My Ten Favorite Places to Drink

In commemoration of my 13th year of sobriety I have compiled my 10 favorite places to get drunk.

Pinecrest inn http://www.pinecrestinnpinehurst.com/

Laquinta Inn(outside bar)

Dunvegan Hotel http://www.dunvegan-hotel.com/

The Lift Bar and Grill http://www.liftbarandgrill.com/

Bridges http://www.bridgesrestaurant.com/

Inn at Spanish Bay Bar (bar overlooking #1)

Old Marine Hotel, North Berwick http://www.macdonaldhotels.co.uk/marine/

Bellagio (lobby bar)

Jigger Inn http://www.oldcoursehotel.kohler.com/restaurants/jiggers_inn_index.html

Pinehurst Hotel (front porch) http://www.pinehurst.com/

Enchantment (outside bar) http://www.enchantmentresort.com/

This is Change?

How could this marvelous man fall into the same Health care trap door the Clintons did? Why did this smartest of all presidents use the same heavy handed and secretive tactics that doomed the Clinton plan and caused the Dems to lose control of Congress. Are their memories that short or is this only way these effete tyrants know how to govern. We were told Obama would end the politics of old,yet it appears he is a practitioner of the oldest kind of politics,Chicago thuggery.

The real question is how does a guy who actually believes proper tire inflation is a suitable alternative to offshore drilling even become a presidential candidate or graduate from college? The same dude wants to tell us how to live yet smokes like a chimney? OK,you are never gonna pick Obama for you baseball team or bowling league,but can you imagine if a Republican had thrown that pitch or gutter ball? Or why when giving a speech on a health care bill,he hasn't read and appears to know nothing about,would this man who is told us he would take us beyond race try and start a race war? To throw us off course? To hide the fact he has no idea what he is talking about? No,race is all they know. Its their "go to" move. They used it to stop Republicans from regulating Fannie,which may have allowed us to escape the financial disaster, they scream race at every turn on every issue. Yet Obamas own VP called him a "clean one". Complete insanity. And the ever vigilant mainstream media reports it only if its a Republican. Who can forget the uproar over Delay taking a few golf trips paid for by lobbyists? Yet there is not even a peep out of mainstream media over the Dems who looted Fannie and Freddie for personal and political riches or the Countrywide 6.

The Dems playbook is so thin,their only defense on a horrible health bill is racism. The same white people who put Obama in office now want to see him fail because he is black. The Republicans,the party who put Clarence Thomas on Supreme Court against fierce Democrat opposition,had a black Sec of Defense and Sec of State,are against Obamas health bill because they are racists. The mainstream media which appears now more than ever to be an arm of the Democrat party,reports every Democrat racism charge as if its fact. The same mainstream media failed to challenge Obama during the campaign and failed to alert the public about his beliefs. They failed to demand his college records. Can you imagine if any Republican had spent 20 years with Rev Wright,or called the anti American hate mongering racist a great influence?

As each day goes by we are discovering that Obama was listening to all the those Rev Wright sermons,when will the media report it?

More Barney

Last week Barney Frank claimed he was one of the people responsible for new regulations on Fannie. this is akin to Ken Lay saying he was responsible for the downsizing of Enron. When our media and opposition party let politicians like Mr. Frank weave these tales of fiction they cheat the country and people. These lies become the truth. How can the person most responsible for the collapse of Fannie because of his opposition to new regulations proposed by the evil and racist Republicans now claim he is the person who helped regulate them? In a perverse way I guess you could make the case had Mr.Frank not stonewalled regulators as Democrats were looting Fannie for both political and personal riches Fannie would never have imploded and we never would have gotten the new regulations we have now,even though I am not really sure what these new regulations are. Every Republican and the media should be shouting this socialist lunatic down,instead there is complete silence.

Somethings never change

Even though severely limited by three days of Nyquil binging and a lingering cold I was able to beat Martha 336 to 311. A brilliant 52 point play of MIX secured the victory over my much more gifted and intelligent opponent(in case you didnt know she is a UVA grad).

Life Is Good!

I began my fourth round of golf this year with three bogeys and following bird lip outs on 11 and 12, a double on 13 , I played the final five four under for a 76 . At this stage of the game I have to be happy any time I break 80. The best part is I won $90 from a group who is always offering to send a car to pick me up.

I followed this up with a complete trouncing of Martha at the Scrabble table, 392-320. This included a brilliant bingo with the word "reaired" making use of three connectors.

Unfortunately my weekend ended on a sour note as the Rockets were destroyed by the hated Lakers and Punk of the Decade, Kobe. Rockets were an easy team to root for, without Tracey,Yao,and Mutumbo and playing with 6'6" center, Chucky Hayes who was tough against the 7 foot homeless guy playing center for the gangsta Lakers . It is still a mystery to me how Ron Artest was ever considered a good defensive player or why he never ever goes to the hoop.

Trade Yao now while he can still walk, do not resign Crazy Ron, and keep Tracy if there are no takers. Despite all the detractors, I am still willing to give Tracy more time. When healthy there are few players with his talents, basketball IQ, passing skills, and his ability to take over a game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceLlz7dOOvY

25 people you dont want to share a life raft with

but if you do, dont fall alseep. In no particular order. If its impossible to stay awake make sure you have your lifevest on securely. If its Barney,Clinton,The Juice,Larry Craig,Boy George or Manson you must stay awake or just throw yourself overboard.
Jeffey Immelt
Sheila Jackson Lee
Thomas Freidman
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf
Paul Krugman
Anthony Weiner
Michael Wilbon
Chris Berman
Maxine Waters
Janeane Garofalo
Hugo Chavez
Tyra Banks
Rod Blagojevich
chuck shumer
Kobe Bryant
Bill Clinton
David Carusso
barney frank
chris dodd
john madden
lorena bobbit

John Edwards
al sharpton
Harry Reid
jesse jackson
paul begalla
lanny davis
Donald Trump
elliot spitzer
Trent Lott
franklin raines
Keith Olberman
osama bin laden
bill maher
charly sheen
algore
john kerry
joe biden
dr.phil
paula abdul (ok to pretend you are asleep)
james carville
larry craig
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Kim Jong-il
dan rather
Howard Dean
jim wright
Angie"the tan Man" Mozzila
Tim Geitner
jesse jackson jr
dennis rodman
rahm emanuel
denis Kucinich
Jim Cramer
Ted Kennedy
Robert KKK Byrd
Charles Manson
Tom Daschle
Peter Kostis
Boy George
Sergio Garcia
Barry Bonds
OJ Simpson
Chris Mathews
Henry Waxman
Osama Bin Laden
Eric Holder
Nancy Pelosi

The Slippery Slope

We are way past the Slippery Slope. As we go racing towards more socialism it should be obvious it's impossible to reverse course on the Slippery Slope until we hit ground,and hit hard.

This should be really interesting watching the UAW and Federal Government designing and manufacturing cars,and making a profit. What would you pay to sit in on wage negotiations between the UAW and the UAW? How about Barney,Dodd,Robert KKK Byrd arguing over auto ergonomics? How about a Henry Waxman hood ornament? What about teleprompters as a new option, I often forget what I am talking about when driving wildly about town.
If only Bush had the guts to send GM into bankruptcy when he had the chance,but he was a compassionate conservative and chose to burden our children with the cost of this long dead industry by kicking the can down the road. there was a never a chance Obama would let GM declare bankruptcy and reorganize as many US industries have successfully done over the years because the UAW is one of the groups that own the Dem party,so now every US citizen that is a taxpayer,and there are fewer and fewer of those every day,will be forced to finance this debacle. The UAW has become a government agency. Management will be chosen by politicians and union thugs. Obviously the AIG disaster which was caused by executives chosen by Elliot Spitzer,after he ran off the CEO who founded the company was not reviewed before Obama and his gang of socialist grifters put this deal together. There is not one single member of this central planning outfit who has ever had a real job out side of government. Real jobs do not include community organizing, whatever Rahm Emanuel did to make 16 million in one year,or government employment.

Obama and his central planners appear ignorant of US and World History because this has been tried before and it has never worked anywhere. The argument of the planners is always the same,we are different or smarter than those who tried this in the past and just as Hayek writes in "road to serfdom" the central planners always make their power grabs under guise of some crisis or emergency,and that is exactly what has happened in the past 100 days.

It could be argued it would be difficult for the government and UAW to make a more undesirable product than GM management has given the consumer over the past 40 years but never underestimate the ability of government to fuck something up beyond anyone's wildest nightmares. Its what they do. See Fannie and Freddie,Amtrak,and of course the US Post Office.

How will the new GM,our completely corrupt federal government in partnership with corrupt UAW goons, entice consumers to buy their product rather than Japanese,German or Ford autos? First we have to wonder if they will really even care if they make a profit. Either way we pay because if they operate as the incompetents they are the taxpayers pay the losses,bonuses,and retirement plans of employees and union execs and if they try to make a profit they have to use some type of coercion to force us to buy their product.

As we know there has never been a government program cancelled and very few have ever cut expenses,so this industry is our next entitlement nightmare. Free markets have a process of clearing the deadwood from the system,its called bankruptcy,and it was GM's only hope. We have lost more freedoms in the past 100 days then in the past 100 years,because our strongest attribute was our free market capitalist system. Obama is doing his best to destroy it.

The Tell was always "proper tire inflation"

It is humorous to see even the liberal media questioning the intellect and competence of their candidate. It has been obvious to me since Obama's claim that "proper tire inflation" could replace offshore drilling, he is an imbecile. He had a chance to say he was exaggerating or had made a mistake but for the next ten days he continued to stump for "proper tire inflation" as part of some grand energy policy. Its even funnier to see liberal masters of the universe like Buffett and Grove grumbling about how this isn't the Obama they voted for. If you listened to the media this isn't the Obama you voted for but if you did just a little investigating you find this is exactly the guy you voted for. He cant operate without a someone telling him what to say or reading from a teleprompter. He has little or no knowledge of US history,World history,or economics. His only job prior to being a Senator was as a community organizer, a person who spends most of his time facilitating payments from those who produce to those who don't and handing out beer and smokes to anyone who will vote Democrat.
What did the Republican candidate do when Obama offered up this boneheaded tire inflation plan? McCain ever the moron,agreed with him! Any candidate with a ounce of common sense could have destroyed Obama with the tire inflation gaffe,but McCain as usual put his finger to the wind and jumped on the Titanic.
So when you wonder why any President in his right mind would give the PM of England a Blockbuster set of DVDs,that don't even work on Great Britain TVs, or why he cant seem to talk without a teleprompter,or why he would make fun of the handicapped,or compare US corps to terrorists, or laugh at the huge losses people have taken in the market,never forget Proper Tire Inflation as an Energy Policy,and the media lapped it all up and defended the idiocy.

WSJ continues to connect the Fannie dots

Even though Saturdays WSJ article was about Maxine directing tarp funds to a bank she and her husband have a financial interest in, the real story is now we know why Maxine was so virulent and hostile in her defense of Fannie when Republicans tried to regulate the Democrat party run pubic company early in the decade. She called the investigators,regulators,and Republicans racists for wanting to reign in Fannie's corruption, derivative book,and money losing business practices. Instead of concentrating on how Maxine directed Tarp funds to a company she owns stock in we should looking at her fight to keep Fannie a corrupt and money losing company early in the decade.
Without Fannie there was no reason for any financial institution to make sub prime loans. Why would anyone originate a mortgage to customers who had no ability to pay them pack? Only because Fannie was there to buy them and create a market for them. Everyone in the game knew that you could always off these things on Fannie and if you donated money to Democrats or the party you could make a killing. Why else put a book cooker like Raines in as CEO? Why else put a grifter like Emanuel on the BOD of Freddie? You do it so business can be directed to the proper companies who have either paid you off,donated to the party or entertained you.
We know Dodd and the Countrywide 6 were given sweetheart mortgages for looking the other way as The Tan Man dumped all his sub prime garbage and fraudulent mortgages on the taxpayer backed Fannie. These scoundrels helped destroy US financial system and trillions in personal wealth in return for a few thousand dollars a year in mortgage payments. Now these same crooks are in charge of fixing the system.
This is also why you see Dems attacking Execs and Wall Street,they are hoping to distract the public from who the real thieves are. Today Obama and Congress are attacking AIG for bonuses when in fact Congress gave this money to AIG with no restrictions. Just another example of why Congress can not be trusted with our money. If they aren't stealing it,giving it to supporters,they are losing it through incompetence. How can let these scoundrels have control over any part of our economy given this record of corruption and incompetence?
The Democrat looting of Fannie and Freddie for personal and political wealth is the greatest scandal and most under reported scandal in US History. Why? I have no idea if the media just doesnt understand it or if they know and are covering it up because they support the Dems. Maybe the Republican need to grow a pair and get more vocal on this. The Dems lead the media around by the nose often because they create the most noise. Can you imagine if Republicans were behind a scheme that destroyed trillions in wealth?

The Elegant Appeaser in Chief

Why would Obama return the bust of Winston Churchill,which was a gift to the American people after 9/11,instead of giving it to the Smithsonian or quietly stashing it in storage? Why insult the entire country and the memory of one of the greatest leaders and protectors of freedom in history? Is it because of Great Britain's imperialist history and how they treated people of color over a 100 years ago or was it Great Britain's role in the foundation of Israel,or actions they took in Kenya decades ago? The president seems unable to move beyond race and get on with his new job,which is leading the country forward,not looking back at some injustice from over a 100 year ago. Seems like something Rev Wright might have done. Sure seems as if Obama was paying a lot more attention to the 20 years of Rev Wright sermons he sat through than he claims.

Then to add injury to insult he gave our best and only reliable ally a 25 DVD movie set from Blockbuster. Does he not realize that these movies are also shown in Great Britain? Surely no one experienced in White House protocol selected this shabby gift ? Didn't Sean Penn call Obama an elegant man at this year's Academy Awards Ceremony,maybe he was referring to the manner in which Obama reads from his ever present teleprompter? Giving the PM of our oldest and most trusted ally a Blockbuster Movie Set is as far from elegant as one can get. Either Obama hates the British or he is clueless on protocol relating to visiting heads of state. Does Obama not realize that Brown has seen all these movies as have most people in the world? Does Obama know that Brown is going blind? Maybe it was a practical joke? Can anyone imagine if Bush or any Republican has insulted not only Britain but the US is such a manner? The mainstream media would be having a field day and the comedians would be lampooning them. But the US media barely mentions these disgraceful acts.

This embarrassing episode follows Obama's first attempt at international intrigue in which he offered to throw the Czechs and Pols underneath the bus if Russia would handle the free worlds Iran problem. Huh? Has this guy been reading history or know anything of current events? Russia loves Iran and the misery it causes the US. Why does Obama think they they are aiding Iran? Seems Obama put his offer in writing rather than the time tested method of sending a secret emissary to test the waters before committing to dumping on the Czechs and Pols. Now the Pols and Czechs know we are not to be trusted and our enemies Russia and Iran have been given evidence that supports what they already knew, Obama is a weak and naive leader who will choose appeasement on issues of national security or when confronted.

As each day goes by it becomes more apparent Obama and his team are not ready for prime time or day time. We still wait for details on the banking plan that Tiny Tim Geitner and Obama have promised on numerous occasions and this we week learned Obama thinks the stock market is a tracking poll. He is right on one thing,our educational system is to blame for many of the present problems. How did this guy graduate or even get into Harvard and who would vote for a guy who has never had a real job in his life,never managed,never led,never crafted legislation,and rarely showed up for work as State senator or US senator,which for the record are not real jobs.

President in Training

The bailouts are actually prolonging and making the recession worse.The market began to tank before the bailouts.
The real cracks in the Dow started to show when the Dem congress announced they would not renew the Bush tax cuts. Check the charts.We really don't know yet if Obama is an imbecile or a socialist tyrant bent on destroying capitalism. He really has no experience or exposure to capitalism,he has never held a real job,his background is in facilitating handouts to people who will vote for his party and trading smokes for votes, so maybe he just doesn't know any better. On the other hand he did spend over 20 years at the knee of Rev Wright and in his first book called him a great influence on his life. To me his policies seem more borne of Rev Wright than ignorance and I don't know which is scarier. Was his idiotic comment on Las Vegas intentional or the gaffe of a lifetime. Someone tell this rockhead Las Vegas employs more people than the auto industry in Detroit that still manufactures junk. Someone tell him Las Vegas is the most economical place for companies to have meetings. Do we have any numbers yet on how many people lost their jobs in Vegas because of his comments? I am sure the mainstream media will have them any day now.He has packed his cabinet with people who have no experience in private business but tons of expertise in gaming our political system,avoiding taxes,lobbying,and enriching themselves at mysterious jobs(emanuel). Their only experience is in government, a government that is broken and the cause of most of our economic problems.Where is the opposition party? The ever gutless Republicans are again doing their best to go along to get along,so they wont be called racists or lampooned by national media.Its time the republican party purge their ranks of moderates like Snow,Collins,McCain,and Spector. We need people of principle not those looking for TV face time or pork. One of the reasons the Democrat party is so far to the left today is W and Republicans pushed them there by taking up many of the old Dem party themes. The only way to bring the country and Dem party back from the edge of tyranny is for the Republican Party to become fiscally responsible again.

Republicans have only one chance

After hearing that Obama paid off the guy who instigated the phony troopergate investigation of Palin during the campaign with a job in a federal agency yesterday, I am convinced the Republicans only hope of becoming a relevant opposition again is to take a little advice from Sean Connery's character Malone in the Untouchables.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g0RLyxP13o

Malone: You said you wanted to get Capone. Do you really wanna get him? You see what I'm saying is, what are you prepared to do? Ness: Anything within the law. Malone: And *then* what are you prepared to do? If you open the can on these worms you must be prepared to go all the way. Because they're not gonna give up the fight, until one of you is dead. Ness: I want to get Capone! I don't know how to do it. Malone: You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. *That's* the *Chicago* way! And that's how you get Capone. Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that? I'm offering you a deal. Do you want this deal? Ness: I have sworn to capture this man with all legal powers at my disposal and I will do so. Malone: Well, the Lord hates a coward.

387- 240

Another absolute slaughter by Martha. I can't take many more of these merciless beatings, I have to find a way to at least be competitive. Most of the mindless three letter words on the board are mine.

Winter Golf at WaterWood

Martha sticks an 8 iron to 5 feet but three putts on #8. Fairways and Tees dormant but greens were a good overseed and not bad. This is a great Pete Dye layout from mid 70s. Unfortunately the economy is not helping the course conditioning. There is a ditch in front the green and a pond to the left you can not see as well as numerous pot bunkers. Originally is was a dramatically back to front sloped green that was a real challenge,but Dye redid it with all kind of funky humps and bumps and it is goony golf now. Reminds me of the greens on the River course in Kohler. 15o from whites and 196 from tips.

Total and Complete Annihilation

Martha trounces thelid 397 to 240. Martha started off with a bogus bingo, acolade,which of course I believed cause Martha is always right. In my defense she didn't realize it was spelled with two c's. At some during the game it appears the L and A were switched. Very suspicious since this enabled Martha to play the work Nettle. She claims innocence. I believe her because she would have called me for adding S to the end of acoalde or the bogus accolade

Then when I had closed the gap to 40 points with a masterful display of two and three letter words,Martha throws another bingo at me,abeit a blank bingo, unmanned, and it was all over.

Victory is Sweet

Managed to pull out a 297 to 271 win over Martha.

Its Better Than Doing Nothing

It is better than doing nothing

Remember a time when our hearts and minds were stirred by JFKs "ask not what your country can do for you",MLKs "I have a dream", or Reagans "shining city on a hill"? Well our new leader is trying to temper the expectations and dreams those leades nurtured in us with his inspirational slogan "its better than doing nothing". The greatest country in the history of the world now drags it feet to the call of 'its better than doing nothing" and everyone is asking what can my country do for me.

Whats wrong with the Stimulus bill? Where do I begin? The Stimulus bill is what our government likes to do and does best. It wastes money. The strongest reason for supporting the bill is "it is better than doing nothing". How could so many incompetent and corrupt people be collected in one city,in one institution? Next time you make a personal financial decision , just tell anyone who asks you to justify your action, "its better than doing nothing". This is the new mantra of the Democrat Party and Media. The only government action I can think of where this might have been justified was the Iraq War, it was better than doing nothing. Can you imagine the uproar from Democrats and their useful idiots in the media had Bush used "it is better than doing nothing" as the main reason for the Iraq Invasion? And just like the Iraq War, this Stimulus bill will not be a one or two year event,the very nature of it means it has to continue. How do the jobs and businesses supported by the stimulus survive without more government spending? They don't.

We have a President who is a product of Harvard,we have many members of both houses of Congress educated at similiar institutions,dozens of advisors and consultants products of the best colleges in the country and their best reason for passing the stimulus bill is "it is better than doing nothing". This could be most the morally and fiscally irresponsible thing I have heard since the Proper tire Inflation debacle. I guess that was better than doing nothing.
When Congress or your friends ask you why you took out a sub prime mortgage to buy a house you could never afford,just tell them "it was better than doing nothing".
This is so sad its not even funny. Why do we go to work in the morning? Its better than doing nothing. The sense of a destiny mired in failure that "its better than doing nothing". When you go out buy an expensive watch or car and your wife asks you why you did it and how you can afford it, just say "its better than doing nothing". This reminds me so much of an oil trader I used to do business with. We were in the doldrums of the summer market and he was trying to short a dead market that just didnt seem to want to go either way. I asked him why he was trying to put this trade on ,and he said 'i'd rather have a bad position than no position". That seems to be how our government is operating. Oh,that trader declared bankruptcy several months after getting short. We would rather have a bad stimulus bill than no stimulus bill. Sound reasoning. Our President when questioned about the stimulative value of his spending plan,said all spending is stimulative. Hmmm. Yeah,and it is certainly is better than doing nothing.

We are headed in a direction where there can only be one of two results. We will either throw up arms and ask Obama or whoever is in control to take total command of the economy and our lives,because it is better than doing nothing,or we will hopefully find a leader who wishes to inspire us to greatness and will enter an era of discarding government regs on the economy,lower taxes,and drastic cuts in government spending and power. A leader who will tell us to pick ourselves up rather than telling us government is our only hope. The more the government does the more difficult it is for the private sector to perfom. These are truly dark days. But it is better than doing nothing.

Why not try instituting a 3-5 year hiatus on Mark to Market for the toxic assets? Thats easy,it might work but it would mean the government would not get to spend trillions. Why not form another Resolution Trust as we did in the 80s and dispose of the homes? Because it worked and means the government does not get to spend trillions.

How can the government put a floor under home prices? It cant. I mean it can try but it will fail and make the problems worse. Look at all government subsidy programs,they all result in massive market distortions,misallocation of capital, and of course failure. In fact our present mess is a product of federal subsidies. The insidious home mortgage deduction, Clintons 500k housing tax break, and using Fannie to backstop the subprime garbage are subsidies plain and simple.

We must take our pain now and get this over with. Our goverment has instead chose to bankrupt our grandkids because its better than doing nothing. Why does the government want my children to pay more for a home? Letting the foreclosures begin and housing prices fall would spark a tremendous rebirth in the economy with a plethera of new home buyers. Why is housing so expensive? Federal subsidies. Why is housing collapsing? Federal subsidies. But it is better than doing nothing.

The best and most intelligent thing our leaders could do in most instances is nothing. I voted in the last election for McCain because it was better than doing nothing. Please Republicans,no more compassionate conservatives or moderates,we need real fiscal conservatives who can sell and inspire.

Barney Frank

The guy who stopped the gutless Republicans and W,when they controlled both houses of Congress, from regulating the way Fannie did business,you know,doing deals with Democrat donors,buying crummy loans sold to deadbeats by the Tan Man at Countrywide,hiding bad deals in desks,cooking the books to get Dems millions in bonuses, is up to his old tricks. Seems he managed to get TARP funds for a bank in his district. A bank that gave porshes out as company cars and had a condo on California beach. How did they go out of business? A bank that was not supposed to get funds because they were corrupt. Nice. Why do they people of Mass. keep voting for these socialist grifters? Is there a way Mass can be tossed out of the union?