Once again, a Final Fantasy game has let me down. Final Fantasy IX is the all-plot, no-game style, even worse than FFIV. So that leaves the score:
- FF: Great game
- FFII: Got bored, quit
- FFIV: Played once because I didn’t have any better. Would never play again.
- FFV: Great game
- FFVII: Got bored, quit
- FFIX: Got bored, quit
- FFX: Got bored, quit
The only other Final Fantasy I have any plans to try ever again is FFXI, because it’s not the same kind of game at all.
Now that I’ve stopped reading and linking to the tax-hike nut Greg Mankiw, I figure it’s time to mention somebody positive. So, I’ve added a permanent link to Mike Devine’s site at Town Hall. He’s better known to me as the Gamecock at Red State, but his articles there stand alone.
He’s fun to read. His optimism and confidence as he looks ahead is pretty strong seemingly at all times. In that and his conservatism he’s truly a Reagan Republican.
Some people have been rumbling about the Lakers doing better without Kobe than with him. Well, tonight ought to start settling things down. Kobe recorded 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists, but Lamar had the overall better game with 20 points, 16 rebounds, and 7 assists.
Bynum watch: 11 points, 7 rebounds in Kwame Brown’s return. I wonder if the pressure to keep his starting job will help.
A lot of turnovers tonight. Kobe had 5 all by himself. Once he returns to form things should get better.
I wonder how long Smush will start? Maurice Evans had 9 points on 4-5 shooting to go with his two assists off the bench, while Smush bricked his way to 10 points on 4-13 shooting, along with 6 assists in the start. Smush must go!
Here were the worst mid-term years for two-term Presidents since the Civil war (Source for my figures: a guy on Red State for Cleveland through Clinton, and CNN for Bush’s result this year):
Equal with TR and only behind Reagan. That’s not so bad, historically speaking.
Contrary to popular belief, there is no Democratic majority in the US Senate. There are 50 Democrats counting ‘independent Democratic’ Joe Lieberman, 49 Republicans, and the ‘independent Socialist’ Bernie Sanders. Only the 50 Democrats plus Sanders make a majority, so in truth it is a Democratic-Socalist majority coalition in the Senate.
I suppose we’re lucky that Secretary Rumsfeld wasn’t let go on today of all days.
I missed the first three quarters of Lakers/Pistons, and it doesn’t look like I missed up much. 21 point lead…
I’m going to bed, heh.
Oops, I forgot Jim Jeffords in 2001. I’ll update that later.
[I forgot about the Jeffords mixed Congress in the first version of this article. The oversight has now been corrected.]
Now that the election is over, now is a good time to wrap up my previous posts on spending and divided government with a look ahead to the coming two years of divided government.
What kind are we going to see? (All figures in 2005 dollars, adjusted by CPI)
1969-1976: Republican President, Democratic Congress, end of Vietnam war. Spending up from $855 billion in 1968 to $1,275 billion in 1976. $52.5 billion/year growth, or 6.1% of initial budget.
1987-1992: Republican President, Democratic Congress, end of Cold War. Spending up from $1,723 billion in 1986 to $1,907 billion in 1992. $30.7 billion/year growth, or 1.8% of initial budget.
1995-2000: Democratic President, Republican Congress, ‘peacetime’. Spending up from $1,908 billion in 1994 to $2,021 billion in 2000. $19.1 billion/year growth, or 0.9% of initial budget
For comparison:
1977-1980: Democratic government, ‘peacetime’. Spending up from $1,275 billion in 1976 to $1,448 billion in 1980. $43.2 billion/year growth, or 3.4% of initial budget.
1981-1986: Republican president, mixed Congress, Cold War. Spending up from $1,448 billion in 1980 to $1,723 billion in 1986. $45.8 billion/year growth, or 3.2% of initial budget.
1993-1994: Democratic government, ‘peacetime’. Spending down from $1,908 billion in 1992 to $1,907 billion in 1994. -$0.5 billion/year growth, or -0.02% of initial budget.
2001-2002: Republican president, mixed Congress, War on Terror begins. Spending up from $2,021 billion in 2000 to $2,165 billion in 2002. $72 billion/year growth, or 3.6% of initial budget.
2003-2005: Republican government, War on Terror. Spending up from $2,165 billion in 2002 to $2,472 billion in 2005. $102.3 billion/year growth, or 4.7% of initial budget.
So, in five trials of non-divided government, we got an average of 2.9% growth, and in three trials of divided government we got an average of 2.9% growth. Way to go, you budget hawks who sat out! The only way this term will see a gain for you guys, is if we write ‘end of War on Terror’ on that final line, and that’s only if things don’t go the way they did after Vietnam.
And given that the story of this election is Vietnam II, I wouldn’t be very hopeful that Bush will diverge from Nixon on this matter of spending.
Greg Mankiw’s RSS feed is off my Sage list. He’s just gotten too obsessed with raising gas taxes. It’s annoying.