It's Saturday afternoon, catching up on the work that didn't get done in the aftermath of the flood, looking for a golf tournament on the tube (Mrs. OS is a saint, enduring golf on TV as she does.)
Turning to CBS, and find a one-hour special, 'Chasing the Dream', featuring the rising generation of young golf pros like Anthony Kim and Rory McIlroy.
Someone has made recent decision to plow the ground in preparation for a PGA Tour without Tiger, or featuring a much diminished role for the former Boy Wonder for a while.
It's just bidness, after all. There are numbers to make, and bills to pay. Everyone became accustomed to Tiger showing up, being himself, and everybody carting off their own wheelbarrow of money. It worked so well for ten years, who wouldn't get fat and happy?
So, let's parade the kids who can barely shave, use handheld cameras at funny angles, no shot longer than three seconds, edit that 'grainy-film' look in back at the editing suite. Let's present them as the bright boys they are, not as legends in their own time.
Let's hope this works.
OS has mixed feelings about Mr. Woods, who has a long dark trip through the tunnel of life still ahead. Tiger showed us all what is possible, if we're willing to work hard enough. He also shows how things can go totally pear-shaped if we don't pay attention to details of life. In any case, after all the money he made for everyone around him, it seems a bit churlish to throw him completely under the bus. It can't be like the folks around him didn't approximately know what was going on in his off-hours.
As someone who has failed dramatically a time or two, and felt those wheels roll over him, OS appreciates grace--a lot.
And in honor of an athlete in the same trade who is retiring at the top of her game, with grace, class and good feelings all around, here is the transcript of Lorena Ochoa's retirement announcement.
I'm making this decision because all the elements are together. You know, to start, I always said that I wanted to play for some years, around ten years. And what I wanted to do is achieve my goals and to be the No. 1 player in the world. Retiring today or being at the top, you know, today is my anniversary for three years of being at the top in the Rolex World Rankings.
The second thing I always dreamed and I always wanted to finish here in Mexico. To be able to play my last tournament in front of my crowd, and in the moment of seeing them every day, and together to watch me playing my last tournament over here.
And third, well, finally, I just I'm ready to start a new life. You know, I just want to be a normal person. I just want to live like everyday things and be home, and be back with my family all the time that we lost in the last few years.
I'm ready to move on. You know, once you achieve your goals and you are at the top, it was good to me. But there are so many other things that I'd like to do. I'm really happy today, and I'm pleased. I'm 100% complete. It’s great news and I'm super happy.
I'm thanking everyone for their support and all the fans and for the LPGA, and people that have been watching my golf and following my career.
For Miss Ochoa, the really good stuff is just beginning, 'cuz she kept her head on straight all along the way.
Three cheers for this lovely young woman, who deserves to be role model.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
You Mean I'm S'pozed To Actually READ A Law Before Litigating Against It?: Eric Holder and the Arizona Immigration Enforcement Bill
(Damn! Barry didn't tell me the job would actually involve reading stuff!)
Some moments are too good to pass up, and this is one of them. After all the condemnation heaped upon the heads of the folks in Arizona, and threats of civil rights action against them by the Department of Justice, AG Eric Holder admits in testimony before Congress that he hasn't even read the law!
If ever a video should go 'viral', this is one.
This is the sort of nonsense one expects to encounter at a local zoning board meeting in a county somewhere in Appalachia. (Well, no suh', me and Bubba didn't realize that puttin' those dubble-wides on that flood plain would cause no problem. Hell, we didn't even know we wuz s'posed to get no bildin' permits, or look at no maps!)
Except this is the Attorney General of the United States. Our chief law enforcement officer. The one who is supposed render legal opinions for the Executive Branch. The one who is supposed to stand for the law and constitution, and not be a political hack.
And, lest we forget, the guy who appointed him once served as editor of the Harvard Law Review.
Shall we pause and reflect on the treatment recent Republican AG's have received at the hands of the Democrats and the MSM?
If this man is not sent on his way, then the country owes a posthumous apology to Nixon's AG-cum-BagMan, John Mitchell.
Some moments are too good to pass up, and this is one of them. After all the condemnation heaped upon the heads of the folks in Arizona, and threats of civil rights action against them by the Department of Justice, AG Eric Holder admits in testimony before Congress that he hasn't even read the law!
If ever a video should go 'viral', this is one.
This is the sort of nonsense one expects to encounter at a local zoning board meeting in a county somewhere in Appalachia. (Well, no suh', me and Bubba didn't realize that puttin' those dubble-wides on that flood plain would cause no problem. Hell, we didn't even know we wuz s'posed to get no bildin' permits, or look at no maps!)
Except this is the Attorney General of the United States. Our chief law enforcement officer. The one who is supposed render legal opinions for the Executive Branch. The one who is supposed to stand for the law and constitution, and not be a political hack.
And, lest we forget, the guy who appointed him once served as editor of the Harvard Law Review.
Shall we pause and reflect on the treatment recent Republican AG's have received at the hands of the Democrats and the MSM?
If this man is not sent on his way, then the country owes a posthumous apology to Nixon's AG-cum-BagMan, John Mitchell.
Remember, They're Not Called Food Stamps Anymore--The Growth Of The SNAP Program
Mish points to a report by Reuters that some 40 million people are now enrolled in the Food Stamp program (Dang it! They ain't food stamps, it's the SNAP program!)
Mrs. OldSouth hears the gasp in her husband's voice, and asks, 'How many were participating before Obama took office?'
Good question! So, OS does a bit of digging, and arrives at the USDA SNAP site, which provides a detailed history of the program from its founding in 1939 by Henry Wallace, then Secretary of Agriculture under FDR. (Wallace served as Vice-President from 1941-1945, but was tossed under the bus in favor of Truman for the 1944 election. Good thing, since it was discovered later that he was a Soviet agent...but back to the subject of FoodSt-dangit-SNAP!)
The First Food Stamp Program (FSP) - May 16, 1939-Spring 1943
The idea for the first FSP is credited to various people, most notably Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace and the program's first Administrator Milo Perkins. The program operated by permitting people on relief to buy orange stamps equal to their normal food expenditures; for every $1 worth of orange stamps purchased, 50 cents worth of blue stamps were received. Orange stamps could be used to buy any food; blue stamps could only be used to buy food determined by the Department to be surplus.
Over the course of nearly 4 years, the first FSP reached approximately 20 million people at one time or another in nearly half of the counties in the U.S.--peak participation was 4 million--at a total cost of $262 million.
Hey, it was the Depression! And 262 mil wasn't that much, right? Besides, WWII ended the need for it, although the FDA doesn't mention that per se:
The program ended (in 1943) "since the conditions that brought the program into being--unmarketable food surpluses and widespread unemployment--no longer existed.
Fast forward to The New Frontier:
...in fulfillment of a campaign promise made in West Virginia, President Kennedy's first Executive Order called for expanded food distribution and, on Feb. 2, 1961, he announced that food stamp pilot programs would be initiated. The pilot programs would retain the requirement that the food stamps be purchased, but eliminated the concept of special stamps for surplus foods. A Department spokesman indicated the emphasis would be on increasing the consumption of perishables.
Hey, it was Camelot! And there was all that food laying around, and all those votes to be bought with it. And besides, it was a temporary program.
Next stop, 1964, and Lyndon Johnson's running for the office he had lived his entire life for, only to inherit the job under the grimmest of circumstances.
On Jan. 31, 1964, President Johnson requested Congress to pass legislation making the FSP permanent. Secretary Orville Freeman submitted proposed legislation to establish a permanent FSP on April 17, 1964. The bill eventually passed by Congress was H.R. 10222, introduced by Congresswoman Sullivan. Among the official purposes of the Food Stamp Act of 1964 were strengthening the agricultural economy and providing improved levels of nutrition among low-income households; however, the practical purpose was to bring the pilot FSP under Congressional control and to enact the regulations into law...
[A]ppropriations for the first year limited to $75 million; for the second year, to $100 million; and, for the third year, to $200 million.
The Department estimated that participation in a national FSP would eventually reach 4 million, at a cost of $360 million annually.
Hey, it was The Great Society! We were gonna-by-gum eradicate poverty from the land, while running a war in Asia and keeping the lid on Europe, Japan, and Korea. No way we were gonna screw up the economy, right? Besides, we're helping 4 million poh' folks, and it'll only cost us $90 a head. What could go wrong?
OS will let you read the rest of the grim tale, if you care to.
But there are a couple of obvious items to note: We didn't eradicate poverty, and we did screw up the best economy in history.
And, if that many people are eligible for food aid, we don't have an economic recovery underway.
BTW--in answer to Mrs. OS's question:
By August 2008, participation had reached an all-time (non-disaster) high of 29 million people per month.
Sort of makes one's head, well, snap!
Mrs. OldSouth hears the gasp in her husband's voice, and asks, 'How many were participating before Obama took office?'
Good question! So, OS does a bit of digging, and arrives at the USDA SNAP site, which provides a detailed history of the program from its founding in 1939 by Henry Wallace, then Secretary of Agriculture under FDR. (Wallace served as Vice-President from 1941-1945, but was tossed under the bus in favor of Truman for the 1944 election. Good thing, since it was discovered later that he was a Soviet agent...but back to the subject of FoodSt-dangit-SNAP!)
The First Food Stamp Program (FSP) - May 16, 1939-Spring 1943
The idea for the first FSP is credited to various people, most notably Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace and the program's first Administrator Milo Perkins. The program operated by permitting people on relief to buy orange stamps equal to their normal food expenditures; for every $1 worth of orange stamps purchased, 50 cents worth of blue stamps were received. Orange stamps could be used to buy any food; blue stamps could only be used to buy food determined by the Department to be surplus.
Over the course of nearly 4 years, the first FSP reached approximately 20 million people at one time or another in nearly half of the counties in the U.S.--peak participation was 4 million--at a total cost of $262 million.
Hey, it was the Depression! And 262 mil wasn't that much, right? Besides, WWII ended the need for it, although the FDA doesn't mention that per se:
The program ended (in 1943) "since the conditions that brought the program into being--unmarketable food surpluses and widespread unemployment--no longer existed.
Fast forward to The New Frontier:
...in fulfillment of a campaign promise made in West Virginia, President Kennedy's first Executive Order called for expanded food distribution and, on Feb. 2, 1961, he announced that food stamp pilot programs would be initiated. The pilot programs would retain the requirement that the food stamps be purchased, but eliminated the concept of special stamps for surplus foods. A Department spokesman indicated the emphasis would be on increasing the consumption of perishables.
Hey, it was Camelot! And there was all that food laying around, and all those votes to be bought with it. And besides, it was a temporary program.
Next stop, 1964, and Lyndon Johnson's running for the office he had lived his entire life for, only to inherit the job under the grimmest of circumstances.
On Jan. 31, 1964, President Johnson requested Congress to pass legislation making the FSP permanent. Secretary Orville Freeman submitted proposed legislation to establish a permanent FSP on April 17, 1964. The bill eventually passed by Congress was H.R. 10222, introduced by Congresswoman Sullivan. Among the official purposes of the Food Stamp Act of 1964 were strengthening the agricultural economy and providing improved levels of nutrition among low-income households; however, the practical purpose was to bring the pilot FSP under Congressional control and to enact the regulations into law...
[A]ppropriations for the first year limited to $75 million; for the second year, to $100 million; and, for the third year, to $200 million.
The Department estimated that participation in a national FSP would eventually reach 4 million, at a cost of $360 million annually.
Hey, it was The Great Society! We were gonna-by-gum eradicate poverty from the land, while running a war in Asia and keeping the lid on Europe, Japan, and Korea. No way we were gonna screw up the economy, right? Besides, we're helping 4 million poh' folks, and it'll only cost us $90 a head. What could go wrong?
OS will let you read the rest of the grim tale, if you care to.
But there are a couple of obvious items to note: We didn't eradicate poverty, and we did screw up the best economy in history.
And, if that many people are eligible for food aid, we don't have an economic recovery underway.
BTW--in answer to Mrs. OS's question:
By August 2008, participation had reached an all-time (non-disaster) high of 29 million people per month.
Sort of makes one's head, well, snap!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Ya Think?: The Guv'mint Debt Balloons, And The Spending Continues
Just as the states and counties are seeing tax receipts crater, the Federal government is seeing a shortfall in income, just as Congress and the White House gleefully ramp up spending in preparation for the European-style welfare state envisioned for us all.
From Reuters, yesterday.
The United States posted an $82.69 billion deficit in April, nearly four times the $20.91 billion shortfall registered in April 2009 and the largest on record for that month, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.
It was more than twice the $40-billion deficit that Wall Street economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast and was striking since April marks the filing deadline for individual income taxes that are the main source of government revenue.
Department officials said that in prior years, there was a surplus during April in 43 out of the past 56 years.
The government has now posted 19 consecutive monthly budget deficits, the longest string of shortfalls on record.
Charmingly, at the very bottom of the article, is this quote:
White House budget director Peter Orszag told Reuters Insider in an interview on Wednesday that the United States must tackle its deficits quickly to avoid the kind of debt crisis that hit Greece.
Hey-thar', Mister Orzag! Don't tell us! We're already aware of the situation.
Tell your !!!****!!! boss!
From Reuters, yesterday.
The United States posted an $82.69 billion deficit in April, nearly four times the $20.91 billion shortfall registered in April 2009 and the largest on record for that month, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.
It was more than twice the $40-billion deficit that Wall Street economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast and was striking since April marks the filing deadline for individual income taxes that are the main source of government revenue.
Department officials said that in prior years, there was a surplus during April in 43 out of the past 56 years.
The government has now posted 19 consecutive monthly budget deficits, the longest string of shortfalls on record.
Charmingly, at the very bottom of the article, is this quote:
White House budget director Peter Orszag told Reuters Insider in an interview on Wednesday that the United States must tackle its deficits quickly to avoid the kind of debt crisis that hit Greece.
Hey-thar', Mister Orzag! Don't tell us! We're already aware of the situation.
Tell your !!!****!!! boss!
The Great Middle Tennessee Flood: May 13 2010 Morning
OS is up to his kiester, catching up on work neglected last week in the aftermath of the deluge.
So, quickly: For readers in the Nashville area, the distribution center at Coleman Community Center, at the corner of Thompson Lane and Nolensville Road, is struggling to keep up with the needs of the neighborhood.
From WKRN News, posted yesterday:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Food, water and cleaning supplies are still available at disaster centers around Nashville, but demand is so high a the Coleman Community Center keeps running out of aid.
The Coleman Community Center is located on Nolensville and Thompson lane.
The center serves a large immigrant population that has numerous needs.
The center is handing out items like water and cleaning supplies, but they already ran out of food.
However, the center is expecting a new shipment.
"Sometimes we're slow, sometimes jam packed and out of everything," Volunteer Jared Reynolds told News 2. "We're out of everything right now."
Reynolds said working at the center can be heartbreaking.
"The ones with children, breaks my heart," Reynolds said. "These are people who didn't have anything before they lost everything, and now they really don't have anything. That's been tough.
Most of the donations come from organizations like the Red Cross or Second Harvest Food Bank, but volunteers at the Coleman Community Center said they'll take donations from private citizens and they're especially in need of diapers.
Much of the population of that area is immigrant, refugees from chaos overseas, like Egyptian Coptic Christians, Iraqis, Somalis, etc. OS got to know a family of Iranian Christians in the 1990's, who endured a particularly hair-raising experience at the hands of their Shia culture and government. Nashville has long been a resettlement destination for refugees, and there are good programs in place by a number of churches and groups to assist in the transition.
However, in this extraordinary circumstance, more is needed. As tough as it is to leave everything behind just to have a chance to live, it has to be doubly hard at a time like this.
So, if you can, please help out. Coleman Community Center is not difficult to reach.
384 Thompson Lane
Nashville, TN 37211-2453
(615) 862-8445
From I-440, take Nolensville Road South exit, and the center will be at the corner of Thompson lane in about 1.5 miles. You can't miss it--major intersection, softball fields, car dealership across the street from the center. Turn left onto Thompson Lane, the center is on the left.
So, quickly: For readers in the Nashville area, the distribution center at Coleman Community Center, at the corner of Thompson Lane and Nolensville Road, is struggling to keep up with the needs of the neighborhood.
From WKRN News, posted yesterday:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Food, water and cleaning supplies are still available at disaster centers around Nashville, but demand is so high a the Coleman Community Center keeps running out of aid.
The Coleman Community Center is located on Nolensville and Thompson lane.
The center serves a large immigrant population that has numerous needs.
The center is handing out items like water and cleaning supplies, but they already ran out of food.
However, the center is expecting a new shipment.
"Sometimes we're slow, sometimes jam packed and out of everything," Volunteer Jared Reynolds told News 2. "We're out of everything right now."
Reynolds said working at the center can be heartbreaking.
"The ones with children, breaks my heart," Reynolds said. "These are people who didn't have anything before they lost everything, and now they really don't have anything. That's been tough.
Most of the donations come from organizations like the Red Cross or Second Harvest Food Bank, but volunteers at the Coleman Community Center said they'll take donations from private citizens and they're especially in need of diapers.
Much of the population of that area is immigrant, refugees from chaos overseas, like Egyptian Coptic Christians, Iraqis, Somalis, etc. OS got to know a family of Iranian Christians in the 1990's, who endured a particularly hair-raising experience at the hands of their Shia culture and government. Nashville has long been a resettlement destination for refugees, and there are good programs in place by a number of churches and groups to assist in the transition.
However, in this extraordinary circumstance, more is needed. As tough as it is to leave everything behind just to have a chance to live, it has to be doubly hard at a time like this.
So, if you can, please help out. Coleman Community Center is not difficult to reach.
384 Thompson Lane
Nashville, TN 37211-2453
(615) 862-8445
From I-440, take Nolensville Road South exit, and the center will be at the corner of Thompson lane in about 1.5 miles. You can't miss it--major intersection, softball fields, car dealership across the street from the center. Turn left onto Thompson Lane, the center is on the left.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
The Unelected Prime Minister
...departs office, still unelected, a permanent asterisk in the history books.
Text of his resignation announcement here.
His fate was sealed, not by the financial meltdown and its aftermath, but by agreeing to assume the role of Prime Minister without earning the privilege via the electoral process.
It was only a matter of time, and it could only end in tears. At least, the UK is a civilized country, where power passes from one hand to another with one person's resignation, and another's visit to speak with the Queen. Most times and places, transitions are bloody and tumultuous.
If some good thing can be salvaged from this heartbreak, perhaps it will be the object lesson that power must be 'derived from the consent of the governed', lest it be unavoidably viewed as illegitimately gained and exercised.
Text of his resignation announcement here.
His fate was sealed, not by the financial meltdown and its aftermath, but by agreeing to assume the role of Prime Minister without earning the privilege via the electoral process.
It was only a matter of time, and it could only end in tears. At least, the UK is a civilized country, where power passes from one hand to another with one person's resignation, and another's visit to speak with the Queen. Most times and places, transitions are bloody and tumultuous.
If some good thing can be salvaged from this heartbreak, perhaps it will be the object lesson that power must be 'derived from the consent of the governed', lest it be unavoidably viewed as illegitimately gained and exercised.
The Great Middle Tennessee Flood: May 11 Morning 2--We Are Nashville
If he may break into the local patois a bit...
OldSouth had nooooo ideeear just how cool this here bloggin' thang can be, ya'll.
A few days ago, he spotted a (then) obscure blog entry by a hockey fan, and passed it along. No biggy, jes' sharin' what we bin readin' round heah'.
Entitled 'We Are Nashville', this thing took off like a bottle rocket. It was posted on the hockey team's website, as the musings of one writer on what he was observing. OS had no clue that he had stumbled into something that was mushrooming.
It turned viral, because it rang the bells of people around the world. It told the story of the citizens of a city and state that had been clobbered, and didn't fall apart, and didn't wait for someone else to come rescue them.
Since then, a website has been put up, with the gratis downloadable graphic to share, in the famous style of the local silk-screen concert posters for which Nashville is famous.
A tee-shirt in the same style is selling quickly, with profits headed to The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. OS has had dealings with Community Foundation, and they are a totally class act.
The We Are Nashville Facebook page is here.
Ya'll get the picture. You can toss your shekels here with confidence, and you'll even get to wear the tee-shirt back home in Sheffield.
There is a looong way to go before things get back to where they need to be. Houses and businesses and lives to be rebuilt a day at a time. And along the way, the Symphony has to replace the console and mechanical heart of its organ, amongst other things. The list just goes on and on.
But, it will get done. This is a 'Git-'Er-Done' place, full of those kind of people. If you're reading from overseas, OS hopes you get this view of Heartland America in your heart and mind, 'cuz this is who we are. And it's not just Nashville, Tennessee where this happens, although it has happened here with afterburners lit.
Those folks in Yew Nork and the Left Coast spend their days trying to sell the world the idea (in their TV shows, movies, news outlets and advertising) that we're just ignorant, helpless rednecks and hicks, incapable of original thought and ambition. That we just can't survive without them.
It is OldSouth's fond hope, that as the stories of The Great Middle Tennessee Flood, and The Great Middle Tennessee Recovery are documented by so many people, a new narrative can emerge for the United States. That the contrast between the industry, energy and generosity of the Nashvillians and the stupidity, laziness and raw greed of those who manipulate markets, constitutions, governments and cultures for their own ends will become unbearable to view without an active ethical response.
Americans, as OS constantly points out to his colleagues, don't respond to lists of facts, and agendas imposed from above. They respond to narrative, as free people.
This happened. We did that. We stopped doing that other thing. We built this with our own hands, and we helped one another rebuild this place we love. Thousands upon thousands of stories.
These great things happened, because we worked together.
Narrative.
OldSouth had nooooo ideeear just how cool this here bloggin' thang can be, ya'll.
A few days ago, he spotted a (then) obscure blog entry by a hockey fan, and passed it along. No biggy, jes' sharin' what we bin readin' round heah'.
Entitled 'We Are Nashville', this thing took off like a bottle rocket. It was posted on the hockey team's website, as the musings of one writer on what he was observing. OS had no clue that he had stumbled into something that was mushrooming.
It turned viral, because it rang the bells of people around the world. It told the story of the citizens of a city and state that had been clobbered, and didn't fall apart, and didn't wait for someone else to come rescue them.
Since then, a website has been put up, with the gratis downloadable graphic to share, in the famous style of the local silk-screen concert posters for which Nashville is famous.
A tee-shirt in the same style is selling quickly, with profits headed to The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. OS has had dealings with Community Foundation, and they are a totally class act.
The We Are Nashville Facebook page is here.
Ya'll get the picture. You can toss your shekels here with confidence, and you'll even get to wear the tee-shirt back home in Sheffield.
There is a looong way to go before things get back to where they need to be. Houses and businesses and lives to be rebuilt a day at a time. And along the way, the Symphony has to replace the console and mechanical heart of its organ, amongst other things. The list just goes on and on.
But, it will get done. This is a 'Git-'Er-Done' place, full of those kind of people. If you're reading from overseas, OS hopes you get this view of Heartland America in your heart and mind, 'cuz this is who we are. And it's not just Nashville, Tennessee where this happens, although it has happened here with afterburners lit.
Those folks in Yew Nork and the Left Coast spend their days trying to sell the world the idea (in their TV shows, movies, news outlets and advertising) that we're just ignorant, helpless rednecks and hicks, incapable of original thought and ambition. That we just can't survive without them.
It is OldSouth's fond hope, that as the stories of The Great Middle Tennessee Flood, and The Great Middle Tennessee Recovery are documented by so many people, a new narrative can emerge for the United States. That the contrast between the industry, energy and generosity of the Nashvillians and the stupidity, laziness and raw greed of those who manipulate markets, constitutions, governments and cultures for their own ends will become unbearable to view without an active ethical response.
Americans, as OS constantly points out to his colleagues, don't respond to lists of facts, and agendas imposed from above. They respond to narrative, as free people.
This happened. We did that. We stopped doing that other thing. We built this with our own hands, and we helped one another rebuild this place we love. Thousands upon thousands of stories.
These great things happened, because we worked together.
Narrative.
The Great Middle Tennessee Flood: May 11 2010 Morning--Eyes Blurred With Tears Of Gratitude
OldSouth returned in one piece from yesterday's long drive north. Bits of I-65 on the north side of Nashville are turning into washboard, to the point that there were fears for safety, and a tire inspection will be in order soon.
There are a few personal anecdotes to pass along about the rebuild from The Flood. It would take too long to detail them all adequately. Just know that these words are written through eyes blurred with tears of gratitude:
Friends (who would be horrified to have their names mentioned) have quietly helped this household out in significant ways, with the 'Don't you worry, I've already taken care of this matter for you.' approach. They and Heaven know who they are.
A banker called to let OS they are honoring some insurance drafts on behalf of a small not-for-profit he helps out with, since getting to the bank with the stack of deposits was not on last week's agenda. (It's the same bank where OS melted the phone in the bank officer's hand over its predatory practices with the account last December. The one where OS worked in their abandoned office all afternoon this January and watched only three customers walk in. The phone call this morning was sweet and concerned. Hmmm...)
A fellow blogger OS has never met inquired how to help, and donated to a deserving family she'll likely never meet, who will use funds to replant the farm that will support several families in Perry County. (Hit the link, and you can as well--hint, hint. The goal is 5K, about 1/3 of the way home to the goal in one week. OS would love to see this wrapped up by Friday.)
The hands-down-tears-in-our-eyes moment occurred Saturday night, when a letter was found in our post office box from an acquaintance from overseas. She had heard of the Perry County family's losses, and had enclosed four crisp fifty-dollar bills to help them rebuild their lives. OS had the joy of delivering those fifty's to the family this morning. It was a good moment. Their smiles could light a small town for a week.
This has been an extraordinary week. Thank you, one and all, from around the world for the extraordinary kindness shown to so many, not just to this family.
Next post will share some concrete, cool, and inexpensive ways to share in The Great Recovery.
There are a few personal anecdotes to pass along about the rebuild from The Flood. It would take too long to detail them all adequately. Just know that these words are written through eyes blurred with tears of gratitude:
Friends (who would be horrified to have their names mentioned) have quietly helped this household out in significant ways, with the 'Don't you worry, I've already taken care of this matter for you.' approach. They and Heaven know who they are.
A banker called to let OS they are honoring some insurance drafts on behalf of a small not-for-profit he helps out with, since getting to the bank with the stack of deposits was not on last week's agenda. (It's the same bank where OS melted the phone in the bank officer's hand over its predatory practices with the account last December. The one where OS worked in their abandoned office all afternoon this January and watched only three customers walk in. The phone call this morning was sweet and concerned. Hmmm...)
A fellow blogger OS has never met inquired how to help, and donated to a deserving family she'll likely never meet, who will use funds to replant the farm that will support several families in Perry County. (Hit the link, and you can as well--hint, hint. The goal is 5K, about 1/3 of the way home to the goal in one week. OS would love to see this wrapped up by Friday.)
The hands-down-tears-in-our-eyes moment occurred Saturday night, when a letter was found in our post office box from an acquaintance from overseas. She had heard of the Perry County family's losses, and had enclosed four crisp fifty-dollar bills to help them rebuild their lives. OS had the joy of delivering those fifty's to the family this morning. It was a good moment. Their smiles could light a small town for a week.
This has been an extraordinary week. Thank you, one and all, from around the world for the extraordinary kindness shown to so many, not just to this family.
Next post will share some concrete, cool, and inexpensive ways to share in The Great Recovery.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Athens, Alabama/Ohio/Georgia/and Indiana To The Rescue: We Be Definitely Bailin' Those Suckahs Out!
OS regrets to report that his conjecture of 4 April was correct, to the tune of some one trillion (yep, that's with a t..t...t...t...Tee! Makes the old boy stammer to even think of it.)
Mish tells the tale, and how well it all worked out for us two years ago.
This is gonna get serious damn ugly, everybody. No way it can be otherwise.
Hey-thar-ya'll in Athens Alabama! You better git yore asses to work and fast. We gonna save Europe from its sorry-ass self.
Again.
Third time (at least) in one hundred years...
GawwwwwdBlessUsEveryOne!
Sheeeeeuuuuuutttt!
Mish tells the tale, and how well it all worked out for us two years ago.
This is gonna get serious damn ugly, everybody. No way it can be otherwise.
Hey-thar-ya'll in Athens Alabama! You better git yore asses to work and fast. We gonna save Europe from its sorry-ass self.
Again.
Third time (at least) in one hundred years...
GawwwwwdBlessUsEveryOne!
Sheeeeeuuuuuutttt!
IBG/YBG: I Be Gone, You Be Gone
It's Sunday evening, and it has been one hell of a long week since this time last weekend. It feels like a month ago, in fact. OldSouth will not dwell on the flood tonight, simply because he needs a break. Business trip tomorrow, departing in the wee hours, with some work to do before an early bedtime.
Jesse always shares the most interesting stuff on the left side of his page, and an elegantly written short essay by James K. Galbraith deserves notice. Written to submit as testimony before the Senate last week, he fingers a basic cultural problem that has come to visit as an economic problem: financial fraud.
Control frauds always fail in the end. But the failure of the firm does not always mean the fraud fails: the perpetrators often walk away rich. At some point, this requires subverting, suborning or defeating the rule of law. This is where crime and politics intersect. At its heart, therefore, the financial crisis was a breakdown in the rule of law in America.
He goes on to quote a bit of code used between the parties: IBG/YBG.
I'll be gone, you'll be gone.
Someone else, somewhere else, at some point in the future will clean up the mess.
In the meantime, we'll be long gone, far away from the failed businesses, ruined pensions, bankruptcies, dreams postponed or lost, boarded-up houses in blighted neighborhoods.
IBG/YBG. Let's make sure we make our tee time, no matter what.
This referenced as the GreatAndGood of Europe stay up all night attempting to staunch the bleeding caused by the crisis in Greece.
They're gathering up (printing up?) some eye-watering amount of money to maintain the fiction that all is well, and under control. After decades of IBG/YBG governmental spending, we are at the point where the mess will not go away. There is no one left to blame, no sleight-of-hand at hand to employ.
We are the someone else, somewhere else, and the future is this week, this month, this year.
IBH/YBH
I be here, you be here.
We all be.....here.
Just announced from the Fed, this evening, a few minutes ago:
Federal Reserve Press Release
Release Date: May 9, 2010
For release at 9:15 p.m. EDT
In response to the re-emergence of strains in U.S. dollar short-term funding markets in Europe, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, and the Swiss National Bank are announcing the re-establishment of temporary U.S. dollar liquidity swap facilities. These facilities are designed to help improve liquidity conditions in U.S. dollar funding markets and to prevent the spread of strains to other markets and financial centers. The Bank of Japan will be considering similar measures soon. Central banks will continue to work together closely as needed to address pressures in funding markets.
Federal Reserve Actions
The Federal Open Market Committee has authorized temporary reciprocal currency arrangements (swap lines) with the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank (ECB), and the Swiss National Bank. The arrangements with the Bank of England, the ECB, and the Swiss National Bank will provide these central banks with the capacity to conduct tenders of U.S. dollars in their local markets at fixed rates for full allotment, similar to arrangements that had been in place previously. The arrangement with the Bank of Canada would support drawings of up to $30 billion, as was the case previously.
These swap arrangements have been authorized through January 2011. Further details on these arrangements will be available shortly.
We be here...
Jesse always shares the most interesting stuff on the left side of his page, and an elegantly written short essay by James K. Galbraith deserves notice. Written to submit as testimony before the Senate last week, he fingers a basic cultural problem that has come to visit as an economic problem: financial fraud.
Control frauds always fail in the end. But the failure of the firm does not always mean the fraud fails: the perpetrators often walk away rich. At some point, this requires subverting, suborning or defeating the rule of law. This is where crime and politics intersect. At its heart, therefore, the financial crisis was a breakdown in the rule of law in America.
He goes on to quote a bit of code used between the parties: IBG/YBG.
I'll be gone, you'll be gone.
Someone else, somewhere else, at some point in the future will clean up the mess.
In the meantime, we'll be long gone, far away from the failed businesses, ruined pensions, bankruptcies, dreams postponed or lost, boarded-up houses in blighted neighborhoods.
IBG/YBG. Let's make sure we make our tee time, no matter what.
This referenced as the GreatAndGood of Europe stay up all night attempting to staunch the bleeding caused by the crisis in Greece.
They're gathering up (printing up?) some eye-watering amount of money to maintain the fiction that all is well, and under control. After decades of IBG/YBG governmental spending, we are at the point where the mess will not go away. There is no one left to blame, no sleight-of-hand at hand to employ.
We are the someone else, somewhere else, and the future is this week, this month, this year.
IBH/YBH
I be here, you be here.
We all be.....here.
Just announced from the Fed, this evening, a few minutes ago:
Federal Reserve Press Release
Release Date: May 9, 2010
For release at 9:15 p.m. EDT
In response to the re-emergence of strains in U.S. dollar short-term funding markets in Europe, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, and the Swiss National Bank are announcing the re-establishment of temporary U.S. dollar liquidity swap facilities. These facilities are designed to help improve liquidity conditions in U.S. dollar funding markets and to prevent the spread of strains to other markets and financial centers. The Bank of Japan will be considering similar measures soon. Central banks will continue to work together closely as needed to address pressures in funding markets.
Federal Reserve Actions
The Federal Open Market Committee has authorized temporary reciprocal currency arrangements (swap lines) with the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank (ECB), and the Swiss National Bank. The arrangements with the Bank of England, the ECB, and the Swiss National Bank will provide these central banks with the capacity to conduct tenders of U.S. dollars in their local markets at fixed rates for full allotment, similar to arrangements that had been in place previously. The arrangement with the Bank of Canada would support drawings of up to $30 billion, as was the case previously.
These swap arrangements have been authorized through January 2011. Further details on these arrangements will be available shortly.
We be here...
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