The Year of the Ox

The SUN finally broke out this afternoon, after a day of rain -- and days of dismal clouds before that.

I have been offline for days, trying to get Quicken -- and then Quickbooks -- to simply give me the P&L numbers from ONE account so I can calculate profit and loss for the IRS. But noooooo. That would be too simple!

Instead, it lumps together numbers from several accounts - then makes filtering out all the rest difficult. Why can't it just give me the income and expenses from just one account - and keep it simple and easy? But then, why couldn't GM see that making hybrids along with SUV's would be smart business?

Maybe its the sign of the times. The next Chinese New Year will be the Year of the Ox - I was born in the year of the Ox, so hopefully it means a good year.

I have just one question for Mr. Burris that I haven't heard the media ask: Did Gov. Blagojevich ask you for anything for the Senate seat?

Or did the Governor finally really do the right thing (for a change) and offer it without something being demanded in return?

If nothing was offered or promised in return, then Mr. Burris should get the seat. We have enough trillion-dollar crises and two wars going on without getting into a silly fight we don't need.

But if Mr. Burris offered Mr. B anything for the seat, then Leader Reid has done the right thing. It's a strange tale. Between this and the Coleman-Franken landslide of 225 votes, its been fascinating to watch.

By the way, I understand that Gov. Blagojevich has won the Tom DeLay "Ethics in Government" award for 2008. Or maybe I just dreamed that.

How's this for funny--Sen. Cornyn has announced plans to filibuster Mr. Franken's Senate seat, which he claims a win by a scant 200 votes. However, Mr. Cornyn supported Mr. Bush's Presidential win in 2000 -- by 200-odd votes. Hypocrisy is not a lost art.

Change is in the air - even Speaker Craddick is out - the Texas legislature has had enough of Tom DeLay-type rule and a new era of moderate leadership is breaking out. That bodes well for our State.

But the national and global story is not so great. The scenes in Gaza are so horrific that the BBC TV won't even show the pictures - although the international media have not been allowed into Gaza for days to see what is happening (remember, our TV media was in Iraq even during the worst of the fighting). The situation in Gaza is ugly and one sided. Jet aircraft vs. home-made rockets. Civilians in the middle. Today it was announced that Israel jets hits a UN school in Gaza, killing dozens. America is the only country that is not seriously trying to do something about it. As pointed out by Dan Rather on "Morning Joe, these grim photos from Gaza strengthen IRAN's hand and power. How does that help Israel?

Most Americans don't realize how this can affect our future security in a negative way, even when they think it is doing the opposite.

I was struck by the fact that Pres. Bush declared genocide is happening in Sudan, yet he has taken no real action to do something about it. I don't understand how one can recognize genocide, yet not do anything. This studied inaction is puzzling.

The bottom line: our security remains fragile. People need to be prepared for anything. Our indifference to some horrific suffering around the world could easily end up kicking back on us - in the form of a future terrorist attack by people upset at what we have -- or have not -- done to fight for justice and fairness in the world. In a nuclear world, that is not a good thing.

One good thing is the young Vietnamese-American, Joe Cao, who beat a nine-term Congressman, Mr. Jefferson --the one with $100,000 stashed in the freezer, in New Orleans. America's strength are immigrants like Mr. Cao who work like dogs and make the American dream reality. "It also shows that only in America the little guy can still beat the long-term incumbent who has the "cold, hard cash." LOL. And Mr. Madoff wins the Ponzi Prize...

In the meantime I hope for the best but recommend being prepared for the worst. That way you are never disappointed...