California has to be the most ridiculous of our states. is it because so many people have lots of money and too much free time? The 99% there are truly suffering. Town after town is going bankrupt essentially shutting down essential services. There are several sub-layers of government that mimic Federal departments and go a long way to making sure their sinecure jobs pay good benefits forever. As near as I can figure, none of these department people are elected. It seems they are appointed by ... guess who .. the elected ones. But if the elected one goes out of favor, the unemployable brother-in-law still has his job at the California EPA.
This gets me to my point. Effective July 1, the sale of Foie Gras is prohibited in California.
The commerce in any foodstuff should be legal. Yes some countries mistreat their farm animals to supply this delicacy, but they are just that ... farm animals. And Foie Gras does not require dramatic force feeding (the French call this gavage). In fact, some wild ducks have been shot that were lucky enough to get into rice fields or some other food rich area .. they develop the extra fat layers that make a a duck's liver make the magical change from normal to distended.
Back to California, what are they going to ban next? Big Macs?
Friday, June 29, 2012
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Hello There
Long time, nothing to say. But I am inspired by our President. Mr Obama, believe it or not.
Let us look at one of the more vexing "political" issues that we have on our plate: Same Sex Marriage.
I cannot believe how powerful an issue this has become. A small percentage of our population is into having sex with members of their own sex. This is not new. Greek armies thousands of years ago paired up gay men to go to battle in the belief that they would have a better affinity for their battle partner. And it remains a small percentage of our population. It is not a "learned" thing. And it is not exclusively a human thing. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_displaying_homosexual_behavior.
So how did it become such a big issue?
I can think of several factors such as: I personally get the creepy crawlies thinking about kissing another man, so I am not surprised that many others get the same feelings. There are the bible thumpers who read the Bible as if it were the last word even though it is really a story told by a father to a son for several generations before it was written down in a dead language, then translated and re-translated to fit political agendas through the ages since ... well forever. So don't tell me that your American English translation is the last word. I won't believe it. And there are those Gay people who were brought up in families that were so repressive, that they are actually married to a member of the opposite sex because it is "expected" of them. Can you say green with jealousy? And there are outrageous fundamentalists who claim "Homosexuality is a moral disorder. It is a moral disease, a sin and corruption... No person is born homosexual, just like no one is born a thief, a liar or murderer. People acquire these evil habits due to a lack of proper guidance and education."* Which of course is just so much crap. In US law there are many forms of murder from the planned premeditated gruesome of taking someone's life to the automobile accident when you are found at fault for someone's death. Tell me, which of these behaviors are "learned" or even "habits"? When I worked retail the most stolen items were candy bars (kids trying to learn a bad habit and often failing) and baby formula (desperate new parents?) with cosmetics a close third (kids again). All of the kids we caught were terrified that we would call their parents. So who was "not guiding" them? As to liars, we are now back to politicians and their promises.
Now let us look at another issue. What is the job of a legislator in a free society? Isn't it to protect those minorities who cannot get a majority vote? I don't care what the popular view is or what the majority thinks. It is like salt-and-pepper couples. Legislators no longer even question the right of mixed race couples even though they are in the minority. And I am sure there is a large underground against it.
Gay people of all kinds have the same rights and freedoms as I do, and they should be free to exercise them. In fact, it shouldn't even be an issue. If a woman wants to marry another woman and become life partners, let them be.
* see http://www.missionislam.com/knowledge/homosexuality.htm
Let us look at one of the more vexing "political" issues that we have on our plate: Same Sex Marriage.
I cannot believe how powerful an issue this has become. A small percentage of our population is into having sex with members of their own sex. This is not new. Greek armies thousands of years ago paired up gay men to go to battle in the belief that they would have a better affinity for their battle partner. And it remains a small percentage of our population. It is not a "learned" thing. And it is not exclusively a human thing. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_displaying_homosexual_behavior.
So how did it become such a big issue?
I can think of several factors such as: I personally get the creepy crawlies thinking about kissing another man, so I am not surprised that many others get the same feelings. There are the bible thumpers who read the Bible as if it were the last word even though it is really a story told by a father to a son for several generations before it was written down in a dead language, then translated and re-translated to fit political agendas through the ages since ... well forever. So don't tell me that your American English translation is the last word. I won't believe it. And there are those Gay people who were brought up in families that were so repressive, that they are actually married to a member of the opposite sex because it is "expected" of them. Can you say green with jealousy? And there are outrageous fundamentalists who claim "Homosexuality is a moral disorder. It is a moral disease, a sin and corruption... No person is born homosexual, just like no one is born a thief, a liar or murderer. People acquire these evil habits due to a lack of proper guidance and education."* Which of course is just so much crap. In US law there are many forms of murder from the planned premeditated gruesome of taking someone's life to the automobile accident when you are found at fault for someone's death. Tell me, which of these behaviors are "learned" or even "habits"? When I worked retail the most stolen items were candy bars (kids trying to learn a bad habit and often failing) and baby formula (desperate new parents?) with cosmetics a close third (kids again). All of the kids we caught were terrified that we would call their parents. So who was "not guiding" them? As to liars, we are now back to politicians and their promises.
Now let us look at another issue. What is the job of a legislator in a free society? Isn't it to protect those minorities who cannot get a majority vote? I don't care what the popular view is or what the majority thinks. It is like salt-and-pepper couples. Legislators no longer even question the right of mixed race couples even though they are in the minority. And I am sure there is a large underground against it.
Gay people of all kinds have the same rights and freedoms as I do, and they should be free to exercise them. In fact, it shouldn't even be an issue. If a woman wants to marry another woman and become life partners, let them be.
* see http://www.missionislam.com/knowledge/homosexuality.htm
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
I promised. No more rants
I actually have something to say that I wouldn't mind being preserved for posterity, but I promised: no more rants.. So i will just say today is a beautiful day. I have been all over on the motor scooter, and I am looking forward to the first day of fishing.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Mortgages and who is to blame
Going back to President Jimmy Carter, and perhaps even before, US Presidents have been excited about getting people to own homes. So Congress passed easier lending laws.
The banks picked up this hue and cry and ran with it. Like DUH.
So in today's New York Times Mayor Bloomberg "blames" congress for the debt mess, and charismatic ex-Mayor Ed Koch "blames" wall street and wants somebody to be tried as a criminal.
So take the issue I am dealing with, to whit, a Condo that sold at market peak to an unemployed mother of two children. She was given not just one, but two mortgages so she could have a cashless transaction. So who is at fault? Congress for making such loans available via ready markets for mortgage instruments? Countrywide Credit who made this fantastic loan? Or the woman who "bought" the condo knowing the payment far exceeded whatever income she could drum up?
Who would you throw in jail?
Congress, FannieMae, Banks, whoever. Stop trying to figure out who is at fault. it is too late. The accident has happened. Fix the Ship of State and get us steaming to a meaningful recovery.
The banks picked up this hue and cry and ran with it. Like DUH.
So in today's New York Times Mayor Bloomberg "blames" congress for the debt mess, and charismatic ex-Mayor Ed Koch "blames" wall street and wants somebody to be tried as a criminal.
So take the issue I am dealing with, to whit, a Condo that sold at market peak to an unemployed mother of two children. She was given not just one, but two mortgages so she could have a cashless transaction. So who is at fault? Congress for making such loans available via ready markets for mortgage instruments? Countrywide Credit who made this fantastic loan? Or the woman who "bought" the condo knowing the payment far exceeded whatever income she could drum up?
Who would you throw in jail?
Congress, FannieMae, Banks, whoever. Stop trying to figure out who is at fault. it is too late. The accident has happened. Fix the Ship of State and get us steaming to a meaningful recovery.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Tarpon Fishing 2011
Tarpon fishing is at best a combination of blind luck, good weather, favorable winds and very good technique.
So the question is, what do you do when the king of all game fishes eludes you because the wind is blowing like stink and the clouds obscure what you can see?
If you have a really great guide like I do, you do something different. I did something today i have only just heard of. I went fishing for sharks with a fly.
Right now you are saying to yourself "sharks only eat dead fish" or "sharks don't fight".
Bullshit.
So the question is, what do you do when the king of all game fishes eludes you because the wind is blowing like stink and the clouds obscure what you can see?
If you have a really great guide like I do, you do something different. I did something today i have only just heard of. I went fishing for sharks with a fly.
Right now you are saying to yourself "sharks only eat dead fish" or "sharks don't fight".
Bullshit.
This "little" guy ran off 200 yards of line real fast before getting beat. So the next time Your target fish isn't on the bite, think outside the box, or at least get a great guide like Captain Anthony Skinner of Key West Florida. He will think outside the box for you.
I landed three of these beautiful killing machines and lost several others because the hook didn't set just right and all the other nonsense that can go on when dealing with fly lines in high wind.
Bottom line? Tony and I had a blast. Maybe tomorrow we will fish for amberjacks.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Chasing Monsters under the Bed
Isn't politics wonderful?
Goldman Sachs looks like one of the biggest crook on Wall Street because of one of the basic rules required by brokerages to remain at arms length with customer accounts. The concept is called a "Chinese Wall".
Let's take the case of poor Fabrice Tourre, the middle manager that GS has thrown under the bus in this mess. The scope of his job was to sell mortgage derivative securities to customers. As a confident young man, he is brash and apparently uncaring, yet he did his job well.
Because Tourre was in the Sales department, he is not and should not be party to what is going on in the Financial Engineering or Corporate Finance departments. His only contact with the Trading department should be to simply place orders.
I fear, though, that because of Politics, the poor bastard is gonna spend a long time in jail ... just for doing his job.
Brokerages have whole departments in charge of Compliance (with the laws). It is their job to police the practices of a firm. Why aren't they on trial? Why did they allow an institutional customer to cherry pick mortgages for a short portfolio? I spent a lot of years at a brokerage firm, and the institutional guys would not even talk to me except through the Compliance department. And even then, my Office Manager had to be in the loop.
I am not even saying that there are not "iffy" practices at Goldman Sachs. Whenever big money is involved, there are going to be big crooks. Ask Bernie Madoff. But for the most part, we strive to be explicitly fair to the customers, the markets, and our firms just because we are really honest guys save those tiny few.
So Fabrice Tourre is the Monster that Wall Street is going to defeat and be the hero.
Goldman Sachs looks like one of the biggest crook on Wall Street because of one of the basic rules required by brokerages to remain at arms length with customer accounts. The concept is called a "Chinese Wall".
Let's take the case of poor Fabrice Tourre, the middle manager that GS has thrown under the bus in this mess. The scope of his job was to sell mortgage derivative securities to customers. As a confident young man, he is brash and apparently uncaring, yet he did his job well.
Because Tourre was in the Sales department, he is not and should not be party to what is going on in the Financial Engineering or Corporate Finance departments. His only contact with the Trading department should be to simply place orders.
I fear, though, that because of Politics, the poor bastard is gonna spend a long time in jail ... just for doing his job.
Brokerages have whole departments in charge of Compliance (with the laws). It is their job to police the practices of a firm. Why aren't they on trial? Why did they allow an institutional customer to cherry pick mortgages for a short portfolio? I spent a lot of years at a brokerage firm, and the institutional guys would not even talk to me except through the Compliance department. And even then, my Office Manager had to be in the loop.
I am not even saying that there are not "iffy" practices at Goldman Sachs. Whenever big money is involved, there are going to be big crooks. Ask Bernie Madoff. But for the most part, we strive to be explicitly fair to the customers, the markets, and our firms just because we are really honest guys save those tiny few.
So Fabrice Tourre is the Monster that Wall Street is going to defeat and be the hero.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Damn Damn Damn
I just downloaded a windows update. It installed fine. Then a second update appeared. It, too, installed fine. A third windows update balloon appeared. When is Microsoft ever going to get it's shit together? I can't network my windows seven starter with the shard folders on my network, and apparently th only way to do it is to buy a windows seven computer that can administer my router (I think). Of course none of this stuff makes sense to me. Outward appearances aside I AM NOT A COMPUTER GEEK! I cannot wait until cloud computing becomes real and I can install an OS that just does what I want instead of all the useless bells and whistles that some computer geeks think are cool.
Microsoft: Just because you have a virtual monopoly, beware. Somebody is coming soon to eat your lunch. I just bought a new computer ... it has XP on it.
Screw Win7.
Microsoft: Just because you have a virtual monopoly, beware. Somebody is coming soon to eat your lunch. I just bought a new computer ... it has XP on it.
Screw Win7.
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