Mercantile Monday

Bill of Goods? Over at Townhall, Walter E Williams concludes his look at the current love affair with big government, which seems paradoxical at best given the distrust of congress and the results of prior meddling which he describes, with the proposition that it may be setting the stage for later more sinister effects. Note the Germany parallel.

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Fire Sale. Recently, the Wall Street Journal featured a piece by Kris Hudson and Vanessa O'Connell on the struggles of the once thriving mall. Having witnessed the effects of same on Downtown areas, suburban sprawl, I won't shed too many tears. Gotta wonder about the generations of "mall rats."

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Letter of Credit. Also at Townhall but of an earlier vintage, this piece by Paul Jacob which suggests that what Cuba needs is a new revolution. Jacob makes a clear and refreshing case that the hunger of Cubans has little to do with the embargo and much with its regime. Bravo! On the opposite side of the question, please take a gander at what our universities are teaching. From the University of South Florida's Oracle comes this stellar entry, which in addition to a cursory nod to how the embargo is hurting Cubans and quick bow to the China meme, really seems to center of the oodles of money to be made in Tampa.

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Blue Light Specials. A veteran of many documentaries on the Komodo Dragon, I was interested to note that the odd coexistence between villagers and the beasts has been upset as of late with increased attacks on humans. No cause is suggested. Global warming, doubtless. Half a world away, a young German boy claims to have been hit by a pea-sized meteorite. Talk about your bad luck. For the story and a listing of past instances, read here.

The Mediterranean Rediscovered*

This article from the Christian Science Monitor about Cuba's lack of reciprocation toward Obama's loosening of restrictions reminded me of a Joseph Conrad quote:

The yarns of seamen have a direct simplicity, the whole meaning of which lies within the shell of a cracked nut. But Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be excepted), and to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside,enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine.

In the article, Kristen Chick indicates the obvious- Cuba is not loosening its iron grip. Despite the Marlovian attempts of many to enshroud the issue in American recalcitrance, oppression, etc..., the truth of this situation lies like that of a sailor's yarn within the shell of the cracked nut: the regime cannot respond in like manner because to do so would threaten its illegitimate existence. What can it do? Loosen travel restrictions? Allow those Cubans fortunate enough to escape and suffer the humiliation of mass defection, or worse yet, have Cubans see how the rest of the world lives? Free political prisoners? What would happen if cowed citizens were to see that it was possible to dissent publicly without the threat of imprisonment, death by malign neglect? Or, better yet, what if they allowed a truly free election?

Truth is unless the ruling military junta is ready to commit collective seppuku, there can be no glasnost, no perestroika.

* Spanish saying, "He discovered the Mediterranean" to indicate the discovery of what is obvious fact.

You Know It's Gotta Be Bad...

...when even a unregenerate liberal like Charlie Rangel (sign of the cross), says that the price tag for the Obamacare down payment will exceed a trillion. More to the point, take a look at the package the Dems are putting together. Read it. Here's the money line:

Health-care overhaul legislation being drafted by House Democrats will include $600 billion in tax increases and $400 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel said.

Yup, that's tax increases, my friends. More importantly, take note of the cuts in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, said payments already being quite low. Watch all the Medicare HMO's in unprofitable towns head for the hills and leave the codgers scrambling for the postage stamp coverage of traditional Medicare. Watch for fewer and fewer providers to accept these patients. As for the rest of us, we can read our future in their fate. Face it, folks, you're not gonna get Congressional style coverage. And forcing employers to provide insurance sounds marvelous until you factor in that these same employers might be more reluctant to hire.

On The Subject of Automobiles...

No, no, this time I made it to Tampa Airport with the same four tires with which I started. There was the one hour traffic jam on the H-F Bridge with the attendant "Are the newlyweds going to miss their flight?" excitement, which in turn was further heightened by the phone call to American Airlines during which the customer service rep informed the young bride that her reservation was cancelled because of a "do not honor the credit card" from the online provider which turned out to be untrue, but not until a few crying jags later. Anyway, all was well that ended well.

No, I was thinking of PJ O'Rourke's recent post-mortem on the death of the love affair with the car. If I've got it right, his premise is that familiarity bred contempt. As for me, I have never been able to fathom why the clunky boxlike Japanese cars of recent years have been so popular. It's not like they are particularly cheap. So says the proud owner of a Hyundai, Tiburon that is. At least it's not shapeless.

O'Rourke's piece reminded of the grandaddy of all automobile valedictions, EB White's essay, "Farewell, My Lovely." While White's effort was about the Model T, the passion he associates with the automobile is the one O'Rourke maintains has cooled. We are the more diminished by it. After all, can you picture the Dukes in a Nissan Altima?

Some Automatic Questions

The Federal Government steps in, abrogates the rights of pensioners, upends contract law, and the Supreme Court refuses to hear the case. If the Supremes won't, who will defend the rights of the individual against the government?

Secured bondholders are sent to the end of the payment line, but Fiat is apparently gaining 35% of the new Chrysler for...what exactly? It doesn't seem to be money.

And speaking of no money down, how exactly does the government have the right to take away the property, albeit near defunct, of shareholders and bondholders and buy the majority stake only to give it away to the union which helped bring the companies down in the first place? Smacks of the cigarette tax medical care giveaway.

What does union ownership mean anyway? Will they be running the joint? If there are ever profits, will they trickle down to the workers?

Unifying principle here: take from one group and give to another. Income redistribution at its highest form. He told you so.

If you ask me, these auto deals are a travesty and the beginning of the road to perdition.

I'm Baack

Update: I apologize my information was not quite correct. That's what I get for getting info when I'm feeling no pain and then passing it on. Let it be a lesson to me. So far, I have been able to confirm the loss of dental and vision and learned about cuts to those getting more than fifty four thou in pension, but more investigation needs to be done. More later.

My apologies, but the twenty people inhabiting my four room house kept me from the computer these past weeks. Memo: Force your children to elope. A funny thing happened at the wedding, however.

(Removed by author, pending confirmation. Let it be a lesson to same.)

What Happened to Global Warming?

His public schedule listed no official events, so President Obama had plenty of time to devote to being a weekend dad and spouse...

....For the evening, the first couple jetted to New York City for date night.
They dined a little more than two hours at Blue Hill, a West Village restaurant, then headed to the Belasco Theater to make it in time for "Joe Turner's Come and Gone."

Could be some animals are more equal than others. Read it here.

Did He Just Say That?

"On the other hand, Cuba's our neighbor, they're here, they ought to be part of this hemisphere, they ought to be part of our future. They have done a lot of good things,"

If you needed further proof of just how misinformed Americans are, take this from the recent "conversation" between former Presidents Clinton and Bush. The speaker is none other than Bubba. With the island in ruins and fear the only ready currency, such a statement suggests that Mr. Clinton suffers from PreCastro Cuba Delusion. Talk about your sensitivity. You might as stand in the ruins of Berlin, proclaiming that the Germans provided good health care. As me good old Dad used to say, "Manda madre!"

Story here. Boldface mine.

Don't Miss:

A Russian Perspective on the state of the Union. Straight from Pravda.ru here. A new wrinkle on the Russians dissing us, gotta love it!
(Although it uses the name, as a cheesy fellow reminded me, it is not the old official Soviet news organ.)

Read: Fidel's Last Days

With that title, I couldn't pass it by. Surprisingly, I'm not sorry I didn't. The novel by Roland Merullo is eminently readable as a suspense story. Here is a labyrinthine plot, a storyline layered with tissue upon tissue of deception, much of which rings true. The odd thing is that the succession of power is never mentioned, nor the extended putrescence of the maximum leader. No, I can only surmise that the novel was written at an earlier time unmarked by the dictator's extended illness, but by the time the novel was published, 2008, circumstances had changed considerably, because Merullo's Fidel is functioning on all cylinders.

Still, I enjoyed it. There were few places where the truth teller radar went off. My biggest gripe is that it all ended too abruptly, left some major questions and characters suspended in the ether. In any case, you could do much worse than spend an afternoon between Miami and Havana. From the author's title to God's ears...

Meanderings: Not Again!

Part of the spotty posting lately is the result of the overlap between mourning my mother's death and impending nuptials of the daughter, known affectionately since her infancy as "La Nana." It was in this last context that I found myself once again on the 75 hurtling toward Tampa to retrieve the aforementioned offspring.

The last time I made the same trek, I wound up fish-tailing across three lanes of an interstate with nary a scratch. My psyche, however, was scarred. I no longer trust my midlife crisis car and would have traded it in if it weren't for the aforesaid wedding. So this time, I decided that to be safe I would take Mom's sedate Chevy. Although I haven't been able to change the registration and such, the insurance is up to date. The way I figured it, safety trumped legal nicety.

So I get on the highway. The car is riding a bit rough, but I figure it's the pavement. After all the front tires are new, right? But since I'm traumatized anyway, I'm going pretty slow, to the chagrin of the drivers behind me. Still, it don't feel quite right, so I decide I'll get out at the rest stop by the Skyway Bridge and check it out. Just about that time, I hit something on the road. Correction: it feels like I hit something on the road because there is nothing on the road. The car starts swerving. Fortunately I'm in the right lane this time and going slow. Unfortunately, I'm also in the middle of a substantially large bridge over the Manatee River with a four foot wide shoulder. All the time, I'm automatically wrestling the car into submission, my brain is saying, "This can't be happening again!" Alas, it was. Climbing over the shift, preferable to getting my door blown off, I scoot out the passenger side. There is essentially no right front tire. All that remains is a rubbery fringe around the rim. Yessiree.

Now I'm thinking, "What am I going to do?" I have no cell phone, refusing to carry one. The Little One is at the airport. She won't know what happened. The registration and insurance is at home with the packet of stuff for Motor Vehicles. The wind is battering me; traffic is fast and furious; my perch, narrow and precarious. I debate whether I should leave the car and walk off the bridge. It does seem the only way to get help, but I have visions of a codger seeing me on the edge of the road and following his line of vision with his motor vehicle. Then a huge, and I mean huge, flatbed pulls onto the shoulder about a block in front of me and proceeds to back up. Salvation or serial killer, I wonder?

This incredibly wonderful human being in a blue uniform with an Irish lilt to his speech and Irish gold in his heart proceeds to change my tire. Incredible that there are still such people. Despite some trouble with my newfangled jack which I unearthed from all the Mom memorabilia in the trunk, he did it one-two-three. Miraculously, I actually have cash in the pocketbook. I try to give him a present, because nothing can repay what the man just did for me, but he will not take a penny. His only request that I do someone else a favor. Reminds me of a country song.

I make it to the airport almost in time. My first words: "Next time fly to Sarasota. I don't care how much it costs." Amen.

Truth Be Told Updated

From Babalu comes this well-reasoned and informed NPR piece via NRO online. In reference to the embargo lifting, Duncan Currie nails it. Of particular note is his treatment of the Democratizing-Cuba-one-mojito-at-a-time rationale. I'll leave you with a snippet:

As for tourism, European and Canadian tourists have been enjoying Cuba's beaches and hotels for years. Has this sparked internal reforms? "European and Canadian governments would like to make that case, but I don't believe there is any evidence to support it," Peter Orr, a retired Foreign Service officer who served as Cuba coordinator at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) under President Clinton, told me in an e-mail. No surprise there: The Cuban tourism industry is dominated by the armed forces, and foreign tourists are generally isolated from ordinary Cubans. Miami Herald columnist Andres Oppenheimer, a shrewd observer of Cuban and Latin American affairs, dismisses the "U.S. tourists will bring democracy" claim as "wishful thinking." He writes that the millions of European, Canadian, and Latin American tourists who have come to Cuba during the past decade have not had "any visible impact on the island's totalitarian system."

Update: I was researching Mr. Currie when I stumbled onto this he wrote about the ALA and their improbable stance on Cuban censorship as an intern in 2003.

Cheney's Remarks: You Go

Although I didn't agree with some of his reputed foreign policy views, I am one of the five people who actually liked the former VP. Anyway, the Republican Party sent me a link to the full text of his foreign policy speech, really more of a defense. Trust me, it's worthy of a read. Bravo!

Clearing Out The Cobwebs

From my personal closet of journalistic curiosities...

Another George Will column over at the Washington Post makes the cut this week. Mr. Will points out the obvious here: the administration is acting as if it is above the law. He cites arm twisting of states, threats to corporate financing, and breaches of contract law. Besides, Will actually uses the word ukase in a sentence. After reading the general treatment he affords the Chrysler situation, turn to a letter from the American Thinker cited at Babalu in which one unfortunate dealer makes clear just what devils lurk in the details of this deal. This is America? Unconscionable.

Here's another gov't disgrace. In an ironic twist, AFP informs us via BreitBart that the US Attorney and the FBI are investigating insider trading at the SEC. You know, the guys who prosecute everyone else for financial malfeasance in the market. You gotta be kidding me.

According to this report over at Foxnews the happiest people are old, male, and Republican. Of course, I could have told you that the ill-mannered shrillness of the left indicated very unhappy people with unresolved issues from adolescence. But, heck, I'm no expert, being middle-aged, female, and Republican. Actually, I have grossly oversimplified the Pew Research. Read it for yourself.

In another peripherally related CBS report, it seems you really can die of a broken heart, of Broken Heart Syndrome, to be exact. Seems the stress of emotional upheaval, sudden fear and the like really can give you a heart attack. Whoddathunkit?

Finally, I'll share a rather puzzling report from the UK's Times Online, via How Green. Seems there is no global honeybee crisis after all. Still the report lacks a bit of clarity. What is going on in the States? Is it the two syndromes cited or that people don't keep bees? And what about the demand? I'm confoosed.

A Graduation is no Place for Tantrums or Catholics have Manners

The commencement speaker at my daughter's graduation from Boston College a few years ago was Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. For weeks prior to the event, controversy raged across the campus. On the appointed day, much to our relief, there was little evidence of the same. Of course, some of the faculty did stand and give her their backs to her while she spoke. This feeble and ill-mannered demonstration, however, was more than countered by the warm welcome and rousing response of the crowd.

This week at Notre Dame, the other side was afforded a similar treatment. Despite the attendant hoopla, when the President spoke, he was welcomed heartily. This was as it should be. I do not agree with the man on many things, but I do believe that as a guest of the school, he was due the hospitality of the entire place. There is never an excuse for bad manners... almost never anyway.

It stikes me that these people, whether the professors at BC or the odd heckler at Notre Dame, share in the notion that their views trump those of the assembled multitudes. Graduation is not about the speaker, or the administration, or even them. Graduation is a celebration of the hard work of students and parents, a milestone in the development of young minds. Who are they to impose their will?

The beef, if any, is not with the speaker but with those who invited him or her. The speaker also bears the burden of not prosletyzing about his or her own brand of politics. In my experience, most are cognizant of the same and present a pretty catholic message. Anyway, we have reached a pretty sad state of affairs when we cannot listen to each other, when we cannot at least pretend to be gracious. Upshot: save your tantrums for your parents or spouses. You have no right to inflict them on us. There is a time and a place for disagreements of all stripes. Graduation is not it.

Wordless

May 15 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama will keep
the military tribunal system for trying some terrorism suspects held at the U.S.
prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with expanded legal protections for
defendants.

Here.

and

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - U.S. military judges
dropped all war crimes charges on Monday against the only two Guantanamo
captives facing trial, rulings that could preclude trying any of the 380
prisoners held at the U.S. base in Cuba any time soon.

The judges said they lacked jurisdiction under the strict
definition of those eligible for trial by military tribunal under a law the U.S.
Congress enacted last year.
Here.

Boldface mine

Last Week's Follies

Soft Shoe. Kudo's to Michelle Malkin for pointing out the "double standard" when it comes to political couture. Check out Michelle Obama's Lanvin footgear in question. A Sneaker by any other name would still be as odiferous. Glad she devoted herself to public service and not to pursuing filthy lucre. Read it at Townhall.

Burlesque. I'm listening to the TV in the other room, so I figure I missed something. "What is Fiat giving Chrysler for the stock?" I ask the hubster. "I'm not sure," he replies. Doesn't seem to be much as far as I can see. Better question: what's the UAW putting into the kitty? Talk about your misbegotten creatures. Read the Barone column in the Washington Examiner and get the gory details. The very fabric of our economic system, my friends.

Pantomime. The ruling military junta celebrated May Day with a mute Raul, perhaps because even though they are masters of the demonstration on demand, the message that repression and misery will continue was a tad unpopular. Read all about it here in a Miami Herald article co-written by an undercover reporter. You go, Herald.

Stand Up. How about a week in swinging Nazareth? Very interesting article at Fox News about the contemporary city where Jesus grew up and that believers won't recognize.

Can-Can. Although the swine flu has thankfully turned into a bust, Mexican neighbors think it originated at a plant co-owned by Smithfield farms. With all the pig joints South of the Border, it had to be a partially American-owned one. Believe it? Who knows?

Guess What Travel Company I Won't Be Using

Greed Fuels Clamor to Ease Cuba Restrictions

I fantasize that one day, I'll open the paper and read that headline. It is, after all, essentially the case. Aside from idealogues, the greatest chearleaders for ending the embargo and attendant travel restrictions, are almost invariably ranchers, farmers, wouldbe investors. The latest entity- doubtless fueled by the desire to democratize Cuba one tourist at a time- to enter the lists is none other than Orbitz. Yup, of Orbitz.com fame. Seems they wanted to throw their weight behind a social cause and apparently decided that bailing out a totalitarian dictatorship while lining their pockets fit the bill better than, say, ending world hunger.

It would seem that some sort of campaign of our own might be called for. Suggestions? Read the Seattle Times article about their orchestrated campaign here, complete with link to online petition. Sign up and they'll give you a one hundred dollar coupon toward travel in Cuba. Bajate del asiento, Ñiquito. (Allusion to old Alvarez Guedes joke about a father and his son dreaming of the new family car they will someday buy.)

Cross-posted at Babalublog

Canaries in the Political Mine?

If eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, maybe we should be looking at some recent developments. I'm driving along in me vehicle when I hear an ad condemning a proposed radio tax. So I go here. Maybe I don't see things as a free speech sort of thing- it seems to apply to music- but I take note.

Then one day, I open my email and find an empassioned plea from a conservative magazine. I've reproduced the text below:

You may recall that, just over a year ago, the federal government's taxpayer-subsidized mail-delivery monopoly -- aka the United States Postal Service -- hit us with a whopping 20 percent rate increase that drove up our annual delivery costs by more than $120,000.

Well, believe it or not, they've just done it again.

That's right: the USPS is hitting us with yet another postal increase that will jack up our annual delivery costs by an additional $51,568.

Together, this one-two punch of rate hikes amounts to more than $170,000 in increased annual delivery costs -- a staggering sum that we simply can't afford.

Now, it's outrageous enough that the USPS can continually jack up our rates without fearing any loss of our business to more cost-efficient competitors -- something it can do ONLY because federal law effectively protects it from private competition.

But what really burns me up is that these increases are part of a new rate system that was designed in part by lobbyists for liberal media giant Time Warner and other large publishers to benefit themselves at the expense of smaller competitors such as [ ].So instead of Time Warner's mailing costs ratcheting up like ours, the cost of delivering liberal Time magazine and other Big Media publications will increase at about half the rate hike forced on [ ] (and that's after some of those publications actually had a decrease in postage costs last year!).

Talk on radio is mostly conservative; large media publications are almost inveterately liberal. Co-incidence? Who was it that said there are no co-incidences. There is more than one way to shut up the Right. In the meantime, keep an eye on the bouncing ball.

Meanderings: A Death, A Wedding, And An Estate

I've been distracted as of late by the recent death of my mother, the impending wedding of my daughter, and the interminable process of settling an estate. Of the three, the estate has been the worst. My mother was very ill. By the time she died, she had left a five year old Chevy on which she owed money, a modest condo worth less than a luxury car in today's market, and a small amount of money in the bank, co-incidentally just over what she owed in debts. So I was not particularly perturbed about settling it. I knew the estate was not big enough for probate in Florida, so I never anticipated the hoops through which I would need to jump.

Now, if you're rich, you hire an attorney, pay lots of money, and forget about the thing. If you're not so rich, you impose on an attorney friend and do the legwork yourself. If you're poor, I have no idea what you do, as I can't conceive you would have to go through the whole rigmarole. All I know is that when Mom died, I began to pay her bills off with the account that we'd always used. The crematory notified Social Security, so that was done. I paid off her car. Check. When I went to pay off her bank credit card, I found that the same bank she owed the money to had frozen her funds. It was just as well, because just about that time, I discovered that I wasn't allowed to do it. I had to file some probate variant with the court. Filing fees, Ka-ching. Advertising in the paper for three months, Ka-ching. By the way, keep paying the maintenance fees on the condo, the insurance on the car, they're yours. Ka-ching.

Oh, my lawyer informs me a month later, we'll need an inventory of her belongings. What belongings?, I reply. Lets see, an extensive wardrobe I've donated to Goodwill. Some furniture my husband had scrounged for her, also donated to Goodwill. She did have quite a costume jewelry collection I didn't have the heart to donate. And I still have her bottle collection. Don't get excited. They're just ordinary bottles. My mother, the folk artist, collected bottles she liked. Sum total: dismal. I realized that she had been shedding possessions for years. She had very little left. She had, however, traveled extensively, eaten her way across Sarasota, and generally enjoyed herself. That doesn't count.

The bank she owes the money to, which has frozen the funds to pay them, now sics a collection agency on her. I get a phone call. I tell them, "She's dead." I guess a lot of people must use that excuse, because she says, "Oh, I'll tell them not to call you for like three or four days."

"You gotta be kidding me," I reply. "You guys froze the funds. Now you gotta wait three months like everyone else."

Then begins the reign of terror. They call me every day. If I don't answer they call twice a day. Finally, I do what I should have done in the first place but was too peeved to do. I call this TARP bank. After giving them the name of my much put upon lawyer, it subsides.

Now this poor fellow informs me that I need proof that I paid the car. On that hangs another tale. This but the beginning of my adventures in nonprobate land.