Tony Island Blog - Sane Thoughts for an Insane World

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! Did you catch tonight's Republican Presidential debate on MSNBC? If not, here's the first of 4 parts: You see the rest by following the suggested links at the end of the video. I thought it was a solid debate by all the candidates. There were some great lines ("If 10% is good enough for God, then 9% should be good enough for the Federal govt.", Herman Cain on his 9/9/9 tax plan). I'm not sure I could pick a winner - I thought they were all about even, though I don't see Jon Huntsman gaining any traction. I think the race will tighten up in the next few weeks. There's another debate scheduled for Monday, Sept. 12, 2011. What are your thoughts on tonight's debate? Did it change your mind on your candidate? Are you closer to choosing a candidate if you are undecided? Please share your thoughts with us by leaving a comment below. Thanks for reading Tony Island Blog!

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! Today, we're going to examine the 500lb gorilla in the room - gay marriage; but, we're not going to discuss the moral issues surrounding this highly touchy subject, simply (ha!) the political dynamics surrounding this issue. For many Republican presidential hopefuls, "states' rights" is a key issue this campaign season: devolve Federal power back to the states and let the states decide their own fates. All is well and good until the issue of gay marriage comes up. Here, the hopefuls make a 180 and decide that the Federal government must be involved and it must be a Federal law or Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. A typical explanation from the hopefuls is Mitt Romney's. Romney is fearful that one state won't recognize another state's legal gay marriage (ie, if a gay married couple move from New York to Utah, they'd be in legal limbo) and thus a Federal gay marriage ban needs to be in place. So which...

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! Happy Labor Day, 2011 to you! This Labor Day (as the past few have) brings a few important questions: 1) Are you working? Bonus: How long have you been employed by your current company? 2) If not, how long have you been unemployed? Bonus: How long were you employed before your layoff? 3) If you are working, how's the health of your company? Your industry? The President is scheduled to make a "major" jobs speech this coming Thursday. What do you think he'll propose to get the jobs engine running again? What do you think he should propose? Feel free to vent some frustrations here in our comments section - it sometimes helps. Thanks for reading Tony Island Blog!

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! Are you in Hurricane/Tropical storm Irene's path? If so, how have you been impacted? Feel free to share what's going on with you by leaving a comment below! We'll be back to our regular postings soon. Take care and be safe! Thanks for reading Tony Island Blog!

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! I've been thinking about something lately - let's pretend that we elect a "Tea Party" Congress in 2012. Both houses are firmly in the hands of spending cutters - they take a large axe to much (if not all) of the Federal budget and manage not only to balance it, but to have a surplus that goes toward the debt. Then what happens after that? How many more Congresses will the people elect that will continue to cut and not spend? Stop wars and not start them? Stop "investing" and start saving? And my answer to that is...probably very few. It's hard to imagine sending a politician to Washington and have him/her do NOTHING! Think about it - if you sent your rep or Senator to Washington and he reported back to you that he did absolutely nothing - would you re-elect him? Would you seriously re-elect that person? And I think the answer is: NO! "We sent you there and paid you, now do something for us - send us some Federal ...

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! I wanted to present you with two quick, but complementary, video reviews that will help you understand the fiscal conservative view. First up is I Want Your Money - this is a neat film that basically summarizes the conservative fiscal viewpoint. It cleverly uses animated Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama sketches to explain various concepts. It also interviews some mainstream conservatives, which was nice to put a face to the books I've been reading by these same conservatives. I recommend the video to get a grounding in current conservative economics and thought. It seems the Blu-Ray version is a Director's Cut with "never before seen footage" - I didn't see this version, but I'm sure the added footage makes it even better than the standard version I saw. Next up is I.O.U.S.A. The film is slightly outdated as it was filmed at the end of the Bush presidency (and thus tends to skewer Bush a bit, though deservedly so) but it st...

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! Take a moment to read this news article (complete with pictures!) about China's first aircraft carrier . While we bicker how about much more in debt we need to go (which is essentially what raising the debt ceiling is all about), China is developing its military muscle I don't want to sound like a "tin-foiled" alarmist, but I really found that article ominous. I don't think China's going to start a world war or anything, but I do think they will eventually combine their increased economic power with their increasing military power to throw their weight around the world - much like the US did for the latter half of the 20th century (and into the 21st). There won't be anyone to stop their increasing ambitions as the US will be straight jacked with our ever deepening debt problem. We're going to lose the global supremacy war and who knows how a global China will be to live under? Again, I don't think she'll invad...