Random Ideas, Comments & Thoughts, Sometimes Political, Sometimes Adult… Hope you don't choke.
A Friend sent me a list of these. I thought it would be fun to share them.
Paraprosdokians are phrases or sentences that lead us down the garden path to an unexpected ending.
How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?
Before my Liberal friends form a lynch mob… I’m playing here… It’s a Joke… Well a half joke…
In truth, I wrote this just to stir the pot. I think that anyone with little effort can spin anything any way they want. This is my attempt at proving that “Facts” are just a matter of spin. I hope you enjoy it.
The banking collapse was in fact caused by Liberal Democrats, not Conservative Republicans.
Lets look at the facts.
Many liberals believe that it’s wrong to deport illegal workers (This is a term that I use to mean inclusively any person who has entered this country illegally. )
That the term illegal workers has come to be synonymous with Illegal hispanic workers is a discussion for another time. I will say this… if a term has come to be redefined as descriptive of a situation, well perhaps you need to ask how that came to be…
Many liberals believe that housing must be equal opportunity no matter what. (I also believe that housing should be equal opportunity, meaning that if you can afford a home or apartment you shouldn’t be denied access to that home or apartment based on race, color, creed, sexuality, or religion.)
Many liberals believe that higher education is a right, not a privilege and as a result have enacted a multitude of affirmative action policies nationwide.
Many of those affirmative action laws, regulations, and policies have been expanded to apply to more than education and now apply in a variety of other aspects of our society including banking.
Having worked in the mortgage banking industry approximately 4 years before the collapse (I got out because I saw it coming) I got to see some things from the inside.
Remember No document loans?
How about reverse amortization loans?
These “products” were a direct result of mortgage lenders complying with affirmative action regulations.
The mortgage bankers I worked for felt that they couldn’t deny a loan application because affirmative action regulations demanded a certain percentage of what was called “B & C” paper be accepted by a bank. Think of it like “Assigned risk in insurance.”
Essentially, these “B & C” designations were loans to people who were far more likely to default than the so called “A” paper loans.
Sadly the “A, B, & C” paper loans shook out along largely racial lines due to underlying aspects of our society.
This meant that someone like myself (A paper) who was employed, had a mortgage, had never been late on a payment, was making more money than I ever had in my life, and who wanted to refinance my house at a lower percentage rate without taking any money out of it, and who provided documentation to all of the above…
Would be scrutinized to a maddening degree and even had to answer questions like “Why has your income increased?“
No Shit! The fact that I was making more money was actually a bone of contention between me and the underwriter. It pissed me off to the point that I told her I’d quit my job if that would make it easier on her then we could average my income over the past decade.
The mortgage lender I was working for at the time did not hold my mortgage… but over lunch one day I asked WTF? of an underwriter I knew well.
His answer was that since I had a history and had provided all kinds of documentation, the underwriters had to do a full process where they, by banking regulations checked everything about the loan they were going to fund.
He went on to say that if I’d gone for a new house instead of a refi, and the loan had been a “Jumbo Loan” I could have gone with a no document loan and been approved within a week.
I still didn’t get it.
My underwriter friend explained, because of equal opportunity lending regulations and HUD rules, and half a dozen other regulations designed to prevent discrimination, the no doc loans had become known as the Housekeeper loans and I’d have qualified easily for one of those.
He’d seen 800,000 loans approved for gardeners in Orange County. After the loan was approved, typically within 120 days the first payment was late.
Then another department in the company we worked for would start calling and asking for payments to be made including late fees.
The late fees were always paid first and the remainder of whatever payment we got was sent to the mortgage holder. This was called “servicing” a loan. It was / is a very profitable enterprise. This is especially true when only a partial payment gets sent to the mortgage holder because the cycle can repeat several times a month on the entire amount that is in arrears. The late fees keep stacking up and the profit for the loan servicer keeps increasing.
It was the interaction of protections for the poor, affirmative action, the lack of proper identification requirements, the right to privacy about where you obtained your income, and other liberal progressive factors that created the no document loan in the first place.
The banking industry simply made all of these regulations profitable!
These loans were given to people who sometimes didn’t understand what they were signing and at other times actually couldn’t write their own names.
Then the loan was packaged up as an investment portfolio that was mandated by law to have a specific % of A, B, & C paper loans. The completed portfolio was sold to a wall street firm.
Back to my original statement…
It was the liberal demands for equality in lending, and housing, their insistence on not deporting illegal workers, the bleeding heart progressive agenda, and complete lack of concern or perhaps the liberal demonization of profit and business, that is in fact responsible for the banking collapse.
By forcing the banking industry to approve a percentage of questionable loans that the banking industry normally wouldn’t have approved, the liberals created the housing bubble. Simultaneously making it far more difficult for honest citizens to carry on with their lives and pursuit of the American Dream.
The evil banking industry was just following orders.
Yep,
Over the weekend I spoke of… Horror of Horrors !
Politics!
Thankfully it was at the end of the party not the beginning…
Several guests were talking about the food labeling proposition that’s been getting a lot of air play here in California.
The gist of the proposition is that genetically modified foods should be labeled. But then the proposition goes on to exclude some foods and require labeling on others even if there “might” be a component used in the food that was derived from a genetically modified source.
I’m against this proposition, and my reasoning is simple. Either you identify ALL genetically modified foods or don’t bother. No exceptions, no exclusions, mandate an all or nothing approach.
In my mind, It’s probably not a bad idea to give the consumer a choice to eat genetically modified foods or not, you can do that with labeling.
Sacramento in my opinion, was going to use the proposition to create another new administrative nightmare that would have been a “California Only” thing.
In the process they’d create another revenue stream for the politicians to waste. Oh and of course… they’d have created the potential for food shortages similar to gas shortages and obscene pricing, because the food in the OTHER 48 states wouldn’t be compatible with the regulations imposed by California.
Then they asked about the presidential choices. In my head there were warning klaxons… Even a guest appearance by the Lost in Space robot, “Danger Will Robinson! Danger!”
I plowed ahead…
At this late date I’m still unsure which way I’m going to vote on the presidency.
I don’t think President Obama is the way… and at the same time I really don’t have great feelings for Governor Romney.
My reasoning is this, President Obama is today and honestly I believe has been a lame duck during his entire Presidency. With Congress refusing at every turn to work with him, he’s not been nearly as effective as he could have been. Even his good ideas for the country get no traction because no matter what, Congress is going to fight about it.
The other liberal Democratic guests at the party swarmed me like sharks. I was amazed. They wouldn’t let me finish a sentence.
These otherwise intelligent people, were so incensed that not only did the conversation stop, it degenerated to a level just above name calling.
WOW!
I thought the Republican Conservatives were the ones that frothed at the mouth and refused to hear dissenting opinions!
Obviously I’m living in the past.
I thought that decorum and politeness dictated that you at least listened to someone else’s opinion and let them finish their statement. I try to do this and while I am passionate about some things I really try to hear the other side.
Apparently, that’s not the way Americans work today.
If you disagree… You’re to shout the other party down! That way you don’t have to be confused by the logic of a well reasoned argument against your preconceived beliefs.
One of these same people (Again, intelligent, well educated, older people) said the following which still has me reeling.
“I’d rather have another four years of a stalled economy with Obama, than a working economy under Romney.“
WHAT?!?!?!?!
I suppose that’s easy to say if you’re already retired.
But that’s a really bad idea if you’re one of the people who still needs to work.
That kind of thinking really disturbs me.
It’s also indicative of the partisan politics that has crippled Washington and our ability as a people to control our politicians.
The thing that people seem to have forgotten is that we and our politicians, need to think outside ourselves.
We should be thinking about what is best for our nation, not our party, not our ethnicity, not the GLBT people with one blue eye and one green eye.
We all need to step back and act in the best interests of all Americans.
That may mean some of those Americans won’t have their special interests seen to immediately. And that’s the price you pay for the relative freedoms we have in this country.
Do you think the Tuskegee Airmen were thinking about how unequally they were being treated in the armed forces and the nation when they fought in World War II?
Sure they were, BUT They were Men enough and American enough to realize that sometimes the bigger picture really is more important!
At a time when Black people had to sit at the back of the bus, and there were White Only restrooms and water fountains. These MEN stepped up put those issues aside and fought to protect this country. I can only assume that THEY saw the potential in our nation.
I’m totally in favor of the repeal of DOMA, I’m also in favor of allowing same sex marriage. I don’t think that Same Sex marriage should be a new law, I think it should be a simple enforcement of the logic of equality and freedom that we’re already supposed to have.
I believe that Independent civilian investigations should happen in Washington to determine just how deep the corruption goes and to start proceedings to root out the influence corporate America has on national politics.
Am I willing to STOP the country until these things happen?
HELL NO!
Because that would lead to untold numbers of people being out of work, and with those people being out of work their children conceivably go hungry, they default on their homes and become a big drag on an economy that’s already stumbling.
And in my opinion… taking any action that stops the economy, is unethical, and immoral.
Of course the guests circling me like sharks weren’t at all interested in my reasoning.
Nor were they interested in this thought.
If Romney is elected and the economy improves, we have anecdotal proof that the country is in fact controlled by large corporations.
We also know which politicians are the puppets of those corporations because they would be the very same group that fought to make President Obamas policies fail.
Which gives We The People viable targets.
Over the next four years, We The People must vote those politicians out of office.
We The People must demand accountability and investigations into potential corruption within our government up to and including impeachment of any and all officials tainted by corporate special interest and control.
This will not be a simple process, nor will it be a quick one. But it is a necessary process if we want a government that is Of and For the people again.
Of course… the alternative is to do nothing.
Which means that thePresidential election has lost all meaning.
If the election process continues to be essentially a 50% / 50% split, that means that neither candidate or party is offering anything the people can rally behind.
How long can any country survive with it’s political process in neutral?
Lance Armstrong’s luck is nothing but bad these days.
I personally don’t think it’s right for him to be stripped of titles dating back to 1999.
That is the same year by the way that the United States Anti-Doping agency was created.
I suppose the USADA needed to have a trophy on their wall and they decided that Lance Armstrong would do nicely.
I look at the almost 13 year investigation as a nothing but a witch hunt.
After all if you went back 13 years into a lot of folks pasts you could find evidence of drug use.
If we threw out all the actors, sports figures, business people, senators, and members of congress who’d had drugs, or been treated for drug abuse, or were still using during the past 13 years…. well television and the halls of the government would be a lot emptier.
The thing I find most interesting is that quick search of statute of limitations on drug possession in a random sampling of states is anywhere from 2 to 5 years.
Even in Colorado where the USADA is based… the statute of limitations is 10 years so why didn’t they just let it go?
Armstrong has been retired from the Tour de France since 2009. And… they didn’t find any evidence of him doping IN 2009! Of course Lance didn’t win in 2009 so they probably weren’t looking too hard!
It doesn’t matter to me if Armstrong did it or not. I’ve never watched or much cared about the Tour de France or any cycling races for that matter.
What bothers me is that you have an independent agency that was ANYTHING but impartial. The USADA apparently kept subjecting samples from Lance Armstrong to better and better testing and analysis procedures, with the intent to find something amiss. It’s almost a given that if you go into a situation expecting to find something… you will. (Check out youtube and look for UFO videos!)
I was reminded of the old inquisition techniques to identify a witch.
Tie the arms and legs of the suspected witch and throw them into a deep body of water… If they floated then you retrieved them and burned them at the stake. If they didn’t float well… you were wrong, they weren’t a witch and now they’re with God.
It’s pretty obvious that the USADA is nothing more than a Grand Inquisitor who is determined to find something wrong.
So the lesson to any of you budding Cyclists, Triathletes or Olympic hopefuls is this…
DON’T WIN!
Mediocrity is King now and we have the agencies to ENFORCE IT.
I have an Xbox360.
Granted I don’t use it all that much, there are some games I really like. Most of those are first person shooter games.
Ok, I’ll admit I really like the violence… so what?
Anyway, this morning I realized it had been a while since I’d fired the beast up. (Yes, it’s a beast the thing howls like a banshee when it’s running.)
As it comes up, it starts talking to the network and downloading all kinds of stuff. I’ve also noticed that the “Dash Board” is different from the last time I really paid any attention.
I’m curious to know what the heck the system is downloading and that’s when I notice I can’t seem to find any place in the console that displays that bit of information.
There used to be a nifty little thing called the download queue where you could see what was going on. For the life of me I can’t find it on the system.
As I noticed all the other changes, including the commercials peppered throughout the dashboard I thought wait a minute! Then I got taken to a notification that the Terms of Service on Xbox Live had changed and that I needed to accept another legal document before I could use a service that I’d already paid for by virtue of Microsoft automatically billing me.
So let me get this straight…
1) You’re going to push advertisements to the gaming console, That I own…
2) You’re going to make me agree to a NEW TOS in order to Use that gaming console, THAT I OWN…
Most games cost $65 or more and REQUIRE connection to Xbox Live. So Microsoft is essentially holding me hostage and FORCING me to accept whatever their TOS says so that I can play my non-refundable game on my non-returnable game console after charging me a non-refundable amount to maintain my yearly Xbox Live account?
After an hour of unknown network activity from the game console, I logged into my xbox live account via the internet to find out what the game console in my living room was actually doing. I’m not exactly sure why… but that bothers me. I guess I feel like I should be able to ask the device making use of the network what the hell it’s doing!
Obviously I’m just old fashioned…
Then I heard myself saying…
“That’s Microsoft”
As if that explains it. Of course I’ve also caught myself saying “That’s Apple” in the same way.
Does anyone else see the flaw here? Does the consumer really have ANY option other than acceptance of the agreements?
This is the same as iTunes letting you purchase music then making you accept the licensing agreement in order to play the music you just purchased.
Remember the good old days?
You know… when you purchased a product AND YOU WERE DONE? I miss buying an LP, or a book, or CD, or VHS Tape or even a DVD, and it was mine to do with as I pleased.
I recently found myself waiting for a BluRay disk to start playing a movie.
All I saw on the screen as “Updating Content” After 10 minutes with no change, I was performing network diagnostics because the movie still hadn’t started playing, Excuse me???
Understand… I had a BluRay disk spinning in my BluRay player, the movie was there and available. All the player had to do was START PLAYING IT.
But the movie wouldn’t start because the content that the player was updating was the load of trailers and commercials that Sony, or Universal, or whoever wanted me to see BEFORE they let me see the movie I’D fucking purchased!
I powered the player down, disconnected it from the network and restarted the whole process. This time without the commercials streaming from the internet I actually got to watch the movie I wanted to watch as soon as the player powered up.
It took me 20 minutes from the time I first dropped the disk in the player until the movie actually started. It was certainly NOT an auspicious start to the relaxing evening I’d planned with family since I’d had to diagnose what was wrong with the technology in the first place.
My point here is that as consumers we’re loosing our ability to just purchase products
Then use them without all kinds of strings being attached. When I buy a movie on a physical media and plug it into my player it should start playing immediately. I shouldn’t have to be assaulted by the latest trailers for the largely crappy movies coming out of Hollywood all downloaded for my inconvenience.
If I buy an electronic book I expect it to remain on my ebook reader. I don’t expect to have to click on an “Accept” button acknowledging that I understand I might be offended by the material contained in the book or magazine and will hold the provider of the book or magazine blameless. I sure as hell don’t expect to be reading the book one night, then have it removed from my ebook reader the next morning due to a contract dispute.
I’m amazed at how accepting we’ve become of ever increasing complexity, and how we just write it off as a given from the companies whose tendrils reach so deeply into our lives.
There are some things that are… or were, simply understood… I buy something, I own it.
End of story.