November 29, 2008

I get several complaints when I threaten to leave 360, from loyal readers who have grown accustomed to my...warped perspective?

Economy

In September i wrote about talking with honey and deciding to move at least some of the IRA money from stocks to money market...and then within weeks looking like I was amazingly smart. (If I had been smart I wouldn't now be planning to work several more years to recover). If I was so smart, i would have concluded like many economists have that the current US mortgages secured by our quasi-government financial market is in the neighborhood of $10 trillion (10 thousand billion) and the estimated market value of those is $1-2 trillion...OOPS! So meanwhile people like me have seen their house value quadruple in the last decade, and then come tumbling down, to something like 20% over what we paid in 1997...gee, where did all that money go?

National Security

And pretty much the economy has ruled our lives, until the day before Thanksgiving when a bunch of assholes decided to start a terrorist fun fest in India by killing innocent men women and children. Watching the news, I saw what appeared to me to be rather poorly trained police, no doubt terrified themselves, trying to figure out what to do. I actually remember seeing the news the next day when some serious looking men in uniform marched past the cameras, and thought"they seem to know what they are doing". Having been around the military and/or police much of my adult life, you can see in how people carry themselves whether they have confidence and an air of knowing what they are doing, a sense of professionalism I guess. At any rate, it seems the terrorists have been killed, arrested, or got away (my bet)...how is it that Friday the media reported Indian Security services were fairly certain there had been between 20-25 attackers involved, and today it a confirmed there were only 10??? 10 sites attacked by 10 guys??? and 6 were killed in one hotel??

And according to former General Colin Powell and Vice President Biden we will have a generated international crisis between January 20 2009 and the six month mark to test the new administration...spoken with such confidence that its no wonder many of my friends are spooked...

Leftovers Friday November 28, 2008

My brother sent me this list, which i tried to post on the non-functioning Yippe 180 blog I have had for several years...and which has refused to accept any entries since 11/22.  So the heck with that site, i will focus on this one being my major outlet.

The list he sent me he did because 1) he thought it was funny and 2) he is always trying to jab me with things that are likely to evoke some response..and he knows I think this sort of thing is idiotic. Hence I publish it, because it is stupid, and after some reflection, I realize some men are pretty clueless about women, just as I am about why men persist in thinking women are from another planet or something...I really get frustrated by a guy at my job who is patronizing to women, even those like me who are in position, salary and responsibilities their peers. But then that's another blog in a series I started about a year ago scattered around the web ....

NINE WORDS WOMEN USE 
1.  Fine:

This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up. 
2.  Five Minutes:

If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house. 
3.  Nothing:

This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine. 
4.  Go Ahead:

This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It! 
5.  Loud Sigh:

This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)
6.  That's Okay:

This is one of the most dangerous statements women can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake. 
7.  Thanks:

A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome' .. that will bring on a 'whatever'). 
8.  Whatever:

Is a woman's way of saying F-- YOU! 
9.  Don't worry about it, I got it:

Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to # 3.

 

Conspiracy Theory 2008

OK, here is the theory:

Hoover left office and the country was in a financial mess, as was much of Europe. Roosevelt came to power, and tried a lot of ideas to fix things, but the economic failure know as the Depression ended about 1942, after the USA had joined the fight in World War II.

Now we have a administration that has pretty much blown it leaving office and a democrat coming into office in a similar situation. Add to this now what I call the Biden factor.

"Mark my words...watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy. There are gonna be a lot of you who want to go, 'Whoa, wait a minute, yo, whoa, whoa, I don't know about that decision. Because if you think the decision is sound when they're made, which I believe you will when they're made, they're not likely to be as popular as they are sound. Because if they're popular, they're probably not sound."

We know the new admin wants to redeploy our troops from Iraq to Afghanistan. Based upon the Biden factor, the new theory is that we will escalate the fight in that country "to get bin Laden" and well...respond to a crisis? Remember :

• Pakistan exploded their own nuclear bomb.
• Pakistan has tactical missiles that can carry a nuclear bomb
• Pakistan is our ally?
  

Now go think about this and come back with the theory...

Entry for November 22, 2008

When I was 10 years old, JFK was shot on this day, November 22. That was 45 years ago, so anyone not about my age or so probably doesn't have much (if any memory) of JFK, other than documentaries.

I thought he talked funny, saying words in his distinctive Cape Cod accent- Cu-ber for Cuba, and so forth. I remember the civil defense drills we did in school the previous year, now a time more colorfully known as the Missiles of October...a time where we all were so close to obliteration even people like my dad were scared.

10 years later, I was strolling through Arlington, and came to the site where he is buried, with the eternal flame.

Much to my horror, a man put his child over the rope surrounding the sight, extolling the child to go sit next to the headstone, for a photo. I erupted in a fit of not yelling, but commentary that embarassed the man, and likely everyone around me, as I told the guy what I thought ogf his utter ignorance and lack of civility in putting a child on the grave site of a fallen national leader, and in general being a, well, major asshole...which caused the guy i was with to be a little embarassed, but he did join in and asked to guy to get his kid out of there.

When I lived in Germany, I was surprised at how loved Kennedy had been by the Germans, in particular in Berlin where he had uttered the "Iche bin ein Berliner" line. The story goes that he should have said "Ich bin Berliner" ("I am a citizen of Berlin"), and that "Ich bin ein Berliner" really means "I am a jelly doughnut." (A "Berliner" is in fact a type of jelly doughnut made in Berlin.) One of my German instructors even claimed this is true, and I once saw it published in a major American magazine, although I forget which one.

I found myself having drinks with a German , so I asked her the question. She said that it is certainly not true. President Kennedy said the phrase absolutely correctly, although possibly with a thick American accent. It seems that the German language is simply not that trivial — it has subtleties that very few non-native speakers grasp. She said that if President Kennedy had said "Ich bin Berliner," he would have sounded silly because with his heavy accent he couldn't possibly have come from Berlin. But by saying "Ich bin ein Berliner," he actually said "I am one with the people of Berlin." This is her exact translation as best I can remember it.

Veterans Days Past

My honey is a veteran. I have noticed each year he seems to get more solemn, more than before. Not all the time mind you, just on days like Veterans Day, Memorial Day and 9/11.

This year he spent the morning of Nov 11 in his office at home, playing this Jimi Hendrix song pretty much over and over. I went in to check on him, and he was looking at a picture of him and the guys in "the war". He is standing there in the picture, while his guys are sitting on the ramps of two personnel carriers (which look like tanks to me) . I asked him whats that music, and he points at another picture of him and a guy with a radio on his back behind a wall and a broken down car with holes all over it, and says "Roger here, he used to play that song all the damn time in the field, on his cassette player."

When our son-in-law ever asks, honey says he didn't do anything, yet I know thats not true. Surely all those ribbons and medals he keeps in a draw mean something. My brother, who is slightly older than honey, looked at son-in-law and said about honey "He was in the shit, and doesnt want to talk about it...let it be" Honey and my brother, also a vet, have talked about it, so I guess they shared something. 

Sometimes things dont change - November 19, 2008

Everyday People - Sly & The Family Stone

This song, Everyday People, was released by Sly and the Family Stone in 1968 and 40 years later still makes a point...

New World Order can suck on this....November 16, 2008

This is another in a series of the “Howard Beale Collection” (see movie Network)

I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do...

This is not a psychotic breakdown; it's a cleansing moment of clarity.

Howard Beale 1976

Rant Section 1 –

In my imagination, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison would be aghast at what the Democratic Party has evolved to be. Jefferson wrote in the 1820's about the consolidation of too much power within the federal government, when he thought most power should remain with the states

“ I scarcely know myself which is most to be deprecated, a consolidation, or dissolution of the states. The horrors of both are beyond the reach of human foresight.^"

And somewhere between then and now the idea that responsibility for success or failure in business could and SHOULD be influenced by the federal government came to supplant the idea that business fails when it does not meet the market standard, is no longer competitive and a myriad of other factors.

Businesses “too large to fail” ….well, in my profession (IT) that would be considered a single point of failure, which is why as business systems get bigger they need to have failover, not be depending on one source of data which is the lifeblood of a data system. So if the lack of regulation led to businesses being allowed to conglomerate to the point that a failure brings down the entire economy, who should be responsible? Imagine if in the internet services available ONLY AOL was the provider, or MSN or any of several. They control it, and when their service becomes unprofitable, they keep hiking the rates. And their employees keep getting better and better contracts as the rates keep going up; then one day a satellite company comes along, and says they can do it better and cheaper. People try it out and find indeed the service gets them online, is reliable (since there are no telephone/dsl/cable cross country networks). And to top it all off, the new company pays their employees half what the “land based internet” people make, which allows them to continue providing the service cheaper. So the ailing company does what? Cut costs and realign to the new model, or ask for a Federal bailout? Get the picture???

Rant Section 2

United States of America

We should endeavor to move in the direction of the red white and blue, not red versus blue in this country.

As a family we can squabble and disagree, but there should be some common ground in all saying we are first and foremost citizens of the United States of America. As someone who has seen the reality of living in a country not endowed with our freedoms, I honestly can say that I cherish living in this country, as screwed up as it is at times. This country is not perfect, and likely will never be so. That was the point to begin with, that a people with many different views could live as a nation under the single set of rules we call the constitution.

Rant Section 3

Constitution

I recently saw an interview with Justice Scalia, a man I have held in both hi and lo regard for some of his judicial actions. But on the point of the constitution, I tend to agree, the creators of that document, in particular Jefferson, thought the country should hold a strict construction of the Constitution, and stronger states with a weaker federal government.

And that’s the way I see it. If you don’t agree, hey, that’s your right.

another vacation...November 14, 2008

Today found me spending the lunch hour at my health plan hospital/clinic waiting in a large waiting room for an ultrasound. As I sat quietly in the chair against the windows, I could see the 3 reception stations, and the hallway leading to mammography, nuclear medicine , radiology and Ultrasound. Mostly older people(older than me anyway) waiting, some speaking softly, others speaking not so softly in an asian language, while Martha Stewart chirped away on the Tv set hanging from the far corner of the room about some stupid (and revolting looking ) cranberry conconction she prepared, oh so effortlessly. I smirked to myself as I thought "I bet she had a lot of time to write recipes in federal prison...I know its mean, but what the heck, its probably true.

Eventually a young blond woman in the customary white smock appeared from the hallway, "Canice MacThomas?" as she looked at the 30 or so faces in the room. I usually like the sound of my name, but she looked starled when I stood up and said "Yup, here I am"

We wondered down several hallways, and then went into the dimmly lit room with one of those exam tables with a sheet of paper stretch the length, where she has me lay down . I stared at the ceiling, my thoughts desperately focused on not freaking out . Its difficult lying there motionless, your mind pondering all the dismal possibilities, regardless of the assurance or lack of evidence that my thyroid malfunction is anything but a benign nuisance in the aging process. I know it is, the doctor said it probably is, I hope it is, what if it isnt, well we'll just fight then...crap, I am making myself cry...The technician was very pleasant, though I think her and I said like 3 sentence the whole time. A sense of relief came over me when she wiped the jell from me, and handed me a clean towel, to finsh removing any she missed. I was allowed to gather my things, and then we jauntily walked down the hall, where she said, the result will go to your doctor, and you should know within a week or so.

Then I went to get a blood draw...what a way to start the weekend.

Later I checked my email and the tests my regular doctor ordered are all within the normal range, but the ones the specialist ordered weren't in yet...yes my health plan posts your medical records to their website, accessible by your login id. Dont get me going about what i think. I mean I like that I can do stuff online, but i sure hope they have decent security in place..

Entry for November 11, 2008

Another one of my incoherent rants- bear with me, it makes sense sort of.

Politically, I think I have become a cynic. Living in California most of my life (I was born here), I was introduced to Democratic politics by my family – my grandfather was carpenter and worked building ships at Mare Island during WWII, my dad and uncle are both Korean War vets, and our family’s patriotism has never been questioned.

In college I joined the Young Democrats, and realizing their candidate was not going to end the war in Viet Nam, I joined others in forming a splinter group, the Young Democrats of Northern California. Our candidate was a Senator who called the war immoral, and vowed to end it.

Now the country is in two wars, one in Afghanistan and the other in Iraq, and this was a factor in decision making for whom to vote.

Yet this year as I talked with people about the election, it became apparent to me that my party has gone in a direction I am uncomfortable with. I didn’t vote for Hillary, although she was my second choice. California democrats overwhelmingly voted for her, and many pundits said her victory here assured her the nomination. Then when the nomination seemed within her grasp, something called super delegates announced Obama was their choice and in a instant the nomination process was over. OK, so be it, even though I think it sucks.

I am a cynic because many of the people I know at work and have seen on TV reports (MSNBC, NBC, ABC, CSPAN, CNN, and FOX) have fallen in love with the candidate that won, Obama. While he has been described as encouraging a cult of personality, Obama has successfully tapped into the deep hatred that has been fermented by politicians seeking to divide this country not into Democrats or Republicans, young or old, white or non-white, but increasingly a nation of haves and have not’s- not enough money, not enough credit, not enough health care, not enough equity in the society as a whole.

I am cynical because his promises to resolve our issues sound so good, they will likely be unattainable while politicians continue to debate what to do while the country continues business as usual. Pumping TRILLIONS of dollars into the problems seems their answer, yet the financial resources to do that come from not our own treasury but the lending from our economic competition, primarily China. I cynically think that GM will be saved when it’s announced China has acquired a majority interest in GM stock, now at a 62 year low.

I hope I am wrong. I hope someday our representatives can get on to the business of serving the interests of the people, not pandering to the lobbies that infuse campaigns with billions of dollars in search of favors post election. Personality can persuade so far. Pragmatic discipline governs effectively.

As a nation we face international challenges not only in defense, but in economics. In my work implementing digital age systems into processes that are based on last century practices, I have become increasingly concerned that the majority of products I have seen deployed are either in whole or part manufactured not in the USA, or even North America, but overseas, usually in countries where the labor standards are abysmal. Yet we as a consumer nation continue to believe in unbridled capitalism, ironically making purchases from countries with nationalized economies working daily to undermine the US politically. We need change, to become more competitive in these arena’s, and government can do that by encouraging companies to work smarter, leaner, and realizing that when America does better, they will too.

I for one try (as difficult as it is) to buy American made products when possible- because I would rather my money go to support a company that is paying Americans to build and sell to Americans, rather than not. I know the arguments- about how buying from overseas helps our economy by shifting the low wage jobs to there and leaving the higher wage jobs here…and I personally think that’s BS. Because it’s the lower wage jobs making something that enables people here to buy things…case in point I can buy a pair of New Balance shoes that say Made in USA for $75, or a pair of competitor shoes made in China for …$75 dollars. One pair has lasted so far 6 years, while the other fell apart after 18 months. So on a return for investment basis, the 6 year pair was the better deal…I know people that buy a Japanese car like a Lexus and would never buy a Cadillac, even though three years in a row consumer rating organization say the Cadillac is a better built vehicle…oh but that’s another rant for another day.

Last observation I want to share…

How is it that “We Support the Troops” has become a national obsession, with bumper stickers and the like, yet the major media outlets (New York Times, Washington Post, etc) have either NO or small items in today’s papers about it being Veterans Day?

From a college newspaper:

“What about the people who are still alive and are permanently changed because of what they witnessed in war? Do we forget about them and let them live lives like they have done nothing for our country? So you disagree with the War in Iraq, I understand that but to completely refuse a national holiday that has so much power over people is ridiculous. If it wasn't for the men and women who serve to protect this country, we would not be the United States of America and we would not have the freedoms we have today.”

And I am cynical?

Veterans Day, 2008

Dallas Morning News

Veterans Day. When you think of – or thank – veterans of the current Middle East war, think of this: U.S. soldiers are fighting in Iraq today in part because of an event that ended on this date 90 years ago: World War I.

It is well known how the tumult of the Great War lit the fire under Nazism and communism, the twin totalitarianisms that would grieve the 20th century. But the Great War's culmination also meant the demise of the Ottoman Empire and the drawing of the modern Middle East's map by the victorious British. Iraq and many of its regional neighbors emerged from that war. The Arab nationalism and Islamism that have convulsed the Middle East over the last century were a response to the waning of Western imperialism forced by the same war.

Interesting, i had not really connected Veterans Day WWI with Iraq.

What I do know is honey commemorated Veterans Day in silence from 1974 until 2002. He got out of the Marines in 1973, and resumed college in Feb 1974, only discussing his service with his dad, a Korean War vet, and other veterans on campus.

Entry for November 08, 2008

Honey and I both adore being at the ocean, and so our vacations have usually been to travel along the coast from San Francisco north. Weather has never been a great concern, although the further north we travel, sometimes the rain is so intense you have to stop and let it pass.

We decided to go to Seattle, and stopped in Gold Beach Oregon on the way up to spend the night in a vacation rental home. It was great, as big as our own home only with 2 bedrooms…but the living room was huge, and the kitchen was gigantic compared to ours…I loved this place!

Continuing north, we arrived at our destination, and unpacked for the week stay. This was a condo, tucked away in a corner of the woods only a block or so from I-5, but you would never know it. The kitchen was designed out of the IKEA catalog, and everything was stuck on one wall. A Mini-fridge, a mini stove, the microwave mounted under the cabinets. The adjacent table could seat 4, but they would have to serve the food then eat, because there was barely room for the two of us our first meal.

We were tired and honey suggested we go out, so I went online to see what was close by. Meanwhile honey spotted one of those “we recommend” leaflets that inns typically have, and said let try this place, Kells Irish Restaurant & Pub.

What a choice!. It turns out the place frequently has shows, and so we were treated to be entertained after eating by someone I had not heard of, Liam Gallagher, of the band Oasis. Expectation was (since we were in Seattle) this might be some grunge type music, but we were pleasantly surprised.

It was a memorable evening