Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Rick Perry vs Jon Stewart

Rick Perry and Jon Stewart

This week, Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) got into the ring with a heavyweight and came out unscathed. Rick Perry is making the media rounds plugging his book "Fed Up!" One of his stops was "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." Jon Stewart didn't lay a glove on him.

After the jump, some thoughts about the highly anticipated (at least in Texas) match of wits.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

OTBR: A Gentle Stretch of the Deschutes River

Latitude: 43.9322 N
Longitude: 121.4190 W

A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.

After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously last month that are "off the blue roads".

Monday, November 8, 2010

Senior Taxes: Pay Now Or Pay Later

Richardson City Council member Amir Omar keeps trying to sell his senior tax freeze. He ran on the idea when he won election to the council in 2009. He lobbied his fellow council members in a July council work session. This week, he was back. There was nothing new to change the analysis I offered in July.

After the jump, rehashing old arguments.

Myths About the Stimulus and Bailouts

Things everybody believes are true that really aren't:

  • The Bush administration's TARP bank bailout cost American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. Wrong.

  • The Obama administration's loans to General Motors and Chrysler cost the American taxpayers billions of dollars. Wrong.

  • The Obama administration's stimulus package led to a huge increase in government spending. Wrong.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Speaking English: Man Up

Sarah Palin said President Obama didn't have the "cojones" to crack down on illegal immigration. Christine O'Donnell told Chris Coons to get his "man pants" on. And, most famously, Sharron Angle told Harry Reid to "man up."

After the jump, what such language tells us about the state of American society today.