Democracy in Action

Don't miss this video of the Ukraine Parliament's deliberations about whether to extend a lease on a Black Sea port to the Russian Navy.

Say what you want about them, at least it came to a vote. We should do so well.

Goldman Sachs

Hi everybody! Long time, no see!

I thought you might enjoy this article about the Goldman Sachs case, via Andrew Tobias. It's short and sweet, if a little arrogant, and some of the comments are worth scrolling down for, too.

I was particularly interested in one commenter's suggestion that Apple (currently trading at about $270 a share) will triple. Oh, my! From his mouth to Nasdaq's ear.

We were in our local Apple store to look at the iPad last week. Suellen told the very friendly sales person, "We're not going to buy one today," to which she replied, "Well, we don't have any more. They're all sold out."

"When are they expected in?"

"Don't know, but we can put your name on a list and we'll put one aside and call you when it comes in."

Quote of the Day

Hat tip to Kevin Drum, who has a greater tolerance for reading about Tea Party folks than I do:

From tea party supporter Jodine White of Rocklin, California, trying to explain how she reconciles her desire for smaller government with her support for Social Security:

That’s a conundrum, isn’t it? I don’t know what to say. Maybe I don’t want smaller government. I guess I want smaller government and my Social Security. I didn’t look at it from the perspective of losing things I need. I think I’ve changed my mind.

The quote is from a NY Times piece about the Tea Party.

Better Than We Deserve

During the hell that was the Reagan-Bush-Bush years, I was a broken record: "In a democracy, we get the quality of government we deserve."

Now, I'm not so sure. Why, after all those years of screwing everything up – EVERYTHING! – do we all of a sudden have a President who's smart, stays calm, and makes me proud?

I love the way he laughs at the Washington news folks: