Dumb and Dumber

There are four types of people:

#1: Consciously competent people;
#2: Unconsciously competent people;
#3: Consciously incompetent people; and
#4: Unconsciously incompetent people.

We should all aspire to be #2s. Hannity is a #4. How did he get that job?

Update: Just heard Voight speak. He is not dumb. The reference was to Colmes.

Compatibility

Disclaimer:

We hereby declare and make absolute public declaration that revolutionmuslim.com operates under the first amendment right to freedom of religion and expression and that in no, way, shape or form do we call for war against the U.S. government or adhere to the enemies of the United States elsewhere. We do however hold the belief, as stated honestly and openly in our mission statement, that the Muslim world should be permitted to unite under the banner of Islam.

http://www.revolutionmuslim.com/

Thanks for the ‘public’ declaration Abdullah, nice AK-47.

Keep on enjoying that 1st Amendment.

American Leadership

I have had the blessing to be well led during my time in the military. I’ve held some military leadership positions too, and wasn’t anything special. But nobody got hurt and the work got done. Well, OK, two guys had accidents and ended up in the hospital, but I’m still walking and so is the other guy. Unfortunately, Washington politics seem to enter the equation at the O-5 paygrade. Maybe the next generational battle cry will be “don’t trust anybody over O-4”. But nonetheless, our military breeds leaders. The one above is a United States Marine.

There is also plenty of leadership in America’s private sector. The smartest people I’ve met seem to be drawn to the risk and reward associated with putting out their own shingle and making a go of it. Look at a successful earthwork contractor, or plumber, or machine-shop owner in America, and that thing you see is leadership. There are millions of these guys.

Unfortunately our system for selecting national leadership has been broken by a combination of forces. Some of these forces were foolish people with good intentions, others were people who meant to damage the Country.

Leading us to the decision between John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. Congratulations to those whose goal was to push the Country to this point. Things will get more interesting when the money runs out though. Fortunately for us, there’s still plenty of there there.

The Other

Absolut is owned by the French beverage company, Pernod Ricard. Other brands Pernod Ricard owns include:

Wild Turkey
Chivas Regal
Kahlua
Malibu
Beefeater
Havana Club
Stolichnaya
Jameson
Martell
Jacob’s Creek

http://www.pernod-ricard.com/en/pages/106/pernod/Brands.html

Natural Ice beer maintains its Missouri roots. Phew. Or better yet, make your own still!

http://www.moonshine-still.com/

The Real Employment Report

Numbers of wealth-producing jobs:

1. Minus 48 thousand construction jobs
2. Minus 51 thousand manufacturing jobs
3. Minus 35 thousand professional and business service jobs

Net loss: 134,000 wealth producing jobs.

Numbers of wealth-consuming jobs:

1. Plus 42 thousand education and health services jobs
2. Plus 18 thousand leisure and hospitality jobs
3. Plus 18 thousand government jobs

Net loss: 68,000 wealth-consuming jobs.

Manufacturing is down 310,000 jobs for the year. Local taxes are to rise 6% this year.

Pre-Revolutionary France, Today, and Tomorrow

Pre-Revolutionary French politics consisted of three equally represented political voices:

The First Estate (Clergy)
The Second Estate (Nobility)
The Third Estate (everybody else)

In the run-up, thirty Parisians (probably white wine drinkers) argued that the Third Estate should get two votes because of the numbers of people it represents. Later demands included one-man, one-vote.

France in the 1780s was in deep debt and things reached a crisis point as the prices of grain jumped. Some segments of society were brought to starvation. Things went from there and Robespierre did his thing and then lost his head.

The difference between 1785 and 2008 is that the ability of the modern Third Estate to organize has been removed through the mechanism of internal ethnocentric friction. The Democratic primary is starting to show the biological fissures.

France settled back into Monarchy after the smoke cleared, even in the presence of a homogeneous Third Estate. We will likely end up further to the right. I believe that this is by design. The best hope for a more equitable future is the 2nd Amendment.

Eye on Paulson

“Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson indicated the Bush administration is willing to consider congressional plans to stem foreclosures by expanding government guarantees for mortgages.”
-Bloomberg

When the price tag for the Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) becomes clearer, there will be litigation. The plaintiffs will argue that they are victims of fraud and that the CDO originators should be forced to buy back the CDOs at face value, as is a normal part of these transactions.

One of the biggest CDO originators is Goldman Sachs who, notably, was not holding them when they crashed. Leading one to strongly suspect that there were misrepresentations made and Goldman Sachs knew it. Henry Paulson was heading Goldman Sachs during the time when the majority of the bad CDOs were originated.

It is possible that those found guilty would be personably liable for damages and Paulson would be front and center in the discovery process. Therefore the Treasury Department spending your money in an attempt to keep people from walking away from upside down houses.

I predict that they will fail and that Paulson will be deposed for his work at Goldman Sachs.