Happy Halloween... esp to the little blondes

One for the 'about damned time' folder...
Where's Adam Curry when you need him

Sometimes...
mondays are better than usual

So this Ashley Todd woman...
i mean queue up the unwanted conditions here - overweight, unattractive, Texas A&M student... wants McBush to win so badly she CARVES THE LETTER B INTO HER FACE and blames a black assailant 'who was incensed by the McCain bumpersticker on her car'
B? for what... oBama? and backwards? is it any wonder she did it in the review mirror of her car?

who does shit like this... and who makes these sorts of stories up?

Republicans

because that's the same sort of altered reality that has them blaming Obama for the financial crisis (hey, at least they aren't blaming Clinton... yet) and convinced Jeebus is coming to save us all.

They're putting her in the psychiatric ward... too bad they cant take another 40% of the voting public with her.

This seems wrong.
Maybe i'm getting old...
i can remember shooting off model rockets, having them land in people's back yards, and having to climb fences to get them...
but if someone had made it clear to me that doing so would have resulted in me not getting my rocket back i probably would have made sure i didnt launch the thing in that direction. Why are they wasting MY taxdollars arresting this woman for exercising her rights on her property. Afterall, if she posted a 'TRESSPASSERS WILL BE SHOT' sign and blew the kids away with a 12 gauge it would be legal (though that's really a very Texas version of the castle doctrine... yes, i know, a little screwed up but still). What happened to the days of getting back at grandma in the drive through by putting a rat in the deepfryer when she orders fries... jeez... kids today...

now stay off my lawn

Sometimes you gotta side with the big black guy...

you know...
i was sorta pro bailout on the idea that, well, saving the economy was more important than punishing the banks...

then i read this

EDIT:

Kucinich is going after them... better than the FBI, who'd pick one or two high profile cases. Until we're seizing the assets of everyone associated with this business - and putting all those old white guys to work cleaning bedpans and filling potholes - i'm not going to be happy.

For those paying attn, the banks were still hunkered down this morning - just as they were yesterday - making it pretty obvious the overly enthusiastic market traders looking to to game this one were in for a rough day. Happily Gordon Brown is the adult in the room - forcing the world's leaders to pony up and take this situation by the short hairs (or face losing their currency reserves to the suddenly stable pound).

It's a very simple point, but I'll go into left field to make it...

Which of these internet connection speed tests do you suppose is free? Sometimes the market is just another way to charge people an absurd amount of money for something that can be delivered at very little cost.

For those of you tired of watching the dead cat bounce, here's something to remember...

Let's play a game



One of these things is not like the others, eh?
Well - it's not the nazi - or is it...

Hockey moms may love her - but apparently hockey dads would rather see her violently checked into the boards...

who knew i was in the 'hockey dad' camp

i had wondered 'who the hell are these people'...

now republicans making an intelligent argument that globalism limits governments ability to regulate it's financial systems out of a crisis - and thus the need for the market to operate it's own safeguards multi-nationally, and to allow those institutions that do not to fail, can make a case (one i'd disagree with) for voting the way they will vote. They're wrong... but i can appreciate the depth of thought behind their argument.

But these people are no more than a hate group.

i've said this before - back when congress was considering clipper for chrissakes...
but i'll say it again

if you let someone listen in or read your correspondence then you can pretty much guarantee that that data will be shared with people outside the original purpose of the eavesdropping.

If the government tracks what websites i go to - then that data will not stay at the government - but will 'accidentally' end up in a private database somewhere. If they listen to my phonecalls, well, something like this can happen (except i'm not really having phonesex with any big hairy male army colonels... yet)

"They certainly didn't consent to having interceptions of their telephone sex conversations being passed around like some type of fraternity game," said Jonathon Turley, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University who has testified before Congress on the country's warrantless surveillance program.

Yes they did Prof. Turley - when they picked up the phone...

Welcome to George Bush's America... please use no more than 2 of the bills of rights when wiping, we're trying to conserve paper...

HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH

*breathe*

HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH

Let's tell a little bedtime story...

Once upon a time there were 3 people. Cindy owns a house. But Cindy doesn't want to own it anymore because she has 7 others and doesnt need this one. But Cindy doesn't like how much people are offering her for her house.

Well to be fair, Cindy doesn't actually 'own' the house - she has a mortgage on the house - and still owes her other friend, we'll call him Keating, a million dollars.

Well Cindy isnt happy. She wants more money for herself so she can buy more shoes - because you know all about women needing to spend a lot of money on shoes - and she cant afford any shoes because she cant sell her house.

So she talks to her husband John. John comes up with a plan. See - Cindy needs money - and it's not like Keating is very happy with the idea that the house Cindy bought isnt worth what was paid for it. So they talk about having the government buy the houses - which sounds ok - but cindy isnt really going to be able to afford many new shoes that way. So instead they come up with a new plan... the government will buy the mortgage and then resell the house to Cindy at the lower price - with a new mortgage. This is actually a much better deal for Cindy - assuming her friend Keating is willing to refinance her house for $10 million - and allow Cindy to take half that money out of the equity. That way Cindy pockets $5m, the bank walks away with $4.5m, the government reprices the house at 500k and sells it to cindy, and cindy walks away with the other $4.5m. Everyone wins and they all live happily ever after.

The End

Google has added an awesome feature to it's GMail system.

Now if only they'd take over electronic voting...

i know what i'd be getting him for Xmas...

For anyone that missed the unbelievably bad reporting on the financial crisis on 60 minutes last night....

Asked if he thinks anyone ever reads all this fine-print, Partnoy says, "I doubt many people read it."

These complex financial instruments were actually designed by mathematicians and physicists, who used algorithms and computer models to reconstitute the unreliable loans in a way that was supposed to eliminate most of the risk.

"Obviously they turned out to be wrong," Partnoy says.

Asked why, he says, "Because you can't model human behavior with math."

"How much of this catastrophe had to do with the instruments that Wall Street created and chose to buy…and sell?" Kroft asks Jim Grant.

"The instruments themselves are at the heart of this mess," Grant says. "They are complex, in effect, mortgage science projects devised by these Nobel-tracked physicists who came to work on Wall Street for the very purpose of creating complex instruments with all manner of detailed protocols, and who gets paid when and how much. And the complexity of the structures is at the very center of the crisis of credit today."

Yeah, that's it... it's the nerds' fault. Anyone wonder WHY they were told 'make a model that does THIS'... Anyone bother to ask whether maybe the very idea was to create something ARCANE so they could shroud the fact that it was snake oil? Plus - arent physicists like, you know, busy working on blowing up the planet? (i think the LHC is all part of a massive coverup project - so no one will blame the mad scientists for destroying the banks)

If you want to find people to hold accountable - and you're the only one since justice made it clear they wont be going after anyone on this because that would further destabilize the situation - why not simply look to see who made the money.

When we didnt penalize the Boeskys and Milkens we encouraged this. At this point - the only way in front of it is to nationalize the banks - now - before it really totally falls apart... Europe needs to lead the charge on that because there's no way we're politically courageous enough to stand up and say 'capitalism has fucked up and here's the bill'.

And while we're talking about nucular meltdowns, the global banking industry is continuing. For those of you not playing along at home - the commercial paper market had pretty well seized up last week. This news wont make it better.

If you can honestly say that Charles Keating's Maverick buddies here are going to be a positive part of fixing this disaster, well, go ahead and vote for them. At this point the only issue that matters is how we're going to rebuild the world when we've finished with this crash redistribution of wealth.

McCain is wrong...

It's not one man who's responsible - it's systemic.

Still - Cox shouldn't be allowed to resign. He should be drawn and quartered. Not figuratively... literally... on pay per view... and the proceeds donated to Balthazar's memorial home for wayward girls.

The liquidity crisis continues today (explanation)... and so long as people keep pulling money out of money market funds out of fear the commercial paper market will continue to tighten and it's going to keep getting worse. Hell, the fed already tossed $630b into the fire and said 'price the assets however you want'... how much more can these crooks want in this nightmare - all the mackerel?.

Big vote today on one of the most important issues of our times...

Sec 503: EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN WOODEN ARROW SHAFTS.--Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to any shaft consisting of all natural wood with no laminations or artificial means of enhancing the spine of such shaft (whether sold separately or incorporated as a part of a finished or unfinished product) of a type used in the manufacture of any arrow which after its assembly (i) measures 5/16 of an inch or less in diameter and (ii) is not suitable for use with a bow described in paragraph (1)(A). The amendments made by this section shall apply to shafts first sold after the date of enactment of this Act.

Oh yeah... something about $700b for banks in there too...

This will end well.

I wouldn't put anything past this administration at this point. Good to see W is doing his best to make sure everyone is aware of what happens when there is only a single global superpower and why it must be stopped.

Sometimes you just cant make a joke any funnier.

Meeting Tuesday with the editorial board of The Des Moines Register, McCain was asked why he picked the Alaska governor, someone "who doesn't have a lot of experience."

"Thank you, but I disagree with your fundamental principal that she doesn't have the experience," McCain replied before citing Palin's work as a PTA member, city council member, mayor and governor. "You and I just have a fundamental disagreement, and I am so happy the American people seem to be siding with me."

Join the PTA... become the leader of the free world...

This isnt about HER capacity... it's about HIS judgement. How can ANYONE vote for a person who so obviously belongs in an institution.