Thank everyone who calls out your faults, your anger, your impatience, your egotism; do this consciously, voluntarily.

– Jean Toomer, poet and novelist(1894-1967)

Hard to believe, dead of prostate cancer at only 56.

A fine musician.

Godspeed.

“WASHINGTON — President Bush’s plan to slow the mortgage meltdown could help prevent hundreds of thousands of people from losing their homes, but many others would get no relief — and the plan’s effect on the broader economy remained a topic of sharp debate.” — Los Angeles Times

More reading on the topic, if you’re interested.

Bush mortgage plan would freeze rates – Los Angeles Times: “Bush administration will release a plan today that is expected to block many mortgages from adjusting to higher rates for as long as five years.”

It’s a pig in a poke. Even if it staved off recession, which it won’t because not enough mortgages would be able to qualify, it’s doesn’t help people. It just helps money. Perhaps the most silly part of the plan is the requirement that equity has been gained.

The five-year freeze will be offered to borrowers who live in their homes, are current on their mortgage payments, have accrued at least some equity in their homes and whose income indicates they cannot afford higher payments.

That means the value of the home has to have increased since the owner purchased it. A few years ago, I would have said Cool, they should’ve gotten some equity in about an hour and a half. Not anymore.

Millions of people bought at the height of the housing bubble, borrowed 100% on an overpriced home, and instantly were in upside down. Houses that sold around here for a million are worth $750K now. Where’s the equity in that?

The lending industry got people into this mess, and the lending industry needs to shoulder the burden of getting them out. It’s nothing but abject studpidity to loan hundreds of thousands, or even a million bucks, with no money down, secured by nothing but a single family home.

The solution is simple: restructure the loan to a fixed APR, and spread it out over 30-50 years, so the borrower can make the payments. It’s a win for everybody, because no one has to lose his home, the bank isn’t stuck with a house in a falling market, and the investors behind the bank don’t take it … badly.

“Southern California got a break from its dry streak Friday with an unexpectedly powerful rainstorm that clogged the freeway commute, unleashed some small mudslides and forced officials in Orange County to evacuate canyon communities hit by October’s brush fires.” | Los Angeles Times

Hey we need some rain in SB too, dudes! Quit bogartin‘ all the disasters. Dang.

Kidding.

But we do need rain.

as the writers’ strike drags on.

“‘Some people were crying. Some people were screaming,’ said one employee speaking on condition of anonymity. NBC declined comment on the firings beyond a brief statement that it had ‘regretfully informed the people who work on ‘The Tonight Show With Jay Leno’ and ‘Late Night With Conan O’Brien’ that their services are not needed at this time due to our inability to continue production of the shows.'”

Shocked Leno staffers fired.

Leno had told his people not to worry, that they wouldn’t be fired. I’ve been there, lied to by management: “Don’t worry, there won’t be layoffs in your department.” Then, wham. That’s evil.

I can’t help but wonder if there’s something we viewers can do to help put pressure on the producers to show more good faith and fair dealing. I’m not watching any of the reruns of nightly shows like Leno’s. Their advertisers won’t get my attention during this debacle.

just can’t seem to keep away from trouble.

“If one sins against the laws of proportion and gives something too big to something too small to carry it — too big sails to too small a ship, too big meals to too small a body, too big powers to too small a soul — the result is bound to be a complete upset. In an outburst of hubris the overfed body will rush into sickness, while the jack-in-office will rush into the unrighteousness that hubris always breeds.”

-Plato

I was going to write a blog post about, you know, literature or consciousness or something. But I decided it was in the best interests of national security and humankind if I just chill in my big chair and watch Deadwood videos until I fall asleep. Sometimes the world of art is just bent that way.

Here, watch a video about a toaster.

Neurotically Yours – Amityville Toaster – The top video clips of the week are here

If you miss my more inventive side, sorry. Maybe I’ll write something Deep tomorrow. It would help if somebody gave me an idea, because watching Deadwood is the best one I have at the moment.

Today I helped my Dad hang the lights around their house, and set up the tree in the living room. Tonight I had tea in my Merry Christmas cup with the reindeer on it. So I guess Christmas is coming.

So I have two questions for you: Have you been good? If so, what are you asking Santa to bring you?

Hard to believe it’s been several days since I posted. I guess I’ve been distracted, otherwise occupied. And here we are, Thanksgiving.

It’s always been a special day for me; the annual celebration of all that it means to be home.

This year, my brother and his wife and little boy are here, and we have our parents and we’re all well, so I’m especially thankful for my family. And I’m thankful for memories. All those beautiful days with our grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins.

Time and the river. To live is to move on; to forget is never to have lived. Am I wrong?

Screenwriter Lee Goldberg has a funny anecdote for you, fresh from the WGA picket lines. … Or the Land of Oz, I’m not sure which.