1/ If everything we are hearing about the results of the elections to come Tuesday is true the Republicans will probably take control of the House, and Paul Krugman spells out what the consequences are if this happens.....get ready for a nasty, partisan and depressing couple of years...
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No, we can’t. This is going to be terrible. In fact, future historians will probably look back at the 2010 election as a catastrophe for America, one that condemned the nation to years of political chaos and economic weakness.
Start with the politics.
In the late-1990s, Republicans and Democrats were able to work together on some issues. President Obama seems to believe that the same thing can happen again today. In a recent interview with National Journal, he sounded a conciliatory note, saying that Democrats need to have an “appropriate sense of humility,” and that he would “spend more time building consensus.” Good luck with that.
2/ After that certified downer, an amusing column from Gail Collins on the lessons learned from this election....in advance.....I think she's psychic.......
There have been so many possible worst campaign moments that it’s impossible to pick a favorite. The woman who got stomped by a Rand Paul supporter? Rand Paul’s head-stomping response? (“It is an unusual situation to have so many people so passionate on both sides.”) The political operative in South Carolina who felt compelled to go on television and confess to a one-night stand with the gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley? Sharron Angle’s “some of you look a little more Asian to me” remark to the Latino students? Sharron Angle’s announcement that Dearborn, Mich., is governed by Islamic Sharia law? Sharron Angle?
My own personal worst campaign moment came at the New York gubernatorial debate, when the lights went up to reveal seven contenders vying for the right to lead the state, one of whom was famous only for her claim to be the madam who supplied Eliot Spitzer with prostitutes.
3/ Good column from Nicholas Kristof on why pot should be legalised........he has three main reasons, the first below.....
Our nearly century-long experiment in banning marijuana has failed as abysmally as Prohibition did, and California may now be pioneering a saner approach. Sure, there are risks if California legalizes pot. But our present drug policy has three catastrophic consequences.
First, it squanders billions of dollars that might be better used for education. California now spends more money on prisons than on higher education. It spends about $216,000 per year on each juvenile detainee, and just $8,000 on each child in the troubled Oakland public school system.
Each year, some 750,000 Americans are arrested for possession of small amounts of marijuana. Is that really the optimal use of our police force?
And a recent poll from the LA Times saying California Prop 19 is trailing 51% to 39%...but the poll reflects the "establishment" who are desperate to see this fail.....think about it - a pollster calls you and asks if you approve of Prop 19.....would you tell them the truth?
Just days ago, Proposition 19's prospects seemed shaky. A Los Angeles Times/USC poll found likely voters opposing it by 51% to 39%, and the Yes on Prop. 19 campaign was short on funds. Then George Soros, the billionaire financier and philanthropist with a long-standing interest in loosening drug laws, resuscitated its chances with a last-minute $1-million donation.
4/ Fawlty Towers - some say [and I definitely agree] the funniest comedy series ever made....the cottage we rented in Wales had a CD and we watched two of them again....they still hold up 30 years later.....
Here's a 2 minute clip of Basil in "The Germans"......
5/ Awww..... nice to know the oil oligarchs are doing just fine.....warm fuzzies everyone........Exxon profits up 52%.....not to worry, oil will last forever, Exxon and the rest of the boys will take care of us......
Exxon’s performance reflected the strong results of several other large oil companies, although profits still cannot compare with the records set two and three years ago when oil and gas prices were substantially higher than they are today.
Royal Dutch Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, reported earlier Thursday that its third-quarter profit rose by 7 percent.ConocoPhillips
“Industry fundamentals have lifted sharply from a year ago,” said Fadel Gheit, a senior oil analyst at Oppenheimer & Company. “A rising tide raises all ships.”
6/ Not sure how many of you open the music videos, but here's one that's unique - from the French band Daft Punk - "Around the World".....absolutely wonderful, more dance than music but it's captivating.....well worth the 3 minutes.....almost as hypnotic as "I'm not a witch"
7/ Property Market
The foreclosure crisis truly is a horrible mess.......who knows where this is going to end up.....
As lenders have reviewed tens of thousands of mortgages for errors in recent weeks, more and more homeowners are stepping forward to say that they were victims of bank mistakes — and in many cases, demanding legal recourse.
Some homeowners say the banks tried to foreclose on a house that did not even have a mortgage. Others say they believed they were negotiating with the bank in good faith. Still others say that even though they are delinquent on their mortgage payments, they deserve the right to due process before being evicted.
Some consumer lawyers say they are now swamped with homeowners saying they have been wronged by slipshod bank practices and want to fight to keep their homes.
8/ Halliburton, Dick Cheney's old company, knew the cement would fail in the BP blowout well but went ahead and used it anyway.....think anything will come of this? Not in this political environment.....the oligarchs have it all taken care of.....
In the first official finding of responsibility for the blowout, which killed 11 workers and led to the biggest offshore oil spill in American history, the commission staff determined that Halliburton had conducted three laboratory tests that indicated that the cement mixture did not meet industry standards.
The result of at least one of those tests was given on March 8 to BP, which failed to act upon it, the panel’s lead investigator, Fred H. Bartlit Jr., said ina letter delivered to the commissioners on Thursday. “There is no indication that Halliburton highlighted to BP the significance of the foam stability data or that BP personnel raised any questions about it,” Mr. Bartlit said in his report.
9/ Jon Stewart and the President - didn't see this show as a lot of US TV and videos are blocked from access from Europe......but it sounds good.....
“You ran on very high rhetoric, hope and change, and the Democrats this year seem to be running on, ‘Please baby, one more chance,’ ” Mr. Stewart said at one point. At another, he wondered aloud whether Mr. Obama had traded the audacity of 2008 for pragmatism in 2010, offering a platform of “Yes we can, given certain conditions.”
Mr. Obama paused for a moment. “I think I would say, ‘Yes we can, but —— ”
Mr. Stewart, laughing, cut him off. The president pushed ahead, finishing his sentence: “But it’s not going to happen overnight.”
The gentle ribbing was perhaps a price the White House was willing to pay for the opportunity to reach Mr. Stewart’s valuable audience — young people who turned out in droves for the president, but who are deeply dissatisfied with him.
10/ Random notes from Europe
It's rare to see grass in Portugal....mostly rocks....only upscale hotels and golf courses have grass, probably because of the water shortage.....it's quite disorienting.....
Fish is such a culture in Portugal.....every coastal town has a small port with it's fishing fleet. Mostly small trawlers, 30-40 feet, going out every morning at 6am, coming back at dusk.......
All restaurants have fish, mostly grilled, always fresh and delicious. Grilled sardines are a staple food, totally taken for granted, normally the cheapest thing on the menu.
Just got me thinking - what will happen to this country when the fish aren't there any more? It's jobs, fishermen, the local markets, restaurants and more but it's also the essence of the culture of Portugal and most of the Mediterranean....fish, and cheap fish too......
The Spanish, Japanese, Chinese and other long net trawlers are decimating the oceans of all fish, and some scientists give it 5 to 10 years to when a lot of fish stocks collapse irrevocably.....which then leads to how will the Portuguese culture survive without fish?
The cities are incredibly clean - there are waste bins everywhere and the city workers are out early picking up the garbage, but the people don't litter as much as the US.....and neighborhood recycling centers are everywhere even it the cities.....Europeans separate their recycling by plastics, glass, cardboard and paper and all the citizens do it.....I know in Mount Dora they have special trucks that take all recyclables and somehow separate them ......somewhere........
We're in Lisbon, and have yet to see a fat person in Portugal......we saw a few Germans on vacation in the Algarve who obviously enjoyed a few brewskis, but no obesity......hmmmm......
Again - the food. The taste of the vegetables and meats are like the old days - the chickens are chickeny, tomatoes are tomatoey etc etc......and the portion sizes are smaller than the US.....we haven't had a bad meal yet, and we're desperately walking miles every day to compensate.....
Parking is a nightmare in Europe.....you have to be lucky or rich to get legal parking in the cities, and this is October! Tourist season is almost over, and still it's tough. I cannot even imagine what a vision from hell the roads in Europe are like from mid-June to August.....don't even think about a driving vacation here in the summer.....
We rented an Audi A3 1.6 TDI for the last four days, and again got 55-60 mpg.......like the VW Passat Bluemotion it was a tad underpowered but we did over 1000 km and didn't have to fill it until we turned it in....it had the stop engine function at traffic lights, and the engine starts again when you press the clutch......you can get the same Audi in the US but the only model is a 2 liter TDI, which gets 30-35 mpg.
Oh well....consumers get a little more demanding when gas is the equivalent of $8.00 a gallon.....
Apart from one day of rain in the UK we have been really lucky with the weather....until yesterday, when Lisbon had a storm that dropped 4 inches of rain in a couple of hours, flooding drains and sewers.....whole neighborhoods were under water.....and this is a dry country.....hmmmm.....climate change? Nawww.....
11/ "Why sisterly chats make people happier". The title says it all.....very good story.....for all humans, not just the ladies......
My own recent research about sisters suggests a more subtle dynamic. I interviewed more than 100 women about their sisters, but if they also had brothers, I asked them to compare. Most said they talked to their sisters more often, at greater length and, yes, about more personal topics. This often meant that they felt closer to their sisters, but not always.
One woman, for example, says she talks for hours by phone to her two brothers as well as her two sisters. But the topics differ. She talks to her sisters about their personal lives; with her brothers she discusses history, geography and books.
12/ Movie Time
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest - Swedish version - We've just finished the second book [Played with Fire] and have Netflixed the second movie.....but here's the third movie review and it sounds excellent.....
Look at Noomi Rapace's picture - is this not Lisbeth Salander? How can they find a Hollywood actress to replace her?
And here's the 30 second trailer.....oooohhhhh.....
A small movie for your Netflix queue......"Monsters"......
Earthling romance blossoms among alien invaders in“Monsters,” a wondrously atmospheric drama from the young British filmmaker Gareth Edwards.
Set in 2015, six years after a space probe accidentally seeded a large slice of northern Mexico with extraterrestrials, the film accompanies a dour news photographer (Scoot McNairy) on the hunt for creature close-ups. Unhappily assigned to escort his boss’s daughter (Whitney Able) from Mexico to the United States, he is dismayed to learn their only route leads directly through the quarantined “infected zone.” Even more dismaying, alien migration is imminent, and the beasts are restless.
13/ TV Review
"The Walking Dead"....the last mention here was a news story - this is a review of the program.....and it's good.....of course it's good, it's got zombies!
All it really takes to outrun a zombie is a car. Also, a bullet to the head will stop one cold. And that may explain why so many men prefer zombies to vampires: zombie stories pivot on men’s two favorite things: fast cars and guns. Better yet, zombies almost never talk. Vampires, especially of late, are mostly a female obsession. Works like “Twilight” and “True Blood”suggest that the best way to defeat a vampire is to make him fall so in love that he resists the urge to bite. And that’s a powerful, if naïve, female fantasy: a mate so besotted he gives up his most primal cravings for the woman he loves.
Vampires are imbued with romance. Zombies are not. (Zombies are from Mars, vampires are from Venus.)
Todays video - Heinz Microwave....
Todays political joke
Retirement Dinner
A priest was being honored at his retirement dinner after 25 years in the parish. A leading local politician and member of the congregation was chosen to make the presentation and to give a little speech at the dinner.
However, he was delayed, so the priest decided to say his own few words while they waited:
"I got my first impression of the parish from the first confession I heard here. I thought I had been assigned to a terrible place. The very first person who entered my confessional told me he had stolen a television set and, when questioned by the police, was able to lie his way out of it. He had stolen money from his parents, embezzled from his employer, had an affair with his boss's wife, taken illegal drugs, and gave VD to his sister..
I was appalled. But as the days went on I learned that my people were not all like that and I had, indeed, come to a fine parish full of good and loving people.'...
Just as the priest finished his talk, the politician arrived full of
apologies at being late. He immediately began to make the presentation and gave his talk:
'I'll never forget the first day Father Michael arrived as our parish
priest", said the politician. "In fact, I had the honor of being the first
person to go to him for confession."
Todays Nun joke
Cabbie picks up a Nun. She gets into the cab, and notices that the VERY handsome cab driver won't stop staring at her.
She asks him why he is staring.
He replies: "I have a question to ask, but I don't want to offend you"
She answers, "My son, you cannot offend me. When you're as old as I am and have been a nun as long as I have, you get a chance to see and hear just about everything. I'm sure that there's nothing you could say or ask that I would find offensive."
"Well, I've always had a fantasy to have a nun kiss me."
She responds, "Well, let's see what we can do about that: #1, you have to be single and #2, you must be Catholic."
The cab driver is very excited and says, "Yes, I'm single and Catholic!
"OK" the nun says. "Pull into the next alley."
The nun fulfills his fantasy with a kiss that would make a hooker blush.
But when they get back on the road, the cab driver starts crying.
"My dear child," said the nun, "Why are you crying?"
"Forgive me but I've sinned. I lied and I must confess; I'm married and I'm Jewish."
The nun says, "That's OK. My name is Kevin and I'm going to a Halloween party."
She asks him why he is staring.
He replies: "I have a question to ask, but I don't want to offend you"
She answers, "My son, you cannot offend me. When you're as old as I am and have been a nun as long as I have, you get a chance to see and hear just about everything. I'm sure that there's nothing you could say or ask that I would find offensive."
"Well, I've always had a fantasy to have a nun kiss me."
She responds, "Well, let's see what we can do about that: #1, you have to be single and #2, you must be Catholic."
The cab driver is very excited and says, "Yes, I'm single and Catholic!
"OK" the nun says. "Pull into the next alley."
The nun fulfills his fantasy with a kiss that would make a hooker blush.
But when they get back on the road, the cab driver starts crying.
"My dear child," said the nun, "Why are you crying?"
"Forgive me but I've sinned. I lied and I must confess; I'm married and I'm Jewish."
The nun says, "That's OK. My name is Kevin and I'm going to a Halloween party."
Todays Irish jokes
Paddy, the Irish boyfriend of the woman whose head was found on Dublin beach was asked to identify her.
A detective held up the head to which point Paddy said "I don't think that's her, she wasn't that tall!"
A detective held up the head to which point Paddy said "I don't think that's her, she wasn't that tall!"
Paddy calls Easyjet to book a flight.
The operator asks "How many people are flying with you?"
Paddy replies "I don't know! It’s your f***ing plane!"
The operator asks "How many people are flying with you?"
Paddy replies "I don't know! It’s your f***ing plane!"
Two Irish couples decided to swap partners for the night.
After 3 hours of amazing sex, Paddy says "I wonder how the girls are getting on".
After 3 hours of amazing sex, Paddy says "I wonder how the girls are getting on".
Paddy takes his new wife to bed on their wedding night.
She undresses, lies on the bed spread-eagled and says
"You know what I want, don't you?"
"Yeah," says Paddy. "The whole feckin' bed by the looks of it!"
She undresses, lies on the bed spread-eagled and says
"You know what I want, don't you?"
"Yeah," says Paddy. "The whole feckin' bed by the looks of it!"
Q. What's a Catholic priest and a pint of Guinness got in common?
A. A black coat, white collar and you've got to watch your arse if you get a dodgy one!
A. A black coat, white collar and you've got to watch your arse if you get a dodgy one!
( Wonder what dodgy means...)
Mick and Paddy are reading head stones at an English cemetery.
Mick says "Crikey! There's a bloke here who was 152!"
Paddy says "What's his name?"
Mick replies "Miles, from London !"
Mick says "Crikey! There's a bloke here who was 152!"
Paddy says "What's his name?"
Mick replies "Miles, from London !"
