This is Why Obama Has it Won

This picture was taken in Germany in front of the Victory Column (Siegessaeule) in Berlin. These are the same Europeans that were (and probably still are) hating America just a few short years ago. Now they are waving our flag for one of our candidates who hasn't even won the Presidency yet. Obama has it sewed up. Time to Obama-proof your portfolio.

The World is Beating America in the Power Race

Plus the rest of the world seems to understand that they have to grow their power supply but cannot rely on alternative energy alone to do it.

The rest of the world knows that green sources of energy are inadequate to keep their people out of poverty. That is why around the world, from Europe to South America to Asia, countries are building coal and nuclear power plants at a dizzying pace while also drilling for oil wherever they can find it. Meanwhile, the United States, crippled by an out-of-control environmental movement, is refusing to develop needed energy sources.

This part is something that every American needs to know backward and forward so there won't be anymore environmental scare tactics regarding nuclear power. Nuclear energy is the only way we can get enough electricity while avoiding global warming at the same time.

The United States has not built a nuclear power plant in 30 years. While there are 30 plants currently being planned, all are tied up in the arcane permitting process the environmentalist left has created. None of the projects has started construction. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is embracing nuclear power. France already gets 80% of its electricity from nuclear power. Japan has six nuclear plants under construction and another six planned. India also has six under construction and another 19 planned. China has seven under construction and another 85 planned.

Are the Democrats Now the Party of the Rich?

At least it is starting to seem so according to this article by the Heritage Foundation.

More important, though, is whether Obama's remarks reflect the emerging demographic transformation of the Democratic party from a bottom-up "party of the people" into a holding pen for all sorts of economic and educational elites. One way to test this is to look at who has been making presidential campaign contributions during the 2008 election cycle. Thanks to the way the Federal Election Commission collects this data, we can sort contributions according to a donor's occupation or employer.

We are already seeing this tendency for the Dems to go for the rich in the housing bailout. The Housing Bailout Bill will let Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy mortgages of up to $625,000 in high-cost areas such as South Florida, California and the Northeast, which is up from $417,000. A person with a $625,000 home is probably in that elite category mentioned above. I wonder if some of Obama's economic plans will be softened by these new rich backers?

This is What Happens When Liberals Rule San Francisco

I think this is case-in-point why people don't trust liberals when it comes to law and order.

The scene repeats itself daily on city streets: a driver gets stuck bumper to bumper, blocking an intersection and preventing another car from turning left.

But authorities say that was enough to cause Edwin Ramos to unload an AK-47 assault weapon on a man and his two sons, killing them.

The deaths immediately drew public outrage, which intensified when authorities revealed that Ramos, 21, is an illegal immigrant who managed to avoid deportation despite previous brushes with the law.

So it would be cut and dried to think this guy would have been deported after he committed even one other crime but he was allowed to walk free. And a father and two sons were mowed down with an AK-47 (which I bet was unlicensed so San Fran. gun laws were worthless) simply because they blocked an intersection. It doesn't matter if he was a illegal immigrant or not you would think a person that committed such a terrible act would be up for the death penalty right? Wrong.

The heinousness of the deaths has put pressure on San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris to seek the death penalty against Ramos. Harris, who campaigned on an anti-death penalty platform and has never pursued capital punishment during her more than four years in office, has declined to say exactly how she intends to proceed.

"This case has been charged as a special circumstance case," making it eligible for the death penalty, spokeswoman Erica Derryck said. "No additional announcement has been made about this aspect of the charging."

So the taxpayers may have to feed, clothe, and house this psychopath for up to 60 years or more because the DA doesn't want him put to death. And liberals seriously want to lead when it comes to law and order? An illegal immigrant can commit 2 felonies and murder a family in cold blood and he will become a resident of the US for the rest of his life? The sad part is that these people might be running the country come next January.

More Into About Why we Are NOT in a Recession

As I have said many times before we are not even close to a depression and this article is even more proof.

The paradoxical thing about today's economy is its strength. No kidding. Consider all the hand grenades lobbed at it. Higher oil prices. The housing implosion. Large layoffs in affected industries: autos, airlines, construction, mortgage banking. The "credit squeeze" triggered by losses on "subprime" mortgages. Despite all that, the economy hasn't collapsed. It's merely weakened. Output in the first quarter of 2008 was actually 2.5 percent higher than a year earlier.

I would be willing to bet you that even if things get really bad in Obama 1st Term we will get all sorts of rosy predicitions of a recovery "just around the corner." I would be shocked if we even see one mention of a recession or depression in the next 4 years.

We may even get some op-eds about how Americans upon facing tough times and perserverering. I bet the media will make it seem fashionable to save money and start living within their means. There might even be a backlash against conspicuous consumption. Which are all great ideas.

I keep thinking how an Obama America would play out and there are some positives. If he improves the national mood and makes Americans proud of themselves again I think it might just outweigh the negatives. That is as long as I am either all in cash and heavily short the market.

WWE Diva Marlena (Terri Runnels) to Give Away House in Contest

At least this is one way of getting rid of your property if the home market in your area is getting beaten down.

That focus is what led her to create "Make the World Write," a national essay contest whose winner will win $100,000, as well as Runnels' personal home in Gainesville, Fla. That certainly an admirable prize in any situation, but what makes it more unique is how Runnels is trying to navigate the worsening housing market and economy.

"The reason I came up with this," says Runnels, "is because I was going to sell my house ... and the market is horrible."

I guess Terri Runnels gets a big tax writeoff for giving her house away in this contest. I'm not sure about Florida law so hopefully she has consulted a tax lawyer before she did this. I think this is a great idea because it gives a person the chance to live in a nice house in Florida and an extra $100,000 to help pay for property taxes. It is just a real wi-win. Who said these WWE Divas are dumb?

Subprime Crisis has a Racial Overtone

Hmm it seems that quite a few of these subprime loans have gone to blacks and Hispanics.

Subprime loans – loans made to homebuyers with less-than-perfect credit – were responsible for a large share of the foreclosures that started last year. And minorities received a hefty share of those loans. Just over half of African-Americans and 4 in 10 Hispanics who got a mortgage in 2006 had a subprime loan, according to a 2007 analysis by the Center for Responsible Lending.

I wonder if this was a case of the Subprime lenders catering to the market or did they simply dupe these minorities into signing these loans? I guess it is how you look at it.

"The difficulties have been concentrated in 'subprime' loans, which generally go to borrowers with limited or damaged credit, although there is evidence that some borrowers are shifted into the subprime category because they are African-American or Hispanic," said Rep. Barney Frank (D) of Massachusetts, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, in a statement last week.

It seems that some lenders might have gone after certain types of unsophisticated borrowers. It just seems so condescending to think that all of these minorities were duped by a bunch of pinstriped bankers. I guess there just weren't enough Hispanics and Blacks saying "how much is this going to cost me if interest rates change?"

That is why Congress needs to set aside some of that money to make a Money 101 class a required course to pass High School. I don't think the problem would have been so widespread if people sat down and analysed what they had to pay through the life of the loans. If there was proper budgeting and thought going into what how rising interest rates would affected the most important asset that most people will ever have.

Congress vs. the Oil Speculators

It seems that Congress is finally going to crack down on excessive speculation in the oil market now that oil is finally starting to fall.

It would provide more resources and authority to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission to detect and punish speculation, stop speculators from using foreign markets to manipulate the price of oil in the United States, require more transparency in oil markets and limit the trading of market players who do not intend to take delivery of the oil they purchase.

In particular, the bill will give the CFTC greater power to regulate the "swap" market for futures and differentiate between "legitimate" and "illegitimate" hedge trading that, the Democrats say, has lead to increased prices.

I wonder how much they are limiting "legitimate" hedge trading to people that are going to take the actual delivery of oil? That would seem to make the market less liquid because there are far less players who would have access to the market. In this case we might see bigger price swings since there aren't as many traders that would be able to soften the ups and downs.

Hopefully this legislation will prevent pension funds from using their vast resources to chase after returns in the commodity markets. We may actually see oil come down to below $100 if there isn't a war with Iran or any hurricanes stopping supply in the Gulf of Mexico.

Obama to Leave 50,000 Troops in Iraq by 2010

It seems that Obama is tacking further and further to the center everyday.

In Iraq , Obama won a tacit Iraqi endorsement of a plan to withdraw U.S. combat troops in 2010, but he also said that he backs leaving a residual force in Iraq to help train military personnel, provide security for U.S. interests and thwart terrorist threats. The residual force might total up to 50,000 troops, his campaign advisers have told reporters.

Maybe Petraeus talked some sense into him and Obama can't just repeat the same tired far-left rhetoric of pulling every troop out by last March without putting facts into the equation. A force of 50,000 backing up the Iraqis allows us to have a presence in the area if things start to go south. I would think the Iraqis would agree to such a force if things are still quiet in 2010.

It would be like the Vietnamization policy in the Vietnam War but without having to contend with a hostile power to the immediate north of the country backed by Communist Superpowers.
There is a hostile power to the east but nothing like North Vietnam.

I mean honestly do we need so many troops in country on a permanent basis if things stay quiet like this? I am really hoping that these moves to the center by Obama are sincere and not just calculated to win the Presidency. If it were Hillary these moves would be suspect but I'm still not sure what to make of Obama.

Consumers are Changing: Hopefully for the Better

It seems we may actually have some frugal Americans now that there is so much food and fuel inflation out there.

Every economic downturn changes shoppers in some way. But this time, experts say the new behavior — fueled by higher gas and food prices, tightening credit and a slumping housing market — are the most dramatic and widespread that they have seen since the mid-1970s.

So retailers, marketers and investors are all trying to figure out which habits shoppers will keep and which will they drop when the economy recovers. Will the people who switched to store-brand ice cream go back to Breyers or Edy's? Will shoppers return to department stores or keep looking for labels at T.J. Maxx?

Perhaps Americans are finally understanding that they are spending lots of money they don't have on junk they don't need. They could be finally waking up to the fact that they are causing alot of the worlds problems by driving a huge car and wasting too much electricity heating their giant McMansion.

I mean if Americans took the lead in living a frugal life instead of consuming so many of the worlds resources maybe the rest of the world will follow suit. It isn't our God-given right to drive a massive gas guzzling SUV or a Full Sized Truck to eat a huge pile of food at Dennys. Maybe people are making due with less and are actually liking how they are feeling when they do it. I mean saving lots of money or getting a good deal has always given me a great feeling of accomplishment.

I think someone should start a "Live Within Your Means Movement" where people make due with only the essentials in life like nourishing food, adequate transportation, decent shelter, enough clothes to make due, and enough distractions so they don't freak out. All the rest can be saved for a rainy day or passed on to someone who needs it more. The person who can do the most good with the least amount wins some kind of award.

Now all we need to do is get rid of the My Sweet 16, the Hills, and the Do-Nothings of Orange County fetishization of wealth. This so-called "wealth porn" just shows how badly Americans can waste money on frivolous crap instead of using it to do some good. I think the nasty, dumb, and wasteful Americans depicted on these shows is one of the reasons why Al-Quida wants to kill us.

So I hope this slowdown makes some teenagers say "the money from that brats Sweet 16 party they could have fed 10,000 kids" instead of saying "I wish my party could be be like that." It would be nice for people to think of a trophy wife in Orange County as a pathetic drain on the worlds resources instead of something they need to emulate.

Newspapers Slowly Dying: Some Suggestions

Hmm I wonder if the newspaper industry is going to pull out of its death spiral or will it go the way of the buggy whip?

Newspapers have strong brand names, but their websites continue to capture only a small portion of the revenue lost by the decline in print advertising. Even classified advertising, once a huge moneymaker for newspapers, has evaporated as advertisers go online and everyone flocks to Craigslist. Auto and real estate, hammered by the current tough times, are also moving online.

I wonder if they could stop their precipitous drop by simply shutting down the printing presses and going 100% digital? They could offer an online subscription so you would be able to access the content similar to what the Wall Street Journal does. I mean quite a few people are switching to the online version of the Journal because it is very convenient and pretty much has the same thing that the print version has.

Or you could provide a service where you pay $20 and get access to like 5 different daily papers and you can search all content in the paper perhaps going back to their first issue. The only thing that I read in the Honolulu Advertiser is the Letters to the Editor and I would be willing to put that into a package of 5 papers along with the New York Post, Washington Post, the Star Bulletin, and maybe the New York Daily News. I, however, refuse to have a bunch of physical newspapers pile up in front of my door.

Also several papers could band together and form a pay version of Craigslist. Currently the only problem I see with Craigslist is that there seems to be lots of spam mixed in with the good stuff. This All-In-One-Classified service (or they could just buy out Craigslist so they don't have to build their own thing) would check the content to make sure it isn't spam and deliver up useful daily ads. I would be willing to bet that people would pay pretty well in order to reach the readers of 5 different nation-wide dailies with strong brand names. The companies would then share the earnings similar to how the banks share Visa's earnings.

I think the idea of a printed paper delivered to a persons home will not last more than 10 years in its present form. The newspaper industry is simply too expensive and its revenues are shrinking too fast for it to be a viable business in its current form. The newspaper industry is now similar to typewriter industry. It has been replaced by something that is much easier and more accessible.

If there are no changes in the industry then I think the only papers left will be billionaires private trophy papers (so the New York Times will live on) that don't have to worry about costs. Their owners will think of them in the same way that they think of sports teams, massive yachts, and thoroughbred horses. Printed newspaper companies will become something to brag about and will never need to turn a profit again. Perhaps when this happens it will usher in a second golden age of journalism. These papers will not have to worry about costs and cutbacks so they could really make their art shine.

Congress Should Declare War on Al-Quida

I think this would be a great idea and I'm shocked why it hasn't been mentioned before.

"Any legislation should acknowledge again and explicitly that this nation remains engaged in an armed conflict with al Qaeda, the Taliban and associated organizations, who have already proclaimed themselves at war with us," Mukasey said in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute.

I mean they have already declared war against us and provided a Casus Beli by destroying our buildings on 9/11. I guess we didn't do it because they are not an actual nation but a multi-national group. However the Constitution doesn't differentiate between declaring war on an organization rather than a nation but it would be without precedent.

This would solve the enemy combatant issue by making them POWs and allow us to try them by military tribunal. I mean they were seized on a battlefield during a war so they should be considered POWs.

Plus we would have to abide by the Geneva Convention and they should as well if they happen to capture our people. Of course Al-Quida are animals who beheads our people while we will try them under enemy combatant status. This action will formalize the War on Terror as an actual War Against Al-Quida, the Taliban, and its surrogates.

Netbooks Challenging Computer Industry?

I would be scared if these things became widely adopted. The PC makers margins would be under pressure and the growth of laptops (which is the only style of computer that is still growing) could be in jeopardy.

The new computers, often called netbooks, have scant onboard memory. They use energy-sipping computer chips. They are intended largely for surfing Web sites and checking e-mail. The price is small too, with some selling for as little as $300.

I just don't think that these things will be as big a threat as this article makes them out to be. It would be nice to browse the Internet and check email from anywhere but you can already do that with an IPhone or a Blackberry. They work as a phone and MP3 player and are about as small as you can get.

So in this case the small size of the Netbook PC makes it tough to do actual work on it since you can barely see the screen and they have such a tiny little keyboard. At least with the Blackberry you can two thumb type. The Eee PC has one of those tiny little keyboards that is designed for a 6 year old. You could plug in a monitor or a full sized keyboard like you can with the CherryPal that the article mentions but you can already do this with a regular laptop.

I think a really thin and light laptop like the Macbook Air is about the smallest laptop that people would use and still be productive. I mean to check your mail and fire off a quick message or to check your stocks would be much easier to do on a Blackberry or an IPhone then on something like The Eee.

It seems to me that this Netbook is an in-between product that is just too big to do what a smart phone does (access the internet on the go) but too small to do what a laptop currently does (mobile computing for business and pleasure.) So I think this will be more of a niche item and less of a game changer then the New York Times thinks.

Europe Embraces the Atom

It seems that the Europeans are finally starting to understand that nuclear power is one of the few short term solutions if you truly want to reduce carbon emissions.

All over the world, nuclear power is making a comeback. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has just commissioned eight new reactors, and says there's "no upper limit" to the number Britain will build in the future. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has challenged her country's program to phase out 17 nuclear reactors by 2020, saying it will be impossible to deal with climate change without them. China and India are building nuclear power plants; France and Russia, both of whom have embraced the technology, are fiercely competing to sell them the hardware.

This article also has some interesting facts on nuclear power that needs to be highlighted any time nuclear power is mentioned. First you can't turn a nuclear reactor into a giant bomb since the uranium in the reactor hasn't been enriched yet. Also even if a plane crashes into a nuclear plant it won't cause it to explode or even have its cooling tanks get dented.

Finally nuclear waste is almost 95% recyclable and the rest could easily be stored in one place under guard. We might even find a use for it 50-100 years down the line depending on what new technologies come along. Most of the environmentalist opposition to nuclear waste is based on bad science. It is so hypocritical of the anti-nuke lobby to be so convinced about global warming but are in such opposition to something that can actually help us combat it.

Batman: The Dark Knight Breaks Midnight Madness Record

This movie will probably be the top grosser this summer.

So far, The Dark Knight has the midnight record, topping 2005's Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith ($16.5 million) and, with its 4,366 theaters, the widest-release record, besting 2007's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (4,362).

I know of several people that went to see it opening night but I'm not sure if they got in or not. I'm planning on seeing it sometime next week or the week after. However I think the people below are just plain nuts. I mean the movie will be out for months and then be in DVD form before the end of the year.

A quick search reveals similar ads are up in areas such as Dallas, where someone was trying to get $80 for four midnight tickets to a theater in Plano, Texas, and Raleigh, North Carolina, where a buyer was willing to pay $40 for two $12 adult admissions to a Friday night show there.

Phil Gramm Out As McCain Advisor

I think these surrogates for the candidates need to just read the exact same prepared statement and not have any opinion of their own if one slip-up forces them out.

Last week, the McCain campaign stumbled when Gramm said the country was in a "mental recession" and had become "a nation of whiners" — sentiments McCain rejected.
Gramm, a former U.S. senator from Texas, issued a statement late Friday saying he was stepping down as co-chair of the McCain campaign "to end this distraction and get on with the real debate."

The problem is that he should have said that some people in this nation whine too much or hedge his bets with a "some Americans are feeling pain" type of thing.

Bush Talking About Iraq "Horizon"

A timetable by any other name will still let us march out as victors and not duck out under fire. The facts on the ground are starting to change Bush's opinions on the matter.

What's changed? The sharp reduction in violence in Iraq — to the lowest level in four years — has made the country's leaders increasingly confident and more assertive about its sovereignty, giving rise to demands for a specific plan for American forces to leave.

This along with coming in from the cold on Iran and possibly avoiding an Israeli strike if Iran agrees to cooperate. It seems like backing the Surge is the best gamble that Bush has ever made. If the Israeli's and Palestinians can agree to some kind of peace plan then Bush will have done more in his last 6 months in office then the entire time before. We may even have an economic recovery right at the end of his term as well. I guess it took him 7 years for him to really get a feel for the job.

Video Game Sales up 53% in June!

I think that $4 a gallon gas is keeping people at home glued to their consoles instead of driving to go see movies or whatever. It seems that this industry is recession proof and might even be inflation proof since this industry doesn't rely on any raw materials that could go up in price.

For the first half of 2008, the U.S. video game industry has generated $8.3 billion in sales. This is a 36 percent increase in sales from the same period a year before, indicating that the sluggish economy is not hurting the industry's performance as people turn to home entertainment, NPD said.

"These numbers are mind boggingly large," said Michael Pachter, a Wedbush Morgan analyst. "Clearly we have an expanded demographic, more than just hardcore gamers, and they have an insatiable appetite for video games."

Microsoft Misses Net Income Target

This doesn't sound good for tech stocks.

Sales of word-processing and spreadsheet products missed Microsoft's goals for the second straight time amid what Goldman Sachs says is the worst technology spending environment since 2003. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer is courting sales overseas, and efforts have been hampered by piracy in countries such as China, where eight in 10 programs are illegal copies.

I also have to say that those Office programs are just not much of a improvement over one another so I can see why they are missing goals. I have noticed that Office 2003 is pretty good for just about everything that a user may need.

If there are differences between Office 2003 and Office XP or Office 2007 then I am really not aware of them. I think many users are unaware of the difference as well. These new versions just seem to be a coat of graphics paint on the same basic structure.

No wonder they are trying to push the Yahoo merger so hard. They seem to be losing sales in their core businesses and are trying desperately to branch out with mixed results. Also it seems that Vista was a failure and the only reason people are using it is because it comes pre-loaded on their new PCs. I don't think Microsoft is going to be a decent stock until they get out their new OS Windows Vienna.

Tehran and Washington are Starting to Cozy Up

I think Bush might just be so desperate for a legacy that he just might bring the US and Iran a little bit closer before he leaves office.

The presence of the State Department's third-ranking official, Undersecretary for Political Affairs William Burns, in Geneva is intended to shore up a ``two-track policy'' to reward Iran for suspending uranium enrichment and impose penalties if it doesn't, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday.

It seems that Burns will probably be there to offer the carrot if Iran decides to stop their uranium enrichment. If Burns is rebuffed then they could actually put in place some tough sanctions because they could say that "all channels have been exhausted." It seems like a decent plan to prevent a wider war in the Middle East that would drive oil prices to $200+.