In other worlds

Inhabitants in urban centers are insulated from the world view of those outside such nuclei. Or is it the other way around? I visited a truly magnificent place in North San Diego county called Rainbow. It is a little rural hillside community near the Cleveland National forest situated approximately 30 minutes inland from Oceanside. I know there are oodles of conservatives beyond the boundaries of a metropolis but I never expected to see so many McCain/Palin, Yes on Prop 8 signs as I saw all along the route to Rainbow. After all Rainbow is still in liberal and progressive California. Within the first few minutes of being there we saw people riding horseback on the main road. Others traveled on foot, bicycle, tractor, motorcycle, and yes, tanks (it's military country). What a total time warp! And totally charming - (except for the McCain signs).

For years I've stared at a picture of Damon's Grandparents' home in Rainbow with the promise that we would visit someday. Since they had long since sold the property and are now both deceased there was no urgency. Damon's fondest childhood memories are of Rainbow where he would help his Grandfather build things in the workshop, fish and hunt for quail in the surrounding area, climb boulders, and tend garden vegetables with Grandma. I was overwhelmed with a sense of down home hospitality and incredible natural beauty. Damon immediately recognized some familiar landmarks though we arrived with no directions, no address and sporadic memories from 30 years ago. The foliage was overgrown and many new dwellings spotted the hills. At one point I thought he'd steer the car over a cliff if we didn't find the house. Traversing the same few miles over and over we finally spotted some hikers who appeared well into their 70's. We stopped and asked how long they had been living in the area and it turns out that Damon's grandpa remodeled their bathroom over 25 years ago! After a long chat they described exactly how to find the house. We pulled into the lane and decided to knock on the door. A gentleman answered and listened attentively to Damon's memoirs. Turns out he is a professor of Anthropology. He probably saw it as a case study in human evolution and behavior. He was very gratious even inviting us in to take a look around the house noting some of the changes. He allowed us to take our time meandering the nearly 2 acres of untended gardens - much of it original.

We hit the local grower's farm stand and picked up some yummy treats - Avocado capitol of the world that Rainbow, ya know. And though the rumor is that Fallbrook is home to some good restaurants we ended up at the one that served our meal with American cheese slices. Are you kidding? I didn't think I needed clarification on the cheese selection before ordering. Who knew they even made those disgusting processed grease squares anymore. Yick! That experience aside I highly recommend a trip to Rainbow. If you can spend the weekend stay at the Rainbow Inn B & B and if you feel the need to do something other than relax and smell the oranges while overseeing stunning vistas you can go wine tasting in Temecula, hike in Cleveland, pick avocados or go antiquing in Fallbrook. You'll be better than when you arrived if you avoid talking politics.

Yes, we can...

...spend and spend and spend (somebody elese's money) to infinity. While both men, McCain and Obama, have interesting if not "colorful" backgrounds, each of them overcoming insurmountable obstacles to rise to commendable (now, that's debatable!) positions, both of them are completely out of touch. My guess is they probably have their hearts in the right place but neither of them intend to cut out any of their proposed spending on the heels of a financial collapse that has just added $700 B to our deficit. Just who, pray tell, are they planning to borrow the money from, 'cause I'm pretty sure we're tapped? I would even assert that they're both complicit on some level to the mess we're in.

Obama, eloquent and masterful has everyone in a trance and doesn't have to do much at this juncture to win friends. Sadly, President Bush has destroyed our country paving the way for such a knight in shining armour to emerge with the promise of government to the rescue. I am ardently more libertarian in this matter believing that more and bigger government creates more subjugation and dependency. McCain is a sheep in wolf's clothing (and a bad debater, too) with all his talk of getting government out of the way yet he wants to buy mortgages, provide amnesty for illegals, remain in Iraq, defend the Patriot Act, and countless other policies that conflict with my values. Both men are insulting to intelligent and informed persons.

It looks like Obama has clearly got this thing in the bag but I bid you, can we in good conscience turn our future over to either of these goons who will further expand the over-inflated size of government and strip us of any shred of freedom we still have? No, we shouldn't.

How much is a life worth?

Long overdue, I'm getting all of my affairs in order like grown ups are supposed to. Reviewing my financials for retirement and other things I'd like to accomplish in life; creating a living trust; blah, blah, blah; life insurance. Screeeeeech! Life insurance? I am philosophically opposed to life insurance unless you have small children to protect. I think it is a preposterous waste of money. But I let Damon talk me into buying a small policy in preparation for my big African adventure just in case, God forbid, I fall into the Zambezi whilst paddling the rapids or splashing around in devil's pool - (no, it's not just a legend as evidenced by the photo shown here - BTW I don't know that crazy dude). So I told him I would buy just enough to pay off our house and I thought it was settled until we went into the agent's office. For three hours we hashed and negotiated until he finally saw my point that one should not become enriched from another's death! All this planning for the future makes me feel old so I think I'll plunge into devil's pool and hope to rejuvenate myself.

The line is fine

I thought the debate was a draw. The debate on who won or lost depends on the way you view the world, the role of government and your unique situation in life. Both men, extraordinary in their own way, got off some good points. However, the most striking thing to me was that they basically said the same thing in different ways. For me it's getting harder and harder to differentiate between them - except for the obvious that McCain resembles a corpse and Obama radiates youth and beauty. I don't know that either of them are the prescription we need to advance this great nation. If either of them were as smart as they purport to be they'd run for the hills and tell us to take the job and shove it!

The Road to Ruin

I'm not at all surprised that the stock market is so volatile since "the bill" passed. Ten days beforehand the Bush administration, bolstered by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, told us that the sky would fall without congressional intervention so how can one expect that kind fear to just evaporate and confidence restored with the stroke of a pen? If congress (government) is behind something it should give us cause for pause. Call me a cynic. Government is not our friend. It is by design a machination created to subordinate its citizens and control the social order. But I digress. Back to the issue at hand. The self-proclaimed experts have modeled it and modeled it but what you can't model is emotion - a critical component to investing and the way money is viewed in general. This cartoon tells it to you straight in words you can understand (stay tuned through the commercial). It's the same understanding congress has.

Fatty Fatty Four Eyes

I am uncomfortably plump. I carry about 15 pounds extra weight above my ideal. It's mostly all over so in clothes it's hard to tell how portly I am. But even my eyes have born the brunt of my chocolate and cheese binges. For months now I have been experiencing a feeling in my eyes that they are twice their normal size and multiple visits to the eye doctor have given me no relief or answers. They've decided that the super-sized sensation I have is actually chronic dry eye (CDE - a real medical condition if you can believe it - why not, there's a medical diagnosis for everything else) and think I would benefit from "plugging" my tear ducts so as to keep the tears in my eyes, thus moistened. Thankfully, my tear ducts, the ONLY thing on my body, are too small for plugs. So before boring out my ducts to insert plugs I will be on a regimen of tear production. I know, I know you're all lining up to give me something to cry about. Odd what afflicts us as we age.

Are you cords or denim?

In this time of tension and uncertainty we all need an outlet to just let go and find some joy and laughter if you can muster it. Thankfully I have amazing and humorous friends. I also have books. I've just completed David Sedaris' Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. Such a crack up on almost every page. His observations and talented ability to turn them into comedic prose is stellar.

Hysteria

I think I like Def Leopard's version better than the one the whores in Congress and other blathering idiots are spewing about our economy.

Here is the unedited text of an email that I wrote to my friend Thurs, Oct 2. This the short (or long) of my opinion on the matter.

My feeling is that both sides of the aisle are culpable in some way - from the Clinton deregulation of investment banks in 1999 (Financial Services Modernization Act), to Bush and his cronies trying to get lenders not to descriminate against section 8 recipients or "undocumented", i.e. illegal persons (it has been reported that up to 30% of bad mortgage loans were written to illegals) in 2002 to increase home ownership, to Barney Frank et al railing against regulators in 2003 who tried to get Freddie and Fannie reigned in, to Chris Dodd, supposed chariman and oversee-er of all things financial, taking oodles of money and looking the other way, to crooked and greedy lenders and stupid and greedy borrowers and speculators, to the rampant and unruley consumerism in this debtor nation. I think if we revamped our tax structure it may not be so critical to own your own home. Besides restoring conservative lending practices. I've heard Jason Hartman say for a long time that Wall St is nothing but a gigantic casino, which we know intellectually to be true. I read through the original House proposal but have yet to look at the revised version of the rescue bill. I'm happy the original was defeated. Not because I'm angry, although I am, but because it gave even more power to the executive branch with very little direction on execution. It was effectively saying just give us the money and we'll figure out what to do with. Ha! We've already been doing that and look what it got us.They don't know anything about it so how can they possibly write a cohesive bill? As usual it's all very secret and hasty. $700B? Who's ass did that figure get pulled from? I think Paulson and others have been the biggest beneficiaries of the first the explosion and know they are crafting it to benefit from the implosion. They think they can just come to the trough any time they want. Who gives a ****, right? I get that credit is contracted and that things may be tight for a while but I'm inclined to take the risk. I think it's a lot LESS risky than what's on the table, i.e. giving more money and power to the same crooks that squandered it to begin with. Why not use some of the other tools at their disposal first? Liars, theives and fear mongers.