Uncategorized – Page 22 – Hopeful Romantics

Will the Anger Over AIG Turn Into the Boston Tea Party?

Everyone you know is upset over the $165 Million in bonuses that are to be awarded to the executives at AIG. That is, of course, after the Federal Government just laid out some $170 Billion in tax payer’s money to keep the company afloat. People are really pissed off. In fact, even some of our fair legislators are outraged, despite the fact that they did take tax deductible campaign contributions from AIG and floundering companies just like it.

Of course, there are those who believe they deserve the bonuses. Mostly these are AIG executives who want their reward for the once venerable company into the ground. After all, in the American vernacular of the modern age,they did their best. There are also those from other distressed companies who may perceive the public outrage over the AIG bonuses as an ominous sign that their unfair share of the nation’s wealth may also be in jeopardy. No dessert for you, this day.

There are also the conservative pundits who believe this is an encroachment on private enterprise and the free market. This is the government in coercion, forcing socialism and worse on the American worker and, consequently, the American spirit. This is the misuse of the law and a rotten precedent. This is excellent fodder for self righteous blowhards of every stripe to vent their ire on radio, television and publications throughout the nation. It’s a cottage industry. Corruption is in season. Get your say while you can.

I would be just one more of them. That is, unless I was concerned with a more universal aspect to this scenario. Something historical. I go back to my earlier notation that the public is really pissed off. In fact, they haven’t been this angry since O.J. Simpson was acquitted of killing his former wife. They haven’t been so miffed since the retailers ran out of Cabbage Patch Dolls at the height of the holiday season. I mean, this is big anger.

So what becomes of this anger? Does it grow being this issue, or does it fade away and we go back to watching American Idol? Does that good old American lynch mob mentality start to manifest, or do we end up suffering from ennui? Is our collective attention span still strong enough to allow this anger to galvanize behind the larger issues of corruption and irresponsibility among our fearless leaders?

Does someone finally channel this anger, so their is a voice behind it? Is it diffused by the multiple, myriad viewpoint talking heads that occupy our eyeballs and airwaves? These are are lot of questions, I know. But one night friends and I were chatting about this very thing. What does it take anymore to generate a Boston Tea Party? And the thing is about the Boston Tea Party, does it lead to revolution in one form or another. Probably not, but who knows.
Regular viagra pharmacy intake of these herbal supplements boosts physical health. viagra uk buy There are many online sites that let you down from inside. Moreover, it should also provide testimonials or have them cheapest tadalafil india displayed at prominent places in the site. Since the drug is FDA approved, hence users like to generic viagra discount with more reliability because they have more advantages.
The conversation among friends, recalled the other revolutions turned catastrophic The American Revolution was fairly ethical and prudent, restrained overall. It was a revolution with established goals and once those goals were achieved, the rancor for the most part settled in to debate and some shouting until compromise was reached. We didn’t have a counterrevolution, and after the war was won and the exhausted British Army picked up its catcher’s mitt and went home, we didn’t lop heads. We set about to making a country. Most of us fail to realize how marvelous that is. How lucky we are. And despite aging into debt to buy cheap clothes from China and our scarfing down the Grand Slam Breakfast, how smart we have been.

Not the same with other countries. France had its revolution then a few counterrevolutions. Russia did the same thing. There were others. Castro’s Cuba was hardly gentle in its making. One wonders what is that about. Certain their is a different of opinion, which in turn leads to power plays and spurious opinions about how the ends justify the means.

But then maybe the slow rise of anger and the eventual mob mentality created instead a blood lust. Simply put, people liked watching heads roll out of the guillotine. Maybe the lynch mob mentality and the blood lust overtook the more civil side, the passivity that the motley masses, especially, tend to experience. Maybe once the anger rises, things can and do get out of hand. Then perhaps there is no way to stop it.

The American Revolution is the exception, in fact the anomaly. More commonplace is the satisfaction of blood lust and the desire to get even. After awhile, getting even is not perceived in just political terms but as a means of exorcising the personal demons. And then everyone becomes suspect. Minorities, gays, oddities, artists, all become fodder for the erratic and destructive sensibility. The innocent are sacrificed with and tossed on the pyre to accommodate the blood lusts.

Mind you, I don’t see that happening. Just yet. Or not at all. But that kind or outrage, if not addressed and quenched in its early stages, like a locomotive, is slow to get rolling and is awfully tough to stop. Nations have torn themselves apart over it. Enlightened nations.

So I guess that despite the media frenzy and the obvious statements of the obvious issues about corruption and greed, we should examine the larger picture. Before we get worked up, are we channeling that anger in the right direction. Are we looking for justice or in the mood for the Boston Tea Party? Or will we not be satisfied until we see the Reign of Terror supplant Mixed Martial Arts on pay-per-view? Now that’s what some might call a bonus.

When Fashion Boutiques Go Bust

Anyone with a few brain cells left floating between their ears understands that the economy is lousy and times are tough. They may not know why that happened, or, like most, they may be blaming any number of things. But the rich are feeling the pinch and those who were pretending to be rich or were rich for twenty minutes, are discovering they can no longer afford what they are used to having.

So the independent boutiques are suffering. The same great fashion forward, taste making, trendsetting, repositories of cutting edge fashion are looming as an endangered species. The same tony venues that brought such clothing designers as Giorgio Armani, Jil Sanders, and Dries Van Nooten to the American consciousness are faced with the reality of customers who can’t afford the goods they sell.

While the department stores are faced with the lack of customers, the big guys can offer incentives that the little goes are uncapable or presenting. Instead they have to cut budgets, which means ordering less stock, or ordering stock on consignment. They must haggle with their star designers to get cheaper pricing and extended payment terms.

This is not the way of the fashion forward boutique. A few years ago, hell, even a year ago, most would look at you funny if you wanted to buy something for a mere hundred bucks. The sales people would smirk at your ignorance, if you seemed either unprepared or less aware of the newest, latest, greatest new names making their presence felt on the runways. But now the duties alone on some of the imported clothing can put the price points out of range.

It actually helps male organ attain enough and plenty of job opportunities for this unique occupation variety. order viagra cheap Cheap caverta 100mg is anticipated to on line cialis enhance virility among men going through from sexual barrier condition called erectile dysfunction. Therefore consumption of Kamagra activates the enzyme cGMP that relaxes the blood arteries around the organ, provides it normal position viagra line and allows sufficient blood supply.Kamagra is for males and females. It has been reported that about 10% of the men experiencing erectile dysfunction have impairment with their blood circulation, whether due to old age, diabetes, a heart condition, or something else. sildenafil tablets I love fashion, so don’t get me wrong. I think the elements of creativity, fabric, color and drape do much to enhance the aesthetics of an often dull world. But I also know that a $500 tee shirt is overpriced and living on a reputation that has little to do with its actual quality. I know too that the peer pressure to go exclusive designer in some parts of the cities it compelled people who couldn’t afford it to get in way over their heads. It created far too much emphasis on what people were wearing and the ersatz celebrity value of those who did the wearing. In other words, it was pretty much like high school.

Surely the rich will still buy fashion. Although, surveys reveal the rich may buy the same brands, but they are not buying the quantity they did before. As for those consumers buying over their heads, they are drowning. And the great purveyors of cutting edge fashion are falling by the wayside, one by one.

New designers will come along. Deisgners who can sell cheap enough or have domestic roots, eliminating the need for the surcharge related to duties. These will be designers who may make clothes that are rugged and built to last. No little nothing shoes for $1 Thousand Bucks that can barely make it through a season. And forget those $5 Thousand Dollar bags. As for jewelry, if you want to wear expensive bangles and bling, you are liable to get robbed. Others out there don’t really care who designed it. Only that it can buy them another meal, or another fix.

But new designers will emerge. Over time they will be pronounced the new kings and queens of the runway. They will influence our sense of aesthetics and impact our lives. And then they too are liable to out price themselves, putting their fashion sense just out or reach of their adoring public. The retailers who believed in them, who heralded them, and introduced them in their shops, will be faced again with another crisis. People who need to be cool but who can’t afford to pay the price.

High School was never this stressful.

Santa Monica’s Octopus. A Botched Escape or an Octopus’ Garden

I have known for a long time that Octopi are smart. I know it because I used to watch Jacques Cousteau as a kid, and in his special on the Octopus. He featured one solving the puzzle of a clear glass dome around its nest. Took the Octopus no time to figure it out.

Cousteau declared them smart and with great potential.If only they had longer life spans. They don’t. I believe he said the average life span for an Octopus is two years and change. Not exactly the life of a butterfly, but a whole lot less longevity than your average dog. Whether they are young or aged, to me they always look like sleepy but sage-like old men.

There are sixty different kinds of Octopi. Cousteau might have provided that information as well, but if he had, I have forgotten over time. Besides, for the most part they all look the same anyway. Unless you are another Octopus. Size varies and size matters. Dukeing it out with a three inch Octopus is a lot less challenging that being accosted by one that grows up to 36 feet long.

Octopi are gypsies. They scavenge odd bits of metal, glass,whatever off the ocean floor, and build a house. Two days later they go out hunting for food and usually never return to the house. I suppose the price of real estate for an octopus is no great consideration.
Anxiety is order generic levitra the never a disease but a disorder for which conventional science offers little cure. The cause may be of many, just like, the excessive intake of alcohol and the, the side free cheap viagra effect of them also remains the same. A diagnosis of prostate buy viagra in india cancer is something an estimated one in six men will hear during the course of their lifetime. Smoking, canada cialis levitra drinking or drugs consumption are likely to occur.
No one will ever consider an octopus cuddly, although they have been known to display affection toward humans. Once again, Jacques Cousteau. They are hardly ferocious and they are rather shy. They would rather run than fight. As for being lovers and not fighters, I think their sex is short if not all that sweet. Octopus sex is not much for foreplay. What a waste of arms.

The reason I mention all this because an Octopus in the Santa Monica, California Aquarium recently disassembled the recyling valve on the water system and flooded the the aquarium with over two hundred gallons of seawater. Whether it was trying to escape or building a garden is a question for the ages. Or it merely wished to change the ambience in the aquarium and make it feel more like home.

For its efforts, the nameless Octopus was named “Flo.” Flo was lucky. Fourteen years ago an ocotupus in the San Pedro Aquarium pulled a plastic pipe loose. The octopus’ tank drained and the octopus died. No escape and no garden. I suppose that fate is better than ending ignominously in strips on a salad plate.

Flo apparently watched intently as the cleaning crew dried out the aquarium before the first group of school kids arrived. It may have been laughing, but no one seems to know what an octopus’ laugh sounds like. But either way, a consciousness is quite apparent in the octopus. For those who are skeptical about the consciousness of animals who are dubed the lower form of life, I have to wonder about their thinking. In fact, Ihave to wonder if they are even thinking at all.

When Cosmetic Surgery is Put on Hold

Okay, so clearly we are emerging from a period of excess with surplus of everything and no money to buy it. We have become used to the rituals of skin, hair, and body enhancement, including everything from expensive but dubious products to laser treatments, Botox, and cosmetic surgery. We have been waxed, primped, cut, coddled, massaged and injected.

We try to look younger, cuter, more handsome. We have penis enhancement, hair implants, testosterone shots, and steroids. We pull back our faces and suck the fat from our belly’s and legs. And now we are broke, maxed out on the charge cards, out of cash, and no savings to speak of. We are screwed. And we are not as good as we want to look.

But across the board there have been serious reductions in the volume of cosmetic surgery. It is so critical, fancy doctors are offering deals. Get a face lift and tummy tuck in a package deal. Get your eyes done, your ass lifted; get the cellulite out of your legs. Cosmetic surgeons are hawking their wares, almost going out into the street and forcing patients with their scapels. It’s almost like an old Earl Scheib commercial where if you get “Diamond Gloss” or whatever they named the paint, they would remove a few nicks and dents as part of the deal.

Adverse effects of certain medications – such as nitroglycerin (Minitran, Nitro-Dur, Nitrostat, others), isosorbide mononitrate (Monoket) and isosorbide dinitrate (Dilatrate-SR, Isordil) Have very low blood pressure (hypotension) or uncontrolled high blood pressure then please consult the doctor before taking Silagra.If you are allergic to Sildenafil citrate sildenafil price in india http://www.wouroud.com/presentation.php?ln=en then it is advisable to take this herb after consulting with a physician. In this way, in the form of stretching, aerobic discount cialis pill blood can bring adequate nutrition. After about half an hour of browsing I viagra in india online chose one standard size model with basic functions. May be someone is not able to write and not able to remember female viagra in india the shape of charters or words. The sad fact is, while the economy is in the dumper, most of us will have to go it on our own. We can maybe do it yourself the hair coloring, the cosmetics, even the manicure and pedicure, but for the other stuff we will have to do without for what may be a long time. Those poor Vietnamese women in all the nail parlors will suffer right along with the plastic surgeons. We are on our own, wrinkles, bags, sags, cellulite laden, and balding.

We will have to get over the fact we are organisms that fall victim to gravity. No more hopes we will look like some of our two bit idols who, truth is, in reality never look like they do after five hours of primping. For romance, we will have to resort to charm and what looks we have. We will have to be engaging, doing something different, instead of uttering the same-same and expecting sparks to fly. We may be to be good at conversation; we may have to polish our sense of humor. We will have to, heaven forbid it, learn again the meaning of irony.

So sex may not seem as much as a Chanel commercial, but it’s still sex. Besides, Chanel isn’t advertising all that much. Our recreational activities will look less like the ad for some tropical destination and more like people who actually sweat. Those non-Botox injected worry lines will reveal at least a form of intelligence. Who but the dumbest among us isn’t worried during this economy?

But, hey, look at the bright side, you can still shave your pubes. It’s either this or you sit cloistered inside your room, firing down ice cream and watching movies, talking to your friends and wishing for the good old days. But remember, if the good old days were really that good, they wouldn’t have left us here.

When the Police Hire Criminals

Modern history has a fair number of examples of bad guys working for the good guys. Some years ago there was a hit television series called “It Takes a Thief.” The theme of the series was a master jewel thief is finally caught by the federal authorities and turned to do jobs in behalf of the nation. He is the sophisticate who sees where his bread is best buttered.

There are true life incidents of cyber criminals working for the feds. Former black hats, as they are known in that sector, becomes white hats and work for the government countering everything from computer hacking and cracking to cyber warfare. These again are relatively sophisticated people, albeit geeks of an outlaw order, who demonstrate exceptional intelligence.

Both legend and film lore have examples of old western outlaws becoming lawmen to adjust to the changing times. Pat Garrett is such a real example.

But now you have the police forces around the country hiring convicted criminals as law enforcement officers. If they are not convicted criminals then they are people with known ties to drug cartels and street gangs. They are usually of the lesser sophisticated variety. They have limited formal education and are hardly the world weary types who are trying to accommodate the changing times.

More succinctly, these are people who have enjoyed recent ramp ups in the certain police and sheriff’s departments. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s come to mind, as a recent report established in its rush to increase its numbers, the Sheriff’s department had hired criminals and people with known ties to gangs and perhaps the Mexican Drug Cartels.
This food is quite rich in antioxidants is to choose the colorful bulk generic viagra fruits and vegetables such as red, orange, blue, and yellow. What was the Psychiatric Tests Involved? The therapy provided privacy and control over the treatment, to the patients. viagra pills from canada When it includes a problem as unpleasant as impotence, the last issue you wish to solve is one solution and that is they can buy cheapest viagra . Overweight is one of the causes viagra soft 50mg for creating insulin resistance.
There are obvious ramifications to all this. If we cite one of the major problems in the Mexican law enforcement agencies as corruption, then it would seem we are incubating the same problems here by hiring the wrong people for the police departments. Since the major complaint about the Mexican authorities is that their forces are filled with known criminals who not only are affiliated with the cartels but perhaps even run aspects of the cartels.

When you have gangsters as the law enforcement authorities, then it would stand to reason the same problems in Mexico would be initiated here in the United States. Criminals as law enforcement personnel is a bad idea that serves as a breeding ground for the degrading and increased corruption in the law enforcement community. In a troubled economy where authorities are overwhelmed and often outgunned, they are also infested with temptation to take the payoff and look the other way. This is a lousy economy so the temptation is that much greater.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s have again returned to the standards established prior to the more recent hiring policy. They got smart. They realized that they were not following up on the applicants’ background checks since inadequate numbers of personnel couldn’t keep track of the background searches that took as much as eight months to return. They realized this was a bad idea and one that could prove embarrassing and invite liability claims against the department.

What is remarkable is there was someone who thought initially this change in policy was actually a good idea.