February 2006

February

January 29, 2006

The victory of Hamas in Palestine is a setback for Middle East peace, but at least it demonstrates what the Palestinians are about.  While corruption in Fatah played a part in the victory of Hamas, pure hatred was also a motivator.  From Steyn

Joel Stein (no relation) of the Los Angeles Times took a lot of heat last week for coming right out with it and saying that he didn't support the troops and that it was a humbug phrase that he and his anti-war comrades shouldn't have to use as cover for their position. Good for him. He's right. It's empty and pusillanimous, the Iraq war's version of "But some of my best friends are Jewish . . ." If you're opposed to the mission, if you don't want to see it through, if you're supporting a position whose success would only demoralize those serving in Iraq and negate their sacrifice, in what sense do you "support the troops"? Stein ought to be congratulated for acknowledging that he doesn't. We armchair warmongers are routinely derided as "chickenhawks," but Stein is a hawkish chicken, disdaining the weasel formulation too many anti-war folks take refuge in.

The Palestinian elections were similarly clarifying. The old guard -- Yasser Arafat's Fatah cronies -- had their own take on the "But some of my best friends are Jewish" routine. For years they insisted, at least in the presence of Americans and Europeans, that they were in favor of a "two-state solution" -- Israel and Palestine living side by side -- at the same time as they supported and glorified and financially subsidized suicide bombers and other terrorists. Insofar as their enthusiasm for a two-state solution was genuine, it was as an intermediate stage en route to a one-state solution.

Hamas, by contrast, takes a Joel Stein view: Why the hell should we have to go tippy-toeing around some sissy phrase we don't really mean? Hamas doesn't support a two-state solution, it supports the liquidation of one state and its replacement by other, and they don't see why they should have to pretend otherwise. And in last week's elections for the Palestinian Authority they romped home. It was a landslide. 

As is the way, many in the West rushed to rationalize the victory. The media have long been reluctant to damn the excitable lads as terrorists. In 2002 the New York Times published a photograph of Palestinian suicide bombers all dressed up and ready to blow, and captioned it "Hamas activists." Take my advice and try not to be standing too near the Hamas activist when he activates himself.

Oh, no no no, some analysts assured us. The Palestinians didn't vote for Hamas because of the policy plank about obliterating the state of Israel but because Fatah is hopelessly corrupt. Which is true: The European Union's bankrolled the Palestinian Authority since its creation and Yasser and his buddies salted most of the dough away in their Swiss bank accounts and used the loose change to fund the intifada. After 10 years you can't blame the Palestinians for figuring it's time to give another group of people a chance to siphon off all that EU booty.

So I'd like to believe this was a vote for getting rid of corruption rather than getting rid of Jews. But that's hard to square with some of the newly elected legislators. For example, Mariam Farahat, a mother of three, was elected in Gaza. She used to be a mother of six but three of her sons self-detonated on suicide missions against Israel. She's a household name to Palestinians, known as Um Nidal -- Mother of the Struggle -- and, at the rate she's getting through her kids, the Struggle's all she'll be Mother of. She's famous for a Hamas recruitment video in which she shows her 17-year-old son how to kill Israelis and then tells him not to come back. It's the Hamas version of 42nd Street: You're going out there a youngster but you've got to come back in small pieces.

Good talk from Steyn, as usual.  And I am glad Stein said what he said - he demonstrates that he is just another contemptible human being, and nobody with any sense will have anything to do with him.  That leaves out a lot of liberals, or course, but so many of them are so devoid of sense as to have lost their sense of self-preservation.  Certainly describing a suicide bomber as an activist demonstrates a fundamental lack of sense.

January 30, 2006

I have now made the transition completely to the 30-stock FastBreak system, although for various reasons I have been a little short of the initial position of $35,000 I had planned.  I may add to some of the smaller positions when money is available.  I also have a collection of small positions in stocks that I think look good for the longer term.

February 3, 2006

So far, a bad month.  Wall St. logic:  too many people working means that the Fed will raise interest rates and this is bad for stocks.  Unfortunately, this may be true.  The Fed seems to hate growth, and must truly despise people who actually work for a living.

.February 6, 2006

Some really bad days in the metals, steel, gold, etc.  I got out of most of my holdings in that area.  The fact is, I have seen this happen before.  Steel is in short supply at first. There is supposed to be a lot of demand coming from China.  Then it turns out that China is exporting steel.  Everything goes to hell.  And/or copper goes up.  Then suddenly it goes down, and all the copper stocks tank.  Well, I may buy some of these back if they appear to have bottomed, and I can get them for less than I just sold them for.  This sort of thing is very discouraging.

February 17, 2006

Well, things have gotten a bit better, but this month is still bad.

In the meanwhile, my back problems have gotten worse.  I finally got the right combination of drugs to get me through an MRI without panic, and the doctor will operate on March 9. Everybody seems to take time.  It took me almost a month to get to see the doctor, and then until the operation it will be more than another month.  Meanwhile, I am in serious pain almost all the time.  The recovery from this operation will be several weeks.  My wife will make the trades while I am in recovery.  It may take a while in rehab.  It looks like "decompression from L2 to SI" for the operation.  That is a lot of vertebrae.

Need a Costume for a Party?

February 28, 2006

Yesterday was great, and today is terrible.  The market seems to be twitching rather than trending.  Google reported some bad news and consumer confidence is down a but.  I guess that is all it takes to spook people.

March 3, 2006

The month ends with a whimper, although I have had decent gains these last few days, at least compared to the indices.  Still ending with a loss for the month, but recovered a lot.  The metals are extremely volatile.  Because of back problems, which make sitting for any time painful, I am leaving out the trades - just the current positions.  I have a large number of positions this month - the 30-stock FastBreak system, and some other picks, based on technical analysis.