Honoring our ancestors

Teh Portly Dyke has an incredible post up.

Honor Your (Radical) Ancestors

. . . And to those who think those radicals were nothing more than a flash in the pan — to those who think that such radicalism has nothing to do with them, I want to say:

There was a time when being “out” at all (much less considering legal marriage) was not really a choice for any queer — but some radicals made that choice anyway. They chose to be out, even when this might, and probably would, mean complete ostracization by society, severance from their families, and beatings on the street. Or worse.

There was a time when shaving your legs or not shaving your legs, wearing a bra or not wearing a bra, wearing pants or not wearing pants, leaving your abusive spouse or not leaving your abusive spouse — was not really a choice for any woman — but some radicals made that choice anyway. They chose to do things that they knew might, and probably would, mean they would be judged and criticized and fired and expelled and divorced and disowned and beaten. Or worse.

Perhaps those radicals weren’t thinking about you when they did these things — maybe they were only thinking about themselves and what they could stand in that moment — what they felt they must do for themselves in order to make life bearable (actually, in a way, I hope they were) — but I know — I absolutely know – that I walked into a future where I was more free to choose because of what they chose.  . . .

You absolutely must read her whole post. It is an amazing reminder of how far we have come and upon whose shoulders we stand.

More on the meltdown

And can we please have Hillary back?

Lambert throws acronyms our way and shows us why Hillary’s plan is the best (per my post below, Jim Cramer knows it too).

I may not understand this class warfare finance stuff, but I can sure quote people who do! Nouriel Roubini:

The most important policy action … is rather the realization that a generalized debt and solvency problem required a solution that leads to significant debt reduction.

Let me explain in detail how we now need bold policy action to resolve this most severe financial and economic crisis…

Households in the US have too much debt (subprime, near prime, prime mortgages, home equity loans, credit cards, auto loans and student loans) while their assets (values of their homes and stocks) are plunging leading to a sharp fall in their net worth. And households are getting buried under this mountain of mounting debt and rising debt servicing burdens. Thus, a fraction of the household sector – as well as a fraction of the financial sector and a fraction of the corporate sector and of the local government sector – is insolvent and needs debt relief.

[...]

Bottom line: Households first, then the banks (which, in the end, turns out to be better for the banks, too).

And HOLC, while Obama is still waiting for word from his finance guys to scroll up on his teleprompter, is the solution Hillary has already advocated:

A new government entity like the HOLC with a focus on attacking the source of the problem can serve the purpose of clearing a lot of those toxic mortgage securities from the market. We know there will not be any semblance of a normal or orderly marketplace until we have found a way to resolve these mortgage securities that are metastasizing in the bottom of our markets. By taking this paper out of the market and quarantining it in this new entity we will be able to give the market breathing room to recover.

Last spring when I called for a modern version of the HOLC, that’s the Depression-era entity that bought up old mortgages and issued new, more affordable ones in their stead, most people did not pay much attention. But I think it’s important to note that by the time the HOLC closed its books, that agency had turned a small profit and helped over a million people keep their homes. And this was 70 years ago. Our population has grown dramatically. So, obviously, if we did it right, we would be able to save a lot of homes. And I think if it is administered correctly it could be actually a net expenditure or even winner for the federal government.

Bottom line: Wall Street’s treating Obama as if he were President right now (and that probably makes sense, though Constitutionally, I hate it). If Obama does not come out with a HOLC solution, and Harry, Nancy and the rest of ’em go for an RTC/RFC solution, we are even more totally fucked than we already are. For HOLC, we’ll have to wait ’til 2012, because the other proposals just won’t work.

Anglachel gives the Blogger Boyz and Rabid Left a history lesson in regard to their knee-jerk blame of Bill Clinton for the mess and then issues them a warning. Translation: You’re cutting your own throat.