Sunday, August 31, 2008

Our new home in Old Niskayuna

I have been reading up on slate roofs lately. I don’t know if buying a 65-year-old house in Old Niskayuna, NY with a slate roof with a 75-year-old life expectancy is going to be a very, very expensive can of worms. I kind of think it will be. We’ll see for sure after the first of November.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

President Bush is our Batman

Brian Popkin of Denville, NJ wrote a letter to the Daily Record editor that I found interesting. Here it is.

President Bush is our Batman - August 16, 2008

While I appreciate the public for making the great "Dark Knight" movie so successful, I feel many are missing the movie's point.

Batman's campaign had made the streets of Gotham safer at the night. This environment allowed for an aggressive district attorney like Harvey Dent to rise to power. Because of Batman, ordinary people like Dent were taking on dangerous crooks. He was a handsome, ambitious, young reformer. He was aided by a friendly press focused on his good side. They were not looking at skeletons in his closet. Dent reminds me of John Edwards and even Barack Obama.

People wanted to replace Batman with Dent. Batman's methods, which were allowed for years, were now considered beyond the pale. They wanted Batman locked up and prosecuted. The more the Joker's crime spree escalated, the more they wanted to acquiesce to him. The irony was that Batman was the only one who could stop the Joker.

This reminds me of our current situation. The whole world wants Obama for president. He will reverse Bush's "failed policies." These are the same policies that have created the success following the surge by U.S. troops in Iraq. These policies have foiled every terrorist attack on our soil since Sept. 11. The thinking is, now that the troop surge has made Iraq safer, we can leave. Now that people are concerned about Bennigan's [a local bankrupt restaurant] closing more than foreign policy, we can afford a president with no foreign policy experience. We can stop fighting terrorism and stop listening to terrorist phone calls. We can close Guantánamo and free the prisoners. Lock up the Batman.

The only problem is once you get rid of Batman; all you can do is hope the Joker doesn't return.

BRIAN POPKIN

Denville

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Clueles Investing

I have started a blog on personal finance and investment matters. You may view it at http://simoncucle.blogspot.com/

The Democrat Party and the Republican Party

There are differences and a similarity between the Democrat Party and the Republican Party. First the similarity, both parties like to spend, and spend, and spend. That’s how their office holders get re-elected.

The differences are that the Democrats will tax you into oblivion in the here and now to support their spending. The Republicans will put your children and your children’s children into lock with their borrowing to support their spending.

At least the Democrats put their jobs on the line. If their taxing and spending get too out of hand they can be voted out of office. None of that for the Republicans, those cowards, they will be long gone and retired when their bills come due and your kids have to pay for their borrowing.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

OBAMA

Inspiring Words

Polished Presentation

Little Substance