Not even Wal-Mart can beat this!

South Carolina is lifting the sales tax on guns for the biggest shopping day of the holiday season.

What I'm Thankful For

Today is now Thanksgiving.

I am especially thankful for two things this year.
I am thankful for my new beautiful wife (I got married in October).
I am also thankful for our new president, Barack Obama.

Mumbai Terrorist Attacks

Terrorists have struck Mumbai today, killing possibly 100 or more people and injuring many more. The attacks appear to target foreigners, since most of them took place at or near hotels. These attacks were coordinated and everything from hospitals to hotels to a Jewish center were attacked. One group has claimed responsibility, but nothing is confirmed right now.

I have a team that works in India, they are in Bangalore, not Mumbai, but last year our office was affected by a much smaller incident in that area.

India has become a real democracy in South Asia and I think we only need to look to their neighbors to the East and West to see where these attacks could have come from, though they may have come from within.

By targeting foreigners, the terrorist may think that they have a shot at reducing foreign influence and investment within the country, though I doubt that this will seriously hinder growth in India.

My thoughts are with the Indian people. We as Americans know all too well what happens when terrorists target a major city. I can only say that I hope that the Indian authorities react well with a properly measured response.

Everyone's to blame

In a rant on the NYT, Thomas Friedman explains that when discussing this meltdown, particularly as it relates to city, there's enough blame to go around to everyone in the country.

No more WOT?

Dick Morris, sleazeball as he is, says that Obama will end the "War" on terror over on this blog: http://www.dickmorris.com/blog/2008/11/25/no-war-on-terror-under-obama/

 

Look, we do need to finish the job on Afghanistan, but this so called "War" on terror needs to just go away.  Terrorism is a law enforcement issue, not a military one.  Unless you want the National Guard trompping through your neighborhood like a bunch of stormtroopers.

Cloning of Neanderthals would be difficult for religion

Slate has an interesting writeup on the possibility of cloning a neanderthal here: http://www.slate.com/id/2205310/

 

What's especially tricky is that a neanderthal is the closest non-human species to modern man.  In other words, it is almost a human, but not quite.  It may even be able to talk, though that's never been conclusively proven.  Moreover, cloning such an animal would be definitive proof to the remaining idiots who do not believe we evolved from other species, despite no evidence to the contrary and loads and loads of evidence in support.

 

We wouldn't even need a human to help with the cloning, we could use a chimp.  However, as the article notes, a Catholic bishop has already referred to a neanderthal as "another human species" which shows some acceptance in evolution.  Should they move to prohibit this cloning on the grounds that it amounts to human cloning, they would have to admit that we evolved from lesser species which puts a large amount of their fairytales into the secure realm of myths.

C's bailout and the market's next week

Everyone is applauding the job the Fed has done bailing out Citigroup. C is up over 50% today. Jim Cramer is especially happy. Stocks in general are up.

After witnessing Lehman and Bear crumble and AIG get a bunch of cash with nothing to show, Citigroup may actually survive. They agreed to take a hit on several dozen billion in exchange for the government taking on 90% of the fall afteward. The government will get partial ownership in Citigroup should it absorb this mess - which it will. Homeowners whose mortgages are owned by Citigroup will likely have more leverage renogiating as this was one of the conditions the Fed imposed, as was executive pay. The dividend is also gone. Oh well. I should have bought some shares last Friday, but how was I supposed to know?

What's next in this market? I think that black Friday will not be very black this year, causing retails to tank. Look for TGT to get a bargain on Monday afternoon.

Taibbi on McCain's Campaign

Matt Taibbi summarizes John McCain's campaign in his own special way:

My favorite parts:

the very idea of Republican conservatism was massively rejected in virtually every state where large chunks of the population do not believe in the literal existence of a horned devil, and even in some that do.

and how about this on Palin:

She's a classic divide-and-conquer politician, an unapologetic Witch Hunter and True Believer with a gift for whipping up the mob against the infidel. In a way that even George W. Bush never was, she is Karl Rove's wet dream, the Osama bin Laden of soccer moms, crusading against germs, communism, atheism and other such unclean elements strictly banned by American law.

Raise the gas tax?

Over at Freakonomics, the guys argue that we need to raise our gas tax to $2.  This would put gas prices around the $3.50-$3.75 mark now, which isn't too bad.  It would allow us to pay for all the true costs associated with vehicles, such as infrastructure, congestion, and pollution.

 

In this specific case, I think that a gas tax may be needed.

 

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/24/the-gas-tax-revisited-a-guest-post/

GITMO one of many tasks

The NYT has an excellent editorial, on how President Obama will face many tasks, but foremost among them is the need to repair our image abroad and closing Guantanamo will be a step in the right direction.