Another Iranian Nuclear Scientist Bites the Dust: Magnet Bombs Again

It seems Mossad might be taking some tough measures like they did a years ago. At least we are categorically denying doing it.

"The United States strongly condemns this act of violence and categorically denies any involvement in the killing," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a press statement.

Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, 32, was killed in a blast from a magnetic bomb, that two men on a motorcycle attached to his Peugot 405 in north Tehran during Wednesday morning rush hour, the BBC's Frank Gardner reported.

If I were in charge of enrichment at one of these Iranian nuke factories I would want to sleep at my desk just in case Mossad wants to give you a magnet bomb send-off.

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Santorum's Italian Ancestors Red Commies?

Well that is what his grandmother is telling the Italian weekly magazine Oggi.

But the elder Santorum matriarch doesn�t understand why he has diverged so far from the family�s longtime political stance. �In Riva del Garda his grandfather Pietro and uncles were �red communists� to the core,� writes Oggi journalist Giuseppe Fumagalli, likening the family to �Peppone� after a famous fictional Italian communist mayor who fought against an ultraconservative priest known as Don Cammillo and about which a popular television series is based. �But on the other side of the ocean, it�s like his family here doesn�t exist. Instead he draws crowds as the head of the ultraconservative faction of the Republican party, against divorce, gay marriage, abortion, and immigration.�

I guess you really can't do much about your foreign relations. The idea that there are commies in the past of the Church Lady Santorum is kind of funny.

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Huntsman 3rd in New Hampshire: I Think I Will be Voting for This Guy if Given the Chance

Well, in a field full of lame GOP fodder I guess I can back the least of all evils, Jon Huntsman. Third is a pretty good showing I should think.

Mitt Romney has won the New Hampshire primary, Fox News projects, notching back-to-back victories in the first two contests of the presidential nominating season.

Fox News also projects that Ron Paul will finish second and Jon Huntsman will finish third. Rick Perry is projected to finish in sixth place. 

Romney will be beaten like a drum by Obama, Newt is a condescending asshole, Rick Perry seems dumber than Bush, and Santorum is the second coming of the Church Lady. So that leaves Huntsman who seems like a likable enough guy judging from a few interviews I saw on Squawk Box which comes on at midnight here in Hawaii. He's knowledgeable about the economy and is affable enough.

Let's look at Huntsman a bit:

1. He's a super-Mormon who is a direct descendant to Parley P. Pratt an early church elder.

 

2. He was an Eagle Scout which is pretty cool. He also was a keyboard player in the rock band Wizard which he dropped out of school to pursue. So we got some misspent youth going for him.

 

3. He then got his GED and went to University of Utah and then to Penn so he isn't a generic Ivy Leaguer like the last x-many Presidents. Too bad he didn't have some military service thrown in here.

 

4. He is fluent in Chinese so he can talk to the Red Chinese without an interpreter. He worked for the HW Bush administration in the Commerce Department and then was ambassador to Singapore. He doesn't seem like a Washington insider which is good.

 

5. Then he went to work at his dad's company the Huntsman Corporation and was in charge of their Cancer Foundation and other Utah civic groups. Um, I would have liked him to work somewhere else so the nepotism charge can't be leveled against him.

 

6. Then he was governor of Utah which usually means he has a good chance of being a decent enough President. It seems that when it comes to pre-presidential jobs generals are hit and miss, lawyers are usually crappy, engineers always suck, Senators are decent and governors are generally pretty good. Ronald Reagan, Teddy Roosevelt, and FDR were all former governors.

 

7. While governor of Utah he seemed pretty fiscally prudent grew jobs and signed a voucher bill into law. He also cut taxes and even got a flat tax passed.

8. He was Ambassador to China on Obama's watch which is a black mark. However, he has a sense of duty and served when called which you really can't fault him for. I guess the Obamites saw him as a harmless GOPer that can speak Chinese. Maybe he will take his ex-bosses job if given the chance?

9. On the issues: he is a tax cutter and wants to get rid of all the stupid tax loopholes that we have to jump through to do our taxes. He wants to cut corporate taxes to 25% from 35% which is awesome. He wants to dump subsidies and corporate welfare. He also wants to get rid of taxes on capital gains and dividends which sold me right there. If I was on the fence before if he can get rid of the asinine taxes on capital gains I have to say "He's the Hunts-man for the job!"

10. On social issues he is anti-abortion, is for civil unions for same-sex couples, and passed a civil unions bill in Utah. All pretty good things other then the abortion thing.

11. He seems anti-green house gas emissions and global warming but as long as it doesn't hurt our economy. In other words he wouldn't support having billions of dollars siphoned from the US into the pockets of foreign dictators in some UN sponsored global warming crap-fest.

12. He seems pro-China in his foreign policy views. He is also pro-Israel and has actually traveled to the Holy Land several times.

13. He is a serious immigration dove it seems. He supports the border fence even though it "repulses him." I think the border fence is a serious waste of money when we are trillions in debt. He was for "drivers-privilege" cards for illegals that can't be used for IDs which seems a decent compromise. He also threatened a veto of a bill that would have repealed in-state college tuition for illegals. He is also very pro legal immigration and wants more H1-B visas and he backed the DREAM Act. His immigration views match mine pretty well for the most part so that is good.

14. He doesn't seem to be the Church Lady about his views like Santorum so that is great. He is also not a creationist like Rick Perry. I think, for the most part, Huntsman will not have his religion be too big a factor when he is making decisions in the White House. This all bodes well and hopefully he can be the anti-Romney everyone has been looking for.

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Tim Tebows's Win Ordained by God? John 3:16 All over the Game

Now this is either one wacky coincidence or the Patriots need to play indoors in case some lightning will come raining down on them for daring to thwart the mighty Tebow.

The fact that Tebow had 316 yards passing and averaged 31.6 yards per pass in the game didn't escape notice on Sunday night. Tebow wore "John 3:16" on his eye black in the 2009 BCS Championship game and has since become identified with the famous Bible message. The coincidental stats caused millions of fans to perform Google searches on the Bible passage in the past 24 hours. Here's one more unbelievable stat: John Ourand of Sports Business Journal reports that the final quarter-hour television rating for the Broncos-Steelers game was, you guessed it, 31.6.

In case your forgot your John 3:16 it is:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

Maybe in this case: 2 Samuel 22:15-18 would be more appropriate:

 ¹⁵ He sent out arrows and scattered them;
      Lightning bolts, and He vanquished them.

 ¹⁶ Then the channels of the sea were seen,
      The foundations of the world were uncovered,
      At the rebuke of the LORD,
      At the blast of the breath of His nostrils.

 ¹⁷ �He sent from above, He took me,
      He drew me out of many waters.

 ¹⁸ He delivered me from my strong enemy,
      From those who hated me;
      For they were too strong for me.

By "enemy" they mean the Patriots and by arrows they mean option running plays and by lightning bolts they mean wobbly passes for touchdowns.  The "me" in this case isn't David but Tebow. It all makes sense now!

Bow thy heads you filthy sinners on the CBS Post Game Show. Let no man speak ill of the Tebow!

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FED returns 76.9 Billion to Treasury

I guess the FED is good for something after all.

The Federal Reserve said Tuesday it will send about $76.9 billion of its estimated 2011 net income over to the Treasury. 

That was down from a record $78.4 billion in 2010, and comes primarily from the interest payments on securities held in the U.S. central bank's massive multitrillion-dollar portfolio.

I wonder if we can hire some serious money managers and get this $78.4 billion to grow a little bit more?

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Romney Likes to "Fire People?"

Well at least he is coming clean about what he likes to do.

"I want individuals to have their own insurance. That means the insurance company will have an incentive to keep you healthy," Romney said. "It also means that if you don't like what they do, you can fire them. I like being able to fire people who provide services to me. You know if someone doesn't give me the good service I need, I want to say, you know, I'm going to go get someone else to provide that service to me."

I guess that statement was taken out of context. He should have said he liked to fire a company that provided poor service to him. That would make sense and be somewhat anti-corporate as well. Everyone would like to fire their insurance company if they jacked up their rates by 15% or whatever. However most health insurance companies are monopolies in most states. The ability to buy health insurance like you can buy car insurance should be allowable to all Americans.

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I'm Afraid your Colon Will Be Quite Operational when the Runs Arrive!

Star Wars burgers coming to a fast food chain near you if you live in Belgium.

Quick's limited-edition burgers come in three flavors. There's the Dark Burger�a double cheeseburger on a seeded bun with some kind of creamy mayo spread. Then there's the Jedi Burger, another double-patty cheeseburger, this time inspired by the cryptic genius Yoda. Only few are enlightened enough to know whether those white pellets peaking out from under the bun are cheese curds or marshmallows. 

The comments section of this article are absolutely hilarious. I think the burgers look weird no matter how you slice them. Also wheres the guacamole on the Yoda burger?

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Europe Moves Toward Embargo on Iranian Oil: Time to go Long USO?

Wow, the Europeans sure are getting pretty warlike after kicking the legs out from under Qaddafi.

A final decision by the European Union will not come before the end of January and would be implemented in stages to avoid major disruptions in global oil supplies. But the move by some of Iran�s most important oil customers appears to underscore the resolve of Western allies to impose toughest round of sanctions on Iran to date, increasing pressure on Tehran to stop enriching uranium and negotiate an end to what Western leaders argue is an accelerating program to build a nuclear bomb. 

This should get us some $125 a barrel oil and maybe some tense times in the Strait of Hormuz going forward. I guess it would be up to Iran if they actually tried to close the Strait or not. In any case quite a few barrels of oil will be kept off the world market and USO (United States Oil ETF) might be a good play in the next few months.

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Kodak is About to Die!

Well this is the end of one of a 131 year company that used to once be a Blue Chip and will soon be just a cow chip.

The struggling photography icon, which employs about 19,000 people, is in discussions with potential lenders for around $1 billion in so-called debtor-in possession financing that would keep it afloat during bankruptcy proceedings, the people said. A filing could occur as soon as this month or early February, one of the people said.

I think first digital cameras destroyed Kodaks film market and now cell phones with good cameras are even destroying that once robust market. It then went into the printer market which is dominated by large competitors like HP that had a 20 year head start on them. Oh well I guess the little yellow film tube will join the Newton and the Blackberry on the pile of forgotten technologies.

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2012 Pedictions: Entertainment and Sports

Entertainment:

1. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie stay together throughout the year and are quite happy. Jennifer Aniston gets married during the year but divorces soon afterward.

2. The Kardasians are forgotten as a brand as more and more people jump on a boycott bandwagon. Their show is cancelled on E! and they are largely forgotten by the end of the year.

3. New Shows of 2012:

Renewed: Napoleon Dynamite, Lost Girl, Touch, Luck, Apartment 23
Cancelled: Work It, The Firm, Are You there Chelsey?, Rob, The Finder, Alcatraz, Smash, The River, GCB, Fashion Star, Missing, Scandal, The 2-2, Awake, Bent, Best Friends Forever

4. Top 10 Movies in Order of Box Office for 2012:

Dark Knight Rises,The Hobbit, Twilight Part: Breaking Dawn 2, Avengers, Hunger Games, 007 Skyfall, Men in Black 3, Expendables 2, Wrath of the Titans, World War Z,
Overall box office is down from 2011 and 3D becomes a totally dead issue.

Sports:

College Football National Title: LSU
College Basketball National Title: Ohio State
NFL: Green Bay Packers
NBA: Miami Heat
MLB: Texas Rangers
NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson
NHL: Chicago Blackhawks
Premier League Title: Manchester City

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2012 Predictions: Politics and the Economy

Well, its prediction time again:

Politics:

1. Mitt Romney will be the GOP nominee and will poll well against Obama at first but will draw even as the campaign goes into high gear. Obama will win a squeaker that will have the taint of fraud in several districts but he will still win a second term. The GOP captures the Senate and the government becomes effectively divided. As a result not much is done.

2. There is a massive fight over the budget with Obama's and the GOPs differing by a wide margin. No compromise is put forth and the GOPs budget passes easily is vetoed and Obama is narrowly overturned.  This becomes a pattern for much of the legislation passed in 2012

3. Obamacare is ruled partially unconstitutional and is sent back to the Congress for fixes. It is gutted by the GOP and Obama vetoes the greatly watered down bill that comes out of Congress. Obama uses the Department of Health to impose some Obamacare tenets that Congress throws out. This becomes a pattern in 2012.

4. There is a crisis and civil war in North Korea as the generals try to seize power from the ineffectual Kim Jong Un. China and South Korea are on high alert but much of the fighting is in the streets of Pyongyang between Kim Jong Un loyalists and the break-away generals. The break-away generals seize power and a military dictatorship that is more open to the west takes power by the end of the year.

5. Iran his hit hard by sanctions against their oil industry and tries to rattle the saber in retaliation. Oil prices rise to $130 before things settle back down. The Green Revolution begins in earnest as the Iran slowly moves the way of Egypt and the rest of the Arab Spring countries. Large demonstrations break out all over Iran and the Mullacrocy totters toward oblivion. Oil stays high throughout the year due to Iranian instability. Many Iranian students are gunned down before the UN steps in and quells violence.

Economy:

1. More green shoots begin to form in certain sectors and the housing market improves slightly. However, Europe still overhangs everything but a solution to the debt crisis is finally reached by spring. High oil prices challenge the recovery and India and China begin to cut back on the demand side of the equation. Worldwide growth slows as Europe enters a recession by Fall.

2. The market rallies early on but high oil prices takes its toll as growth slows. The market is in a holding pattern and trends downward as Obama is re-elected. Companies still hold vast reserves of cash but Obamacare being struck down by the Supreme Court allows some of it to flow again. GDP growth trends to 3% by the winter of 2012. The US economy does not go back into recession.

3. Unemployment stays at the 8 - 9% level for much of the year as absolutely nothing is done to create jobs. The payroll tax cut and other half-measures continue throughout the year. Companies slowly start to hire and things look somewhat better toward the end of the year.

4. Facebook's IPO does decently but does not come in as the blockbuster that many predicted in the past. Slowing growth and waning ad dollars are sited as the reason for the muted response. Many users stop using Facebook altogether and a "Is Facebook Dead" story is circulated by the end of the year.

5. SOPA does not pass due to the agitation of Google, Ebay, Facebook and other large sites mobilizing against the Congress and the supporters of the Bill. The general public learns about the issue as net titans take to the airwaves against SOPA. Talk of the bill dominates the news for the early part of 2012 and it is defeated by a very wide margin.

6. Here are the numbers for the various indices for the end of 2012:

Dow: 12800
NASDAQ: 2850
S&P 500: 1320
Eur/Dollar: 0.98
10 Year Bond: 2.10%
Gold: $1310 and ounce
Oil: $113 a barrel

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2011 Predictions Revisited

One of the fun things about running this blog for multiple years is that I can look back at the predictions I had for the past year to see how I'm doing. Here is a recap:

Politics:
1. Gridlock in Washington : Yeeap (in the words of that asshole guy on Storage Wars) The only thing that came out of Washington in 2011 was a bunch of rhetoric and people not doing anything. That is usually good for the market but stupid European debt dashed any rally.

2. Debt Ceiling Fight: Yeeap; That was an easy call though.

3. Supreme Court Ruling on Obamacare (TBA) this one isn't over yet

4. Big names for GOP nod: Right on Gingrich, Pawlenty running, and Palin not running. Was wrong on Ryan, Cantor and Patreus running.

Economy:
1. Recovering Economy: much slower than my prediction mostly due to Obama being in office and the massive debt he has put onto us. Also the damn Eurozone (minus Germany and France) gorging on debt and not wanting to pay their credit card bills.

2. Stock market rises. European debt shenanigans smashed this prediction.

3. Unemployment drops to 8%, we dipped into it a few times in 2011 but not enough to matter much.

4. Europe Limping along with Germany leading the pack. No defaults. Yeeap. This was a pretty easy call seeing how bad Greece, Italy, Spain, etc. have screwed up their economies with high debt and freebies to everyone.

5. Emerging market growth. This is still kind of happening but it is a little muted due to European slowdown and its knock-on effects

6. Prediction:                         Actual
    Dow: 13,200                     12,287
    NASDAQ: 3500                 2,613
    S&P500: 1700                    1,263
    GDP Growth: 4.5%             1.8%
    Gold: $1150                       $1547
    Silver: $25.50                    $27.87
    Oil: $98                             $99.66

Entertainment:
1. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie still an item.

2. American Idol and Survivor have low ratings compared to past seasons. TV is still dominated by NCIS: various and the Law and Orders on NBC are all but finished on TV with only SVU limping along. I give this prediction a Yeaap

3. Facebook Backlash and Twitter drop off. This is a partial Yeeap since it seems that growth is starting to slow just in time for the IPO. Zynga's damp squib IPO also shows that social network gaming may not be the money spinner that people have though in the past. I guess attending your fake crops is only fun for a few months and then it becomes a chore that is easily forgotten.

4. Tablet market divided between Apple and Google. This is a full Yeeup because it is pretty much Apple vs Google fighting on a mountaintop surrounded by the dying corpses of Sony, and Blackberry and everyone else that made a tablet that is now so much garbage. Amazon is hanging in there though.

Sports:
I'm still not a good predictor of who will win what in the sporting world. I went a solid O-fer:

1. The following teams win:


Prediction:                                                           Actual:
College Football National Title: Oregon                 Auburn 
College Basketball National Title: Syracuse            UConn
NFL: New England Patriots                                  Green Bay Packers
NBA: San Antonio Spurs                                      Dallas Mavericks
MLB: Philadelphia Phillies                                     St. Louis Cardinals 
NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson                                   Tony Stewart
NHL: Detroit Red Wings                                       Boston Bruins
Premier League Title: Chelsea                                Manchester United

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Saudi Women Enfranchised (Well Kinda) only 91 years after We Did

It seems the Saudi rulers keep on moving slowly toward the rest of the world (and keeping from getting Quaddiffied) by letting women vote without a mans approval and even run for office.

Shura Council member Fahad al-Anzi was quoted in the state-run al-Watan newspaper saying that approval for women to run and vote came from the guardian of Islam�s holiest sites, the Saudi king, and therefore women will not need a male guardian�s approval. The country�s Shura Council is an all-male consultative body with no legislative powers.

Pretty soon Saudi women might be able to drive cars and study abroad without a mans approval. If Saudi women get into office in large numbers the rest of the anti-woman laws will probably fall one by one.

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Romney Leads Obama by 6%

I often say that an empty suit can beat Obama with the economy in shambles and debt tripling on his watch and it seems we have found that suit.

The Rasmussen Reports poll found Romney ahead of Obama 45% to 39%, while 10% chose "some other candidate" and another 6% remained undecided. 

Actually I am in the 10% of "some other candidate" myself. If Paul Ryan ran I would vote for him in a minute. The current crop of GOP candidates are a bunch of losers but Romney is the most electable I guess.

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The Coach of the Lakers a Dungeons and Dragons Fan?

He sounds like a great hire as far as I can tell.

Brown told Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated he was the Dungeon Master for D&D games with his buddies while attending Sabin Middle School in Colorado Springs, Colo. Jenkins reports Brown, with perfect penmanship, wrote all the strategies and character descriptions in the Dungeons & Dragons game for his friends, since he felt his buddies' handwriting was a disgrace. That's not all: Once he put together a game board out of plexiglass, using rulers and pennies to form combat zones. When new D&D game modules were sent in the mail, Brown sprinted up to his bedroom to read the entire handbook and take detailed notes -- making his friends wait for hours in the basement.

From this he seems pretty hard core as well. I can't wait for all the Bible Thumpers to say that Brown is a closet satanist because he played D&D as a kid.

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