"I don't think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering"

That's probably the most sensible line uttered by a Republican president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan's first inaugural ("government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem").

If Newt Gingrich actually meant it he'd be the most interesting candidate in the current GOP field. He doesn't, of course -- in point of fact, he used it in the context of putting a continued right-wing seal of approval on left-wing social engineering -- but if he did ...

Anyway, leave it to Mitt Romney to pick the most sensible line of the campaign so far as a point of attack:



I'm still trying to figure out why Romney isn't angling to replace Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket next year. That just makes more sense for him than running against Obama.

Sales are a Little Slow

But not at zero by any means.

The third edition of Roulette for the Leisure Gambler continues to move a copy or three a month, even though I'm not actively promoting it.

For obvious reasons I don't just go around revealing buyers' names, but yesterday a copy was purchased by someone whose alleged name made me say to myself "hmmm ... perhaps I am destined for brief cable television fame."

Which would be pretty cool. And probably good for sales.

In the meantime if you gamble, or plan to gamble, the book's well worth the $4.97 price. As a matter of fact, it will probably save you more than that on your first night out at a casino, even if roulette isn't your game of choice. Just sayin' ...

I Guess it's Fair to Say ...

... that my $50 e-reader idea is passe.

I've run into a couple of cheap e-readers in the $50-$80 range lately, but they're no-wifi, good-for-nothing-except-reading-books machines. Who'd pay that much for that little when multi-function, wifi-enabled Android tablets are now breaking into the sub-$100 range?

Take a look at the specs for that $99 Android 4 ("Ice Cream Sandwich") tablet, the Novo7. It's got a 1GHz CPU. It's got wifi. Two built-in cameras. Capacitive touch screen with "multi-touch" capability.

I'm still quite happy with my $130 Android 2.x Cruz Reader, which I've had for most of a year now, but we're talking iPad-level tech for less than a hundred bucks now. I'm already juggling my budget numbers to figure out how I can afford one.

So, the dedicated e-reader died before it hit the $50 price point. Yeah, I'm sure they'll be going for less than $50 in discount bins soon but I was talking about as a retail launch product.

The new price range is $99-$199 -- Novo7 at the low end, Amazon's Kindle Fire at the high end -- for a tablet that does the e-reader thing and a whole lot more.

But no, none of these are "iPad killers." The iPad's price will probably drift down into the $250-$300 range for a wifi-only model, but Apple fans will continue to be willing to pay a little more for their favorite company's products.