How'd I Get on That List?

The ORP (Ohio Republican Party) calls me every other month asking for a donation. It doesn't bother me because their callers are always very polite. But I laugh everytime they start the pitch because it doesn't take too long before the caller says "and can we count on you for a $5,000 donation?"

Ha! I wish!


-Spin Doctor on the go

The After

Yummy!

The Before

Hangin' at Lefty's for the post peewee game and the Brown's pregame. Stretch put together my favorite dinner - filet, baked red skins, ceaser salad, and her world famous brownies (not those kinda brownies...). A new addition - corn on the cob, slathered in butter, sprinkled w/ garlic salt, wrapped in foil and cooked on the grill.

Uncle Sam Gets the Last Laugh

You know that free $4500 you got for your clunker? Don't forget to pay the taxes on it!

http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=0,89084



-Spin Doctor on the go

Live(ing) United

Had to opportunity to volunteer at a local non-profit, social services agency today. This agency provides a range of services to the poor, elderly and children. It has a long history and great reputation.

It was a sobering day for me. I can't say I was excited about being out of work for day, as busy as things have been, but I threw in with the rest of the office. While there, I had the opportunity to talk with the executive director, who I've known for several years. Like other agencies in our county, they have been cut – cut by the county; cut by the state; cut by the feds; and cut by the economy. And oh yeah, the stimulus hasn’t made it to them or any other agencies that they know of. They’ve had to cut programming and cut staff.

One of the most difficult things for me was the cleaning we did in the child area. We scrubbed toys and furniture. Mopped floors and steam cleaned carpets. While it made me appreciate the opportunities that I have had and that my children have, it made me think about the challenges, no, the chance, that these kids have. They’ve been dealt a bad hand, an off-suit 2-7, the worse hand in poker.

There are no easy reasons, nor easy answers, but a realization that something needs to be done. I think it’s about creating self-reliance, instead of our culture of entitlements and handouts. We as a country need to get back to the age of self-reliance. We’re starting to see it in ‘victory/recession’ gardens popping up in urban and rural areas, in flower boxes and vacate city lots.

So maybe something good can come from this economic downturn and maybe it will be a realization that government cannot be all things to all people. Whether its cuts in social services, poor operation of existing government programs, maybe that’s the reason people are upset with the plans to overhaul health care in this country.

I don’t know the answer, but today I did my part to try and make a difference in the lives of children that have no responsibility for the situation that they were born into. What can you do?

POTUS

Someone Call Dr. House

I've been concerned since the rambling press conference this summer that something is medically wrong with Governor Mark Sanford. His words and actions are those of a crazy person. Or perhaps someone who has a giant brain tumor pushing down on a critical part of the brain. I've seen from House that it's possible...

His judgement must be called into question again after yesterday's performance in front of the cameras. Disasterous.

He either needs to go away or get checked out by a doctor.




-Spin Doctor on the go

School's back in

Watch for kids and stop for bus lights. Oh yeah, don't text and drive.

Posted by mobileblogger.

The CNN Effect

I'm starting to think the producers of CNN read Steakmatters.

Top stories tonight: Cash for Clunkers: Did it Really Work?; an investigation into double dippers (in Rhode Island); and the boycott of Whole Foods.

Steakmatters readers: you saw it here, first.

POTUS + Spin Deliver the WIN!

We now have proof that the power of POTUS + Spin Doctor is a force to be reckoned with.

I was surprised to hear "SPIN DOCTOR!" yelled across Gateway Plaza yesterday as I entered Progressive Field for what would surely be another Indians loss. Every game I've attended this year has resulted in not just an Indians defeat, but an Indians clobbering.

My cheek was still damp from POTUS' sloppy kiss when the Mariners got off to a first inning lead over the Tribe.

But we came back strong and tied it up to force extra innings. The 11th inning walk-off homer, followed by a fireworks display that brought down the house and sounded like downtown Cleveland was imploding, was all the evidence I need that POTUS + Spin Doctor = good stuff.

The Tribe won, but it's too late in the season to help them. However, with the Brown's pre-season win last night over the worst of the worst Detroit Lions, I think they could still use help this season. So, if any Browns season ticket holders want to donate their tickets to POTUS and Spin Doctor for a season of guaranteed wins, contact us. We'll be happy to provide our services.

Taste of Cleveland, Sept 4 - 7

I nearly drove off the road laughing yesterday when I heard the advertisement for this year’s Taste of Cleveland food and music festival. The festival’s title sponsor…Ohio Natural Gas.

Can you imagine what that staff meeting was like? :

Sales rep: Hey we’ve got a new title sponsor for this year’s event. And they are paying us more than last year’s sponsor Chico’s Bail Bonds. It’s Ohio Natural Gas.
Promoter: “Natural Gas/Taste of Cleveland…but beans aren’t on the menu….”

Yes, this is childish I know, but I just don’t think anyone put the two names together before cutting the ads, or was that the cheese…. I’m still laughing!!

POTUS

Just watchin’ the grass grow?

Or in this case, algae? The Plain Dealer ran a feel good piece in today’s edition about the SkySentry Aerostat which they are launching in Lake Erie’s western basin to allegedly monitor algae blooms. This $125,000 balloon was designed for military surveillance, and in fact, a ex-military friend of mine told me that this device is currently being utilized by the US military in Iraq’s Green Zone to surveil insurgents.

So, how long do you think it will take to until the lake border with Canada is lined with these balloons under the guise of ‘monitoring’ algae blooms or Lake Erie ‘dead zones’? What about to look into your back yard?

POTUS

Cleveland radio still sux

Once again, driving in the Bullet mid-evening for an hour and I'm here to say cleveland radio still sux!

Patriots Get Bullied by a County Official

Jeff Darcy's Plain Dealer cartoon features my friend, Thomas Jefferson.

Closing the gap

The Governor’s office announced today that former state senator C.J. Prentiss retired on August 17 as ‘special representative for closing the achievement gap.’ So the question is what gap really got closed…the state’s achievement gap or Prentiss’ retirement gap?

POTUS

Hanging the Dealers out to Dry

I was concerned last week that the Plain Dealer's glowing article about Congresswoman Betty Sutton's Clash for Clunkers program was too much, too soon. After all, $3 billion was appropriated and a third of it was spent within days, yet we had no real grasp on the long term implications for auto dealers, auto manufacturers, the used car market, or the environment.

Now, we hear that dealers are pulling out of the program because the government rebates aren't getting paid fast enough.

"(The government) needs to move the system forward and they need to start paying these dealers," said Mark Schienberg, president of the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association. "This is a cash-dependent business."

So people are driving around in a practically free Honda Civic after the dealerships have fronted the cash for the sale, and now the government isn't cutting the checks fast enough. Anyone who has dealt with "free" money from the government knows that there are strings attached and the delay is always protracted. If you're going to take government money, you have to be prepared to front the funds and then wait patiently for the refund. Umm, anyone who has overpaid their income taxes knows this.

For the already cash-strapped dealerships, waiting months for rebates, or being shorted for not following the program's rules, Cash for Clunkers could end up driving dealerships on the brink to their final demise. We'll have to see how it plays out. Perhaps Betty Sutton will be the savior of the auto industry during it's time of need. But first, these dealerships need to receive the payments they've been promised. Congresswoman Sutton will ultimately be judged by the success of the program, not the merits of the idea.

*Note: Any resemblance between the car pictured above and the POTUS family vehicle is purely coincidental.

I'll Take a Double Dip of Chocolate Chip Tax Payer Money

New York is getting national attention for its pension double dippers, but most Steak Matters shouldn't be surprised that the same thing is happening in Northeast Ohio.

The list is long. Prominent names include:

County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora

County Commissioner Tim Hagan

County Sheriff Bob Reid

County Recorder Lillian Greene

This economic crisis is the right time to abolish these public pensions. Government is cash strapped just like every family and business. It's time that they give up some of their perks. The pension should be the first thing to go.

Today’s sign of the apocalypse

Tom Daley selected for Dancing with the Stars.

I don’t watch this crap, so I don’t know if one get’s ‘voted off’ or ‘voted for’. But I’m guessing that there will be those on the left who will work to see him leave after the first vote. And I’m thinking there might be some on the right as well.

Hiding from the People

The folks at Weapons of Mass Discussion alerted me to some embarrassing antics by Senator Brown. I guess an advantage of waiting until later in August to hold your townhall is that you can learn how to evade the people you represent. Disgraceful.

A Second Chance to Vote for Tom DeLay

Tom "The Hammer" DeLay has joined the cast of Dancing With the Stars. Vote early and vote often!

I'm Headed to Whole Foods

It was a risky move earlier this summer when Whole Foods CEO John Mackey proposed a more business-friendly alternative to Card Check legislation. But that move didn't draw the attention of his Democratic-leaning customer base. This WSJ article about healthcare reform did.

And now Whole Foods customers are calling for a boycott.

Let's reverse boycott Whole Foods. I'd have to forgo my double coupons, national brands, better sales, and fuel perks for the principle, but I'm willing to consider it to stand behind a company that is led by a common sense pragmatist.

When You're Not Being Heard

FOX News asked one of the concerned citizens who attended a townhall meeting with his Member of Congress why some of these meetings have turned heated. He replied:

When you're not being heard, you tend to talk louder.

True. But is it effective?

Short term, it appears healthcare, cap and trade and the other biggies are going to have a harder time continuing on the fast track in Congress. Additionally, the President's approval rating has been trending south for the first time in...um...ever. But long term, will the GOP win seats in 2010? Will they be able to sustain unity around a return to the fundamentals?

The people who are showing up and being loud at these town halls are the same people who have been malcontent for while. And by a while, I mean for the last several years. Out of control spending started under the previous administration. It took this special kind of Democratic leadership to bring to these unprecedented levels we've grown accustomed to, but true conservatives were nervous well before spending a billion here and a trillion there was no big deal.

As an aside, to put this spending spree in perspective, when I was on the Hill, we had a bill that would provide $6 billion for Great Lakes restoration over 10 years (up to $600 million a year). That level of funding was attention grabbing and quite frankly, unrealistic. Now, within a day or two of problems surfacing around the Cash for Clunkers program, Congress approves an additional $2 billion for the program like it's no big deal.

When I communicate with Congress about companies with thousands of employees and multi-billion dollar revenue, I get the sense this information falls on deaf years. They are so out of touch with for-profit institutions that they don't grasp the scale or importance of private sector enterprises. A company that sells several billion dollars worth of product over the course of a year would be categorized as a Fortune 500 company. Congress can spend that much money in a day. We're spending money faster than we can make it.

Government needs to get out of the way and let capitalism and private industry do what it does best. This is how we create jobs. The bloated payrolls at every level of government aren't doing anyone any favors. It's just another form of welfare.

The 2002 Census of Governments, the Bureau of the Census identified a total 87,525 local governments. Separated by the five categories used by the Bureau of Census, there are:
19,429 Municipal governments;
16,504 Town or Township governments;
3,034 County governments;
13,506 School districts; and
35,052 Special district governments.

With all of those individual forms of local governments, added to federal and state governments, it's little surprise that the number of Americans who work for some form of government now out numbers the number of American employed in manufacturing and construction.

With the private sector getting marginalized and outnumbered by government workers, we're going to need to figure out how to be heard. It's getting harder every day.

Cleveland Radio Sux

45 mins driving home from Lefty's and literally spent the whole time 'scanning' for any music that was produced in the last 2 decades, let alone the last one. Cleveland radio sux.

Closer to Brazil, but Farther from Good

A special treat for the steak lovers: a steak-themed post from Spin Doctor.

During a recent trip to Miami, we decided to devote one night to a steak dinner. I had selected the Meat Market, which bills itself as a "sexier, more glamorous take on the traditional steakhouse." Sounded fun, but ultimately, not worth the +$50 in roundtrip cab fare it was going to take to travel there from our resort.

Closer to home, my options were Capital Grille, Morton's and Grimpa. For variety's sake, we went with Grimpa, the Brazilian steakhouse. It had been a while since we last enjoyed churrascaria, most notably at Brasa Grill.

Grimpa fell short in a few areas, but made up for them in authenticity. When we arrived for our 9 p.m. reservation, the restaurant was moderately full, but the disorganized hostess told us that she didn't have the table ready, so she suggested we wait in the bar. We ordered drinks and a few minutes later she came to retrieve us, but seemed put off that we had ordered drinks. (What's the point of waiting at the bar if we don't have a drink?) Once we got seated, I was surprised by how bright the dining room was--it was like being in a Friday's restaurant. Our young waiter grew up in Brazil and could not have been more attentive. And the gouchos were all Brazilian as well, although their English was, um, not existent. They could tell you what they had on the skewer, but if your response deviated from "yes" or "no", the response was a blank stare. That was the experience at every restaurant in Miami. It's like being in another country--you can reasonably expect the waiters in the tourist areas to know English, but the busers and other staff don't speak a word. I'm also skeptical about the 17 kinds of meat they purport to serve. I couldn't count above 12 types that were offered to us.

If I lived in Miami, I don't think I'd return to Grimpa. Since I'm lucky enough to live in Cleveland, I look forward to my next trip to Brasa.

Random Road...Pictures

There's more to come from the road, but I just had to share this one:

A tip of the SteakMatters platter to Eye Trap Kennels for expressing how so many people feel about PETA (with apologies to Stretch, of course).

A special mention goes to the North Carolina Bureau of Motor Vehicles for stamping that plate. I’m certain that Ohio BMV would have deemed it 'offensive'. Let's hope NCBMV doesn't either.

POTUS

Thoughts from the Beach

Gone fishin'...for Stingrays. - POTUS

SteakMatters Q&A

Even on vacation, we at SteakMatters.com are more than happy to answer questions from our loyal readers. Last night, Spiderman asked the following question:

Spiderman: I’m having some friends over this weekend, and wanted to do something different on the grill. Of course, we’re having steak – I was just looking for a little different preparation.

Have either of you ever cooked a whole beef tenderloin rotisserie-style instead of just buying individual filet mignon? Got any opinions? Should I just stick with filets?

The Team as SteakMatters responds:

POTUS: Ohhh no! Go with the whole tenderloin! I usually marinate in with a coating of virgin olive oil (is there really any other kind), with minced garlic. I apply with a brush. Then salt and pepper. Let marinate for a couple, three hours. When you’re ready to cook, start the grill and get it up to 500+ degrees. Now I have a 3 burner grill, so what I do is once it’s up to temp, I put the meat on the grill, then turn down the burners directly under the meat, while keeping the other burner on high. I then cook, turn and baste the meat for about the next 45 mins. That usually gives me medium to well done on the ends, and medium in the middle. Plus you end up with a great char on the outside. Enjoy.

GOTSOO: Agreed. We'll be over at 6.

I hope the party goes well and the tenderloin goes ‘medium to well’.

POTUS

Thoughts from the Beach

Rain and sand don't mix. - POTUS

Cali Pizza Kitch

Mmm...good!

Thoughts from the Beach

This country needs to lose some weight. - POTUS

Cash for Clunkers

Excerpts from today's WSJ on the Cash for Clunkers program:

"If this is how the government is going to handle billion- dollar programs affecting all Americans, I ask, whatever will we do if this administration takes control of our health care?" said Rep. Jerry Lewis, a California Republican.

Don't want to take a Member's word, because he may be a little partisan. Check out this comment from a dealer:

"This is a great program, but it's also the worst-run program I've ever seen," said Alex Perdikis, Koons's executive vice president.

Think about it, this is a program that giving folks up to $4500 to trad in their (in some cases) clunker. Why won't it be a great program? BTW - That's your money and my money they are getting...well actually its our kids and grandkids money, but I digress.

As noted in a related story, there are some very road worthy cars that are being traded in simply because people want to get new cars.

Rick Goble, sales manager at Vernie Jones Ford in Jasper, Ga., spent Friday working through a stack of paperwork on 16 clunkers his dealership has taken in this week. "Now we're trying to punch them all in," he said.

The average value of those trade-ins, including a 1989 Chevy full-size truck with 350,000 miles, was $4,200. The condition of some was so good Mr. Goble said, "we've hated to take as clunkers," he said.

What will the impact be to the affordability of the cars in the used car market and is the government, by meddling in the free market, creating a bubble with in the car market just like FREDDIE and FANNIE did in the housing market.

Take for example this guy, from the same story:

So even though it was the last day at his job as a production controller for a West Columbia, S.C., manufacturer Mr. Dunn took his severance check, his 1989 pickup with about 300,000 miles and headed to Dodgeland.

With the help of the rebate and cash from his savings, he bought a red, 2009 Dodge Caliber. "The economy is picking up," he said Friday. "It seems like it is anyway."

The guys is out of work and what does he do? He takes his severance and savings and buys a new truck on the 'hope' that the ecomomy will 'change' and he'll be quickly rememployed....

I'm guessing he would have bought a used truck, if it hadn't been disposed of as a 'clunker.'

POTUS

Martinez to BOSTON!?!

WTF! What did I say? - I leave and something big happens. And a trade with Boston of all teams!?! This is going to come back to haunt us.