Free Iran??!! Nah, Let them Do it!

If the Iranian people want to be Free and remove that fundamentalist puppet Government they should do it themselves. Why are US "right wing" conservative voices screaming that our president hasn't done enough! Didn't we learn anything from our failed attempt at nation building in Iraq or Nicaragua or Panama or should I continue....no recent American President has been successful at exporting Democracy - why, because it doesn't' work. If the indigenous people don't want Democracy we can't sell it wholesale to them.

The beauty of the struggle in the streets of Tehran is that it is true, organic and therefore sustainable - not run as a proxy by other governments. This makes sense to me in the same way Cuba makes sense to me. When the great Cuban people are tired of that Godless dictator THEY will replace him not us!

Don't be Like Thomas, the Disciple

I don't believe men evolved from Monkeys (particularly not the murderous rampaging CT kind who live with single white women - is this a monkey living with a "cougar?") and for all those who do, I like to ask them to explain how the human heart comes to beat and how evolved man can't seem to re-create one. So, I'm a person of faith. Faith works in my life and I see Providence all around. I'm not talking organized Religion here but Faith.

Anyway, these first 30 days of the Obama-thon have reminded me of the disciple Thomas (from whom springs the name Doubting Thomas), who when the risen Lord appeared to him and his mates didn't believe it was the Lord until he was told to go ahead and see for himself..after inserting his hands into the wound he was forgiven for his doubts.

...Today we have an foreclosure abatement program and I've heard Ben Stein say the cost will be too high! He's right but only if you ignore the societal costs of all those men, women and school age children living in shelters, using emergency rooms for primary medical care and stealing to feed themselves - cause guess what? Single people with two incomes aren't in this mess. Guys who are working their first job and saving for a new BMW aren't in this mess- families are in this mess. Mr. Stein, he of many words, opined that if we keep up at this rate one day "Standard and Poors" will look at the US govt debt and downgrade us to the levels of Germany! How ridiculous. The same Standard and Poors who rated CDOs and ABS pools as AAA because they were issued by Lehman Brothers and Citigroup through off balance sheet SIVs. I care less what S&P thinks of American Debt. Perhaps the next generation will have a Doubting Ben. You can't argue for a meritocracy some times - it's all or nothing Ben. Didn't hear any of these voices in November when 3 of the large money center banks were within days of collapse because their capital ratios were too low.

I suppose all those anti-Obamers who've already worked themselves up into a lather 30 days after the guy got started want a do over. (These are the same eggheads who take a mulligan on each side and don't believe they're cheating at golf by the way) They want to demand tax cuts that the American People decided didn't work after all (RIP the Gipper and "trickle down"). Can't have trickle down economy if there's no liquidity at the top and by the way you're deporting all the workers at the bottom but that's for another day - if you want a real meritocracy let everyone in and keep the best!

They failed to consider that, like it or not, our GOP got it's clock cleaned because it was too far in bed with them in the first place. We gave the country Norm Coleman for goodness sakes - how can anyone take this seriously. Where were these boneheads when we were racking up generations of debt nation building in Iraq. Didn't anyone else read the Federalist papers - Rush Limbaugh certainly didn't it! Laura Ingraham - come on, that's not discourse - it's low minded personal attack politics that's easily disguised by humor, Lenny Bruce got arrested for it (no wonder Laura couldn't find a sperm donor the old fashioned way).We already debated that issue and came down clearly on the side of staying out of it (over there, over there.....). So while I'm paying $4 bucks a gallon to drive my Made in America SUV no one shouts that the Republican government was ginnng up debt like it didnt' matter - now it matters. ? Give me a break. More tomorrow....

Obama & Ted Kennedy - Gone to the Dogs!

Ok, is it just me or is anyone else struck by the irony of the recommendation of Sen. Ted Kennedy that the Obama family select his favorite, a Portuguese Water Dog! Nothing against the dog, our friends had them and they are great. I'm of course biased because I bought a Labradoodle from Rutland Manor in Australia 4 years ago and we love the dog. This is a great dog for families who want a constant companion who can live with kids with allergies - like my second son. The "doodle" though isn't really a "breed" according to the Nazis at the AKC who consider my dog a MUTT. Even though after 20 years of constant considerate breeding by careful professional breeders - not so much you can say about the US breeders who turn out puppies in mills all over - but then Obama's a self confessed MUTT and so is most of America. We don't go for that Arayan shit her in the Old US of A. So, the Mutt should pick the MUTT.

But back to Kennedy. Isn't this the guy who let a girl drown to death in a car while he swam away. A Water Dog alright. Does America have no memory at all! The Lion of the Senate (only after he started a tough fight with cancer) is the original Water Dog. This is a guy who makes Bill Clinton look principled. Isn't this the guy who went drinking and driving (and running away) off an "unmarked" bridge with Mary Jo Kopechne in the passenger seat. She, intoxicated on his presence, he intoxicated.

There's Sen. Kennedy exchanging wit and repartee with Henry Winkler on how his Water Dog is superior to the Fonz's Labradoodle. If I were a journalist here I would open up and admit that I own a lovely animal and the that the price I paid alone makes it impossible that the Obama's will get one from the shelter. The only way that goes down is if the "Deep Throat" Guys drop one off 5 minutes before Malia and Sasha pull up in the motorcade. But we'll leave that post for another time.

Global Divisivness

I promised to post things I'm reading or seeing regularly and so here's something I came upon tonight that's quite chilling. In light of the recent attacks in Mumbai, where I spent maybe 150 days a year for several years in the 90s, I had been thinking about intolerance and bullying. The Hindus in India are like Christianity in America. That is to say it drives the conversation, it sets the official schedule.

Hinduism sets the us versus them tone on the subcontinent. The Muslims and in some degree the Christians in India are tolerated. The Holy days are celebrated but India is by and large a Hindu country in the very same way that Pakistan is a Muslim one. Not at all in the way Turkey exists.

In that light it's quite easy to see how the internecine hatred and divisiveness has festered. It's always just below the surface. If you don't believe it watch Sara Sinder's CNN feed on the scene. This local based reporter is being bullied for reporting just the facts. The crowd is hostile unruly and the police are non responsive. It's a powder keg that avoid detonation because of Global economic growth. Kill that growth and watch it fester.


Meanwhile here in America, lest we get to high and mighty we get this. David Duke and his band of merry idiots are glorifying in the possibility for growth. Watch this video.

Tiger Woods on Barack Obama

It turns out while I was thinking of Tiger Woods and Pres. Elect Obama, so was he.
I wish I was that prescient about the market.

See this clip with Jane Wells.


CNBC interview of Tiger.