Friday, February 26, 2010
The Jam- That's Entertainment
Thursday, February 25, 2010
How poker makes you a better investor
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Romney's Power Point
"Looking back, Romney's 2008 campaign seems truly dreadful. If I recall, he won only one primary (as opposed to caucus) and he won that one -- Michigan -- only because John McCain offered way too much straight talk about the future of the automobile industry."
I think there is one thing missing from this observation. Had the financial crisis hit during the primaries instead of the general election, I believe Romney would have won the GOP nomination and fared better than McCain in November if not winning the Presidency. McCain benefited from the Iraq War being the key issue and then was left punchless when the economy became the focus.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Obamacare Revival
From the NYT:
Republican leaders have not yet committed to attending the session and have said they doubt the sincerity of Mr. Obama’s bipartisan overtures, given his refusal to discard the Democrats’ legislation and start over. But senior Republican aides said that party leaders planned to participate and that a chief goal would be to portray the president as defying the will of the American people if he continues pushing for an expansive and expensive bill.
The meeting is fraught with risk, and also offers potential rewards, for each side.
Obama is a good speaker and despite the unpopularity of the health care bill I believe he can win support from the voters if he is not challenged. The GOP had no real leadership during the 2008 election from the primaries through the general and offered little in the form of true opposition to Obama.
Obama is campaigning again and if the Republicans are not prepared he will win again. They do have the advantage of Obama having now been exposed and therefore saying little or even nothing might be a legitimate option for them but now is no time to let the liberal media and Obama and their shared agenda dictate the message.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Robots in Love
Link Wray- Rumble
Thursday, February 18, 2010
‘Fear the Boom and Bust’: A Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Spitting on Howard Zinns' Grave?
Zinn’s wretched tract, A People’s History of the United States, is worthless as history, and it is a national tragedy that so many Americans have fallen under its spell. It is a political cartoon which even the socialist magazine Dissent described as an intellectual fraud, which it is. All Zinn’s writing was directed to one end: to indict his own country as an evil state and soften his countrymen up for the kill. Like his partner in crime, Noam Chomsky, Zinn’s life’s work was a pernicious influence on the young and ignorant, with destructive consequences for people everywhere.
Labels: Leftist dogma
Frank Herbert and David Lynch discuss Dune: The Movie
Friday, February 12, 2010
Phoenix - Lisztomania
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Sky Siege
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
That Was Social Security Then, This is Healthcare Now
"So when Congressional Republican leaders tell the president that Social Security private accounts are a nonstarter, they are conveying the informed views of their constituents.
Mr. Bush has reacted by railing against Democrats for obstruction -- as if Democrats are duty-bound to breathe life into his agenda and, even sillier, as if opposing a plan that the people do not want is an illegitimate tactic for an opposition party."
I mentioned this in a recent debate I had with some health care bill supporters and did not get a reply on the matter. Some of the Obama supporters I've talked with have the idea that the 2008 election result was supposed to yield the changes they wanted without having given much thought to the legislative process.
Monday, February 08, 2010
Illinois is broke
By July, Illinois will be $130,000,000,000 (that’s BILLION!) in debt. This crushing load hampers the state’s ability to fund public schools and universities, health care, and other essential public services. Most of that money is owed to the state’s pension funds and retiree health care plans. And YOUR SHARE of that debt is $25,000 per household.
How did this happen? Basically, Illinois spends $3 for every $2 it takes in. Only in Springfield is this kind of math possible. The state accomplishes this by borrowing or by simply ignoring its unpaid bills. And it has been doing so for years.
This year alone, Illinois will be short more than $14,000,000,000. Things are so bad that Illinois now has one of the worst budget deficits in the nation. This has to stop! Financial disaster is on the horizon. We can no longer ignore the problem.
Illinois must reduce its spending and bring its public pension and retiree health care plans in line with the retirement plans the rest of us have. Go to the What You Can Do page of this Web site to see how you can help.
Via Sun-Times.
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Kirk vs. Giannoulias
Out of the gate Kirk has a slight lead and that can't be good news for Giannoulias. The b-ball bud of the president has a lot of baggage to overcome and he is up against a squeaky clean Republican with everything going his way.
Complicating things for the president in Illinois is that Giannoulias was battered by primary opponent David Hoffman, who used the Giannoulias family's Broadway Bank — and its loans to mob figures and a convicted influence peddler — in a series of devastating TV spots.
That influence peddler is none other than Obama's own real estate fairy, Tony Rezko.
The national Republicans are eager to take Obama's old Senate seat with liberal Republican Mark Kirk. And they're hoping to tie the president to the seamy politics of the state and to Obama's old friend Rezko.
So how far will Barack be willing to go and risk getting bruised badly?
The better question is whether Obama cares about his old seat more than he cares about the rest of the seats the Democrats will lose if they continue down the current path. I'm guessing no.
"President Obama called, and apparently I missed it," Giannoulias said. "But the White House called to congratulate us last night." [Emphasis added.]
Obama has paid lip service to centrist concerns with his nod to a spending freeze but that was debunked within hours of the proposal as being much less than serious.
The Democrats in Illinois will be in a world of trouble if the Republicans in Illinois can get their act together. A big IF but not a total impossibility. Everyone recognizes that 2010 will be a good year for Republicans so fielding good candidates shouldn't be a problem. If only we could make a clean break from the corrupticans that have ruled the party since the 1970s. It's nice to dream.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Resurgance 2010
Turning to 40 For Some Advice
"In this present crisis government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?"
From Ronald Reagan's inauguration speech in 1981.
Friday, February 05, 2010
Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration
Thursday, February 04, 2010
National Debt/GDP = 86.6%
Labels: criminal, Debt, deflation, Depression
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
U.K., U.S. Top Aaa Ratings Tested by Debt Burdens, Moody’s Says
“The deterioration has been pretty severe,” said Pierre Cailleteau, managing director of sovereign risk at Moody’s, in a Bloomberg Television interview in London. “We expect a pretty strong policy response in the next couple of years in order to keep the debt in the Aaa range. We expect them to bend but not to break.”
We all know how bend but not break works out.
Treasury Secretary WannstedtLabels: Credit Crunch, deflation, Depression
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Laser ignition for fusion tested successfully
Monday, February 01, 2010
Government Spending is an Issue
"We've got to spend our way out of this recession, and I think most economists know that."That sounds like an honest campaign slogan for the Democrats. I believe the voters disagree and will speak for themselves when next given the opportunity.
