Dems Turn on Obama's Tax Cuts

It seems there isn't a consensus of opinion on the Democratic side after all.

They were especially critical of a proposed $3,000 tax credit for companies that hire or retrain workers.

"If I'm a business person, it's unlikely if you give me a several-thousand-dollar credit that I'm going to hire people if I can't sell the products they're producing," said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., a member of the committee.

Conrad is on the mark when it comes to hiring people but he glossed over the retraining part. I can see some employers getting the tax credit by sending some of their employees to classes or seminars in order to qualify. So you pretty much send someone to an Excel class at the Learning Annex or something for a few hundred dollars and then use the rest of that money for other purposes. It is only a sop to small businesses in the first place.

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Palin Hits Back Against Kennedy and Couric

It is nice to see the Bulldog w/ Lipstick start to hit back against how she was treated by the media.

�It�s going to be interesting to see how that plays out and I think that as we watch that we will perhaps be able to prove that there is a class issue here also that was such a factor in the scrutiny of my candidacy versus, say, the scrutiny of what her candidacy may be.�

So far the media has been pretty low key about Caroline Kennedy only saying she is unqualified to be a Senator. One thing you do know is that there aren't teams of reporters sneaking around Boston or New York trying to drum up dirt on her or her family. Also there haven't been any false rumors circulated about the legitimacy of her daughters or any of that crap they smeared Palin with. This is an interesting strikeback against Couric too:

Palin criticized Couric for the way CBS �spliced it together,� saying that �so many of the topics brought up were not portrayed as accurately as they could have, should have, been.�

She also expressed frustration with Couric�s characterization of her since the interviews. After being shown a clip of Couric complaining to David Letterman that no post-election interviewer has asked Palin why she would not tell the CBS anchor what newspapers she reads, the Alaska governor responded: �Because, Katie, you�re not the center of everybody�s universe.�

Also what does it matter what newspapers she reads? Is that some kind of bar that a VP candidate needs to hurdle? If you posed this question to a candidate in 8 years there is a good chance that they will say none. I mean sitting down to read a physical paper is going to be seen in 10 years in about the same way as cranking your Model T to get it started is seen today. It will just be a quaint pastime of another era.

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Could Panetta Uncover Democrat War Crimes?

According to the Wall Street Journal the Dems may have known about waterboarding and other tough interrogation methods since 2002. That means they could be deemed as war criminal because they did nothing to prevent these things from happening.

The briefings were first available to the Chairmen and ranking Members of the Intelligence Committees. From 2003 through 2006, that gang of four included Democrats Bob Graham and John D. Rockefeller in the Senate and Jane Harman in the House, as well as Republicans Porter Goss, Peter Hoekstra, Richard Shelby and Pat Roberts. Senior staffers were sometimes present. After September 2006, when President Bush publicly acknowledged the program, the interrogation briefings were opened to the full committees.

If Congress wanted to kill this program, all it had to do was withhold funding. And if Democrats thought it was illegal or really found the CIA's activities so heinous, one of them could have made a whistle-blowing floor statement under the protection of the Constitution's speech and debate clause. They'd have broken their secrecy oaths and jeopardized national security, sure. But if they believed that Bush policies were truly criminal, didn't they have a moral obligation to do so? In any case, the inevitable media rapture over their anti-Bush defiance would have more than compensated.

So any Democrat Congressman had the opportunity to make a name for himself as a whistleblower? That person would be lauded as hero to the left and the MSM since they would have prevented the US from allegedly torturing Al-Quida scumbags for information.

True, it would have ended that persons career in Congress but isn't taking a stand what a "progressive" is supposed to do? Hell, they could have even leaked the information to the press Deep Throat-style if they really wanted to protect their job.

What is kind of interesting about this is that Senator Rockefeller is opposing Panetta as the head of the CIA.

A senior aide to Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), the outgoing chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the senator �would have concerns� about a Panetta nomination.

Rockefeller �thinks very highly of Panetta,� the aide said. �But he�s puzzled by the selection. He has concerns because he has always believed that the director of CIA needs to be someone with significant operational intelligence experience and someone outside the political realm.�

Maybe the concerns that Rockefeller has is that if Panetta is installed at CIA he will do all he can to uncover the shady intelligence gathering techniques that they have been involved in. Panetta would certainly want to know who knew what and when. So you would think that the Senate Intelligence Committee will be heavily scrutinized in any potential Panetta fact-finding expedition.

I mean the Democrat members of the Committee are supposed to have known what the CIA was doing since 2002. I mean they had the ability to shut down the money for the program if they didn't like their methods. I can see why Rockefeller would like to cut Panetta off at the knees before he gets the chance to turn over any rocks at CIA.

My guess is that Senator Rockefeller or another key Dem at the Senate Intelligence Committee will end up with the top CIA job. Panetta will pull his name out in a few weeks. I think that would be a good thing because the CIA agents that did the waterboarding and such did so with the complicity of the Bush administration, and through its inaction, Congress as well.

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Obama Meets with the Ex-Presidents

Now this is a really historic event seeing Obama join the fraternity of Presidents like this. I think he can learn a lot from these guys. Just ignore anything Carter says about the economy.

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What Causes Nightmares?

This is an interesting article on what things cause nightmares. I almost never get them so maybe I am avoiding these things correctly. The causes in the article are:

1. Stress and Anxiety
2. Spicy Food and eating right before bedtime
3. High Fat Content Food
4. Alcohol
5. Drugs (I know people on sleep meds that had some doozy nightmares)
6. Illness

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European Jews Targeted in Europe

It seems that Muslim hate-mongers are vandalizing Jewish temples right in the heart of Europe.

Assailants rammed a burning car into the gates of a synagogue in Toulouse, in southwest France, Monday night.

A Jewish congregation in Helsingborg, in southern Sweden, was attacked Monday night by someone who "broke a window and threw in something that was burning," said police spokesman Leif Nilsson. And on Sunday slogans, including "murderers ... You broke the cease-fire," were daubed on Israel's Embassy in Stockholm.

I guess that is what you get for taking large numbers of people into your country that do not share your values or way of life. I'm pretty sure that these "assailants" do not think of themselves as Frenchmen but only as Anti-Semites.

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Panetta at CIA has Intelligence Community Scratching Heads

It seems that some people are as incredulous as I am when it comes to putting Panetta as the head of the CIA.

"I'm at a loss," said Robert Grenier, a former director of the CIA's counterterrorism center and 27-year veteran of the agency who now is managing director of Kroll, a security consulting company.

The lack of intelligence experience puts Panetta at "a tremendous disadvantage," Grenier told The Associated Press in an interview.

Also this defence from the Obama Administration is some really weird reasoning as well:

The official said Panetta had been a consumer of CIA intelligence when he was at the White House. He said he was selected for his administrative, management and political skills which will allow him both to control and advocate for the agency.

That is like saying since I take aspirin I can head the FDA. I mean I too have various unrelated skills that could help me succeed at the FDA. I mean I could also rely on trained scientists to do most of my job and just muddle by. I, however, won't do the same kind of job that an MD with a background in drug research would do. Of all the Obama administration confirmation hearings I predict that this one will be the toughest.

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Yay! Obama is Set to Give me $40 of My Own Money Back to Me Every Month

Well it seems that there will be some tax cuts included in the new stimulus package that is being talked about in the Congress.

If the two-year plan is enacted, workers would see larger paychecks almost immediately because taxes withheld by the government would drop. The break would be retroactive to Jan. 1, and couples receiving a $1,000 tax cut would begin receiving an extra $40 in twice-monthly paychecks as the government tries to spark more consumer spending.

Since I am not a couple, I will be getting that agreed on $500 a year tax cut. That means I would get $40 a month of my own money returned to me. I guess that is good news but I would much rather get that $500 in a lump sum so that I could buy an Asus N10-J A-1 Netbook with it.

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Too Bad Oil Bulls: Iran Can't use the Embargo Threat against Israel

There was a sharp rally in oil once Israel started to bomb Gaza. It seemed to start because there was the fear that the Saudis and Iran would stop selling oil to the West like they did in 1973. Too bad the Iranians are in such a sorry economic state that they wouldn't dream of stopping oil shipments.

But even in Iran, it's unlikely that Bagherzadeh's call would get much traction. A day after the suggestion, Iran's OPEC governor said the oil producing group was to meet in February, a month ahead of schedule, to take stock of the current market situation.

The conflicting messages highlight the challenge confronting Tehran's hardline government. Like other oil producers in the region, it depends on oil revenue for as much as 90 percent of its foreign income � and is suffering badly as oil prices fall.

It would be financial suicide to cut the sales of something that provides 90% of your foreign income when you have 30% unemployment and are thinking of raising your taxes just to keep your economy afloat.

I think subsidizing proxy wars with Israel using Hezbollah and Hamas is easy with $147 a barrel oil but it is simply impossible with $40 a barrel oil. It also shows me a nice tell as to why Israel chose this particular time to strike Gaza. Iranian missile and weapon resupply money just isn't there anymore. Plus, oil prices will probably not go back to $147 any time this year.

So Hamas has its back up against the wall without hope of resupply or escape. That is the bad part about basing your "destroy Israel strategy" on the fluctuating price of commodities. Now is the time for the Fall of Berlin with Hamas playing the roll of the Nazis.

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GM Q4 Sales Numbers Says SUV is Dead

As if this needed to be said it seems that Large Trucks are still out of doing junk even though gas prices are way down.

Car sales fell 24.9% to 87,506, but the total included a 42.6% jump in Malibu sales to 17,355 units and an 18.8% increase in Impala sales to 21,148.

Light truck sales fell 25% to 132,524 units and included a 66.1% plunge in demand for the TrailBlazer to 4,087 vehicles and a 34.4% drop in Sierra sales to 12,980.

For the full year 2008, GM sold 3 million vehicles, down 23% from 3.8 million the year before.

It is interesting that the Malibu and Impala seem to be growing by double digits like that. I really like the look of the new Malibu but the new Impala looks super boring and it just reminds me of a 90s Camry.

They also need to shutter that TrailBlazer plant and retool it to build Malibus (if that is possible) because a 66% YoY drop in sales shows you that SUV demand may never return. I mean people would rather buy a truck for hauling and take the gas hit or a sedan for driving and save that gas money. Or if they can afford it they just own both a truck and a sedan at the same time.

I think SUVs are just the car equivalent of McMansions. They are both big pieces of junk that are too expensive and offer little value for their price tags.

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Obama's First Cabinet Screw Up: Panetta at CIA

Well, I guess Obama wanted a new look at CIA but he just gave the top intelligence post to a person that seems inexperienced in that field. From reading his biography it seems he would make a great head of Conservation because he did lots of Marine conservation work on the California Coast. The Committees he was on was Budget, Agriculture, Police, and Domestic Hunger. There was no Intelligence Committee anything in that roundup.

I guess he got the job because he was the chief of operations and planning of the intelligence section when he was in the Army from 1964-1966. You would think that Obama would want to get a career CIA guy with a Dem leaning in there. I'm not sure how well Panetta will work with the career spies that the CIA already has in place.

I guess Obama wants a total outsider as the head so that they stop the extraordinary rendition, warrantless wiretapping, and coercive interrogations that the CIA carried out. I really hope that we got all the information we could out of the terrorist scumbags that we have in custody because the Intel train has just pulled into the station.

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Predictions for 2009: Entertainment and Sports

Here I didn't do as well going 2 out of 6 for entertainment (only getting the rise of the nobody celebs and Winehouse going to rehab) but did score some successes in Sports. I called the Boston Celtics win, the Chinese Olympics being a big success with hardly any protests, and OJ Simpson going to jail. Well here are 2009s picks:

Entertainment:
1. Britney Spears returns to national promanence and people forget her freak-outs of 2007. There are many stories about how she overcame adversity etc. She meets a member of another band and is married by the end of the year. It doesn't last until the end of 2010.

2. Lindsey Lohan breaks up with Samantha Ronson and goes back to dating guys again. The gay thing was just a phase. Her career continues to flounder and she is known even more for her personal life then her box office successes.

3. Box Office falls off for 2009 as more people take to playing video games and staying in with a DVD then going to the movies. The top 5 movies of 2009 are X-men Origins: Wolverine, Monster vs. Aliens, Night at the Museum 2, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Twilight 2. Disappointments of 2009: GI Joe, Avatar, Ace Ventura 3, Dragonball, Angels and Demons

4. Jennifer Aniston has a public mid-life crisis and is seen doing strange things in public. The press says she is having trouble giving up Brad Pitt. It is actually her publicist trying to give her more "edge."

5. Hulu.com becomes mainstream and is mentioned more and more in the main stream press. It is sited as the death of cable TV and DVDs at the same time. It becomes the content end around that the cable channels need to free themselves from the grip of the cable company.


Sports:
1. The Major Sports winners are:
NFL: Pittsburgh Steelers, NBA: LA Lakers, MLB: New York Yankees, College Football: Florida Gators (but Utah is talked about as the "real" national champion,) College Basketball: Pitt Panthers

2. The BCS will be forced to change to an "and 1" system where the National Championship game is picked after the BCS games are finished. There is pressure from the Obama administration to move to a playoff system or they get their nonprofit status pulled by Congress. There are hearings on the future of the BCS system by the end of the year called by Utah Senator Orrin Hatch.

3. Lance Armstrong returns to the Tour De France but is a shadow of his former self. He tries mightily but the younger riders edge him out.

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Predictions for 2009: World Events and the Economy

Well looking back at my 2008 predictions I didn't do too badly since I was 4-1 in World Events and 3-2 for the Economy. I actually called the Obama win, Musharraf out in Pakistan, no terrorist attacks in the US, and the Iraq War winding down in 2008. I was wrong about Sarkozy solving the Iranian nuclear issue. I got the Bailout of Subprime, tech lagging, rise of alternate energy. But I was wrong about the extent of the correction (I missed it by calling 10%,) and the health care recovery. Well in any case time to put on the Nostradamus floppy hat for 2009:

World Events:
1. Iran will rattle the sabre about a nuclear program but a deal will be made before the end of the year. The deal will consist of Iran enriching uranium under UN auspices and Russia helping them build several nuclear plants. Iran continues a secret bomb making program in the meantime. However this does not save Ahmadinejads job as he will be booted from office and be replaced by moderates.

2. There will be increased tensions over Pakistan's involvement with the terrorist attacks in India. It will escalate into a near war with both sides massing troops on the border and threatening to invade one another. Tensions will be lessened when Pakistan arrests senior people in the ISI (Pakistan's spy unit) that are alleged to have had a hand in the plot. There are skirmishes along their border but there is no major hot war between the two powers in 2009.

3. Israel's invasion of the Gaza strip will severely weaken Hamas and Fatah will eventually gain complete hegemony in Palestine. Fatah takes over the control of the Gaza strip from the Israelis by the end of 2009 and complete a second round of secret purges of Hamas leadership. Hamas is wrecked as a terrorist organization and no longer threatens Israel militarily.

4. Chavez is marginalized in Venezuela as his oil wealth starts to disappear. His power is severely weakened as there is no longer a Bush in the White House to demonize. Chavez does everything he can to stave off an economic ruin in his country as they end up defaulting on their debt creating a mini crisis that the US has to solve.

5. Afghanistan becomes a page one story again this time with the Americans trying to root out the Taliban and bolster their army. The press will portray this war as a righteous affair and never doubt for a minute that we will win there. The Dems will pound the table and look "strong on security" by pointing to their support of victories in Afghanistan. Iraq will receive less and less attention and leave the national news stage. There will not be a major terrorist attack in the US in 2009.


Economy:
1. Obama's stimulus package will work for the most part and will slow unemployment growth by the end of the year. The money for the states will be given some serious scrutiny but will still be filled with pork barrel spending and government giveaways. Obama will take credit for saving the world economy.

2. Many companies tighten their belt and delay projects into the second half of the year. Several retailers go out of business but there will be no equivalent to a Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in 2009. By the third quarter the economy will be out of recession and on the way back to recovery. The Dow will be back above 9,500 by the end of the year.

3. The long awaited housing recovery will be in full swing by the third quarter of 2009. Record low house prices and rock bottom mortgages will force many first time home buyers into the market and will sop up the supply overhang.

4. Along with the economic recovery, oil prices will climb and be at about $80 or so by the end of 2009. Energy stocks will outperform the overall market. Gold will lag for 2009.

5. Treasury yields will return to historical averages as risk aversion starts to leave the market in the first two quarters of 2009. The VIX returns to a trading range and the wide market swings that we saw in 2008 stop for the time being.

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Aspen Bomber: The First Case of "Eat the Rich" Syndrome?

I was reading about this Aspen Bomber by the name of James Charles Blanning and was thinking that it may be the first indication of a new "Eat the Rich" syndrome. This is especially the case because the rich bankers and house-flippers caused the pain in the first place.

In some ways some of this stuff happened during the French Revolution. The targets of the revolution was the aristocracy and their wasteful spending as well as the massive land holdings of the church. The French government was also deep in debt due to bankrolling the American Revolution. Thus the French were not able to help people not starve when there was record unemployment and the agrarian economy of France was decimated by a famine. People in the Us aren't starving to the extent of the pre-Revolutionary French but we do have an "aristocracy" of sorts that was spending like crazy people. Plus the US government is deep in debt due to various bailouts and foreign military adventures.

So could this Blanning character have fired the first shot against the mega-rich and the "aristocracy" of today? It might be fairly plausible. Some people view our economic trouble through the lens of crooked Hedge fund millionaires and bankers wrecking the economy and escaping with their golden parachutes. I mean the demonization of Bernie Madoff is filled with quite a bit of hate and venom as well. I was just struck by the fact that someone would actually consider a terrorist bombing against the "beautiful people" in Aspen like that. It just seemed like something that could have come out of Revolutionary France.

I guess these sort of attacks depend on how bad things get. I mean the Great Depression didn't cause the US government to fall through massive strikes and violence but there were food riots and the crackdown against the Bonus Marchers. It might just come down to whether the rich are seen to have contempt for the plight of the poor like Mary Antoinette was suppose to have. I think people can take a rich person buying extravagant crap if they are just simply unemployed. However, if normal people are starving to death then it will seriously raise the stakes. It seems that violence against the rich only manifests itself when things are truly dire.

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US Forces Surge into Afghanistan

It seems that we are going to finally focus on Afghanistan and start to shift away from Iraq.

The U.S. is preparing to pour at least 20,000 extra troops into southern Afghanistan to cope with a Taliban insurgency that is fiercer than NATO leaders expected.

The new troops will augment the 12,500 NATO soldiers � mainly British, Canadian and Dutch � in what amounts to an Afghan version of the surge in Iraq.

New construction at Kandahar Air Field foreshadows the upcoming infusion of American power. Runways and housing are being built, along with two new U.S. outposts in Taliban-held regions of Kandahar province.

I guess these newely inserted Captains and Lieutenants are going to have to befriend a whole new set of tribal leaders and attend a whole new set of Tribal Councils.

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