Happy 2008!!!

Auld Lang Syne - Robert Burns

SHOULD auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to min'?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o' lang syne?

We twa hae rin about the braes,
And pu'd the gowans fine;
But we've wander'd monie a weary fit
Sin' auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl't i' the burn,
Frae mornin' sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin' auld lang syne.

And here 's a hand, my trusty fiere,
And gie's a hand o' thine;
And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught
For auld lang syne.

And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp,
And surely I'll be mine;
And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne!

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne.

Read more about this Scottish poem here.

Dr. Paul on Meet The Press

Here is Ron Paul talking foreign policy with Tim Russert on Meet The Press. This is from 12/23/07.

A Little Holiday Cheer

This is phenomenal.

Word of the Day

pari passu \PAIR-ee-PASS-oo; PAIR-ih-PASS-oo\, adverb:

At an equal pace or rate.

Expand the state and [its] destructive capacity necessarily expands too, pari passu.
-- Paul Johnson, Modern Times: The World From the Twenties to the Eighties

Economic Illiteracy

Click here for a horrendous article detailing a professor's indoctrination of the minds of her impressionable students. It doesn't get too much worse than this.

This article, I believe, is a very important read. It discusses a professor at UNC who is indoctrinating the young mind's of her students with extremely liberal thought. I cannot tell you how furious this makes me. This woman espouses beliefs which I find incredulous. My personal philosophies are the polar opposite of hers, and to read what she is doing is extremely upsetting.

Apart from the fact that she is promoting ideas which I disagree with, I have a more fundamental problem with her actions. A teacher is in a particularly powerful position, in that, to a large extent, a teacher has the ability to shape a student's beliefs on whatever the subject it is that is being taught. Students look up to teachers and respect their opinions. From my limited knowledge of the situation, gained solely from reading this article, it appears that this woman is clearly abusing her special power. Abuse like this makes me absolutely sick and I can assure you, I would never send my child to North Carolina, if they can defend such teaching methods.

Word of the Day

perspicacity \pur-spuh-KAS-uh-tee\, noun:

Clearness of understanding or insight; penetration, discernment.

His predictions over the years have mixed unusual aristocratic insight with devastating perspicacity.
-- "Why fine titles make exceedingly fine writers", Independent, November 3, 1996

Gas Buying Tip

With the price of gas so high these days, I've included an interesting tip on how to save money when filling up:

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role. A one-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

Ron Paul, Mounting a Charge

(via WSJ)

While 8% is not exactly a dominating figure, it is much more than Paul had several months ago. Paul has been gaining popularity, primarily through grassroots and on-line support. He has raised $10.5 million and has established himself as more than just a fringe candidate. While unlikely that he will seriously challenge for the Republican primary, it is encouraging to see this surge.

Another take-away from the chart is the impressive lead that Mitt Romney holds over all other candidates. With this lead in NH, and a slight lead still in Iowa, Romney is in a very good spot.

Do you support the Treasury's plan to freeze rates on some mortgages?

Let me preface my answer by acknowledging that I have not done my homework on this and do not know all (or even many) of the details.

However, in general I feel that parties need to be held responsible for their own actions. This accountability should be no different now. Lender's should have known better than to give money to the borrowers with poor credit, and the borrowers should have known better than to over extend themselves by getting into mortgages they should have known would be difficult to handle.

I feel that having the Treasury enter the situation partially absolves both parties from facing the consequences of their actions. I feel that the consequences, unfortunately do need to be felt, so that we won't be making the same mistake 10 years from now.

That's my two cents.

Edit - Link to the poll on WSJ.com

BCS

My friends at Pro-Football-Reference.com have a very nice post sharing their thoughts on the final BCS bowl outcomes. Below is an excerpt, in which they support the final pick of OSU-LSU.

LSU and OSU have their black eyes, but consider what they’ve done, too. LSU wasn’t losing after regulation in a single game this year. Yes, we know they lost in overtime, but in terms of deciding how good the Tigers actually are, that’s important. College football could still have the rule that games tied after regulation are counted as ties; in which case, no one would argue against LSU. They’ve got the two best losses — by far — of any two loss team. They also have the toughest schedule of any two loss team. They won the toughest conference in the country. I’m not much of an LSU fan, and I think they’ve been over hyped by the media — but they’re the most accomplished of the two loss teams. Ohio State and Kansas are the only one loss teams, and I don’t think anyone is arguing for Kansas these days. The Buckeyes are not a controversial selection except by Big 10 haters, but consider: Ohio State didn’t lose to the Stanford of its conference (USC), or a .500 team (Oklahoma, Georgia), or get blown out by anyone (Virginia Tech). A two-loss Buckeyes squad wouldn’t deserve to make the title game, but OSU did not have a bad loss like everyone else in college football. Except the Tigers.

Huckabee Rising in Iowa

(per the WSJ)

The biggest problem with Huckabee is that he is soft on Economics. He's not supportive of free trade, and this to me, is deeply troublesome.