Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Presidential Debates, Tehran Lottery



One of the health problems I have been dealing with has been a form of dementia. One side-effect has been that I had forgotten that I had a blog, and just recently remembered when I came out of my mental fog. One of the reasons I started this blog was to try and keep my mind sharp and not lose my sense of humor. I also forgot about my Facebook and other social media accounts, and tomorrow I will have to attack the 10,000 or so emails that have accrued... So, some of the things I say may seem a bit dated, at least until I catch up on current events. At least I subscribe to the paper edition of the New York Times, and I will have to renew my subscription to the Denver Post, but I still have the news to read with my morning cup of coffee...

A couple of weeks ago was the General Assembly of the United Nations, and the annual practice of walking out on the speech given by Iran's Mahmoud Achmadinejad. Ahmadinejad's 4 year term runs out this year, and he's not eligible for re-election, so this was the last time that Western diplomats would have to snub him in public. If it was up to the Iranian congress or the ayatollahs, Ahmadinejad wouldn't be allowed to leave the country, what with the guaranteed embarrassment he causes them. But, he is their president, so whatcha gonna do?

The Iranian economy is in the tank, it's on the verge of bankruptcy, thanks to the sanctions that cut off the central banks from the rest of the world. New sanctions from Europe began on Monday that will add to the crippling... A rial went from 24,000 rials per one US dollar, up to 36,000. People were desperately trying to change as many rials as possible into US dollars, and many companies were insisting on payments for goods in US dollars only, putting further stress on the banks, which could only get a limited amount of dollars from Europe, and dig deeply into the central banking reserves.

Ahmadinejad was able to bring along an entourage of over 140 lottery winners, who took advantage by spending their time shopping in New York, making a group trek to the Harlem COSTCO, loading up on foodstuffs, clothing, and computers to take back home. This story reminds me of the Russian concert pianist I met while in Thailand several years ago. He had a couple of palettes of blue jeans that he had bought on the black market, and was planning on smuggling them back into Moscow, where he could realize a profit selling them for over $200 per pair, top dollar if the labels read Levi's...



I just finished watching the second presidential debate, and the overwhelming emotion that I felt was that I wanted to punch that arrogant bully Mitt Romney in the face. It's obvious by his dismissal of the moderator, and the disrespect he showed to Obama, even where he told him to hold on, you'll get your turn... Besides whatever gobbledegook the candidates had to say about their policies, I was struck by how much I dislike Romney and his arrogant, mean-spirited personality. It makes me wonder about his wife, who has said how funny Mitt is, that he is always making her laugh. Either she has the same mean-spirited sense of humor, or she is so used to being demeaned and trivialized by Mitt, and her fostering such a co-dependent relationship... OK, Mitt isn't as bad as Fox News was after the Biden - Ryan debates, where they hired a doctor to wonder if all of Biden's smiling was because he was coming down with Alzheimer's... almost as much fun as a binder full of women...

When Obama was elected, I was happy that we finally had someone in charge that is smart enough to look at issues from all angles and not go running off making decisions without enough information, like George Bush seemed to. And I believe that Obama will win re-election because his opponent is a robot, who really doesn't care for you and the rest of the American people, and who still won't publish his economic plan and policies on his web site.Then, if we can drive the tea partyers, those mindless marching morons, back into the hinterlands, it will make the task of rebuilding the GOP a lot easier. But, somehow I doubt that will happen, and we'll witness them raging in the dying light, whining, bitching and moaning into that good night.







No comments:

Post a Comment

Hi! Thanks for commenting. I always try to respond...