Hamas Hiding in Hospitals

Hamas is doing what terrorists typically do - hide in hospitals and other densely populated areas. Just the upstanding type of thing to do to get Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama to want to sit down and negotiate with you.

Israel Calls up 6,500 Reservists

After decimating hundreds of Hamas officials via Gaza air attacks, Israel has called up 6,500 reservists for Phase 2 of the operation.

It looks like Israel is not willing to wait for an Obama administration to bail them out - I don't blame them.

"Youth Riots" Hit Sweden

Hmmm..."youth riots" in Sweden. I'm guessing that there were more Mohammeds than Svens involved.

Global Warming Dissenters Speak Out

At a global warming conference in Poland, over 650 scientists dissented from the view of 52 scientists at the UN, who claim that global warming is a man-made problem.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is on track to have its coldest December in years. Where's Al Gore?

MN Canvassing Board Now Determining Voter Intent

Yep, the MN canvassing board directing the recount of the Senate race is now determining voter intent on ballots that are too unclear to register a guess. Already ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2000, nothing is going to stop them from giving Al Franken the election.

Government Loses Out From Bonus Reductions

The government is finding out once again that there are always unintended consequences to their actions. When government officials were vilifying Wall Street executives who made big bonuses and praised the decision to force companies to eliminate them, they probably didn't realize how it would impact government revenue. The elimination of bonuses for just six Goldman Sachs execs will result in a $178 million revenue reduction for the state of New York.

Obama Pushing Companies To Switzerland

Obama's one achievement in congress (sort of, because it didn't pass) was to close the tax loophole for American companies relocating their HQs to the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. Obama has consistently said that he will pass this legislation.

As a result, with this threat overhanging many American companies, we now have several large American firms relocating to Switzerland - Tyco, Weatherford, Foster Wheeler, Transocean, and now today, Noble (all in the last two weeks). Some of these companies are also considering moving their people in their HQ to Switzerland as well.

I have some advice for Obama. Instead of penalizing companies for moving their HQ outside the US, why not reward companies for staying in, and/or relocating TO THE US? If Obama were to reward in the form of a corporate tax cut (say from 35% to 25%), I can guarantee more companies would relocate to the US and more others would decide to stay.

Will one of his advisors please teach the man a little Econ 101?

Dems Very Close to Finalizing Stolen Election

Norm Coleman supposedly leads Al Franken by just two votes. After counts and recounts and challenges, the Democrat-led commission reviewing counts, recounts and challenged ballots seems to be successfully stealing it for Franken. No one has any clue what methods the commission is using, whether they are being consistent (we know they aren't based on inconsistent views towards counting the totals of some precincts from election day and other precincts from the recounts - whichever is more beneficial to Franken).

So it's down to 2 - my guess is the challenges and counting all stop once Franken takes the lead, at which point, it will be validated. Washington state, part II. Just another reason government is completely untrustworthy.

*Update*
The Coleman campaign issued the following statement:

First, the board is making steady progress as they work through all of the challenged ballots. As you are likely aware, because of the way this process has been structured, all of the Franken challenges were considered first and now the board is working their way through the Coleman challenges. Our campaign brought around 1000 challenges before the board. We are in the process of withdrawing approximately 400 of those, and because the board did not have time to pull them out of the line-up before today's meeting, today you'll likely see the numbers flip upside down as a significant number of those withdrawals go back into the Franken column. Because of the timing, the withdrawn challenges that will provide additional Coleman votes will not be awarded until later. This will cause a temporary flip today that will be righted once all the ballots have been reviewed and withdrawn challenges reinstated, likely by tomorrow.

We fully and confidently expect that by the time the review process is complete, the vote totals will right themselves, and Senator Coleman will be ahead, as he has been throughout this recount process.

We also are expecting the board to deal with the issue of duplicate ballots soon. As we've said, we have serious concerns about a number of instances throughout the state where double counting has occurred, as both duplicates and the originals these duplicates were intended to replace were counted separately during the recount. The agreement reached before the recount to deal with this issue has now been proven not to work since numerous local officials did not follow the statute election night. Attached is a brief letter we sent to the canvassing board. It explains that their current path will result in the double count of ballots, which violates the tenet "one person, one vote". We are committed to making sure that no one person's vote counts more than any others. It's a pretty simple concept, and it needs to be protected.

So, as we've said all along, it's a long process, it's a methodical process, and we are committed to making sure that it is done right.

Palin vs Kennedy

When Palin was first announced the VP pick for McCain, the MSM went nuts. First came lack of experience argument, despite the fact that she had twelve years of government experience as an elected official. Then came rumors about her sixteen year old daughter and that Palin must have faked her pregnancy. Many attacked her for NOT having an abortion. Then came the checks about her paycheck and that she was cheating her state by accepting a salary. Then came the gotcha interviews done by "unbiased" MSM interviewers. Then came the SNL skits, immediately done to ruin her reputation. At the same time, the MSM fully investigated her entire family, including her kids, and husband. By the end of the campaign, we knew 10x as much about Palin and her family than we knew about Obama. Now last week, someone burned down her church, most likely caused by the horrible negative attention the media brought to her and her town. The MSM claimed that they had to investigate her as she was new to the scene.

Will a similar investigation be done on Caroline Kennedy?

I think we know the answer to that one.

Global Warming and the Archimedes Principle

You know you're in trouble with your theories when even your friends who believe in global warming think you're spewing nonsense. Take the view that the sea level rises when ice caps melt and the response from James O'Brien, Professor Emeritus at Florida State:

"When the Arctic Ocean ice melts, it never raises sea level because floating ice is floating ice, because it's displacing water," O'Brien said. "When the ice melts, sea level actually goes down.

"I call it a fourth grade science experiment. Take a glass, put some ice in it. Put water in it. Mark level where water is. Let it melt. After the ice melts, the sea level didn't go up in your glass of water. It's called the Archimedes Principle."

He called sea level changes a "major scare tactic used by the global warming people."

From Q&O Blog.

Obama Headed Down the New Deal Path

Unsurprisingly, Obama is starting to outline his $850 billion money flush that will likely worsen the recession by crowding out private investment in favor of government infrastructure spending.

As we saw from Boston's Big Dig, these projects will be wildly popular with general contractors, who thrive off of inefficient government spending. But for those of us who will be forced to pay for it, it'll be another bad day in America.

No Recession for NY Government

New Yorkers, beware. You will soon be facing all sorts of new taxes, all of which are virtually guaranteed to hurt consumer spending and economic growth. Cheer up, though - the government still plans to increase spending next year. They try to make it sound like they're really cutting back by saying that government spending growth is expected to slow to "only 1%" next year, the lowest growth in years. Hooray.

Limbaugh Responds to Colin Powell

Rush responds to Colin Powell's view that the GOP should toss Rush Limbaugh overboard, even though Rush has never run for office and is a Republican only when they agree with his conservatism.

Here is Colin Powell telling the Republican Party what to do after he voted for Obama! I know what really has Colin Powell upset, it's because I said his endorsement of Obama was about race, and I'm not supposed to say those things. These things are supposed to go unsaid. The Republican Party nominated Powell's perfect candidate.

All these moderates, Bill Weld, all these moderates that crossed the aisle and voted for Obama, they got their ideal candidate, and they got their ideal campaign in McCain. Once McCain was nominated as the Republican candidate, largely by independents and Democrats voting in Republican primaries, Colin Powell waited 'til the last minute, when it would do the most damage to McCain and the Republicans and endorsed Obama.

So if we try to understand Powell's thinking, which is difficult since it's incoherent, we should have all voted for McCain in the primaries, and once he was nominated, we should have voted for Obama for president. That's what we should have all done, if you listen to what Powell said on CNN yesterday.

Rush is exactly right. Powell is not, and never has been, a Republican. He was never a good Secretary of State. He threw his own President under the bus on Iraq. He then nearly committed a crime by withholding information that his subordinate was the real 'leaker' in the Valerie Plame nonsense. And now somehow Colin Powell is supposed to be the spokesman for the Republican Party? (Btw, the Republicans have lost the last 2 elections precisely because they refused to listen to conservative leaders and instead tried to be Democrat-lite.)

Economic Stimulus: Japan Style

The WSJ has a good history piece for Barack Obama, given his penchant for economic stimulus (read: spending) courtesy of the government. Below is a list of Japan's stimulus projects during the 90s:

August 1992: 10.7 trillion yen ($85 billion)
April 1993: 13.2 trillion yen ($117 billion)
September 1993: 6.2 trillion yen ($59 billion)
February 1994: 15.3 trillion yen ($148 billion)
September 1995: 14.2 trillion yen ($137 billion)
April 1998: 16.7 trillion yen ($128 billion)
November 1998: 23.9 trillion yen ($195 billion)
November 1999: 18 trillion yen ($147 billion)

All told, the Japanese government spent over $1 trillion on government spending and infrastructure projects. The public spending replaced private investment and instead of economic growth, the country suffered through stagnation and a massive deficit. I hope Obama's paying attention because the new New Deal will likely not be any different than the original New Deal or the Japanese New Deal.

NY Judge Wants Bailout of Madoff Investors

We've reached a "jump the shark" moment on the government bailouts. A NY federal judge wants a U.S. government agency to "protect" (i.e. bail out) investors in Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme.

The problem: since the Securities Investor Protection Corporation founding by Congress in 1970, it has advanced a total of $507 million to duped investors. The Madoff scheme runs about 100 times that amount. If the government ok's this, they might as well bail out every individual or corporation who has ever lost money on an investment, wager or poker game.

Madoff Ponzi Scheme 2nd Worst Ever

Despite this news headline, the $50Billion Ponzi scheme masterminded by Bernard Madoff is NOT the worst ever. That distinction belongs to the Social Security trustees. The only difference is that the trustees haven't yet told us how much money we will all lose in the instance of Social Security.

Gore Continues Global Warming Nonsense

In the midst of a financial crisis, Al Gore is sticking to his line that "there is little time left" to reverse global warming. Meanwhile, many parts of the U.S. are seeing record cold temperatures and New England is battling ice storms and cold freezes.

Google Admits Staff Chooses Search Results

Contrary to past statements, Google admitted that its staff plays a role in choosing search results.

Bush Goes Along With UAW (aka: Wimpy)

"I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today." That was the essence of the UAW's message. And President Bush seems to be willing to go along with it. From the WSJ:

The union's counteroffer was that it would bring down labor costs in 2011, when its current contracts run out. Maybe we missed something, but we thought GM and Chrysler were facing bankruptcy now, not in three years. As Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor, that sounds like "taxpayer money today for reforms that may or may not come tomorrow."

Good for Senate Republicans. Shame on Democrats and President Bush if they throw money at a certain flushing of more taxpayer dollars down the union toilet.

Meanwhile, QandO points out that if Harry Reid had any leadership skills whatsoever, the 60 votes were there since 10 Republicans actually went along with the union bailout. (Again, this was a Democrat leadership issue.)

Franken Close to Stealing Election

A Minnesota canvassing board, which includes a Democrat secretary of state, appears that it might give Franken the benefit of the doubt in every instance, letting them count election night totals in some precincts where it benefits him while counting hand recounts in other precincts where it benefits him.

According to the Weekly Standard, this nonsense would give Franken a 4 vote victory. Once that happens of course, the votes have to stop because the Democrat will have finally moved into the lead. Expect it to happen...and the GOP are too spineless to stop it.

UAW Blames Southern GOP Senators

The UAW had the audacity to lash out against southern senators who voted against the auto union bailout. UAW President Gettelfinger opposed any union concessions, instead betting that the government would bail out his union's excessive benefit patterns over the past several decades.

And after playing a game of chicken, the UAW appears like it might win, with President Bush considering using TARP funds to rescue the inefficient, mismanaged U.S. auto companies.

By the way, I'm curious why Congress isn't interested in finding out how much Gettelfinger makes or how he travels to Washington, as they were with the CEOs of the Big 3.

Oh Come, Emanuel

Obama's Chief of Staff to-be, Rahm Emanuel, appears to have met with the corrupt Illinois government on several occasions regarding Obama's vacant senate seat. Hey, it's the Chicago way...

UAW Says No Thanks

The situation can't be that dire for the Big 3 and its auto workers. If it were, the UAW would not have opposed wage reductions as a precondition for bailout funds. Since they adamantly refused, one can only surmise that they prefer the alternative to a Washington bailout.

One interesting comment from Harry Reid:

"I dread looking at Wall Street tomorrow. It's not going to be a pleasant sight."

Since when has Reid given two thoughts about Wall Street? Aren't they just a bunch of evil, corrupt, greedy, overpaid villains? If Reid really cared about Wall Street and the stock market, he could lower income taxes, extend the existing Bush tax cuts, or lower capital gains and dividend taxes. He could also refuse the nationalization of health care, the carbon tax and many other anti-business programs his party is pushing.

FDIC Chair: GOP "Resents Helping Others"

FDIC Chair Sheila Bair appears as though she is desperately trying to cling to her job by insulting Republicans that don't support her idea of the government buying every home in the country in the name of "helping people." From the NYT:

“I’ve heard the stories of people who are suffering and can stay in their homes if there is just a small adjustment to their loans. There are some people in the Republican Party who resent the idea of helping others. But the market is broken right now, and unless we intervene, these people and the economy won’t be helped."

So Bair can now divine the intent of Republicans as well. Bush should fire her as his last civic duty in office.

Minnesota Going Back to Selected Machine Counts?

As everyone now knows, Norm Coleman won Minnesota's Senate election on November 4th. Franken complained, so they recounted all ballots by hand. Coleman won again. Now Democrat Secretary of State wants to selectively use totals from election day in districts that help Franken, but totals from the recount if they also help Franken.

On election night, a Minneapolis district accidentally ran through 129 ballots for Franken twice, according to elections director Cindy Reichert. During the hand recount, the district came up 133 votes short for Franken. So the Dems want the original (wrong) count to be validated. So why bother with the hand recount in the first place??

Ann Coulter has a good question: Why do guys named Al always try to steal elections?

If the Auto Bailout is so Important...

Why won't the Democrats share the legislation with Republicans and the White House? Congress is again in bizarro world, where they want immediate votes without anyone having reviewed what the legislation even says.

Obama's Odd Choice of Words

The governor of Illinois tried to sell a senator's seat for favors, hard cash, and/or a better position, and all Barack Obama can say is that he was "saddened." Saddened? Is that all? Try disgusted! Most Americans are 100% disgusted with this. Saddened is not the right word.

I'm trying to think of why someone might be saddened by this. Perhaps if that someone were a close friend maybe? Maybe someone that they sincerely trusted? We know Barack is a good friend of the governor, so maybe that's the reason. Anyway, maybe it's just me, but I think it's a strange choice of words to use.

But don't worry about Barack. If there's one thing he knows, it's disowning people. He's already disowned the Governor quicker than he could disown his racist grandmother and a lot quicker than he disowned his racist pastor. Yea that's been done.

Loan Mods Already a Huge Failure

The WSJ summarizes nicely the recent data from Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan:

"The results, I confess, were somewhat surprising, and not in a good way." Of mortgages modified in the early part of this year, more than 35% had gone at least 60 days delinquent again after just six months, and a full 53% were 30 days delinquent or more. By eight months, this default rate had climbed to 58%. Second quarter modifications are on track to be nearly as ugly, with more than 50% of borrowers at least 30 days delinquent at the six-month mark. Come to think of it, these stinkers are going south so quickly that perhaps the FDIC's plan actually will protect taxpayers -- there won't be much left to insure after these toxic loans blow up in the first six months after modification.

Of course, that would mean that fewer foreclosures would be avoided, which is supposed to be the point of this exercise. For her part, FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair says that "The OCC's data on redefaults raises more questions than answers because it fails to define, in any meaningful way, the modifications that have redefaulted." In politics, when you don't like the data, merely wish it away.

Unfortunately for us taxpayers, Bair is perhaps the biggest proponent of restructuring all delinquent mortgages, which will leave the housing industry in shambles for a longer period of time and will present a nice tax bill for Treasury. One observation is that, whenever the name of Sheila Bair comes up in the press, she is always labled "Republican." I suppose it's possible to have such a dim-witted Republican, but when your proposals can't be distinguished from Nancy Pelosi's or Ted Kennedy's, it's hard to believe that she is anything but a big-government Liberal.

Pelosi Opposes Welch as "Car Czar"

As part of the auto bailout bill, Democrats want to appoint a "car czar" to make sure Washington can implement the automakers' business plans. But given the chance to appoint a no-nonsense business leader like Jack Welch, Pelosi says no thanks. She would prefer a Washington insider who will roll over for the Democrats' (and their union allies') political wishes.

I don't know if Welch would want such a position, but I can guarantee he would be far better than anybody that Washington could appoint.

Dem Rep. Lloyd Doggett to Close Tax Incentive for Banks?

Just as the banking industry seems to be slightly stabilizing, Democrat Rep. Lloyd Doggett wants to close what's known as the "Wells Fargo ruling," which allows healthy banks to utilize the tax losses of unhealthy banks, which make acquisitions more attractive and likely.

Why anyone is trying to prevent this type of banking consolidation precisely when we need it most is absurd...but then again, it's just another day in the life of a clueless-on-the-economy Democrat.

Illinois Governor Tries to Sell Obama Seat

What is it with Democratic governors? Illinois' governor was caught trying to sell Obama's Senate seat to make a little extra cash.

*Update*
He also calls Obama a "motherf***er."

The Wrong Person for TARP

Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren believes that all finance companies are evil and is "a giant credit machine that wants to eat families alive.”" As bank analyst Tom Brown points out,

I fear we’re likely to see a document that aims to turn the TARP plan from a program aimed at easing the financial crisis into some back-door borrower-relief scheme that will only delay the pain, but will make everyone feel a lot better in the meantime. Maybe I’m wrong, of course.

We’ll know on Dec. 10. Fortunately, Warren is just one of five members—three Democrats and two Republicans—of the panel. Less fortunately, the group thought it would be a good idea to put her in charge.

A professor with a contempt for consumer finance companies - not exactly the person you want in charge of trying to help save the finance industry.

New England Border Chief Hired Illegals

If we are really serious about the illegal immigrant problem, it might help to have our top Homeland Security agents not hire illegals. Lorraine Henderson, the New England regional director of Homeland Security, Customs, and Border Protection, has been charged with hiring several illegal immigrants.

I don't think most Americans have problems with expanding visas for immigrants to come here legally, but they do have problems with senior government officials who decide the laws don't apply to them.

Tax on Belching/Flatulent Cows?

The EPA is proposing levying a tax on farmers whose cows and hogs that belch and flatulate too much after the liberal justices (and Kennedy) on agreed in a 2007 case that smelly animals amounts to air pollution. How idiotic these environmental nut cases are.

533K Jobs Lost

The latest jobs number was obviously not good - a loss of 533K jobs last month, which is a very ugly number. Still, if one were to look at a silver lining, it might just be that companies are becoming much more nimble and are willing to take immediate cuts to preserve competitiveness and profitability. Years ago, job losses would likely have been more gradual. Today, companies cut dramatically in anticipation of the worst case.

Not good news, but it does point to our ability to adapt rather quickly to dynamic events.

Paulson's New Plan to Stop Home Price Declines

The federal government is panicked and has no clue what to do. The latest strategy from Paulson & Co. is to stop home price declines by artificially lowering mortgage rates that would allow people to pay higher prices for homes. (Sound familiar?) I generally agree with Henry Blodget on the subject. In short, it's a bad idea.

Best case scenario, in our opinion, the new plan will slow the rate at which house prices are falling and make the "adjustment" to the new reality less violent. It will probably also stretch out the time it takes the country to work through the crisis (by postponing the inevitable). Given the rate at which the economy is deteriorating, however, shallower-but-longer may just be better than deeper-and-shorter.

I disagree with his final sentence; this is what happened as a result of the New Deal. In short, a 10-year depression is really not worth it. Or ask Japan. A 20-year stagnation is not worth it. Let the pain happen and let the economy correct on its own. The economy will survive. And a year (or less) from now, it will mostly be behind us instead of still dangling in front of us.

B of A CEO: Accounting Rules Big Contributor to Crisis

Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis said that a couple of accounting rules continue to be big contributors to the ongoing financial crisis. I couldn't agree more. From the Charlotte Observer:

Mark-to-market accounting rules require banks to value their assets based on a price they could immediately fetch, rather than their long-term value. That's resulted in absurd short-term valuations, Lewis said.

Another problem is capital provisioning policies. “This idea of building reserves in the bad times and reducing reserves in the good times … I don't know how big a squirrel's brain is, but a squirrel knows better than that,” he said.

Schwarzenegger Flops on Tax, Budget Increases

This is precisely why anyone who argues during an election process that he will not raise taxes and will slash spending, even though his record implies otherwise, is simply not believable. And Arnold was more believable than Obama is. From the WSJ.

A big part of the problem is the Terminator himself. When Mr. Schwarzenegger ran for Governor in 2003 amid the last California fiscal crisis, he promised a new ethic of spending restraint, no new taxes and less debt financing. Six years later none of that has happened. Once California crawled out of that last fiscal emergency, Mr. Schwarzenegger made one more stab at budget reform, got clobbered at the ballot box, and has since given in and let the budget grow to $144.5 billion -- a 40% hike over four years.

Democrats refuse even to trim the budget. Neither they nor the Governor have proposed shutting down a single government program. Many California voters also seem to live under this delusion that government is free. The state has a debt of $60 billion and the worst credit rating among the 50 states. But in November Californians approved a $10 billion bond for a high-speed rail system that will add $600 million in annual debt servicing costs to the state budget every year until the middle of the century.

If California Democrats are so hell-bent on tax-and-spending California into the ground, why would anyone possibly believe that their ideological brothers and sisters in Washington will be any different?

Chrysler Vice Chair: Failure Could Spark Depression

Chrysler's Vice Chairman says that its failure could spark a depression in the U.S. First, foreign cars produced in the U.S. are now greater than domestic cars. So while a (coninued) failure might hurt workers in Michigan, they will likely just be shifted to states like Ohio, Kentucky and Alabama, which produce foreign vehicles.

Second, if he truly believes what he says, perhaps they should work a little harder to point it out to the unions, whose workers make 75% more than those at factories producing Hondas, Toyotas, Nissans, etc. In fact, a chapter 11 would likely make the firms more competitive, not less.

Obama: No Windfall Oil Profits Tax

Remember that idiotic windfall profits tax proposal on oil companies? Never mind, says Obama. An aide said that with oil prices below $80/barrel, there is no longer a need for such a tax. I'm a bit confused - if oil companies were responsible for high oil prices, then why did they let them drop almost 70% in 6 months? Why not keep them high to make more money?

Pirates Fire on US Cruise Ship

Somali-based pirates fired on a U.S. cruise ship but was not successful in hijacking it. I think it's about time for the international community (read: U.S.) to go back in and take care of business in Somalia. As Bill Clinton now knows, this is what happens when you run away from a job before it's finished. Let's hope Obama doesn't re-learn that lesson.

Memo to Media: SecDef Gates is Not a Republican

The media has been praising Obama for his bipartisanship in putting Republicans in his cabinet and use Secretary of Defense Robert Gates as an example. The problem is, as Harry Reid admits, Gates is not and has never been, a Republican.

Capitol Visitor Center Finally Opens...Way Over Budget

Another great example of why we don't want the government expanding its role in the economy. The Capitol Visitor Center is finally finished - 3 years behind schedule and at a cost of $621 million, or nearly 9x more than its original budget. Nice work guys - job well done.

*Update*
Sen. DeMint does not like it, saying that it is also a generally Left-leaning center that omits some integral attributes about the origination of our government.

Jews in India Tortured Before Death

The Jews who were killed in India were badly tortured before being murdered. According to the doctor who performed the post-mortem:

Of all the bodies, the Israeli victims bore the maximum torture marks. It was clear that they were killed on the 26th itself (the first day of the Islamist terrorist attack). It was obvious that they were tied up and tortured before they were killed. It was so bad that I do not want to go over the details even in my head again."

"Bombay has a long history of terror. I have seen bodies of riot victims, gang war and previous terror attacks like bomb blasts. But this was entirely different. It was shocking and disturbing."

The terrorists have taught us all another valuable lesson. On 9/11, they taught us never to allow a hijacked plane again. Now they've taught us to fight back against terrorists, even if it means charging a gunman without a weapon. And just as in the case of appeasement, people need to realize that being an obedient hostage no longer works.

Franken Still Not Giving Up Trying to Steal Election

Al Franken lost the election. Then he lost the recount. Now he is trying to get some selected (i.e. only if they help him) disqualified ballots counted so that he can orchestrate a successful theft of an election. And now he's going to appeal to the U.S. Senate for helping him.

I'll give Democrats one thing - they won't give up even when they lose. Republicans could learn a thing or two about their ruthless motivations. Heck, it got them a Washington state governor seat a few years ago without any negative repercussions.

Earth Cooling For Second Straight Year

For those of you who still think the Earth is warming, wake up. This is the second straight year of global cooling, even here in the U.S. And between the two, global cooling is by far the more worrisome problem for mankind.

The problem is that politicians (and journalists) refuse to look at data. Otherwise we wouldn't be proposing trillion-dollar solutions to "combat global warming" or proposing spending trillions on New Deal problems that will worsen the economy.

Idiots in Bollywood

Yup, there are idiots in Bollywood also - India's version of our Far Left home for actors/wannabe political activists.

CA Republicans Hold Fast Against Tax Increases

The California Governator has declared a fiscal emergency and is trying to address the crisis through a combination of spending cuts and tax increases. I haven't seen the details, but I suspect that the proposal is light on the former and heavy on the latter.

Republicans are refusing to raise taxes. Good for them - if states can drastically expand its government labor force during the boom years, it should certainly cut them during recessions. I hope the CA GOP stays true to its word.

OPEC: $70-90 Oil "Very Reasonable"

OPEC decided not to cut its production at a meeting this past weekend. Meanwhile, OPEC's Secretary General said that the price of oil between $70 and $90 is "very reasonable."

Thanks for the offer, Abdalla, but with oil at a recent price of under $50/barrel, I find the market price even more reasonable.

Obama Caused the Stock Market Rally?

George Snuffaluphagus claims that Obama is the cause for the recent stock market rally and even Black Friday's decent sales.

George never mentioned what caused the 20% market crash in the two weeks following the Obama election - or the fact that stores sold merchandise at 60-80% discounts on Friday - perhaps topics for another day.