Miscellany: 1/03/13

Quote of the Day
History has demonstrated that the most notable winners 
usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles 
before they triumphed. 
They won because
 they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.
B. C. Forbes

Factoid of the Day

Oil production in the Marcellus shale will soon surpass the Arab nation of Qatar (at 770,000 barrels a day). And the Wall Street Journal reported the U.S. will be in a near tie with Saudi Arabia (daily production of 11.6 million barrels of oil) as the world's largest petroleum producer by the end of this year… The U.S. is expected to become the world's largest oil producer by 2020. - investment daily newsletter

Among other things, America's energy production resurgence (no thanks to the Obama Administration, which has thrown your grandchildren's tax receipts at Big Green Energy boondoggles) provides competitively priced and readily available energy supplies available for domestic plants (Do you think the Obama Administration will finally do something about globally noncompetitive business tax brackets? Don't you think those economic illiterates would have figured out years ago into a jobless recovery that they needed a paradigm shift: the global economy does not revolve around the US and the US has to prove its worthiness to global investors. I'm not holding my breath.) Mark Perry's Carpe Diem blog routinely covers stories on the shale oil and gas revolution.

My Former Congressman Returns to the Senate

Mark Kirk is one of the few politicians I genuinely admire. I give VP Joe Biden props for welcoming the senator back to work. According to the Daily Herald (my edits):

On Thursday, all eyes will be on Kirk as he climbs the 45 steps of the U.S. Capitol steps at 11:30 a.m. without the aid of a handrail. Kirk's stroke — caused by a blocked artery — occurred on the right side of his brain, which affects movement on his left side. His left side has suffered partial paralysis, causing him to use a four-pronged cane. He has regained little use of his left arm, and is blind in one quadrant of his left eye. Dr. Richard Fessler, who operated on Kirk, said the senator was fortunate the stroke did not occur on the left side, which deals with cognitive abilities to speak, understand and think

For Mark Kirk, there was no white light, no tunnel. What Illinois' junior U.S. senator experienced was three angels standing at the foot of his bed. "You want to come with us?" Kirk was asked. "No," he told them. "I'll hold off."

"I would say that I definitely became much more religious," Kirk said. "They say there are no atheists in foxholes, and this stroke put me into a very deep foxhole. Yet, that feeling of faith sustained me, so I have no feelings of anger or regret."

Remember That Scene From "It's a Wonderful Life"?

S&L manager George Bailey's Uncle Bill, out to deposit thousands at the bank, accidentally folds a newspaper, covering nephew Harry Bailey's wartime heroics, around the deposit envelope and rubs it in evil magnate Potter's face, leaving the paper--and forgotten deposit--with Potter. (The lost deposit triggers the plot-centered crisis as George, suspected of stealing the money, faces scandal and possible criminal charges.)

This story focuses on a highly ethical teen whom came across a store's lost daily deposit and turned it in to the police.



Capital Gains: Counterproductive Tax Policy

Among other things under the new tax regimen, dividends and capital gains will be taxed more, and there will be a new Medicare surtax on relevant unearned income for higher income earners. Chris Edwards writes a good op-ed piece where he explains why high investment taxes are bad economic policy; green-eyed (i.e., Politics of Envy) Presidents and Senators are cutting off their noses to spite their faces.

First of all, short of dire financial need, investors can pick and choose when to sell their property (i.e., realize capital gains). Raising capital gains taxes raises the cost of investing and you get less of it. That shrinks the pool of investment dollars backing promising but risky business ideas. High taxes make lower-risk alternatives, say, tax-free municipal bonds,  more attractive. Then there's the question of fairness; a stock price reflects an assessment of future earnings. Government is hitting the same revenue source twice. (A related argument can be made about dividends.) This blog opposes the double taxation in current tax policy.

A second fairness argument involves prices: the computation of capital gains is on NOMINAL (price-level) changes. For the most part, before the Fed Reserve century, the commodity-backed dollar was stable. Fed policies have watered down the purchasing power of the dollar, and when a long-term asset is sold, it's being purchased with cheaper dollars. This overestimates the real gain. In fact, if the asset is sold below inflation adjustments, it reflects phantom income, a "real" loss in value.




Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups

The Carpenters, "Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft". Remember (the original song artist) Klaatu and the (false) rumors it was a pseudonym for a secret Beatles project?

Miscellany: 5/08/12

Quote of the Day 

It is just the little touches after the average man would quit that make the master's fame.
Orison Swett Marden

Congratulations, The Voice 2012 Winner

Jermaine Paul

My Former Congressman, Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL)
Stroke Recovery Progress Report:  Thumbs UP!



Profiles in Dishonor: Alexi Tsipras,
Greek Leader of the Coalition for the Radical Left:
Thumbs DOWN!

Alexi Tsipras

The day after I write a commentary praising Greeks for doing the tough, right things to reform an economy facing its day of reckoning:

The Greek government has responded by laying off thousands of government workers, cutting the salaries of those who are left, and cutting pensions to retirees. They’ve nullified collective bargaining agreements in an effort to get wages lower so that Greeks will be more competitive in the world economy. Additionally they’ve raised taxes and fees on everything under the Greek sun. 

we have this piece of work, a reactionary leftist whom is in a state of denial:

When handed the right to try and form a coalition government in Greece, [Tsipras] told the world that the Greek bailout agreement is “null and void” and should be abandoned. Besides abandoning the bailout, Tsipras said he’d like to nationalize the banks permanently, restore all salaries and pensions to their previous higher levels and bring back collective bargaining rights.

Tsipras channels his inner Obama:

"I think fiscal consolidation can be achieved through other means. I think the rich should pay and not just the poor and middle class.”

How do I know Obama is Tsipras' hero?

 “Do you know what (Warren) Buffett said? He said come on, 'let me pay.' "

I bet Tsipras doesn't know that Warren Buffett has had a lucrative financial stake in Goldman Sachs, whose derivatives with AIG were honored at full value, that he had  had a large stake in Moody's, one of those wonderfully effective credit rating agencies, that not every rich person--whom, by the way, didn't elect Buffett President of the Upper Class--pays the same lower tax rate: and most of these taxes reflect double taxation of income already taxed at the corporate level; why I bet Tsipras doesn't even realize that Buffett could, if he wanted to, show that he isn't being a blatant hypocrite by giving billions extra now on his own like he can and/or leaving all of his fortune to the US Treasury to help pay off Obama's $5T and climbing national debt

And while we're at it, let's go after the Left's favorite whipping boy:

"We have the solution: to have the banks under the state control."

The other parties will likely refuse to form a government with this piece of work, and we'll see new elections in a few weeks. If the Greek government reverses the terms of the agreement, most likely the result will be Greece dropping the euro for the drachma. Who will loan to these people knowing they have no intention of living within their means?

Most Fascinating Rumor I've Read in Decades:
Will the CCP Declare Mission Accomplished
and Open Up the Political Process?

Most of us free marketers and classical liberals/individualists have been arguing that key constraints on economic progress in China are arbitrary restrictions on political liberties and the intrinsic economic inefficiencies of government-dominated economies (to which, unfortunately, our current President and Senate Democratic leadership are tied ).

According to a high-level source in Beijing, key leaders in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Politburo have reached four points of consensus that will be announced on or around the 18th Party Congress:

1. People from all walks of life, political parties, and social organizations should send representatives to form a preparatory committee for a new constitution. They will draft a new constitution that protects the rights of citizens to freely form associations and political parties.

2. It will be announced that the Chinese Communist Party has finished its historical mission as the ruling party. Party membership will need to be re-registered, with the free choice to re-enter the Party or leave it.

3. “June 4,” Falun Gong, and all groups who have been wrongly persecuted in the process of devoting themselves to China’s realization of democracy will be redressed and receive compensation.

4. The military will be nationalized.

Political Potpourri

I haven't done one of these segments in a while; Gingrich's recent withdrawal had been a moot point since all the other delegate counts exceeded 1144, the majority needed for nomination. Ron Paul had similarly been eliminated. Former contenders Michele Bachmann (last week), Rick Perry (April 25), and Rick Santorum (in an email to supporters late yesterday) have now endorsed Romney.

As expected, Romney swept Indiana, North Carolina, and West Virginia. The WSJ Delegate count has Romney topping 900, currently 919. With Gingrich and Paul's delegates, Santorum has been mathematically eliminated. Next up are Oregon and Nebraska next Tuesday. (One has to wonder how California and Texas feel about the race being decided before they had their say.... In 2008, California did play a part as McCain edged Romney there.)

Romney has to feel good about the general polls; of the 5 covered yesterday and today on RCP, Romney is leading in 3 (Rasmussen +5, Gallup +3, Politico +1) and behind in two (IBD -3, Reuters -7). The big worry for Romney has to be the battleground states; Romney should easily take back Indiana. Depending on the poll, Romney is very competitive in Florida and Ohio, but he's behind in Pennsylvania, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Nevada. The good news is that all of the states are doable; if Obama isn't a few points north of 50, they are in play. There's a lot of discussion about the enthusiasm gap, but keep in mind Romney had a contentious road in the early primaries, and anyone who thinks the enthusiasm behind the 2010 election has gone away: Obama has galvanized the conservative movement unlike any other politician in my lifetime. It's not even close. This is not to say conservatives loved Clinton and the like, but you could negotiate in good faith. We are talking about a President whom last year was ready to risk a government shutdown over the GOP trying to negotiate a token $60B in spending cuts, whom waited until less than a month before the Bush tax cuts were due to expire to make a bipartisan agreement on extending all of them, one of the very few attempts to politically bargain in good faith during his Presidency.

Dick Lugar, running for a seventh term, lost to State Treasurer Richard Mourdock; in fact, I supported Mourdock's bid, although I hadn't published it in the blog. The fact that Lugar has a pragmatic or "moderate" orientation doesn't bother me at all: it's more of a case that it's time for a change and a need for more focus on economic matters. Dick's leadership has been more in terms of defense and foreign affairs. Obviously this brings up the question of whether Republican voters have shot themselves in the foot, as was the case in 2010's Senate elections in Colorado, Nevada, Alaska, and Delaware: Lugar would have easily held onto the seat. Some have even speculated about the possibility that Lugar would try to lead a write-in campaign. I haven't seen a statement from Lugar on that, but I think it's highly unlikely. Mourdock is no fringe candidate and he has won a statewide election. Others think that this gives Democratic Congressman Donnelly a shot. My take: this election is Mourdock's to lose; he needs to distance himself from Tea Party activists, but emphasizing that he's the same guy whom Indiana twice has elected state treasurer. He won his reelection as state Treasurer with 62% of the vote; any attempts to make him out (as certain biased reports have) to be a "far right" candidate will be seen as patently absurd. Mourdock has already signaled running a campaign in line with good old-fashioned Indiana values and frugality. This is also not a case like Delaware where Mike Castle was nosed out at the wire: Murdock beat Lugar by over 20 points. It wasn't a rejection of Lugar per se; people just thought it was time for new, younger leadership.

Governor Scott Walker will face his 2010 opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, in a rematch for the recall election next month. Ironically Barrett easily defeated Big Union-supported Kathleen Falk. A Walker/Barrett election will be close, with recent polls showing a virtual tie. I expect Big Labor to kiss and make up with Barrett, and I think both sides will be highly motivated. My inclination is to believe that Walker will prevail because I think some Wisconsin voters will see the recall election an abuse of process, even if they don't like Walker. This is purely political. This is not like the recall election in California when there was a question of proper disclosure.

Finally, voters in North Carolina made traditional marriage laws off-limits to activist judges, with early returns showing 60% or more of the vote for the measure. (Thumbs UP!  I've made my point clear: I'm concerned about unintended consequences Also, the Maryland alliance shows already over half the signatures necessary have been gathered to put the matter on the fall ballot after the state legislature recently approved recognition of "gay marriage". I don't have issues with relationships outside of traditional marriage couples, but marriage is a traditional institution which we should not arbitrarily tinker with.)

Profiles in Courage

Banished in the late 1950's as a "rightist" to a hard life in the countryside, at points having to eat locusts to survive, this remarkable man, Mao Yushi, has persisted in his convictions for the free market (at the same some American progressives run away from them!) and a resulting higher standard of living for over a billion people



Patriotic Art

I have to admit that I am not an expert in art; in fact, one of the biggest arguments I ever had at OLL was with my math department adviser, the late Sr. Marilyn Molloy. She wanted me to take a history of art class, and I was just as passionately insisting on taking Sr. Morkovsky's class on metaphysics (philosophy). It got so heated, I finally walked out on her.

[I think 99 readers of a 100 would think it's impossible to get worked up over having to take an art class: I think I would have been okay with taking the art class a subsequent semester, but in my dorm room I had my multi-volume copy of the Summa Theologica the priest, for whom I had been serving for daily early morning mass on base, had given me as a going-away present.]

(I won the argument, of course, still the one of the best decisions I have ever made, one of the greatest classes ever, even though other students had warned me that Sr. Morkovsky never gave A's. Not true in my case, although sometimes I was the only one.) I sheepishly apologized to Sister Molloy later, and she laughed about it, saying that she had probably gone on for another 10 minutes before she realized that I wasn't there.

I don't like what I consider unduly self-indulgent art (abstract or otherwise, especially if it looks like the results of forgetting to put the lid on my blender). Just like I work at readability of my writing, I want art to be intuitive, natural, suggestive of its meaning. [As a mathematician, I've liked some of Escher's work or, e.g., Rockwell's three in one self-portrait.] I sometimes embed pieces of religious art on posts for religious occasions.

I came across this image (all rights reserved by the American artist Stephen Scott Young),  on another site (see caption link). I believe this is the portrait of a beautiful young lady of color from Haiti, set in the Bahamas. To me, the flag represents our heritage of unalienable rights, particularly freedom (in fact, the name of the painting): the painting is suggestive of each person's yearning, her undeterred, undeniable dreams of liberty and opportunity to pursue happiness. We are a nation of immigrants, and let us never take for granted the privileges of being born American, a mere dream for millions around the globe.

Freedom: The Art of Stephen Scott Young
Courtesy of Christie’s Images Ltd. 2011
Original News Source of Image: theepochtimes

Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups

The Rolling Stones, "Brown Sugar"

Miscellany: 1/23/12

Quote of the Day

To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children...
to leave the world a better place...
to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Blog Comment of the Day

[On Obama's recent appearance at DisneyWorld:] Obama has ears like Dumbo, Mickey Mouse policies, Goofy advisors, and lies like Pinocchio so Disneyworld fits him quite well.. - Lefty

Kudos to Congresswoman Gabby Giffords

The Congresswoman, one of the victims in a tragic shooting rampage in Arizona early last year, realizing the physical demands of an upcoming reelection battle and the difficulties in juggling rehabilitation with the rigors of the life as a Congresswoman, has decided to resign. She has put the interests of her constituents and her own health over those of her own political ambitions. I was saddened by the last several months of two senators (Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy), whom continued to cling to their seats even while their health was deteriorating. I'll withhold comment on Senator Kirk (below) until we get more information, but we've had precedents (e.g., Johnson), with similar challenges and have continued a productive tenure in public service.

Best Wishes for a Speedy Recovery
to Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL)

The senator, who holds the seat formerly occupied by Barack Obama and my former Congressman before moving to Maryland, suffered a stroke over the weekend (a carotid artery split at the right side of his neck); doctors suggest, from a mental capacity standpoint, a full recovery is expected but he may have residual physical impairment on the left side of his body.

Photo of Johnson and Kirk from Johnson Senate office

"Today’s news regarding Senator Kirk is very concerning for all of us on Capitol Hill. My thoughts and prayers go out to Mark and his family for a quick recovery and return to the Senate. As chairman and ranking member of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee, we’ve worked side by side over the last year to provide for our veterans. I look forward to redoubling our efforts when he returns to Washington." - Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD).

NOTE: In 2006 Senator Johnson suffered a brain hemorrhage during a media interview.

The Gloves Are Off: Romney vs. Gingrich

Those who have been reading my ad libs in the Political Humor section won't be surprised if I start out this commentary with my latest lines on Gingrich. You know, Newt Gingrich has been talking about (Washington Post) Pinocchios on the Romney PAC ads so many times, he must think another part of his anatomy is growing. But the only packages Callista Gingrich is interested in come gift-wrapped from Tiffany's...

I am now officially annoyed. Newt Gingrich is like the GOP version of Barack Obama: both of them exaggerate their "accomplishments"; both of them refuse to accept responsibility for their wrongdoings; both of them think they are better debaters and speakers than they are; both of them are divisive politicians; both of them lack genuine administrative experience in either the private or public sector. And both of repeatedly say something that's demonstrably not true or inherently unknowable or repeatedly take credit for something they had at best modest effects on. I coined an expression (nobody else seemed to  have picked up on), calling him the "Pied Piper of Failed Liberalism". At that time, I am lampooning this over-the-top, pretentious, nebulous "we are the ones we've been waiting for" type nonsense that seemed to have a hypnotic effect and exaggerated expectations that even if Obama was competent would be hard to live up to. So I think it's only fair, given how "hot non-Romney" lemmings voters seem so spellbound by  Gingrich's put-downs and other one-liners that I'll call him the "Pied Piper of So-Called Conservatives".

I have no connection to the Romney campaign, but let me point out a few things, because hardly anyone else is discussing them:

• Gingrich claims that he was not a lobbyist for Freddie Mac, but a consultant "[Gingrich] worked directly for Mitchell Delk, Freddie Mac’s chief lobbyist from 1999 to 2008." Talk about Obama-like putting lipstick on a pig! Consulting a lobbyist on what to say to these  conservative Republicans on Capitol Hill so they won't crack down on the GSE's writing checks on taxpayer backs! No, sir--I'm not the lobbyist: I simply aid and abet the lobbyist. Everyone knows that's a substantive difference...]  WHAT HUBRIS! There are a number of legitimate management consulting companies, public administration academics, former government staffers, etc. available at a fraction of the cost Newt Gingrich was billing Freddie Mac on retainer. It's very clear what Freddie Mac got from the Gingrich gig: 

Freddie Mac executives told Bloomberg [Gingrich] was never critical of its business model [Gingrich's talking point in trying to justify getting $1.6-$1.8M over 10 years.] "Former Freddie Mac officials familiar with his work in 2006 say Gingrich was asked to build bridges to Capitol Hill Republicans and develop an argument on behalf of the company’s [crony capitalist GSE] public-private structure that would resonate with conservatives seeking to dismantle it."

And from Gingrich's own website: "The Gingrich Group stressed that [read: lip service] Freddie Mac must be open to reform of their lending practices but that by [read: justify crony capitalism] stressing the historical success of public-private partnerships in achieving public goods at a minimum of taxpayer money and bureaucracy."  Apparently an enlightened conservative knows how to intervene in the free market, but Obama and other progressives can't be trusted to intervene in a particularly competent way...   "After Gingrich left Freddie Mac's payroll, [Gingrich] quickly turned into one of its most vocal critics, writing...that the companies "are so thoroughly politicized and preside over such irresponsible lending policies that they need to be replaced with smaller, private companies operating without government guarantees, whose leaders focus on making a profit, not manipulating politicians.” That's what happens when you stop paying Gingrich $160K a year, you ungrateful so-and-so! Let that be a lesson to other lobbyists I'm working with...

• The Lying Ads? GIVE ME A BREAK. Let's get back to Gingrich's cherry-picking that well-known  "conservative" newspaper the Washington Post (can you say "Watergate"?) talking about "lies" and "distortions". What in particular he's referring is the discussion of the $1.6-1.8M payments made by Freddie Mac to Gingrich after he resigned as Speaker and from Congress: Gingrich was paid on a flat-fee retainer, not invoiced by the hour. There may have been some months (I'm not saying it happened, but it's the nature of a retainer) where Gingrich did no work but still collected his fee.) So someone tried to estimate how many hours he worked and divided it into the aggregate retainer fees. SO WHAT if the ad implied he was submitting monthly invoices at a huge rate per hour or a flat fee that added up to the same amount. All the ads cared about was showing Gingrich made a boatload of money just months before they collapsed, with the taxpayer being left to bail them out. Lies? Distortions? Nobody forced Gingrich to pose in a spot with Pelosi. Nobody put Gingrich in a position of being brought up on charges facing ethics charges. OF COURSE, GINGRICH DOESN'T LIKE ROMNEY PUTTING A NEGATIVE SPIN ON THINGS. That doesn't make them lies and distortions.

There was a reason Bachmann went up and down, Perry went up and down, Cain went up and down--and Gingrich went up and down. Gingrich is the best-known candidate in the group. When Gingrich's campaign imploded several months back and Gingrich was a fringe candidate, he had the same strengths and weaknesses he has now. Gingrich has had lousy numbers against Obama since day 1; the only reason the votes came to him at all is because they ran out of other candidates against Romney. It's absolutely insane that you slam the media or Obama in a couple of debates and your support all but doubles in literally a matter of days. There's only one politician in this race whom has a steady relationship with the GOP voters....  Let me make the point in verse about the difference between a crush and real love:

• There's a mediocre Townhall blogger whom posted a column with a title implying Mitt Romney was a crony capitalist. I was curious: is he saying Bain Capital was targeting companies with ties to Washington? It turned out to be yet another anti-RomneyCare rant. I think Romney should speak for himself, but I think the arguments by Gingrich and Santorum are unconvincing because Congressional Republicans in 1993-1994 tried to co-opt HillaryCare with an ObamaCare style package which DID include employer mandates AND AN INDIVIDUAL MANDATE TO HANDLE THE FREELOADER PROBLEM. Luckily, HillaryCare soon collapsed on its own and the Republicans, of course, pulled their counter-measure. But there were over 20 GOP senators signed on to support.  Romney was faced with HillaryCare v. 2.0  in Massachusetts and Romney simply adapted the same type approach that Republicans were using 10 years earlier for the same reason. And as for Santorum, he helped push through the unpaid-for Medicare prescription drug benefit. So that "pious bologna" that Gingrich was blaming Romney for? There's plenty of pious bologna to go around here. Today's conservatives upset with Romney fail to recognize that the heavily Democratic state of Massachusetts wanted a far more radical solution than they got. It's not that Romney necessarily wanted to implement the bill. Note that Romney wasn't proposing a vast new bureaucracy or looking to fund subsidies with new taxes or money. As to that blogger writing about the the moral hazard of federal government funding of Medicare reimbursements based on too many freeloaders in the Massachusetts pre-RomneyCare system, let's keep in mind that the states and feds split Medicaid funding

South Carolina was a wake-up call for Romney. He has tried to shrug off the relentless series of attacks on him. Being the nice guy sometimes gets viewed as a sign of weakness. I've been in that situation before, getting personally attacked by people I've never met. You return the favor even once, and they disingenuously play the victim card....

I saw Romney FINALLY take the gloves off and ask for a full release of the House investigation into Gingrich's activities that resulted in his humiliating rebuke by a BIPARTISAN House vote. He FINALLY started mentioning Gingrich's erratic behavior. You don't have to look far: with all the things to attack Obama about, he decides to talk about his "Kenyan anti-colonialist" viewpoint? I mean, he didn't even know his Kenyan father growing up... It's Jerry Brown-crazy space cadet stuff... That's one-off thinking--I'm too disciplined to even think in those terms. Then there was the anti-capitalist Bain critique against Romney which betrayed a core belief in the free market system, Gingrich's political judgment that he had all but mathematically clinched the nomination shortly after the Cain collapse, his vow to follow Reagan's 11th commandment in not speaking ill of a fellow Republican, but he blew his top at even measured criticisms from Romney and Ron Paul--and even though he demands that Ron Paul commit himself to endorsing the GOP nominee, he openly says he would never vote for Ron Paul.  I MEAN, AT LEAST OBAMA IS SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW WHEN TO KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT AND GIVE HIS OPPONENT ALL THE ROPE HE NEEDS TO HANG HIMSELF. I can't believe that many GOP voters want to vote this guy to be PRESIDENT. I mean, what's he going to do or say if and when Putin calls him the Pillsbury dough boy? I don't want that guy within 100 yards of the red button; he can't even handle mild criticism. It comes with the territory; you need thick skin; you got to shake it off like water on a duck's back.

I was listening to a Dennis Miller podcast the other day, and Dennis was saying something to the effect that what Newt should have done is give back the $1.6M from Freddie Mac, and the nomination would be his for the taking. I DON'T THINK that Miller was trying to be funny, but if that was a joke, it wasn't funny. Gingrich has far bigger problems than his corrupt relationship with a GSE. If you think influence peddling is something you like to see in a President who'll need to ask all Americans to make sacrifice...  I bet any number of colleges would have given him an endowed chair to serve on their faculty--a big deal to a former academic whom got turned down for tenure.  Don't ask me how Sarah Palin's mind works--she prides herself as being a "reformer", taking on the establishment--and how her mind leaps across the Grand Canyon and lands on Gingrich...

Political Humor

"Gingrich is lining up impressive endorsements. Todd Palin, Gary Busey, and now, Chuck Norris. I'll tell you, his endorsements could beat up Mitt Romney's endorsements." - Jimmy Kimmel

[Add President Obama, the DNC, and all Democratic Congressional candidates this fall. Nancy Pelosi is so thrilled that she even made a voluntary appearance in one of his TV spots a while back...]

"Scientists announced that they have detected a brand new subatomic particle. This particle is so tiny it is actually smaller than the income tax rate paid by Mitt Romney." - Jay Leno

[But greater than the cuts Obama has made in a bloated federal budget and that corporate income tax paid last year by GE, headed by Jeff Immelt, Obama's job czar, a proud member of the zero-percenters (along with half of American workers). And the primetime ratings for GE's progressive cable subsidary, MSNBC.]

Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups

Queen, "Killer Queen". Yesterday marked the last selection in my series covering the Doors. Today I start a new series on the 70's/80's British supergroup Queen.