Apparently, even on the dawn of the end of the world: mortgage foreclosures—people being thrown out of the houses they couldn’t afford in the first place, people losing their jobs—unemployment going up up up, high energy prices, money unavailable to borrow—interest rates on those credit card balances going up up up, BANKS GOING OUT OF BUSINESS, retirement savings slashed in half!
No, we’re not done yet! People, with shovel in hand, keep digging. We’re not at the bottom. Poor Schlubs!
What is wrong with you people—Put the shovel down!
I guess it’s clear—why should we stop spending (and realize we are in real trouble) when the government can’t seem too? (People think and feel the same way about the people screaming about global warming from their mansions ivory towers and private jet airplanes…)
Stephen Roach believes that the painful economic contraction we’re about to experience will remind Americans of some basic truths about consumption. In today’s New York Times, Roach says that the period between the last recession and now has been marked by the unique phenomenon of assets-based consumption. We need a return to income-based consumption, and the transition is going to sting.
I don’t know who started this Black Friday crap, but it’s got to be the biggest gimmick ever started and perpetuated by the idiot local news stations. Every year, expecting my local news anchors to tell me what has happened in my area, my senses are assaulted by the images and interviews with obese, jobless morons who would normally be stretched out on their well-worn couch with crumbs of what used to be a potato hanging from their scraggly beards, but instead decided to be the subject of a “news” report about other obese, jobless morons who camped out all night to get a few pennies off of things they probably can’t afford at any price.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families close by and far away, from IrascibleChef!
WARNING: Perspective Ahead! Don’t be discouraged there’s hope!
I had a conversation with an old friend the other day about the end of the world and how we’re basically, in the perfect storm, that IS the beginning of the end. But, is it really???
Well, that’s a happy thought!
Just like each of us is, in cold hard facts—dying, so is the world (unlike human life the world might have a billion years or so.) Only when we dwell on the end does it become overwhelming and unbearable.
Financial disaster that doesn’t seem solvable, without even considering or dealing with the pending Social Security or health care system disasters, which doesn’t even deal with global warming and food and resource shortages, which doesn’t deal with terrorism or world domination, and on and on.
Whee! That was a slippery slope!
Where does it stop—it doesn’t, NO OTHER TIME IN HISTORY WAS IT AS BAD AS IT IS NOW…
Right…
The caveman really had it goin’ on, no worries there!
Or maybe, it was better during the American Civil War, when the country broke into two, it’s own citizens took up arms against each other, 500,000 died, all this less than a 100 years after those same citizens took up arms to separate themselves from jolly old England, where countless people died.
Whee! That was even more fun!
World War 1—the entire modern world was on FIRE!
World War 2—the entire modern world was on FIRE! And there was extermination of entire ethnicities going on—HOLOCAUST!
Whee!
I’ll spare you the many tragic times of life throughout history—you get the point, don’t you?
It’s always the end of the world! It always seems like we’re on the cusp!
Not convinced yet? How about a little more perspective:
Presidents and Civil leaders being assassinated, oil shortages-lines of cars-odd and even days, Civil wars, world wars, millions of people killed, pollution we can’t breathe, etc Blah, blah, blah.
Remember, the television show, All in the Family, by Norman Lear?
Well, it took place during the early 70’s, the Era of the Vietnam War, Presidential scandal ending in resignation, oil embargo shortages, civil unrest, the cold war and nuclear proliferation, high unemployment, high mortgage rates. And it was about a hardworking blue collar bigot (Archie Bunker) and his sweet but obtuse submissive wife (Edith) and their grownup daughter (Gloria) and husband (Mike) that live together because the grownup children can’t afford to live on their own. Meathead, as Archie likes to call Mike, the son-in-law, is out of work because he’s going back to school to get a degree. Mike and Gloria are ultra-liberal and Archie is the complete opposite.
I watched this show as a little boy and I’m always reminded of this one particular shows storyline when people think that it’s the end of the world and it couldn’t possibly be worse.
Mike says he won’t have and bring up a child in this horrible world that we live in (all the things I explained above)—because it’s a world without hope and possibility. And I remember as this small child thinking, what if the child he doesn’t want to bring into the world is the child that has the answers to fix the world…
After all was said, worried about, and done—it wasn’t the end of the world. For me that show/lesson always puts things into perspective and maybe it might always seem like the end of the world when you’re sitting in the middle of it.
I say maybe it’s good that we’re in a down turn, maybe it’s good we don’t get everything we want—we can’t, we’re unable to get what we want. Maybe it’s good we have to sacrifice, not as an option, but as we have no other choice! That’s really what sacrifice is about isn’t it, shouldn’t it have to hurt in order for it to be a real sacrifice? Or is a sacrifice something that we can do without and we do?
Maybe it would be easier to conserve and be better citizens of the earth if we knew more about sacrifice and what it’s really about. Maybe we could live within our means, maybe we could pollute less, maybe use less of our natural resources, maybe we would waste less because everything would have more meaning, maybe…
I think about Christmas—who cares? I used to live for presents. Now it makes me nauseous. We can pretty much buy what we want for ourselves, so why do we go through this exercise in gluttony? Yes, we do it for the kids… Were we teach them that they can have anything they ask for. When I was a kid I didn’t get everything I asked for and was disappointed many times. But you know what, it helps me deal with disappointment when it comes in daily life—a skill many people struggle with these days. That’s pathetic!
Maybe we should be thankful for what we have. Maybe we shouldn’t feel so bad for not having everything—maybe there is value in wanting…
I’m looking forward to some real sacrifice, I’m looking forward to family life that centers around what’s really important—family! I’m looking forward to all of us caring enough not to be wasteful. I’m looking forward for us to come up with solutions to our global problems not bandages. I’m looking forward for dealing with what we Have no other choice except to deal with. I’m looking forward to us understanding the value for what we earn and realizing we can’t or shouldn’t always get what we want, and the I’m looking forward being thankful for what I’m lucky or blessed enough to have—with hope for things I can’t yet reach.
Don’t misinterpret what I wish for, I’m not looking forward to the pain and struggle we will have to endure before it gets better. I know I will survive either which way, I’m like a cockroach, I’m not going anywhere!
But for US for to survive as a society, as country, as the human race, as a world—We need to change, SACRIFICE, and learn from our past…
We can do it! Sometimes we need to step backwards to move forward, sometimes we need to sacrifice in order to grow…
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
—iChef PSA
Special thanks to my family, friends, and God…
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Other voices of clarity out there: (Thank you for being there!)
By AllahPundit Hopenchange: Who’s up for a little hope and change? A new transmission from Mt. Olympus, replete with another Lincoln reference, of course. {The idea here is tell us how bad (in case we didn’t know it was bad) it is and then promise that the new administration (government) is the solution—so we know who to thank…} Our Leader:
Will the real mainstream media, mainstream news—please stand up!
Okay, so many of us here in the blog world have celebrated victory in Iraq day, just a couple of days ago—“I smell Napalm.” Not much mention by the mainstream on this story, but the question you might want to ask is, “is the mainstream even relevant anymore?” After all, it seems that it’s up to the blogosphere to get the truth out there these days… It’s the blogoshere that asks the difficult questions, it’s the blogoshere that checks up and calls out the mainstream when they’re qrong or biased, or rooting for a news story. You can’t trust the mainstream anymore, can you?
Well just a few days AFTER victory was declared in the blogworld—this in from Fox News:
A year and a half after Congress established 18 benchmarks to determine success in Iraq, whether those benchmarks have been met depends on whom you ask.
In May 2007, Congress established 18 benchmarks that it would use to determine whether America was succeeding in Iraq. Now, a year and a half later, whether those benchmarks have been met depends on whom you talk to.
So the question that will be is, is this definitive proof of the blogworld being ahead of the mainstream curve—AGAIN? Where is the rest of mainstream news on this story—right, this would contradict their manufacturing of the news…
I think I can safely say, WE say WE won! Below is who WE are!
Most disturbing News of all: Straight out of the mouth of our new leader—today! If you don’t think that taking taxs from one class and giving it to another isn’t redistribution of wealth I don’t know what is… Maybe, the real issue is that a lot of people are okay with taking money from some who has more and giving it to them or someone who has less! Don’t be confused that’s Socialism! Obama Renews Promise To Raise Taxes – 24 Nov 2008 from BigMouthFrog
What is GWB doing??? I have defended him quite a bit over the years and gotten down on him when he goes in the wrong direction: Harriet Meyers, his amnesty program for Illegals, the constant spending, and these bailouts! Bush vows to continue pre-socializing the economy for Obamaby Michelle Malkin.
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We’ll see if the Three Blind Mice do the right thing—let me be clear even if they do I’m not for a bailout!
After being skewered by Congress and lampooned on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,”for taking private jets to ask Congress for $25B bailout, CEOs of Detroit’s Big Three automakers MAY make return trip in a car caravan.
Each week, The Times asks the bloggers who cover opposing teams to break down the coming game for the Jets — in 100 words or less. Andrew Strickert writes for Total Titans, Lead TitanSized blogger Nick Bishop, TitanSized lead blogger Kellen Barton, Jimmy Morris writes for Music City Miracles.
We were about to be run out of Iraq by insurgents and our own Congress—retreat-in-defeat was the bumper sticker slogan the Libs were happy to paste on their better-than-the-rest cars. They almost got what our enemy wanted— retreat-in-defeat was very close to happening, but President Bush was not going to let that happen and he didn’t. The new people in charge would secretly be happy for it to happen (acceptable collateral damage for guaranteed party power and dominance for decades), it would have added credibility to their point and cause, kept them in power indefinitely (They wanted out whatever the circumstances.
Sacrifice, seems we have forgotten what sacrifice and struggle really means. This sacrifice by so many must be recognized and revered and thanked! Thank you, to all those who have given so much and continue to do so, for all of us who really can’t comprehend the sacrifices you have made…
Don’t hold your breath waiting for an official announcement. There will be none – not from the MSM, the enfeebled, outgoing Bush administration, Congress, and certainly not the incoming Obama administration.
But despite the Democrats’ best efforts, it can no longer be ignored:
Or, to be more precise, “the victory that we’ve had so far.” Much depends on those last two words, needless to say. I appreciate the spirit of the blogburst Zombie’s organizing for Saturday, and lord knows he/she has plenty of credible milblogger opinion to support the argument, but five years of having to wear the “Mission Accomplished” albatross around our necks is enough to make me blanch forevermore at declarations of victory, especially when Petraeus himself has vowed never to use the word. How about, in lieu of Victory in Iraq Day, we celebrate Tremendous Progress in Iraq that Almost No One Thought Possible, Least of All Our Modern-Day Lincoln Day instead?
This is what NiceDeb is proposing: This is the official announcement.
Join the VIDay movement!
Do you agree with the concept behind VI Day? Then post a VI Day entry on your blog.
Once you’ve posted it, email me (Zombie)the link! And I will post a link back to your blog here on this page.
Make sure to make at least two different postings: Make one now to announce your support of VI Day and to spread the word ahead of time; and make another one on November 22 itself, to celebrate!
$3 billion subway planned for Baghdad. Either the war’s over, or some bright Iraqi bureaucrat familiar with the Big Dig saw how $3 billion can turn into $14 billion worth of cost overruns and good jobs at good wages.
Also today, Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary said the security situation and Iraqi security forces had improved so dramatically:
“That we are confident that, if things continue to trend as they have been, our services will not be needed in Iraq, come 2012.”
No matter which ’side’ of the aisle we’re on (Conservative Republicans or the more middle of the road sorts of Republicans, or Independents) let’s not forget our American troops, and their sacrifice. We should never forget the purposes of these wars, and the efforts made by our men and women in uniform to win.
Nor should we forget the..efforts..made by our enemies to drive us to defeat.
That’s right, you tell them Knollenberg..Tell them how Tinkerbell flew in and sprinkled pixie dust all over the treasury, and now, magically, they have all kinds of money, and not a dime of it came from the taxpayer!
Watch as he tells Cavouto that it isn’t our money:
You might think about messing with Jim, but I’m telling you—“You don’ tug on Superman’s cape, you don’t spit into the wind, you don’t pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger and you don’t try to mess around in an interview with Neil!”
Why are you worried about bailouts, anyway? Don’t you know it’s not your money, but that it belongs to Congress? If I asked which party produced the Congressman who gave that assessment, you might be surprised (via Michelle):
The first rule of smaller government is that the money does not belong to Congress. It belongs to the people who earned it, and should be treated that way. The money should be treated as such and used with great care on only those essential government functions, and only to the extent necessary. If one is ever tempted to declare that tax monies do not belong to the American people, that person has ceased being conservative at all, and has begun being imperial instead.
Thems fighten words! …or are they? Why would an enemy of the state pick a fight with a President who is trying to change they way the US does business around the world? …a President who wants to stop fighting. Think about it.
I’m behind Obama all the way—he’s now the man! Our man! How dare they say that! I’m guessing President elect wasn’t planning on this type of welcome from our enemies. Is this the first test Joe Biden was talking about?
Maybe Al Qeada doesn’t want to stop fighting. Or maybe they’re trying to make President Obama and the US look weak or bad—they haven’t stopped fighting! Didn’t they attack Spain after they said they would pullout of Iraq? After you submit Al Qeada comes and bashes what’s left of your balls up to your mouth.
Al Qeada seems to have different ideas than peace and harmony around the world. You can’t sit down with someone who says those things—can you? Maybe this a sticks and stones thing, maybe I’m too dull to get it…
Al-Qaeda criticized Barack Obama today in a taped response to his election. (SITE image) Al-Qaeda’s second in command called president elect Barack Obama a “house negro” today in a new message. Breitbart.com reported
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) – Al-Qaida’s No. 2 leader used a racial epithet to insult Barack Obama in a message posted Wednesday, describing the president-elect in demeaning terms that imply he does the bidding of whites.The message appeared chiefly aimed at persuading Muslims and Arabs that Obama does not represent a change in U.S. policies. Ayman al-Zawahri said in the message, which appeared on militant Web sites, that Obama is “the direct opposite of honorable black Americans” like Malcolm X, the 1960s African-American rights leader.
In al-Qaida’s first response to Obama’s victory, al-Zawahri also called the president-elect—along with secretaries of state Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice—”house negroes.”
Speaking in Arabic, al-Zawahri uses the term “abeed al-beit,” which literally translates as “house slaves.” But al-Qaida supplied English subtitles of his speech that included the translation as “house negroes.”
Outrageous. That sounds like the same response Condi got from Far Left loons.
Maybe if Obama met with him without preconditions that would help smooth things out?
If you can imagine Ayman al-Zawahiri singing The Banana Boat Song, perhaps you’ll get an idea of the irony — and the insult — of his message today to Barack Obama. Zawahiri called Obama a “house slave”, which other translators changed to “house Negro”, in condemning Obama’s election.
As Sahab media – “The Departure of Bush and Arrival of Obama”
Zawahiri’s voice is placed over still shots, quotes from Malcolm X are used. He even calls Obama a ,”house negro” which seems to be a theme the al-Qaeda supporters are using lately.
Zawahiri challenges Obama to fight al-Qaeda and their Somali branch al-Shabaab (AKA the African Taliban). Of course the thing not discussed much is the link between the increase in piracy of late in that area and the advance of the al-Qaeda linked Islamist insurgency there.
Al-Zawahri obviously paid no attention during our elections to Obama. Let me clear. The American people have the right to criticize their President-elect, but he is still OUR President-elect and probably an American citizen, and we will rally together against the likes of you, your ignorant insults, and the dangers you pose to us. New audio has surfaced:
So, al Qaeda bigwig Ayman Zawahiri has insulted Barack Obama as a dishonorable black and a House Negro. (Full transcript and audio at NEFA.) B-b-b-but I thought Obama’s election was supposed to change the world’s attitudes about America! What happened to “The World Wants Obama?” And I thought only us meanie conservatives were the RAAAACISTS?
Excerpts taken with permission from TheMommyBlog and Mindy Roberts. (the Original TheMommyblog, not to be confused with all the imitators out there and there are a lot of copycats prowling around! They say imitation is the highest form of flattery…)
And boy, are my arms tired!
What are you people telling your kids about the financial crisis? Any of it sticking? I was having the hardest time explaining why the simple solutions my kid was coming up with—while insightful—wouldn’t do jack.
“But why can’t we just fix it? Why can’t the government just make more money if everyone needs it?”
“Well, sweetie, if you flood the market—with money, or gas, or marbles—suddenly the value of that item goes down. Then you’ve created an inflation problem. Usually we see inflation in the form of gas prices, which were artificially jacked up, but it can also happen with a sudden and significant influx of cash.” I actually said “influx of cash” without laughing my head off.
“But why can’t they just fix it?”
“Because it’s the economy, not a wand. If it were that easy, people way smarter than us would have already solved it and we wouldn’t even be talking about the price of marbles.” Ever.
“But I don’t get why they can’t help.”
“You mean like they helped the failing banks? Like that? Well, sweetheart, people way greedier than us put one over on the rest of the world. And the government is helping. A LOT. But that doesn’t just come out of thin air, it comes out of our taxes.”
“Let me put it this way: let’s say you had five apples, and the lunch lady wasn’t there to set everything up. You could probably sell those apples for twenty bucks apiece because everyone would want one.” And they’d pay it too, with all the pocket money or gold bars kids in this neighborhood seem to have access to. Better yet, do you take American Express? “But if you had a thousand apples, you might get twenty apiece for the first couple sales, but then people would notice that big stack of apples behind you and wait until the price came down. And you’d lower it in a hurry to sell all those apples before they went bad. In fact, at some point you’ll be thinking about paying kids to take them away because you don’t want a great, stinking, rotting pile of apples left over. That’s because people would buy what they need and then walk away. Once they don’t need your apples, you’ll be dropping that price like a To-Do List just to make a few more sales.”
At this point, his eyes were kind of drifting over my shoulder to the opposite wall where he could see the reflection of Flapjack in a framed print behind us. So I continued, “And that’s when my leg fell off and I had to staple it back on.”
“What?”
“Hellooo. You just stopped listening. I was talking about supply and demand and apples.”
“Oh. Why would I sell apples?”
*because Mommy had a nervous breakdown and you went to live in a workhouse*
U.N. Human Rights Council, often accused of coddling some of the world’s most repressive governments, threw itself a party in Geneva, where they unveiled a $23M mural paid for in part with money for the poor.
In a ceremony attended by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Spanish artist Miquel Barcelo told the press that his 16,000-square-foot ceiling artwork reminded him of “an image of the world dripping toward the sky” — but it reminded critics of money slipping out of relief coffers.
“In Spain there’s a controversy because they took money out of the foreign aid budget — took money from starving children in Africa — and spent it on colorful stalactites,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of U.N. Watch.
This isn’t hypocrisy—this is just flat out WRONG! Criminal! Isn’t it possible for people to help other people without helping themselves?
Do nonprofit organizations intending to help others have to pay out huge salaries which takes money away from special programs?
Do public school bureaucratic administrations need to be, because they take money away from the schools the money is intended to help in the first place?
Do drug companies need to give big perks to their sales people or doctors, perks that cost so much money which increase the cost of the drugs meant to help people?
Do the people who preach about man made global warming have to fly all around the globe (polluting) telling people not to pollute
The artwork will soar above the Human Rights Council’s chambers at U.N.’s European headquarters in Geneva, which may soon undergo a $1 billion renovation-but only after a $1.9 billion facelift of the U.N.’s New York offices is completed. Meanwhile, international humanitarian groups pleaded with the human rights panel to take time out from their party to address the worsening human rights “catastrophe” in the Congo, where the government is fighting a deadly battle with several rebel groups.”Mass displacement, killings and sexual violence-involving hundreds of thousands of victims, if not more-require an urgent response,” according to a statement issued jointly Tuesday by Freedom House and U.N. Watch.
“Let me put it this way: let’s say you had five apples, and the lunch lady wasn’t there to set everything up. You could probably sell those apples for twenty bucks apiece because everyone would want one.” And they’d pay it too, with all the pocket money or gold bars kids in this neighborhood seem to have access to. Better yet, do you take American Express? “But if you had a thousand apples, you might get twenty apiece for the first couple sales, but then people would notice that big stack of apples behind you and wait until the price came down. And you’d lower it in a hurry to sell all those apples before they went bad. In fact, at some point you’ll be thinking about paying kids to take them away because you don’t want a great, stinking, rotting pile of apples left over. That’s because people would buy what they need and then walk away. Once they don’t need your apples, you’ll be dropping that price like a To-Do List just to make a few more sales.”
