More random thoughts

1. Why is it that all female anchors smile when they deliver the news but no men do? It must be gender specific because have you ever tried to smile and talk at the same time? Even those who can't smile and talk at the same time always smile before and after they speak. Even the women on news panels smile when they are introduced. What gives?

2. Has anyone questioned the relationship between Madeline Albright and George Soros. News reported that a company they owned jointly bought a controlling stake in the energy firm APR for $250 million in March and then sold it for $800 million in June! Albright is also a trustee for the Center for American Progress - a think tank funded by Soros. Albright also lends her name to Albright Capital Management Company. Does anyone really think that she knows anything about either energy or investments? Her background is as an academic and political appointee in international affairs not in economics and finance. Lastly, where did she get the money to start buying companies? Nothing in her background shows the income generated necessary to be buying companies. And what about the George Soros connection? Why isn't this being scrutinized?

3. The ruling by the NLRB that Boeing could not open a plant in South Carolina is puzzling to me. How does the NLRB have the constitutional authority to dictate where or where not firms can operate? Since the plant is built and the workers hired, why doesn't Boeing just go ahead and operate it? Of course this has to be one of the dumbest rulings by the administration's lackeys. If Boeing can't go to a right to work state, it will make those aircraft out of the country. Some of said that Obama is doing this to appease the unions. I think maybe the fact that Washington's two senators are liberal democrats and South Carolina's senators are republicans including Jim DeMint may play a small role.

4. It will be interesting to see if EPA's war on coal fired plants will alter the political scene in the states most affected. West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana (along with Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Texas produce 90 percent of the country's coal. The EPS's proposed rules would shut down 60 coal fired plants and is said to destroy 250,000 jobs. How the democrats will be able to hold onto house and senate seats in the affected states will be interesting to see.

5. Did you know that both the Seminole Wars and Texas independence are both a direct consequence of slavery? The Seminoles did not recognize slavery and welcomed escaped slaves into their ranks. White slave owners agitated to get their slaves returned. The Seminoles refused. Osceola was even married to the daughter of a runaway slave and her kidnapping by whites was a main motivation for his leading the Seminoles into war. Also Texas was a province of Mexico which abolished slavery in 1829 and sought to ban it in Texas. The constant conflict between white Texans and Mexico over slavery finally exploded into the war of 1835 and the Alamo in 1836.

6. I am against a balanced budget amendment because it does not constrain spending. If spending increases then the legislature will likely balance it by raising taxes. The debt ceiling is a better constraint.

7. Notice how it has now become the vogue to adopt my idea of limiting government spending to a set percentage of GDP?

8. California has stopped the paychecks of state legislators for failing to pass a budget. What a great idea! Let's do that with the Congress.