Bailout Blues

I really don't like all the bailouts. I found that the 3 page proposal for 700 billion in OUR money just a bit disingenuous, however I accepted it as the stop-gap measure to shore up our economy. After all we don't want all those millionaires and wall street types to have to go home to their mansions and multi-million dollar apartments and have to lower their heating bills in this cold economic climate. They might have to suffer a bit for their money.

What really p**ses me off is that the Senate of the United States, especially those good old Republicans who are on their way out, have found a way to blame labor for the ineptitude of management. I just hope that they remember that if it wasn't for unions, they wouldn't be having weekends, 8 hour work days, overtime and benefits. Child labor would be rampant. But then what do they care about the people who work for a living? They don't, never have, never will.

The auto bailout isn't a solution, it's a stop-gap measure to ensure that hundreds of thousands of WORKERS can keep their jobs as their idiot bosses try to retool and enter the 21st Century. I hate the idea of handing those fools anything else, but for the sake of an already strained workforce, someone had better do something. And keeping the doors open during the changeover seems like the only solution.

The venality and basic vindictiveness of the outgoing Republicans (and even those who are staying) is legion. Their attitude is that as long as their millionaire buddies can have their retreats, spas and spending sprees, who cares if the working and middle classes exist anymore? It will mean more for them as they take their lobbying jobs and consulting favors. They aren't leaving the trough of Washington, they are going to be swilling there for years, muddying the attempts to cleaning it up.

And who is going to suffer from this?

We are.

Dickens says it best!

“There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,” returned the nephew. “Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round – apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that – as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!” (A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens)

Not much more to add than that!

That Holiday Spirit

I can't help it, I am a sucker for Christmas. Everything about it. Even though we are in an economic disaster, I still feel that Christmas is important. It's a time when everyone is a little kinder, a little friendlier and even a little more peaceful.

Right now I am listening to Folk Alley's annual holiday music stream. You can hear all sorts of unusual Christmas songs and other seasonal sounds. It makes a nice change from Bing singing White Christmas.

Thanksgiving weekend was fun - and a little sad. Thursday, my cousin Paul and I had our own T-day dinner and watched football and films and had a generally nice and relaxing time. On Friday we went down to Crestline to his see his family. Dona, his sister was preparing a feast since his mom was away. Sadly, when we got there, her son Joey told us that their wonderful 10 year old Rottweiler, Rico had died. He was the nicest dog, a gentle giant who used to press up against me and pin me to a wall so that I would scritch his chin and pet him. He always seemed happy. We stayed and helped bury him near the pond where he loved to hang around. Hopefully, he has joined all the others who've gone before and is having a great time - he was a great soul.

On Saturday, we went to the Weisberg's annual Chinese dinner and had a wonderful evening, eating, drinking some champagne and playing Scattergories. We had a great time and it was super to see everyone from Atlanta, New York and North Carolina gathered here in Cleveland. I've known them all my life and this annual evening gives me a warm glow that lasts throughout the holidays!

See you soon!