So Long, March 2008

This month has been draining me from day #1. With 31 days in this fucker, I have not a smidgeon of energy left for creative endeavors.

Blogging will resume in April.


Let's give the month a proper send off with some Amy...

Marijuana Is Deadly

The New York Times was full of interesting stuff today.
Gang Fights in Prison Injure 22 and Kill One

That's right here in the lovely state of Texas. Something seems horribly wrong if you can't control gang activity IN a prison.

A federal prison in Texas erupted in violence early Friday when two gang-related fights broke out almost simultaneously in facing housing units. One inmate was killed, and 22 were injured, officials said.

It was the second outbreak of fighting in a federal lockup in Texas in three weeks.

[...]

The dead inmate was identified as Servando Rodríguez, 38, an illegal immigrant serving 54 months for marijuana and parole violations.

That's 4 1/2 years for marijuana and whatever the parole violations where. Probably marijuana-related. I guess he won't have to finish his sentence. Now there's an open bunk for the next marijuana conviction.

In other news, keep an eye on your automotive underbelly, especially if you drive a large SUV. Catalytic converters are becoming hot items in our new economic reality, thanks to trace amounts of platinum.

Inside the lobby of the New Windy City Mufflers and Brakes shop, Mr. Fernandez said he had heard a rumor that catalytic converters had suddenly become the rage on the black market here, but he did not believe it until his went missing on a well-lighted North Side street.

Theft of scrap metals like copper and aluminum has been common here and across the country for years, fueled by rising construction costs and the building boom in China. But now thieves have found an easy payday from the upper echelon of the periodic table. It seems there may not be an easier place to score some platinum than under the hood of a car.

[...]

People who may have thought their lives had nothing to do with the booming commodities market are finding out the hard way where their connection is — in their car’s exhaust system.

The catalytic converter is made with trace amounts of platinum, palladium and rhodium, which speed chemical reactions and help clean emissions at very high temperatures. Selling stolen converters to scrap yards or recyclers, a thief can net a couple of hundred dollars apiece.

None of this may matter in the long run though. When a giant particle accelerator near Geneva, Switzerland starts smashing protons this summer, some scientists fear the earth may be sucked into a black hole.

But Walter L. Wagner and Luis Sancho contend that scientists at the European Center for Nuclear Research, or CERN, have played down the chances that the collider could produce, among other horrors, a tiny black hole, which, they say, could eat the Earth. Or it could spit out something called a “strangelet” that would convert our planet to a shrunken dense dead lump of something called “strange matter.” Their suit also says CERN has failed to provide an environmental impact statement as required under the National Environmental Policy Act.

That would certainly take care of my daily frustrations: the lawn mower maintenance, the roof replacement, garden pests intent on destroying our tomato crop, and of course the credit card bills and other financial woes would get sucked into the hole along with everything else. And an early end to a nasty presidential campaign with no winners needed.

Fire this baby up!

In a worst case scenario, it wouldn't even be important that I give a photo credit to Valerio Mezzanotti for The New York Times. When we're all possibly getting a free ride to the other end of the universe, who cares?

Crossposted at Big Brass Blog

Friday Pussy Blog: 100% Tater Tot Edition

The talk about MRI exams in the comment below is giving me the heebie jeebies so it's time for a new post. Pussy! And today it's going to be ALL about the Tot. Because he loves the pussy blog and he loves it more when he is the focal point.

He likes to smell my cargo shorts.

He likes to smell my feet. Sometimes he likes to slide his feet into my shoes. He also likes to sit in my lap and lick my shirt.

This is the Tot's favorite table. Maybe he likes the shiva lingam. This table is beside the sofa in the living room. Often when we're watching TV he'll turn the other way facing the TV so he can see what we're watching. Sometimes there is something on the screen that captures his attention. So all 3 of us boys are often watching television together. How manly.

Happy Friday! I can hardly believe the week is over. If you thought I did a minimal amount of posting this week (especially today) you're probably correct. There's a lot going on and I'm also running around shopping for new glasses. I may have hit the jackpot today. Check over at Black Soap later this evening or tomorrow. I will work on an update. (It's done -- good Lord God Almight, it's a long one!)

Eye Exams Are Fun

Seriously, I love getting my eyes examined. Probably my least favorite check up is the dentist. I find nothing pleasurable about it. But eye exams are cool. I find it very relaxing to have no responsibilities except sitting still and doing exactly what I'm told. Ditto with haircuts although I obviously haven't had one of those in awhile. The whole experience is very soothing.

My favorite part of the eye exam is when they do the glaucoma test and you stare into the device and while you are trying to focus on the dot at the end of the tunnel you get hit with that quick blasting air puff. Wheeee! That's the most fun I've had in weeks. What a thrill.

But for $156 I wish I could have turned my head and had the doc blow on my neck a couple of times. Oh well. It's a medical exam, not an S&M cafe. That reminds me of a physical exam I got back in Denver in the late 1980s. The doctor was young and hot! He gave me a thorough exam which included him wearing a latex glove and probing where the sun don't shine. I wonder what that costs these days?

Question: What's your favorite medical exam and why?

Some Democrats Might Support McCain?

According to a new Gallup poll, a "sizable proportion" of Democrats are willing to vote for John McCain if the Democratic Party nominee isn't to their liking. Because we all know for a fact that John McCain would be so much more effective than either Clinton or Obama.

Christ.

This is particularly true for Hillary Clinton supporters, more than a quarter of whom currently say they would vote for McCain if Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee.”

It looks as if some Clinton supporters are so opposed to Mr. Obama, and some Obama supporters so opposed to Mrs. Clinton, that those supporters say now that they would flee to the Republican before they voted for the Democratic rival.

[...]

Still, Gallup suggests that all is not lost. Historically, the pollsters say, voters who are distraught over a primary candidate in the spring often return to the fold by the fall.

Then what's the point of this poll? I don't need another excuse to get my panties all knotted up in my crack.

Despite the nasty negative tactics which have rendered me apathetic about the outcome (and let's get to that outcome asap, OK?), there is no way in hell I'm voting for John McCain no matter how pissed off I become at either one of the Democrats. And right now I'm pretty damn pissed off at one of them. (I'm not naming names but she is the ninth cousin twice removed of Angelina Jolie. Who gives a shit??)

And honestly, there's a part of me that believes a Republican deserves to inherit the stinking fucking cesspool created by two terms of Bush. We are up against a wall and quite a few uncomfortable issues will have to be addressed in the next couple of years. Issues with solutions, which if addressed properly, are not going to be without a lot of pain to the average American. Under the circumstances I'm amazed that anyone would want to be the next president. And yet they are scrambling for it like children playing a game of musical chairs in kindergarten.

Whatever. I'm not voting for McCain. Is this our punishment for finally breaking the race and gender barrier to the White House in the same campaign? No unity and a willingness to go with four more years of the same if we don't get our first choice?

Wake me when it's over.

Another Reason To Support Local Businesses And Avoid Chains

I don't want to bad mouth anyone here, but we had an estimate today from one of the gigantic home improvement DIY warehouses today -- the same company where we got our kitchen counters and most recently the carpeting after the flood last summer. I'm not naming names, but if I say "homo train station" I think you'll get it.

While I thought the first estimate of $6,600 for a new roof was considerably higher than I expected I had no idea what I was about to be handed today: an estimate for $11,000 from a chain known for home improvement discounting. Bleahhh!

When I couple this with a very unimpressive estimate we received a few years back from Sears for a new central a/c & heating unit, I feel pretty secure in saying I will stick with the truly local folks in the future.

What's really ironic is the firm who did the estimate for $6,600 offers the same roofing material as an upgrade option that was offered with the $11,000 bid, and they only charge an extra $2,100 for it, bringing the revised total to $8,700 for a comparable estimate. By contrast, today's estimate offered a downgraded only lowering the price to around $10,000.

Just in case someone is tempted to lecture me, the firm which gave us the lower estimate has been in business around this area for a long time -- and they are bonded and insured. They are reputable. They provided several pages of references, both residential and commercial, something today's guy did not.

I have several theories. Either the national chain is relying on people who are lazy and making assumptions that theirs will automatically be a competitive price, or they are jacking things up to offset their emphasizing how affordable it is with their 0% financing, which is interesting in and of itself after I got a sermon regarding how some fly-by-night firms will dick you over with their con games. Or both. Or tacking on an exorbitant amount for the "transferable" warranty. Or all three. Or all three and more. I am not a fool.

"I know you are but what am I?"

Wha'cha Got Danglin' Underneath That Skirt?

Nicole alerted me to this video via BB: "Bad Questions to Ask a Transsexual." It takes her about 2 1/2 minutes to actually get to the questions so hang in there.

And then there's this, also from BB.

Wanting to have a biological child is neither a male nor female desire, but a human desire.

And from the comments:

Now, less P.C. - I wonder if (s)he has dangly parts?

I think that would fall under the category of "bad questions." Why do you need to know? Next time you see someone with a dash of gray hair, ask them if their genital hairs are going gray as well. See how that goes.

Roofing Options

Nicole did a fabulous job with the roofing mock-ups. I don't think any of them look bad really, and the darkest one (sample #5 from the post below) looks great. However, I think with the scale of our house it's probably too heavy. If the house was larger and maybe two stories the dark would be better.

I think I'm still leaning towards #4 which was my original choice:

Here's a link to all 8:
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8.

Take a look at #3 -- the red toned shingle. I liked that one as well but maybe a bit much? I like it but I'd have to go with a more neutral color for the siding on the back side of the house.

About To Rip The Roof Off The Sucker

txrad and I are in a slight disagreement. We're about to replace the roof which is currently a brown shingle. Every house in the neighborhood has brown shingles. I want something that is going to make this house stand out and have major curb appeal just in case we need or want to sell it in the near future. And even if we don't, I want something I like even if it's not the top of the line roofing material I might select if I thought we'd be here forever.

Here are the choices. I'm going to reference them in order from left to right, top to bottom, as:
1,2
3,4
5,6
etc.

#4 is my favorite. Actually I like #5 but knowing how the color would pull in the Texas heat and txrad's aversion to that, I dismissed that choice immediately. I like #4 because it has green flecks which would tie in with the sage green I'd like to paint the wood siding on the backside of our house.

Now, keep in mind most of our siding is that yellowish-white Texas limestone and that's pretty much all you see from the street. Brown shingles just don't convey the look I'm after if I'm spending $6,600 based on the first estimate we've received.

My 2nd choice is #6 followed by #3 with those reddish tones. I think red tones look really cool with limestone but I'm trying to stick with the cool dark gray/greens.

All of these choices are the same price so that's not the issue other than the possible increase in cooling costs. And by my thinking, it might be offset by the decrease in heating costs in the winter? Aside from that, we keep our thermostat set at 83-ish in the summer and I doubt that's going to represent a huge difference in our electric bill.

txrad chose #2 and #8. That shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who knows him. And yes, it might not absorb as much heat but it would look like cheap shit on this house, and in the event we do need to sell it, I don't want any downsides. And in the event we decide to keep it, I don't want to retch every time I come home from work.

No offense to anyone with similar colored roofing shingles. This is just my personal aesthetic trying to cover my personal ass.

Opinions are welcome, just be advised I am a Taurus and will probably do whatever the hell I think is right under the circumstances. This is our current roof although this picture is probably 5-6 years old. The front yard looks like shit now.

And the windows are about to be replaced. That's another $7k-$8k. $8,721 for single-hung from the same firm that gave us the roofing estimate. $9,322 for double-hung. I'm leaning towards double-hung.

Pontificate at your leisure.

A Queer Easter

I've always seemed to have a deeply held contempt for most holidays -- especially religious ones. I found this photo of me when I was 6 years old. I wasn't happy then and the reason is quite obvious. Why on earth would parents force a child to wear anything that hideous?

Easter in our family did have one benefit. My parents were annoyed with my brother when he wouldn't pick up the red egg in the green grass. He had a pretty good excuse: he couldn't see it. He was color blind and could only see the blue and yellow eggs.

Kelly's Vanity Fair Meme

Via Kelly, of course.

Kelly wrote:

One of my favorite things about my favorite magazine, The Proust Questionnaire. I do this month's here:

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Having a secluded house on 5 acres in the heart of Manhattan. Since that is unreasonable, I'd settle for a comfy house with plenty of room to garden, and a nice view, a job allowing me to work from home, and never having to hear my neighbors blasting Eminem, Ted Nugent or practicing drums. Oh, and no mortgage. That, my friends, is all I seek for perfect happiness. It is attainable and I am working on it.

2. What is your greatest fear?
That I will never achieve perfect happiness. I also don't particularly care for the idea of being stuck in a dark and crowded elevator during a power outage.

3. What is your most marked characteristic?
I guess it would be my unruly hair.

4. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
I guess it would be my unruly hair. And procrastination.

5. Which living person do you most despise?
George W. Bush.

6. What is your greatest extravagance?
On a routine basis, it would be my expenses for beer, wine and spirits. However, as far as single items go, it's hard to top the $8,000 I spent on a TV when I had budgeted about $1500. It's paid for though. That matters most.

7. What is your current state of mind?
A chaotic depressed incapacitated crazed frenzy.

8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
I wasn't sure what virtues are so I found a list. I vote for Majesty as being pretty worthless.

9. On what occasion do you lie?
Usually if I'm too embarrassed to tell the whole truth, or if I think there's a chance it might help me avoid a fine or delinquency fee. "The credit card statement that was due last week just arrived on my desk today!" Not really a lie, but it was on my kitchen table for 3 weeks prior to arriving on my desk.

10. What do you dislike most about your appearance?
I guess it would be my unruly hair. And hairs coming out in undesirable locales: nose, ears, etc.

11. What is the quality you most like in a man?
I guess sensitivity although the quality of being handy with all manner of tools, repairs, and home improvement projects is sounding pretty damn fine.

12. What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Not giving a damn about what's considered "ladylike." Being butch.

13. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
"Godfuckingdamn" and "fuck it" pop up frequently.

14. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
The what would have to be music. The who would have to be txrad.

15. When and where were you happiest?
Just moments before I got to this question and realized there were two #15 questions and I had to renumber the rest of the meme questions. Actually, there are 2 answers to this one, ironically. 1983-1984 in London was the happiest even though I knew it couldn't possibly last. Then last year when I had a phenomenal job right here in Austin which should have lasted but didn't.

16. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
To channel my anger and frustration into something productive or artistic.

17. Which talent would you most like to have?
I always wanted to play an instrument -- guitar, piano or violin. Violin is actually my favorite instrument. Right now I'd settle for the talent of being a handyman.

18. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Sticking with one profession for 18 years after basically falling into it.

19. If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be?
I'd be perfectly happy to come back as myself. Especially if I could fix a few things along the way. But I'd also be just as happy not coming back. The future just doesn't look as appealing as it did when I was much younger.

20. Where would you like to live?
If you only knew how many times I've asked myself that question. In the short-term, probably Arkansas simply because it would make my life a lot easier. But any place where I could have the answer to question #1 would be fine with me.

21. What is your most treasured possession?
Probably the equity in my house. Otherwise the answer to #7 and #22 would be 10x worse.

22. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Pretty much my current state of mind. A feeling of endless limbo, and a feeling of being trapped.

23. What is your favorite occupation?
It's usually quiet contemplation although lately I feel I'm doing too much of that so I tend to enjoy anything that keeps my mind busy. Reading, cleaning, or working in the yard.

24. Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
Captain James T. Kirk and James Bond. "Ohhh, James..."

25. What are your favorite names?
James, Tater Tot, Santa Fe, Alfred -- you never see that one anymore. And simple names with clever spellings: Siouxsie and Phydeaux.

26. What is it that you most dislike?
Pollution of all types. Pollution of the environment, noise pollution, radiowaves filling the air (think about that one), billboards, disposable items that are excessively disposable (those disposable cameras come to mind). Pollution is followed very closely by corruption although political corruption is a type of pollution really.

27. How would you like to die?
I'd like for us to all go out together. Seems more fair. Why should some get to hang around and continue having fun a little while longer?

28. What is your motto?
I have no tolerance for intolerance.

The Good Friday Pussy Blog

Do not be fooled. She knows I'm there snapping pictures.

It's very difficult to make the beds in this house.

"What! Leave me alone!"

Dirty Tiger on the dirty patio drinking dirty water.

Rebecca sent in a photo of Gidget, the art director, on a slippery slope.

The 4x4 Meme

Via the normally meme-less Jami.

4 jobs I have had: pouring hold molten iron into molds at some foundry back during college -- whatever that's called. It lasted about a day or so. Working in a tortilla factory. Working in a Chinese grocery and a TCBY Yogurt store. (By the way, the founder of TCBY is from my hometown and used to teach school. I think he was my brother's teacher one year.)

4 TV shows I actually watch: Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Iron Chef America. The L Word. Little People Big World. And I really had to struggle to think of four.

4 places I have been: Singapore, Iceland, Ocracoke and Petra.

4 foods I like: Quality cheese (if the Kraft brand is associated with it, forget it), Fresh purple-hull peas, fried spinach pakoras, veggie enchiladas with some rich spicy sauces. (My favorite is enchiladas banderas which has 3 sauces to mimic the 3 colors in the Mexican flag -- that's convenient!)

Tagged: If you have an R, T G, or A in your blog name, consider yourselves tagged. Sorta like Wheel of Fortune. Hey, that was easy.

4,000 Dots in 5 Years

Each dot represents the lost life of a soldier in Iraq. Each dot represents a name, a face, a family filled with sadness, a lost future, a sacrifice, and for what?

Each dot also represents at least 8 wounded in action, and that number is probably very low. It could easily be 16 or more. Many of those lives are forever changed as they learn to cope with lost senses we all take for granted -- the lost of vision, hearing, one or more limbs, or a plethora of mental health issues.

Each dot represents at least 300 Iraqis who have died as a result of the US invasion. Again, 300 names, faces and families destroyed for each dot.

Lastly, each dot represents $126 million dollars based on the most conservative Pentagon figures of the war's cost. If you believe as I do that the true cost of the war is already at $1 trillion if not on the verge of $2 trillion, then each dot represents about $250 million to $500 million -- that's half a billion dollars per dot for those of you more accustomed to dealing with three and four-digit sums of money on a routine basis.

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So? At least somebody is benefitting.

Have a nice Easter weekend, Mr. Cheney. And may you rot in Hell.

It's an ATM, Not a Voting Machine

Hello! There's a paper trail you idiots!

A cash machine outside a supermarket in Hull in northern England began giving out double the money requested for several hours on Tuesday, drawing a crowd of hundreds eager to take advantage of the error.

[...]

“People were calling their mates up and telling them to get down there,” a passer-by told The Hull Daily Mail. After several hours the machine ran out of money.

Yes, that would tend to happen when hoardes of imbeciles are lining up to withdraw $1200 and be given a receipt for a $600 withdrawal. Maybe the local economy got an unexpected stimulus boost until charges are filed against those making withdrawals.

Need A Job? Can't Pay Your Bills?

Hey, you can probably get a job with a collection agency. You might have to move to Buffalo. There are worse things in life I guess.

BUFFALO — In an unremarkable strip mall in the south end of this city, workers were installing 144 new desks last month at Capital Management Services. About 50 feet away, a dozen fresh hires were taking a two-week training course.

The company is rushing to double the staff, to 400, by next year and fill the additional 10,000 square feet of space in the building, which still smells of new carpet. The need for workers is so acute that the company leases billboards that say, “Call Today. Start Monday.”

Enjoy those jobs while you have 'em. Sounds like another prime opportunity to outsource them elsewhere eventually.

“With everything that’s happening now, people are living off their credit cards,” said Joel Castle, one of the pioneers in the industry and a consultant to Northstar Companies, which employs about 400 workers in nearby Cheektowaga. “So this business is going to explode. We’re anticipating a bubble.”

[...]

By 2014, the number of collectors is expected to rise 22.3 percent, state labor officials said, representing one of the fastest-growing job sectors in western New York.

Passportgate 2008

Considering the number of minutes devoted to this story, something had better evolve from it or I'm going to be pissed for wasting so much of my time.

More Turbulence Ahead. Buckle Up.

Honestly, the markets are making me ill and I'm not even playing. My IRA is in cash which is not a good idea considering it is in US dollars. But I haven't decided what's safe and I'm wondering if anything is really safe.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 261.66 points, its third triple-digit swing in a row. Shares of financial firms led the advance, as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac benefited from an analyst upgrade and hope that loosened restrictions on lending would jump-start the ailing mortgage market.

Meanwhile, the dollar staged a comeback against the euro, buoyed by lower interest rates. That helped push the commodities market into a freefall, as the price of crude oil and gold fell almost 10 percent in less than 36 hours.

I guess I always raise a suspicious eyebrow when I see the markets doing the exact opposite of what I feel should be happening. Sometimes I wonder if these inexplicable gyrations aren't simply due to investor desperation.

Whatever. Tomorrow is Friday and Fridays tend to make me extremely nervous during times of economic trials and tribulations.

You folks go ahead and have fun playing the market. As for me, I'll just sit here clutching my unemployment debit card.

To Protect And Serve

Revenge of the precogs.

Donald 'Duck' Dunn:

We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.

Soul Food Cafe

The Dangerous Cartoons

And The Terrorist Threat

What's Missing On This Blog?

My ranting contribution to the March 19 Iraq War Blogswarm?

I'm not sure I have it in me. I've been angry about this war for 5 years already. I've blogged about my anger for about 22 months off and on. The American people have spoken -- once by electing that fucking asshole in the White House to a second term when he never deserved a first, and once by giving the Democrats a narrow control over Congress which by my estimation has accomplished not one damn thing. Sure, the people have been polled and they overwhelmingly are against the war but who gives a shit about poll numbers? Not the president. And not Dick.

And in just over 7 months we'll be going to the polls again to select the leader of our country for the next four years in what should be a landslide blowout against the Republicans, but may in fact be another tight race if current polls can be trusted.

Americans seem more concerned about the economy right now than they are about Iraq. I'm not saying that's wrong. We should be more concerned about the economy because Iraq should never have been an issue in the first place because the war never should have happened. And I've yet to hear very many Americans asking themselves how the cost of this war has impacted our economy, directly or indirectly.

Meanwhile, Bush just keeps pounding the same message to the same favorable audiences over and over, and nothing changes. No accountability, no impeachment, nothing.

“Five years into this battle, there is an understandable debate over whether the war was worth fighting, whether the fight is worth winning, and whether we can win it,” he said. “The answers are clear to me. Removing Saddam Hussein from power was the right decision, and this is a fight that America can and must win.”

This protest against the war and the appropriate level of anger should not be confined to the "liberal" bloggers. Honestly, I feel thoroughly pissed off that after five long fucking years of this insane bullshit, we're still the ones demanding an end to it. Five years into this with no end in sight, 4,000 soldiers dead, many tens of thousands more wounded, hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis dead or wounded with millions of lives disrupted and displaced, countless lies of the Bush administration, trillions of dollars squandered or slated to be, there should be tens of millions of Americans out in the streets in an uproar.

Frankly, I find myself in "shock and awe" at American apathy. We apparently cannot even comprehend the cost although we will without a doubt feel it, and soon.

Five years in, the Pentagon tags the cost of the Iraq war at roughly $600 billion and counting. Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and critic of the war, pegs the long-term cost at more than $4 trillion.

[...]

Congressional Democrats fiercely criticize the White House over war expenditures. But it is virtually certain that the Democrats will provide tens of billions more in a military spending bill next month. Some Democrats are even arguing against attaching strings, like a deadline for withdrawal, saying the tactic will fail as it has in the past.

Emphasis on "and counting." These spineless fucks are paid to represent us. When will we hold them accountable?

Time is ticking and every ten seconds of this insanity costs us the average income of an American for a year, give or take a few seconds. With that in mind, I'm not sure just what it takes to get the average American angry enough in large enough numbers to bring about some change.

Until then, I have a prayer.

Dear God, please damn this man for eternity.

That's not asking for much under the circumstances.

Arkansas Cracks Down On Payday Lenders

Regarding yesterday's post about some of the television ads I've been seeing lately, Lisa in comments mentioned payday lenders. I noticed this blurb in today's New York Times.

The attorney general moved to shut down payday lending companies in the state, saying the fees they charge harmed the working poor and violated the state Constitution’s ban on high-interest loans. Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said his office had sent letters to about 60 companies that run payday lending services, asking them to shut down immediately and void customers’ debts or face the likelihood of lawsuits. The Arkansas Constitution has an unusual provision that bars lenders from charging an annual interest rate higher than 17 percent.

This law has always created some interesting scenarios. Arkansas banks which issue credit cards are routinely offering some of the lowest interest rates in the nation thanks to the interest rate law. However, credit is pretty hard to come by and the issuing banks keep credit limits far lower than what might be available on credit cards issued in other states.

And maybe that's not such a bad thing in retrospect. I can speak from personal experience.

Almost A Recession

I've been paying more attention to TV commercials lately. Last night, during one break, I saw an ad for a real estate foreclosure website offering bargains galore in California, Florida, Nevada and other states severely affected by the mortgage crisis. About a minute later I saw an ad for a service which provides you with a prepaid plastic shipping pouch -- you just drop in any unwanted or broken gold, silver or platinum jewelry, mail it in and within days you'll receive a check (no doubt for considerably less than what the metals are worth).

I can't help but wonder how much desperation is out there. And these folks doing the advertising are obviously eager to try and make a buck themselves. These trends in advertising are fun to observe because you get a snapshot of the economy -- or what the economy is perceived to be.

A St. Paddy's Day Tribute (Or The Best I Can Do)

I commented somewhere this weekend that I never celebrate St. Patrick's Day -- despite a lot of obvious Irish blood thanks to my surname.

As Irish music goes, I haven't explored it much, and what little I've heard I have zero tolerance for it, which is rare for me and music. If asked to name my favorite Irish music I'd probably have to go with U2. That says much. Asked to name a favorite beer and that's much easier: Guinness.

So instead of presenting you with some Irish folk music, I'm going to go with my favorite redhead (no offense to Maurinsky who is my 2nd favorite redhead).

The Middle Name Meme

Oh goodie. Another meme. My day would not be complete or fulfilled without one. This one was found over at Le Garçon de Pie-Dough.

Here are the rules

1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers. [Why, I ask?]

2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don’t have a middle name, use your maiden name or your mother’s maiden name).

3. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person (or blogger of another species) for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they’ve been tagged.)

D is for Drunk. Because in the absence of ganja (damn I wish there was a G in my middle name) it's the next most common altered state for me. (And it's legal. And it sometimes costs WAY more than the best ganja if you aren't careful with it.)

E is for Ethereal. It's a nice place to live but I wouldn't want to just visit there.

W is for Wasted. Because I'm at the peak of creative brilliance at that point.

I is for Indignation. I am full of it.

T is for Time Travel. It's something I would seriously do right now even at the risk of fucking things up worse than they already are.

T is also for Taurus. I am one. Full throttle.

Now, if anyone thinks I'm going to hunt for bloggers I know whose names start with those letters, you've got another thing coming. (T is also for Tart.)

None Of The Above

Married, single, divorced or widowed.

We've all seen those options on various forms for classifying our status. And while it's not surprising in states like Texas where recognition of same sex relationships is about as likely as a tax on the Southern Baptist Church, I think we expected a bit more from states such as Connecticut which do, in theory, recognize civil unions. It's actually not such a surprise that it is not working. Separate but equal just doesn't cut it.

Eager to celebrate their partnership, Tracy and Katy Weber Tierney were among the first in line when Connecticut created civil unions three years ago as a way to formalize same-sex relationships without using the word “marriage.”

But when Tracy was giving birth to their son, Jake, five months ago, a hospital employee inquired whether she was “married, single, divorced or widowed.”

“I’m in a civil union,” she replied. When the employee checked “single,” Tracy protested. “I’m actually more married than single,” she said, leaving the employee flustered about how to proceed.

And the case made by the states against same sex marriage is infuriating.

The state also argues that the plaintiffs have no case because they are free to marry, just not to someone of the same sex, and that there is no gender discrimination because men and women are equally constrained.

Nice logic. We have the right to marry -- it just can't be the one we love.

Frankly, until the playing field is level and there's full equality, I have no interest whatsoever in participating. I probably can't afford it.

For Jean Csvihinka, 48, who works at a bank in Milford, getting a civil union meant paying tax on an additional $6,000 a year. Ms. Csvihinka said that adding her partner, Gina Bonfietti, 43, a self-employed piano technician, to her health insurance obligated her to pay a federal tax on the value of the additional coverage that married couples would not owe, and that since the civil union she has also had to pay tax on her daughters’ coverage even though the girls were on her plan, tax-free, before. She said she was told that “it’s a systems issue.”

Experts blame some of these problems on the disconnect between state taxes, which civil union couples can file jointly, and federal taxes, which they cannot because of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

Since we obviously cannot rely on the states or voters to rectify this problem, we are probably at the mercy of the judges.

Amy Pear, a 39-year-old police captain in Middletown, said she was reminded again this month of her own murky legal status when she returned home from an overseas trip with June Lockert, 46, her better half for the last 14 years.

Arriving at Kennedy International Airport, the couple were asked whether they were one household. Captain Pear said she explained that they were, in Connecticut, because of their civil union. She said the customs officer sent them back to be processed separately since the federal government took a different view, and remarked “Welcome home” as she passed.

Welcome home, my ass! If there is one thing I expect (or demand) to see happen during the next administration, it would be to resolve this absurd discrimination and let us have the basic human dignity of our relationship being recognized and putting an end to the second tier status. The current murky waters are completely unacceptable.


Crossposted at Big Brass Blog

The Complex Gender Spectrum Is Not Simply Male Or Female

The New York Times Sunday Magazine has a piece today titled "When Girls Will Be Boys" with a focus on transgender and genderqueer students in college, and specifically the trans community in women's colleges.

The conventional thinking is that trans people feel they are “born in the wrong body.” But today many students who identify as trans are seeking not simply to change their sex but to create an identity outside or between established genders — they may refuse to use any gender pronouns whatsoever or take a gender-neutral name but never modify their bodies chemically or surgically. These students are also considered part of the trans community, though they are known as either gender nonconforming or genderqueer rather than transmen or transmale.

I rarely find articles in the Sunday Times Magazine which provoke me to read significant portion of them, and it's even more unusual for me to read one from start to finish. I highly recommend this one. Our nation and our world will be a better place when more people understand and comprehend gender identity.

Rey, who was the focus of the article, had this to say.

“Some transmen want to be seen as men — they want to be accepted as born men,” he said. “I want to be accepted as a transman — my brain is not gendered. There’s this crazy gender binary that’s built into all of life, that there are just two genders that are acceptable. I don’t want to have to fit into that.”

Between a quarter of a percent and 1 percent of the U.S. population is transgender, according to The National Center for Transgender Equality. If the higher pecentage is accurate, that's three million Americans.

The Desk Drawer Clutter Meme

Found a meme over at Ms. Lipp’s place. Maybe this will inspire me to clean out my desk even though I did so about 2 months ago. It wasn't enough.

Open up your desk drawers. Rummage about. List ten things you find there:

1. Lots and lots of cards: credit cards, business cards, frequent flyer cards, casino club cards.

2. Lots and lots of pens and markers.

3. Some infinity stamps or whatever they're called. Just bought them a couple of weeks ago and quite a wise choice since postage is about to go up again.

4. Lots and lots of return address labels -- more than I will ever use.

5. Souvenir concert tickets from probably every concert we've attended in the past 16 years. Actually one predates txrad: Concrete Blonde at Club Maxxx in Denver on July 4, 1989.

6. A large plastic cockroach.

7. Two $100 bills.

8. Lots and lots of 3.5" floppies and Iomega ZIP disks which I should discard.

9. A package of dark blue stationery which I received as a birthday gift in England in 1984.

10. Two expired passports.

Tag thyself.

Dunkin Donuts Gets Into The Low-Brow Coffee Business

I just saw an ad on TV for Dunkin Donuts' new line of coffees.

"You order them in English, not Italian."

Please. How hard is it to say cappuccino? Or Caffé Latte?

I have an idea. If you want to order coffee in English, just go here. You can fill up your tank and your cup.

It probably won't smell like a real coffee shop, and the coffee may suck, but what the fuck? You'll be ordering in English, and that's all that matters.

They have another ad with a group of people staring at a sign in a coffee shop singing, "My mouth can't form these words."

Sounds like a personal problem.

Friday Pussy Blog: The Heavy Coat Edition

All the kitties are lazy in this summer-like heat. I suspect cat hair will soon be in abundance on the floor and the desk. Mostly orange hair on the desk.

You Don't Hear Me Complaining

But I'm sure some of the packed venues for SXSW might not be very comfortable tonight. That's OK though; music ought to be hot and sweaty.

A cold front is coming through tonight. Should only hit about 85 tomorrow!

Billions Of Dollars Needed For Cleaner Air

Residents of Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming, consider yourselves lucky. You have no counties failing to meet the Environmental Protection Agency's new health standard for smog, as provided by the EPA.

Interestingly, Chicago (Cook County) is absent from the list, although suburban Lake County to the north of Chicago is an offender.

Meanwhile, 345 counties fail -- almost half of all counties monitored.

No word yet on how we will fund the estimated $8.8 billion per year for the clean up.

3rd Party Fun

Just to liven up an otherwise dull campaign for the White House, here's an independent ticket that would be loads of fun:

RIP Senator Howard Metzenbaum

Former Ohio Senator Howard Metzenbaum had died at the age of 90.

An unapologetic liberal, Metzenbaum helped pass measures to strengthen workers and consumers' rights, including a bill to provide employees with 60 days' notice of plant closings. He also promoted the Brady bill, which mandated a waiting period when buying a handgun.

Metzenbaum was a frequent critic of big business and earned the nickname "Senator No" for his success in blocking bills he considered overly favorable to special interests.

We need more unapologetic liberals.

The Most Unrelaxing Film Ever Made

Without a doubt.

Children of Men.

A Looming Cosmic Crisis

Southwest Airlines is about to implement nonstop service from Austin to Philadelphia. Theoretically, if I were so inclined, I could make that journey in under 4 hours.

"So what?" you might ask.

Well, one hundred years ago such things were merely dreams and fantasies. A lot can happen in 100 years. And look at what has happened in 5,000 years! And that's only 50 one hundred year cycles. Five billion years is one million 5,000 year cycles.

And yet there are some scientists who apparently have nothing better to do with their time on this planet than lament the inevitable global warming extraordinaire and pondering the solution.

If nature is left to its own devices, about 7.59 billion years from now Earth will be dragged from its orbit by an engorged red Sun and spiral to a rapid vaporous death. That is the forecast according to new calculations by a pair of astronomers, Klaus-Peter Schroeder of the University of Guanajuato in Mexico and Robert Connon Smith of the University of Sussex in England.

And while our planet may be consumed by the dying sun in 7.59 billion years, life will cease to exist in a mere 5 billion years as springtime heads for Neptune. In about a billion years our own oceans will begin making lobster dinner.

About a billion years from now, the Sun will be 10 percent brighter. Oceans on Earth will boil away. The Sun will run out of hydrogen fuel in its core about 5.5 billion years from now and start burning hydrogen in the surrounding layers. As a result, the core will shrink and the outer layers will rapidly expand as the Sun transforms itself into a red giant.

The heat from this death rattle will transform the solar system; it will briefly be springtime in the Kuiper Belt out beyond Neptune. Mercury and Venus will surely be swallowed, but the Earth’s fate has always been more uncertain.

So, one billion years is only 200,000 of those 5,000 year cycles. We'd better get busy on a solution.

Dr. Smith called the new result “a touch depressing” in a series of e-mail messages. But “looked at another way,” he added, “it is an incentive to do something about finding ways to leave our planet and colonize other areas in the galaxy.”

Depressing? Really? Do these scientists read much about what's going on in the world in the here and now? Darfur anyone? Iraq?

Another option, Dr. Smith said, is to engage in some large-scale high-stakes engineering.

In the same way that space probes can get a trajectory boost by playing gravitational billiards with Venus or Jupiter to gain speed and get farther out in space, so the Earth could engineer regular encounters with a comet or asteroid, thus raising its orbit and getting farther from the Sun, according to a paper in 2001 by Don Korycansky and Gregory Laughlin of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Fred Adams of the University of Michigan.

Dr. Laughlin said that when their paper first came out, they were praised by the radio host Rush Limbaugh and other conservatives for forward thinking.

Wow. I had no idea Rush Limbaugh was so out there with his "forward thinking." To hell with all our current problems; we need to be figuring out how to get off this future cinder block now! Time's a wastin.'

Meanwhile, speaking of fired up, roll me a fat one of whatever those scientists are having. Sounds like a ton of laughs.

The War In Iraq Adds Up

Unless my math is wrong, in the time it will take you to read this sentence, the war in Iraq will have cost us $32,000. Or a bit under $1.5 million in the time it took me to prepare this post.

Twenty Photos Meme

What a way to kill an afternoon! Because it's a nasty day and I'm not really in the mood to do anything else....

via Phydeaux

1. Go to photobucket.com
2. Type in your answer for each question into the PhotoBucket search bar.
3. Choose your favorite photo to represent your answer.
4. Copy the html and paste it here.
5. Answer only in picture form.


1. What is your first name?

2. When is your birthday?

3. What kind of car do you want?

4. Where did/do you go to school?

5. What is your favorite season?

6. What is your favorite type of shoe?

7. What is your status?

8. What is your favorite movie?

9. What is your favorite song?

10. Who is your favorite Disney character?

11. What is your favorite clothing line?

12. What is your favorite vacation destination?

13. What is your favorite dessert?

14. What is your favorite letter?

15. What are you most afraid of?

16. What is your favorite TV show?

17. What annoys you the most?

18. What is your job?

19. What is your favorite animal?

20. How old are you?

If you haven't seen this and want to do it, you're tagged.

A Cheap Alternative To The Drug Store

Concerned about the high cost of drugs and other prescription meds? At the rate things are going, pretty soon all you'll need to do is just drink your tap water. Aside from possibly relieving a headache, maybe if I drink enough water I'll get a 4-hour boner.

A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.

But the presence of so many prescription drugs — and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen — in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.

Oh, have I mentioned lately that our world is fucked up?

Farm Land Might Be The Best Investment

Having grown up on a farm I can tell you it was always uncertain but we were pretty lucky. Some years were better than others but we always survived without having to struggle for basic needs or worrying about having food on our table. I seem to remember my father complaining in the 70s that crop prices never rose even during inflationary periods. I wish he were alive now to see the prices.

My mother has always said we should keep the farm no matter what happens. My brother and I have never had much interest in farming and we have viewed the farm as an asset waiting to be sold so that we might put our share of the proceeds to "better use." I can't speak for my brother who is having his own financial struggles (as am I), but I'm starting to think the best use of the farm is to keep it. And the way things appear to be headed in the world, productive farm land might be as safe an investment as anything. not to mention a steady source of reliable income.

LAWTON, N.D. — Whatever Dennis Miller decides to plant this year on his 2,760-acre farm, the world needs. Wheat prices have doubled in the last six months. Corn is on a tear. Barley, sunflower seeds, canola and soybeans are all up sharply.

“For once, there’s great reason to be optimistic,” Mr. Miller said.

Naturally, surging prices means we pay more for basic staples at the supermarket so the extra income from higher crop prices is far from being all profit. Fertilizer and insecticide prices are higher, and diesel fuel has skyrocketed which also means higher costs to plant and harvest, so we'll have to wait and see if the end result means more money in the pockets of farmers. But global demand for agricultural products is definitely on the rise.

Many factors are contributing to the rise, but the biggest is runaway demand. In recent years, the world’s developing countries have been growing about 7 percent a year, an unusually rapid rate by historical standards.

The high growth rate means hundreds of millions of people are, for the first time, getting access to the basics of life, including a better diet. That jump in demand is helping to drive up the prices of agricultural commodities.

Farmers the world over are producing flat-out. American agricultural exports are expected to increase 23 percent this year to $101 billion, a record. The world’s grain stockpiles have fallen to the lowest levels in decades.

“Everyone wants to eat like an American on this globe,” said Daniel W. Basse of the AgResource Company, a Chicago consultancy. “But if they do, we’re going to need another two or three globes to grow it all.”

And there's the problem. No one on the globe needs to eat like an American and Americans would be wise to abandon the all-you-can-eat mentality and adopt more frugal and conservative standards. The problem of food shortages has the potential to eclipse our dependence on foreign oil. We are now facing a double whammy with escalating fuel prices in an era of inflation and recession in which prices for food basics are increasing at a far great rate than wages which, for many, are actually decreasing.

We would be wise to monitor this situation closely. Many of us may soon find we have more in common with our brothers and sisters in places like Nigeria than we realize.

Nigeria’s wheat imports in 2007 were forecast to rise 10 percent more. But demand was also rising in many other places, from Tunisia to Venezuela to India. At the same time, drought and competition from other crops limited supply.

So wheat prices soared, and over the last year, bread prices in Nigeria have jumped about 50 percent.

Amid a public outcry, bakers started making smaller loaves, hoping customers who could not afford to pay more would pay about the same to eat less. Sales have dropped for street hawkers selling loaves. With imports shrinking, mills are running at half capacity.

Welcome to the 21st century in an overpopulated world.

Holy Shit! Is The Recession Over Already?

That was fast!

Some of the Yahoo features seem overly simplistic sometimes and intended to soften our fears and anxieties. This one via CNNMoney.com almost made me scream. What kind of drugs are these people taking?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- It may be the best time to buy a house in more than four years.

Home prices have dropped so quickly and so far that valuations - the difference between what a home should cost and its actual price - are the lowest they've been since 2004, according to a report.

Since 2004? Really? Well, hot damn, maybe I'll just saddle up my pony and ride out and buy two then!

I really don't think my memory is so bad, but in 2004 I seem to recall we were in the midst of a real estate boom in which prices were skyrocketing. The fact that now things are back to the level they were then is not what I'd call the bargain of a century. I'm trying to remember what else was going on in 2004/2005... oh, I think that's when I was spending a lot of time watching the Suze Orman show in which she was constantly warning us about a likely housing bubble... back THEN.

"Housing valuations are almost back to long-term norms," said National City's chief economist, Richard DeKaser. He called current affordability "the best in the past four years."

But DeKaser cautioned that home prices could fall even further.

"This isn't to say home price declines are over," he said. "We could move below historic norms. By the end of 2008, housing markets could be broadly under valued."

I'm not telling anyone what to do. You want to go plop down a few hundred grand for a California cottage? Be my guest. Snag 'em while they're hot and there's easy credit.

Who needs drugs when we have reality such as this? Forget that. Have a second opinion and then sleep on it a few weeks.

"The break line of good to bad credit used to be a FICO [score] of 620," he explains. "Over the last year, it's moved to 650, then 680 and now it's starting to push over 700." Borrowers who have lower scores may have to come up with higher down payments, or settle for loans with higher fees or interest rates.

Getting a home with low or no money down, meanwhile, is a thing of the past. Lenders may even require more than the traditional 20% in markets that are especially hard-hit.

That is disturbing news in and of itself as it will eliminate many people from the housing market who previously might have been able to swing a deal. And foreclosures?

Foreclosures are touted as great deals (especially by services that sell foreclosure listings). In some areas, real estate agents have even started taking potential buyers on "foreclosure tours."

In reality, however, buying a foreclosed property — or even one in a neighborhood plagued by foreclosures — is risky. "A heavy concentration of foreclosures indicates that there's some sort of economic problem in the region that will keep your home value from at least remaining stable," says Miller. "Or that there was some speculation and there may still be some air left to come out of that market."

This show ain't over yet folks, so sit yer asses down and enjoy the spectacle.

Friday Pussy Blog: The Bed Warmer Edition

The kids really missed their other daddy this week. Tater Tot and Sissy like to keep his bed warm for when he needs to take a nap.

Sorry this pussy blog isn't quite as interesting as the one last week but we all have our off days. :-)

Recession

There. I said it, even if there are still some who will not admit it.

The economy unexpectedly shed 63,000 jobs in February, the government said on Friday, fueling fears of a recession as manufacturers and construction companies cut their work forces amid the continuing housing crisis. It was the fastest falloff in the labor market in five years...

[...]

“I haven’t seen a job report this recessionary since the last recession,” said Jared Bernstein, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. “This is a picture of a labor market becoming clearly infected by the contagion from the rest of the economy.”

It's Not The Gift; It's The Thought That Counts

That's usually the case with people. Not necessarily true when corporate executives give gifts of stock to family foundations.

Top corporate executives often make large gifts of their company’s stock to their family foundations shortly before the stock price drops sharply, according to a new study by a New York University professor. As a result, the executives are able to claim the maximum possible tax deduction and escape capital gains taxes.

The research by David L. Yermack, a professor of finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University, also found patterns to suggest that some gifts of stock might have been backdated to enhance their value, in much the same way that some companies backdated stock options.

“On average, the gifts have been extraordinarily well-timed to maximize the associated personal income tax benefits,” Dr. Yermack said in an interview on Tuesday, “and it seems to me fairly likely that some of these people making them may be monkeying around with paper trails.”

Very convenient isn't it?

I Voted!

Yes I did. txrad did not but he had a pretty damn good excuse.

It's kind of odd how tragedy can provoke the corniest songs, but this really sums up the past few hours for me. Or several days actually. Call it 5 days of hell.... and counting.

Marketing Gone Haywire

Has the world gone fucking insane or is it just me? I need to know.

There are plenty of things in the news which would upset the average person but sometimes it's the little things that push me right over the edge.

The product, called NXT, is sold in an arresting triangular container that lights up from the bottom, illuminating air bubbles suspended in the clear gel. The plastic is tinted blue, and when the AAA batteries in its base are lighted, the whole thing looks like a miniature lava lamp or a tiny fishless aquarium.

The novelty of the light-up container worked, and NXT’s shaving gel — as well as its after-shave and face wash, similarly packaged — will hit the shelves at Target this month. It will also arrive at other retailers like Wal-Mart, CVS, Duane Reade, Winn-Dixie and Fred Meyer.

To call attention to themselves, the products, which are aimed at 18- to 24-year-old men, will glow on the shelves, inviting customers to pick them up. Every 15 seconds, a light-emitting diode (LED) in the bottom of the container flares on, stays lighted for a few seconds, then fades out.

I'm sorry but when did we as a society evolve to a point where we need to be attracted to temporary disposable products, not because of their quality or functionality, but because the packaging appeals to our high-tech lifestyles? We have our Xboxes and our iPods but that's not enough. Now our shaving cream needs to entertain us as well.

“The packaging was more advanced than anything we’d seen before,” Andrea Harrison, category manager for men’s shaving at CVS, wrote in an e-mail response to questions. Ms. Harrison, describing NXT as having an “almost nightclub-friendly appearance,” said that at CVS, “we consider whether a product in a given package can have impact on our shelf, and this was potentially an impact on a new level.”

A "nightclub-friendly" appearance? What the hell? It's SHAVING CREAM! And it needs two or three AAA batteries! I don't know how long the typical container of shaving cream lasts before needing to be replaced, but this is one more unnecessary electronic gadget destined for landfills across America. Then if you like the product, repeat. Save the batteries - hopefully they can be removed and used in your TV remote or something.

Jesus H. Christ, I can hardly wait to see what the brilliant creative geniuses will create next for marketing to people who apparently have never been exposed to anything resembling a clue.

I just have one additional thing to say: Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap. You can wash your hands with it and it lathers up nicely for shaving. It doesn't glow in the dark or require batteries. Hey, it's not flashy but it gets the job done quite economically. And it's organic and natural. That's magic.

By the way, NXT is manufactured in China. I guess I didn't need to say that.