Friday, February 26, 2010

“GOP's handy "philosophical differences" -- until further notice - DAILY KOS” plus 3 more

“GOP's handy "philosophical differences" -- until further notice - DAILY KOS” plus 3 more

GOP's handy "philosophical differences" -- until further notice - DAILY KOS

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 11:43 AM PST

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THIS is what Republicans do with their "philosophical principles"
when the shoe is on the other foot and they are in power:


      THEY renege, retract, revoke, scrub, torpedo, vacate them.
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The GOP give their principles of the day as if they were rock solid beliefs they always follow. But tomorrow or next year they will conveniently supersede those "principles." Just like they did when they grew government despite their repeated stand against that, and vastly increased the national deficit despite their repeated stand against that. During six years of unfettered power.

When the GOP is in power they take actions that are against their so-called "philosophical principles." Because in reality it is merely a convenient phrase for them to use.

Ezra Klein called what they were doing at the Health Summit: "Political differences masquerading as philosophical ones." Why?

(If)... this is really about "a deep philosophical difference," then compromise is unlikely indeed. You don't bargain with Aristotle.

Ah, if the GOP were more like Aristotle.

The GOP repeated it in rote. Their way to turn everything into that one oh-so-noble supposedly immutable thing. Ha! Coburn, Cantor, Blackburn and Ryan (in that order):  

"There's a philosophical difference in how we do this."

"It does have to do with the philosophical difference."

"There are very deep philosophical differences...

"There really is a difference between us."

(Of course, Ryan put it that Democrats believed government should "be in control" of all of health care which stupidly wrong. I guess he did not notice the current plan is not a true universal, single payer plan.)

As Klein points out:

(Republicans) turned a lot of policy differences into questions of first principles. And it's harder to compromise on a first principle.

Supposedly. I mean if you are honest. It seems not hard for them to compromise with themselves and their own supposed ideals.

It's interesting to follow Klein as he runs through some of the "philosophical" differences that did not seem to matter much during their treatment of other votes and policies.

Obama said:
The president called this a "legitimate philosophical disagreement" that he hopes to explore more in the afternoon sessions.

BUT: They are only legitimate if they are used honestly.

And what are some of the philosophical principles of democrats on health care? According to the White House:

(We need) "common sense rules of the road to protect American families and small businesses from insurance company abuses. The President doesn't believe we can afford to leave those decisions about your care to the insurers alone.

...a problem this big cannot be addressed incrementally.

... most of this money is going to tax credits that will reduce premiums and help people get better coverage.

(It's unwise to) just scrap a year's worth of work and start over. The millions of Americans that are suffering can't afford another year-long debate. There's too much at stake.

At one point Vice President Biden caught the GOP out at the Summit, saying there was no "philosophic disagreement." The GOP agreement on certain aspects of insurance reform--not being able to drop people, dependent coverage and no cap--are an acknowledgment by the GOP of a viable government role.

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*While this may a lofty claim it remains true that Democrats are the ones who have protected Americans, our Democracy and our Rights, brought fiscal responsibility, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, enhanced Veterans benefits, Minimim Wage improvements, SCHIP, Civil Rights, Voting Rights and a host of progressive benefits to America that make life and Democracy vastly better than before.

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FNCB Suspends Dividend Payments to Conserve Capital - Forbes

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 01:38 PM PST

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BusinessWire - First National Community Bancorp, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: FNCB), the financial holding company of First National Community Bank, announced today that its Board of Directors has voted to suspend payment of the Company's quarterly dividend indefinitely in an effort to conserve capital.

Emphasizing the Bank is both well-capitalized under all applicable regulatory requirements and organizationally strong, President and Chief Executive Officer J. David Lombardi noted the move reflects the conservative philosophy and measured approach that has served the institution well over its 100-year history.

"The Board recognizes the importance of preserving cash and, given the challenging economic conditions that continue to impact the health and stability of many businesses within the region we serve, believes dividends should be paid from current and anticipated earnings to prudently fund fiscal 2010 operations," Lombardi explained. "While the suspension of our quarterly dividend is disappointing, FNCB is busy making quality loans, paying an attractive rate on each of our products and opening new offices to serve more customers in more communities throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania."

According to Lombardi, suspending the $0.02 per share dividend will save the Company approximately $1.3 million. The Board will reevaluate the policy in the future on a quarter-by-quarter basis.

The suspension is among several initiatives in place to conserve cash reserves during the nation's protracted economic slump. The Company recently announced it had raised more than $23 million through the sale of subordinated notes which will mature on September 1, 2019. A substantial portion of the net proceeds of the completed sale will be used to strengthen the institution's capital position, improve liquidity, increase lending capacity and support FNCB's continuing growth objectives.

First National Community Bank provides personal, small business and commercial banking services to individuals and businesses from 21 community offices throughout Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe and Wayne Counties in Northeastern Pennsylvania. FNCB's newest office, located on Wheeler Ave. in Dunmore, opened in December 2009. The institution was established as a National Banking Association in 1910 as The First National Bank of Dunmore, and has been operating under its current name since 1988.

In addition to historical information, this press release may contain forward-looking statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, (a) projections or statements regarding future earnings, expenses, net interest income, other income, earnings or loss per share, asset mix and quality, growth prospects, capital structure, and other financial terms, (b) statements of plans and objectives of management or the board of directors, and (c) statements of assumptions, such as economic conditions in the Corporation's market areas. Such forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes", "expects", "may", "intends", "will", "should", "anticipates", or the negative of any of the foregoing or other variations thereon or comparable terminology, or by discussion of strategy. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties such as local economic conditions, competitive factors, and regulatory limitations.

SOURCE: First National Community Bancorp, Inc.

First National Community Bancorp, Inc. Judith M. LaCouture, 570-340-6144

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How to Practice Le' Parkour - Associated Content

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 11:15 AM PST

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Le' Parkour was founded by a french naval officer in 1902. His name was Georges Héber - even though Raymond Belle is seen as the founder, he just took Georges system, and expanded it. He became a PE tutor in Reims, and started to make his own system. His work expanded, and during World War I and II, his system was used by french soldiers. Georges saw Parkour as an art of movement, as something to strenghten both your mental and physical properties. The philosophy behind it is to "keep moving". When you keep moving, no matter what, you can overcome the problems you might meet in everyday life. But it was David Belle who really expanded it. He is actually seen as the real founder of le' Parkour. It's beautiful philosophy, if you ask me.

Jumping Around?

You probably already know a little about Parkour, else you wouldn't be here. So now you're also probably asking yourself the question: "When should I start jumping around like crazy like the people on Youtube does?". You're not. Well, at least not now. That which you see on youtube is a mix of Parkour and Freerunning, and pretty extreme also. At this point, you should see Parkour as an art to strengthen your muscles. You aren't gonna do just the stuff they do on Youtube yet.

The only equipment that you would benefit from is some good shoes. Shoes with a good grip and traction is not a must, but highly recommended. If you're concerned about it, you should also get some good gloves and something to support your knees. And for gods sake, don't ever train in expensive clothes!

Starting to practice

First of all: you don't need anything to practice it. You can do jumping-exercises, practice vaults and so on.

You should notice, that only your imagination sets limits. You could start with practising a roll landing. That's basically where you roll from your shoulder to the opposite hip. This way you avoid contact with the spine and neck.

All in all you should practice some smooth running, jumping and roll landing. If you want some ideas for what to train, I recommend this. The playlist have some pretty good videos to learn from.

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How to Never Lose Money - Motley Fool

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 12:19 PM PST

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Recs

0

It's become an investing cliche.

Warren Buffett's two rules for investing:

  1. Never lose money.
  2. Never forget rule No. 1.

I've personally heard that advice so many times, it's begun to sound as inane as "Buy low, sell high." Just as no one goes into an investment trying to buy high and then sell low, no one intends to lose money. But like most cliches, especially those originated by Buffett, there's a great lesson here -- if you can parse the words correctly.

The moment of illumination
I finally understood exactly what Buffett meant by "never lose money" when I heard about the home run opportunity he passed up in 1968.

Back then, he served as a trustee of Grinnell College alongside a man named Bob Noyce. You may know Noyce better as one of the co-founders of Intel.

Believe it or not, Buffett had the opportunity to get in on Intel on the ground floor. It would have been one of the greatest investments on his packed list of great investments.

But he passed it up.

Why? He knew it lay outside his circle of competence (another well-worn Buffettism).

In his words: "We will not go into businesses where technology which is way over my head is crucial to the investment decision."

Buffett's spurning of the Intel motherlode reminds us that if never losing money is our goal, we have to avoid some individual investments that have tremendous market-beating potential.

It sounds counterintuitive, but it's true. Just because an investment works out in our favor doesn't mean there was skill involved. To truly follow Buffett's lead, we need to invest in companies about which we have above-market knowledge.

A tech example that worked out
But just in case you think I'm picking on tech stocks, I'll share a counterpoint. A contrast to Buffett is someone like Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN). Not only has he built Amazon.com into an Internet retail powerhouse, but he was also one of the initial investors in Google, getting in at about a nickel a share. Wow.

Two things to note here: First, tech companies are within Bezos' circle of competence. Second, he has more of an entrepreneur's risk tolerance than does Buffett. Rather than "never lose money," it's more "make up for any losses with the killings you make on your winners."

To be clear, the "circle of competence" lesson applies not only to technology companies, but also to all industries.

For example, in the energy space, an educated choice among Big Oil titan BP (NYSE: BP), refiner Sunoco (NYSE: SUN) and alternative energy player Suntech Power (NYSE: STP) requires knowledge of global supply constraints, a projection of consumer demand, insight into the technologies employed, and a feel for government regulations and subsidies. All this does not include digging into the companies themselves, which is complex enough.

It takes a good amount of time to wrap your head around the balance sheet of small commercial bank like Bank of the Ozarks (Nasdaq: OZRK). A little more for a big commercial bank like PNC (NYSE: PNC). And more time than most have to figure out Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), complete with its Countrywide and Merrill Lynch complexities.

More of what it takes
But following Buffett's "never lose money" credo takes more than just sticking within industries you know more about than the next guy. Just because an Exxon or a General Electric is within your circle of competence, and you've determined that its business model is superior, doesn't mean you should invest in it.

Nope, you need a margin of safety as well. In other words, the price must be right.

That sounds obvious, but it never sinks in for many investors. Just because a company is poised for success doesn't mean investors will profit from the success. At some point, even the best businesses are too expensive for investment purposes.

To use a non-stock example, an art investor would gladly buy a Van Gogh for $10,000. But he'd be a small-f fool to buy one at $10 billion.

Even Buffett loses money
Here's a secret: Every investor loses money at some point. Even Buffett. Remember that his company's name, Berkshire Hathaway, hearkens back to the ill-fated textile mills that helped solidify his philosophy.

His admonition to never lose money is less a rule, and more a way of thinking. It's a reminder not to stretch for the siren song of too-good-to-be-true returns. This requires:

  • Staying within your circle of competence.
  • Opportunistically buying in at a good price.

Our team at Motley Fool Inside Value seeks to follow Buffett's philosophy as they search for the stocks that provide upside with a minimum of risk. Like Buffett himself, they've had some losers along the way, but since inception in 2004, they've beaten the market by an average of 7 percentage points per pick. If you'd like to see the stocks they've unearthed so far, I invite you to join them free for 30 days. Click here to start. You can cancel at any time.

This article was originally published Jan. 28, 2010. It has been updated.

Berkshire Hathaway and Intel are Motley Fool Inside Value recommendations. Google and Suntech Power are Motley Fool Rule Breakers picks. Amazon.com and Berkshire Hathaway are Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations. Motley Fool Options has recommended a buy calls position on Intel. The Fool owns shares of Berkshire Hathaway.

Anand Chokkavelu owns shares of Berkshire Hathaway. He enjoyed the Man in the Yellow Hat's book, How to Never Lose Monkey. The Fool has a disclosure policy.

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