No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Archive for September 10th, 2009

2009 NFL Season – Week 1

by @ 17:05. Filed under Sports.

My joints are healed up after a disastrous 2008 and a meeting with Vito the Pipelayer. I can smell fall in the air, the first tree near the bunker is turning colors, and we’ve got the king of sports starting up tonight. As always, the lines come from Bodog, the nose picks are against the spread, and if you decide to bet using them, the management of No Runny Eggs cannot be held responsible for any legal, illegal or medical bills incurred.

Tennessee @ Pittsburgh (-6.5) – This is oddly reminiscent of when the Tennesseans were in Houston and known as the Oilers. If only this were in January in the snow, it would be a perfect game.
Chicago @ Green Bay (-3.5) – Meet the new boss; same as the old boss. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why the over/under is 46, so run, don’t walk to your local bookie and limbo the under.
Minnesota (-4.5) @ Cleveland – It’s going to be easy pickings for the Vikings’ defense (side note; I’m trying to not drive away the Minnesota readership this year, at least before Week 4).
Detroit @ New Orleans (-13.5) – Let there be lumber!
Miami @ Atlanta (-4) – Now that we’ve had the Wildcat for a full season, it can be stopped. Without that, the Dolphins are nothing.
Kansas City (+13) @ Baltimore – I know the Chefs are on the menu, but I am not at all convinced that the OldBrowns can score.
Philadelphia @ Carolina (+2.5) – It’s the case of the resistable force (Eagles with a 1-3 road opener record in the last 4 years) meeting the movable object (Panthers with a 1-4 home opener record over the last 5 years).
Denver @ Cincinnati (-4) – This is the Game of the Weak. My sympathies if you are forced to watch this one.
New York Jets (+5) @ Houston – If you had a 401(k) left, I’d recommend raiding it for this barking dog. Having a mobile MASH unit going into Week 1 like the Texans have is hazardous to a team’s season.
Jacksonville (+7) @ Indianapolis – There is one certainty about this rivalry; the game will be closer than it appears in the mirror.
Dallas (-6) @ Tampa Bay – The only thing I can figure is the bookies flip-flopped the over/under with the Packer/Bear game. Take the over-39 and RUN like Marion Barber.
San Francisco @ Arizona (-6) – All Gore and no passing makes the Niners very beatable.
Washington @ New York Giants (-6.5) – I wonder if Eli Manning will use the shotgun.
St. Louis (+8.5) @ Seattle – I know a few college teams that could probably beat what either of these teams will be trotting out of the trainers’ room.
Buffalo @ New England (-11) – History will be made as the Bills will become the first team to lose 12 straight to one opponent.
San Diego (-9) @ Oakland – For extra cash, take LT -9 against the Raiders.

Revisions/extensions (5:18 pm 9/10/2009) – If you’re a wimp and simply want the winners, head on down to Ick’s Corner for them, and to enter Ick’s straight-up contest.

The 2009 NFL preview

by @ 16:23. Filed under Sports.

The NFL kicks off tonight, so it’s time once again to crack out the crystal ball. Let’s see if the tape-and-glue job holds up any better this year…

NFC North
Green Bay (10-6) – The good: The starters look dominant, especially that new-fangled 3-4 defense. The bad: If ANYBODY gets hurt, this season is lost. The ugly: Turkey Day in Detroit. The takeaway: A third-place schedule is just what the Packer faithful ordered.
Minnesota (9-7) – The good: AP, a stifling defense, and a serious upgrade at QB. The bad: That upgrade involves a head case. The ugly: Favre is suggesting that he won’t play the entire year, and Jackson/Rosenfels at 100% are not as good as Favre at 50%. The takeaway: It’s a yo-yo year.
Chicago (8-8) – The good: A shiny new QB. The bad: The defense is yet another year older. The ugly: Sophomore Slump is scheduled for Matt Forte. The takeaway: Bears fans; be thankful you get to play the Lions twice.
Detroit (1-15) – The good: No more curses, no more Millen, nobody has ever gone winless for two straight seasons in the NFL. The bad: No improvement on the field. The ugly: They’re so bad The Onion made fun of them. The takeaway: Their best chance of beating somebody is the trap game on Turkey Day.

And the rest of the NFL, with the minimalist approach:
NFC East:
New York Giants
Philadelphia (Wild Card)
Dallas
Washington

NFC South:
Atlanta
Carolina (Wild Card)
New Orleans
Tampa Bay

NFC West:
Arizona (by default)
San Francisco
Seattle
St. Louis

AFC North:
Pittsburgh
Baltimore (Wild Card)
Cincinnati
Cleveland

AFC East:
New England
Miami
New York Jets
Buffalo

AFC South:
Tennessee
Indianapolis (Wild Card)
Jacksonville
Houston

AFC West:
San Diego
Denver
Kansas City
Oakland

The Championship Game That Cannot Be Mentioned™:
Pittsburgh over Atlanta

The Week 1 picks will be up shortly.

Video of the day – Moolah for Medicine edition

by @ 12:30. Filed under Health Care Reform.

My friends from the Sam Adams Alliance, who run the Health Administration Bureau (at least until Congress takes it over), have introduced a new program called Moolah for Medicine. I’ll let the video explain:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC3nZO71zhk[/youtube]

Get yours before the ObamiNation gets you!

Thursday Hot Read Part 2 – Karl Rove’s “Obama’s Big Political Gamble”

by @ 11:00. Filed under Health Care Reform, Politics - National.

It is good to have one of the best political operators in the business back up my impression that President Obama’s actions this week are nothing more than a series of pep talks to his far-left base. Karl Rove writes in today’s Wall Street Journal:

Millions of Americans watched President Barack Obama’s speech last night to a joint session of Congress. Much of it was familiar, having been delivered in at least 111 speeches, town halls, radio addresses and other appearances on health care. But his most revealing remarks on the topic came on Monday, at a Labor Day union picnic in Cincinnati.

There Mr. Obama accused critics of his health reforms of spreading “lies” and said opponents want “to do nothing.” These false charges do not reveal a spirit of bipartisanship nor do they create a foundation for dialogue. It is more like what you’d say if you are planning to jam through a bill without compromise. Which is exactly what Mr. Obama is about to attempt.

Rove goes on to point out that the last time we tried to go down this road to socialized medicine, the Democrats lost the majority in both Houses of Congress because they tried to go down this road.

Milwaukee Tea Party – 9/19

by @ 10:38. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

The following came in from my friends at Americans for Prosperity – Wisconsin:

Be Part of History!
Americans For Prosperity – Wisconsin Chapter
& The Wisconsin GrandSons of Liberty
Present:
A Taxpayer Tea Party/Milwaukee Constitution Day Celebration

WHAT: Wisconsin’s Largest Tea Party
WHEN: Saturday, September 19, 2009, 3:00 – 5:00 PM
WHERE: Veterans Park, 1010 N. Lincoln Memorial Drive
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Confirmed Speakers
Rachel Campos-Duffy
Blogger at AOL Parent Dish & Author:Stay Home, Stay Happy
Willie Soon, Ph.D
Astrophysicist Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Marc Marano
Former Spokesman for Senator James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma
Web site: ClimateDepot.com.
David Clarke
Milwaukee County Sheriff
Mark Block
Wisconsin State Director, Americans for Prosperity
Pastor David King
Founder, Milwaukee God Squad
Rebecca Kleefisch
Conservative Correspondent at Midday With Charlie Sykes
Linda Hansen
Wisconsin Prosperity Network

Major speakers will be announced on this web site as soon as they are confirmed. This will be the largest Taxpayer Tea Party in Wisconsin history. Be part of it. Watch for details.

Two words – BE THERE!

Thursday Hot Read – Ed Morrissey’s “Declaration of Dependence”

by @ 10:22. Filed under Health Care Reform, Politics - National.

Ed Morrissey’s latest column for American Issues Project deals with the “moderate” health-care “reform” that Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) has. Let’s pick up at the second departure of the governed-government relationship:

The second departure is more subtle and insidious. Baucus has proposed that the federal government supply subsidies to needy individuals and families for the purchase of the now-mandated insurance. However, the definition of needy defies both math and common sense. The Baucus plan proposes those subsidies be available to households at up to 300% of the poverty level of income – or about $66,000 per year income.

If that sounds like a pretty good annual household income, you’d be right. In fact, the 2007 median household income in the US was $50,233. Roughly half of all households in America are above this income level, and half below it. It is a solidly middle-class income by definition.

How many people make $66,000 per year or less, and therefore would be eligible for federal health-insurance subsidies? According to the Census Bureau’s 2007 survey, 72.1 million of the nation’s 116.8 million households earned $65,000 or less. The Baucus plan would make 61.7% of American households dependent on government assistance, far more than half and well on the way to two-thirds.

Ed goes on to note that ObamaCare Heavy (aka H.R. 3200) would put close to 3/4ths of the population on the dole. What was that quote about the republic surviving only until half the people figure out they can rob the other half dry through the power of government?

How to turn 350 new jobs into a permanent $7 million/year tax increase

by @ 8:42. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin, Taxes.

(H/T – Brad Van Lanen)

Last night, the Fond du Lac County Board overwhelmingly passed a 0.5% countywide sales tax ostensibly to help finance a $50 million, 12-year, low-interest loan for Mercury Marine to help it move the 350 manufacturing jobs it currently has in Stillwater, Oklahoma to Fond du Lac. As Brad said, the devil is in the details:

  • While there is no mention of whether a sunset provision was actually included in the final vote in the Fond du Lac Reporter story linked to above, an earlier Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story noted that there was no sunset provision in the version on the Board’s agenda.
  • Why, you may ask? Let’s go back to the Fond du Lac Reporter. The total annual tax take is expected to be somewhere between $6.5 million and $7 million. The less-than-half of that that could potentially go to Mercury Marine goes out the door as follows:
    • $500 per job “retained” per year, or a total of $763,000 per year for all 1,526 jobs considered as the “baseline”.
    • $1,000 per job “created” per year, up to a total of 2,900 total employed by Mercury Marine (a maximum of 1,374 new jobs), for a maximum of $1,374,000 per year.
    • $863,000 per year to cover the difference between the 2% being charged Mercury Marine and the market rate that the county has to pay.

So, where’s the other $3 million-$3.5 million per year going? If the intent of the Fond du Lac County Board were to simply help out Mercury Marine, that excess money would be set aside for payment of the second 6-year period of the loan subsidy, and the sales tax would be sunsetted after 6 years.

Rather, it’s going into the general coffers to be burned on, in order, “economic development”, overall county debt reduction, and property tax relief. If you believe that there will be anything meaningful left for property tax relief, even after the loan is paid off, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.

Revisions/extensions (9:16 am 9/10/2009) – Given Mercury Marine is talking about adding only about 350 jobs, the subsidy would be worth about $1.98 million. That would make the spread between the subsidy and what the tax is taking in closer to $4 million-$4.5 million. Again, I don’t expect any real property tax relief, and though there might be a real effort to reduce the debt load which would lessen the tax load somewhat, I expect there to suddenly be $4 million per year in new spending in Fond du Lac County.

I would also like to address another element of the Fond du Lac Reporter FAQ – specifically the “how much per job” question. They counted the total maximum subsity to Mercury Marine over all 12 years, as well as included the existing employees, to get to the $12,400 per job estimate. It actually would be less per job if Mercury Marine only added the 350 jobs from Stillwater, but it would be far more than either that or the $20,000 per job that is supposedly the standard in these deals if one included just the “new” jobs ($67,900 per “new” job if only the Stillwater jobs were added, $23,600 per “new” job if Mercury Marine maxed out and added 1,374 “new” jobs).

Worse, since the other $3 million-$4.5 million per year sales tax collected by the county will most likely not be seen by the public in the form of tax relief, and the total $7 million per year will never be repealed as the scheme currently contemplates, it would be fair to include that number in the cost/benefit analysis. No matter how it is sliced, that would make the deal a raw one for the residents of Fond du Lac County.

Open Thread Thursday – Are you ready for some football?

by @ 7:42. Filed under Open Thread Thursday.

It’s not Sunday or even Monday, but we’ve got NFL football. There is only one song for this one (and no, it is not Hank Williams)…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37-AlmNdESg[/youtube]

I am still hung over from last night, so there won’t be a lot of posting from the Wisconsin end. Good thing it’s Open Thread Thursday. I will have my NFL season and Week 1 previews up later for you gambling degenerates.

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