So Much for the Tea Party

Thank God the tea party is over. It seemed like something out of Alice in Wonderland to begin with. Didn't you find the whole thing a little surreal? Kids carrying faintly racist placards, geezers in colonial costume, blue rinse ladies in wide brimmed hats festooned with teabags-- I mean it was a pretty bizarre happening from the looks of things on TV.

In spite of being billed as a grass roots, nationwide event, the whole thing had the smell of an orchestrated publicity ploy that didn't quite come off. From the use of the word "teabagging"( yes, Virginia, we all know what it means) to forgetting to get a permit to dump teabags in Washington's Lafayette Park, this was the gang that couldn't shoot straight. I don't know about you, but I was laughing my head off during most of it. It was like a cross between a church supper and a Saturday Night Live skit.

The Texas tea party featured lots of talk about Texas secceeding from the Union.... love it. Go ahead, Texas. Mexico is waiting to annex you. Adios, amigos. New York barely noticed and Boston simply tolerated the whole thing.

I am sooo glad it's all over. Now Fox News can get back to bashing Obama and MSNBC can get back to bashing Fox News and everybody can stop snickering about "teabagging"

Let's put the kettle on and have a nice, soothing cup of tea. Wonder what fun public relations stunt the Rush Limbaugh crowd will think of next?

Somali Pirates Vow Revenge

Uh-oh, the Somali pirates are vowing revenge. In the wake of yesterday's dramatic rescue of American, CaptainRichard Phillips ,of the Maersk-Alabama, and the storming a few days earlier of a private yacht by French commandos, the pirates have fired a warning shot across the bow of the world.

From here on in they will kill any French or American sailors they find on ships they hijack in retaliation for the deaths of their comrades at the hands of French and American snipers.

Maybe the pirates are just pissed that they didn't get the $2,000,000 ransom they demanded for Captain Phillips, or maybe piracy is the only growth industry the failed state of Somalia has, or maybe it is Osama bin Laden and his merry band masterminding yet another hit on the West. Whatever the reason, pirate revenge is not a pretty picture. It takes the whole situation up a notch and does not bode well either for Somalia or for life in the shipping lanes off the horn of Africa.

The world's navies have been chasing pirates off the Horn of Africa for years now, but have avoided confrontation by simply dumping captured pirates back in Somalia or in neighboring Kenya. Private companies have often paid the ransoms demanded as part of the cost of doing business. According to the Associated Press, at least a dozen ships and 200 crew members are currently being held for ransom by Somali pirates. Until now, the nations of the world have tried to simply look the other way. After the dramatic events of the past few days, that isn't going to be possible anymore.

Once the first French or American sailor is killed, we are going to be off and running and war of some kind will be inevitable. I wish I could see a way out of this, but I can't. Somalia has not had a working government or a legal system since 1991. It is a rogue, failed state. The pirates, like the Taliban in Afghanistan after the Soviets left, are the only game in town. Fasten your seat belts folks, this is going to be a bumpy ride.


Source:http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=agm8PcvwX8gM&refer=us
Photo from patdollard.com

America and Guns - Are We Crazy ?

In the wake of two highly publicized mass shootings last week and the week before, polls show that most Americans are still against gun control. I'm an American too and I just don't get it. Are we crazy? What kind of freedom are we protecting by allowing practically anybody strong enough to pull a trigger to carry a gun?

A week ago Friday, Jiverly Wong,a Vietnamese immigrant, walked into The American Civic Association in Binghamton, NY and fired off 98 shots killing 13 innocent people. Wong had been taking English classes at the Association and was upset at having recently lost a job. He was the licensed owner of two semi-automatic handguns--a .45 and a 9 mm. How come? What did this guy need two high powered semi automatics for? Well, we found out the hard way, didn't we?

Last week in Pittsburgh, Richard Poplawski, killed three police officers with his AK47. The guy was paranoid, had been discharged from the army because of anger management issues, frequented racist and anti semitic websites and was clearly unstable. How come a guy like this was able to amass a cache of guns and ammunition-- all purchased legally and fully licensed? He was a disaster waiting to happen.

Get a grip my fellow Americans. We have the highest gun murder and suicide rates in the developed world. It's easier for an American teenager to buy a gun than a pack of cigarettes. If we don't rethink gun control and do something to keep guns out of the hands of whackos like Poplawski and Wong, we really are crazy.

Sexy Green Obama Girl

Obama girl's back and she's going viral....over 102,000 views on YouTube when I went there a few minutes ago. She's as sexy as ever and this time she's hawking clean, green energy to Gen Y.

She's promoting a contest to find America's Greenest Campus co-sponsored by Smart Power and, would you believe the United States Department of Energy? The contest is legit and the college that lowers its carbon footprint the most, can win up to $20,000 in prizes. How cool--how energizing-- how Obama-ish is that?

The kids are gonna love it Even an old Sixties tree hugger like me is intrigued. I was beginning to feel like green was the most over used word in the English language. Obama girl makes "going green" cutting edge all over again. Watch the video. You'll see what I mean. Sex sells:-)

Can it only be a couple of months since George Bush left office? What a difference.

Anglo American G-20 Love Fest

The joint press conference between Gordon Brown and Barack Obama this morning was surely an Anglo American G-20 love fest. I woke up early and turned on the TV to watch it live with my morning coffee for company. I must say it was a real treat. The decor was all simple but elegant podia and entwined Stars and Stripes and Union Jacks. The mood was definitely one of bohhomie; the feeling one of optimism.

It wasn't " President Obama" and "Prime Minister Brown". It was "Barack" and "Gordon" with lots of smiles and personal references from both men. There were no awkward pauses and no mangled grammar or Texas twang. The back and fourth went smoothly. Questions were incisive and were answered or parried with aplomb. What a refreshing change from the last Administration.

Prime Minister Brown was positively purring. President Obama, in spite of a head cold, told the Brits exactly what they like to hear from us-- i.e. how much we owe to Great Britain and how special our relationship is and how we will all get out of this if we just work together as a team. I have to say that personally, I found it a wonderful change from the swashbuckling Texan idiocy of our last President. I breathed a sigh of relief as my coffee began to unfreeze my sleepy brain and thought about how important setting the right emotional tone is to any negotiation. I think we might really get somewhere with this guy.

I know there are thousands of protesters choking the streets of London as I write and gearing up to do their thing. I know that there is dissention in the EU. I know that China is the great unkown. But I don't think it matters. If the mood of this opening press conference can be maintained, the leaders just may be able to get something done. I hope so anyway.

Rule Britannia and God Bless America. The relationship really is special after all.

Wall Street,Main Street and Populist Rage

People still haven't stopped talking about the hundred and sixty-five million dollars that AIG doled out in bonuses to top execs and who can blame them. Public outrage is growing as the gulf between Wall Street and Main Street deepens. The new buzz word is "populist rage" and that doesn't begin to describe it.

Ever since the bubble burst last year, Americans have been losing their jobs and their homes at a record rate. 37 million people are now on food stamps. 47 million are without adequate health insurance. Last month the nation lost 651,000 jobs. Unemployment is at 8.1% overall and in double digits for blacks and hispanics. Life is not good here on Main Street and it doesn't look like it's going to get better any time soon. But thanks to the bail out, business seems to be booming on Wall Street.

Main Street vs. Wall Street

Those of us who live and work down here on Main Street, got treated to a series of stunning events as fall gave way to winter and winter turned to spring. Most of us watched it unfold on our TV screens. First, the government bailed out the banking system, the automobile companies, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. and AIG by keeping the U.S. Treasury printing presses working overtime making dollars--trillions of them. "Too big to fail" became the watchword of the day. Pessimists smelled a giant governmental Ponzi scheme in the making. Optimists hoped for the best. " The recession will be over in a year or two" they said. Nobody mentioned the inflation and currency devaluation that must inevitably follow.

Down here on Main Street, amid the For Sale and Foreclosure signs, we've watched the CEO's of Fannie and Freddie walk away with huge golden parachutes. We've seen Merrill-Lynch's head honcho use government bail out money( i.e. our tax dollars) to hand big bonuses to a few of his pals on the way out the door, and finally we've gasped at the gall of AIG, the company that went belly up insuring the whole mess, as it collected trillions in bail out funds only to turn around and give millions in bye bye bonuses to a few chosen ones. Good luck to Congress and the Obama Administration trying to get those bonuses back. It's not gonna happen.

So, let me see, these guys screwed the American public, got fat comissions and bonuses for doing so all along the line, destroyed public confidence in the financial system and turned the nation into one big hedge fund. Great-- and now they are going to just walk away while the rest of us are left to pick up the pieces.

Populist rage? You betcha

Madoff Does the Ponzi Scheme Perp Walk

I'm so glad Bernie Madoff is in jail tonight. He's been living large on the Upper East Side, ever since his arrest last December and that has really galled me. I mean a man who can run a Ponzi Scheme that bilks people all over the world out of an estimated fifty billion dollars doesn't deserve to be sitting around in his posh digs with nothing but an ankle bracelet to restrain him.

Tonight, at least, he'll put his head down on a lumpy pillow in a tiny cell in Manhattan's Metropolitan Correctional Center. Quite a change for him, but well deserved. I have to say it does my heart good. Maybe what goes around really does come around after all.

I'm just one of the little people and I didn't have any money invested in Madoff's Ponzi scheme but thousands of honest individuals, institutional investors and charitable foundations did. The stories are shocking. You've read them in magazines and seen the victims interviewed on TV-- the wealthy retired couple who used to live in Palm Beach and are now eeking it out day to day in a mobile home, the eighty year old who has gone back to work, the children's charity that is closing its doors-- the list is long. But even as the victims were crying the blues, Bernie was kicking back in his luxury penthouse and his wife was mailing packages filled with Harry Winston jewelry to her cousins and withdrawing fifteen million bucks from the bank. That should keep the wolf from the door for awhile.

I can't wait for the trial to begin. I think lots of dirt is going to come up from under the carpet. Bernie took the spear and entered a guilty plea, insisting that he acted alone. But investigators don't think so. He had an office full of employees and his two sons worked in the family business. Impressive looking completely fraudulent statements were sent out regularly. Surely, Bernie was not entirely surrounded by innocent bystanders.

At least one SEC whistle blower smelled a rat. There had to be others who did too. And why was nothing done? The SEC, the FBI and the New York State Attorney General's Office are on the case now and I bet they are going to dig up plenty. I hope so anyway. I want to believe that there really is justice in the world.

At least Bernie Madoff is sleeping in a jail cell tonight. That's a good beginning.