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Monday, April 20, 2009

 

Back From the Beach (Myrtle, that is)

The golf was great, but the Beach, while busy, was not the crowded hot spot we had seen in Aprils of yore, though it hasn't been for some years. Global warming notwithstanding, later in April is better there, as the weather is still cool and damp until then. We had some good days and luckily didn't lose any holes. Good food, especially at Joe's, Barron's and Bonefish. All in all, a good break for musings and a couple of its devoted readers.

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While we were away, the Obama shenanigans continued, this time at the summit in Latin America where Barrack and a few of his left wing pals (Chavez, Castro, et al)engaged in a group hug. Maybe there is something to improving our image with our enemies, but I wonder how freedom loving Venezuelans and Cubans feel about our new President cozying up to their dictators. Frankly, it makes me a little queasy.

It might be wise for us to end the Cuban embargo, which provides the Castro brothers a convenient excuse for their unrelenting dismal economic performance over the last 51 years, but that's no reason not to make better relations contingent upon the freeing of political prisoners and other concessions to democracy.

One would think that Obama might learn a lesson from the fruits of his overtures to Iran, where the leadership has responded by making such warlike and anti-Semitic comments that even their European friends had to walk out in the middle of the Holocaust denier's speech at the UN Conference today.

When will liberal leaders and their naive supporters learn that in foreign relations, you don't simply turn bad guys into good guys with a little sweet talk. When national interests conflict, you negotiate from strength and confront threats and intimidation with firmness and brinkmanship. FDR, Truman, JFK and LBJ understood this and did their part, along with contemporary GOP leaders to advance US interests during hot and cold wars. On the other hand, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were hopeless appeasers, and from all indications, Obama may be as bad or worse. Of course Carter yielded Reagan and as this blog has noted before, sometimes you have to let the other side have their way for a while to remind everyone just how bad they are.

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Of course, we also have domestic concerns with the new administration, which seems determined to impose their ideas about health care and climate control on a divided republic. Not only are these "solutions" prohibitively expensive, they are also off the wall. With respect to climate, the natural order of things is for the earth to undergo periodic warming and cooling, not to mention regional climate variation. The idea that man is the main cause, or has within his capability the "solution," is the height of arrogance.

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After taking last week off, I was back on the buy side this morning, adding 400 shares of Home Diagnostics (HDIX) for 6.16 per share. Today was a real Blue Monday, typical of bull runs, by the way. I think there is a good chance the rest of the week may recoup some or all of what we lost today. At least that is what we can hope for. The shorts were at it big time today, but that could leave them exposed for a "pivotal Tuesday" rally toward the close tomorrow.

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