What about those bad ass-et banks?

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting pretty tired of hearing about bad ass-et banks. I thought the original idea was that banks offered us a small income if we kept our savings with them instead of in our mattress, then lent our money at a higher rate to people who needed it for business or buying houses. The bank would be very careful about who they lent that money to because it was, after all, OUR money and eventually they had to pay us back.

Then those bad ass-ets went and loaned money to people who purchased houses at unrealistic prices they could not afford. Why? Because all the other Lemmings were also doing it. These bad mortgages were so attractive that securities firms came up with new products to sell based on those bad mortgages. They protected themselves with insurance offered by AIG, which forgot to run these investments by their underwriters.

So here we are today, the people who thought our money was being managed by professional bankers, not riverboat gamblers, ponying up our grandchildren’s future to bail them out and save our entire monetary system. I don’t know about you, but I am feeling a distinct pain in the ass-et right now.

Beliefs and opinions

It all gets back to opinions. Everyone has opinions, some of which are strongly held and become beliefs. Wars are not usually fought over opinions, although many a bar fight has been waged over them. When opinions become beliefs though, watch out. If you believe Obama is ruining the country after three months in office, you don’t take kindly to someone who suggests Bush already ruined it in his eight years. If you believe human-induced climate change will be the death of us, don’t hang around with people who believe climate change is normal and they have a gun rack in their truck to prove it. If you believe only Saved Christians will go to heaven, don’t tell that to a Muslim or a Jew, who believe they are each exclusively God’s chosen people. The right thing to say is that everyone is entitled to his or her belief as long as I’m entitled to mine. At least, that’s my opinion on the subject.

Oh yes, there's that religious thing...

Let’s see – Jews believe in God and believe that God will send a Messiah. Their Holy Book is the Torah and the Old Testament reflects their beliefs and prophets.

Christians originally were Jews who believed Jesus was the Messiah promised by God, but then went on to form a separate religion with the same God and the same Old Testament prophets, but with the addition of a New Testament based on the life and teachings of Jesus.

Muslims are people who practice Islam and they believe in the same God as Jews and Christians (they call him Allah, which means "The God"). They share the same Old and New Testament prophets, but add Jesus as a prophet, not the son of God. They also add another prophet, Mohammed, who came 700 years after Jesus, and his teachings are written in the Koran, their Holy Book, which is geared more to people of the desert.

In spite of all this similarity, these three religions have fought each other since their beginnings. Not only that, Christians have fought (and continue to fight) each other for centuries – Catholics vs Protestants. Muslims have also fought each other for centuries (and continue to fight) – Sunnis vs Shi’ites.

Hindu, Buddhist and other religious affiliations have also fought with Jews, Christians and Muslims. It seems the only group that doesn’t go around killing everyone are the Atheists.

Off to Egypt again

I will depart on Friday, April 24 for my annual visit to Egypt, where I will spend most of the next three weeks in the tiny farming village of Kafr el Arbein (kaf-L-R-bine). I don’t have internet access from the village, but a nearby city has an internet café and I hope to send home reports from there a few times a week. If you have any questions or comments about the people and politics of Egypt, write them here and I will respond.

Here’s some introductory info…
Egyptians are very family oriented and invest their hopes and dreams in their children. They complain about rising prices, government ineptitude and their bosses. Most are God-loving, conservative, eat too much and love to gossip. Wait, doesn’t that sound a bit like Americans?

record setting Hibiscus Festival in downtown Vero Beach

The recently completed 2009 Hibiscus Festival was one for the record books. The primary event was held in downtown Vero Beach on Saturday, April 18 (actually, the Hibiscus Queen Pageant on Friday, April 17 is part of the Festival but takes place exclusively inside the Heritage Center). Attendance on Saturday for all activities from the 5K race at 7am to the 60s Street Party from 5:30 to 8:30 in the evening, is estimated at 15,000 people. That makes it by far the largest gathering of people in downtown Vero EVER. The Beatles Remembered tribute band, which dressed like the Beatles, played the exact instruments played by the Beatles and sounded like the Beatles, sent a crowd of 5,000 (verified based on the $2.00 admission) into psychedelic orbit. Although they didn’t play any songs from the Sgt. Pepper era, the promise from one such song – "a good time is guaranteed for all" – was certainly fulfilled.