F is for Friday

A few days ago I wrote a particularly awesome post, but then the blogger system didn't work and said post (with excellent hyperlinking and all) was lost. Not even the back button could recover the precious work. But this explains, in part, the mini hiatus of the last two weeks.

Gawker has provided yet more proof of America's unassailable superiority and evidence that righteous jingoism is entirely justified. We are truly a country to be universally proud of. [Note that my sarcastic tone doesn't mean that I believe the opposite of what I just said, but rather that some national introspection might be called for before unilaterally and unqualified-ly labeling the US the single greatest nation on earth, with no need for progress or betterment.]

Also, because most of my posts of late have been distinctly political in nature, I felt it was time to comment on something less election related. Let's see how far I get: (cue musical effect of spinning a choices wheel a la Wheel of Fortune) tick, tick, tick... tick. Ah, the economy! Warren Buffet's contribution to the New York Times (ok, so I'm having trouble breaking out of set patterns) today has added to the growing urgency I feel to buy stocks. As Warren explains, now is the time to get great deals on the perennially stable companies with solid futures whose stocks are now going for something near book value (which my uncle explained to me as the amount of money a shareholder would be entitled to per stock should the company be forced to liquefy--distinctly gooey sounding).

I have a few good recommendations, which I am not going to share because I don't want to shoot myself in the foot by driving up prices -- except to say that my cubicle-mate spent most of last week shouting "Fertilizer, buddy, I'm telling you po-TASH!" I believe he is referring to a Saskatchewan-based chemical company that has been defying the current market trends. What I really ought to be doing right now is setting up an account with E-Trade. It seems distinctly less formal than getting on the horn with the likes of Charles Schwab, and in the current market environment, who wants to go through the trouble of getting all set up with a company that may need to get bailed out. Not that I've heard anything, but would it really be surprising at this point? Not to mention that I'm hardly a lucrative client. I highly doubt an account manager would get all excited over my 20 requested shares in anything. And despite my recent entry to the for-profit world, I have yet to substantially accumulate the benefits of my increased pay-grade.

This is likely due to all the donating I've been doing to various funds -- none of which I now discover are tax-deductible because they are all partisan. How ridiculous! I think I deserve a "Defending America's Liberty" tax credit because my dollars are going directly to combating the far right's strangle hold on Constitutional politics. If the government could keep those people on a leash, I could have given that money over to something unquestionably tax-deductible, like loosing money in the stock market.

I've gotten to the point where I am so embarrassed by my hideous picture on my work ID that I may go downstairs and beg them to re-take it. I look like a marm.