OK maybe I'm not so crazy

Here's a link to an article about Wachovia turning into a subsidiary of Citigroup. Why? Because their bad risks and debt were too much. A global financial meltdown... a couple of weeks ago that was just crazy talk. Now- well- anyone know the best way to stash money in a mattress?

On a tangent to that- I am reminded of the proverb "The love of money is the root of all evil." Maybe the church and Christians need to remind themselves of what it means to be subjects of a heavenly kingdom, and that Capitalism, or even Democracy, are not synonymous with Christianity. I give big props to my friend Lindsay who said "Jesus was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate was a govenor." Hmm. Now I'm not just a prophet of doom, but a fledgling socialist to boot. And I'm just trying to be a faihful follower of Jesus.

Bring it on.

I'm further out than I need to be, but...

See, back when I was doing some research about Wal Mart, I came across some information that was a little arcane and obscure for most regular cocktail party rants I might make about the retail behemoth's shortcomings (in my mind). It is my usual anti-Wal-mart fare to talk about their under-insured workers, or forced overtime or discrimination towards women and so forth. No, this is a little more indepth and even bordered on conspiracy theory radical. See, what I found out while looking up info on the Securities and Exchange website, is that while Wal-mart is a publically traded company, all of its holdings are off-shore. They have not 1, not 2, but at least 5 offshore banks. Mostly Cayman island accounts- one in Euros, one in British Sterling, one in gold. You get the picture. Or do you? None of their money is in US banks. This is where my paranoia crept in and came up with a possible, although not so probable at the time, theory.
What if, I said, there was some sort of financial meltdown, and somehow China and Japan and several other countries, called in the debt. You know- that 5 trillion dollar thing that has grown into being since 2000. The same debt that is being bought up and serviced by countries like China (well over 50% is owned in treasury bills by foreign countries). I mean, what are the chances really? What, besides an entire global crisis, or the chance to own our resources and land, and people, would make China do such a thing? And let's say for the sake of argument they do call in this chunk of change- where does the US government turn to pay the bill? I mean, will China take "we're bankrupt" for an answer? So, the US turns to its banks for the cash. Whoops. They have extended so many bad mortgages and credit lines that they too are out of cash! So, let's go to the largest, most profitable industries and companies to loan the US the cash they need- in fact, let's assume they are unwilling, and for the sake of keeping us from having to turn over the deed to Alaska, we take action to actually seize some of their assets. Guess what? We can't touch most of those funds (which would be substantial) because they are held off shore. So, while Wal-mart (and their friends who do the same things) will have all the money they can make by continuing to inflate the trade deficit by consuming Chinese products, they may not have a country in which to continue their enterprise. Although, maybe communist China will change their stance on private enterprise when they own us.
NOW, before you all give me great instructive comments on how that can't really happen, and I am woefully ignorant on my international trade knowledge, please keep in mind that I am talking far out "what-ifs", and I already said it is improbable. I am just spinning a larger hyperbolic narrative to say that sometimes we should pay attention to little details like where the largest US private employer keeps its money. And, which of the two possible next administrations is likely to change how that happens, and which is likely to pretend there is no problem while pushing its cart down the mega-store aisle.

great video on outdoor learning

OK- so I haven't really kept up with everything out there, but apparantly, there is a bill in congress right now called "No child left Inside" to encourage outdoor learning and ecological education. It is supposed to be up for a vote this week- but here is a link with a cool video:
video

and here is the link to show its current status- due up for a vote on Thursday Sept 11th. Neocons decry it saying it will take away from traditional teaching time- which in my world translates into less worksheets for my kids to mindlessly fill out. I'm not usually given to tree-hugging liberalism, but I am definitely in support of this initiative.

HR 3036. Its a start.

Live from the RNC.....it's ??

Given Sarah Palin's remarkable resemblance to former SNL anchor Tina Fey, it took me awhile during her speech at the Republican Convention to take Gov. Palin seriously. For much of the speech, which was well delivered and well paced(she is a charismatic speaker, regardless of content), I kept taking in the hyperbole waiting for it to finally crest over the top. You know how it goes on an SNL political spoof, they start by talking basic ideals and thoughts, making more and more outlandish statements until they are finally saying things like "I think we should all run naked on the lawn." or "All broccoli will now be outlawed." You know.

So as Sarah Palin spoke first about her family and upbringing, I followed along- anticipating where we were going with this. Then came the support statements for McCain- OK, now we're building- and then finally, when we hit the attacks on the opposition, I almost wanted to start laughing. I say almost, because it was obvious there were many people who were absolutely supporting this line of thinking- this was no send-up of politics, this was the actual thing. And don't get me wrong, I am not belittling Palin or the RNC or its delegates- they happen to share some of my ideals. And yes, I know, there is more than enough political hyberbole for both sides to use and skew- and they do- early and often. Still, I am ready to turn off the TV now, and tune out until November. Because whether or not it feels like it should be a humorous sketch- it has stopped being amusing.