Chattanooga & Little Debbie Rock the Onion

I grew up eating Little Debbies. My mom would often go to the Little Debbie Thrift Store– that was literally the name of the store– and stock up on boxes that had been slightly dented and heavily discounted. Sometimes it seemed that there was nothing in the house to eat but Nutty Bars and Zebra Cakes.  Little Debbies are to Tennesseans what TastyKakes are to Philadelphians. While I don’t necessarily have fond memories of the high-fructose confections, I do have plenty of memories– my dad slathering his Swiss Cake Rolls in grape jam– and was amused to see them roasted in the Onion: ” Heavily Processed Food Makes Pathetic Nutritional Claims.”

Climate Change Legislation & the Developing Word

Pollution

Yale 360 reports that India, like China before them, has announced that they will not agree to emissions’ restrictions. Obama has said that he opposes trade sanctions against countries who do not agree to carbon caps. From the Times’ article:

The House bill contains a provision, inserted in the middle of the night before the vote Friday, that requires the president, starting in 2020, to impose a “border adjustment” — or tariff — on certain goods from countries that do not act to limit their global warming emissions. The president can waive the tariffs only if he receives explicit permission from Congress.

Reap What You Sow

And I’m blogging again after a long hiatus. Summer is a good time to get things going again.

So today, the Times has an article detailing how many credit companies are now settling their delinquent accounts at discount rates. The writers offer an example of a guy in Chicago who was able to clear his 5 grand debt with HSBC at half that price.

Personally this bothers me. Economically and financially I know this makes me most sense for everyone involved–even myself because of the collatorael damage of the debt system–but I feel the debtors are getting off too easy. They bought into the idea that they could have something for nothing, and I think they should suffer the consequences of playing that game of make-believe. It strikes me that the people who are being dealt the worse hand in this whole financial crisis are few-and-far-between ’savers,’ the ones who didn’t rack up piles of debt and instead invested their savings in a market that went bust. Their hard-earned cash performed a vanishing act, whereas these reckless debtors likely still have their fancy flat screens and HD-DVD players. I’m not suggesting we reinstitute debtors prisons, but a little comeuppance should be in order.

New Flight of the Conchords

Funny or Die has the first episode from the new season of Flight of the Conchords, hands down the best comedy on TV. Finally, I get my fix. Too bad I don’t have a HBO, or even cable for that matter.

Best Commercial Ever

Found this on The Daily Beast. Apparently, some people think it’s racist. I just think it’s hilarious.