There are those that tune into their particular favorite news channel and watch the Dow and the S&P 500 plunge towards 1990's numbers and view it as just the "rich becoming poorer." To bring this event in our time and history back home - if you have a Thrift Savings Plan with the Postal Service - take a look at your current balance. You will get a sick feeling in your stomach. Before going to work, I visited www.tsp.gov and noticed that my account has lost nearly $6,000 in a month.

If you invested your TSP solely in the G Fund - you are the current winner and you are smarter than the rest of us. There was a time, if the stock market was in a bull session - the C Fund was your best bet. When it was a bear market, you could switch your earnings towards the F Fund and accrue significant gains. The G Fund has always been steady but, normally, a slow gainer profit-wise.

Perhaps, it is part of my nature - but I had always assumed that the path to high gains was high risk. Financially, you have to assume risk in investments to receive a higher return on your monetary bounty. At work, I became a steward to risk my reputation and other intangibles to reward my co-workers with an improved workplace bounty. I have now temporarily put my all of TSP in the G Fund but I waited too long before I made that move.

I was watching the video on PostalTexan's blog concerning the $440,000 party that AIG had at the St. Regis resort in California using the $85 billion dollar bailout that will be funded by us, the taxpayer. Yesterday, AIG received another $38.5 billion dollars in taxpayer-backed bailout money.

This matter seemed closer to home while I was talking to a co-worker who is a rural carrier. Along with his wife who works as an RN at Craig Hospital in Englewood, have been putting away money for over 15 years into their children's college funds. They have a son and a daughter. Their daughter is a high school senior and will be graduating in May and plans to attend college in September. While reviewing their children's college funds online, they were shocked to find out that these accounts have lost over $10,000 in the last three months. There is no way on Earth that will be able to recoop that kind of money before September. They have acted responsibly and have been putting away their hard earned dollars for years and are now being punished by the corporate greed of companies like AIG.

Woo hoo! Party on, AIG!

This $700 billion dollar (now $855 billion) bailout plan is NOT the solution. It will eventually free up credit within the market but, from my limited understanding of economics, the credit market is NOT the main culprit. This crisis stemmed from the housing market. There are people who responsibly purchased a home for their family WITHOUT utilizing the sub-prime scam. Hypothetically, if a responsible person purchased a home 3 years ago with a $150,000 mortgage they will be shocked to find out that their home is now worth $120,000. It is no wonder that foreclosures are so high with too many homes that have negative equity. These people will never see ONE PENNY of the bailout money. Responsible people could lose their homes while Martin J. Sullivan of AIG will receive a $5 million PFP bonus.

Have a Long Island Ice Tea for me AIG!

It is the law of the universe that what goes down will eventually go up. YEARS from now, there will be a positive outcome - but it will come too late for many people - and this includes our co-workers who invested in college funds to give their children a better life or those that planned on retiring in the next 2-3 years.

If you listened to Henry Paulson's latest plan - there is a proposal to remove $2 trillion dollars from the reserves that we have stashed in global bank vaults. There have been times when global markets have swapped currency on the idea that the funds would be paid back, but this withdrawal,  would be an open-ended withdrawal involving no payback to the global market. Worldwide, the European markets would be taking a major gamble based on our reputation. The component that would affect us is that the T-Bill could be devalued and the last safe haven in our TSP - the G Fund - would be at risk.

As I am writing this blog, the Dow just dipped below 9,000 points. The confidence in our financial managing entities is at a new low. I could have saved AIG over $25,000 on their spa massages that they received at the St. Regis Resort.

I personally know many people who would love to get the hands on those greedy AIG executives along with the other corporate moneygrubbers steeped in greed . They would also be willing to repay those Freddie Mac execs - right in the Fannie.

The High Holidays don't involve celebrating Ozzy Osbourne's birthday. The High Holidays or Yamin Noraim are the holidays of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year, 5760) which begins at sundown tonight and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement.) The ten days in between are known as the Ten Days of Repentance.

In celebration of Rosh Hashanah, synagogues hold services that begin and end with Selichot (Psalms 27) The traditional introduction of the New Year begins when the Rabbi blows the Shofar (ram's horn). Another Rosh Hashanah tradition is a ritual called Tashlich. Jews go to a nearby river or stream and throw bread crumbs into the water. Symbolically, the fish devour our sins. Normally, rabbis suggest that any kind of bread in your kitchen is sufficient. I made my own suggestion to the rabbi that, perhaps different kinds of breads/pastries should be used for specific sins:

For ordinary sins.....................White Bread
For complex sins....................Multigrain
For twisted sins.......................Pretzels
For sins of politicians.............Waffles
For substance abuse.............Stoned Wheat with Poppy Seed
For writing silly blogs..............Nut Bread
For erotic sins...........................French Bread
For racist attitudes...................Crackers
For lusting at Carrie's pics......Cheesecake
For telling bad jokes/puns......Corn Bread

My rabbi just ignored me like he always does. Sometimes Judaism can be as boring as a matzoh.

The other main High Holiday is Yom Kippur. We fast throughout the entire day and attend synagogue services. This long service is known as Kol Nidre. Being a redneck Jew - last year I broke my Yom Kippur fast at the Waffle House.

During the ten days in between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur - one is require to perform a Mitzvah (good deed.)  Many of us perform our mitzvahs volunteering for charity or at schools and hospitals. I would like to suggest that maybe our government should perform a mitzvah and redistribute that $700 billion bailout. Also, I would suggest that the ACLU could perform a mitzvah and drop the lawsuits concerning there "political correctness" garbage. This time of year is as important to Jews as Christmas is to Christians. If I want to wish a Jewish customer L'Shana Tova (Happy New Year) or wish a Christian customer a Merry Christmas I will exercise my First Amendment right by doing so instead of the generic "Happy Holidays." The ACLU is to Judaism as Robert Tilton is to Christianity. Believe me, most Jews are NOT offended by seeing a nativity scene at the courthouse or on your front lawn. Stop it ACLU!! You are embarrassing the rest of us Jews out here!

I will end this blog before I sound too pious and preachy. Here is an interesting illustration of a mitzvah:

Every Sabbath, just before Rosh Hashanah, the local Rabbi would disappear. Nobody seemed to know where he was. A group of gossiping old women would hang outside of the synagogue and ask, "Where could the rabbi be? Maybe he went to heaven?" The gossip queen of the group decided to find out.

One night, she broke into the rabbi's house and quietly slid under his bed. The rabbi woke up just before 4 AM and got out of bed. He put on a camoflague hat, a large camoflague coat with a fishing pole tucked inside and some work boots. He carried with him two burlap sacks. One contained two dozen eggs, a loaf of bread and some fruit. The other sack was empty. He left his house and the gossip queen followed him.

The rabbi crept into the woods and found a magic stream. He began fishing and pulled two dozen rainbow trout out of the magic stream. He put the fish in the empty sack and began walking.

He stopped besides an old mobile home out in the middle of the woods and knocked on the door.

"Who is there?" asked the frightened old woman.

"My name is Fred the Fisherman," said the rabbi. "I have fish to sell."

"I can't help you, sir" said the woman. "I'm on a fixed income. I had to sell my home before it went into foreclosure. I will not receive a government bailout. With the small amount of money I made from the sale, I bought this small plot of land and this rickety old mobile home. I have no money to buy fish."

"I'll lend it to you," said the rabbi.

"How will I pay you back?" asked the woman.

"I will trust you," said the rabbi.

The rabbi set down the burlaps sacks in the woman's trailer. He preceded to cook the rainbow trout and fry some eggs to make her breakfast. Then he left her trailer without saying a word.

Now, whenever the gossiping old ladies outside of the synagogue ask if the rabbi has gone to heaven - the gossip queen tells them, "Heaven?...... If not higher."

Apparently, the "blog-eating monster" has given birth to a son he has named the "photo-eating monster." Photo-eating monster is sneakier than his dad as he leaves no traceable evidence behind. PostalTexan alert me about this sneaky fiend when I posted her Photoshopped Hollywood star on my page only to have it disappear. PT's star is back on my page now! To let all of you in on a little secret, I used a photo of Ronald Reagan's walk of fame star because it was a very large digital image and easier to remove the name and replace it with other stars we all love and know.

This "blog-eating monster" is partly a computer glitch from this site. When we write a blog, the default "entry status" reads "public." At one point, after we write and preview our posts, the next step is to click "save post." For a time, when you click "save post" the "entry status" will suddenly default to "draft" giving the appearance that your blog has been deleted. The only way to check if this has ever happened to you is to go to "My site" then click "manage blog posts" and review your past blogs - you may find that the blog-eating monster turned your blog into a "draft" instead of "public."

But I have been dealing with these kinds of monsters all of my life and they don't scare me! I have been tolerating the "sock-stealing monster" in my dryer and the "TV remote eating monster" and the "car keys eating monster" for a long time.

My worst foe in life currently is the "common-sense eating monster." This one is a very bad monster. I have witnessed the havoc that this beast does to people in management. He is not limited to postal management, but big business management and government management as well.

All of us have stories about the "common-sense eating monster" in the post office. But now, this monster has slithered his way into the White House and is residing in the Secretary of Treasurers office. He is curled up, snug as a bug, under Henry Paulson's desk. I am not going to add anymore thought about this $700 billion dollar bailout. Spauldo and PostalTexan have covered this subject better than I can. But, hey, I love PostalTexan's idea. That's why I say:

The last message I received in my inbox came from someone named "Tim from Dallas" - no relation to Tom from Dallas. He mentioned that I should quit my job and become an obituary writer. At first, I thought the idea sounded creepy. but I understood what he meant, because I wrote a couple of blogs about my friends Isaac Johns and Frank Miller passing away.

I will take your advice Tim and write another obituary:

MR. COMMON SENSE

Common Sense, aka C.S., lived a long life, but became easy prey for the Common Sense Eating Monster during the end of the Bush Administration. No one really knows how old he was, his birth records have been entangled in piles of bureaucratic red tape.
Known affectionately to close friends as Horse Sense and Sound Thinking, he selflessly devoted himself to a life of service in homes, schools, hospitals and offices, helping hard-working taxpayers get jobs done without a lot of fanfare and backstabbing. Rules and regulations and petty, frivolous lawsuits held no power over C.S.

A most reliable sage, he was credited with cultivating the ability to know when to come in out of the rain, the discovery that the early bird gets the worm and that honesty is always the best policy. C.S. also developed sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn), and reliable parenting strategies (the adult is in charge, not the kid)

C.S.'s health began declining in the late 1990s when he became infected with the It's All About Me Virus. Recently, his waning strength proved no match for the oppressive tax codes on the middle class while the super rich receive billion dollar bailouts. C.S. was sapped of strength and the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, criminals received better treatment than victims. His deterioration accelerated as postal workers were forced into early retirement while upper management receives $750,000 dollars worth of Blackberries because they are a "neccessity." 

As the end neared, doctors say C.S. drifted in and out of logic but was kept informed of developments regarding regulations about those evil bastards that smoke in public! Finally, upon hearing about the August 2008 plan to ban inhalers from 14 million asthmatics due to a trace of a pollutant that may be harmful to the environment, the Common Sense Eating Monster gobbled him up. Services will be at Whispering Pines Cemetery. C.S. was preceded in death by his wife, Discretion; one daughter, Responsibility; and one son, Reason. He is survived by two step-daughters, Ima Whiner and Ida Know.

Memorial Contributions may be sent to the Institute for Rational Thought.

Shalom, Common Sense. May you rest in peace.

Last Sunday was excellent! Watching a great game of football between the Denver Broncos and the New Orleans Saints. Witnessing both teams running up and down the field all day long. Both teams have great offenses coupled with poor defensive teams. If we are going to make the playoffs, as the sports commentators keep saying, our defense has to come together as a group or we are in trouble.

Yesterday, via my e-mail, I was asked by our current local APWU president, David Clapman, how my Powerpoint presentation was coming along for our next open local union meeting next month. This has been a slow process for me, but not because of lack of effort.

Our local has a meeting every single month - eight of those meetings are held in the conference room of our public library. The other four are held at the Country Buffet in Englewood. The franchise owner, Larry Horowitz is an ex-union steward for the Teamsters and charges our local a flat rate of $100 for the breakfast buffet. These quarterly meetings normally attract those who would not attend union meetings and show up for the free food.

Our local president, David Clapman, will not be in attendance at this particular meeting. David is one of our workers who is choosing to take advantage of the VERA option at the end of this year. David has 33 years of postal service and is essentially burning up his sick leave for the rest of the year.

I am happy for David because he is in a situation where he can retire. His mortgage is paid off, his children our grown and he has put up with 33 years of the USPS.  My problem here was that David had told our members, "Don't opt for the early-out, the APWU needs more bargaining power" and here he is taking the hypocritical response. Perhaps he should have told us, "I am retiring - but I hope the rest of you stewards win one for the Clapper." Or something to that effect.

But getting back to the Powerpoint presentation. I have been trying to find accurate written documentation about our current situation. The common question I get asked as a steward is, "will we have jobs two years from now?" I am resigned to tell them that I do not know the exact answer. I have been earnestly writing to people within the Colorado/Wyoming district USPS management and with our state union officers of the Colorado State APWU.

I did receive a .PDF letter from District Manager Selwyn Epperson that their plan was "to eliminate 8,000 postal jobs in Colorado through VERA and attrition before July 2009. Our plans are to offer another early-out shortly after July 2009. These positions are not solely in your clerk craft but within the ranks of management and the carrier craft as well" (Someone on here, tell me how to download a PDF document on this page - it ain't working for me.)

While talking to Colorado APWU state president, George Prusak, I was given different answers from those of Mr. Epperson. I believe George to be an honest man. I told him that I would include his radio blog spot on here: http://www.cpwu.org/blog_radio.htm. I am like you George and am a man of my word. I will bet the mortgage to my house when I say that Colorado has one of the best APWU teams representing us. From my phone conversations with George, it appears that our situation changes weekly. From my perspective, it appears that NEITHER side knows our predicament two years from now.

Before I could get a hold of George I talked to a different state union officer. At our next state convention, she will get a resounding NO!! vote from this local steward/acting local president. While talking to this woman (her name withheld)  I told her that I was constructing a PowerPoint presentation for our local's meeting and was trying to obtain written documentation about our current situation. This woman (grumpy's name withheld) told me to check out other APWU websites. I explained to her that most of the APWU websites are not updated and that I downloaded a FSS Implentation Chart from http://www.lunewsviews.com/ and a story from http://www.postalmag.com/ because I am not getting much help in my own state of Colorado.

This woman (bee-yotch's name withheld) asked me how I could be naive as to believe anything written on these websites. She explained that these websites are constructed by non-union officers and possibly light duty employees staying at home. She stated that these are bitter workers who have nothing else to do with their time but to criticize others behind the comforts of their own computers.

Um.......bitter people......yep....it takes one to one I suppose (witches name withheld.) I accepted her response and also noted that she provided me with ZERO information.

There are times that I have learned so much information those websites when I want the latest news about our employer and even issues involving grievances that I am working on. Besides PostalMag and PostalReporter and http://www.21CPW.com I have e-mailed other APWU local presidents like Bill Lewis of Trenton or Dan Sullivan of SW Michigan or Lee Simons of Nashville who also read these websites and I value their opinion VERY MUCH professionally. Collectively, these three men have 70 years of steward experience behind them.

I am thinking this woman (grouchy's name withheld) became jealous while visiting California and took a stroll near Hollywood and Vine and happen to spot these images on the sidewalk:

With our economic woes and our futures being jeopardized by automation that there are a FEW, and only a few,  that will criticize a "non-union officer" for publishing vital information to the rest of us. I remember reading a story about this skinny Jewish kid named David going up against a NFL linebacker sized Philistine named Goliath. David is armed with a slingshot and five stones while Goliath is heavily armed. We all know that David eventually defeated Goliath. From all accounts, David was not a union officer.

But sometimes, that is all we need. Just a common person working with what they have available to defeat those sitting in powerful positions. Goliath was one of the most powerful men in Philistine based solely on brute strength and not intellect. But David, used his intellect to defeat a "giant" and eventually become King.

To obtain accurate and true information, sometimes it is not always wise to seek the truth from those in power.

The New Orleans Saints are visiting the Denver Broncos at Invesco Field today. I am going to the game today with my postal bud Barry and his wife Brittany. I am torn between who to root for. The Saints were my favorite team when I was a kid in New Orleans. Back then, they were known as the 'Aints because "they ain't ever had a winning season." But I have been to many Denver Broncos games over the years and I will be in the South Stands today rooting for them. I can picture my parents glued to their TV set watching the game on WWL-TV4 rooting for the Saints back home. Jay Cutler and Drew Brees are both great quarterbacks.

Before I go, I saw something absolutely disgusting on this site. I was reading Spauldo's blog called "What Is It?" I am totally stumped on what it is. Perhaps it is an alien turd or maybe it is the Colonel's secret breading ingredient on his famous KFC dinners. In reality, whatever that object is - I will bet you that it is not finger lickin' good.

And finally, I totally agree with Beth that this political nonsense has gone on long enough. Everytime you turn on the news it is REALLY is gloom and doom. Politics or the economy. The bailing out of AIG and the pampering of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, you know; those two government-subsidized agencies that were dealing in sub-prime mortgages to those unqualified and even unemployed.

A while back, I sent in my proposal about a lending institution called Carrie Mac. The Carrie Mac bank has a low overhead because Carrie does the bank interior and the artwork herself without hiring an expensive decorating firm. Carrie Mac would operate under the principles of the old FHA from the Hoover Administration. Borrowers would need good credit and regular paychecks to qualify.

Unfortunately, under FDR, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac came into the picture. Here's how they work: After a lender originates a mortgage, Fannie or Freddie buy it, freeing up cash for the lender to issue other loans (they currently own 67%of all mortgages in America). Fannie and Freddie then package the loans into bundles and sell them to investors.

So long as housing values continued to rise and people didn't default on their mortgages, everybody was happy -- banks originated loans, Fannie and Freddie bought them and their investors were paid returns on their investments. But housing values have fallen drastically in some regions and folks are defaulting on their mortgages -- in part BECAUSE of Fannie and Freddie. Values have fallen drastically because they were inflated unnaturally. They were inflated unnaturally because even a drunk with a heartbeat could get a gimmicky loan.

Carrie Mac would have only given loans to people like us who work regular jobs like at the postal service or restoring power and electricity to hurricane damaged areas - etc-. No government bailouts would be necessary. 

Now I sound like those blowheart gloom and doom people. I will let out my pent up emotions at today's Denver Broncos game. With great quarterbacks like Jay Cutler and Drew Brees making their own luck and fortune - it reminds you that hard-working people don't need to be bailed out.

GO BRONCOS!!!!!