Kissing Cuba

OK, the Communists took over. Fidel Castro and Che Guevara overthrew the creeps we had installed in Cuba and, despite our best efforts, the Communists stayed in power for over fifty years.

The people who left Cuba are really angry. They came to the United States, dealt drugs, and moved on to other things after they made their money. But they are still angry. They want the rest of the United States to be angry, too.

We're not.

How long are we going to be in a grudge match with that tiny island nation Cuba? There's no point to it now.

There's no Cold War anymore. There's no domino theory. Nuclear missiles are not on Cuba's shores.

For one, I will be glad when our foreign policy respecting this island nation is taken out of the hands of a few frothing radicals and put back into the hands of reasonable people. That's all the Congressional Black Caucus is asking for. And it's about time.




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The Tacky Index by Rob Long

That's the thing about the National Review. They really hit the mark once in a while. That's what Rob Long did in his article on credit card companies.

It seems that credit card companies have started looking not just at an ability to pay, payment history, employment - all those tangible things - and have started looking at whether you are shopping at cheaper haberdasheries and doughnut shops. Because if you are (and who is not) you are now part of a new class of consumer: pre-deadbeat.

Yes, that's right. You, by glancing at panicked headlines and your 401K statement and reacting rationally, are a deadbeat in the making. Why else would you start scrimping? Why else question those $200 haircuts? You must be on the downward slide! Quick! Let's reduce the credit limit on his cards! Ha!

Mr. Long refers to the credit card prayer we have all done: please let it go through.

Leisure Lad and myself went cash-based four years ago. I found myself apologizing to dentists and mechanics, saying "I am one of those weird people who only gets things done when she has the money. I'll call you."

The cash-based lifestyle is kind of freeing. My entertainment is YouTube, Netflix, gardening and writing. I really don't need anything other than survival money. We don't have a t.v. anymore and we don't need one. We don't have cable and I must say that our quality of life has improved a lot since we got rid of it.

I used to have antiques shipped over from China all over my house. I made money on most of them when I sold them. Once, in a carpet store on Connecticut Avenue, I bought a huge armoire they had in the store for twenty years. It was magnificent. All inlaid wood, hand-carved, antique beveled glass, it was six hundred pounds of ego. Leisure Lad described it as obnoxious because it took up a lot of space and everyone always made such a fuss over it. "I hate the thing, but I have to admit, whenever a woman comes over she gushes over how wonderful it is."

I sold it. It did mean a lot to me to have my antiques admired by visitors. True. But in the end I would rather have the cash. When push comes to shove, that's what you find out: the person with the finest furniture does not win.

Fannie Mae Forgives Loan of Woman Who Shot Herself

The woman was ninety years old. Now you know what's going to happen. People all over America are going to shoot themselves when the sheriff comes to evict them.

What is not being taken into account is the human toll of misery resulting from the credit crisis.

And the American people were lulled into the credit lifestyle to support, falsely, the economy.

What To Do With Rebate - Don Harrold

Charismatic and interesting.

Broke for the Holidays

Yes, we're broke. I am turning my law practice into a full-time thing and letting go of the dog walking cash cow. So here we are in the middle for the holidays.

What we didn't do: use credit cards, borrow, give gifts to adults. The exception was my parents who got a nice German steak knife set I picked up at a yard sale in September at a reasonable price.

What we did do: start looking for holiday presents early and in our closets. That led to my 10 year old niece getting a mink stole I got on a whim from a thrift shop months earlier. Her brother got a large cache of comic books from my husband. We got small, old-fashioned toys at my synagogue for my other nephews at Hanukkah Mart day. And I got this all done and in the mail by Thanksgiving which did loads to reduce stress.

Our gift to each other was three events we did together. My husband got to pick one, I got to pick one, and we would both agree to the third one. It worked out all right, except my husband picked a play at Studio Theater called "Breathe, Boom" or something and we walked out at intermission. I chose "Charlie Wilson's War" which Justin would normally not go to see, but he liked it. Our third event is to take some friends out to dinner at a Mexican place in January. So it worked out pretty well.

We made a point of going to every party we were invited to, and have been very busy as a result.

I decorated with silver and blue gift bows from the store.

In the end, it was a lovely holiday season and I gave gifts that I would never have thought of before.