Broback's Blog

My friend Steve finds a good quote from Einstein. I’ve been cataloging many of the professor’s statements over the years, as they are useful when illustrating the profound limitations of “book smarts” — but had not run across this one. It’s a keeper: “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.” My […]

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There’s been a lot of discussion about how the “Blue” states seem to be suffering the most in this fiscal mess. Articles and posts like The Blue State Budget Crisis, Why is it that most of the states with massive budget problems are run by Democrats?, and Fiscal mess in blue states a problem for […]

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My friend Steve on his blog offers up a bet sure to serve as red meat for the class-warfare contingent: The Sky-Is-Falling Crowd says that 1098′s income tax will be immediately extended to lower earners. If you’re so sure, here’s a chance to make a buck on your certainty. Fifty bucks, actually. Here’s the bet: […]

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My response to the most recent “blame Reagan” post from my friend Steve (collect the entire set!) One that borrows more than a few keystrokes from him… The Entitlement Strategy is a brilliantly effective (and profoundly irresponsible) political framework. It goes like this: Borrow money from our children and from abroad, and use the money […]

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The Gallup Presidential Job Approval Center has an interactive dashboard that lets you compare the the approval ratings of post-WWII presidents at any comparable point in their presidencies. I’ve been tracking Obama’s approval against other presidents that were seriously “troubled” at this stage: Reagan, Carter, and Clinton. As those who were around at that time, […]

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Regarding the Palin nomination, Peggy Noonan, and the premature pontifications here and here: I guess the flip response could be “you wish.” Check out how the three post convention polls are tracking according to realclearpolitics. John Belushi channels his reaction from the great beyond: I guess two can succeed at the let’s nominate a “charismatic […]

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At least that’s the first thing that came to my mind when I heard of what seems to be an illusory business-friendly tax cut. I’ve heard him say this many times, and it’s always sounded non-sensical to me. Obama says he will: …eliminate all capital gains taxes on small and start-up businesses to encourage innovation […]

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Wow. The register reports that if you post to your blog using the Google browser, Google owns the content. Hey — that’s “evil”! This reminds me of my discussions with Steve Roth. He’s taken the position that the Republican congress-persons have an inherent evil streak, and recent convictions prove it. I say that absolute power […]

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Regarding the rather astonishing hypercritical response to nominating someone with executive experience for not-president, I wanted to see what Google was indexing. (As of 9-8-08) If you type the following into Google: “sarah palin” unqualified You’ll get 76,200 results. Now try: “sarah palin” unfairly attacked You’ll get 513,000 results.

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A Google Trends search reveals that many more searches contained the search term “sarah palin” than on “joe biden” immediately post announce of VP status. Is this indicative of “popularity,” or just the curious trying to learn more about a relative unknown? What I find most intriguing is how the “demand” for information (the top […]

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