Physicists Thinks Higgs Boson Goes Back in Time to Kill Themselves

Now this is a theory so interesting that it sounds like the basis for a Star Trek episode.

A pair of otherwise distinguished physicists have suggested that the hypothesized Higgs boson, which physicists hope to produce with the collider, might be so abhorrent to nature that its creation would ripple backward through time and stop the collider before it could make one, like a time traveler who goes back in time to kill his grandfather.

It seems that if the collider keeps breaking then they would have something here. If they switch this thing on in December and there is another major malfunction we might have something here. The theory that there is some kind of force that fights against man getting certain knowledge is pretty nuts. Maybe this "God Particle" is on the list of "Things Man Was Not Meant to Know" right after the answer to the question "Do I look fat in this dress?"

Delaware School Suspends 6 year Old for Having Camping Utensil

Now this is Leftist Schools crapola going into overdrive.

Zachary’s offense? Taking a camping utensil that can serve as a knife, fork and spoon to school. He was so excited about recently joining the Cub Scouts that he wanted to use it at lunch. School officials concluded that he had violated their zero-tolerance policy on weapons, and Zachary was suspended and now faces 45 days in the district’s reform school.

Before you think this was just some kind of one time deal this same school district also suspended and expelled three other kids as well.

“Something has to change,” said Dodi Herbert, whose 13-year old son, Kyle, was suspended in May and ordered to attend the Christina district’s reform school for 45 days after another student dropped a pocket knife in his lap. School officials declined to comment on the case for reasons of privacy.

Yup 45 days at gladiator academy for having a pocket knife dropped into your lap by some other kid. I wonder if that other kid was expelled as well?

The Christina school district attracted similar controversy in 2007 when it expelled a seventh-grade girl who had used a utility knife to cut windows out of a paper house for a class project.

Yup she was kicked out of school for cutting windows out of a paper house with an Exacto-Knife.

The law was introduced after a third-grade girl was expelled for a year because her grandmother had sent a birthday cake to school, along with a knife to cut it. The teacher called the principal — but not before using the knife to cut and serve the cake.

Yup suspended for a year for bringing a knife to school to cut a cake. What makes this so funny is that the reason why these fascist "zero-tolerance" laws are put in place without teacher discretion was because they did not want to be discriminatory.

Education experts say that zero-tolerance policies initially allowed authorities more leeway in punishing students, but were applied in a discriminatory fashion. Many studies indicate that African-Americans were several times more likely to be suspended or expelled than other students for the same offenses.

Welcome to multi-culti Leftist America people. Use an Exacto-Knife to cut windows out of a paper house for school project and get expelled. Add to this Obama's Glorious Socialist Youth Marching Song and we have the new face of our Leftist School System.

No wonder so many more parents are getting their kids the hell out of public school. At least at a private or parochial school you can cut a cake or eat with a camping utensil without being sent to a gladiator academy.

Intel Crushes Numbers: Time for a Tech Rally?

It seems that tech spending is starting to pick back up as Intel just blew numbers away.

Citing the impact of an improving economy, Intel posted sales of $9.4 billion, down $828 million on the same period last year, but above Wall Street's projection of $9.04 billion.

That was a $360 million dollar beat on the top line which is quite an overshoot. The earnings numbers were even better:

The world's largest chipmaker earned 33 cents a share on net income of $1.9 billion, down from 35 cents a share and $2 billion in the same period last year. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had estimated earnings of 28 cents a share.

Most of the growth came from Atom Processors so their profit margin seems to have shrunk from last. In any case this bodes well for the rest of the tech sector. We might see a NASDAQ rally coming down the pike depending on what Google and IBM do.

Nobel Jury Defends the Indefensible

I think these fools need to just slink off into anonymity instead of trying to defend themselves for their blunder.

"We simply disagree that he has done nothing," committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland told the AP on Tuesday. "He got the prize for what he has done."

Jagland singled out Obama's efforts to heal the divide between the West and the Muslim world and scale down a Bush-era proposal for an anti-missile shield in Europe.

So he gave a speech and laid down before the mighty Russian bear and he gets an award? The people passed over had to dodge assassination attempts and serve jail time. I guess these Norwegian leftists ignored all the continuation of the Bush era policies.

In other words I think it might be time to take this award away from the Norwegian Leftists and give it to some impartial committee like the other Nobel Prize awards. Hell, I wouldn't even mind having the BCS decide the Nobel Peace prize in the future. At least they use polls and computers and won't not vote on "potential" to win the National Championship.

Is Warner Chilcott Post Buyout of P&Gs Drug Business a Buy?

Well I was reading the transcript of Mad Money and Cramer was talking about Warner Chillcott (WCRX) buying out P&Gs drug division.

Cramer said this deal will be huge for Warner Chillcott, as it's getting the drug assets of Procter for just 5.7 times its earnings. "This is a massive discount," said Cramer, but also one that makes sense for Procter given its restructuring efforts.

Cramer likened the deal to that of the over-the-counter conglomerate of Chattem (CHTT Quote), which made similar acquisitions from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ Quote),only to see its shares rise 112% one year later.

The deal is an all cash deal for 3.1 billion that will be financed almost entirely with debt. It will also add nearly $1.55 per share to WCRXs earnings. That seems to be a strait up double Warner Chilcotts earnings for an add on of $3.1 billion in debt added on to the $854 million in debt they already have on their books.

One red flag I see is that P&G's pharmaceuticals arm had sales declines according to this. This quarterly report talks about how sales of Acotonel have been under pressure due to increased competition in the osteoporosis space. That means some of the drugs that they bring on board might not be as big a growth driver as Cramer thinks.

Another issue that I see is P&Gs drugs are a quite a bit different then the drugs that Warner Chilcott currently makes. WCRX mostly makes women's health products like oral contraceptives and pills to treat menopause. They also make drugs that treat psoriasis and acne.

The P&G drugs are to treat osteoporosis, ulcerative colitis, Paget's disease, overactive bladder, and 2 drugs to treat urinary tract infections. So you have to be aware that there could be the potential of integration issues once they complete the deal.

In any case the idea that a company can double its EPS in one deal like this is pretty intriguing. In any case I still need to check what drugs are in the pipeline at both companies before I pull the trigger. WCRX does have a Phase III drug in the pipeline called WC 3016 which is a low dose oral contraceptive. I'm not sure how this drug is different than their two other birth control pills LOESTRIN 24 and FEMCON.

If You Make Fun of Obama Winning the Nobel Prize You are a Terrorist?

Wow the DNC really should hire better people to represent themselves these guys are awful.

“The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists – the Taliban and Hamas this morning – in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize,” DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse told POLITICO. “Republicans cheered when America failed to land the Olympics and now they are criticizing the President of the United States for receiving the Nobel Peace prize – an award he did not seek but that is nonetheless an honor in which every American can take great pride – unless of course you are the Republican Party.

The GOP also threw in their lot with the Huffington Post as well. The funny thing about this statement is I thought we were supposed to trust the Taliban and make peace with them. It is good to see the DNC condemn Hamas as terrorists though.

Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize as Well as Finals MVP and Cy Young Award

If there was any doubt that the Nobel Peace Prize was a joke after they gave it to a terrorist like Arafat, now we have Obama winning the award for potentially, maybe, more then likely achieving peace somewhere at some undetermined time in the future. As usual the Brits nailed this whole thing perfectly.

Rarely has an award had such an obvious political and partisan intent. It was clearly seen by the Norwegian Nobel committee as a way of expressing European gratitude for an end to the Bush Administration, approval for the election of America’s first black president and hope that Washington will honour its promise to re-engage with the world.

Instead, the prize risks looking preposterous in its claims, patronising in its intentions and demeaning in its attempt to build up a man who has barely begun his period in office, let alone achieved any tangible outcome for peace.

In a stunning turn of events he was also awarded the NBA Finals MVP for potentially playing for the NBA at such a high level that his team was undefeated through the regular season. He was also awarded the Cy Young award for next year for potentially pitching 20 strait Perfect Games for his beloved White Sox. I also hear he won the Heisman Trophy as well.

The White House Media War

I think the White House needs to seriously consider the actual war in Afghanistan instead of insisting on some phony "war against the press."

The general in this war is Dunn, 51, a veteran campaign strategist who arrived at the White House in May. She has been a force in Democratic campaigns since the late 1980s and helmed Obama's rapid-response operation during his run. At the White House, she has become a devoted consumer of conservative-media reports and a fierce critic of Fox News, leading the Administration's effort to block officials, including Obama, from appearing on the network. "It's opinion journalism masquerading as news," Dunn says. "They are boosting their audience. But that doesn't mean we are going to sit back." Fox News's head of news, Michael Clemente, counters that the White House criticism unfairly conflates the network's reporters and its pundits, like Glenn Beck, whom he likens to "the op-ed page of a newspaper."

I think it might be time for Ms. Dunn to turn off the damn TV and consider actual threats to this country. If we are hit by another terrorist attack or we have a double dip recession then all this crap about a "war on Fox News" is going to sound like fraud, waste and abuse.

Forget Fox News! Ms. Dunn you have all the levers of power for the next 2 years. Obama is no longer the junior Senator from Illinois but the President of ALL the Americans! Go after Ahamdinijoke or Putin with your rhetoric Ms. Dunn and forget Shepard Smith and Glenn Beck. Those first two guys might actually draw us into wars involving something other than words.

Bipartisan Support Growing for a New Jobs Tax Credit

I'm still baffled why this wasn't put into the stimulus bill. It might have actually kept unemployment at the level that Obama actually promised instead of at 9.8%.

One version of the approach, to be unveiled next week by the Economic Policy Institute, a labor-oriented research organization, would give employers a two-year tax credit if they increased the size of their work force or added significant hours of work (for example, making a part-time worker full time). Employers would receive a credit worth twice the first-year payroll tax for each new hire, amounting to several thousand dollars, depending on the new worker’s salary.

There are some unfounded fears in that article like some companies will wait to hire people until after the bill passes and other nonsense. So it should be fast-tracked in a bipartisan fashion and signed into law. Some economists think that it might create 700,000 to 2.1 million jobs right off the bat.

If the failed stimulus was just this new jobs tax credit and some infrastructure spending then there would be no talk of a double dip recession or a jobless recovery. Hell, if they can think of a way to make this thing deficit neutral they can keep it going indefinitely.

Walt Mossberg's Review of Windows 7: If You Have XP You Will Be Forced to Wipe Your Hard Drive to Use It

I guess I will be forced to buy a new PC in order to try out Windows 7 because the XP Upgrade path is an absolute joke.

Unfortunately, XP owners, the biggest body of Windows users, won't be able to do that. They'll have to wipe out their hard disks after backing up their files elsewhere, then install Windows 7, then restore their personal files, then re-install all their programs from the original CDs or downloaded installer files. Then, they have to install all the patches and upgrades to those programs from over the years.

Microsoft includes an Easy Transfer wizard to help with this, but it moves only personal files, not programs. This painful XP upgrade process is one of the worst things about Windows 7 and will likely drive many XP owners to either stick with what they've got or wait and buy a new one.

The idea of having to wipe out my drive just to install Windows 7 makes me not want to buy Windows 7. I understand that XP is 8 years old but MSFT knows that many people dodged Vista because they thought it sucked. They should have known that these people were waiting for a new OS and wanted an easy upgrade path from their current system with XP to Windows 7.

Now the idea of wiping out every users hard drive just to install Windows 7 sounds like an idiotic waste of time. I guess this will lead to a lot of companies simply buying scads of new machines instead of trying to keep the old machines and upgrade them. Perhaps some of those companies might even think about buying Macs instead of new PCs costing MSFT some sales.

So in other words it is about time to go long Dell, HP, and other computer hardware makers because companies now have no choice other then buying new hardware. I still foresee some companies sticking with Windows XP until they are forced to change due to an end to XP support. They might even continue using XP after support ends rather then be forced to wipe out every hard drive in their company.

Now I understand why Lenovo and Samsung decided to push back the release of their Nvidia Ion Netbooks (the S12 and the N510 respectively) rather then release them in August. Imagine telling their early adopters that they had to wipe out their hard drives in order to buy the latest OS that came out in October. I would have been fit to be tied if that happened. In any case Microsoft screwed up again and it will cost them sales in the long run.

Who Attacked the U.S. Dollar?

It seems there might have been some kind of chicanery going on when some journalist named Robert Fisk dropped this bombshell:

It began with a thinly sourced but highly explosive report Monday in a British newspaper: Arab oil sheiks are conspiring with the Russians and Chinese to quit using the dollar to set the value of oil trades — a direct threat to the global supremacy of the greenback.

When I read this story I knew it was laughable because tanking the dollar would decimate the Chinese economy because they hold trillions of dollars in their central banks. The Chinese have been diversifying their holdings so it might be a fear in the future some time. Actually when you dig a little deeper this Robert Fisk character becomes kind of shady:

Around the world, traders turned to Wikipedia to find out more about Fisk himself. There, they learned that Fisk is a legendary British foreign correspondent who has been based in Beirut for more than 30 years and has won a slew of journalism awards. They also learned that he is one of only a few journalists to have interviewed Osama bin Laden (three times) and that he has expressed doubts that the United States has told the full story about the Sept. 11 attacks.

Yup this guy interviewed Osama bin Laden a bunch of times and is a lousy "truther" to boot. In other words he might have an axe to grind with America and could have helped some of his cronies who were long gold and short the dollar make a few million. I think the SEC needs to subpoena this guy to see who profited from his poorly sourced article.

James Gustave Speth Contributed to Climate Change by Killing Breeder Reactors

Now this is the exact reason why environmentalists cannot be trusted to actually help us combat climate change.

So here's the aggravating aspect of Speth's preening self-congratulation about being part of the effort to stop the commercialization of breeder reactors: in an alternative universe in which 200 reactors come online, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions would be about 35 percent lower than they currently are. In other words, the reactors that Speth opposed could have been a huge part of the solution to what Speth claims is humanity's "biggest threat." Like I said, really annoying.

Yup, due to this fool getting breeder reactors judged as non commercial in the 1970s we have 35% more greenhouse gas emissions then we could have had. In other words this Speth character actually indirectly contributed to the amount of greenhouse gases in the environment right now.

You add to this the fact that these breeder reactors can be configured to be powered with nuclear waste then this so-called environmentalist contributed to that problem as well. So now we need Yucca Mountain and have tons of dangerous waste sitting around because an "environmentalist" killed the project. Then he goes and brags about it. The fact that guys like Speth are leading the charge in fighting "the biggest threat" to humanity is laughable.

Pelosi Out of Her Mind on "Windfall" Profits Tax on Insurers

I think she is just so spaced out with CIA agents lying to her and San Fransisco Democratic councilmen coming to kill her friends that she doesn't know what she is saying half the time. This has to be the most laughable thing I have read in a long time.

Pelosi told reporters the idea of a new tax on insurers was “very preliminary” and that she asked Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel to determine if “that is something we can put in the mix” of revenue-raising ideas.

Insurance companies and other health-care industries such as drugmakers have “much more they can put on the table to bring down the cost,” said Pelosi, of California.

This guy is 100% right when it comes to "windfall profits."

“What windfall profits? The insurance industry profits are in line or less than almost any other industry,” Robert Zirkelbach of the Washington-based trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans said in an telephone interview. “There is a lot of misinformation out there about” profits of health plans. “Historically, health-plan profits have been 3 percent, much less than other industries.”

UnitedHealth Group Inc., the largest insurer by sales, had a 3.8 percent profit margin last year. For WellPoint, it was 4.1 percent and Aetna Inc. of Hartford, Connecticut, the third- largest insurer, 4.5 percent, according to Bloomberg data.

Compare that to the 30% or more margins that software companies make and you can see which companies are getting "windfall profits." Plus UNH paid $1.6 billion in taxes last year. How much more should they be paying above and beyond other US companies solely because they sell health insurance? Also how much should a non profit health insurance company like Blue Cross and Blue Shield have to pay? I mean they dominate the market in many states.

The funniest part about this whole thing is that UNH will not be paying any "windfall profit tax" out of their pretty scant profit margin. They will simply raise their premiums citing Congressional pressure. Nancy Pelosi does not understand that taxing companies for "windfall profits" just make them pass on those taxes to consumers. That would be the exact opposite of the House goal of reducing premiums for all Americans. I think she just might be the worst Speaker of the House in modern history.

Obama Leaning Toward Half-Assing it in Afghanistan

I would hate to be an Afghan leader right now because Obama might be throwing you under the bus.

Bowing to the reality that the Taliban is too ingrained in Afghanistan's culture to be entirely defeated, the administration is prepared, as it has been for some time, to accept some Taliban role in parts of Afghanistan, the official said. That could mean paving the way for Taliban members willing to renounce violence to participate in a central government — though there has been little receptiveness to this among the Taliban. It might even mean ceding some regions of the country to the Taliban.

Did Obama not read about what happened when Pakistan tried to "cede parts of the country" to the Taliban in the Swat Valley? The Pakistanis were forced to go back in and clean the Taliban out when they tried to move on Islamabad.

This is exactly what will happen if they did something as stupid as "cede parts of the country" to a group that will stop at nothing to regain power. Mark my words we will have to go and retake heavily defended areas after the Taliban threatens to move on the capital. Those areas will be suicide bomber staging areas forever.

This is the exact same thing that Clinton did when the Taliban came to power under his watch. He looked the other way and the central government fell to religious extremists from Pakistan. It goes to show you that the way to win any war against Americans is to wait until a Democrat is elected.

Senate HealthCare Costs are In; $829 billion Over 10 Years

As long as it doesn't contain the Post Office Insurance Company of America then I can live with that cost.

Health care legislation drafted by a key Senate committee would expand coverage to 94 percent of all eligible Americans at a 10-year cost of $829 billion, congressional budget experts said Wednesday, a preliminary estimate trumpeted by the White House and likely to power the measure past a major hurdle within days.

The Congressional Budget Office added that the legislation would reduce federal deficits by $81 billion over a decade and probably lead to "continued reductions in federal" red ink in the years beyond.

That $81 billion savings sounds pretty small but hopefully Medicare and Medicaid fraud can be worked out of the system and provide even more savings. In any case in 2013 there will be a scramble for private insurance as everyone will either be covered or have to pay fines.

Code Pink Flip-flops on Afghanistan Pull Out

It seems that Code Pink finally understands that our troops are actually keeping the Afghan people safe while they build up their military.

Though Afghans have their grievances against the international troops' presence, chief among them civilian casualties, many fear an abrupt departure would create a dangerous security vacuum to be filled by predatory and rapacious militias. Many women, primary victims of such groups in the past, are adamant that international troops stay until a sufficient number of local forces are trained and the rule of law established. (Read more about Afghan women's concerns here.)

Yup, those Code Pinkos living in their nice suburban homes have nothing to fear from Taliban rape gangs when they go back home. The Afghan women on the other hand will be the ones receiving the full consequences of American liberals call to "get out at all costs."

You would figure that the "party of compassion" would do anything they can to help impoverished people that have been fighting various wars for 30 years. If we leave Afghanistan early and the Taliban takes over and rapes and murders 1000 of people then groups like Code Pink and MoveOn will be directly responsible.

New Thinking in Health Care Reform: State Run Cooperatives?

Hmm this seems like an idea that may get some Republicans to jump on board.

A new proposal by Sen. Tom Carper would spell out how to boost competition in the private market by enacting government-run plans at the state level. States could act alone or in concert with others to gain more leverage in the marketplace, and would be bound by the same rules established for private companies using the national insurance exchange envisioned by the Senate Finance bill. Another option would entail states opening their workers' employee-benefit plans to the general public.

The Governator seems to be behind the plan. I would think he would be all for trying to reduce the rates for California. As long as these co-ops allow every insurance company in the country to compete equally then it should be looked at. I like the idea of being part of a West Coast Insurance Co-op that included Hawaii, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, and California would all work together to reduce costs for its members.

Rush Looking to Buy the Rams?

Now this is interesting news. I wonder if he is going to call them the St. Louis Reagan's or maybe the St. Louis Gippers would be pretty good choice as well. Their helmet sticker could be an elephant tackling a balding, pony-tailed liberal. It is interesting to see how sports franchises have dropped in price due to the recession:

Sports financiers said that when the Rams first began fielding offers from potential buyers the asking price was $900 million. Now, they said, the asking price has dropped to a range of $750 million to $800 million. That is due in part to the recent restructuring of the ownership of the Pittsburgh Steelers, which placed the value of the team at about $750 million.

Wow, even the Steelers with their insane fan-base, 6 Super Bowls, and a fairly new Stadium is worth far less than the $1.024 billion in inflation adjusted dollars that Dan Snyder paid for the Redskins in 1999.

Yet Another Gold Bubble Warning from Fortune Magazine

It is good to see another article about a gold bubble after gold shot up $27 today.

But amid the buying frenzy and after a decade-long run-up that has seen the price quadruple, is gold still a smart investment? The simple answer: Wherever the price of gold is headed in the long term, several market watchers say the fundamentals indicate that gold is poised to fall.

And even if you fret that the government's pullout- all-stops effort to rescue the financial system and revive the economy will lead to inflation, there are better hedges than the yellow metal.

This has the be the most wild boosterism of gold I have ever read.

Hathaway, who manages $1 billion at the Tocqueville fund, sees gold soaring for several reasons, including rising inflation and the rather curious fact that in two previous instances the price of an ounce of gold and the level of the Dow Jones industrial average have come close to converging.

In 1933, when gold traded at $32 an ounce, the Dow bottomed out at 50 in February. In 1980 gold climbed to its high of $850 on Jan. 21, when the Dow closed at 873. Today Tocqueville sees something similar happening, with gold rocketing to $5,000 or $10,000 an ounce (the Dow is now at about 9700).

I'm sure Mr. Hathaway knows that you can't take two data points in 76 years and interpret them to be the future price of gold. It is almost the exact same thing as saying "even a broken watch is right two times a day." You would think that a massive gold booster like this should know that something that occurs twice in 76 years (one time is the highest price that gold ever reached) does not make a trend.

In any case this article lays out a supply and demand argument on the price of gold similar to what went on during the Oil bubble last year. There is just so much more gold on the market from increasing mine yields ($40 billion in new projects since 2001) and the booming scrap gold market that demand can not hope keep up. You add to this the fact that industrial and jewelry demand is down 20%.

I also have to agree wholeheartedly with this guy:

Kitco analyst Jon Nadler says gold is setting record prices amid "some of the poorest fundamentals I've seen in the market for a long time." He suspects the recent rise has been driven by large hedge funds and institutional investors making momentum-driven trades. As for fears of financial collapse, "The sky did actually fall last year -- and it was good for $1,035 gold," says Nadler. "But that's about where the worst ends."

I think a great argument for $5000+ gold would be the imminent demise of the financial system that we saw last year. When Lehman died there could have easily been a world wide chain reaction that could have killed just about every bank and broker in the US and maybe even worldwide.

I mean only now are we seeing credit markets functioning okay and money market funds starting to feel confident again. In fact this guy says that gold is a crappy investment long term and he recommends other assets. He figures that they would be a better bet to hedge against the Obama induced inflation that we will see in 3 -5 years.

Like Rogers, Arnott thinks common commodities are a smarter choice. He suggests iShares GSCI (GSG), an ETF that tracks the broad S&P commodities index. Arnott also likes using Treasury Inflation- Protected Securities, real estate investment trusts (REITs), and emerging-market bonds, which you can buy through the PowerShares Emerging Market Sovereign Debt ETF (PCY). Many developing countries are commodities producers, so if U.S. inflation kicks in, their currencies will gain strength and their debt will rise in value.