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Saturday, November 06, 2004

Portfolio Review   Q: How many Republicans does it take to change a light bulb? A: None, as long as you believe the old one hasn’t burned out.   When these charts go up, the value of the dollar in your wallet goes down.   The upper chart here is the Euro v the dollar. The lower one is v the Japanese Yen. As these currencies appreciate you’ll get good returns investing in their markets, even if the underlying bourses remain flat v the US (a fairly safe bet, given the "linkage" of global economies).   Smart money gravitates away from stupid people. Make your own decision what to do with your own money; these markets look pretty darned good to me. Good fiscal policy = strong currency; bad fiscal policy = weak currency. Turn those charts upside down to view confidence in the US$. As those currencies appreciate, so will your investments in their markets. Dumbass politicians = opportunity! Weed 'em and reap. If certifiable morons take control of your country, invest elsewhere. Candy from a baby. Fish in a barrel. Simoleans are fungible. IMHO, this is the best foreign market opportunity since James A. Baker was Reagan's Secretary of State.   (Please note: Even though the apparent gains from this strategy may appear to be large, they are being viewed through a funhouse mirroe. All you are really doing is preserving capital - but that is the first rule of investing)       7:35:33 PM    comment []

Here’s some news that really ought to cheer you up – lepers, many of them suffering from malaria, have their ramshackle shanties washed away by a flood…   Floods hit Somali leper community By Mohamed Olad Hassan BBC correspondent in Mogadishu   Some 480 lepers in Somalia's southern Jubba region are reportedly in danger after floods destroyed their houses. At least 15 members of Faragurow village, including six children, have died of hunger and diarrhoea following the floods, a local doctor has said. "Fifty others are suffering from malaria as they live out doors as rains washed away their shanty houses," Dr Sayid Abukar said. People in Faragurow have told the BBC their condition is horrific. 'No hope' "We don't have food, medicine and shelter and no one is going to help us," Haliima Awil Samow, a mother of six children - all of them lepers - told me.   4:17:57 PM    comment []

We didn’t have our first frost last night, but the pineapple plants have been brought in. They are survivors. I haven’t named them yet, but I’m open to suggestions. Two years ago, I was lurking about a local upscale market and saw a salsa made with pineapple and tequila. It was a Sunday morning, I remember, because the store couldn’t sell the salsa until noon. It must have had quite a kick because it was shelved in the wine boutique. I looked at the ingredients and decided to try making my own.   I used a fresh pineapple and when I had finished processing it, I just stuck the leafy top in some wet dirt. A couple of weeks later, I made some more pineapple salsa and did that again. By the end of summer, they had begun to grow!   I left the terra cotta planter on the floor beside my computer for the first winter, but the leaf tips started disappearing, as though some pest were attacking it. Then one day I saw Twyla in action. The girls love to rub their little cat chins on the leaf tips and then they chew on them. A plant stand ended that.   A friend at work says her husband had done the same and they now have several plants. She said they will bear fruit the third year. That will be next summer for these two.       10:43:16 AM    comment []

Arafat Poisoned?   If you’re the speculative type, it has already crossed your mind. Now the New York Daily News isn’t your rock solid paper of record, but Google News does collect 130 hits on “Arafat poison,” so you’re not the only one wondering.       10:15:50 AM    comment []

Political Capital   "I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it."               9:21:43 AM    comment []

A Swift Solution   There has been a great deal of soul-searching within the Democratic Party since early Wednesday. When a standing President who has been a complete failure can still get re-elected by exploiting ignorance and homophobia, the lofty ideals Democrats embrace have become as irrelevant as the true nature of Yassar Arafat’s sudden illness.   Yes sir, Yassar is gonna die, folks, and so is the Democratic Party unless they can come up with imagery even more scary than, say, rampant lesbianism in the heartlands. That is the only way to win elections. Like homophobia, xenophobia has already been claimed by The Republicans, so Democrats will never win with  “Lite” versions of either.   Forget that.   However, anti-Semitism is virgin territory and that is the logical direction to take if winning is important to Democrats. It’s a hot-button issue that will undoubtedly raise a few hackles along the beltway, but it has a certain historical resonance. It will play well with the evangelicals, once the time-proven imagery of “Christ Killers” is invoked. Democrats must sieze this issue now before the Republicans beat them to it.   It is the ultimate heavenly pathway to political success.     2:03:18 AM    comment []