Before the Bitching Starts.......

-----So Exxon Mobil made 40 something billion in profits huh. You may instinctively be outraged. You may look back at last summer, paying 4 and change a gallon, and become sick to your stomach to think "these guys" made 45 b-b-b-billion dollars. I say slow down, lets look deeper.
-----First of all, Exxon is a publicly traded company, which means any Tom, Dick, or Harry can buy in. How many people out there have a 401k or IRA or annuity? Oh, you got one, well lets hope whoever is managing it had some Exxon then. Profit is not a bad thing. If you think they made all that money by jacking up the price, be aware, they don't really set the price of gasoline any more than Dominos sets the price of pizza. It stands to reason that if you refine and sell gas for cost plus a markup of say 10%, then if it all of a sudden costs twice as much to make, and you still mark it up 10%, then your profits double. I admit I'm no economist, but it seems reasonable to me.
-----Now keep this in mind, Exxon Mobil made a "profit" of 45.22 Billion dollars. Do you know what their tax rate is? Almost 50%! Put it this way, With out "Big Oil" you could not afford "Big Government". For more check out this article from CNN.

Lipstick Anyone?

-----------It took me a long time to decide to buy a PS3. I thought about it for over a year, seriously debated it in my own head for about 6 months, and then spent weeks figuring out how I could pay for it. I find it incredible that the government has spent a fraction of that time figuring out how to spend 819 billion dollars. While I am disheartened that this new welfare package passed in the house this evening, I am delighted that every single republican, along with 10 democrats, voted against it. They are on the right side history my friends.
-----------Thomas Jefferson said "if we can but prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy". You may find Jefferson a bore, or outdated, or dismiss him as a slave owner, to which I would reply you are an ideological zealot at best, a pinko commie at worst. I feel there is infinite wisdom to be found in the words and deeds of the great founders of this nation, the greatest nation ever. Bad things will come from from this massive overspending, it always does. We are being bought for a $500 check that our children will be paying back until they die (This too seemed absurd to Jefferson, check out this letter to James Madison )
President Obama says "This recovery plan will save or create more than three million new jobs over the next few years". That is one of the most unprovable and assanine statements our new leader could make. So if Americans lose 5 million jobs are we to believe that without this "stimulus", we wold have lost 8 million? I believe it was President Obama who while running for the office said "you can put lipstick on a pig, but its still a pig". Well keep piling on the Revlon sir, because this pig of yours is uglying up the place in a hurry!

------------- Check out the complete stroke job here

THE OBESE POLICE

Boston Globe article on Deval's newest initiative: http://tinyurl.com/8xnb8u

Don't get me wrong here, I'm all for restaurants letting you know the calories/carbs/fat/protein breakdown in their meals, but please, please, please don't make them print them right their next to the descriptions. If I'm ordering Alice Springs Chicken at Outback, I already know it's bad. A piece of otherwise healthy chicken smothered in tasty sauce, sauteed mushrooms, bacon, and cheese, with fries on the side has to bad for you, really freakin bad for you, but please let me enjoy my infrequent gluttony in blissful ignorance! It is not as if I'm eating like this with any regularity. But this is not really my gripe here.

They say "It Takes a Village"to raise a child. Well, here in Mass, our government officials are "The Village People" indeed. Does anyone really need a report from the school letting them know that little Johny could stand to lose a few? I was always a chubby kid. I knew it, my parents knew it, and my peers knew it. I can't imagine that a detailed report on my fatness provided at the already financially strapped school system's (i.e. taxpayers') expense would have been a great tool in my parent's quest to quell by obesity. People are who they are, letters from school will not make parents stop buying the groceries they buy. The Village People can not save them from themselves. If a parent is so inattentive, or so stupid, as to not realize that their kid is overweight, what makes people think getting a report from school will change them?
So Deval Patrick, having failed on his campaign promise to offer real property tax relief, failed to get his all important casinos built, failed at virtually everything, is now going to all out to stop childhood obesity. Well, given his track record so far, I guess they should start ordering larger desks for the schools right away!