Talk of Bill Clinton as a Harmful Lightning Rod Misses the Point
Let us not forget that Bill Clinton is perhaps the savviest politician we’ve seen in a generation.  If he is misspeaking and proving a magnet for intensive criticism it is by design.  Recent chatter questioning whether the former President is harming Hillary’s shot at the nomination misses the point.Â
Yes Clinton is a lightning rod, but notice what has happened since he has injected himself into this campaign. Â Suddenly the bulk of punches are thrown his way in lieu of Hillary, at the same time her poll numbers have rebounded strongly and her national campaign once again looks like a winner. Â The other dynamic at play is what we might call the George Steinbrenner strategy. Â Baseball fans in New York will recall that anytime the Mets were winning, the Yankee owner would fire a manager, release a player, make inflamatory comments, or do something to recapture the back page, whether negative or positive. Â The key was always keeping the story about The Yankees. Â Suddenly the stories coming out of New Hampshire and South Carolina are all about Bill Clinton, leaving less press for Barack Obama. Â Dick Morris calls it “sucking all the oxygen out of the room.
“Morris, who was Clinton’s political stratagist during his initial presidential run, has gone on record saying that Hillary Clinton’s “stay at home and bake cookies comments” during the ‘92 race were part of an organized strategy to make her the magnet for GOP critisism, shielding Bill from the same. Â That ‘92 convention thus became all about Hillary, leaving little critisms left for the former President. Â Â
Sound familiar?Â
The African American Community has such a Deep Trust of Bush
8 Best Web Apps for Iphone
With apples latest upgrade to the iphone firmware bringing web clips (the ability to bookmark websites to the iphone webpage) to the user, third party web apps for the iphone have finally come of age. Prior to release 1.13 of the iphone firmware getting to a specific web app was a bit of a pain, the process serving as a deterrrant to those without broadband access. Â Jailbreaking the software had gotten so simple (a 1 touch web app itself) that it became the preferred method for adding apps to the iphone, much to Apple’s dismay. Â With Web Clips this has changed. Â Users can access their favorite web apps, blogs, portals, etc. off an icon on the iphones home page, significantly improving the user experience. Read more
Has Obama jumped the shark?
I like Obama and have supported him thus far, so this post is a little difficult to write, but here we go…  Barack Obama is history.  Yes, he is still alive in South Carolina, and polling strong in Nevada, but his moment has passed; he might as well bring his adopted out of town nephew into his campaign, for he has jumped the shark.  Maybe a talking dog?  It’s Hillary Clinton or bust at this point.  There is just a different feel in the wind right now, among Obama supporters, detracters, and the supposedly unaligned media.  When did things turn?  Was it the NH debate when he told Hillary she was “likable enough”, a peevish remark if ever there was one.  How about Hillary’s moment of tears.  Most figure those were the items that turned New Hampshire, stealing from Obama the knockout blow he so desperatly needed. The moments I believe were two:  Bill Clinton’s reference to Obama’s Iraq policy as “a fairy tale”, and Hillary’s statements regarding Martin Luther King, Lyndon Johnson, and the how the latter deserved more credit for civil rights.  At the time it had seemed it was the Clinton’s who had jumped the shark, but that was the moment Obama snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.  What had made Obama’s campaign endearing to that point was its refusal to make the campaign about race and to stoop to the sort of tactics of the Clintons, Bushes, and Washingtonions of whom the electorate had grown so tired, but the Obama response to both comments and the campaigns subtle dousing of the racial flames notified those supporters who were proudly voting for an African American candidate that race very much is an issue and one Obama will use to his advantage when possible.Let me state firmly that I am no fan of the Clintons.  I didn’t like Bill, I really don’t like Hillary, and I thought much of the good work accomplished in the 90’s was a result of republican congressional gains in ‘94 that forced Clinton to triangulate.  For all of their defects, one thing the Clintons are not is racist.  That is just an absurd proposition, as there has never been one shred of evidence in either Clinton’s history to support such a notion.  The fact that the Obama campaign is keeping alive the fairy tale and MLK comments in the hopes of perpetuating this Clinton/racist myth is simply appalling and a message that they will stoop to the manipulation of race using guilt against whites in order to gain any advantage, truth be damned.  Once this concept became apparent, I believe Obama jumped the shark.  It shows that his campaign is just smoke and mirrors and the more this uncomfortable whiff seeps through, the more Obama’s stock will decline, propelling Billary to the nomination.  I suppose I’ll need to find another way to assuage my white guilt.Â
Huckabee: Gay Marriage=Bestiality
In yet another affront to reason GOP candidate and evangelical favorite Mike Huckabee claimed a moral equivalency between gay marriage and bestiality. Â The Arkansas governor was recently interviewed by BeliefNet, an evangelical website. Â Below is the question and his response:
Is it your goal to bring the Constitution into strict conformity with the Bible? Some people would consider that a kind of dangerous undertaking, particularly given the variety of biblical interpretations.
 Well, I don’t think that’s a radical view to say we’re going to affirm marriage. I think the radical view is to say that we’re going to change the definition of marriage so that it can mean two men, two women, a man and three women, a man and a child, a man and animal. Again, once we change the definition, the door is open to change it again. I think the radical position is to make a change in what’s been historic.Â
 Scary stuff, boys and girls.Â
8 Stocks with Heavy Insider Buying
One of the best routes to success in the stock market is following the trends of insiders. When managers are bailing out of a stock in droves there they usually have pretty good reasons, reasons that aren’t always apparent to the public at large. Look at all the major bubbles of recent memory. Looking back, if only we had the foresight to follow the insiders as they jumped ship we could have been spared so much pain. The insiders were bailing out of mortgage and housing stocks last year and look what wound up happening. There is another side of the coin. Heavy insider buying is usually a great indicator that those in the know believe a companies assets are undervalued. By adhering to a discipline of purchasing quality companies with heavy insider ownership that is trending higher, you will do very well over the long haul. With the market getting beaten around so far this year, a sound strategy is imperative.
The insiders of the following 8 companies have been loading up on shares. If you are looking to throw some money into the market now that it is well off it’s highs, these could be very attractive candidates:
- Adobe Systems - Just initiated a $30 million share buyback. Taking shares out of circulation increases the value of those that remain. A bullish sign.
- UPS - Putting aside the incredible story that UPS is (Take a look at Tom Friedman’s Freakanomics and you will mortgage your house to buy UPS stock. That’s if you can get a mortgage, but that is another story.)  The company is currently buying back $10 billion worth of shares. Wow.
- NII Holdings - Currently buying back 6% of all outstanding shares.
- Blackstone Group - Currently buying back $500 million in shares.
- Hearst Argyle Group -Â The Hearst Family Trust bought more than 400,000 shares of the company in December between $21.31 and $22.37 a share.
- Lee Enterprises - recently announced a share buyback plan of up to $30 million, through cash.
- CKE Restaurants - last week said it increased its buyback program by $50 million, making the limit of its total repurchase program $400 million. The stock trades for 6.5x cash flow.
- Embarq Corp. - recently announced that its board has approved a 10% increase to its quarterly dividend and a $500 million share repurchase authorization.
Wake Up! Economic Catastrophe Ahead
America is in a dire situation with our economy imploding and the traditional tools with which to fight the crisis unavailable due to fiscal mismanagement. We are approaching a tipping point, yet nobody seems to be discussing these issues, focusing instead on tears, nuance, and innuendo. The Dow is down another 100 points this morning and over 1200 points this year-that’s in 3 short weeks. The stock market is reacting in part to the collapsing housing market and a report this week showing that new home starts are down by more than a third. Food costs are soaring as we see the impact of $100/barrel oil finally working its way through the economy. Our currency is collapsing and no longer able to withstand our countries irresponsible fiscal policy. 
The falling dollar is inflationary as it drives up the cost of imported goods. With banks mired in the sub-prime mortgage crisis and unwilling to loan money, real estate prices continue to drop with those combined factors causing foreclosures to mount. Add to that witches brew the rising unemployment rate and we have some real trouble on our hands.Rising food and energy costs, coupled with insecurity over the economy and employment prospects, coupled with declining equity and the inability to tap into our only form of savings-our real estate-to offset these forces is having a chilling effect on consumer spending-the engine that has driven this economy for several years. So we’ve heard this all before, right? The Fed will cut rates, stocks will rally, housing will pick up, and all will be like before. Lets just say Perhaps Not. Read more
Why the AI Auditions are Brilliant
These next few weeks are far and away the most enjoyable part of Idol. Â Just check this cat out…
Apple TV Take 2 - This time Apple Means Business
The initial incarnation of Apple TV was a monumental dud and when Apple creates a dud they are quite adept at it. (see Apple Newton).  There were so many things wrong with the system  - no HD, didn’t truely link online content to television - that it make you wonder what Apple was thinking.  So big was the failure that Steve Jobs had to humbly suggest that the system was nothing more than an Apple “hobby” at current.  Well it seem that all that has changed with the newest version of the Apple TV, the Take 2.With a vastly improved software interface and an impressive featureset including the ability to purchase media right off the device without a computer, HD playback, interactive slideshows through .mac and flickr, and support for Dolby Digiital 5.1, Apple certainly seems to mean business this time around.  The most significant of these features are the inbuilt movie rentals and with all the major movie studios on board this could truly prove to make this a transformative device.  The plan is to charge $3.99 for new releases (offered at 720p) and the ability to view them within 30 seconds of purchase over broadband.  With Netflix having announced days ago that they would be offering unlimited online movies as part of their $16.99 plan and Vudu offering a similar type set top box, the online movie category appears to be the setting for a major battle in 2008.The Apple TV Take 2 is also quite affordable with the price having been dropped to $229 for the 40 GB model and $329 for the 160 GB version.  It remains to be seen whether 160 GB is sufficient considering this is designed to be an HD device.  Other criticisms include no DVR features, and the lack of VLC compatibility, although with the latter it is just a matter of time before hackers fix that. I haven’t tested the unit personally yet, but you can be assurred that I will have one in hand within the next few weeks and will aprise you immediately of my thoughts. Â
Apple announces upgrades to Iphone, IPod Touch, and Itunes Movie Rentals.
Apple this morning announced a new feature for the iphone called webclips, which will allow users to place website bookmarks on the home screen.  The clips will remember where you zoomed to.  The user can create up to 9 of these.  The feature will be available for free begining today to all existing iphone users.  Apple also announced 5 new apps for the ipod touch:  Mail, stocks, notes, maps, and weather.  This upgrade will be available for $20. Apple also announced Itunes Movie Rentals.  Of major significance, it appears that all the major studios are onboard including Touchstone, Miramax, MGM Lionsgate, Newline, Fox, Warner, Disney, Paramount, Universal, and Sony.  The user will have 30 days from the time of purchase to start watching and 24 hours to finish.  Library titles will be $2.99 and New Releases $3.99
