MYLGF January 5, 2012March 26, 2017 CHECKLIST FOR SMART LIVING Rob Shook: “Every year I prepare a list of things I think folks should do, get done, consider, or proactively decide not to do – not just let fall by the wayside. Here’s this year’s.” ☞ It’s in sections, well worth a look, and begins: Finances and Identity 1. Get a copy of your credit reports from each of the three credit reporting agencies. You get one for free each year from each of them: know precisely where you stand. Don’t fall for their ploys to get you to subscribe to a (pretty worthless) “credit watch” service … although you may want to purchase a copy of your Fair, Isaac (FICO) score for a nominal fee from one of the agencies. If you opt for one of the “consolidated” reports (which you often must pay for), you’ll have to fight any inaccuracies only in writing. By getting the report directly from each of the agencies, you can dispute and resolve most problems on-line. While you’re at the reporting agency’s site, take time to opt-out from pre-approved credit offers (so a pre-approved application doesn’t land in your mailbox, waiting for someone to steal it … and your identity …). THE GAYS APOLOGIZE From the Twin Cities City Pages. Speaks for itself: Gay community apologizes to Amy Koch for ruining her marriage By Kevin Hoffman The gay and lesbian community of Minnesota has issued a letter of apology to recently resigned Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch for ruining the institution of marriage and causing her to stray from her husband and engage in an “inappropriate relationship.” . . . “We apologize that our selfish requests to marry those we love have cheapened and degraded traditional marriage so much that we caused you to stray from your own holy union for something more cheap and tawdry.” The letter comes on the heels of Koch’s own apology, released yesterday, in which she expressed her deep regret for “engaging in a relationship with a Senate staffer.” . . . Koch [and her] fellow Republicans campaigned this year to put a constitutional amendment on next year’s ballot to define marriage as the union between a man and a woman, thus forbidding gay marriage. Sadly, the amendment comes too late to prevent Koch from straying from her own marriage. . . . MYLGF Guru: “They hired Rachel Humphrey today as chief medical officer. She came from Bristol Myers, the leading cancer company in the world (based on sales), where she worked on developing through FDA approval their immune therapy for melanoma called Yervoy. Before Bristol, she worked at Bayer on Nexavar, an approved drug for kidney and liver cancer with sales almost $1 billion, a drug with a mechanism that overlaps with MYG’s lead compound. Prior to Bristol, she was at the National Cancer Institute of the NIH. All in all, a very impressive hire. Of note, MYG has been running unblinded trials since last summer in prostate, lung, and gastric cancer. It is likely that Dr. Humphrey saw this data before agreeing to join MYG. I expect the rest of us will see the data later this year.” ☞ This is 30 cents, about where it was when first mentioned last April. It remains very thinly traded, so be sure to use limits if you buy any – and only with money you can truly afford to lose. I dream of a quintuple.
Of Taxes and Sewage January 4, 2012March 26, 2017 INFRASTRUCTURE Ralph Sierra: “Another issue to add to our list of infrastructure projects: water and sewer lines.” . . . if the nation’s water and sewer systems begin to fail, life as we know it will too. Without an ample supply of water, people don’t drink, toilets don’t flush, factories don’t operate, offices shut down and fires go unchecked. When sewage systems fail, cities can’t function and epidemics break out. . . . the vast majority of the country’s water systems are in urgent need of repair and replacement. At a Senate hearing last month, it was estimated that . . . it will take $335 billion to resurrect water systems and $300 billion to fix sewer systems. . . . ☞ If only we had people looking for work who could get on this. Oh, wait – we do! And putting them to work would not only get the job done, it would get the economy moving, tax revenues rising, unemployment checks, food stamps, foreclosures, and the deficit falling – a virtuous cycle. How do we persuade Republicans that tax cuts don’t finance public works, taxes do. We need a decade or two skewed toward public expenditure. As between living with taxes or living with sewage, I’d choose taxes. You? (And please don’t tell me we should just slash expenses elsewhere in order to pay for infrastructure. Leaving aside the fact that the presumed Republican nominee says he would not cut the one place where meaningful cuts are possible and sensible – the military budget – slashing government spending now would only prolong or deepen our economic woes, which would only prolong or deepen our deficits.) President Eisenhower understood this when, despite the nation’s sky-high national debt coming out of World War II, he launched construction of the Interstate Highway System. ROMNEY ON JOBS Bush told everyone, over and over, that “by far the vast majority” of his proposed tax cuts would go to “people at the bottom of the economic ladder.” It was a multi-trillion-dollar lie – which even as big lies go is a very big one – but it worked. Now comes Romney to portray Obama as “a president who lost more jobs during his tenure than any president since Hoover.” But the facts – and the two graphs in Paul Krugman’s response – tell a very different story. Bookmark it, because if that line tested well, I expect we’ll hear it again and again. RICK SANTORUM Nice guy, no doubt – but to hold the most important job on the planet? Really? And what about his positions? If your daughter is raped, Rick Santorum would have the government require her to bear the rapist’s child rather than abort a day-old blastocyst. If your sibling happens to be gay, and married, Rick Santorum would have the government annul that marriage via Constitutional Amendment. He sees no Constitutional “right of privacy.” Has declared global warming “a hoax.” Would de-fund the United Nations. Require the teaching of “intelligent design” in science classes. There’s more, no doubt; but as he’s unlikely to be the nominee, I’ll stop there. Tomorrow: Rob Shook’s Checklist for Smart Living
Golden But Listless January 3, 2012March 26, 2017 2012 Welcome back. While you were at Sugarbush (the beach? your mom’s?), I waxed melodramatic on the future of golden retrievers and on the listlessness of some liberals. I know you’re busy, but as the price of your 2012 subscription, I ask that you take a minute to read them. To get two extra months free, forward them to your friends. We need everyone engaged in setting our country’s course. Speaking of which: IT’S THIS SIMPLE The cure for our economic malaise is a World War II scale effort to build not things that blow up, to beat the Germans; but things that last 50 or 100 years, to modernize our infrastructure. Like weatherizing 100 million homes and office buildings; repairing 154,000 degraded bridges; modernizing 35,000 schools; replacing easily-disrupted dirty energy supplies with localized clean solar and wind; upgrading our electric grid; and dredging our waterways (oh, yes, please). All of which will make us more efficient, prosperous, and secure. Can’t afford to do it? Like winning World War II, we can’t afford not to do it. And the economic boost will ultimately pay for itself many times over. It’s time for the opposition party to stop opposing this. PRIVACY Pete Roehrig: “Just checked out showmystreet.com. Naturally, when I type in my home address in Allentown, there’s an Obama campaign sign in the front yard. Way to go Mom!” Chris Anderson: “The site uses Google’s Street View for its images. I thought it was interesting that my town of Champaign, the home of the University of Illinois and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications – and the origin of many of today’s technological wonders, including the web browsers which developed from Mosaic – has very little Street View coverage. In fact, there was virtually no useful satellite resolution to the area until a few years ago. I was beginning to think there was some kind of secret shroud protecting us. My own street is not covered by yet, but I can see enough detail to know that the aerial was taken on a summer day I was not home in 2010: My car is not there, the yard has dried up to mostly weeds, and I recognize the tops of the Castor Bean plants in my garden. It’s amazing to see the changes in technology from the 1970’s, when I learned about email, bulletin boards, chat rooms, and other technologies we take for granted today, with the University’s networked PLATO system.” Rob Shook: “A couple of years ago, I opted out of Google’s Street View for my address; my Lexus SUV was parked in the driveway and its license number was visible. I’m not CRAZED over privacy, but I am aware of it and I have learned to trust the feeling when the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. No one needed to know that my SUV, with that license number, was either a) stored in the garage, or b) at the grocery store and then no one was home. Google now blurs faces and license numbers, but back when I requested to be removed, the entire image was removed. Until, perhaps, the next time they update their images in my area. You can request further blurring, removal of ‘inappropriate content’ or a further review of any image here.” ☞ More smart ideas from Rob tomorrow. For now, go read about golden retrievers and listless liberals.
Happy New Year! January 2, 2012March 26, 2017 THE ARTIST The stock market is closed today. Go see “The Artist.” The only three things to know about it are: it’s a silent movie (with a great soundtrack), it’s in black and white, and you will love it. GOOD MORNING, SUNSHINE A bright way to start the New Year. Kevin Rasmussen: “This cool map shows when solar becomes cheaper than grid electricity.” ☞ Just a few more years. 2011 IN 100 SECONDS Here. ON THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE Oh. My. God. Type in any address and see the street level view or the aerial view. ShowMyStreet.com. I know some of this isn’t new. But I could see the flowers on the bush in front of my house. It’s all gotten amazingly fast and comprehensive. (In terms of privacy, I guess it’s worth noting that nothing is visible here that wasn’t visible to anyone walking down the public street. So is privacy being eroded?) GOLDEN RETRIEVERS Warren Kaplan: “By coincidence, Charles Krauthammer’s column in last Thursday’s Washington Post makes a very similar point to your own: our planet is in danger of oblivion (from nuclear war or biological warfare), and all that can save us is if we somehow manage to hang onto a functioning political system that has the right values. Read his column. You will like it: creative and provocative. (And I have not previously been a Krauthammer fan.)” ☞ Yes. Terrific.