That’s right my dearest readers, it may only be for today, but I am now ranking number one for “justin schmidt” in Google. Justin O. Schmidt can now feel my “Sting Pain Index.” Beeotch!
Okay, we’re going to tackle a pretty hefty little topic here. I’m going to do it in one paragraph each. When you go vote Tuesday, and you better fucking vote, try to keep these little tidbits in mind.
Lots of people will base their entire decision on who to vote for on this one issue. This is unfortunate for many reasons, but it does happen quite often. Here is my advice. Abortion cannot be made illegal. Roe v Wade cannot be overturned. If we don’t have the options in place, desperate people will do desperate things. You don’t want young, poor, single mothers going to back alley clinics to get these things done. People die all the time blowing up their apartments cooking meth because they are so distraught that they stomach the risks of blowing themselves to kingdom come in order to make ends meet. Desperation is a bitch people. I do not, nor will I ever, condone abortion as a method of birth control. However, it needs to stay a viable option for those that are so inclined. If you want less abortions, then we need more solid sex education. The problem is that certain people freak out if you teach anything besides abstinence. Unfortunately for them, people do not abstain. Let’s end this antiquated line of thinking. While we’re at it, let’s do everything we can to make health care more affordable and available to the poorest in the US. The populations with the highest rate of abortions are Black and Hispanic, which are also among the poorest. Maybe if they could afford the monthly birth control pill that a lot of women take they wouldn’t find themselves in this mess in the first place. Start teaching kids to use birth control, make health care for the lower class more affordable so they can afford the pill, and keep a healthy option open for the desperate and we’ll not have to worry about the number of abortions increasing. Of the two mainstream candidates, Barack Obama is ahead of McCain in making these things happen. You even get a bonus perk here in that more safe sex will result in less STDs. Less STDs means less health care expenses which means… cheaper health care for all.
Unfortunately, both mainstream candidates oppose gay marriage. I never understood why people give the slightest bit of a shit with what people do in their private lives. Who the fuck cares if you’re gay and want to get married? Does it make one iota of difference to the Christian Conservative in rural Missouri if a same sex couple in New York want to get married? No it doesn’t. However, I’m not an idiot and I realize this is one of those issues we’re going to have to take baby steps towards getting fixed. To that end, we need to vote for the candidate who will get us at least somewhat closer to a society that fully accepts all people. That candidate, based off his vote against the Federal Marriage Amendment, is Barack Obama. It really bothers me that he opposes gay marriage, but he has a hell of a lot better chance of getting elected than Cynthia McKinney.
Well, I believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman’s back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.
My dearest reader, these are crazy times indeed. I’ve been hearing a lot of ballyhoo about the credit default swaps and what they mean for the future of the financial system. Well, after watching the following video from Marketplace, I have a much better idea of what is going on. It is a long video, about ten minutes, but it will explain the thing for you in pretty simple English.
Enjoy.
Untangling credit default swaps from Marketplace on Vimeo.
So there we go. The current financial system allows for bets to be placed with nothing really backing up the person making the bet, and the people that have to pay up on the bet are set up in such a way that they have to bring other institutions down with them when the fit hits the shan. This is very similar to what went down in the housing market. People could buy houses, with no money down, on risky adjustable rate mortgages with the assumption that they will hold on to the house only for a few years and then sell it for a profit. If it works, the home buyer keeps the profits. If it does not work, then the lender basically has to take the fall. The bank could call the buyer and say, “You owe us money.” but if the buyer can’t pay it, then there really isn’t anything that can be done.
Essentially, you’ve got a situation where people could do whatever they want because the risk was, more or less, assumed by someone else. When you’re playing with the house’s money you don’t truly appreciate the repercussions when things go south.
My advice? Spend less than you earn, and don’t get paralyzed by fear. Live your life with optimism and keep a cool head. Even if this financial crisis causes the world to descend into chaos, which is highly unlikely, cooler heads will eventually prevail.
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