You must keep sending work out;
you must never let a manuscript do nothing
but eat its head off in a drawer.
You send that work out again and again,
while you're working on another one.
If you have talent,
you will receive some measure of success
but only if you persist.
Isaac Asimov
Congressman Jackson, Healthcare, etc.
Supposedly my very religious late maternal grandmother/godmother whom passed from cancer complications before seeing my uncle ordained had it {the gift, power, etc.) It was the alleged ability to stop blood flow from cuts (I've seen one reference to this phenomenon online, e.g., here) It wasn't something that could be directly passed on in the family--there were inexplicable rules--it could only be generated across gender, generations. not immediate family, etc.
My mom and uncle swear by it. it surprises me because my uncle doesn't suffer fools gladly (horoscopes and assorted nonsense). The residential road past their house down the cul-de-sac sloped downhill perfect for sledding. My uncle as a boy was sledding one day when the sled flipped and a blade cut him badly Someone (my mom?) summoned my grandmother whom rushed to the scene, said a quick prayer--and by all accounts the bleeding stopped. When I as an obvious skeptic and adult talked about "the power" with my uncle (he was a by-the-book priest whom I suspected would question reported miracles and such), I couldn't shake my uncle, whom simply said he was there and saw it with his own eyes.
I had noticed a female relative's behavior changed; she had always been a practicing Catholic, but she was now compulsively religious, attending mass daily, religious music playing in the family car.It wasn't so much the activities themselves as the nature and extent of the change of behavior. I used to serve early daily mass on base while in high school, but I thought I had a religious vocation. I remember Mom making vestments for me out of towels while I was in primary school. A few years back my folks and I visited my uncle's rectory when the relative called to tell my mom she had the "power".
I told my mom at the time (I'm not a psychologist), I thought something was wrong with our relative. My also very religious mom was dismissive of my concerns; she saw my relative's sudden religious obsession a good thing to be emulated by others.
At some point later. and I don't know the specifics, my relative was diagnosed as having a bipolar disorder. And her young daughter whom had been her Mom's religious companion later rebelled as a teen, becoming a pagan/Wiccan.
Congressman Jackson from a safe South Chicago did have hopes of being nominated to Obama's Senate seat but deeply unpopular Gov. Blagojevich wanted to wheel and deal the nomination. The fact is Jackson was not nominated. the Blago case went public, and Jackson was tainted by the case (I think there is still a House ethics investigation ongoing),
In mid-August, the Mayo Clinic announced Jackson had been diagnosed with biipolar depression, possibly related to prior weight loss surgery; he has not been at work in DC now for 3 months, remains on this election's ballot and is reportedly deeply in debt due to medical bills, putting his DC area home up for sale.
First of all, I find it ironic after much discussion during the ObamaCare, a lot of rhetoric was made of the Congress' own health plan and here you have a congressman deeply in debt with medical bills. Second, I think that we need some sort of Constitutional reform allowing local or state party selection or election of an alternate for extended absences. Third, although I think the people have a right to know, I think mental illness is a serious problem and discussion of Jackson's illness is a positive thing
Tax Cuts, Deregulation and the Economic Tsunami :
Part 1
Now Governor Romney believes that with even bigger tax cuts for the wealthy, and fewer regulations on Wall Street, all of us will prosper. In other words, he’d double down on the same trickle-down policies that led to the crisis in the first place.”
— President Obama, in a new two-minute television ad released Sept. 27, 2012
“This election to me is about which candidate is more likely to return us to full employment. This is a clear choice. The Republican plan is to cut more taxes on upper income people and go back to deregulation. That is what got us into trouble in the first place.”Kessler, the Washington Post's fact checker rates the Obama claim the Bush tax cuts caused the tsunami 3 pinnochios (significant factual error and/or obvious contradictions.)--one short of a whopper
— Former president Bill Clinton, in an Obama campaign ad running since August
Kessler concludes:
The financial crisis of 2008 stemmed from a variety of complex factors, in particular the bubble in housing prices and the rise of exotic financial instruments. Deregulation was certainly an important factor, but as the government commission concluded, the blame for that lies across administrations, not just in the last Republican one.Kessler in the process does point at spending and hints about the facts Clinton signed financial deregulation which was strongly supported by New York's largely Dem legislators, and Ms. Clinton was eying the open Senate seat, and what failed during the crisis were not diversified superbanks
As usual, I believe that Kessler's analysis is inadequate. the commonality between Romney and Bush consists of paying lip service to free markets and economic rights have been so compromised since Footnote 4 in the mid 30's almost any failure cannot be attributed to the free markets, but government failure. Kessler is sympathetic to the idea that the Bush Administration largely ignored regulatory responsibilities, an unsubstantiated smear on members' professionalism (I do think some mistakes were made, but they don't justify a conspiracy theory); Kessler materially fails to note that federal regulations expanded during the Bush Administration.
I know for a fact home prices in Silicon Valley and the west Chicago suburbs were pushing the limits {like nearly half a million for homes) while Clinton was still President. I remember my project co-worker in Orange County having a long train ride to work because closer homes were out of his budget.
There's a discussion of swaps and derivatives, which by the way existed before 1999; the key point is AIG was effectively writing insurance against the price of mortgage securities going down. AiG didn't have enough reserves for the swaps it was writing. Unlike Obama, I would never have fully paid off on Goldman Sach's swaps written by AIG: GS should have gotten in line with other creditors: it should have shared the risk.
Granted, Kessler says the tsunami was complex, but the real issue {which Kessler ignores) was the fact is government guarantees were issued, reforms of the GSE's were sidestepped, government policies promoted loans be granted for political versus creditworthiness purposes, e.g., minority ownership. the Fed 's loose money policy (lightly touched on) and lax bank oversight, the mortgage interest deduction, and performances of credit raters and accountants also played roles.
But Kessler in dealing with tax cuts failed to point out the highest tax revenues in US history occurred after the Bush tax cuts and prior, far more significant upper income tax cuts did not result in lower revenues: Harding/Coolidge, Truman. JFK/LBJ, and Reagan. Three-quarters of the Bush tax cuts (which Obama accepts in the context of his redistribution ideology) did NOT go to upper income and have had far more dramatic effects on deficits. Remember the Reagan upper rate went from 70% to 28%, while Bush went from 39.6 to 35%.
Raising tax rates on upper-income taxpayers is economically illiterate and underscores the fact Obama is unknowledgeable and hence unqualified to be President . Remember Justice Roberts said ObamaCare's mandate was a tax, not a penalty. Any economist will concede that income tax is a PENALTY on working: INCREASING the penalty is counterproductive.
Buffett has been creating wealth even into his 70's, he could spend his life in leisure and barely touch his fortune without working another day; his stockholders would hope not, I know Buffett has provided some cover for Obama as a useful ideological idiot. The fact is Obama has failed to even cut spending modestly year over year. Demanding that only a few--the ones already paying the highest taxes--pay more is both unjust and counterproductive. I'm not even close to the top 2%,
I think my favorite Governor (Chris Christie) on Sunday talk soup said it best--you have to have government take a haircut before demanding more in taxes, Obama is too ideological or not educated enough to realize there's tremendous waste in government, dollars wasted in government are not available to the real economy and raising tax rates reduces the tax base.
I will continue this discussion in tomorrow's post.
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Group
ZZ Top, "Sharp Dressed Man"
