Really!?!

Sorry for the delay of a new entry, it keeps moving to the bottom of the pile of things to do. Last weekend I had drill with my new unit that I will be going with when I deploy. It was really a waste of a weekend for me because all of the mandatory training and briefings I did last month they were doing again. So it was three days of sitting around and doing nothing. Benson, where my unit is, is a small one traffic light town with a population of 2500. Really only one traffic light, but the people I met were really friendly. I ate lunch at some deli and the owner came and introduced himself to me and shook my hand. It was really nice.

Of course there is the big news of the economy and its condition. One hand I agree with the bailout plan because something needs to be done before we go into another depression. What I don’t agree with is that these big companies are getting bailed out because of their greed. Yes I’m talking about you ::insert bank name here:: and AIG. We here in the media is that people are buying these houses they can’t afford because of the lack of regulations on the banks and we are one of them…kinda. Affording the house was not a problem, but Bank of America talked us into taking out a second mortgage and appraised our house way over what it was actually worth. I’m not saying that BOA is totally at fault, Jen and I hold some responsibility because we should have done our research instead of depending on the bank. But BOA should be held responsible for giving out false information…like a 2 bed 2 bath house built in 1983 worth 215,000 (ya right).

Anyway the house is in foreclosure. So we got a letter a few weeks ago from AIG requesting that we write them a check for 65,000 dollars…let me go ahead and get my checkbook out. I find out that the government bailed them out with a $85 Billion dollar package so they could go to a spa resort and drop $400,000 in a weekend! Then today I find out they are requesting another $37.8 billion dollars! What the…they want me to be responsible for my debt and if not they will take me to court and take whatever I own. This whole thing just really angers me. What has our government come to too allow this? I wouldn’t be surprised if someone is getting some sort of cut under the table. As a taxpayer and now part owner of AIG, I want accountability, but I doubt I will get that.

Till next time folks…

Jen e-mailed me this to me this afternoon about AIG:

Battered by outrage over the $440,000 it spent on a luxury retreat less than a week after the federal government loaned it $85 billion dollars, the giant AIG Insurance Company says it has called off plans to hold a second retreat next week at the exclusive Ritz-Carlton Resort in Half Moon Bay, California.

Are You Serious?

Although I moved to North Carolina over a year ago, I still read the paper from Port Saint Lucie, FL.  Not only am I in complete awe of some of the things I read, but I also wonder what my parents were thinking when we moved there.  Granted, Port Saint Lucie was just a one horse town back in the 1980’s, but why did we stay there for so long?

There is one particular story that stands out: “2 Boys Accused of Trying to rob 2 Workers in a Police Station“.  Oh yeah, this is the type of people that are being raised in Port Saint Lucie.  Gotta love it.

Now there is this one that is making national attention “Teacher in the news after she claims she was non-renewed because of job on bikini charter boat“.  Here’s the run down: a teacher has a part time job on a fishing charter that sport topless women on the boat (once in international waters).  She claims she keeps her bikini on.  She was fired, the school board says, for excessive absences from school.  Regardless, if she was or was not fired for this doesn’t matter.  She is a teacher and she does have an image to keep up.  I don’t have a problem with her having a second job (teachers are underpaid and that is whole other subject) and I could care less if it was on a fishing charter.  Maybe this is a sign of me getting older and more mature, but it is a fishing charter that looks for attractive women in bikinis to go topless…I could see the problem with that.  Especially if I was a parent with kids who had her as a teacher.  It would be like working in a strip club, but holding to the belief that because I don’t strip it’s ok.

I was going through some old posts today and just in case you forgot.  What’s worse then ninjas and ninjas on fire….bears with sticks.