Bailout Schmailout

Right now, there seems to be a dearth of writers AGAINST the bailout. Everyone just assumes that we must do SOMETHING, but we cannot seem to agree on what that something is. Further, we don't even really understand any of it.

As much as I watch the news, I cannot find anybody who can explain to me why we need a bailout without using banal analogies like "The economy is the car, and the credit market is the engine. And the engine is broken!" Makes me sick. Nobody, even Henry Paulson, I'm convinced, is smart enough to figure out what is really wrong here. That's why I'm not in favor of giving a one trillion dollar blank-check to a single man who was never elected, and who doesn't fully understand the problem at hand.

How can we apply a solution without first understanding the problem? We cannot, without wasting enormous amounts of money due to poor oversight and inadequate planning.

Neither political candidate has any real 'skin' in this game. Both are sideline watchers (despite McCain's recent antics) simply trying to land on the right side of whatever happens--so they can claim victory and get elected. Neither candidate knows anything more about this bailout than I do, which is truly frightening, because I don't know JACK. And George Bush's approach on this is "Trust us. You have to act now." George Bush lost my trust a long time ago.

So it was refreshing to see the main stream media come out with one well-reasoned, apolitical article against the bailout:

Time: Let Risk-Taking Financial Institutions Fail

I'm not asking which party has the better solution to this, or which party is the root cause of all this trouble. Both parties are complicit in this mess, if for nothing else than lack of oversight. But, most importantly, what is the correct solution going forward? I believe the writers in that Time article are more onto the solution than any others I've read.

We're starting to see banks fail, to be bought up by stronger banks--most recently, Wachovia's purchase by Citigroup. Actually, I view the consolidation of the banking sector as the ultimate solution to this problem. The weak and foolhardy banks will be ultimately consumed by the larger, more stable banks. I believe this is ultimately what capitalism is all about. In the meantime, get ready for a wild ride in your 401(k)s and IRAs.

What do you think?

Bear's Den Camping

Here are some photos from last night's camping at Bear's Den. Last night, it poured and poured! Luckily, Eddie, Luke and I constructed a large tarpaulin fly over our tent, so at least we stayed dry on the inside. However, when it was time to strike camp and leave, we were forced to tear down in the drizzly rain and yucky mud.

Now, It's Getting Really FUNNY

Last week, I was suffering from political exhaustion. But now, it's starting to get fun!

Self explanatory:


And a plea for my Jewish friends: GO TO FLORIDA! TALK TO NANA AND PAPA!

(Warning! NSFW. The following is freakin' hilarious, but also has some naughty language.)

The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.

Letters to Congress / Senate

I took Chuck and Becky's lead and wrote three letters to my Senators and Congressman today. Mr. Wolf, Mr. Webb, and Mr. Warner have all heard from me on this financial bailout issue. I urge you, now is the time to write your congressman. Nothing works better on them than reminding them of your vote. It will only be the onslaught of emails and letters that makes them respond. I think it's starting to work.

Dear Congressman Wolf:

As a fiscal conservative, and a constituent of yours in Northern Virginia, I urge you, please, in the strongest terms: NO WALL STREET BAILOUT!

I agree that the current situation on Wall Street is dire, and may have lasting trickle-down impact in our economy, perhaps even impacting every one of our lives. We may even see a full scale recession.

However, history teaches us that government is notoriously poor at solving these crises, and usually only prolongs the agony with their actions. I agree with Newt Gingrich on this issue: How can we trust Secretary Paulson to get this right? He has been consistently wrong on the economy for the past 18 months!

I do not want to see my tax dollars (and my children's tax dollars, and my GRANDchildren's tax dollars) going to fill the pockets of crooked and unethical Wall Street bankers with their golden parachutes. Let some banks go out of business if they made criminally sloppy decisions. Let the market correct itself. That is the true spirit of capitalism.

It may be tough, but those of us who were fiscally responsible and financially straight, we will weather this storm.

I urge you, Congressman Wolf, do NOT vote for the financial bailout deal. Do not rush to a snap decision because of perceived panic from Secretary Paulson, President Bush, or Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. Do not let politics win over what is right.

My vote for you in the next election will be based on your actions this week.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Scott E. Harris

Market Meltdown

Chuck's blog is always a good read, but this time, he really outdid himself! Read his rant about this recent market meltdown, and see if you can't help but agree. (And whether you agree or not, leave him a comment telling him Scott sent you!)

Debate?

Is there any question why?

 
 
 

Webelos-O-Ree with Eddie

Eddie and I had a fun day together going to the Webelos-O-Ree at Camp Snyder. The camp had lots of activities, including firebuilding, cooking, rocketry, knot tying, setting up tents, team building, and Readyman (first aid).

Readyman was really important for Eddie to learn, as Becky and I want him to understand first aid and be ready to help if the need ever arose. But the activity was at the very edge of Eddie's ability to handle gore. When the boys brought out the big bloody rubber hand, I thought I was going to lose Eddie there and then. But he was very brave, and hung in there enough to learn the first aid techniques (even if he kept his eyes closed the entire time).

Eddie told me his favorite activities were the rockets and cooking. He really enjoyed meeting the Troop from Sterling that ran the knot tying station. He said he liked them best because they talked to him, not to me. I can see why that would be important.

Here are some of the photos today. It was a really gorgeous day, and it was fun to spend it with my big boy.

More Press Photos

More press photos are trickling in from the Joe Biden event in Sterling. This is a great photo of Leslie and Sharon!



And a photo showing just how close we got to the next Vice President.



But my favorite was on CNN's Political Ticker. I like this one, because we're all in it!

Photo courtesy AP.

Joe Biden Speaks to Women in Sterling

Senator Joe Biden came to town today, and we were there to cheer him on! Yesterday, Sharon picked up tickets for us to go to the Democratic Rally for Women in Sterling, Virginia. As we were walking up to the stage, a staffer pulled us aside and asked if we would sit behind Joe.

"Hell, yeah!" we replied!

Funny, but I knew in my heart all along that they would call us up. I had even prepared for the event by wearing my red shirt and "Republican's for Obama" pin. I gave Sharon my only other pin, the "Jews for Obama" written in Hebrew, and we all got placed directly behind the senator. Perfect seats! We even got to shake the senator's hand afterward.


The Ladies and I go see Joe Biden from Scott Harris on Vimeo.



Senator Biden gave a rousing, and earnest speech about the issues women face in today's economy. It was easy to get caught up in the fervor. It was clear to me that Mr. Biden is a man who has worked 20+ years tirelessly fighting for women's issues. He is not some transparent pander to demographics, he is a man with a real record of accomplishments, and especially on women's issues. Biden got legislation passed that protects and gives shelter to victims of domestic violence--legislation that was vote against by John McCain, I might add.


As a man, I support women's issues. Heh, I like women! But our country is only as healthy as its women and the core family units they foster. I was proud to be there, as a man, supporting my wife, my friends, Mr. Biden and all those ladies who deserve the very best.



I will be voting this fall, and it won't be a difficult choice for me. I am "all in" on this election: 100% committed to my decision and not looking back. We must choose wisely in November. For her:

More Politics!

More politics. Look away if you must...

Someone has hacked into Sarah Palin's personal emails! The outrage!

Seriously, this is truly illegal criminal activity. There may be no way of knowing, but it was probably perpetrated by juvenile hackers. If found, they should be prosecuted. Hacking of this sort would certainly never be condoned by any serious political campaign. Yet, that hasn't stopped the Conservative Right from baseless accusations of the Obama campaign.

Reading about this incident in the news, I found this: Glenn Greenwald of Salon really hit the key irony of the Right's indignation, and one of the most important reasons to vote Democrat, even if you don't line up with Obama 100%:

[It's] really a wondrous, and repugnant, sight to behold the Bush-following lynch mobs on the Right melodramatically defend the Virtues of Privacy and the Rule of Law. These, of course, are the same authoritarians who have cheered on every last expansion of the Lawless Surveillance State of the last eight years -- put their fists in the air with glee as the Federal Government seized the power to listen to innocent Americans' telephone calls; read our emails; obtain our banking, credit card, and library records; and create vast data bases of every call we make and receive and every prescription we fill and every instance of travel and other vast categories of information that remain largely unknown -- all without warrants or oversight of any kind and often in clear violation of the law.

The same political faction which today is prancing around in full-throated fits of melodramatic hysteria and Victim mode (their absolute favorite state of being) over the sanctity of Sarah Palin's privacy are the same ones who scoffed with indifference as it was revealed during the Bush era that the FBI systematically abused its Patriot Act powers to gather and store private information on thousands of innocent Americans; that Homeland Security officials illegally infiltrated and monitored peaceful, law-abiding left-wing groups devoted to peace activism, civil liberties and other political agendas disliked by the state; and that the telephone calls of journalists and lawyers have been illegally and repeatedly monitored.

We are at the verge of a true Orwellian state. There is only one choice to avoid inflicting the catastrophe of unchecked executive power on our children's generation:

Autumn Project

Autumn is approaching, and so too is my desire to get back to some home improvement chores.

We've decided, for a variety of reasons, to take up all the carpet on the second floor of our home. The carpet was never really very nice. It was contractor-quality carpet that was installed when we built our home. The carpet is now eleven years old, having lived through the toughest toddler years of our children. It is riddled with stains that won't come out, and sags and creases that don't look nice. Plus, every allergist in the nation will tell you to remove your wall-to-wall carpeting as the first step in improving your allergies. In short, it's time to get rid of it!

We did a fair bit of shopping around, and finally decided on a laminate flooring. The laminates have come a very long way in the past decade. Most of the higher quality laminates are almost indistinguishable from real wood. What's more, laminates are more durable than wood and don't require refinishing every ten years or so--a major chore we just completed on our first level.

The laminate flooring we chose was a brand called Witex™ Town and Country "Honey Oak". This one, manufactured in Germany, has an AC4 rating and comes with a 30 year residential warranty. We got a fairly good deal by purchasing it from FastFloors.com. The total cost of all materials is just about $4500 for over 1000 square feet. Not bad, really.

We chose this color as the closest match to our existing first floor hardwood flooring. Becky and I liked some of the more exotic choices, like "Old Hickory", but the smartest thing to do was to choose something almost identical to our existing oak flooring. We didn't want someone who walked up our stairs to see the contrast and remark, "Oh, Laminate!" Mostly, we just want to floor to disappear into the background.

As to the installation, that we will do ourselves.

The process should be fairly straightforward. First, we move all the furniture and rip out the carpet and padding, removing the tack strips along the walls.

Then, after smoothing and patching any problems in the subfloor, we lay down the acoustic padding (which reduces the "plasticky" clicking sound of walking on the laminate and provides a moisture barrier to the floor below).

After this, it's fairly simple to begin snapping the pieces into place, leaving a 10mm expansion gap around all the walls. Door jambs will have to be trimmed so that the laminate can slide under them, and I will have a variety of complex miter and jig-saw cuts to fit into the odd nooks and crannies.

Finally, we install quarter-round on all the baseboards (to cover the expansion gap), and add the threshold pieces interfacing with the tile, attic carpeting, and the wood stairs to the first level. Hopefully, it should take no more than a single weekend.

When we're done, the floor should look something like the following, though this is not a photo from my house:

Time to Lighten Up...

All of this political stuff can really start to weigh on you. Everybody is getting so serious about this election, myself included! Frankly, it is exhausting!

I think it is time to lighten up a little with some great SNL humor...

(And gosh if Tina Fey isn't a dead ringer for Sarah Palin!)

Virginia Scottish Games 2008

After Luke's soccer game, we headed over to Sky Meadows State Park for this year's Scottish festival and highland games.

The Virginia Scottish Games are always excellent! Plenty of food, drink, games, shopping, piping, and dancing. Plus, it's a great excuse to wear the kilt!

This year was special in that I got pulled in to be a volunteer for the caber toss. Yes, I can actually say that I was part of the event and handled the caber very well. Of course, I was the caber toss equivalent of the water boy. My job, along with two others, was to go and fetch the caber and bring it back each time it was thrown. This sounds rather trivial, but the caber weighed in at 275 pounds (almost 20 stone!), and we had to bring it back over eighteen times! It was hard work, but it earned us a great t-shirt and the privilege of getting front row seats to the event. We only had to make sure we stayed at least 23 feet back. As the man told us, "You bring the caber in, walk it up with your hands so the athlete can grab it, and then, GET THE HELL AWAY!"

The festival was super fun, and the athletics were really enjoyable. The only complaint was the stifling heat and humidity of the day. It was over 85 degrees and oppressively humid. After spending a couple of hours at the park, we headed back home to cool off and rest for the remainder of the day.

Here are my best and some of Becky's best photos from the day: