Read the whole thing.
- Happiness has very little to do with income or social position.
- Happiness has everything to do with relationships.
- Just because someone is behaving a particular way at one point in their life doesn't mean they'll continue to act that way throughout the remaining years--either for good or bad.
- Perhaps the greatest inhibitor of happiness is ease and lethargy.
- Don't count someone out, we all mature and progress at different speeds.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Some (Borrowed) Thoughts on Happiness
Our Nun of the Above posted about happiness on her blog. Here's a tiny excerpt that rang true for me.
Monday, May 25, 2009
I Guess I Need to Write Something More Prudicious
... because William A. Jacobson over at Legal Insurrection named me "Blog of the Day." I'm not sure why, but thanks a million, Mr. Jacobson!
Welcome to The Scratching Post to my new visitors! This is an eclectic blog with some focus on politics, economics, theology and sociology with photos of cats and flowers thrown in. The term "prudiciousness" comes from our Monks of Miscellaneous Musings who coined the phrase as a mix of prudishness and judiciousness.
Whatever. On with the show.
So over at our Prelate to the Primates is this post, wherein a portion of the transcript of Obama's talk with CNN is excerpted. I've seen the YouTube embed on a variety of blogs, but I'd avoided watching it. The transcript portion I read was more than enough. It's vintage Obama.
Obama has two primary goals, saving the planet and wealth redistribution. There's nothing else that's close. Creating wealth and jobs is not part of the plan. The sooner you learn to accept that, the better off you'll be. Words are an ends to the means and have no intrinsic meaning. Obama's critics make the mistake of debating his words. His words are simply a feint, a ruse designed to get you to argue and fight with a minor distraction while he does whatever he wants.
The country is bankrupt because we as a culture have bankrupted ourselves. We want what we haven't earned and we've discovered that other nations will loan us the money to get it. We've also learned that marriage is optional for procreation, so long as we build lots of prisons.
Obama is a Peronist. That is, he is a fascist whose goal is wealth redistribution. Instead of dissecting his words and trying to apply this week's news to his speeches, I'd suggest stepping back and looking at a broader hypothesis.
Obama is the symptom of a cultural problem - a president who promises to give us more free goodies than anyone in history in exchange for our freedoms. He's the presidential equivalent of those emails you get from the Economic Minister of Ghana who's brother just died leaving him $35,500,000. Just like those emails, we need to discard his promises of free wealth and get back to working and saving. People like Obama should have their messages immediately routed into the trash bin.
Welcome to The Scratching Post to my new visitors! This is an eclectic blog with some focus on politics, economics, theology and sociology with photos of cats and flowers thrown in. The term "prudiciousness" comes from our Monks of Miscellaneous Musings who coined the phrase as a mix of prudishness and judiciousness.
Whatever. On with the show.
So over at our Prelate to the Primates is this post, wherein a portion of the transcript of Obama's talk with CNN is excerpted. I've seen the YouTube embed on a variety of blogs, but I'd avoided watching it. The transcript portion I read was more than enough. It's vintage Obama.
SCULLY: You know the numbers, $1.7 trillion debt, a national deficit of $11 trillion. At what point do we run out of money?First, you start with the truth. "We're out of money." You then move on to a conclusion you want. "We need health care for all." The connection in between is strictly grammatical - that is, it's there so that you recognize the prose as English. Other than that, there's no connection at all.
OBAMA: Well, we are out of money now. We are operating in deep deficits, not caused by any decisions we’ve made on health care so far. This is a consequence of the crisis that we’ve seen and in fact our failure to make some good decisions on health care over the last several decades.
Obama has two primary goals, saving the planet and wealth redistribution. There's nothing else that's close. Creating wealth and jobs is not part of the plan. The sooner you learn to accept that, the better off you'll be. Words are an ends to the means and have no intrinsic meaning. Obama's critics make the mistake of debating his words. His words are simply a feint, a ruse designed to get you to argue and fight with a minor distraction while he does whatever he wants.
The country is bankrupt because we as a culture have bankrupted ourselves. We want what we haven't earned and we've discovered that other nations will loan us the money to get it. We've also learned that marriage is optional for procreation, so long as we build lots of prisons.
Obama is a Peronist. That is, he is a fascist whose goal is wealth redistribution. Instead of dissecting his words and trying to apply this week's news to his speeches, I'd suggest stepping back and looking at a broader hypothesis.
Obama is the symptom of a cultural problem - a president who promises to give us more free goodies than anyone in history in exchange for our freedoms. He's the presidential equivalent of those emails you get from the Economic Minister of Ghana who's brother just died leaving him $35,500,000. Just like those emails, we need to discard his promises of free wealth and get back to working and saving. People like Obama should have their messages immediately routed into the trash bin.
Some (Fake?) Abraham Lincoln for You on Memorial Day
Our Pater of Prowling shared this with us. I thought it was apt for the world we live in today.
Update: Ha! This is (at least partially) a fraud!
Update: Ha! This is (at least partially) a fraud!
The quotes were published in 1942 by William J. H. Boetcker, a Presbyterian minister. He released a pamphlet titled Lincoln On Limitations, which did include a Lincoln quote, but also added 10 statements written by Boetcker himself.Whatever the source, they're pretty apt quotes for today.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Peronism in Context
Paul Kedrosky links to an outstanding piece in the Financial Times comparing the economic development of America and Argentina over the last 100 years. Inspired by a commenter here, I've spent some time in the last several weeks exploring Juan Peron as a model for Barack Obama and this article is easily the most comprehensive, if implicit, comparison I've found. The thing is long - it took me 10-15 minutes to read it. There's not much econobabble in it, so I think it's accessible to all.
I found it worth the read, maybe you will, too.
Short excerpt:
I found it worth the read, maybe you will, too.
Short excerpt:
Peronism endured, and indeed endures: Argentina’s current president calls herself a Peronist, and so did her predecessor, who happens to be her husband. One reason is that, in a limited way and under its own distorted terms, it succeeded. The state had become strong. The government owned and ran not just natural monopolies such as water and electricity but anything that looked big and strategic – steel, chemicals, car factories. The economy did industrialise. But it was still falling behind. In 1950 Argentine income per head was twice that of Spain, its former coloniser. By 1975 the average Spaniard was richer than the average Argentine. Argentines were almost three times richer than Japanese in the 1950s; by the early 1980s the ratio had been reversed. Argentina’s was a fragile and superficial progress that masked relative decline.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
My Flirtation With Linux Is Over
... and so is my time spent with Open Office.
I've got an older desktop PC that I decided to convert to Linux. Linux was free and I was hoping I could use the machine as a host for multimedia files. While I was able to do this, the effort required to manage the thing was just too much. It's not that it was hard, it's that it was all a foreign language to me.
Many of the tools and applications I installed on the Linux machine were quick and easy to do. Just like a Windows machine, I could click on a few things and they would magically self-install. Yay! A few things required me to get into the command line prompt and compile packages of code. Ack! Do not want!
I used to know Unix moderately well as a programmer way back when. I haven't used it in years and I don't use it anywhere else right now. Every time I wanted to do something on the Linux box I found myself dreading it, wondering if I needed to get into the Unix command line and struggle to remember just what I was supposed to do.
So we're kicking Linux out the door and trying Windows 7 on the geriatric beast machine instead.
Meanwhile, being a total tightwad, I had eschewed MS Office in favor of Open Office because it was free. I'm done with that. While it's serviceable, it's not nearly as good as MS Office, even MS Office 2003 which is what I use. In particular, the spreadsheet program is a total pain in the neck. It just doesn't work the way I expect it to work and I'm forever trying to get it to do simple things and failing. Yuck.
So it's back to Microsoft for now. Yay?
I've got an older desktop PC that I decided to convert to Linux. Linux was free and I was hoping I could use the machine as a host for multimedia files. While I was able to do this, the effort required to manage the thing was just too much. It's not that it was hard, it's that it was all a foreign language to me.
Many of the tools and applications I installed on the Linux machine were quick and easy to do. Just like a Windows machine, I could click on a few things and they would magically self-install. Yay! A few things required me to get into the command line prompt and compile packages of code. Ack! Do not want!
I used to know Unix moderately well as a programmer way back when. I haven't used it in years and I don't use it anywhere else right now. Every time I wanted to do something on the Linux box I found myself dreading it, wondering if I needed to get into the Unix command line and struggle to remember just what I was supposed to do.
So we're kicking Linux out the door and trying Windows 7 on the geriatric beast machine instead.
Meanwhile, being a total tightwad, I had eschewed MS Office in favor of Open Office because it was free. I'm done with that. While it's serviceable, it's not nearly as good as MS Office, even MS Office 2003 which is what I use. In particular, the spreadsheet program is a total pain in the neck. It just doesn't work the way I expect it to work and I'm forever trying to get it to do simple things and failing. Yuck.
So it's back to Microsoft for now. Yay?
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Why Obama Might Bail Out California
... because the numbers are so small.
Say California needs $20B. Well, what's the big deal? We're already going to borrow (and print) $1.8T this year. What's the difference between 1.8 and 1.82? Would anyone be able to tell them apart? You're only adding 1.1% to the deficit. You can save the state and all the wondrous progressive spending priorities with what amounts to a rounding error.
This is the problem with running gargantuan debts - adding a little more doesn't make any perceptible difference. Let's make this more personal. Say you owe $30,000 on your credit card. 1.1% of that is $333, the cost of an iPod Touch. If you're already $30K down and your MP3 player breaks, why not put the iPod on your credit card?
On the plus side, it's shiny!
Bailing out the unions in California and gaining mastery over the entire state just like he has siezed the banks and the car companies is substantially more attractive than an iPod touch. If I was a betting person, I'd wager that at least a portion of the California deficit will be backed by the Feds.
Say California needs $20B. Well, what's the big deal? We're already going to borrow (and print) $1.8T this year. What's the difference between 1.8 and 1.82? Would anyone be able to tell them apart? You're only adding 1.1% to the deficit. You can save the state and all the wondrous progressive spending priorities with what amounts to a rounding error.
This is the problem with running gargantuan debts - adding a little more doesn't make any perceptible difference. Let's make this more personal. Say you owe $30,000 on your credit card. 1.1% of that is $333, the cost of an iPod Touch. If you're already $30K down and your MP3 player breaks, why not put the iPod on your credit card?
Bailing out the unions in California and gaining mastery over the entire state just like he has siezed the banks and the car companies is substantially more attractive than an iPod touch. If I was a betting person, I'd wager that at least a portion of the California deficit will be backed by the Feds.
I Need Some Quality Time
... with my camera. Between getting ready for a wedding, buying a house, helping kids through the last weeks of school, the beginning of soccer and so forth, I've neglected my photoblogging.
For this, dear readers, I'm heartily sorry.
Momma Daisy has got several blooms as does her daughter. Our Maximum Leader has been posing, but I've not had my camera out. There are lots of other cool things around to share as well. I promise to try and do better.
And where is Jacob with his Captchadefs and Safety Tips? Sheesh! This blog is going to seed.
For this, dear readers, I'm heartily sorry.
Momma Daisy has got several blooms as does her daughter. Our Maximum Leader has been posing, but I've not had my camera out. There are lots of other cool things around to share as well. I promise to try and do better.
And where is Jacob with his Captchadefs and Safety Tips? Sheesh! This blog is going to seed.
Keep Those Printing Presses Going!
In my debt snark post of the day, we have this to offer:
Earlier, I predicted the Fed would print about $2T of fantasy money this year. When they plop out this $300B, we'll be at a total of $1.5T for the year to date.
If you want to see what the future holds, try these two tidbits.
The UK is just slightly ahead of us.
Treasuries rose yesterday after minutes of the Fed’s April policy meeting showed some officials are considering increasing debt purchases. Policy makers announced the buybacks on March 18, promising to buy as much as $300 billion of the securities by October to reduce consumer interest rates.For those of you to whom this is Greek, it means that the US Government will print $300,000,000,000 more to pay its bills. Those dollars are backed up by ... nothing. No taxes, no debt, no sales, nothing. It's money created out of thin air.
Earlier, I predicted the Fed would print about $2T of fantasy money this year. When they plop out this $300B, we'll be at a total of $1.5T for the year to date.
If you want to see what the future holds, try these two tidbits.
The UK is just slightly ahead of us.
May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Britain may lose its AAA credit rating for the first time as government finances deteriorate in the worst recession since World War II.Hungary is a little bit further out in front.
Standard & Poor’s lowered its outlook on Britain to “negative” from “stable” and said the nation faces a one in three chance of a ratings cut as debt approaches 100 percent of gross domestic product.
May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Hungary’s government is committed to overhauling its budget and expects austerity measures to boost investor confidence, paving the way to a potential international bond sale, Finance Minister Peter Oszko said ...OK, that's enough for today. I think.
The European Union member needed a 20 billion euro ($27.2 billion) emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund, the EU and the World Bank last October to avert a default after its bond market froze.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Now I Know How Our Maximum Leader Feels
... because I just gave blood. Here's how it works:
You lay down on a bed for a while and when you get up, someone gives you treats and praise. Yep, that sounds like one of her days to me!
And she deserves it, too!
You lay down on a bed for a while and when you get up, someone gives you treats and praise. Yep, that sounds like one of her days to me!
Now This Sounds Like Fun!
It’s a Cheezburger Night wif teh Seattle Mariners! Join Cheezburger and Tofuburger and all of ur Cheez Frendz at Safeco Field on Thursday, July 9 for a speshul Cheezburger event!
Der will b sum fun pre-game festivitiez and u can meet lotsa Cheez Frendsz cuz we awl will b sittin in our speshul Cheezburger section! Buy ur tickets heer and join in teh fun! Hope 2 c u awl der!
A Temporary Victory for California
Yesterday, California voters soundly defeated all of the ballot measures that would have increased taxes and/or cooked the books to temporarily lower the state's budget deficit. Yay! Victory!
This is a fleeting victory. The sense I get from reading the blogs and opinion pieces is that voters wanted to spank their representatives and make them do their jobs properly. Allow me to suggest that they already were.
The problem across the board, across all parties, across all states, the entire country and the entire Western world is that we don't want to earn what we get. At the same time we're voting down fiscal chicanery in California, we're debating universal health insurance across the nation. We're borrowing $6,000 per person this year for all the goodies we want to receive, but we don't want to pay for and we're talking about another monstrous entitlement.
Someone, somewhere has to earn what we receive. Until we collectively decide that the someone is us and we start talking in terms of earning things rather than giving things, we'll keep having elections like yesterday's where we had to decide which pocket to pick to keep getting our treats.
This is a fleeting victory. The sense I get from reading the blogs and opinion pieces is that voters wanted to spank their representatives and make them do their jobs properly. Allow me to suggest that they already were.
The problem across the board, across all parties, across all states, the entire country and the entire Western world is that we don't want to earn what we get. At the same time we're voting down fiscal chicanery in California, we're debating universal health insurance across the nation. We're borrowing $6,000 per person this year for all the goodies we want to receive, but we don't want to pay for and we're talking about another monstrous entitlement.
Someone, somewhere has to earn what we receive. Until we collectively decide that the someone is us and we start talking in terms of earning things rather than giving things, we'll keep having elections like yesterday's where we had to decide which pocket to pick to keep getting our treats.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Hope and Change!
I hope I can change my US Dollars into Brazilian Reals!
May 19 (Bloomberg) -- China and Brazil are researching how the two nations can conduct trade in yuan and real, the latest signal that developing nations are seeking to reduce their reliance on a weakening U.S. dollar.... or maybe into Chinese Yuan.
“The discussions have focused on how to improve the financial service system,” Celso Amorim, Brazil’s foreign minister, said today at a briefing in Beijing. “In terms of what currency to use, we are still discussing.”
China is seeking to promote the yuan as an international currency after signing 650 billion yuan ($95 billion) in swap agreements with Argentina, Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Belarus in recent months. The Chinese yuan has gained 21 percent against the U.S. currency since a dollar peg was abolished in 2005, eroding the value of exporters’ dollar- denominated profits.
“The process of moving away from the dollar will be faster than expected,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist at SJS Markets Ltd. in Hong Kong. “A few years from now we will see the dollar having a reduced importance in international trade.”My prescription for this: more US government spending!
Laurence Simon, Artist
One of my blogging inspirations and the originator of the Carnival of the Cats, Laurence Simon, is big into Second Life. While I don't partake in that pleasure, I love what he's done there. Here's a taste.
Here's more.
Here's more.
Monday, May 18, 2009
If This Works, Let's Give Everyone The Bomb
I came across this jaw-dropper on Bloomberg today.
Right.
Here it is in picture form.
Even Neville Chamberlain wasn't this stupid.
May 18 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama is counting on Iran to accomplish what six decades of diplomacy haven’t: forge a regional Mideast peace that includes a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.So what we're hoping is that if one set of homicidal maniacs gets the ability to incinerate entire cities with a single weapon, other sets of homicidal maniacs, some aligned with the first set of homicidal maniacs, will be encouraged to give up terror, mayhem and slaughter.
It isn’t Iranian diplomacy the U.S. president is banking on; it’s the widespread unease over Iran’s nuclear program and its support of militant Islamic movements, which U.S. officials say may motivate Israel and the Arabs to finally overcome their antipathy in the face of what both perceive to be a long-term threat.
Right.
Here it is in picture form.
Even Neville Chamberlain wasn't this stupid.
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