Nature is a wondrous thing. So simple, yet so complex.
Tags: Amazing, Cool, Interesting, Nature
For anyone who is still unclear why we are in a financial crisis, the Mint has created an excellent visual guide to the crisis. It’s a nice little… er… long flow chart that does a good job of trying to untangle the web that has lead to government bailouts, crashing stock markets, company failures, and general global ungoodness.
In the latest episode of the national bailout comedy act, the big three auto maker executives flew to Washington in private jets to beg for our government’s bailout money.
Wagoner, whose flight reportedly cost $20,000 round-trip — about 70 times more than a commercial airline ticket — told Congress he expected about $10-$12 billion from the requested bailout.
The article doesn’t seem to say if the $36 million Gulfstream IV jet is owned by GM or was chartered for this trip.
In other news it seems GM has put together a web site and viedo to convince the public that they need the bailout money. There has even been rumblings of people seeing paid advertisements from GM directing the public to the site. Hmm. I wonder how much all that costs.
In another sign of moral decay in society, a company that provides a web site that connects people looking to cheat on their spouses is gearing up to start TV advertising in the Tampa Bay area. The ad is rather steamy, so heed the news site’s warning when viewing the video.
This one leaves me pretty speechless. To start, it’s a very sad statement about society that sites like this fill a business demand. It’s an equally sad statement that this garbage is going to start being paraded around in front of us on TV. There are certain things I simply don’t want to be exposed to when I’m watching a late night rerun of one of my favorite sitcoms. I’ll put up with dating site ads, and the occasional tactfully done adult store ad, but this just crosses a line for me personally.
Understand that I am against censoring. However, hats off to the NFL for refusing advertising from this company. As a small business owner, I have refused to advertise in publications where my ad would run along side of “businesses of low morality”. I don’t call this censorship. It’s simply choosing to do business with other companies that will reflect well on your own business. Likewise, choosing to not to do business with those companies that could reflect poorly on you. From the consumer side, change the channel or turn the TV off. Don’t give your business (viewership) to companies that expose you to advertising you don’t agree with or don’t want to be exposed to.
As individuals and businesses, we need to learn to vote with our dollars more and take on a little social responsibility. Don’t run to the government to get something banned, censored, or regulated as that will only come back to haunt you later. Instead, spend your money wisely and choose who you do business with. Likewise, be selective of the TV you watch and the media your family is exposed to. Know your limits and when to reach for the remote.
Tags: censorship, media, morality
A new Zogby poll has been released that pretty much explains the 2008 election. The poll finds that most Obama supporters knew little about the candidate that they so religiously supported. In fact, most Obama supporters know more about John McCain and Sarah Palin than they do about Barack Obama.
“Just 2% of voters who supported Barack Obama on Election Day obtained perfect or near-perfect scores on a post election test which gauged their knowledge of statements and scandals associated with the presidential tickets during the campaign, a new Zogby International telephone poll shows.” … “Only 54% of Obama voters were able to answer at least half or more of the questions correctly.”
The study narrows in on the “free pass” the media extended towards the Obama campaign, while extensively scrutinizing the McCain ticket; in particular Sarah Palin. The study forms the basis of the upcoming documentary “Media Malpractice… How Obama Got Elected“. The following sneak peek is quite an eyeopener. It amazes me how people can be such dedicated supporters of someone they know little about and a political party that they knew even less about. Many relied on the media to inform them and instead, they had the wool pulled over their eyes.
Tags: journalism, media, Obama, Politics
This shouldn’t be a surprise, but overbearing homeowner’s associations are in the news again. Hitting our local news, a neighborhood with large numbers of foreclosures has hired lawn service for all its residents (at the residents expense of course). Since the HOA is still under the control of the developer, the residents have no means to weigh in on the issue. Hmm. I would guess that this is one of those quickly developed neighborhoods that cropped up all over Central Florida a few years ago and had lines of speculative investors waiting to buy and flip. The foreclosures and poor lawn care are probably the result of those left holding the bag.
In other news, a Raleigh man is in hot water with his HOA because he decided to install a beautiful hand painted mailbox instead of the required standardized hunter green ones. Oh the horror. Imagine how much property values dropped because of that. The funny thing is that this exact same thing happened in our neighborhood. Someone pained some nice beach scenes on their boring black mailbox and the HOA went ballistic and put a lean on their house. Fortunately, the neighbors stepped in and struck down that rule.
Homeowner’s associations are a double edge sword that can quickly go out of control. On one hand, I am a firm believer that you should be able to do whatever you want on your property. This is a free country and land ownership is a valued American ideal. However, on the other hand, we can’t all live on private 500 acre tracks in Montana and we need something to keep the neighbors from putting a chicken farm in the back of their zero lot line home. This is where homeowner’s associations come into play. They are there to look out for your investment and to make good neighbors. This would be great if every HOA could act responsibly and within reason.
It’s funny how reason quickly goes out the window. Human nature seems to drive people to exert control over one another. If it’s not the government, it’s the people who live right around you. After all, who tends to run most HOA’s? Usually it’s what I refer to as the “busy bodies” of the neighborhood. The people who have lots of time on their hands and have nothing better to do than complain about the bulb that burned out on your porch and pick required color schemes for newly repainted homes. The rest of us who have careers and/or are raising families simply have better things to do with our time. Now this is not always true. In fact our HOA has been quite tame lately; a nice change from a few outbursts years ago. However, the picture I am painting is how the trouble starts in most overbearing HOAs. A few people with too much time on their hands start to overreach the boundaries of keeping “guidelines for good neighbors” and start to meddle in everyone’s business.
This starts to explain why out of control HOAs are making the news more and more. People are living in more urban areas and closer to one another than ever. Residents are starting to look at their homes as more of an investment than dwellings. Top it off, many of us are becoming too busy to notice what a few people with time on their hands are doing in their neighborhood. It’s a recipe for trouble. Just look at the increasing number of internet resources are popping up on how to fight homeowner’s associations.
Are there any solutions other than fighting the HOAs? In a perfect world, yes. Realize that your home is just that, a place to live. It’s nice that it can be an investment, but that is secondary. Also realize that your neighbors have rights and freedoms too. The HOA is simply there to set guidelines and get the residents (all of them) to work together to live in harmony.
Will this really happen? Probably not. Until then, fix your porch light and get use to the army green and yellow exterior color scheme that the architectural committee thought was just peachy as they met over tea while you were at work.
Tags: HOA
What will they think of next? Ugh. Should I expound on why the BLM frustrates me to no end? This article kind of does it for me:
The view of Delicate Arch natural bridge — an unspoiled landmark so iconic it’s on Utah’s license plates — could one day include a drilling platform under a proposal that environmentalists call a Bush administration “fire sale” for the oil and gas industry.The U.S. Bureau of Land Management plans an auction on Dec. 19 of more than 50,000 acres of oil and gas parcels alongside or within view of Arches National Park and two other red-rock national parks in Utah: Dinosaur and Canyonlands.
Tags: BLM, drilling, national parks
Wow, a poll that actually says what we all already know. Numbers don’t lie.
Sixty-one percent of those surveyed said that religious values in America are “under attack,” and 59% agreed that “the people who run the TV networks and the major movie studios do not share the religious and moral values of most Americans.”
My absolute favorite statistic is this one:
– Nearly half of those surveyed — 49% — believe that the United States is becoming “too tolerant in its acceptance of different ideas and lifestyles; 47% disagree with that statement.
Wow! Now, if we could just give a voice to the 61% majority the way that Hollywood has an automatic, influential, and unearned voice with the movies they make, etc. Same feeling towards the celebrities that use their celebritism to expound on their political views (and societal and moral as well). It’s not right because the rest of us “little people” don’t have that same opportunity to reach millions of people with our opinions. Oh sure, there is the internet and whatnot for us “little people” to voice our opinions, but celebrities have an unearned advantage. I will never forget watching a clip of Matt Damon talk about how scary the thought of Sarah Palin getting into office (and possibly the presidency) was to him. My opinion of him very quickly went right into the garbage. I will certainly never give him any of my money via paying to see a movie of his again. And I feel the same way about any other celebrity who uses their position to propogate their political opinions or endorsement of a candidate. Unless us “everyday folk” are allowed the same luxury. Look at how much press Joe the Plumber got for his simple question to Obama.
So who would really be the target of an auto industry bailout? GM, Ford, and Chrysler? I think the real target would be the United Auto Workers union. Now I am normally all for saving jobs, but let’s consider that the big three pay approximately 12,000 people not to work as part of the UAW’s jobs bank program. Is there any wonder why Detroit is in financial trouble? The fact of the matter is that bankruptcy would be a good thing for the big three. The companies would not cease to exist. Instead, it would void the draconian UAW contracts and allow them the freedom to restructure and become more competitive with the imports.
The UAW represents the hourly workers at GM, Ford and Chrysler. The union does not represent workers at the factories of Toyota, Honda and other overseas-based companies, except in a few cases where they operate, or once operated, as joint ventures with U.S. companies. The UAW gave 99 percent of its $1.8 million in campaign donations to Democrats in this year’s election.
Considering these generous campaign contributions, it’s rather obvious why Democrats are largely in favor of using your taxpayer money to bail out the US auto industry while Republicans are willing to let the free market pass judgment.
Tags: bailout, bankruptcy, Cars, Politics
