Trying to take care of my little piece of the planet
I’m taking my usual lunch break, eating at my desk, perusing the news. Most of the time is spent gathering more details of the debate over the bailout. (Incidentally, I made a rare call to my Congressman this morning, encouraging him to push for a long thorough look at any bailout agreement before signing on.) [...]
Posted on September 23rd, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Rants and Musings | 4 Comments »
I argued back in January that the U.S. economy has been structured to reward bad behavior, such as excessive borrowing and shopping until we drop, while punishing good behavior such as saving and debt repayment. Now the proverbial chickens have come home to roost, and that is finally being acknowledged by the mainstream media. Today’s [...]
Posted on September 19th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Rants and Musings, Uncategorized | No Comments »
As I said earlier, I know very little about economics and this financial tsunami has me scrambling to make sense of things. Here is another article by a learned guy who has written for Business Week that lists what we did wrong, what the ramifications of that have been and how to dig ourselves out [...]
Posted on September 18th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Rants and Musings | 6 Comments »
Alan at Robert’s Roost almost always responds to my political rants with the combination of an insightful response and a suggestion that I step back and smell the roses (or some such ‘take a deep breath’ kind of advice). I appreciate that. So this evening, while killing a few minutes before my weekly trip to [...]
Posted on September 17th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Books/Movies/Podcasts, etc. | 1 Comment »
I readily confess my ignorance of most things financial. And so I know better than to try and play the stock market, etc. If I were smarter, I would be wealthier. But my gut feeling for years has been that America made a transition during the past 35 years or so, that seems financially unsound. [...]
Posted on September 16th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
A week ago I said that the future of this election was in the hands of the mainstream media, and their willingness to ask tough questions and report facts. Now I don’t know who this local affiliate interviewer is, but if you want to see John McCain tried to answer straightforward questions about his choice [...]
Posted on September 11th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Rants and Musings | 3 Comments »
I realize that I’m writing more posts about the looming election than about rainwater harvesting, or gardening or any other topic that seems to fit better under the banner of “self-sufficient steward”. But as I’ve tried to say elsewhere, my view of stewardship includes paying attention to the bigger picture of the nation I live [...]
Posted on September 10th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Rants and Musings, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
As I mentioned in answer to a question on Robert’s Roost, I’ve recently started reading a book by Steven Hill entitled: “10 Steps to Repair American Democracy“. It’s been around for a few years, but I’m just now getting around to reading it. In the book, Hill asserts that our democracy, the former envy of [...]
Posted on September 9th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Rants and Musings, Uncategorized | No Comments »
In all of the back and forth on ‘the surge”, a mainstream media figure says that the drop in violence has little to do with a troop increase and more to do with a ’secret program’.
Now, I’m aware of the credit that non-supporters of the surge have given to other factors such as:
The ethnic cleansing [...]
Posted on September 9th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Rants and Musings | No Comments »
Unlike most of the posts in the political blogs I read (AmericaBlog, Political Wire, etc.), I still think that Sarah Palin was a very savvy pick and I think that she will be as dangerous a campaigner as she would be a vice president. And unlike, most people who share my ‘liberal’ views, I thought [...]
Posted on September 4th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Rants and Musings | 5 Comments »