I am a confessed Europhile. I spend a disproportionate amount of online media time checking-up on the Old World. I don't know why. But at least it's a harmless hobby.
By and large I resist the temptation to bore my blog readers with my musings regarding the current state of European affairs. Still, there are times when one simply cannot resist.
Cyprus. A small island in the eastern Mediterranean. Sadly, the island is currently partitioned between the Greek speaking south and the Turkish north. But that is another story...
The current news regards the Greek speaking bit of the island which amazingly enough is a sovereign member state of the European Union and also a member of the currency union. The currency of Cyprus, the Euro, is the same as the currency of Germany, France, Italy, Spain and twelve other European nation states.
Cyprus is currently experiencing technical difficulties due to a huge faltering banking sector. It turns out that the bankers in Cyprus have proved themselves to be just as incompetent, crooked and greedy as bankers on Wall Street and elsewhere in the West. Cypriot banks have been tippling heavily on Greek sovereign debt - and the recent European Union settlement with Greece included a big haircut (loss) on Greek bonds held by the Cypriot banks.
More interestingly, about 40% of the deposits in Cypriot banks are owned by foreigners. Lots and lots of Russians - klepto capitalists and pals of President Putin - have taken advantage of the less than stringent Cypriot banking regulations to stash the cash they trousered from various endeavors in Russia. Most economists seem to assume that a majority of these Russian deposits represent money looted from Russian business if not from the Russian government itself.
For a couple of days it sounded like the Russian government might offer the Cypriots a loan. Of course. Use Russian government loans to help keep the billions in loot held by Russians in Cyprus from disappearing in a Cypriot bank collapse. It was a natural - but oddly enough it didn't happen.
As of this evening Cypriot government officials are in Brussels for urgent meetings to avoid a collapse of the Cypriot banking system which will likely occur the moment the banks open on Tuesday morning without support from the European Central Bank.
And if the financial system collapses in Cyprus what will happen? Well, errr, gee, hmmmm - seems nobody knows. Maybe nothing. Or maybe the contagion will immediately spread to Italy and Spain. And then....
My guess is that the Cypriot drama will end with a whimper one way or another. On the other hand, World War I began in the obscure middle-European city of Sarajevo. The current crop of European statesmen from countries both big and small do not inspire confidence.
In other news, a fairly busy and quite enjoyable week. Hosting supper on Tuesday for Amanda, Kira and Enrique was quite fun.
On Saturday night, I joined Laura, Alison, and Doug for supper at the Island Pub. Afterward we went to Perseverance Theater to see 'Seminar' - very enjoyable and starring my house guest Mr. Bravo. Enrique has got some talent. Here's the review from the Juneau Empire.
Tonight I hosted mom and auntie for a halibut supper. They were in good spirits and seemed to enjoy themselves.
And the cold spell broke today!
UPDATE: Hit the "publish" button and five minutes later the latest BBC news. Sounds like Cyprus has been granted a stay of execution. But stay tuned...the European drama WILL continue!
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Cirque de CPAC
I wish I could take credit for the title of this blog entry; but I cannot. I saw it on TV somewhere in the past couple of days although I do not remember where...
Still, unknown origins notwithstanding, it captures pretty well the festivities at the premier gathering of people who like to call themselves conservatives in this most peculiar era. That whirring sound you hear I strongly suspect is Bill Buckley, Barry Goldwater and many others who considered themselves conservatives in a more traditional sense of the word spinning in their graves at very high speed.
I confess I am an assiduous reader and observer of all things CPAC for the simple reason that it is one-stop-shopping to get a finger on the pulse of the right-wing. And this year's shindig did not disappoint. I will not bore you with my blow-by-blow take on the event...but will content myself with a link to one of the more amusing summaries I have read - from The Daily Kos.
And for those of you who have been wondering what happened to our former Governor Ms. Palin, a link to a You Tube video of her speech at the convention. The crowd went wild.
Meanwhile, here on my little plot of planet Earth, life continues pretty much as usual. No black helicopters. No UN troops. No Sharia law. Just a disturbing cold spell that is predicted to include six inches of snow in the next day or so. BOOOOOOO! WE WANT SPRING! WE WANT SPRING!
Tomorrow evening I will be hosting Manda, her friend Kira, and Enrique for supper. I have already completed the Key Lime Pie. And the Carrot Dill Soup is gently simmering as I type. After soup I am thinking a berry salad with chevre dressing for a course. And the main course will feature scallops in maple cream, filets of boef, parsleyed rice, and asparagus with some sort of vinegrette. Followed, of course, by the aforementioned Key Lime Pie.
I am in a good mood.
Still, unknown origins notwithstanding, it captures pretty well the festivities at the premier gathering of people who like to call themselves conservatives in this most peculiar era. That whirring sound you hear I strongly suspect is Bill Buckley, Barry Goldwater and many others who considered themselves conservatives in a more traditional sense of the word spinning in their graves at very high speed.
I confess I am an assiduous reader and observer of all things CPAC for the simple reason that it is one-stop-shopping to get a finger on the pulse of the right-wing. And this year's shindig did not disappoint. I will not bore you with my blow-by-blow take on the event...but will content myself with a link to one of the more amusing summaries I have read - from The Daily Kos.
And for those of you who have been wondering what happened to our former Governor Ms. Palin, a link to a You Tube video of her speech at the convention. The crowd went wild.
Meanwhile, here on my little plot of planet Earth, life continues pretty much as usual. No black helicopters. No UN troops. No Sharia law. Just a disturbing cold spell that is predicted to include six inches of snow in the next day or so. BOOOOOOO! WE WANT SPRING! WE WANT SPRING!
Tomorrow evening I will be hosting Manda, her friend Kira, and Enrique for supper. I have already completed the Key Lime Pie. And the Carrot Dill Soup is gently simmering as I type. After soup I am thinking a berry salad with chevre dressing for a course. And the main course will feature scallops in maple cream, filets of boef, parsleyed rice, and asparagus with some sort of vinegrette. Followed, of course, by the aforementioned Key Lime Pie.
I am in a good mood.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Sixty Years Young
A splendid evening. Alison's 60th birthday party. Many good friends and some mighty tasty victuals.
Alison's husband, Doug, produced a 30 minute video tribute to Ms. Elgee. It was a combination of video testimonials from significant persons in Alison's life and many still photos of her life to date. I must say, it brought a tear to my eye...despite the fact that many of the persons making the tributes were politicians. The video lasted approximately 30 minutes and I think it is safe to say that all present enjoyed every moment. Well done Dougie! Extraordinarily well done, in fact.
I first met Ms. Elgee when we were colleagues at the Division of Legislative Finance - the legislature's budget shop. Two of my best-loved friends from that time are Mr. Barker and Ms. Brown. They were both present this evening. They really enjoyed looking at the ol' Legislative Finance - Ho Ho File.
Hah!
It was a really fun party.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALISON!
In other news, the week long sunshine spell came to an end yesterday. But I got my fill of outdoor activities with two of my best pals.
Cards tomorrow at Stu's crib. Life is good.
Happy Birthday Alison!
Alison's husband, Doug, produced a 30 minute video tribute to Ms. Elgee. It was a combination of video testimonials from significant persons in Alison's life and many still photos of her life to date. I must say, it brought a tear to my eye...despite the fact that many of the persons making the tributes were politicians. The video lasted approximately 30 minutes and I think it is safe to say that all present enjoyed every moment. Well done Dougie! Extraordinarily well done, in fact.
I first met Ms. Elgee when we were colleagues at the Division of Legislative Finance - the legislature's budget shop. Two of my best-loved friends from that time are Mr. Barker and Ms. Brown. They were both present this evening. They really enjoyed looking at the ol' Legislative Finance - Ho Ho File.
Ohhhh....Ain't that cute they say after looking at page 1...
Who else has a copy of this they say after looking at page 10
Hah!
It was a really fun party.
Barbara, Mi'va and Chris
John, Marla and Christine
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALISON!
In other news, the week long sunshine spell came to an end yesterday. But I got my fill of outdoor activities with two of my best pals.
Amanda, Nikki and I did lots of hoofin'
Cards tomorrow at Stu's crib. Life is good.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
I Knew it was Going to Happen; But I'm Pissed-Off Anyway
A beautiful day...and more to come...through Thursday... Wow!
Today was quite busy. The usual elder check-in. Mom doing what she does. And took some pastries up to Auntie who I had not seen in ten days or so...
Auntie's daughter was in town for a week...my cousin got the house squared-away pretty well. Sadly, my cousin was not successful in convincing auntie to get a housekeeper and, when I asked auntie today if I could help, the answer was not positive. I just don't get it.
After visiting auntie, I had a workout. And after the workout a message from daughter Amanda suggesting a walk. Bravo! We did the dike trail under glorious sunshine and yakked it up the whole time. Doesn't get much better than that as far as I'm concerned...
I took Amanda home and then went to a fundraiser for our Democratic U.S. Senator who will be up for re-election next year. I'm sure it will be a tough race although his opponent it not yet obvious. Could be our current featherweight Governor (see below).
After the fundraiser it was on to the annual Democratic dinner at Centennial Hall where I was the guest of Ralph and Julia Kibby. I found it very inspiring...because I got to give my annual hug to Katie Hurley...the Secretary of the Alaska Constitutional Convention and piano player at my parents' wedding. Katie was one of the speakers at tonight's supper - and sadly it was clear she's fading a bit; but her smile and warmth are undiminished. In her brief speech she mentioned Alma Olson as one of her mentors - a teacher she had in school here in Juneau in the 1920's. Miss Olson was a dear friend of my Grandma Newman, a regular at the holiday dinner table, and I remember her quite well. Brought a tear to my eye.
Sadly, current political affairs in Alaska are not so swell.
Our featherweight Governor made it official. No Medicaid expansion for Alaska. He was at the National Governor's Association last week and he concluded the federal government was so dysfunctional that he could not count on them to deliver the promised federal swag.
Huh? That's your entire rationale for giving up hundreds of millions of federal dollars. That's it? The very best you can do?
To my knowledge there has not been one credible shred of analysis provided by Governor Parnell suggesting either that Medicaid expansion is a good idea or a bad idea for Alaska. Does any such analysis exist? One would think so... I know there are competent analysts in the Department of Health and Social Services. One would presume the Governor bothered to ask for such analysis and one would presume his Commissioner of the Department of Health and Social Services was competent enough to have one produced.
But...with one party government we may never know. The legislative leadership does not care. No Medicaid expansion bill would likely even get an honest hearing with this crowd. So perhaps there will be no requirement on the Administration to provide any meaningful analysis.
In the meantime, of course, our Governor is hell bent to give away many times more the TOTAL cost of Medicaid expansion to the oil industry. It's the ol' lower taxes and they'll invest mantra. Trickle down.
And with the demise of the Republican/Democratic coalition in the Senate, the misogynist caucus is alive and well. Senator John Coghill - Deacon Coghill according to past biographies - is leading the charge to define what "medical necessity" means relative to a woman exercising her constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy.
Sigh...
Today was quite busy. The usual elder check-in. Mom doing what she does. And took some pastries up to Auntie who I had not seen in ten days or so...
Auntie's daughter was in town for a week...my cousin got the house squared-away pretty well. Sadly, my cousin was not successful in convincing auntie to get a housekeeper and, when I asked auntie today if I could help, the answer was not positive. I just don't get it.
After visiting auntie, I had a workout. And after the workout a message from daughter Amanda suggesting a walk. Bravo! We did the dike trail under glorious sunshine and yakked it up the whole time. Doesn't get much better than that as far as I'm concerned...
Amanda on the dike trail
I took Amanda home and then went to a fundraiser for our Democratic U.S. Senator who will be up for re-election next year. I'm sure it will be a tough race although his opponent it not yet obvious. Could be our current featherweight Governor (see below).
After the fundraiser it was on to the annual Democratic dinner at Centennial Hall where I was the guest of Ralph and Julia Kibby. I found it very inspiring...because I got to give my annual hug to Katie Hurley...the Secretary of the Alaska Constitutional Convention and piano player at my parents' wedding. Katie was one of the speakers at tonight's supper - and sadly it was clear she's fading a bit; but her smile and warmth are undiminished. In her brief speech she mentioned Alma Olson as one of her mentors - a teacher she had in school here in Juneau in the 1920's. Miss Olson was a dear friend of my Grandma Newman, a regular at the holiday dinner table, and I remember her quite well. Brought a tear to my eye.
Sadly, current political affairs in Alaska are not so swell.
Our featherweight Governor made it official. No Medicaid expansion for Alaska. He was at the National Governor's Association last week and he concluded the federal government was so dysfunctional that he could not count on them to deliver the promised federal swag.
Huh? That's your entire rationale for giving up hundreds of millions of federal dollars. That's it? The very best you can do?
To my knowledge there has not been one credible shred of analysis provided by Governor Parnell suggesting either that Medicaid expansion is a good idea or a bad idea for Alaska. Does any such analysis exist? One would think so... I know there are competent analysts in the Department of Health and Social Services. One would presume the Governor bothered to ask for such analysis and one would presume his Commissioner of the Department of Health and Social Services was competent enough to have one produced.
But...with one party government we may never know. The legislative leadership does not care. No Medicaid expansion bill would likely even get an honest hearing with this crowd. So perhaps there will be no requirement on the Administration to provide any meaningful analysis.
In the meantime, of course, our Governor is hell bent to give away many times more the TOTAL cost of Medicaid expansion to the oil industry. It's the ol' lower taxes and they'll invest mantra. Trickle down.
And with the demise of the Republican/Democratic coalition in the Senate, the misogynist caucus is alive and well. Senator John Coghill - Deacon Coghill according to past biographies - is leading the charge to define what "medical necessity" means relative to a woman exercising her constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy.
Sigh...
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