Christmas Rambling

At this point in the season, my resolve to rein in my inner Grinch and present a Holly Jolly Christmas attitude to one and all is beginning to slip just a little. OK, a lot. Why doesn't Christmas just get here and be done with it???

On the other hand, Amazon.com is holding one of Jay's presents until the last possible shipping date to get it here by December 24. And, that's getting on my last nerve.

Several years ago, I discovered, to my eternal delight, that I could do all my Christmas shopping on-line, and avoid the malls and the crowds altogether. All I had to do was start early enough. I got it down to a science, ordering presents, requesting that they be wrapped, and sent to the people I bought them for. That way, I didn't even have to go to the Post Office laden with boxes.

Last year, I refined it even further and send everyone gift cards from places I knew they liked to shop, leaning heavily toward Amazon.com. We're all avid readers, so that's always a good choice, and you can get almost everything else through them, too, and I can collect enough points to receive a gift certificate of my own from them about twice a year. How bad could that be? Seems like a win-win situation to me.

This year, I'm still ordering from Amazon.com, but I am not sending gift cards to any of the stores I usually frequent on line. Who knows if they will even be in business by January? I have also managed, for the first time ever, to adhere strictly to my budget. I have always been notorious for overdoing things until the last few years. But, I think I have finally pared down as far as I can and still give anyone presents at all. You might say I've hit rock bottom.

But I have hope that things will begin to get better - not immediately, but I think we'll start noticing by next Christmas that the economy, like me, has hit rock bottom and is beginning to trend upward instead of down.

Why? Because it simply has to.

Bail Out or No Bail Out?

Lately, I've been feeling more and more like Miss Pittypat, in Gone With the Wind. Next thing you know, I'll be waiving my lace hanky around, dabbing my forehead with it and dithering, "Oh, Ah just don't know, Uncle Peter! Ah just don't know!"

When the announcement was made that the Republicans and Democrats had reached a bipartisan agreement on the $700 Billion Bail-out, I was relieved. Then, the next day, after it all went up in a cloud of Republican smoke, I was, well, relieved. WTF!?!

Maybe I just don't understand the situation. Ya think? There are one or two things that I am sure about, though.

1. Nancy Pelosi made a silly speech, attacking the Bush Administration. Even if she was right, it was not the time or place for that kind of speech.

2. All the Republicans who whined (smarmy John Boener) that they voted against the bill because Nancy hurt their widdle feelings need to put on their big-boy pants and get over it.

After further thought, I'm still relieved that the bill didn't pass. I know we need to take action of some sort, but BushCo was trying to shove it down our throats. I'm deeply suspicious when anyone tries to ram a bill through Congress and the Senate, claiming time is of the essence. The original plan was only three pages long. Does that seem right, considering the extent of the catastrophe? It gave Paulson (who?) absolute power, with no oversight and no accountability.

The second attempt wasn't much better. It did call for some oversight, but didn't call for any accountability for the people who got us into this whole mess in the first place. No punishment for the fatcats who made out like bandits. And, it didn't offer any bail-out for the citizens who got caught up in the frenzy of greed that led to this economic disaster.

Maybe when they convene again Thursday, they will be able to put aside all the posturing and politicking (Note to John McCain: Just butt out!), and put some real thought into what is best for the country in the long run, keeping in mind that more than a few heads need to roll and some jail terms need to be judiciously meted out.

Keep your fingers crossed.

More later.

Stop The Presses

At the rate things are going right now, all the illegal aliens in the U.S. will soon be knocking down the fence, trying to get abck into Mexico. One little problem solved.

There was a popular saying here in the south when I was growing up. It went, "Save your Confederate money, boys, the South's gonna rise again!" Well, I hope some of it was saved, because is may be worth something again, soon.

So, now, we're printing money to aid in the bailout. At least, that was the word last week. If that's true, and they are dusting off the old printing presses, we'll soon be taking money to the grocery store in wheelbarrows, just to buy a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk.

And, our fearless leader? Well, he appeared a couple of times last week, rising out of the mists of Washington D.C., reminiscent of Brigadoon, spouted a few platitudes about the economy, and faded away into the White House, again.

Media types are in a swivet over the situation. Why? Caring? Compassion? No. Because they are all losing lots and lots of money. Too bad, so sad. Maybe they'll have to go back to working for a living, and doing research and checking facts.

Mitt Romney made a comment at the GOP Convention that went: "McCain's going to take a weed-whacker to regulation. Think about it.

Here's something else to think about. Suppose John McCain wins the election. This would be bad enough, but suppose he has a sudden fatal heart attack. Suppose Sarah Palin gets to make decisions about the economic problems we're having. Suppose she has to deal with the Iraq war. Suppose there is a devastating international incident, and suppose Sarah Palin must deal with world leaders. Suppose the last three more liberal justices of the Supreme Court resign or worse, and Sara Palin gets to decide on their successors. THINK HARD!

Finally, Secretary Paulson, who is not an elected official, is pushing hard to get Congress to move fast and pass the bill that will give him unlimited power without accountability or oversight. Think about that.

And, by the way, I don't ever want to hear anyone in the Republican Party accusing the Democrats of being Socialists.

Disjointed Thoughts

Thanks to Big John, I have a new award to add to my blog roll. If you haven't read his blog, give it a try. He's very interesting, very funny, and very irreverent.

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I haven't paid a lot of attention to updating my blogroll lately, I'm afraid. Since I use Google Reader, I tend to put new blogs on it and forget to also put them on my blogroll. I'll have to do better.

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I miss Annie, of Little Rock Photos. Can't find anyone else who takes pics of my old home town. I sure hope she comes back in the fall.

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Maybe the reason I can't come up with any new posts is because I'm preoccupied with politics at the moment. In fact, it's really driving me crazy (Jay would tell you "That's not a drive, it's a short putt." haha, he's a card.) I simply can't commit to voting for Barack Obama. I THINK I'm going to vote for him, but there's just something............. On the other hand, I'm a good Democrat, by cracky, and I've had to hold my nose and vote more times than I can count, so I imagine I'll cave this time, too.

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Thanks to the economy, I can't justify buying the number of paperbacks I usuall buy, so I've been getting books from our local joke for a library. Since I can't count on getting bestsellers as soon as they come out, I have resorted to reading older mysteries, which means I'm reading books by people whose books I don't usually buy. Lately, I'm slogging through Jeffery Deaver and Steve Martini. Actually, I'm enjoying them.

The local library is pretty much held hostage by the Women's Book Club. This group has been around since just before the earth cooled off, and I suppose they should be given credit for our even having a library. But, they've assisted the Board in a few pretty costly decisions, such as trying to get a bond issue passed because the building needed a new air conditioning system. This ploy worked the first time they asked, but the next time, after they had used all the money for something else, it didn't fly. We may be slow, but we're not stupid.

Then, they had this idea that the way to make extra money was to charge library patrons "rent" for books on the Best Seller lists. In fairness, I don't think ours was the only library trying to pull this little scam. (I'm also sure they didn't view it as a scam, either. But, I'm the suspicious type.) Anyway, they saw the light fairly soon.

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I guess everyone is pulling back a bit these days. And, naturally, since the retailers are beginning to feel the pinch, they, in their infinite wisdom, will decide the way to fight this is to raise prices. Isn't this just the opposite of supply and demand?

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The Enquirer ran a story about John Edwards and his alleged long-time girlfriend and their "love child". This story has been floating around for a while, and I have no idea whether it is true, nor do I care, frankly. After Bill Clinton, it's going to take more than that to create a scandal. Since this story ran, however, Jay has been doing his fist-pumping "I told you so" superior dance. For some reason, he has an unnatural dislike for John Edwards. It's very strange, if you ask me. He doesn't even know the guy, and he has called him a "fake" since day one, when he ran for Veep.

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Did I imagine things, or was the media coverage of the death of Jesse Helms rather tepid? I got the feeling people were trying desperately to find something good to say about the man.

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More later.