Views on Random World Stuff

Seems one of the largest petroleum exporters in the world can’t manage to get heating oil to remote villages. ( AP story) Apparently President Ahmadinejad of Iran would rather rant and rave at the West, than make sure that his own people have the required natural gas and heating oil to survive. A number of internal political reversals lately, have put even more pressure on the hard line politician. As referenced in the article as well, “… in local municipal elections a year ago, the president’s allies suffered a humiliating defeat after a majority of the seats were won by reformists and conservatives opposing Ahmadinejad.” After 64 deaths now attributed to lack of heat in one of the coldest winters in some time, maybe he should worry about taking care of his own before worrying about what the West is doing.

After watching the Democratic presidential primary debate yesterday I came across the following article by Frederik Pleitgen of CNN. ( CNN article) The article is an interview with the 25 year old niece of Benazir Bhutto who was killed while campaigning for political leadership in Pakistan. One of the particularly telling issues that she brought up was the detrimental effect of “dynastic” politics in Pakistan. After reading the article, I couldn’t help but think about some of our own current problems here with dynastic political leadership (Bush I, Bush II, B.Clinton, H.Clinton). Maybe we should take some of this young lady’s concerns about keeping political leadership in the family and not have any more of it ourselves.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson on Tuesday officially withdrew from the GOP primary race. (CNN article) While personally a likable and honorable politician, not to mention not a bad actor, his presidential hopes were pretty well doomed from the start. He never showed the fire or real desire to get his message (I’m still trying to figure out what it was) out in front of the electorate. In addition to being far too laid back in his campaign, he never really pushed the early caucus and primary campaigns and staked his campaign on the first southern state in South Carolina. It backfired miserably, and in one quick look, it is back to the ole acting career. I’m hoping Giuliani is paying attention, for his strategy is even more bold in waiting for Florida to keep his campaign going, which I doubt will have any more success than Thompson had.

After a precipitous fall on Friday and all the world markets taking nearly 5% falls or greater on Monday while the U.S. markets were on holiday, the Federal Reserve board stepped in before the markets opened this morning and cut two key interest rates by ¾ of a percentage point. (CNNMoney.com) This turns out to be the largest cut in the funds rate at one time in 24 years. The reasoning from the FED for this drastic cut was “Broader financial market conditions have continued to deteriorate and credit has tightened further for some businesses and households. Moreover, incoming information indicates a deepening of the housing contraction as well as some softening in labor markets.” Well…. DUH. I mean for heavens sake what numbers have they been watching that this wasn’t in evidence? While the market struggled back from it’s gap down opening of around 450 points on the DOW to settle at down 128.11, the real question is will it hold over the rest of the week, or will the FED be forced to introduce further cuts at their January 20th meeting.

Apparently the Democrats primary debate on Monday broke cable network ratings records. (CNN political ticker) While it was highly entertaining, it wasn’t much in the way of informative. But it did provide better body blows than ECW wrestling.

HEADLINE: FALSE STATEMENTS PRECEEDED WAR IN IRAQ (AP Story) This goes into the Well …. DUH category as well. If this news surprises anyone, all I have to say is where have you been hiding?

Finally a candidate that we can take at their word. (AP article) Ed Hamilton, 77, is challenging incumbent Mindy Williams for the GOP nomination for Kerr Country treasurer, and promises “I don’t plan to do the job, I won’t accept a paycheck”. Campaigning to ask for a referendum on a constitutional amendment that would allow counties to eliminate the treasurer positions. Combating arguments from the incumbent that the position provides accountability on the county’s spending, Hamilton says “check and balance” is “a euphemism for duplication of effort.” What I can’t figure out is why a Democrat isn’t running for such an important post?

And finally, for those wondering how Eclectic Views from the Fringe is doing financially, you will be glad to know that I have exceeded my expectations and have garnered a whopping $0.65 so far in ad revenue. If I keep this up, I will be able to be in the same tax bracket as Al Gore has achieved in going from a net worth of $1Million to $100Million in the short time he has been blogging about Global Warming in no time. Obviously his ads are much cooler than mine :)