Day: December 30, 2007

I’ve given a few hundred bucks here and there to the Democrats. I gave to John Kerry in the 2004 primaries when things looked hopeless. That money was well-used, since he became the front-runner just after cashing it. I should have given him a few hundred more after primary season, that undoubtedly would have been the turning point to beat Bush! I haven’t given this primary season (all the Democrats are good enough for me), but I’ll probably chip in again during the general election.

I’ve focused more on Congressional campaigns the last four years. I’ve given a bit each year to the DCCC, the clearing house for Democrat congressional races. But I’m done with that. Two particular incidents have sent me over the edge.

1) As part of the ongoing FISA madness, Congress is trying to give the telecoms retroactive immunity from any lawsuits. That’s bad. Chris Dodd has been taking the lead in trying to stop this. He placed a hold on the bill. Harry Reid ignored it. That is very bad. These holds are incredibly pernicious (one of my father’s favorite words), in which any senator can stop pretty much anything, just by asking. They are always honored. Harry Reid decided to make an exception. The exception was for a Democrat, his own party!, who was concerned about the President breaking the law and the Constitution. Harry Reid apparently was not. Glenn Greenwald has the definitive take on this, as well as many other posts about it.

2) Hedgefund managers found a loophole in the tax code that lets them treat their income as capital gains instead of normal income. This is a much better taxrate, it nets them hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe billions. This is a simple loophole, an understandable oversight in complicated tax law. Not a big deal, you just close the loophole and get back to business, right? Wrong. Once again, a prominent Democrat stepped in. Charles Shumer (D-NY/Wall Street) stopped the legislation. He didn’t even try to defend what he did — he knows it was craven pandering to his donors. That’s money lost that could be used to pay down the debt, pay for Iraq for a while, get ready for the growing “unfunded liabilities”, help with the subprime crisis, all kinds of useful things.

I’m not giving them any more money for a while.

I’m copying other bloggers by doing a best-of-2007 list. These are my picks for favorites posts, not necessarily the readers picks. I found out I really like a lot of my posts, I had a hard time keeping this post short. I tstill hink my political ones make good points, and my funny ones still make me laugh. I suppose it’s a good thing that I find my own blog worthy!

Must I Quantify Everything?
Analyzing Gillette’s new razor and my high school’s deathrate.

An .mp3 feature I want. The last line of this kills me, “I’m very easily bothered.”

How much money do you need to have before you’ll buy a pricey car? I was surprised to get no comments on this.

Humor:
This still makes me laugh. Seriously, how does Al Gore buy sextoys?

My one-note review of Harry Potter.

Funny quotes from my 4-year old: One, two, three, and four. Expect more in 2008.

The most embarrassing songs in my .mp3 library

Sports:
My beloved Pats lose to the Colts. It’s good to see that Kraft listened to me for the 2007 version. Losing… seems so long ago! There was a longer version also.

The first of many reactions to the 2007 Patriots. As we make history 15 games later, made history with the NFL’s first 16-win perfect regular season, my points for the year haven’t changed.

World Series of Poker commentary. I particularly like my economic analysis of the pro to amateur ratio.

Politics and Government:
These two posts on Social Security are about the best work I’ve done. Very few people understand what Social Security is or how it works, and thus their opinions are worthless. I lay out how it all works and some of the implications of it. Here’s Part One and Part Two. I may do a Part Three someday.

I officially support John Edwards, and the commenters go crazy, setting a Muttroxia record.

How the media frames the Democrats. The comments went down a different angle, I thought my original point was more interesting.

The connection between Baseball and voting policy. (This can go under politics, sports, and humor – I hit the trifecta!)

And don’t forget! You can always search for the many posts called “Links o’ Interest”.