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a protest i can get behind
As I was driving to pick Paul up from his downtown San Francisco office today, I noticed a protest off in the distance. I was getting prepared to sigh and roll my eyes when I pulled closer and noticed a big sign that read: NO CARD CHECK. There were an assortment of other signs saying things like "preserve the secret ballot" and I wish I had my camera because I was honestly shocked. I honked, waved and gave them all a big thumbs up and they waved and smiled back at me. When I collected my husband I told him what I was seen and he was confused for a moment, wait they were protesting against card check? In San Francisco? See, there is still some common sense left in this beautiful city! Labels: Politics, unions suck
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
1. Why is it better to hold terror war prisoners indefinitely without trial in supermax prisons within the United States than to hold them at Gitmo? Doesn't holding prisoners indefinitely in a federal supermax set a more dangerous precedent than holding them at Gitmo (which much more closely resembles a POW camp than does a supermax prison which holds prisoners that have been tried and convicted in U.S. federal courts)? Can any Obama supporters out there please explain this to me? 2. Why do people try to make a comparison between Kobe and MJ? MJ won six championships in ten years and was Finals MVP six times. Kobe has three championships in thirteen years and has never been Finals MVP. That means Jordan was "the man" all six times he won and Kobe (in three extra years) has only won half as many rings and has never been "the man." Even if gets it this year, that's still one vs six. No comparison, in my mind and I'm not even a big Jordan fan (I prefer Magic's style of play). 3. Why do I sometimes still get the feeling like I'm waiting for my "real" life to begin? I have a career (sort of, well, I'm employed in my industry of choice so close enough I suppose) and a husband. And a cat. When does it count as "real life?" Labels: Basketball, Life, Politics, those whacky liberals, war on terror
No on 1A-1E and an emphatic YES on 1F. As my husband said to me just now, it's ridiculous that it isn't already illegal for legislators to give themselves a raise when we're running huge deficits. True that. Labels: Politics
Monday, August 04, 2008
It's pretty sad when your opponent is so ignorant that you actually have to explain to them how you're mocking them before they get it. For all their talk of intellect, they sure seem to have a tough time grasping some fairly simple concepts. Labels: 2008 Elections, Politics, those whacky liberals
Sunday, July 13, 2008
So now that the credit/housing markets have blown up we're hearing a lot of the politicians lining up to criticize and screech, wondering, "Where were the regulators?" It's odd though, because looking back it's clear what more regulation would have done - it would have led to a lot of minority applicants not receiving loans and not becoming homeowners (though only temporary homeowners since the numbers clearly show foreclosures are highest in minority areas). In the past politicians have not been shy about calling for increased numbers of minority homeowners, so I think it's fairly safe to say any "regulation" would have been met with calls of racism and/or discrimination. The politicians got exactly what they called for and besides, where were they in all of this? Why weren't they paying attention to this stuff? Ugh. Labels: all financial like, Politics
Saturday, April 26, 2008
After reading Michelle Malkin's lead story for today, I decided to donate to the NC GOP. Time to show the jackass at the top of our ticket who REAL conservatives support. McCain just couldn't resist the opportunity to throw some conservatives under the bus could he? So eager to maintain his status as a liberal media darling that he couldn't even be bothered to watch an ad put out by principled conservatives before he ran out and accused them of being racist. Which, by the way, can someone explain to me why it's racist to simply point out the truth? Did the NC GOP lie? Did Obama not attend that man's church for twenty years? Labels: 2008 Elections, Annoyances, Politics, those whacky liberals
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Senate Foreclosure Relief Bill Advances Between this and the astonishingly stupid questions asked during the Bear Stearns bailout hearing, I'm pretty disgusted with how completely retarded the people who supposedly lead this country are. Hm...volatility's a problem in the market right now? Apparently a Democrat's solution to that is to introduce more risk. Because, obviously, that's helpful. As someone who someday hopes to be a homeowner I have no desire to allow my mortgage rates to be driven up just so some irresponsible person can stay in a home they could never afford in the first place. Because let's face it, a lot of these people knew their mortgages were going to go up, possibly to a point they couldn't afford but they ignored that risk and decided to bet that the housing market had no ceiling. It sucks and it's sad, but it's a risk THEY chose to take and I don't really feel like I need to be punished for their choices. Prices in SF are still high and if interest rates are 1-2% higher than they are now Paul and I will be renting forever. Labels: all financial like, Annoyances, Politics, Stupidity and Ignorance
Thursday, March 06, 2008
I don't know how many different times and different ways I've tried to explain this very thing to people - and as usual I could never say it better than John Hawkins: Labels: Politics, quote unquote, those whacky liberals
Saturday, March 01, 2008
A lot of people who knew me in college might be surprised at how largely uninvolved I am in politics nowadays. Don't get me wrong, I can still deliver a pretty impassioned argument when the situation calls for it, but for the most part I just don't have the energy to keep up and care so damn much anymore. My excuse is that life has gotten in the way. And I'm not trying to say that I'm sooo busy these days - I'm well aware that there are mothers balancing demanding jobs who still find the time to stay up-to-date on current events and blog regularly - I'm just saying I'm a lot busier than I've ever been before and it's taking some adjusting. For the first time in my life I'm juggling several different things and for the most part don't have the option to blow off any of those things for a day or two or maybe a week if I feel like it. (Ahh college, how I miss you.) I miss sitting. And staring. I miss doing nothing. So usually if I'm not at work and not doing something related to trying to make an offer on a condo we're interested in, then I opt to just sit and do something mindless like read about what fast-food excursions Britney Spears took that day or watch some basketball. BUT! I think I am finally turning a corner. We've been at this house thing for over four months now and I feel like I have a much better feeling for the market we're looking in and the market as a whole (lucky for me I can get a good feeling for that at work). And I am also getting accustomed to not having the option of just staying home if I don't feel like going. Personal responsibility is a part of growing up, who knew? (You certainly wouldn't know it growing up here with the hippies who passed for "teachers.") I also have to admit that Barack Obama is making things interesting for me again. Not because he "inspires" me or makes me less cynical or anything remotely like that. He interests me mainly because I think he has a real shot at becoming the next president of this country and I disagree so strongly with him on pretty much everything. I also don't believe he is as "above it" as most people believe. He is just smarter than most politicians, this makes him a better politician, not a saint. I'm not sure what Obama is suggesting here? That we pull out except for "strikes at al Qaeada targets"??? What does that mean? Air strikes? Except that probably means more innocent civilians wind up as collateral damage. Can someone please explain what his plan here is? Ah, now this is where Obama's political prowess (at least in today's sound-bite media) is revealed. As I pointed out above Obama's position on Iraq and al Qaeada makes no sense whatsoever. But here he has managed to deflect away from that by reminding people that they are mad at Bush for going to war in the first place. Continue being angry about the past and forget actually trying to do something constructive with what we are presently faced with. This is like how some liberals always bring up "the Indians/Native Americans" when you ask them to give you an example of how the United States is eeeeevillllll. This is kind of a tangent, but doesn't this statement pretty much kill the less-than-well-thought-out idea that Obama's social spending can be paid for by withdrawing from Iraq? Clearly, and to my relief, Obama isn't planning on just disbanding the portion of our military that is currently serving in Iraq. Labels: 2008 Elections, house hunters, Life, Politics, the grind
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
I've always considered Dick Morris to be one of the more sensible pundits out there so when I read this today I was understandably shocked. And a little bit horrified. What?? He's charming and good with the media though he lacks any actual experience, and has done zip since he became a US Senator (mainly because he started running for president nine months into his first term). Also. Socialist. In what dimension do those things make someone a good president??? Has Dick Morris completely lost his mind? Labels: 2008 Elections, Politics
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Voted NO on all the state propositions, I would have voted for 91 except the pro-argument says to vote NO since the exact same thing has already been passed into law by the legislature/Arnold. I only had time to stop by the California Secretary of State website before voting so I didn't even realize there were city propositions until I saw them on my ballot. I literally laughed out loud when I read Proposition C which actually suggests that San Francisco buy Alcatraz from the federal government and turn it into the - I kid you not - Global Peace Center! And a guy named Da Vid is going to run it. Not David, that's too "normal." He is Da. Vid. Sigh, only in San Francisco. Oh yeah, and I voted for Romney. Labels: 2008 Elections, Politics, San Francisco, those whacky liberals
No, I haven't voted yet. Yes, I'm going to. And no, I am not entirely sure yet who I am voting for, thanks for asking. Now, I'm only 25 years old, and since it was the ridiculousness of the aftermath of the 2000 elections that got me interested in politics...I really have nothing to compare this election to. Other than the 2004 elections (during which I helped fund-raise for Bush and many other Republicans). So you can imagine just how completely uninspired I am feeling right now. The only candidate I can kind of muster up some excitement for right now is Romney and I can't even get that excited about him because the unlikeliness of him actually being able to win a general election does not bode well for him. But geez! I just can't bring myself to cast a vote for McCain when there are still some actual Republicans in the race. Flawed as they may be. Paul should be home in half an hour or so, so I still have time to ponder. I'm afraid to go to the polling place alone since I'm a registered Republican living in a very blue city. The hubs and I are probably the only two in all of SF! Labels: 2008 Elections, Politics
Friday, February 01, 2008
I've decided that for now, I'm hanging my hat with Romney. He probably won't win and McCain will be the nominee *shudder* but I've decided to cross that bridge when I get there. At least until next Tuesday, I can hope. Labels: 2008 Elections, Politics
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
I may not have agreed with the blogosphere's take on Huckabee, but it's nice to see I'm right there with them on McCain. If McCain wins, I would have to seriously considering not casting a vote at all this year. Labels: 2008 Elections, Politics
Monday, January 28, 2008
John Hawkins is live-blogging the State of the Union: Right on point, as usual. Paul pointed out the exact same thing as they panned across the audience. Odd that they wouldn't applaud a breakthrough in medical science. I guess removing the baby-killing aspect takes all the fun out of it for the Democrats. Labels: Politics, those whacky liberals
Friday, January 18, 2008
Does anyone else think it might not be the best idea to let this woman have a say in our economic/fiscal policy? Why do politicians who don't know their head from their you-know-where when it comes to economics have the power to tax us? (Anyone surprised she's a far left whack-job?) Labels: all financial like, Politics, those whacky liberals
So another week's flown by in the blink of an eye. Is this just what happens when you get old? Time passes and before you know it it's 2008. And it's not only 2008, but it's the middle and suddenly becoming the end of January 2008. Luckily, I did remember to register and after a few seconds hesitation, I once again registered as a Republican. I have a feeling November is going to be seriously ugly and painful but I guess I'd still rather be a Republican than a Decline to State. Who am I voting for in the primary? I honestly still don't know. I think it may end up being eeny-meeny-miny-mo between a few candidates. Labels: 2008 Elections, Politics
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Glad to see Michelle and I are on the same page when it comes to the subprime catastrophe. Labels: all financial like, Politics
Saturday, January 05, 2008
My interest in politics has been waning for awhile now and I must admit that ever since I started working I pretty much squashed the political bug that drove me to be so passionate and involved in the first place. It was mostly an unconscious act, an inevitability of working ten hours a day at a job that demands 109% of my attention at all times. But a small part of it was that I just couldn't bring myself to care anymore. I grew so disillusioned with the world of politics and politicians I would get too upset reading/thinking/discussing politics and so I stopped. With this in mind I think it's fair to say that I really don't know much about what's going on in politics these days. I've only seen a couple debates (and even then it was only because Paul turned them on and wouldn't let me change the channel) and I haven't been reading the blogs at all. So I was really surprised this morning when I decided to take my first cruise around the blogosphere in months to see how much bloggers seem to dislike Huckabee. I heard him called untrustworthy and slick? Which I find confusing because I've only heard him speak a few times but I've grown to like him more each time I do hear him. I thought he was a likable dude and I'm not sure all the negativity towards him is coming from? The Romney attacks? (Of course, through it all, John Hawkins has remained a great read and always reasonable). Anyway, I don't really believe Huckabee will win the whole thing but I'm glad he ran because I think his campaign makes a point. A point about how people really feel about Christianity in this country. I've heard people call Huckabee crazy because of his position on abortion and because they see him as a religious extremist. Granted I am in San Francisco, but I still find it hard to believe that people would be shocked at a pastor being completely against abortion. Even on the blogs there was an obvious resentment towards his constantly referring to his religion. Why? Is it that taboo to speak what you believe nowadays? Well, if what you believe in is that the Christ came to earth and died for our sins, anyway. The controversy over his Merry Christmas commercial also baffled me - the man, the former pastor - wants to say "Merry Christmas" to people at Christmastime and it's supposed to be some slick political move?? Huh? And I've read attacks on him because "he takes money from companies that do embryonic stem cell research" (implied: he's a hypocrite) or because "he pardons dangerous criminals" but you know what? I've actually heard his rebuttal to those claims and I believed him. He came across as very believable and honest. And I think this is how most people who aren't plugged into the political machine will feel about him. He probably still won't win though because people who don't much care about politics don't bother voting in primaries. On a related note, I really hope McCain doesn't win. Labels: 2008 Elections, Politics
Thursday, December 06, 2007
As I've mentioned before, one of the main products I cover at work are mortgage/asset backed securities. Which puts me smack dab in the middle of all this sub-prime-credit-crunch-oh-my-god-the-sky-is-falling crisis. I'm like on the front lines yo. I gotta tell you, I'm really not happy about the plan unveiled today. I never thought I would say this but I mostly agree with a SF Gate editorial writer...the Bush administration's plan really is the "methadone plan for the mortgage crisis." This is one of the things I hate about politics. Since it's an election year all the politicians have to act like they care when people are losing their houses, but let's be honest with ourselves here: These sub-prime borrowers are not people you should feel sorry for. Why? Well, for the most part at least, these are the people who shouldn't have even been given loans in the first place! A lot of them put no money down on their homes, already had bad FICO scores and lose nothing except their mortgage payments (which you can look at as rent anyway) if they default. Why am I supposed to feel bad for them again? They got to live in houses they never should have been able to afford for two years. Sure the lenders and Wall Street and all those funds are to blame for this mess, but that doesn't mean sub-prime borrowers have necessarily been victimized in any way. In fact, they're kinda one of the winners in all of this. Because now the government is bailing them out so they can stay even longer in houses they can't afford. The real loser is your pension fund. Also, from what I've heard around the office is that the issues having the most problems with defaults are from 2006 not 2005. This of course is significant because the 2006 rates haven't even reset yet. Which means the most problematic of the sub-prime loans are those that have been taken out by people who can't even afford the teaser rates. So really this "solution" isn't even going to do anything to alleviate the worst of the problems. The real problem here is that a lot of people took out loans they can't afford period. Not even at the teaser rates. So let's be honest with ourselves, this mess is way too big to "fix" in any meaningful way. It's time to let the chips fall where they may. Labels: all financial like, Politics, the grind wingless was still breathing at 4:02 PM - 1 comments
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
I've been meaning to write about the recent French election since I was (sort of) there to witness France's amazing feat of not flushing itself down the toilet. At lunch with one of my professor's just before the final election he told us that he hoped France would do the right thing (translation: Vote for Sarko!) but that French people have a tendency to be a bit illogical. So he was worried. And considering moving his business out of the country if heaven forbid that nutbag socialist Sego were to win. I'm putting words in his mouth with the nutbag socialist comment but I'm pretty sure that's what he wanted to say. In the end it wasn't really surprising that Sarko (we Americans became very fond of the "Sarko vs. Sego" terminology - it made the election sound like some kind of Godzilla vs. King Kong face off) won. Once it was announced that it would, in fact, be Sego and Sarko in the runoff most French people seemed to indicate that Sarko would most likely win, especially since Bayrou chose not to endorse either candidate (I read/heard somewhere that Sego would have needed nearly all of his votes in order to beat Sarko). But still, before April 22nd it seemed like there was a fairly decent chance that France could end up with a truly whacked out socialist President. I only met one person who really sounded like he wanted to vote for Sarko. And I still think Sego might have won if not for Sego herself and her whole "I am a mother so you should vote for me" campaign strategy. One of the strangest things to me about French people (and, I assume, Europeans in general) is how completely comfortable they are with the word "socialist." I mean liberals in America won't even admit to being liberals, much less being socialists (which, let's face it, a lot of them are) so it was weird being in a country where people were totally open to admitting, "Yup, I'm voting for the socialist." Maybe it's my American-ness but I am totally not convinced that socialism is not just a hop, step and a skip away from communism. If anything, in my mind, it's more insidious because it pretends to be something else but it will eventually wind up in the same place. Wasn't it Khrushchev who said that the West would become communist in the end because it would creep in slowly? This is a bit off topic, but I remember before I went to France people were telling me how great it would be for me because it would open me up and make me see how the American way of doing things isn't the only way and blah blah blah. But you know what? You want to know the real, honest to God's truth? While I do love a lot of things about France and do have a newfound affection for French people, I spent a lot of my time in France going, "What the f***?!?" Because so much of the time, their way didn't make any sense. Whatsoever. Like not even a little bit. And honestly, I think it is a lot of the things they do different from America that has them in such deep doo doo right now. Their social welfare system is completely out of control and one of the main arguments I heard against Sarko (besides "he's a racist" which I don't think is true) is that he actually pointed out the fact that something has to change. Towards the beginning of the semester one of my professor's was talking about how France's economic woes are extremely paradoxical. On the one hand they've got this huge social welfare system that people have grown accustomed to, which you can't take away because people are accustomed to it (this is something America needs to pay attention to) but that you also can't really afford anymore because you've got so many people using (and in some cases, abusing) the system. So you raise taxes on the people who can supposedly afford it (i.e. rich people, businesses). Well rich people, for the most part, didn't get rich by being stupid and ditto for people who are running successful businesses and seeing as how globalization has made it easy for people to pick up and leave one country for another, rich people and businesses are leaving France. In one presentation given by my French classmates we learned that over 1/3 of French people who leave France are executives. Okay, so you have a severely overburdened system and the people who are stuck paying for it are getting sick of being chumps and heading for America (or wherever) leaving the government with the same bills to pay but a lot less people footing the bill. So what does the government do? Raise taxes on whoever's left. Which of course drives more of these rich people/businesses away and so on and so forth until you're left with a giant bubbling mess of who knows what. Seems pretty hopeless no? Is there hope for France? Is Sarko that hope? I don't know. Sarko is far from perfect. Not long before the election he made some comment that amounted to capitulating to the Taliban (saying he would withdraw French troops shortly after the Taliban made a statement threatening France if it would not withdraw its troops). So nope, Sarko is definitely not perfect. But is he better than Sego? Uh, yeah. That woman was nuts. I don't know if you guys over here heard about "participative democracy" or not, but if not let me explain it to you: Basically she had no ideas, no real platform, nothing so she thought of this gimmick - you tell me what you want me to do and I'll tell you I'll do it. Let's talk about it. Yup. The sad thing is it almost fooled them into making her their next President. Not to mention the only ideas she DID have were about how to spend more money the government doesn't have. Am I glad the elections turned out the way they did? Sure, why not. It turned out the best it could under the circumstances I think. And I'm probably a lot happier about it than most French people are since they all were very aware of the fact that most Americans wanted Sarko to win.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
UPDATE: Hello Conservative Grapevine readers! Thanks for stopping by and of course thanks to John Hawkins for the link =) Please feel free to poke around...lately I've mainly been ranting about living abroad (yes, in FRANCE of all places!) and looking for a job but if you go far back enough you will find plenty of political-type rambling! I've been following news of the Virginia Tech massacre mainly through the internet because, well, I don't understand enough French to actually watch TV here. My condolences go out to everyone who has been affected, I can't imagine what they must be going through. I can barely even bring myself to read the biographies of those killed in Monday's rampage. I noticed an article on CNN.com which I thought was rather bizarre. It said that the S. Korean PM (President? I forget) was going to be issuing an apology. I can see issuing a statement of condolence but an apology? For what? What does this random Korean dude losing it and killing a lot of innocent people have to do with the S. Korean government? In that same article it also mentioned that S. Korea was worried that this incident would damage S. Korean-US relations. Why? I don't get it. I've been hearing some people say they're afraid there will be a backlash against Asian-Americans and really? The thought didn't even cross my mind. Yes, there was some backlash against Muslim-Americans after 9-11 but an orchestrated, terrorist movement joining Muslims from all over the globe is very different from one lone kooked out Korean guy who was not part of anything bigger than his own rage. Not to say the backlash against Muslim-Americans was warranted, because it wasn't, but at least the motivation behind it can be explained. So I was perusing John Hawkins this morning and came across this release from the Asian American Journalism Association and it just boggles my mind. Are we really this skeptical about the American people and their ability to understand that this is not some "Asian thing" but a crazy person who happened to be Asian??? I certainly don't worry about it and I don't really get the people who do. As one of JH's commenters wrote: It is really sad that liberals have managed to convince so many minorities (and S. Korea apparently) that America is still a racist, reactionary society just waiting to lash out against anyone who isn't lily white. Labels: Blogs I read, Politics
Sunday, February 25, 2007
I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but our French cable gives us access to the news broadcast run by terrorists, aka Al-Jazeera. Since its broad-casted in English here I decided to give it a whirl this afternoon as opposed to my usual diet of CNN/BBC/SkyNews (which can be really dry but, of course, we don't get FoxNews here). I happened to flip in during a commercial break (commercial breaks are rare in France) and this is what I heard/saw: Yes, that's right, Saddam Hussein may have slaughtered God-only-knows-how-many of his own people, but we just didn't give him a chance! He was still a decent dictator with a "vision for Iraq" after all. Who cares if it was a vision of a lot of dead Kurds and baby-torture-prisons? Not Al-Jizzy. And if Jimmy Carter doesn't realize that being quoted by Al-Jizzy in a positive light is reason enough to rethink his stance on Israel, well then heaven help him. Labels: Politics, Stereotypes are true, war on terror
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Do liberals/Democrats support the troops? John Hawkins' latest Townhall column pretty much puts that question to rest. Not to give away the ending or anything, but the answer to the question is a big fat N-O. Labels: Politics
Friday, January 26, 2007
I have to admit that sometimes Ann Coulter can be pretty funny, even if she can also be pretty offensive. But her latest article is just priceless: Go read the whole thing. Labels: 2008 Elections, Feminist Drivel, Politics
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Although I have to admit a little part of me is More details here , a lot of it is kind of "heard it through the grapevine" stuff so I don't know how accurate it is, but you can't argue with the photographic evidence that none of the troops wanted to sit with Kerry. I did a quick Google blog search and there seem to be no lefties talking about this one. Perhaps it illustrates a bit too clearly what the troops think of them. Labels: Politics, war on terror
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