Word of the Week

Effusive
ef·fu·sive
adj.
1. Unrestrained or excessive in emotional expression; gushy: an effusive manner.
2. Profuse; overflowing: effusive praise.

my spirit

2 Cor. 2:13
I had no rest in my spirit, for I did not find Titus my brother; but taking leave of them, I went forth into Macedonia.

2 Cor. 7:13
Because of this we have been comforted. And in addition to our comfort, we rejoice more abundantly over the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you.

Darwin was a Capitalist

Allowing Lehman to fail was perhaps the smartest thing Hank Paulson has done this year. Like other investment banks, Lehman was highly leveraged and had gorged itself on toxic assets. When any firm is leveraged at 30 to 1 and asset values drop, they quickly become insolvent. And insolvency, if you were wondering, is not good.

Blame is easy to spread around, and excuses come cheap in Washington. Maybe FAS 157 is the culprit, banking regulations were too weak; perhaps aliens interfered. The point of the matter is that poorly-run businesses need to fail.

Fast forward a few months and we have $700 billion sitting at Hank’s fingertips. They call it the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. That money may be able to free up the credit markets, revive the economy, and save the world – but only time will tell.

Eager to exploit the benevolence of American taxpayers, Detroit auto executives are now sprinting, palms-outstretched, to Washington with hopes to claim some of the TARP funding. Detroit, by the way, is home to General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler.

While the financial crisis undoubtedly has affected American automakers, their issues go far beyond credit and the economy, and taxpayers should be concerned by any political movement to place Detroit on welfare.

Congress passed a $25 billion loan package for automakers in September; apparently that wasn’t enough. Now Democrats are working to grant another $25 billion of aid for the “Big Three.” But throwing money at our auto industry is not a solution.

Regardless how the economy is doing, General Motors cannot stay competitive. Their stock, for example, has been in decline for the past eight years. The sad truth is that our auto industry is crippled.

Detroit automakers have allowed unions too much power. And perpetuated by misguided government policies, unions workers have strangled their employers to the point of extinction.

Should the government step in to save this ailing industry? No, unfortunately it's too late. The course of evolution requires that Detroit become part of history. New companies have evolved - stronger and better equipped for the 21st century.

As Darwin would say, it's natural selection. "Survival of the fittest." Let capital be efficient, let the markets adjust our economy. It's going to happen, eventually.

Happy Birthday!!!

It's really hard
We heard her say
To change your diapers
everyday
Do the laundry
Clean those clothes
Wash the dishes
Let's hope she knows
How much we care
Her love it shows
This one is rare
And we're so proud
Congrats, we cheer
And well done boys...

We raised a good mom!




Happy Birthday Mother.

Stories from another universe

My desk is always a mess. The clutter is unbearable and usually spills over onto the floor area surrounding me. And as if the papers and books weren't bad enough, I also have this nasty tendency to horde dishes on my desk. Every once in a while we run out of cups or bowls and I have to make several trips to my room to recover those items.

Maybe this is an indicator that I need "training." Yes, that thing. I don't know. Just a few minutes ago I noticed that gallon of milk sitting on my desk for - well I'm not sure how long. It was from the cereal. The cereal. I remember now; there had been already a bowl (and cups and plates for that matter) on my desk, so I ran to the kitchen to bring cereal and milk.

Milk shouldn't be left on my desk over night. I put it back.

"Moon River"

Moon River, wider than a mile,
I'm crossing you in style some day.
Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker,
wherever you're going I'm going your way.
Two drifters off to see the world.
There's such a lot of world to see.
We're after the same rainbow's end--
waiting 'round the bend,
my huckleberry friend,
Moon River and me.


music by Henry Mancini, lyrics by Johnny Mercer

But Galenson simply wanted to poll a broad cross-section of literary scholars about which poems they felt were the most important in the American canon. The top eleven are, in order, T. S. Eliot’s “Prufrock,” Robert Lowell’s “Skunk Hour,” Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” William Carlos Williams’s “Red Wheelbarrow,” Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Fish,” Ezra Pound’s “The River Merchant’s Wife,” Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy,” Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro,” Frost’s “Mending Wall,” Wallace Stevens’s “The Snow Man,” and Williams’s “The Dance.”

If I recall correctly, this is Gladwell talking about the thoughts and research for his latest book, Outliers. The paragraph sort of popped out and hit me in the face, and I realized that some of these pieces I am not familiar with. Hence I've begun a journey through the eleven poems. My mind right now is scattered, so I only attempted the first two. As Robert Lowell would say, "My mind’s not right."

We'll save the rest for a later day...

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

~Frost

Things on my mind...

My blog is expecting a new visitor so I decided to tidy up a bit.


Warren Buffet has a book I really want to read, The Snowball. I have the book and would like to start reading it but two things prevent this; 1) I haven't the time 2) It's preoccupied currently such as it is being used as a prop to elevate my monitor.

Also, there is a book on my desk about some ridiculous thing called a FairTax. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer right? Yup, I should read it.

Song: I Don't Mind
Album: Cherry Tree EP
Artist: The National

I've decided to start posting an occasional picture or two. This week in pictures; but only one or two, so as to keep a slight trickle of viewership. That would be good I think.

Ready for my third glass of gingerbread egg nogg, a close cousin to the potentially better tasting boiled-custard. Which, dear reader, do you prefer?