If you didn't listen to Obama talk to Americans about race as if we were grownups for 45 short minutes--as Jon Stewart put it last night--it's an experience.
http://www.youtube.com/user/BarackObamadotcom
So, yes, we can.
I can't prove we can't, anyhow.
I had such a good time reading that speech that I watched it with my second-grader. Who was rapt. For 38 minutes. It's a special occasion to watch adult TV, and an even more special one to get to listen to adult ideas addressing the concerns that are on her mind.
During February, and around MLK Day, she learned about the civil rights movement at school and had to come home and reality check: Mama, Ms. Teacher said that back when Gramma was little, people with different color skin couldn't ride on the same part of the bus. That can't be true. Can it? She said that this lady Rosa Parks went to jail for sitting in the wrong part of the bus. That didn't really happen, did it?
My 8 year old lives in a reality in which legal segregation, and therefore the violence and struggle surrounding its end, are literally senseless. And that's good.
But I have never, in my adult life, heard a politician who had a shot at winning the race for dog-catcher make the claim: Economic desperation and habit, rather than malice, are driving the train around the loop of racism, racial thinking and acts of prejudice that keep us all in our own cars on that train, with our own kind.
And to stop that train we need to stop fueling it, and discuss the hell out of why the tracks seem to keep us going in circles.
I was amazed by the speech. I assumed that Pam Spaulding shared writers' credit with Tim Wise, because everyone knows that professional politicians can't think this stuff through let alone speak it aloud.
It was a relief and a triumph. Long overdue.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
A long, long time ago...
...when I was but a lil' phoenix, I learned something from my big sister's first boyfriend that seems to apply to our national malaise.
I refer here to the trend toward homeowners who have no equity and a painful house payment choosing to walk away from the house. Sending 'jingle mail' (an envelope with the keys) instead of a check.
This came to me in the form of a joke I heard about the mindset of borrowers whose houses have lost value, told by a mortgage broker:
Bank: Mr. Borrower, we're calling because we haven't received your last mortgage payment.
(Soon to be Former) Homeowner: Oh yes you have!
I was also fascinated by an interview with the CEO of Wachovia, whose bank holds or sold about 7% of 'the housing bubble' in form of various types of lending. He was shocked, shocked I tell you, to find that his bank had lent money to the sort of people that would pay a car payment or a credit card bill while allowing their homes to be foreclosed.
This reminded me of Adrian, the first boyfriend. He was big, tough, motorcycle-riding and (as we said back in the day) black. I recall a conversation we had when I was about twelve, sitting on my parents' front porch. He was spinning a tale about his cousin's new ride, which was a gold (gold!) Lincoln, dropped, on 17 inch rims. He referred to this cousin as 'East Side trash' and laughed at how nice the car was considering that the young man's mama was living in squalor.
I asked him what he was talking about and he leaned over and said very quietly: Well, you gotta understand that my people know how to be broke. You can live in your car, but you can't drive your house.
I love this country, but it scares me that we've become a nation living by the values of a 17 year old being raised by his grandparents in the worst neighborhood in town.
We can live in our cars, but as it turns out, we can't drive our McMansions.
I refer here to the trend toward homeowners who have no equity and a painful house payment choosing to walk away from the house. Sending 'jingle mail' (an envelope with the keys) instead of a check.
This came to me in the form of a joke I heard about the mindset of borrowers whose houses have lost value, told by a mortgage broker:
Bank: Mr. Borrower, we're calling because we haven't received your last mortgage payment.
(Soon to be Former) Homeowner: Oh yes you have!
I was also fascinated by an interview with the CEO of Wachovia, whose bank holds or sold about 7% of 'the housing bubble' in form of various types of lending. He was shocked, shocked I tell you, to find that his bank had lent money to the sort of people that would pay a car payment or a credit card bill while allowing their homes to be foreclosed.
This reminded me of Adrian, the first boyfriend. He was big, tough, motorcycle-riding and (as we said back in the day) black. I recall a conversation we had when I was about twelve, sitting on my parents' front porch. He was spinning a tale about his cousin's new ride, which was a gold (gold!) Lincoln, dropped, on 17 inch rims. He referred to this cousin as 'East Side trash' and laughed at how nice the car was considering that the young man's mama was living in squalor.
I asked him what he was talking about and he leaned over and said very quietly: Well, you gotta understand that my people know how to be broke. You can live in your car, but you can't drive your house.
I love this country, but it scares me that we've become a nation living by the values of a 17 year old being raised by his grandparents in the worst neighborhood in town.
We can live in our cars, but as it turns out, we can't drive our McMansions.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Satellite shot down successfully
Here's the conversation with Mrs. Phoenix:
Her: So, what's with this headline, US military shoots down satellite? Is there something to it beyond the fact that the Navy wants to play with the big missiles?
Me: Well, hard to know. I read that there are four steps to the life cycle of a satellite, and that this one failed after the first stage. So it launched, but can't steer itself down to a harmless landing, and that's why it needs to be shot down. (long pause) But now that you ask, I wonder what motive the US military might have to take delivery on a spy satellite which had not been tested on all its critical systems?
And they launched it without checking it adequately. And now they get to show off their spy-satellite-assault capabilities.
Which I think may have been sold to them by the same company that built the failed satellite.
Nah, nothing to see here.
Her: So, what's with this headline, US military shoots down satellite? Is there something to it beyond the fact that the Navy wants to play with the big missiles?
Me: Well, hard to know. I read that there are four steps to the life cycle of a satellite, and that this one failed after the first stage. So it launched, but can't steer itself down to a harmless landing, and that's why it needs to be shot down. (long pause) But now that you ask, I wonder what motive the US military might have to take delivery on a spy satellite which had not been tested on all its critical systems?
And they launched it without checking it adequately. And now they get to show off their spy-satellite-assault capabilities.
Which I think may have been sold to them by the same company that built the failed satellite.
Nah, nothing to see here.
Mmm, popcorn!
John McCain, the front-runner and presumed Republican nominee, has been described by the NY Times as having had problems with his campaign staff in 1999 related to his 'romantic relationship' with a lobbyist for the telecommunications industry. A lobbyist for whom he did a number of favors.
As one of my internet buddies put it: "McCain is a senile old dolt of a goat, easy prey for whoever gets his ear."
Yes, this particular goat seems quite vulnerable to any 30ish perky blond female. It was an issue when his first wife was recovering from an accident and 'gained some weight', when the goat was 40ish. Still worked 20 years later, according to this story. Probably works today.
Gosh, I'm glad nobody who wants undue influence over the CoC can possibly hire a perky 30ish blond to work in his office in any capacity whatsoever! Because that could be unhealthy for children and other living things.
Does the NYT and the rest of the liberal media need our help framing this story? Because it's not about the sex or the hypocrisy.
It's about the foolish old goat thinking that the perky blonde loves him for his inner sensitivity and would never manipulate him.
On a cultural-studies note: This story is sure to be a hit with the swing block known as Hispanic voters. 'Mira el cabron' is a familiar phrase, no? The narrative through which Hispanics are likely to read these facts is, Typical aging man who has power and money, he thinks he's still attractive to the young ladies for his looks and brawn. The fool, does he think he was the only one that lobbyist slept with? She's a woman of loose character and he's being led by his...nose.
Pop the palomitas, y'all, I'm calling my contact at the Spanish language daily in SoCal.
As one of my internet buddies put it: "McCain is a senile old dolt of a goat, easy prey for whoever gets his ear."
Yes, this particular goat seems quite vulnerable to any 30ish perky blond female. It was an issue when his first wife was recovering from an accident and 'gained some weight', when the goat was 40ish. Still worked 20 years later, according to this story. Probably works today.
Gosh, I'm glad nobody who wants undue influence over the CoC can possibly hire a perky 30ish blond to work in his office in any capacity whatsoever! Because that could be unhealthy for children and other living things.
Does the NYT and the rest of the liberal media need our help framing this story? Because it's not about the sex or the hypocrisy.
It's about the foolish old goat thinking that the perky blonde loves him for his inner sensitivity and would never manipulate him.
On a cultural-studies note: This story is sure to be a hit with the swing block known as Hispanic voters. 'Mira el cabron' is a familiar phrase, no? The narrative through which Hispanics are likely to read these facts is, Typical aging man who has power and money, he thinks he's still attractive to the young ladies for his looks and brawn. The fool, does he think he was the only one that lobbyist slept with? She's a woman of loose character and he's being led by his...nose.
Pop the palomitas, y'all, I'm calling my contact at the Spanish language daily in SoCal.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Sub-prime lending restrictions
As we know, the crisis in the housing sector of our economy has one cause, once all the bull has been pitchforked.
Lack of regulation in the lending sector allowed the almighty financial markets to collateralize mortgage debt.
As a result, investors around the world were able to effectively lend money to folks who wanted a 4/2 split level in Modesto but couldn't pay for it in nickels. Flowing from that availability of money, banks and brokers to come up with a bunch of complex mortgage products to distribute the cash to people who couldn't afford a down payment or a reasonable monthly principal payment.
They came up with ideas like negative equity mortgages (yes, for all the math whizzes in the house, that means getting paid to become a homeowner) and medical underwriting (can you fog a mirror? good, how would you like an interest-only ARM that resets in 3 years?).
Downstream from those products being aggressively marketed to a financially illiterate public, we've swirled into a crisis caused by the predictable result of creative financing for the cash-strapped: Foreclosures are up. Way up. No, lean back for a better view of that stack of envelopes containing house keys, not house payments.
I don't blame anyone who is sending in jingle mail and saving first, last and a deposit plus U-Haul rental fee. They were sold a peanut-butter-and-poison sandwich. However, some of the lenders seem a bit put out that the folks who have no equity in their homes who they chose as business partners are acting like this is a business deal gone bad.
A few of those stiffed lenders want to regulate their way into better underwriting standards so that the few responsible banks that actually kept the debt on their books won't get dragged into a mess like this again in the future. Of course, this is the kind of rule-setting that would have been nice to have before the game began and is now superfluous, the market having added financial underwriting to its practices just a few years too late.
However, when you want to close and latch and lock the barn door after all the horses are gone, the superheroes who will carry that out for you can be found...(trumpet blast)...at your friendly volunteer State Legislature! So we had a sub-prime lending reform bill carried that made it through two hearings before dying of sheer incompetence. This bill would have legislated underwriting that the most conservative lender might want to use, in addition to outlawing several proven financing techniques that get those of us with erratic but sufficient income streams into homeownership.
Bad bill, right? Well, those who had an interest in stopping it were happy to make a deal.
At the House Business committee meeting on January 29th, who to our wondering eyes should appear but Paul G. Decoff, new chief of lending for Thornburg Mortgage.
His lobbyist, JD Bullington, walked in the great man himself, to explain to the lowly Members on the committee that the bill had to include a carve-out for the Santa Fe-based 'jumbo ARM residential specialists' at Thornburg.
Because otherwise the sub-prime lending reforms, referred to by members throughout the hearing as 'the predatory lending bill', would affect the wealthy.
Apparently, in Saturday's closed-door re-write session, Thornburg demanded--and got--an exemption to the new regs for any loan valued above 300K.
Guess the committee didn't like that too well, because they asked a bunch of questions before tabling.
Perhaps the highbrows who 'offer financing to the sophisticated borrower' should study up on their French philosophy. I believe it was Anatole France who first said, "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.".
It's not a conspiracy if they do it all right out in front of you.
Lack of regulation in the lending sector allowed the almighty financial markets to collateralize mortgage debt.
As a result, investors around the world were able to effectively lend money to folks who wanted a 4/2 split level in Modesto but couldn't pay for it in nickels. Flowing from that availability of money, banks and brokers to come up with a bunch of complex mortgage products to distribute the cash to people who couldn't afford a down payment or a reasonable monthly principal payment.
They came up with ideas like negative equity mortgages (yes, for all the math whizzes in the house, that means getting paid to become a homeowner) and medical underwriting (can you fog a mirror? good, how would you like an interest-only ARM that resets in 3 years?).
Downstream from those products being aggressively marketed to a financially illiterate public, we've swirled into a crisis caused by the predictable result of creative financing for the cash-strapped: Foreclosures are up. Way up. No, lean back for a better view of that stack of envelopes containing house keys, not house payments.
I don't blame anyone who is sending in jingle mail and saving first, last and a deposit plus U-Haul rental fee. They were sold a peanut-butter-and-poison sandwich. However, some of the lenders seem a bit put out that the folks who have no equity in their homes who they chose as business partners are acting like this is a business deal gone bad.
A few of those stiffed lenders want to regulate their way into better underwriting standards so that the few responsible banks that actually kept the debt on their books won't get dragged into a mess like this again in the future. Of course, this is the kind of rule-setting that would have been nice to have before the game began and is now superfluous, the market having added financial underwriting to its practices just a few years too late.
However, when you want to close and latch and lock the barn door after all the horses are gone, the superheroes who will carry that out for you can be found...(trumpet blast)...at your friendly volunteer State Legislature! So we had a sub-prime lending reform bill carried that made it through two hearings before dying of sheer incompetence. This bill would have legislated underwriting that the most conservative lender might want to use, in addition to outlawing several proven financing techniques that get those of us with erratic but sufficient income streams into homeownership.
Bad bill, right? Well, those who had an interest in stopping it were happy to make a deal.
At the House Business committee meeting on January 29th, who to our wondering eyes should appear but Paul G. Decoff, new chief of lending for Thornburg Mortgage.
His lobbyist, JD Bullington, walked in the great man himself, to explain to the lowly Members on the committee that the bill had to include a carve-out for the Santa Fe-based 'jumbo ARM residential specialists' at Thornburg.
Because otherwise the sub-prime lending reforms, referred to by members throughout the hearing as 'the predatory lending bill', would affect the wealthy.
Apparently, in Saturday's closed-door re-write session, Thornburg demanded--and got--an exemption to the new regs for any loan valued above 300K.
Guess the committee didn't like that too well, because they asked a bunch of questions before tabling.
Perhaps the highbrows who 'offer financing to the sophisticated borrower' should study up on their French philosophy. I believe it was Anatole France who first said, "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.".
It's not a conspiracy if they do it all right out in front of you.
The other Mary Garcia
One of the fun parts of the New Mexico Legislature is the cultural aspect.
The quote of the day from the Clinton rally:
"Among those attending were Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, state Auditor Hector Balderas, State Reps. Lucky Varela, Debbie Rodello, Rhonda King, Mary Helen Garcia, Danice Picraux, Donna Irwin and Elias Barela, Senate Dem Whip Mary Jane Garcia, State Sens. Phil Griego, Richard Martinez, James Taylor, Pete Campos, Linda Lovejoy, and Bernadette Sanchez, Santa Fe Mayor David Coss, and former Secretary of State Rebecca Giron-Vigil."
Our statehouse has a Mary Helen Garcia, not to be confused with the Senate Majority Whip Mary Jane Garcia.
James Taylor is Hispanic and a former county ward boss from Albuquerque, not a white guy who sings.
Bernadette Sanchez is one of four women named Bernadette at work in the Roundhouse, all of whom are under 50 years old.
We have three guys named Campos (Joe, Pete and Juan) plus a Fields, for good measure and that mix of Anglo diversity you were looking for. (Where I get into trouble is mixing up Jose Campos and Joe Fields, but that's me.)
And finally, the guy named Lucky Varela? His legal name is Luciano, but his nameplate for his committee hearings says 'Lucky'. Which he may be, despite having carried a couple of health care reform bills that were doomed from the start due to the fact that they would have nibbled at the edges of reforming some aspect of health care.
The first rule of politics in this land which was once Mexico: Your name says a lot about you. Like Senator (Fran)Cisco McSorley. And when you're counting your votes, it's always wise to measure twice and cut once.
Which is why the most frequently heard phrase in the hallway is: No, the OTHER Martinez.
The quote of the day from the Clinton rally:
"Among those attending were Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, state Auditor Hector Balderas, State Reps. Lucky Varela, Debbie Rodello, Rhonda King, Mary Helen Garcia, Danice Picraux, Donna Irwin and Elias Barela, Senate Dem Whip Mary Jane Garcia, State Sens. Phil Griego, Richard Martinez, James Taylor, Pete Campos, Linda Lovejoy, and Bernadette Sanchez, Santa Fe Mayor David Coss, and former Secretary of State Rebecca Giron-Vigil."
Our statehouse has a Mary Helen Garcia, not to be confused with the Senate Majority Whip Mary Jane Garcia.
James Taylor is Hispanic and a former county ward boss from Albuquerque, not a white guy who sings.
Bernadette Sanchez is one of four women named Bernadette at work in the Roundhouse, all of whom are under 50 years old.
We have three guys named Campos (Joe, Pete and Juan) plus a Fields, for good measure and that mix of Anglo diversity you were looking for. (Where I get into trouble is mixing up Jose Campos and Joe Fields, but that's me.)
And finally, the guy named Lucky Varela? His legal name is Luciano, but his nameplate for his committee hearings says 'Lucky'. Which he may be, despite having carried a couple of health care reform bills that were doomed from the start due to the fact that they would have nibbled at the edges of reforming some aspect of health care.
The first rule of politics in this land which was once Mexico: Your name says a lot about you. Like Senator (Fran)Cisco McSorley. And when you're counting your votes, it's always wise to measure twice and cut once.
Which is why the most frequently heard phrase in the hallway is: No, the OTHER Martinez.
Ethics reform passes the House
This bill, which was carried by the OTHER Mary Garcia--not the one who ran the table to outlaw human trafficking, about which more will be said--would make it illegal to hand out suitcases full of hundreds on the Roundhouse floor even if you're not a registered lobbyist.
I think that's what it says, anyhow.
I think that's what it says, anyhow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)