If Gen. Patreus had kept his public mouth shut, this lumpenshaman in Gainsville would likely be on Page 32.
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Sep 10, 2010
Sep 9, 2010
Only in SUX
Sioux City folks announce this year's Kingdom of Riverssance.
It's a festival down by the river -- the Big Sioux or the Missouri, don't know or care which.
As a public service I report a suspicion that "Riverssance" is a Chamber of Commerce guy's brainstorm. "Hey, y'know, Riverssance, like we combine river and renaissance, y'know."
And everyone on the committee agrees it is a really fun name.
Blecchh. SUX
The Gnomes
Tam has initiated an interesting little discussion about the decline and fall of your house as an ATM machine.
Which, this rainy morning, reminds me of a man who should be read by anyone curious about how the world works.
Paul Edman was an American investment banker, incredibly successful until he zigged the wrong way by going long on cocoa futures. No crap. Cocoa futures. Heavily leveraged, meaning he wagered borrowed money.
His adventurous life included a stint in a Swiss jail for that. The failure of his sure-thing African cocoa blight brought down his bank, and the resultant prison time illustrates the side point that, in Switzerland, nothing is very illegal except losing money.
He went on to get rich again writing novels about money, including explanations of why the Swiss and their bankers prosper so well. One of the most acute observations ever written about money and economics occurred when he quoted a gnome of Basel: "We are not confident of the ability of the world's politicians to manage their economies intelligently." (I quote -- paraphrase -- from memory, I believe from"The Billion Dollar Sure Thing.")
He meant that most nations elect politicians who pander to their peoples' dull notion that free lunches are nature's way. And free medical care. And free meal loaves. And, in the end, even free Oil of Olay for the masses for so long as even one rich dowager can afford the unguents necessary for the illusion of youth. It is a matter of equity and fairness, isn't it?
A third shift on the presses, Mr. President?
Which, this rainy morning, reminds me of a man who should be read by anyone curious about how the world works.
Paul Edman was an American investment banker, incredibly successful until he zigged the wrong way by going long on cocoa futures. No crap. Cocoa futures. Heavily leveraged, meaning he wagered borrowed money.
His adventurous life included a stint in a Swiss jail for that. The failure of his sure-thing African cocoa blight brought down his bank, and the resultant prison time illustrates the side point that, in Switzerland, nothing is very illegal except losing money.
He went on to get rich again writing novels about money, including explanations of why the Swiss and their bankers prosper so well. One of the most acute observations ever written about money and economics occurred when he quoted a gnome of Basel: "We are not confident of the ability of the world's politicians to manage their economies intelligently." (I quote -- paraphrase -- from memory, I believe from"The Billion Dollar Sure Thing.")
He meant that most nations elect politicians who pander to their peoples' dull notion that free lunches are nature's way. And free medical care. And free meal loaves. And, in the end, even free Oil of Olay for the masses for so long as even one rich dowager can afford the unguents necessary for the illusion of youth. It is a matter of equity and fairness, isn't it?
A third shift on the presses, Mr. President?
Si, Fidel
The new Cuba was invented in the heady Days of Aquarius, two generations back, and left-wing America cheered, as it cheered all things statist, from Hanoi to Peking to Moscow.
But Cuba was even more enchanting. At last, a pattern of lovely, cuddly government right in our own hemisphere.
Pete Seegar and his Guantanamera haunted much of a nation which somehow got the idea it was a revolutionary hymn rather than a routine Tin-Pan-Alley lament by a guy who couldn't get the girl.
Our consciousness was especially raised by frantically caring celebrities orgasmic over the revolucion of Fidel and Che.
Harry Belafonte, representative of the gushers: If you believe in freedom, if you believe in justice, if you believe in democracy, you have no choice but to support Fidel Castro.
Other true believers in the Cuban Miracle included Chevy Chase, Kevin Costner, Oliver Stone, Stephen Spielberg, Vanessa Redgrave, all ready on a second's notice to lecture us as to why socialist dictatorships work so well.
Their pronouncements did not, unfortunately reach the ears of selected Cuban citizens, the Castro Gulag not being wired for cable.
---
Uh oh.
"The Cuban Model doesn't even work for us anymore. -- Fidel Castro, speaking to Jeffery Goldberg of The Atlantic.
There is another point of interest in Goldberg's fawning essay on his conversation with Fidel.
We can wonder why he seems so delighted with this old thief, jailer, torturer, and mass murderer who almost single-handedly destroyed every productive human being and institution on his island. Maybe it was because Jeffie was so delighted with himself for charming ol' Fidel into inviting him along on a dolphin-gawking party.
---
Raul Castro, the little brother now in charge, is quoted as saying Cuban citizens will need to demand less of government. We are entitled to wish for even remotely similar words from a the presidente of a country just 90 miles off Cuban shores.
But Cuba was even more enchanting. At last, a pattern of lovely, cuddly government right in our own hemisphere.
Pete Seegar and his Guantanamera haunted much of a nation which somehow got the idea it was a revolutionary hymn rather than a routine Tin-Pan-Alley lament by a guy who couldn't get the girl.
Our consciousness was especially raised by frantically caring celebrities orgasmic over the revolucion of Fidel and Che.
Harry Belafonte, representative of the gushers: If you believe in freedom, if you believe in justice, if you believe in democracy, you have no choice but to support Fidel Castro.
Other true believers in the Cuban Miracle included Chevy Chase, Kevin Costner, Oliver Stone, Stephen Spielberg, Vanessa Redgrave, all ready on a second's notice to lecture us as to why socialist dictatorships work so well.
Their pronouncements did not, unfortunately reach the ears of selected Cuban citizens, the Castro Gulag not being wired for cable.
---
Uh oh.
"The Cuban Model doesn't even work for us anymore. -- Fidel Castro, speaking to Jeffery Goldberg of The Atlantic.
There is another point of interest in Goldberg's fawning essay on his conversation with Fidel.
We can wonder why he seems so delighted with this old thief, jailer, torturer, and mass murderer who almost single-handedly destroyed every productive human being and institution on his island. Maybe it was because Jeffie was so delighted with himself for charming ol' Fidel into inviting him along on a dolphin-gawking party.
---
Raul Castro, the little brother now in charge, is quoted as saying Cuban citizens will need to demand less of government. We are entitled to wish for even remotely similar words from a the presidente of a country just 90 miles off Cuban shores.
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