Quit Your Belly Aching (about gas prices)!!

We interrupt the hysteria over rising gas prices in America for the following bulletin:
Average Gasoline Prices in 10 Cities

Olso...$6.90
Paris...................$6.77
London...............$6.28
Brussels..............$6.16
Rome..................$5.91
Berlin..................$5.96
Tokyo.................$5.77
Hong Kong..........$5.62
Sydney...............$3.44
Philadelphia.......$3.01

Prices are in U.S. dollars for a U.S. gallon of unleaded regular (3.785 litres)
Prices are those posted as of early to mid-April, 2006
Sources: CNN and various gas-price web sites.P.S.
A Hummer / H2 has a 32-gallon gas tank.
It would cost $208.80 to fill 'er up in Oslo.
In Philly, it would cost a mere $96.32.

I got this info from Tom Ferrick's blog- he is a columnist for the Philly Inquirer.

Best Kind Of Baseball Trade

Phils traded Jim Thome because they felt the younger Ryan Howard was their best bet to play stellar First Base for years to come. And you know what the Phils were right!

Today, Ryan hit his 5th homer today including a tape measure shot into Ashburn Alley. And Thome has already hit 9 for his new team. So the trade is turning out great for both teams and that's OK!

She Should Have Hidden Secret Info In Her Socks

I heard the CIA fired an employee for giving classified info to Dana Priest of the Washington Post. The employee, Mary McCarthy, was once a Clinton appointee and got her job from Sandy Berger, who himself, pleaded guilty to taking classified info from the National Archives.

I guess Berger neglected to tell McCarthy that a good spy hides classified info in their socks. Here is the link to the story and btw somewhere I heard McCarthy was also a Kerry supporter.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/21/AR2006042101218_pf.html

Is Gillick Philly's Best GM?

Isn't it funny how things change so quickly? I believe Pat Gillick is the most experienced and most qualified and best GM among Philly's four major sports. And in my world that means the Phillies are in the best position to win their sport's title. Cause my theory is it's GM's not managers nor owners that assemble the parts that make up championship-caliber teams. And Gillick is definitely an upgrade from Billy King, Bobby Clarke and slimmed-down but still arrogant Andy Reid.

And it is very rare for a first-time GM to win it all. King and Reid are first-time GM's and Clarke has never been a GM anywhere but here (I think-- he may have served some time in exile for a year ot two). So that means they are first-timers.

This Is Not Right & The Pols Have To Fix It

A Philly kid from the ghetto was murdered the other day. He would have been the first one in his family (out of 35 cousins) to graduate from college (in August 2006). But he was apparently robbed and shot when he was home from Penn State to attend a family funeral.

Now I know you can't prevent all murders but there are just too many murders and shootings in Philly thses days. The city bigwigs are paid to keep honest citizens safe and they must figure out how to reduce these crimes. Here is the link to this sad story.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/14373337.htm

Always Get A Receipt

I am making this up cause it's funny.... but as far as I know it could be true.....

Attorneys for the Duke lacrosse players (charged in the rape) claim the players are not guilty and have evidence including a commercial transaction which proves they were not even at the crime scene. Ironically, the evidence is a receipt for lap dances at Bubba's Downhome Bada Bing Lounge, a well-known gentleman's club in the Durham metro market. If true that is good news for the two players but the bad news is the two (19 year-old sophmores) are guilty of underage drinking.

I like To Read Between The Lines

There was a story in the news today that the number of black businesses is growing faster than other businesses. The story went on to say that there are now 1.2 million black-owned businesses and the combined revenue from these businesses is $88.8 Billion.

Bottom line is that this is fantastic news for our country BUT when I ran the numbers (which is what I do), the average revenue per business is a fairly modest $74,000! So the flip side to this story is : Are the numbers correct and accurate? And if so, it sounds like what is being created is a bunch of micro-businesses or sole proprietorships. And I don't view that as a bad thing since that is the trend throughout the entire economy.

But I'd like to see what the average revenues are for other businesses. And I suggest the MSM should dig deeper into the data and this story cause I am busy and have a real job. Here is the link to the story.

Btw, this story reminds me of when the MSM breathlessly reports (and it does that every 3-4 months or so) that literally thousands of people make the majority of their living off of Ebay and when I run those numbers, it comes out this average Ebay etailer takes in like $299 per year.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06108/682889-28.stm

Student Is Awarded A Scholarship For Exotic Dancing

I heard the alleged rape victim and exotic dancer will have her college tuition paid by a group headed by Jesse Jackson. I assume it's a Dance Scholarship. Below is the link to the story.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/nation/14358218.htm

Inquierer Headline Emphasizes The Negative About VP Cheyney

The Inquirer had an AP article today that revealed how much Bush and Cheyney made in 2005 per their tax returns. Of, course, the Inquirer slanted the article so its headline read: Bushes, Cheneys share details of their tax returns- The President and his wife had income of more than $700,000, a tenth of what the Cheneys made.

And much later in the article, the Associated Press writer says that by the way, the Cheyney's gave almost 80% of their income to charity!! So, yes, they made a lot of money (mostly stock options) but they gave most of it away!! Here is the link to the article if you want to read it yourself. I can't wait to see the Clinton's tax returns when she runs in 2008. Cause I know they make at least $10MM a year and probably gave less than 1% to charity.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/nation/14347106.htm

Rolling Stones Arrive In China on Harleys Bearing Capitalism??

I admit to know very little about China but thought it was a communist country, kinda backwards but waking up and starting to become a big guzzler of the world's oil. But I did not think the average Chinese resident could afford to pay for two things I saw in the news today:

• Rolling Stones play a concert in China- how can the communists afford the Stones concert prices?
• Harley Davidson is opening a dealership in China. Here is the link to the Harley story.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/3780963.html

And I view this as very good news.

Talk Show Host Is The Real Garbage

I was reluctanly listening to a talk radio show, Jay Severin. I say reluctantly because I don't care for this guy's show but I was in my office and the station happened to be tuned to his show.

Anyway, a lady called in and very politely admonished Severin for calling all illegal immigrants "garbage". It seems Jay had said that on a past show. Well, the caller went on to say her husband is an illegal immigrant and they had a couple nice kids and she said none of her family were garbage. Jay responded by asking if the husband was really an illegal immigrant. When the lady responded "yes", Jay said "well then he is garbage" and hung up on her. I say this guy Severin is the real garbage and I suspect he is a physical coward to boot. He certainly proved talk is cheap.

Best Infield In Baseball

If you watched the Phils-Cards game yesterday, you may have been watching the best infield in all of baseball. It's just too bad that the Phils fielded only have three of the four pieces (Howard, Utley, Rollins) and the Cards have the fourth (Scott Rolen). Seriously, if the Phils still had a great third baseman like Rolen, you could argue the Phils had the BEST INFIELD IN BASEBALL! It's fun to dream, huh!

Do Hostages Get Paid Overtime?

When someone is taken hostage, do you think their employer has to honor their contract and pay the hostage gobs of overtime money?

Now Jill Carroll, the recentlly freed journalist, was usually called an independent contractor. Since she could not file stories while being held hostage, she is probably screwed financially. But how about a truck driver who is paid hourly? Bet he makes out bigtime if he is lucky enough to escape with his head.

Term Limits Now- Politics Should Never Become The Family Business

State Representattive Mark Cohen apparently likes to read books and he has charged the state (on his expense reports) for $28,800 in book purchases over the last two years. It would appear he is a greedy, sneaky piggish politician. But my main point is this- politics should never become the family business and that is why I support term limits.

What does that have to do with Rep. Cohen you ask?

• Well, Mark Cohen has been in the state house for about 20 or so years.
• His father, David Cohen, was a Philadelphia city councilman for about 35 years until he died recently at about the age of 92 years. David Cohen was a bigtime invalid for the last few years. On many occasions, he was wheeled in to work and appeared barely conscious. If he had expired in his wheelchair in the Council chambers, I don't think anyone would have even noticed.
• Cohen's mother worked for her councilman husband for many years. Now Mrs. Cohen wants to run for her late husband's seat. And Mrs. Cohen is about 88 years old.

Let's face it families like this are greedy, grasping arrogant pigs and that is why we need term limits because I bet there are many more families just like this piggish one! Here is the link to the story if you want to read the story about the book loving Rep. Cohen! http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/14241399.htm

Can We Trust Our Elected Politicians To Enforce Any Laws

That is the question I have to ask. For years, our political class has decided to pick and choose which laws it will enforce and which laws it will simply wink at when that law is broken. That is not right. If America is anything, it is a country of laws.

And I am in favor of immigration- it's very good for our economy. And I am in favor of hispanic immigtrants- they generally hold values that are similar to American citizens. But why should I trust Senators Santorum or Spector to enforce the existing laws or any new laws??