Thanks to All the Info for the link to the Libertarian Response to the State of the Union Address.

I generally agree with the Libertarian platform; meaning I agree with Democrats on personal issues, and with Republicans on economics issues. I’d encourage you to test yourself on the World’s Smallest Political Quiz, you might be surprised.

Here are my response to the Libertarian Response:

The President touched on another of his unpopular and failing big government solutions: No Child Left Behind. Not so very long ago, the Republican Platform called for the elimination of the federal Department of Education. Today, Republicans and Democrats compete over which big government programs and mandates can be forced on state and local governments. No Child Left Behind should not be reauthorized. Bush said he wants children in failing schools to have additional options. We agree, but that should be left to state and local governments to hash out. The Libertarian Party calls for an end to any federal government involvement in education, including the cessation of all grants to state and local governments and what the Republican Party platform called until the year 2000 - the closure of the federal Department of Education.

No Child Left Behind doesn’t work. But I don’t think the federal Department of Education should be closed. Every child needs to be taught certain things, such as how to read, write, and interact with other people. There are the most important things that a child can learn in primary school. I also think that a basic knowledge of math and science is needed too. Others may have other topics they would like to see taught. Civics, history, and a foreign language are other topics that need to be taught. But, it is not important to compare students from different areas of the country. A low-income student from the inner-city may have more trouble learning than a middle- or high-income student from the suburbs. Standardized tests do not accurately measure the amount of information that a student learns. Some students do better than others on exams as well. And teachers should be evaluated not on how well students do on a standardized test, but instead on how much the students learned. Obviously, I do not agree with the Libertarian position on this issue.

The President applied his big government philosophy to our energy policy, too. Instead of trusting you and me to determine what sort of fuel economy we prefer in our private vehicles, the President is attempting to force new fuel economy standards on automobile manufacturers. Additionally, he is tampering with the free market in order to reach the probably unachievable goal of “energy independence.” If we want the lowest possible energy prices and alternative energy sources to develop, we need to get government out of the energy business and let the free market work. Unfortunately, the President is disregarding the history that made America the great nation she is with his approach of intervention and regulation.

On the other hand, I agree totally with the Libertarian party on energy policy. Almost. Automobile manufacturers should not be given any incentive to do anything. They are a private business, and as such, public money should not be used to subsidize them. However, automobiles put out a lot of gases and particles that are bad for human health and welfare. Aerosols from combustion engines have been shown to cause respiratory problems. [1] [2] One of the jobs of the government is to protect its citizens from another. Automobile exhaust can cause health problems for some people, and thus needs to be regulated, and since the flow of these pollutants can easily cross state lines, I believe it is the federal governments duty to regulate them.

Yea! The blog has finally reached puberty. The first comment spam has been received today. Luckily for me, I premoderate all comments. So the odds that [b]any[/b] spam gets through is minimal. All this luzer did was quote a small part of my post.

The URL he was spamming was top-mutual-funds.org with the anchor text of Top Mutual Funds » Blog Archive » Search by Google (Mmegi) (internet advantage investing). No way would anyone think that wasn’t spam. It originated from an IP of 204.50.18.150 on January 25, 2007. Any guess which blog post he was spamming. Yup, my most recent about the BHO stock.

Luckily for me, this Wordpress theme modifies all links in comments to add the rel=’nofollow’ attribute. So this luzer wouldn’t have gotten any PR from it anyway.

So on November 21st, 2006, I decided to start researching some stocks that I will for sure never buy. The stock market is much too risky for me right now with the amount of money I have. I prefer keeping it where it will earn interest, and not have the possibility of flushing down the toilet.

I picked 20 stocks to watch over the next couple months to see how they would do. I expected them all to increase in value; not all have, but the losers are good companies that will come around.

One that I went out on a limb for was B+H Ocean Carriers Ltd. (BHO). Looking back, I’m not sure why I picked it. I wanted a shipping company, that all I know. So I used Yahoo Finance to look one up. Looking today, there appears to be a lot better shipping companies out there, so I’m not sure why I picked this one, but it’s working.

I “bought” the stock at 13.80 on Nov 21. Right now, it is at 16.91, or an increase of 22.54%. It is my best performing stock. As you can see, I picked up the stock at the bottom of it’s run. I was lucky. There was no reason for it to increase in price. There has been no news, and no earning reports. The volume on the stock is very low, usually less than 1000 each trading day. If this was for real money, I for sure wouldn’t do it. It’s too risky. But I’m glad I picked it for my fake portfolio, it’s netted me $112 so far.

Last night I played quite a lot of poker. Two tournaments, each with over 2000 players. The first on I got knocked out with AKs, when my opponent had pocket aces. Darn. There were only two hands that had me dominated, too bad I ran up against one. The other started with over 3500 people and I ended up in the top 500. Dealt AQo, flop two pair. Put out a healthy bet. Turn was dead. Another healthy bet. River gave the board 3 hearts. The other guy had two hearts. I was out. Crappy way to go. I didn’t even notice which two hearts he had to tell what he had before the flush I was so mad. Good news though. I followed that up with a Sit-and-Go win in Omaha.

After the table gets down to 3, I’m dealt a decent hand

Double suited, with some connecters. Flop comes

Two pair, a straight, a flush draw, and a straight flush draw. Heaven on Earth. I bet the pot. Seat 2 calls.
Turn is

Could not have helped seat 2. I bet pot again. Call.
River is

My straight now isn’t the best, and I didn’t get a flush. I slow down, and check. Seat 2 bets about 1/4 the pot, and I know he’s value betting. I call anyway. He made a 10 high straight. Taking a sizable chunk of my stack with him.

Fast forward to the last hand. Each with about 7500 in chips, blinds at 100-200.
I’m dealt

Double suited, pair of aces. Good for two handed play. I raise preflop, he calls. Flop comes

Pair of aces, with a straight draw. I’m probably in the lead. I bet the pot. Seat 2 calls.
Turn is

I got my straight. I bet pot again. Seat 2 calls again.

River is

Now a full house and flush are possible which beat my straight, in addition to my not having the nut straight. I continue being aggressive. I bet pot again. Seat 2 raises pot, I pause before re-raising all in. Seat 2 calls right away. I think he must have rivered that flush. He mucks, I win! I’m not sure what he had on the last hand, it never showed. But I’m betting a set of jacks. Unless he was bluffing. Anyway, I won. I’m usually in the top 3 in the Omaha SnGs, but don’t win that many because of my style. It felt good to win one.