Monday, January 7, 2008

Lots Of News To Check Out

Norman Hsu convicted
Big-time Hillary Clinton campaign fundraiser Norman Hsu has been sentenced to three years in state prison, with more possibly coming due to fraud charges.  It's a pattern of criminal behavior with the Clintons.  I just wonder how they've always remained Teflon-coated.

Judeo-Christian values
Conservative Thoughts posts about what 'Judeo-Christian values' are and why they're important.  A good thought-provoking piece that's worth a moment of your time to read.

More nanny state controls
Joseph Somsel writes at American Thinker about a disturbing trend that seems innocent enough.  New energy efficiency standards for the state of California are in the works.  These standards are generally pretty innocent (larger pipes to reduce pressure on pumps thus requiring less electricity, etc.), but one monstrously alarming provision is included that needs to be spread to the public: every new home (and every change to existing homes' heating or A/C) will require a programmable communicating thermostat.  The control buttons on those PCTs will be held by power authorities who can set your thermostat to whatever they feel is most appropriate.  Californians have until January 30th to express their concerns - see the article for contact information.  Freedom is given up one step at a time, and this is a big step!  If the government controls the temperature in YOUR house, what is next??

Deterring WW5
This is an interesting little hypothetical about what would happen if a nuclear war broke out between Israel and Iran.  Take it for what it's worth - a hypothetical exercise.  Still, it's scary to see those numbers of casualties even being projected.  This is why crazy dictators should not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons!

A SINGLE trader caused record oil prices!
Last week, the price of oil per barrel broke the $100 mark.  I'm sure you saw the headlines, but you probably didn't see exactly what happened.  According to the New York Mercantile Exchange, a single trader deliberately overpaid for 1,000 barrels (the minimum amount allowed), then immediately sold them for a $600 loss.  Why?

"He paid $600 for the right to tell his grandchildren that he was the first in the world to buy $100 oil," said Stephen Schork, a former floor trader on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) and the editor of an oil market newsletter.

This is one of the major problems with how the price of oil is set.  If a single guy can cause a flurry of historic panic with a deliberate $600 loss, things need to change!  It also illustrates just how crazy this whole oil price controversy is.

More Reps means good results in 2008?
One of the indicators of which party might have more success in the months ahead of any election is to look at the number of people self-identifying with the party.  Rasmussen recently published a poll that showed the highest self-identification of Republicans in two years.  At the same time, self-identifying Democrats fell, leaving both parties roughly even (Dems have about 1% higher), indicating that Democrat gains in the 2008 election could be minimal.  To illustrate, in 2006, when the Democrats took over Congress for the first time in 12 years, they had almost a 7% lead over Republicans.  Americans know it's been the Democrats who side with our enemies, try to force failure on our military, and pander to wacko ultra-leftist socialists - they can't hide it anymore!  I'm actually starting to look forward to this election!

Reps out-raise Dems on national level
Comparing fund-raising at the national committee level, the RNC has far out-raised the DNC - over $30 million through November of 2007.  While Dems have better fund-raising on the candidate level, the RNC's cash pile should help the eventual Republican nominee for the general election.  As they say, money is the mother's milk of politics.  This is another good sign for the Republican party.

There's my two cents.

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