Saturday, February 7, 2009
"A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe."
Catastrophe, mind you. So much for the president who in his inaugural address two weeks earlier declared "we have chosen hope over fear." Until, that is, you need fear to pass a bill. And so much for the promise to banish the money changers and influence peddlers from the temple. An ostentatious executive order banning lobbyists was immediately followed by the nomination of at least a dozen current or former lobbyists to high position. Followed by a Treasury secretary who allegedly couldn't understand the payroll tax provisions in his 1040. Followed by Tom Daschle, who had to fall on his sword according to the new Washington rule that no Cabinet can have more than one tax delinquent. The Daschle affair was more serious because his offense involved more than taxes. As Michael Kinsley once observed, in Washington the real scandal isn't what's illegal, but what's legal. Not paying taxes is one thing. But what made this case intolerable was the perfectly legal dealings that amassed Daschle $5.2 million in just two years. He'd been getting $1 million per year from a law firm. But he's not a lawyer, nor a registered lobbyist. You don't get paid this kind of money to instruct partners on the Senate markup process. You get it for picking up the phone and peddling influence. At least Tim Geithner, the tax-challenged Treasury secretary, had been working for years as a humble international civil servant earning non-stratospheric wages. Daschle, who had made another cool million a year (plus chauffeur and Caddy) for unspecified services to a pal's private equity firm, represented everything Obama said he'd come to Washington to upend. And yet more damaging to Obama's image than all the hypocrisies in the appointment process is his signature bill: the stimulus package. He inexplicably delegated the writing to Nancy Pelosi and the barons of the House. The product, which inevitably carries Obama's name, was not just bad, not just flawed, but a legislative abomination. It's not just pages and pages of special-interest tax breaks, giveaways and protections, one of which would set off a ruinous Smoot-Hawley trade war. It's not just the waste, such as the $88.6 million for new construction for Milwaukee Public Schools, which, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, have shrinking enrollment, 15 vacant schools and, quite logically, no plans for new construction. It's the essential fraud of rushing through a bill in which the normal rules (committee hearings, finding revenue to pay for the programs) are suspended on the grounds that a national emergency requires an immediate job-creating stimulus -- and then throwing into it hundreds of billions that have nothing to do with stimulus, that Congress's own budget office says won't be spent until 2011 and beyond, and that are little more than the back-scratching, special-interest, lobby-driven parochialism that Obama came to Washington to abolish. He said.
Consumers blindsided by Experian on credit score
At a time when it's so important for consumers to monitor their credit scores, Experian, one of the three credit reporting agencies, has decided consumers are not entitled to see their FICO scores based on their Experian credit file.
Okay, Guys be Careful what you Wish for. What You Should Know Before Getting Another Girl To Join In
Do you have a 2 Women fantasy? This is sweet justice.
Flirting with Disaster.
Friday, February 6, 2009
God In the White House-Book
How did we go from John F. Kennedy declaring that religion should play no role in the elections to Bush saying, "I believe that God wants me to be president"? Historian Randall Balmer takes us on a tour of presidential religiosity in the last half of the twentieth century—from Kennedy's 1960 speech that proposed an almost absolute wall between American political and religious life to the soft religiosity of Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society; from Richard Nixon's manipulation of religion to fit his own needs to Gerald Ford's quiet stoicism; from Jimmy Carter's introduction of evangelicalism into the mainstream to Ronald Reagan's co-option of the same group; from Bill Clinton's covert way of turning religion into a non-issue to George W. Bush's overt Christian messages, Balmer reveals the role religion has played in the personal and political lives of these American presidents. Americans were once content to disregard religion as a criterion for voting, as in most of the modern presidential elections before Jimmy Carter.But today's voters have come to expect candidates to fully disclose their religious views and to deeply illustrate their personal relationship to the Almighty. God in the White Houseexplores the paradox of Americans' expectation that presidents should simultaneously trumpet their religious views and relationship to God while supporting the separation of church and state. Balmer tells the story of the politicization of religion in the last half of the twentieth century, as well as the "religionization" of our politics. He reflects on the implications of this shift, which have reverberated in both our religious and political worlds, and offers a new lens through which to see not only these extraordinary individuals, but also our current political situation.Book Description
My take on the Credit Crisis and Baliout.
This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. Why oh why can't congress do their homework!!! Any company out there that throws their future and money at a problem goes out of business! USA will have the same thing happen if we don't wise up. We are the most powerful nation on earth and I am starting to wonder if we are only out of sheer luck. If we keep going on like we are we will survive only out of sheer luck.
Please let's use our heads here. Here are some effective ways to fix our current issues without spending.
Eliminate Mark to Market accounting. It is a ludicrous way to account for your assets. Here is a definition of Mark to Market.
Another way to flood the market without spending a dime, lower the capital gains tax. Wall Street still runs the market. The people that have money are the ones we need to start investing again. These investors would come back in if we did this one simple thing. Doesn't cost us a dime. Yes, less revenue but we would not take actual cash out of our system to do it and I guarantee you will see money come back in.
Reduce the payroll tax and the price of doing business. These are effective ways to get our economy rolling again. I feel it is not what people do it is why are they doing it.
Letting people in government that are not out for the best interests of the economy, or to give them the benefit of the doubt, are well meaning but misguided, power over the economy is terrifying. What are the credentials of our leaders making our financial futures? Well, based on our last election, If Al Franken can get elected.... what can you say. Senators should have to have some kind of background in finance and other criteria to be running our country. But this will never happen. Why? Because of the huge conflict of interest. The criminals are running the prison. And so the change we really need isn't going to happen.
Letting Nancy "Kickback" Pelosi come up with these pork barrel spending bills is going to take us down. Obama, it has nothing to do with whether we accept this stupid Bailout bill. It has very little support. WE ARE NOT STUPID!!
Change we need??? This is a rerun of what Paulson and Bush did a few months ago. The rhetoric is insane. And no one is buying it.
Robyn D. Honsey
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Scientists: True love can last a lifetime
(CNN) -- Love's first blush fading? Lost that loving feeling? Love is not all around?
Scientists have used brain scans to study how long love lasts between couples.
Sick of cliches?
Take heart, scientists have discovered that people can have a love that lasts a lifetime.
Using brain scans, researchers at Stony Brook University in New York have discovered a small number of couples respond with as much passion after 20 years together as most people only do during the early throes of romance, Britain's Sunday Times newspaper reported.
The researchers scanned the brains of couples together for 20 years and compared them with results from new lovers, the Sunday Times said.
About 10 percent of the mature couples had the same chemical reactions when shown photographs of their loved ones as those just starting out.
Previous research has suggested that the first stages of romantic love fade within 15 months and after 10 years it has gone completely, the newspaper said.
"The findings go against the traditional view of romance -- that it drops off sharply in the first decade -- but we are sure it's real," said Arthur Aron, a psychologist at Stony Brook, told the Sunday Times.
Testing of Online Flower Delivery Services. The best and the worst.
CBS Tests Several Online Flower Delivery Services
CBS tested five online flower delivery services for accuracy of pictures compared to what is actually delivered. Top services FromYouFlowers.com, FTD and Teleflora and worst were ProFlowers.com and Zeze Flowers. The complete report is here. Tips.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Joe Namath Presents Title Trophy (Video)
It is impossible to go through a Super Bowl without being reminded of Joe Namath's famous guarantee before Baltimore's Super Bowl III update.
It's perfectly fitting, then, that the 65-year-old Namath brought the Vince Lombardi Trophy onto the field after the Steelers' exciting victory -- especially since the game turned into a classic dual between two talented quarterbacks. After Pittsburgh celebrated on the field, Namath appeared with the trophy, which he then had to carry through a hoard of jubilant Steelers players, all of whom took turns trying to grab the Lombardi as it passed.
Video of Namath being mobbed by Steelers as he walked to the podium, along with the presentation ceremony itself, is after the jump.
It's always nice when Namath makes an appearance in front of the national network cameras given his disastrous appearance with Suzy Kolber at a Jets game in 2003 still gets talked about:
Broadway Joe apologized for that appearance, then later checked into an alcoholism treatment program, so football fans everywhere must appreciate seeing Namath confidently stride into the public eye.
Groundhog Day- Groundhog Sees His Shadow-6 more Weeks of Winter.
Punxsutawney Phil has spoken: Six more weeks of winter. The legendary groundhog made his annual prediction early Monday after seeing his shadow. Since 1886, Phil has seen his shadow 97 times, hasn't seen it 14 times, and there are no records for nine years, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. The last time Phil didn't see his shadow was in 1999. The Groundhog Day forecast for the Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, area suggests Phil will have trouble seeing his shadow. The National Weather Service predicts mostly cloudy weather for the area. Thousands of people descend on Punxsutawney, about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, each year for the tradition.
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