Random Pic of the Week

A sample of my step-daughter's art, late 2005. Sort of looks like a wild neon sign:

I'll Take a Routing Number with That, Please...

On January 3, the normally very responsible KFVS12 TV of Cape Girardeau did something that blew my mind. They produced a very compelling segment about a certain local health-care company that is bouncing payroll checks. Poor, pitiful employees.

In the segment, they show the bounced payroll check on air, with the identity of the payee blocked out by some one's thumb. Here's the amazing thing: even without the aid of a DVR, the check was on air for so long, you could easily make out the name of the bank, the routing number, and the account number of the company in question.

I realize that if a company is bouncing payroll checks, there may not be much money in the account. If I were in charge of either the bank or the health-care company, I'd have my lawyers at Dewey, Cheatham & Howe climbing straight up the skirt of KFVS12 for subjecting my company to serious financial risk in a most negligent way... Mike Smythe (general manager), you owe both companies a humble apology on air during one of your "Viewpoint" segments...

2007 Predictions

Happy New Year- I plan on making 2007 even better than 2006, and I hope you do as well.

Time for New Year's predictions-

• Fidel Castro dies in 07, and IF brother Raul gets the keys to Cuba, it becomes "communist" much more in the Chinese sense of the word- in name only- as capitalism regains a foothold in our little neighbor island to the south...
• U.S. auto makers remain in deep trouble, and I reiterate my prediction that GM declares bankruptcy by the end of this year. Ford may not be the only one that approaches Toyota about some sort of alliance or takeover. Of course, Toyota would be foolish to even consider it- the U.S. auto makers are basically health-care operations that happen to make cars on the side! Toyota can just continue its winning ways, and defeat the others anyway...
• More private equity takeovers of publicly-traded companies go on this year, in fact, they may accelerate. With all the corporate governance shenanigans going on with stock options, and all the unreasonable head-aches companies have to deal with since Sarbox, why bother? Take the company private and run the damn thing the way you want to. Who could blame you?
• More initial public offerings are at risk of being listed overseas- another unintended consequence of Sarbox. Something will have to change soon in terms of this law- I say it gets modified by Congress in 07.

While I think something major will go down with Iran this year, I won't make it an official prediction. Even if it does, know that we can call on Ethiopia (see previous post) to go in, kick ass, and rid the world of that nuclear/radical Islam threat.

Islamic Radicals Terrorizing Your Country?

Who you gonna call?

Ethiopia! Huh?

Apparently, when it's time to rid an area of jihadists, Ethiopia gets the job done. No hand-wringing, just action. Like we did in Afghanistan shortly after 9/11, except the Ethiopians will probably not spend time "rebuilding" the things they've destroyed...

Perhaps when the Ethiopians leave Somalia, they'll turn their sights on the Sudan and clean that mess up in Darfur as well. Who needs the U.N. when Ethiopia can get the job done?

I Hope It's a Public Hanging

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy... Kill hundreds of people, get killed yourself. Justice, old school.

I've Been Named Time's Person of the Year

for 2006! It's an honor that I won't take lightly, and I promise that I won't let it go to my head. There are so many people that I would like to thank...

Season's Greetings

Have you seen this joke making the email rounds?

For My Democrat Friends:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . And without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishes. By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

For My Republican Friends:
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Kinda funny. People need to get over it and grow a thicker skin- I personally like "Happy Holidays," but then the sensitive types believe even that is an attack on Christmas!

Good for US Airways

and their decision to kick the imams off the flight... I'm thinking this whole thing was staged by the Muslims to prove a point, but still the right decision by the airline.

Empty Threat, If There Ever Was One

All this talk about an Al Qaeda cyber attack is ludicrous... The most they could possibly come up with might be a denial of service attack on some corporation's servers. You can't expect me to believe that an organization that is run from caves could bring down our cyber financial infrastructure... Apparently, we run a much greater risk being poisoned but Putin and his spies!

Back From Vacation

We had a little family road trip last week that took us through Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky. Below is a typical view in Western Virginia and West Virginia- probably a great drive when the leaves are changing- not so much now!

More importantly, we got to see friends and family on the trip and the kids had a great time, so all the driving was worth it.