Where is Our Economy Going?

Here we are in 2008 with fuel costs on the rise, the housing market collapsing and America apparently heading into a recession. I know according to Washington the economy is not as bad as we are being told. First of all, I do not need the media to tell me the economy is in trouble. Just stop at the gas station, go shopping for clothes or better yet go to the grocery store. The increase in the cost of groceries is very evident and felt every time we go food shopping. Meanwhile our wage increases are almost nonexistent. The cost of fuel is probably the most crucial part of the equation at this point. Since all of our products are transported via trucks, thus transmitting that cost to the final product. I am not an economist by any stretch of the imagination, however it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out we are in trouble. In my opinion it is business as usual with Countrywide Financial. They were the pioneers in the Creative Mortgage movement, which is the foundation of the current housing debacle. Lets walk through this, a couple of years ago when housing prices were going up at an astronomical rate these creative mortgages were allowing individuals to qualify for loans they could not afford. Now that the introductory rates are disappearing, these homeowners are facing mortgage payments they cannot afford. Should they be surprised? Hardly, unless they were forced at gunpoint to sign the loan package, they are liable for the contract. I am of the opinion the individuals in these loans are responsible for them. I believe most of the homeowners that are in trouble will eventually lose their homes no matter what the government does. The government jumping in a staving off the crisis is just postponing the inevitable. The longer it takes for this wave to crash the bigger the wave gets. This will compound the problem down the road, but then again we have become a society thirsting for instant gratification. Oh ya, we are in the middle of the election so the politicians do not want to rock the boat.

We recently had the pleasure of President Bush begging for OPEC to increase oil production. How humiliating, we beg them for more oil.

Where do we go from here? The United States needs to be independent again and not dependant.

Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.
Thomas Jefferson

My Favorite Fishing Allure

The sun is peeking through the window, gently reminding me I over slept! As the fog dissipates in my brain, the panic begins to materialize. I’m Late! Sitting up in bed, running through my mind what needs to be done; Make Coffee, Feed the Dog and Let Him Out, Brush my teeth…. To heck with that, I should be on the water instead of getting my happy butt out of bed late. I’m Late! All right, get dressed, let the dog out (we don’t want no stinkin messes). Better feed him, I don’t want him to bite me when I get back either. Coffee hmmm…oh well twist my arm; Starbucks it is. What else? Backpack, fishing vest, license, main rod, extra rod (just in case one breaks), water, snacks, hat and sunscreen. Sounds close enough to me, I gotta go!

Stop everything!!!!!!!! This is supposed to be a relaxing, what is going on here?

The truth is fishing is one of the most enjoyable and relaxing sports I have found. Here in Southern California there are miles and miles of accessible coastline begging to be explored and fished. With our mild weather you can fish nearly year around. Obviously some periods are better than others spring, summer and fall being the best times. With winter being a little less fruitful.

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~Henry David Thoreau

So what is it that drives people to get up at the crack of dawn and stand in or near the surf to go fishing? For me it is not just catching fish, it is a way to clear my mind of the daily sensory overload we all deal with. It can be big things or small things but when you are fishing all those things melt away and it is simply you trying to catch a fish, the elusive little creatures they are. Maybe it goes back to some primeval hunter gather thing, I am not really sure. The fact for me is, there is a great amount of peace attained while striving to catch fish. And once a fish is hooked nothing else matters, not the people walking around you, not the wind on your face or the sun in your eyes. It is just you and that fish, trying to keep him on the hook while the surf is breaking, keeping your line tight but not breaking it. Timing each wave perfectly until you see that fish come to the shore. Then as quickly and gently as possible pick the fish up remove the hook and release him back to be caught another day. How can you not smile? It is impossible!

The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope. ~John Buchan

China WTF!!!!!!

I have come to realize that we as Americans like taking it up the ass by China. Lets think this through a little bit; a communist country that does not care about human rights, enjoys unchecked polluting of its land, water and air, has little oversight of manufacturing procedures, is building its military at an alarming rate and owns a huge amount of our debt. Kind of like strolling into a lion’s cage, with a steak hanging around your neck. If there is an item sold in the US, chances are it is made in China. Better yet I challenge you to spend a little time in most any store. Look at the product labels and try to find products not made in China. Good luck, our consumer driven thirst for cheap shit, has created a situation where we are dependant on China for manufacturing our cheap shit and most everything else. Now they are enjoying expanding their footprint by drilling oil wells between Florida and Cuba. China is pissing in our backyard and laughing all the way to the bank. Meanwhile back at the ranch we refuse to build nuclear reactors for energy and god forbid we drill for oil in Alaska or off any of our coasts. It seems the U.S. operates with no plan B. Our dependency on China leaves us in a rather precarious position. What if relations with China were to go south? What would we do? Our consumer market would tank. We think the current mortgage situation is dire but it would pale in comparison to a consumer market with little to consume. Back to our debt, what if China dumped the notes they hold? Our dollar would plummet to unprecedented lows crippling our economy. POLUTION……Where the hell are all the global warming fanatics? China does not give a shit about pollution in any form; they are only concerned with improving their world economic standing and building their military.

Is anyone else thinking about this nonsense or am I the only person?

Immigration Part II

Anti – Illegal Immigration II:

What do the citizens of this country do while our politicians fill their coffers and operate as if they know what is best for us?

First and foremost this is a security issue for the United States. Shove political correctness up your ass, this is about protecting the citizens of this country and our way of life. With the security threat from Al Qaeda and other similar groups, we have to seal our borders. Now, not wait, not discuss it, and not vote on it on the floor of the House and Senate. We have the resources to seal the borders. Use the military if we have to (for surveillance only), we do not want anyone shot by accident. They can lead the border patrol agents to the suspects and let them do their job. Technology would be a huge help with satellite imaging, motion detectors, night vision and what ever else the government might have in their hip pocket. They can read a vehicle license plate from space, but cannot catch groups of people running across our borders. Kind of boggles the mind, doesn’t it? Whatever the reason, we have not focused on this effort is irrelevant; it needs to be started immediately. Once we have the borders secure, what about the 11,000,000 + people we have here. Deporting a population a third of the size of California is inconceivable. This one is challenging, but not overwhelming. Giving them all amnesty is not the answer, in my opinion it just validates the criminal act. Leaving things as they are, this is not fair because it continues to deny illegal immigrants a path into the system. At this point the fairest system seems to be that they be documented and given visas to work in this country. Then the visa would have to be renewed at intervals. They would have to keep immigration notified of their residence and employment status. If they are arrested for anything or fail to follow the rules it would be immediate and automatic deportation. This means local and federal governments would be required to COMMUNICATE! The positive aspect for the current undocumented immigrants would be they could attain citizenship after a specified period, say 10 to 15 years. It may sound like a long time, but remember right now they are criminals.

What this boils down to is apply pressure to your elected officials!!!!! Call or write, do whatever you can to make the bastards listen.

Preamble to the Constitution

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES

Our founding fathers couldn’t have made it clearer………..

Tolerate This

Tolerance…….

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Function: noun

Date: 15th century

1: capacity to endure pain or hardship : endurance, fortitude, stamina

2 a: sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one's own b: the act of allowing something : toleration

3: the allowable deviation from a standard; especially : the range of variation permitted in maintaining a specified dimension in machining a piece

4 a (1): the capacity of the body to endure or become less responsive to a substance (as a drug) or a physiological insult especially with repeated use or exposure tolerance to painkillers>; also : the immunological state marked by unresponsiveness to a specific antigen

(2): relative capacity of an organism to grow or thrive when subjected to an unfavorable environmental factor b: the maximum amount of a pesticide residue that may lawfully remain on or in food

I am by no means an English professor, however everything I was required to tolerate was not very pleasant. Number two above does not put me in a positive frame of mind towards someone’s beliefs.

I tolerated boot camp, because it was a means to an end.

We tolerate government because we have to, at least until the next election.

We tolerate everything Mother Nature can throw at us, because well….what option do we have?

Is tolerating another race, religion or set of beliefs really the way we handle the world? Maybe if we appreciated these peoples, rather than tolerated them it would change the perspective in with which we view or surroundings. Having an interest or understanding in another person’s beliefs makes it more likely for one individual and another to coexist without strife. This would be appreciative in my mind rather than tolerating someone else. In the U.S. we have so many different ethnicities, religions and beliefs systems it is amazing what one can learn if you change your perspective from tolerance to appreciative.

The Blue Lizard has rambled enough………your thoughts??????????

ANTI ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

Recently it seems immigration both legal and illegal, have been fused together as one. I for one would like to understand how this metamorphosis happened. Immigration is one of the founding principles of our nation and has made us the great nation we are. Current rhetoric floating around the airways would make us all believe that legal and illegal immigration are the same. They are not! Legal immigrants have every right afforded them by our laws and illegal immigrants do not. Nobody twisted the illegal immigrants arms to come here, they did so under their own free will. Once they crossed into the U.S. they committed a crime. Everyone understands they are just looking for a better way of life, but it does not excuse the fact that they are criminals. Harsh? Maybe, but the fact remains a law was broken upon entering this country illegally. Not to mention the other laws violated for using false social security numbers, driving without licenses and being uninsured motorists. Are people really discriminating? No, they are just tired of the unchecked flow illegal immigrants coming across our southern border? In California we have a large population of Hispanic workers from Mexico and South America. They have proved to be some of the hardest working members of our society, not to mention their strong family values. Do they have a place in our society? Of course they do! Just like the Irish, Italians, Germans and numerous other nationalities that legally immigrated here. People I have talked with to do not have a problem with documented Mexican immigrants. The problem is with the more than 11,000,000 undocumented immigrants in the United States from all over the world. To put 11 million people in perspective, the U.S. Census bureau estimated the population of California at approximately 36 million people. That is nearly a third of the population of California. Hard to believe the government has allowed this to happen. Since 9/11 you would think sealing our borders would pretty high on the list of priorities! It seems political bullshit is a priority over our nations safety. Go figure………………….. I guess this makes me a Blue Lizard!