Jody’s Wall Street Plan – Confiscate Bonuses, Cap CEO Compensation & Fire Top Executives

Update:  Wed., February 04, 2009

Obama Limits Bailed-out Bank CEO Pay To $500,000 

Veiw Obama Press Conference

I fell asleep with my television on last night and woke up to CNN reporting on Claire McCaskill calling for a $400,000.00 compensation cap on bailout recipient pay. I was hardly inspired, in fact I was so irritated that I couldn’t go back to sleep.  Instead I made coffee and I drafted my own dreamy, dream world plan for Wall Street.

First, these are the people who made bad decisions, gave themselves obscene bonuses despite devastatingly poor performance, laid off everyone around them and then handed the American taxpayers the tab. Now it seems that Washington is coming up with ideas and plans to make sure these individuals behave more responsibly in the future.

My question is: Why do they still have jobs?  They made very bad decisions in the recent  past, why legislate against willfully negligent, irresponsible, treasonous behavior when they should have been fired and then  figuratively tared and feathered?

Since Americans are hellbent on spouting the virtues of capitalism then technically bailouts don’t exist, the death of a corporation is a cleansing act, the good filtered from the bad. Obviously, we can only tolerate capitalism when the greenbacks are flowing but when it comes to the harsh reality of being a capitalist it appears we don’t have the stomach to pull the trigger…so we’re really only situational capitalists.

If we don’t have the stomach to let them tank as part of a natural capitalistic process then at the very least we should have the good sense to filter the crap from the pool by firing the top executives. Then  legislate against negligence, irresponsibility and idiocy without worrying about controlling specific idiots…idiots who have already demonstrated their unabashed willingness to defecate all over the American people. After that cap, not just pay but ALL compensation,  confiscate the bonuses and call their conduct what it is: TREASON…even better HIGH TREASON!

Definition High Treason: Criminal disloyalty to one’s country.

Definition Treason : Oran’s Dictionary of the Law (1983) defines treason as: “…[a]…citizen’s actions to help a foreign government overthrow, make war against, or seriously injure the [parent nation].”

Traitor: a person who betrays (or is accused of betraying) their own nation, family, friends, ethnic group, religion, social class, or other group to which they may belong.

Huffington Post: Claire McCaskill on compensation cap

The Hill: Senate Banking Chairman, Confiscate Bonuses

John Thain

Wii Fit, Yoga Day 2

My son brought home Wii Fit yesterday and I’ve now done Yoga two days in row…yeah, I know. Let me first start by saying thanks for all the ballet lessons Mom. There is no question that its had a profound effect on my balance, control and flexibility, even at my age. I’m pretty good about exercising which up until yesterday consisted of walking. What I love about Yoga is how gentle it is and the subtle stretch felt great. Its been a long time since I’ve stood on one leg but I managed to pull it off respectably.

The best news is that according to Wii Fit,  I don’t need to lose weight. My Body Mass Index (BMI) is 22 which is what they identify as a goal…go mom. My Wii Fit Age is 46 when  I’m actually 47 so I was a little disappointed  until everyone else  landed anywhere from 3 to 12 years over their biological age… suddenly minus one year didn’t seem so bad when I considered pulling in a plus 12…yikes.

What I found to be the most entertaining aspect  of Wii Fit was that all the characters that my boys have created on the Nintendo Wii showed up during various group activities, characters like David Spade, Jerry Garcia and Hunter S. Thompson to name a few. While I was running with my Wii Trainer Anderson Cooper jogged past me, waved and shouted “looking good,” A compliment I greatly appreciated.

When Alexa did the same jogging activity she bypassed the rules and ran ahead of her trainer, shortly thereafter she  fell ass-over-tea kettle down a hill just as a frail-limbed, spectacle clad Mahatma Gandhi sprinted past her.

Wii Fit is the perfect addition,  I love to walk, just not on a treadmill.  Wii Fit give me new options over winter and allows me to work on targeted areas.

Now, when my bum goes into the air is that called the  Sun Salutation or the Moon Salutation?

Blackwater Banned from Iraq, Blanket Immunity Repealed

Reprinted from  Al Jazeera US security firm banned from Iraq

At least 17 civilians were killed in the shooting in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square [AFP] Blackwater, a US private security firm, has been barred from providing security for US diplomats in Iraq for its alleged involvement in the deaths of at least 17 civilians in 2007. The Iraqi interior ministry on Thursday said the measure followed the firm’s “improper conduct and excessive use of force”. Five former Blackwater guards are awaiting trial in the US for the incident that took place in September 2007. One Blackwater guard has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and attempt to commit manslaughter over that incident…. Full story

3 A.M. on Day 3

It’s 3:30 A.M., I’ve been awake for about a half hour and I’m crabby, really crabby. This is the third day in a row that I woke up after 3 or 4 hours of sleep and I can’t go back to sleep. I was so exhausted yesterday that I couldn’t hold a thought.

For the past month of been under the weather trying to get rid of an upper respiratory infection which left me tired. For the past week I’ve felt like myself again and I’ve even looked like myself.   Looking and feeling rundown for a month grew worrisome and it didn’t go unnoticed by my daughter who tried really hard not to smile as she muttered, “maybe you’ll stay that way.”

Nice. As if inching seriously past 45 isn’t awful enough I have an 18 year old daughter amusing herself with thoughts of my eminent decomposition. Where’s the love? For that matter where’s my Rolling Stones t-shirt and my graffiti jeans?

The upshot is that my energy level is back to normal but I just can’t seem to stay asleep more that 4 hours at a time. Stress? Not anymore than usual. I will admit that I’m incredibly behind on everything from being ill for so long. I noticed it was Chinese New Year and thought crap! Last time I celebrated Chinese New Year was when I flew to London to celebrate my cousins birthday which means I didn’t send her birthday card…or write to my aunt in Wisconsin, or my cousin in Arizona…my second cousin is waiting for me to call and my 108 year old grandmother will cry when I visit because I’ve been away sick so long.

What I have done is catch up on laundry, bookstore business including tons of shipping, paperwork, I’m organized to file my taxes and I caught up with both of my Mary friends who I haven’t talked to in too long.

What I have to do now is get seeds planted for this years garden, order the new crops and get them growing. Last year I planted 25 organic Roma’s which we harvested and roasted with olive oil and garlic…for hours. It made exquisite sauces that only lasted through fall, so I’ve canceled growing corn and instead we will plant 100 heirloom Amish Paste Tomatoes. We’ll also plant more organic German Butterball Potatoes this year, the ones we grew last year were wonderful and we harvested enough produce  to keep us through the winter. The asparagus crowns will be old enough to harvest this year.  I also plan to add an experimental plant from the Andes called Oca and Hopi Ceremonial Tobacco which is cold weather resistant.

I have a moral conflict with the tobacco, its sort of a novelty I’m excited to try and I’m eager to learn more.  I don’t know if I’ll give it to any of the smokers in my life. Obviously we’ll also plant the seeds harvested from last year which will include Amish Snap Peas, Christmas Lima’s, Blue Lake Green Beans, Scarlet Runner Beans, Arrow Peas, peppers….no green ones, Walla Walla & Sweet Vidalia Onions. Then of course the pots of fresh herbs, salad greens and the annual memorial Sunflower patch for Alexa’s dad…this year we’re planting a variety that is edible.

I’m also completing the application to attend St. Cloud State University. I’m not entirely sure I want to do that but I’m keeping my options open. In many respects I’m more lost at this point in my life than I’ve ever been. My life’s been defined by my children and my baby turned 18. I”m operating my online business while I decide where to go career wise…I have nothing defining my life and I haven’t the first clue as to what to do with it.

My children are grown, I’m not in a relationship, I’m working self employment from my home office….I just assumed at this juncture of my life I’d at least have a job restricting me and I don’t even have that.  Having the ability to choose is good but I’m bewildered.  I keep waiting for an obvious path or something to point me in the right direction but it’s all still murky.

Here is what I know:

I want to continue writing fiction &  I want to improve my skill as a writer so I am able to fall back on journalism and obtain work with bigger publications than I have in the past. A degree would also give me more range as a non profit director.

I have a finite amount of time most of which has been spent raising children and I don’t know the most direct path from point A to point B. I don’t want to spend time in a classroom covering political science when I’ve worked as a political organizer, community organizer and lobbyist. So, I’m not ready to commit to anything  and I’m not prepared to answer bigger questions about my life or pull together a plan.

For this reason I may continue with my online bookstore and launch a local newspaper until I have a clearer sense of direction. In the time it takes to get the paper established I can investigate my options and execute a well thought plan.

Nobody Cuts a Dress Like Maggie London

While shopping online this morning I fell  in love with this scarlet dress. Before logging on to the Nordstrom’s website, I checked out petite sized dresses sold in the same price range on other sites and they were just wrong. Either they were too boxy, or the hemline was too short or too long. It’s not that I dislike my legs, I just think that less is better and drafting a hemline below the knee on a petite girl just makes us look shorter.

Maggie London’s done everything right.

I’m normally not a fan of red but in this case its stunning.

Here’s the $10,000.00 question: if the woman in the red dress had more cleavage would the dress remain elegant or become too vintage pinup girl ..I honestly can’t decide.

In the Neighborhood

I woke up at 3:30 A.M. to the sound of sirens and the shouts of firefighters in my yard. The fire was kittycorner from my house but I couldn’t tell if the back of the chuch was on fire or if it was the house next to the church that was burning. The nearest hydrant is in my yard, so the noise and the shouting I heard was firefighters uncapping the hydrant and running the hose down the street. The ambulance arrived but was just parked so everyone appeared to be safe.

We’ve lived here for just over a year and in that time I did have one neighbor come to my door, his exact words were, “will you jump me?” It was apparent that the double meaning wasn’t entirely lost on him. I resisted the temptation to say something smart-assy back fearing that any stab at humor would be construed as an invitation. Some women get away with that kind of thing better than others and I tend to be the later unless of course, I know them personally.

It reminds me of CNN last night, they showed footage of Geroge H. W. Bush giving a speech, he said that among a group of protesters the ugliest woman he had ever seen made her way to his limo window holding a sign saying, “stay out of my womb.” In Bush’s recap of the event he said, “no problem, lady!”

The reason this was funny was because Bill Clinton complained that he would have never gotten away with making that caliber of a joke and he was absolutely right. Some can get away with it and some can’t, in this case I’m with Bill.

For such a small town its seems strange that on warm days you see so few people outside, whereas we always are. If we’re not in the garden or the greenhouse, we’re using the back patio as outdoor living space. Other than the man wanting a jump I’ve only met one other neighbor, he was very friendly but spends to much time standing in front of his window watching me in the garden which I make peace with by imagining his wife slapping him upside the head.

The woman directly next to me is unfriendly to everyone including her son, husband and gawky-neighbor-man. She rakes leaves into my yard…like I don’t have enough of my own. I live right next to the heavily wooded riverbank which ensures that fall raking never ends.

I resisted the temptation to rake the leave  back into her yard and instead added them to my piles. I did however spend a considerable amount of time imagining myself  loading leaves on to a tarp and pulling them to the center of her freshly raked lawn in the middle of the night, only as many as she left me… okay maybe I imagined leaving her the Swiss Alps but I didn’t.

Note to self: Check on neighbors down the street and see if they need anything.

While We’re on the Subject…

Since we’re on the topic of creepy….

The house I live in is a 107 year old farmhouse that was recently renovated from floor to ceiling including the basement. The upstairs has 3 bedrooms and a bathroom so tiny that an average sized person would probably have trouble fitting inside with the door closed. The main floor has a large bathroom, kitchen and kitchen dining area, dining room, living room, my office and the mudroom off of the back of the house. The basement is finished  with a ceramic tile floor similar to what you would see in a foyer which includes my laundry room. The area in the basement isn’t used as living space, instead it houses my library of about 2000 books some of which are part of my private collection while others are used to buy, sell and trade online when I’m not employed outside of the house. The basement also has a enclosed furnace room and storage area which isn’t finished, the crawl space below the basement stairs where boxes of unappraised books await my attention and then of course, the room off of the book room where the washer and dryer are.

The wall behind the washer and dryer only goes half way down then opens to a very dark space.  I’ve never been back there so I don’t know the ceiling height but I can see far enough to know that it goes back at least 5 to 6 feet if not farther.

In every respect I like this house and I’m very comfortable here but I don’t like that space not even just a little bit. I’ve lived alone with my kids since forever so I’m not generally afraid of  anything… ever but I find myself unwilling to wash clothes at night because I don’t want to be near the creepy space. At times I’ve even considered asking my son to come downstairs with me which he would do without teasing me but I’d feel ridiculous and wouldn’t permit myself to act on something so childish.

Yesterday I went down stairs to switch loads and our cat Lilly was sitting in between the 2 machines staring into the dark space. I felt my heart climb up my throat but I proceeded with what needed to be done despite wanting to scream and run up the stairs like a 5 year old. When I turned around with the sorted clothes the cat was gone which was a relief because his staring seemed to validate in mind that something was back there…I reminded myself that it probably nothing more than a spider.

As I finished my laundry room business the cat suddenly sprang out from dark space  leaping over a small waste basket before he landed in the middle of the laundry room then ran like a bat out of hell upstairs. My bones turned to rubber and the only thing that prevented me from screaming at the top of my lungs was the fact that I slapped my hand over my mouth the moment the cat went airborne.

Who Was I Before I Was Me?

The headline is a question my oldest son asked me when he was about 3 or 4 . We were in the parking lot of a convenience store where I had just purchased a soda and a copy of U.S. News & World Report. The magazine was purchased at my son’s request and the soda was my idea.  As we walked to the car Nick looked up at me and said, “Mom? Who was I before I was me?”

When he asked I was still digesting the odd nature of his magazine request so the ensuing question was more than  unsettling,  it was sort of creepy. I replied to his question with a questions like, “why do you think you were someone before?” I wanted to draw Nick out on the subject in the event his question was based on something he saw on television or a conversation he overheard. Nick was quiet  for a minute and said, “just because I do.” I pressed for the origin of his question but ascertained nothing. I don’t remember my exact reply to him on that day but I’m pretty sure that I would have given him a short list that included a variety of different beliefs and I would have started my sentence with, “some people believe…”

That was over 20 year ago beyond that I’ve honestly never given too much thought to past lives.  Certainly, I’ve met complete strangers that I felt I’ve known them forever and like Nick, I’ve met children who seem to embody the twinkle of a very old soul.  I bring this up because I recently had a strange experience that has caused me to look into the subject and poke around for information online. Before I decide whether or not to share details I wanted to open the topic up and gather views from those willing to comment subject.

Do you think people have past lives,  if so do you think they “cluster” in current lives as psychic medium John Edwards suggests?  Do you think past lives draw us to specific interests  in our current lives?

Has anyone ever come into contact with an object or a location that triggered images from a different era?  This has happened to me twice, once when I was 18 and once more recently. As I am typing this it occurs to me that this happens to Alexa often.  Over the years its been something she’s been unwilling to discuss  up until recently. It has seemed that the more she opens up to it the less it  frightens her.

Growing up she was the most frightened child in the universe and literally grew up attached to my leg. As she got older it became increasingly apparent that she seemed to draw information that others didn’t. For instance, she knew  something was terribly wrong the night her father died, she correctly named her great grandfathers mother and she knew the nickname of her long deceased great uncle. I kept telling her his name was Denny until one day she looked at me and said, “I keep getting Dave.” Of course it wasn’t until she said Dave that I remembered that my grandmother was the only person who called him Denny or Dennis, everyone else indeed knew him as Dave.

Last week  we visited an area convent, Alexa  looked up at all the windows and across the grounds and said “I feel like children are peeking out from everywhere.”  A few days later I researched the history of the convent  and discovered that the nuns once ran an orphanage that housed about 120 children per year and the period of dress Alexa described was consistent with the time period identified in the historical documents.

When I take walks I typically use the cemeteries as my turn around points, its a very small town so its almost unavoidable. One of the cemeteries has a spot in back along the riverbank that makes me uneasy, so uneasy that I avoid going anywhere near it.  The other day Alexa and I passed the cemetery in the car, she turned to look then put her finger on the passenger side window  and said, “there’s a place right there that I don’t like.”  She pointed to the very spot that I avoid like the plague.

I will leave you on that note, I am looking forward to your thoughts and comments on this subject.

**While typing this blog post the hinges on my bedroom door kept squeaking like it was moving back and forth…If I were comfortable with being irrational, I think I’d scream.

****On a final note,  Nick just came into my room and said, “thoughts are weird, I can’t tell what format their in.”  Of course my eyebrows raised as to say, “what’s that supposed to mean?”  Naturally, he elaborated…”well I put thoughts into words and pictures but what do they start out as before I translated them into something I can communicate because they’re not words or pictures.”   Yeah…when they start out with current events in preschool there’s just no predicting where they’ll end up. I just hope he wasn’t expecting me to answer.

Update:  I wanted to add a link to the theory of psychometry.

Today I Want…

Today I want winter to end and menopause to begin. I want to take a long walk in warm weather. I want to read a book on the back patio while sipping wine and roasting Red Crab on the grill. I want Amish Snap Peas from my garden, I want the house to fill with the garlicky smell of Roma tomatoes roasting. I want the windows open, I want my sheets to dry on an outdoor clothesline. I want to fill a basket with fresh organic asparagus then fold it into a bed of Parmesan Fettuccine. Today I want my bare feet to feel the earth.

The Genetic Lottery

My 18 year old daughter often complains that she isn’t built like anyone she knows, she envies her cousins tan skin, blonde hair and sleek figure. Today while online I was reading an article and noted that Marilyn Monroe died on the same day that my daughter was born. As I read on I also noted that my daughter has the exact same measurements… isn’t that by some people’s standards the equivalent of winning the genetic lottery?