Category: Uncategorized

Another Book Review: Alan Alda’s Latest

Alan Alda’s latest book, Things I Overheard While Talking To Myself, generally isn’t very funny. But it is good.  Alda, a father and a grandfather, talks about his nearly fruitless search for meaning in life.  He talks about making a difference, but also how each of us is responsible for finding meaning meaning in our own lives.  Alda, as it appears, is a bit of a nerd, and he certainly does have some funny stories to tell, like the time he blew a hole through his ceiling as a kid when he had a loaded weapon.  Sure, it’s funny now!  Nobody died or was hurt, and somehow that brought Alda more to the consumate performer we have enjoyed for decades.

Parting shots from a depraved presidency

As we just discussed, we have plenty of reasons to not like or respect President Bush. With that in mind, let us introduce a new image, the duck representing a lame duck presidency.  And here are two more reasons to dislike and disrespect this guy:

This past week the administration indicated that it was likely to auction leases to oil companies for land abutting national parks and monuments, particularly in Utah.  Normally the Department of Interior gives a fairly long lead time for comments, but in this instance it was done at the last possible moment, so as to limit opposition.

Also this past week, President Bush indicated to Congress that he would not be opposed to another bailout bill, this one for the auto industry, if the Senate ratified a free trade agreement for Columbia.  Although all of these bailout bills leave a bad taste in my mouth, it’s not clear we have a choice.  But what really offends me is that President Bush is willing to anchor his negotiating position in a manner that may well be the wrong policy for the economy.  Furthermore, there are policy matters relating to Colombia that need to be addressed, such as whether the government is sufficiently stable, and whether we would be importing goods that were profiting the FARC.  These matters are both complex, but they are not inter-related, and so they should be dealt with separately.

Two more reasons to say good riddons to this president.

WSJ: Wah Wah Wah, Blah Blah Blah

Today’s Wall Street Journal is running quite a number of doom and gloom stories, simply because Democrats are strengthened through the election of Barack Obama and an increased number in the Senate and the House.  Remarkably this sounds an awful lot like the same sorts of stories they ran when Bill Clinton was elected.  And with his financial team that consisted of Former Senator Lloyd Benson and Robert Rubin, he was able to work collaboratively with the Federal Reserve AND Congress to produce both incredible growth and a balanced budget, results that have been reversed over the eight years by primarily a Republican president and a Republican Congress.

And so I have to ask:  why is it that the Journal thinks so highly of Republicans and their anti-regulation agenda?