24thState

Wachovia Buys AG Edwards

I should have bought me some AG Edwards stock last year.

Wachovia Corp. said Thursday it would acquire A.G. Edwards Inc. for $6.8 billion in cash and stock in a deal to form one of the largest retail stock brokerages in the United States.

Wachovia said A.G. Edwards shareholders would get 0.9844 Wachovia shares and $35.80 in cash for each A.G. Edwards share held. That offer values A.G. Edwards at $89.50 per share based on Wednesday's closing prices, a 16 percent premium.

One day, we'll miss AG Edwards like we miss Boatmen's.  They were good names, back in the day.  I wonder if we should buy some land in Charlotte?  Hey - I own a Charlotte domain!   

Political Dynasties In Missouri: Good Genes Or Bad Voting?

The Economist has a great story about the problems with generational political dynasties.  On a national level, we've had a Bush or a Clinton running for the White House from 1980-2008, and we're not done.

In Missouri, we have names like Blunt (Roy and Matt) and Carnahan (Mel and Jeanne and Robin).  Who else am I missing?  Can we add Danforth and Graves and Clay and Skelton, or am I getting my politicians mixed up?   

The authors study the make-up of Congress since 1789 with a view to tracking "the self-perpetuation of political elites". They find that, the longer the tenure of a legislator, the more likely his relatives are to enter Congress later. They conclude that

[T]his relationship is causal: a longer period in power increases the chance that a person may start (or continue) a political dynasty. Therefore, dynastic political power is self-perpetuating in that a positive exogenous shock to a person's political power has persistent effects through posterior dynastic attainment. In politics, power begets power.

It follows, as they say, that

political mistakes by confused electorates may impose costs that are more long-lasting than simply conferring office to a bad candidate.

Depending on the political party you voted for in 2006, go ahead and leave the nasty comments about the other party's political dynasty.  Just be careful of the glass walls.

The FBI Screens A New Version Of 9 1/2 weeks

Man, everybody wants in on this social media stuff. It seems the FBI is so excited about user generated content, they let a guy from Chad film Quantico for 9 1/2 weeks before realizing that he had lied about being a police officer.

Bureaucracies are incompetent by their nature.  The Department of Homeland Security, the CIA, the FBI. FEMA, and TSA are all an embrassment - a gilded frosting on top of the big birthday cake of homeland security.  They may look nice - but they're all fluff and sugar.

And this is not a slam at the employees - many of them are dedicated civil servants, but these organizations exist to employ people, not protect America. I honestly wonder if we'd be safer if we fired half the staff and brought in a Ross Perot type to shake them up.  Well, maybe not a Ross Perot type - maybe a Mitt Romney type.  We'll have him skip the presidency and instead go into each of the above with a mandate to shake them up and fire the deadwood.

Link Post: Republican Presidential Candidates Version

1) Fred Thompson is in, and I couldn't be more pleased.  I'm not completely dissatisfied with the current crop of Republican candidates - Giuliani and Romney don't frighten me (McCain may get a vote, but no support from me), but Fred Thompson inspires me.  I just feel he's the best choice, because he gets it.

My ideal matchup is a Thompson/Giuliani ticket versus a Richardson/Biden or Richardson/Centrist ticket.  I think it would go a long way to healing the country - as how can you dislike those guys?

The case for Fred Thompson from Kung Fu Quip. A powerful read.  (ht: elephantbiz)

2) Giuliani goes on the offense against Hillary:

Hillary's biggest problem is her view of the world.

It's time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the few and for the few, time to reject the idea of an "on your own" society and to replace it with shared responsibility for shared prosperity. I prefer a "we're all in it together" society.

It's always bothered me that Hillary seems to think that taking from those who produce is the moral thing to do, when the legacy of she and her husband has always been getting paid handsomely for selling out the government.  If hypocrisy has any power left in the political sphere, she won't be elected.  Better Barack Obama, who at least doesn't have the sordid history of living richly off a collective policy.  Hillary really does deserve the comparisons to the Kremlin.  Every pig equal, but some more equal than others.

3) Even Republicans Like Bill Richardson's Interview Video
Apparently, we really like this Bill Richardson fellow. I think it's because he doesn't scare us, and he's actually qualified for the job.  For me, it was the wandering eyes at the beginning.  Fine acting, it was.

Whole Foods Punchline Poll

Nothing of real interest happened today, and I have some work to do.

So I'll leave you with this, a poll to pick your favorite punchline to a joke I'm working on.  Feel free to improve the joke in the comments.

Whole Foods.  The entire marketing strategy of Whole Foods is to showcase organic, pesticide free, and natural foods.  No bioengineering, no gene splicing.  This is a key tenet of eating healthy, we are told, and if you walk through their store, you are assaulted with the message of "natural" food.

If you're taking a poll, most people would say that the people who shop there are liberal.  This isn't to say that conservatives don't shop there (my wife and I buy food from there), but in general, you can fairly say that the majority of people who shop at Whole Foods support liberal causes.

Causes like stem cell research and human cloning.

So, in the eyes of Whole Food Customers, would it be be fair to say that messing with the DNA of baby corn is a horrible thing to do, going against what Nature intended.  Messing with the DNA of a baby, however, is perfectly acceptable.

Bill Whittle Eats Conspiracy Theorists For Breakfast

Way back in the early days of the blogosphere, Bill Whittle and Steven Den Beste gave us hope that blogs would bring an enlightened discourse to the national discussion.

Leading the way for the warbloggers, these bright lights did the research and the writing that actually changed minds.  They didn't harp on politics, but instead dealt in history, and science, and the mythology of the American character.

His first essay was called HONOR.  The full list of essays is on the right side of EjectEjectEject.  Each is lengthy - short story lengthy, but each will leave you with the profound sense that America is a country worth fighting for, even if that fighting is done on a keyboard.

I challenge each of you to read Bill's essays. 

As for the conspiracy theory?  He provides a marvelous description of why conspiracy theorists are full of nonsense, including the morons who believe that 9/11 was a plot by the government.

Seeing the Unseen Part I
Seeing the Unseen Part II

LinkPOst: Kay "Judo" Barnes , Blogophobia, $3100

The Source reports that Kay Barnes is praising a project spearheaded by Sam Graves.  I'm confused.  When Kit Bond praised Kay Barnes, this was sign of an impending battle.  Now that Ms. Barnes is praising the actions of Graves, does this mean that she really wants Graves to win also?  What kind of crazed political jijitsu is this?

Or maybe, sometimes, politicians really do just get along.

Missouri Politics asks if politicians are afraid of bloggers.  The answer is no, no they are not.  Politicians are not afraid of bloggers.  Incumbents are afraid of bloggers.

More on the Democrats lead in Web 2.0 from AdAge.  Robert Bluey makes several appearances, and says its a good article, in addition to him being in it.

Surprise For Taxpayers:  You owe another $31,000 a year, for the rest of your life.
At some point, they are going to want that money. 

The Visual Impact Of Blogging

15thWardStl does a great job of using a graph to show the visual impact of policies on local communities.  While most of the polibloggers in Missouri focus on politics, 15thWardStl focuses, on, well the 15thWard.  There is still politics involved, but the blog is really written from the standpoint of understanding the impact of urban planning (and the lack of urban planning) on the growth of communities.

St Louis is dominated by our divisions.  City/County, urban/suburban/rural, black/white, Republican/Democrat.  For many people, these divisions literally define our lives, leading to that typical St Louis question of what high school you went to.

The goal is to quickly put a box around another person. The high school they went to often defines their religion, socioeconomic status, politics, and most important, their loyalty to St Louis (the reaction to the question tells you whether the person is a native St Louis, a transplant, or a newbie).

Blogs like 15thWard help us understand those differences, and hopefully their similarities.  As a suburbanite, I like where I live.  In fact, I love where I live.  But I want the people who live in the city to love where they live.  Maybe I should start a suburban blog to compare and contrast.

Robert Novak Takes Jack Murtha To Task

Robert Novak shows how the new Democratic majority isn't really interested in earmark and spending reform at RealClearPolitics.com.

Jack Murtha, the maestro of imposing personal preferences on the appropriations process, looks increasingly like an embarrassment to Congress and the Democratic Party. But there is no Democratic will to curb Murtha, one of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's closest associates. Nor are Republicans eager for a crackdown endangering their own earmarkers.

Lest you think this blog exists to bash Democrats, let me point you to the final sentence in that paragraph.

Nor are Republicans eager for a crackdown endangering their own earmarkers.

The 2006 elections were supposed to be about change.  The 2008 elections are supposed to be about whether the American people really want the Democrats in charge, or whether their anti-imcumbent mood was just a fit of anger at Republican "corruption" and the Iraq war.

The truth is, that as it stands, it hardly matters whose in charge of our fiscal future.  Our current lawmakers are not interested in reform, but in using their positions to shovel money from the federal government to their districts so they can get elected.  It's not about reform, or responsibility. It's about staying in power.

Of course, the Democrats are extremely shoddy in this area, and they get cover from the mainstream media for their shady dealings, but if the Republicans had been any better, perhaps they would still be in power.

Keep up to date at http://porkbusters.org/

Google Ranks 24thState Higher Than StlToday.com

I'm not one of those people that believe that Google actually gives people the truth.  It's more of a popularity contest, and really an online popularity contest.

But if I were the Post-Dispatch or the Kansas City Star or the Columbia Tribune, I would be pretty embarrassed.

Search for "Missouri Politics 2008"

24thstate.com is #3.
SEMissourian.com is number 7.
StlToday.com is number 10.

As I said, it's embarrassing.  Luckily, my marketing firm can help them out, if they're willing to pay.  Imagine ranking higher than the Post-Dispatch in Google six weeks after start.

The other question, is where are the other Missouri bloggers?  Could it be that Typepad blogs are better optimized for SEO?