Random Reasoning's V

An occasional column of random thoughts and observations.

1. OK; no more "Blog On" as my signature. I'm going to use "tomtoak" instead. This was my first e-mail handle.
2. This week's poll: Will Obama be able to establish a universal health care program by; the end of 2009, 33%; the end of 2010, 28%; the end of his first term, 33%; it will never happen, 6%?
3. Sarah Palin was scary because she didn't know what she was doing; Dick Cheney was scary because he knew what he was doing.
4. Bernie Madoff - It's about time - now get the rest of them because he could not have done this all by himself.
5. Governor Mark Sanford, Hypocrite and Chief executive officer for South Carolina, you are this week's Herbert Hoover wanna-bee. It seems like Sandford wants stimulus money to pay down South Carolina's debt as he lectures the Federal government about spending money it doesn't have. The words, unbelievable and stupid come to mind here!
6. Remember when the Providence Journal was a proud and respected newspaper owned by Rhode Islanders? As they praise Governor Carcieri for attempting to cut taxes for the wealthiest citizens, they raise the daily cost of the "pamphlet" by 25%. This comes just after more layoffs. Do I hear a sucking sound of money leaving Rhode Island and heading to Texas?
7. Barack Obama is right. You can always read a person's personality on the basketball court. If he got Mark Sanford out there, my bet is that Sanford would be continually driving to the wrong basket.
8. Jeremiah Wright served 6 years in the Marines, Dick Cheney had 5 deferments. Hmmmm; what's wrong with this picture (Cheney's service to America)?
9. Happy birthday, Barbie (50 years).
10. A Democrat in West Virginia wants to outlaw Barbie dolls. I guess if you like your women fat and toothless, you can understand why the image of Barbie is a little disturbing.
11. Anyone know what "61727054" refers to? Let's hear from you.
12. McCain argues about 2% of the Federal budget in earmarks being the answer to fixing our economy. Donald Carcieri argues about 5% of the State budget for pension payments being the answer to fixing our economy (It's only this high because the State has robbed from the employees for years by not paying their fair share; now they have to bring money to the table). It seems like some Republicans need a math lesson!
13. Obama wants to repeal the Bush tax cut for the highest income bracket and return to 39.6% instead of the 35% rate today. Funny; at the end of Reagan's first term, this level was 50%, during Nixon's term this level was 70% and during Eisenhower's presidency it was 91%. And they call Barack Obama a socialist? Seems like "soaking the rich" was the common practice back in those good old Republican days.
14. Michael Steele believes bipartisanship is a "fiction of politics". I think today's Republican Party is a "fiction of politics".
15. I heard the just discovered message in Abraham Lincoln's pocket watch said; "screw you Rush Limbaugh". Amazing!
16. Just think; if the marginal taxation rate for upper income people returned to the same level as it was during the Eisenhower administration, we wouldn't give a shit about all those bonus payments to AIG executives. Hell, we'd be getting all of the money back.
17. Dick Cheney must be the only person in the United States that could shoot a lawyer in the face and not get sued.
18. Public pensions have become a target (even though they represent only 5% of the budget) because people are jealous of the benefit. Do the math; put aside close to 18% of your salary (half from the employee) for 35 years and compound the interest. Folks in the private sector are not putting aside this much (conservative growth of 7% over 35 years gives the pension system more than enough to meet payouts with a healthy profit for the State).
19. Pension systems are built to weather the storm. We have a storm right now, but because the state has been robbing repeatedly from the pension system, they now have to invest to make the system whole. Buying when the market is down is a good thing. Reported projections for the future are totally erroneous.
    

tomtoak