Couple of Non-Political Thoughts

Seems some doctors down in Houston have made a breakthrough in treating, curing, and preventing HIV. Regardless of your political leanings, this is potentially incredible news on a global scale. The article says that the drug has held up in animal tests and is about ready to start human trials. American innovation and persistence at its finest.

On another note, the wife and I just got back in town after flying to Boston to watch the Eagles live in concert. Absolutely awesome show if you ever get the chance to go. We flew there and back on American Airlines, which I fly pretty much at least twice a month for work. Two questions. Is customer service totally dead in this country? Does no one take any pride in their job anymore? We saw something after we landed back at home that really frosted me. As we were waiting to deplane, we looked out the window and could see the conveyor belt moving the checked baggage out of it's storage area on our plane. Only problem was, there was no one at the end to receive the luggage, which proceeded to fall one bag after the other about 3-4 feet to the ground. Then, I guess whoever was inside the plane setting the bags on the belt to begin with noticed this little hiccup in the process and stopped the belt. He then jumped down, grabbed the bags already on the belt, and carelessly tossed them to the concrete like a farmer unloading bales of hay out of a pickup. A few thoughts occurred to me:

1. I've read that these unionized baggage handlers make an exceptionally good living for doing what looked like a pretty piss-poor job.
2. With service like this, American Airlines has the nerve to now charge an extra $15 for your first checked bag and $25 for your second.
3. This is a perfect embodiment of the current state of the airline industry. Increasing prices, decreasing service.
4. Boy, am I glad I carried on my luggage.
   

Housing Bailout

Well, here we go. It's just after midnight as I'm writing this, and it looks like the Senate is going to vote today on a bill that will give $300 billion to troubled home owners. I know we all want to be compassionate and help those in need. I also know it's a touchy subject when you're talking about people's homes, but is anyone else starting to get bothered by all these government bailouts of bad decisions? Isn't the ability to make decisions and live with consequences, good or bad, part of what freedom and liberty are all about? A little quick mental math here. There are approximately 300 million citizens living in the United States. To me, that comes out to a cost of $1000 for every man, woman, and child living in the US to fund this bill. Or we'll just tack it onto the debt. I know this may sound extraordinarily harsh, but why should we have to pay that?

Four years ago, I signed an agreement with a bank when I bought my house which has certain terms. If I fail to abide by those terms, the bank makes it very clear that they will come repossess the house. Because I value a roof over my head, I've decided to only take on a house payment that I can afford.

Now, I wasn't at the signing for all these homes and homeowners which are now in trouble. I didn't have a chance to look over the agreements to make sure the owner would be able to pay it, or the lender wasn't making a pie-in-the-sky offer too good to be true. I'm failing to comprehend why my family should be on the hook for bad decisions, both by the lender for loaning to an applicant who can't show proof that he/she can pay the loan back or by the applicant for getting into an agreement in which they have no business being.

Believe it or not, I'm not a completely cold hearted son of a you-know-what. All of us have made mistakes from which we had to recover and, hopefully, learn a lesson. Now, three things. First, it always seemed to me to be dangerous to get into an adjustable rate mortgage in which you could only afford the teaser rate to begin with. On top of that, when you factor in that non-teaser rates were at historic lows to begin with, it seems like downright stupidity and recklessness. Ditto for the lenders that came up with these exotic loans. Also ditto for the government, which put major pressure on financial institutions to loan people money, regardless of their ability to pay. This is a major problem I've had with the Bush administration and both parties in Congress. Less than a decade after the tech stock bubble burst, the government basically blew up the real estate bubble itself until it popped.

Secondly, what is so bad about renting a house if you can't afford to buy yet? There's no shame in that. Why would the government force banks to get people into home ownership when there is no solid evidence they can afford it? This is why I hate when the government tries to run businesses. We have 535 people, most of them lawyers with little understanding of economics, in Washington trying to run every major industry in this country.

Now, having worked for a financial institution for 4 years, I've observed that it's much easier to open an account and save than it is to qualify someone for a loan. Now, think real quick about Social Security. It should be easy to run. You collect the taxes, put the money in a separate trust fund, and disperse it back when the contributors retire. That proved way too difficult for 535 politicians, who promptly spent all the money left over after benefits were paid out. Every year. In essence, they couldn't figure out how to put money in a savings account and leave it alone. Then, these same 535 individuals decided they knew how to underwrite loan applicants better than banks, then blamed the "predatory lenders" when it all went bad. I'm not saying lenders don't deserve some share of the blame, but come on! The final outcome is thousands of homeowners unable to pay for loans which they didn't read or understand, some banks like Wachovia laying off thousands of employees, others like IndyMac going under completely, and a new bill to soak you and me for some $300 billion.

Finally, I say this as a word of warning. Markets, all markets, go up and down. It's a natural ebb and flow. We as Americans have become very spoiled and expect stocks, real estate, or whatever to rise continuously to the moon. This is setting our economy up for a very steep fall eventually. Markets will correct themselves eventually. Nothing we can do to stop it. It's just a question of whether it will be several small, manageable corrections or one huge, Triple Crown, grand slam of a correction. Bailouts like this housing bill, the "stimulus package", etc. simply put a band-aid on a heart attack about to happen.

No Timetables to American Ingenuity

This post will be a quickie.

If you've been paying any attention to the news lately, you're well aware that the cost of a barrel of oil is high. There's just no way around it. Consequently, the cost of a gallon of gas is high. Pretty basic stuff. The question is what to do about it. We can't expect any help from OPEC, which seems determined to pass blame off on others while simultaneously making us bend over and grab the ankles. What seems to be on the minds of most Americans right now is drilling our own domestic oil supply which has been placed off limits by Congress.

As you can probably guess, I'm a pro-drilling kind of guy. However, I hear arguements from the left that it will take at least a decade to get any newly discovered oil from the OCS or ANWR to market, and even then prices would only be lowered by a few cents. Let's forget the basics of supply and demand for a minute, as well as the role oil futures traders have in driving down cost. We've covered that before. For now, let's just deal with the "10 years to market" claim, as it's the only economic arguement that the liberals have to stand on. I'm not a petroleum engineer, nor do I claim to be an expert. However, it got me thinking. The prediction of 10 years to market doesn't factor in American ingenuity and invention.

Did you know that it took less than 10 years to develop, start-to-finish, the atomic bomb? It also took less than 10 years from us deciding to land a man on the moon to actually doing it. Do you mean to tell me that American innovation can't figure out a way to get oil out of the ground and to market in less than 10 years when the reigns are pulled off and that good ol' capitalist spirit takes hold? For goodness sake, just think about some of the technologies and products that have appeared over the last 10 years:

• Text messaging
• Hybrid cars
• Ipods (mp3 players for that matter)
• Bluetooth
• Viagra (I hear this one's pretty popular among guys)
• The Blackberry

Many of us wouldn't recognize life without these products. I guess my point is this. I think it's a huge mistake to bet against Americans when it comes to discovering more efficient and cost-effective ways to do things. The people in this country have stepped up throughout our history to blow the status quo out of the water, and there's nothing to stop us from doing it again with oil exploration. That is, of course, except for that wonderful body known as the United States Congress.

More BS From B.O.

I just completed reading Barack Obama's 7/16 speech on national security entitled "A New Strategy for a New World". As I read paragraph after paragraph of empty statements, generalities, and platitudes, I realize how scary it is that this clown, who shouldn't be elected president of a home owners association, is one step away from being President of the United States.

Let's go through a couple of quotes and put a little rational thought into them.

"We could have called on a new generation to step into the strong currents of history, and to serve their country as troops and teachers, Peace Corps volunteers and police officers."

This to me says: Let's create more government employees. The hell with the fact that 14% of the working population already claimed to work for the government as of 2002! Just how big does Obama want to make the government? How big is big enough? Who will pay for it? That's right, you guessed it. You and me! Let's see, the current "on the books" national debt is $9.5 trillion. If you're just feeling too happy and want to depress yourself, go to this site and start hitting the refresh button on your browser. Each time you do, we just paid a government employee's salary.What the politicians don't want you to know is that the true debt is actually closer to $52.7 trillion when you factor in entitlement liabilities such as Social Security and Medicare. The government cooks the books and leaves these off the balance sheet (Enron anyone?). This means that every man, woman, and child was carrying a debt of around $175,000 as of September 2007 when the study was conducted.

What's the point? The point is that Obama, the economically illiterate messiah and savior says the government must do more. He wants you and your family to owe more. This guy's not messing around, folks.

"One of the terrible ironies of the Iraq War is that President Bush used the threat of nuclear terrorism to invade a country with no active nuclear program."

Keep in mind that this speech by his highness was made on 7/16. Now, I invite to take a quick look at this story from MSNBC filed on 7/5. Go ahead, I'll wait. What this says to me that Obama has even less gray matter between those elephant ears of his than I gave him credit for, and that's saying something. Of course, the other option is that the "honorable" senator has no qualms about lying through his teeth to gain power. You would think that the messiah would have a better grasp of Commandment #9.

Now, let's step away from this speech and take a look at his judgment for a bit. On July 7, Obama could no longer deny that the surge in Iraq is working:

"If current trends continue and we were in a position where we continue to see reductions in violence and stabilization and continue to see some improvements on the part of the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi police, then my hope could be that we could draw down...at a pace that is determined in consultation with General Petraeus and the other commanders on the ground."

First off, President Bush has been saying the exact same thing since the surge began. Secondly, what exactly did this guy who touts his judgment as a reason to vote him into the Oval Office say at the time when rubber met road and decisions had to be made? Well, listen to the first minute of this clip and you be the judge of his judgment.

Finally, the one thing we mere mortals could learn from Obama the Great is his ability to communicate eloquently. Let us take 30 seconds to view the great orator at work, speaking to his flock. Not quite the Sermon on the Mount, but close.

Senor McCain

OK, I've been focusing in the last couple of posts about my disgust of the Democrat presidential nominee, his highness, Barack Obama. I think I should now make it perfectly clear that McCain's not much better on a host of issues.

• He opposed George Bush's tax cuts
• He did serious damage to the 1st Amendment with McCain-Feingold
• He's proposed a massive government cap-and-trade system to limit "man-made climate change" via McCain-Lieberman*
• He advocates closing down Guantanamo Bay
• Was a founding member of the infamous "Gang of Fourteen", preventing Republicans from changing Senate rules to stop Democrat filibusters of judicial nominees

*Just in case you're curious, it used to be called "global cooling" in the 70's and 80's. Then it was "global warming". The temperature keeps going up and down so they just decided on "man-made climate change" and called it a day

The list goes on. Perhaps the most outrageous thing McCain has done is try to shove his McCain-Kennedy "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" bill down our throats. When the citizens of this country demonstrated their outrage at effectively giving between 12-20 million illegal aliens amnesty, shutting down congressional phone lines with the enormous volume of calls, what did McCain do? He tried to shove it through again!

During the primaries, he said that he got the message from the American people: Secure the border first. However, whenever he is speaking to a Hispanic activist group, he seems to start backtracking from that. I just can't fathom why McCain doesn't see that this is an issue in which a majority of Americans on both sides of the aisle are in agreement. We want our borders enforced. We want immigrants to this country to come through the proper channels. People that illegally snuck across the border we want sent to the back of the line. We want immigrants to learn English. Immigrants should want to be US citizens and assimilate into our culture. And now a few closing questions:

Why do politicians either not get or choose to ignore the fact that, for every illegal immigrant, their 1st act on American soil involves committing a crime?

Speaking of immigration, who does Mexico think it is to dictate what US immigration policy should be? Unless I'm severely mistaken, their policy is much more severe than our own, yet they claim we should have no immigration laws. My logical mind simply can't fathom such stupidity and will not attempt to explain it at the risk of going permanently cross-eyed.

Why does McCain visit these pro-illegal immigration groups like La Raza anyway? It makes me sick to watch him talk about selling out the wishes of his own citizenry that he hopes will put him in office, all the while pandering to a group which believes our laws need not be respected or followed.

And finally, although it's not possible to round up 12-20 million illegal aliens to ship them home, don't you think we could get a good start by having ICE crash the next La Raza convention?

Barack, En Serio?

Wow. I've only been blogging now for less than a week, and as I'm going through news stories each night looking for something to spark my interest, it's becoming very clear that having to listen to Barack Obama continue to make his ridiculous empty campaign speeches for the next 118 days is going to be very trying on my blood pressure. Here is a link to a Youtube clip in which Obama says that all Americans should be required to learn Spanish.

Excuse me? Whoops, I mean, Perdon?

Let me be upfront about this. I have no problem with parents that want their kids to be bilingual. In fact, friends of mine are raising all 3 of their boys to speak both English and Spanish fluently. I applaud them for this and I'm sure it will serve the boys well as they mature and begin to enter the job market. That being said, who the hell does this political hack think he is to tell us how we should raise our kids?

It should noted that Obama himself doesn't speak Spanish, yet another example of liberal hypocrisy, and he seems to have done just fine for himself, what with making millions of dollars and being his party's nominee for the President of the United States.

The arrogance of this jerk is becoming more and more evident with the passing days, as he reassures us with that condescending tone that we are mistaken. He, Barack Obama, knows what's best for us and our families. Oh ye of little faith! Obama knows all! He knows how our kids should be raised, what kinds of cars we should be allowed to drive, how the money we earn would be best spent, what kinds of jobs we get, how much we eat, and where the thermostats in our homes should be set. I honestly wish I was kidding on this stuff. Everything I just listed he has commented on, which is VERY troubling.

Let me ask this question. Unless you happen to be someone planning on moving to Mexico or doing business there, why in the world would you need to learn Spanish? The answer is so that you can converse with the huge influx of people in the U.S. who do not bother to learn English. That, of course, and the fact that Barack "the messiah" Obama is embarrassed that you do not speak a second language. You should really be ashamed of yourself.

Seriously, is anyone else out there getting tired of this clown being portrayed as the Second Coming, what with his always being cloaked in white light or being crowned with halos? I'm not sure if this blog is meant to be tongue-in-cheek or serious, but either way it's very disturbing. Just read the quotes from all these mindless idiots being drawn in to Obama, like a moth to a flame. Pathetic yet frightening, isn't it?

By the way, if you would like to translate the title of this post from Spanish to English, you may do so here in the Google Translate box in the upper left corner.

Feel-Good Lib Talking Points vs. Economics 101

Well, we all knew it would happen at some point. Even though these feel-good leftist treehuggers have tried to put up the good fight, it's becoming obvious that even though they try to dismiss it, they understand that an increase in supply will decrease price.

In an article from the New York Post, it seems that the divide between Americans who believe that exploring for more oil outweighs "saving the planet"and those that don't has grown to 3-2. According to the Pew Research Poll, the percentage on the left alone has grown from 22-45% in just the last four months! Well ain't that something? Liberals, who used to say that we should pay more in gas to bring us up to par with the rest of the world are starting to change their minds as we have hovered over $4 a gallon for awhile now. There's nothing like good old sticker shock to bring even the haziest of minds back to reality.

Of course, liberal politicians, sadly including some "Republicans", are continuing to say that even if we started drilling today, it wouldn't affect oil price as supplies would not come on line for years. Once again, they find themselves in the unenviable position of having to directly contradict statements they have made in the not-too-distant past. I've seen on cable news shows over the last couple of months politicians using oil speculators as a dart board, blaming them for driving up the price of crude. Now, a reasonable person would assume that oil futures, and hence the price of oil, would reverse course immediately should the news break that the US has decided to tap heavily into its vast oil reserves as those same evil speculators rush to go short and/or cover their long positions. Unfortunately, as I've noted in my post yesterday, liberal politicians are neither reasonable nor logical. To be perfectly honest, they're not all that bright either.

As I've also mentioned, these lib politicians are great at whining like schoolgirls (my apologies to any schoolgirls out there) about what they don't want to do. What have they offered up as a solution to the energy problem we are now facing? Well let's take a look at their candidate's website, shall we? There is nothing on Barack Obama's website that mentions drilling for more oil. In fact, here's a quote of what it says about oil independence from foreign nations:

Obama's plan will reduce oil consumption by at least 35 percent, or 10
million barrels per day, by 2030. This will more than offset the equivalent
of the oil we would import from OPEC nations in 2030.

That's it. Basically, the official Democrat plan for independence from foreign oil is to reduce our consumption by 35% in 22 years. That and develop alternative sources of energy which are nowhere close to coming on line to the point of replacing oil. Sounds like a plan that will help the current situation right? Oh, I almost forgot that that he would also impose a windfall profits tax on oil companies. Forget that the government already takes in more in taxes per gallon of gas than the oil companies make in profits, mind you without the hassles of having to locate, explore, drill, refine, and transport no less. No, doesn't matter! More taxes! That'll show 'em! Of course, one might take into consideration two points before I wrap this up:

1. Oil companies will simply pass this tax onto consumers.


2. What's wrong with them being profitable? I'm heavily invested in oil companies through the funds in my 401(k), as are most of you. Plus, last time I checked, all the companies you have ever worked for are trying to turn a profit as well.

In closing, I want to get back to the point that more and more liberals are pushing for oil exploration, thus admitting that supply levels affect price. My question to all of you is, why have the leftist enviromaniacs made us bend over and grab the ankles for this long before they finally bow their heads and succumb to the reality of Economics 101?

Foundation

Good evening all. I figured that if I'm going to put a blog up, I might as well spend a few minutes describing the purpose of Nuggets of Logic.

I started this blog to try and combat the utter lack of common sense and logic that has begun to permeate our society and political discourse. I have yet to see one liberal position for the upcoming election that is thought-out, logical, and consistent. Liberal politicians seem to be very good at complaining like schoolgirls about what they don't like, but can rarely give a detailed or logical description of their solution to a problem. This is typically because their position is based on emotion, not logic and rational thought.

For those of you who may not know where I stand politically, you probably just surmised I'm a pretty solid conservative. We'll deal with individual issues in detail and sort through them together as they come up. I've even provided links for you to contact your Senators and Congressman should the mood strike you. First though, I wanted to give you a baseline for where I'm coming from in my positions. I believe the following:

• There is and was a Creator
• Our Constitution is not "living and breathing". It's a black and white blueprint put forth to limit the power of our federal government. Any powers not expressly given to the federal government are meant to be left to the states. (If you're ever in D.C. and see the Constitution take a deep breath, let me know and I'll remove this bullet point)
• Lowering taxes will stimulate an economy to grow. Cutting spending as well will solidify that growth
• I can spend money more effectively on myself and my family than the government can
  
• We must have a strong national security to survive as a nation. There are many countries and organizations out there that would love to see our country wiped off the earth
• With the exception of very few things, the private sector can do a job better, quicker, and cheaper than government. That includes health care.
• America is a force for good in this world. That's why there are so many more people fighting to get in the US than fighting to get out
• People who choose to get up every morning and work should not be forced to pay for those that choose otherwise
• Success should be celebrated, not scorned upon and punished
• Supply and demand works. Every time. There's no asterisk in economic books that says, *Except for in the case of "big oil"
• I would rather have liberty and limitless opportunity and than a little security at the cost of freedom

And finally to really make some libs wet themselves and throw hissy fits:

• Man-made global warming is a crock. Anyone who thinks that changes in the temperature of the sun will not cause the earth to warm, but humans breathing and cows farting will, should be thrown out of the arena of rational conversation

There's definitely more, but that should be enough to start an interesting conversation. If anyone out there, conservative or liberal, has a response, I'd be happy to hear it. Also, please let me know if there is a certain topic you would like brought up for discussion.

Oh, I almost forgot. If I ever post something that hits close to home and you find yourself offended, get over it. Life is short and would be a lot sweeter if we could all learn to laugh at ourselves from time to time.

Welcome to Nuggets of Logic!!!

Happy 4th of July

Hello everyone out there. Nuggets of Logic was just created last night, so before we start getting into political talk, I wanted to take this inaugural post to wish everyone out there a happy Independence Day. If you happen to see a serviceman or servicewoman while hanging out with your family and friends, make sure to stop, shake their hand, and tell them "Thank you".