Happy New Year from RSC (Plus '09 Pep Talk)

Happy New Year!

Well, 2008 was quite a year. Not a good year for political conservatives and business. But despite the so typical gloom-and-doom of being spewed by liberals who need to paint as dark a picture as they possibly can, this is not the end of the world nor is it the end of the United States.

Rest assured 2009 will not be the Year of Obama but instead, it will be the Year of Blaming Bush. Everything the Dems have screwed up over the past two years will be blamed on our soon-to-be former president. Obama will fall back on the 1992 Clinton excuse of "things are worse than the Republicans told me."

The good news is, January 20, 2009, is the beginning of victory in 2012 for conservatives. We must begin preparing now, taking notes, jotting down names, and getting ready to expose stupidity.

About the economy, the media is twisting the truth to support their own agenda (big surprise, huh?). Many of the companies that are hurting or failing are doing so due to poor management. Yes, the economy has slowed but those who are strong and are managed properly will remain through this. A bowel movement is needed every now and then to get rid of the waste. So get your reading material and be patient.

Most of all, don't let the doomsayers get you down. If our founding fathers had listened to them we would still be under English rule.

Church Of England Puts Faith In Al Gore

Church Commissioners for the Church of England have confidently placed their investment faith in the all knowing, almighty, AlGore. His excellency the Goracle's, Generation Investment Management firm is the recipient of the church's largesse to the tune of £150 million. The Commissioners view the outlay of cash and Treasury Bills as an investment in what First Church Estates Commissioner, Andreas Whittam Smith describes as an environmentally sustainable global equities mandate. Mr. Gore's boutique management firm invests in companies that follow a socially responsible business model.

I wonder how many carbon credits the £150 million will buy them? This outlay of cash and Treasuries should make their horseships feel good about their sinful and wayward conspicous consumption. Why, it's the modern day equivilent of buying Indulgences!

Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha!

In a related development across the pond, Environmental Minister and U.K. Member of Parliment Sammy Wilson says that anthroprogenic global warming is a hoax. The M.P. from East Antrim says the billions spent trying to fight a phantom menace like global warming could be better used fighting real problems like poverty and famine.

I think in 20 years’ time we will look back at this whole climate change debate and ask ourselves how on earth were we ever conned into spending the billions of pounds which are going into this without any kind of rigorous examination of the background, the science, the implications of it all. Because there is now a degree of hysteria about it, fairly unformed hysteria I’ve got to say as well.

I mean I get it in the Assembly all the time and most of the people who shout about climate change have not read one article about climate change, not read one book about climate change, if you asked them to explain how they believe there’s a connection between CO2 emission and the effects which they claim there’s going to be, if you ask them to explain the thought process or the modelling that is required and the assumptions behind that and how tenuous all the connections are, they wouldn’t have a clue.

Buy this man a Guinness! Two rounds I say! I'm glad to see our cousins in the British Isles wise up to the Global Warming Hoax. If the Goracle and his familiars really want to do something constructive to stop the spread of harmful cO2 emissions, they can start by shuting their pie holes.

With more green investments Mr. Gore may be able to get another houseboat like this one which he named "Bio-Solar One". The boat located at Center Hill Lake is equipped with solar panels and can use ethanol fuel. Too bad the Marina doesn't sell ethanol fuel and Mr. Gore has no idea where he can buy it at the lake. So much for B.S. One.

Israel Hits Hamas Gaza HQ

While pressing the French to sponsor a "humanitarian truce" of 48 hours to allow for the free flow of such "humanitarian" necessities as baby bottles, aspirin, band aids, guitar picks and Katyushas the first item on Hamas' busy schedule today was to have its headquarters blown up by the IAF. Israel rejected the French proposal saying that it lacked any mechanism to stop the flow of rockets into the Gaza strip. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said, It is not realistic to expect Israel to cease fire unilaterally with no mechanism to enforce the cessation of shooting and terror from Hamas.



While Israel has been careful to target Hamas military and communications infrastructure, Hamas has been intent on targeting Israeli civilians and places such as homes, apartments, restaurants, schools and hospitals. What further proof does the world need of Hamas' goal to destroy the entire Jewish race? All of the protesters who have demonstrated in behalf of Hamas against Israeli "aggression" while saying nothing, not one peep, about the 10,500 rockets that have routinely been fired at southern Israel by the murderous thugs gathered in Gaza are contemptible lower-than-dirt fools.

Israeli Air Force destroys tunnels, launch sites and weapons depot

Video from newly established IDF YouTube channel shows the IAF neutralizing Hamas targets.

Palestinian Girl Places Cause Of War Where It Belongs; With Hamas

Five of this young girl's sisters died when Hamas set up a base of operations in a mosque located next to the girl's home. When the Hamas base was destroyed by the IDF the girls home was obliterated and her family decimated. This tragedy never would have occured had Hamas not begun firing into Israel while using civilian and religious structures as shields.

A Last Name I Would Drop

Yahoo!'s story about the 5 largest drops in wealth around the world brought in this gem;

3. Anurag Dikshit
March net worth: $1.6 billion Current net worth: $1 billion
Dikshit designed the software for PartyGaming's successful PartyPoker game, which allowed live gambling over the Web. He left the company and sold a chunk of shares in 2006, the year the U.S. government banned gaming. He recently pleaded guilty to violating U.S. gaming laws and agreed to forfeit $300 million. He could face up to two years in jail but apparently won't be sentenced until 2010. He has already paid $100 million of his fine and will pay the rest in two installments next year.

Simon's Cat

Funny Video about the antics of a hungry cat.



Hat Tip to Winston.

Merry Christmas From RSC

Christmas is, without a doubt, the most wonderful time of the year. For those of you who may not celebrate Christmas I hope that you have other times during the year when you can spend time with your family and reflect on all of the things you have to be thankful for.

I am truly thankful for my wife and children who I love more than anything on this Earth. I am thankful that my family is financially sound and that we never want for any necessity. I am thankful for a wonderful extended family. Most of all, I am thankful for a God who loved me enough to give His own life so that I might have the opportunity to escape the future that I truly deserve. I fail to live up to what I should be every day but He is full of mercy and grace.

I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas. Always remember that Christmas is not about gifts, Santa, or even family. It is about Jesus Christ who was born into this world so that we might have life.

Merry Christmas.

My Crusade Against Global Warming

There are a lot of important, legitimate issues that Americans are facing. Besides the hundreds of issues we face on a personal level, there are social and political issues we face on a national level. National security, foreign policy, abortion, unemployment, taxes, regulation, pollution, trade, and a host of other issues that would take too much time and space to list here.

Almost everyone has a "pet" issue they have taken up and mine is global warming. While I did not pursue a science degree I have always loved it. As a senior in high school I received the award for Best Chemistry Student and I worked as a chemistry lab assistant in college.

Doomsayers have existed throughout history and the global warming freaks are no different. I won't bore you with an unabridged list of hysterical predictions about imminent disasters but I must name a few. The first few that have a date of 1970 were related to the first Earth Day.

• By 1985, air pollution was predicted to block out 1/2 of sunlight. - Life magazine, 1970
  
• An ice age was predicted due to "dust, cloud cover, and water vapor." - Newsweek magazine, 1970
  
• Temperatures were expected to drop by 11 degrees from 1970 to 2000 which would be twice the amount needed to cause an ice age. - Ecologist Kenneth Watt, 1970
  
• "Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind." - Harvard Biologist George Wald, 1970
  
• By the year 2000...the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America and Australia, will be in famine." - Professor Peter Gunter, 1970
• The comet 73P Schwassmann-Wachmann was predicted to strike Earth on May 25, 2006, and cause widespread devastation. - Eric Julien
• Other predicted causes of Earth's demise which have not happened are solar flares, asteroid strike, worldwide drought, overpopulation, flooding, leaving orbit of the sun, a virus, deforestation, and many more.
  

So we have people like Al Gore making "documentaries" and gullible Hollywood liberals making idiotic movies like Wall-e, The Happening and The Day The Earth Stood Still.

The models used for global warming are full of bad science. Even if it was good science, you cannot predict a long-term cycle like global warming using limited, short-term data. Here's an mathematical analogy.

Let's talk about distance and angles. If I point a laser light at a 6" by 6" target that is 12" away, I can easily hit the target. I can even pivot the light several degrees in any direction and still hit the target. Now I move the target away from me to a distance of 20 feet. What happens if I pivot the light the same amount as before? At times it will be off the target. If I move the target to 100 feet away even minimal movement puts the light off the target. Imagine the target was one million miles away (assuming I could see that far). What would happen if I pivoted the light by just 1 degree? The light would be 17,455 miles from the target.

That, my friends, is what the global warming alarmists are trying to hide. They want you to think they can take a few years worth of data and extrapolate it over the next 10, 20, or 50 years. Sorry, but the Earth has been here longer than a few years and we don't have data far enough back to extrapolate anything.

The only scientifically provable fact that is relevant is that the Earth cools and warms in cycles. It occurred before man was on this planet and it will continue as if we weren't even here. Just a few days ago a CNN meteorologist stated this on Lou Dobbs:

To think that we could affect weather all that much is, is, pretty arrogant. Mother Nature is so big. The world is so big. The oceans are so big...We have a hundred years worth of data, not millions of years that the world's been around.

Then another guest, Jay Lehr, Science Director for the Heartland Institute, says this:

If we go back to The Revolutionary War 300 years ago, it was very, very cold. We've been warming out of that cold spell from The Revolutionary War period and now we're back into a cooling cycle. The last 10 years have been quite cool and right now I think we're going into cooling rather than warming...All we can do it adapt. It is the sun that does it, not man.

31,072 scientists in the U.S. alone reject the theory of man-made global warming. This is far from a consensus.

Science 1, Environmentalists 0.

Hiatus

I won't be posting notes on any wines for a while, at least until sometime after New Year's. Have a great holiday season.

Joe The Plummer Snooper Resigns Ohio Post

Michelle Malkin reports that Ohio government snooper Helen Jones-Kelley resigned her post after two of her fellow travelers, Doug Thompson, the deputy director of child support and Fred Williams, assistant agency director who also resigned over the flap caused by their unauthorized investigation of Joe Wurzelbacher's (Joe the Plummer's) tax records and potential child-support payment. The digging into Wurzelbacher's records began shortly after his taped impromptu interview with then candidate Barack Obama went viral and threated to upset the One's road to the White House.

You can follow the updates here and here.

Ed Morrissey writes more on Jones-Kelley's actions inspired by devotion for the One.

What did Jones-Kelley do? She tipped off Team Obama to potential donors for an Obama fundraiser at a Dayton school, and used her work e-mail to do it. She identified at least one other public official as a potential invitee, who did get an invitation and attended with the requisite $2,500 donation.

The revelation of partisan electoral activities by Jones-Kelley adds to the skepticism over her actions in investigating Wurzelbacher. Jones-Kelley had already abused her position to raise funds for Obama, and so her transition to trampling Wurzelbacher’s civil rights in order to help smear him after the presidential debate seems more consistent in that context.

Brrrrh - Global Warming Drops Record Snow and Sleet On Las Vegas

That darn global warming! -- You try carbon crediting it out, you try AlGore inspired bloviating it out, you try empty-headed Hollywood celebrity whining it out and you still get....Global Warming 'Round the Corner! -- Global Warming 'Round the Corner!

Las Vegas is getting pummeled by record amounts of snow and sleet dropping inches of the white stuff onto the desert gaming resort. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the latest storm is bringing three to six inches of of snow to the valley floors and up to 10 inches to the foothills above 2500 feet.

The sudden spate of wintry weather is closing highways in the Southern regions of the Silver state. Officials at Vegas' McCarran International Airport say they have no snow removal equipment to remove the wintry precipitation from aircraft trying to leave the city for sunnier climes, so travelers have a one-way ticket into the palm tree paradise in the Nevada desert.

The Review-Journal cites Transportation Department Spokesman Bob McKenzie's admonition to motorists to stay in Las Vegas for the duration of the storm if possible.

What happens in Vegas is definitely staying in Vegas for awhile.

Bridges

In mid-July in the United States we crossed a psychological river. Here's why:

It became common to see $4.00 per gallon gasoline at the pumps. This is the river we crossed:

It is the Rubicon in Northern Italy. This is close to where Caesar crossed uttering "the die is cast." Republican Rome was about to die. The first hint that we had emotionally crossed was the "Drill Here, Drill Now" movement. This is a good thing. Energy self sufficiency is something we will need as a strategic necessity if we are to survive as some form of nation state. Sadly, some of that verve has ebbed as gas prices have done this:

But the trauma of filling up an SUV for $100+ has not gone away. I submit it was the opening round of the fear that has gripped this economy. This was a defining cultural moment. A society built on consumerism and easy credit can not long stand. When Harry swiped his Discover card to buy the gas for the Jimmy at the Exxon station and got home to see Sally that night, a gnawing feeling was in his gut. They pulled out their credit card statements, their mortgage note and second mortgage (that they got the great rate on for the new deck and grill area!). They gathered up the car loans, insurance costs and pending school costs for Jimmy and Kelly, their iPodded kids. What they suddenly realized was that the mental math they had been using to convince themselves they were OK was wrong. They were living well beyond their means in their 3,800 square foot house in Burbia, USA. They saw this in the Washington Post:

The average household debt is now $117,951. This breaks down to an average credit card debt of $8,565, vehicle and tuition loan debt of $14,414, home equity loan debt of $10,062 and mortgage debt of $84,911.

Americans have been living in a financial wonderworld for at least the last twenty years. We have a generation that has grown up on the notion that if you get in trouble, you apply for another credit card. When I graduated from college in 1980, there were no credit cards available for young Naval Officers with a real job. My first credit card was an American Express that I applied for after I made Lieutenant Junior Grade. It came with the stern warning that balances were to be paid off "in full each month to establish your credit worthiness." My how far we have come! Up until a couple of months ago, I could keep shredders going 24/7 at the office and at home trying to destroy the credit card offers and I would barely keep up. Here's my contribution to the World Series Parade:

Now those offers are coming in slower than Obama's response to the Blago scandal.

To a great degree, large parts of our economy have been built on shaky ground. A consumer economy without a diverse jobs base (manufacturing, services, agriculture, etc.) can not long stand. I still believe that, other than the last 60 days, the lowest point of the Bush presidency is when he told us, in the wake of the economy buckling post 9/11, to go out and spend! We were/are at war and war requires sacrifice. But an economy built on consumer spending complicated by the securitization of all that debt has a round chambered and pointed at the middle of the forehead. When the notes of people who can't afford thier houses are packaged and sold to investors who expect an annuity-like return, there's gonna be catastrophic failure. There has been. And the worst is yet to come.

There are more shoes to drop. The multiplier effect of money being spent in the economy is taught in Econ 100 classes as standard fare. When I studied economics in the late '70's we were told that for every $1 spent, there was a $12 impact on the economy because of the "multiplier effect." That was long before the Gucci clad geniuses started increasing the multiplier through complex financial...err, "gadgets?" I spoke to a classmate of mine that was with Wachovia Securities just before the crash in mid-September. Candidly, and he's a reader of these posts, he sounded panicked. They were working through some of the tranches of bad paper. "There are more than 6,400 'strips' in some of these things, we have no idea what we are looking at," he said. A "strip" could be something like Harry's mortgage, Sally's car note, my Visa bill, a piece of permanent financing on an apartment complex in Meridian, Mississippi and God knows how many bad mortgages courtesy of Fannie and Freddie.

Well, the multiplier effect works in reverse too, but with very real and damaging consequences...here comes that shoe! At an Urban Land Institute meeting I recently attended, the outlook was as dreary as four days of Nashville gloom we are currently enduring. The best guesses point to a scenario that says after dismal Holiday sales, a number of retailers are going to go "four paws up." As stores go dark, strip-centers and malls can no longer service their debt due to the drop in rents. The financial institutions get hit again. And it gets worse...the growing job losses will soon have an impact on "good" mortgages too. This is especially true in a world where $2.8 trillion has been lost from the peak cumulative value of American housing...that's $2,800,000,000,000! Well, if your loan is $250,000 and your house is now worth $150,000...what do you do? Send the bank the keys and go start a new life. In other words, the "bottom" is probably 8-10 months away still.

And what will the marvelous "bail out" have accomplished? Honestly, not much. We will have nationalized a large part of our banking system...we have practically nationalized housing already; we the taxpayer will own Detroit...yippee! America, here's what's in your investment account now:


There's a better than 70% chance that we will be well on the way to nationalizing our healthcare system. All for our good. Melville was so right:

Power unanointed may come -
Dominion (unsought by the free)
And the Iron Dome,
Stronger for stress and strain,
Fling her huge shadow athwart the main;
But the Founders' dream shall flee.

But all shall not be lost. For as grim a picture as I have painted, I would still rather be here than say Rwanda, or Mexico, or China, Russia, India, France, Germany, England...OK, anyplace else. I am like Gatsby:

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

I see a revolution ahead. We are going to continue this experiment with socialism, the love affair with the Obamessiah will go on un-checked for a few months. But, as in times of struggle in our past, reality will come anew. We will try a revolutionary concept called "capitalism." Capitalism will be properly monitored, but not regulated to encourage political ends. We will be smarter about how we take care of our own job base and approach the world seeking equality along with fairness in our openness to trade. I expect that our entire tax system will be replaced. We will become more realistic. We may realize that we don't need the 3,800 square foot house for a family of four. The old 2,400 square foot ranch model from the 1950's might work just fine. We will keep our cars longer. A lot of us will pass on early retirement. But we will also vote those that got us into this mess out of office...Americans don't mind taking a little pain. They mind it a lot when they are taking all the pain while the criminals in Washington rack up nice pension plans and health benefits. Along the way we will rediscover the spirit that made us great. It is rugged self-reliant individualism. It's not diversity...it's not levelling the playing field to the lowest common denominator. This is not a sissy nation that needs to turn to Mama Government anytime there's a problem. We're doing it right now, but it will not work. It will fail and when it does, we will remember that we are a restless people and in the words of T.S. Eliot:

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

The bridges we will build to this new economy will be stronger because of the fire we will have passed through to get the will to do it.

To the green light...
Rumble on!

Why I'm Glad McCain Lost

No buildup. No prefaces. Let's get right to the point. John McCain's greatest strength is backstabbing. I don't know why we all didn't see it. He has always been very quick to imitate Norman Bates with the GOP. Then he reaches across the aisle to the Democrats. Maybe we were so anti-Obama that the spoonful of sugar (Sarah Palin) made the medicine (McCain) go down. H/T: Mary Poppins

It is a blessing in disguise that this man did not win the election. What would this country be like with the Democrats running Congress and a Democrat running the Republican party?

If we don't make some congressional changes in 2010 and nominate a conservative in 2012 the GOP will be in imminent danger of extinction. I'm not so sure that would be a bad thing.

American Idol vs Liberalism

I have always been a very tolerant and patient person. I tend to trust people until they give me a reason not to. Sort of like "innocent until proven guilty."

However, as I get older and more enlightened, I find myself being less tolerant and less patient when it comes to hate-filled, anti-American, liberal morons like Tim Graham at Newsweek. These holier-than-thou elites look down on anyone who isn't a "progressive thinker" like they are.

Graham spends his latest column criticizing President Bush, American Idol, and those of us in Red State territory. While I am sick and tired of hearing liberals Bush-bash, the most offensive comment was that American Idol is too American. Here is the comment:

Start with the title: in England, the show was called "Pop Idol"—but when it migrated here in 2002, it apparently needed an infusion of patriotism. So, much like freedom fries, "American Idol" was born. If that kind of rah-rah branding doesn't conjure thoughts of President Bush – go on, world, you know you idolize us – I don't know what does.

Then Graham goes on to insult the Red State population with his liberal elitist venom.

You'll find defenders and detractors all over the country, but this is primarily a red-state show. That's the reason that Southern contestants win just about every season. Are the people fans vote for (and vote for, and vote for) great singers? Does it matter? What's important is that they're our singers, and we love 'em because they're unthreatening, God-fearing, desexualized kids with stars in their eyes. Whenever those elitist critics on the coasts trash "Idol" as mediocre, middlebrow entertainment, we rally to the show's defense, whether it deserves it or not.

Look, I'm not defending Idol. Being a musician and songwriter I have watched it but I am not a big fan. Too much of it is scripted for the sake of ratings which is the real object of the show anyway. Better ratings, higher ad rates.

Finally, Graham takes a shot at "greedy" capitalism which he implies is part of what is wrong with America.

And no TV program shills as shamelessly as "Idol." The Ford ads, the Coke cups, the AT&T plugs – "Idol" is as cozy with big business as, well, as our president is.

Liberal vomit at its finest. How dare he grow up in this wonderful country where he had the freedom and opportunity to become what he wanted to be and to prosper in a capitalistic system, then use that position to criticize that same country. The personification of liberalism.

H/T: NB

First 2012 GOP Presidential Straw Poll Results

Here are the results of our first 2012 GOP Presidential Straw Poll.

Bobby Jindal - 29.4%
Sarah Palin - 26.5%
Mike Huckabee - 20.6%
Newt Gingrich - 8.8%
Mitt Romney - 8.8%
Tim Pawlenty - 5.9%

Over the next four years we will run more polls and see how things are changing. Thank you for participating.

Chicago Corruption: I've Heard It All Now

Former Congressman Dan "Rosty" Rostenkowski made the following statement regarding Chicago/Washington corruption:

During my career as a public official, I always tried to steer away from the minority of my colleagues who viewed public service as a potential commercial enterprise. They’ve always been there and can be found in state capitols and in Washington.

ROTFLOL!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I hurt myself from laughing.

The end of Scrabulous, Lexulous, and Wordscraper as we knew them

UPDATE: February 3, 2009 I have no information about Lexulous. I've given it up.

UPDATE January 2, 2009: Wordscraper on Facebook is now called Lexulous (renamed). The www.lexulous.com site seems to be down at the moment. I have no information about that. I checked out the board at Facebook and it is much improved over Wordscraper. It appears the customization feature is gone and the board is back to a close but not exact simulation of Scrabble. I wouldn't mind this one. No more of those ridiculous 4W and 4L squares, no more circles instead of squares, and back to the nice colors we liked with our old Scrabulous. This might be all right.
-----------------------------------

The Agarwalla brothers have posted a message on the Lexulous web site explaining that, as a settlement in their lawsuit with Hasbro, we will no longer be able to have customized boards that resemble the Scrabble board. In addition, we will play with 8 letters instead of 7. Many players on Facebook have finally given up. My long-time partner and I are giving it up too, and reluctantly going to Hasbro's Scrabble on Facebook. It still is too colorful and lacks some features we had grown to like with our old Scrabulous. How stupid on both sides that they didn't just work something out and keep the half million users who loved the game. Disappointing, yes, but we'll move on.

Here's the message in full:

KOLKATA, India - December 12th - RJ Softwares today announced that it has settled the litigation brought by Hasbro Inc., a Pawtucket, RI, USA, based company that owns the U.S. and Canadian rights to the SCRABBLE crossword game. The settlement resolves disputes concerning Scrabulous, previously offered by RJ Softwares, as well as Lexulous, and Wordscraper that are currently offered by RJ Softwares.

Pursuant to the settlement, RJ Softwares has agreed not to use the term Scrabulous and has made changes to the Lexulous and Wordscraper games (in the U.S. and Canada) to distinguish them from the SCRABBLE crossword game. Based on these modifications Hasbro has agreed to withdraw the litigation filed against RJ Softwares in federal court in New York in July of this year. As modified, the Wordscraper application will continue to be available on Facebook and Lexulous will be available on the Lexulous.com website.

The agreement provides people in the U.S. and Canada with a choice of different games and also avoids potentially lengthy and costly litigation's.

RJ Softwares acknowledges the guidance and support provided by Rajiv Khaitan of Khaitan & Co., India as well as his Meritas colleague, Rose Auslander, of Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP, New York and their entire team of lawyers, in negotiating the litigation and settlement process for the firm.

About RJ Softwares
RJ Softwares develops high quality interactive online games that are fun to play! Founded in 2000 by St. Xavier's College commerce students Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla, RJ Softwares' products engage a global audience. RJ Softwares is headquartered in Kolkata, India. For more information, visit www.rjs.in or, www.lexulous.com

Welcome To Chicago "Thug" Politics

Democrats own Chicago. The last time there was a Republican mayor was in the early 1930's. In Chicago, politicians and political favors are for sale. Political prostitution at its finest. There is a long list of politicians, organized crime bosses, union leaders, and powerful business owners who have bought and sold Chicago for longer than most of us have been alive.

Daley, Capone, Marcy, Lorimer, LeFevour, Cooley, Mahoney, Giancana, Jones, Giannoulias, Rezko, and now Blagojevich. The list goes on and on.

Dare I say that environment plays a huge factor in the development of a person's character? This is the city where Barack Obama learned what politics is about and how it works. Some of the names above he is closely associated with.

It is unconscionable to believe that Obama grew up in this environment and did not learn the "tricks of the trade". Fundraising, strong arming, threatening, bribing, etc. We have brought Chicago politics to the White House with willing accomplices in Congress.

God help us all.

2007 "ZESTOS" (50% Garnacha, 50% Tempranillo) (Madrid, Spain)

This was a good buy in a gutsy, blue-collar red.

Eye: Dark ruby with purple highlights.

Nose: Earthy plum juice with a stony note.

Mouth: Chunky and ripe, with low-ish acidity and some tannin that was just north of soft. Full-bodied, with a slightly hot finish. Not complex at all, but a fair amount of flavor for the buck.

Score: 85.

Cellar or drink? Drink over the next 6-9 months.

Price/store: Was about $8 or $9 at Central Market.

2006 Rodney Strong "Knotty Vines" ZINFANDEL (Sonoma County, Cal.)

A bargain Zin that's widely-available! Get some of this for weeknight dinners!

Eye: Dark, but not saturated, black, plummy ruby.

Nose: Spot-on Zinfandel nose of spicy blackberry fruit, with subtle notes of resiny pine forest and minerals.

Mouth: Ripe, rich, and soft, with decent, though not great concentration. Excellent balance and ripe, mouth-filling fruit. A classic "spaghetti red."

Score: 88.

Cellar or drink? Drink over the next year as this is not built to age.

Price/store: I lost the receipt, but I vaguely recall getting this at Randall's on Weslayan for about $14.

2005 Mommessin Chateau de Pierreux BROUILLY (Beaujolais, France)

This was an atypical, though OK, Beaujolais, tending toward the big and tannic side, not the fruity and refreshing style.

Eye: Very dark ruby with violet highlights.

Nose: Intense nose of scorched earth and very primary, crunchy plummy fruit.

Mouth: Full bodied and surprisingly tannic, this wine seems to need some time in bottle to soften a bit. Deep and tightly-wound core of black cherry/plummy fruit, with some alcoholic warmth in the finish.

Score: 83.

Cellar or drink? Hold for another year and then see if it's gotten any softer.

Price/store: $16 at Spec's on Smith.

Outrageous, Unethical Media Collusion - UPDATED

This is nothing new but has recently been brought to the forefront again through several news stories, the most recent being the arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Mainstream media outlets are ignoring Blagojevich's party affiliation just like they do every time a Democrat gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Blagojevich was caught by the FBI trying to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder. As governor he has the sole responsibility to appoint the person who will replace Obama in the Senate.

However, when a Republican is even suspected of wrongdoing the party is plastered not just in articles but also in the headlines. This is a concerted effort to paint the Republican party as a corrupt party while Democrats are spotless and blameless. And it is working.

The media succeeded in duping the majority of the American people into believing Republicans were still in charge of Congress during this election.

They need to be held accountable. I am completely against government intervention or control of the media so it is up to us to do something about it.

UPDATE

Check out this story over at Newsbusters. Proof that I was right.

Media Arrogance And Condescension Once Again

Did you watch Barbara Walters' "interview" with Rush? It was quite different than most of the interviews she conducts. She was combative, arrogant, and condescending. What's with you Barbara? And that was much nicer than what happened on The View when the estrogen frenzy got going.

Rush was smooth, undaunted, and on message. Barbara Walters was also on message. However, in her case, the message is that rich people are mean-spirited, want poor people to get poorer, and that all conservatives need a thorough character assassination.

This bit about Hillary Clinton aging is being repeatedly taken out of context. It was clearly a criticism of Hollywood and it's obsession with looks. But stupid people like Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg will always be stupid.

You can watch the interview over at Newsbusters.

Wines from Grandma and Nonno’s visit -- Part 6 (short-form notes)

Grandma and Nonno returned to Massachusetts today, so this is the last entry for wines from their visit. I'm going to need something to rehabilitate my liver after this visit, so many good and excellent wines did we drink. (I'm also going to need to return to my more frugal, usual fare!)

2005 Chateau de Saint Cosme GIGONDAS (Rhone, France) -- This was a ripe, youthful, and highly structured Rhone wine. Had lots of minerality and was quite tight initially, but opened to show a concentrated core of ripe cassis and raspberry extract. Pretty tannic throughout. If you have a cool cellar, keep this one another 3 years and then enjoy.

2004 Verget CHABLIS 1er CRU FOURCHAUME “Vieilles Vignes de Vaulorens” (Burgundy, France) -- this was excellent and drinking beautifully now. Ripe and complex, yet with bracing, well-integrated acidity. Featured a nose of toasty chicken broth, dry pear extract, lemons, and crushed stones. Very good concentration and length.

2006 Alto Moncayo “Veraton” (Campo de Borja, Spain) -- This was a new-styled and very concentrated Grenache. I loved the soft texture, the concentration, and the ripeness, but it was just a tad too oaky for me. The 2004 I previously reviewed was better (similar but less oaky), but this was excellent in its own way.

2005 Hubertushof LEIWENER KLOSTERGARTEN RIESLING EISWEIN (Mosel, Germany) -- A youthful but outstanding icewine, with great minerality, wonderfully ripe peachy fruit, and mouthwatering acidity. Very enjoyable now, this fragrant jailbait of a dessert wine could easily last and improve over the next 10 years or so in a cool dark cellar.

Chambliss Wins: Georgia Is Racist

I read a stupid comment the other day that Georgia's Democrats might not turn out to vote for Jim Martin because they are racist. I have to assume, since Jim Martin is white, that this somehow refers to Barack Obama.

I, for one, am beyond exhaustion from the left's constant cry of racism. If you didn't vote for Obama you are a racist. If you want to pay less taxes you are a racist. If you are a conservative you are a racist. If you homeschool your kids you are a racist. If you live below the Mason-Dixon line you are a racist. If you are white, you are a racist.

Listen. I AM NOT A RACIST!! I do not treat people differently because of the color of their skin. If I disagree with them it is not because of the color of their skin. It is because of the words they speak and their philosophies regarding freedom, government, and individual responsibility.

I do not feel guilty because some white people owned slaves 250 years ago. I wish it would not have happened but it did and I didn't have anything to do with it. I do not feel like I owe anyone anything for it.

So please keep your unfounded accusations to yourself.

Tunnels

On some weird Internet sojourn not long ago I found myself on a site that chronicled closed down insane asylums. One of the links led me to the Danvers State Insane Asylum, a facility that was opened in 1878 and closed in 1992. It is just outside of Boston. There were two collections of photos that struck me. One was of some suitcases that were found in the attic after the facility had closed down. These had belonged to patients...neatly packed, like they were going on a trip. The other was a collection of photos of the tunnels that ran underground and connected all the buildings on the campus. Here's one:

Here's a photo of an odd sign:
So the tunnels were for the patients' use! I developed this image of these poor mad folk stumbling through the tunnels...it was something out of an Edgar Allen Poe story. Confirming my vision, there was this one:

"Ambition, succeed in anxious, jet blast, foot and door, dictionary..." Perhaps I should have begun this piece with "On a dark, stormy night as I ventured past the gates of the silent sentinel..." I was roused from this exploration by the sudden realization that this was all a metaphor for our Congress.

To wit, let me draw your attention to two bills that will NEVER see the light of day: HR 7264 and HR 7094. Both bills have been "Introduced" but it is what is inside those bills that make them deader than that Thanksgiving turkey I smoked last week. Let's take them one at a time.

HR 7264 would repeal the CRA - also known as the "Community Reinvestment Act of 1977." No biggie, right? Wrong! The CRA is at the epicenter of the current financial meltdown. The CRA, according to Investor's Business Daily, "coerces banks into making loans based on political correctness, and little else to people who can't afford them." Though this was originally passed in 1977, under our first black President, Bill Clinton, it was dramatically reinforced. Starting in 1994, the Clinton team of Cisneros, Reno, and Cuomo began a staunch anti-redlining campaign. As a result, minority homeownership rates rose sharply. Economist William T. Gavin, a vice president at the St. Louis Fed wrote in 2006:

One of the stated goals of current and past administrations since the Great Depression has been to increase home ownership. After remaining relatively stable around 64 percent, the rate of home ownership has risen to 69 percent in the past decade. This uptrend has been driven by a sharp rise in the rate of home ownership among young, minority and low-income households. (Hat tip, Taki)

This idea of giving away mortgages (aka subprime mortgages) is supported by the false assumption that real estate values will appreciate forever. When that ceases to be the case, or when other spending priorities overwhelm the purchasing power of the mortgage holder...can you say $4 per gallon gasoline?...thought you could, the defaults begin. With over $1 Trillion in subprime mortgages out there, there was going to be some hurt. Here's a headline from 2001:

Fannie Mae's Targeted Community Reinvestment Act Loan Volume Passes $10 Billion Mark; Expanded Purchasing Efforts Help Lenders Meet Both Market Needs and CRA Goals

This is from a press release by Fannie Mae...wait, it gets better:

Fannie Mae (FNM/NYSE), the nation's largest source of financing for home mortgages, today announced that its acquisition volume of specially-targeted Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) loans passed the $10 billion threshhold in the second quarter of 2001, reaching that milestone more than one and a half years ahead of schedule.

In the spring of 1999, Fannie Mae pledged to purchase at least $10 billion in CRA loans by the end of the year 2002.

The progress of Fannie Mae's CRA transactions volume was announced today by Jamie Gorelick, Vice Chairman of Fannie Mae, at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Annual Secondary Mortgage Conference in Orlando, Florida.

"Our approach to our lenders is `CRA Your Way'," Gorelick said. "Fannie Mae will buy CRA loans from lenders' portfolios; we'll package them into securities; we'll purchase CRA mortgages at the point of origination; and we'll create customized CRA-targeted securities. This expanded approach has improved liquidity in the secondary market for CRA product, and has helped our lenders leverage even more CRA lending. Lenders now have the flexibility to use their own, customized loan products," Gorelick said.

Q: So Fannie Mae was buying up the CRA forced mortgages...and in 2001 they passed $10 BILLION? And why is Jamie Gorelick's name in there???? WTF?????

A: I see you are upset, sir, please put the weapon down.

That's right. Fannie bought up the CRA loans regardless of the type of loan product that had been created. So did Freddie. The Clinton administration pressured Fannie and Freddie to "socialize the risk and guarantee the profit from the subprime loans" (IBD, 12/1/08) and this in turn got Wall Street interested as these instruments were securitized, bundled up and re-sold. That is where HR7094 comes in.

HR 7094 states in it's opening paragraph that the purpose of the bill is:

To establish a term certain for the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to provide conditions for continued operation of such enterprises, and to provide for the wind down of such operations and the dissolution of such enterprises.

Wind up and dissolution. To borrow from Joseph Schumpeter, it is time for some "creative destruction." This is the process where capitalism heals itself. By allowing institutions that have become ineffective or downright destructive to die instead of being nursed along by the government, markets create demand for new products, services, jobs and growth.

But back to the tunnels. Congress, especially a Democrat controlled one, cannot see what they have done. Bringing these two bills to the floor where they can be openly discussed and debated will take us back in time to the beginning of our troubles...the Donks simply cannot afford to go there. Instead, they will keep wandering through the tunnels, scribbling incoherent statements on the wall and allowing a pliant press to cover it all up.

Einstein once said that "you can't solve problems with the same mind-set that got you into the problem in the first place." To bail out Fannie and Freddie without planning for their dissolution and to leave the CRA in place is to invite a repeat of the current disaster somewhere down the road. Put another way, it's no use in bailing out the row boat if you don't plug the leak first.

I don't advocate for action much in these posts, but I will in this instance. Go here - find your Congressman and send them a note demanding that HR 7264 and HR 7094 be brought to the floor and debated publicly immediately.

Don't expect immediate action...I have lobbied on the Hill in my past. Maybe that's why this seemed so familiar:

Rumble on!

Post note: Danvers has been "re-used" - it is now a luxury condo community called Avalon Danvers...call me superstitious, but I'm not sure I could live there...here's a pic:

Maybe it would make a good retirement home for ex-Congressmen?

So I'm A Sappy Guy

I watched Wall-E with my fiancee last night, and I have to say, it WAAAAAY surpassed both of our expectations.

I wanted to see the movie in the theaters because I had heard it was a good movie, and she didn't want to see it at all. We sat down to watch it and I was fully interested in it after about 5 minutes, and she was enthralled after about 30.

Long story short, the movie is visually and conceptually amazing, and a very good movie to watch with your significant other.