Monday, November 30, 2009

ClimateGate...

Remember a little over a week ago I posted this regarding Ft. Hood and KSM? In that post I listed my Top 12 blogs for news/politics/current events. Well, you should go to them again and do word searches for "Climategate".

You'll get information like this which you won't get from the mainstream media.

Not-So-Black Friday and Oiled Again...

From the AP:

The gap between what drivers are paying for gasoline compared with a year ago is widening and figures to get worse between now and the end of the year. Prices at the pump were $2.629 a gallon on Monday, 80.4 cents more a gallon than a year ago, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Services. That is about $40 more a month for a typical motorist.

The government releases its survey on retail prices late Monday. Gasoline prices bottomed near $1.61 during the last few days of 2008 as the recession took hold, demand for fuel crumbled and the stock markets tumbled. Consumers now are paying about $1 billion a day for gasoline, about $300 million more a day for gasoline than they did a year ago.

And in December, for the first time in about 10 years, oil prices are expected to be twice what they were a year ago, says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for OPIS. Crude prices have been trading between $75 and $82 a barrel for the past month or so. Prices hit $33.87 a barrel on Dec. 19.

The rapid rise in prices is worse for consumers this time, however. Before prices doubled in early 2000, a barrel of crude cost about $10.

As someone who currently spends $250/month on gas for my car, this sucks. It also explains (in part) this next item via Business Week regarding "Black Friday" and the holiday shopping season:

More consumers went shopping over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, yet spent less than last year as they hunted for bargains on toys and electronics, according to the National Retail Federation.

Spending at stores and on Web sites from Nov. 26 to Nov. 29 rose 0.5% to an estimated $41.2 billion from $41 billion a year earlier, the Washington-based trade group said Nov. 29, citing a survey conducted by polling firm BIGresearch. The higher turnout and lower average spending were in line with expectations, the NRF said. The group is sticking to a forecast for a 1% drop in spending this holiday season.

The year-to-year increase in spending for the holiday season is usually an average of 3%. This year's 0.5% is NOT good.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

God
Faith
Family
Friends
Community
Country
Good Health
Better Finances (heh!)
Good Food
Better Wine
Fine Company
Pleasant Conversation
Less Stress & Anxiety
More Joy & Laughter
Contentment
Peace
Love

Wishing all the best that the season could offer you and your loved ones during this holiday.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Dang, that tree is full of dropping ACORNs...

Stupid is as stupid does. Man oh man, are these guys arrogant. Flopping Aces has the story. ACORN HQ in San Diego tried to dump thousands of documents before the California AG got to investigate their shenanigans. No worries, though. Breitbart and BigGovernment.com is on the case.

Heh!

Friday, November 20, 2009

Ft. Hood & KSM... so, what about it?

I've refrained from commenting on the Ft. Hood massacre/terrorist attack, and on "The One's" decision to try five of the highest level 9/11-Gitmo detainees/terrorists in civil court in NYC rather than in a military tribunal. No need to comment. It's obvious and filled with common sense. Something the present administration in the White House is severely lacking.

For detailed posting on both these issues, I'd strongly suggest perusing the November archives of Gateway Pundit, Ace of Spades, Flopping Aces, Hot Air, Powerline, and RedState. Or do word searches on their sites using "Fort Hood" or "Ft. Hood", and "KSM" or "Khalid".

They've done a thorough job.

Those six blog sites (along with RWN, Michelle Malkin, American Thinker, Mark Steyn, PoliPundit and the political cartoon Day By Day) are the cream of the crop and are always in my Top 12 to check on daily for important news, views, issues and insights.

More Nuts Fallin' Outta That Tree, I See...

Apparently, there are a lot more videos of ACORN shenanigans (read: corruption).

Hot Air, Gateway Pundit and RedState have the details.

*heh* again

What's That Chill I Feel?...

The so-called global warming B.S. has been deliciously busted!

Gateway Pundit and Ace of Spades have the details.

*heh*

Friday, November 06, 2009

Wine Blogs...

Eric @ Daily Eudemon links to a Forbes article on the best wine blogs in cyberspace.

UPDATED: Some of the best are:

Dr. Vino (I get his monthly emails, some reeeeeally good stuff here... plus, wine pairings with Halloween candy???)

Crush Pad (this whole site looks really good)

Wineanorak (want to read about some serious Reisling?)

The Pour (want to read about orange-colored wines?)


Fermentation (gives industry insider info, plus a post on "the wine of my dreams")

Vinography (a sample post about wine retailers).

And the Wine Library video blog.


I will certainly check out these vlogs. ;-)

TARP'ed...

Ace has this not-so-little gem of info about the scam called TARP.

UGH!

Hoodwinked...

Gateway Pundit has been following the details of yesterday's tragic Ft. Hood massacre.

See here, here and here.

HotAir has a long list of story updates here, as does Michelle Malkin here.

Plus "The One-in-Chief" shows his cluelessness here.

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Clunk... Clunk... and Clunk again...

That "Cash for Clunkers" program worked out sooooooooo well, didn't it?


Not! As was speculated before it even went into effect, all it did was create sales in July & August that would normally be there in September and October. Which is why Sept & Oct sales #s dropped like a rock.


Not! As we also see, the vast majority of trade-ins were for getting newer pickup trucks to replace older pickup trucks, with only 1-3 mpg increases.


Not! As dealers wait... and wait... and wait... for the government to reimburse them for the program.


Not! As the salvage yards are backlogged with the trade-ins.


Not! As used car prices have increased 16% over last year.


Not! As you may have paid too much in taxes on that trade-in.


Not! As we find out that this big government boondoggle will cost us $24,000 per car (that's our tax dollars at work, baby!).