Very funny

From a Yahoo! News story: “CARACAS, Venezuela – Prominent Venezuelan non-governmental organizations warned Thursday that a bill being drafted by lawmakers loyal to President Hugo Chavez could be used to financially strangle groups that criticize the government. Ruling-party lawmakers argue the proposed law is necessary to increase oversight of foreign funding destined for NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), although they've promised to hear concerns from critics before taking up the bill for likely approval in the coming months. A draft of the bill says foreign donations for NGOs would no longer be sent directly to organizations but instead would be deposited in a government-controlled fund. Officials would dole out the money at their discretion.” This is really funny. As the saying goes, “He who has the gold makes the rules,” no? Once the government gets its hands on the money, it will be next to impossible to shake it loose. Who knows?

Recession and cynics

From the New York Times: “Speaking at a conference in New York in December, Walter M. Pressey, president of Boston Private Wealth Management, a healthy bank with a mostly affluent clientele, said there were no immediate plans to do much with the $154 million it received from the Treasury. “With that capital in hand, not only do we feel comfortable that we can ride out the recession,” he said, “but we also feel that we’ll be in a position to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves once this recession is sorted out.” The report on the TARP concluded that the Treasury’s top priority seemed to be to “stabilize financial markets” by simply giving healthy banks more money and letting them decide how best to use it. The report also said it was not clear how giving billions to banks “advances both the goal of financial stability and the well-being of taxpayers, including homeowners threatened by foreclosure, people losing their jobs, and families unable to pay their credit cards.” For Mr. Hope, the Whitney National Bank chairman, “the main motivation for TARP” was not more loans, but rather to safeguard against the “possibility things could get a lot worse.” He said Whitney would continue making loans “that we would have made with or without TARP.” “We see TARP as an insurance policy,” he said. “That when all this stuff is finally over, no matter how bad it gets, we’re going to be one of the remaining banks.” WHAT UNBELIEVABLE CYNICISM. Isn’t this the same kind of greediness that got us here? Now, thanks to the bailouts, China and the Middle East hold the mortgage on the entire country – first and second lien, as it were. The higher ups don’t care – they will just go live in Europe. 

Government and Politics

If you want to learn something crucial about how politics and government work, simply try to find out why the flat tax cannot and never will be implemented.  

New Google Chrome saves the day

Testing. This is just a test. My old browser could not get me in so I tried Google Chrome and it seems to be working. We can write and edit again. Yipee!!!! I can even upload pictures like I used to. I need to celebrate but, unfortunately, I am out of beer and I have no wine nor wine coolers. I have no Scotch nor Tequila either. I should not have had that last beer at lunch. No problem. I can celebrate tomorrow. I might even just have a candied apple. Why not. There's more than one way to celebrate Google Chrome and its ability to rescue a floundering blogger.  By the way, that picture is supposed to be two trees being beat up by a hurricane. The original is much larger. I hope I don't experience any more blogger problems. 

Frank Lloyd Wright

"Bureaucrats: they are dead at 30 and buried at 60. They are like custard pies; you can't nail them to a wall."  This was said by architect Frank Lloyd Wright.  I wholeheartedly agree.

Whitney Houston and Stress

Whitney Houston, the singer, is dead. She died at a rather young age - she was only 48. The regular papers all say she abused drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. Perhaps she did. I wasn't there to witness any of it. They are saying her death was related to her deteriorating health. That is, of course, stating the obvious. Houston actually died of stress - stress on her body and mental condition due to pressures from career issues. 99% of people do not realize that artists lead difficult lives in private. The distance between the public and the private person is very great. Bridging that distance is hard. Keeping up appearances is tough. Being creative is demanding. Staying in top form is difficult. Fame and skill do not last forever. Artists are people who need lots and lots of moral support. When it does not come, they turn to whatever means are available to hide the fact that things are not quite what they should be. Unfortunately, money does not solve the problem. Fortunate is the artist who does not pay some heavy personal price for their success. The torture is sometimes unbearable but most times, it is self-inflicted. What Houston needed most was simply to just have a good time - just like she used to.

Charles Baudelaire

"Everything that is beautiful and noble is the product of reason and calculation." This is according to Charles Baudelaire, French poet. It makes sense to me. I know women are beautiful so Whoever made them must have put a lot of thought into it. If women were not so beautiful, advertising men would not use them to sell everything from alcohol to bank accounts to diamonds to shampoo to tires to magazines to vacuum cleaners.