Boulder is a Stoopid Place

From the Chart of the Day folks…

Quote of the Day

maybe it can happen in Boulder!

Irritation grows over taxes

He has obviously never forgotten this incident; better yet, he took from it a couple of very good lessons: “I came out of Vietnam with two things: a grasp of how the collective good keeps people alive, and the fact that luck can play a big part in everything you do.”

Read more at Freakonomics.

The Influence Peddler comments on the effect the Immigration bill is having on Bush and his quickly diminishing political capital. I couldn’t agree more. Hat Tip again to Instapundit.

But it’s starting to look as if the immigration fight has become the straw that broke the camel’s back. Conservatives oppose the White House on the substance and deeply resent the charges of nativism and ignorance coming from Bush’s team. Now Mitt Romney has apparently decided that it’s time to begin the process of disowning the President:

Ack, in my letter to Trent Lott I said I’d never written a politician before. NOT TRUE! I wrote Dennis Hastert an e-mail after the FBi searched William Jeffers office.

Former all-star relief pitcher Rod Beck passed away yesterday at the age of 38. I’m a mediocre baseball fan but I do remember this quite vividly having seen some TV coverage of it….

While working his way back to the majors in 2003, Beck pitched for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs and lived in his Winnebago parked just beyond the outfield fence. Fans would drop by for autographs and stay for a beer, and Beck became a folk hero. Then the Padres called.

Read more about Rod and his career here.

I received the e-mail today. It snuck through the Comcast spam filter. My only question is who would actually believe this BS???

FROM :FORIEGN REMMITTACE DEPARTMENT
Before I introduce myself, I wish
to inform you that this letter is not a hoax mail and I urge you to
treat it serious. We want to transfer to an overseas account
$17,000.000.00,(seventeen million Dollars ) from a prime Bank here in
Hungary.
I want to ask you, if you are not capable, to quietly look
for a reliable and honest person who will be capable and fit to provide
either an existing bank account or to set up a new Bank a/c immediately
to receive this money, even an empty a/c can serve to receive this
money, as long as you will remain honest to me till the end of this
important business i am trusting in you and believing in God that you
will never let me down either now or in future.
I am Mr.Moore John,
presently promoted to Auditor General in one of the banks here in
Hungary,during our last auditorial meeting we found out that there is
an account that is lying dormant for so many years and we have
investigated on it and found out that the owner of the account by the
name of Mr Thomas Stone From Columbus, Ohio,who died with his family on
a plane crash and since then we couldn’t find any of the relations,he
died without living any will that is why we contacted you for
assistance and at the conclusion of this business, you will be given
30% of the total amount, 70% will be for us. PLEASE, TREAT THIS
PROPOSAL AS TOP SECRET.
Please do get back to me if you are interested
so that i will give you the other information that you need to know.
Regards,
Mr.Moore.

Take down of Michael Moore, here and the original article here. The sad part is it’s so damn easy.

Say it ain’t so.

A year long investigation commisioned by the BBC concluded that the BBC is (was?) biased. Here’s a snippit of what the report had to say:

The BBC has failed to promote proper debate on major political issues because of the inherent liberal culture of its staff, a report commissioned by the corporation has concluded. The report claims that coverage of single-issue political causes, such as climate change and poverty, can be biased – and is particularly critical of Live 8 coverage, which it says amounted to endorsement.

and also…

The report concludes BBC staff must be more willing to challenge their own beliefs.

It reads: “There is a tendency to ‘group think’ with too many staff inhabiting a shared space and comfort zone.”

Read more here. After reading this article, it would seem that the basic culture would have to change. I consider that extraordinarily unlikely.

John Sharf at View from a Height has some suggestions for Mayor Hickenlooper before he tries to implement his green agenda.

Hat-tip to Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit.

Jim Altucher compares the investment ideas of Warren Buffett (Berhkshire Hathaway) and Eddie Lampert (Sears Holdings). He concludes…

My prediction is that the next big investment move we see will come from Mr Lampert. He will end up doing what Mr Buffett did: getting into insurance. I would not be surprised to see him start his own insurance company or buy one of the more interesting players out there such as Endurance Specialty Insurance or Markel.

Here’s the straight scoop. Conclusion…

The bottom line? No one is certain what’s going on, but a lot of the theories can’t – by themselves – explain everything we’re seeing. More important, the situation hasn’t yet risen to the level of a catastrophe (except, sadly, for some of the affected beekeepers). If the same thing keeps happening every winter for another decade or so, then we might really start worrying. But for now, classifying this as a “problem with potentially severe economic impact should it persist” would be a more realistic assessment.