Tuesday, February 20, 2007
New Blogger replaces Old Blogger Format (So What?)
We're on new blogger, which I think doesn't matter much, but maybe comments will now appear in a pop-up window as they are supposed to. Hopefully, nothing much else has really changed. If so, please let me know. Possibly, I have messed up everything technologically - e-mail, the blog, my stock program, etc. etc. I'll know soon enough.
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A great letter writer in today's WSJ pointed out that the House resolution proves once and for all that the country is not really at war, only our armed forces. He cleverly quoted Churchill regarding our "sheep in sheep's clothing." No one should be surprised at the cowardice of our Congressional leaders, including by the way the Senate where barely over 40 votes were mustered to sustain the filibuster. I have blogged previously about the defeatism and lack of character of our baby boom generation, in striking contrast to their parents' greatest generation.
Interestingly, an op ed column in the WSJ that also appeared today posited that if we pulled our forces from Iraq, the situation would get no worse, and I kind of find myself agreeing. That doesn't make it the right thing to do, by the way.
And by the way, I was amused by the trials and tribulations of Hilary Clinton campaigning for democratic primary votes in New Hampshire, taken to task for her 2002 vote authorizing the war. She says that the vote was not a mistake (presumably given what we knew then) , but that the priority now is to "end the war as quickly as possible." Presumably, she will repeat the mantra that the Bush administration was mistaken to "rush into" war based on the same information she had, and isn't it horrible that Bush can't admit a mistake. Well if he was mistaken, so was she, and why can't she admit a mistake? Of course, I think they both did the right thing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The merger of Sirius and XM was predicted by about 120% of the analysts and if it somehow passes anti-trust muster, it has to be a good thing for stockholders to end the ludicrous bidding war for talent between the two. It will be crucial to rein in expenses if satellite radio is to maintain an affordable pricing structure and repeat the success of cable TV. Otherwise, it's a lot of investors' money down the drain (including mine).
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On 2/14, with love in the air, I shed 100 shares of B at 22.16, not because I love it less, simply to gain ground against my target cash allocation. The rising market has continued to move that target "elusively" away. Anyway, those shares were getting moldy, since I bought them 9/28/97 (that's right, last century) at 14.40625. Today, I sold 700 shares of SFE at 2.97, originally purchased on 10/14/02 at 0.97. Sadly, both transactions hit the taxable account.
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A great letter writer in today's WSJ pointed out that the House resolution proves once and for all that the country is not really at war, only our armed forces. He cleverly quoted Churchill regarding our "sheep in sheep's clothing." No one should be surprised at the cowardice of our Congressional leaders, including by the way the Senate where barely over 40 votes were mustered to sustain the filibuster. I have blogged previously about the defeatism and lack of character of our baby boom generation, in striking contrast to their parents' greatest generation.
Interestingly, an op ed column in the WSJ that also appeared today posited that if we pulled our forces from Iraq, the situation would get no worse, and I kind of find myself agreeing. That doesn't make it the right thing to do, by the way.
And by the way, I was amused by the trials and tribulations of Hilary Clinton campaigning for democratic primary votes in New Hampshire, taken to task for her 2002 vote authorizing the war. She says that the vote was not a mistake (presumably given what we knew then) , but that the priority now is to "end the war as quickly as possible." Presumably, she will repeat the mantra that the Bush administration was mistaken to "rush into" war based on the same information she had, and isn't it horrible that Bush can't admit a mistake. Well if he was mistaken, so was she, and why can't she admit a mistake? Of course, I think they both did the right thing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The merger of Sirius and XM was predicted by about 120% of the analysts and if it somehow passes anti-trust muster, it has to be a good thing for stockholders to end the ludicrous bidding war for talent between the two. It will be crucial to rein in expenses if satellite radio is to maintain an affordable pricing structure and repeat the success of cable TV. Otherwise, it's a lot of investors' money down the drain (including mine).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On 2/14, with love in the air, I shed 100 shares of B at 22.16, not because I love it less, simply to gain ground against my target cash allocation. The rising market has continued to move that target "elusively" away. Anyway, those shares were getting moldy, since I bought them 9/28/97 (that's right, last century) at 14.40625. Today, I sold 700 shares of SFE at 2.97, originally purchased on 10/14/02 at 0.97. Sadly, both transactions hit the taxable account.
