Evidently, now is the time to panic

"I have learnt to manage on whatever I have. I know how to be poor and I know how to be rich too. I have been through my initiation and now I am ready for anything anywhere; full stomach or empty stomach, poverty or plenty. There is nothing I cannot master with the help of the one who gives me strength... My God will fulfill all your needs... May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. " Philippians 4:11-23

St. Paul, writing from prison.

My daughters used to eat lunch at school five days a week, now they only get hot lunch twice.

My kids are picky eaters, so they like only pizza friday (plain, of course).

Thanks, yelladawgNC, for reminding me how out of sync I am with St. Paul and the attitude of Christ - Philippians 2:5, which we read Sunday.

We'll be reading in Philippians for the next few Sundays, that's a consolation ...

Charles, you clearly have an eye for the main chance. I'm in.

(As long as it doesn't involve cheating old people out of their life savings. McCain already staked out that territory in his Keating Five Days; I trust everyone remembers the Savings and Loan scandal, the last huge financial debacle courtesy of the Republicans? That one cost U.S. taxpayers $1.4 TRILLION. And guess who was implicated?

"Between 1981 and 1989, when George Bush finally announced that there was a Savings and Loan Crisis to the world, the Reagan/Bush administration worked to cover up Savings and Loan problems by reducing the number and depth of examinations required of S&Ls as well as attacking political opponents who were sounding early alarms about the S&L industry. Industry insiders were aware of significant S&L problems as early 1986 that they felt would require a bailout. This information was kept from the media until after Bush had won the 1988 elections.

"Jeb Bush defaulted on a $4.56 million loan from Broward Federal Savings in Sunrise, Florida. After federal regulators closed the S&L, the office building that Jeb used the $4.56 million to finance was reappraised by the regulators at $500,000, which Bush and his partners paid. The taxpayers had to pay back the remaining 4 million plus dollars.

"Neil Bush was the most widely targeted member of the Bush family by the press in the S&L scandal. Neil became director of Silverado Savings and Loan at the age of 30 in 1985. Three years later the institution was belly up at a cost of $1.6 billion to tax payers to bail out.

"The basic actions of Neil Bush in the S&L scandal are as follows:

"Neil received a $100,000 `loan' from Ken Good, of Good International, with no obligation to pay any of the money back.

"Good was a large shareholder in JNB Explorations, Neil Bush's oil-exploration company.

"Neil failed to disclose this conflict-of-interest when loans were given to Good from Silverado, because the money was to be used in joint venture with his own JNB. This was in essence giving himself a loan from Silverado through a third party.

"Neil then helped Silverado S&L approve Good International for a $900,000 line of credit.

"Good defaulted on a total $32 million in loans from Silverado.

"During this time Neil Bush did not disclose that $3 million of the $32 million that Good was defaulting on was actually for investment in JNB, his own company.

"Good subsequently raised Bush's JNB salary from $75,000 to $125,000 and granted him a $22,500 bonus.

"Neil Bush maintained that he did not see how this constituted a conflict of interest.

"Neil approved $106 million in Silverado loans to another JNB investor, Bill Walters.

"Neil also never formally disclosed his relationship with Walters and Walters also defaulted on his loans, all $106 million of them.

"Neil Bush was charged with criminal wrongdoing in the case and ended up paying $50,000 to settle out of court. The chief of Silverado S&L was sentenced to 3.5 years in jail for pleading guilty to $8.7 million in theft. (Keep in mind that you can get more jail time for holding up a gas station for $50.)"

http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/112703A.shtml

http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2004/01/26/neil_bush/index.html

"It should also be noted that shortly after news of Neil Bush’s involvement in the S&L scandal hit the press his father, George Bush Sr., announced the Desert Storm campaign in Iraq, which subsequently had the result of making Neil’s name quickly fade from the headlines. In addition, while Neil Bush's divorce proceeding were exposing more backroom Bush dealings, America was once again bombarded with war propaganda for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"The S&L scandal is by no means the only incident of questionable, and actually illegal, financial activity that the Bush family has been involved in. The line of questionable, illegal, and unethical businesses practices goes back at least to Prescott Bush Sr., George Bush Sr.’s father. Prescott Bush was a Senator from 1952 – 1963. Previous to his time as a Senator Prescott was a banker and businessman. Prior to the American entry into WWII Prescott Bush was director of Union Banking Corporation. Union Banking Corporation helped to finance Hitler’s regime. The Concentration Camps of Nazi Germany were labor camps that the Nazis used to make products for their regime as well as for sale to raise money. Prescott profited directly from the Auschwitz labor camp.

"In 1942, after Hitler declared war on America the United States government seized the Union Banking Corporation under the Trading with the Enemy Act as a front operation that was supporting the Nazis. Much of the profits from the operation were already pocketed by Prescott however, and $1.5 million was put in a trust fund for George Bush Sr.

"For more on Prescott Bush's ties to the Nazis see:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1312540,00.html

http://www.nhgazette.com/cgi-bin/NHGstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=NN_Bush_Nazi_2

"This is actually just the tip of the iceberg as far as the Bush family and business dealings are concerned, the topic is a book in itself. In the interest of brevity I invite you to research the Bush family business ties yourself, including those in Saudi Arabia, where George Bush made millions as an oil well developer, and George Bush’s $14 million deal when he sold the Texas Rangers, while leaving tax payers footing the bill.

http://www.realchange.org/bushjr.htm#rangers

ANYONE SEE A PATTERN HERE?

Oh...and what exactly was the verdict for McCain concerning the "Keating 5"?

I work for barely over minimum wage in a homeless shelter.

I'm afraid I have to say...

My job is very secure. Business is, unfortunately, booming.