The Unexpected Success

Out of Options

Agreed, $700 billion is a lot of money.  And it’s being put on a Chinese credit card.  It could cause scary inflation.  We might overpay for POS securites. 

Unfortunately we are really out of options.  This isn’t about “bailing out” the investment banks; our entire economy is dependent on their day-to-day activities.  All of our retirement plans are invested in public companies that would seize to operate if they didn’t have access to the money markets; bank-lending has virtually stopped because there is absolutely no floor on the market for mortage-backed securities, although it would be incredibly unlikely that market prices are actually reflecting their true value. 

No investor here or anywhere has a shred of confidence in our liquid markets at the moment.  We are literally staring down the barrell of a financial shotgun.  The savings of nearly every single American will be shattered if we cannot provide some assurance on the value of these securities. 

It’s a high price to pay, but we must remember that for the past decade Americans have consumed far far beyond their capacity.  We are collectively paying for the unbelievable excesses that we somehow feel entitled to.  A overbuilt house 50 miles away from work with no infrastructure and a body-on-frame American SUV stuck in traffic for 2 hours a day is the epitome of an unsustainable lifestyle, fueled by irresponsible credit policy.  If these are the constituents who are screaming for a lynching on Wall Street, maybe we should take a collective look at our driveways, unused bedrooms, Vegas vacations, plasma TVs, even the “value size” paper towel rolls we seem to go through every day.  Wall Street was financing the lifestyle that society simply cannot afford. 

We have no choice but to buy the outstanding mortgage securities.  The upside is that the assets will provide an interest-bearing revenue stream; we need to think of this as an investment rather than a bail-out.  Unfortunately it’s the govenment investing because there’s no one else who will do it. 

The party’s over, kids.  Welcome to financial responsbility.

Well Bob it's like carrying a gee-golly trash bag full of tapioca round your waste don't cha know!

I’m Sarah PAAAAYYYYLin, and it makes me happy when my son goes to Iraq and kills Arabs but not as happy as when he beats up the homos at school!  I LUV JESUS AND TEEN PREGNANCY LOL!

HRC Grand Slam

I was almost brought to tears by HRC’s fabulous, heartfelt, and GENUINE stump speech at the DNC last night.  In such an emtional defeat she has been incredibly gracious to a media that has been actively attempting to destroy her political career for nearly a year now. 

But the criticisms laid down by the Obama backers have begun.  Within an hour John Dickerson, for whom I have lost almost all respect after being completely horrible to Hillary Clinton, posted an article on Slate complaining that HRC hadn’t exactly explained why Obama is ready to be Commander in Chief, that she should have spoken more on his fabulous credentials.  Of course the Obama camp was further searching for an “I was wrong” admission, that HRC should somehow apologize for anything that was said when 18 million people voted for her candidacy. 

The most terrifying statistic out there right now is that between a quarter and third of HRC supporters will VOTE FOR McCAIN in November.  I’m sure these are the skeptical Democrats in Ohio and Florida, two VITAL states that Obama has yet to secure.  Hillary couldn’t have made the message any louder: you can’t support HRC and vote for McCain. 

Obama needs to prove HIMSELF to the country what he has to offer, and this is a major, major hurdle that he hasn’t overcome.  Hillary was RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT and has nothing to apologize for, and anything she might have said to glamorize Obama would have been insincere.  Hillary’s DNC speech should be remembered as her most poignant, most emotional, and most honest, because what she really cares about is locking in the Democratic majority. 

HRC has asked everything of her supporters, to put their reservations aside and vote Obama.  Now he needs to back it up with deliverables. 

I was gonna vote for him anyway but I’ll vote for him TWICE now.

zomg WORK OUTZ!

I have seen the light, and the light is TREADMILL INTERVALS!  Of course I’ve been peaking at about a 7:10 mile or so, and before I know it I’ll need to hold this for a half-marathon.  So in a desperate attempt to break through this plateau I consulted the internetz and found out about the aptly named HIIT (high intensity interval training).  This does not mean running at 8.2 mph and doing 1-minute intervals of 9.3 mph.  That’s like, different. 

No, this is a warm up and then like 20 minutes of insanity.  I started with about a 7.5 minute mile warm up (between 8-8.5mph) followed by the following:

1m sprint at 10.5mph, 3% inclin

1m recovery at 6mph

1m sprint at 10.6mph, 2.5% incline

1m recovery at 5.9mph

1m sprint at 10.7mph, 2% incline

1m recovery at 5.5mph

1m sprint at 10.7mph, .5% incline

1m30s recovery at 4.5mph

1m sprint at 10.6mph, 3.5% inline

2m recovery at 4mph

1m sprint at 10.6, 2% incline

1m30s recovery at 3.5mph

1m sprint at 10.5mph, 3% incline

45s sprint at 10.8mph, 3% incline

If you can pull off something similar this training will put your metabolism into warp drive.  You cannot eat enough to make up for the calories your body uses to repair and build after this kind of work-out.  It’s the most astonishing feeling. 

Obvious goal here is to break through a 7-minute mile, which should put me at just over an hour and a half in the 13.1 miler. 

Will update accordingly but yes, try this, it will make you cry but like, good cry. 

Don't use the term "LGBT" anymore

This is probably more food-for-thought for the gays who overuse this term even more than the straights who toss it around because they’re PC.  We really need to retire the whole “lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgendered” label because it’s kind of completely ridiculous.  I certainly won’t be the first to say that gay men and lesbians are really more different than they are alike; although we share common goals like equal marriage rights, in general our political goals and social issues/attitudes are kind of all over the place.  Even more so, the whole transgendered thing… I’m sorry, I don’t know any transgendered people, I don’t share anything in common with transgendered people, I’m not even convinced that there really are any transgendered people. 

We’ve retired terms like “oriental” because it’s offensive.  It’s a way for people who are ignorant about anything outside of Western civilization to shove everyone is a nice, convenient umbrella group that they don’t really understand.  It’s rude. 

So really you can talk about “the gays” or the whatevers but seriously, “LGBT” is slightly better than “people who once were considered sex freaks but now we need a better way of identifying them even though we think they’re still freaks.”