Contractors, Brokers and Banks - Oh My!

The other night I visited the apartment I'm supposed to be buying.  I just walked by the building on my way to meet a friend for dinner in that neighborhood - but it was great to be reminded just how much I love that street.  I especially like walking down the hill, turning a little bend in the road and seeing the George Washington Bridge.  It's not exactly like this picture from the internet, but it's close:

Plus there are cute little restaurants, a wine store and a corner pub once you get closer to my (potential) place.  It's all very lovely, except that right now I'm stuck in limbo waiting on lawyers to figure out if the building itself is so screwed up that I'm walking into a money pit.  I'm also in the process of getting documents to the mortgage broker whose apparent attitude is pissing me off.

Now, I've barely talked to the woman in person and she may be perfectly lovely.  People sound abrupt when they're sending one line emails from their phones, so maybe she's not a condescending, dismissive prig who thinks my clerical skills suck.  And we must acknowledge that the minute I hear the words, "Mortagage," and "bank," somewhere in the back of my mind, I start imagining people sharpening up the blade of a guillotine.

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It's a couple of days later, and I just woke up from a bad dream about borrowing money from a Loan Shark.  Nothing in the dream was identifiable - so it was generalized anxiety, I suppose.  No big deal.  My real estate agent- an actress with whom I have been friendly for years peripherally and trust completely - said that if Mortgage Broker A was unresponsive, then let's go with Mortgage Broker B or C.

But I feel like I'm swimming in a shark infested cesspool when it comes to bankers since they've got you by the short and curlies.  Contractors are easier because they're just goofballs in a van, for the most part.  Some are good; some are not.  The one who provided me with an estimate on the work I want done in the new apartment, for example, clearly wasn't interested in getting the job.  I'm not a bit worried about that, though, because the friend I met for dinner knows a guy who used to be a super in the neighborhood who can do everything on the cheap - and my mother is already making plans to come up here and boss Velvet around so we can do the less complicated tasks our own selves.  Life is better when you can do things for your own self.

Yesterday, I was cranky because of Israel and Iran, and how for some reason the Media seems to think that no one will suspect there's no weapons of mass destruction in Iran either.  Then Rick Santorum keeps spouting shit - it's no wonder we call him Frothy since the shit slides out of his mouth so slick and fast it must be mixed with lube.  There have always been politicians mouthing stupid shit, but people didn't flock to them in droves like they do today.  George Wallace is the closest thing I can remember to a shit spewer - and at least he sincerely believed what he was saying.  At least I think he did.  I was just a kid.  I'm pretty sure the Republicans believe what they're saying when they say it because they're good enough liars to follow Wanda Sykes advice and Believe the Lie.

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I would say I hate all those political motherfuckers, too, just like I hate bankers and propaganda artists who act like they're journalists reporting real news except that I'm trying to be all Zen about that shit these days. But it's hard to remain unruffled when people say things like: Women who are in the military should expect to be raped (Liz Trotta).

If I understand the theory that the World is an Illusion - and all that shit is of the World - then we just need to let that shit go and focus on Being the Change.  I honestly believe being the change is the only way to go and I fully believe that when we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun - the world will be a better place.

In the meantime, however, I wish Americans would take a lesson from the Greeks and start working to restore our Democracy.  I don't know what's going to happen over there.  I don't know what's going to happen over here.  But I'll say this much:  At the end of the day, it all goes back to the same rich motherfuckers.  They could have been Dukes and Viscounts back in the day, or Slave Traders or Nabobs with the British East India Company or Boers and Afrikaners or Conquistadors working for Queen Isabella.  The Owners, as George Carlin so famously called them.

Protests at the Cradle of Democracy, RT7

With The Church, The Schools and The Television, the Owners have things sewed up so well that even if Americans did have a mass uprising, the best we can hope for is about the same amount of change as we saw during the 60's and early 70's.   That's good enough, though.  I hope things in America don't get as alarming as they are in Greece, but if they do, maybe our police will show some balls and make a statement like this one from the police union in Greece:

'Since you are continuing this destructive policy, we warn you that you cannot make us fight against our brothers. We refuse to stand against our parents, our brothers, our children or any citizen who protests and demands a change of policy,' said the union, which represents more than two-thirds of Greek policemen (from The Globe and Mail).

I have a feeling that most American cops get a hard-on from beating up hippies, so I'm not holding my breath waiting for our paramilitary police force to tell the Owners to Suck It.  That's going to make life a little trickier for the Occupation, but plans are underway for the spring no matter what the cops have to say.

October2011 and others are calling people to National Occupy Washington on March 30 to kick off the American Spring.   And we can't forget May Day.  It's even on Facebook: Occupy May Day - General Strike

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