Satire? No, It's Just Funny

While perusing through some news stories, I stumbled upon the first picture, and immediately recognized that the facial expression Marc Morial is making likens him in creepy ways to the faun from Pan's Labyrinth. It of course also helps that in the edited photo, McCain is making a now well-known "somebody tell me what's going on, I need my reading glasses to see the guy next to me" face. Enjoy.

"She has a lot of conservative values. She hunts. She fishes. She does it all."

The title is from a Virginia-Pilot news story that quotes Phil Wignall of the (presumably local) Newport News saying just that of Alaska governor Sarah Palin. I cite his affiliation because, ideally, those working in news should be held to a higher standard of analysis than a random rally supporter. Before I delve into radical left-wing partisan politics, I am glad to discover that Palin has values. Moreover, she has conservative values. I typically imagine conservative values to be overwhelmed by heedless patriotism and wherever that may lead. It reminds me of the police officers in a New York Yankees baseball game who kicked a fan out for wanting to pee during "God Bless America", noting on his way out that if he hates the country, he should just leave. I embrace my American citizenship and enjoy the life I have in the country, and this is partly because I am afforded the opportunity for dissent where I see fit. I have many Constitutional rights, but I don't believe I have a Constitutional obligation to vocally love and blindly support all sectors of the nation.

That said, I have long believed that a major issue growing in America was our economic momentum. Everything and everyone seem endlessly driven to the ultimate (albeit deceptively unreachable) goal of desired wealth. Many of us work hard in high school so that we can get into a good college, then we select a major, perhaps one we don't even enjoy or have interest in, and follow it through four years in the hopes that all the money we are paying in the meantime will eventually work itself out in the unspoken promise that the sheet of paper we receive upon graduation is a guarantee of an adequate salary for our well-being in the future that likely consists of working tirelessly toward an ever-higher position and ever-higher salary that can never truly slake our thirst for the wealth and comfort that we believe, we have to believe, is within our reach. Was that a run-on? I'm sorry, I got carried away and just couldn't stop. Kind of like our lives.

But given the recent market plunges (dare I call it a crash?) and year-old warnings from a man just crazy enough that I kind of trust him, mogul Jim Cramer, drinker of Red Bull: Market Edition, I am beginning to speculate that a stop to this momentum may be exactly what we need. We need regulation, and I'm not talking about the kind of regulation that gets mired in politics; I mean that we need to find our course and get back on it, slowly. We are a young country, but we have been proven a strong country. Stocks made an upward swing today, and even if this doesn't signal an immediate end to our troubles, which it doesn't, it should at least inspire some faith. Instead of submitting to the apocalypse theory that the "era" of American power is coming to an end, let's invest not our dollars but our faith in the country and a government that can gradually guide us where we need to be.

And if my instincts serve me correctly, I can find my answer by looking to the core values of our two political parties. My gut tells me that I should turn to the Republicans, because they historically show faith in America despite the looming harbingers of disaster in current events. I believe that it is a conservative value, and even though it is frequently misinterpreted or even abused by its own proponents, it is a value nonetheless. Ah, yet I stand corrected. This is indeed not a conservative value. If we look at Mrs. Palin, a beacon of hope that "has it all", we will discover that values actually have nothing to do with the essential traits we must muster up to effect change in America. When it comes down to it, it's about the stuff of legend, keeping the simulacrum of America alive by killing animals. Gee golly.



I live in Japan. But I only have one citizenship, and living abroad can't make me ignore the fact that our country is, in numerable respects, at a crossroads. I have to keep an eye on what's going on, and every so often, I may weigh in. If you tire of this or simply want to hear about current Japan happenings, I'd be more than happy to share. Just let me know. Take care America.

Chris

Update on Thursday morning: I will make no attempt to be eloquent about this, but I stumbled upon another Palin gem. She said of McCain's current campaign status, "He knows something about being the underdog also, and still being victorious at the end of the day. So there's something to that." In her veiled attempt at a Vietnam POW allusion, she chooses her diction fairly poorly. I don't know many who consider our stint in the country "victorious". Maybe she meant to say, "He knows something about being in a situation that looks absolutely dire and hopeless and still going home at the end of it all. So there's something to that."

Not a Massive Update

We all know there's some financial news stirring stateside, but there are plenty of other countries keeping a watchful eye on what we do. We may make some pretty large errs in both domestic and foreign affairs sometimes, but many countries still recognize that we have a fairly impressive track record in matters of wealth. Japan, for example, frequently follows our lead to a certain extent and, consequently, they have run into the same issues we have in the past. Coverage in national news on the whole kit 'n caboodle in America lets people know what is happening, a fairly objective view. But it also serves to remind people that America is not infallible. Back in March, due to the rising yen and falling dollar, the exchange rate briefly hit 96 yen to the dollar, bad news for travelers. Last July, when I withdrew funds from my American account, I was getting 117 yen per dollar. It has been declining gradually ever since, but in the last week, it plummeted. The first picture shows the first time I have ever witnessed a single yen valued higher than a penny. Although if you pick up a yen, it's amazingly light weight and weakness make it feel all but worthless. In the midst of all this, I've read that confidence in the American economy is fairly strong, at least abroad. Foreign investors are not likely to get too timid; in fact, their confidence may show a surge in the dollar's value after the Fed starts hacking away at interest rates. Today's slash apparently didn't do the trick, but I guess we'll see. Personally, it's hard for me to know how to feel. Monitoring the news from abroad gives me, despite being an American, a typically foreign view. I'm not out and about in the society daily, so I just can't understand how people are feeling about it. I hope that people are optimistic but not blind. Awareness is possibly the most important thing to have, because we can't act without it. And surely we can't individually fix these issues, but we can certainly work to protect ourselves. How do we do that? Wow. I'd ask someone who knows. I read, but I don't claim to know much about money. Anyway, take it easy America, I'm trying to come home in December and I'd be glad if I saw everyone smiling.

Bye!

As an addendum to matters of exchange rate, I just logged in to my American bank account. I recently was charged for an order from an Amazon Japan site, but the product was unavailable. Three days later, I received a refund for this charge, but since the charge and refund are both conducted with yen as the base currency and my bank uses dollars, I profited 38 cents on the affair due to rate changes in the last three days.