Sunday, December 18, 2005

Quote for the Day, 12/18/2005   "Now you're gone I've got nothing except a dead cat bounce to my step."   -Andrew Donaldson, "Dead Cat Bounce"   A dead cat bounce is actually a term out of economics.  It suggests that a stock, once it has dropped precipitously enough, will tend to rise just on the chance that something can be salvaged.  The idea behind the phrase is, I imagine, even a dead cat will bounce if you drop it to the floor; not much, but some.  The same phenomenon may explain the recent slight rise in the polls by President Bush, who had previously achieved levels of disapproval only surpassed by President Nixon shortly before President Nixon resigned in disgrace. 11:53:04 PM    comment []

The War on Pacifism   The President has been authorizing wiretappings of American citizens that specifically violate the law, on no authority other than his bare word.  He said he was doing so because of the urgency of the matter.  We have secret courts set up to cover this very sort of thing; typically, a warrant is granted by one of these courts in national security cases within twenty-four hours of the request.  That would seem to cover the "urgency" aspect of things.  All it leaves out is the President's desire to govern by fiat.  And just one sort of horrific threat are we neutralizing with these wiretaps?  Well, there's this group of Florida Quakers.  Certainly, we can't just let people go around opposing violence and believing in God.  What kind of country would that make us? 2:30:34 PM    comment []