And Al Franken Makes 60

Al Franken, the former comic and Saturday Night Live writer, is now the most recent member of the US Senate. Bypassing the initiation of first being a member of the US House of Representatives before going on to the Senate, the people of Minnesota chose Franken by an extremely close margin over the Republican incumbent Coleman. The race was so close in fact, that the election results were contested and only a couple weeks ago, did Franken finally make it to Washington.

Al Franken makes 60 votes in the Senate... 58 official Democrats and 2 liberal-identified independents.

Barack Obama has no excuses...

It is a number that is rarely seen and has not been seen in 30 years. In the "lower House" (Representatives) majority rules... but in the Senate, the minority party is given a little more power, the power to filibuster. To provide a slight check on majority rule, any Senator has the ability to filibuster... or delay[keep on talking] to prevent a piece of legislation from coming up for a vote. But, with 60 votes, you can "cloture" or end discussion and force a vote on a potential bill to the floor.

So, there is nothing (other than Democrats) to prevent Obama from getting his agenda established. In comparison, Bill Clinton had a Democrat congress for only his first two years, and the last 6 years were with a Republican controlled House and Senate.

I do NOT understand all this concession to try to bring Republicans into the tent. You dont need them. If I ask someone how many Republicans were on board for FDR's (big govt) New Deal programs like creating Social Security no one knows. The proper answer would be: who cares... we got Social Security, and thats all that matters. That should be Obama's mindset. Noone, 10 years from now, will remember how many Republicans came on board... they'll only remember what the President accomplished. And the kicker... Obama doesn't need a SINGLE Republican.

There are no excuses... just get it done.

Ponzi - American Greed

I've never been accused of being the greatest champion of the altruistic virtues of inate human nature... nor will I ever... and watching American Greed on CNBC certainly hasn't helped push me towards that cause. To put it shortly, its a show about the downfall of men in their quest for more and more money.

One topic that is on the show frequently, and one that has been in the news recently (Bernie Madoff & Robert Stanford) are the infamous Ponzi Schemes. What is a Ponzi Scheme?

A Ponzi Scheme is when a person defrauds potential investors with a fake investment company that doesn't exist. People put in money that should be invested in the market, yet is spent at the whims of the person running the scheme... a personal piggy bank, of sorts. The primary investors are given the illusion of annual returns, only by the influx of new money from new investors. But, Ponzi schemes always fail eventually. Money runs out. If you can't get new investors to satisify the requests of the older investors, thats the beginning of the end...

People always talk about the greed of the people pretending to manage these accounts... and their greed should be noted, however, people rarely talk about the greed of the people putting their money in these pools. All cases are different, but from the majority of the stories I've seen, these investors have never heard of the guy or his "company"... so why put your money there, as opposed to someplace safer?

MONEY. These Ponzi schemers are promising potential investors FAR higher annual returns on their principle than traditional investment. It is not only the greed of the Ponzi Schemer, but it is also the greed of the people giving their money.

"All the regular investment firms are saying somewhere between 5 and 7%, and its not even guaranteed... this guy over here... he says he's doing at least 18, if not 25%, and people seem to be getting their money... I'm gonna go with this guy I've never heard of... because I want to make more money!"

Ponzi schemes would be FAR less prevalent, if not for the greed of the people as a whole. Both scam artist and scam victim are driven by American greed...

God Bless America

God bless America...

Like all nations, we do have our issues, but, with the fourth of July, comes the celebration of the re-establishment of democracy. Athens had their pure democracy and Rome [started as] a Republic... but, how many nations followed that ideal of freedom over the next 1700 years? At the time of the birth of the United States... democracy was not prevalent... Europe was still under monarchial rule.

As I watch the stories of Iran's election and Honduras' coup... the one thing that every American must love and be proud of... since the 1860's... is the PEACEFUL transition of power. For almost 150 years... state and federal level, there has been no major dissent against the legal process of governance. One of George W. Bush aides had this in mind when he begged (and finally convinced) Bush not to give a victory speech after Gore rescinded his concession. After weeks of fighting over Florida, Gore also had this in mind, when he finally gave in to the Supreme Courts decision over recounts. Its why every outgoing president, no matter the circumstances, follows the same tradition of being walked out of the White House to the helicopter, by the new president. No matter what Bush, 43 said about Clinton during Bush's campaign, they would be cordial and respect tradition. No matter what Obama said about Bush, they would respect tradition. It is a visible, public display to the American people... a display of the enduring peaceful transitory nature of American democracy.

Greater than any one president... greater than any political party... is the nation itself... and the ideals and values for which it stands.

I am glad to live in a country where the concept of a visible presence of domestic soldiers on the homeland is anathema. Similar to the Roman soldier being merely a citizen once he set foot inside the gates of Rome, the United States soldier has no authority on American soil outside the the case of foreign attack. The US army never dissents. There are no coups. They respect THE ROLE of the civilian leadership in government, no matter what they may think of the individual man or the decision. United States presidents who might be ousted (e.g. Johnson, Nixon and Clinton) are not done so by the military... there is a civil process created in our Constitution by which these men are judged.

Even the legal authority for sending our troops to war, even for noble purposes... that power resides in the United States Congress, not the White House. Ingenius. Everytime our nation goes to war, the President ASKS the Congress for a Declaration of War. No one man, in a true democracy should have such power.

God bless America...