Debt is a problem

Personal debt and government debt is a world wide problem. Here is an interesting interactive from The Economist:


http://www.economist.com/blogs/buttonwood/2010/06/indebtedness_after_financial_crisis

Take a look at the Britain's overall debt as a percent of GDP or Japan's government debt or Switzerland's personal debt levels. Wow, we aren't the only ones who have gone crazy!

I have been reading recently about Britain's recently presented budget which essentially cuts 25% and greatly increases taxes (including a VAT of 20%). Hmm, paying more and getting less; wonder how that's going to play at the local pub?

So far Texas has been able to get by with no personal income tax and only 8.25% sales tax. Of course, there are property taxes which for us have been stable for the past few years.

Afghanistan (Again)

The good thing about the firing of General McChrystal is that at least people are thinking about Afghanistan and our presence there. I wonder how much longer we will continue to pour money and lives into it. At a time when budgets at home are being slashed and taxes increased, we continue to pour billions into Afghanistan. I wonder if half the money and men that have been spent in Iraq and Afghanistan had been spent instead on securing our borders, real homeland security, and making sure we knew who was actually in our country, where they are, and what they are doing, if we wouldn't be a lot better off.

We are being terribly naive in thinking that we can go into a culture completely different from our own and enlighten them about the really, truly right way to govern themselves. As for being there to train the Afghan Army, I just can't believe that given the history of Afghanistan, they really don't know how to fight.

We should begin the withdrawal yesterday.

Lunar Eclipse

So many times we are in the wrong hemisphere, or the wrong place on the hemisphere, or there is cloud cover obscuring the view, or (most likely) I sleep through it. But this morning's lunar eclipse was clearly visible and JMM woke me up to see it. Lovely. What a beautiful world.

Hope

I am beginning to have some hope that my GI problem might at long last be solved. I had an ERCP yesterday that cleared stones and stuff from my bile duct. So far, I have not had any abdominal pain or discomfort at all, even after eating. I have lost a 24 pounds since last December because of the discomfort. I'm glad to have lost the weight but it has been a pretty awful way to do it. So far, so good; just keeping my fingers crossed that the problem is solved.

Raccoons

I saw the sweetest thing this afternoon. Bandit and I were out under the trees and I was busily trying to identify a bird (turned out to be a tufted titmouse, 4 of them). I was so intent on the bird book that I din not notice the mama raccoon and her 5 babies as they were on their way to the tree with their feeding tray until they were about 5 feet away from me. All 7 of us just froze in place when we saw each other. Then zap went the babies up the nearest tree just like mama taught them. Mama moved quickly to behind a tree a little further toward the woods and one by one the babies went down the first tree and up the second where they softly chattered to each other, I suppose calling out to be sure everyone was accounted for. Then quickly everyone moved off into the thick underbrush. Just darling. (I was glad to see that Bandit had sense enough to leave mama and baby raccoons alone!!)

Beekeeping

JMM and I have talked for a couple of years about keeping bees but never did anything about it. We have decided that we will attend the County Beekeepers Association meetings and get things ready for starting next spring. The next meeting is Tuesday, July 12 at 7:30 PM. I love watching the bees on our flowers and am never afraid of them as so many people are. We have Beekeeping for Dummies-- JMM is reading it and I want to read it also. JMM has ordered a video which is supposed to be very informative also. I'll see what is available from the library too. However, I anticipate that we will learn more from the Beekeepers Association and from our own experience than from books or videos. This should be an interesting experiment.

Two Good Books

I finished Daughter of Fortune by Isabelle Allende and it was fantastic. It is the first book by her that I have read but I can guarantee that it won't be the last. The reader's voice as I listened to it on audio CD added so much to it. Excellent!!

If you have watched the Cadfael series, you are familiar with Ellis Peters monk Brother Cadfael. My husband told me that the books were much better than the television version but I since I loved the television series, I didn't believe him. Well, I was wrong. I have downloaded A Morbid Taste for Bones on my i-Pod and oh my, it is excellent.

I do love good books.