More Drivel But With Panache.

Is there a bigger fraud in professional sports than the Patriots and the Kraft family? There is that famed “Patriot Way” where character and some type of moral compass was an ingredient as important as game performance. That has been well documented but the Patriots are quite selective in their application - Corey Dillon and Randy Moss both had baggage but were brought in. No the latest is Aqib Talib and gifted (and needed) cover corner who has a rather prolific rap sheet. Talib could probably be good for a season of “Cops.” His Patriot debut will be delayed a week thanks to serving a four game suspension for PED use. Should I even mention Ryan Mallet?

The above is the win at all cost mentality of sports but it is even more prevalent in politics with such frauds as Tierney and Warren being run as solid citizens by the Democrats. Now if one wishes the Democrats and Republicans can match up easily with questionable candidates so that shows all the moral fiber and integrity that is now part of both parties. Win at all costs! No concern for any integrity.

I was discussing a potential holiday with my rotund running partner and suggested that election day be a holiday replacing the long since passé Columbus Day. Maybe making it a holiday would somehow entice higher voter turnouts.

Several measures were on Beacon Hill that would provide tax relief to the middle class and lower. A drop in the income tax, a sales tax credit and a meals tax holiday were three that were soundly defeated by those defenders of the MC - Democrats! Our local Republican contingent voted for them.

In Brockton a recent “Bust” took out several businesses who were defrauding SNAP and EBT cards. The clueless state auditor - Suzanne Bump - claims that fraud - according to her agency - is only 1%. Amazing! Maybe if the auditor and her fledglings were a wee bit more inclined to actually pursue matters such as this the number would - which I certainly believe - be significantly higher. Thank you, Shaunna O’Connel for your continued diligence in this matter.

What exactly is a historical building? Probably the most significant and well known site in America is Williamsburg in Virginia. One can not help but admire the colonial architecture of the Governor’s Palace, the Capitol Building and having lunch or dinner at the Raleigh Tavern and all three have something in common. They are fakes. Reconstruction. Williamsburg has 500 historic buildings of which 88 are not restorations while the others are fake goods. Same as going to Canal Street in NYC and buying a Coach bag that is a rip-off.

Buffett and Gates are the two riches folks in the world at least those that are private citizens. Both had fortunes touching on a 100B at their high point. Now the WalMart clan collectively can possibly surpass the total of both combined but in our history they both represent chump change. Step right up John Rockefeller. As founder of the clan his wealth topped out to nearly 700B in today’s dollars. Carnegie, Morgan and Vanderbilt could match it if they combined their fortunes.

The big winners in the last election was the pollsters who were quite accurate. Since political polling represents a small fraction of their business those that were most accurate stand to make significant coin for marketing research.

A Fiscal cliff is in the news with figures that the CBO continued to revise - and the revision is usually downward. I’m all for doing nothing.

Greece’s “Monster” debt problems. Spain needs bailout urgently. What will save Japanese economy? These are some of the headlines from the financial page on 11/12. Yet we continue to run opposite of any degree of common sense. More debt is piled on and fewer cuts in expenditures and now a president re-elected who will be beholding to various unions for their support during the election. Past behaviors tell me nothing will change but more debt added on.

A local campground has another stay of execution. Their violations and legal action seems to have gone on for decades.

According to the International Energy Agency the United States will be the number one producer of oil in the world by 2017 surpassing Russia and Saudi Arabia. Imports of oil are decreasing 1.5M barrels per day will domestic production is increasing by 720,000 barrels per day. In addition we now have a glut of natural gas and an estimated 100 year supply. The target is total energy independence by 2035 so hold off on the windmills and solar panels.

If you want to know hoe the government’s “War on Obesity” will turn out just look at how the government’s “War on Drugs” has turned out and that was a legitimate societal concern.

Fidelity use to be one of the largest employees in Massachusetts and now their latest exit is to open up a specifically targeted investment group in New Hampshire. Initially 200 jobs with potential expansion to 850. If you have a business and a choice between Massachusetts and New Hampshire the choice invariably is the business friendly climate of NH.

How to balance the budget. Congress and the president get no salary or accrued pension benefits as long as the budget is not balanced. Should take about a week.

Socialite Jill Kelly is in the center of the General Allen and Petraeus mess. She actually arranged social gatherings for military officers, important political and business leaders so that these important people could tell each other how important they were.

I see the breakdown from the last election in all sorts of categories - age, race, income, education, sex and so on but I can see no breakdown for what I assume is the real base of the Democratic Party - the something for nothing crowd

Does anyone have information on say the following: "Do you receive any type of entitlement? Food stamps, public housing, supplemented medical or any type of government welfare payment? If so - who did you vote for?" I wonder if that was the real key to victory?

The recently resigned CIA Director claimed that the Benghazi attacks of 9/11 were a terrorist act yet Susan Rice made public statements on behalf of the Administration that it was not. The last thing we need to do is "offend" any of our Muslim "allies."