Ok, the Economy is Bad

On one hand, it’s nice to see people agree with me. On the other hand, I wish the economy would turn around. 

We’ve had 15 months of fewer jobs, pushing the unemployment rate nationally up to 8.5%. It is of course worse in some places than others. Remember, these figures don’t include people who simply never were able to find a job upon entering the workforce. If we use the most conservative number economists think we need for those new people, we’re talking about 1,875,000 jobless people unaccounted for. The actual number might be as high as 3,000,000. Nor do the official unemployment numbers include the millions of people who have given up looking for work.  Some sources are predicting double digit unemployment unless we have “systemic reforms.” 

Some companies are choosing to cut benefits such as 401k contributions rather than cutting more jobs. I think this is a sign that viable companies have already cut all the jobs they can and still conduct business. 

As a direct result of increasing joblessness, we have 1 in every 10 Americans on Food Stamps. Yeah, I am guessing that any movement to make those people submit to random drug screening is dead. 

Another direct result is a larger than expected growth in bankruptcy filings. A quite understandable result of that is credit card companies slashing the credit lines of people who have accounts in good standing. They don’t want to find themselves on the hook for money that people may not be able to pay in the future. Of course the other side of that is that a credit card may mean the difference between making it through a rough patch and economic disaster. Paid back with interest. A true double-edged sword of Damocles.

Perhaps a factor, perhaps a result, we now find out that there is a serious delinquency problem not just on sub-prime mortgages, but standard ones as well! Would they have ever been a problem if not for the subprime mess or the job losses? I doubt anyone will ever know. The important thing to remember is that this bodes ill for the housing market on the national level until the economy recovers and perhaps a year beyond as the properties in question are foreclosed and resold.

Robert Reich is just the latest economist to go out there and call it a Depression. He joins The Economist magazine (hardly an alarmist lot), Eric Sprott, Frederic Mishkin (who says this is actually worse than a depression), and others.

There are a couple of bright spots. In truth, they are really “not quite as dismal” spots, but let’s take what we can get. Some companies are offering “free services” to the unemployed. Locally, Kinkos has offered resume printing, and a daycare has offered a free day so people can go to job interviews. 

Another good thing is that for the first time in some years, Congress has actually passed a budget before the beginning of the fiscal year in October. It’s not the final version, and the Republicans are still calling for “restraint” (without offering much in the way of details beyond “spend less”), but it’s something. It’s worth noting what happens to our deficits when the Republicans get their way on the budget. So much for “fiscal responsibility” and “reducing debt.”

At least Wall Street is happy.

In Closing: the ACLU guide to the rights of women; which is very much in contrast to the “rights” women “enjoy” in Afghanistan; two items from Seeing the Forest on food are don’t listen to scary people who say the feds want to take away your right to garden and the effects of being a vegetarian for just one day; your meds might interact with grapefruit; North Dakota finally realizes it’s a bad idea for Zygotes to have the full range of human rights even if you are “Pro-life”; now that we know the Binghamton shooter was a disgruntled Vietnamese man who had trouble learning English, can we stop giving lip service to the nut to claimed responsibility in the name of the Taliban?; and finally, Defective Yeti’s always hilarious collected Bad Movie Reviews. I don’t know how he has the patience to read the reviews in the first place.

The Month Is Over Already?

Hard to believe it’s time for the month-end retrospective. So here’s March items you’ve been missing if you haven’t read ShortWoman for the last 5 years:

In 2004 I was talking about the Daddy Knows Best paternalism of the Bush era GOP.

In 2005 I had a lot to say about bankruptcy “reform”. These “reforms” put corporate interests above consumer protections, and probably contributed to our current credit and mortgage crisis. Interestingly enough, we have news that Congress is finally talking about reigning in some credit card abuses.

In 2006 I wrote about the First Amendment. One of these days I should really keep going through the Bill of Rights. I did make it all the way to the 4th (which, coincidentally, Bruce Schneier just wrote about).

In 2007, a lot of people enjoyed my post House of Cards. 

And in 2008, I celebrated International Women’s Day, sort of. 

In Closing: a great pre-review of the new Star Trek movie; 1895 Diary; poverty may effect kid’s brains (for counterpoint, I think Zig would disagree); ancient cliffside catacombs; a good first step in really fixing the banking crisis, reinstate Glass-Steagall, endorsed by those freakin liberals at Business Week; February in charts; surveillance towers planned for border towns like Detroit and Buffalo, but notably not for San Diego or El Paso; and the S&P 500 is livin it up while the businesses are goin down.

Happy April, everybody!

Bizarro Economy

Most of us know what the International Monetary Fund prescription for saving any given economy is, right? Drastically cut spending. No really, cut it. Slash it to the bone. Even military spending. Cut cut cut cut cut! This approach has opened them to criticism both from true conservatives and progressives.

So then,  you know it’s a big deal on those rare occasions that the IMF tells a country they need to spend more money.

Yesterday, the IMF urged the 20 largest economies to spend more on stimulus, to the tune of 2% of their entire Gross Domestic Product. In addition, some central banks may need to take “unprecedented” measures.

Meanwhile, the GOP is railing against the Obama Administration’s first budget as spending way too much money: “Republicans say the path to prosperity is not the excessive spending proposed by President Obama but limited spending that holds down the growth of government, taxes and debt.”

Clearly what is happening to the economy — not just here but in all developed nations — is unlike anything that has happened in recent decades. The measures that got us out of recessions since the 80s are probably not enough to restore our economy to health.

Cross-posted at The Moderate Voice.

Important Update: the former Chief Economist of the IMF on world crises, how they compare to what is going on in the United States, and what must be done now. Very sensible stuff, but be warned that a) he’s an economist b) it’s in the Atlantic, so it may be a little dry for some readers. Try to make it through to the end, because it’s good.

The Shorties in Connecticut

Live from Riyadh: It’s King Abdullah! Great piece from Newsweek on the reigning monarch of Saudi Arabia.

Delicious Couch Potatoes: Looking for a cheap, no-equipment workout? Well, you could do a lot worse than 5BX. Thanks to MeFi for reminding me of it.

Amazing what one motivated guy with a good camera can do: He can take pictures of the International Space Station. From the ground. With no telescope. A friend remarked “And we still say we can’t find Saddam’s WMDs.” Well one thing is for sure, they aren’t at the ISS.

Vegetarians may skip this: stupidity is alive and well. I can’t believe that there are people that dumb who don’t self-Darwin. And I can’t believe an actual newspaper printed this. No wonder print media is doomed if this appeared outside the humor column.

When you want government money, you take attached government strings: unless of course you are super wealthy. Where was I? Oh yes, “Lawmakers in at least eight states want recipients of food stamps, unemployment benefits or welfare to submit to random drug testing.” If the tests were actually accurate (which they’re not) and cheap (where are cash-strapped states getting the money?) and the consequences were some sort of counseling program, I might think it was almost acceptable. As it is, I fear that such initiatives will result in people not applying for benefits to which they are entitled, children in these households doing without things like basic nutrition and a safe home, and desperate people turning to crime. While nobody is saying that illegal drugs are good, none of the probable outcomes of this proposal are good either.

A few random items on current economic conditions: the credit crisis was a heist? A delightful if simplified history of the world since World War 2 and how it resulted in the current mess from a new favorite site, Gin and Tacos. We’re up to 21 bank closures this year (it’s only 4 PM as I write, I may have to add to this later). Are the newest bailouts trying to bypass Congress? “Well, if we have to play by your rules you can take back your sucky old TARP money (that we swore we desperately needed).”

My opinion on buying troubled assets: the measure of a good plan is that it makes the recipients breathe in sharply in pain. My suggestion? Offer 10 cents on the dollar. Some of the banks should say “Wow, that’s harsh, but it’s better than nothing.” Others should say “You know, I think we can do without that,” as Ford said in response to the automaker bailout. That’s the sign that it’s on the right track. If all the banks are lining up for a piece of the action, the taxpayer is getting screwed. I guaranty it.

Delightfully Random: Cranky Thursday Musings made me laugh; as did the Evil Knievel stock chart action. I never know what to make of Ken Tanaka. And here’s a random thought for the biggest **** you know.

I’m not sure what’s stranger: a county DA has decided to charge 3 minor girls with kiddy porn for allowing themselves to be photographed. If convicted, these girls may have to be in a sex offender database for the rest of their lives:

One is a picture taken two years ago at a slumber party showing Marissa Miller (now 15) and her friend Grace Kelly from the waist up, both wearing white bras. The other depicts Nancy Doe (a pseudonym used to protect the girl’s real identity) standing outside a shower with a bath towel wrapped around her body beneath her breasts.

Skumanick actually offered the girls a deal. If they didn’t want to face charges, they could be placed on probation, subject to random drug testing, and attend a six- to nine-month re-education program dealing with pornography and sexual violence. The D.A. explained the objectives of that program in a letter he sent home to the parents. They include gaining “an understanding of what it means to be a girl in today’s society, both advantages and disadvantages,” and identifying “non-traditional societal and job roles.”

Now as strange as the whole thing sounds, they want to teach about “what it means to be a girl”? Does that phrase not raise anyone else’s neck hair? Please! The icing on this bitter cake is that the parents aren’t allowed to see the evidence. That would be disseminating kiddy porn.

Breaking News: UPS has decided they aren’t going to advertise on the O’Reilly show any more. They decided that supporting a show that had somebody stalked and threatened to kill people from an opposing network might be a bad thing.

And last item of the day: Cherry Blossoms.

Get Real About ID

My state legislature is currently debating Real ID. Specifically, they are wondering if they should bother to comply:

 

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, said the bill would create an unfunded mandate that forces DMV to spend as much as $1.5 million of its own money to meet requirements of the federal law.

Finance Chairwoman Bernice Mathews, D-Reno, said that before she takes a vote on Senate Bill 52, she wants to check if the state can receive an exemption from complying with the law.

During a hearing, both liberal and conservative lobbyists condemned the proposal on the grounds it would violate citizens’ right to privacy.

Several complained Real ID licenses are the first step toward the insert of a radio frequency chip into licenses to allow government authorities to keep track of citizens’ whereabouts. The DMV denied that allegation.

The Real ID Act was passed by Congress in 2005 to prevent terrorists from acquiring legitimate identification cards. States now vary widely in the information they require people to provide before issuing them licenses. The act would standardize the information DMVs would collect.

“This is a silly law,” testified David Schuman, a lobbyist for the states’ rights activists group Nevada Committee for Full Statehood. “The government thinks they can create documents that al-Qaeda cannot duplicate. Osama bin Laden was a civil engineering graduate of London University. Al-Qaeda is not ignorant people.”

 

While counterfeiting is a legitimate argument against the effectiveness of Real ID, there are far more reasons to think it’s a bad idea. I won’t go into them all.

This system is based on the idea that Bad Guys all have fake identification, and indeed are almost always Not Americans. 

How would Real ID have stopped the Unabomber?

How would Real ID have stopped Tim McVeigh? 

How would Real ID have stopped William Krar? Sure, fake IDs were involved. The plot was uncovered because they were delivered to the wrong address. So he would have needed a better counterfeiter. Real ID might have made it harder to catch him.

How would Real ID have stopped either of these guys who tried to bomb banks? 

How would Real ID have stopped the Fort Dix 6, most of whom were citizens?

How would Real ID have stopped any of the various people who have attempted to or succeeded in bombing women’s clinics?

Nobody can answer these questions, because Real ID would have barely slowed these plots down. Proving identity is not the same thing as proving someone is Not A Bad Guy.

It’s enough to make you wonder what the Real Purpose of Real ID is. 

Follow Up: it turns out that the Department of Homeland Security is unsure how to implement Real ID. 

In Closing: follow up, what is wrong with kids these days that they think a woman ever deserves to be beaten so badly she can’t go out in public? At least she’s got a restraining order, even if she doesn’t think she wants it; Carrie on Productivity and Reality; on SBA lending; “[The AIG bonuses are] about 55 cents per citizen, whereas TARP is about $2,333.33 per citizen.”; something is not rotten in the state of Denmark, and that would be the mortgage industry; the real AIG scandal.

Problem Solved

This morning, I was watching CNBC again (no, I don’t know why I torture myself so), when Mark Haines rather annoyedly announced the next segment. It seems that immigration is down — both legal and illegal — and as a result, farmers are having trouble getting the migrant agricultural workers they need to bring in the crops.

Whatever shall they do?? Build a crazy machine to do it??

Well here’s an idea. It seems that the unemployment rate among Americans who can legally work in this country is at the highest level since the Reagan Administration. Crazy talk I know, but how about hiring an American to shit in harvest your crop? Don’t tell me this is “a job Americans won’t do,” because Mike Rowe would do it. Oh I know, you would actually have to pay a decent wage. And you would also actually have to take steps to encourage a safe workplace. That’s show-biz. 

Nope, it’s much easier to gripe about how we can’t get our normal supply of people who are willing to be exploited at sub-minimum wage jobs in rough conditions with no overtime pay. Or maybe build a crazy machine to do it. 

In closing: a quarter million bucks is a lot of money; incipient SBA fail!; poor hedgies cutting jobs (I hear there’s work as a migrant crop picker!); can you find the logical problem with this sentence? “Nearly half of college freshmen who drink alcohol spend more time drinking each week than they do studying….”; by way of follow up, even the feds admit E-Verify has problems; life lessons; turns out not all terraists are Muslim or even Brown; and finally, don’t get me wrong, I’m not generally anti-Cramer (I’ve corresponded with him), but taking on a comedian as if he were a journalist when your own hands aren’t squeeky clean was a big huge mistake. Stick to making stock calls and pie, Jim.

Whither Facts?

Some of my favorite news people got their start as sports reporters. This may seem surprising, because I am not at all into sports. However, it’s not the content, but being faithful to the facts.

You can’t spin the outcome of a ballgame. You can’t say the Yankees won when they ended the 9th down 3 runs and expect to have anybody listen to you tomorrow. You can have opinions about bad calls all you like, but there’s no changing the raw facts of the game: x runs were made; pivotal moment in a certain inning; which players scored; batting averages; they would have played better if it weren’t for the wind. 

Some aspects of the financial news should be just as factual as sports news: the Dow went up/down 100 points; the Fed changed the discount rate; National Gift Wrap reported a profit of $X million; the latest labor statistics. There is still plenty of room for opinion, for example why a stock is moving today or speculation about the future.

I have gotten very frustrated with CNBC lately. I was frustrated some weeks before Mr. Santelli decided to stop talking about what was happening on the trading floor and start talking about us “losers” and “Chicago Tea Parties”. Mr. Santelli’s rant is merely a symptom of what has been going on all across the daily programming. 

For the record, just 8 years ago CNBC had the absolute best, most balanced coverage of 9/11 out there. Their people were literally on the ground as close to ground zero as you could reasonably be and live to tell the tale. They managed to stay calm and report facts even as they watched the destruction with the certain knowledge that people they personally knew were dead. 

Viewers used to be able to count on CNBC for useful economic and financial news with an appropriate level of commentary: XYZ stock is down 10% because of rumors they won’t meet sales goals; a certain sector is up because of anticipated economic conditions; bonds are up in a flight to quality. Sure, they had their stock-pickers come talk about their favorite stock picks in what amounted to a barely legal pump and dump. However, anybody sitting down with Mark Haines or Tyler Mathisen needed to be aware that failing to answer questions would not be tolerated.

Lately, however, the morning is dominated by Larry Kudlow and other So-Conservative-It-Hurts types talking about how bad it would be for the country to actually change course and deal with our problems. Oh, we can’t tax the wealthy (even though the country needs the money) because they won’t invest anymore. Oh, we can’t spend money repairing roads and bridges (before they simply fall down) because deficit spending is bad (except when Mr. Bush did it). Oh, we must let the free market take care of our health care mess (despite the fact that hasn’t worked so far) or else! In short, everything the people want the government to do is wrong and — as Jon Stewart so hilariously lampooned — the DJIA proves it.

Nope, the Dow couldn’t possibly be down because Wall Street’s supply of fairy dust has been taken away and we must now look upon economic reality as if it were nothing more complicated than the score of last night’s ball game.

At least everybody’s favorite financial madman, Jim Cramer, has the decency to say “I think X stock is going up/down because of this or that.” It’s more than Larry and his Brady Bunch of Bobble-heads have. 

Listen up, CNBC. If I want political commentary dressed in a thin veneer of news, I will find it online someplace. When I tune in to see financial news, I expect a certain minimum level of actual facts. 

In Closing: Forbes (you guys can just keep looking for the subscription renewal check, it’s not in the mail) keeps on about Barbie; on the business cycle; preach on, WWJD indeed; I know I swore off Alternet, but MahaBarbara wrote this great item on health care; Great Depression Cooking with Clara; and the stupidest item I read all weekend, “Illegal immigrants might get stimulus jobs, experts say.” Never mind the fact that employers are already required to hire people who can legally work in this nation, what this boils down to is “They fault Congress for failing to require that employers certify legal immigration status of workers before hiring by using a Department of Homeland Security program called E-Verify.” E-Verify is nothing more than a huge government database of Social Security numbers. I consider it a huge boondoggle that, if left unchecked, will result in thousands of American citizens unable to work legally because of governmental errors.

Last Shorties on the Left

Yes Yes, Jon Did Excellent Work: Everybody seen these clips from the Daily Show eviscerating CNBC and Rick Santelli? Great, let’s move on. 

Barbie Turns 50: and the hard-hitting financial news reporters and comentators of Forbes are there! Way to expose her age, Forbes!

Don’t Fall for this Scam: Some financial companies try to collect debts from the dead. Now, strictly speaking death doesn’t end one’s legal obligations. However, the next of kin is under no obligation to pay on the behalf of the dead when the estate can’t cover it. What are they gonna do? Ding Late Aunt Mildred’s credit score? Oh no, she may not be able to finance a house in the afterlife!  

How dare the poor have contact with reality: Somebody is actually upset that someone in a soup kitchen was able to take a cell-phone picture of Michelle Obama serving people. Not because of security concerns, but because here was a person without enough money for a decent meal who nonetheless had a charged up cell phone with a camera in it. First, many cell phones are free with a service plan (as anybody with a grasp of reality knows), and now it’s hard to get one that does not have a camera. Second, cell phone plans start at very cheap. Third, a phone number is almost required to get someone to call you in for a job interview. Smart man indeed if he kept his cell bill paid while letting all else slide. More on what Mrs. O was up to here.

Forbes has a solution: They theorize that we consume too much health care in certain areas because there are too many doctors and hospitals. So it follows that “Decreasing or eliminating supply-sensitive care could greatly reduce health spending without rationing beneficial care….”  The other way to describe this “solution” is to round up doctors and relocate them to under-served areas. Yeah, that will go over well. 

Nouveau Archeaology: Man-made ruins, courtesy of ArtificialOwl.

This paragraph is a bit depressing, or, I Hate This Part Right Here: Presented with minimal comment, Bankruptcy filings up; World GDP growth expected to be negative for the year; Ford sales plummet, selling fewer than 100,000 vehicles in February (and they aren’t the only hurting automaker); unemployment at its highest level since 1983; in addition to 651,000 jobs lost in February, the experts revised the January and December numbers upwards. All I can really say is “Wow.”

On the idea of College For Everybody: Unnecessary. 

The SBA Rides Again: The Obama Administration has budgeted $700 million for the SBA, which should back $28 billion ($28 thousand million) in SBA loans. No word on where they are going to find small businesses that actually have the equity to apply for those loans.

The Financial Crisis Made Simple: And vaguely amusing.

Just say no to slave labor: our current lax enforcement standards on employers who hire illegal workers has an interesting end point, modern slavery. 

And finally, I’d like to close with some happy news: Pink Dolphin. It’s real.

Chalene vs. Tony: A Beachbody Showdown

Long time readers know that I lost a lot of weight, kept it off, and that I work out. If you aren’t familiar with the story, here’s Obligatory Diet Posts Part One and Part Two. 

I’ve done a lot of different workouts over the years. I change up either to stave off boredom, to get around a plateau, or to achieve a certain fitness goal. I’m still generally a fan of Joyce Vedral. I still recommend military workouts because they work and require almost nothing in the way of equipment. I’ve also done a few taped workouts. For example, there was this Denise Austin video that just made me have unhealthy thoughts about her continued well being. There was this somewhat harder Pilates video (I bought all the hype about Pilates being all about strong core without bulk, and I have a tendency towards bulk); at least I wished the trainers no violence. There’s a Tai Chi with Kickboxing workout featuring Janis Saffell and Scott Cole — he’s nice to look at! —  but the first time I tried to do it there were so many interruptions that I took it as A Sign. There was also Nancy Marmorat’s Daily Exercise Routine, which really wasn’t bad at all, especially for flexibility.

For a while, my exercise partner and I have discussed the idea of a hard-core boot-camp style workout such as Tony Horton’s P90X. You’ve seen the infomercial, right? Who doesn’t want to look like that! However, it’s hard to plan to devote 45-90 minutes a day for 90 days, and it was even harder to figure out where we could mount a chin-up bar or find space/equipment for both of us to work out at the same time. Luckily, Tony had a solution for us! 

We ordered 10 Minute Trainer last summer and started within days of receiving it. Yeah yeah it’s got an infomercial too. Each of the workouts is 10 minutes of actual work and probably 12-13 minutes of run-time (and another couple minutes of commercials for the other Beachbody products). Make no mistake, he works your butt off for 10 minutes, and yes I mean that literally. The workouts are Cardio, Abs, Lower Body, Total Body, and Yoga/Flex. All the equipment you really need is one of those resistance bands, (one is included) although a mat is also very good to have. You can do one, two, or three routines daily. We did 2 daily and were generally pleased with the results. 

Even so, it was time to rev things up.

Last week, we began ChaLEAN Extreme, from Tony’s colleague Chalene Johnson. Chalene’s thing is free weights, although the workouts can be done with bands. Specifically, the principle is to work the heck out of your muscles with relatively heavy weights such that you can only reasonably do 10-12 reps of any given exercise. It is a progressive, 90 day program that gives you roughly 2 days off per week. I like the integrated warm-up and cool-down. A group of 4 people show you a variety of skill/strength levels, including tips for those who aren’t very strong yet. There’s a mid-week interval training block that I suspect won’t be so bad once I’ve actually learned the moves (I found it rather awkward). The beginning level ab routine is a bit tame compared to Tony’s. There is an upgraded routine that I will probably sub in next week. I am pleased with how certain things are shaping up so far. Really, the weight routines are pretty good (with the universal caveat that you have to watch your own form).  [More]

However, I was sorely disappointed with the “Recharge” workout, described as “an invigorating flexibility workout.” Despite her claim at the beginning of the routine that flex is an important and often overlooked part of fitness, it feels like an afterthought. It is roughly 25 minutes long, but baby-steps of flexibility. She talks over and over about how many people have problems with stiff hamstrings, and then she does things  that are unlikely to make them more flexible — wrong stretch, too little time, too much movement. Several of the “modified” versions for the less flexible are completely ineffective if not actively counter-productive. Some of the yoga poses are not as I have ever seen them before. Chalene clearly doesn’t beleive there’s anything to yoga beyond some funny stretches. If this is your only stretching routine, you are unlikely get more flexible. 

Tony Horton said in the introductory materials to p90x that “[I’m not strong] because I do a bunch of pull-ups. I’m strong because I do yoga.” After we finished Chalene’s workout, we did Tony’s 10 minutes of yoga. It felt really good. 

*** UPDATE ***: I have gotten a personal reply from Chalene herself, recommending “Full Body Flexibility” by Jay Blahnik. Her stance on flexibility among the Joe and Jane Average crowd are reflected in this work. It is clear that the ChaLEAN Extreme flex workout is aimed at someone with more “average” flexibility, which is odd because I always considered myself something of a “Johnny Stiffguy”. As with the entire workout series, to get the best improvement you are going to need to push yourself as hard as you can every time you work out. While I will absolutely stick with the weight routines, I will probably go back to Tony for yoga. Also worth noting that 4 new routines are under development.

In Closing: oops, he had the wrong kind of anthrax after all; when it comes to health insurance “reform”, who do you trust?; contractors continue a 200+ year tradition of bilking the military and short-changing our troops; I am unclear how bankruptcy judges can really do their jobs if they can’t address the single biggest asset and debt the people before them have; how to merely sound Japanese; and Cat Sanctuary.

Officially Disgusted

Rihanna, Rihanna, Rihanna.

What the heck are you thinking, girl? That man beat you up so bad you couldn’t show your face in public, and it wasn’t the first blow-up you two had together.

Does he have to break your head open before you realize you need to quit him?

Shouldn’t your people — family, friends, management — be telling you the same thing?

Look, if you don’t get him out of your life, he is going to ruin your life: he’s going to ruin your career if he hasn’t already, he’s going to break your body, he’s going to poison your mind. He may promise to be good, he may say everything is going to be alright baby, but he’s going to break those promises unless he commits to some serious counseling. And if he were going to do that, he would have long since done it, girl. If all these music industry “friends” really cared about you, they would be keeping you away from him instead of helping you get back together with him.

Look at what that man did to you!

You have an opportunity here. You can stand up and say “I am a beautiful, talented, intelligent woman and I don’t have to take this **** any more.” You can tell him where to stuff it, and you can be a role model for other women who aren’t as fortunate as you. Women who don’t have fancy clothes and record contracts and “people” but do have “A thug in my life”.

There is no excuse for domestic violence. There is no excuse for a man hitting you. There is no excuse for excusing him. And don’t let anybody blame you; the only thing you’ve done is failed to walk away.

When you are ready to stand up and be the strong, smart woman I know you must surely be, you call the crisis number on this page.

That goes for those of you who don’t happen to be Rihanna too.

 

Month End Review: 2004 on Tort Reform; 2005 on the intersection between taxes and health insurance; 2006 on how to shrink an economy; 2007 on the Iranian Revolution and how we still don’t get it in the West; and 2008 on locally grown food.