Monday, March 16, 2009

I'm Jealous Too

I really wish I could get a million dollar bonus. Really. Maybe a couple. I'd buy more guns, and a few airplanes and then I'd live the Alaskan dream of running my own gold mine. You know, the kind where you end up with a small fortune, provided that you started with a big one.

I'll probably never get one. And I'm a little jealous of those who do, but I don't begrudge them anything. I wouldn't take it from them, even if I had the legal ability to do so (Shh, I'll get back to that in a minute).

Now we have executives at AIG who are getting million dollar bonuses. So? Are they breaking any laws? Or, are they somehow worth it? I suspect that they are those rare individuals who can manage hundreds of millions of dollars and handle the stress. I suspect that they are worth the bonuses and have saved AIG more than they're being paid.

On the radio, I just heard a sound bite of Obama saying that he'd use his full legal powers to address the issue of their bonuses and I wonder, what legal authority does he have to interfere with a legal contract or a private individuals salary? He has no legal power's to do anything about this.

What's he going to do, set salaries and make the law retroactive?

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

More Gummint Science...

...less stimulus.

In his reversal of the Bush policy on embryonic STEM cell research, the only thing that has changed is there is now one more avenue for Federal money to be wasted.

Private industry has always been permitted to use embryonic STEM cells in research. The only stipulation was that they use their own dollars. Basic business, invest your money and if it was invested wisely, reap the rewards.

Now imagine what the rewards would be for curing cancer, curing diabetes, or letting the paralyzed walk? If there was any potential for success in these fields, there would be entrepreneurs funding research. But there's not. Why? Because there has been little to no success in using embryonic STEM cell compared to using adult STEM cells. Entrepreneurs are funding adult STEM cell research because that is where the advancements are being made.

What this means is that Obama is now funding the destruction of human embryos for research with a low likelihood of any success. Federal money that could/should be used to stimulate the recover will instead be wasted and manpower that could/should be working towards reviving American industry will instead be tied up in what will most likely be fruitless work.

At least our current administration is being consistent.

As for banning cloning, what's so bad about cloning? Does the ban extend to the cloning of individual organs? If so, it looks like they are denying us life saving technology that doesn't cross any ethical lines I can see.

Monday, March 02, 2009

I Know What Bane Would Have Said

"Fu*k him"

And he'd have linked the 'him' to some obit.

I've heard the dead yakker praise Castro for providing healthcare for everyone (yea, that's why Americans flock to Cuba on the weekends (Like Canadians with medical or dental needs flock to Detroit on Saturday)) and I've also heard praise for Chavaz as he brought his country's financial situation into line (no mention that stealing the oil industry was how he did it).

Yea, I too miss the wiley curmudgeon but I won't miss the golden voice that nonchalantly spoke evil.