Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Food Stocks of Interest

Because we all like to eat and hopefully will for the rest of our lives, I appreciate food stocks and like to own shares in food companies. Here are five good companies. If you know of others that like, let me know. I am always looking for new ideas.

Nestle

Con Agra

General Mills

Sara Lee

Kraft Foods

Does Obama Have the Will?

The headlines said, “Israeli Jets Hit Hamas.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, “We will act aggressively, responsibly and wisely in order to preserve the quiet and security that endured the past two years.” He then acted by attacking several Hamas facilities in Gaza.

Wouldn’t it be great if our president acted in as a mature style as this, without first having to consult with the cabinet women or the UN, for approval?

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Do we really have any idea which one is the the real Hillary?

The mother

The Good Wife

The Injured wife

Stand by her man wife

Diplomatic wife

Senator from New York

Presidential candidate

Make a deal with Barack candidate

Secretary of State

Global traveler

Savior of the World

We have seen all of these and I imagine there will be more to come.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

From the Halls of Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli.

I wonder if now that we are returning to the “Shores of Tripoli,” we will need to return to the “Halls of Montezuma.” I hope not.

Strength or Weakness?

One major problem our founding fathers didn’t have, or even think about, was being a “Career Politician.” They were men and women who were willing to sacrifice days, weeks, months or even a years to lead our communities, towns, cities, states and nation, whenever leadership was needed. Now the individuals who go into politics are all trough feeders who care little about anything other than making a living in politics. Sad isn’t it.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

America’s Greatest Strength

The USA has many strengths, probably far more than you or I could ever imagine. However, here is what I believe is one of our number one strengths.

The best free public education in all of the world, kindergarten through at least two years of college for any child who wants it and has parents who also value it enough to see they go. Plus scholarships and public and/or private help for those that wish to continue even through advanced degrees.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Crisis!

President Obama stated he had three options in dealing with the oil crisis.

Do nothing.

Watch and see what happens.

Try to do something.

Do you know in which order he reacted?

Stocks

Ninety seven percent of stocks are up since their lows of 2009. Tell me why, I had to pick the three percent that are down?

Rubber Bands.

It is estimated that the Royal Mail in Great Britain used 2 million rubber bands in 2009

Little Italian, Little Italy.

It is estimated that only six percent of Little Italy’s residents in New York are of Italian decent.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

The Strange World of the Politician.

It is rather an interesting world when a politician can run up a huge debt and call it “Record Earnings”, “Feds Earn $82 billion due to Stimulus Funding. 

The article goes on to say that the government borrows  money from the Feds to pay for the “Stimulus,” pays interest on the loan which then counts as earning record profits, and declare it as “Record Earnings.”

Quinoa

Sometimes we just can’t seem to get it right, can we?

Quinoa pronounced (keen-wah) is a chenopod, related to such species as beets and spinach. It has a balance of protein and amino acids unrivaled in the plant and animal world for its life sustaining nutrients. It has been a staple food for centuries in Bolivia, but mostly a curiosity in other counties. However, the world acceptance of it as a health food has driven up the price to the point that local people can’t afford to buy it. Since much of the population can no longer afford to buy Quinoa, they and are being pushed into buying more expensive and less nutritional food, which has led to widespread malnutrition.

Surprise Discovery

Our two illustrious Senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer have recently made a major discovery.We have two nuclear reactors in California, one in Diablo Canyon near SLO and the other at San Onofre. I wonder where they have been all these years. Barbara and I had a tour of the Diablo Canyon facility when Jen was at Cal Poly SLO, over twenty years ago.

It is wonderful to have such alert people as our leaders, I wonder if they have heard that it is now 2011, maybe I should send them an e-mail.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Racial and Ethnic Intermarriages For 2008

116,000 whites and Hispanics 53% white brides

43,1000 white and Asian 74% white groom

32,000 white and black 75% white bride

14,600 white and American Indian 62% white groom

12,600 black and Hispanic 73% Hispanic bride

6,700 Hispanic and Asian 58% Hispanic groom

3,700 black and Asian 80% black groom

There is really nothing significant or important in this report, but I thought it was interesting and probably just about what you would say if you were just guessing.

I don’t know why there weren’t any figures for Indian marriages with other groups, but none were cited.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Haunted House

Are you looking for a haunted home to live in? Try Louisville. “Old Louisville” has 48 acres of old homes that are considered to be potentially haunted.

Subway, World’s Biggest Fast-Food Chain.

McDonalds is bigger by sales and operates in more countries, but Subway overtook McDonalds to become the world’s largest fast-food chain with 33,749 eateries to McDonalds 32,737.

The True Prudential (Prudentials)

Are you a conservative or a liberal? I imagine many of us would claim to be somewhere in between if asked, because the other two options sound too divided. However, we are probably prudent in our political choices, which should make us prudential.

Maybe we should form a new party and call ourselves “Prudentials.”

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Economist March 19, 2011

Has Barack Obama ever been brave? Perhaps more pertinently, will he ever be?        He has clung to the middle ground, cutting deals and side-stepping fights he judges he can’t win. He campaigned as a “Transformational” president, the “We can” president. Political courage may be hard to define, but we know it when we see it. Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act and lost the South in the next election.                                                                                                                      The younger George Bush showed true grit when he defied everyone and refused to leave Iraq in chaos.                                                                 Maybe Mr. Obama will step forward and show similar courage, while Libya and Bahrain burn.

Jerry Brown

Jerry Brown in his inauguration address described politics as a primordial battle between Modocians and Alamedans. Modoc refers to a rural Republican county and Alameda is a liberal enclave east of San Francisco.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Britain

Britain has 250,000 households in which no adult has ever held a formal job.

Jerusalem

Jerusalem is somewhat like Gaul was in that it is divided into parts, one difference was that Gaul was divided into three parts and Jerusalem has five parts.

Christian Jerusalem

Islamic Jerusalem

Israeli Jerusalem

Jewish Jerusalem

Palestinian Jerusalem

One interesting aspect to Jerusalem’s world relationships is that they are more dependent for support on the USA than any other country in the world, because of our Christian heritage in Jerusalem (Jesus.)

Friday, March 18, 2011

Japan

If you have a desire to write an “End of the World” novel, you need look no farther than the disaster in Japan as your starting point. While I do not think it is going to develop that way, it easily could.

A physical plot might follow the line that this was the beginning of a series of natural disasters, all related to one another by the Earth adjusting to the movement of the first plate, then the next and the next and so on until all of the plates are in movement. Somewhere during this series of events the Earth would begin to shake and tear apart throwing pieces out into space, until it finally ended in many small pieces or regained its equilibrium at some point as a smaller planet. However, by then, most, if not all, of mankind would have perished.

A  financial disaster plot is more likely to happen and we actually may be witnessing the beginning. Unless the World Economies realize the possible disaster facing us and act together to resurrect Japan’s economy, Japan might fail. Japan’s loss is our loss, they are one of our most trusted and dependable allies and our countries economies are so intertwined that we will lose a large part of the market for our products and a major part of our imports. They buy what we produce and we in turn buy from them. If we both topple, most of our other major trading partners will lose a great deal of their own markets and face economic disaster also.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Throw the Ball!

 

I never threw an illegal pitch. The only trouble is that once in a while I will throw a pitch never been seen by this generation. Satchel Page

Ninety percent of this game is half mental. Yogi Berra

If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant’s life, she will choose to save the infant’s life without even considering if there is a man on base. Dave Berry

The way to get a coach to think you are in shape during spring training is to get a tan. Whitey Ford.

Bob Gibson is the luckiest pitcher I ever did see. He always pitches when the other team doesn’t score any runs. Tim McCarver

I think I throw the ball as hard as anyone else, it just doesn’t get there as fast.

We know we are better than this, but we can’t prove it. Tony Gwinn

As a nation we are dedicated to getting physically fit-and parking as close as possible to the stadium. Bill Vaughan

Slump? I ain’t in no slump. I just ain’t hitting. Yogi Berra

The baseball mania has run its course. It has no future as a professional endeavor. Cincinnati Gazette, 1879

 

What is Murder?

If you kill someone are you a murderer? What if you kill yourself, is that murder?

If the punishment for murder is to be death by injection, do you inject the cadaver of the person who commits suicide?

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

WISDOM

A Laysan albatross named Wisdom is the oldest known living wild bird in the United States. She was first banded in 1956, she was estimated to be at least five years old, which would make her  about sixty years old today. She has probably given birth to 35 chicks in her life and flown 2 to 3 million miles.

 

Change for Russia

The earth’s magnetic pole is shifting from Canada towards Russia about 37 miles per year. If this rate continues the north pole will be in Russian later this century.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

The Good Old Days?

I doubt that they were really the good old days, because now is really the best time of my life. Most mornings Barb and I get up with the thought that something great will happen today. It doesn’t often occur, but then that is what makes it so exciting, because tomorrow may be the day. Actually Thursday and Friday were two of those days for me. I finished my Income Taxes on Thursday and Jen came down on Friday and we took them to Scott, our tax man. What a relief that that they are actually done for an entire year.

I suppose it is obvious that I survive because of my firm belief in the Annie Philosophy, “Tomorrow! Tomorrow! just you wait and see.” It has served me well.

Last night Francis, Jane, Roy, Bernice, Barbara and I went to  Black Angus for dinner.We all had steak and I tried the sweet potato fries, mighty tasty. Jane had some coupons so we had shrimp cocktails and dessert as well as our meals.

Lorrie’s Birthday is coming next week, if you want to send her an e-mail I believe you will be able to find her e-mail on my blog.