Confederacy and States' Rights

I'm a proponent of some states' rights, but one thing that has always gotten on my nerve is that a lot of people who are for states' rights wave the Confederate Battle Flag in some kind of historical lovefest.

Reading this makes me feel a bit better, seems that the CSA was not much of a "limited government" and was actually worse than the North when it comes to liberty (though this should be pretty obvious since they enslaved over half their population).

Interesting ruling from the courts

Apparently you cannot be sued for accessing internal company data with the intent to start your own business. Seems very strange, and given that we have 2 appeals courts who conflict with each other I bet SCOTUS will take a look.

Hot Sauces

It is no secret I am a big fan of hot sauces. I pile on Tabasco, Sriracha, and others. Even the Tabasco habenero sauce is not too much for me to pile on food.

I just had a sauce that even I think is a bit extreme. I went to Firehouse subs today, and they have a range of hot sauces. I grabbed the one in the highest possible category. It is called 357 Mad Dog and you better believe it is the hottest stuff I've had. For about 20 minutes after I ate it, it kept coming back in waves, burning my throat and making me feel like I was going to vomit.

My stomach still hurts 4 hours later.

I'll probably try it again.

What will happen when the housing credit expires?

Today fed chairman Ben Bernanke said that the recession is over.  That's likely true for most production work, and I'd bet that employment will start going up within a few months.  However, the second wave of the housing crises will probably be in full swing by early next year.

For those of you who are not aware, there is currently an $8,000 no strings attached credit for new buyers of homes.  The credit is available to any buyer within 6-8 weeks of the purchase.  While we can leave the short term merits of this policy to another discussion, one thing is for sure: it is likely that a good deal of houses being bought now are partially financed by this credit.  Using this credit as a down payment of sorts, someone's monthly payments will probably only go down by a hundred bucks, if that.  However most buyers likely using this credit to furnish a new house, or just blow it on other things.  Regardless, it is one thing that definitely motivates people to buy a house.  I know this, because I planned on using it before I abandoned my home search several months ago.

The housing credit is set to expire on Dec 1.  If this is not renewed, it means that people will need to be under contract by mid-October to safely get it (all contract contingencies aside).  

So what happens if this credit is allowed to expire (which I think it should)?  For most buyers, it will mean that they will either stop looking, or start looking at cheaper houses.  For sellers, it means that their house is at least priced about $8,000 too much, but likely much more, since buyers are probably not using this credit as a down payment.  At any rate, there is going to be a rush to buy every house on the market within the next month, and then housing activity is likely to drop substantially.  Will this induce congress to introduce an even larger tax credit next year?  Maybe $15,000?  We shall see.

Lions first loss of 2009

Coming off the first 0-16 season in NFL history, in their first game of 2009 the Lions allow the opposing QB to set a franchise record for TD's in a game. Nice.

Loudoun County Wine Tasting

Friends from out of town were visiting this weekend so we decided to go wine tasting to 3 wineries we had not been to before. All were in Loudoun County, VA near Leesburg and within a 5 minute drive of each other.

First up was Tarara Winery. Despite being rated the best in Loudoun County for the past few years, we all agreed that the wines were not that great. Additionally, it is the McDonalds of small wineries, with live music, fruit picking, 3-4 tasting counters, etc. It was just way too overblown. The line to checkout looked like it would take at least 30 minutes. We had a quick tasting and did not buy anything. On the upside, the staff seemed to be very knowledgeable and were very nice. The only wines we liked were the Rose and the Cab Franc, everything else was horrid. The cave where they age the wine was also a neat touch.

Our next stop was Lost Creek, about a 5 minute drive from Tarara. The staff seemed to know what they were talking about, but were a little rushed. However, the wine itself was very good; we bought a bottle of their Springtime, which is a blend of viognier, chardonnay, and others. Good blend of atmosphere and wine.

Our last stop was about a quarter mile from Lost Creek, Hidden Brook Winery. Basically a small log cabin with a porch, the atmosphere was the worst (though still not bad). However, the wine was pretty good. We ended up with a bottle of cab sauv, always a good choice.

Will iPhone MMS take down AT&T?

AT&T is finally going to bring multimedia messaging service to the iPhone. This service allows sending of pictures via the phones. Nearly all other carriers support this service for all of their phones. AT&T supports it for everything but the iPhone.

I predict that this is going to make a bad situation worse. There have been many reports lately of AT&T's 3G network being hard hit by iPhone usage. Time will tell, but this may be a decision they'll regret.

Unsubsidized bus fare experiment

Fairfax County has just kicked off a pretty interesting experiment: will people pay unsubsidized bus fares? It seems the answer is yes, as long as the routes are still the best form of transportation.

Perhaps this is another argument for privatization of transit, or at least shows government agencies strapped for cash that jacking up the bus fares won't cost their bottom line. At any rate, it will be interesting to see if this trend holds continues, and if more fares are raised.

AT&T to go up in flames by year's end

Maybe that headline is a bit much, but some are speculating that AT&T may lose its exclusive on the iPhone by 2010. If either CDMA carrier gets ahold of the iPhone, it could be really disastrous for good ole Ma Bell.

The other GSM carrier, T-mobile, is not much of a threat at this point. But Verizon is regarded by many as having the best coverage, and Sprint would probably have the most to gain. With the cheapest data prices by far, I could see many switching if they landed the iPhone (not to mention that their network is as good as Verizon's since all Sprint phones roam on Verizon).

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but no matter what happens it is probably great news for Apple and not so great news for T.

Big profits on the way?

Since a lot of big bank did not go under, TARP is starting to actually make money. If it continues to play out this way, it will be interesting to see what those who were against the program say, especially since the return could be 15% or more. We're not out of the woods yet though.

Court backs tainted ball players

A court has ruled by a large margin that federal agents should not have taken a list of players who tested positive for steroids in 2003.

My favorite judge, Alex Kozinski, said that this was an illegal search and seizer.

Basically in 2003 MLB asked players to voluntarily give urine samples, and told them there would be no penalties associated with these tests. I completely agree with this ruling. It is up to MLB and the players' union to agree on what drug related rules should be enforced. The government had no right to step in and confiscate these samples. By doing so, players will be less likely to be honest in the future, for fear of being outed later on.

Ted Kennedy Dead

Senator Edward Kennedy died today, of brain cancer. Probably one of the most respected politicians of the 20th century, he was a very liberal man who did what he could to advance progressive causes and ensure equal justice and treatment for all. Marred by his drunken exploits in the 60s that resulted in one death, I can only hope that reverence for him will help get healthcare passed.

Four More Years for Bernanke

Ben Bernanke is going to be appointed to a second four year term as chief of the fed. While he did preside over a pretty bad economic crisis, I favor this move.

1. A lot more of the blame falls to Bernanke's predesessor, Alan Greenspan. You may recall that it was Greenspan's manipulation of the federal funds target rate to such historically low levels in the early 2000's that set us on this court.
2. With a recovery in full swing, we got out of this recession fairly quickly. I think sticking with Bernanke is a solid idea right now.

Manipulation of the color coded alerts

Here's some not too surprising news: in his new book Tom Ridge says that the color coded terrorist alerts are basically a farce.

He was ordered, or asked, to raise them prior to the 2004 election, which may have just scared enough people to vote for Bush a second time. We'll never know, but I think it is time we dropped the threat advisory level. It has always been yellow or orange, I doubt that it was ever planned for it to go lower.

In Defense of Mackey: Whole Foods and Healthcare

There are many calls on the left to boycott Whole Foods over this op-ed by CEO John Mackey.

The argument is that Whole Foods is a very liberal store with liberal customers, and the CEO himself needs to have a liberal viewpoint to cater to them. I disagree with this stance.

Whole Foods does a lot of good, whether it is by providing its non-union employees with better than union benefits or promoting the "buy local" movement. It should not matter what the owner of the store's views are, especially since the alternative shopping choices are so bleak.

In any case, while I support President Obama's healthcare initiatives, Mackey does offer some good points that we should keep in mind. He actually lists 8 points, but these are the ones that I feel should be part of any healthcare reform:

1. Remove obstacles to HSAs. I have one, you probably should too. It is simply the best plan available for most people.
2. Allow individuals to write off the cost of health insurance premiums.
3. Tort reform. Doctors are sued way too much, for way too much