Saturday, October 20, 2007

Ugly

Well, I thought it was a slam dunk today for UC football and, once again, they let me down big time.

It's this kind of play that turns one into a raging alcoholic, much like a Browns or Cubs fan.

Tonight, when I get pulled over at the most recent DUI checkpoint, I'll just tell say "it's not, not me fault occifer Ima UC sports fan"

Maybe I'll get some sympathy.

Misstep


I read this headline this morning


Pelosi Makes Political Misstep
in Reversal on Armenian Genocide



Misstep? She's knee high in cow manure and it's a misstep.

The problem with democrats in the house and senate, is that their governance is all about trying to make republicans look bad. But all it's succeeded in doing is painting themselves as anti-American.

Consider the whole Harry Reid rush Limbaugh flap versus the General "Betray us" stink by moveon.org.

As much as I criticize republicans for being about power over principle; the democrats can be criticized for being about power at the expense of anything thing American.

It looks like things may be looking up for the GOP here soon. Unfortunately, it won't be because of anything they did, it's because of their opponent's incompetence.

Journalists Depressed - We're Winning in Iraq

There's a journalistic depression sweeping the nation. We're winning the Iraq War.

As Charlie Gibson put it on ABC’s World News Tonight, “One item from Baghdad, today. The news is that there is no news. The police told us that to their knowledge, there were no major acts of violence. Attacks are down in Baghdad, and today, no bombings or roadside explosions were reported.”

Oh, come on, Post. Come on, ABC. You’re not trying hard enough. Any story can be bad news if you’re willing to dig deep enough.

More.........



More Ron White

Screen writer strike

The Hollywood screen writers may go on strike?

You mean those same writers that brought us "Joey"?

I don't think we'll miss much,

Go 'Cats


Bearcats are off to Pittsburgh in an attempt to beat down the Panthers.

If I would have told you two years ago, the only team in this city worth watching was the Bearcat football team, you would have taken my crack pipe from me.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Use those fuel alternatives

You've got a politician who aggressively supports alternative fuel development to offset the effects of fossil fuel on global warming.

Wouldn't you think it would be hypocritical of said politician to not support the development of a wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod?

If you do then meet Ted Kennedy. But then, why should we be surprised. He's all for the rights of women, right up until you get to drown one.

Those crazy Turks again

Once again, Charles Krauthammer nails Pelosi to the wall on this stupid atrocity resolution in the House.

The atrocities happened 90 years ago. Not a single living Turk under the age of 102 is in any way culpable. Even Mesrob Mutafyan, patriarch of the Armenian community in Turkey, has stated that his community is opposed to the resolution, correctly calling it the result of domestic American politics.

Turkey is already massing troops near its border with Iraq, threatening a campaign against Kurdish rebels that could destabilize the one stable front in Iraq. The same House of Representatives that has been complaining loudly about the lack of armored vehicles for our troops is blithely jeopardizing relations with the country through which 95 percent of the new heavily armored vehicles are now transiting on the way to saving American lives in Iraq.

And for what? To feel morally clean?

How does this work? Pelosi says: "Genocide still exists, and we saw it in Rwanda; we see it now in Darfur." Precisely. And what exactly is she doing about Darfur? Nothing. Pronouncing yourself on a genocide committed 90 years ago by an empire that no longer exists is Pelosi's demonstration of seriousness about existing, ongoing genocide?

This week's DUI checkpoint

Consistent with the status as the No Fun State, this week's SW Ohio DUI checkpoint will be in Colerain Twp. on the 8800 block of Colerain Ave., in front of the Golden Corral restaurant.

As a reminder, if you live in Ohio, you cannot do the following things

Smoke
Gamble
Go to Strip Clubs
Drive without a seatbelt
Play your music too loud
Light a fire in your "fire"place
Tap your feet in a public restroom
Text obscene messages to your attorney
Wave to your babysitter
Talk dirty to your wife without permission
Water your lawn
Scratch inappropriately
Whack the whack a mole
Wear thong underwear without registering

And now you can't even eat at a buffet without having to go through a checkpoint.

I'm sure part of the check point will include a strip search making sure you don't run off with some dinner rolls from the buffet.

Friday Funny - Ron White

I'm still waiting for a Murtha apology

Midas has a post below about Pete Stark's ridiculous comments about President Bush where there's now a clamour for him to apologize.

But I'm still waiting for the apology from Jack Murtha, who slandered specific soldiers, accusing them of war crimes. Charges for which they were eventually cleared of.

Opinion Journal has a great chronology of the fiasco and the opportunism of butt heads like Murtha.

Excerpt

Innocents were killed at Haditha, as they inevitably are in all wars--though that does not excuse or justify wrongdoing. Yet neither was Haditha the atrocity or "massacre" that many assumed--though errors in judgment may well have been committed. And while some violent crimes have been visited on civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, overall the highly disciplined U.S. military has conducted itself in an exemplary fashion. When there have been aberrations, the services have typically held themselves accountable.

The same cannot be said of the political and media classes. Many, including Members of Congress, were looking for another moral bonfire to discredit the cause in Iraq, and they found a pretext in Haditha. The critics rushed to judgment; facts and evidence were discarded to fit the antiwar template.

Most despicably, they created and stoked a political atmosphere that exposes American soldiers in the line of duty, risking and often losing their lives, to criminal liability for the chaos of war. This is the deepest shame of Haditha, and the one for which apologies ought to be made.

Clinton fundraising again

Something remarkable happened at 44 Henry St., a grimy Chinatown tenement with peeling walls. It also happened nearby at a dimly lighted apartment building with trash bins clustered by the front door.

And again not too far away, at 88 E. Broadway beneath the Manhattan bridge, where vendors chatter in Mandarin and Fujianese as they hawk rubber sandals and bargain-basement clothes.

All three locations, along with scores of others scattered throughout some of the poorest Chinese neighborhoods in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, have been swept by an extraordinary impulse to shower money on one particular presidential candidate -- Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton.


More.....

Pete Stark (D) CA

Why doesn't the media take politicans to task for saying stuff like this?

Just before a House vote to override President Bush’s veto of a bill to expand the State Children’s Healthcare Program by $35 billion, California Rep. Pete Stark (D.) suggested the President was “amused” by innocent people who died in the Iraq war.

"...you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement."

Enough is enough

"Many people feel that neither party offers a coherent set of principles that they can agree with. For them, the choice is whether you believe in Big Government or you don't. And if you don't, you call yourself a libertarian. Libertarians are against government in all its manifestations."

Michael Kinsley: Libertarians Rising

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Will Ferrell playing George Bush

Dear Mike

Dear Mike Duncan

I just received another one of your GOP solicitation emails. This is at least the fifth email I've received asking for money to stop Hillary. However, none of these emails address why I should support the GOP.

If I knew you could collect money strictly for hating Hillary, I would be a millionaire.

So here is some advice Mike. You and all your DC consultants actually come up with an inkling of an idea as to why anyone would want a republican in office. Let's face it, the world did not end while Bill Clinton was president for eight years and it won't with Hillary either.

Don't believe me? Ask Mike Dewine. He ran his senate seat as a liberal and then ran his reelection race with the slogan "Well at least I'm not Sherrod Brown".

Conservatives have had enough of the Bob Taft's, George Voinovich's, & Chuck Hagel's. From now on we'll pay for performance not on potential.

You want people to respect and support your party? Then run a party of principle and not a party of "at least we're not Hillary".

One more reason to hate public schools

If you are a regular reader to this blog, you know I'm not a big fan of public schools.

However, I've often defended public schools because the public insists on using the schools for social initiatives, at the expense of a providing education to children.

But rarely do public schools ask for these mandates. Not the case in King Middle School, where the have decided to make birth control pills available to girls as young as 11.

The school has had an outbreak of pregnancies in the past year. Is it a coincidence that the pregnancy rates spiked as soon as the school started offering condoms at the school?

Are you an "American" or a "Median"

Dan Henniger of the WSJ, has an excellent piece breaking down General Sanchez's speech from last Friday.

The mainstream media only want to report his comments critical of the Bush administration but he actually blasted lots of folks; including the media.

Excerpt

"It seems that as long as you get a front-page story there is little or no regard for the 'collateral damage' you will cause. Personal reputations have no value and you report with total impunity and are rarely held accountable for unethical conduct. . . . You assume that you are correct and on the moral high ground."

"The speculative and often uninformed initial reporting that characterizes our media appears to be rapidly becoming the standard of the industry." "Tactically insignificant events have become strategic defeats." And: "The death knell of your ethics has been enabled by your parent organizations who have chosen to align themselves with political agendas. What is clear to me is that you are perpetuating the corrosive partisan politics that is destroying our country and killing our service members who are at war."


I've noticed that many of our modern media elites like to think of themselves as a member of the media first (I'll coin, a Median), American second. But being a media member is no nationality. In fact, what actually makes you a member of the "media"? Surely not education; Peter Jennings was a high school drop out. Maybe experience? Andrea Thompson of NYPD Blue was hired by CNN to anchor a news broadcast (also a college drop out). Maybe it's a professional certification like passing the bar or the CPA exam; except they don't have one.

So the fact is, anyone can call themselves a journalist.

But let's assume you can be a journalist first, American second. Shouldn't the military have the right to shoot a journalist in the field of battle if the journalist interferes with mission success?

The fact is the US Constitution have specifically protected the press from government persecution. But with every freedom comes a responsibility or we risk losing the freedom all together. Maybe the NY Times should think of this before they print their next "America's wrong" piece.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Why do we let government control education

Jeff Jacoby with a great piece on the stranglehold teacher's unions have on government schools and the democratic party.

Money quote

Nobody would want the government to run 90 percent of the nation's entertainment industry. Nobody thinks that 90 percent of all housing should be owned by the state. Yet the government's control of 90 percent of the nation's schools leaves most Americans strangely unconcerned.


More....

Monty Python - Dead Parrot

Let's condemn those crazy Ottomans

Congress is attempting to vote on a resolution to condemn the extermination of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks during World War I.

Most in the know understand that this is an attempt by democrats to upset the Turks. Why? Because we need their help in Iraq and this resolution will effectively kill our relationship with the Turks.

What else would be the reason for bringing this up nearly 100 years after the fact?

I'm a little sick of all these stupid resolutions from a group of people that have no reason to condemn anybody. However, if passing these stupid resolutions means they're spending time not passing SCHIP, then resolve away.

The No Fun state

I was listening to Scott Sloan (WLW) last night when he was talking about a bill floating through the statehouse banning events with prize money such as bowling, dart, or shooting tournaments. This on the heals of the strip club restrictions, which will effectively close all the strip clubs in Ohio.

He's got a brief posting on his blog.

So these are the things we Ohioans are no longer allowed to do

- Go to strip clubs

- Smoke

- Gamble

When will we be renaming Ohio the "People's Republic of the Midwest".

I can see these ads next summer. For a good time come to Utah.

Got Choice?

Planned Parenthood objects to a new Ohio bill requiring abortion providers show pregnant women ultrasounds of the fetus prior to an abortion.

According to Planned Parenthood, the bill is not needed because patients are already provided with ultrasounds when requested.

I'm sure they are. But let's face it, if you are hell bent on having an abortion, you probably don't want to see an ultrasound because you probably don't want to see the truth.

So I would suggest that "pro choice" is probably a misnomer. How can you effectively "choose" when you won't use all the information at your disposal. Maybe we should call the Planned Parenthood folks "pro-uninformed choice".

Want to get away?


Here's a vacation idea:

The World Toilet Summit in New Delhi, India.


Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Two guys that don't get it


Question....... Based on these pictures what happened?

A) these guys just got off of a carnival ride.

B) found out that they don't have to go to anymore Bengal games.

C) were just announced as the next contestants on "The Bachelor".

D) were just charged with felonious assault for beating up an off duty cop.

I'm thinking these guys need a beating.

We better make sure these guys have health insurance for their children.

By the way, answer is D.

How Many Ways Can You Lose A Game?

Wait 'til he writes the 2007 version

Why should I pay?

If you haven't followed the Frost family controversy closely, join the club.

Someone please correct me if any of these facts are wrong. But as I understand it, the democratic party are using the Frost family as the perfect family example as to why the feds need to cover the SCHIP program. As an article from the Baltimore Sun explains....

Earlier in the week, his younger sister helped congressional Democrats sell expanded funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Yesterday, with the White House threatening again to veto the legislation, it was Graeme Frost's turn to take up the cause.

The 12-year-old Baltimore boy, whose family relied on the government-funded insurance program after he and his sister were severely injured in a 2004 car accident, came to Washington yesterday to record the Democrats' weekly radio address.

"If it weren't for CHIP, I might not be here today," Graeme says in the address, to air today on stations across the country.


However, after some fact checking by the GOP, it has come out that despite the relatively low income in the Frost household, the family actually has quite a number of assets (including cars, their home and/or business property) that could be liquidated or borrowed against to pay for the family's health insurance. In addition, the family's four kids attend a private school; money that could be used for the kids' health insurance.

I will acknowledge that I do not know all the financial issues related to the Frost family. But that's actually the point.

How do we begin a national policy initiative when there are 300 million individual situations across the country?

As an accountant, I'm fully aware of ways to divert income to meet various income parameters; all legal. If you own a C-corporation, you can easily leave earnings in your corporation (let the corp pay the tax) to keep your W-2 earnings low for a few years and the bonus all the earnings out at a later date.

I just read in the paper about a family who tragically lost their 18 year old daughter to a drug overdose after she was just released from a $30,000 rehab program they just paid for.

How do we ask that family to pony up for the Frost's situation?

How do we ask a family to pony up for someone's drug rehab when they have a mother in desperate need of psychological services as a result of bi polar disorder?

How do we ask that family to kick in for the guy down the street who bought way too much house and now can't make his $2,000/month mortgage payment (as is being proposed in New Jersey).

Finally, why should I pay for anyone else's issues, when they won't do everything they can to pay for their own expenses? If the Frosts' thought it was more important to send their kids to private schools, why should I pay for their insurance?

The fact is, each of these situations are tragic in their own way, but how do we pay for any of these and not the other(s)?

As I stated, in a past post, when my business was struggling 10 years ago, one of the first things that I cut was my health insurance but I did not cut beer from my budget. Why in the hell should someone else pay for my health insurance when I could easily pay the premium with my beer budget?

Why be pro-life?

Jonah Goldberg has a provocative piece titled Why be Pro-Life?

Excerpt

And that gets me to my more philosophical or principled reason for being pro-life: I just don't know. I confess that I lack passion about debates over RU-486, Plan B and other measures that terminate a pregnancy in the first few hours or days after conception, because that's when I'm least sure that a life is at stake. But when it comes to, say, partial-birth abortion, I am adamantly pro-life. I don't know if a fertilized egg has rights. But I am convinced that a baby minutes, days or weeks before full term is, simply, a baby. And despite what you constantly hear, Roe vs. Wade doesn't recognize that fact.

Like Goldberg, I struggled with the entire abortion issue until I established a faith in God and I started to get that God will make sure it all works out.

But I still believe there' s a lot of hypocrisy all over the abortion debate.

If you believe in a woman's "right to choose", do you believe in the legalization of prostitution? After all, it's a woman's body to do with what she pleases; isn't it?

If you are pro-life, let's assume a we ban legalized abortion. Should we prosecute a woman for premeditated murder if she has an illegal abortion?

God never intended life to be so tidy on this earth. He challenges us all the time with moral and ethical dilemmas. It's why we never really get any true moral clarity until we spend quiet time with God.

Despite all that, if you talk to women who have had abortions, an overwhelming majority can tell you the date they had the procedure done, all the parties involved and nearly all would tell you it was the biggest mistake of their lives. And that may be why I'm against abortion, I just don't want to see women scarred like that for the rest of their lives.

Wannstedt on the hot seat

Dave Wannstedt on the hot seat at Pitt where, the Panthers have a losing record yet again.

Who would have thunk it? After all the great teams he put together in Miami and Chicago, people are surprised the Panthers can't cut it?

CSI british style

The news is slow so I'm posting a little humor.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Just do the damn math

Cincinnati will unveil plans Tuesday on how to pay for a four-mile, $100 million downtown streetcar line that advocates believe will contribute $2 billion to the city’s economy and transform Over-the-Rhine.

The plan’s cheerleaders include politicians, transit activists and urban developers.

So far, it seems to have no enemies, although that could change when the city explains where it will get the money to fund the plan.

More


Let's do the math. If a streetcar contributes 2 billion dollars to the economy, that would increase the city's tax revenue by $42 million dollars ( 2 billion multiplied by a 2.1% city income tax rate).

By my math, that results in a $58 million dollar shortfall. Where the hell do you think the proponents of this plan expect to get the shortfall from?

These rail clowns have been coming at this for years now and vote after vote keeps being rejected. The fact is, we have a Metro bus system that covers nearly all the downtown area, what the hell do we need a streetcar for?

Roads, police, fire. All this other stuff is like putting lipstick on a pig.

Endowment funds

It's nice to see that the University of Cincinnati's endowment fund earned 15.9% on it's investments last year. The endowment is now worth 1.1 billion dollars.

With those earnings they'll be able to use that money for..... Actually what will they use all that money for?

If a billion dollar endowment makes 6% on it's investment, the fund would earn $60,000,000 per year and never touch principle. They could use that money for student grants or tuition payments for well over 3000 students.

If nothing else, the endowments could be used to at least offset the massive inflationary pressure on tuition hikes.

But instead, endowment funds become larger for the sole purpose of.... being larger. Harvard has an endowment fund of $20 billion dollars. Why? What is the mission for the use of all these billions? Solicit and accumulate more billions?

What I've never understood is why people keep giving to these endowment funds when they wouldn't think of giving money to their public school system, who could probably use the money more than a damn endowment fund.

So the next time you get those license plates renewed and you want to give that $50.00 to your alma mater; just keep it. You'll get more out of it than the school will.

Craig thrown under the bus

Larry Craig is upset with Mitt Romney for not standing up for him.

“I'd worked hard for him here in the state. I was a co-chair of his campaign on Capitol Hill. And he not only threw me under his campaign bus, he backed up and ran over me again."

Knowing Craig's penchant for sending signals I think there's sexual code in this quote.

The other blog

If you've never seen my other blog. I have an updated post related to personal finance and tax tips.

Check it out at http://valentinetaxtips.blogspot.com/

Bengaldom

We're back to Bengaldom here in the Queen City.

Bengals manage to lose to a mediocre college team in Kansas City and the Reds hire a "players" coach.

When are we going to get "fans" coach. You know that guy... They're the guys that actually win some games.

Criminal wardrobe


I always wondered why your average street thug wore baggy pants.

After all, if you think you're going to have to make a run from "the man", wouldn't you want to be wearing something sleek and speed efficient as opposed to something you're likely to trip over.

Well, meet Terry Lee Collins, arrested on theft of drugs. Police nabbed him after his pants fell down to his knees and tripped him.

Thank God you average criminal has as much smarts as a box of raisin bran.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Lord take me downtown


We just got back from the ZZ Top show at the Nut house in Dayton.

Like Rush, you have to marvel at how these guys get so much sound out of three instruments. They kept their show to basically all the old standards; Cheap Sunglasses, Heard on the X, Pearl Neckless, Under Pressure. & Tubesteak Boogie.

They ran through quick versions of the '80's video staple, Legs, Gimme all Your Lovin' & Sharp Dressed Man.

The highlights of the night; their cover of Jimi Hendrix' Foxy Lady and LaGrange where Gibbons played his guitar with one hand.

Other notes,

1) I've heard good things about the Nutter Center as a great venue for concerts... I was not impressed.
2) Where the hell do all these people with mullets work?
3) There is a term, muffin top, that illustrates a person's gut hanging over their waistline, but I think Nuclear mushroom cloud is more appropriate for some.

People against the war

Dear Gordon,

I generally like your blog, but I think you underestimate the American people and their opinions on the Iraq war and the SCHIP program.

People are greatly in tuned to what our lawmakers are doing in Washington and want our politicians to provide a better health alternative for our children. In addition, people want our kids home from an unjust war brought upon us by a nut case.

Sincerely,

Roxanne Q.

Dear Roxanne,

If you doubt my trust in the American public, Go to my Zoomtown homepage. For the three hottest google searches, it's not Iraq War, SCHIP or Nobel Peace prize. It's

1) Britney Spears
2) Paris Hilton
3) Halloween Costumes.

Need I say more. By the way, welcome home Roxy.

Gordon

It was all a dream

It was all set up, UK beats LSU. Cal goes down to the team UC beat like a drum. And UC lost to UofL for the 9 time in the last ten years.

At least that's what I thought I remembered after all those beers yesterday. So when I woke up I thought I find out it was all a dream.

Doh.

Then I see Midas' post on Dusty Baker as the new Reds manager. I'm going back to bed.

Trot

Can't sleep... I see Dusty and his toothpick everytime I close my eyes.

Wow, what a game... and I don't mean UC vs. UL.

Trot Nixon snapped an 11th-inning tie with a pinch-hit single, and the Indians broke loose for six more runs in a record-setting performance to beat Boston 13-6 early Sunday and tie the AL championship series at a game apiece.

The anticipated matchup of postseason star Curt Schilling and 19-game winner Fausto Carmona fizzled into a stalemate that lasted 5 hours, 14 minutes. It ended at 1:37 a.m. EDT, when Joe Borowski got a game-ending double play.