Brain Droppings

John O, this gives me some ideas.

Labels: funny

After Christmas there is no need for cold and snow. We are in the slums of the orbital plane right now. We need to get out of here. Giddy up Earth! Rest all you want in the summer time.

Via Ace:

Culture is thicker than ideology. It is often noted by Tea Partiers (and before that, what used to just be called grassroots conservatives before they had a more evocative name) that the leadership class, even the "conservative" parts of the leadership class, shares the same basic culture -- tastes, preferences, religiosity, manners, mods of thought -- with all other members of the leadership class, and that culture is largely liberal in almost all ways.

When offered a choice between their own culture -- shared with liberal senators -- and a culture to them which looks a lot like The Other, alien and frightening, they will do what human beings usually do, behave in a xenophobic, tribal fashion and align with the people they know and respect, and they respect them primarily because they agree with them so much.

And that usually means selling out their putative ideology, which The Other they're so frightened of does in fact believe in, and better understand, far better than they do.

And in reacting in a xenophobic, hatred-of-The-Other tribalistic fashion, they congratulate themselves on being "sophisticated" and "open-minded."

This I think is the reason many grassroots conservatives hate Mitt Romney and love Sarah Palin. Even though they agree on most issues, they sense Mitt Romney is from that leadership class, and will sell them out at the drop of a hat to keep in the good graces of the culture he admires and identifies with, and Sarah Palin is definitely from their own class -- what the establishment regards as The Barbaric Other -- and will tend to support them.

Labels: politics

This is good.

Labels: funny

Mayor Daley mortgaged the future. Chicago is so screwed he doesn't want to stick around to take the blame.

He's lost the theater community. Soon taxes are going up and more "well heeled" residents will make their way to the suburbs Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan.

Raiding rainy day funds and TIFs and sell off money makers like parking will only paper over the problems the next mayor will have to deal with...the unions. Mayor Daley shut down a lot of bars especially the small packaged goods taverns that hosted a few old men. (RIP Ray.) You can expect a casino opening in Chicago before too long.

Labels: Chicago, Credit Crunch, Mayor Daley

Happy International Rush Day! Party like it's 2112 because it is!



And for some old school 21/12:

Philly Bush Derangement Syndrome Flashdance



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Tribe Hummus

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According to multiple reports, a federal judge in Virginia has ruled that part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — Obamacare — is unconstitutional.

The ruling by District Judge Henry Hudson says the law “exceeds the constitutional boundaries of congressional power” by requiring individuals to purchase health care coverage under the “individual mandate.” It is the first federal ruling against the law.

For those who don't get the reference.

God-Awful Band Butchers Pink Floyd - Watch more Funny Videos

Labels: funny

Labels: funny

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Seriously, if the left is going to turn on Obama the next two years are going to be hilarious. I can't believe I am saying this but watch this "special" comment from Olbermann. It is a special kind of indignation that only Keith can muster. One more compromise and Keith is going to have a stroke.

Diego: You better watch now because as soon as the Republican primary heats up the reconciliation will begin and things will really get hot and heavy again when the general gets going.

Labels: funny, Leftist dogma

Apparently neither the Left nor the Right is too happy about the deal that is being cut to extend the Bush tax cuts. Neither are the markets. The chart on the right is the Ten year treasury note yield. 3.16% is not that high but you can see the trend and if we get through 4% the skies the limit. I don't expect a huge run up in interest rates, deflation is not over. But when the gov't announces they are going to spend an extra $900 billion over the next two years then it isn't surprising when the price of money rises.

The second chart is the Dow futures and I included it because there was a beautiful triangle pattern yesterday. Just textbook. The sell off today was also interesting because we have completed a 5 wave rally that started on 11/29. I am still looking for tops since the market's momentum has slowed. We are looking at a rather large dome top. I will blog about that another day.

Labels: Bond, deflation, Stock, Trade

Its still not a TARDIS but it is the next best thing and it is coming to Chicago.



Bill C: How much are tickets?

See here: $138/$97/$76/$54

This is starting to throw off more echoes of the Great Depression, where you have a sequence of crises, each touched off by the ones that came before, like dominos falling into some diabolic design. Europe and America thought they'd seen the worst of things by the end of 1930, only to be knocked back down even harder by the contagion of the Creditanstalt crisis. In the US, the crisis ultimately triggered a string of bank failures worse than those sparked by the initial stock market crash, and the worst two years of the Great Depression were 1932-3.

...

“While the crash only took place six months ago, I am convinced we have now passed through the worst — and with continued unity of effort we shall rapidly recover. There has been no significant bank or industrial failure. That danger, too, is safely behind us.”
- Herbert Hoover, President of the United States, May 1, 1930

Labels: deflation, Depression

Is there any college sport that competes on a national level that has a playing field structured so that numerous teams have no chance to compete for the national championship? Football would be one.

Oregon and Auburn, both undefeated, will be competing for the championship this season. TCU, also undefeated, will not get the chance. If the college football community will not get together and fix this perhaps some of the teams should get creative. Here is an example I would have liked to have seen:

Take this year for example and include Boise State (as if they hadn't lost to Nevada) along with the three teams above in the undefeated category. With Oregon and Auburn being selected as #1 and #2 based on the BCS computer rankings, TCU and Boise State could perhaps change that. A hopeful scenario would be for TCU and Boise State to schedule a late game with the winner picking up a 'quality' win that boosts it's computer ranking enough to oust the lower ranked championship bound team.

The major conferences should not be allowed to shut the rest of the teams out of the money. I'm not sure the best way to change that but I hope it happens.

Bill O is salivating right about now.

Labels: Video Games

I have been looking for a video of Mr. Alexander for awhile, I believe he is writing a book on this subject which I find fascinating, I found this interview and I thought you might enjoy. Also, read the original article. It's difficult to have a conversation when you think the other person is addled or venal. That doesn't come from our side.

Labels: politics

It was 25 years ago tonight that the Chicago Bears brought their 12-0 record into the Orange Bowl in Miami to take on the Dolphins. I believe it is still the most watched Monday Night Football game in the history of the program. The Bears were a dominant team that year and a serious threat to go undefeated and share such an accomplishment with only team ever to run the table, the 1972 Miami Dolphins team that went 17-0.

The Bears would go on to win the win the Super Bowl but not before getting blown out by the Dolphins on that Monday night. Many of the Bears players had booked the Park West for the next day to record the Super Bowl Shuffle. The timing seemed perfect.

George Halas was a class act and had recently passed away before the 1985 Bears made their run. As Frank Gifford mentioned in the ABC broadcast below, one wonders what he would have made of this team and the likes of the Fridge, William Perry. Fortunately the Dolphins made a loser out of the Bears that Monday Night and the record of the '72 Dolphins team remains unmatched.