I am a diagnosed Obsessive Compulsive. This is pretty annoying, especially when it comes to checking doors and irons. But, it also has its benefits, which i don’t notice until later. What happens is that I usually get completely obsessed with something for a period of time, and spend countless hours on a hobby that I will eventually lose interest in and forget about. This has resulted in HUGE Star Wars and Star Trek collections, knowledge of obscure baseball trades in the 1980s, ancient roman coins, posters, books, or whatever else interests me at that moment.
When I was a kid, I was obsessed for a good chunk of time with collecting autographs. Consequently, I have a box of signed 8×10s from celebrities and politicians, which sits in my closet waiting to be moved to the next storage place. I can’t get rid of them, but they aren’t really useful. Sure I can frame and display my prized autograph from the legendary late Phil Hartman. But what do I do with my Sally Jesse Raphael one? You can’t throw it out. At least I can’t.
So, my solution is that I will just start scanning them from time-to-time and posting them on my blog. So, to begin with, here is the one that was floating around on the floor of my office here for the last few weeks (which is probably what inspired me to do this whole thing anyway).
Here you are people. My Childhood hero, Bob Vila.
Not kidding, he was my hero. My mom tells me of a story about going a boat show in Portland, and not wanting to leave because Bob Vila was going to be visiting later. We used to watch This Old House as a family every Sunday (as well as Hometime and the New Yankee Workshop). Even when he got fired from PBS (for that shill Steve Thomas), we still followed his show Home Again.
Cowltiz County Washington has always voted Democrat. They didn’t vote for Bush either time, and Obama won handily. (They even voted for Mondale in 1984. MONDALE IN 1984, PEOPLE!)
But, even with that support, they still loves them some guns. And, for some reason they think that one of the first thing President Obama will do is ban all gun sales (even though if you actually looked up his stance, he supports the second amendment, and that gun laws should be decided on the local level).
Anyway, here is screen capture of the headline from the Daily News:
What a picture!
Here is a link to the article as well. Apparently, this is something that happens every four years:
While many retailers focused on the regulations expected to come from Obama’s administration, [a guy], who works at the gun counter at Bob’s and has been selling guns 28 years, said gun sales have increased around presidential elections for years. It doesn’t matter which party wins the White House.
“Every four years you’ll see a spike, whether it’s a Republican or a Democrat,” he said.
If the trend is consistent with previous years, sales will taper off in mid-December, then increase again around Obama’s inauguration Jan. 20 until tapering off once again.
Asked why, he said, “I don’t know. Just fear, I think. … Everybody has that freaking-out issue.”
But I can’t help but tell you how creepy it is to look back at the old NY Times from the dates around the Crash that precipitated the Great Depression.
Per the wikipedia, the crash happened over the course of a few days and then took a good month to stretch out and be comfortable.
Three phrases – Black Thursday, Black Monday, and Black Wednesday – are used to describe this collapse of stock values. All three are appropriate, for the crash was not a one-day affair. The initial crash occurred on Black Thursday (October 24, 1929), but it was the catastrophic downturn of Black Monday and Tuesday (October 28 and October 29, 1929) that precipitated widespread panic and the onset of unprecedented and long-lasting consequences for the United States. The collapse continued for a month.
Ok, so I pulled up from the NY Times the paper for Friday, October 25, 1929 – which reported the previous days news (weird, I know, but there was a 24 turn time back them for news…) After the main headline screamed
WORST STOCK CRASH STEMMED BY BANKS; 12,894,650-SHARE DAY SWAMPS MARKET; LEADERS CONFER, FIND CONDITIONS SOUND… TREASURY OFFICIALS BLAME SPECULATION; Drastic Market Decline Found Not Due to Any Basic Business Weakness.
Then, there is this bit of reassurance:
(Take your pick of articles from the last year when Henry Paulson has told us that the econony is sound.)
Now, mind you this article is from the very first day of something that no one could have fully predicted. Earlier tonight I noted that this is the day after Black Thursday, the Friday before Black Monday and Tuesday, which were followed followed by Wednesday and Did-You-Know-That-Shoe-Leather-Is-Edible-Thursday (They canceled the remaining Fridays that year).
In hindsight, we know that these guys are full of malarky and have as much clue as, well, the current jokers in their shoes. But they were working with the best information they had and were trying to remain optimistic. It seems silly now, but that is because we know how this movie ends.
I decided to keep reading on, to see what happens in the next few days when the sh-t really hits the fan. A few days later, we see a well known richer than Croesus investor attempts to solidify the market by investing.
ROCKEFELLER BUYS, ALLAYING ANXIETY; Elder Financier Says Business Status Does Not Warrant the Destruction of Values. STATEMENT CHEERS STREET
But, as we know, this little bit of capital amounted to diddly poo for the market (but probably made Rockerfeller a lot of money by buyinng cheaply from the distressed.) The reason this stuck out to me was that just recently, there was a similar new story that read:
Warren Buffett says it’s time to buy US shares
Warren Buffett has dismissed the volatility in world markets and the bearish outlook for the global economy to begin investing in US equities in what is a highly contrary move from one of the world’s most successful investors.
Oh well, I will keep looking. I was originally going on there to see what kind of quaint stories and funny advertisement I could find, but got distracted by oddly famliar these front page article seemed. I will let you know what else I find.
According to Reuters, the independent political site with the most traffic was the Huffington Post, which is unabashedly liberal. It is also a pretty good read.
What I found most noteworthy was this:
One of the few sites to see its traffic decline was FreeRepublic.com, a conservative-leaning site, which was the fifth most-visited destination but saw its traffic dip slightly to 987,000 visitors. Do the traffic numbers offer a larger comment about the ardor or optimism of either Democrats or Republicans in this election cycle? That’s a debate that’s probably better left to the pundits.
If you haven’t visited it, you should. And the phrase “conservative-leaning site” doesn’t begin to explain the rants in the comment boards on this side. If you want to be amused, scared or saddened, check it out. It is just as good a read as the HuffPo.
Ironically, their sentiments are nearly identical to liberals in 2000 and 2004. And GWB pretty much did everything that they could have conceived in their most horrible nightmares. But you know what? We’re still here, for the most part. Because, you see, humans have a pretty good record of surviving, no matter what happens. To think that the world will end because of GWB or Obama is just silly.
So, Tuesday, Barack Obama was elected to be the 44th President of the USofA. He takes office January 20th, 2008, which is 74 days away. Until then, he’s not really president, but is sure expected to a big role.
Anyway, most people don’t think that 2012 election won’t really start until 2010. Most people are exhausted and just want to get this economy thing fixed.
But guess what? Mike Huckabee and Bobby Jindal will both be here in Iowa this month, just visiting. You know, cause everybody wants to visit Iowa in November (it is literally snowing outside as I am writing this).
Seriously, when was the last time the sitting governor of Louisiana visited Washington State or Wisconsin? In November, no less?
Here he is on Hannity
HANNITY: You’re going to be in Iowa pretty soon. And you’re going to give a big speech there. Am I allowed to read anything into that?
JINDAL: Well, they’ve got great weather in the fall. I want to go visit – you know, the honest streak is like — I’ve been in several states campaign for.
HANNITY: The weather?
JINDAL:Yes, the weather. They’ve got corn fields. I’ve never been to Iowa before.
HANNITY: I’m reading into it.
JINDAL:I’m going to do some sightseeing. But, no, the reality is I’ve been to other states to campaign for other candidates. I’ve been in Texas and I just.
HANNITY: We got to run, Governor.
JINDAL: I support this group. I look forward to going there.
Sightseeing in November. The corn gets harvested before it snows, Governor.
At least Huckabee is on a book tour that just happens to run through Iowa. Both are going to Cedar Rapids which is 60 or so miles from here.
I am gonna try to get Jen to go with me to see Huckabee, since he’s just signing at a bookstore (Jindal’s at some BS fundraising dinner). May as well start getting 2012 autograph collection put together; in 3 years, this place is gonna be a political mad house. Kinda cool to think about actually.
I have voted in 3 presidential elections. And since the first two times I openly supported a candidate, that candidate lost, for this election I decided to keep my mouth shut, through the primaries, the caucuses, all the way through the campaign, and again through last night. I was too worried, too cautious, and too superstitious.
Most people who knew me had a pretty good idea which horse I had picked. But I wasn’t about to say it out loud.
But I will say that this picture from ABCnews made me happy.
I have been pretty sick the last couple years. I really didn’t feel confident in the way things were going. Aside from the war and all that, the economy, bleh, I was really upset about the way Christianity (and faith in general) has been used as a weapon. It isn’t. It shouldn’t be.
I don’t want to rehash stuff that we all went through. But mostly this morning I feel like we have a little bit of hope. But I am still a little cautious. 2 years is a long time to have keep that inside.
NOW, here is what will be fun to watch for the next 4 years.
The Republicans are pretty much destroyed. GWB was like an overclocked processor. It ran hot and efficient, but ultimately burned out and destroyed the motherboard. McCain was like duct-taping it back together.
So, where do they go? Do they go right, left? Do they acknowledge Bush? Does he become re-imagined as a saint like Reagan? Do they realize that the last 6 months have been a conservative disaster, with the government expanding so grossly that even the liberals found it creepy? It is a mess, and there isn’t a clear path to follow and no clear leader to look to.
BUT, there are two people who immediately become the self-anointed front runners for the GOP in 2012.
Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin.
Now, Romney has money and infrastructure, and will spend the next four years tearing any shred of credibility away from Palin. It will be ugly and probably a lot easier with 4 years instead of the 2 months Obama had. There won’t be any Joe-Biden-punches-pulled style approach. She’s a veteran now and can and will take it.
And at the end of the day, Romney represents the whole GWB Big Government GOP that was soundly forced out of office in the last 2 elections. He’s slimy looking, a bit too clean to take home to mother. And, face it, most evangelicals won’t support an LDS candidate.
The other people are Bobby Jindal, and Tim Pawlenty, who are mostly untested Repub governors with some regional and party clout but no national exposure. But unless something craptastic happens in the next 4 years, its gonna take two terms before the GOP can reform and refocus. They will, but they don’t know where to go. Are they the party of conservative ideals? Can they face the reality that the Reagan approach isn’t going to with the global chess board, with China and India and Russia and Brazil and whoever pops up. That wishful thinking about the past isn’t going to work.
I don’t know where it will come back down. Will it be back to the Ron Paul libertarian model? Or the Bull Moose? Or the GOP of the 2000s.
Should be fun. I hope that I will be able to post more now. I really have been distracted by this whole thing.
Jen’s parents were in Dubuque this weekend. Yesteday was a bit cool and rainy, but today was clear, brisk and full of sun. The leaves are changing and it is quite pretty. Here are some pics from our adventures.
This is Dubuque from the Bluff, overlooking the city with Wisconsin on the left and Illinois on the right.
Here are some bugs with the Mississippi in the background
