sonar love

Here’s a little grammar discussion to lighten the mood. It seems like I’m forever trying to sort out the ‘I and me’ conundrum and it never sticks. I guess me should hang around those who are dubbed ‘mavens’.

I heard an interesting interview on NPR this morning (the podcast is better than the written article) that looked at our current economic troubles and measured them against Japan’s in the 1990s. Since there aren’t many economic wonks around the Hilltop I’m not sure how strong the support is for the points put forth but they are intriguing. I would hope that if there’s a working, breathing example of what we’re experiencing, someone would grab it by the scruff of the neck and take a good, long look at it. The gist seems to be that if private spending disappears (in Japan the interest rates were lowered from 8% to zero in an attempt to bolster private money movement, but to no avail) something or somebody needs to step in and fill the void. The obvious, and only, choice is the government but this leads to more debt; and isn’t it rich that the word debt just scares the bejeezus out of people? In Japan, the government infused some money but just as quickly backed off due to the debt burden; they tried again, and again, and again over time but the false starts and intermittent chunks of cash probably did more harm than good. The problem, and theory of repair, is called balance sheet recession and the goals when clawing out of the hole is to keep the GDP up and unemployment down until there’s an end in sight. What happens is the government spends enough to keep the economy from collapsing – not necessarily growing – and takes on debt while the private sector struggles to get back on balance. Once the private sector gets its house in order then it takes over the spending and growth responsibility while the government backs off and starts to repay the increased debt. The great fear we all have is that the spending will happen but later on down the road the government won’t actually make the switch of payments and we’ll end up with lots of debt, tons of useless furniture, and we’ll slip underwater again.

I just realized that grammar isn’t really light discussion, is it? I’m showing my dorkapotomus colors. This one actually is light and funny and might help you get through the final hours of the day. I’ll tell you right up front that when I used to watch SuperFriends on Saturday mornings back in the 70s, my favorite superhero was….oh, nevermind. I feel used.



T

a remembered review

This little vignette came flush into my head while I was rereading an entry from last year that detailed my created superhero, Door Man. (I only reread entries when the sitemeter shows me that someone ended up googling a strange combination of words that led to some entry from long ago. I'm always interested in which entry busted down the door.) A few weeks ago I was heading back home from D.C. on the Orange Line (probably after a hockey game) and as the train pulled into East Falls Church the crowd readied for the mass departure. A few "excuse me's", light shoving, bag banging, and newspaper leaving behind, and everyone was safely onto the platfrom and heading off to their own cocoons. But then....just as the door closing ding-ding is heard, it is mirrored by calls coming from the distant innards of the seats - "Oh my! Someone left their Blackberry! It's hers, it's hers!" (the crowd is pointing feverishly through the window at Blackberry Lady; innocently walking toward the stairs.) The younger man at the door turns just in time to see the Blackberry flying through the air as the doors start to close behind him. With decisive action, he catches the Blackberry with his right hand and jams his left arm through the closing door. In the slow motion action that followed, he turned to the five inches of open door that was trying to eat his arm, yelled out "Hey lady! Your Blackberry!", crossed his right hand to the opening, and pitched/slid her device across the surface of the East Falls Church platform. To cheers from the commuter crowd he extracted his appendage and raised his arms in victory. Victory indeed!

What little Christmas shopping to be done will be done tonight. I venture out in hope that my return is assured.

Maybe you'll get more later, maybe not. I did find a Jolie Holland video that I'll add when I get home.

t

flaws and all

Here’s what I don’t understand, never have and never will; why is it that public figures, when caught in malfeasance or criminal activity, feel the need to have the spouse trotted out, looking dire and beat down, during press conferences after being nabbed? It’s not only the sex busts that bring out the spouse and kids but any titillating issue. What purpose does it serve? I mean, shouldn’t there be an equivalent prop if you’re deeply religious? Shouldn’t you trot out your Pastor, Minister, Rabbi, or Father during your press conference to “speak of atoning” for your sins? Is the family there so we can gawk at them and wonder just what they must be feeling? It’s one of the great mysteries of political drama. It makes me feel like there is something they are responsible for even though clearly they’ve little to do with the action and everything to do with the pain. What I’d like to see at one of the press-arazzi events is the spouse staying on after the statement to answer questions – that would be gold.

Spitzer’s statement today sounded more like a Spiderman retirement than a gubernatorial resignation. I think he said this almost verbatim, “I have to accept that with power comes great personal responsibility…”

With that said, he turned and planted one on Mary Jane, shot some web out of his wrist, and slung off over Manhattan.

Another Wednesday.

t