Some miscellaneous thoughts for a Manic Monday

Some random thoughts from across the political and sporting world on a cold, windy Monday morning.

1) History is occurring in the Motor City, where the Detroit Lions, at 0-15, are just one loss at Green Bay away from completing the first 0-16 season in NFL history. Now, I was on the record last year as saying that I didn't think that a team could go 16-0, and the Patriots went out and proved me wrong. I've always thought that it's more difficult for a team to go winless than undefeated--at some point, the law of averages was going to kick in and a bad team was going to catch a nearly-as-bad team on day where the latter squad wasn't playing well. The Packers are hardly a powerhouse, but given the way Detroit rolled over and played dead yesterday at home in its 42-7 loss to the New Orleans Saints, it's hard to see the de-clawed Lions putting up much of a fight in the cold of Green Bay. So, let's all look forward to next Sunday, when Detroit (hopefully) makes football history!

2) So the feds are going to bail out the Big Three automakers after all. More of tax dollars go down the tubes. Yes, I understand the logic behind this--the ripple effect on the economy would be devastating if any of them failed (it wouldn't just be car manufacturer, after all; it would also be the dealerships, the parts suppliers and manufacturers, etc.), but the bailout provides no incentive to the Big Three to do anything to change their ways. They'll still be paying exorbitant wages to their union workers and the bailout doesn't provide for any wage rollback. How smart is that? Not very, I'd say. So, my guess is that in a few months, we'll be right back at this point, with them begging for more money.

3) Russia is selling advanced weapons to Iran, including the most advanced anti-missile weaponry the Russians have. As hard as it is to deal with Iran now, can you imagine how hard it will be to confront them after they have these weapons? Memo to President-Elect Obama: Cut the crap about Russia being our strategic partner. It isn't. It IS our enemy, and every one of its actions is designed to convey that fact to us.

4) If New York Yankees-haters such as myself weren't already dispirited enough by the Bronx Bombers' signings of A.J. Burnett and C.C. Sabathia, now NBC Sports is reporting that the Yankees may sign Manny Ramirez. Honestly, at what point does this end? I know that New York is by far the wealthiest franchise in Baseball (and probably the richest professional sports franchise in North America), but does this team REALLY need an All-Star at every position? I guess that Yankees fans will smugly respond with a "yes"................

5) Merry Christmas to all 0f my Christian readers and a Happy Hannukah to those who are Jewish. No generic "Season's Greetings" or "Holiday Wishes" to anyone. I hate that. I may be as Jewish as they come, but I am never offended by anyone who wishes me a Merry Christmas, because I know that the sentiment behind the expression, a wish that everyone have a wonderful holiday, is sincere and motivated by the best of intentions. So, feel free to wish me a Merry Christmas if you're so inclined!

Just Checking In!

No, I haven't forgotten about the blog. I have been distracted by the impending move of my firm and the many activities of the little BHG's. So.......here are some thoughts on various issues in the world:

1) A strange way to start this, but I read in this week's Sports Illustrated that former UConn Huskies women's basketball star Sue Bird (who, to be honest, I've always thought was very cute--let's just get that on the table right now!) was Jewish. Curious, I googled her name and the term "Jewish". Several inane entries popped up, including a Wikipedia entry on her (apparently, her dad is Jewish). However, the fifth entry that popped up on the Google search page was a posting on the Stormfront webpage (no, I'm NOT going to link to it). For those of you who don't know, Stormfront is a neo-Nazi/White Supremacist website. It asked if she was really Jewish, made some comments about how Jewish women are unattractive, etc. I felt sick just reading it. The thing is, there are people out there who really believe this crap............

2) We are now two weeks after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Here's a note to Agence France Presse, the BBC, Associated Press, New York Times, etc.: The subhumans who did this were not GUNMEN. They were not MILITANTS. They were not ACTIVISTS. THEY WERE TERRORISTS. And, as an aside to the New York Times, you can stop speculating about how the Chabad House may have been "an unintended target". It's already come out that in the city of almost 20 million people, this one, tiny oasis of Jewish life was specifically targeted over a year before the terrorist attack. This was no coincidence, you morons at the Times.........

3) What's $243.5 million between friends? That's the price tag on the New York Yankees spending spree on two pitchers so far this off-season ($161 million over seven years for CC Sabathia, $82.5 over five for A.J. Burnett), and there is no sign that the Yankees are done. After, Derek Lowe, Mark Teixeira and Manny Ramirez are still out there, as is Ben Sheets. It's pretty clear that the Bronx Bombers will spend whatever it takes to return to the playoffs next year, and even if they stopped now, they're a virtual lock in my mind to get there. Apparently, missing the playoffs once ever fifteen years is unacceptable. I just don't see how other teams can compete with them from a financial standpoint. Right now, it's very depressing to be a fan of any other team in Baseball.

4) The on-again, off-again bailout of the Motown Three (GM, Chrysler and Ford) is off again, for now anyway. I have little doubt that it will be revived again in the very near future. The fact of the matter is that there are hundreds of thousands of jobs (not just those employed by the Big Three, but all of the various businesses who service the auto industry) depending on the viability of the Detroit automakers. If they go under, much of the country's economy will go down with them. That said, I have opposed a bailout, if for no other reason than the exorbitant wages being paid those affiliated with the United Auto Workers (UAW). What's the point in pouring money into any automaker when it's simply going to end up in union hands, leaving GM, Chrysler or Ford to come begging for more money in a year, or two, or three, or whatever. Until union wages are scaled back, no bailout as far as I'm concerned.

5) The stench emanating out of the Governor's Mansion in Illinois just grows more powerful by the day. I know that Chicago politics have an unsavory reputation around the country, and there's a reason for that--the city is rife with corruption. But, even by Chicago standards, what Governor Rod Blagojevich tried to do (allegedly, I know), which was sell off the soon-to-be vacated Senate seat of President-Elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder while daring the FBI to catch him doing it, was obscene. The man had and has no shame; if he did, he would have resigned already. The question now, will this become somehow tied to Mr. Obama? I personally doubt it, because A) I truly don't think that Obama knew what Blagojevich was doing (the same may not be said for certain members of his transition team, however), and B) Even if he did, NOTHING sticks to the guy. He's going to the first teflon President.

6) Has anyone else watched the pandemonium in the Canadian government. First, we had the three opposition parties, the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois, try to stage an informal coup by banding together to form a coalition which would oust the governing Conservative Party. That was followed by the leader of the Conservatives, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, tracking down the Governor General and getting her to suspend Parliament until January. Not to be outdone, the Liberals, who form the largest opposition party, promptly turfed out their only occasionally coherent leader, Stephane Dion, and are replacing him with Michael Ignatieff. Once Parliament is back in session, it is anticipated that the coalition maneuvering will resume. What fun! Who said that Canada is boring?

No solution

The Wall Street bailout package (which contained more pork than all of the world's pig farms combined) hasn't done anything to alleviate the anxiety in the stock markets, which today have plunged to their lowest levels in four years: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081006/wall_street.html. I could say "I told you so".........so I will. I was against this package from the get-go because it did nothing to address the fundamental problems which underpinned the credit crisis (bad business decisions by mortgage companies, politically correct lending practices by FannieMae and FreddieMac, etc., etc.). So, the market keeps tumbling, and guess what? It's going to continue to fall. It wouldn't surprise me to see us hit lows not seen since the market bottomed out after 9/11. For those of us who have 401(k) plans, the only advice I have is to grit your teeth and repeat "I'm in it for the long haul", because unless you're planning to retire in the next few years (in which case you really are in trouble), there is no point in selling your stocks now.

A price to be paid

The bizarro world that is Berkeley, California, may finally start to pay a price for its relentlessly left-wing, anti-American activity. One business has publicly announced that it is moving its headquarters out of the city due to the negative publicity associated with being a Berkeley-based corporation: http://www.dailycal.org/article/101127/local_company_to_leave_berkeley_due_to_protests.

There was one very telling comment at the end of the article which I found to be a very telling indicator of the mindset of those running the city:

"I'm sorry to hear they're leaving, but I think it's inevitable given the conflict that is happening with the Marine recruiting center," [Downtown council member Dona] Spring said. "... I don't see how the businesses in that square can sustain the kind of controversy that the Marine recruiting center has had on that locale."

So, this idiot politician is blaming the Marines for the problem. No, it has NOTHING to do with the license to intimidate and harass that the city council has given to Code Pink and its seditious allies.

Spiderman, U.N. Hero

Thanks to Soccer Dad (on my blogroll) for this gem. The United Nations is joining forces with the web-slinging superhero to show that the U.N. is on the side of peace justice and the right way of life: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22408081/.

Hmm. I wonder if Spiderman will attend those U.N. general assembly meetings where Israel is called a racist state. Maybe he'll show up at Durban II. Maybe he'll deliver the keynote speech at the conference. It would be appropriate, when you think about it, given the farcical nature of the conference.................

Good news for Boeing

Which, in my mind, is good news for the United States: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070708/bs_nm/boeing787_dc. While Boeing's main rival, Airbus, is still trying to figure out why its superjumbo, the A380, can't seem to shake the bugs which have bedeviled it for over two years now, Boeing serenely worked on a smaller plane, the 787 (which it revealed, serendipitously, on 7/8/07), which is designed to replace the 767. Early reports are good, though test flights have yet to take place.

Go Boeing, I say.............