Friday, May 30, 2008

We’re so lucky!

Grandpa Brown helps Ronan show off his new T

There are a select number of people in the world who make awesome parents. They raise beautiful, likable, intelligent, well-behaved (albeit rambunctious) children in loving homes. Nick’s brother and his wife are two of these people, which is why I can say we’re so lucky that they are pregnant with their second child!

Careful examination of the Brown family tree suggests they will have another boy. (The only women in the family married in as far back as we can remember.) Only time will tell, however.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Little helper

We’re back from the second annual “Nick B Brown Birthday Moto Tour.” The cats missed us and have taken to helping unpack when they can.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

This is exactly how I feel!

There’s a mortgage loan bailout package making progress through Congress right now, which annoys me beyond belief. The following letter to the editor from the Wall Street Journal captures the beginning of my irateness over the situation:

“I purchased the small house in which I currently reside in October 2001.  I did my homework to figure out how much house I could afford and the sacrifices I would need to make to pay my mortgage and other expenses related to owning a home (oil, gas, etc).  I read my mortgage documents and knew exactly what I was getting into.  I didn’t treat the equity that I had in my home like an ATM and have never missed a mortgage payment.  Where do I go to have my mortgage balance adjusted by the federal government?”

Matthew J. Meehan, Lake Grove, NY”

This is only the beginning, though! Not only to I not get my balance adjusted, but now I’m being asked to pay for other people’s irresponsibility. Sheesh!

Proponents of the bill argue that borrowers who signed up for subprime loans had no idea what they were doing. They didn’t understand the loan documents or didn’t read them. (Boo-hoo! Rewarding stupidity will not encourage parties to enter contracts responsibly.) Yes, some borrowers may have been victims of predatory lenders, whose stocks have already surged on talk of a bailout. But many more borrowers simply gambled on risky loans in hopes of flipping property for big profits or knowingly lied about their income just to get a bigger house. (Hmmm...rewarding liars and gamblers? Let’s just reimburse Vegas losses while we’re at it. Idiocy!)

Politicians try to exploit your emotions by saying they want to help people “keep their homes.” But remember that the people in financial trouble already had places to live. They got into this mess by trying to buy bigger and fancier houses than they could afford. If we do help them, it should involve them moving back into houses they can afford. No one will be out on the street. Anyone who could pay a mortgage can pay rent, which is much less.

The proposed bailout is a moral hazard. It encourages the bad behavior that got us into this mess, because the punishment for foolish borrowing is applied to you and not to the people who made the bad decisions.

Bailing out borrowers also means bailing out their lenders. If lenders have to foreclose, then they have to sell the house for less than the loan amount, and this means an actual loss to the lenders. That threat of loss gives lenders a motive to help borrowers by restructuring the loans, maybe extending the time to repay. On the other hand, using our tax dollars to keep people in houses they cannot afford would be “socializing” lenders’ losses, meaning taxpayers like you and me would be paying the bill and guaranteeing the profits of predatory lenders. (Can you hear me pulling my hair out?)

Under proposed bailouts, responsible people lose and have to give their money to gamblers, liars, and sleazy lenders. This is privatizing profits and socializing losses. It doesn’t matter if you have been dutifully paying your monthly fixed-rate mortgage. It doesn’t matter if you bought a smaller house based on what you could truly afford. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a renter who chose not to jump into the housing mania. Congress is proposing to make it your job to pay up for others’ irresponsibility.

If you’ve got some time, please contact your representatives and ask them to stop this foolishness. Tell them to let the market correct itself. Tell them that it’s okay for people to rent instead of owning. Tell them to punish predatory lenders, but not to punish you and me for things the lenders and borrowers did. Thanks.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Notes on the Dalai Lama’s speech at UW

I never took the time to write up my thoughts on hearing the Dalai Lama speak at the University of Washington last month. The people I’ve spoken with about the event know that it was a moving experience - one that I will cherish. For those that I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to, you’re in luck! One of my fellow law students, Noah Well, took notes and published his thoughts on Zen Habits today. Here are a few highlights:

But what I most appreciated listening to him was his sense of humor...As he accepted his honorary doctorate, he said he felt humbled being in front of so many learned people and praised education in general. “But if you do seek a degree, being presented an honorary one is certainly how I recommend it.”

Noah is right. Not a moment went by that he didn’t have a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. If an opportunity to laugh presented itself, he took advantage of it. KUOW reported later in the week about a panel discussion with the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in which Mr. Tutu leaned over to the Dalai Lama at one point and said that we better start acting more seriously, the cameras are on us.

One of the most interesting questions from the audience came from a criminal justice student at SU:

Q: How do you show compassion to those who have hurt others?

A: With understanding. Understanding the relationship between all living things allows unbiased compassion to all others. People who have hurt others particularly need compassion for two reasons. One, they work against your goal for overarching peace. Secondly, they are probably hurt themselves as they hurt others, so they need more compassion to heal their hurt within.

I thought I remembered him adding something else about how people who have hurt others have shut a spiritual door for themselves (karmically speaking). They are also already being punished for their behavior by the social mechanisms we put in place. Not having compassion for them doesn’t serve any further purpose.

All in all a very interesting experience. Click here to read the full report from Noah.

Friday, May 16, 2008

sometimes I can be a passive-aggressive bitch

Picture this...It’s 8 o’clock on Thursday morning - mere hours before my last final. I’m emotionally empty after a year-long marathon, praying for relief that is less than 12 hours away. Nick just left for the bus, and I’m cramming the last bit of landlord-tenant law into my head before taking off for school. I glance up, running the ways a license can be revoked through my head, when low and behold it appears that Oblivious Subaru Man has come to town:

In case it isn’t clear, the gravel strip is our driveway and this $!@$$ is completely blocking it when there is adequate space for the car immediately behind it, immediately in front of it, or directly across the street.

I’m stressed out. I don’t have time for this. I can’t believe the nerve of some people! I’m calling the police. This bastard’s car his getting towed. But wait…

My car is actually parked on the street. Even if I was inclined to take the motorcycle today, I could probably squeeze it past the car’s bumper. Yes, the car deserves to be towed, but can I justify it? Probably not… So what’s a girl to do?

Put a note under the wiper, of course. I don’t remember exactly what I wrote, but it might have been something like “Dear $!@$$, Today is your lucky day! Even though you carelessly parked your car in front of my driveway, I was nice enough not to have it towed. Don’t be a heel. Look where you’re parking next time. Thanks. Signed, Passive-Aggressive Bitch”

I also took a few pictures for posting here. If this is your car, I’m only sort-of sorry for publicly humiliating you like this. It makes me feel a whole lot better, and you have to admit that this is probably a better alternative to paying an expensive towing/impound bill.

Thank goodness law school is done for the year. I promise I’ll start acting like a rational human being again soon.