Nice

 Martin Luther King’s family demanded, and received, $800,000 for the right to use quotes of his on this new monument.  So not only is it ugly and made in China, it’s really a monument to his family’s greed. Great.

Other than the French, who gives a rat’s ass?

 Jerry Lewis may, or may not, host MDA Labor Day telethon.

This is almost funny

Hurricane Irene hits Puerto Rico and Obama declares it a disaster zone, “making it eligible for federal relief”.  Puerto Rico is nothing except an island living on the federal teat, so what extra “federal relief” does it need (or deserve)?

Oh isn’t this so sad?

White House, 1987

Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s at age 59. My God, she gave UConn fits over the years and I really enjoyed watching this tough, able woman guide her girls to championships. I’m so sorry to learn of this.

UPDATE: I added this picture from 1987 because Reagan had the same disease at that time and not only continued to run the country but did a far better job at it than the present occupant of the office.  Surely running a basketball team can’t be that much more complicated.

Snarking at Mitt Romney

He’s tearing down a 3,000 sq. ft. house in La Jolla (I’m such an idiot that until 10 or 15 years ago, I thought there were two different towns in California, one called La Hoya, the other La Jolla) and from the commentary, you’d think he was a barbarian. I’m not a particular fan of the man but there are 28 people – kids, grandchildren, etc. in his immediate family and 3,000 sq. ft. just won’t cut it. hey, he’s got the land and the money to expand and California is the original birthplace of the tear-down phenomenon; in fact my own grandfather’s Hollywood mansion was one of the first to go, in the 80’s, so what’s the beef? Nice house though, if you check out the pictures.

A&P – the first Wal-Mart

Interesting interview on NPR this morning of the author of a book on A&P and how it changed the way we shop. Beginning in the 20’s, they knocked off corner grocers and brought efficient food distribution to the country, cutting down the average family’s food budget from a third of their income to – well, much less. The government hated that, of course, and in 1940 FDR sued them on anti-trust grounds. It’s true that hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost by the mom and pops put out of business but new jobs opened up and of course, millions of citizens benefited from paying so much less for food. Didn’t save A&P from the government.

But I won’t be around in 2030

Fed economists see a 15 year bear market but, on the bright side, think stocks will be up 20% by 2030.  That’s bound to cheer someone up, but not me.