Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Amazing Easter Weekend
The Masters surprised again, with a rare failure by Tiger to close the deal and an almost unplayable golf course for the first three days. Since we couldn't feel the wind and cold, it was still eye candy for TV bound golf fans despite the cringing over all the missed three footers.
Then there was hockey's amazing last regular season weekend, particularly Islanders-Devils, with the latter's last second goal seemingly denying the Isles the final playoff spot, only to have their rookie goaltender win it for them in the shootout. I was pretty well exhausted by the end of that game.
The action continued Monday with the Mets rallying in the eighth to beat the slow starting Phillies in the home opener. Of course, those heroics were nothing compared to Jack Bauer's on 24 later that evening.
So it was quite enjoyable and I am heading to Florida this Thursday to see Mom and Dad, so there will be no new blog posts before next week.
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Watching Don Imus suffer for his racially charged comments concerning the Rutgers women's B-Ball team leaves me with mixed emotions. On the one hand, I hate to witness the forces of political correctness in high dudgeon over every insensitive bad joke. As Don's rival Howard Stern would say, people are a little too sensitive these days. On the other hand, I enjoyed hearing Imus and his crony Bill Maher commiserating this morning. To be honest, guys like them bring this on themselves with their attitude that they know what's best for the rest of us and so easily pass judgment even on those in authority. When the elitists get taken down a peg, it's fun, as Imus himself would be the first to say. Unfortunately, he has become one of them, with his sucking up to his liberal media guests and his mindless references to our VP as a war criminal (without stating his alleged crimes), etc.
No doubt Iraq has been difficult, but that doesn't make the venture right or wrong and Imus has been relentless in arousing the opinion of his many fans against the Administration. You don't go into Iraq lightly, and you have no assurance of success. By the same token, you shouldn't just throw in the towel at the first sign that things are not going as planned. Imus and the Left don't get that. Most of them have approached the whole situation from the starting point that they hate the President and want to see him fail, even if the consequences for the country are negative. That is NOT loyal opposition, it is simply opposition. There are signs that the Bush troop surge is making a difference in Baghdad, to my own surprise. Do you think the Dems want to see that? They don't. That is not supporting the troops, no matter what they say.
So if Imus' beloved fellow elitists are burning him over his Michael Richards type humor, so be it. I don't recall hearing him support Richards when he got in hot water.
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It's also amusing to hear Dems clucking over the Guiliani candidacy, wondering why the Christian Right is considering his nomination when his social positions are not in synch with the Falwells of the world. But Rudy has a good chance for the nod. Simply put, the media have always overstated the influence of the Christian Right in GOP politics. It is an important faction, but the GOP, like the Dems, has a big tent. Even evangelicals will consider the candidates in light of all of the important issues, not just abortion and other social issues. Republicans are no more Bible toting, armed and dangerous, abortion clinic bombing, red-neck xenophobes than Dems are a bunch of atheist, fetus killing, homosexual, communist pacifists.
But those are the stereotypes.
What worries Dems are Rudy's poll numbers against Hillary, and their concern stems from the fact that if he gets the nomination, he might win an election Dems believe is their birthright. It's amazing to me that when I talk to people from the South and West, they have such a positive image of Rudy, much more so than we do in NY.
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On Monday, I sold 700 shares of SFE from the taxable account at 3.20, originally purchased on 10/14/02 for 0.97.
Then there was hockey's amazing last regular season weekend, particularly Islanders-Devils, with the latter's last second goal seemingly denying the Isles the final playoff spot, only to have their rookie goaltender win it for them in the shootout. I was pretty well exhausted by the end of that game.
The action continued Monday with the Mets rallying in the eighth to beat the slow starting Phillies in the home opener. Of course, those heroics were nothing compared to Jack Bauer's on 24 later that evening.
So it was quite enjoyable and I am heading to Florida this Thursday to see Mom and Dad, so there will be no new blog posts before next week.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Watching Don Imus suffer for his racially charged comments concerning the Rutgers women's B-Ball team leaves me with mixed emotions. On the one hand, I hate to witness the forces of political correctness in high dudgeon over every insensitive bad joke. As Don's rival Howard Stern would say, people are a little too sensitive these days. On the other hand, I enjoyed hearing Imus and his crony Bill Maher commiserating this morning. To be honest, guys like them bring this on themselves with their attitude that they know what's best for the rest of us and so easily pass judgment even on those in authority. When the elitists get taken down a peg, it's fun, as Imus himself would be the first to say. Unfortunately, he has become one of them, with his sucking up to his liberal media guests and his mindless references to our VP as a war criminal (without stating his alleged crimes), etc.
No doubt Iraq has been difficult, but that doesn't make the venture right or wrong and Imus has been relentless in arousing the opinion of his many fans against the Administration. You don't go into Iraq lightly, and you have no assurance of success. By the same token, you shouldn't just throw in the towel at the first sign that things are not going as planned. Imus and the Left don't get that. Most of them have approached the whole situation from the starting point that they hate the President and want to see him fail, even if the consequences for the country are negative. That is NOT loyal opposition, it is simply opposition. There are signs that the Bush troop surge is making a difference in Baghdad, to my own surprise. Do you think the Dems want to see that? They don't. That is not supporting the troops, no matter what they say.
So if Imus' beloved fellow elitists are burning him over his Michael Richards type humor, so be it. I don't recall hearing him support Richards when he got in hot water.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's also amusing to hear Dems clucking over the Guiliani candidacy, wondering why the Christian Right is considering his nomination when his social positions are not in synch with the Falwells of the world. But Rudy has a good chance for the nod. Simply put, the media have always overstated the influence of the Christian Right in GOP politics. It is an important faction, but the GOP, like the Dems, has a big tent. Even evangelicals will consider the candidates in light of all of the important issues, not just abortion and other social issues. Republicans are no more Bible toting, armed and dangerous, abortion clinic bombing, red-neck xenophobes than Dems are a bunch of atheist, fetus killing, homosexual, communist pacifists.
But those are the stereotypes.
What worries Dems are Rudy's poll numbers against Hillary, and their concern stems from the fact that if he gets the nomination, he might win an election Dems believe is their birthright. It's amazing to me that when I talk to people from the South and West, they have such a positive image of Rudy, much more so than we do in NY.
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On Monday, I sold 700 shares of SFE from the taxable account at 3.20, originally purchased on 10/14/02 for 0.97.
