CAN WE GET THERE- FROM HERE?
April 22, 2006
Who is Jawad al-Maliki? And does anyone care, as long as he forms a government? He’s the latest compromise to be prime minister. Continue Reading »
EVERYBODY SLEEP TIGHT TONIGHT!
April 21, 2006
Ever wonder where they got that phrase, “I slept like a baby last night”. Was it that bad? Do you mean you woke up every two hours crying? You can sleep well tonight because not only does America have the FBI and CIA watching out for us, we now have our first NID!
Say what? Yep, John Negroponte was sworn in Thursday as the nation’s first National Intelligence Director! What that means is that we have yet another layer of bureaucracy on top of who knows how many layers. Some good all those other law enforcement entities did pre-911. But, I’m not blaming them. I’m really bemoaning the stinking thinking that thinks by adding a governmental agency to anything, you’re going to solve it’s problems.
Will John close the borders between us an Mexico: us and Canada? No way. It’s a political football that’s driven by polls, not common sense. When politicians are IN office they do little. When they are OUT of office, they have all the answers: as Newt Gingrich volunteered today.
Then of course there are those non political, politicians. Arnold stepped into IT (doesn’t he usually) yesterday and then quickly recanted. I’m talking Schwarzenegger of course. Maybe totally closing the border between California and Mexico isn’t such a good idea. Maybe we should close the border between Nevada and California. Maybe not.
Minutemen setting up a make-shift wild West army, detaining and even arresting illegals who cross the border.
What I know for sure is that we are completely vulnerable due to our very lifestyles. Immigration, especially with Mexico, is too hot of an issue for either party to deal rationally. In the mean time every terrorist in the world knows that the best way to get into America is not to board a plane for New York or D.C. (from anywhere in the world). You take a plane to Mexico City or Toronto, depending upon whether you second language is Spanish or French.
HOUSTON TO D.C. PROBLEM HERE!
April 21, 2006
Let the blame game rock on! Continue Reading »
NO MORE LAME DUCKS PLEASE
April 20, 2006
I can live with the 1797 unwritten rule; however, the 1957 written rule (can you say 22nd Amendment to our Constitution?) made all exceptions not possible. The Republicans shot themselves in the foot, and wounded the American electorate, with their anger at seeing FDR win not two, not three, but FOUR presidential terms.
I believe that difficult times call for men of special standing. FDR was such a man. He guided our nation from out of our worst depression and through WWII. Call it what you want, but our Congressmen decided they knew better how many terms one man should serve. We of course ratified their dumb idea.
I know, I know, the thought of Bill Clinton winning a third or fourth term is about as difficult to take on one side of the aisle as it would be for the other side to see Karl Rove guide Bush through yet another term in office.
With the limitation, however, you basically elect a person to a second term and then give him no power. Who cares what #43 thinks about anything? He’s only going to be around for three more years! It’s obvious that even some the Republicans have taken up residence with that idea already. I mean Bush can’t even get a Republican majority to vote for his U.S. Ambassador (John Bolton) to the U.N. approved. I mean this is not a Cabinet position, you know.
And can you imagine what it’s going to be like for the last two years? Some House members might need a little Bush support for the 2006 elections, but after that- forgetdaboutit! Speaking of the House, Bush has meekly put his support behind Tom DeLay, but I’m afraid that this good-ole-boy has too many splinters in his ax-handle for Bush to grab ahold.
So, what’s a lame-duck President to do? The game plan was to come out with some BOLD initiatives, like changing the entire face of Social Security. Okay, you know how well that’s gone over don’t you? And then as you see the Dow down more than 700 points for the first 100 days of 2005, is investing in the market such a good idea?
Here’s the real question. Will Bush decide it’s just not worth beating or riding a dead horse and revert to grand-standing and public appearances that mean nothing? I have more faith in Bush than that;however, I believe he’s going to find that the 22nd Amendment to be a tougher opponent than John Kerry was.
BUSH IS ATTACKING VENEZUELA?
April 20, 2006
The best way to take people’s minds off of a domestic dispute is to bring the cops in. A domestic fight is a cops worst nightmare because both become his enemy. Continue Reading »
WHO SAYS THE FED IS DONE?
April 19, 2006
On Tuesday, the Dow had it’s biggest gain in a year, mustering almost a 200 point increase. The reason, and I love all the artificial explanations for this or that happening, is that the Fed said that they might be done increasing rates. Continue Reading »
WE HAVE A NEW POPE!
April 19, 2006
I am sure glad I didn’t get any takers on my thoughts as to who would be the next Pope. I thought they would go with someone who could speak the new languages, come from where the Catholic growth is, and bring in a communicator to match today’s world. Not so.
In choosing Ratzinger, I think they were basically honoring Pope John Paul II since he was his closest ally. In choosing Pope Benedict XVI, they opted to stay with the traditional trend- maybe even very, very conservative trend. What we do know is that they kept the European reign alive.
They chose a very orthodox man, one who has been a “Cardinal policeman”, making sure everyone kept the Biblical line. They also chose the oldest ever Pope. In so doing, maybe he’s looked upon as a transitional, interim Pope. When he walked out to speak, in my spirit I felt he would not be the Pope for long. We shall see.
Personally, I like his principles, but I’m not a fan of his methods, but since I am not Catholic, who cares! If you’re a Catholic or one who just likes church history, here’s a good web site to keep you busy for an hour or two.
THERE’S SMOKE & THERE’S SMOKE!
April 18, 2006
I don’t think anyone expected to see a Pope elected on the first ballot. That would have blown the budget for a lot of small time news services. They’ve spent mucho dinero sending a team to the Vatican with the expectation of at least a week of suspense.
And it didn’t take long to see the black smoke rising from that infamous chimney Monday afternoon, Houston time. Tuesday, we could get a couple of smoke signals. The more black smoke, the greater the ratings. Why, I’ve been told it’ll do more to keep people glued to the TV sets than an old fashion car chase in Los Angeles- with or without OJ.
Then there’s another kind of smoke coming out of New York. Hillary wants everyone to think 06! Forget about 08, and focus on 06! You see, she wants everyone to think she’ll have a tough battle even though she doesn’t have an opponent at this point. And who wants to jump into that race where she has already amassed a $8.7 million dollar war chest: more than any Senator anywhere in America.
So her campaign aids are blowing a little smoke up and down the State about any plans she might have for 08. And to tell the truth, she does have to win in 06 to make 08 a reality; however, to think she’s currently in a vulnerable position, you have to be inhaling a different kind of smoke!
‘BAD STUFF’ ISN’T GOING AWAY SOON
April 18, 2006
Have you ever just stopped recently and asked yourself where in the world is the world headed? Continue Reading »
THESE ARE UNEASY ECONOMIC TIMES
April 17, 2006
The stock market isn’t doing what it did in 96-99, but will it ever again? Can the Nasdaq hit 5,000 again? Maybe a decade from now, but again, maybe never again. Continue Reading »
LET THE POLITICS BEGIN!
April 17, 2006
No, I’m not talking about the confirmation of Bolton, the banishment of DeLay, or even the British elections. I am talking about a much smaller electorate: 115 to be exact. I’m talking about who the next Pope will be. Who will lead 1+ billion people around the globe?
Will it be another European from that decaying part of the world? Why not an Italian if that’s the case. The moving expenses sure would be a lot smaller. But, the growth of the Catholic church isn’t in Europe any more. Catholicism is finding it’s converts in South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.
The one hundred and fifteen cardinals that are under 80 years of age and eligible to decide the fate of the church will probably take their first vote Monday evening- noonish our time. It could be a long process or short; however, the nights won’t be that tough as they bed down at the $20 million Domus Sanctae Marthae Hotel. Ahh, the Spartan life of a cardinal!
I wonder what the odds are at Vegas? Many think Ratzinger has the inside track with at least 50 votes on the first ballot. It takes 77 votes to win. My money isn’t on the Italian no matter how close he was to Pope John Paul II. His name reminds me too much of The Midnight Cowboy movie (Ratso-Rizzo). Just funnin. Since that movie is 36 years old most people probably missed the pun.
European bookmakers give odds in favor (5-2) of Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, archbishop of Milan. There you go, back to the establishment again. The way I look at it, if you can’t pronounce his name, forgetdaboutit! Besides, he can’t speak English, Spanish, Chinese, or Hindi. How’s he going to be able to relate?
Me? I like the name Claudio! And, when you combine it with a pronouncable last name, Hummes, and he comes from South America (Brazil), why not? After all, Brazil is the most populous Catholic nation in the world and I sure can relate to his ideas on the church….”bringing the Church closer to the people, making the church less elitist, giving it a more active role in people’s lives,” so he’s quoted as saying.
Let the politics begin!
HOW LONG WILL THE WORDS PREVAIL?
April 16, 2006
The rhetoric between Iran and the United States, the barbs between Iran and Israel, and the return fire (verbally) seems to be increasing each day. Two things appear obvious to me. The name-calling can’t go on forever, and the egos are even greater than the Iraq conflict. Continue Reading »
AND THE BAD NEWS CONTINUES….
April 15, 2006
You can go back to yesterday’s comment, written before the opening of the market Friday morning and see that, for one day at least, my words were prophetic: as the market was pathetic.
The headlines are everywhere. Dow has worst week since March, 2003, Dow sets new 2005 low, Dow down over 400 points in three days, and could the Dow break 10,000 (the wrong way I’m not going to give you any sites to run to- they are everywhere.
At the close of the bell, I turned on the TV (Fox of course) to see what was being said and guess what. There was nothing new! Monday will be a day to BUY (selectively of course). This means they don’t have any confidence in the overall market, but you have to keep buying or they don’t make any money. I swear Fox is becoming the CNBC shadow when it comes to the markets.
I do expect someone to step in (government?) and stop the bleeding lest this thing gets out of control. I loved this comment by Richard Russell today, “The job of the markets is to weigh the future. When the markets don’t like what they see ahead, they protect themselves. Markets protect themselves by backing away, retreating to a lower level. And that’s what is happening. Unfortunately, when the markets back off, we never know how distasteful a future they may be seeing. But as I’ve often described — when you’re standing on the railroad track, and the train is coming at you full speed, it doesn’t help to identify whether it’s the Midnight Special or the Wabash Cannonball — your job is to get the hell off the tracks.”
IBM led the way DOWN (off a huge $6.94), but they had a lot of company as 78% of the stocks traded, were DOWN. It’s always bad news when the market retreats on increased volume. If you thought yesterday’s 2.2 billion shares was huge (and it was), today’s 2.66 billion shares confirmed that big money is saying later Dow- much later!
Okay, let’s leave the markets to do whatever they do. It’s time to put the telescope on that chimney they just erected at the Vatican. Let’s elect a new Pope! Something good needs to be happening Monday now that we have income taxes out of the way. And you thought your bill was high? Bush paid $207,000 in taxes and Cheney paid $397,000! Of course when you make $1.7 mil (Cheney) who cares. At least they tithe! 
JUST A BRIEF COMMENT
April 14, 2006
Most people are enjoying their weekend holiday and doing thigngs with family. But one story caught my eye that I want to briefly share. Continue Reading »
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