Week in Review

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Week in Review

01/16/2010

For the week 1/11-1/15

The other day I was telling my long-time friend at BuyandHold.com, Trevor, about all the changes going on in my life and how it’s been a bit chaotic, especially these past few weeks, and he best summed it up. “Change is good.” So while I bemoaned my fate, namely taking on the task of moving a life’s worth of stuff alone, I kept thinking ‘change is good’ and ‘this too shall pass.’ It also helped that as I jumped from one place to another, the sports talk shows I caught on the radio were filled with entertaining Jets news, for those of us who are fans, as well as some further depressing news on my Mets. 

So here’s what I’ve done. StocksandNews will turn 11 next month. Including my time writing a “Week in Review” column at PIMCO, dating back to 1997, it’s been about 12 ½ years and I’ve taken a grand total of one week off. Oh, sure, I’ve traveled the world in that time but the work has always continued, even if I did treat myself to an occasional late afternoon or evening meal with some premium lager (on my international trips, that is). 

It was almost 16 years ago, though, that I first purchased a large townhome (3BR / 4BA…on four levels) in New Providence, NJ, the town next to where I grew up, Summit. 11 years ago when I shocked my friends at PIMCO, and myself, by walking away from a great position, I started StocksandNews and took an office in downtown Summit because I thought I needed to get out of the house and that it would help in the discipline area. I literally come to the office for at least part of each day of the week, including Saturdays and Sundays. 

But last summer I noticed a new condo building that had been going up at the height of the bubble in Summit was holding an open house and checked it out.  The developer, who I knew was nuts when he started construction in early 2007, if I recall, had sought to receive $750,000 for the condos but was now renting. I loved what I saw and the wheels started turning. I also act fast. I bought my house in five minutes and buy cars in 50 seconds (and am ticked when the paperwork takes 15 minutes). Thus, after looking at the condo that was now being offered to rent (two blocks from where my high school alma mater plays football and a great running track…key for me), I put my townhouse on the market (about Sept. 1), signed a lease on the new 2BR condo/apartment, and began a slow, strategic (didn’t want my landlord to know) move from my Summit office where I have been paying $1,500 a month in rent. 

And then nothing happened. I had talked to my attorney in town, the premier expert on the local housing market, and he said I had the right niche. I thought I’d sell by Nov. 1st. Then Nov. 15th rolled around and I began to get a bit depressed. Of course I knew that nothing moves in the winter in these parts and I thought if the economy had a double-dip (a growing concern on my part) I could be holding my house in August, all the while paying rent (a lot) on the new place. 

Alas, along came a young Chinese couple. They attended every open house, as my realtor told me, and began to sniff around on an offer. They said they were paying all cash (turns out Daddy back home was supplying it), but “Sam” set a ridiculously low bid about six weeks ago and then we started negotiating. I came down more than he went up but before I knew it, closing was set for Jan. 15 and that was about four weeks away; thus the stress factor. 

Picture that I’ve accumulated 9 rooms worth of stuff over my life, including at least 1,000 books and 100 paintings / pictures, and that’s just for starters. Now I had to cram the 9 rooms into 3. 

I had all sorts of offers of assistance in the big move but only I knew what went to the new place, what went into my terrific climate-controlled storage space, and what went into the Summit dump. So this was my cross to bear…and as I write the closing is taking place and I’ll finally spend my first night in my new home tonight. 

Ah, but I’ve learned a lot. There are few things better in life than throwing things out and the Summit dump is my new favorite spot. I mean I have a ton of world maps that I framed. I need only one, if that, given the Internet as my mother reminded me. Crash! Down into the dump they went.  

So give me another two weeks and I’ll be settled into my new routine. I may actually treat myself to an extra 15 minutes of sleep. I realized that including my last 9 years at PIMCO, for 20 years I have been getting up at 4:30 like clockwork. That’s insane, to say the least. 

Financially, while I’m not about to tell you everything, let me say this. Most of you know I have a large investment in China (along with others) and I simply don’t want to touch it for at least another two years, or until it hits my hoped for price target. But a year from now I saw a day when I might have to start selling some of it, while at the same time I want to do some major items on the video front for the site around May 1st. It will require capital, even as I slash costs elsewhere. No bank is about to give me a big loan these days and there I was sitting on an asset that, despite the collapse in the housing market, was worth considerably more than what I paid for it (let alone a low mortgage balance). Voila! I made out very well. If all goes as planned, in two years I’m back in the market, if I want to.   Some of my new neighbors say they wish they had done what I'm doing years ago.

I just thought now was as good a time as any to give you a little update on your editor. Needless to say, the fact that I’m single made it easier to make some of the drastic decisions I have in the past few months. Change is good. Believe me, what I did was a no-brainer. 

Looking ahead, I’ll resume my travel, starting with a trip to Albania and Georgia (Republic of…) in April, and then launch a nightly newscast that I hope will blow people away. 

Speaking of the news, however, I wasn’t in touch with it nearly enough this week so I present an abbreviated version. Let’s just say that the buyer of my townhome, the Chinese couple, represented a classic example of a century still in its infancy. There’s a reason why it often feels like the Chinese are taking over the world. They believe this is their time and nothing is going to stop them. 

Like Sam. Here we went to contract and you all know the drill. You don’t then keep coming over to measure every room, bringing your contractors, until the freakin’ closing. But Sam insisted on stopping by, more than once, and after bitching I’d relent. “He has five minutes,” I told my realtor. “No more.”  

So on the day I’m moving the furniture (I heartily recommend Chatham Moving & Storage…super outfit), Sam comes over with his kitchen guy. The contractor stayed just five minutes. I’m directing the three movers… ‘this goes to Summit…this goes to storage,’ etc. After about 15 minutes I’m thinking, ‘Where’s Sam?’ He was in another section of the house, snapping photos of every nook and cranny, I was in a bad mood, totally stressed out, and told him, “Get out of here!” He gave me a hurt look (he's probably a good guy) and I reminded him we hadn’t closed yet, it’s still my place not his, I had already bent over backwards to accommodate the guy, now get lost. 

I know China well. I’ve been to see my investment in Fuzhou (Fujian province) twice, I’ve been to Shanghai, Hong Kong four times, and so on. It’s an attitude…and it’s why they are successful. I was telling some folks how careful I am when I’m overseas to be respectful, always thinking I am an ambassador for my country and for a lot of people they will form a lasting impression of America based on a conversation I may have had with them, or how I treat the wait staff, etc. With the Chinese, they have a sense of entitlement, right from the beginning. That’s why it’s China’s century. They have been beaten down for far too long and they aren’t going to take it anymore. You see that reflected on a daily basis in the actions of the commie government of theirs. 

Like in the case of Google. Google claimed it had been severely hacked in China with the latter stealing valuable corporate secrets from its systems, including efforts to access the g-mail accounts of Chinese dissidents. Google said it was threatening to pull out of China, the biggest market in the world, because of this. At least 33 other firms, including Juniper Networks, Yahoo and Northrop Grumman have also suffered recent cyberattacks from the People’s Republic. It has now become a huge diplomatic issue. The Obama administration still feels like it needs China’s support when it comes to North Korea and Iran (as if that has helped), and there is also that whole thing about who is the largest buyer of U.S. Government debt. China manipulates its currency to serve its purposes and couldn’t give a damn about the rest of the world. The rest of us, particularly Asia, though, like it when China’s imports rise 56%, as they did in December, because that reflects well on their own economies. The Middle East loves China’s growth story because they can sell it more oil even as the United States uses less. 

But with the Google case a line has been drawn and even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was forced to say the administration has “frequently made clear to the Chinese our views on the importance of unrestricted Internet use, as well as cybersecurity. We look to the Chinese for an explanation.” To which a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said that his nation’s law “proscribes any form of hacking activity” and that “China’s Internet is open and the Chinese government encourages development of the Internet.” But then the official Web site of the State Council said the government will continue to monitor all information that the people have access to. 

“Maintaining the safe operation of the Internet and the secure flow of information is a fundamental requirement for guaranteeing state security and people’s fundamental interests, promoting economic development and cultural prosperity and maintaining a harmonious and stable society,” said Wang Chen, cabinet spokesman. 

But, again, it’s not just the hacking into the e-mail accounts of dissidents that is disturbing, but the stealing of state and corporate secrets. As a strategist James Mulvenon told the L.A. Times’ Jessica Guynn, “Before, the Chinese were going after defense targets to modernize the country’s military machine. But these intrusions strike at the heart of the American innovation community.” It is estimated that the value of the intellectual property being stolen by China is in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Alan Paller, another expert, said Chinese hackers target Western companies with an approach dubbed ‘1,000 grains of sand,’ meaning they go after every piece of information in search of competitive intelligence….The odds of the 25 biggest companies in California not being fully compromised by the Chinese is near zero. That is true of companies across the country.” 

“If the U.S. and China ever jostle with force, Beijing may hit us not with missiles but with cyberinfiltrations that shut down the electrical grid, disrupt communications and tinker with the floodgates of dams.” 

Turning to Wall Street, the big news was the opening of the hearings for the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, chaired by former California state Treasurer Phil Angelides. Appearing before the bipartisan panel were the CEOs of Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. If nothing else, the clueless bankers bolstered the case for badly needed financial regulatory reform. 

For starters, in questioning Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein and its practice of selling mortgage securities to investors, then betting that those securities would decline in value, Angelides said, “It sounds to me a little bit like selling a car with faulty brakes, and then buying an insurance policy on the buyer of those cars.” Blankfein replied, “These are the professional investors who want this exposure.”  

But then Blankfein, playing the role of village idiot, said aspects of the financial crisis were comparable to an act of God, such as an earthquake. Angelides saw an opening and pounced: 

“Having sat on the board of the California Earthquake Authority, acts of God will be exempt. These were acts of men and women.” 

All four CEOs conceded that the financial system had become over-leveraged (‘duh’) and that some regulation was needed to ensure no bank was ever considered ‘too big to fail.’ JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon declared that a financial crisis is something that “happens every five to seven years. We shouldn’t be surprised.” Right. Dimon then said JPM never saw the big decline in housing prices, which puts him in a class with Blankfein.  

Regulate the Street to the hilt. If it takes away from some of the animal spirits, good. Maybe a few of our brighter students will then shy away from the Street and do something productive instead. 

But at the same time the White House’s plan to tax the banks, a “financial crisis responsibility fee,” is a bad idea. Where does it then stop? Obama knows, however, that with his declining approval numbers, just 46% in the latest CBS News survey, his tax idea plays well on Main Street and I’m just as ticked as the next guy because I understand how much of what transpired was out and out fraud. 

Since Obama’s tax is based on a bank’s debt you discourage them from lending. But then the banks don’t do themselves any favors in paying out an estimated $145 billion in bonuses for 2009. 

On the healthcare front, look no further than Tuesday’s special election in Massachusetts to fill the seat held by the late Ted Kennedy. Suddenly, a victory by Republican Scott Brown appears within reach in what would be a monumental upset and a true referendum on Obama’s policies as a big part of Brown’s campaign has been his pledge to veto health reform legislation, i.e., he becomes the crucial 41st vote. 

Meanwhile, remember how healthcare reform was to be partially funded by a “Cadillac tax” on high-cost health plans, such as those carried by many union workers? Never mind. Many in this group are Democrats, of course, so a deal was cut whereby the workers are exempt until 2018. So where are we going to get the $60 billion that was to have been raised from the unions over the coming years? Elect Scott Brown and we may never have to learn the answer, if there even is one.  [But don't you know Congress is now scrambling big time to get a deal done before Brown would potentially be seated.]

--Stocks finished down on the week after the great opening to 2010 the previous one, though the Dow Jones lost only 9 points, 0.1%, to close at 10609. The S&P 500 fell 0.8% and Nasdaq lost 1.3%. 

The Dow registered its first triple-digit loss, 100 points even, on Friday on the heels of an earnings release from JPMorgan Chase which warned that the consumer is still hurting due to the real estate situation and jobs picture and that consumer loan and credit card losses would continue to be a troubling issue. No surprise there. Housing and jobs. Jobs and housing. Get real improvement in both and then we can celebrate anew. Last year it was about survival, and there was cause for some rejoicing. This year it’s about getting the economy moving in earnest, beyond an inventory restocking, and some of us just don’t see it, yet. 

On the global front, China’s exports surged a far better than expected 17.7% in December, plus the aforementioned spectacular figure on imports, up 56%. China also reported a record $2.4 trillion in reserves, which is a substantial rainy day fund for all those crying about a bubble here.  

But no doubt China does have issues, particularly in terms of real estate, though home prices rose ‘only’ 7.8% year over year in December. That is hardly outrageous. [It’s in the cities where the price action is…such as a doubling in prices in Shanghai and Beijing in four years.] New loan origination did continue to surge last month in spite of efforts by the government to rein in lending by raising interest rates and increasing the amount of capital that banks must hold. 

In India, industrial production soared in November at the fastest pace in 25 months, while Australia’s jobless rate ticked down to just 5.5% in December. 

--U.S. Treasury Yields 

The consumer price index for December came in at up 0.1%, same as the core rate, ex- food and energy.  Again, until the job picture improves I'm not going to be concerned about inflation...period.

--Ben Bernanke may have been a savior in 2009, but the fed chairman’s prospects for another term are far from certain and his case isn’t helped by some of the following, as related by the Wall Street Journal’s David Wessel. 

“In a speech to the American Economic Association, (Bernanke) argued that the ultra-low interest rates that he and Alan Greenspan pursued in the 2000s didn’t cause the housing bubble that produced what Mr. Bernanke calls ‘the worst financial crisis in modern history.’ 

“Mr. Bernanke isn’t arguing the Fed is blameless. He said ‘regulators’ and ‘supervisors’ – that would include the Fed – and ‘the private sector’ screwed up by permitting so many mortgages to be made to people who couldn’t afford them and then allowing the banks to build a financial house of cards on the assumption that house prices in the U.S. would never fall. 

“But even with the luxury of hindsight, Mr. Bernanke insisted that cutting key interest rates from 6% in late 2000 to 1% in 2003, and then lifting them very gradually from 2004 to 2006, was the right prescription amid a jobless recovery and a deflation scare – despite the housing bubble that ensued. 

“ ‘Only a small portion of the increase in house prices earlier this decade can be attributed to the stance of U.S. monetary policy,’ he said. 

“This defied common sense. When interest rates are really low, people tend to borrow a lot. When people borrow a lot, they tend to bid up the price of assets such as houses and stocks. If the Fed decides the price of houses and stocks are going up too fast and too far, it could surely restrain that rise by raising interest rates to make borrowing more expensive. 

“But Mr. Bernanke is a smart guy. He has been thinking about this speech for months, and had a seven-member team of Fed economists laboring on a background paper with 100 references. So what the heck was he thinking?” 

--On the housing front, foreclosures rose 21% in 2009 over 2008 to a new record and are expected to post another one in 2010 as the banks, for one, place another half a million homes that they now own on the market. In Nevada, 65% of homes are underwater (48% in Arizona, 45% in Florida, and 23% in all of the U.S.). 

--20% of New York State’s income taxes come from the financial services industry. 

--Congratulations to PIMCO’s Bill Gross for being named Morningstar’s bond mutual fund “manager of the decade.” His Total Return Fund is the largest of any fund at $204 billion in assets and gained 7.7% a year vs. the 5.5% return for its bond-fund category average. 

--There are a lot of folks in Texas who aren’t real pleased with T. Boone Pickens these days because he killed his mega-windfarm project in the Texas panhandle by reducing his order with GE to 333 turbines from 667, and then using the 333 for projects in Canada and Minnesota instead. Pickens cited both cheap natural gas and the lack of transmission lines. 

--I’m fascinated by the Jay Leno / Conan O’Brien fiasco for one reason…how the hell does NBC Universal head Jeff Zucker remain in control? The New York Times’ Maureen Dowd quoted a rival network honcho. “Zucker is a case study in the most destructive media executive ever to exist. You’d have to tell me who else has taken a once-great network and literally destroyed it.” 

Leno is now returning to “The Tonight Show” as Conan O’Brien is sent packing, O’Brien not wanting to accept the proposed 12:05 am slot. But to give you an idea of how the local networks were impacted by Leno’s 10:00 pm effort, NBC’s New York affiliate saw its 11:00 pm newscast audience shrink by 50%. Conan is on one more week and his last show isn’t to be missed. 

--According to the New York Post’s Page Six, Simon Cowell turned down $100 million to stay at “American Idol.” Instead, Cowell is bringing his “X Factor” to the U.S. in 2011. 

--With Pepsi, FedEx and GM not advertising in the Super Bowl this year, the cost of ads on the telecast are down for only the second time in the game’s history. 

--Heineken expanded its line of foreign brands in acquiring Mexico’s Femsa beer division, including Mexican brands such as Tecate and Dos Equis. [Now I can say that Femsa is the Mexican beverage company I owned before, selling upon the first story of Heineken’s involvement, which proved to be smart.] I’m not sure I’ve ever had a Tecate, the second-most popular beer exported to the U.S. from Mexico after Corona. Of course I don’t always drink premium, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis. Stay thirsty my friends. 

[Incidentally, beer sales in the U.S. were down 2% in 2009 from ’08 to about $100 billion.] 

--Uh oh…Australian researchers tracked 8,800 people for an average of six years and found that those who said they watched TV for more than four hours a day were 46% more likely to die of any cause and 80% more likely to die of cardiovascular disease than people spending less than two hours a day in front of the tube. [Wall Street Journal] 

--With the cold wave in Florida, I learned about the business of raising tropical fish; as in I had no idea they were farmed like catfish. [I just pictured them in large indoor pools.] One poor fellow lost $535,000 when ice formed on his 76 ponds. 

--I have an article on the January Effect on my “Wall Street History” link. 

Haiti: Aside from the fact the earthquake disaster is as vast as anything we are likely to see all century, it’s staggering that the Haitian people have allowed themselves to be run by a bunch of corrupt and dysfunctional fools who can’t provide a bare minimum in essential services. The government was warned two years ago to prepare for such an event but now we see that only the United States is capable of stabilizing the situation, and a Herculean task it will be. But as President Obama said, “This is a time when we are reminded of the common humanity that we all share.” 

Iran: An Iranian nuclear scientist was killed in a remote-controlled bomb attack in Tehran and the government blamed the U.S. and Israel, while opposition sources claimed the regime killed Dr. Ali-Mohammadi because he had become an outspoken supporter of the Green Movement. Some also say he was preparing to move to Sweden, which would have been an embarrassment for Iran’s leadership. 

Separately, in an attempt to decrease tension, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei told pro-government militias to cool it, while the head of the Basij warned his forces would “jump into the fray” if the government didn’t take stern enough actions against the opposition. Khamanei made his statement days after gunmen fired on opposition figure Karroubi’s car. “Those without any legal duty and obligations should not meddle with these affairs.” 

On the nuclear front, an Israeli general formally in charge of their own nuclear weapons program claims Iran is seven years away from having the bomb, which places Uzi Eilam in direct conflict with Major-General Amos Yadlin, head of military intelligence, who recently told the Knesset that Iran will probably be able to build a single nuclear device this year. 

Personally, I haven’t changed my opinion one bit since last year in believing Israel could strike the Natanz weapons plant at any moment, even as the United States prepares supposedly stricter sanctions. It all depends how good the intelligence is as to the timing. [And so much for Obama’s September deadline…then end of December…] 

Afghanistan: As of Thursday, 14 American soldiers had died here at the start of 2010. At least three French soldiers have been killed in fighting, bringing their toll since the start of the war to 39. 

In a survey of the Afghan people conducted by the BBC, ABC News and ARD of Germany, surprisingly, 70% of Afghans think their country is “going in the right direction,” compared with 40% a year earlier. 68% support the presence of U.S. troops. That’s good to see. [69% believe the Taliban present the greatest danger to the country’s future.] 

But Japan, in another sign the new government wants to be more independent of the U.S., is ending an eight-year refueling mission in support of the Afghan war. 

Pakistan: There are rumors the U.S. took out Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud in a drone attack on Thursday. Twelve were killed in the strike on a compound on the border of North and South Waziristan. It was Mehsud’s predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a similar strike. Hakimullah is seen in a video sitting beside the CIA bomber, the Jordanian double (really triple) agent. 

Israel: Away from the Iran issue, Israel has a real problem on its hands with a diplomatic snafu perpetrated against Turkey by Israel’s deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon. Ayalon summoned Turkey’s envoy to an Israeli television studio to criticize him for Turkey’s airing of a TV program that shows Israeli intelligence agents kidnapping children to convert them to Judaism. The issue became that Ayalon seated himself in a chair alongside the Turk, only Ayalon was towering over the fellow, who was placed on a sofa. Ayalon told journalists in Hebrew to take notice of the seating arrangements. 

“The point is that you show that he is sitting low down, and we’re high and that there is just one flag” on the table between them. Just incredibly stupid and needless to say the Turks are fuming; not that their own behavior the past year has been in any way exemplary. [Ayalon was forced to apologize.] 

China: Speaking of China ripping off U.S. technology, the military successfully tested an advanced missile defense system, which comes at a time when Beijing is blasting Washington for selling arms to Taiwan. So for the 154th time it bears repeating. If China would stop targeting Taiwan, the arms sales wouldn’t be necessary. 

North Korea: The White House rejected Pyongyang’s latest conditions for restarting nuclear talks. The North demanded that it wanted a peace treaty with the United States formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War and the removal of U.N. sanctions that are squeezing its economy. The key is the North refuses to give up its existing nuclear weapons. 

Ukraine: In what is expected to be the first round of voting for president on Sunday, it appears that Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko may not even make it into a run-off with former prime minister Viktor Yanukovych. Instead, upstart multimillionaire banker Sergiy Tigipko, 49, could finish second, Tigipko being viewed as a “fresh face.” 

It also seems that Sergiy is quite the hunk and as the London Times reports, his popularity soared, “particularly among women voters…after he appeared on the cover of a fitness magazine in a tight T-shirt and jeans.” 

I’ll have further comments on this nation next week following the vote but for now, Russia is the winner assuming a Yanukovych victory. I read a story that neither Russia or the U.S. would be a winner and couldn’t disagree more, unless Tigipko pulls off a huge upset. Just remember that 80% of Russia’s natural gas destined for Europe is shipped through Ukraine, with a quarter of the gas that the EU consumes coming from Russia. It’s also staggering to look at the GDP figures for Ukraine…down 20.3% on an annual basis in the first quarter of 2009, followed by down 17.8% and 15.9% in succeeding quarters. [The 4th isn’t available yet.] 

Russia: Both President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin have set the goal of reducing Russia’s alcohol consumption by more than half over the next decade. 

Malaysia: An unprecedented wave of attacks on Christian churches continues. The dispute started with a Dec. 31 High Court decision that overturned a government order banning non-Muslims from using the word “Allah” in their prayers and literature.  

Australia: And in a disturbing development here, there have been a series of attacks on Indian men in Melbourne, including a student who was stabbed to death. The Indian government is accusing the Australian leadership of ignoring racism. 

Mexico: Another drug lord was taken down, Teodoro Garcia Simental, “who was blamed for a years-long campaign of massacres, beheadings and kidnappings that chased away tourists and caused social upheaval in northern Baja California.” [L.A. Times] This guy was also known for dissolving his victims in barrels of lye. 

Angola / Togo: In a potential harbinger of things to come ahead of the World Cup to be held this summer in South Africa, a separatist group attacked Togo’s football team at the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, killing three. The rebels say they represent the territory of Cabinda, whatever the hell that is. This is like a cheap movie, only it was real. 

Britain: Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour Party continues to slide in the polls ahead of the parliamentary vote this spring, just 28% to the Tories’ (Conservatives’) 41%. 

Northern Ireland: A key political leader here, Peter Robinson, leader of a pro-British party that wants Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom, announced he was stepping aside as first minister in the provincial government for six weeks to try to clear his name, You see, Robinson’s wife, Iris, also a leading politician, had an affair with a 19-year-old, but if that wasn’t bad enough, she even solicited money from builders to get him started in his own business. Yes, straight out of “The Graduate.” I mean for crying out loud, Iris Robinson is 60! 

--Phil W. passed along the musings of his congresswoman in the Charlotte, N.C., area, Sue Myrick, a Republican, and it sounds like Ms. Myrick and I have something in common; we’re both pretty gloomy when it comes to terrorism. Rep. Myrick has been issuing videos warning that Americans aren’t being told the truth about the jihadists and their goal of destroying Western democracies. Yet another reason to always sleep with one eye open. And when awake, keep both eyes peeled, looking for trouble. 

--The CIA bomber struck before he could be searched. According to an account in the Washington Post it went down like this. 

“The Jordanian doctor arrived in a red station wagon that came directly from Pakistan and sped through checkpoints at a CIA base in Afghanistan before stopping abruptly at an improvised interrogation center. Outside stood one of the CIA’s top experts on al-Qaeda, ready to greet the doctor and hear him describe a way to kill Ayman al-Zawahiri, the organization’s No. 2 and a man long at the top of U.S. target lists. 

“The Jordanian exited the car with one hand in his pocket, according to the accounts of several U.S. officials briefed on the incident. An American security guard approached him to conduct a pat-down search and asked him to remove his hand. Instead, the Jordanian triggered a switch…. 

“Virtually everyone within sight of the suicide blast died immediately, including the al-Qaeda expert, who led the CIA team at the base.” 

--For the archives, I do have to note that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid got in hot water for saying of candidate Barack Obama that he could be successful thanks, in part, to his “light-skinned” appearance and speaking patterns “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.” Reid then apologized to everyone who would listen, with Obama accepting it “without question.” 

Republicans jumped on this, saying there was a double-standard, referring specifically to Trent Lott’s praising then-South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond’s 1948 presidential campaign as the States Rights Democratic Party candidate. If Thurmond had won that race, Lott said, “We wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years.” 

Now Lott was at Thurmond’s 100th birthday party and Trent Lott is not a racist and was just making what he thought was a little joke, but it came out wrong and he was killed for it. 

I believe they are two different situations, but as the Wall Street Journal opines, “Not every racial malaprop merits political banishment, and it would be edifying to the American public to hear this President say so on behalf of someone who isn’t a partisan ally.” 

As the Journal goes on to point out, however, “this is hardly Mr. Reid’s worst rhetorical offense. That prize goes to his all too public comments in April 2007 that ‘the war is lost’ in Iraq, even as the surge was finally making victory possible. That was a betrayal of American soldiers risking their lives in Iraq, and to the extent it emboldened the enemy, it may have cost American lives. If Mr. Reid has apologized for that defeatism, we don’t recall it. That’s reason enough to resign.” 

It seems that come November, though, Nevada voters will boot the fool out of office, which is how the system is supposed to work, right sports fans? 

--From USA TODAY: 

“Nearly three years after Congress approved sweeping ethics rules to ‘drain the swamp,’ as incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, no member of Congress has been punished for wrongdoing.”  

There were 25 investigations the first nine months of 2009 and not one was sent on to the ethics committee for further action. The inquiry into Rep. Charles Rangel, D-NY, is still pending. 

--So now we’re told body scanners can increase our health risks. Of course they do. I don’t care how low the dose of radiation is, it’s still an X-ray. And if you travel a lot, that can’t be good. 

--Sarah Palin joined Fox News as a commentator. Yippee! In her first interview with Bill O’Reilly, he pressed her on unflattering charges in the book “Game Change” of being an ignoramus and Palin replied, several times, “I don’t think the American people care about this.” 

And so our nation, sick of Washington like never before, just wants an ordinary Joe or Jane. Even my attorney told me this the other day. Throw ‘em all out and let’s get real folks in there.  

Not me, man. I still believe in American exceptionalism, including with our presidents. We had a pretty good string of ‘em when we were just getting started, as well as some real dregs no doubt, particularly in the run-up to the Civil War (save Polk), and right now we’re hitting rock bottom again. 

But someone exceptional will emerge. No not Obama kind of exceptionalism. A leader with common sense and that common touch, who also has an understanding of this big, dangerous world…which eliminates Palin. 

--Who is the world’s ultimate frequent flier? Try the Arctic tern, some of which have been found to travel more than 80,000 km a year. Over a lifetime they fly the equivalent of three round trips to the Moon, a new study showed. Researchers had tiny tracking devices on 11 of the small white birds breeding in Greenland or Iceland that were then monitored on their annual trips to Antarctica and back. But goodness gracious, a tern can live up to 34 years on average. You’d think there’d be an endorsement deal or two out there for them. Cold weather gear, that sort of thing. 

“ ‘I am not a hero,’ insisted Miep Gies. ‘I was just an ordinary housewife and secretary.’ It was Mrs. Gies’s habit to deflect accolades for defying Nazi occupiers of Amsterdam by helping to hide Anne Frank, her family and three other doomed Jews in a secret annex to the business office of Anne’s father, Otto Frank…. 

“After the Gestapo raided the hiding place in August 1944, Mrs. Gies made a bold but unsuccessful attempt to bribe Gestapo officials to spare the lives of the eight arrested Jews. She is owed the world’s debt for preserving Anne’s diary, which she hid unread in the hope that its young author would survive and return to claim it.” 

Miep Gies was the last surviving member of Anne Frank’s protectors. She was 100. 

Pray for the men and women of our armed forces, and all the fallen. Pray that the Haitian survivors at least get clean drinking water. 

Gold closed at $1130
Oil, $78.00 

Returns for the week 1/11-1/15 

Returns for the period 1/1/10-1/15/10 

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