Freedom is freedom

So I got on the bus this morning in the rain to finish my last week of training. The bus I took usually has this one hot married younger guy who I think is in my line of work. Anyhow, apparently he did not check the weather forecast last night and was soaked through his white button up shirt and it was clinging to him and I admit I stole several glances. The shirt was clinging in all the right places and I wonder what gym he goes to in Hoboken.

I swam about 1,000 yards and it went fairly quick.

So much to talk about. First thing that gets me nervous is North Korea stating they will now weaponise all of the plutonium they have. Well isn't that something to help me sleep better at night. They also have apparently achieved a nearly 4 kiloton detonation in their latest test. That is sufficient enough to cause serious damage and small enough to be deployed by a long range missile.

Swine flu is now officially a pandemic. Funny, about a week after it first surfaced Mr. Barrett told me look, it's out there, expect to get sick. One of my co-workers children actually has it now. If it follows the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 it could calm down over the summer, mutate and mix with other viruses and then come back in the autumn even more virulent and dangerous. So now I am thinking maybe it would be better to catch it now, I don't think I'd die from it, so that if it resurfaces in the autumn I will have some antibodies.

Of course Turbo Tax Timmy says PPIP is not dead. This is also the guy who can't do his taxes and ran the NY Fed when all the shit was hitting the fan and never saw it coming and claims he was never a regulator. The rumors of it's death are not greatly exaggerated.

Ohio got downgraded by Moodys I think. It doesn't really matter who did the deed the fact is now we have California and Ohio screwed. California has less than fifty days before it goes into debt. I am trying to figure out if it does and the Treasury back stops them will the markets rally on that or sell off big? Thank God the president of the Dallas Fed says they will not be monetizing the deficits.

Cash for clunkers is not a great idea from an economic prospective. It has been done in Germany and all it does is pull forward any demand that may exist in the future. There is also no guarantee the people who take advantage of the program will go and buy a GM or Chrysler product anyway.

Russia's finance minister says it is too early to talk about replacing the USD as the global reserve currency. Well I say actions speak louder than words and the BRICs all reduced their holdings of USTs so who cares what he said.

The law of unintended consequences keeps coming to mind when President Obama discusses his plan to move us to a single payer health care plan like Europe. I just cant get my head wrapped around how he can possibly say doing nothing will cost us more than $1 trillion. No one- except for Jeanne Dixon- can predict the future. I also have questions about how he can seriously believe that we will not end up in a single payer plan if the government gets into the business and has no profit motive so they will not care about costs or anything else. I am fully for some sort of social safety net for those unfortunate in our society but not for a cradle to grave nanny state.

Saturday night my oldest asked if he was adopted. That kind of threw me for one and I know a lot of kids wonder that at some point in their lives but usually when they go to a family reunion and realize some of the branches on the family tree should have been pruned. I asked why he was wondering if he was adopted. He said well my hair color is different than either yours or mom's. I explained to him when I was his age my hair was the same color as his and we both have blue eyes and assured him there is no way he was adopted as I was there when the doctor delivered him.

Last night we attended DS and JK's annual roof deck party. The weather actually held for them and we had a blast as usual. It was all I could do to point out to the many who voted for President Obama solely because he was not a Republican and would help the gays out that not only has he done squat for our cause but that Dick Cheney- who many view as evil and akin to Darth Vader (which I cannot disagree with in many respects) came out saying the re is nothing wrong with gay marriage and freedom is freedom. Ever the Republican he said it is a state issue not a Federal and the federal government should not be involved in the process. I agree. Yet, President Obama's Justice department is the one that cited (as one of the offensive reasons) that it would be bad economically to allow it now. God forbid gays get married and then companies and the government will have to extend benefits to their spouses and that is too great an economic burden at this time. Well gee Mr. President, please let me know when it would be economically ok to be treated as a human? I also would like to point out that many of the arguments for slavery were based on economic reasons as well and yet those didn't seem to hold up to well, did they now? For someone who espouses equality for all and that the American Dream is possible it seems very hypocritical to deny and actively disenfranchise a segment of the population because they are different. And please do no t give me that bullshit argument that I am falling prey to exceptionalism.