Opining Online

I know who I’m going to vote for and I think everybody else does to, or they are at least strongly leaning one way or the other.

Nothing I write is going to change anybody’s mind at this point (if ever).

There is something that I would like everyone to consider:

The President IS NOT as powerful as some would like to think. His veto can be torn up by Congress. Judges ARE NOT that powerful. If they strike a law down as unconstitutional, Congress can rewrite it and overcome the constitutional problems.

Outrage at the President and judges is misdirected, but it’s so much easier than outrage at the people who are truly responsible for our problems: our 535 congressmen.

The people who are powerful are Representatives and Senators, our Congress, all elected by various groups of us. And it is broken, rotten to the core with corruption with rules that encourage self-dealing.

It’s going to be difficult to do a makeover on Congress because the system requires us to do it from the inside, one congressional district and one state at a time.

For this to happen, citizens are going to have to come together and support good people to represent us. Neither party has a lock on corruption. Neither party has a lock on good people.

My Momma never used yellow cornmeal or sugar in her cornbread, but everytime I’ve tried to make cornbread the way she did, it’s been bitter and inedible. Apparently I missed something important…

The closest I’ve ever come to making Momma’s cornbread is using Martha White’s White Cornbread Mix. Dextrose is in the ingredients list of the mix, so maybe Momma was sneaking some sugar in there while I wasn’t looking. It’s still not the same, but close.

 My Dad’s family makes a slightly different cornbread which is almost as good as Momma’s. (sorry Aunt Juanita — you are wonderful, but I still crave Momma’s cornbread.)

As taught to me by my father, who was taught by his sister, Juanita:

1/2 cup white cornmeal
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
2/3 cup flour
1 heaping tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar (you can add more if you like it sweeter)
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (you can use plain milk + 1 tablespoon cider vinegar, but might need 1/2 teaspoon more salt)
1 egg
1/4 cup oil (I generally use canola, but most any fat, except butter, can be used. Butter burns too quickly.)Heat oven to 425 (I don’t how this would work in a dutch oven, I’ve never tried that) Place oil in your favorite cast iron skillet (10″ or there abouts) and put it in pre-heated oven. (Or you can pre-heat oven and place skillet on burner to heat it quicker.)Mix all dry ingredients in bowl. Whisk egg and buttermilk together.

A comment from Don Michel on this post about the rewarding, but frustrating, hobby of genealogy:

It sounds as though you have not defined what you want from genealogy, that is what is your real objective. Is it to gather lots of names and dates, or is it to know you ancestors as real people, how and where they lived, did they have unusual hobbies or personalities? Doing this will help you develop a reasearch plan and strategy and keep you from frenetic activity and then the periods of burnout that you seem to be experiencing.

I admit, he’s right. I don’t have a plan and even when I have an immediate goal I am far too easily distracted. I do, however, have an ultimate goal and it’s time I made a plan to accomplish it.

My ultimate goal is a book for my grandchildren. I envision it as a way for them to know their great-grandparents – only two are still living and some of my grandchildren haven’t even been born yet!

I also envision it as way for them (and me) to learn how their family before them fit into this nation and the world — I want them to know where they came from. I want them know the history that was the present when their gggg-grandmother was alive and how she might have spent her days.

What better way to illustrate the Civil War than with stories of their ancestors’ battles? In my family tree, there are Union and Confederate soldiers, as well as one poor man who fought for both sides, was imprisoned by both sides and died in Andersonville.

I want a history of the migrations. Maps. The groups of families that traveled together and intermarried. And photos.

I want it all, which is quite a lot. And if I’m going to accomplish it, I certainly do need a plan.

Thus I need HELP! Planning is not my forte. Or even my pianissimo.

But here’s what I’m thinking:

1. Capture now what might disappear. We have recordings of my father, my mother, my grandmother, my aunt. There are three other aunts and a great-aunt I need to interview soon. You’d think I would have learned by now to not put this stuff off.
2. (actually, no. 1, part a., but I’m not that good with html) Scan photos belonging to my aunts, cousins, etc. Decide on a way to label and organize them. Back them up in more than one place. UPDATE: Include old recordings, voice and movies in the preservation.
3. Get documents for the generation before me. It did not occur to me until considering joining DAR that I needed documentation for people I knew. Like my mother. My grandmothers. I knew them, why would I need any documentation!

HELP! I am open to any… all suggestions.

Iowahawk (who I don’t have on my blogroll, but perhaps should) in a most serious note suggests that he is Joe.

Joe is defined too narrowly as merely a plumber. Joe is more than that, don’t you think? He represents my pipefitter husband, his welder brother, whose two sons are actually plumbers!

And how are they different from my dad the logger and sawmiller, my stepbrother who followed in my dad’s footsteps? How are they that different from my brother who didn’t, but perhaps wishes he had?

How are my sons – a teacher in training and AF National Guardsman and a disabled, but determined man different from Joe? Do they not have dreams? Are they not working to make them reality? Why, yes they are. Are they perfect? I wish… though I love them as if they were.

Truly, I can’t think of a more “perfect” example of the American working man than today’s plumber. While no more dignified than ditch-digging, it requires more education and training (yes, there’s math and physics involved).

If I understand Democrat ideals (it’s entirely possible I do not), Joe the Plumber should be their poster boy. Yet… he’s not. Why? Why are middle Americans not represented by the Democrat Party? And why do so many of them think they are?

Most hobbies are likely addictive and many of them are tedious, and genealogy is both for me. I do it in spurts of frantic activity, then I find myself so confused and braindead, I have to take a break.

My daughters and I have been working on our family history ever since it was an assignment in the oldest’s junior year of high school. The goal was to teach students how to do research involving original documents and how to gather ‘living’ history by interviewing their oldest ancestors.

Two amazing things happened quickly. First, I found my daughters excited about going to family gatherings. They finally knew where they fit in. Second, they (and I) learned that “the elders” have a lot to tell us if we will only ask. There have been instructional stories (some with drawings) on how to wring a chicken’s neck, how to make soap, and most importantly, how to cook beans and cornbread.

We were lucky that my mother’s older sister had started collecting information about her lineage when she was 15 years old. She left us a goldmine of information on my mother’s side. My grandmother had given my brother a genealogy book filled out with information about my father’s side. With this information, a lot of the work that had to be done was documentation.

Either together or separately, we’ve visited several courthouses and even with the massive databases online through Ancestry.com, the only way (or at least the best way) to get copies of original birth, marriage, and death certificates, or land records is through county or state agencies. Since each copy is going to cost you something (from $1 to $20) it’s best to have a really good idea of what you need. Ancestry is a big help in finding those details. Of course, there’s the membership fee for Ancestry too.

Now one of my daughters has decided she would like to join the Daughters of the American Revolution. Not only must the service of the Revolutionary ancestor be documented and verified, but each generation must be documented, the first three with birth, death, marriage certificates etc. After that, census records are accepted.

Census records before 1850 listed only the name of the head of the household, and counted the rest. That makes documenting parentage a little difficult using that method, so one goes to wills, land records, church records, and cemeteries.

For now, we have identified two Revolutionary veterans and possibly a third. It would definitely be a third, if the Battle of Alamance were considered a part of the Revolutionary War. Our ancestor was one of the six pardoned, so we’re especially thankful to Governor Tryon for that.

To finish the DAR application (which must be submitted on 24 lb. acid free paper) somebody is going to have to do some traveling in Alabama, Arkansas, and South Carolina. I nominate myself, but may have to take up a collection to go.

It’s actually been quite a lot of fun doing this. My sister is now involved, though she primarily concentrates on my father’s side of the family and has made tremendous progress there.

They should listen to “real” people instead of Congress. (Did you ever wonder if one has to be one can short of a six-pack to be a politician?)

See Dean’s Forum Wide-Ranging Discussion of Financial Crisis, Taxpayer-Funded Rescue Bill - full video or clip from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business blog – McCombs Today.

Then scroll down the comments (7th one) and read what Economics Professor Brandl has to say:  

Bernanke, the Fed and the Treasury have to make it clear where the “bailouts” are going to stop.  This will help to put a floor under the financial markets and decrease uncertainty.  They need to be more transparent and clear as to who will be and who won’t be saved.  The piecemeal approach they are following is not working.  Also this “drawing of the line in the sand” should be coordinated with policymakers in other OECD countries as well as Russia and India.  Notice, I deliberately left out China.

Structuring the bailout as buying of assets was a mistake.  Instead the Treasury should have injected capital into the banks and taken an equity stake in return.  This would have punished stockholders in these firms by diluting their ownership stake.  This would also give the Treasury power in setting executive compensation at these firms.  Is this socialism?  No, it is a step in internalizing the fiduciary responsibility these firms have to the broader financial markets and economy.  The current “leaders” of these firms have demonstrated they are incapable of performing this role satisfactory.

The Treasury should be buying the mortgages of people and families who were truly victims and there are many.  But, the Treasury should not be using taxpayer money to bailout real estate speculators or those who should have know better as to what they were getting themselves into with these sub-prime and Alt-A mortgages.  But how does the Treasury make this distinction?  They need to set up some system, with oversight, to do this.  A mortgage-based RTC is what is needed.

Oh, yeah… remember the Resolution Trust Corporation? Why not use a model that worked fairly well?

Since the bailout has been structured as it is, Paulson should have named someone to run it, and the buying of bank assets, who has a great deal of experience and credibility.  Potential names include:

Bill Gross, Chief Investment Office at Pimco, who the Washington Post described as “the nation’s best-known bond-fund manager.”

Paul Volcker, former Chairman of the Board of Governors

Don Powell, former head of the FDIC and famed Texas banker

Glenn Hubbard, Dean of the Columbia Business School, former head of the Council of Economic Advisors

So who did Paulson pick?  A 35 year old former Goldman Sachs underling named Neel Kashkari. Needless to say, this was not a great confidence building move.

Once the current liquidity crisis ends the Fed, Treasury and the new President are going to have to put in place measures to ensure this doesn’t happen again.  Among the things they need to consider should be:

• Overhaul of the financial regulatory system.  Paulson’s idea on this in the spring was a first (but bad) attempt to do this.
• Ensure high quality regulators.  This means paying a decent salary to attract well educated and trained “bank examiners.”  The Fed, FDIC and other regulators need to pay salaries of say $125,000 a year to attract the best and the brightest if we expect them to correctly “oversee” sophisticated financial firms.
• Establish the “rules of the game” for future bailouts.  If any entity is going to be labeled as “too big to fail” who is going to pay “the price” for the bailout?  What will that price be?  My suggestion is to do the following:  make it clear to the board of directors as well as the executives of financial firms, that if the firm they control receives federal government assistance these people will pay personally.  That means, if you run a TBTF firm and that firm requires a government funded bailout, the Federal Government will seize your home, retirement funds, children’s trust funds and demand repayment of your salary for the last 5 years.  This is called internalizing the externality on a personal level.

These are only a few of the things that should be done.  Here is hoping the discussion continues long after the current crisis ends.

The above is also on Professor Brandl’s Macroeconomic Updates page (for now). I think you have to be a UT student or alumni or know a secret “hook ‘em” handshake to subscribe to the email list.

We’ve been trying to get a nice photo of both Jack and Maverick together. That’s even more difficult than getting a photo of all the grandchildren together!

Above left is the closest we’ve come and you have no idea how much effort this poor result took. Frankly, the dogs seem to be happiest when one’s nose is in the other’s butt.

The close-up on the right is Jack. We got him and his sister quite young from the pound. His sister, Jill succumbed to parvo.

While Jack was quite cuddly as a puppy, he’s now very independent and not enamored of petting and grooming. Oh, he’ll sit still for it a moment or two, then he’s off exploring.

Maverick will sit still to be petted until my arm is numb. He’s a “wet-mouth” dog and loves to be held closely which can get messy. I’ve learned not to cuddle him just after he’s had a drink or a meal.

Maverick is almost solid white, with a bit of light caramel coloring around the ears. His fur is soft and picks up every bit of trash in the yard. Jack has gone from being solid white as a puppy to having a blond coat of the German Shepherd type, resilient and resistant to most everything but Maverick’s slobber.

Jack is probably his full-grown size, about 24″ at the shoulder. Maverick is 4 1/2 months younger and 26″ at the shoulder. He’s obviously not “grown in” to his feet yet. He’s still puppy clumsy too, which at his size, is hilarious to watch.

I think they’ve had good influences on each other’s personalities. Jack is less of an energetic pain and Maverick is much more animated. They are good together.

Talina has challenged my bravery. Am I brave enough to publish a photo of my desk without straightening up first?

Sure… I have no pride!

Click for larger, more disgusting view.

Dominic Lawson: Democrat fingerprints are all over the financial crisis

Of all the characteristics of a successful politician, none is more essential than bare-faced cheek. Never has this been more evident than in the past fortnight, as senior Democrat members of the US legislature have sought to lay all the blame for the country’s financial crisis on the executive arm of Government and Wall Street.Neither of these two institutions is blameless – far from it. Yet when I see such senior Democrats as Barney Frank, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Christopher Dodd, Chairman of the Senate’s Banking Committee, play the part of avenging angels – well, I can only stand in silent awe at the sheer tight-bottomed nerve of it. These are men with sphincters of steel.

Once again, have supposed “do-gooders” hurt the ones they profess to love and help?

The saddest outcome of all this within America – apart from the crippling cost to the nation’s taxpayers – is that the very people the Democrats had intended to help will be the biggest victims: for many years to come banks will demand the most stringent terms for mortgages to the least well off.

We can hope that won’t be true, but even if it is — if one cannot afford the mortgage payment, it’s better they be denied.

via Classical Values

I’ve been asking in comments on various blogs why the raters of MBS (mortgage backed securities) were not more on the hook than they seemed to be.

If you have an expert, a supposedly unbiased expert telling you that this is a good investment, should you question their motives?

Apparently so.

Read An Expert-Induced Bubble.

I still think that while the creation of Fannie Mae was a good idea 70 years ago, it should have been phased out instead of encouraged to grow. In every instance where its growth has been phenominal, it’s been a Democrat controlled Congress that has spurred it on. Note that I am not blaming Democrat or Republican presidents, but Congress.

Note also, that neither party is capable of always getting its way even if it is in the majority. Everything is ultimately bipartisan to some extent.

Finally, this entire fiasco is a good time to review whether government programs can improve the financial well-being of poor people, regardless their color. It is also a time to examine the playing of the “race card” every time regulation, oversight, or cutbacks are called for.

Don’t you think the Treasury should come up with a new design for the dollar bill? Something more appropriate for the times?