Bailout – Financial transaction that benefits a bogyman. (See also socialist.) Also, any loan, funding, acquisition, or other intervention by the government with which someone does not agree. (See bogyman.)
Big Oil – Generally, large companies that explore for and produce crude oil, refine it into products including gasoline, diesel, heating oil, and chemicals such as propylene, ethylene, benzene, and other aromatics, and deliver it for sale to the market.
Bogyman – The cause of what is wrong. (See Big Oil, George W. Bush, socialist)
Deduction – A method of tax reduction for the deserving (See middle class, tax credit, loophole).
Experienced – Qualitative term applied to the personal credentials of my candidate.
Inexperienced – Qualitative term applied to the personal credentials of the other candidate.
Hero – One who participated in, or was the victim of, an event in which there was great danger or carnage, whether willing or unwilling.
Immigrant – A person who moves from one country to another.
Illegal Immigrant – A pejorative term applied to a selected few of the ‘poor and huddled masses’ by racist right wing zealots.
Little Oil – Mythically, small companies that explore for and produce crude oil, refine it into products including gasoline, diesel, heating oil, and chemicals such as propylene, ethylene, benzene, and other aromatics, and deliver it for sale to the market. (See Big Foot.)
Leader – One who is elected to an office, or aspires to the same, and espouses ideas gleaned from polls of popular opinion.
Lobbyists – The other party’s candidate’s policy experts. (See also advisors.)
Loophole – A deduction for someone else. (See Big Oil, bogeyman, )
Main street – The good part of the economy. (See mortgage brokers, used car salesmen, lawyers, bankers, payday lenders, plumbers.)
Policy experts – Knowledgeable advisors experienced in business and industry.
Pig – Policeman. Alternatively, a candidate of the other party. (See pig, lipstick on.)
Political – Action by the other party, a member or a candidate of the other party.
Patriotic – Action by my party, a member, or a candidate of my party.
Socialist – Government program or intervention with which I disagree. (See also bailout.)
Special interests – Individuals and groups with which you don’t agree.
Strategist – Person who quotes a political party’s talking-points-of-the-day regardless of the topic of a question or discussion.
Wall street – The bad part of the economy. (See investment bankers, stock brokers, analysts, traders, retirement fund managers.)
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Pigskin Improbables and other Gridiron Observations
The improbable just happened; Punky’s Rodents and Chili’s Viqueens won on the same weekend. Given that the Rodents start their Big Ten schedule at Ohio State next Saturday, it’s not likely to happen again. I mean, I’m a fan and all, but I’m also a realist.
Gus was merely adequate at quarterback for the Purple, but that was huge improvement over his overmatched predecessor, and enough to beat an overrated Carolina team that won its first two but will be lucky to win half on the season.
Speaking of overmatched, the Sun Devils hosted the Dawgs, and some of the locals seemed to think there was some chance for an upset in the desert. There wasn’t, of course. Speaking of overrated, Auburn went down to LSU. Auburn inherited the overrated tag when the fools that vote in the football poles finally saw the light and dumped the Nuts out of the top ten. That doesn’t mean the Rodents are likely to challenge in Columbus. Hapless Auburn dropped below the Nuts - demonstrating once again that the sports writers still haven’t entirely kicked the Ohio State habit.
Poor Army. Having already made ESPN’s Bottom Ten list before getting a week off (and a respite from that high honor), the Black Knights earned their way back to infamy by being soundly beaten by Akron. Can the cadets console themselves that the Zips beat Syracuse? Not with Syracuse firmly ensconced in that same Bottom Ten list. Drake bounced back from its loss to Lehigh with a pasting of William Penn.
Is Florida No. 4, or are they better than that? The first answer will be October 11 when LSU comes to the Swamp. Before that it’s Mississippi (more “S’es” in there than likely SEC wins) and Arkansas. That last is good scheduling; there’s no chance the Hogs can make that a good enough game to steal our concentration away from Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
Colorado made it three in a row with at win over 21st ranked West Virginia. It gets still tougher, though, with Florida State, Texas and Kansas the next three. The ‘Noles might be the easiest of those. Jay the Kid led the Horsies to a 3-0 start. Someone would be happy.
The Cheezheads had a come-upance, dropping to 1-1 on the season with the home loss to the ‘Boys. (Beating Detroit doesn’t count. Aaron Rodger’s two-game stats will need an asterisk.)
That’s the football for this week.
Gus was merely adequate at quarterback for the Purple, but that was huge improvement over his overmatched predecessor, and enough to beat an overrated Carolina team that won its first two but will be lucky to win half on the season.
Speaking of overmatched, the Sun Devils hosted the Dawgs, and some of the locals seemed to think there was some chance for an upset in the desert. There wasn’t, of course. Speaking of overrated, Auburn went down to LSU. Auburn inherited the overrated tag when the fools that vote in the football poles finally saw the light and dumped the Nuts out of the top ten. That doesn’t mean the Rodents are likely to challenge in Columbus. Hapless Auburn dropped below the Nuts - demonstrating once again that the sports writers still haven’t entirely kicked the Ohio State habit.
Poor Army. Having already made ESPN’s Bottom Ten list before getting a week off (and a respite from that high honor), the Black Knights earned their way back to infamy by being soundly beaten by Akron. Can the cadets console themselves that the Zips beat Syracuse? Not with Syracuse firmly ensconced in that same Bottom Ten list. Drake bounced back from its loss to Lehigh with a pasting of William Penn.
Is Florida No. 4, or are they better than that? The first answer will be October 11 when LSU comes to the Swamp. Before that it’s Mississippi (more “S’es” in there than likely SEC wins) and Arkansas. That last is good scheduling; there’s no chance the Hogs can make that a good enough game to steal our concentration away from Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
Colorado made it three in a row with at win over 21st ranked West Virginia. It gets still tougher, though, with Florida State, Texas and Kansas the next three. The ‘Noles might be the easiest of those. Jay the Kid led the Horsies to a 3-0 start. Someone would be happy.
The Cheezheads had a come-upance, dropping to 1-1 on the season with the home loss to the ‘Boys. (Beating Detroit doesn’t count. Aaron Rodger’s two-game stats will need an asterisk.)
That’s the football for this week.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
September 18, 2008
Jeannie, it’s your birthday, but
It’s me who has been given a
Gift of beautiful memories.
My world was brightened by your smile,
My heart warmed by your touch.
My life was wonderful because of you.
You were the one that I loved.
My birthday prayer,
That the Lord above
Keeps you safely in his Care,
And enfolds you in his Love.
It’s me who has been given a
Gift of beautiful memories.
My world was brightened by your smile,
My heart warmed by your touch.
My life was wonderful because of you.
You were the one that I loved.
My birthday prayer,
That the Lord above
Keeps you safely in his Care,
And enfolds you in his Love.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Vikes Coach, QB, Without a Clue
The CBS talking heads are wondering why Tavaris Jackson is being booed in the Metrodome. They’re not watching the same game, right?
If the Vikings have a quarterback, the game is out of reach in the first half. One, perhaps two, of those field goals are touchdowns. Jackson throws for 7 yards in the first quarter to go with the 6 yards in the first half of the Green Bay game last week. Jackson pads his stats with a couple of throws in the last minute of the first half. That surprises the Colt's defense and the Vikings kick a late a field goal. It’s 9-0 at the half.
A couple more field goals in the second half make it 15-0, and the throwing stats are deceptively good. The problem is that the misses come on wide open opportunities at the worst time. To add insult to injury, he doesn’t show any ability to run, turning up in one case, and in a couple of others, passing up the opportunity to run for a first down in favor of another wild throw downfield.
Regardless of a few completions, the Colts don’t respect the passing game, and load up against the run. Running back Adrian Petersen, after a 118-yard first half, is contained in the second. The Vikings defense spends more time on the field and starts to fade. The Colts take advantage and score. And score again. Tied.
The Vikings do nothing after the middle of the third quarter.
The Colts have a Manning. The Vikings have Jackson. That’s not all that’s wrong with the Vikings, but it’s enough today. Vikings 0 and 2 in 2008.
Worse, Adrian Petersen, potentially a great running back, is being abused; his career will likely end in injury.
Vikings’ head coach Brad Childress has not demonstrated in any way that he is up to the task. The delusion that Tavaris Jackson is an NFL quarterback is only the most obvious of Childress’ coaching foibles.
If the Vikings have a quarterback, the game is out of reach in the first half. One, perhaps two, of those field goals are touchdowns. Jackson throws for 7 yards in the first quarter to go with the 6 yards in the first half of the Green Bay game last week. Jackson pads his stats with a couple of throws in the last minute of the first half. That surprises the Colt's defense and the Vikings kick a late a field goal. It’s 9-0 at the half.
A couple more field goals in the second half make it 15-0, and the throwing stats are deceptively good. The problem is that the misses come on wide open opportunities at the worst time. To add insult to injury, he doesn’t show any ability to run, turning up in one case, and in a couple of others, passing up the opportunity to run for a first down in favor of another wild throw downfield.
Regardless of a few completions, the Colts don’t respect the passing game, and load up against the run. Running back Adrian Petersen, after a 118-yard first half, is contained in the second. The Vikings defense spends more time on the field and starts to fade. The Colts take advantage and score. And score again. Tied.
The Vikings do nothing after the middle of the third quarter.
The Colts have a Manning. The Vikings have Jackson. That’s not all that’s wrong with the Vikings, but it’s enough today. Vikings 0 and 2 in 2008.
Worse, Adrian Petersen, potentially a great running back, is being abused; his career will likely end in injury.
Vikings’ head coach Brad Childress has not demonstrated in any way that he is up to the task. The delusion that Tavaris Jackson is an NFL quarterback is only the most obvious of Childress’ coaching foibles.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Punky's Rodents 16th?
Punky Brewster’s Rodents beat the stuffin’ out of Bowling Green (ok, BG helped out), who whipped number 17 Pittsburgh last week.
Pitts beat Buffalo this week (whoopee!). Just about every other Midwest big time pigskin program was underwhelming. In fact, Bowling Green State was the best football team in Ohio. The Nuts looked bad sneaking past Ohio U’s Bobcats. Michigan was squeaking by the other Miami (not the football factory one that the Gators whipped last night).
So I figure that makes the Rodents No. 16. Not that Punky’s kids will stay in that lofty spot for long, but hey, you’ve got to enjoy it while you can.
The Gators ended Miami’s hex on them, and even beat the spread – which made Murphy’s friend Gus the Gator very happy.
Elsewhere in the football interests of family and friends, Army lost to New Hampshire, (Courtney was buying hot dawgs when the Mules – that’s more fun than ‘Cadets’ – scored their only touchdown) and Drake was shut out by the Mountain Hawks (sorry Ash. Congrats, Tim).
Speaking of Dawgs, (hot or not) rookie Uga VII remains unbeaten. Will the Cocks be up for the Dawgs next week?
Next Week’s Picks
Rodents, Dawgs, Wolverines, Trojans crush the Nuts, Iowa Dawgs should beat the Statesmen from Oskaloosa, while Army gets a needed week off before playing the Zips (I’m not kidding).
Pitts beat Buffalo this week (whoopee!). Just about every other Midwest big time pigskin program was underwhelming. In fact, Bowling Green State was the best football team in Ohio. The Nuts looked bad sneaking past Ohio U’s Bobcats. Michigan was squeaking by the other Miami (not the football factory one that the Gators whipped last night).
So I figure that makes the Rodents No. 16. Not that Punky’s kids will stay in that lofty spot for long, but hey, you’ve got to enjoy it while you can.
The Gators ended Miami’s hex on them, and even beat the spread – which made Murphy’s friend Gus the Gator very happy.
Elsewhere in the football interests of family and friends, Army lost to New Hampshire, (Courtney was buying hot dawgs when the Mules – that’s more fun than ‘Cadets’ – scored their only touchdown) and Drake was shut out by the Mountain Hawks (sorry Ash. Congrats, Tim).
Speaking of Dawgs, (hot or not) rookie Uga VII remains unbeaten. Will the Cocks be up for the Dawgs next week?
Next Week’s Picks
Rodents, Dawgs, Wolverines, Trojans crush the Nuts, Iowa Dawgs should beat the Statesmen from Oskaloosa, while Army gets a needed week off before playing the Zips (I’m not kidding).
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Six Months Later
In April, I wrote about a call from a friend who’s in the investment business. The short version of that blog is that he was moving his clients into cash, advising them to ride out a downturn in not just the stock market, but in other investments, and positioning them to re-invest when a major bear market was over.
Some asked, ”What about commodities and alternatives like gold?”
“Cash!” was the answer.
Well, there have been ups and downs since then, and, as always, if your timing in day-to-day trading was perfect, you might have done all right, or better than all right.
But if you don’t work at it all day, every day, you make occasional “big moves” like this one, or none at all.
So, what would have happened in you had put everything into cash (dollars, in this case)? And how would a range of investments have done?
Let’s assume – for round numbers – you had $1,000 when I wrote Peninsula Pen on April 14.
If you took my friend’s advice, you sold whatever else you had and kept your money in dollars. Dollars, of course are a commodity, too, traded on world markets, and their value goes up and down. In this case, up. Back in April (if you wanted to go to Paris, for instance) the dollar would have bought 633 Euros. This weekend, 703 – a 16% increase, an annualized return of over 30%.
Your $1,000 would have bought 167 bushels of corn; that investment would have lost $85. Gold? A 14% loss.
What about crude oil? Well, had you bought in April, then been smart enough to sell at its peak, you would have made big bucks. But if you had bought and held, right now you’d be upside down by $70.
Most of you are in stocks, a “basket” of equities known as a mutual fund. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a pretty good proxy for that investment (it does better than most mutual funds); if you’d put your $1,000 there, you’d be pretty unhappy, because you’d have less than $900 left.
Sometimes the sideline is the place to be.
Some asked, ”What about commodities and alternatives like gold?”
“Cash!” was the answer.
Well, there have been ups and downs since then, and, as always, if your timing in day-to-day trading was perfect, you might have done all right, or better than all right.
But if you don’t work at it all day, every day, you make occasional “big moves” like this one, or none at all.
So, what would have happened in you had put everything into cash (dollars, in this case)? And how would a range of investments have done?
Let’s assume – for round numbers – you had $1,000 when I wrote Peninsula Pen on April 14.
If you took my friend’s advice, you sold whatever else you had and kept your money in dollars. Dollars, of course are a commodity, too, traded on world markets, and their value goes up and down. In this case, up. Back in April (if you wanted to go to Paris, for instance) the dollar would have bought 633 Euros. This weekend, 703 – a 16% increase, an annualized return of over 30%.
Your $1,000 would have bought 167 bushels of corn; that investment would have lost $85. Gold? A 14% loss.
What about crude oil? Well, had you bought in April, then been smart enough to sell at its peak, you would have made big bucks. But if you had bought and held, right now you’d be upside down by $70.
Most of you are in stocks, a “basket” of equities known as a mutual fund. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a pretty good proxy for that investment (it does better than most mutual funds); if you’d put your $1,000 there, you’d be pretty unhappy, because you’d have less than $900 left.
Sometimes the sideline is the place to be.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)