F**k the Bailout

I'm pretty liberal on most things.  I voted for Kucinich in the primaries, even though he was basically out of the race by the time of the California contest.  He was the candidate that most closely represented my views (even though I acknowledge on some things he was a little woo-woo).  I honestly believe he would have made a great POTUS.  I especially applaud his openness to gay marriage.  Most candidates, including Obama, probably favor it, but pragmatically (or fearfully) won't support it.

But this "bailout" thing has got me feeling pretty Republican.  If it fails, it will probably hurt my own already tenuous finances.  But still, I do not support it.  Why should the US taxpayer be on the hook for $700 billion to the benefit of just a few Wall Street firms?  First of all, I do not believe it will really end the bloodletting.  And second, why address this problem from the top down, rather than from the bottom up?  I mean, the problem is shaky mortgages, right?  So why not use that money to guarantee the average person's mortgage?

I mean, it doesn't seem fair if the government steps in to save some people if they default on their mortgages.  But why is the bailout of a few corporations any fairer?

To quote Airplane, the Movie: "Shana, they bought their ticket, they knew what they were getting into.  I say, let 'em crash!"

House Cleaning

Nothing makes me want a job more than having to clean the house.

We're having another open house tomorrow (having lowered the price again) and the house is disgusting by Ellen's standards (just a little dusty by my standards) so the house has to be cleaned .  We waited and waited for the cleaning lady to show up, but then remembered we fired her ass months ago when we decided we needed to save money.

So Ellen and I spent much of today cleaning the house.  Why, oh why, did we buy such a big house?  Can't we just live in 500 sq ft of this one and and just sweep the dirt into the rest of the house?

Later, I have to vacuum the pool.  If I find any dog poop in it, I'm moving to the YMCA.

Sonny McLean's

First of all, sorry it's been so long since the last post.  Nothing much has happened.  A few fruitless job interviews, a few movies, a few nice dinners.  And Tom Brady going down.

But this afternoon, since Ellen declined to go with me to a sports bar to see a Pats game, I decided to drive to Santa Monica (45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours, depending on traffic) to Sonny McLean's, a Boston sports bar.  (Can't afford the NFL Sunday Ticket this year.)During the previous two World Series in which Boston participated (and won) you couldn't get in to Sonny McLean's without being a regular.

Anyway it was really fun.  When I arrived the Red Sox game was on TV, and the Sox managed to fend off the Blue Jays and win, right before the Pats game went on at 1:15 PM Pacific time.

Almost everyone in the place -- and I think by the middle of the game there were maybe 150 people -- wore some sort of Boston garb.  There were Moss jerseys, Brady jerseys, Bruschi jerseys, and other contemporary Pats player jerseys.  But also lots of vintage jerseys, bright red: people like it to be known they have been fans for a long time.  Also plenty of Red Sox attire, including a "Feed the Monster" t-shirt.  One guy also had a "Title Town" t-shirt withsilhouettes of the two World Series trophies, three Super Bowl trophies, and the recent NBA championship trophy on the front.  And best of all, there was a guy with a "Cassel" jersey -- can't be more than 6 days old.

It was tons of fun to have everyone rooting for your team.  First half was kind of a nail-biter, but the second half was pretty much all Pats except for one good Brett Far-vra drive.  Pats are now 2-0.

The four large glasses of Sam Adams October Ale helped the enjoyment immensely.

Look for me there next week!