FTC Reveals Some Whole Foods Secrets

I guess the FTC doesn't know how to redact company secrets when it reviews merger candidates:

The AP revealed some of the information that was released before the
error was fixed, including the "Project Goldmine" strategy -- Whole Foods'
hypothesis that acquiring Wild Oats would result in 80% to 90% of Wild Oats'
customers coming into its fold and ultimately increasing Whole Foods' revenues
in related stores by 85% to 90%. The information also revealed that Whole Foods
is attempting to make arrangements with suppliers to drive up costs for Wal-Mart and in a particularly odd piece of data for the FTC to cite, it was revealed
that Whole Foods seeks to position its stores in areas where there are large
numbers of college-educated people.

The first thing does seem like it was pretty logical seeing as they are acquiring the company to increase their organic food footprint. You would think that they want nothing more then to bring all of the people that used to shop at Wild Oats into their stores.

However the Wal-Mart thing is something you want to keep secret. Knowing this information, Wal-Mart can retaliate by trying to get their organic suppliers to boycott Whole Foods. Now Wal-Mart can use the fear of banishing these suppliers from their stores as a big hammer to hit Whole Foods with. This leaked information would be something Whole Foods should try to sue the FTC over (if it is even possible.)

Finally, the last thing, as the article points out, seems pretty logical. They want to put there stores in neighborhoods that have people with college degrees and thus better chances of having high incomes. This means they can stock their shelves with higher margin stuff that Costco or Safeway doesn't usually carry. They have some of the best margins in the grocery industry so they need to keep them high. Whole Foods is trying to sell a way of life and a lifestyle and not just a massive bruised pile of mismatched "organic" pears next to a pallet of 69 cent toilet paper.

Judge Okays Whole Foods Merger

Now this is great news for people that are bulls (like me) on Whole Foods (WFMI.) When they buy Wild Oats they will almost double the amount of stores they own.

Whole Foods operates 190 stores, while Colorado-based Wild Oats has
about 110. Both are relatively small players in the grocery business, but
government lawyers said the combined company would essentially corner the
industry market on premium and organic food.

Quite a few people I have talked to swear by Whole Foods in the mainland and love to shop there not just for the Organics but also for the upscale food as well. There will soon be a slew of new Whole Foods in Hawaii and I plan to do some serious market research before jumping in on this one. I've heard tell of good sandwiches and soups so I must investigate.

Nordstrom Profit Up and they Raise Forcasts

This is one of the companies I have been watching for some time and it looks like they had a pretty good quarter recently.

Sales rose 5.2 percent to $2.39 billion, helped by strength in designer
apparel, accessories and men's clothing.

Sales at stores open at least a year, a key metric of financial
health, rose 5.9 percent in the quarter, above the company's expectation of a
rise in the low-single digits.

Nordstrom now expects full-year 2007 earnings to range from $2.91
to $2.97 per share. It earlier forecast earnings between $2.81 and $2.90 per
share.

Luxury is one of the few pockets of consumers that aren't be hurt by gas prices or by food inflation. They also hold up well in any type of economy short of a true recession. I think as the credit crunch works its way through the market stocks with solid fundamentals like Nordstrom's will reap the rewards. It is also good to see a stock like this that have 5.9% same store sales when the rest of the industry has break-even or negative same stores.

HP Beats Estimates on Cost Cutting

It seems that HP is humming along as always.

Net income in its fiscal third quarter advanced to $1.78 billion, or 66
cents per share, from $1.38 billion, or 48 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, HP earnings came in at 71 cents per share.

Revenue in the quarter rose to $25.4 billion from $21.9 billion a
year earlier.

They also bought cheaper components so they led to a boost in their bottom line. I like that revenue boost myself since it shows that people are still buying printers, computers and laptops despite that consumer spending slowdown.

J Michels Uranium Index 8/16/07

-$1,458.00 -3.73%

Art Industry Is Big Bucks

I knew they brought in money but I never knew it was this much.

The study's results show that this field generates $166 billion in
economic activity every year, resulting in almost $30 billion in federal, state
and local tax revenue.

It also provides 5.7 million jobs as well. I guess buying, selling, showing, and creating art is quite a big deal. I wonder if it would be possible for a really rich guy to buy out a bunch of galleries and become a mighty patron in the industry. A kind of arbitrator of taste in the art work by sending the bucks in the right direction.

A Good Healthcare Pick?

This guy is saying that Apria Healthcare (AHG) is that stock. It isn't something to buy now but it certainly is something you can buy cheap when this credit crunch is over. I think there are all kinds of these kinds of "stocks on sale" in this market if you dig deep enough and have some patience to wait out the storm.

The overall tape still concerns me, and even though AHG is
significantly lower than the April 52 week high of $34.36, I still think there
may be some further room on the downside. That being said, AHG already reported 2Q EPS on July 31 and although full year guidance was not great, it was far from a disaster. However, with a relatively small float and a large short interest of around 21%, the bears will use the weakness of the overall tape to push the stock lower. I think we should use any bearish price action as a buying
opportunity, especially if we see AHG down around $24.00.

Goldman Hedge Funds at a Deep Discount

I guess Goldman pulled out all the stops to rescue their dying Hedge Funds including dropping fees to lure in new money.

Goldman on Tuesday night said it had agreed to waive its annual
management fee for the investors, who contributed $1bn in new capital to the
fund. The investors will pay a performance fee of just 10 per cent on any
profits the fund makes once it has achieved a 10 per cent return.

Earlier an investor had to pay 2% of assets for a management fee and then 20% of profits they make passed a 10% return. This article is saying that even dropping their fees is still like putting bad money in after good.

Sorry Goldman, the game is up. Half-baked measures will no longer do.
People shouldn't be willing to pay 20% (now 10%) of profits plus a 2% management fee (now 0%) to a fund that is down two consecutive years and 30% in a flash. Is the greater fool's game over or not? I guess we soon find out.

That is a stomach churning fund if I ever saw one. Down two years strait and then down 30% in 6 days. Now that is not the kind of volatility you want to see in a fund. Those investors should have just stuck with a nice Vanguard fund with its 0.20% management fee. They would have been down only a few points right now.

Hedge Fund Speak Revealed

This is a pretty funny article on what Hedge Funds really mean when they say the things they do.

Hedge-Fund Phrase: This isn't a rescue.
Translation: THIS IS TOTALLY A RESCUE!!!!!!!

Goldman Sachs' GEO fund lost 30 percent of its value in a week and
was leveraged at a rate of 6-to-1. But to hear Goldman tell it, the cratering of
its own fund simply presented an irresistible buying opportunity. "We are
investing not because we have to, but because we want to," said Viniar during a
conference call. At another point, he noted: "No, let me just clarify. This is
not a rescue." And if you believe that, I've got some subprime debt I'd like to
sell you.

Yeah they really "want to" not have the fund go insolvent and ring up billions of dollars of losses for Goldman. The irresistible buying opportunity was there so that the Goldman guys could get through this mess with their jobs still intact. Hmm, I would be willing to bet that those big bonuses paid out last year may not happen again this year. Time to go short on expensive painting dealers, private jet rental companies, and guys who make yachts.

Obama Seeks Spirit of Openness

This seems like a good idea in theory.

To make the government more accountable, Obama said he would post all
non-emergency bills online for five days before he signed them into law,
allowing Americans a chance to weigh in on the legislation. In addition, he said
he would post all meetings between lobbyists and government agencies
online.

I just wonder if he is going to let the American people have a veto if they don't like the legislation. I guess this is just a way for Americans to pick what pork barrel spending got tacked onto the latest appropriation bill before the money is doled out. Of course that pork can't be cut but I guess it can at least be shown the light of day. Posting the meeting minutes part would be interesting to see though.

Obama said he would require Cabinet officials to speak to
Americans via national broadband town-hall style meetings to discuss issues
at their agencies. He also pledged to issue an executive order that
information about the government's operations must be released to those
seeking it unless it could harm a protected interest.

I'm not sure the information about the government operations would be worth seeing though. If it is about top secret stuff it will be heavily redacted so it wouldn't be worth seeing. Also I would be willing to lay even money that quite a few people in both parties will do everything in their power to suppress some of this stuff. What Senator wants his pork barrel projects and wasteful spending to come out day after day? Also I would be willing to bet that people will be thinking more about fooling people with the government operations forms then actually thinking about how the money is going to be spent.

Amgen Cuts Workforce; Guides Lower

Losing all those sales on that anemia drug, Aranesp is finally going to cost some people their jobs. It is also causing Amgen to guide lower.

The company said it plans to reduce its work force by 12 percent to 14
percent, or between 2,200 and 2,600 positions and will get hit with a
restructuring charge between $600 million and $700 million. Amgen also reduced
its adjusted earnings per share guidance for the full-year to between $4.13 per
share and $4.23 per share from previous guidance of $4.28 per share.

J. Michels Uranium Index 8/15/07

-$1,566.00 -3.85%

"Run on the Bank?" That Sounds Serious

I had no idea this thing existed until they stopped redemptions today.

Sentinel, like Goldman Sachs (GS) when referring to their Global
Equities Opportunities firm, now says they own securities selling at "deep
discounts to their fair value" and that would cause their investors "unnecessary
losses." So, the bottom line is they don't want to sell those assets and
give investors back their money. Yes, no one likes to sell things for a
loss. Of course, markets care nothing about "fair value."
Fair value is what someone is willing to pay, not what an investor deserves to
receive.

These securites may have been those illiquid mortgaged backed securities (or bundles of these securities) that they couldn't unload when people came looking for their money.

This seems to be what made Goldman pour that $3 billion into their Global Equity Opportunities (GEO) fund. They had 30% losses on their books in that fund from in just 6 days of wild market swings. They also had about 3.5 times leverage in place on the thing. Goldman perhaps couldn't get rid of their mortgaged backed debt obligations to pay redemptions (or margin calls) so they were forced to sell their equities instead. They then had to inject an extra $3 billion into the fund to keep the thing from going the way of those Bear Sterns funds.

Hmm, I wonder how bad this credit mess is going to get? The idea of an entire class of credit obligations that are stuck in limbo because you can't sell them (or put a value on them) is crazy. I know it is time to avoid the financials like the plague but what industries won't get hit by this credit crunch stuff?

This article says the sectors to be in are biotech and telecom. Isn't biotech the realm of the companies that are financed almost totally by debt? If the credit market dries up or bankers become more risk adverse maybe they will pull the plug on financing some of these long shot drugs that may or may not get FDA approval. That may lead to mass bankruptcies in those small one shot biotech names and maybe even big problems at the big guys as well.

I guess that leaves only telecom which will probably be pretty strong unless the consumer truly gives up the ghost and cancels his cell phone plan or something. Or you can go to accumulating cash which I have been doing. I think when things blow over it will be a great time to buy good stocks cheap.

This is Why the White House Never Comments

As soon as the White House opens their mouth.

As to the merits of it, I think it's outrageous. This is a president
who, first and foremost, has helped millions of seniors across the country have
access to prescription drugs at a much lower cost," Perino said. "As to whether
or not our troops are invisible to this president, I think that is absurd and
that it is unconscionable that a member of Congress would say such a
thing."

The Hillary Hype Machine goes into action:

Campaigning in Dubuque, Iowa, Clinton referred to the White House
criticism of her "invisible" comments.

"Apparently I've struck a nerve. The White House just attacked me a
few minutes ago," Clinton said. "Not only have I said it and am saying it, I
will keep saying it because I happen to believe it."

That is exactly why you always say "No Comment" to attacks. Is Hillary trying to win the 2004 election or something? I think Bush is going to be a huge albatross around the necks of the Republican candidates come election time. He needs to get out of the way of this crap and set his party up to at least hold the line in the House and Senate. If he keeps this up it looks more and more like the "modern progressive" agenda is going to be firmly in place come 2008.

J. Michels Uranium Index 8/14/07

-$1,138.00 -2.72%

2000 Year Old Etruscan Tomb Found

Now this has to be quite a find.

Inside the tomb, a narrow corridor led to a small burial chamber, about
2 meters long and 1.79 meters wide, he said. It housed about 80 objects
including vases and mirrors in bronze and ceramic. Urns holding human remains
were also found.

It is pretty weird that almost none of their literature and very little of their history exists to this day even though they lived for 1000 years. I guess that is the reason why you need to constantly record your history and put constantly put current events in context. Or perhaps a 1000 years from now no one will know that there was a Simpsons Movie or that there was such a thing as a Pecanbon from Cinnabon.

Rove Out at White House

Would the last person to leave 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue please turn off the lights? I have a feeling you won't hear the end of this guy though.

Rove also predicted conditions in Iraq would improve and that the
Democrats would nominate Hillary Rodham Clinton for president, calling her
"a tough, tenacious, fatally flawed candidate." Rove does not intend to work
for any candidate in the 2008 presidential election, White House press
secretary Tony Snow said.

I agree that the Dems will nominate Hillary as well. I also have a feeling that the GOP is going to nominate Romney and she is going to take the White House. 4 years of Hillary? It may be time to move to Staad, Switzerland or your luxury apartment in Dubai if you are a Conservative. Normally I would say Canada but what conservative wants to live there?

J. Michels Uranium Index 8/13/07

-$556.90 -1.31%

J. Michels Uranium Index 8/10/07

+$893.90 +2.16%

Black Mesa Warns of "Massive" Liquidation by Another Hedge Fund

Could this create a chain reaction where lots of these Market Neutral Hedge Funds need to liquidate portfolios in order to meet margin calls? Maybe this is what is causing the insane whilesawing in the markets in at 3:00PM each day.

Black Mesa Capital, a hedge fund firm that uses computer models to
track down arbitrage opportunities, has told investors that at least one very
large hedge fund or investment bank is liquidating "massive" trading portfolios,
according to a letter the Santa Fe, NM-based firm sent to investors on
Wednesday. That's causing disruptions and triggering losses among other
so-called market-neutral hedge funds, Black Mesa said in its letter, a copy of
which was obtained by MarketWatch on Thursday. "Clearly, something is amiss in the markets that few in our strategy, if anyone, have experienced before," Black
Mesa wrote.

Oil Prices Drop to $71.59 per Barrel

Hmm, it seems that Oil Prices are dropping and thus gas prices should follow.

Worries about shrinking oil consumption in a slowing global economy
continued to suppress crude prices, according to Alan Mandel, analyst at Alan M.
Trading. However, investors shouldn't expect oil to fall much further, Mandel
says.

"There will be a buying opportunity if oil falls below $68," he says.
"Geopolitical hotspots around the world are still relevant, and we haven't yet
entered the peak of hurricane season."

I have a feeling that oil prices may drop further here because demand seems to be slowing and these geopolitical hotspots are kind of moving to the back page. Also there seems to be few if any hurricanes so far this season that I know of. There may be some big ones later this month but it would seem that there would be more throughout the season and not a big clump at the end. I'm still in the camp that New Orleans won't see another levee breaking whopper hurricane for another 40 years.

Companies Pulling Debt and Bond Deals

It seems that compnaies are do not want to issue debt at this time.

In the past two weeks, another 13 corporate loan or bond deals have
been postponed or reduced, representing just under $43 billion, in new research
released Thursday by Baring Asset Management. The total number of deals pulled since June 22nd now stands at 46, analysts at the firm said, valued at more than
$60 billion. That compares to last year where there were no pulled deals
counted.

That kind of sucks when the pulled debt deals went from 0 to 46 in one year.

J. Michels Uranium Index 8/9/07

-$2,092.00 -4.80%

Apparel Chains take Beating

I guess it just wasn't time for kids to do their back to school clothes shopping yet.

Mall traffic has also fizzled and people aren't as willing to rush to stores for the latest back-to-school merchandise in July, instead waiting for markdowns.

"We've been seeing this trend for the last five years," Perkins says. "Kids have been going back-to-school shopping closer to need."

I'm still puzzled at who thinks kids do their back to school clothing purchasing in July? What kid is all pumped to buy a jacket and long pants when it is super hot outside? Also you would think they would rather procrastinate until they actually need the products as well.

Couple this with the parents knowing that retailers mark down stuff in August and September so they just wait the retailers out. When gas prices as high as they are you have to bring in any savings that you can. They might even get a break buying in August because gas prices usually dip during the late summer so it frees up more money to buy their kids back-to-school clothes.

Plateosaurus Mass Grave Found in Switzerland

This is quite a find.

"It could be that the area extends for 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) and
in that case, you could certainly say it's the biggest site in Europe," said
Martin Sander, a dinosaur paleontologist at the university of Bonn in
Germany.

The Frick area contained the bones of one animal per 100 square
meters, Sander said, so the entire area might contain bones of 100 more
Plateosaurus.

These Plateosaurus' seem to be similar to elephants. This article says how older elephants die close to water and their skeletons pile up. I wonder if these Dinosaurs had the same behavior?

This is a Plateosaurus (I thought they were those Bonehead Plated dinosaurs when I first red the article.)

Goldman "Rumor" Whipsaws Market

Now this is a weird development:

U.S. stocks had pared gains in late trading on market speculation that
the world's largest investment bank (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research)
would make an announcement, possibly related to one of its hedge
funds.

Several traders told Reuters there was speculation that an
announcement was forthcoming, but said there was no consensus on what Goldman might say.

So there was a rumor that Goldman might say something but noone knew what. People assumed it was bad and sold and the market which went from up 180 to almost negative territory in little less then an hour. Then when Goldman denied the rumor the market recovered to settle up 150 or so. Now that should ping someones fear quotient a little big. We might be doing some serious "wall of worry" climbing this week. In any case it will be a great time to put in some hedges on the cheap.

J. Michels Uranium Index 8/8/07

+$711.00 +1.66%

Weird Trading Persists at 3PM each day

This behavior seems to be really throwing off some money managers.

Oddly, though, in every session the wildest action has taken place
right around 3 p.m. EDT -- an hour before the close of regular trading.

Just why this is happening isn't clear, though market watchers have
some theories. Richard Bove, an analyst at Punk Ziegel, suggests technical
or program trading may be responsible for the wild midafternoon swings. Others
speculate that a large investor -- perhaps even a foreign buyer such as China --
may be targeting the U.S. markets.

I like the mental image that Mao-Suited Red Chinese Bankers manipulating the US markets at 3AM in China. I can see them now, sitting in a darkened ministry building with ethernet cables snaking in all directions from state-of-the-art trading stations. There are perhaps thousands of identical desks in this building where shady Commie moneymen control the movement of trillions of dollars while the rest of Beijing sleeps. It makes for something out of a spy thriller written by Jim Cramer.

XBox Online Community Could Be Golden

Minyanville says that it may be even bigger selling point then that $50 price cut.

Xbox Live is 7 mln strong and growing. Gamers from around the world are
linking up every night to play their favorite games, creating a brand new
experience. Users can chat, email and download TV shows, movies and classic
arcade games. Heck, gaming leagues are now popping up on TV.

I agree with this 100%. I think XBox live is one of the biggest selling points for the XBox360 and it will be hard to match for the other consoles. This could be a big source of ancillary income when it comes to certain gaming companies. For instance I used the example of the extra songs for Guitar Hero 2 from Activision. I would be willing to bet even money that if these add-ons could be a pretty nice income stream going forward. The gaming companies just need to come up with add-ons that are ITunes-like that will make people come back again and again and pay $1 per pop for. This could potentially make a game that is 5-6 old bring in revenue quarter to quarter.

Also this 7 million strong group is made up of one of the hardest to reach demographics when it comes to advertisers. They are the largely male 18-40 year olds that hardly watch TV in real time, barely react to net ads, and come late to movies to avoid those 10 ads at the beginning. They also have that disposable income that the advertisers like so much. For advertisers Xbox Live is a goldmine when it comes to reaching those unreachable eyeballs.

Some of the things the advertisers can try is to have those Viral Ads that people talk about as downloadable content. They could also have something like the Axe Effect All-Star bikini team for Madden with downloadable uniforms and everything. You can replay Bikini Bowl 2006. Also you can have a Guilty Gear type game where you can download the Burger King so you will be able to kick the crap out of him. You could even have those virtual billboards in-game that will change periodically to kind of freshen up the look of certain games. Finally, it would be so nuts to have something like an American Eagle in-game in GTA4 that has merchandise that changes from time to time depending on the season. I think as long as the ads aren't too intrusive the sky is the limit for this kind of thing.

Hillary's Plan to get us out of the Sub Prime Mess

It pretty much boils down to having the government backstop some of the bad loans, add more government oversight of the mortgage market, and also educate the poor-dumb borrowers. I do like her plan to eliminate prepayment penalties though.

-Require mortgage brokers to disclose to borrowers that their compensation rises when borrowers' mortgage rates and mortgage fees are high.

-Work with states to develop strong licensing standards and require federal registration for mortgage brokers.

-Eliminate prepayment penalties on mortgage products.

-Require mortgage lenders to include the cost of taxes and insurance in the underwriting assessment of higher-risk mortgages.

-Establish a $1 billion fund to assist state programs that help at-risk borrowers avoid foreclosure.

-Expand Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's foreclosure prevention efforts.

-Establish a $1 billion fund to provide federal support to housing trust funds established by state, county and municipal governments.

Netherlands Might Ban Magic Mushrooms

It looks like the Shroom Industry is facing major shutdowns if the conservatives in the Netherlands get their way.

A majority of parties in parliament ranging from centrist to far right
have demanded the hallucinogenic mushrooms be outlawed.

If the government does ban mushrooms, it will be in keeping with
conservative trends that have been sweeping the country in recent years. Since
2001, Muslim immigrants have been under pressure to learn Dutch and integrate,
and there have been calls by some to ban Islamic schools and radical
mosques.

CSCO Beat Estimates

It looks like they had a pretty good quarter for the most part.

Revenue rose 18.1 percent to $9.4 billion. Analysts on average expected
revenue of $9.275 billion.

In May, Cisco Chief Executive John Chambers forecast fourth-quarter
revenue growth in a range of 15 percent to 16 percent.

Hey they beat their own revenue growth estimates. I guess all those routers and such are just flying off of the shelf. It looks like Options guys front ran this one to the tune of 74,000 contracts trading on the 30 and 32.50 August Calls. If tomorrows trades match todays after market move (+1.72 to 31.42) then the investors holding that 30 strike will be in the green.

J.Michels Uranium Index 8/7/07

+$439.00 +1.03%

Dropping Energy Prices to Save the Day?

All that gloom and doom in the housing sector may mask a ray of hope according to some analysts. This ray comes from lower oil prices and thus energy not taking such a big bite of the consumer budget.

At the pump, meanwhile, gas prices also extended their declines,
falling 2 cents over the weekend to a national average of $2.838 a gallon,
according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Retail prices, which
typically lag the futures market, peaked at $3.227 a gallon in May. At that
time, gas futures were rallying on concerns about the refining industry, which
struggled all spring with maintenance issues and unplanned outages.

Maybe the consumer will be able to ReFi their loans so that they can absorb any rate increases. Or if they are able to get out from under those expensive homes and possibly sell them they will be in the clear. They may need to rent or buy a condo or something but at least it will help them not go bankrupt and lose their homes. However these oil guys are hopelessly split according to that article though.

In any case I wonder if we will see another 30% drop in oil prices from now until October like we saw last year? Someone placed a $7 million bet on 9000 contracts of Oct 2007 OIH Puts today. This person is betting on a 14.9 point drop from the current levels in the Oil Services HOLDR by October to break even. The OIH dropped about 20% last year from August to October (A 20% drop would put OIH at about 132.) Finally there is an almost 3 to 1 Put to Call ratio in that series as well. Could all this option positioning mean people are hedging for a drop in OIH (and oil prices) from now until October? It seems reasonable.

Pretty Grim Take on the Housing Blowup

It seems that not even the FED can save us from things going belly up in the mortgage markets. This is the scariest part of the article I think:

Inquiring minds are no doubt asking why even more miracles may be
needed. The reasons center around debt servicing and jobs. There is simply no
pent up demand for housing, no growth in wages, and no way cash strapped
consumers can service current debt loads. There is also no source of jobs that
an overheated housing market created. There is no need for more Home Depots
(HD), Lowes (LOW), Pizza Huts (YUM), Applebees (APPB), nail salons, strip malls,
Walmarts, etc etc. In fact there is a need for less stores not more and the
coming consumer led recession will prove it. Overcapacity is simply rampant. It
would take even more miracles to correct all of that.

No jobs, no wage growth, and no housing demand means there will be widespread foreclosures unless people take 2nd and 3rd jobs to service all that debt. If you think people are cranky now wait until they are working 3 jobs to pay more and more every month for that $600K house that is now worth only $500K.

I'm guessing there might be some knee-jerk reaction on the part of the Dem Senate to bail these people out. Will Fannie and Freddie, financed by the taxpayer, buy all those underwater/defaulted mortgages? Or will there be a bail out of the mortgage market just like we saw in the bail out of the savings and loans in the 80s? I guess it depends on the pain that the US consumer will be feeling and how much they clamor for a government quick fix.

J. Michels Uranium Index 8/6/07

-$545.00 -1.26%

Dems Introduce Censure Motion

Here is another half-assed attempt to "get Bush" from the Dems.

One resolution (S Res 302, H Res. 625), would censure Bush and Cheney
for “misleading the American people” about the need to invade and occupy Iraq,
as well as for poor planning and conduct of the war.

The other measure (S Res 303, H Res. 626) would censure Bush and
Gonzales for “undermining the rule of law and the separation of powers” by,
among other things, authorizing the National Security Agency to conduct
warrantless surveillance of American citizens and making “misleading” statements about the application of the a sweeping 2001 anti-terrorism law (PL 107-56).

The guy will be gone in a little more then a year. Censure him or fine him or whatever after that. Until then concentrate on the so called "progressive agenda." Don't waste any more time on grandstanding for the Far Left.

J. Michels Uranium Index 8/3/07

-$1,500.00 -3.36%

Take-Two Postpones Grand Theft Auto 4

And the stock got smashed for a 16% loss on the day for it.

Due to additional time needed to complete the title, Take-Two said it
was now planning to release "Grand Theft Auto IV" in the second-quarter, which
ends next April, as opposed to the original release date of this
October.

There goes a "must have" Christmas category killer. From what I read about the game it would have been a serious contender for game of the year for 2007. Whatever the case TTWO is a real joke of a company. First that Manhunt 2 release fiasco and now they have to push back the release of their bread and butter game.

Bush to Call Global Warming Meeting

It looks like Bush is finally getting around to confronting global warming.

Under pressure for tougher action against climate change, Bush
invited the European Union, the United Nations and 11 industrial and
developing countries to the September 27-28 meeting in Washington to work
toward setting a long-term goal by 2008 to cut emissions.

Of course environmentalists are poo-pooing it as always:

But John Coequyt, a policy analyst with Greenpeace, expressed concern
the Washington talks would be used to "erode support for the process that's
strengthening at the U.N."

Yup instead of trying to work with the White House to craft some type of bipartisan environmental effort the Greens accuse Bush of "eroding support for the process." He is calling the worlds polluters together to craft some type of sensible plan which seems like advancing the process to me.

Why doesn't Greenpeace offer to craft Bushes message for this meeting or sit down in a face to face with him? If Bush refuses to meet with them then they can jump on him for not listening to the point of view. Put poo-pooing proactive movement on global warming is another sign of not taking "yes" for an answer.

Activision has Great Quarter led by Guitar Hero 2

It seems that the game makers have made the transition to the new platforms with flying colors.

Video game publisher Activision Inc. posted fiscal first-quarter
earnings and revenue above Wall Street's expectations Thursday, boosted by
strong sales of "Guitar Hero II" and its latest "Spider-Man" title.

For the quarter ended June 30, Activision earned $27.8 million, or 9
cents per share, versus a loss of $18.3 million, or 7 cents per share, in the
same period a year ago.

I can say with firm conviction that Guitar Hero II is a great game and probably carries a pretty nice profit margin for its $90 price tag. Also Guitar Hero can have an added revenue stream due to downloadable content via Xbox 360s Live service. I would be willing to plunk down a few bucks so I would be able to play a new song via this game. Some hot licks form an AC/DC song goes a long way. Now they need to come out with Drum Hero or something like so they can sell a drum kit as well. That would also be a perfect fit for the Wii and its weirdo controller.

2/3s of Americans Can't Define the word Recession

Here is another sign that Americans are clueless when it comes to economic matters.

Nearly half the survey respondents, 46 percent, believed a recession
was already under way.The conviction comes despite a 3.4 percent rebound in
economic growth during the second quarter, according to Commerce Department data released last week.

A recession is generally defined as two consecutive quarters of
declines in gross domestic product.

There still hasn't been 1 quarter of declines in GDP. It slowed to 0.6% in the first quarter but didn't go negative at any time. I guess this is another sign that Americans cannot be trusted to handle their own Social Security money. They will probably blow it on lottery tickets or a new deck or something. Also this same ignorance is what keeps the Mutual Fund industry knee deep in bags of money.

J. Michels Uranium Index 8/2/07

+$134.00 +0.30%

Obama backs Bombing Allied Country

And it seems that the Pakistanis don't like that talk one bit.

Obama warned Wednesday that if he is elected president, he would order
US forces to hit extremist targets on Pakistan's frontier with Afghanistan if
embattled military ruler President Pervez Musharraf failed to act.

"Such statements are being made out of sheer ignorance," Pakistan's
Minister of State for Information, Tariq Azeem, told AFP. "They are not fully
apprised about the ground realities and not aware of the efforts by
Pakistan."

At least W is for striking targets in "enemy" countries and doesn't back bombing stuff in a key ally in the war on terror. I thought the Dems were all for political solutions, polling the world community, respecting the sovereignty of nations, and stuff like that. One thing that is interesting is how the AP immediately deflects some criticism from Obama to the Bushies:

Islamabad has bristled against a string of similar threats in recent
weeks by the administration of US President George W. Bush, whose top
counter-terror official in July refused to rule out US strikes in
Pakistan.

Refusing to rule something out and actually saying you will bomb an ally if you are elected are two very different things. I guess the AP thinks that "all options are on the table" actually means we "will use those options no matter what." I guess the AP doesn't believe in the diplomatic adage of freedom of maneuver.

Dems Turn their Back on Principles Regarding Iraq

That is according to some strategists:

House Democratic leaders are intent on sidetracking bipartisan attempts
to change course in Iraq at least until fall, officials said Tuesday, rather
than allow nervous Republicans to vote for legislation that lacks a troop
withdrawal deadline.

Several lawmakers and aides said the goal was to deny members of the
GOP rank and file a chance to proclaim their independence from President Bush by voting for a limited measure — after months of backing his policy in an
increasingly unpopular war.

So instead of bringing the Republicans around to their way of thinking and ending the "illegal war of conquest" in Iraq they would rather punish them instead. So they aren't sticking to their guns and getting bipartisan support to end the war they are just delaying things until the fall. Basically, they are selling out the Far Left "get out of Iraq now" crowd in order to keep people from agreeing with them. And they wonder why their approval rating is in the toilet.

Opposition Party Wants Abe Out

Here is some more fallout from the LDP getting trounced in the Upper House elections in Japan over the weekend.

Ichiro Ozawa, the Democrats' leader, made clear the opposition would
make Abe's ouster a rallying cry.

"I do not believe that such action that defies common sense and
rules will receive the understanding of the people," Ozawa said at a party
meeting on nationally televised news.

Not all of the people according to this poll:

But a nationwide telephone survey by Kyodo News was not as clear cut on
whether Abe should resign, with 49.5 percent of the respondents saying Abe
must leave, and 43.7 percent saying he should stay.

Is it just me or does this Ichiro Ozawa character look kind of like Boss Nass

Edwards Wants to Hold up Middle East Weapon sales

According to Edwards it is okay to renege on weapons deals that have already been struck for this reason:

Edwards said the arms deal could backfire by giving Iran an incentive
to build its nuclear strength.

"They have to try to offset the conventional arms deficiencies that
they're faced with," Edwards said. "That's the whole problem with this idea that
you deal with these things in terms of what's helpful at the moment instead of
what needs to be done over the long term."

Yup selling the Saudis weapons will give the Iranians incentives to build the nukes that they are probably already building. So I guess Edwards is going to stiff the Saudis and have them buy those weapons from the Russians/Europeans/Chinese instead? This guy should not be trusted in any foreign policy capacity.

Murdochs Pressure May be Working

It looks like the idiot Bancroft family is going to finally accept an offer that values their company at almost double what it was a few months ago. It isn't a done deal but they would be stupid not to take the money and run.

Members of the Bancroft family had a 5 p.m. deadline Monday to tell
the family's lead trustee how they would vote, but negotiations apparently
continued over other matters in an attempt to persuade holdout votes to sign
on. The Journal reported Tuesday that Dow Jones' board had agreed to set
aside funds to pay the Bancroft family's advisory fees, which could total at
least $30 million.

What a racket. They even get an extra $30 million for "consulting fees" on top of the billions that they might soon be getting. I assume that they will be getting that money simply for taking the time to vote for the offer or not. I wish I could charge a consulting fee every time I got a proxy notice and took the time to vote.

J. Michels Uranium Index 7/31/07

+$646.98 +1.42%

Murdoch may Pull His Bid for DJ

I guess he is just tired of waiting for these crazy Bancrofts to make up their minds.

On Monday a News Corp. spokesman said the company was "highly unlikely"
to go ahead with the deal if the level of support among the Bancrofts remained
at just 28 percent of the shareholder vote, which The Wall Street Journal
reported was the level of commitment as of Sunday.

You might see DJ fall off the page as soon as Murdoch steps away from this thing. There does seem to be more puts in play then calls but you never know how this thing will come out. I figure there will be some sell off and then the stock probably will hover higher then the pre-buyout price for a while thinking that this company is worth more then it actually is.

The deal seemed pretty much like Murdoch going after the Wall Street Journal so he can name his new finance network the Wall Street Journal Channel or something like that. Right now there is just too many complications to make that happen with the Bancrofts running things.

J. Michels Uranium Index 7/30/07

+$1,518.01 +3.46%

Republican Candidates To Duck the YouTube Debates

It looks like the frontrunners on the Repub side are going to try to dodge the YouTube debates scheduled for Sept. 17:

A story in the Washington Post this morning suggested that “sources familiar” with the Giuliani campaign said that the GOP frontrunner was considering bypassing the debate. A spokesman for Governor Mitt Romney said that the campaign had received 7 debate invitations over an 11 day period in September and had not committed to any of them. Romney himself expressed some good natured skepticism with the YouTube format saying “I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman,” referring to a questioner at the Democratic debates on Monday night who dressed as a snowman to ask about global warming.

That was a snowman made by an American citizen that is asking a question of a person that wants to lead his country. Romneys scoffing opinion of an American that did something creative to get his voice heard is indicative of why Romney will lose this thing strait up if he manages to win the Republican nod.

The Rebulicans are show time and time again that they are simply unwilling to embrace technology and try to use it to its fullest. The Dems know that this "intraweb thing" is very powerful and is a game changer when it comes to trying to become President for here on in. These YouTube debates allow actual Americans to ask questions of their potential leaders in their own voice. They get to do so on a national stage without being put on the spot with all eyes on them like at a Town Hall meeting.

These aren't questions posed by elites, journalists, or big media types. Instead they are written by any regular American that owns a webcam. The only bad part is that the YouTube questioners don't get a followup so they can cut through the political BS that is usually shoveled out by candidates.

If the Republican frontrunners dodge this thing then they are thumbing their nose at Web 2.0. How will this person handle all of the technological change that will occur during the next 4-8 years in office? Will Romney be the next Republican Luddite to stand in the way of Stem Cells, Alternative Energy, or any other type of technological change coming down the pike?

In any case I can't trust a guy like Romney when he is unwilling to listen to an American because he feels that he is "higher level" then that American. Romney should remember that he is at a job interview and the American people are his potential employer. And he better give our snowmen some respect.

Dem Congress Finally Does Something

I guess the criticism is finally getting to them. The Dems are finally passing some bills.

Along with a boost in the minimum wage, which went into effect on
Tuesday, the 9/11 Commission bill would be at the top of the Democratic
majority's achievement list if President Bush signs it into law.

The White House has expressed opposition to several provisions in the
bill, particularly a requirement that within five years all ship containers be
scanned for nuclear devices before they leave foreign ports for the United
States, but it has not issued a veto threat.

The administration has questioned the feasibility of installing
radiation monitoring equipment in more than 600 foreign ports. To soften
opposition, the bill's authors gave the Homeland Security secretary authority to
delay implementation in two-year increments if needed.

I question that feasibility as well. How can they scan the contents of 7.8 million containers per year quickly and easily without slowing down foreign trade? Just screening the exports coming out of China would be a Herculean task. Will the Chinese install these monitoring device and will they screen containers that are going to Australia or Venezuela or some other country as well? Or are they going to keep all the US bound containers in one place or coming out of just one port or something? Also will they bill the US for the installation and maintenance cost of this equipment? How are you going to force foreign 600 ports to do anything at all?

Finally, what keeps the terrorists from shipping the material to Mexico or Canada and simply driving them across the porous border in a truck? I have a feeling that this provision will be delayed for quite a few years after that 5 year deadline. Then it will probably be taken out by another bill.

Clinton and Obama Spar on direct talks to Iran/Cuba

It looks like Senator Clinton has a wedge issue to separate her from Obama.

Clinton considers the first-term senator from Illinois naive for saying
he would be willing to meet leaders of hostile nations like Iran and Cuba, while
Obama thinks Clinton is sticking to the foreign policy status quo of the
much-criticized Bush administration.

This is also the status quo for many Presidents Democrat and Republican through the years. You don't engage the foreign leaders face-to-face without lower level contacts paving the way. The last thing you want is Iran to use a failed meeting for propaganda purposes. I guess sitting down with murderous, thug, dictators and religious radicals and legitimizing them is what the Obama campaign is all about.

J. Michels Uranium Index 7/27/07

-$858.00 -1.92%

Porche Hybrid?

This seems like a good idea to make rich environmentally conscious people choose Porche.

Porsche's Cayenne hybrid is being developed in part with Volkswagen AG
and Audi AG, and when complete is expected to reduce the sport utility vehicle's
fuel consumption by almost one-third.

J. Michels Uranium Index 7/26/07

-$2,663.00 -5.61%

J. Michels Uranium Index 7/24/07

-$2,078.89 -4.13%

YouTube Debate Throws Off Dems

Now this is a weird crossroads of Web 2.0 with the old media of CNN. This was funny when I read this:

To Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois: Are you black enough? "You know, when
I'm catching a cab in Manhattan ... I'm giving my credentials," he
replied.

To Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York: Are you feminine
enough? "I couldn't run as anything other than a woman,"

Her answer drew a challenge from former Sen. John Edwards, who said
he was the best advocate for women on the debate stage. "I have the strongest,
boldest ideas," he said.

I thought the challenge from Edwards was going to be "no Sen. Clinton you are far too manly to be a woman." Or maybe he would reveal that he is indeed a woman trapped in a man's body or that he was much far more feminine then Clinton will ever be. He even has the $400 haircut to prove it.

Of course Obama answered the Iraq question in the typical mealy mouthed Democratic fashion:

Obama took the opportunity to take a slap at his rivals who voted to
give Bush authority to invade Iraq, including Clinton and Edwards. "The time to
ask how we're going to get out of Iraq was before we got in," he said, without
naming Clinton, Edwards and other foes.

No Sen. Obama we ARE IN IT we need to ask those "How are we going to get out of it" questions right now. Trying to ask questions that are 5 years old and rehash this stuff wastes time when we need to decide things right now. It smacks of the Howard Deans famous "I'll tell you what were not going to do" line.

Finally this has to be the all-time stupid question ever:

When was the last time a presidential candidate was forced to promise
to work at minimum wage? That is effectively what seemed to happen when a voter asked whether the candidates would serve four years at $5.85 an hour rather than the president's annual $400,000 salary.

"Sure," replied Clinton.

I'm sure she thought "because I am already rich." Edwards was thinking "I'm taking a big pay cut to take that $400,000 salary, I made that much just chasing 1 ambulance."

"Game-changer" from Corning?

It seems they have figured out a way to make Fiberoptics bend without losing its signal. Their President says it is a "game-changing" breakthrough:

"This is a game-changing technology for telecommunications
applications," said Corning's president, Peter Volanakis. "We have developed an
optical fiber cable that is as rugged as copper cable but with all of the
bandwidth benefits of fiber."

This should be great for all those people who want a fast network in their apartment without having to resort to DSL. This will also be good for those people that have to share their bandwidth with a bunch of people in the other apartments surrounding you. So you don't have to worry about being lag killed when your next door neighbor is on YouTube 24/7 or using Joost to watch High Def TV.

It doesn't look like a gamechanger for the stock since it only rose $0.18 to $26.71 but there is heavy Call buying in the Aug, Nov, and Jan 30 strikes. It could be a good long term play once we see how much of this new super-bendy cable Verizon will be willing to lay and if other telecom providers switch to this stuff as well.

J. Michels Uranium Index 7/23/07

+$331.09 +0.66%

Weird Symbol Saved from NYC Building

Now this is a pretty odd symbol that they found on a NYC warehouse built 175 years ago:

There are 7 bricks facing north south at the top and 14 bricks at the bottom. It kind of looks like a Freemason symbol to me. The triangle looks a little like that triangle with the eye in it that you see in some of their iconography. And the bricks going north south kind of look like the plane and measuring device in this picture.

Obama Won't Stay in Iraq to Prevent Genocide

It is another case of the Dems being soft on genocide. However he does have to cleave to the Far Left "don't use troops to stop the killing" wing of the party.

"Well, look, if that's the criteria by which we are making decisions on
the deployment of U.S. forces, then by that argument you would have 300,000
troops in the Congo right now — where millions have been slaughtered as a
consequence of ethnic strife — which we haven't done," Obama said in an
interview with The Associated Press.

"We would be deploying unilaterally and occupying the Sudan, which
we haven't done. Those of us who care about Darfur don't think it would be a
good idea," he said.

There is nothing better then deploying 300,000 troops to save the lives of millions. I thought these were the Progressives that want to help people in foreign places not be slaughtered by the millions. The UN is worthless when it comes to genocide so someone needs to step up. We unfortunately are on the short list of countries that would be able to do it. I guess all the FDR and JFK Democrats have retired.

J. Michels Uranium Index 7/20/07

-$262.21 -0.52%

Hillary "Reinforces Enemy Propaganda" Says Pentagon

Now this is some pretty strong words from the Pentagon.

A copy of Edelman's response, dated July 16, was obtained Thursday by
The Associated Press.

"Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces
from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its
allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and
Somalia," Edelman wrote.

I'm pretty sure the Pentagon can draw up a withdrawal plan without telegraphing it to the Insurgents like Hillary wants them to do. I think this might cleave to the notion that Hillary doesn't trust the military to do their jobs. And she wants to be Commander and Chief?

Google Misses Estimates by $.03

I guess they were just hiring too fast and the bill came due.

Instead, the company hired more aggressively than even it had planned
to during the beginning of the year, CEO Eric Schmidt told investors during a
conference call.

"We exceeded spending when it came to headcount, and going forward
we will watch this very carefully," Schmidt said. The bulk of the new hires were
sales, marketing, and engineering personnel, the company said.

I wonder if any of this shortfall was due to Ebay pulling their ads off of the Google US sites in for that Google Checkout spat in June?

SAN FRANCISCO (Thomson Financial) - EBay Inc and Google Inc have turned
from ardent partners to nettled adversaries, with the renowned online auction
site yanking it ads from the world's most popular Internet search
engine.

J. Michels Uranium Index 7/19/07

+806.00 +1.63%

J. Michels Uranium Index 7/18/07

+$444.01 +0.90%

Dendreon Supporters take out Washington Post Ad

Now this is an interesting development from the Dendreon support camp.

Usually activist shareholders target an actual company for change to
enhance share prices, but a group of shareholders, patients, advocates, and
activists have a made an unusual move. In Sunday's Washington Post, this
group took out an advertisement calling for citizens to contact their
Congressional representatives to urge the FDA to reverse their delay of
Provenge.

This drug is a big deal for these people because Provenge is one of the few drugs that will combat late stage Prostate Cancer. It is a drug that could potentially keep a guy alive for another few months so people are going to be passionate about it.

A few months doesn't seem like much to some people but it is enough to gather your family members together for a nice sendoff. And to these people the FDA is standing in the way waiting by waiting 2 or 3 years for more data. I think I'll e-mail my Congressman like the ad says to do.

Another IPhone Supplier: ST Microelectronics (STM)

This is the company that makes something called the LIS302 accelerometer according to this article. There is nothing like an item that will bring in $2.95 per IPhone sold when the company looks like a real dog according to Sramana Mitra's rundown of the company.

One of the coolest features of the iPhone is the orientation sensor
that detects whether you are holding the phone vertically or horizontally
and automatically changes the display to portrait or landscape. ST Micro is
the supplier for this orientation sensor, also known as the LIS302
accelerometer. Considering the estimated price of $2.95 per unit, the ST
Micro accelerometer accounts for around 1.3% of iPhone’s component
price.

J. Michels Uranium Index 7/17/07

-383.01 -0.77%

IHOP to buy Applebee's

I guess IHOP figures that pancakes goes well with whatever crap that Applebees serves (I have heard that Applebees really sucks.)

Stewart, a former Applebee's International Inc. executive, said once
the deal closes, IHOP Corp. would revive the Applebee's brand and increase its
emphasis on franchises by selling most of the 508 company-owned stores at a rate of 40 per quarter, a process that could take until 2010 to complete. In doing
so, the company would reduce the percentage of company-owned stores to 5 percent from the current 25 percent, a transformation similar to the one she led at IHOP beginning in 2003.

More Theater when Dems pull All-Nighter

Now the Dems are going for even more idiodic theater pieces when it comes to the Iraq.

The rare, round-the-clock session Tuesday night through Wednesday
morning is intended to bait Republicans into an exhaustive debate on the
politically unpopular war, as well as punish GOP members for routinely blocking
anti-war legislation.

"How many sleepless nights have our soldiers and their families
had?" said Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

Yup they are pulling an all-nighter simply to "bait" Republicans and "punish them" for blocking anti-war legislation. They can't even give the colleagues enough respect to debate this stuff like regular people. The Dems don't care about the actual debate they just want to pretend like they are doing something substantial. I guess the Hollywood Wing of the Democratic party is in charge now. I think the Repubs should just show up with sleeping bags and dressed in casual clothes and call the Dems bluff.

This is all a big joke anyway because nothing at all is going to get done until we have that September assessment in hand. I swear the Dems have such contempt for the generals in Iraq that they can't even wait until the guy can give is honest opinion on the surge. They just declare that it has failed and they need to pull the troops out. And they want to run the "War on Terror?"

J. Michels Uranium Index 7/16/07

-$955.00 -1.89%

J. Michels Uranium Index 7/13/07

-$1,386.00 -2.68%

McCain's Campaign might be DOA

One bad thing after another might scuttle his chances at becoming the next president.

The campaign raised $25 million in the first half of the year, but blew
through nearly all of it during the same period. By Sunday, the campaign will
report to the Federal Election Commission that it has $2 million cash on hand
but more than $1 million in outstanding debt, according to officials. They say
McCain could end up having as little as a couple hundred thousand dollars to
spend as he tries to revitalize his campaign.

How could they have blown through $23 million and it isn't even the same year that the primaries will be held in? They aren't even close to the meat of the campaign and it looks like they are almost broke. McCain is not the fiscal conservative that I made him out to be. I guess this is what he has been spending most of his money on.

For April, the measurement firm reported John McCain 2008 ran over 11.5
million impressions, but Romney had none. The only other presidential
campaign running ads online in April that were tracked by AdRelevance was
the Hillary Clinton for President Exploratory Committee, which ran just
395,000 impressions.

It is sad when Hillary's people, who seem to be net savvy, are holding their powder on the Internet while McCain is going hog wild. I would be willing to bet even money that he isn't doing anything but spinning his wheels on the Net this early into the campaign.

I think some slick, Internet ad broker sold his campaign managers a bill of goods. He probably said something like "Howard Dean became a Net celebrity and you could be one too if you drop big bucks on the Net." Instead McCain is broke and his campaign is a mess. Oh well lets hope Rudy is doing a better job managing his campaign funds.

Outstanding Slate Article on Pullouts

This should be required reading for all the Cindy Sheehan "let's-pull-them-out-now" crowd.

But one thing is clear, and it can be seen time and again in the
examples above: Leaving a chaotic place with no one to hand the keys to can be
very dangerous. In Vietnam, the result was victory for the North; in
Afghanistan, the emergence of the Taliban regime; in Lebanon, the strengthening
of Hezbollah; in Gaza, the domination of Hamas.

And there's something else we shouldn't forget: When a decision to
withdraw is made, there's hardly ever a chance to turn back. The players on the
ground in Iraq are already watching and adjusting to the possibility of a
pullout. Once the wheels are set in motion, there's rarely a chance for "further
discussion."

Advice to the Dems

Give up going after Bush. His presidency is going down in flames and the American people have already turned against him. He is damaged goods and it looks like they are intent to follow him down the drain. I think the so-called Bush Derangement Syndrome may come back to haunt the Dems if they aren't really careful.

However this looks like as good a time as any for the Dems to look like true statesmen. Instead of wasting all this money and time going after Bush they could be giving us a taste of the so-called "Progressive Agenda." They can bring forth some sort of Health Care Reform that may be radical or game changing as Michael Moore wants in "Sicko." This "socialized" medicine may cost us all a bundle and raise taxes through the roof but at least the Dems will be cleaving to their principals.

The Dems could give us a comprehensive way forward in Iraq that doesn't involve leaving the Iraqis and their so-called "failed government" to their own devices. What is the Democratic plan anyway? Pull every troop out of the combat zone by April of next year and let the country fall to chaos? What is the Democratic plan if things get even worse and there is wholesale slaughter or true civil war with Shiite and Sunni armies marching in the field by May of next year? I think the American people don't see any Democratic plan other then to put this whole mess in Bushes lap and catcall against *any* strategy that anyone else comes up with be they military general or White House staff.

Also what the hell happened to their first 180 days? They didn't get a single thing passed other then to have Bush veto a "cut-and-run bill." Where was the minimum wage hike? That would have at least theoretically helped the poor people that the Dems normally care about. They haven't done a thing to help anyone since they got into power. Are they waiting on winning the White House before they introduce America to the "Progressive way of doing things?" What if they don't win? Are they going to just bash Giuliani all day long and still not get anything done?

Also can't the Dems come up with anything better on energy then to rob Big Oil of their record profits? I thought they were the green party? They can't come up with a comprehensive energy bill that would increase alternative fuel spending by like a $200 billion dollars over 10 years or something like that. They could mandate raising the taxes on coal fired plants by a certain amount while providing tax subsidies to other more "green" forms of power like nuclear or natural gas. The Dems need to provide incentives for Big Oil to change into Big Nuclear, Big Ethanol, or Big Alternative Energy.

In any case the Dems should start thinking for themselves and stop thinking about what they can do to hurt Bush. Bush is knocked out already. They simply need to step over the wreckage of his administration and lead this nation. Stop saying "I'll tell you what I won't do " and say "I'll tell you what we will do ." Or they can just talk to empty chairs and fight border wars with the Vice President over funding. Maybe they are just intent on waiting until next November when this Bush Derangement Disorder that afflicts so many on the Left will finally be cured.

Dems talk to an Empty Chair in Miers Absence

And they are wondering why they are at multiple year lows in approval rating?

Incensed, Democrats held the hearing anyway. Addressing an empty chair
at the witness table with a nameplate reading "Ms. Miers," Sanchez and Conyers
left little doubt that contempt proceedings by the full Judiciary Committee —
and later the full House — would be the next step unless Miers and the
administration change their positions.

"What we've got here is an empty chair. I mean, that is as
contemptuous as anybody can be of the government," said Rep. Steve Cohen,
D-Tenn. "I resent the fact that this lady is not here."

Yes you read this right. These men and women who make $165,200 per year in my tax money were talking to an empty chair. These Dems could have been debating health care reform, human rights in the Muslim World, raising the minimum wage, coming up with a better immigration bill, or coming up with an alternative energy bill that could break the backs of the Oil Sheiks. Instead they are talking to an empty chair. If this isn't the very highest form of political theatre, and a case-in-point of how messed up the Dem Congress is, then I don't know what is.

IPhone Review

Well I finally got my hands on an IPhone at the Apple store in Kahala Mall and I have to say I am very impressed. It kind of lives up to that high-tech, must have, gadget of the century hype that Apple wants to make it out to be.

The Design:
It has that cool chrome-backed look that has the made the IPod famous. The front screen is a nice dark color and there is only one button on the front. I also almost missed the camera because it was so tiny. It is a little pinhole looking thing the upper back part of the phone. The display is nice and bright and the colors are pretty vibrant. The design of the menu is attractive to the eye and is very intuitive.

The Touchscreen:
This was the thing I wanted to check out the most since it would be the make it or break it thing of the phone. Since there was only one button on the phone you will have to use the touchscreen nearly 100% of the time. If it didn't register your touches or didn't respond quickly enough the IPhone would stink IMO.

I was surprised that this was not the case. The Touchscreen was a gem and even typing with my fat fingers was possible. In fact I found it a bit easier to type then the Blackberry for some reason. Everything that I touched came up quickly and without any problems. There was a Stocks option on the main screen and I typed in the stock price for VRSN quickly and easily.

Ease of Use:
This thing is a snap to use and you don't have to make a ton of different button presses to get something like the calculator to come up. It is just one press and you are figuring out the tip. The Motorola KRZR that I have takes 4 presses to get to the calculator and it takes 23 different button pushes (and several minutes of time) to make my stocks come up. The IPhone just needs one push and you can check what your Yahoo portfolio (it seems linked to Yahoo so I'm not sure if you could link it to Etrade or something) is doing. There is even a little chart below the stock (which is a novelty since when you study the chart you want it pretty big.)

The camera came up pretty quickly by again hitting one button in the menu. The pictures that it took were very clear and can be checked easily on the touch screen. The KRZR just shows about 4 grainy photos when you check them out. They are sometimes hard to see clearly until you enlarge them. On IPhone it was very easy to make out all the doofs who took pictures of themselves at the Apple Store.

The map feature (which uses Google maps) came up after only a little wait. I figure it would be a very handy thing to have when you are out walking and looking for some place to eat or something. I didn't use it too much so I can't give a really good rundown of its ease of use.

This was just a preliminary walkthrough so I don't know how easy it would be to add contacts or make phone calls. But if it is as easy as getting the other stuff to work then this device will be a real winner. Too bad it costs so damn much or I would seriously think about switching to AT&T to get my hands on this thing.

J. Michels Uranium Index 7/12/07

+$74.00 +0.14%

SEC Investigates Dendreon

At least it is an informal probe into the goings on at DNDN.

Dendreon reported multiple insider sales from April to May 9--when the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration ultimately denied the prostate-cancer drug an
immediate approval. For instance, on April 2, Chief Executive Mitchell
Gold sold 202,000 shares at $13.46 for a profit of $2.7 million.
Two other directors also unloaded shares during this period.

It looks like the CEO may get accused of selling some shares ahead of the tape. I should have bought even more puts then I already had if I knew this was happening.

J. Michels Uranium Index 7/11/07

+866.00 +1.70%

Gap: The Brand for Weird, Emaciated People

I was recently researching some retail short candidates and I came across Gap Inc. corporate webpage. Is it just me does it seem like Gap makes their clothes for emaciated freaks?

The one on the left just took a double take on seeing a person eating ice cream.

It is almost like Gap photoshopped her head to make her look even more weird.

Watch out these women will bite your face off if they even smell carbs!

Chinese Broadband

This is an interesting story on how China is growing their broadband base. This fact pisses me off though:

Chinese broadband users now pay about $8 monthly, roughly 40% lower than in
2003, says BDA.

We end up paying more just because of the monopolies that some of the Telecoms control. If there were 5 different broadband service companies then we would get rates like this as well. Instead we are stuck with DSL from Hawaiian Telcom, Road Runner, and Clearwire. None of them costs $8 a month.

In any case this trend of Chinese Internet adoption should be good for these companies:

China's broadband growth will boost sales and profits for a wide range
of companies trading in the U.S., from Chinese portals Sina.com
(NasdaqGS:SINA - News) and Sohu.com (NasdaqGS:SOHU - News) and Chinese
search leader Baidu.com (NasdaqGM:BIDU - News), to U.S. giants Amazon (NasdaqGS:AMZN - News), Yahoo (NasdaqGS:YHOO - News),
eBay (NasdaqGS:EBAY - News) and Google (NasdaqGS:GOOG - News) as
well as infrastructure firms.
Shares of Sina, Sohu and Baidu have all done well this year. So have Chinese firms focusing on e-commerce, new media and online gaming. They include Global Sources (NasdaqGS:GSOL - News), Ctrip.com (NasdaqGS:CTRP
- News), Shanda Interactive (NasdaqGS:SNDA - News) and The9 Ltd. (NasdaqGM:NCTY - News)

I have owned Ctrip.com and made some pretty decent money off of them with both stock appreciation and selling their calls. I have also been checking out The9 for quite a while and they seem like a great company as well. They have some pretty nice call selling opportunities as well.

J. Michels Uranium Index 7/10/07

-$1,600.99 -3.05%

Why Does Britian Grow Terrorists and America Doesn't?

This is a very interesting article on why the English Muslim is more likely to become a terrorist while the American Muslim seems less likely.

Bob Ayers , a security and terrorism expert with London's Chatham House
, a foreign-policy research center, thinks that immigrants to the U.S. actually
become Americans, giving the United States a huge advantage in avoiding
homegrown al Qaida terrorists. Europeans encourage immigrants to retain their
native cultures, causing them to be ostracized more readily.

"The Islamic population in the United States is better assimilated
into the general population, whereas here, in Germany , in France , they're very
much on the outside looking in," he said. "When people get disaffected, sadly,
there's not much loyalty to country in that sort of situation."

Yup, that is a big advantage to keeping home grown Al-Quida from spreading. It seems we are much more accepting of foreign religions then Europe. We can relate to people that believe in One God with a Prophet since Americans are much more religious then Europeans. Basically Americans don't belittle their beliefs or try to marginalize Muslims.

In fact the US Muslim has freedoms that many in the Muslim world don't even enjoy. We don't require anyone to wear a Berka or cover their hair unless they want to. We let Muslims worship how they want without putting any restrictions on their conduct or way of life. About the only thing that the US cracks down on is polygamy. If you are a Muslim and aren't radical enough to strap on a bomb belt then the US is the place for you.

We might bother you if you start to pray in a group before going on an airplane in front of people. But that is basically because we are ignorant when it comes to foreign cultures. If Muslims just understand that Americans fear what they don't know and jump to conclusions we can all work things out.

Target and Macy's on the Buyout Block?

It might be because of its extensive real estate portfolio. That was one of the catalysts on the Hilton Hotels buyout earlier this week. They get to use that real estate portfolio as leverage to help in the buyout. Here is what that article says about Macys and Target:

Big retailers Macy's Inc. and Target Corp. -- whose shares
were each up about 5 percent late on Friday -- may be attractive buyout targets
due to the embedded value of their real estate. Such deals would be similar to
the 2005 buyout of Toys 'R' Us, which leveraged off its properties for
financing.

It would be interesting to see how much Target's real estate portfolio is actually worth. It says their property plant and equipment is valued at $21 billion. However it is hard to tell what properties they actually own though. In any case that number could make that $57 billion purchase price go down a little easier for the private equity buyer.

There might be something up though because call volume is almost double put volume from the 62.50 to the 75.00 strikes. It is kind of similar to what was happening before the Hilton Hotels deal. However the Hilton deal had some straddle action though because there were quite a few puts bought as well. Maybe people weren't so sure of the Hilton deals numbers (because they were on vacation or getting ready to go because of that short trading day.)

Some people are also talking insider trading on that Hilton deal as well. Maybe some of the same things are in the air on a potential Taget deal as well.

J. Michels Uranium Index 7/6/07

+$93.99 +0.18%

Italian Tomb Raiders

This is a very interesting story on how Italian Tomb raiding has gone down in recent years. One thing the Italians could do is to employ some of these guys to help their archeology departments:

He soon developed a keen eye for promising sites — sometimes using a
friend's glider to spot them from above, but more often by paying attention to
details on the ground.

"When I dig I often know beforehand what I will find, because I
have learned to read the land," he said. "For example if you see brambles
growing tall and yellowish you know the roots are leaning on buried walls."

But since this guy didn't have a PhD and such (or any formal education at all) he would be iced out of any legitimate archeology work. He instead used his skills to steal stuff out of the sites with a bulldozer.

I wonder if he were given the chance to pursue archeology without having to endure decades of schooling he would have chosen to be a tomb raider like this? He might have been pretty skilled at excavating these sites without having to be tenured, published, credentialed, or any of that other stuff. Too bad his schooling only gave him enough potential to either carry the dirt on a legitimate project or bulldoze for treasure on an illegal one.

J. Michels Uranium Index 7/5/07

+$872.02 +1.72%

Apple sold 700,000 IPhones

Now this is good news for all those APPL shareholders.

After speculation earlier in the week that Apple had sold between 400-500,000 iPhones, the actual new sales figures for the iPhone are even wilder than earlier figures: Apple and AT&T moved 700,000 iPhones to the close of business Sunday.

According to MacNN, Apple is said to have sold out of iPhones in 95 of 164
stores and AT&T has nearly depleted its entire stock. The report quotes
American Technology Research predicting that the iPhone would likely be
AT&T’s fastest ever selling product and that the iPhone could rank among the
fastest selling consumer electronics devices of all time.

More IPhone Suppliers

We can add National Semiconductor to this list now.

Infineon Technologies found its way into the iPhone with its digital
baseband, radio-frequency transceiver and power-management technologies, and National Semiconductor Corp. supplies the chip that connects the iPhone's
display to its graphics controller.

ISuppli said the touch-screen, considered to be one of the iPhone's
top selling points, is supplied by Epson, Sharp and Toshiba Matsushita, while
the display module is provided by German company Balda and its Chinese partner, TPK Holdings.

Balda is traded on the XetraDAX and TPK Holdings is 50% owned by Balda. It seems that Balda was pretty much a plastics injection modeling company from what I read. They seem to be branching out into a very technical field using this TPK Holdings expertise. I haven't read too many complaints about the touchscreen yet so this may be an interesting stock as well.

IPhones Fat Profit Margin

I guess only Apple can get away with a 55% profit margin on a tech device.

On Tuesday, iSuppli reported that a teardown analysis of the iPhone
showed its bill of materials and manufacturing costs totaled $265.83. That means
Apple would generate a margin of more than 55 percent for every 8 gigabyte
iPhone it sold for the $599 retail price, iSuppli said in a report.

Eric Pratt, iSuppli's senior director of teardown, said iSuppli is
still fine-tuning its report and it now thinks that the product's margin is over
50 percent, when accounting for factors like royalties and software costs. He
wasn't surprised by the margin, he said, because the company's earlier
research-based modeling called for a basic iPhone cost of $264.85.

J. Michels Uranium Index 7/3/07

-$232.99 -0.46%

What Companies make the guts of the IPhone?

This is a great article on taking apart an IPhone to see what is inside of it. However this is the most important part to investors.

The chip on the bottom center that looks blank in our image actually has this text: MARVELL, W8686B13, 702AUUP. This is Marvell's 802.11b/g 18.4mm2 chip.

The chip in the upper right is a Skyworks GSM/Edge Power amplifier (SKY77340)

The silver chip to the left of the Skyworks chip reads CSR 41814 3A06U K715FB. This is a CSR BlueCore4-ROM WLCSP single chip radio and baseband IC for Bluetooth 2+EDR.

The chip covered by the white sticker in the photo has the part numbers 338S0289 and 8G60710 on it. EETimes claims this is an Infineon M1817A11.

The chip with the blue dot on it is rumored to be an Intel Wireless Flash 32 MB chip. Part numbers 1030W0YTQ2, 5716A673, and Z717074A. EE Times adds the part #PF38F1030W0YTQ2.

The chip in the lower right reads 338S 0297 G0719. Some claim this is an Apple-branded chip, but it's purpose is currently unknown.

The chip in the lower left is an Infineon PMB8876 S-Gold 2 multimedia engine. Part numbers: 337S3235, 60708, and EL629058S03.
So the companies we have on this list are Intel, Marvell, Skyworks, Infineon, (CSR isn't traded in the US) and a chip who's purpose is unknown. This may be a Broadcom chip according to this article. But your guess is as good as mine.

UBS' Gauna believes Broadcom's supplying the chips controlling the
device's touch screen, perhaps its most unique feature. As a result,
Broadcom could see up to a 7 percent boost in sales in 2008 should Apple hit
its iPhone sales goal, he estimates.

In any case it seems that Skyworks may be an interesting play judging from how much Call interest has gone into the stock. The Jul 07 alone is trading 10 to 1 Calls to Puts and there seems to be heavy short interest at 13%. Too bad the company is negative in EPS and revenue growth. Maybe that IPhone money pouring in will turn those numbers around. In fact it is already sold out at AT&T stores.

In a sign of strong initial demand, AT&T said it had sold almost
all its phones within hours of the device going on sale at its 1,800 stores. The
company did not say how many units it had sold.

J. Michels Uranium Index 7/2/07

+$1,353.99 +2.74%