I was playing A Ghost is Born while deployed to Iraq while working late one night, some of the guys in the office described it as someone pushing a piano down an elevator shaft...  I've wanted to push a piano down an elevator shaft ever since.

My two favorite podcasts have crossed...  What a beautiful day!

I'd point out Colorado may not be as problematic as the evidence suggests.  In 2010 we had a very weak gubernatorial candidate in Dan Maes who was then challenged by a third party because he was so weak.  Also, the Senate candidate Peter Buck staked out a far right position on abortion and women's issues, and in the end lost by a narrow margin.  There were many Republican victories in Colorado in 2010, we just lost some of the big ones due to poor luck and weak candidates.

Colorado is winnable and may not be the challenge it appears to be.

I find the best cure for a hangover is going for a run...  But then, I don't get very bad hangovers so perhaps this doesn't work for the real thing...

I find it bizarre how so many well informed intelligent people can disagree so vehemently on Newt.  Half the people I follow think if he gets the nomination it wouldn't be so bad (Goldberg, Laffer, Mike Rosen) others seem to think he would be worse than President Obama (Epstine, Yoo, Rubin).  What gives?

While I think he makes some valuable points, I think he too is noticing a symptom not the problem.  If it is merely a case of knowledge, if the knowledge needed to invest or grow a business is murky, there would still be those welling to try their luck and some of them would be going under and others would be stumbling on gold mines. 

I think the real problem is manipulation.  If houses are being kept at their current value through intervention, then the houses aren't really worth what is being asked for them.  If anything, it isn't a lack of knowledge that is keeping people out of the markets, it is the knowledge that what is in the market is over valued, it is not a good deal.

I can remember when the Atlantic wrote some very intelligent in depth quality articles...  There was a time...

See Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" the number of times someone has thought, "That is it, we know it all" is staggering...

See Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" the number of times someone has thought, "That is it, we know it all" is staggering...

 I'd like to add to add to your comprehensive list of sources with an econtalk with Bryan Caplan:  http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2007/06/caplan_on_the_m.html  The myth of the rational voter.  I think it goes a long way to explaining the problem of why people do not understand free trade.

Okay, that was a lie...

 Paul McCartney: Standing Stone...

I have to admit, I feel a little ripped off at the moment, New Zealand doesn't celebrate Halloween, and while there are movements to start a Halloween celebration here, I don't know how it could ever work, the trouble being, it is spring here... There aren't a lot of pumpkins, it isn't gloomy, it is just plain hard to get into the mood... I miss Halloween...

While I agree with your point, someone who is good a politicking may have very bad ideas, the other side of the coin is, someone with very good ideas may not be able to do anything with them if they are bad at the politics side.  Politics is a game, you have to win votes, buy votes and convince people they should sometimes vote against their instincts.  No matter how good your ideas are, if you can't get the votes to get your ideas passed,  they don't matter.  This is a learned doing the job.  We have no evidence Cain would be effective in this regard.

 The whole world is not watching, I've asked a few people here in New Zealand their thoughts and for the most part they said "Who?"

 Herman Cain has never held political office, this isn't a serious flaw?  I like Cain, and won't hesitate voting for him if he is the candidate; quite possibly his lack of political experience is no worse a flaw than not being conservative enough, not being able to debate and having enough baggage to fill a land fill, but this is a serious flaw and does need to be taken into consideration.

Political office is different than running a business, it requires a different skill set and Cain would have to learn these skills.  With any luck, he'd be a natural and would pick up these skills quickly.  But I'd rather not rely on luck for our next president.