Chapter 11? And other AIG musings...

In all of this AIG mess, I continue to wonder what would have happened if the government would have let business run its course. There is a reason that Chapter 11 Bankruptcy exists! It is for companies that have gotten into contracts that they can no longer honor, so that the may reorganize. Hmm...this situation sounds eerily familiar... Now, as it stands, the AIG bonus scandal is dominating headlines, and taking the focus away from the real crooks in this situation: Congress.

Simply put, AIG was required to pay these bonuses; Chris Dodd wrote the contract that said so. A lot of those executives don't take a large salary because of a salary tax. So, in an effort to keep more of their money, they started giving bonuses. Now, the government is attempting to take back the bonuses, tax the snot out of them, or require that they are "voluntarily returned" if AIG is to receive anymore tax dollars. Say that you, Mr. Average American, make $40,000 per year. However, your company elects to pay you $1 in salary and a $39,999 bonus at the end of the year. What happens to your take home pay as soon as your "distasteful bonus" is dismantled? And, since when can Congress be so judgemental? Last I checked, this country was in some serious debt, and earmarks are still being put into bills.

Consider this analogy: Mr. and Mrs. Average American just lost their jobs but have yet to pay off their house. Mr. American decides to continue to uphold his family's contractual obligation to pay their monthly morgage, and his family becomes outraged. They might say, "How can you possibly justify paying this amount of money every month?! We don't have any income!" The next day, Mr. American pulls up in the driveway in a brand new Rolls, and nobody puts up a fuss.

How backwards is that? But, that's exactly what is happening in our country right now.

Home Prices

I know that this video is a little old, two weeks or so, but it isn't really "mainstream media."



I found some additional data from the Standard & Poor's webpage. I believe that this data mirrors the entire U.S. economy. History supports the cyclical behavior of the economy in general, and we have been able to enjoy a large period of prosperous times. Now, it is time to return to earth. From a purely egocentric standpoint, the next few years aren't bad for young people that are ready to invest. As all things having to do with the U.S. economy drop, it seems like a great time to buy and hold.

UMass, Take 2

I am at a loss for words after staying up to watch that Texas Tech game last night. Thinking back, I am not sure that we could look any worse. The game was worse than UMass because we were supposed to have "broken through the wall." The Jayhawk faithful witnessed our potential against Mizzou and OU. And now, we have witnessed how bad we can really look.

It is difficult to pin the loss on one particular person. If anybody can be mostly absolved of blame, it would be Bill Self. We had PLENTY of open looks and stifled their offense with a change to zone. The calls from the bench were spot on. However, when Sherron Collins goes 3 for 19 (1 for 10 from deep) and Cole Aldrich goes without a field goal and a rebound for almost the entire first half, it's tough to win a ball game. On top of that, our on ball defense was pitiful. How does Brady Morningstar let Alan Voskuil make 9 of 14 threes and go for a career high 35 points? That could be Coach Self's one question mark: why didn't he put Sherron on him for a while? In my opinion, the loss boils down to our star performers not perfoming.

I realized that I may seem harsh to pin the majority of this loss on Collins and Aldrich, but that's facts, Jack. The reliable role is what the two of them have fallen into, and, for the most part, they have embraced it. I'm not saying we needed 25 points and 15 boards from Cole or 30 points and 10 assists from Sherron. A slightly under average game would have done just fine. Maybe Cole makes a LAY UP early in the second half to tie the game at 43. Then, who knows what happens? Our team gets energized and storms past the Voskuil Raiders. Or, maybe it wasn't our night, and they would have finished it off anyway. I know that everybody can't be on every game, but come on, everybody off on the same game? I'm sorry. The responsibility to pick up a down team falls upon its leaders.

The good thing, however, is that I still feel like we played hard. I am confident that Coach Self will have them ready for Saturday in Allen, and I look forward to finishing off a great season with an out-right BigXII regular season championship. Thanks Missouri.

Tiger Woods

It's official. Tiger Woods has made his much anticipated return to professional golf...and an earlier than expected exit. Now, people are starting to ask questions. Is he the same Tiger as before? Is his knee really healed? Can he still play at the same level as before? In my opinion, all of these questions are complete nonsense. They guy takes 8 months off to rehab a restructured leg, and the golf world still expects flawless performances. We had to expect some rust in his first appearance. And, he ran into the only guy who didn't made a bogey in the first two days of play! Tiger's swing looks great, and I don't think it is too optimistic to expect an entertaining show at the Masters this April.

All of the good Tiger talk said, if I have to hear him say something about how it feels good "not to have [his] bones moving around" when he swings, I am going to do something serious. Like, blog about how annoyed I am. Tiger, we all know that you are great, nobody else in the world could do what you did 8 months ago, and we can't imagine swinging on a broken leg. Now, quit talking about it and just come back to the PGA and win some more majors.

Obama Speaks

Barack Obama is the most talented orator that I have ever heard. Talk about getting people motivated! He sounds exactly like he is saying all the right things. The problem is, he isn't. During his address last night, I found myself getting kind of pumped up. He started to be a cheerleader for America, saying that it is our duty to not pass down an unpayable debt to our children and grandchildren. He takes a defiant stance against ear marks in our spending. Well that's just pork-tacular. Here is a small list of what he have coming in the next spending saga*:

• $185,000 for coral reef research and preservation in Maui County, Hawaii




• $55,000 in meteorological equipment for Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif.




• $9.9 million for science enhancement at historically black colleges in South Carolina.




• $764,000 for the Lake George Watershed Protection Initiative in New York, requested by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Democrat




• $9.9 million for South Carolina's historically black colleges and universities, requested by House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, South Carolina Democrat




• $1.1 million requested by Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander and Sen. Bob Corker, both of Tennessee, for water treatment plant improvements in Tennessee's Unicoi County, as well as $300,000 for a sewer extension project in another county.




• $713,625 Woody Biomass at SUNY-ESF. Walsh and Schumer sponsors




• $951,500 Sustainable Las Vegas. Berkeley and Reid sponsors




• $24,000 A+ for Abstinence. Specter is sponsor




• $300,000 Montana World Trade Center. Rehberg sponsor




• $950,000 Myrtle Beach International Trade and Convention Center. Graham sponsor




• $200,000 Oil Region Alliance. Peterson sponsor




• $190,000 Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, WY for digitizing and editing the Cody collection. Barbara Cubin is the sponsor




• $143,000 Las Vegas Natural History Museum, Las Vegas, NV, to expand natural history education programs. Sponsored by Harry Reid




• $238,000 for the Polynesian Voyaging Society, Honolulu, HI, for educational programs. Sen. Daniel Inouye is the sponsor




• $381,000 for Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York, NY for music education programs. Jerrold Nadler is the sponsor




• Rep. Jerry Lewis of California, the top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, would spend $3.8 million on a Needles, Calif., highway




• Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, the top Republican on Senate Appropriations, backs earmarks including a $950,000 nature education center in Moss Point, Miss

This spending bill is over 1,000 pages in length, 775 of which are filled with earmarks. Listening to Obama speak is one thing. Listening to his words is a completely different matter. He knows good and well the pork that's in this latest spending bill. So, next time our President speaks, try not looking at the tv and listening to his words.

* Source: GlennBeck.com

Norman, Okla

After letting the results of last night's road game digest, it is now time to write a little bit about it. Regarding this game, the biggest discussion on the 'net is whether or not Blake Griffin would have changed the outcome.

It would be naive to think that Blake Griffin isn't a play-maker and a difference-maker. He is clearly a front runner for the NPOY and clearly means a lot to the Sooners. He is also a game changer. However, just because a player is a game changer, doesn't necessarily mean that he is an outcome changer. There is no doubt that last night's game would be played differently had Griffin played. Both teams would have changed their offensive and defensive strategies. Cole Aldrich would likely not grab 20 rebounds, and Cade Davis likely would not have seen the floor. Willie Waren would not have had to put up 23, but Ryan Wright wouldn't have had the opportunity to miss 5 free throws.

My point is this: Who knows what would have happened? When game styles change, players' roles change. And, while this has the capacity to change the outcome, it may not. There is no reason to call for "an asterisk" to accompany this win because that's how the ball rolls; it's part of the game. I can relate to the Sooner fans though. If we lost a game without Collins or Aldrich, it would be easy to point there as a reason for the loss.

Let Em' In!

Yesterday, I heard the most outrageous story that I have ever heard...ever. Roger Barnett, a rancher in Arizona, has made it a mission of his for the past decade to stop illegal aliens from entering our country through his property. His ranch, Cross Rail Ranch, spans 22,000 acres in southern Arizona and has become a hot spot for illegal aliens hoping to cross into the United States. During the week, he works in his office near Sierra Vista. On the weekends, he can be found at his ranch near Douglas; this is the time that he catches intruders. During the past 10 years worth of weekends, he estimated that he has prevented 14,000 illegal immigrants from entering our nation by turning them in to the border patrol. They vandalized his property by breaking into his water tank (in which he installed a faucet to prevent further damage), stealing trucks, killing calves, destroying fences and gates, and breaking into his home. They also littered his ranch with trash 10 inches deep, including human waste, used toilet paper, soiled diapers, cigarette packs, clothes, backpacks, empty 1-gallon water bottles, chewing-gum wrappers and aluminum foil - which supposedly is used to pack the drugs the immigrant smugglers give their "clients" to keep them running.

Now, in our litigious society, he is being sued by these intruders for "severe emotional and mental distress," including fear, anxiety, humiliation, stress, frustration and sadness because he decided to right this wrong. The incident in question occurred in 2004, when he approached illegal aliens with a pistol and a dog for his protection against immigrants and drug smugglers, who are often armed. Oh, and he allegedly kicked a woman. Roger Barnett addressed that particular accusation on Fox last night, saying that she was unresponsive while sitting on the ground, so he nudged her in the foot. Many of the aliens are residents of Michoacan, Mexico. Four live in Illinois, one resides in Georgia and another in Michigan. All of the plaintiffs currently living in the U.S. listed pseudonyms in the lawsuit due to "fear of adverse action based on immigration status." Ten of the illegal alien plaintiffs didn't show up to the trial, but the remaining six said they were given permission to re-enter the United States and testify against Barnett. Each of the 16 illegal aliens sued for $1 million in punitive damages and $1 million in actual damages. Some of the charges were dropped, but Mr. Barnett is still being held liable for $77,000 in damages. However his attorney, David Hardy, plans to appeal the case siting the following argument:

"The law is skeptical of infliction of emotional distress because everybody gets their feelings hurt at times," he said. "So one of the requirements was that whatever is done must be so severe that the average person would be physically disabled by the distress – suffer a complete mental breakdown. The judge wouldn't put that in the instruction. That's straight Arizona law."

On top of that the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) paid upward of $1 million for 9 attorneys - many of whom were from a New York law firm, to represent these people.

Are you freaking kidding me?! How in the world do non-citizens have the same rights in this country as hard working, tax paying citizens? When did we lose the right to bear arms? When did we lose the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? This man did not hurt anybody and was simply defending his property. As far as I can tell, he has done as much as the entire border patrol in keeping illegals out of our country; why hasn't he won some sort of "I Am Awesome" award? And how out of control has our law system become, that these kinds of issues are occurring? This defies all logic and rationale.

You can find some more information about this from the professionals at the Washington Times and the World Net Daily.