Friday, March 21. 2008
"The Next Bubble: Priming the markets for tomorrow's big crash" One quote: We have learned that the industry in any given bubble must support hundreds or thousands of separate firms financed by not billions but trillions of dollars in new securities that Wall Street will create and sell. Like housing in the late 1990s, this sector of the economy must already be formed and growing even as the previous bubble deflates. For those investing in that sector, legislation guaranteeing favorable tax treatment, along with other protections and advantages for investors, should already be in place or under review. Finally, the industry must be popular, its name on the lips of government policymakers and journalists. It should be familiar to those who watch television news or read newspapers.
The oceans are cooling The assault on free speech in Canada. h/t, Coyote I had to look up The Incorporation Doctrine, but I am not sure that I fully understand it Why does the GOP write off minorities? Paper bags - moral or immoral? Neoneo. More foolish and misguided greenie tokenism Obama's speech: A Brilliant Fraud. Krauthammer. On the other hand, Peggy Noonan liked it. Related: Is Obama a Typical Black Person? What about Newspaper Addiction Disorder? I have heard that some people are upset if it isn't delivered every morning! Mass Man and Totalitarianism, re Russia. Quoted by Roger K: Mr. Nyquist draws some revealing and admonitory parallels between the mass men of the past, who proved such pliable fodder for the totalitarian ambitions of the twentieth century, and the mass men of today, that “susceptible” creature who “is fundamentally ignorant, though remarkably “well informed.” Mass man’s inertia accepts the dictates of bureaucracy. He has no “great idea” or “faith” to guard him against expedient compromise, or participation in genocide.”
Thursday, March 20. 2008
 Scary climate models are all about the theoretical feedback.
Newt on terrorism: Excellent brief video from the National Press Club Get in shape for spring: The Military.com fitness site Problems at Starbucks. Dunkin' Donuts doing fine, though. Chose your battle rifle, through history. Whatever happened to Moqtada? These days, the streets of San Francisco resemble the streets of Calcutta. Gov Paterson's "nice scandal." I think that was written before it came out today that he reportedly allegedly maybe used campaign funds for his no-tell motel get-togethers. Re the Heller case discussed today, a commenter at the Chronicle of Higher Education blog says this: The Bill of Rights, according to its preamble, adds “further declaratory and restrictive clauses” to the constitution, with the goal of preventing “misconstruction or abuse of … [government] powers.” By doing so, the first ten amendments extend “the ground of public confidence in the Government.” Amendments 1 and 3-10 do indeed restrict the government and empower the people. Thus, if the Second Amendment means merely that government can arm a militia — which would seem to be already permitted by the constitutional requirement to “provide for the common defence” — then it’s the only one of the first ten that gives rights to government, rather than to individuals.
Wednesday, March 19. 2008
Spitzer's replacement, ultra-clean, Lefty, affable, and not-too-blind-to-notice-babes David Paterson got a government job for his gumada, er, for one of the reported six of them. Claims his conscience is clean - which it probably is, by New York standards... or by politician standards. Bill Clinton lowered the bar for all Dems, forever.
White people like to throw dinner parties. Yes we do, and cocktail parties too. College students are stressed? Wait 'til they try real life. The fun part of war. I want one. Olympus Stylus 1030 SW Arthur C. Clarke's last message. Video This Easter, use a well-maintained whip. For Robocop fans. Obama, Fairy Tales, and Failure at S,C&A. Thoughtful. Related: "Teplost" commenting on Roger Simon's "Barack, I didn't do it for this" poem: How are people in this country going to face each other as human beings when white liberals won't stay in changing neighborhoods? We don't need Obama to bring us together, and all the high minded white folks espousing his rhetoric don't want it either. They want to PRETEND that's what they want. They want to believe that all they have to do is vote for a black candidate, and they are off the hook. Hey, if all those high-minded white liberals wanted us to come together, why did they move out of my neighborhood? All they ever had to do is stay. What a bunch of bull!
So true.
He doesn't care much for Obama. The Rev likes the Clintons. This is Feb 18, 2008. This guy is a piece of work. Listen:
Last night, a young relation observed that "Writing college application essays is like trying to shit rainbows out your ass." Mrs. B. commented "If Obama can do that, so can you."
Tuesday, March 18. 2008
 Heading south to NYC right now, and I will be busy tomorrow, so I will leave these:
The demise of dead tree encyclopedias. Sad. When I was in high school, I could not understand much of anything without my Columbia Encyclopedia on my desk and my giant multi-volume Britannica on the shelf - a major gift from my parents. Still have it. If you don't look up stuff you don't know, you will never know the first thing about anything. Not that I do not appreciate Wiki for quick reminders, links, and superficial introductions: Wiki is not all that bad as a starting point for exploring things. For example, I gave myself a fine mini-survey of the history of China the other day. It was good. I like to get the big picture before the details or I end up disoriented. Iraq slips off the radar. WaPo, and McCain strolls through Baghdad. Climate change hoopla, 1890-present. Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything to make money from it but Al Gore. Would the Dalai Lama resist any oppression? Doubtful. My visit to the Boston Globe. Squaring the Boston Globe "Barack, I didn't do it for this." And yet, with Rev. Wright, Obama's appeal rises among black Democrats. Related: Michelle Obama represents the problem, not the solution. Finally, Dr. Sanity on Shelby Steele's essay on "bargaining." Honestly, I am sick of race. It's a stupid topic.
Stanley Kurtz on Obama's speech. With me, you will get no perfect union on far Left-wing policies and judges. Count me out of that love-fest. My other reaction: Even if this guy is blowing up, he is sure dominating the news cycle. Rush today (approximately): "People say Obama can heal racial divisions. I say that Obama is proof that they have already healed." Are we being handed slick victimology? The points of the speech summarized, quoted at Q and O: - Black people have reasons to be angry about slavery, Jim Crow, and ongoing discrimination;
- Whites have reason to be unhappy with (pre-reform) welfare, affirmative action, busing, and being called a racist for worrying about black crime rates.
- Wright was wrong in both his racial divisiveness and his belief that American society was static, and progress was not occurring.
- whites needed to do more to raise up black schools and black communities.
Wait! Did he lose a page here - what, if anything is the black community meant to do differently? Memeorandum has everybody's reactions.
What's the largest oil company in the world? Russia's government-owned Gazprom.
What's the largest company in the world? PetroChina.
What's the largest investment fund in the world? Abu Dhabi's sovereign fund. The new totalitarian global players, at The Boston Globe
 The BS Bailout. Mankiw. Also, What the Fed needs to do. WSJ
The sun is so quiet it's creepy. Karl Rove's new job Found. The HMAS Sydney The Dem white male voters Tibet update. Not good. The WSJ says it's about China's relationship with religion. A quote: What is the appeal of Christianity to so many Chinese -- or, for that matter, of Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, the old-time peasant religions and the newfangled Falun Gong? In "smashing" organized religion, Mao Zedong also destroyed the traditional institutions of charity and social support that used to provide succor to the lonely and the needy. Now that succor is desperately in demand, and the churches are there to meet it.
South Africa update. Not good. Mr. Free market From Surber on Hillary: Americans don’t want President Walter Mitty. Hillary should relax, stick to the facts and let O’Bama implode. Instead we get easy to disprove lies.
Her entire campaign is a fraud, IMO.
Monday, March 17. 2008
 Photo: A protester tells the truth! At Gateway
All the latest on Bear Stearns and the credit crisis at Memeorandum Ed Driscoll reviewed Liberal Fascism back in November The demagoguery of "optimistic despair." Related, as quoted at Insty: One understands why that might not seem obvious to black people of a certain age: Condi Rice, for example, has childhood memories of a segregated south and racial violence. But that's what makes Obama's association with Wright so significant. He's not from Alabama. He's a biracial middle-class Kenyan-Kansan Hawaiian-born Indonesian-raised Columbia and Harvard graduate who chose to immerse himself in the most corrosive and paranoid end of a racial-grievance ghetto mentality that is nothing to do with him, his family or his upbringing. He doesn't have the same excuse as a Jackson, Sharpton or Farrakhan.
Banned in Boston. If town governments can ban foods, what can't they, in their infinite wisdom, ban? "Everybody seems to be on the same side of this trade." Oil prices "…anger at God is normal. And God has big shoulders, He can take it." And other Lenten thoughts at Anchoress
Sunday, March 16. 2008
 Death penalty for 9-11 planners? Bainbridge. Why is there any question? If I did something like that, I would lose all respect for anybody who would not kill me.
It's not nice to point. Conversations with conservatives at NPR. "Diversity" is only skin deep. How Moshe Feiglin was treated by the Brits. Those darn Jews are always the problem, aren't they? Evil Oppressor of the Masses Ed Driscoll led us to his Folk Marxism post. Snake Vodka? No thanks. Pass the Scotch, please. Young Rolling Stones. Taste-testing chocolate Easter Bunnies. I hate those hollow ones. A place where I would be uncomfortable dining. Obama's church responds. A hearty Welcome to European travelers. See New York! "Soft Jihad" is the next phase. Roger K. The other type didn't work too well, and they know we are all pussies, lacking in self respect, and do not value the civilization we have been given. How was the skiing? Wonderful. Snow a bit soft at the bottom, as expected. I love skiing without six layers. Thanks for asking!
Iraq, after five years. Jules and Vanderleun
Saturday, March 15. 2008
 I am heading up to Stowe right now, our Vermont Yankee webmeister's home town, to ski tomorrow until my legs fall off. Spring is in the air, so ya gotta get it while ya can. Hope they have a case of Coors Lite cooling in the snow for me to cure my road buzz. Photo of Mt. Mansfield. Nice skiing, when the crowds go away. As they do, on the Ides of March. Here's some good stuff:
Lost u-boats found in the Black Sea. Where is Michael Moore? Who would flee Paradise? Me, for one. Re paradise, my Massachusetts tax paradise. Why do I live here, anyway? Sentimental, that's why. It's home. Just like beaten women who don't leave their husbands. Joba Mania. Why global economic inequality? Stumbling. Who cares, really? Money isn't everything. By American stats, I am poor, but I love my life. I just need a wifey, or a solid gal friend - preferably one who I can love, and who can make the big bucks. My ancestors knew how to deal with jerks. Cowards die once, twice, or whatever. But now, in my ancestral homeland, you can make money via polygamy. Cool. When can we get that progressive in the USA? with ten of them on the dole, life could be just fine. Shameful and disgusting, but profitable... Religion and Dem politics? The Corner. More on Social Security. Even if you are young, it comes on fast. Dem unity? Moderate Voice, which ain't so moderate these days. More on that mess at Classical. The WaPo makes an ass of itself. Dem Project. So many of my press colleagues are stuck in a past that they are too young to remember. Obamagate II. Politicians are such schmucks. As a rule of thumb, only a fool would expect anything good from them. Being humans, they have their own agendas but, being politicians, they tend to have no morals. Antisemitism is the cool new global thing. Great butter. I like the Danish stuff. Good cows. Dems having good fun with those FL and MI votes. It's ugly now, but somebody will make a deal. "What do you want?" Mis-matches mess up "minorities." I have seen this. Update on the whores in the Netherlands. More on the Pentagon's report on Saddam and terrorism. Powerline Leadbelly. The last tune is the best. Speaking the truth could be criminal in progressive Finland. How nice for them. The AP style guide on defending Obama, h/t LGF
 Lying Hillary: Sullivan calls her a sociopath. Bill's ex-counsel calls her "misleading." No compunctions when it comes to getting cash. Her total BS about Northern Ireland. It's no wonder even her supporters question her integrity.
What is Bobby Jindal up to in NO? Good stuff. If this lad keeps his nose clean, he will go places. Insty's new office. Nice. I guess he really does have a day job. "Stupid Black Men - How to Play the Race Card, and Lose" a book by Larry Elders The Dem current Social Security plan, and why Bill Clinton opposed it We caught another bad guy. Where should these guys be stored, if not at the Guantanamo Resort? Is Australia still a penal colony? Rescuing Bear Stearns. Looks like Morgan could end up owning them. With a little more consolidation of financial services, these guys will have no-one to trade with. After all, your Credit Desk makes nothing selling stuff to your own Distressed Desk - and that is the direction in which things are going. I am considering creating my own Distressed Credits Fund. Who is on board with me? Raise 300 million, buy up credits now, and sell it all off in about two years - then retire to full-time blogging and pursuing social justice - plus huntin and fishin. But I somehow doubt I could get the banks to extend me credit for the 30:1 leverage I want to do this right. Rev. Wright: "The government lied about the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color." Sheesh, what an idiot: Everybody knows that Cheney created AIDS to kill the gays, and that Cheney made Katrina to kill the blacks. (Got to keep your facts straight.) More Wright quotes etc at Gateway, including a UCC defense of the fellow. Understanding engineers. The graduate with a science degree asks, "Why does it work?"
The graduate with an engineering degree asks, "How does it work?"
The graduate with an accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?"
The graduate with a humanities degree asks, "Do you want fries with that?"
More at Theo's place.
Friday, March 14. 2008
I tend to agree with Roy Innes Jr. (on Sean on the radio today) that the Rev. Wright is a bit of a shock jock. Maybe so, but, if so, not an amusing one. Mr. Obama's team is realizing that the Rev. Wright can sink his ship. I have two comments. 1. Imagine what whould happen if a white guy talked that way about any other skin-colored people. 2. I have only heard and read selected bits, but does that pastor ever talk about God? Today, anybody of any color or background should be thanking their lucky stars if they ended up in the USA - no matter how they arrived here: slavery ship, Mayflower, a leaky schooner from Ireland or a leaky freighter from Sicily or China - or whatever. If you have what it takes to build the life you want, you have a chance to do it here. The categorical imperative is little more than a fancy version of Do unto others, I think. The Rev. Wright needs to rethink his hatred.
 Obama's ideas about taxes and the economy
Salsa and seltzer: Am Digest Hillary's scorched earth strategy Does McCain really want to be President and, if so, why? (Noonan) Why Obama will be nominated. Blue Crab Half-full or half empty? The Iraq report is being spun both ways.
 Spitzer and Obama: "Non-judgemental nonsense." Sowell
Related: Monogamy is unnatural, says Spitzer defender. Oh, really??? A comment from Frontal Cortex Does "big business" like free trade? Cafe hayek How our media has gotten Americans killed. America is a nation of givers. The American But why are we giving our money to these dudes? White House confusion about gun rights Related, from Insty: MORE ON THE D.C. GUN-BAN CASE, FROM U.S. NEWS: Dick Heller, a longtime resident of the District of Columbia, carries a handgun for his job as a private security guard. But at the end of his shift, he packs up the .38 revolver and stashes it in a vault. He would like to keep a gun for protection at his Capitol Hill home, where he has endured the sound of gunfire for years. But he can't, because D.C. law forbids it. "They give me a gun to protect them," he says of the government, "but I'm a second-class citizen when I finish work."
Actually, you were a second-class citizen in their eyes before. You were just allowed to have a gun to protect the first-class citizens.
Thursday, March 13. 2008
Obama's pastor is too full of hatred to be in the ministry. He should move elsewhere before his anger gives him cancer or a heart attack. Maybe to Iran, where the government would share his views. Honestly, this sort of thing is too despicable for me to write about. Yes, he has the American freedom - but does he appreciate it, and what it has cost, and how precious a gift it is? Apparently not. What else does he want? What more could anyone ask for in this life? Rev. Wright hates me, I think. Hatred and ingratitude are not becoming in a clergyman - or in anyone.
Four essays about competition. Wilson Quarterly Dolphin rescues whales CAIR comes clean on Hamas. Front page Mosul: the battle continues How Americans spend their money, by income level Longevity genes Spitzerized. Eric takes a serious look at the subjects of prostitution, prosecutors, and hypocrisy. Megan McArdle reviews how Spitzer Spitzerized people as prosecutor. Scary. The EU is surreal.
|
