J. Michels Video Game Index 12/26/07

+$195.60 +0.41%

J. Michels Uranium Index 12/26/07

+$1,346.00 +2.26%

J. Michels Video Game Index 12/24/07

+$528.00 +1.12%

J. Michels Uranium Index 12/24/07

+$940.00 +1.60%

Stores or Consumers who will Win on Black Saturday?

It looks like there is no real "must have gift" this holiday season and it will be interesting to see what people will be buying in this last push. Activision and Nintendo however may have a big weekend. I think giftcards may be the most important thing this holiday season as people just give up and buy them instead of any one gift. The gift card line at Ala Moana stretched out the door during the other day.

Traffic to U.S. stores for the week ended December 15 fell 8.9 percent
compared with last year, according to ShopperTrak.

NPD's Cohen said some of the decline was due to indecision.

Besides popular electronics like Nintendo Co Ltd's (Osaka:7974.OS - News) Wii game console and Activision Inc's (NasdaqGS:ATVI - News), Guitar Hero
video game, he said shoppers are unsure of what buy.

"They're walking around like lost puppies," he said.

BioShock Wins Game of the Year Honors

This should be good news for Take Two. I should be picking this thing up once I get my hands on Assassins Creed. So many games so little time.

Beyond “Game of the Year” roundups, BioShock is being championed as a
top pick for the holidays, with the top video game enthusiast websites leading
the pack. These include IGN, GameSpot, 1UP, GamePro.com, GamesRadar and
GameSpy.

J. Michels Video Game Index 12/21/07

+$617.11 +1.32%

J. Michels Uranium Index 12/21/07

+$2,073.37 +3.66%

J. Michels Video Game Index 12/20/07

+$312.39 +0.67%

J. Michels Uranium Index 12/20/07

-$224.37 -0.39%

The So-Called Biblical Bookshelf

My question is what do those balls represent? I think they are a subliminal message that says Huckabee has got big balls. In fact he might have the biggest balls of them all. The secret AC/CD endrosement that noone in the Huckabee camp seems to talk about.

How you can Tell Reuters is for Hillary+Anyone but Huckabee

I love how they picked these pictures to accompany the "Biblical Bookshelf" fake controversy and Obama pulling even with Hillary story.



Reuters is trying to say that Huckabee is a nutty Baptist preacher from the South that has those "crazy, religious zealot" eyes and Obama looks like an inexperienced neophyte with that dumb look on his face. Of course they couldn't show a picture of Huckabee looking relaxed and happy and Obama looking presidential. Reuters needs to portray Huckabee as crazy preacher man and Obama as the clueless newbie. And people say the MSM is objective.

Huckabee "Defends Ad"

As if such a thing needed to be defended.

"In the harshness of this political campaign, with attack ads and negative
stuff coming at us every day, we decided we wanted to do something that showed, 'Hey, folks, life isn't all about politics. Life is also about our family and
friends,"' Huckabee said.

This holiday message showed his human side and of course Reuters needs controversy now that US troops aren't dying in Iraq so they just drum it up in any way possible. I love how the so-called "biblical bookshelf" is now taken as a given.

Huckabee, who has come out of nowhere to lead Republican polls in Iowa and
challenge Giuliani for the lead in national polls, took criticism from
Republican candidate Ron Paul on Tuesday for a "Merry Christmas" advertisement that included a book shelf behind him that looked like a Christian cross.

I guess the bookself could have looked like some other kind of cross but I'm glad Reuters is there to let us know exactly what kind of cross the bookshelf actually looked like. Talk about a controversy made out of nothing. There must be something to Huckabee if the MSM wants him beat him so badly.

"Don't Tase Me Bro!" Top Quote of 2007

I agree with this selection 100%.

"Don't Tase Me, Bro," a phrase that swept the nation after a U.S. college
student used it seeking to stop campus police from throwing him out of a speech
by Sen. John Kerry, was named on Wednesday as the most memorable quote of
2007.

The funniest part about "Don't Tase Me Bro, Don't Tase Me!" is that it happened at a Democratic function in a speech by Kerry. I could have sworn that they were the party of peace, understanding, tolerance, and hearing all viewpoints. I still say that some of those campus police, who obviously overreacted, and tased that poor doof should be reprimanded.

Huckabee *Christ*mas message too religous?

Now this one just strait-up pisses me off. There is no other reason for having *Christ*mas other then the birth of *Christ.* I mean His Name is part of the holidays name! This is what the Huck-meister said:

The ad, which is airing in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, shows
Huckabee in front of a Christmas tree as he says, "Are you about worn out by all
the television commercials you've been seeing, mostly about politics? Well, I
don't blame you. At this time of year sometimes it's nice to pull aside from all
of that and just remember that what really matters is the celebration of the
birth of Christ and being with our family and friends."

Yes, that is what we celebrate at *Christ*mas-time. Even though the Happy Holidays brigade is out in full force and try to bury the Christ child. Also I think the head of this Catholic League president needs to come out of Krak des Chevaliers and mix with the regular folks once in a while.

Catholic League president Bill Donahue said Huckabee went beyond
wishing people a joyous holiday. Donahue said he was especially disturbed by the
cross-like image created by a white bookcase in the background of the ad, saying
he believed it was a subliminal message.

Yes, this guy saw a cross-like image in a white bookcase and immediately thought that Huckabee must be using Ye Ole Mind Games. I thought Catholics were supposed to be more observant then this. Obviously that hidden cross just means that Jesus is thumbs up on Huckabee. It's too bad for Romney that he got that Herod the Great endorsement. That Fatted Calf hidden in the curtains on his Social Security Reform commercial might be a killer for his campaign.

The Hobbit is a Go!

Finally someone came to their senses at New Line and decided to back up the money truck for two more go around in Middle Earth.

New Line, which is a division of Time
Warner (NYSE:TWX) , and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer said on Tuesday
they would co-finance and co-distribute two films based on J.R.R.
Tolkien's The Hobbit. Mr Jackson and Fran Walsh, Mr Jackson's production partner, will produce the two films.

That is great news for Middle Earth fans like myself. Why quibble over millions when there are billions to be made out there. It is good to see that geek-fandom is the new currency in Hollywood. Now I can't wait until Smaug is introduced in the 2nd film and the battle of 5 armies will be sweet. I hope the director (who isn't going to be Jackson unfortunately) will keep some of the whimsy of the book intact. The Hobbit was not as heavy as the Rings Trilogy and I hope this new guy will reflect that. Bilbo never had that awesome weight on his shoulders that Frodo had and was able to be a little lighter in his interactions with people.

Jamie Lynn Spears Pregnant!

Is it just me or is the Spears clan are really Backwoods Hillbillies.

Jamie Lynn Spears, the 16-year-old "Zoey 101" star and sister of Britney,
tells OK! magazine that she's pregnant and that the father is her longtime
boyfriend, Casey Aldridge.

So she got knocked up at 16? I don't think Nickelodeon would want a pregnant 16 year old star on that Zoey 101 show. First the naked pics of the High School Musical girl and now a pregnant teen sitcom star. I guess the tweener life is getting pretty tough out there.

J. Michels Video Game Index 12/18/07

+$393.00 +0.86%

J. Michels Uranium Index 12/18/07

+$1,098.99 +1.97%

Unintended Consequences of Carbon Footprint Reduction

Now this is a true knock-on effect of all this Al Gore reduce your carbon footprint stuff.

The nation's corn crop is fertilized with millions of pounds of
nitrogen-based fertilizer. And when that nitrogen runs off fields in Corn Belt
states, it makes its way to the Mississippi River and eventually pours into the
Gulf, where it contributes to a growing "dead zone" — a 7,900-square-mile patch
so depleted of oxygen that fish, crabs and shrimp suffocate.

So in other words farmers grow more corn to make ethanol to add to the gas to keep the carbon out of the air. In return it kills off 7900 square miles of fish. This is one of those lose-lose propositions that the environmentalists don't tell you about. We can either stop using the nitrogen fertilizer and thus make it harder to grow the plants to replace the oil that is creating global warming. Or we can keep the nitrogen and then the fish will die off.

I guess this is a prime opportunity for someone to come up with a way for nitrogen to be kept from going into the Mississippi river. I think this is a job for the EPA (or a private company) to find a way to prevent the nitrogen but also increase the corn yields. I think some of those hefty farm subsidies need to start going to Monsanto and Bunge Ltd.

J. Michels Video Game Index 12/17/07

-$836.00 -1.79%

J. Michels Uranium Index

-$2,767.00 -4.73%

Stong Words on Dendreon vs. FDA

I agree with his feelings on Dendreon 100%.

For the sake of prostate cancer patients, of whom we lose some 30,000
each year, here’s to hoping the decision to approve comes earlier rather
than later. Provenge is safe and effective even if the biostatistics are not
as perfect as some FDA bureaucrats and their enablers in the ivory towers of
academia would like. Last I checked, our society ranks saving lives well
ahead of bureaucratic perfection on our list of priorities. With some luck,
Congressional hearings might remind the FDA of this fact.

If it is safe and it is actually saving some lives then why hasn't it been approved? Late stage prostate cancer victims are dying while waiting for the FDA. Let's hope those Congressmen can get the FDA to budge on this thing.

Google Introduces Wikipedia Like Service

They are calling it the "Knol" which stands for a "unit of knowledge."

Knol's goal, writes Udi Manber, Google's engineering chief, in a blog post, is "to encourage people who know a
particular subject to write an authoritative article about it." The system,
which is currently running in an invitation-only beta, offers free Web hosting
space and editing tools to allow anyone to write up a page about whatever they
like. Google is calling each article a "knol," which it says stands for a "unit
of knowledge."

Now Udi Manber is one hell of a cool D&D style name. Like Udi Manber the Grandmaster of Flowers. It's almost Gleep Wurp the Eyebiter good. In any case I think this is a pretty good idea for Google to try since it looks like they will have the authors name prominently displayed.

Also it will have a community aspect to it where people can rate it for accuracy, provide comments and questions, and make edits. In many ways it will be like Wikipedia with peer review bolted on. Sometimes you just can't trust Wikipedia but a Knol will hopefully have people checking it out and editing it for accuracy.

Obama Catches Clinton in New Hampshire

I guess this race isn't over after all.

Clinton has dropped 5 percentage points since the CNN/WMUR November survey, while Obama has gained 8 percentage points, according to the poll conducted by
the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. Clinton is now at 31 percent to
Obama’s 30 percent.

I would be willing to bet the Oprah factor could be behind this surge. The O and O show is cashing in better then Obama's wildest dreams. He should offer her VP and really see his polls take off.

J. Michels Video Game Index 12/14/07

+$33.00 +0.07%

J. Michels Uranium Index 12/14/07

-$2,038.00 -3.37%

Huckabee Leads in South Carolina

You would figure South Carolina would be a slam-dunk since he is a southern governor.

Huckabee was the choice of 24 percent of South Carolina Republicans in the
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll taken December 9-12, up from 3 percent
when a similar poll was conducted in July.

I think Americans are finally getting a handle on who Huckabee is and what he can do for America if he is elected. Also the other choices save Rudy seem kind of crappy to many Republicans.

Activision Tops November Sales

It looks like another winning month for Activision.

"Gamers answered the call, propelling Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on
the 360 platform to the top spot for the month in software unit sales. With
only one month of retail sales, it is already the four best-selling title in
video game sales year-to-date, behind Halo 3 (from Microsoft), Wii Play and
Pokemon Diamond (from Nintendo)," said Anita Frazier, an analyst with the
NPD group, in a statement.

Call of Duty 4 is yet another game that I will soon be buying when I finally get my Xbox360.

EAs Warhammer may be World of Warcraft in the making

The funny thing is I might be part of this new wave of players for Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning once it launches next year.

Poised to be one of the biggest new MMORPG releases of next year, WAR is
slated for official launch in Q2 of calendar year 2008. The Beta Center is still
open and accepting recruits at: https://betacenter.eamythic.com/signup.php.

The idea of playing an MMORPG set in the Warhammer's Old World sounds really interesting to me and it would be worth plunking down a $12-$14 or so dollars a month to play in it. I would be really interesting to see how many players World of Warcraft will lose to this game in 2008. Could be EAs ace-in-the-hole to go head to head with Activision/Blizzard.

J. Michels Video Game Index 12/13/07

-$274.00 -0.58%

J. Michels Uranium Index 12/13/07

-$1,859.20 -2.98%

Dendreon Enlists Congressional Help

And the shares were up 23% in response to it.

Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, sent a letter to the House Energy and
Commerce Committee requesting a probe into whether two Food and Drug
Administration advisers who questioned Provenge's effectiveness were
influenced
by financial ties they had with Dendreon competitors.

The letter, sent Thursday to Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich.,
was also
signed by Reps. Dan Burton, R-Ind., and Tim Ryan, D-Ohio.

I understand Rep. Michaud's concern on the matter. It was weird that these two advisers questioned its effectiveness like they did. I also didn't understand why the FDA needed more information even after their own advisory panel said it was safe and effective. Part of why I bought into the story was that that panel usually is a slam dunk to FDA approval.

I just don't like how people with late stage prostate cancer might be dying while waiting to get their hands on a drug that the FDA advisory panel already recommended. In any case if Congress does finds some sort of dirty dealing by those two advisers I hope they lose their positions and maybe even their licence to practice medicine.

Clinton Adviser Quits

That was fast. So one bad thing and you are out on your ear.

"I made a mistake and in light of what happened, I have made the personal
decision that I will step down as the co-chair of the Hillary for President
campaign," Shaheen said in a statement released by the campaign Thursday. "This election is too important, and we must all get back to electing the best
qualified candidate who has the record of making change happen in this country.
That candidate is Hillary Clinton."

The Clintons campers are trying for 100% perfection. At least they know what the stakes are. They have the potential to control everything and to create a "Progressive America." One nation under high taxes with health care and open borders for all. No mistakes in 2008 should be both parties motto.

Clinton Advisor Blasts Obama over Drug Use

I love the little GOP dig he fit in there for good measure.

It'll be, 'When was the last time? Did you ever give drugs to anyone?
Did you sell them to anyone?'" said Shaheen, whose wife, Jeanne, is the state's
former governor and is running for the U.S. Senate next year.

"There are so many openings for Republican dirty tricks. It's hard
to overcome," Shaheen said.

You have to give Obama credit for freely admitting that he took drugs in his youth. He didn't smoke pot and not inhale or try to gloss over it like Kerry or even Bush did. This admission makes him a stand-up sort of guy in my book. Lots of people have dispossessed youths and Obama learned from it and I think it made him a better guy.

Bush Vetoes SCHIP again

I guess this is getting old hat for W to use the veto pen. I think his administration officials need to do a better job of getting their message out. It just makes Bush look hard hearted by continuing to veto "money for sick kids." It is just too easy to make a club out of that statement and beat on him with it.

The bill Bush vetoed would have increased federal funding for SCHIP by
$35 billion over five years, to add an estimated 4 million people to the
program that provides insurance coverage for children from families who earn
too much to qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance. The
joint federal-state program currently provides benefits to roughly 6 million
people, mostly children.

I think W should just sign the thing and get it over with. That is only a $7 billion a year increase and 4 million extra people get to have health insurance. It isn't a massive Hillary-esque expansion of Medicaid but just a few extra billion to help a bunch of kids and some adults. These people are just too rich for Medicaid but too poor to afford private health insurance. I just can't see the point in handing Dems ammo like this going into 2008.

J. Michels Video Game Index 12/12/07

+$338.01 +0.72%

J. Michels Uranium Index 12/12/07

-$154.81 -0.25%

Contenders Jump on Huckabee at Debate

Another boring assed debate was on tap for the GOP side yesterday and it looks like the other candidates are firing on Huckabee.

Moments after Huckabee said schools should provide all students with
music and art instruction at all grade levels, Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo
took him to task. "That's not the job of a president. It's the job of a
governor," he said. "That's what you should run for if you want to dictate
curriculum."

Yup it seems that Tancredo is in the no Federal money for the arts wing of the GOP. AKA the Philistine wing. You have to admit that giving money for art and music education is a much better way to spend the funds then giving them to the National Endowment for the Arts. I'm pretty sure we won't see any crucifixes in a jar of urine from grade schoolers.

One thing I also found interesting that NBC even had a slanted hit piece on the NBC nightly news last night as well. Some crap about Huckabee receiving gifts and trying to slant it so that he was giving out patronage. It's just like a governor to sell his votes in exchange for Target gift certificates (which was one things that he got from someone that they were sure to point out on NBC.) I guess hit-pieces are just par for the course when you are the front-runner.

Man Kills Daughter over Hajib

Now this is a sad story and this father should be put away.

A 16-year-old girl has died after allegedly being choked by her father over
a dispute with her family over her refusal to wear the hijab, the Islamic
headscarf worn by some Muslim women.

Too bad this girl couldn't get in child protective services before the father killed her. This is another sad story of a Muslim that flies off the handle instead of sitting down and reasonably discussing why he feels his daughter needs to wear a head scarf even though she lives in the Western World. I guess reasonable Muslim discourse is an oxymoron nowadays.

Geert Wilders vs. the Muslims

Now here is another Dutch person that dares to talk about Islam in a bad light. He has pretty strong anti-Muslim feelings though:

Four months ago, he called for the Koran to be outlawed in the
Netherlands.

"I believe our culture is much better than the retarded Islamic
cultures," he told FOXNews.com in a telephone interview. "Ninety-nine percent of
the intolerance in the world comes back to the Islamic religion and the
Koran."

So of course the Religion of Peace wants to kill the guy instead of actually sitting down and getting into a dailogue with him. I think Muslims need to look down deep and figure out why this guy thinks that 99% of the intolerance in the world comes from Islam. Maybe he gets that view from the fact that *any* anti-Muslim sentiment is met with violence and bloodshed.

Anti-Christian or anti-Jewish sentiment is simply met with condemnation and the view that the person should be educated and set strait with words and not bombs. Imagine if Kevin Smith made Dogma about Islam. He would have to go into hiding and would fear for his life and probably never make another movie. Or imagine if someone made a Life of Brian about Muhammad. The Muslim would needs to deal with criticism in some way other then "that person must die." Until then Islam will always clash with the openness of the Western World.

MSM already on Huckabee over 15 year old answers

It didn't take too long as the front runner for the Main Stream Media to jump all over Huckabee. You have to color every answer with the fact that the person answering these questions was a 36 year old Texarcana Pastor running for his first office and not a 51 year old Governor. In fact this AIDS thing is so full of crap.

Huckabee's 1992 comments on isolating AIDS patients run counter to a
statement he released last month calling for increased federal funds to find a
cure. Huckabee says the earlier remarks came at a time when there was confusion about how AIDS could be transmitted.

In other words Huckabee sat down with some knowledgeable people and got educated when it came to AIDS and is now advocating *more* federal money to find a cure. I mean people should get a chance to get more information on a subject and come to a new conclusion after 15 years. I guess the MSM thinks people don't get a chance to change their minds about things as time goes on. For instance I have almost totally different views on things now then what I had 15 years ago.

FED Cuts Rates by 1/4 Point

And the market is getting killed because of it. And Cramer calls the FED too complacent for their own good.

"I'm no longer fiery. They had their chance. I wanted to do a wake-up
call then, in August. ... That was when it still mattered," said Cramer, who had
been hoping for a 50-basis-point cut. He believes the Fed's unwillingness to act
"just made [Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson's job much harder."

J. Michels Video Game Index 12/11/07

-$695.02 -1.46%

J. Michels Uranium Index 12/11/07

-$3,003.00 -4.59%

Suggestions For Huckabee Slogans

I think this should be the free T-shirt "The Huck" needs to give away. I think he needs a better slogan then "I Like Mike" it is too derivitive of "I Like Ike." Here are some suggestions I came up with

1. "Make Mine Huck"
2. "Huckabee There in '08"
3. "Elect The Big Bee"
4. "Nothing can stop the Huck!"
5. "A Bee is Better then a W." (for the Bush Haters out there)
6. "You Won't Like me When I'm Angry" then Huckabee tears off his shirt.
7. "Huckabee; the Arkansas Governor that Kept His Pants On."
8. "The Man from Hope; No, Not the the Pervert." (Yup, Huckabee and No-Pants Bill are both from Hope, Arkansas.)
9. "Hill-A-Bee in '08? No it's Huckabee in 08." (If Hillary wins the Dem Nom.)
10. "It's Gonna Bee Huckabee in '08"

Huckabee Should Offer Free T-Shirt for a $100 Donation

I'm thinking about giving like $100 to the Huck-man's campaign but I think a free T-shirt with something like Hucka-bees! or something like that would grease the skids a bit. I guess when he starts pulling in that front runner money he can start giving out the Free(Hucka)bees!

Holy Crap Chuck Norris is a Huckabee Man?

This pro-Huckabee thing is getting better and better!

I won't leave you in suspense. Though Giuliani might be savvy enough to
lead people, Fred Thompson wise enough to wade through the tides of
politics, McCain tough enough to fight terrorism and Romney business-minded
enough to grow our economy, I believe the only one who has all of the
characteristics to lead America forward into the future is ex-Arkansas Gov.
Mike Huckabee.

With Chuck Norris endorsing him Huckabee could potentially win the nomination for Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Green Party, American Communist Party, American Bund, Confederate States of America, Free Soil Party, Whig Party, Bull Moose Party, Pope of both Rome and Ravenna, Holy Roman Emperor, Grand Ayatollah, and President and Prime Minister of both Iran and North Korea all at the same time and win them all. That is how powerful a Chuck Norris endorsement is.

Huckabee Has My Nomination!

I went to Huckabee's site to check out his stand on issues and came across this gem.

The FairTax will replace the Internal Revenue Code with a consumption
tax, like the taxes on retail sales forty-five states and the District of
Columbia have now. All of us will get a monthly rebate that will reimburse us
for taxes on purchases up to the poverty line, so that we're not taxed on
necessities. That means people below the poverty line won't be taxed at all.
We'll be taxed on what we decide to buy, not what we happen to earn. We won't be taxed on what we choose to save or the interest those savings earn. The tax will apply only to new goods, so we can reduce our taxes further by buying a used car or computer.

I'm not sure how much this tax will bring in as opposed to the Income Tax but I wholeheartedly support the thing 100%. It seems like the money would be alot less but I have no idea since alot of the flat taxers out there use lots of different revenue figures in their calculations. In any case this FairTax means no Capital Gains Taxes and no Dividend Tax (which I hate with the fire of a 1000 suns!) Just not having to do my taxes every year and having to record each one of my options trades would be worth putting this guy in office.

In fact if Huckabee wins then buy Ebay stock since they will be swamped with people buying used goods so that they can avoid having to pay the FairTax. I will also try to make the majority of my purchases right up to the poverty line and save everything else so I can get the maximum tax reimbursements. Huckabee is a brave man and a great man and he will be the next President in 2008. A vote for Huckabee is a vote for never having to pay income taxes again! I might even give him some cashola for his campaign. And that would be a first for me.

Huckabee Catches Rudy

Now this is something that came out of nowhere

Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, is backed by 24 percent of
Republican voters nationally while Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, is
at 22 percent.

I have a feeling that this Arkansas governor will be involved in a lot less shenanigans then the last Arkansas governor that we had in the White House. I guess he just seems like a positive sort of guy that seems very value oriented. In fact maybe a little too values oriented when you take his remarks in 1992 about putting people with AIDS into quarantine. However he seems to have changed his mind on that position in the 15 years since.

J. Michels Video Game Index 12/10/07

+$789.00 +1.68%

J. Michels Uranium Index 12/10/07

+$1,315.00 +2.05%

2000 Year Old Mansion Found Under Parking Lot

Now that is one of the only cool things about the Middle East. There might be a 2000 year old mansion under almost anything.

The remains of the building were unearthed just outside the walls of
Jerusalem's Old City, underneath layers of a more recent settlement that was
hidden until recently under the asphalt of a small parking lot in east
Jerusalem.

They even know from the writings of Josephus that it might have belonged to the family of Queen Helene that was destroyed by the Romans during the revolt of 70AD. I wonder if there were any items found in the house at all. In any case it would sure make a cool D&D adventure locale.

Dems Say Bailout Doesn't Help Everyone (as if that was possible)

As you would have thought the Dems are picking Bush's Subprime Bailout plan apart.

Putting the interests of investors aside, Democrats and consumer
advocates question whether enough borrowers will be helped. They say the plan
doesn't do anything for borrowers whose loans reset at higher rates already, or
for those with other kinds of risky loans. Some also question whether the
five-year duration of the plan will be long enough for many borrowers to
benefit.

Well, in anything it doesn't help everyone but just the people that are the most behind the 8-ball. I didn't see the Democratic plan so I don't know what the alternative would be. I know Hillary had basically the same thing with a moratorium on foreclosures tacked on. I guess the Dems giving any kind of credit to Bush is too terrible to contemplate.

J. Michels Video Game Index 12/6/07

+$404.00 +0.87%

J. Michels Uranium Index 12/6/07

+$735.99 +1.17%

Bush Bails out the Subprime Afflicted

I wonder if this move has just staved off the recession that could be coming down the pike in 2008?

Another person familiar with the matter said the rate-freeze plan would
apply to borrowers with loans made at the start of 2005 through July 30 of this
year with rates that are scheduled to rise between Jan. 1, 2008, and July 31,
2010.

I wonder if this caught enough people so that spending won't slow in the near future? I know that a 30% or more rise in mortgages is equal to a possible 30% cut in consumer spending by Americans. I think the choice between losing your house and buying some crap will usually come down to keeping your house.

This will be interesting to see what will happen after 5 years pass. Hopefully interest rates will be lower then so people can refinance easily. If that isn't the case then an extension means that adjustable rates mortgages are actually a fixed rate mortgage on the cheap. I wonder if people will be taking out less fixed rate mortgages during that 5 year period? In any case I hate when government messes with markets but I guess this is what needs to happen to dodge the recession bullet.

Facebook CEO Apologizes

Facebook is finally doing the walk of shame when their new Ad feature started telling people what they bought them for Christmas.

"It took us too long after people started contacting us to change the
product so that users had to explicitly approve what they wanted to share," he
added. "Instead of acting quickly, we took too long to decide on the right
solution. I'm not proud of the way we've handled this situation and I know we
can do better."

I think they should have known that any opt-out type of program will run no matter what since people usually don't read what they are hitting the okay button for. I guess if they made it an opt-in program because not many people would sign up for a service that advertises what you bought to your friends as if that information is important to them or something.

I guess some people would like to know this stuff but basically it is worthless information. Oh well, I guess Gen Yer and the Millennials are more into sharing this kind of useless information then Gen Xers

Take-Two's Big Problems

This is a pretty sobering article if you are long Take-Two.

"Precarious is a pretty accurate word to describe their finances," says
Arvind Bhatia, an analyst with Sterne, Agee & Leach. Bhatia has a sell
rating on the stock and a price target of $12. Sterne Agee makes a market in
Take-Two shares.

The company's situation took a turn for the worse in August when it
said it will push back the release of Grand Theft Auto IV from October this year
to second quarter fiscal 2008, ending April 30.

So pretty much because they delayed this game they might be in tough financial straits going forward. They might also run out of cash and have to draw on their debt for everyday financing. GTA4 better be a massive blockbuster or there might not be a GTA5.

J. Michels Video Game Index 12/5/07

+$423.48 +0.92%

J. Michels Uranium Index 12/5/07

+$260.01 +0.42%

J. Michels Video Game Index 12/4/07

+$176.52 +0.39%

J. Michels Uranium Index 12/4/07

+$651.99 +1.05%

Activision+Blizzard=Trouble for ERTS

In what would be called a pretty stunning announcement it looks like Vivendi is buying out Activision and adding it to their gaming arm which includes Blizzard.

Paris-based Vivendi SA and Santa Monica, Calif.-based Activision Inc.
said Sunday that their respective board members had approved a plan to combine
Activision with the French company's game unit, Vivendi Games, which includes
Blizzard and three other divisions.

This really makes a well rounded company that has consoles covered on the Activision side and MMORPGs covered on the Blizzard side. Hmm, we might even see a Starcraft 2 for console that comes out at about the same time as the computer version. I would be willing to bet that it would come with a USB keyboard like thing with hotkeys for various attacking and grouping functions.

This might even be a game changer when it comes to the console and PC converging. This is because most of the newer consoles are essentially gaming rigs stripped down with a controller attached. So I wouldn't be surprised if Sony connects their Gaming Service to a web browser and lets people connect to the internet on their PS3s. All you would need would be a USB keyboard (like the one that came with the potential StarCraft for console) and a copy of Firefox and you would essentially have a new computer for the price of a console. You could even attach a productivity suite and kids could do their homework, connect to MySpace, and play Assassins Creed all from the same box. It would actually be a truly seperate selling point that the PS3 would have over the Xbox360.

In any case I think EA should really fear this company because EA is so very weak when it comes to MMORPGs. Blizzard could come out with that Starcraft 2 for console and then an MMORPG based on the StarCraft universe and it would clean EAs clock. A StarCraft MMORPG that would be available both on console and PC sounds like the next World of Warcraft but with an even greater reach and a built in fan base.

I would be willing to bet even money that the Korean Star Craft MMORPG market may even dwarf the US one in a few years since that game is an insane hit over there. So this new Activision Blizzard would have a broadened international revenue base, carry continued strength in consoles, have established million seller franchises under their belt, and could create a PC/console convergence. I would be willing to call that a game changer.

J. Michels Video Game Index 12/3/07

+$218.00 +0.48%

J. Michels Uranium Index 12/3/07

-$2,130.00 -3.32%

J. Michels Video Game Index 11/29/07

-$311.00 -0.68%

J. Michels Uranium Index 11/29/07

+$1,278.00 +2.05%

Facebook Invades your Privacy?

It looks like Facebook is broadcasting what you buy on their member sites unless you opt out of some Ad related thing.

Matthew Helfgott, a 20-year-old in Cortland, N.Y., said he noticed that
his girlfriend had some purchases listed in her news feed, including a pair of
black leather men's gloves, meant as a gift for him. He told her that many of
her online buys had shown up in her news feed, an update on Facebook profiles
with what members do on the site.

"She was ticked off about it," Helfgott commented. "She felt it
violated her privacy."

So they pretty much peeked into your online closet and found the gifts you were going to give your friends and family and broadcasted it on their site. Facebook kind of reminds me of the digital version of kids searching the house for where their parents hid the presents and then peeking under the wrapping paper. I guess more people need to be hard to shop for like me and just tell their friends and family what they would like for Christmas so they won't be surprised with something you either have or don't want.

J. Michels Video Game Index 11/28/07

+$1,765.00 +4.03%

J. Michels Uranium Index 11/28/07

+$2,771.00 +4.66%

Credit Card Bills Could Spell Recession

Hmm, it seems the chance of recession has been bumped up to 30% in some economists eyes.

Arnold said that many consumers, particularly those without top credit
scores, will no longer be able to easily transfer balances to new cards
carrying low introductory rates.

"That's what consumers have fallen back on, and it's been a
lifesaver for the economy. It worked pretty well, even if it masked the whole consumer debt problem," said Arnold. "But that safety net [for consumers] is not
as much of an option these days."

Plus many of these guys with the subprime credit scores also have to deal with an adjustible rate mortgage that keeps going up on them. Plus, they may not be able to sell their expensive houses or even tap the home equity on it with the market is falling in many areas.

I'm pretty sure they won't be talking about buying a new TV when they might not be able to afford the house to put it in. I mean the spending cutbacks have already hit Joe Consumers' daily Starbucks fix. Make sure to get those hedges in place and sell into any Santa Claus Rally. I'm semi-short the market but I'm going to go almost all cash pretty soon.

Activision Ups Outlook

I guess Guitar Hero is currently winning the battle of the Band-type games.

Activision previously said its "Guitar Hero 3" video game that came
out in late October racked up more than $115 million in sales in its first
week on the market -- equivalent to more than a third of the company's
fiscal second quarter revenue.

They upped their forecast from 51 to 66 cents a share which is quite a move upwards. I guess the idea of dropping $100 on a game and a Guitar is really paying off for them in terms of margin expansion and on the amount of revenue per unit sold. I'm sure the Best Buy deal of Xbox360 plus Guitar Hero 3 was a gold mine as well.

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority Buys some Citi

I guess Citi is getting cheap enough for the oil shieks to jump in for a $7.5 billion stake.

"While these announcements from the financial industry are continuing to
unsettle investors, the lower dollar has put the U.S. in the position of being
for sale at attractive prices, so Abu Dhabi can come along and buy an interest
in Citi," said A.C. Moore, chief investment strategist for Dunvegan Associates
in Santa Barbara, Calif. "Anytime you have corporate action, that's one of the
strong bull arguments" for stocks.

It's is certainly getting really close to my mental buy price of below $30.

J. Michels Video Game Index 11/27/07

+$1,243.01 +2.92%

J. Michels Uranium Index 11/27/07

+$194.00 +0.33%

Citi Cuts Costs and Might Have More Layoffs

The stock is getting near the $30 mark and if it breaks through it might be a pretty good value. Too bad all of the subprime writedowns haven't been wrung entirely out of the stock yet.

Its shares fell $1.63, or 5.1 percent, to $30.07 in afternoon trading
Monday. The bank is still looking for a new CEO, after Charles Prince
stepped down as chairman and chief executive Nov. 4, the same evening the bank
announced that it will likely write down the value of its portfolio by another
$8 billion to $11 billion in the fourth quarter

Once that happens I think it might be a good stock to jump back into simply for the dividend alone. Hopefully the new CEO will view that dividend as something that cannot be cut and even raise it as things start to get better.

J. Michels Video Game Index 11/26/07

+$227.99 +0.54%

J. Michels Uranium Index 11/26/07

-$1,530.00 -2.52%

Starbucks on the Ropes

I guess this is a big sign that consumers are tightening their belts.

The company blamed weak consumer spending and high input costs in the
form of milk. Yup, it literally cried over spilled milk.

I'm pretty sure that milk is the least of their worries. It does seem strange that they are blaming an item that takes up such a small part of every Venti Latte for their woes for two quarters in a row.

I think it is just a case of consumers not buying $4.00 Lattes and instead trying to make payments on their jumbo, balloon payment, 3 points over prime etc. etc. adjustable rate mortgage on a house they can't sell that keeps dropping in value month after month. The first thing people will cut back on is their daily Mocha Frap to save a few bucks. I guess consumers are just drinking more freeze dried Folgers Crystals now.

The9 Limited Gets Smashed

Revenue was up 35 percent but earnings were 4 cents short of estimates.

Part of The9's problem, Brueschke said, is that it is using very expensive
Hewlett-Packard servers to operate the game. The better it does, the more server
farms have to be added, hurting profits.

Furthermore, the game is still in its early, low-margin,
"investment phase," and its higher-margin phase is still many quarters away, the
analyst added.

That first thing kind of sucks because as the game gets more popular then expenses will rise at the same time. I wonder what this higher margin phase will be as well. World of Warcraft is kind of getting long in the tooth as video games go and I have heard about a dropoff in interest for the game.

Maybe Chinese gamers are different then US gamers and they lose interest in the game at a slower rate but I'm not so sure. I'm sure the expansion will bring more players back to the game and have more players pick it up but that will peter out eventually. I guess that is the danger of having only a single item that you derive the majority of your revenue from.

J. Michels Video Game Index 11/16/07

-$1,298.00 -2.92%

J. Michels Uranium Index 11/16/07

+$257.00 +0.42%

Video Game Sales up a Whopping 73% in October

Now these are some impressive numbers compared to J.C. Penneys and Kohl's warning lower.

U.S. sales of video game hardware and software jumped 73 percent in
October, with Nintendo Co Ltd's Wii console regaining its spot as the
top-selling console, industry data showed on Thursday. Total sales were
$1.1 billion, compared with $643 million a year earlier, according to market
research firm NPD.

Hillary Campaign Planting the Questions Now

I missed this when I was in Japan but it looks like the Hillary Campaign is now resorting to planting questions so she can better triangulate her answers.

"After her speech, Clinton accepted questions. But according to
Grinnell College student Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff ’10, some of the questions from
the audience were planned in advance. 'They were canned,' she said. Before the
event began, a Clinton staff member approached Gallo-Chasanoff to ask a specific
question after Clinton’s speech. 'One of the senior staffers told me what [to
ask],' she said.

I thought these Town Halls were supposed to be impromptu and not as rehearsed as a debate or a stump speech. I guess the Clitonistas are resorting the snake oil salesman school of using shills to back their candidate. Maybe Obama will pull this thing out after all.

Hillary on the Defence at the Las Vegas Debate

Wow it looks like the Democratic nomination is starting to turn into something other then a Coronation of the Her Triangulous, Queen Hillary I. It is instead turning into a bomb throwing contest with Hillary fighting from behind.

Edwards was next to accuse Clinton of trying to have it both ways with
the war in Iraq, Social Security and defining the scope of President Bush's
power to use military force against Iran. "She says she will bring change to
Washington while she continues to defend a system that does not work, that is
broken, that is rigged, that is corrupt," added the former North Carolina
senator.

"I've just been personally attacked again," Clinton shot back. "I
don't mind taking hits on my record on issues, but when somebody starts throwing mud at least we can hope it's accurate and not right out of the Republican playbook."

Yup Edwards is using Republican plays against her boo-hoo. If she wasn't such a wishy-washy triangulator she wouldn't have these problems. She relies far too much on polling data and consensus building to have an opinion on anything. If someone said "Iran just bombed Israel; Madam President what do we do?" She would say " let's get a poll together that will judge the harshness of the statement that we will send to the UN while making sure we don't offend Persian sensibilities."

At least you know where a guy like Edwards stands on the issues. I would even give grudging respect to a guy like Kucinich because he clearly states his loony notions and doesn't obfuscate and search for the "correctly polled and vetted answer" to everything. Hillary just isn't authentic and Obama and Edwards are using it as a hammer against her.

J. Michels Video Game Index 11/15/07

+$22.00 +0.05%

J. Michels Uranium Index 11/15/07

-$2,266.62 -3.54%

Lennar Mothballing Homes

Now this is some scary stuff if you are looking for housing to bottom out.

Lennar Corp., for one, has joined the "not to sell" camp at its
development in Orange County, Calif. The Miami company plans to finish
building 259 homes -- the first phase of a 1,100-unit development in Irvine
-- but it has decided not to sell any of them until the constrained mortgage
market and swollen housing inventory improves.

So they are basically building houses and then just letting them sit until the market improves. What happens if you run out of cash while waiting for things to improve?

Lennar has $128 million in cash on the books and 3.12 billion in debt. I wonder what it will cost Lennar to make those 259 homes? It just seems to go against business sense to pay big money (perhaps 50 million or so?) to build something and then sit on it until the time is right to sell the thing. This is especially true when the thing you are building might have been priced too high in the first place due to a bubble. I wonder what the margin on these homes today compared to the 2005. It would be interesting to find out how much it has shrunk.

J. Michels Video Game Index 11/14/07

-$33.00 -0.07%

J. Michels Uranium Index 11/14/07

+$1,125.63 +1.79%

Prince Finally Out at Citigroup

You would figure that if a CEO lost $6.5 billion he would be out on his ear alot faster then now. Too bad he took the stock price down to the tune of 38% on his way out the door.

Charles Prince will offer his resignation as chief executive
officer of Citigroup Inc., the biggest U.S. bank, the Wall Street Journal
reported. The shares rose in extended trading.

I was stopped out of this stock quite a while ago but it may be a good beaten down name to jump back into after the smoke clears on their total writedowns. Hopefully they won't need to cut their dividend in order to meet their capital requirements.

MSFT Employees Gave $72 Million

Now this is a nice program that more companies should think about doing.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT - News) matches
employee donations, dollar-for-dollar, for up to $12,000 per employee per year.
This year, the company's 70,000 employees donated to 25,000 nonprofit groups.

In addition, the company directly donated another $68 million in
cash and $331 million in software to nonprofits.

You can't say that the evil empire doesn't give some its money to charity. $331 million in free items cannot be a bad thing.

J. Michels Video Game Index 11/2/07

-$3.99 -0.01%

J. Michels Uranium Index 11/2/07

+$1,569.00 +2.84%

Worlds Oldest Clam Born in 1602

Now this is quite a feat for a lowly clam.

Scientists said the mollusc, an ocean quahog clam, was aged between
405 and 410 years and could offer insights into the secrets of longevity.

Researchers from Bangor University in north Wales said they
calculated its age by counting rings on its shell.

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the longest-lived
animal
was a clam found in 1982 aged 220.

The weird part is that this clam was born at the same time the Dutch East India Company was founded in the Netherlands. That was the first multinational corporation that was also the first company to issue stock. Now this is also whopping figure. The Dutch East India Company paid

an 18% dividend for almost 200 years! This was also the first performance of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

EA Posts Pretty Decent Numbers

It seems that Electronic Arts posted some down numbers due to an accounting change to sales of online-enabled games but things are looking great for Christmas.

Adjusted earnings, excluding the change in revenue recognition and
other items, were $87 million, or 27 cents per share, up from $65 million, or 21
cents per share a year earlier. On that basis, EA beat Wall Street's earnings
expectations. Analysts, on average, were expecting a profit of 20 cents per
share, according to a poll by Thomson Financial.

They also say that game sales in North America and Europe for 2007 will grow 15 percent to 20 percent. That seems pretty reasonable and would seem to be recession proof since video games seem to be bought in all markets no matter what. They are also saying they are holding market share and also closing some facilities, including one in Chertsey, England wherever that is.

It is good for the stock after hours since it is up 5%. Finally, it seems the options players were straddling the stock as well unsure of where numbers will fall. It should be interesing to see the conviction tomorrow morning on this stock.

Take-Two Leaves Banned Content in Game

It looks like hackers have unlocked the content that moved the game from Adults Only to Mature status. I guess Rockstar only blocked the gory content and did not cut them out of the game entirely. I wonder if this is another case of the "Hot Coffee" mod.

Take-Two edited parts of the game, including blurring some of the most
gruesome killing scenes, to get the less restrictive rating.

Hackers defeated that blurring on the version of the game for Sony
Corp.'s PlayStation Portable. The game is also available for the PlayStation 2
and Nintendo Wii systems, and those versions do not appear to have been
hacked.

J. Michels Video Game Index 11/1/07

-$641.01 -1.33%

J. Michels Uranium Index 11/1/07

-$2,421.00 -4.19%