Say Anything Blog

I got a letter from the Kyle office, not sure whether it is because I am on a Republican Party list (AZGOP) or because I donated money to Kyle last election.  But nonetheless, it was enlightening and had a link to a Hugh Hewitt Article:

Arizona’s Jon Kyl, perhaps the single most effective and principled conservative in the United States Senate, is the model of what every senator should be –smart, hard working, humble about his occupying the office, and aware of the obligations of that office. He is also a gentleman and a scholar –a genuine authority on Constitutional law, and a man of genuine character. Kyl’s also a fighter for conservative causes, especially the fortunes of President Bush’s judicial nominees.

Jon Kyl is also the workhorse for the GOP caucus on the immigration bill, doing his best to make the bill as workable as possible from the position as point man of the minority party.

This unenviable task has earned Senator Kyl an enormous amount of enmity from very vocal opponents of the bill, especially those for whom the issue is the single most important piece of legislation. Suddenly Jon Kyl’s impeccable record on the war, cutting taxes, the life of the unborn, spending restraint, and of course judges matters not at all, and the airwaves are full of spleen. The attacks on Kyl haven’t just been harsh, they have been full of the sort of venom usually seen in the fever swamps of the left directed at George Bush for waging the war against the Islamist jihadists.

But when the debate is over and the bill either passes or is defeated, Jon Kyl is the same guy who stood rock solid since the war began in defense of the prosecution of that war and in support of the troops, in defense of Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Alito and scores of other judicial nominees, and on the side of countless other conservative causes over a dozen years in the Senate and eight years in the House. He deserves much better than he is getting. When he writes that “If I were the only one writing this bill, it would be very different,” he has earned our trust in his good faith.

We don’t owe Senator Kyl our agreement or our silence, of course, but we do owe him a hearing and a respectful though vigorous and full-throated dissent, one that is coupled with a recognition of his past, present and future service. If you have trouble giving him both, then you have lost track of the central proposition that distinguishes conservatives from the far and sometimes not-so-far reaches of the left: Justice.

I broke out the checkbook for two candidates in last election--JD Hayworth (R-AZ) and Jon Kyle (R-AZ).  Immigration alone was reason enough to support JD.  Kyle is so solidly Conservative that I never thought for a second of not ensuring that he was back in DC.

It is amazing that one bill and I start comparing Kyle to John McCain, my other Senator.  I think that Kyle deserves to have his bill attacked, but one bill does not define him.  Maybe in six years this vote and bill will be forgotten.  That is the benefit of running for the Senate.  He is safe for the next two elections.  But the rest of the party isn’t.

Cross Posted from ski-blog.com

Last night’s RC Star Wars was awesome.  As expected from Robot Chicken and Adult Swim in general.  Adult Swim.com has all the clips online and available for embed on your site.  Two quick clips:

The second one is slightly more “wrong”.

This article crossposted from ski-blog.com.

The Wall Street Journal has an article on Arizona Snowbowl that presents a pretty balanced summary of the ruling.  This is probably the most balanced and complete piece that I have read:

But in March, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals killed the scheme. The reason: The mountaintops are sacred to the Navajo and 12 other tribes, even though the land is not part of their reservations…

At issue is the interpretation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA, which Congress passed in 1993 with almost unanimous support after the Supreme Court upheld a government decision to deny unemployment benefits to two Native Americans fired for using illegal drugs in a religious ceremony. In the past, courts denied that the First Amendment’s religious-freedom protections extend to American Indians who challenge federal land-use decisions. RFRA changed that by requiring the government to demonstrate a compelling interest when considering any action that would substantially burden a religious practice. The Snowbowl case is the first to successfully apply the law to a sacred site, says Howard Shanker, the Flagstaff attorney who represented several of the tribes before the court.

It is important to note that the 9th Circuit is delving into new territory here with their ruling.  Note that the RFRA has never been interpreted to apply the law to American Indians challenging federal land use decisions.  The 9th Circuit went out on a huge limb here.  The scary part is that the 9th Circuit set a precedence that other tribes are now using:

Since the March ruling, the Quechan Tribe in Yuma, Ariz., has sued to stop a public land swap for a new oil refinery, the first to be constructed in the U.S. in more than 30 years. The tribe says the land is culturally significant. The ruling could also boost the Snoqualmie Tribe’s long-standing bid to block the permit renewal for Puget Sound Energy’s 109-year-old hydroelectric power plant at the Snoqualmie Falls, the tribe’s most sacred site.

Tribe members hail the 9th Circuit decision as a major victory.  But is it really a long lasting victory?  The 9th Circuit has some ominous numbers on appeal to the Supreme Court:

From time to time these columns have noted the out-of-step jurisprudence of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Circuit, with headquarters in San Francisco and jurisdiction over nine Western states, is heavy on Democratic appointees: Of its 27 currently active judges, three were appointed by President Carter and 13 by President Clinton. They are frequently overruled by the Supreme Court, but this term may set a record.

So far the Justices have reviewed eight Ninth Circuit decisions, and the Circuit is 0-8. The High Court has reversed four decisions and vacated four more. In Ayers v. Belmontes, a 5-4 Court reinstated a death sentence that the Ninth Circuit had overturned. In U.S. v. Resendiz-Ponce, a criminal procedure case, Justice Antonin Scalia cast a lone dissenting vote in favor of the Circuit’s position.

The six other cases were all unanimous. That means—for those keeping score—that the cumulative vote against the Ninth Circuit in Supreme Court reviews since October is 67-5. Keep in mind that this is an appellate court that is supposed to heed Supreme Court precedent.

Snowbowl is in the process of appealing the decision now along with the US Department of Agriculture that controls the US Forest Service.  In reality, all the 9th Circuit ruling did is delay the snowmaking at Snowbowl for another season or two and further inconvenience the skiers of Arizona.

Here are the May Employment Numbers from 1999:

The unemployment rate, at 4.2 percent, was little changed in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The number of nonfarm payroll jobs edged up by 11,000, following a large increase of 343,000 in April (as revised).

Side by side with today’s numbers

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 157,000 in May, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.

Next sections breaking down who is unemployed:

1999--Over the month, jobless rates declined for adult women (3.6 percent) and teenagers (12.6 percent).  Unemployment rates for adult men (3.6 percent), whites (3.7 percent), blacks (7.5 percent), and Hispanics (6.7 percent) were virtually unchanged in May.

2007--Over the month, the jobless rates for the
major worker groups--adult men (4.0 percent), adult women (3.8 percent), teenagers (15.7 percent), whites (3.9 percent), blacks (8.5 percent), and Hispanics (5.8 percent)--showed little or no change.  The unemployment rate for Asians was 2.9 percent, not seasonally adjusted.

Total Jobs:

1999--The civilian labor force, at 139.0 million, and the labor force participation rate, at 67.0 percent, were essentially unchanged from April. Total employment, at 133.2 million, also was little changed.  The employment-population ratio--the proportion of the population age 16 and over with jobs--remained at 64.2 percent in May.

2007--The civilian labor force also was about unchanged at 152.8 million, and the labor force participation rate remained at 66.0 percent.  In May, total employment was about unchanged at 145.9 million, and the employment-population ratio held at 63.0 percent.

Wages:

1999--Average hourly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 5 cents in May to $13.19, seasonally adjusted.  Average weekly earnings rose by 0.7 percent in May to $455.06, seasonally adjusted.  Over the year, average hourly earnings rose by 3.6 percent and average weekly earnings rose by 3.0 percent.

2007--Average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 6 cents, or 0.3 percent, in May to $17.30, seasonally adjusted.  Average weekly earnings grew by 0.6 percent over the month to $586.47.  Over the year, average hourly and weekly earnings rose by 3.8 and 4.1 percent, respectively.

Let me summarize:

The unemployment rate is relatively unchanged (though slightly higher for blacks and dramatically higher for teenagers) since 1999.  The economy has created 12.7M jobs that pay on average $4.11 more per hour or $131.41 per week more.  In between, we all recognize that there was a major terrorist attack, a global economic recession, and we have been engaged in a 4 year long war overseas in Iraq and an almost 6 year long war in Afghanistan.

1999 was in the middle of the “boom” times of a “great economy” in the eyes of Democrats.  I just cannot see that in any statistical way, today’s economy isn’t as good or better.  But just as a point of comparison, the CPI in April 1999 was 166.2 and the CPI today is 206.7.  Wages have grown by 31% over the 8 years, but the CPI is only up 24%.  Wage growth is outpacing CPI.

In case you don’t know what the CPI is or think it doesn’t account for gas prices or healthcare costs:

The CPIs are based on prices of food, clothing, shelter, and fuels, transportation fares, charges for doctors’ and dentists’ services, drugs, and other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day living.

The BLS reported their May employment numbers:

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 157,000 in May, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.  Health care and food services added jobs, while employment declined in manufacturing.  Average hourly earnings rose by 6 cents, or 0.3 percent, over the month.

The number of unemployed persons (6.8 million) and the unemployment rate (4.5 percent) were unchanged in May.  The jobless rate has ranged from 4.4 to 4.6 percent since September 2006.  Over the month, the jobless rates for the major worker groups--adult men (4.0 percent), adult women (3.8 percent), teenagers (15.7 percent), whites (3.9 percent), blacks (8.5 percent), and Hispanics (5.8 percent)--showed little or no change.  The unemployment rate for Asians was 2.9 percent, not seasonally adjusted.

Average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 6 cents, or 0.3 percent, in May to $17.30, seasonally adjusted.  Average weekly earnings grew by 0.6 percent over the month to $586.47.  Over the year, average hourly and weekly earnings rose by 3.8 and 4.1 percent, respectively.

Now, it appears to me that this means that your average American worker is earning 4% more than they did a year ago, that unemployment for adults is around 4%, and that the economy has created pushing 10M jobs since 2003 when the Bush tax cuts went into effect.

The markets have taken notice of the positives:

The economic data capped a week of better-than-forecast earnings and acquisitions that added to more than $1 trillion in takeovers so far this year. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index surpassed its 2000 record and set two more peaks this week, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average today reached its 26th high for the year.

``We’ve had a well-balanced economic picture, very low inflation and good earnings,’’ said Lincoln Anderson, who helps manage $150 billion as chief investment officer of LPL Financial Services in Boston. ``The combination is great for stocks.’’

The S&P 500 added 5.72, or 0.4 percent, to 1536.34. The Dow average increased 40.47, or 0.3 percent, to 13,668.11. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 9.4, or 0.4 percent, to 2613.92.

The S&P 500 gained 1.4 percent in the week, while the Dow added 1.2 percent and the Nasdaq 2.2 percent. Exchanges were closed May 28 for the Memorial Day holiday.

Clearly what this means for the American economy is that:

• Outsourcing is getting worse and more and more good paying jobs are going overseas.
  
• The good jobs that paid high wages are going to India so that a few corporate execs can get massive bonuses and the new jobs that are left behind are at Walmart or in the services sector that pay next to nothing.
  
• Most American adults cannot make ends meet on two incomes and the minimum wage needs to rise so that struggling adults with families can get by.
  
• Tax cuts will only benefit the rich and the lost revenue will cut into services that the poor and the unemployed need so they can get by.
  

We see that every single premise offered is wrong.  The tax cuts are creating jobs which increases the competition for workers forcing companies to pay more.  Adult unemployment is almost non-existent (especially for whites, but is at historic lows--lower than during the Clinton boom years--for minorities as well) so employers can only pay the worst performing adults minimum wage because there are so many new jobs created every day.  Teenagers that lack job skills are the most likely to be unemployed and also by far the most likely to make minimum wage. The “outsourcing” boogeyman that Dems campaigned on the last two election cycles does not exist at the Macroeconomic level.  Some jobs have gone overseas and that sucks for the people that lose them.  But the economy as a whole has created close to 10M net jobs since 2003 and that is counting the job losses to “outsourcing”.  If the new jobs created were low paying, average hourly wages would be dropping not rising.

Hating Bush and wanting these things to be untrue due to that hatred, or hating the wealthy because they drive H2’s and keep getting richer, is not sufficient to logically ignore the facts.  Whining about homelessness, or lack of healthcare, or poor wages, or unemployment is not enough to override the facts.  Having a bleeding heart may indeed cut the blood flow to one’s brain that processes economic data, but the facts are in--Republican policies of tax cuts, less regulation, and a pro-business climate work.  They stimulate job growth and that benefits everyone.  Even the middle class working man has a 401k and the rising stock market and rising wages are good for the middle class.  Wage growth is outpacing inflation and a huge part of that is due to the “Walmart effect” or the forced lower prices and efficiencies that Walmart has placed on all businesses by creating competition. Now, I will open it up to the trolls to post how wrong I am on all accounts and why we need Hillary, Barack, or John “haircut, two Americas” Edwards to save the country from poverty.  Please enlighten us:

Sorry to b1tch, but simple web ettiquette when you post…

Please add attributes to your images when you post them.  Before your src in your img tags, add a width="500" or less value.  This will resize your image and keep the site readable.  Otherwise it blows up the page.

Sorry to whine, but this is the second time this week.  It works even better when you resize them on your own computer first before uploading them because it allows for faster page loads to have a 100k jpg file than a 1.5m jpg.

I’m just sayin…

Crossposted and reprinted from Ski-blog.com

I am republishing this today for a couple of reasons.  First, Rob is being attacked by the Turtle Mountain Tribe.  I want to show some solidarity and let him know that the tribal leadership in Arizona is just as bad.  They haven’t tried to ban me for my blog yet, but probably should.  Second, Falwell’s death caused me to go back and review this.

The folks with the Hopi Tribe need to put the pipe down.

Hopi attorney Scott Canty said it is up to the deities, not man, to make snow.

“To usurp their authority is a crime, an insult,” he said. “It desecrates the entire mountain that the Hopi believe is a living entity.”

The tribes say Snowbowl is an affront to their religion and its existence may have caused the Sept. 11 attacks and other universal calamities. The resort, one of two in the state, might go out of business because of a lack of snowfall.

I seem to remember 9-11 being caused by 19 hijackers with knives crashing jets into buildings and farm ground.  Even if you are a nutjob conspiracy theorist, 9-11 was at worst caused by George Bush.  I never thought it was caused by skiing.  I am declaring a skiing jihad.  From this point forward, I will attempt to cause calamity across the globe by offending the deities of the Hopi tribe by desecrating their sacred land with my two planks.  Gotta say, me thinks that the 9-11 hijackers were not real concerned with the Hopi Gods when they were chanting Allah Akbar and crashing planes into buildings.  But that is just me.

How do they expect us to take them seriously when they throw crap like this out there?  This is a serious lawsuit and it is just retarded to throw out the rhetoric that they are using.  They ought to be ashamed.  But if their Gods are behind 9-11, we are all in trouble.  I think their Gods should probably be more upset about the fact that 50% of Arizona Indians have diabetes, their only real source of income for the reservations is casinos, there are massive alcohol problems among the tribes, and the Indians traded away vast amounts of their deity’s land for trinkets and beads.  As I said, if the worst that their God has done to punish us for our disobedience in those matters was 9-11, I think we are safe to make snow there. 

Update:  Sorry, for those of you who missed the Jerry Falwell reference, he made the following statement about 9-11 two days after the attacks:

On the broadcast of the Christian television program “The 700 Club,” Falwell made the following statement:

“I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this happen.’”

Falwell, pastor of the 22,000-member Thomas Road Baptist Church, viewed the attacks as God’s judgment on America for “throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked.”

I consider these kind of comments to represent the most reprehensible kind of rhetoric possible.  To use a national tragedy to advance ones own religious or political views is just sickening.  Every action that we take that someone does not agree with now affects some other person’s “GODS”.  If the Hopi Gods are that upset with the ski industry, maybe we should all give up skiing to appease them.  I hate to think that I might personally be responsible for 9-11 because I have never used a box cutter to hijack an airplane.  And if I offended anyone by posting Jerry Falwell’s statements (for which he later appologized), please just explain the difference between what he said and what the Hopis said.  At least Falwell appologized for his outrageous statements.  No one is asking the Hopis to.

Seattle Weekly has this article about local non-resort ski schools:

It sounds like the plot for a bad Jason London movie: A ski mogul with an eye on the bottom line takes over a local resort and cancels contracts with the community-based ski schools that have traditionally served the slopes, then asks the ski bums to join the corporate ranks. Lessons double in cost. Longtime skiers and snowboarders are outraged. The National Forest Service washes its hands of the matter. Will the underdog community schools yield to big business? Can snow-loving families afford the increased cost of lessons? Will the feds step in?…

In a letter sent two weeks ago to a handful of schools that have served the resort since its inception (Crystal refuses to comment on matters directly related to the decision), Kircher states that cutting ties is the result of tough times in the ski industry, with problems including increased fuel costs, lack of qualified staffing, low customer-retention rate, and erratic weather. Herein, Kircher writes: “In times like these we are forced to come up with new and creative ways to manage our business,” later adding that the change, “will allow us to create standards of excellence based on specific skiing/riding models and customer service models.” The letter concludes by inviting schools to ”become part of our family and share the Crystal Mountain experience,” an offer the now-unemployed instructors took as an invitation to work for Crystal’s in-house school…

For Kevin McCarthy, president of the White Pass ski area (located west of Yakima on Highway 12), which cut ties with its concession schools shortly before he started running things in the early ‘70s, consolidation is simply good business. “Why give business that’s occurring on your property to someone else? You need every penny you can get. They’re making a good call.” he says.

It is akin to owning a movie theatre and letting someone set up a vending boot inside your theatre and sell popcorn and soda without giving you a cut.  Resorts make a huge portion of their money (and an even larger portion of their profits) off of their ski school.  Ski schools have little long term fixed assets associated with them meaning that most of their cost model is variable costs as opposed to fixed.  This allows flexibility to increase or decrease costs according to demand.  In short, this is a necessary and smart business decision, but it hurts locals that don’t want to make the $9 an hour that most resorts pay their instructors.

Something that really bothers me though is this:

Further complicating matters is the fact that Crystal is located on government land and operates under a “special use permit” issued by the National Forest Service. In addition to a percentage of Crystal’s profits going to the National Treasury, this means that the NFS has a significant say over business decisions that are made at Crystal and other local slopes, to the point that the resorts must seek approval for details as specific as the color and style of their buildings.

But in the case of the spurned schools, the NFS has chosen not to interfere. “Things we do have say over are safety and what kind of services are provided,” says Washington’s Forest Service director, Rob Iwamoto. “Obviously, ski school is one of those—but how business is arranged isn’t one of those. In general, who provides [the ski-school service] is a business decision. We just expect a level of service to be provided. We are not there to micromanage a business.”

You mean any time a business makes a decision that someone is unhappy about the government must choose whether to interfere or not?  Well, it is on forest service land that the ski resort has a special use permit for.  So surely the special use permit gives the government the right to choose whether to interfere with business operations.  The article should have mentioned that the government also chooses not to interfere with ticket prices or food prices in the cafeterias.  Typical Seattle type attitude.  Before the government concerns themselves with local ski instructors, we need the government to choose to interfere with the price that I pay for a latte from SBC or Starbucks or choose to interfere with how much Windows or MS Office costs.  (SBC, Starbucks, and Microsoft being Seattle based companies)

No, the only thing the government needs to choose to interfere with is the amount of THC that is soaking in to this man-ponytail wearing, latte sipping, Seattle based, hippy brain.  Damn, dude, put on a flannel, put on some Pearl Jam, and either chain yourself to a tree or protest the World Bank’s next conference bro.  You gotta be somewhat objective and the use of a single word detracts from the point that the situation sucks for the folks involved.  But no business has a “right” to exist.  The government does not have an obligation to sit as the judge of which of the two competing business models should be allowed simply because the ski resort happens to be on public land.

Cross Posted from http://www.ski-blog.com.

As Rob posted, Ned Lamont is claiming that he is a contributor to the Dem control of the House and Senate by bringing Iraq to the forefront.

I think that Lamont beating Lieberman in the primary has larger implications too.  First, Pelosi and Reid have failed to defund or deauthorize the war.  If they were elected to do that, their own party is failing to make it happen.

My contention is that this sets their party up for a major internal power struggle in districts held by moderate Democrats--i.e. those that are voting against the binding withdrawl deadline and against the inevitable defunding bill and deauthorization bill.

The Dems that won previously Republican held seats were forced to run as moderates.  If they want to get reelected, they must remain moderates.  And if the Kos Kids want to defund or deauthorize the war, they have to eat their own and defeat their own moderates in primaries.  It isn’t just about beating the Republicans in the general election, it is about beating Democrat moderates in the primaries.

Normally Congressional primaries have incumbents running pretty much unopposed.  Moderate Democrat incumbents have two major challenges--Kos Kiddies and Moonbat anti-war folks to the left that they have to spend money in primaries to defeat and Republicans in the general election that they have to fight off by remaining as centrist as possible to win Independants.

Every Ned Lamont that challenges an incumbent dillutes the funding of current Congressmen, depletes the pockets of Democrat donors, and provides sound bites and forces the Democrat candidates to refine their positions on the war that thus far are incoherent at best.

That is what the Dow closed at today.  All time record high.  The S&P stands at 1495.

Earnings are driving the market and this is a healthy situation, unlike the dot.com boom when speculation of future earnings or of future market conditions drove the indexes.

It is the end of the first quarter corporate earnings cycle and time to take stock of what investors are thinking the economy and the market are going to do.  And they remain upbeat.  As do consumers, despite the housing slowdown.

Expect leftie trolls to point out every problem with the country including trade and budget deficits, the falling dollar, and so on.  Unemployment, the stock market, GDP growth, and wage and earnings growth rates have the single largest direct impact on American workers and they are all going the right direction.  Earnings and the future direction of GDP growth (and consumer spending) drive the stock market and as evidenced by the recent flirting with record highs for the S&P and today’s close for the Dow, investors are optomistic.

Who exactly is rooting against the economy’s growth and performance?  Partisan hacks that have lost John Kerry’s rhetoric from the ‘04 election as talking points.

The Dems may offer a pullout and surrender from Iraq, but they also offer higher taxes which can only serve to slow this economy.  If anyone can argue that in the face of the record growth, that the answer is higher taxes, be honest and do it.  Because Democrat politicians won’t say it during the campaigns, but they are planning to do it if elected.  And already are doing it by allowing the tax cuts to expire.

I feel safer…

From the Roanoke Times article dated January 31, 2006:

A bill that would have given college students and employees the right to carry handguns on campus died with nary a shot being fired in the General Assembly.

House Bill 1572 didn’t get through the House Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety. It died Monday in the subcommittee stage, the first of several hurdles bills must overcome before becoming laws.

The bill was proposed by Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah County, on behalf of the Virginia Citizens Defense League. Gilbert was unavailable Monday and spokesman Gary Frink would not comment on the bill’s defeat other than to say the issue was dead for this General Assembly session.

Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker was happy to hear the bill was defeated. “I’m sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly’s actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus.”

[...]

Most universities in Virginia require students and employees, other than police, to check their guns with police or campus security upon entering campus. The legislation was designed to prohibit public universities from making “rules or regulations limiting or abridging the ability of a student who possesses a valid concealed handgun permit ... from lawfully carrying a concealed handgun.”

[...]

Last spring a Virginia Tech student was disciplined for bringing a handgun to class, despite having a concealed handgun permit. Some gun owners questioned the university’s authority, while the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police came out against the presence of guns on campus.

In June, Tech’s governing board approved a violence prevention policy reiterating its ban on students or employees carrying guns and prohibiting visitors from bringing them into campus facilities.

Yep, that is right, this bill was killed one year and three months ago.  Had one single student been armed and shot the son of a bitch, it might have saved the lives of the other 30.  Bet they wish the student that had been disciplined two years ago was there.

From Bloomberg:

The S&P 500 added 15.62, or 1.1 percent, to 1468.47, its highest since September 2000. All 10 industry groups advanced today, bringing the benchmark’s gain in April to 3.4 percent.

The Dow industrials rose 108.33, or 0.9 percent, to 12,720.46. The 30-stock gauge is 0.5 percent shy of matching its record close set Feb. 20. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 26.39, or 1.1 percent, to 2518.33, its highest since Feb. 22.

Stocks also got a lift from a government report showing retail sales climbed in March by the most in three months even as oil prices increased.

The economy is rolling.  There are major worries like inflation, high gas prices, a housing slowdown, slowed consumer spending, etc., but the market is taking these issues into account.  How can the market not?

The reality is that despite all of the pessimism in the news, American Investors still view the stock market as a good investment and are still buying.  There is a long term trend going back to the Bush Tax Cuts.  And our New Congress wants to scale all these things back.

I guess that makes sense if you are poor and don’t pay attention to the stock market.  Tomorrow is meaningless to the lower 50% of wage earners too who don’t pay taxes.  It is a great thing when the bottom 50% of wage earners are in charge of economic and tax policy.  These are the Democrat constituents.

We have an interesting issue for 2008… who takes credit for the economy--good or bad?

First, if the economy stays strong, Democrats will claim that it is the result of the 2006 election, not of the ‘03 Bush tax cuts.

Second, if the economy falters, the Dems will blame Bush’s policies.

Third, if the economy stays strong, Republicans will stake their claim on lower taxes and less government interference as being the cause.  (THIS IN MY OPINION IS REALITY BTW)

Fourth, if the economy falters, Republicans will blame Dems for raising taxes, the minimum wage, etc.

Now, let’s consider which scenario is the easiest sell for Dems.  If the economy does well, they cannot claim that it started in 2006 because technically, the numbers from ‘03-06 were far better than anything that could happen between now and Nov 2008.  They are just plain stuck because they would have to backtrack on all their trash talking over the last six years about Bush and no jobs created and no growth and recession and…

But if the economy slows down… they bear no blame for the 06’ election having an impact (and rightly so since they haven’t done a damned thing since taking power).  However, they can beat the Republicans up for their handling of the economy and trot out the same tired poor folk to talk about not being able to send their kids to college, losing their job that paid $6 an hour at Walmart, not having health insurance, etc.  More class warfare.

Analogy for you sports fans--it is August and our baseball team is in first place (our economy compared to every other economy in the world, i.e. twice the size of China’s and growing at 3-4% GDP, low unemployment, etc).  But you don’t like the manager of the team.  You want him fired.  Do you A. root for your team to make the playoffs and hope that they can continue to win or B. root for your team to lose every game so that the manager gets fired?

I play for this team.  We all do.  And if the team is losing, the manager may get fired, but several of us are gonna be gone too.  Compare that to a good playoff performance and we get bonuses and bigger contracts and are part of a success.  Regardless of political leanings and who the manager is, the right answer is for all of us to work together to be successful.

Why doesn’t this sink in?

If you don’t know, my home site is www.ski-blog.com.  I have taken a principled stand against Global Warming Hypocrisy as well as the infringement of Native American Rights upon property owners with the following posts:

• Native Americans using the Religious Freedom Reformation Act to take control of Federal Lands
  
• And several posts including this one related to Global Warming
  

Today I rec’d the following hate mail:

Without taking up too much of your time, I just wanted to express my sincere regret for your lack of education, and the poor-upbringing your children must be getting from their male role-model if those pictures on the website are in fact them. 

As I write this message and look at a picture of a family in front of a trail map sign, I want to specifically state that I do not feel everyone in the US must finish grade school, high school, or go to college to be “educated”. The problem lies when one speaks strongly and they do not have any education about the subject they are speaking to, but ascertain claims as if they were experts. 

However, from your telling of the recent Casino situation, global warming, to your details about the Arizona Snowbowl case, its very clear you have never studied anything related to ecological functionality, culture, the history of the US, and specifically Native American History.

Sir, your racism is reminiscent of the civil rights movement in the 60’s. You are one of the micro-reasons racism still exists as your white supremaced attitude leaks through almost every article I’ve read on your blog in the last couple of hours.

I’ll see what my SOAN 630/680 class thinks of this blog in the coming week or two as we may focus a case study on your particular blog as a real world example of neo-colonialism, as well as bounce this off the others at the environmental justice center in Washington that I work with specifically to address such issues as you raise in these articles. 

Perhaps we’ll be in contact in the future. Until then I hope your readers distinguish the horrendous hateful tone you express in this blog through the beauty that is skiing, and readers recognize that this perspective is no more than ultra right wing conservative GW Bush type propaganda, hidden under a veil of skiing, creating a neo-colonial platform for white folks to continue to hate Indians so YOU CAN GO SKIING (!?).

Wow.  Please read my hate filled racist blog about skiing.

Ironic, but Neiman and others recently cited my "left wing, athiest propoganda" here. I am a left wing, athiest, hate filled, racist, neocolonialist, uneducated, ultra right wing conservative GW Bush type. Please pick the appropriate adjective. =)

Been debating who Libs are supposed to hate the most and in what order to put the following:

• Walmart
  
• Oil Companies
  
• Haliburton
  
• Chimpy McHitler
  
• Karl Rove
  
• Dick Cheney
  
• Rush
  
• Fox News
  
• God, Jesus, and anything Christian
  

Surely, you can’t hate them all equally.  We need to hear priorities.

UPDATE: