It ain't over 'til the fat politician sings

Sooooo. Last week, the U.S. Federal Government managed to settle the 'debt crisis' at the last moment to the satisfaction of a very select few. For a variety of reasons, polls indicate that 2/3 of the American population believe that the solution put into place is nothing more than a big pile of shit.

End result: The 'efforts' or lack thereof, of these clowns we call Congress produced the first downgrade in the credit rating of the United States. Never happened before, through all the trials and tribulations that the U.S. has faced in its 200+ year history ...

What detrimental effects this will produce remains to be seen. It ain't gonna be pretty. Higher interest rates, stagnation of an already fucked up economy, joblessness, homelessness, you name it, it's just around the corner, folks.

Massive spending cuts to social services but no new taxes on the wealthy and multi-national corporations makes absolutely no sense. The shameful "Bush Tax Cuts" remain firmly in place. The argument is that job creation, currently so desperately needed, is dependent upon the wealthy remaining wealthy.

What?

Bailout money that was supposed to stimulate job growth went instead to corporate bonuses. I recall last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill tragedy in which the CEO of British Petroleum casually commented that he wished the whole thing would just go away so he could get back to racing his yacht.

So, there you have it voters. You put 'em there. What next?

The Greatest Robbery in History

First, our apologies to our few readers for not posting anything relating to our activities here in Granada for the past three months. We've been lazy, we admit it. It's been hot and I haven't found a way yet to be comfortable in the pool with a laptop but I'm working on it.

Today's diatribe has little to do with what we've been up to "down here," rather it deals with what isn't being done "up there" -- "up there" being my native United States of America. Frankly, I'm about as disgusted as is humanly possible. While elected officials, whose only concern seems to be the advancement of their personal portfolios and agendas, go through the motions of acting like they give a shit, millions and millions of U.S. citizens live in a current state of anxiety as to whether they're going to be able to pay the rent and buy groceries next month. The "debt crisis" debacle being "legislated" in Washington at the moment has degenerated into nothing more than petty politics at its most ridiculous. These idiots are not after a fair and equitable solution to this matter, instead this entire sordid nonsense has become a penile measuring contest between Republicans and Democrats.

We, the people, really don't care which of you has the biggest dick. What we care about is "where's the money?" Carol and I began contributing, along with an equal match from our previous employers, to the Social Security system in the late '50's. We continued to do this for the next 50 years, with the hope and understanding that "our" funds were being fed and nurtured, to be available to us upon reaching retirement age.

Well, we held up our end of the bargain, we got old. And we want our money back, emphasis on our. This isn't a "handout" nor are we welfare recipients. This is money we entrusted to our government over decades to be used for our well being. But today, we sit here wondering if the deposits will be made on the 3rd of next month so that we can pay our bills. You thoughtless, arrogant bastards.

How did this all happen, we wonder? Well, I believe that history, several generations from now, will discover that (1) Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone, (2) James Earl Ray didn't do it and (3) the George W. Bush administration pulled off the greatest robbery ever perpetuated on mankind. It began early when billions of dollars changed hands when the US began chasing around the Middle East, looking for "weapons of mass destruction." Lots of individuals, elected, appointed or otherwise, made a sizable chuck of change off that scenario, (What? No WMD's???)

It continued while we sent troops (and support contractors, re: Vice President Cheney's beloved Halliburton) to the far reaches of the planet to hunt down and eliminate "terrorists." Didn't find many but another sizable chuck probably ended up in the Cayman's somewhere.

And finally, in Oct. '08, at the conclusion of the worst administration in US history, the bottom of the scam seemingly fell out  -- but not really. Keep in mind dear reader that the money didn't disappear, it wasn't burned or thrown in the ocean, it merely changed hands. About $25,000 that Carol and I had invested in a relatively secure (we thought) mutual fund simply went poof and left our hands, bound for another's. We weren't alone, this happened to millions of fellow Americans.

What has evolved is an attitude by those who pulled off this fantastic coup that they stole it fair and square, they got away with it and they're gonna keep it, the nation be damned. When we read that a corporation like General Electric can produce a profit of 140 billion dollars and NOT PAY ANY TAXES on it is pathetic. Michael Moore's figure that America's 400 weathiest citizens have assets equal to 155,000,000 other Americans is downright scary. And finally, the 147 million dollar bonus given the CEO of a prominent health care conglomerate recently is shameful.

Final conclusion: You sorry sons-of-bitches who were elected to represent the masses had better get your shit together or else the masses are gonna be coming after you with serious intentions. Heads rolled in France in 1789 ...

First Trip to Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/myphotos

Another Very Exciting Adventure, by Carol

Jim and I had a very exciting adventure yesterday.We were asked to be extras for a series being filmed in Nicaragua to raise awareness of sexual exploitation of women in Latin America. Our friend who invited us indicated that we would show up at the hotel where it was being filmed at 6:00 a.m., have breakfast in the background of the scene, and that was it! So .... we get up at 5:00 and just as we're ready to walk out the door the phone rings and we're told they won't start until 7:00. We get there at 7, and the cast and all the staff, or whatever they're called (probably about 50, or so, folks) are running around like chickens with their heads cut off, and they're serving breakfast for all of us. We don't start filming until about 9:00, by which time it's already hot enough to fry eggs on the sidewalk (real-feel yesterday was 106 degrees). I thought of Mike, my nephew who works as seconds in real Hollywood movies from time to time, all day yesterday, wondering how on earth he could love doing this as much as he does!!! At 11:00, as sweat was literally running down my LEGS, as well as back, chest, head etc., one of the sweet assistant directors apologized for the delays and I asked if she had some idea of how much longer it was going to take and she smiled and said they hoped to be thru at 4:00 that afternoon!!!! So, we sucked it up and repeated and repeated and repeated the scenes over and over again. They fed us well, all typica foods, and kept us in drinks, and there were globs of Conde Nest Traveler magazines, in English, so we made the best of it we could. A couple of our friends came in around 2:00 to add to the extras for a new scene (FINALLY a change), and that made the time go a little faster since we had friends to chat with in English. We actually had a bit of acting to do since we had to greet each other as if we were all meeting for dinner, then walk to a table, be seated, speak with the waiter, then mouth words as if we were in a conversation! This proved to be a bit difficult as the words we mouthed extemporaneously were designed to test the ability of each of us to NOT crack up:) Anyway, Samantha, the sweet ass't director, was almost right about the time we would finish, but it was more like 5:30 when we finally dragged our asses home!! When we got here we walked straight back to the pool, threw off our clothes and jumped into the 90 degree (honest) pool to try to cool off. I can tell you right now, neither fame nor fortune could tempt me to do that every day for a living!!!! I now have a much larger appreciation of Jennifer Anniston now that I see how hard she has to work for a living -- I'd whine too!!! BTW, before we left we found out that we actually get PAID for all this fun .... we walked away with 200 cordobas each, which is approximately $9.03 each :))))))))))) The scenes we shot yesterday will air in Nicaragua sometime in October, and the series appears in the Dominica Republic!

Of Parrots and Politicians

Along with the grackles, magpies, cranes and chicken-sized doves, Nicaragua is home to a extensive population of green parrots. They're everywhere. They particularly like to gather in Mango trees where they help themselves shamelessly to the booty at hand, with no regard whatsoever for the owner of the tree. It's not uncommon to see members of the local populous hurling rocks and sticks into the tree in an attempt to both dislodge a ripe mango and scare off the parrots.

Each is about the size of the average American crow and they are collectively a handsome lot, resplendent in their bright green suits. While casually watching them today from the back garden, it occurred to me that I was totally unaware of how to refer to a group of parrots. I know that quail form coveys, and a group of geese are a gaggle, but were parrots merely a flock?

Flock hardly seems accurate when describing this mass of feathered marauders so I took it upon myself to correctly concoct a term that better served the purpose. This required a careful review of the facts. Parrots will appear at any time during daylight hours, sweeping in from nowhere, hundreds at a time, bickering their heads off before disappearing into the nearest tree.


While there, the bickering continues, broken only briefly while everyone stops to catch their breath before a sub group breaks off, moves to another tree, and begins bickering again. Groups will infringe upon one another and the bickering quickly escalates to screaming.

Disputes seem to always go unsolved and as quickly as they arrived, they depart. In their wake, they usually leave a lot of birdshit. Henceforth, whenever I hear them coming, I will gleefully call out to my lovely wife, "Carol, here comes another congress of parrots."

But it ain't paradise

Before we get carried away singing the praises of Granada, Nicaragua, do understand dear reader that this place, like any other place on this planet, has its' problems. Keep in mind that Nicaragua is considered to be the second poorest country in the Americas, behind only Haiti, and evidence of such is everywhere.

Behind many of the ancient and stately walls of this magnificent colonial city are shanties and shacks where families that number in the dozens dwell. Many continue to cook over wood fires as did their ancestors 200-300 years ago. The family shower is often a garden hose, the floor, hard-packed dirt, the latrine, a hole in the ground.

Grey water runs down the open gutters on many of the streets and standing water is everywhere, creating the perfect breeding environment for mosquitoes. And all of this grey water runs downhill, untreated, eventually into massive Lake Nicaragua.

And then, there's the litter. Granada has a garbage collecting system in place but it doesn't deal with the huge amounts of litter that seems to be everywhere. The local population has a rather cavalier attitude toward litter -- they will sweep the sidewalk in front of their homes out into the street and then leave it there. People of all ages can be seen discarding trash onto the ground rather than sticking it in their pockets for disposal at home. Even in the central park plaza -- the main tourist mecca -- trash cans sit empty while the ground is cluttered with all kinds of debris.

However, the saddest sight of all centers on a minority of children, some as young as six and seven years old, who have become addicted to glue sniffing. I'm told that parents are often the culprits because glue sniffing serves as an appetite suppressant. Rather than figuring out a way to feed these youngsters, glue from the local shoe factories is readily available and cheap -- cheaper apparently than the nation's staple, rice and beans. Too often as we wander about this unique old city, we find children propped up against walls with that vacant stare, and a baby food jar of glue tightly clutched in their hands.

The only conclusion that we can reach is that paradise is merely a state of mind. This is, without doubt, a fascinating place with its ornate old cathedrals and horse drawn carriages. But to our way of thinking, paradise wouldn't have so much horseshit in the streets.

The Advantages of Nicaragua

This being the first posting on our new blog, we would like to explain right off the bat how we came to be in this place at this time -- this place being Granada, Nicaragua. We retired to Costa Rica two and a half years ago because it was cost prohibitive to retire in our native United States. Medical co-pays and COBRA payments were eating us alive and Costa Rica's affordable health care situation was incredibly attractive.

However, Costa Rica was not all it was advertised to be, for a variety of reasons. On a "visa run," an action necessary to remain in good standing with the local authorities, we discovered Nicaragua. Initially, our visits were to Isla de Ometepe where stateside friends had relocated. We were, and continue to be, enchanted with that special little spot on the planet, but we also realized that Ometepe was unsuitable for our habitation because of its' lack of adequate medical facilities.

Granada was the perfect compromise solution. Close enough to the outstanding Pellas hospital in Managua for us to be comfortable -- we are, after all, a couple of old people with deteriorating bodies -- Granada also offered an array of other advantages.

Granada is a beautiful old town, much prettier than the San Jose suburb of Heredia where we lived in Costa Rica. Nicaragua is also much more affordable and the local people have been so much more friendly than their counterparts to the south. Whereas we always felt somewhat unwelcome in Costa Rica, Nicaraguans have embraced us with open arms. This also holds true when comparing the two governments.

Safety became a major concern while we were in Costa Rica. The entire Central Valley -- San Jose and all the suburbs -- has been over run with all kinds of crime, much of it violent and the police serve as no deterrent whatsoever. In fact, the police are often in on the crime itself. We became afraid to even go out at night.

Here in Granada, on the other hand, we feel safe enough to walk the streets in the evening with no problems. We read that Nicaragua is considered to be one of the safest countries in the Americas and such has been our experience thus far.

Even though we've only been here for slightly over four months, this environment simply feels better. And you know what? There's not a single American fast food franchise anywhere, not even a Subway. Just gotta love that.

Welcome to Our Blog!

Welcome to Carol and Jim's blog. We intend to use this space to expound upon whatever might cross our collective minds. It might be political, social or just plain nonsense. With pictures, of course.