Out of the wilderness

I moved to the city of Cincinnati in September of 1981 as a University of Cincinnati track athlete on scholarship.

Having moved here from the Columbus area I was shocked to go to my first UC football game to witness college football in front of a whopping 8,600 fans watching UC play Richmond University.

Being a UC football fan has often times resembled the Jews in the desert after fleeing Pharaoh. Years of wondering around not knowing were this thing was going.

It now looks like UC football fans may, at least, be able to see the promised land for the first time as the team suits up against Pitt tonight at Nippert Stadium. The winner of this game will have the inside track to the Big East Championship and BCS bowl bid; likely the Orange Bowl.

It's a far cry from the year UC only had three home games because Nippert had been condemned and they played in EIGHT homecoming games that year. I believe that was the year UC lost to Penn State 81-0 and Auburn 77-0.

None the less, next to the final four game in 1992, this will be the biggest game of my UC fandom.

I'll be down there tonight with pockets full of oranges. Coach Kelly, don't make me have to eat them.

GO CATS..........

A new sport?

I'm always saying that my definition of sport is this... If you have to judge it to determine a winner, it's not a sport.

I don't care if it's synchronized swimming, diving, ice dancing, judges should never determine the winners of contest.

But Gordon those sports are hard.

Neurosurgery is hard as well. Not a sport.

While this is a harden belief in my world view, it appears I may need to retreat on it.

Why?

Apparently, pole dancing is coming to the Olympics....

A group of supporters has started a petition to get pole dancing into the Olympic games.

It's not what you might think. Often associated with strip clubs, pole dancing is also an increasingly popular way for women to stay in shape.

"It's automatically assumed it has something to do with stripping," Lizz Schofield, owner of a Utah dance studio where "Pole Fitness" is in vogue, told KUTV.com, the Web site for a Salt Lake-area CBS affiliate. "But this is not stripping at all."

Her studio has joined others around the globe in an effort to bring pole dancing to London. The petition does not indicate how many signatures it is seeking, but there were over 500 signatures as of Friday afternoon.

OK OK we'll allow pole dancing as a sport as long as Madonna doesn't show up.

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Cavuto Cong Joe Knollenberg its not your money

The Obama's pick a school

The Obama family enrolled their children in the DC public schools today.

No, I'm sorry, I thought Sidwell Friends School was a DC Montessori but no it's actually a really expensive private schools only rich republicans can send their kids to.

President-elect Barack Obama and his wife have chosen Sidwell Friends School for their two daughters, opting for a private institution that another White House child, Chelsea Clinton, attended a decade ago.

"A number of great schools were considered. In the end, the Obamas selected the school that was the best fit for what their daughters need right now," said Katie McCormick Lelyveld, a spokeswoman for Michelle Obama.

She said Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, "bring with them a number of security and privacy concerns that come with being part of the new first family - and the school they've selected is positioned to appropriately accommodate that."

Sidwell is a private Quaker school with a campus in northwest Washington for grades 5-12 and another in suburban Bethesda, Md., for kindergarten through fourth grade. Malia is in fifth grade and Sasha is in second grade, suggesting that the girls would attend schools at different locations.

Just remember when you're a liberal "what's good enough for thee is not for me".

They're worried about security concerns in DC schools. Why? I thought all the students there were armed.

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Friday Funny

Robin Williams on golf.

rated R for language

Global Warming Challenge Update

The updated score to the Global Warming Challenge is....

Warm 336
Cool 327

PS Despite claims from The Messiah that “I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.” (6/4/08) it actually looks like the planet actually warmed since he made that statement.

The score since 6/4/08 is Warm 187 Cool 152. Maybe it was all the hot air being expelled during the campaign.

Are the Olympics responsible for our downturn?

For the past couple of weeks, I've been floating around this hypothesis about the stock market and commodity collapse.

Is it possible that the recent down turns are the result of the Olympics being over?

Think about it.

In the run up to the Olympics, the Chinese were eating up commodities like ants on a dinner mint. In an attempt to showcase their country, they were on a 6-8 year 24/7 construction and business binge. As soon as the games were over, their appetite for commodities like crude oil and metals dropped tremendously.

If you look at the attached price schedule, crude reached its highest price point on 7/4/08 and it's dropped steadily since then.

It seems tremendously unlikely that something like the Games could have such a dramatic impact on a global economy, but we're also talking about a multiplier of 1.2 billion people. Even a slight slowdown in Chinese consumption would have a ripple effect throughout an entire global economy.

It's nothing but an anecdotal hypothesis, but I think it fits.

What do you think?

Who am I?

Here's a site that analyzes your blog into a Myers Briggs personality type. (HT Greg Mankiw)

What does the analyzer say about taxmanblog....

INTP - The Thinkers

The logical and analytical type. They are especialy attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into. They are great at finding subtle connections between things and imagine far-reaching implications.

They enjoy working with complex things using a lot of concepts and imaginative models of reality. Since they are not very good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people, they might come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about.

I've had a lot of experience with Myers Briggs since my ex wife was a certified in the application.

The I (Introvert) is wrong, I'm a definite E (Extrovert) although it may be difficult to determine that from the blog.

I'm typically right between an N (Intuitive) and S (Sensory) on the second trait.

T (Thinking) is right on the numbers. No one would ever accuse me of being an F (Feeling).

Finally my the last characteristic is borderline J (Judging) v P (Perceiving). As I've gotten older, I probably would test out as a J.

It's kind of cute, try it on your own blog and let me know how it shakes out.

Lower your expectations

Apparently, the Obamamunists are trying to lower expectations for their administration....

President-elect Barack Obama and his inner circle fear that some voters expect him to turn around the economy, wind down the war in Iraq and, perhaps, cure cancer -- all by the Fourth of July.

They know they must manage and lower those expectations, CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports.

A top economic advisor to Obama had a glum warning for the rest of us Thursday morning: Neither the job market nor the stock market will be turning around any time soon.

"This might be a long haul," said Robert Reich, who was President Bill Clinton's secretary of labor. "2009 is going to be a very hard year. Some economists say we won't be out of this for two years, others are saying it may be three, or four, maybe five years."

Now wait a daggone minute here. Let's go back to June 3 of this year. Using The Messiah's own words.... “I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.”

For cryin' out loud, that was over five months ago.

Any word yet on the lower tides on the Atlantic coasts?

Did Obama get this deal?

According to the NY Times.....

When Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt negotiated with People and other celebrity magazines this summer for photos of their newborn twins and an interview, the stars were seeking more than the estimated $14 million they received from the deal. They also wanted a hefty slice of journalistic input — a promise that the winning magazine’s coverage would be positive, not merely in that instance but into the future.

According to the deal offered by Ms. Jolie, the winning magazine was obliged to offer coverage that would not reflect negatively on her or her family, according to two people with knowledge of the bidding who were granted anonymity because the talks were confidential. The deal also asked for an “editorial plan” providing a road map of the layout, these people say.

I wonder which media outlets worked out the same deal with the Obamamunists.

The Party of the Working Guy

So democrats are the party of Joe Six Pack?

Then explain how it is that the democratic head honchos stripped John Dingell of his House chairmanship and gave it to Henry Waxman.

ABC News' Jonathan Karl Reports: ABC News has learned that House Democratic leaders have voted to strip Representative John Dingell of his chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce committee, replacing him with Henry Waxman.

In a stinging rebuke, the House Steering committee voted 25-22 by secret ballot during a closed-door Democratic leadership meeting.

The move was a dramatic one for House Democrats -- considered a victory for House liberals and environmentalists, a big defeat for Michigan and the auto industry.

Say what you want about Dingell and his union protection racket, but it's clear that the big kitties of the democratic party would sell out Joe Six pack for pack of wolves in Yellowstone Park; and they did. As they always do.

If that sounds familiar, it's because you read it right on this blog in my "Hills They Die On" series.

The democratic party likes to say that it's out for the working guy. But ask yourself this question; if it came down to creating jobs for working stiffs and protecting a caribou in Alaska, who wins?

We have the capability to start domestic drilling here in the US. domestic drilling accomplishes a number of good things for this country. It lessons our dependence on resources from rogue nations, it strengthens our dollar, it lessons our trade imbalance, it increases US Treasury receipts, it creates good high paying, union jobs.

Yet with all these positive aspects of domestic drilling who do you think is primarily responsible for killing it? Hint, it's not republicans.

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Dick Morris:

Will Obama govern from the left? He doesn't have to. George W. Bush has done all the heavy lifting for him. It was under Bush that the government basically took over as the chief stockholder of our financial institutions and under Bush that we ceded our financial controls to the European Union. In doing so, he has done nothing to preserve what differentiates the vibrant American economy from those dying economies in Europe. Why have 80 percent of the jobs that have been created since 1980 in the industrialized world been created in the United States? How has America managed to retain its leading 24 percent share of global manufacturing even in the face of the Chinese surge? How has the U.S. GDP risen so high that it essentially equals that of the European Union, which has 50 percent more population? It has done so by an absence of stifling regulation, a liberation of capital to flow to innovative businesses, low taxes, and by a low level of unionization that has given business the flexibility to grow and prosper. Europe, stagnated by taxation and regulation, has grown by a pittance while we have roared ahead. But now Bush -- not Obama -- Bush has given that all up and caved in to European socialists.

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Bailout question

As congress kicks around the auto bailout question, I have a question for them.

Why would you consider bailing out an industry when most Americans wouldn't consider supporting these companies by actually buying their cars?

Notice the May 2008 sales numbers below. The American companies accounted for 44.7% of US market share.

U.S. Market Share by Manufacturer

	May 2007	May 2008
GM	23.8%	19.3%
Toyota	17.2	18.4
Ford	16.5	15.4
Chrysler	12.8	10.7
Honda	9.3	12.0
Nissan	6.0	7.2
Hyundai	4.6	5.6
BMW (includes Mini)	2.0	2.3
Volkswagen (includes Audi)	2.0	2.2
Mercedes (includes Smart)	1.4	1.8

American auto makers market share has been eroding for decades but now we're going to say to a taxpayer, you need to cough up money to bail out the business you won't support.

Socialism meet Evil..... the previous post spells it out about right.

Socialism = Evil

Walter Williams with another hit it out of the park analysis.....

Evil acts can be given an aura of moral legitimacy by noble-sounding socialistic expressions such as spreading the wealth, income redistribution or caring for the less fortunate. Let's think about socialism.

Imagine there's an elderly widow down the street from you. She has neither the strength to mow her lawn nor enough money to hire someone to do it. Here's my question to you that I'm almost afraid for the answer: Would you support a government mandate that forces one of your neighbors to mow the lady's lawn each week? If he failed to follow the government orders, would you approve of some kind of punishment ranging from house arrest and fines to imprisonment? I'm hoping that the average American would condemn such a government mandate because it would be a form of slavery, the forcible use of one person to serve the purposes of another.

Would there be the same condemnation if instead of the government forcing your neighbor to physically mow the widow's lawn, the government forced him to give the lady $40 of his weekly earnings? That way the widow could hire someone to mow her lawn. I'd say that there is little difference between the mandates. While the mandate's mechanism differs, it is nonetheless the forcible use of one person to serve the purposes of another.

Probably most Americans would have a clearer conscience if all the neighbors were forced to put money in a government pot and a government agency would send the widow a weekly sum of $40 to hire someone to mow her lawn. This mechanism makes the particular victim invisible but it still boils down to one person being forcibly used to serve the purposes of another. Putting the money into a government pot makes palatable acts that would otherwise be deemed morally offensive.

This is why socialism is evil. It employs evil means, coercion or taking the property of one person, to accomplish good ends, helping one's fellow man. Helping one's fellow man in need, by reaching into one's own pockets, is a laudable and praiseworthy goal. Doing the same through coercion and reaching into another's pockets has no redeeming features and is worthy of condemnation.

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Does he promise?

Breaking news.....

Utah's experiment with a four-day workweek for state employees has a somewhat unexpected fan — newly re-elected U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.

At a press conference after he was re-elected to his position on Tuesday, Hoyer said among the things he hopes to push in partnership with the new Obama administration is going to a four-day workweek like Utah to save money and energy.

If ole' Steny can get government workers to actually work four days a week, he should get the Nobel Peace Prize.

Is he or is he not?

From the "if you have to say it, it's probably not true department".

Courtesy of Mo Egger.....

Michael Minelli, a 27-year-old club promoter, claims that the inclusion of his photograph in the book has subjected him to "hatred, contempt, and humiliation" and has resulted in "friends, acquaintances, coworkers, employees, and strangers alike" calling him a "douchebag."

I'm guessing...... yes

Are household incomes falling?

The national media types are always quick to point out how the country's household incomes have remained flat over the past twenty years or so.

There's a reason for that and it's not that the middle class worker is suffering; it is the deterioration of households in general.

Check out the graphs to the right (HT Greg Mankiw).

One of the reasons for declining household income is the reduction of the number of two wage earner families in the US.

Read the whole report from the Minneapolis Fed here.

I think anyone who's been divorced will concur with this one.

Who did they vote for?

Meet members of the Northside Taliband.

Why are they in the news?

Inside Antonio Washington’s home is a “tag wall” where officials say he has scrawled graffiti including “4100,” “4200” and “Taliband.”

The graffiti celebrates what assistant Hamilton County prosecutor Patrick X. Dressing said today was a gang of thugs who terrorized and preyed on residents of and visitors to Northside.

The “4100” and “4200” graffiti referred to the 4100 and 4200 blocks of Fergus Avenue in Northside, territory the gang – which calls itself the Taliband - claimed as its own, police allege, as it sold drugs and guns.

“It had placed the neighborhood in fear, literally paralyzing it,” Dressing said of the gang.

Seven alleged members were in court today and ordered held on a combined $1 million bond by Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman.

The seven were arraigned on charges of participation in a criminal gang and drug charges.

The 18-year-old Washington – who also sports a “4200” tattoo – and Cameron Flowers, 18, were each held on a bond of $250,000. Each has pending serious criminal charges.

More here and here.

So I'm just wondering, after ACORN registered these clowns, did they show up on election day to vote for The Messiah or The Maverick?

Another question, I wonder where these guys lived? Specifically, who owned and /or rented the home with a "tag wall"? What are the chances this collection of ding dongs and derelicts lived in Section 8 housing? After all, some of these guys were under the age of 18.

Here's what life looks like under Obamamunism.

Getting stimulants

For the past three days, I've been down with the flu (which is why my posting has been light).

Today, I stopped by my local Kroger's to pick up some Sudafed. Now granted, I like to refer to my place in suburbia as Methville. None the less, I was quite surprised with how much information is required to get a pack of Sudafed.

Name
Address
Phone number
Driver's License Number
Date of Birth
Photographic evidence of your circumcision

The hilarity continued as I walked towards the door and saw the new cigarette case the store installed. You'd have a better chance of getting gold out of Fort Knox.

Do you remember the old days when you could buy your stimulants without big brother watching?

Maybe I should have just bought a 60 pack of Red Bull.

Romney on the bailout

Mitt with an editorial on the auto bailout.

IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.

Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.

I love cars, American cars. I was born in Detroit, the son of an auto chief executive. In 1954, my dad, George Romney, was tapped to run American Motors when its president suddenly died. The company itself was on life support — banks were threatening to deal it a death blow. The stock collapsed. I watched Dad work to turn the company around — and years later at business school, they were still talking about it. From the lessons of that turnaround, and from my own experiences, I have several prescriptions for Detroit’s automakers.

First, their huge disadvantage in costs relative to foreign brands must be eliminated. That means new labor agreements to align pay and benefits to match those of workers at competitors like BMW, Honda, Nissan and Toyota. Furthermore, retiree benefits must be reduced so that the total burden per auto for domestic makers is not higher than that of foreign producers.

That extra burden is estimated to be more than $2,000 per car. Think what that means: Ford, for example, needs to cut $2,000 worth of features and quality out of its Taurus to compete with Toyota’s Avalon. Of course the Avalon feels like a better product — it has $2,000 more put into it. Considering this disadvantage, Detroit has done a remarkable job of designing and engineering its cars. But if this cost penalty persists, any bailout will only delay the inevitable.

Funny, I don't remember Romney being this ballsy when he was campaigning in Michigan this past winter.

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