Jay Gaulard Blog

Word of the Day - Kingmaker

Sunday, January 20th, 2008

You always know it’s political season when you start hearing words that you have never heard before. Today’s word is “Kingmaker.” I must’ve heard this word about ten times last night, during the Nevada and South Carolina primary battles. That’s fine, I understand the media. They like this kind of stuff.

In this case, John Edwards was being referred to as the Kingmaker. I think they were saying that he is going to inadvertently help Hillary Clinton get the Democratic nomination. Ummm, kind of like Ross Perot helped Bill Clinton get elected president…twice. Hmmmm, genious. Only this time, I think it is nothing more that John Edwards’ ego that is doing all the work. You have to admit, the guy likes to hear himself talk.

Kingmaker or no kingmaker, I love politics. I was telling Laura last night that the political season is like my football or baseball (or whatever you are into) season. The only thing is that the political season seems to be lasting for an awful long time this time ’round.

Recession or Not?

Friday, January 18th, 2008

I have been hearing a LOT of news lately about a recession. I think they (the media) have been talking about this for some time, but yesterday, they really hit hard.

If you didn’t hear about it, the Dow dropped around 300 points yesterday. Actually, the market has been sucking all week. Since yesterday, this is all the news in the news. It is beginning to make me wonder if it is actually the media that is making things worse.

I kind of know the way things work over at Wall Street. After all, I did answer one out of the six questions on my finance final in grad school and managed to pull off a B- in the class. I am not saying I even answered it correctly. That’s not bad. Anyway, the way things are supposed to work is by using plenty of data to make buying and selling decisions. I am sure this actually is the way things work most of the time, but day to day trading is heavily influenced by the media. I mean, perhaps if they didn’t talk about the flames at the bottom of the endless pit of doom so much, there wouldn’t be so many drops in the market. It’s almost like the trading floor is blasting CNN over some loudspeakers. The reason I am saying this is because I happen to listen to CNN all day as I work. I must’ve heard the same story about the impending mess of the economy about fifteen times today. Then of course, our President, George W. Bush, had to come on the gool ol’ television to promote a economic stimulation plan. I ain’t sure what another whoppingly huge $300 rebate check is going to do.

I must confess, when I was listing to our President, George W. Bush, I did agree whole-heartedly that we should cut taxes. I would like a flat tax, just like Mike Huckabee is proposing. I don’t care if these brilliant politicians can’t figure out how it is going to work…they are the ones who got us in the tax mess in the first place. I believe that if we weren’t shelling out 33% of our earnings to pay for wars and $4000 toilet seats, perhaps there would be some sort of restraint. I apologize, I got off track there.

All I am trying to say is that I think television, radio, the internet and everything else out there gets everyone so damn paranoid that they hide like a pearl in a clam’s mouth. Well, that’s not good.

Ok, bye.

CNN Republican Debate

Thursday, November 29th, 2007

So I watched the Republican debate last night, live on CNN.com. I am not sure why I watched it…I guess I was interested in what they had to offer.

I have to say, some of it was interesting. They touched on some good issues, such as the war and fiscal policy. I was slightly pleased at that. They also touched on some really annoying things. The problem was that the candidates seemed to be trying to “out conservative” each other.

In the beginning, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney got in a little (way overblown) tussle about illegal immigration. While the topic is legitimate, I am not sure how having a few unknown illegals doing some landscaping for you affects your judgement as president. Well, I suppose it all matters in Republican debates. There were a few ridiculously idiotic questions, such as, “Do you believe in every single word of the Bible?” and “What does the Confederate Flag mean to you?” I have to admit that I am disappointed that I will never get those few minutes of my life back. I guess I have to blame CNN for letting those questions through.

So people, there you have it. While the earth’s temperature steadily climbs, glaciers melt and wars rage, American television is asking potential presidential candidates whether or not they believe in every word of the Bible, verbatim.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot a really good one…”How many guns do you own and what kind are they?” Now that one was fabulous, just fabulous. What intellectual and stimulating conversation. I think even the candidates were rolling their eyes at that one.

Holy Low Taxes

Tuesday, November 6th, 2007

So I drove down to the gas station this morning to get some cash, gas and coffee. I walked in the side door…the area where the old men are usually hanging out doing nothing. These are the type of guys who have lived in the area forever and burn their garbage in their backyards. The sweet smell of plastic fills the breezy air. This morning, there were about four of them. I am not sure what they were wearing, but I did notice camouflage hats and maybe a jacket. I really have nothing to say to these people, because we have nothing in common (I’m not just making this stuff up, I have actually seen it).

I walked over to the cash machine to do my thing and overheard a conversation between two of them. It went something like this…

“Yeah, you can move down to Tennessee today and get a house and only pay $250 a year in taxes. I might just do that.” “Yup, one thing’s for sure, I won’t be moving anywhere in New York.”

That conversation cemented my theory…eventually, rising taxes will squeeze certain people out of the area. I am not sure where they will relocate, but as long as it’s not where I am going, things will be fine. I just don’t like people who think they are living on this planet alone. Seriously, these people would shoot a buffalo in the head, ten feet away from your front porch.

So…on this election day, if you live in a dirty little town where no one wants to visit, vote for lower taxes. YEEEE HAAWWWWW.

Ron Paul For President?

Monday, November 5th, 2007

The strangest thing just happened. I was just looking up…I don’t know what I was looking up, but I came across the “Americans for Ron Paul Blog” website. It seems as though people are really passionate about this guy. I do like him, so I have nothing bad to say. He is one of the two politicians I know who seem to tell the truth (Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich).

Anyway, after I looked through that website, which seems to be run by decent folk, I hopped over to Digg to see today’s news. Well, wouldn’t you know it, the first article was, “Ron Paul To Break One-Day Internet Fundraising Record.” Now, that is pretty neat. I guess the whole correlation between politics and money doesn’t hold water? As far as I know, Ron Paul is at the bottom of every national poll, among Republicans. Why the heck isn’t this guy climbing?

As far as Dennis Kucinich is concerned, even though I love the guy, I know why he is at the bottom as well. I guess the people of this country have really gotten used to the same old politics. It also seems like good ‘ol Dennis is only using the campaign to talk about his issues, which is fine with me. Al Sharpton has been doing that for years.

Opinions?

Do I Like Newt Gingrich?

Sunday, June 3rd, 2007

Listen, I lean to the left and I lean to the right. Who the heck knows. Sometimes the Democrats make such stupid moves they seem like Republicans and vice versa. I once heard a caller on a radio talk show call them all a bunch of “Rebublicrats.”

I don’t know much about Newt Gingrich, besides the fact that he was Speaker of the House from 1995 to 1999 and that he co-authored the 1994 Contract with America. Actually, reading up on him on his Wikipedia page, he mostly stands against everything I stand for.

But…a BIG but…you have to admit that the guy is smart. A few weeks ago, he took on John Kerry in an environmental debate. I didn’t see the debate, but I heard that Newt went out there and agreed with Kerry on a good number of issues. John? What happened? I executed a similar maneuver back during my college days in Binghamton. I wasn’t even a skilled debater (like you are). I was the first to speak, so I went up there and laid out my points. It was a narrow topic, so I laid out the opponents points too and why they were nonsense…and I heard their steam ever so silently being released. They had nothing. Couldn’t you have predicted what Newt was going to do and prepare for that? It’s kind of like preparing for a fight so much that when you swing at the guy, he just steps to the left and you punch the wall behind him. He walks away laughing.

On my drive yesterday to the local nursery, I heard an interview with Newt on NPR. Newt was quite eliquently talking up his program called, “American Solutions.” We was very casually letting us know there he and his team have thought up a good number of solutions to the problems that plague our country. He left them open to both Democrats and Republicans. He’s like, “Hey, here they are. Let’s all work on them together.” The interviewer kept badgering him about if he was going to run or not and he kept telling her that he may if the field needs a boost. The interviewer was questioning that it may be too late at some point and Newt replied that if the time wasn’t right, he simply wouldn’t run.

I have to tell you, the guy makes sense. What is it with the current Presidential Candidates? Why can’t they seem to put together a nice coherent message and promote it? Don’t they realize that Newt is sneaking up behind them and just may take the whole bunch of them down? Boy, he sure seemed to have a catchy program title back in 1994 and sure seems to have another one now.