Most Annoying Term I Keep Reading...

...is "Sheeple"--used frequently by libertarians and right-wing conspiracy nuts, but occasionally used by the far left's tinfoil hat wearing groups as well.

F'ing Schwarzenegger

Never forget, the ass vetoed a bill allowing same sex marriage--you know, sanctity of marriage and all that.

Debt Ceiling

Don't listen to the people who don't want to raise the debt ceiling. Even the appearance of default by allowing our debt to hit the ceiling will suffice to put us on the crash course toward major global depression, probably on a scale worse than the Great Depression.

It's disgusting how Boehner is using Republicans' and Tea Partiers' own ignorance on the matter, "threatening" to not raise the debt ceiling unless massive spending cuts and no tax raises happen. It's possibly the most hollow threat I've ever heard. So hollow it has no effect on investment markets because they know he's full of shit.

The 2012 Republican Field

I'd like to be able to spout some wisdom or acute analysis, but all I can muster is, "What a joke." I guess this is the logical direction in which magical thinking takes you--perceiving Palin and Trump et al as worthy of consideration.

Wisconsin and the Unions

Keep fighting the good fight. I hope you can recall those bastards.

One thing I don't understand is how anyone could be shocked that Republican politicians are attacking unions and workers' collective bargaining rights. To me, it seems obvious what is going on, and, as usual, it's all politics.

This began when the Supreme Court voted to allow unlimited campaign contributions from corporations, despite the fact that corporations clearly aren't citizens and thus have no standing as such under the constitution, they wield a terrifying amount of economic power, and they primarily have a profit motive rather than any patriotic or civic motive. It was basically a big gift to the Republican party, who would benefit from being the corporate shills they already are. You'll remember that supporters of this travesty on the political Right were quick to point out that it wasn't "party politics" because unions would be able to contribute unlimited funds as well, which would likely go to Democrats.

It's no surprise, then, that following that Court decision the Right would then attack unions, attempting to destroy them, if not directly, then indirectly by making them impotent. Without an effective union contributing to it, the Democratic party would lose important campaign funding. This is exactly what's going on in Wisconsin. It's about politics.

It's not truly about the budget. The teachers union already agreed to the wage and benefits cuts that the governor demanded. This is about attacking the Democratic Party by undermining a major donor organization--if workers' rights get trampled, so much the better.

The opening salvo against workers--against the people--was fired from the rightist ideologues on the Supreme Court.

Luck and life

So I'm feeling pretty good today. One of my wife's best friends, who lives down the street, just had her house saved from foreclosure, and I was heavily responsible. Our friend had been dealing with it for 14 months, and was actually expecting to have a sale date from the foreclosure proceedings any day now.

Well, I happened to catch about a minute of a news story about a workshop in which Wells Fargo had mortgage guys empowered to change loan terms to help people. The news said it was going for one more day (only 2 days total) and they would take walk-ins, and that further info could be found on the news channel's website. There was no real publicity for the event, and apparently few people knew about it.

I immediately told my wife to get in touch with our friend and make sure she knew about this. The website didn't have any info, though. Still, my wife called her and left a message, telling her to look into it.

It bugged me though, so I googled something like "Wells Fargo loan modification mortgage help Portland, OR" and finally found a pdf file from Wells Fargo that described the event. I also found an online news story from the Portland Tribune, which had some testimonials by people who had their houses saved. I sent both links to my wife for her to forward.

Then, I kept pestering my wife, who kept trying to get in touch with her friend.

Anyway, she had been out of town the evening before, and hadn't really checked her messages, so she didn't get the message late. Finally, she got the message in the early afternoon. Still, she was really skeptical, and thought it was just some kind of informational session--though I sent the newsstory specifically so she could see that people were actually on the ground changing mortgages. She realized she needed to go, confirmed they still were taking walk-ins, and dropped off her son at our house while she went.

She showed up that evening with a bottle of champagne and lots of tears. She had gotten her loan modification.

It's weird, how accidental it all was too. I was watching a K-State basketball game, and normally wouldn't even turn the channel, let alone to turn to the local news. But, we were expecting a snow storm to move in the following day, so I flipped over briefly to get the forecast, and it just happened to be the channel reporting on the workshop. It was such a chance thing.

Anyway, it felt really good to have played a part in her getting her house saved from foreclosure.

Writing a novel

So my professional academic prospects are pretty bleak given the state of field and lack of jobs available. So, in lieu of finishing my dissertation, I have, for better or ill, paused and begun working on a fantasy novel.

It's tough work to create something like that. I'm pretty good at world-building I think, but less so at coming up with a compelling story. A good fantasy novel needs both. Hopefully I'm up to the challenge. So far I've made it past the several stumbling blocks that have cropped up, namely with internal consistency, characterization of the protagonist, and certain plot points.

I think it will be a fun story all said and done, and I'm planning it as a series, probably a trilogy. Anyway, here's to a successful career detour.