Mormon Debt

Very interesting and brief post on Times and Seasons on the political use of debt and the LDS Church.

The Welfare State

A great article on the proposed stimulus package over at The Corner on NRO. Although the CBO has revised its original analysis, it's interesting to note that the majority of the spending portion of the bill doesn't occur until FY10 and FY11. Our politicians must be expecting an extremely long recession.

The really interesting thing is that conservatives have finally woken up to the fact that they are conservatives and have started worrying about deficit spending, the debt, and a European style social safety net. After Bush's record of record spending with nary a peep from the right, one might even say it's cynically refreshing.

Afghanistan and al Qaeda

Stratfor looks at the U.S.'s involvement in Afghanistan and its strategic objectives regarding both the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Money quote: "There is no conceivable force the United States can deploy to pacify Afghanistan."

Slow Your Roll

I was more than a little surprised to see this article regarding the coherence of President Obama's stimulus plan in that bastion of conservatism, The Weekly Standard.

I will admit that I am easily swayed by lofty arguments, so reading the above article helped alleviate some of the leftover anxiety from last week's op-ed by Robert J. Barro decrying Keynesian economics in the WSJ. I now know what taking a tranquilizer feels like.

The "Obameter"

The St. Petersburg Times has put together "The Obameter" to track the ~500 promises that President Obama made on the campaign trail. It's only fitting that our Tampa resident grizzley bear's home newspaper is putting this together. I haven't yet gone through each of the 500, but I'm guessing that I'm only going to want the President to keep about 2/3 of his promises.

You can browse the President's promises by subject here.

79%

The Economist takes a look at those on the far left that President Obama has (in two days) pissed off.

Cheese

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - Obama's Inaugural Speech

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Glad to see that The Daily Show isn't going to go all soft on us.

Tagai ni

Elder Ballard said. "We need to exercise our prayers and help him accomplish the great objectives that he has set."

A & R

Stratfor summarizes President Obama's two unavoidable foreign policy crises. No Israel, no nuclear armed India/Pakistan, and no Iraq.

That's a lot of balls to juggle. Here's to our new President's negotiation skills!

44

Rarely am I at a loss for words. Today was one of those days. It's amazing that a country that 150 years ago enslaved African-Americans and until 45 years ago denied African-Americans their civil rights has just transferred the highest office in the land and the most important leadership position in the world to an African-American. I'm moved.

9 Pages

Just for Liz.

The New Yorker somewhat favorably profiles Congressman Barney Frank.

I'm no fan of O'Reilly, but this is classic:

"Partisanship, Politicisation and Incompetence"

The Economist unleashes its assessment of W.'s legacy. No need for me to editorialize further.

Break Time

2800 feet of elevation gain in 3 miles.

So I've started two new activities recently. The first is a Bi-Monthly Hike. The first hike was on January 2nd and myself, one of my brothers, one of my brothers-in-law, my future brother-in-law, and one of my sisters hiked up Siphon Draw to the top of FlatIron (not my picture - I forgot my camera).

Um, 3 miles one way, piece of cake, right? I was actually a little disappointed that we weren't going to break into double digit mileage and thought ahead of time, "Well, you can always run another two or three miles when you get home." Well, six hours and after one mile of rock climbing up and one mile of rock climbing down later, I came to the conclusion that maybe mileage isn't everything. I was sore for almost a week.

At the suggestion of my brother-in-law, we will be hiking to the top of Picacho Peak in March.

Future 2009 hikes include Mt. Humphreys, Reavis Ranch, Four Peaks, and Brins Mesa.

The second new activity is cycling. Not necessarily brand new, but new within the past two years. I bought my tri-bike almost three years ago, rode it for a year, then decided that I didn't like riding it as much as what I could be doing instead (i.e., running). Well one of my brothers decided to drag me back into cycling. So we compromised. On Saturdays, we now run 10+ miles and then bike 20+ miles. It's been a lot of fun. He tells me that cycling first, then running would be a different story, but for now, I don't believe him.

Before I forget dear readers, I thought you'd like to know that Liz likes it when I spend at least half of the day walking around the house in my cycling tights. I try and try to go get cleaned up, but she keeps making me food or asking me to stand on chairs and get things down or move this or move that. Gotta please the pregnant one!

And now back to our regularly scheduled news of war, famine, pestilence, and economic hardship (in that company, economic hardship sounds downright pleasant).

Not So Popular

Stratfor takes a look at Hamas and the Arab states.

Cassandra?

Improbable probables aside, the RGE Monitor posts its 2009 economic outlook (summary: It's not pretty).

Can't wait for the 2010 version (summary: hyperinflation on the horizon).

Because the Girls Would Sing

Why read/listen to the summaries when you can read the real deal? The December Fed Open Market Committee meeting minutes.

I think that Weird Al needs to remake "Rock Me Amadeus".

"Unemployment, unemployment. Unemployment. Oooh, rock me unemployment!"

Can I Get One of These on eBay?

Stratfor provides a brief analysis on the Israeli ground attack in Gaza (this is the free version).

Gas Wars

Not a summit. Anything but a summit!

The EU is getting a little testy (meaning they missed their morning croissant) over Russia's cutting off the natural gas pipeline.

How Many States

is it going to take?

John Bolton proposes a three-state solution in The Washington Post.

(I always have trouble deciding whether John Bolton's moustache or hair is more awesome. Today, I go with the moustache.)