tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57799172009-11-29T01:26:33.797-05:00festernoreply@blogger.comBlogger2109125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-88891317164550668012008-06-15T22:28:00.001-04:002008-06-15T22:29:34.625-04:00

The Newshoggers crew has moved again. I'm now writing at a dedicated URL:WWW.NEWSHOGGERS.COM

festernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-45166415968732655242007-08-01T09:43:00.000-04:002007-08-01T09:44:19.485-04:00

Hey all --- Just another pointer post. I am working with a great group of writers over at the NewsHoggers partnership.http://www.cernigsnewshog.blogspot.comI'll see you there

festernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1165945237279489192006-12-12T12:40:00.000-05:002006-12-12T12:40:37.300-05:00

I have had it with Blogger, I have not been able to post for most of the past week, the e-mail post service is sporadic and I have no predictability as to when the blog will actually be up.  I have been getting what I have been paying for --- nothing, so it is time for me to move onto TypePad.  The initial website will be a new beta blog, and as I have more time, I am going to be building

festernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1165608775438884862006-12-08T15:09:00.000-05:002006-12-08T15:12:55.440-05:00

I am getting to the point of moving Fester's Place over to Typepad --- Blogger just has too many strange outages, eaten posts, messed up scripting, and all of this occurs for no apparant reason.

festernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1165607210771788582006-12-08T14:43:00.000-05:002008-03-03T17:13:16.271-05:00

Thomas Barnett is one freaking smart dude. That is obvious. And it is also obvious that he has the ear of quite a few people who can make decisions at the national level. However I have a very hard time buying into his seriousness at times, and a post at his blog today illustrates why. But before I go further, let me give you a basic gloss of his views:His basic idea is that this era of

festernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1165538799853186862006-12-07T19:39:00.000-05:002006-12-07T19:46:39.893-05:00

I know, I know, we had a freak snowstorm today. Pittsburgh is only located in the northeast, and we have not seen snow in nine months. It is an unexpected event, a minor snow flurry in December in this city, so I can understand how everyone panicked this afternoon as they forgot how to drive. That half an inch of snow and a patina of ice destroyed your reflexes. I understand. So before the

festernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1165370623409745852006-12-05T20:56:00.000-05:002006-12-05T21:03:43.456-05:00

Every now and then, it is nice to see outside confirmation that I can occassionally get things right. Newsweek in an article on Iraq's political and security arrangements has an interesting nugget: A four-star general who declined to be identified discussing a confidential conversation told of this encounter with Gen. Peter Chiarelli, who was in charge of day-to-day ground operations. "Do you

festernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1165251943000062132006-12-04T11:23:00.000-05:002006-12-04T12:05:43.250-05:00

This is a football post and not a military manpower post. The two teams that I follow fairly intensely, the New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers are 3-4 defensive teams that rely on their outside linebackers to provide their effective passrush. The inside linebackers are their primary run stoppers. Both teams' linebacker corps look like they could be infused with youth next year.

festernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1164904086911360742006-11-30T10:57:00.000-05:002008-03-03T17:13:16.271-05:00

I just saw the following from the Army Times:The Pentagon is developing plans to send four combat engineer battalions of reserves to Iraq early next year to boost security in Baghdad, senior defense officials said Wednesday.The battalion strength would total about 3,500 troops, officials said, adding that the units would come from around the United States and have already done a tour in Iraq.

festernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1164902190882229402006-11-30T10:27:00.000-05:002008-03-03T17:13:16.272-05:00

Spork caught this interesting piece from the Washington Post:Bush sought to pre-empt the growing clamor to draft plans to withdraw the more than 140,000 U.S. troops stationed in Iraq, most notably by a high-level commission headed by former Secretary of State James C. Baker III and former Indiana Rep. Lee H. Hamilton. Although he was not asked directly about the panel's recommendations, which

festernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1164900041913449632006-11-30T10:15:00.000-05:002006-11-30T10:20:41.980-05:00

There are plenty of good Pittsburgh blogs that I do not read often enough. I regret that, but such is life. However I want to give a shout-out to three that I really need to read on a more regular basis:A Spork in the Drawer --- snarky comments, great Photoshop and an intriguing design. Always worth a read, and often a rueful chuckle. Cognitive Dissonance in Pittsburgh --- Written by one of

festernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1164899675785311012006-11-30T10:14:00.000-05:002006-11-30T10:27:26.853-05:00

One of my hobbyhorses for the past year has been the slots parlor revenue projections. Mainly, I believe that the Harrah proposal for Station Square, in partnership with Forest City Enterprises is full of shit and projecting pie in the sky revenue levels.Evidently the State of Pennsylvania agrees with me. The Tribune Review (h/t Burgh Report) reports that the Northside proposal advanced by

festernoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1164818331748515422006-11-29T11:33:00.000-05:002008-03-03T17:13:16.272-05:00

From the APLawmakers and cabinet ministers loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have suspended participation in parliament and the government to protest Prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's summit with U.S. President George W. Bush. A statement issued Wednesday by the 30 lawmakers and five Cabinet ministers said their action was necessary because the meeting constituted a "provocation to the

festernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1164752890861753202006-11-28T17:12:00.001-05:002006-11-28T17:28:10.913-05:00

Chris Briem at Nullspace takes a quick look at parking behavior in Pittsburgh over the past couple of years. The data suggests that the city is sitting on a goldmine: The parking sales tax rate increased from 31% to 50% (a 61% increase) in recent years as a stop gap way to generate revenue for the city. But if you look at the time series of parking tax revenue, the $$ collected went up from 30.9

festernoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1164749625966330782006-11-28T16:28:00.000-05:002006-11-28T16:33:46.023-05:00

This was some surprising news --- Democrats win in Pennsylvania's 156th House District, giving them a one seat majority in the Pennsylvania State House. The Democrat was down after election day and the provisional ballots were counted but was able to close the gap and build a small lead on the absentee ballots. Wow --- all I have to say, although I am prepared to be shocked if there is no

festernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1164733430739828662006-11-28T11:52:00.000-05:002006-11-28T12:03:51.043-05:00

Metrics are useful things as they convey concise information and allow comparisons between actual and ideal situations fairly easily. However they are easily manipulated. Housing Bubble Casualty notes how the California Association of Realtors is playing with their metrics: The minimum household income first-time buyers needed to purchase a home at $478,710 in California in the third quarter

festernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1164634636895845612006-11-27T08:37:00.000-05:002006-11-27T08:37:16.950-05:00

Damn that was a good game yesterday, ugly but good. Ben Watson needs to be consistently lugging a football with him for the next two weeks with no exception.  Two forced fumbles and a tip ball interception are game killers. Asante Samual is working himself into a very nice new contract with three interceptions. The Patriots need to draft themselves a first or second round corner this

festernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1164507702971207822006-11-25T21:21:00.000-05:002008-03-03T17:15:33.691-05:00

The US government has been spending roughly $100,000,000,000 dollars per year in a losing counterinsurgency and occupation in Iraq.  It is losing because we have never had a coherent strategy objective that was compatible with all of the veto players in Iraqi politics.  We are losing now because the Sunni insurgency has effectively taken down the functioning of a modern state, and loyalties have

festernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1163987249056303502006-11-19T20:46:00.000-05:002006-11-20T16:18:54.316-05:00

Just want to blog on something I saw earlier this week in the paper version of the Tribune ReviewPittsburgh should get at least $290 million from the casino applicant who wins the license for a slots parlor in the city, members of the Pittsburgh Gaming Task Force said Wednesday. St. Louis-based Isle of Capri Casinos would pay that much for a new arena, so the other applicants should offer the

festernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1163979187230880902006-11-19T18:33:00.000-05:002006-11-19T18:33:14.733-05:00

Freshman year economics is a wonderful set of tools and thought processes that should let reasonably intelligent students learn how to ask questions that will produce even more interesting questions later on.  However, it is a massively simplified representation of reality because Econ 101 is a survey course of a very large discipline.  And it thus fails to do justice to most interesting problems

festernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1163694323787116352006-11-16T11:25:00.000-05:002008-03-03T17:15:33.698-05:00

Just saw this over at Steve Gilliard's blog, from the Guardian: Point one of the strategy calls for an increase rather than a decrease in overall US force levels inside Iraq, possibly by as many as 20,000 soldiers. This figure is far fewer than that called for by the Republican presidential hopeful, John McCain. But by raising troop levels, Mr Bush will draw a line in the sand and defy Democratic

festernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1163612424853840852006-11-15T12:37:00.000-05:002006-11-15T12:40:24.933-05:00

Just saw this a couple of minutes ago, from the San Jose Mercury News: A confidential analysis of Internet search queries and a random sample of Web pages taken from Google and Micrsoft's giant Internet indexes showed that only about 1 percent of all Web pages contain sexually explicit material.I have nothing to really comment on here, but I am just surprised. If you asked me in a man on the

festernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1163429161613244492006-11-13T09:46:00.000-05:002008-03-03T17:13:16.274-05:00

At first glance, I had next to nothing to write about the post-election period as I was coming down from both an adreneline high of winning an election that I worked on, and also from exhaustion.  I knocked on doors, peeled out in cul-de-sacs, rappelled down hills, and contorted myself to avoid getting hit on the shoulderless sides of Babcock Boulevard.  I talked to people who had never voted for

festernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1163124874356531422006-11-09T21:14:00.000-05:002006-11-09T21:14:36.000-05:00

Just a couple of first thoughts as I finally slow down from my CNN feed for the night, and I am restricting these thoughts to Pennsyvania. 1)  Republican candidates who are not batshit insane and were prepared did better than candidates who got hit with a surprisingly tough race or had massive personal issues in their closets. 2)  I spent the past week or so up in some heavily

festernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779917.post-1163014935506185122006-11-08T14:27:00.000-05:002006-11-08T14:42:15.573-05:00

Joe Lieberman (narcistists for CT) is looking to continue his core political competency of extracting political rent from the Democratic Party to his own positions. Hey, he won the election, that is his right, but the Democratic Party has a few simple tools it can use to reduce Lieberman's leverage. The most important point is that this leverage position is short term, no more than two years.

festernoreply@blogger.com0