CSI San Andreas II
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Mooo

Tyler Durden: [pointing at an emergency instruction manual on a plane] You know why they put oxygen masks on planes?
Narrator: So you can breath.
Tyler Durden: Oxygen gets you high. In a catastrophic emergency, you're taking giant panicked breaths. Suddenly you become euphoric, docile. You accept your fate. It's all right here. Emergency water landing - 600 miles an hour. Blank faces, calm as Hindu cows.
Narrator: That's, um... That's an interesting theory.

Amen.
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The New Fox News: CNN

I know lots of lefty fanatics have been saying for a long time that CNN has become an outlet for the right. That's strong talk. It's not been like Fox, at any rate.

But this morning I happened to turn CNN on for the first time in months. There was Daryn "I'm having sex with Rush Limbaugh" Kagan going on about last night's state of the union.

"Response to Bush's speech has been overwhelmingly positive." (Italics implied by her.)

She then went on to show 48% polled said they were favorably impressed. The remaining 52% were split between not impressed or negatively impressed.

Overwhelming means something else to me. Kind of like "mandate" means something else.

Mybonemybonemybonemybonemybone
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No rolling stones in the northwest right now.
Everything's got moss growing on it.
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What about the moon?!

Sure, wire taps, AIDS, employment, healthcare, Patriot Act, schools, tax benefits for the poor, jobs, and all the other shit he promises.

But what about going to the moon?

Two years ago, in the same State of the Union venue, he promised we were going to the moon. That ball has been totally dropped.

So why should we believe anything he promises tonight?

I think we can totally discount improved healthcare, school budgets, tax benefits for the poor, AIDS money for foreign countries, new jobs... but I reckon we'll see the Patriot Act and wire taps carry on.

Thank god he follows through on something.

CSI: San Andreas
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Spend! No, Save! No, wait... Uh...

In 2001 the Bush admin sent $300 checks out to us individual taxpayers. The intent was to get us to go spend it. It was a way to kickstart the economy. And the message that went with it - in the clearest terms - was, "Go to the store. Buy something. Spend more soon. Let this $300 just be the tip of the iceburg. Your job as a patriotic 'merican is to spend money to save this economy."

Low, low interest rates is what really fueled this spending spree. What low, low interest rates should be doing, and is for some, is to encourage investment. But what it does for the average middle to low income family is to encourage leveraging to the hilt - to buy lots and lots of crap you probably don't need. On the Home Equity Loan they got. Because that segment of society is not a big invest-for-the-future demographic. And pulling out 95% of your home's equity to buy SUVs and boats with is more fun. The very best investment for the future a person could have made is now drained dry so they can buy toys that are devalued the instant the check is signed.

Now we are getting word that the US rate of individual savings is lower than at any point since the depression. It's actually gone negative - we are spending well more than we are earning or saving.

This is considered Very Perilous in economic terms. Bad news. Especially when one considers that the growing majority of the public is in or racing toward retirement.

I'm no economist. Nor is George Bush a leader.

Finally, some pictures of travel

At last, a few pics from the trip south. More may come, or I may just put up a link to snapfish where I'll put up the entire gallery.

San Miguel de Allende. 70,000 people in the valley; 39 Catholic churches. This one is right on the main square. The bird was kizmet.
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The customs shack at El Salvador. Beer bottle top checkers.
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This is the canal. Right when I took this shot, Panama departure called us and asked why we were flying at 1,500 feet... We climbed.
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A ceiba tree. Vicious.
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I love this shot. This was morning in Copan, Honduras.
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San Salvador, El Salvador. Concertina wire on the day care: to keep them in, or to keep us out? Dunno. But I feel safer for someone.
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