The headline this morning is about the head of the IMF allegedly sexually assaulting a chambermaid in his NY hotel suite. Since Dominic Strauss-Kahn is also a front-runner in the upcoming French presidential elections, does anyone else wonder how much Nicolas Sarkozy or Marine LePen might have paid the maid?? I'm just sort of indulging my talk show host persona.......
"Big Oil" execs appeared before Congress asking to keep the deductions they didn't need in 2005 when oil was half the price it is now and profits were lower. Obama has signaled the okay for more drilling. And anything this country does to increase production, given our 3% of petroleum reserves contrasted to our 25% of total global petroleum usage, would have no real effect on pump prices for about three years. Talk about your basic political feel-good worthless actions...Gas prices are ever-rising, naturally right as we plan a trip to CA to see kids & grandkids.
There's a Bayer aspirin commercial airing featuring a stupid American passenger and a smart and pretty Korean flight attendant informing him that aspirin is for pain....is this really what Bayer's market research shows?? Americans think aspirin is just for heart attacks?? No wonder we can't get anything done in this country----we really have lost it!! Tried to embed the video but it appears to be unavailable due to copyright infringement issues on YouTube. But the impression is that the German pharma giant has a pretty low estimation of the intelligence of the U S traveler and a higher one of the Korean employee--bet they've been looking at the trends in world-wide educational achievement........
Aside from the total lack of credible candidates for president coming from the GOP so far, the political event of the week will be the interplay between Chris Matthews of MSNBC's Hardball and HBO's Bill Maher scheduled to air Tuesday. I mean, this is the left's version of Hannity and Beck!! The blow-hards of the Left!!! All I can say is that if you watch, have a John Deere tractor with a max front-loader scoop because I imagine the bull-shit emanating from this encounter will far surpass any one's ability to shovel it out....
Finally, Monday we should hit the debt ceiling. And your intrepid Congressman is where?? Not in D.C. The House is in recess.........Given the marvelous job our representatives have done in removing the scourge of recession and deficits since the 2010 elections, maybe they should STAY IN PERMANENT RECESS...............
Enjoy your week, hope you don't need to visit the gas pump, and, if you watch TV Tuesday, god bless........
Organ Mountains
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Of Pictures and Peace
"Rejoice, rejoice, we have no choice..." CSN&Y, CarryOn. And did we ever Sunday night and on into Monday. Osama is dead, gunned down by Navy Seals in a million-dollar compound right under the nose of the Pakistani military. For some thoughtful coverage of this event, check out The Atlantic website here.
Now President Obama has decided NOT to release the death photo. I guess we'll be in for another round of screeching just like over his birth certificate. Jon Stewart, with whom I frequently agree, is among the "releasers." This time he is wrong. The decision not to release the picture(s) isn't about their gruesomeness or that they might be offensive or give children nightmares. It's about the security of Americans around the world. Think about that idiot who calls himself a man of god, pastor Terry Jones in Florida. All his little stunt, burning a Quran, did was cause churches around the world to be burned; at least 19 American troops in Afghanistan to be killed; and numerous other threats of reprisal that General Petraeus felt would be harmful to our war effort. Imagine the wackos' and zealots' reactions if we publish a picture of the leader of Al-Qaeda with a bullet hole in his forehead. Might as well invite the suicide bombers onto every subway and bus they can reach..........
And what's with people calling for blasting Pakistan? Are you insane? This is a barely functional state with a civilian government that doesn't control the military and an intelligence outfit that supports terrorism on one hand and fights it on the other. And none of the three has a clue or control over either of the others!! Let's not forget they have nuclear weapons as well. We can guarantee not only more numerous terrorist attacks but probably even deadlier ones if we pull the rug out from under the Pakistani government or condemn them too harshly.
Lost in all the Osama coverage is the little news item that the two Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, have signed an agreement to co-operate and try to unite the Palestinian peoples. Binyamin Netanyahu the Wahoo Israeli prime minister calls this a "great advance" for terrorism. I wonder how he can negotiate a meaningful peace treaty with only one of the two governments of the Palestinian people. Maybe Israel under this guy doesn't really want peace??
"All we are saying is give peace a chance." John Lennon
Now President Obama has decided NOT to release the death photo. I guess we'll be in for another round of screeching just like over his birth certificate. Jon Stewart, with whom I frequently agree, is among the "releasers." This time he is wrong. The decision not to release the picture(s) isn't about their gruesomeness or that they might be offensive or give children nightmares. It's about the security of Americans around the world. Think about that idiot who calls himself a man of god, pastor Terry Jones in Florida. All his little stunt, burning a Quran, did was cause churches around the world to be burned; at least 19 American troops in Afghanistan to be killed; and numerous other threats of reprisal that General Petraeus felt would be harmful to our war effort. Imagine the wackos' and zealots' reactions if we publish a picture of the leader of Al-Qaeda with a bullet hole in his forehead. Might as well invite the suicide bombers onto every subway and bus they can reach..........
And what's with people calling for blasting Pakistan? Are you insane? This is a barely functional state with a civilian government that doesn't control the military and an intelligence outfit that supports terrorism on one hand and fights it on the other. And none of the three has a clue or control over either of the others!! Let's not forget they have nuclear weapons as well. We can guarantee not only more numerous terrorist attacks but probably even deadlier ones if we pull the rug out from under the Pakistani government or condemn them too harshly.
Lost in all the Osama coverage is the little news item that the two Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, have signed an agreement to co-operate and try to unite the Palestinian peoples. Binyamin Netanyahu the Wahoo Israeli prime minister calls this a "great advance" for terrorism. I wonder how he can negotiate a meaningful peace treaty with only one of the two governments of the Palestinian people. Maybe Israel under this guy doesn't really want peace??
"All we are saying is give peace a chance." John Lennon
Monday, May 2, 2011
A Poem
May 1 1945 Hitler dead
Hiroshima
Nagasaki
My Lai Lieutenant Calley
Pol Pot
Oklahoma City
Twin Towers
Kandahar
May 1 2011 Osama dead
Jesus and John singing Imagine
World Peace??
I guess.......
Hiroshima
Nagasaki
My Lai Lieutenant Calley
Pol Pot
Oklahoma City
Twin Towers
Kandahar
May 1 2011 Osama dead
Jesus and John singing Imagine
World Peace??
I guess.......
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Anger
Been a tough week-----all those tornadoes and the death toll in the South. The idiocy and racial bigotry of "the donald". But the worst is the stupidity of our armed forces.
As I sit at my computer and look out on the beautiful vista posed by the pecan trees blooming and the Organ Mountains, the normal feeling of gratitude is replaced by a bitter gall rising in my stomach. For there is smoke rising from the Soledad Canyon area in the Organs. A totally preventable fire reputed to have been caused by a "live fire" exercise at Fort Bliss. While technically in El Paso, this fort's boundaries extend north and join with the perimeter of the White Sands Missile Range. The blaze has been christened "the Abrams fire" after the tank of the same name.
Best I can figure, the army not being the most forth-coming of institutions, a "live fire" exercise was scheduled and, regardless of environmental conditions, carried out in the northern areas of Fort Bliss. It is believed some spark from either the tank itself or a piece of its ordnance set off a brush fire. Given the dry conditions here, the blaze quickly became an inferno, coming within two miles of the WSMR headquarters and climbing the east side of the Organs. About Tuesday this past week it crested the mountain range and became very visible from Las Cruces. Such an eerie orange light glowing from the canyon near the pipe-organ-like peaks that give the range its name.
So accidents happen, oh well.........but not so fast!!!! We are experiencing one of the worst droughts in history at present. The Las Cruces area has experienced .04 inches of precipitation in calendar 2011. That's no typo--I mean 4/100 of an inch of moisture from the sky. Farmers are screaming they will lose crops because the irrigation board has cut allotments from the system of "ditches" that are used to distribute the water from the Rio Grande to the local farms and orchards. The lack of precipitation headlines many of the weather forecasts. This is a serious and well-publicized problem here in the high desert. I can only assume that the officer who sanctioned this exercise either just transferred from Pluto or that he is a total fool. I tend toward the latter description. Such uncaring and unconscionable disregard for the damage that was caused to the environment deserves nothing less than a dishonorable discharge for whomever the officer is.
Now forest fires are nature's way of re-invigorating certain environments. Remember the Yellowstone fires a few years ago. But the "Abrams fire" is a disaster caused by the foolishness of the people average Americans count on for protection!!!! With the kind of decision-making that enabled this conflagration, a re-assessment of the military's processes would be in order. As for those who might think there's no great loss to a few thousand acres of desert and mountain burning---go read your biology and animal science texts. The high desert is home to roadrunners, quail, rabbits, rodents, lizards; the Organs home to bobcats and mountain lions. A wonderful diversity of flora and fauna!!
So after cheering yourself up with the reruns of Kate and William's nuptials, please think about Randy and Romilda Rattler and where they can seek shelter from the inferno destroying their families and homes. And I'll keep watch out my window for the day, hopefully very soon, when those Organs are again a vista seemingly untouched by the human despoilers.
As I sit at my computer and look out on the beautiful vista posed by the pecan trees blooming and the Organ Mountains, the normal feeling of gratitude is replaced by a bitter gall rising in my stomach. For there is smoke rising from the Soledad Canyon area in the Organs. A totally preventable fire reputed to have been caused by a "live fire" exercise at Fort Bliss. While technically in El Paso, this fort's boundaries extend north and join with the perimeter of the White Sands Missile Range. The blaze has been christened "the Abrams fire" after the tank of the same name.
Best I can figure, the army not being the most forth-coming of institutions, a "live fire" exercise was scheduled and, regardless of environmental conditions, carried out in the northern areas of Fort Bliss. It is believed some spark from either the tank itself or a piece of its ordnance set off a brush fire. Given the dry conditions here, the blaze quickly became an inferno, coming within two miles of the WSMR headquarters and climbing the east side of the Organs. About Tuesday this past week it crested the mountain range and became very visible from Las Cruces. Such an eerie orange light glowing from the canyon near the pipe-organ-like peaks that give the range its name.
So accidents happen, oh well.........but not so fast!!!! We are experiencing one of the worst droughts in history at present. The Las Cruces area has experienced .04 inches of precipitation in calendar 2011. That's no typo--I mean 4/100 of an inch of moisture from the sky. Farmers are screaming they will lose crops because the irrigation board has cut allotments from the system of "ditches" that are used to distribute the water from the Rio Grande to the local farms and orchards. The lack of precipitation headlines many of the weather forecasts. This is a serious and well-publicized problem here in the high desert. I can only assume that the officer who sanctioned this exercise either just transferred from Pluto or that he is a total fool. I tend toward the latter description. Such uncaring and unconscionable disregard for the damage that was caused to the environment deserves nothing less than a dishonorable discharge for whomever the officer is.
Now forest fires are nature's way of re-invigorating certain environments. Remember the Yellowstone fires a few years ago. But the "Abrams fire" is a disaster caused by the foolishness of the people average Americans count on for protection!!!! With the kind of decision-making that enabled this conflagration, a re-assessment of the military's processes would be in order. As for those who might think there's no great loss to a few thousand acres of desert and mountain burning---go read your biology and animal science texts. The high desert is home to roadrunners, quail, rabbits, rodents, lizards; the Organs home to bobcats and mountain lions. A wonderful diversity of flora and fauna!!
So after cheering yourself up with the reruns of Kate and William's nuptials, please think about Randy and Romilda Rattler and where they can seek shelter from the inferno destroying their families and homes. And I'll keep watch out my window for the day, hopefully very soon, when those Organs are again a vista seemingly untouched by the human despoilers.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Economix
Being retired does make one aware of the budget-----We were used to at least bi-monthly salaries with a monthly commission/bonus check as well. Since neither of us ever was employed by Goldman-Sachs, these weren't seven-figure amounts but we did all right.
Now the money comes mostly around the first of the month. So there is a definite adjustment to be made to spending patterns. And how one buys----which brings me to Sam's Club. All I heard from friends here was "Ya gotta join Sam's Club." Not being a Wal-mart aficionado, that was about the last thing I wanted to do. We'd been members of those bulk buy organizations in the past. There's only two of us people and a plethora of dogs and cats but we sure don't need bulk groceries. Fifty pounds of rice at a time--spare me!!!!!
Then our government and the Arabs got going and gas prices went to hell (bet you never knew hell was in the up direction?). Sam's Club is consistently anywhere from five-cents to a dime cheaper per gallon than any other station in the area! Given how we like to drive around our state, we figured the savings in gas alone would pay for the membership. So we joined last October.
About the third fill-up we ventured inside the store. We had entered to join, obviously, but a quick tour pretty much confirmed my impression of gigantic package quantities, albeit very low unit prices. But if you waste half of it, or it spoils , what have you gained?? On this particular trip, dairy product prices had just gone up so we figured we'd do a little price comparison----the prices at Sam's were similar to good sale prices at the other supermarkets. But, que milagro, our favorite "jug" wine was about three dollars less than anyplace else. So we started venturing into the store more and more---now we are hooked.
While we eschew purchase of fourteen pound beef brisket and some of the other bulk grocery items, we do buy ground beef---only place we've seen around town where 90/10 extra lean is less than $5.00 a pound; actually, only place we've seen 10% or less fat ground beef!!!! And stocking up on non-perishables we use almost daily isn't wasting money---especially when it's so much less expensive. Brand name tomato sauce is cheaper than the generic brand from the local supermarket (about .80/can vs. .97/can). Eggs are consistently cheaper and so is milk. Combined with the harvest boxes we get locally, our food costs are greatly reduced and we eat much more healthy food!!! Plus, given the packaging sizes, we make less trips, saving on those "impulse buys" and one large trip a month keeps us more than supplied with staples like dog and cat food.
Sorry for those of you who don't have a club nearby. Others of you might want to check it out. I was always a cynic about these places but I'm converted............Must have been the wine!?!?!?!
Now the money comes mostly around the first of the month. So there is a definite adjustment to be made to spending patterns. And how one buys----which brings me to Sam's Club. All I heard from friends here was "Ya gotta join Sam's Club." Not being a Wal-mart aficionado, that was about the last thing I wanted to do. We'd been members of those bulk buy organizations in the past. There's only two of us people and a plethora of dogs and cats but we sure don't need bulk groceries. Fifty pounds of rice at a time--spare me!!!!!
Then our government and the Arabs got going and gas prices went to hell (bet you never knew hell was in the up direction?). Sam's Club is consistently anywhere from five-cents to a dime cheaper per gallon than any other station in the area! Given how we like to drive around our state, we figured the savings in gas alone would pay for the membership. So we joined last October.
About the third fill-up we ventured inside the store. We had entered to join, obviously, but a quick tour pretty much confirmed my impression of gigantic package quantities, albeit very low unit prices. But if you waste half of it, or it spoils , what have you gained?? On this particular trip, dairy product prices had just gone up so we figured we'd do a little price comparison----the prices at Sam's were similar to good sale prices at the other supermarkets. But, que milagro, our favorite "jug" wine was about three dollars less than anyplace else. So we started venturing into the store more and more---now we are hooked.
While we eschew purchase of fourteen pound beef brisket and some of the other bulk grocery items, we do buy ground beef---only place we've seen around town where 90/10 extra lean is less than $5.00 a pound; actually, only place we've seen 10% or less fat ground beef!!!! And stocking up on non-perishables we use almost daily isn't wasting money---especially when it's so much less expensive. Brand name tomato sauce is cheaper than the generic brand from the local supermarket (about .80/can vs. .97/can). Eggs are consistently cheaper and so is milk. Combined with the harvest boxes we get locally, our food costs are greatly reduced and we eat much more healthy food!!! Plus, given the packaging sizes, we make less trips, saving on those "impulse buys" and one large trip a month keeps us more than supplied with staples like dog and cat food.
Sorry for those of you who don't have a club nearby. Others of you might want to check it out. I was always a cynic about these places but I'm converted............Must have been the wine!?!?!?!
Friday, April 22, 2011
Desperately Seeking Water
Road Trip--------that's the answer to everything in New Mexico. Since our area has had .04" of precipitation so far in 2011 (not a typo--I mean 4/100ths of an inch of moisture falling from the sky) and that was all from the February snowfall:
We walked around the picnic area by the lake----our thirst had been slaked. It was approaching the noon hour and since we were already more than halfway there we proceeded north for a feast:
The waitress was attentive and the cook brought out the order promptly. The burger overflowed from the bun, the chile was hot, the onion fresh, the lettuce and tomato a perfect balance to the green chile:
Lest the reader think we are craven carnivores, we also had veggies---the chile, lettuce, onions, tomatoes on the burger. And the side order:
Other than the cheese, a vegetarian plate---potatoes, green chile peppers. Admittedly not the same as what we get from Emily and Charley in the Friday afternoon harvest boxes:
we decided to go in search of big water. Last Saturday we walked along the Rio Grande but that didn't quench our thirst. So Thursday we filled the car with gasoline (OUCH!!!!) and headed North on I-25.
The first stop was Percha Dam State Park. The brochure looked so nice but the reality was not the pictures----good marketing job by the state. It's a nice oasis after 50 miles of the desert scenery of the Jornada del Muerto . But it wasn't the water view we craved. We left Percha and headed north to Caballo Lake. Now this was more like it:
 |
| boat ramp |
 |
| looking east to the Caballo Mountains |
 |
| view to the South |
 |
| the sign says it all |
 |
ahhhhhhhhhhh a masterpiece |
 |
| green chile cheese fries |
 |
| contents of a harvest box |
 |
| local lettuce |
But, whatever.................And at which purveyor of gastronomical delights did we partake of this feast??
I'll leave that to the reader to puzzle out from the picture above. (Hint: what kind of bird?)
Monday, April 18, 2011
Perhaps of Interest..........
One thing about retiring is all the time you find yourself burdened with----and the old Puritanical guilt of feeling the need to do something "constructive" with this bonanza. Problem is I doubt my orthopedic surgeon would approve my training for a marathon on my replacement knee.......
So I've been reading about a book a week on average. And this past week I read two that I consider well worth any reader's time-------Animal Spirits by George Akerlof and Robert Shiller and All the Devils Are Here by Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera.
Animal Spirits is a discussion of human psychology's effects on markets and economic modeling. Even if you aren't interested in economics, the book will still fascinate. The authors, one an economist at UC Berkeley and the other at Yale (Shiller as in Case-Shiller housing index), define the "animal spirits" and then discuss their effect on economic problems. Written at the height of the latest financial melt-down, it leaves a few issues unresolved. But the discussions are so timely, e.g.,
"There is then a fundamental reason why we differ from those who think the economy should just be a free-for-all, that the least government is the best government, and that the government play only the most minimal role in setting the rules....Indeed if we thought that people were truly rational, and that they acted almost entirely out of economic motives, we too would believe that government should play little role in the regulation of financial markets, and perhaps even in determining the level of aggregate demand."(pg.173)
Remind you of any recent political debates?????????
The other book is a fascinating history of the latest financial crisis. Nocera is a business columnist for the N Y Times. McLean is the co-author of The Smartest Guys in the Room, a best-seller about the Enron implosion. The authors establish the characters and personalities of the business leaders whose companies' foibles precipitated the financial melt-down at the close of the first decade of the 21st century. They also explain the CDOs and CDOsquared and the other alphabet soup of financial "products" that bamboozled so many of the "Masters of the Universe", from the CEO of Countrywide to the decision makers at AIG to the Secretary of the Treasury who tried to contain the explosion. A very readable book that does not require an MBA in Finance to understand:
"Financial innovation? Collateralized debt obligations? Synthetic securities? What had been the point of that?...As Paul Volcker [former Fed chair] said...'I have found very little evidence that vast amounts of innovation in financial markets in recent years have had a visible effect on the productivity of the economy.'"(pg 362-3)
When you finish it, you'll understand the phrase "I'm short your house."
So I've been reading about a book a week on average. And this past week I read two that I consider well worth any reader's time-------Animal Spirits by George Akerlof and Robert Shiller and All the Devils Are Here by Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera.
Animal Spirits is a discussion of human psychology's effects on markets and economic modeling. Even if you aren't interested in economics, the book will still fascinate. The authors, one an economist at UC Berkeley and the other at Yale (Shiller as in Case-Shiller housing index), define the "animal spirits" and then discuss their effect on economic problems. Written at the height of the latest financial melt-down, it leaves a few issues unresolved. But the discussions are so timely, e.g.,
"There is then a fundamental reason why we differ from those who think the economy should just be a free-for-all, that the least government is the best government, and that the government play only the most minimal role in setting the rules....Indeed if we thought that people were truly rational, and that they acted almost entirely out of economic motives, we too would believe that government should play little role in the regulation of financial markets, and perhaps even in determining the level of aggregate demand."(pg.173)
Remind you of any recent political debates?????????
The other book is a fascinating history of the latest financial crisis. Nocera is a business columnist for the N Y Times. McLean is the co-author of The Smartest Guys in the Room, a best-seller about the Enron implosion. The authors establish the characters and personalities of the business leaders whose companies' foibles precipitated the financial melt-down at the close of the first decade of the 21st century. They also explain the CDOs and CDOsquared and the other alphabet soup of financial "products" that bamboozled so many of the "Masters of the Universe", from the CEO of Countrywide to the decision makers at AIG to the Secretary of the Treasury who tried to contain the explosion. A very readable book that does not require an MBA in Finance to understand:
"Financial innovation? Collateralized debt obligations? Synthetic securities? What had been the point of that?...As Paul Volcker [former Fed chair] said...'I have found very little evidence that vast amounts of innovation in financial markets in recent years have had a visible effect on the productivity of the economy.'"(pg 362-3)
When you finish it, you'll understand the phrase "I'm short your house."
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