Romney Buys Florida

The result of the Florida election did not surprise me. As of Sunday, Mittens spent over $15 million in Florida, When all the beans have been counted I expect the final cost to exceed $18 million.

Mittens spent some $20 per vote he received and according to reports only 0.1% of the money was spent on pro-Romney ads. Romney didn't win so much as he mugged Gingrich. At this rate, to take the White House, Romney will have to spend over $1.3 billion. (Hint: Invest in media stock.)

Florida has a history of selling its elections. In 2010, Rick Scott invested $85 million ($32 per vote) to buy the governor's office. In comparison, my state of California saw Meg Whitman sink over $177 million ($43 per vote) trying to become governor. She failed.

The record for spending goes to New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. In 2009, he spent $102 million ($174 per vote!) to buy the office. Over his three campaigns Bloomberg has spent over a quarter of a billion dollars. No individual anywhere has spent more money running for office.

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Gaia Fever

Art Source: JustWorldPhoto

NASA has a 26 second clip destined to ruin you winter. It shows the warming of the planet from the year 1880 to the present.

Russell, KS - 1/30/12 saw a record high temperature for the date of 70 degrees, average for the date is 41 degrees.
California - The California snow pack is at 38% of normal.
Alabama - This state averages 37 tornadoes a year, the rolling average has nearly doubled in the last decade. Alabama had 121 tornadoes in 2011. The last four years Alabama has averaged 82 tornadoes per year. They have already had 11 in the (formerly) quiet month of January 2012.

The Earth will abide. But that doesn't mean she won't have to run a fever to rid herself of the dangerous infection that mankind has become.

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Ol' Time Gingrich Feud

At the beginning of the month I noted that Newt Gingrich was no longer so interested in winning the presidency as he wanted bloody vengeance on Mittens.

Romney's Florida campaign has been a vile (albeit mostly accurate), relentless, multimillion dollar attack on Newt's character. It appears to have achieved its goal at the price of enraging a notably vengeful politician.

From here on in the Republican primary season is going to resemble the Hatfield-McCoy feud.

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Three Blind Republican Mice

Brewer's Finger
Arizona governor did not have some sort of dispute with the President this week. Like many other Republican politicians (Herm Cain, Newt Gingrich) she saw an opportunity to shamelessly shill her book.

Brewer wrote about eating scorpions for breakfast.

Her book went from selling nothing to, currently, four days on the best sellers list.

Cell Block Endorsement
Mitt Romney scored a powerful endorsement from former congressman Duke Cunningham. Writing from his prison cell, felon Duke Cunningham technically endorsed Newt Gingrich but its obvious that the Romney camp solicited the endorsement for Newt.

Soylent Green
Oklahoma state Sen. Ralph Shortey is upset that the general public has noticed his bill outlawing the use of aborted fetuses in food. "This wasn’t an open invitation for the country to chime in," he told the LA Times.

If you read Shortey's legislation closely it does not outlaw the use of human fetuses in the production of animal feed. There are over two million hogs in  Oklahoma for whom fetuses might make an excellent source of protein.

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To the Moon, Newt

The science geek in me likes the thought of returning to space exploration after 40 years of mankind huddling safely on earth.

But the realist in me knows that Gingich's call for a permanent colony on the moon in eight years is less rational than Ralph Kramden's old threat.

To the Moon, Alice.

First, we lack the technology.  Humans have yet to develop a permanent undersea colony. It is far easier to supply the essentials (air, water, food, energy) a few fathoms below the surface of an ocean teeming with life than to support a facility on a barren rock a quarter of a million miles from the nearest anything.

Second, how does Newt plan to pay for this? I guess he could eliminate the Food Stamp program. Naw, ain't enough money there. Newt would have to support a return to the tax levels when President Kennedy first proposed an United States moon mission. The top marginal tax rate in 1962 was 91%.

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Romney: Unearned Income

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin ~ Matt 6:28

Q: How does Mitt Romney make his money?
A: By doing nothing at all.

Mittens is the poster boy for the idle capitalist. He makes $57,000 a day yet he produces nothing. He does not grow food or make cars (like his dad). He does not build homes. He is not even a thief who breaks into those homes to steal other people's money. That, at least, would require some degree of effort on his part.

Romney sits. His investment shuffle around like a game of Three-Card Monte making money with each movement.Romney scrapes profits from the sweat of other people's toil while he himself never soils his hands with effort.

Mittens doesn't earn anything because he doesn't do anything. And the tax code, in its infinite wisdom, rewards idleness. People who work and earn a salary through their efforts pay taxes at twice the rate of people like Romney who sit and vegetate.

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Belle Baker: The Best Singer You Never Heard Of

I know you don't know Belle Baker, I hadn't heard of her until a couple of months ago.

Born the year William McKinley was elected in the New York Jewish ghetto, Belle was singing on the street for pennies by the age of eight. She became a vaudeville star along side Al Jolson and Fanny Brice and a Broadway star in the 1920's. Her range included jazz, ragtime, and Yiddish tearjerkers which she preformed with a bold, expressive voice.

 It is a great pity that Belle Baker's voice has mostly been lost while lesser talents (like Fanny Brice) are remembered. The above song, "You've Brought a New Kind of Love," is the song I fell in love with. For a change of pace, here is a 1924 recording of "Hard-Hearted Hannah."

Enjoy.

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