End of the Bush years

Remember this?

Moving On

Eyes welling up, we watched the inauguration with friends and champagne, so happy the page has been turned on all that was the Bush administration. I imagined Cheney’s wheelchair had restraints, and he was screeching through clenched teeth, “We can still declare martial law, damn it!”

The brutality, the stupidity and the utter bull-headedness of the last eight years has really been a nightmare, and we’ll be paying the price for a very, very long time. Obama has inherited a flaming pile of feces that will be a decade or more in putting out and making right. We’ll see what this country is made of and how it pulls it off.

When starting this rant, I was going to go off on how the right wing attack machine is painting the new guy as a “godless socialist”, but when I googled that and his name, the majority of hits were defending him from that charge. Well done, America! Perhaps I misunderestimated my fellow citizens.

I fear that the electorate expects an immediate and huge change in employment and circumstances, but I’m happy to hear President Obama (how I love to type that) downplay any fast fix. The road to recovery is going to be tough, but hopefully it will be the “all pull together” hard times, like WWII instead of like Mad Max. The first scenario could do wonders for all of us, and the second has only one good point; it would be fun to write about.

Not really inspired today, but I had to get something out.

On Bush’s last press conference

Oh my God, I can’t stand this idiot. How a majority of voters picked this guy twice is beyond me, and is probably the biggest argument against democracy that I can think of. He’s going on now about why Katrina aftermath wasn’t his fault, because Air Force One in Baton Rouge would distract from rescue operations. Huh? We didn’t need HIM there; we needed qualified professionals there. It’s a shame that he’ll probably never hear from someone like me who could fill him in on how horribly he has robbed my country’s reputation on the international stage.

My God, now he has the audacity to say that people don’t dislike America abroad, just a few old European countries. “I don’t worry about popularity.” Jesus, if he says “homeland” one more time, I’m gonna Ralph. It smells faintly Nazi.

This guy has handed us the nastiest economic, military and employment mess we’ve ever been in, and the assclowns is defending his policies as being best for the country and not about politics. Holy crapoli, I will so not miss this guy.

The Shit Is Hitting The Fan

We’re finally starting to see awareness in the MSM that the current downturn might not be over by Easter. It’s still the minority opinion, but for the longest time it was damn near impossible to find the lone voice crying in the wilderness. I feel so bad for the people desperately holding onto their US stock portfolios, now cut in half from October 2007 levels.

While the news is full of stories about factory closings and layoffs, I think it’s another one of those cases in which it isn’t real until it happens to you. Then, of course, it’s surreal. There is nothing as desperate and lonely as slowly losing everything you have, the relentless calls from creditors, repossession of property, foreclosure notices and the inability to fix it, to make it better, to escape the hell that is insolvency. We went through it in the early nineties and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

In December 2008, every working day 3,100 homes went into foreclosure. That’s one every six seconds of the workday. Six hundred every hour. Oh, the humanity.

In December 2008, every working day 4,950 individuals filed for bankruptcy protection. That’s one every ten seconds of the workday. Over six every hour. Oh, the humanity.

In December 2008, every working day 26,190 jobs were lost. That’s almost one every second of the workday. Over three thousand an hour. Every hour. Oh, the humanity.

These numbers are just that, numbers. But every one of them represents lives torn apart, marriages shattered, childhoods scarred and a great deal of grief, anger and helplessness that never really go away.

I so hope that we as a people open up our hearts and homes and help those of us who get thrown under the bus by capitalism and hard times, and live through this decade of tough times as a better, more compassionate and thoughtful people. Dog willing.

Richardson withdraws

New Mexico governor Bill Richardson has removed his name from consideration to be Secretary of Commerce amidst allegations that a campaign donor was awarded a $1.5 million contract by the state. WHAT!!! That somehow seems quaint given Halliburton, et al. The Republicans don’t want to investigate whether millions in contributions, almost entirely to Republicans, resulted in billions in contracts, but Bill steps down over a million and a half.

I’m a big Bill Richardson fan, and I expect him to be cleared of any taint, but even if he’s pulling a Blogojevich the scale of the differences are stunning. Arguably, Bush is spending $3,000,000,000,000 on a mistaken war of choice and Bill is accused of misusing $1,500,000. Bill’s number, BTW, in trillions is $0.000,000,002. That’s a two millionth of the amount Bush & crew blew through in Iraq, and investigating Iraq would be petty and partisan.

Sheesh.