past used to quip "Give till it hurts."

I never took Economics. OK, I did, but it was a requisite course at a Liberal Arts college. So I don't understand how these things work at a higher level. Federal debt creation, leveraged insurance options, the fact that we owe China so much, I don't understand how these things interact, let alone operate.
The 700 billion was supposed to free banks up to lend again. People would cheer the action, and the media would reassure the majority of us that enough had been done. The stock market bought that hype for one full day. I'm glad the injection didn't save the plunge, as we might have just buried our head in the sand again. The US as a thriving economy is now necessary for the world to function. Fucking Friedman and his flat world. We're not addressing that. Our way of living is unsustainable. What options are out there?

------

The libertarian radio program I listen to is derisive to the extreme when it comes to FDR's New Deal. They claim it garners far too much credit for the turnabout. This is where I split with the libertarians anyway*, but what's the truth there? I only have a 3rd graders understanding of it all (high-school textbook level, anyway). Could an administration do a new new deal with any positive results? Green technology, sustainable small farms, science and math education, a new civil corp to rebuild the infrastructure, maybe this time with rails instead of interstate highways?

Is this a good direction? What other options and or thought are out there? Does the entire culture that creates CEO's pay at 500x the level of the average worker need reworked from a different angle? Would unionizing the big boxes help more than the hassle it would cause?


* hooray for personal civil liberties, but a total free market DOES NOT WORK you Ayn Randian assholes.

absolute zero

Today around noon there was a parade on Broad Street in South Philly, in other words right in our locale.


Apparently it's Columbus Day, or rather tomorrow. Note in the median the two cars that were not moved.


Also note the remarkably low attendance, which surprised me since it wasn't a half-bad parade despite the lack of candy-throwing.


...sigh

One Aside

On the bailout.

Today is Wednesday. Monday the House rejected a bad bailout bill. Tonight the Senate will pass that same bad bill with some stupid motherfucking tax breaks as so-called "sweeteners."

Listening to NPR this morning was painful. The talking heads and "experts" had come to the conclusion that the popular uprising against this bill on Monday was just us being confused. That the giant WALL STREET drop the next day has shaken and awakened us. That we now support the bill.

WE DO NOT. We are not slowly coming around to the reality you think we should see.


Everyone keeps saying the economy cannot function without easy credit flowing everywhere. That people can't get the loan they want to buy the car they would like to drive.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT people. Maybe, just maybe, you didn't need that car to survive in this world.

Sorry about that.
That people can't get a auto loan is not a reason to do or think anything. Please stop uttering this on or near radios that I may be near. I might just hunt you down.

It's the War, Stupid.

I'm a lurker of many a site. Mostly they're sites that retain my interest for less than the long run. Sensible Erection (NSFW) has been one of the longstandingest. Politics, celebrity, porn, technology, the world. Like most of the internet, it's mostly boys looking at boyish things. Many of the links come from (or, alternatively, end up on) SA and Metafilter and BoingBoing. A good catchall for staying culturally relevant. The discussions are often more enlightening and entertaining than the original posting.
Politics has gained a bigger slice than normal, what with November approaching and the sister site Sensible Election taking a pause.
Gun control. In general, I'm for it. Your personal rights end when the potential for a loaded barrel swings my way. My father had an unnecessary loaded gun pointed his and the results, though not immediately disastrous were eventually disappointingly life altering.
However, I don't find it a make-or-break issue. One million dead Iraqis. That's make or break. With guns, I'm negotiable. Here's a comment on SE from Scaryface in response to a response to Bill O'Rly on BO:

Thats a part of it, of course, but its simplifying the issue. Guns are a deeply ingrained part of American culture, whether we like it or not. I had to explain this to a German employer of mine not to long ago. People sometimes forget about America's long love affair with the personal firearm and tend to make it out to be more black and white than it is. We won a revolution using personally owned firearms, we've wiped out a native culture and the ran off multiple other country's stakes on the continent, we've even killed mass amounts of each other in a crazy war of succession.

Yes, guns kill people. That much is black and white. It seems like an easy decision, but it's one we've only recently been able to make. The ownership of a firearm was essential to most American's survival not more than 200 years ago. Its a [vestigial] leftover that were now logically able to get rid of, but I doubt we'd have had that option without the benefit of guns in [stabilizing] the country. I'm not particularly endorsing their ownership, but having one is a bigger part of American history than most want to admit. It isn't all cash flow and lobbyists.

I personally am not a fan of firearms and don't own one, but I get why many people want to keep them. If I considered hunting with my Father to be a valuable bit of male bonding, I'd want to keep my rifle too.

Facilitator

Yesterday I was hired.
I'm now finally employed again. I held out for a while, but this job might be great. I'm the "facilitator" for a green construction company. Cabinets, decks, bathrooms, remodels, expansions. High end-ish work using sustainable materials. As facilitator, I'm responsible for driving the company panel truck, keeping the carpenters and such supplied, keeping track of stuff. When I'm not needed in this fashion, I'll just be working, learning carpentry by being the low man on the totem.

Since I've moved here I've tried to keep my unnecessary spending to a minimum. Beyond getting new insurance and buying groceries and gas and parking tickets and dinners and rent and untilities, I've tried to keep from spending my dwindling funds for going towards unnecessary things.
My last bike was stolen after being locked outside my apartment for less than 3 hours. I hadn't found my key to my U-bolt lock, so I just had it locked with a rope chain. But beyond the hassle of my mom and uncle stuffing it in the truck to get it out to me, it wasn't a terrible loss.(Well, that and the 100$+ dollars it was worth even as a trade-in.)

Today I went out and bought a new-to-me road bike. I've never had a non-mountain bike. It's all very exciting. I went to the bike shop around the corner, but the selection there was minimal, so they sent me to a much smancier place on South St. Old bikes at high prices, but I found what I liked and was in a mood to spend. This was the back door of the place:


The bike I bought is an SR SemiPro.
There's some controversy as to who made the silly thing as there is a bike component manufacturer also by the name SR which probably wasn't the manufacturer of this bike, but did make some bikes? It's all confused. It has a real pretty matching set of Shimano 600 components.

Ted Said Technology is BAD.

10:52pm
Watching History Channel dramatically voiced Unabomber story.
I'm perusing his manifesto after Googling it (perhaps I should have Cuiled it?).
I look over at Pru's laptop. Where she's looking at Kaczynski's wiki page.

We nerds can never return to an encyclopedic world. The internets must go on.

Delicious Mumia-steak

Over the last month a couple of friends have spent the night on our lovely futon. We haven't yet dragged anyone to the bell, but if we ever see it ourselves, it'll probably be because a guest wants to see it. As far as 'things to do in Philly because you are here' go, cheesesteaks have to be pretty high on the list. I have yet only eaten a philly cheesteak in the presence of a visitor. Pat's King of Steaks and Geno's Steaks are the cheesesteak shops. Real Philadelphians who don't live a block away all insisit there are better sammiches to be had in a million different locations around the city. Tourists are pointed towards Pat's and Geno's. Two of those times I've been it was in the middle of the night. 24 hour service may be a gimmick, but it's a darn good one.
Pat's and Geno's sit diagonally across from one another on triangular blocks caused by Passyunk, the one diagonal street running through the grid. Pat's is older. Geno's is flashier. A steak sammich come with onions ("wit") or without ("witout"). A steak sammich comes with american cheese, provolone, cheese whiz, or no cheese. To order, you stand in line for upwards of an hour while the people around you quiz you on what you want, and if you know the proper way to order what you'd like when you get there. When it's your turn you say "wit whiz" and three seconds later a made to order sammich is pressed into your hand.

Even though most here have a better shop to buy a steak sandwich from, everyone has an opinion as to which is the better. Almost a Hellman's and Miracle Whip level of distinction. Some claim better service, some better meat cuts, some design aesthetics. On one late night trip, a neighbor was drinking on the stoop as we left and told us not to buy from Geno's because they have a sticker next to the window which says: This is America when ordering "speak English". I shrugged it off. The political opinions of most food establishments does little to deter me. I eat at Sordy's.
There is indeed such a sign. It's mostly goofy. The men on the inside were all wearing shirts with the same slogan on them. Silly Italians. But then I sat to eat my food at the very tip and I noticed the giant sign for slain officer Daniel Faulkner. Included on the sign was the insistence that he was killed by Mumia Abu-Jamal. All I knew about Mumia was that Karl or Eric had worn a Free Mumia shirt in high school and that there was some dispute as to the honesty of the trial that put him away for Faulkner's murder. I was, to tell the truth, a little grossed out.

Yesterday I decided to look this Mumia back up, see what I could learn. He has had enough attention and celebrity to stay in the news and in white liberal college kid's minds for years. I've had a little experience with railroaded justice, and I could easily imagine what could happen to someone the police are intent on holding responsible of killing one of their own. I did set out to see it from Mumia's point of view. I really tried.

Forgive me Geno's, I judged you harshly, I was ill informed. Forgive me Faulkner. There are rumors on the internets that you were in pockets, that you were not straight. Your death covered all that up, as the blue stands behind their own, especially their fallen. Besides the fact you were probably a crooked cop, your death was nothing but tragic. Mumia, congratulations on your prison celebrity. You have very pretty dreds. Now go to hell. There are zero facts defending your position.

Pat's does make a better sammich though.

Metafilter

Today was yet another interview. I'm pretty sure my style of cover letter/resume isn't appreciated by many of the employers who receive it. It's anything but strict. The place I interviewed today was one of those tax-funded employment helping hellholes. The type of place that wants your cover letter to start with the Dear Sir or Madame gobblygook. That wants you to include high school NHS awards. There was a poster on the wall, one of those inspirational posters. The picture was of the sign you see when your road tees into another. The top read Career vs. Job.... After abusing the common ellipse, it assured us wearied job-seekers that it was "A Matter of Choice or a Matter of Chance." Yes indeedy.

Metafilter is a website. It's old. It's blue. The idea was that there are good sites out there. Members were encouraged to post interesting sites they found and discussions would ensue. That's not exactly what happened. I found it in late high school, became addicted with the T1 of freshman year college. Back when Stan Chin was the funniest man I knew. I lurked it pretty faithfully for years. Started an account before it cost money and maybe posted one comment, I can't recall now. It was responsible in a small part for who I became. Politically, in what I looked for in entertainment, in porn, in rights, in art.
It took me a few years to notice how small a large part of the commenters had become. How small as in how petty. Everything was shit upon. Some of you who know me will find this humorous. I'm an avid shitter upon. But Metafilter made cynicism and snark a brand new form of art.
People wear shirts that claim they listen to bands that haven't formed yet. It's that fully earnest form of one-upsmanship that finally soured me on the comments in the blue.

This post is nonsense. I'm trying to put something down. I was offered a PT position writing for a magazine. I want to make sure I'm not dried totally up.

Cats Eat Fish.

Homer the Bruce is most captivated by our newest household addition, a male Betta named Lou Reed. The cool aquarium bubble was our one housewarming gift. Debates will be had over the completeness of a plastic bubble with one Betta versus additions. Would a Betta like a pretty picture in the background to better rest his eyes? Perhaps some gravel to demonstrate the effects of gravity? A kitty paw to bring out his fighting prowess?

I'd like to design a harness for Lou. A harness to hold a watertight laser pointer.

Reciept Checking Bullshit

Last night I went to Lowe's to get a bunch of minor things for the apartment. Things that normally a landlord would take care of before you move in, but we kinda squeezed ourselves through the gap in the door as the previous tenant left. Leaving the cleaning and minor repairs left to us.
After I bought my items I was rewarded with a Lowe's employee posted to the door to "check my receipt." Poor schmuck.
I somehow have mostly managed to avoid these bad-policy decisions before now. I've heard of them, the internet lets me know what happens to other people. I knew that the internet-agreed-upon response to such an inquiry was "No, thank you." You let them know that you understand their plight with kindness, but do refuse because it's the right thing to do. This from a post years ago about a man stopped by one of these vultures at a Best Buy:

But this verification step is purely voluntary. Merchants basically have two rights covering people entering and exiting their stores. They can refuse to let you enter the premises and/or to sell you anything, and they can place you under citizens arrest for attempting to leave the premises with any property that you haven't paid for. But the second you hand over the appropriate amount of cash, they lose all rights to the items. They can't legally impair you from leaving the store with your property.

Those are your rights. Best Buy guy ended up getting police involved, lawyers. All sorts of fun stuff. But for the most part, this is one of those things - when you can stand up for your rights with the smallest of repercussions, DO IT. Up there with "Am I being detained?" and taking the 5th.

I'm an asshole. Lowe's has a bad policy. She was a kindly looking middle-aged woman. She was required by policy to look, if possible, at my receipt. The people leaving in front of me had exchanged a polite laugh with her. She asked. I gave her an offended look and said "No," rather disgustedly. She simply asked why not to my back and I threw her a "Don't gotta!" over my shoulder. It was very gratifying.