Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello childrens! How are you? I hope that everyone is weathering the economic storm well. I tried casting a spell over Washington in order to help ease the problems, but even my powers cannot penetrate the 200 year thick mantle of manure covering our government.


Our first email today comes from Ms. kkdither. She writes:

“My dearest Madame Zoltar,

“Can you offer any insight as to why visitors to JTI come to the site, spend time, read the comments left by the regular irregulars, but nary offer a comment of their own?

“Do you see it to be a feeling of low self-esteem, a feeling of unworthiness, or is it more a denial of their own irregularity?

“Would you be willing to send telepathic vibrations their way, encouraging them to offer input-- to add their own ‘magic’ to our website?

“Sincere thanks,
kkdither”

Dear Ms. kk (May I call you kk?), I think it’s none of the above. Some people are doers and some people are watchers. More are watchers. I’ll bet you that many more people read the Journal Times webpages than comment on them. But some people may be intimidated by the idea of putting their thoughts “out there.” If you are one of those, please don’t be – I’ve been “out there” for a long, long time, and as you can see, I'm just fine. I’d also be happy to send out some good vibrations for the JT Irregulars. I just have to remember to focus properly and forget that embarrassing earthquake I caused the last time I tried that. Merci de votre email, Mme kk.


Our next question comes from Mr. AvengingAngel, who writes:

“Madame,

“When the moon was in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligned with Mars, peace was to guide the planets and love steer the stars. What happened?”

Dear Mr. AA, when I first started to read your question, I thought you were going to say, “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore.” Tee-hee. Well, yes, ahem, uh, what happened, indeed? When I came to after the 60’s, it was 1978 and a peanut farmer was in the White House. I can’t prove it, but I suspect that Jupiter and Mars did not properly “align” because they never could get along anyway. And if “love” was steering the stars, well love is drunk half of the time and blind all of the time, so there you go. Probably steered some stars right into some planets. Nothing very peaceful about that, now is there? Sorry, Mr. AA, but I don’t foresee much peace in the future for this planet, no matter what the stars say.


Confidential to “OC”: Stay away from me, you miscreant. Do not email me, do not call me, do not even think about me. If you attempt to contact me again in any way, shape, manner, or form, I will hit you with a spell faster than you can say “restraining order.”


Just so everyone knows, I did contact ABC News about their upcoming appearance in Racine this Thursday. I sent them a nice, complimentary email pointing out the JT Irregulars important role in Racine today. They replied with a form letter. From ABC Audience Relations:

“As you can imagine, we receive thousands of messages a day from our viewers and while we appreciate you taking the time to provide feedback regarding our programming, we are not able to respond to each one directly.

"We encourage you to continue to communicate with us!”

I encourage them to make good use of the new orifices that will manifest themselves on all of ABC News’ personnel if they don’t give a nod to the JTI on Thursday.


Thank you everyone so much for reading my blog. Don’t forget to send your questions and comments to me at madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com. I look forward to talking with you every week. I tell the good fairies to give all of my readers an extra wink or two whenever they can.

Arrivederci!

11 comments:

Why Not? said...

I am for the most part one of those that do not leave comments so often, my excuse, I'm lazy. The computer for some reason doesnt remember all of my information and I have to write in my username and password!!! what a world we live in now a days when the computer doesnt remember every last thing that I want it to and forget the stuff that shouldnt be remembered.. You'd think they would have designed a mind reading program by now..

I will try to be less lazy and actually write something from time to time.

kkdither said...

Mme. you may certainly call me kk. You are correct, no one is more "out there" than you, yourself. Thank you for your great wisdom.

So great to hear from you why not. Please do keep in touch.

hale-bopp said...

I think Jupiter didn't align with Mars because they have slightly different orbital inclinations...but that's just me.

AvengingAngel said...

yeah, but if you bend over you can see Uranus.

Anonymous said...

I received the following from Mr. Logjam earlier today. I decided to answer it in this week's blog because of its pertinence and importance.

"Dearest Madame,

"With the stock market dumping faster than a guy with irritable bowel syndrome, should I hang in there and keep investing my money like Warren Buffet says, or call it 'five O'Clock' and start hitting the margaritas like Jimmy Buffet says?
Tusind Tak."

Dear Mr. Logjam, perhaps a little of both are in order. Or a lot of one or the other, in which case I'd lean Jimmy's way, especially after a couple of those margaritas. Even though the stock market has been acting like a drunk, I suspect what it really needs is for everyone to loosen up a little and have a few (too many). Economics is more psychology than anything else, and nothing has more inherent value over anything else other than what somebody ascribes to it. All the gold in the world won't help a person starving to death on a desert isle.

So I suggest that you drink up. It can't hurt your portfolio, but it might ease the pain of the current situation. At least, until tomorrow...

I'm sorry, Mr. Logjam, I don't know how to say "You're welcome" in Danish, but you are.

kkdither said...

Velbekomme is your translation, Mme. We used to have to say "Tak for mad." Meaning thanks for the meal... my mom would reply "Velbekomme." Wow, dragged that from the old memory banks.

Why Not? said...

Tack för maten!! in Swedish and Varsågod!! We teach that to our daughter...

Anonymous said...

Mme Zoltar,

How does a bank make money by not lending money?

Huck Finn said...

My good friend with an "interesting" portfolio, dumped a lot last December and is now buying at fire sale prices. Sell high, buy low, and those stocks are bargain basement.

On the other hand, Mom finally listened about converting some assets into gold, and guess what? Gold can't be found. Bars are sold out. American eagles are sold out. Krugerands are scarce and will prob be sold out tomorrow. One dealer called everywhere and can not, absolutely can not find anything for her.

The next thing to consider is bailing out of your CDs even if you take a loss. The FDIC only has enough cash to cover a small 8% of the deposits. You snooze, there is a very good chance you lose. You may have lost the chance to jump on the gold elevator, but I'd be leery of keeping your funds tied up in a bank that's sitting on shakey ground. I'm actually thinking about paying my property taxes WAY early, just to be ahead of that ball.

Speaking of gold, it has risen so fast, the graph line looks like a wall. Having the DOW lose another near 700 points was not good today. Recession, we are headed for a depression. Time to stock up on canned goods folks. And I am serious about that one. I hate being cold, and I hate being hungry.

Anonymous said...

Dear Anonymous,

By having the government give it our money.

Anonymous said...

Huck, I hope it doesn't come down to that.

I tip my hat to the all knowing Mme Zoltar.