Archive for January 20th, 2010

Day-after-pills: Dow 11,000 … rats jumping … Hillary smiling

January 20, 2010

OK, couple of morning after the election thoughts …

Dow Soars

I’m on record with friends and on the blog that the Dow would head to 7,500 if ObamaCare passed … and I expected that it would.

Now that the odds have shifted — at least temporarily — the market should get a huge boost.

I’m not a big Jim Cramer fan, but I agree with him on this one:

Former Barack Obama supporter Jim Cramer on Friday said the stock market would have a huge rally if Scott Brown defeats Martha Coakley in Tuesday’s special senatorial election in Massachusetts.
 http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2010/01/17/jim-cramer-brown-win-causes-huge-stock-rally-investors-nervous-about-#ixzz0d9GKbCfp

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Rats Jumping Ship

Last week I opined that some Dems might be secretly wishing for a Brown victory since it would take them off the hook re: ObamaCare.  They could let it die without casting a no vote.

Well, Democratic Senator Jim Webb of VA stepped up last night, pointing out the obvious:

In many ways the campaign in Massachusetts became a referendum not only on health care reform but also on the openness and integrity of our government process. It is vital that we restore the respect of the American people in our system of government and in our leaders. To that end, I believe it would only be fair and prudent that we suspend further votes on health care legislation until Senator-elect Brown is seated.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/01/health-care-comes-to-screeching-halt-sen-webb-no-hcr-votes-until-brown-seated.php

If Webb doesn’t get squashed by Reid and the White House today, watch for a flurry of “save my own hide” defections. 

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Hillary Smiles

Soon after Obama’s inauguration, a plugged-in politico friend of mine told me that Hillary expected the Obama presidency to implode and was informally keeping part of her organization in place to be prepared to challenge Obama in 2012.  At the time. I dismissed the possibility as wishful thinking.

Well, now an implosion doesn’t appear to be such a wild possibility.

And, no less the the National Enquirer says:

A furious Michelle Obama has declared war on Oprah Winfrey – saying she has proof the talk-show titan is plotting with Hillary Clinton to take the White House from her husband.
http://www.nationalenquirer.com/michelle_obama_war_with_oprah_hillary_clinton/celebrity/67983

Remember, the Enquirer was right on Tiger and John Edwards. 

Hard to bet against them.

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Brownisms … that weren’t on CNN or MSNBC

January 20, 2010

I was flipping channels last night to see what the different networks were saying and showing.

Olberman and the MSNBC team were deriding Brown and Mass voters for being stupid, and advocating full steam ahead on ObamaCare 

Blitzer and the CNN team was just sad about the turn of events, and suggesting scaling back ObamaCare.

Both MSNBC and CNN stopped showing Brown’s victory speech when he got into the meat of his campaign points.  Really.

So, if your were watching those networks, you missed his classic line that “It’s not Ted Kennedy’s seat, it’s not the Democrats seat, it’s the people’s seat.”

On ObamaCare: “It will raise taxes, it will hurt Medicare, it will destroy jobs and run our nation deeper into debt.” 

On terrorist rights: “Our tax dollars should go towards weapons that destroy terrorists, not lawyers to defend them.”

For a stupid guy, he seem to make a lot of sense.

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P.S. Oh yeah, Hannity and the Fox team were gloating …

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From ‘coffee’ to ‘ignoranus’ … some uncommon definitions.

January 20, 2010

The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly neologism contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternative meanings for common words … and common definitions to not so common words:

The winners are:

1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.

2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.

3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.

5. Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.

6. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.

7. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.

8. Frisbeetarianism (n.), the belief that, when you die, your soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

9. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

10. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

11. Sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.

12. Inoculatte (v): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

13. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

12. Glibido (v): All talk and no action.

13. Dopeler effect (n): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

14. Ignoranus (n): A person who’s both stupid and an #@$!**#@.

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PLC regeneration – board games are back and better than before

January 20, 2010

TakeAway:  Board game manufacturers are taking advantage of technology to not only breathe new life into the board game market, but also to enjoy enormous price increases.

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Excerpted from WSJ, “New Twists to the Games People Play,” By Ann Zimmerman and Joseph Pereira, December 9, 2009

Mattel and other makers of traditional games these days are increasingly turning to technology to attract a new generation of players. Hasbro has updated the classic Clue with a Secrets and Spies edition … Monopoly became the No. 1 paid application in the iPhone app store … One of the hottest games this holiday season owes its life to medical science.  Part high-tech Ouija board, part Mousetrap, Mattel’s Mindflex purports to allow you to move objects with your mind through the technology in an EEG … 

Toys “R” Us, which chose the Mindflex as a hot Christmas toy, is also selling a similar product, Star Wars The Force Trainer, by toy maker Uncle Milton Industries , which claims that players can levitate a ball inside a clear plastic 10-inch tower with their minds. It sells for $100.

“It is the first time you actually can use the force,” says VP merchandising at Toys “R” Us, adding that the toy is selling well despite its steep price tag.

With titles like these, toy manufacturers are experiencing something of a game renaissance. While sales of toys in the first nine months of the year were down 2%, board-games sales rose 8%, ahead of almost every category …

It’s unclear if high-tech board games will have staying power, but they’ve definitely created a certain buzz. Despite its $80 price tag, Mindflex is almost sold out. Panicked parents have been writing pleading messages on Twitter and other social-media sites, followed by triumphant posts when they secure a game … The mother of a 9-year-old girl says she didn’t mind paying $110, or a 38% premium, for the game online …

The recession has given a big boost to board games in general—even low-tech ones—as families forgo vacations and costly outings in favor of spending more time at home. Hasbro, the largest board-game seller with 53% share of the market, has capitalized on the hunkering-down effect, partnering with food companies and retailers in 120 countries to sell products as part of a “Family Game Night” promotion in the past year.

To entice new sales of traditional games, Hasbro has tried to spice them up with modern features …

The board-game business is also getting a boost from some parents who resent the growing popularity of electronic games …

At $10 to $35 a pop for most traditional games, board games are cheaper alternatives to vacations, ski-trips or even visits to the movies …

“To tell you the truth,” says Mrs. Murphy, a real estate agent, “we had forgotten how much fun games like Clue and Scrabble and Uno can be—not to mention how much money we saved.”

Edit by TJS

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Full Article
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703558004574583922534512310.html#mod=todays_us_personal_journal

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