The Occasional Observer

The next time your doctor tells you to lose weight,

2009-11-13T19:12:00.003-05:00

why don't you just ask him what happens when the flesh eating bacteria strike? See, if you're not sufficiently fat enough, the bacteria give up on your love handles and go straight for the vitals. But satiate them with a healthy roll of back fat? You can win this fight, gentlemen.

The Link Between the Housing Bubble and ACORN from a Fannie Insider

2009-11-13T08:49:00.003-05:00

Edward Pinto, formerly the chief credit officer for Fannie Mae, spells out how typical well-meaning, but ill-conceived liberal legislation combined with Fannie, Freddie and ACORN led to the housing bubble that burst to give us the recent near economic collapse. It's too dense with sad facts to paraphrase.

My Grandfather Knew Something About Raising Kids Afterall

2009-11-12T15:30:00.003-05:00

When my grandfather used to call me a meathead when I did something dumb, he was actually helping me. I knew all the doting, praising-at-any-cost, baby einstein watching stuff was crap. Check out this article on cracked.com (may not be sfw).

Comment bait.

2009-11-12T10:22:00.004-05:00

I earlier posted this: "Once you control spending, you can cut the taxes. We've got to move away from the starve-the-beast model which just hasn't worked."

No comments.

I'm interested if that's b/c you guys agree, disagree, or just don't care. This is, to me, probably the most important issue out there going forward, and at the core of how I think the GOP needs to redefine itself. Don't cede the notion of "responsibility" to Obama and his ilk, especially when they're the ones bailing out their cronies (See: W, UA).

Of course, there are probably lots of seasoned politicians who would tell you a tighten-the-belt candidate is as well liked as a bowl of rice when you're already constipated. Or something like that.

Signs that we've entered the new economy

2009-11-12T10:20:00.003-05:00

1.75L of Evan Williams + 1.75L of Sobieski.

Total expenditure < $45.

And the good news keeps a-coming

2009-11-12T10:14:00.003-05:00

Looks like the Nassau County Executive Race is going the way of the GOP.

On election night, the tally had Suozzi (D) up 200+ votes on Mangano (R). After the re-canvass of all the machines, with GOP and Dem party officials monitoring the count, Mangano is now up 497 votes. That's nearly a 700 vote swing in the GOP's direction when the counters are being monitored. Draw your own conclusions.

There are still thousands of absentee ballots to be counted, but both Newsday and LI Press have reported that they are expected to lean GOP. Look's like Mangano is sitting pretty right now.

Shocker

2009-11-12T08:04:00.002-05:00

No, not the fact that the stimulus funds were wasted. Not the fact that the number of created/saved jobs was wildly exaggerated. And certainly not the fact that Massachusetts severely inflated and falsified numbers.

The real shocker is that the Boston Globe has actually exposed it. First sentence:

While Massachusetts recipients of federal stimulus money collectively report 12,374 jobs saved or created, a Globe review shows that number is wildly exaggerated.

My favorite quote: One of the largest reported jobs figures comes from Bridgewater State College, which is listed as using $77,181 in stimulus money for 160 full-time work-study jobs for students. But Bridgewater State spokesman Bryan Baldwin said the college made a mistake and the actual number of new jobs was “almost nothing.’’

That's quite a correction.

Well, we've come full circle. Now Indians

2009-11-11T06:46:00.003-05:00

are suing to preserve an Indian team name and mascot (in this case, Fighting Sioux), and the PC police (in this case, the NCAA) is requiring a team to drop the name even though the Indians like it.

WTH?

2009-11-08T01:43:00.002-05:00

In case any of you haven't seen this yet, it's probably the most enjoyable smack down on the impending nationalization of our health care system. Here's the opening:

The King James version of the Bible runs more than 600 pages and is crammed with celestial regulations. Newton's Principia Mathematica distilled many of the rules of physics in a mere 974 pages.

Neither have anything on Nancy Pelosi's new fiendishly entertaining health-care opus, which tops 1,900 pages.

So curl up by a fire with a fifth of whiskey and just dive in.

But drink quickly. In the new world, your insurance choices will be tethered to decisions made by people with Orwellian titles ("1984" was only 268 pages!) like the "Health Choices Commissioner" or "Inspector General for the Health Choices Administration."

You will, of course, need to be plastered to buy Pelosi's fantastical proposition that 450,000 words of new regulations, rules, mandates, penalties, price controls, taxes and bureaucracy will have the transformative power to "provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending . . . ."

By the way, any guesses how much control the government has over you when they pay for any bad health decisions you make? Once the government foots the bill if you get sick or hurt, think they might have something to say about whether you're allowed to eat certain kinds of food, drive certain kinds of cars, etc.? Is there any decision you make in your daily life that can be completely divorced from health care cost? If not, is there anything that the government couldn't regulate once they're paying for your doctors, Rx, etc.?

T-Paw!

2009-11-06T13:16:00.002-05:00

Love the sound of this new proposal that starts focusing the GOP on spending instead of taxes. Once you control spending, you can cut the taxes. We've got to move away from the starve-the-beast model which just hasn't worked.

Race 4 '12 has the details here.

Mandatory Sex Education

2009-11-06T11:52:00.002-05:00

It seems like the Brits may require sex ed. without the option to withdraw. Will this come to the U.S. next? I personally want to pay close attention to what the school will tell my sons about sex. If I don't like it, I'll fight to withdraw them, regardless of what some bureaucrat says.

Senate blocks census US-citizenship question

2009-11-06T08:41:00.002-05:00

Predictably, the Senate Dems don't want to apportion congressional districts based only on citizens, but on the total number of people living there.

Read here

2009 Elections

2009-11-04T06:08:00.003-05:00

A great night for the GOP, with McDonnell and Christie providing the signature wins. But it wasn't just the big races that were important. In Nassau County, the GOP picked up 2 seats and regained control of the Legislature; and Mangano trails Suozzi for County Executive by a mere 0.1% of the vote (237 votes out of approx 235K cast) in a race that will involve absentee ballots and perhaps a recount. It's a shame that the Conservative Party didn't endorse Mangano, as that would most certainly have pushed him over the top--Hansen received over 9,000 votes. All in all, much to be encouraged about.

To all the newly elected GOP officials: get to work sharpening that axe. Let's get spending under control.

Blue State Exodus

2009-11-03T17:48:00.002-05:00

A very interesting article in Forbes points out that there has been an ongoing exodus of educated middle-class people from the blue stronghold cities such as Boston and New York.

Here are some good tidbits that hit close to home:

Massive public spending increases over the past decade in California, New
Jersey, Illinois and New York have gone overwhelmingly into the pockets and
pensions of public employees.

The American Association of State Highway Transportation, for example, ranked
New York 43rd in the country and New Jersey dead last in terms of quality of
roads. Some 46% of the Garden State's roads were rated in poor condition,
compared with the national average of 13%, even as the state's spending reached
new highs. The typical New Jersey driver spends almost $600 a year in auto
repairs necessitated by the poor conditions of the roads.

There are lots of implications here. I'd love to see an analysis of what this will do to the electoral map. I have a feeling it will just make the blue bluer and the red redder. What does this do to the economies of these states? What does it do to the tax burden of those who remain in the blue cities and the surrounding suburbs?

It Makes Me Want To Run For Office

2009-11-03T17:44:00.001-05:00

I was very disappointed today when I voted to see many of the candidates here in Suffolk ran unopposed. I'd run for a government position, but I actually like to work for a living.

A Newspaper I'd Love To See

2009-11-03T09:00:00.002-05:00

I saw a headline on digg from the NYTs today that caught my eye. I was foolishly optimistic about the content: NYT: GORE'S BIG PROFITS FROM 'GLOBAL WARMING'....

I'd love to see a website where the reader's take NYTs stories and rewrite them how they should have been written without bias. But alas, it is a fool's errand to pursue.

Reminder

2009-11-01T20:08:00.002-05:00

Get to the polls this Tuesday! Nassau county elections are destined to be very close. If you haven't already made sure you're friends relatives are voting for lower taxes and a stronger economy (e.g., for Republicans), now is the time.

Vote Mangano for County Executive!

While I'm talking products,

2009-10-30T00:31:00.002-04:00

I've got to give a shout out for Nivea shaving products. If you've got sensitive skin like I do, and get shaving bumps easily, this stuff is worth its weight in gold.

Verizon Droid

2009-10-30T00:29:00.002-04:00

Looks pretty sweet. The first time I've seen a phone that's made want to stay in "the network." I have to think Android will beomce the dominant phone O/S at some point.

Might finally have something for my wish list for Santa this year...

Cash for Clunkers

2009-10-29T17:14:00.003-04:00

Well we all knew this program was going to turn out to be a massive waste of money, but I never would have anticipated the actual level of waste. Edmunds.com ran an analysis, discussed here. The results are an absolute embarrassment: only 125,000 additional vehicles sold that wouldn't otherwise have been sold, costing taxpayers an average of $24,000 per car.

That's right, 24 THOUSAND dollars per car. What an enormous waste.

One Step Closer to DC's Prediction

2009-10-28T12:08:00.001-04:00

DC, save us from Boston Dynamics before it's too late.

Sign o' the times

2009-10-27T22:57:00.000-04:00

Gotta love this headline:

'Golden Girls' star Bea Arthur leaves $300,000 in will to NY group that helps gay homeless youths

Because if you're a heterosexual homeless kid, the world is your oyster.

Funny Keystone Light commercial

2009-10-24T14:23:00.001-04:00

Grandpas Keystone Light - Watch more Funny Videos

Quote of the Day

2009-10-23T14:48:00.003-04:00

And the NYT author must've choked on it while having to write it (last sentence):

NATO defense ministers gave their broad endorsement Friday to the counterinsurgency strategy for Afghanistan laid out by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, increasing pressure on the Obama administration and on their own governments to commit more military and civilian resources for the mission to succeed... Although the broad acceptance by NATO defense ministers of General McChrystal’s strategic review included no decision on new troops, it was another in a series of acknowledgements that success there cannot be achieved by a narrower effort that calls only for capturing and killing Al Qaeda-linked terrorists. That counter-terrorism strategy is identified with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

When will Congress get around to regulating my digestion?

2009-10-22T19:36:00.003-04:00

I saw Chris Dodd on the news this morning bragging about proposed legislation to dictate what banks can charge for overdraft fees. Since the government seems so engaged in telling businesses how to run themselves, why shouldn't the government tell me where and when to poop? This way I could eat and drink whatever I want and not worry about consequences. Why should I be responsible when the government can be?

Obama! Obama! Obama!