Greetings From Três Corações

A nice small city and the birthplace of Pelé.

Oh Yeah!

We get more Gorebal Warmening for tomorrow

TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED TO RANGE FROM 10 TO 18 INCHES WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNTS OVER THE NORTHERN EASTERN SHORE OF MARYLAND… NORTHERN DELAWARE… EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA… AND MUCH OF NEW JERSEY. HEAVY SNOW IS EXPECTED TO OCCUR IN TWO BURSTS ACROSS THE REGION. THE FIRST IS EXPECTED TO OCCUR TONIGHT WITH FOUR TO EIGHT INCHES LIKELY TO ACCUMULATE BY THE MORNING COMMUTE WEDNESDAY. THE SECOND SHOT WILL BE AN EVEN MORE INTENSE BURST OF HEAVY SNOW WITH THE UPPER AIR DISTURBANCE ITSELF THAT SHOULD OCCUR IN THE PHILADELPHIA AREA… MARYLAND… AND DELAWARE DURING WEDNESDAY MORNING AND NEW JERSEY AND NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA DURING WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. THE SNOW WILL END BY MIDNIGHT WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

WINDS WILL INCREASE AS WEDNESDAY CONTINUES AND WILL CAUSE CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND DRIFTING OF SNOW… EVEN MORE THAN WHAT OCCURRED WITH THE WEEKEND SNOW STORM. AT AND NEAR THE ATLANTIC SHORE BLIZZARD CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AS WINDS INCREASE.

I’m thinking tomorrow is a work-from-home day.

More “Unexpected” Bad Economic News

At least it’s not from Washington for once

The VAT increase and unprecedented blizzards last month contributed to a sudden and unexpected collapse in retail sales, according to the British Retail Consortium. Its sales monitor registered a 0.7pc drop in like-for-like sales last month, compared with a year before – the steepest January fall since the survey began in 1995, and in stark contrast to economists’ expectations of an increase of 0.5pc.

I mean, who could have possibly foreseen a retail sales decline, sorry, collapse, after the Government raised the VAT?

Howard Archer, economist at IHS Global Insight, said: “Households face still very challenging conditions, including high unemployment, still markedly falling full-time employment, low earnings growth, high debt levels, and January’s VAT hike. Meanwhile, still serious concerns about the economic outlook and jobs are likely to maintain consumers’ desire to improve their personal finances.”

Yep, that all applies here.

And I’m sure our Government will decide the answer is for them to spend more.

About Canada’s Healthcare System

I missed this story whilst I was away but I find it so delicious that I want to bring it up: The Premier of Newfoundland has come to the US for surgery

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams will undergo heart surgery later this week in the United States.

Deputy premier Kathy Dunderdale confirmed the treatment at a news conference Tuesday, but would not reveal the location of the operation or how it would be paid for.

“He has gone to a renowned expert in the procedure that he needs to have done,” said Ms. Dunderdale, who will become acting premier while Mr. Williams is away for three to 12 weeks.

How many US Governors have traveled to Canada for surgery? How many supporters of Obamacare have?

The comments at Volokh are interesting, as well.

Remember: wait-times and rationed care are for the Little People.

John Murtha

…has died.

Calling It a Day Early: The All Powerful, All Seeing Wizard

…of ESPN?

…So there you go. Aside from the fact that ESPN is keeping from us vital information about the future — such as, when exactly will the damn dirty apes take over or when and where exactly will our robot overlords land their massive fleet of UFOs — they’ve also just ruined Super Bowl Sunday for all of us by revealing the winner. No need to bother watching the game now. We already know the outcome. Thanks a lot ESPN! Jerks!

Update: As you may have figured out already, ESPN has changed the link and it now directs you to their front page.

Damn dirty apes.

Ask And Ye Shall Receive

Our good friend Dan rightfully demands some *hot* photos from Brazil, so here are some choice beauties

That’s coffee, Dear Readers. Gorgeous, luscious coffee cherries that in but four short months will turn a wondrous shade of red and those full plump ripe berries will be bursting with sweet tongue-tantalizing flavor.

Miles and miles of such joyous young fresh fruit.

And man was it hot in those fields.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy sh*t.

They did it.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s A Cruel World

Yesterday afternoon I’m playing golf outside of São Paulo in 95º or so weather.

6 am this morning I arrive home to 10º and this

How could she not clean off my car?

Because I’m Shallow This Way

This sign in Poços de Caldas, Brazil, appealed to my inner 4th Grader

Guess I’m Not the Only One Wondering

See?

Is US bullying Toyota on recall?

CHICAGO — The US transportation chief’s public rebukes of Toyota’s handling of a massive safety recall have raised eyebrows, given the US government’s major stake in rivals General Motors and Chrysler.

“The optics are terrible because — and this is what happens when a government owns a company – the two companies that are going to gain the most out of this are General Motors and Chrysler,” said Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland’s business school.

“I’ll SEE You That 2 Million Jobs and RAISE You 1.5 Million!!”

…says Smokin’ Joe, the Counting Llama.

…“These reports, which provide a snapshot of the impact of a small portion of funds, are yet another indication that the Recovery Act is on-track to create or save 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010,” Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement.

So Jake Tapper and that nasty little hobbit Ed Morrisey can just suck stones.

Honestly, Those Are NOT Two Words You’d EVER Think

…to see together…

Savage beagles terrorize East End

Charlie Brown, watch your back — a plague of vicious wild beagles has struck Long Island!

These floppy-eared terrors are no lovable Snoopys — they’re abandoned hunting dogs that live in packs and have gone from humble pets to hounds from hell.

Mattituck resident Dot Faszczewski came face to face with the canine menace two weeks ago, when she was set upon by a group of crazed, hungry beagles as she walked her pet dogs near her parents’ Orient Point home.

…nor should you.

Ray LaHood Says: “STOP Driving It”

…and take it in.

LaHood’s warning came Wednesday in testimony before a House Appropriations subcommittee on transportation. LaHood says his advice to owners is to “stop driving it. Take it to a Toyota dealer because they believe they have a fix for it.”

Only…the fix isn’t even AT the dealerships YET, no one’s been trained HOW to install the fix and there’s nothing like a government caused panic (remember, now: the DOT said drive your Toyota cautiously unTIL the fix was ready) to really throw a wrench in things.

There’s also a question (which, to her credit, CNBC’s Michelle Carusa Cabrerra asked) about the fix being IN…for Toyota to crash and burn, gievn the gub’mint owns that hefty, expensive chunk of GM. Coincidentally, Toyota stock is doing exactly that at the moment.

At :59 in the Video

…you get to see the gist of the Judd Gregg/Peter Orszag “heated exchange”. Gregg’s so mad, he’s sputtering.

Down the Rabbit Reuters Hole

Terri Cullen’s piece titled:

Backdoor taxes to hit middle class

The Obama administration’s plan to cut more than $1 trillion from the deficit over the next decade relies heavily on so-called backdoor tax increases that will result in a bigger tax bill for middle-class families.

In the 2010 budget tabled by President Barack Obama on Monday, the White House wants to let billions of dollars in tax breaks expire by the end of the year — effectively a tax hike by stealth.

…becomes…

Advisory: Backdoor taxes to hit middle class

The story Backdoor taxes to hit middle class has been withdrawn. A replacement story will run later in the week.

WHOOPS a doodle-doo!! (Makes you wonder if Ms. Cullen will still be around “later in the week”…?)

Via Drudge.

UPDATE: Well, maybe she WON’T have a job later this week, but not for the reason you’d think…

Although Reuters has pulled the article, many people are still reading it at various websites, so it is important to note and correct its appalling inaccuracies:

How You Say, “Not So Fast” in Da “Who Dat” Nation ?

Like dis: NOT SO FAST.

Saints fans won an unlikely battle with the NFL after several small businesses received cease-and-desist orders for unlicensed merchandise.

The NFL apologized to merchants, fans and political figures and claimed the situation was a misunderstanding and not all uses of “Who Dat” need to be licensed.

A Beautiful Sentiment

…For years I’ve been made to feel a pariah for my views on AGW. Chris Booker has had the same experience, as has Richard North, Benny Peiser, Lord Lawson, Philip Stott and those few others of us who recognised early on that the AGW thing stank. Now it’s payback time and I take small satisfaction from seeing so many rats deserting their sinking ship.

I don’t want them on my side.

I want to see them in hell, reliving scenes from Hieronymus Bosch.

Yeah, maybe it isn’t the Christian way. But screw ‘em. It’s not as though they haven’t all been screwing us for long enough.

Heh.

How Awkward ~ It’s Sounding Like the Cheerleaders

…are packing their pompoms up.

President unlikely to reach his goals on jobs, deficit

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s new budget sets two major goals: creating jobs and cutting the deficit. But his own budget documents cast serious doubt on whether he’ll make much headway on either.

Two AP schmackdowns in two weeks. Isn’t that some kind of reporting record?

I Believe It

Anybody who has followed the New Orleans Saints for any length of time knows it has always been said that Hell would freeze over before the Saints would make it to the Super Bowl. Now we know why it’s been such a cold winter all over.

I LOVE it when it’s chilly.

Now, back to my WhoDat bag o’ Zapp’s.

Oh, TRUST Me ~ We’re in Deep Kimchi Already

But it’s nice to hear someone besides the little people say so.

“We’re going to get ourselves into deep, deep trouble here if we continue to pursue this course of fiscal insanity, in my opinion,” said Gregg, a ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, said in a live interview.

“FISCAL insanity“, he said.

The voices in my head are singing…

It must be the similarities in each chorus of “Burn, Baby, BURN!”.

WHO Dat? WHO Dat? WHO Dat…

…got dey head up dey ass?

Fight’s on.

UPDATE:

Lemme tell ya ~ the backlash is deLIcious.

So Today I Help a Lovely Customer

…who was visiting from Birmingham and in our shop for the first time. We had a lovely visit and then we recommended he have lunch at Jackson’s across the street. The first martini, we made sure to tell him, is on the house.

About an hour later, I was called out of the back while eating my OWN lunch from Jackson’s to see…a waiter with a deLIcious cocktail for me, courtesy of our new friend from Birmingham.

Chivalry is alive and well.

Unexpected: An “Unexpected” Economic Report…

…In our favor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The economy grew at a faster-than-expected 5.7 percent pace in the fourth quarter, the quickest pace in more than six years, as businesses reduced inventories less aggressively, the Commerce Department said on Friday.

Now it’s easy to have a high rate of growth when you’re starting with a smaller economy, obviously, but this is a hopeful development.

Now, there are some things that do concern me in this report, however:

Growth was boosted a sharp slowdown in the pace of inventory liquidation, a factor that could mask the strength of the economic recovery from the longest and deepest downturn since the Great Depression.

…Business inventories fell only $33.5 billion in fourth quarter after dropping $139.2 billion in the July-September period. The change in inventories alone added 3.39 percentage points to GDP in the last quarter. This was the biggest percentage contribution since the fourth quarter of 1987.

For the whole of 2009, the economy contracted 2.4 percent, the biggest decline since 1946, the first year after the end of World War II, the department said.

In the last three months of 2009, consumer spending increased at a 2 percent annual rate, below the 2.8 percent annual pace in the prior quarter when consumption got a boost from the government’s “cash for clunkers” program.

To my untrained mind a slowing down of inventory liquidation could indicate that stuff ain’t selling.

But we’ll see.

Another Day In The Big City

So I’m walking down Wall Street a few minutes ago, call it 5:30 in the morning. The temperature is 16 degrees. It’s windy; the radio said the wind chill was 4. Cold enough that I’m not wearing my glasses because the metal frames get so cold they feel like ice picks in my temples. Up ahead at the intersection of Wall and William I see two young ladies who seem rather under-dressed given the weather.

Remarkably so, in fact. They’re both wearing very short black wispy and sleeveless dresses which show off their lithe figures to great advantage; especially the figure of the young lady who is bent over with her head immersed in the garbage can, evidently reviewing what she’s been consuming for what I assume has been all night, whilst her friend whose watery and glazed eyes can’t seem to quite focus on much of anything as I walk by pats her on the back.

Someone’s going to miss that 9 am conference call, methinks.