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Clinton on Housing and Sex Offenders
WHITE PLAINS, New York (RBN) – Hillary Clinton, a presidential candidate and senator from New York, said the Federal Housing Administration should "stand ready" to buy, restructure and resell failed mortgages to strengthen the ailing U.S. economy.
She said a bipartisan group should determine whether that approach was sufficient or whether the U.S. government should step in as a temporary purchaser.
The working group could be led by bipartisan economic heavyweights such as Republican Greenspan, Democratic former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker and Robert Rubin, the treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton.
Clinton also introduced a new initiative to increase mandatory penalties for paedophile sex offenders. Under her proposal repeat offenders would be required to do at least a year of community work, preferable in orphanages and kindergartens. "That’s where the need is the greatest," her spokesperson said.
link
There’s not much to add to the volumes of ink shed over this latest
of many decades of Neo-Con assaults against the American people, so
I’ll add just a caveat emptor, behind an ad hominem.
Many years ago my family traveled through a 3rd world country whose
name is unimportant, starting out in a motel near the main airport,
then whisked our way by autobus inland to the first of several nice
boutique cabanas, native meals, even hot tea every day at 4 PM.
As the days wore into a week, we learned to parlay from Lonely Planet, ventured into the farmers market, and started buying our
food fresh, or served hot from food carts. Each day we learned a
little more native, and drifted farther afield, first comfortable
homestays, then farther, until one evening we found ourselves in
an ancient rural town without a single tourist in sight.
We wandered to the farmer’s market, and that night I learned how
to speak with body language, inflection and the art of the haggle.
We did pretty good, getting delicious food and a comfortable stay
for less than 1/3 what we expected to pay when we first started,
and never spoke a word of English.
And real countryside! Wow! By then we were riding in bimos with
the locals and their livestock, 100 rupiahs (10c) in a jingled-up
microbus would take you as long as you cared to ride. 10c! Meals
you’d drool over in NYC, 10,000 rupiahs and you’d push away the
plate, stuffed to the gills, freshest fruit, choicest fish. $1.00!
Our last day before we had to head back to civilization, we came
upon a sacred site, with 1,000 steps down into a jungle canopy
over an ancient elephant temple. At the top, the tourist traps,
the coconut monkeys and articulated wooden snakes, priced so high
we just laughed. Further down the steps, sarongs and flowers for
temple wear and an offering, for a modest price. And at the last,
the very last step before the temple, an ancient grandmother in
a weather beaten bamboo shack, selling fresh green coconuts.
Man, it was hot! We were wiped out! 1,000 grand steps down into
the steaming jungle, soon a 1,000 back up again. She spoke only
the native language, so we started haggling in a sort of pidgeon.
Just gently. She would watch my face as we rested, and every time
my eyes caressed those coconuts, she would pick up her machete.
“You like?” “No, no”, I would look away. It’s a gentle game,
haggling, best played when you’re well fed and well rested.
A half-dozen offers, and half-dozen rejections, until finally
we agreed to parley. The price went up, and down, up and down,
until I thought we’d gotten a real bargain. I gave up the rupiahs,
and she opened up an absolutely delicious green coconut. Then just
as we were congratulating ourselves on being smart hagglers …
…she bounded up the stone steps like a leprechaun, waving the
rupiahs in her hand, and laughing with the other vendors at us.
In a gentle way.
Next time you’re in WalMart, try haggling for their plastic shyte.
WalMart buys their items in 12-packs from China, pre-wrapped, pre-
bar-coded, out of the bag and onto the shelf / hook, 1200% profit!
Or next time you’re on house-tour, try haggling for 10c on the $1.
In a gentle way. By what wizardry is some cracker box built twenty
years ago, with corroded plumbing, leaking roof and termite-filled
insulation worth five times what it cost, when it was brand new?!
If not for those you may never meet, then for your own children.
Where the he|| are they gonna get $1,000,000 for a starter home?!
Because we’re half-way to nowhere left to go.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hY6QytGQclZ5k8yFlaDr0VZin6IwD8VJULF00
Posted by: Barnum Bailey | Mar 25 2008 3:41 utc | 9
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