Blacklidge

Latino Names, Don't Be Fooled

Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are talking about maybe running for president this time around. I know it is a bit early but it seems like everyone on TV is talking about Hillary running. I have Hispanic friends who were never convinced that Obama was their perfect choice but I argued with them about it quite a bit. Now, these two righties are going to swing into the limelight. How will this affect the people who will be inundated with messages about these two clowns being, "one of them"? I say, "Don't be fooled", they are not one of your group. They are evil people who take away all of our rights, waving a flag all the way. Ted Cruz is especially small minded, raving about Harvard liberals, all the while with his Harvard degree tucked under his arm. Hypocrite. Pure and simple. A carpet bagger who knows he is on to a good thing with his tea party gig. If they get very far in the process they are so going to play the race card. The Republicans have proven again and again that they care none for the huge latino groups across the country but they will run one of these two to try a fool the vast majority of Hispanics into voting for their side and then diustance themselves as far as possible if they are able to get one of them in. I hope they won't be fooled but after my conversations before the last elections I know that people are easily misled. 

Suzi's New Cat

To An Infinite Sorrow

Waking one morning last week to some very bad news from a close friend, I find my capacity for tragic events has narrowed. If I now wake every day thinking of this news, I can imagine the impact it has had on my friend. I have known for some time that this was a possibility, however, being a person with my own problems, I chose to ignore the signs of distress. Slowly drawing into myself over the last couple of years, I now find myself in no position to offer comfort or much else now to someone who has been one of my best friends. I don't say that lightly, because I have had many, many friends over the decades but like most people, the ones that truly came close and made a difference are few and far between. Almost none of them are from the latter decades but from the way back.

Addressing the sorrow. The sorrow wells up inside for someone who is now probably living in a fog of pain. There is a list that I saw years ago, it has the events in ones life that affect a person the worst. It isn't a short list but some things on it are Being Laid Off, Bankruptcy, Losing a Child.and other things like that. When one of these things happens to a person, most estimates give a two year window of recovery from it. Most items dip you deep into dispair,let you wallow in that for awhile and then, slowly, ever so slowly,you begin to inch back to feeling okay again. One day you wake up and you actually feel happy again. Time marches on, so they say. What happens to a person who has two things from the list happen in a short period of time, what about three things? Is the mourning period longer or is it just that much more intense? Hard to say. I have had some of the list occur, some deeply affected me, some not so much but never did I have more than one to deal with at once.

 

Grover's Gotta Go!

 

This is Professor Robert Thurman from Columbia University.He and I agree and I have been saying this all along. The people that have signed Grover Norquist's "pledge" need to be ousted for treason and sedition. Seems like the idea is gaining some traction.

 

 

 

Occupy-Alive and Well

In September 2011, Occupy Wall Street staged their first demonstration in Zucatti Park, New York City. It spread all across the U.S. and around the world. Since then, it has taken on many issues facing our economy and our society, shining a light on the inequities we have been suffering. Many cities, like Denver and Tucson sent in the police to break up the demonstrations.  A photograph of UC Davis police officer Lt. John Pike pepper spraying demonstrators spread and became an internet meme as people around the world inserted the pepper spray photo into famous works of art and popular culture. So many incidents occurred from the first demonstration through the first half of the next year that I lost track of them. The police in many cities tried to stomp the camps out, made it so hard to continue that fewer and fewer people came out.

The difference between the primarily right wing Tea Party and the Occupy Movement is mostly that early on the 1% noticed the Tea Party and decided to co-op the whole group and finance them to fall in line with the doctrines they believed in. Slight herding toward the whole idea of "Big, bad government" caused most of the people in the Tea Party to follow the ideas of the very rich men who financed them and who used them to further the agenda of the 1%. The Occupy Movement, for whatever reason, couldn't be rounded up and turned in one direction. Too scattered, too loosely organized, they just kept pointing out the way our world was heading and no one was able to organize them to do the bidding of some smaller group. They never were really organized enough to harness the people power of everyone who wanted to participate. The housewives, retirees and just general people wanted to turn out but there was never any way to figure out where to go or when. once the Once the rich guys started taking an interest in the Tea Party, they paid huge amounts of money to get everyone out and participating. After the elections of 2010, when the Tea Party was very successful, their peculiar ideas of running a country began to get a lot more attention. While it benefited the very rich in America by keeping their taxes low and attempting to open up more and more freedom for equity traders, banks and other professions that the rich were major players in, their fiscal policies and obstructionist ways did nothing for the middle and lower classes. Funny how most of the Tea Party members are retirees and decidedly middle class people. Many of them still do not see how they were manipulated. If real historians are allowed to write history books in later years, it will be interesting how the Tea Party is treated.

The Occupy Movement is still alive and well. Recently, I saw a question posed on Facebook that wondered if Occupy had actually done anything or if it were relevant at all. I wasn't able to get that question out of my mind. I participated in some of the Tucson rallies but they have long since died away. They are still in our culture though. Without them, would any focus have been placed on the inequities of the direction our country has been pointed toward for so long? Since Reagan was in office, we have slowly headed away from the American dream and we have lost so much ground. Never paying attention to slight social changes, slowly our emphasis veered away from getting ahead and moved onto just making a living and getting by. No advancements were made by the middle class, after decades of building and re enforcing our lives after the second world war, the middle class of this country  began to barely tread water and we never noticed the evil intentions of the "entitled" to turn us into a third world economy. If Occupy did nothing else from now on, they proved their value by waking us all up to the plans and plots already under way for decades.

The last election rousted people all over the country and we turned enmasse against the arrogance and lies thrown out by just one more elitist. The "Trickle Down" economic theory shoved dowm our throats for 40 years are throughly disproved. Our only hope is to harken back to the years when FDR turned us around and helped our country to heal. Whether you love or hate our current president, President Barack Obama, he has proven to most of us that he is just such a man that can heal us.

The Tea Party is fading out, their weird policies of blocking everything that comes up does no good for anyone. Their propensity of seeking out the oddest characters to run for them has bitten them squarely in the butt. They will be a blip on our national screen in years to come. On the other hand, the Occupy Movement has evolved into an organization that collects money and helps people who are hopelessly in debt. Students, mortgage holders and others have benefited from their charity efforts. When did a Tea Partier ever give anyone anything? 

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Occupy and the 2012 elections

Romney-Lord of the Flies Victim

This picture of Mittens Romney is all over the 'nets today. They are throwing rocks and making fun of him in every way they can think of. It is rather pathetic, if you think about it and it is not just the merry, ol' Democrats. Oh, no, the Repugnats are jumping right on the band wagon and deriding him and jeering at him. Jeez, didn't they love him a couple of weeks ago?  Human nature, it's a bitch.

They're Always Pokin' At Him

 

 

Here we are, we got Obama re-elected and we're ready to get something done, right? Well, I've been getting this awful feeling about the next four years. After the last term, I figured the righties would have to knock it off and begin to respect Obama for the two term President that he is. Doesn't seem to be how they are playing it, does it? Anything they can think if to slander him, every small, petty idea they can think of, they are leveling it at him. I am old enough to remember how it was with Bill Clinton. If he had been able to govern as a president should, we would have been even better off when he came to the end of his two terms. He helped make our country so much better, all the while hobbled like a bad Shetland pony. Now the Republicans are winding up to do the same thing to President Barack Obama. So, every time we get a great person in, they are going to do everything they can to hamper their work. This may be how it will go, they put some oddious imbecile into the oval office and the mild mannered Democrats just sit back and wait for their turn again. After all, how bad can it be, the Dems think? Well, after that last one, (two wars, huge deficits, huge unemployment and the economy driven into the ditch), the Democrats should think again. Right now they should be putting on their boxing gloves and going right after the Republicans, who think it is perfectly okay to disrupt the  duly elected administration. As I mentioned in a previous post, they are quite simply, whiners and sore losers. We have to get meaner, we have to block every move the Republicans make to obstruct our legally elected President, Barack Obama.

Currently on deck, we have the bitter, resentful has been, John McCain. What is he up to? Just fucking with Obama for fun and profit. He lost in 2008 and he can't seem to get over that. maybe it is because he made such an utter fool of himself with that ridiculous choice for vice president. A shame really, she is a constant reminder of his bad decision making abilities. Oh, I bet that burns. So let's mess with the real winner of that challenge. He has so far ruined any legacy he had earned as a statesman and continues to make himself look more and more foolish every day.

Do the Congressfolk think we aren't paying attention to them as they start to drag their feet and try to make life tough for Obama? No, we are watching you people and you'd better believe we will remember you when 2014 rolls around. The "fiscal cliff" is going to hurt your reputations much worse than it will any Democrat. Obama can't run again so you can't hurt him on a re-election. Even if he hadn't won the last nasty, little contest, he would have gone down in history as the first African-American to be president and there is nothing you can ever to take that away from him. He won though, so he must have done something right. Back to the top, the Republicans are going to do everything they can to limit the impact of his two terms. We can't let them do it. So stand up and speak your mind. Don't let stupid, Faux-news-loving trolls get away with their filthy lies. Don't be afraid of them, they are cowards, you know. Just tell them they are wrong and walk away. If that happens enough times, maybe a glimmer will get through to them. If not, at least we have our dignity, which is something sadly lacking in the Republican bag of tricks.  

They Came, Wrapped in a Flag

Who can forget the image of Sarah Palin, wrapped in an American flag? Quoted was Sinclair Lewis,

“When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” It amazes me how the Republicans in theis country seem to think they are so ultra patriotic and yet condone the cheating, voter suppression and disgusting vilification of our current president, President Barack Obama. Not just that they are patriotic but that the Democrats aren't patriotic at all. It's like there is a disconnect that they can't jump over. Most people I know are comfortable in their beliefs about America, about how we are governed and we don't need the other side to try to shame us into aligning ourselves with their idiotic political ideas. The fact of the matter is that all the efforts that the right put into this last election were borderline treasonous. Trying to send an army of grey haired thugs to the polling station with ambiguous roles to confuse and muddle anyone that they deemed the "other side" was not such a great idea. The amounts of money put in by the religious right and the non-religious right, (read wealthy, old, white people) is amazing in scope. I wonder how the morning after was for the billionaires that paid all that "black" money out and got almost nothing in return? While all of these people seem to have the same goals, in reality, the rich class are leading the religious people along to do their bidding. Fooled for years, a long running scam that keeps Americans perpetually fighting with each other. Not to forget some of the other techniques employed by the right wingers in this last outing, let's mention a few more. Sending out false information about where and when to vote. Restricting early voting in areas that are predominately Democratic. Not legally registering huge stacks, 10,000 that we know about, of people who leaned Democratic, (Mississippi). Deliberately trying to suppress the numbers of voters knowing the numbers were against them.Trying to clear the voting rolls just before the presidential election. How about publicising how voter fraud is rampant and must be stamped out, all the while working their own gambits of voter fraud. There are more of these instances but I can't think of all of them now. You get the picture. Listening to the aftermath and play by plays on the news, it gives me hope that several things may be occurring naturally. One, that the Tea Party hit its peak in 2010 and will never cause as many headaches as before again. Two, that the minority and female participation ensures that the Ol' boys party can never dominate by the numbers. Of course, they keep thinking of new ways to cheat and rile up the unfortunates that follow them but the numbers are against them. I am hopeful but this was such a bitter contest and there are so many angry right wing people now, being incited to riot and revolt ans things like that. I remember how unutterably sad I was when Shrub Bush  his second term, ( by hook or by crook!). My side wanted to move away. I know the Republicans are sad and outraged, but they threaten to do bad things to our country, to take things into their own hands, which they weren't able to do the legal way. With leaders like Ann Coulter, Donald Trump and Rush Limbaugh, ( to name but a few of the most objectionable), they are goosed and prodded into outrage. It isn't pretty to watch. I say that these people and all the ones that tried to obstruct the age old voting process should be held as treasonous. Inciting people to throw over a legally elected president seems just that. Treasonous.

Sinclair Lewis quotes (American Writer, 1885-1951)

Racism, Alive and Well in Ajo, Arizona

And every other town in America. Most of them don't even try to hide it.

 

By accident, I found myself in Ajo today. Nice little place to spend the winter, especially if you get one of those cool, old houses in the historic district. Funny thing, saw a church sign when I went down the main drag. It said, "Our leaders should look like Jesus" or something like that. I meant to take a picture but I forgot. Anyhoo.....when I got over cussing at them, I started laughing because as most people know, that beautiful Jesus you see in all the literature of today is merely a composite and sort of a wish list made up of years of priests and preachers idea of Jesus. So here is depiction of modern day Jesus next to a CGI model of what he probably really looked like. It was based on the times, the area he came from and other factors like that. Hmm...what on earth could that preacher in that rundown, ratty looking church meant by his hate filled sign? I think there should be some new legislation after this election.  Tax the churches. Oh, yeah, big time. I bet they'd keep their big, fat mouths shut next time.  I could go on, but why? I am so disgusted with so many of the citizens of this country. Hey, stand up and call them what they are when they throw it out there. Racists!  Obama\ Biden, 2012 

Time Drags On As 11 Million Americans Sweat It

 Time marches on and still no resolution to the problems of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac customers. While all around us, mortgages that were written as Conventional loans have been modified, principle and interest. The man in charge of these agencies, a Bush era appointee named Ed DeMarco, doesn't feel like we all deserve his consideration. I don't know if this person has thought about the emotional cost his obstruction is causing, I don't know if he cares. His rich handlers want to hold onto their money, of course, while Americans stay in stagnant loans, stagnant homes and stagnant situations with no hope of ever getting out of them. I have been looking on line for cheap properties, in hopes of finding a place to move to that maybe we can pay for before we retire. Certainly not this house, I owe more on it than I will ever be able to pay, more than ten years of increasing values will ever overtake. I love to read comments from snarky people online about how we, the 11 million of us that are upside down, are all takers and leaches. I figure there were another 11 or 12 million people who have already lost their houses, people who got in over their heads, were qualified by by mortgage brokers for houses they should have never have been looking at. Those are the houses already sitting on the market. Now let's take a look at who is buying those nice repos, usually priced well below the current market. Well, there are the investors, looking for a bunch of rentals. There are individuals who happen to be in a good position now to acquire a home. There are people who have had to sell in another city, now free to scoop up something but probably not able to get much out of their old house. Lots of variations here. Now, who has a house for sale? Not me, why bother to try? What about the people who bought from, let's say, 2000-2004. They paid a fair price and they have been paying their payments, towing the line for all these years. Now they want to take advantage of the great, low prices all around. Can they sell their houses and "move on up" to something new? They aren't the bad guys, they did everything right but they can't get much for their houses, too many foreclosures on the block, prices too low. What about the fools who bought from 2004 to 2008? Needed a house; the market was high, but fear that it would get higher drove people to carry on and secure someplace to live. Maybe they had transferred or maybe promoted, need to move into a new place. You go where you need to go, you pay the price that is current and you hope you'll be able to sell it someday if you have to move again. Then, the bubble broke and we were all messed up. I bought my house in 2006 and it is worth half what I paid for it. All the years of owning it will never bring it back up to anywhere near the price I paid.Not to mention the fact that most people buy a house to amass some wealth, some savings that occurs as you pay it down. I could pay on this for 20 years and have very little to show for it.  So what do I do? I was qualified for it, I had a good job, as did my spouse, and  I had no way of knowing that the economy would be falling apart when it did. All this being said, I don't want to be a victim. What angers me is the fact that the banks here in America are sitting on great big piles of money and they don't want to reverse the trend of their greed and carelessness. None, not one, of them has even been questioned about how this came about and how they all seem to have landed on their feet so nicely. The only financial person to have been tried and sent to jail is Bernie Madoff. Why? Because he ripped off wealthy people. That just reeks of mendacity and I think that something should be done about it. I keep thinking they are trying to run out the statute of limitations before any government official takes notice of all this. Yes, I am a bit bitter but I am so afraid to just turn it over to the bank. What if Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae change the rules the day after I give up? The whole thing would then become some kind of macabre episode in my life. The banks are ok, good news! The regular folks, not so much so because there are so many aspects of this scenario where we are have been hurt. Not just financially, emotionally as well. If I walk away from my house of 6 years, all of my carefully tended landscape will die, all of the things we have done to make our house a home will be wasted. The banks, as if to stick to a new set of owners, specifically mandate that no one can water the property, even after it is under contract. The arrogance that the banks have risen to is frightening. Despite the fact that circumstances have all conspired to mess things up, there would still be a sense of personal failure. Let's add that feeling to the reality of what this horrible economy has done to the average person and it really is an emotional struggle to stay above it all.

This is political, it is very political. The Congressional creeps in power in Washington need to face up to the bankers and resolve this. One fell swoop by the government would completely clean up the sluggish housing market. This is what is making our economy so ugly. If the housing market was free to adjust to normal, jobs would open up and things would be better all over.  

Since this is one of my most viewed posts, I thought I would maybe add some more to it. The man that wrote it really hit the nail on the head. Foreclosure Review Sample Letter