Friday's links and comments

The Boston Red Sox have completed a deal with pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. The total cost for the pitcher's services for six years is over 100 million dollars. Ridiculous! Too much to commit to a player who has never played in the major leagues. Maybe teams will learn a lesson abut buying a pig in a poke, if, as I expect, he turns out to be no better than average against major league talent.

Rather coincidental that an article with this headline: "Jimmy Carter: Jew-Hater, Genocide-Enabler, Liar" would be written the same week the crazy people were gathering in Iran to argue that the Holocaust never happened. Oddly enough, Carter has canceled his book signing appearance at Brandeis University because the school asked him to defend his anti-semitism in a debate with Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz.

In answering the challenge that Barack Obama is too inexperienced for the presidency, people have been making the comparison to Abraham Lincoln. In her column today, Peggy Noonan addresses this false comparison.

When it is pointed out that he has had almost--almost--two years in the U.S. Senate, and before that was an obscure state legislator in Illinois, his supporters compare him to Lincoln. But Lincoln had become a national voice on the great issue of the day, slavery. He rose with a reason. Sen. Obama's rise is not about a stand or an issue or a question; it is about Sen. Obama.

Many have laughed at the idea of Dennis Kucinich running for president. Don Surber gives us 2,955,963 reasons we should be crying instead of laughing.

EVERYONE who laughed when the elfin Dennis Kucinich threw his hat in the ring to run for president in 2004 should realize why he smiles. He had 2,955,963 reasons to smile. That is how many bucks federal taxpayers gave his ridiculous campaign for president. Kucinich had no chance. Yet under the bizarre federal election rules, taxpayers had to give this fool $2,955,963 just to humor his vanity

Do away with funding of these fools errands with confiscated monies (taxes)!

A few days ago, Sen. Tim Johnson was rushed to the hospital. Since then I've resisted posting anything about any potential political implications. I assumed that no matter how I phrased a sentence it would come across as crass. Many on TV and the internet have been unable to resist the impulse to speculate about what happens if he doesn't make it. I know we live in a age of instant gratification, but somethings can wait. Let us all ignore politics for a while and just hope for a full recovery. If we want a majority in the House or Senate we can earn it at the ballot box.

I'm an opponent of excessive government involvement in business matters. However, big business almost appears to be begging for additional government oversight. Business news this week has been dominated by reports of astronomical bonuses at Goldman Sacks (GS) and other firms. It has been reported that Goldman Sacks will be doling out 16 billion (yes, billion!) in year end bonuses. Adequately compensating top performers is one thing - these numbers are another matter altogether. A major part of the board of directors (BoD) responsibilities is looking out for the stock holders. When the BoD repeatedly fails in this duty we eventually get government involvement. I don't want to hear any complaining from GS when that happens. Just as the crooks at ENRON and Worldcom led to the excessive reporting requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley, the GS bonuses will lead to additional misguided legislation.