The Topic of Torture

I am appalled that torture is even a topic of conversation in 2009 in the United States. It seems to me that the proper context to examine that subject would be in historical accounts of the Spanish Inquisition, the Tower of London, and the Japanese atrocities during WWII, but here we are. We have been placed here by the arrogance of an administration who believed that accomplishing their goals, whatever they may have been, were more important than our reputation in the world. Our reputation has suffered, we are no longer an example for the world, or at least an example that we want to show the world. We have shown an ugly side of ourselves, and whether or not we discuss it openly or keep it hush-hush within the confines of internal investigations and memos, the information is out there. I only hope that this information is not used against any one of us that is unfortunate enough to be held in a jail or a brig on foreign soil. The excuse for using torture was the same excuse we have heard repeatedly for other violations of rights in the past 8 years, staying the course, and keeping the country safe. It had become an old mantra that thankfully, is now being seen for what it was, a diversion from an ineffectual leadership who had nothing meaningful to say.

The Confederate Flag

On this day as fucktards all across the south from Walmart to shining Walmart remember with pride there ancestors getting the living tar whipped out of them by fucking yankees, lets think about the Confederate Flag.
It went through many incantations in its brief time it flew over the south as the banner of the rebels.
The one that became the most popular with descendants of the men who couldn't defend their home from yankees is the Naval Battle flag shown above.
I think however, if we are to do it correctly, we need to fly the last one the Confederates flew. The white one.

Confederate Memorial Day

Why in the hell would these fucktards want to be reminded that their grandaddies got their asses handed to them by goddam yankees?
Ain't that shit embarrassing enough to live with in secret shame?
Yankees came down here. And whupped our ass. I don't like thinking of it.
Get over it Cleatus. The South ain't gonna rise again. We still ain't got over the last ass whuppin.
Look, I know as well as anyone that Sherman was a fucker and a war criminal and would probably be a member of Bushes cabinet if he was still around, but the embarrassing truth is, our grandaddies mouth wrote a check that their asses could not cash.
Why is that something to so fucking proud of?

My Secret Crush on Bea Arthur

Ok, I didn't really have a crush on her. However she was one funny lady.
I remember watching her on Maude when I was a mere lad and thinking, "she puts the itch in bitch".
I also remember thinking that she was old as hell to. Damn. How long ago was that? 4 decades?
I never seen Golden Girls enough to become a fan of that show. She will always be Maude to me.
Anyway, rest in peace Bea.

Breaking Down the Subprime Mess

The start of this problem began many years ago with what I am sure are many, many Ponzi schemes, such as one that occurred in Alabama and involved a man named Jordan Olshan. The links provided give you the basics of the scheme. The mortgage company (and I say that loosely) did in house appraisals, using their own puppet appraisal division. Of course, all the appraisals were inflated like George Bush’s ego after his second election. This served two purposes. One, it allowed the company to hide its true value behind inflated books, and it allowed sales of homes at an over-inflated price to the poor folks that didn’t know any better or had no other option but to use this company for their financing. A number of the homes were owned by the company and were sold, foreclosed, repossessed, sold, foreclosed, and repossessed over the years that this scheme unfolded. In effect, the company became a “You Tote the Note” lot for houses. Their customers were generally undereducated, the elderly, and minorities. Easy prey and the principals were able to take sizable profits for many years. The investors were satisfied for a period of time also because they were getting return on their money, 16 ½ percent sure beats the amounts paid by CDs.

The relief, such as it was, that was awarded through the Court system went to the investors, not to the unfortunate Joes who were slaves at 18.5 percent interest to these snakes. I have a hard time mustering a lot of sympathy for the investors. You can’t tell me that they didn’t know what kind of an operation they were invested in. When you lie with snakes, sooner or later you better count on getting bitten.

Back when, there were a number of court cases prosecuted on behalf of the borrowers, but the Court system in its wisdom decided that if you could read (whether or not you understood, or whether or not the terms were usurious, or whether or not there was bad faith and misrepresentation), if you could read your name, then you were deemed to have understood the contract. Did I mention that these decisions were handed down by right wing, conservative Republican Judges? Anyone who thinks that the local Court systems are fair and impartial, and make decisions based on equity needs to wake up and smell the coffee. But that is another story.

The local Courts continued to allow this type of company to operate and I’m sure they were and are in every City and every State in these 50. When you multiply all these little operations, (Notice the word “little”, the monies involved in this one scam was in excess of $53 million.) you start to get the picture of just how widespread this was. Remember who likes to protect the interests of investors. You know ‘em, you love ‘em, they are going to keep your taxes low (if you earn at least $250,000.00 a year, that is), they are going to represent your family values and keep you safe, you put them in office.

Of course, this is an over simplified start to a much longer explanation, you have to take these sub-prime mortgages, put together by slum lords, package them up, call them mortgage backed securities or other equally attractive sounding names, sell them though reputable companies to everyone in the free world that wants to make a profit, whether or not they know what they are investing in, and then wait for the inevitable “other” shoe to drop. Did you hear the thud?

Superman, Where Are You?!?

The Last Son of Krypton has been trapped in an alternate universe version of the Phantom Zone known locally as Redstone Arsenal and will not be released until at least 6pm local time.
Victims of super villains will have to rely on a weaker Earth born hero until then.

Hypothetical Question For Pro-Lifers

Probably the most polarizing topic in America is abortion. Pro-Lifers normally have a non yielding veiw that abortion is wrong and that a fertilized egg is a human being and anything short of giving it the chance to develop is murder.
Using this reasoning most Pro-Lifers are opposed to stem cell research because extracting the stem cells destroys the embryo and in their minds constitutes murder.
Here is my hypothetical: A raging fire breaks out at a medical research facility. You heroically
rush into the burning building to see if anyone is still trapped inside.
Inside the building you come up on a long hallway with a fire exit on each end.
At one end by the exit is an infant baby crying. At the other end is a cyrogenics container about the size of a large thermos bottle. You immediately recognize it as a container that contains 20,000 frozen blastosists.
The fire is getting worse. You have time to save only either the baby or the 20,000 blastosists. Which one is it? Do you save the baby and doom the thousands of people to death, of do you save the thousands and doom the baby?
If you honestly believed that thermos actually contained all those people you would save it. But you know you wouldn't. You would save the baby because you know it is a person. You would let the frozen embryos perish and probably not think twice about it. Am I right? Be honest.