Obama Supports Marijuana Decriminalization
As a candidate for the U.S. Senate four years ago, Mr. Obama told Illinois college students that he supported eliminating criminal penalties for marijuana use or possession
“I think we need to rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws,” Mr. Obama told an audience during a debate at Northwestern University in 2004. “But I’m not somebody who believes in legalization of marijuana.”
Sphere: Related ContentEdwards Out. Good for Obama or Hillary?
The conventional wisdom is that John Edwards’ withdrawl from the Democratic Primary will be a boon to Barak Obama as the anti-Clinton vote coalesces behind him. I would hope that would be the case, but a closer peak at the demographics of Edwards’ base makes me skeptical.
Edwards’ populist message has primarily appealed to the white, blue collar voter, a group that has gone overwhelmingly for Clinton thus far. If that group moved behind Hillary it could potentially blow the race wide open.
Sphere: Related ContentCompared to Bernanke Greenspan Had it Easy
GDP at .6% annualized Rate, Inflation on the rise and Fed’s hands are tied.
The Commerce Department reported today that GDP rose at a seasonally adjusted .6% annual rate in the final quarter of 2007, citing the housing slump, a deceleration in consumer spending, inventory liquidation, and lower overseas sales as forces dragging on the economy. Economic growth was not only significantly slower than the previous quarter, but well below Wall Street’s already modest expectations. Of perhaps the greatest significance was the price index for PCE (personal consumption expenditures) which increased a staggering 3.9%, more than double the previous quarter.
What does this all mean? Despite the Fed’s newly aggressive rate policy it appears we are barreling head on into a recession. The question is will it be the mild brand that we’ve experienced over the past several cycles or a deeper more painful one, ala 1982?
Ben Bernanke certainly has his work cut out for him. The challenge facing him is far greater than anything Alan Greenspan—who worked primarily in an environment devoid of inflation—faced. Bernanke can’t train his focus on stoking the flames of the economic engine with nary a worry about inflation as his predecessor could. He has to balance the plunging dollar, collapse of the housing industry, decelerating consumer demand, credit crunch, exploding inflation with an economy in dire need of a capital infusion—how to manage one without submarining the other will be a very challenging task indeed.
Sphere: Related ContentSamsung LNT 4665F LCD HDTV - Calibration Settings
So I’ve had this TV for close to a month now and I couldn’t be happier. It has exceeded all of my expectations. My initial complaints - lack of shadow detail, overly saturated colors, too much contrast - has been solved through proper calibration. My calibration settings have evolved over the past weeks through a combination of methods (AVIA, DVD Essentials, Spyder, and consultation with AV Forum). I now believe I have the perfect calibration settings for this particular model and firmware. I would say this is as good as you can get this model looking without having and ISA profesional doing the job. Here are my settings:
mode: standard
contrast: 84
brightness: 52
Sharpness: 32
Tint: 49g 51r
Blacklight: 7
Color: 52
Color tone: cool1
Digital nr: auto
DNIE: on
DETAIL SETTINGS:
black adjust: low
Dynamic contrast: med
Gamma:0
Color space: wide
Edge Enhancement: on
WHITE BALANCE:
R off 16
G off 14
B off 14
R Gain 15
G gain 14
B gain 14
MY COLOR:
default
Energy Savings - Low
HDMI Black Level - Low
Let me know how these work out for you and post your own calibration settings. I’d like to get a dossier going.
Sphere: Related ContentGOP debate in Florida, Deferential - Romney Wins
I was amazed at how deferential the republican candidates were to each other. It was remarkably polite in contrast to the recent democratic debates. No question Mitt Romney was the winner of this debate. He was smooth, intelligent, and I must say made sense. He certainly made the argument that he would be the best candidate to run against the Clintons. I’ve been an ardent foe of Romeny to date, but this was the first time I found him appealing, almost - I can’t beleive I’m saying this - Reaganesque.
John McCain on the other hand bombed. He lacked energy and didn’t seem to hit on the answers that the public wanted to hear. Ron Paul as always made sense, but does it matter? Huckabee is sort of likable, but he told me flat out I shouldn’t vote for him. Rudy? Done.
The Credit Bubble has Popped. What can be done?
Pop! Sssssssss. Â
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That’s the sound of the credit bubble deflating. The Federal Reserve, acting as an enabler, has kept rates too low for too long allowing an obscene credit bubble to inflate. Now we are feeling the pain. This abnormal policy created a distortion in capital flows making credit nations with low propensities for consumption our “dealersâ€, by taking their excess savings in the form of capital and channeling right back into the US economy, essentially allowing us to spend their savings as if it were our own. This created the illusion of prosperity, allowing Americans to maintain their high standard of living despite Washington’s lush spending habits.Â
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An unintended outgrowth of this debt subsidy was the creation of an underground financial system in the form of sub-prime loans, SIVs, CDOs, etc, bringing capital to places it wouldn’t otherwise have reached. This helped perpetuate a housing boom with prices rising by more than 20% annum. Homeowners were thus able to tap into their newfound riches in the form of home equity loans, funneling the money back into the economy and fueling the economic boom. As is want to happen in any bubble, excess ultimately built up in the system.Â
Sphere: Related Content35% - Obama’s Support Among Whites Holds Steady
The exit polls from Nevada provide more evidence that Obama has been unable to break out of his ceiling of approximately one-third of the white vote. In fact, in each of the three Democratic contests thus far, Obama’s support among whites has been remarkably consistent:Â
 If this 35% ceiling does, in fact, exist, it’s interesting to compare it to Jesse Jackson’s performance in 1988. Despite the passage of 20 years and the fact that Jackson and Obama are very different candidates and personalities, Obama hasn’t performed significantly better than Jackson. During the 1988 primaries, especially once the race narrowed down to Dukakis and Jackson, Jackson’s white support ranged between 20 and 35 percent.
Sphere: Related ContentHeath Ledger is Dead. RIP
Actor Heath Ledger has died of a drug overdose, multiple sources have reported.  Bottles of Xanax and Valium were reportedly found on a nearby table.  Friends and relatives, while shocked and saddened, sad this was something they saw coming.  Ledger apparently learned to shoot Heroin while in rehab, preparing, he claiming, for his role as an addict in the upcoming movie Candy.  While not a superstar, Leger was a fine actor who gave much thought to the roles he took and whose star was on the rise.  His breakthrough was in the 2005 hit Brokeback Mountain.  Ledger is to appear in the upcoming Batman movie, The Dark Knight as The Joker. RIP Mr. Ledger.Â
The True Cause of our Economic Crisis: You Must Watch This!
Sphere: Related Content3/4 Point Rate cut will have Unintended Consequences.
It’s a tricky game the Fed has to play in assuaging market fear through the manipulation of rates - they need to show the market they take the problem seriously and will do what is needed to keep the wheels from coming of the economy, but they need to keep investors calm as well, for panic and the market don’t mix well.  While Fed Chief Bernanke certainly conveyed that he takes the problem seriously with this mornings 3/4 cut, I think he failed on the panic side of the equation.  3/4 a point is such a histroically enormous cut, particularly in light of our depreciating currency, that it is likely to make investors fear our policy makers are fleeing the theater screaming “Fire!”  All this cut says to me is that we are in much bigger trouble than anyone thought.  It certainly doesn’t motivate me to call my broker advising him to “buy buy buy”. The question now is what impact will this rate cut have on the falling dollar?  It is likely to put more pressure on the currency, which will only excacerbate those problems the Fed was trying to ameliorate.  At least we can stop worrying about what is ahead because the barrel has just tipped into the falls and there’s no turning back.Â
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