| What we need is an actor to vote for
A nation needs a Shoulder-in-Chief." Indeed. I think we could use some good actors. Jacqui Smith has dreadful delivery. So did our late Welsh Secretary (and Pensions non-deliverer) Peter Hain. The newly reshuffled Caroline Flint and Yvette Cooper are really bad actors, though Flint gets a pass for being a good-looking woman. (I'm not saying that's either proper or admirable - I'm just saying it's true.) They both struggled, Paxmanlike, over their former briefs, and I don't reckon Flint will find her HIPs problem any more comfortable than Cooper did. Cooper's husband, Ed Balls, can barely read his speeches, let alone persuade anyone with them. And Granite Gordon, the man with the worst body-language and the most unfriendly delivery in history? He couldn't sell me a new fridge. You can see where this is leading, I expect.
Tom Caldwell: Market barrage doesn't scare this 'aging gunslinger'
It is scary because we don't know how big and bad the numbers are. My job is to say, 'I wonder what is attractive here.' So what is attractive? Take bank stocks. The Bank of Montreal has a dividend yield today of 5¾ per cent, or thereabouts [On Friday, the yield was slightly above 5 per cent]. That's equivalent to 7 per cent on a bond. Banks in Canada are a protected species and there is only one unforgivable sin in banking: You do not cut the dividend. . What about stock exchanges? There is great trading volume right now. But if you look at the NYSE stock and you track it against the Dow Jones, they're pretty close. So people say 'sell the market, sell the NYSE.' It just happens right now that a lot of people making bets in the casino are losing.
1934.... Sidney Herald, 100 years of stories
The Ford Agency name was changed from Burleigh-Kincaid Motor Co. to Yoder-Kincaid Motor Company effective Jan. 1, 1934.J. M. Suckstorff, owner of the Princess Theatre, installed a "High Fidelity" sound system in February. "High Fidelity" would faithfully reproduce the finest sound to date.The school board rejected the high school building bids for exceeding estimated cost. Plans were made for calling for new bids later in the month.The high school building contracts were awarded in March to John Sterhan, Glendive, for the building, William. Peterson, Sidney, for the plumbing and heating and Rafn-Morgan, Billings, for a total cost of $88,395.It was thought that "Pretty Boy" Floyd, a notorious bandit, was in Sidney in March. People noticed two strangers at one of the restaurants, one of which was a "dead ringer" for Floyd.
Hillary Clinton
Jane and Mena Stillwater: Desperate (voting) Housewives: No matter who wins in 2008, women get screwed! (5 comments) Okay. What are American women voters concerned about most in this election cycle? And will their concerns -- and even their votes -- even count? And if American female voters get screwed once again, will they finally get pissed off? And if they do, will they seek passive-aggressive revenge on those globalized corporate dudes? "Hell hath no fury?" Or not. Scott2008: HILLARY vs. RUDY: THE FIX IS IN The Corporate Mainstream Media hijacking of our Democracy. Tuesday, January 15: Scott2008: Hillary: Win at Any Cost Hillary Clinton and her surrogates have wreckless diregard for any sense of fairness in their quest for the White House. Bob Burnett: Gender Backlash On January 9th, Hillary Clinton won the New Hampshire Democratic primary, much to the surprise of political pundits who had spent the previous few days gloating over the demise of her presidential bid.
Finding the right place for your high-tech gizmo
Youve got yourself an iPod. But whats it going to wear? This unlikely question is confronting more and more purchasers of high-end home and personal electronics these days. Buying an iPod, iPhone, cell phone, plasma screen television or Blackberry is more than just a crippling financial transaction. Its a commitment. Something as precious as an iPhone must be properly encased. You wouldnt send your child off to school without clothes, would you? (Maybe you have to. You just bought an iPhone.) Modern electronic items need wraparound chaperones for style or security or a combination thereof. A look at how were dressing some of the trendy gadgets these days. That jogger has an iphone! At the Sharper Image in Scottsdale, Andrew Ortiz has something for joggers who want to stay on the information superhighway.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2008
Here is my Creators Syndicate column on the political landscape after Iowa and New Hampshire. I try to suggest in the first two sentences that things are very unsettled. "Five elections. Five winners." In both parties, we seem to have pretty firm factions operating. Usually there's a clear-cut difference between primaries and general elections. In seriously contested general elections, about 80 percent of the voters will vote the same way they did last time—about half of them Republican, half of them Democratic, with the proportions varying by constituency. With primaries, in contrast, voters are often all over the lot. They are not weighted down by party identification. They are ready to move anywhere. Yet sometimes they don't. There is a very high correlation in voting behavior between the Clinton/Obama race in 2008 and the Gore/Bradley race in 2000 in New Hampshire.
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