The Stock Market, the Bailout and I
By Neil Ransom | October 10, 2008
An older African saying goes something like this.
The stock market is like the neck of an old drinking giraffe. Even though the process is difficult, when the ancient giraffe is finished and has no more room for water, it must move its neck back into a positive angle and upright its heavy head.
Actually I made that up. The saying and the graphic…at work on an old 1940s version of Photshop.
If you want a really funny/satirical commentary about our current financial crisis I suggest you listen to the following clip from NPR’s All Things Considered, by Andrei Codrescu, titled “After the Bailout.”
My initial reaction was, “Andrei Codrescu and All Things Considered are so true.”
Tagged with: African proverb • bailout • crash • giraffe • stock market • stock market crash
4 Comments »
My Rumparts are Under Attack
By Neil Ransom | October 7, 2008
I purchased a new Specialized bike last weekend so I could commute to work and free up the car for Kate. I also like to bike so that helped me make the decision. Unfortunatly the first few weeks of long distance biking can take toll on your body while you adjust to the physical demands of biking. Lets just say that at this point in my life I prefer to stand. Biking to work is loads of fun and is going to save us a lot of money. I just wished my rump would adjust sooner than later; my heart, lungs, and legs as well, for that matter. A photo of my new bike and me to come.
Tagged with: bike • bike to work • Environment • San Diego • work
3 Comments »
Torts
By Kate | October 6, 2008
I wish more of these were offered at USD.
I just want to confirm the rumors: it is true, law school is hard.
Right now I am studying for my Torts class (ok, technically right now I am writing a blog article in an attempt to avoid studying for my Torts class). To give you a little idea of what that is like this is a quote from my current reading:
“Historically, the tort of negligent infliction of emotional distress had raised two concerns: (1) establishing authenticity of the claim and (2) ensuring fairness of the financial burden placed upon a defendant whose conduct was negligent. A court deals with these concerns by exploring in each case such public policy considerations as: (1) whether the injury is too remote from the negligence; (2) whether the injury is wholly out of proportion to the culpability of the negligent tortfeasor; (3) whether in retrospect it appears too extraordinary that the negligence should be too likely to open the was to fraudulent claims…”
There are about a bazillion more points… but, you get the picture. If you were not even slightly tempted to
(a) skip the paragraph
(b) fall asleep
(c) light something on fire
(d) buy a one-way ticket to Mexico & never look back
while reading that excerpt, I suggest you enroll in law school immediately. It will be a real barrel of monkeys.
If you had any of the aforementioned reactions to that paragraph, I suggest you stay far, far away from law school & keep thinking that the definition of tort is what is pictured above. Trust me, you’ll be happier in the long run.
Tagged with: Law School • torts • USD
5 Comments »
There’s no such thing as a free lunch
By Kate | September 28, 2008
“Oh, and by the way. You are in charge of getting Mr. Nader lunch. He likes Lebanese food and fruit juice.” This is what we were told two hours before the Nader rally at UCSD that we were in charge of getting peeps in San Diego out to. When we got the call, we were in the middle of silkscreening our custom, “SD heart Nader” shirts. Neil went on an emergency mission for some Tabbouleh and Pita & Hummus, which was successful & well received by the Nader crew.
As you can see below by the standing ovation for Nader, there was a most excellent, to quote Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, turnout at the rally. More than 1/2 of the crowd were hearing Nader speak for the first time.
Nader was well recieved, Matt Gonzalez also spoke and people had fabulous questions. But, let’s face it… the shirts were the real highlight of the day. I gave a shirt to Mr. Nader while he was doing a book signing. Unfortunate timing because, he thought I wanted him to sign it & signed the ill fated gift. Luckily Nader’s “handler” caught it & said he’d give it to him later. Now Nader has the ultimate self-aggrandizing shirt. An “I heart myself” shirt with his own signature. Again, most excellent.
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Tagged with: Campaign • Nader • Nader 2008 • Ralph Nader
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Knocking doors with the president of the gay bowling league & An excellent article
By Kate | September 20, 2008
Yesterday Neil & I went knocking to get people out to see Ralph Nader at his upcoming rally in San Diego next Saturday. We went with (the) two other Nader supporters in San Diego. One was our new friend Dennis. He is the head of the gay bowling league in San Diego, among other things. He is really fearless. He showed us the ropes & hit the streets.
While the experience was intimidating, it made me take a deep breath & remember that most people are just really nice people. They just want to have nice lives, nice kids, nice neighbors. They don’t hate. They are just nice. Even the Obama peeps were really nice & took our fliers etc. We also had some people that were really enthusiastic about Nader & it was great to get out the information to them.
I found an article that explains all the frustration I feel about the two party system. Please read it:
“…Yet most folks, it seems, have confused the occasional weekend parade, I mean, protest with a full-blown movement.
Here’s a news flash: Anti-Bush bumper stickers and a heartfelt commitment to recycled toilet paper don’t constitute a movement. Neither do candlelight vigils, vegan diets, petitions, voting drives, letters to Congress, monthly donations to Greenpeace, yellow ribbons, red ribbons, pink ribbons, or becoming the change you wish to see in the world.
All you need is love? Yeah…that and a million dollars a minute.
This is not meant to denigrate or mock but rather to point out that there is a huge difference between having a sincere minority of Americans partaking in such gestures and having a tangible, functional, effective movement capable of inciting, inspiring, demanding social change. The rest of the world knows this…why don’t we?”
Please find the rest of this article at Dissident Voice. It’s everything I want to say to everyone about the election and the state of our nation. Lucky for me, someone else wrote it all out.
