Prison with a chance of drowning, but with freaks!
Goth Cruise the Movie trailer - a 'Gothumentary' from jeanie finlay on Vimeo.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Rick Astley Rick-Rolls Some Preschoolers
First, from Wikipedia, a definition of Rick-Rolling:
Rickrolling is an Internet meme typically involving the music video for the 1987 Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up". The meme is a bait and switch: a person provides a Web link they claim is relevant to the topic at hand, but the link actually takes the user to the Astley video. The URL can be masked or obfuscated in some manner so that the user cannot determine the true source of the link without clicking. When a person clicks on the link given and is led to the web page he/she is said to have been "Rickrolled" (also spelled Rickroll'd). By extension, it can also mean playing the song loudly in public in order to be disruptive.
Read the whole Wiki post - it's pretty funny. Here's Rick Astley doing the Rick-Rolling at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade yesterday:
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
When Private Ain't Really Private
Interesting post from Dan Savage on the fallout over the resignation (under pressure) of the director of the LA Film Festival, Richard Raddon, after it became public that he donated $1500 to the Yes on 8 campaign.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Fed Pledges up to $7.4 Trillion for Bailout!
So Bloomberg reports. And with very little transparancy. Check out Bernanke:
“Some have asked us to reveal the names of the banks that are borrowing, how much they are borrowing, what collateral they are posting,” Bernanke said Nov. 18 to the House Financial Services Committee. “We think that’s counterproductive.”
Things are too crazy for words...
“Some have asked us to reveal the names of the banks that are borrowing, how much they are borrowing, what collateral they are posting,” Bernanke said Nov. 18 to the House Financial Services Committee. “We think that’s counterproductive.”
Things are too crazy for words...
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Sunday Night Tahitian Pearl Blogging
Tahitian pearls come in a variety of cool colors, including green, purple, blue, pistachio, white, grey, and yellow. They are grown in the warm waters of French Polynesia in the South Pacific.
NY Times on Citigroup
Excellent article about the Citigroup mess, including the role played by Robert Rubin. A sample:
The bank’s downfall was years in the making and involved many in its hierarchy, particularly [CEO] Mr. [Charles O.] Prince and Robert E. Rubin, an influential director and senior adviser.
The bank’s downfall was years in the making and involved many in its hierarchy, particularly [CEO] Mr. [Charles O.] Prince and Robert E. Rubin, an influential director and senior adviser.
Citigroup insiders and analysts say that Mr. Prince and Mr. Rubin played pivotal roles in the bank’s current woes, by drafting and blessing a strategy that involved taking greater trading risks to expand its business and reap higher profits. Mr. Prince and Mr. Rubin both declined to comment for this article.
When he was Treasury secretary during the Clinton administration, Mr. Rubin helped loosen Depression-era banking regulations that made the creation of Citigroup possible by allowing banks to expand far beyond their traditional role as lenders and permitting them to profit from a variety of financial activities. During the same period he helped beat back tighter oversight of exotic financial products, a development he had previously said he was helpless to prevent.
As y'all know, Robert Rubin is an economic adviser on the Obama transition team. More change we can believe in!Saturday, November 22, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Shiver Me Timbers!
From The Globe & Mail, and awesome phony Bloomberg story making the rounds on Wall Street:
Somali Pirates in Discussions to Acquire Citigroup
By Andreas Hippin
November 20 (Bloomberg) -- The Somali pirates, renegade Somalis known for hijacking ships for ransom in the Gulf of Aden, are negotiating a purchase of Citigroup.
The pirates would buy Citigroup with new debt and their existing cash stockpiles, earned most recently from hijacking numerous ships, including most recently a $200 million Saudi Arabian oil tanker. The Somali pirates are offering up to $0.10 per share for Citigroup, pirate spokesman Sugule Ali said earlier today. The negotiations have entered the final stage, Ali said.
"You may not like our price, but we are not in the business of paying for things. Be happy we are in the mood to offer the shareholders anything," said Ali.
The pirates will finance part of the purchase by selling new Pirate Ransom Backed Securities. The PRBS's are backed by the cash flows from future ransom payments from hijackings in the Gulf of Aden. Moody's and S&P have already issued their top investment grade ratings for the PRBS's.
Head pirate, Ubu Kalid Shandu, said: "We need a bank so that we have a place to keep all of our ransom money. Thankfully, the dislocations in the capital markets has allowed us to purchase Citigroup at an attractive valuation and to take advantage of TARP capital to grow the business even faster."
Shandu added, "We don't call ourselves pirates. We are coastguards and this will just allow us to guard our coasts better."
*CITI IN TALKS WITH SOMALI PIRATES FOR POSSIBLE CAPITAL INFUSION
*WILL REQUIRE ALL CITI EMPLOYEES TO WEAR PATCH OVER ONE EYE
*SOMALIAN PIRATES APPLY TO BECOME BANK TO ACCESS TARP
*PAULSON: TARP PIRATE EQUITY IS AN `INVESTMENT,' WILL PAY OFF
*KASHKARI SAYS `SOMALI PIRATES ARE 'FUNDAMENTALLY SOUND' '
*Moody's upgrade Somali Pirates to AAA
*HUD SAYS SOMALI DHOW FORECLOSURE PROGRAM HAD `VERY LOW' PARTICPATION
Somali Pirates in Discussions to Acquire Citigroup
By Andreas Hippin
November 20 (Bloomberg) -- The Somali pirates, renegade Somalis known for hijacking ships for ransom in the Gulf of Aden, are negotiating a purchase of Citigroup.
The pirates would buy Citigroup with new debt and their existing cash stockpiles, earned most recently from hijacking numerous ships, including most recently a $200 million Saudi Arabian oil tanker. The Somali pirates are offering up to $0.10 per share for Citigroup, pirate spokesman Sugule Ali said earlier today. The negotiations have entered the final stage, Ali said.
"You may not like our price, but we are not in the business of paying for things. Be happy we are in the mood to offer the shareholders anything," said Ali.
The pirates will finance part of the purchase by selling new Pirate Ransom Backed Securities. The PRBS's are backed by the cash flows from future ransom payments from hijackings in the Gulf of Aden. Moody's and S&P have already issued their top investment grade ratings for the PRBS's.
Head pirate, Ubu Kalid Shandu, said: "We need a bank so that we have a place to keep all of our ransom money. Thankfully, the dislocations in the capital markets has allowed us to purchase Citigroup at an attractive valuation and to take advantage of TARP capital to grow the business even faster."
Shandu added, "We don't call ourselves pirates. We are coastguards and this will just allow us to guard our coasts better."
*CITI IN TALKS WITH SOMALI PIRATES FOR POSSIBLE CAPITAL INFUSION
*WILL REQUIRE ALL CITI EMPLOYEES TO WEAR PATCH OVER ONE EYE
*SOMALIAN PIRATES APPLY TO BECOME BANK TO ACCESS TARP
*PAULSON: TARP PIRATE EQUITY IS AN `INVESTMENT,' WILL PAY OFF
*KASHKARI SAYS `SOMALI PIRATES ARE 'FUNDAMENTALLY SOUND' '
*Moody's upgrade Somali Pirates to AAA
*HUD SAYS SOMALI DHOW FORECLOSURE PROGRAM HAD `VERY LOW' PARTICPATION
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Wednesday Night Eres Tu Blogging
Wonderfully sappy song from 1973 Spain. How could Franco let this happen?
China Rising?
Somewhat long, complicated, interesting article about the interconnectedness of the global economic system. Sample graph:
So far China has been relatively unaffected by the worst insanities of the investment markets. The Financial Times reported a story that did the rounds in Beijing: "At a secret meeting of top Communist officials at the start of this decade, Zhu Rongji, then China's premier, summoned senior academics and finance officials to teach a crash course on complex financial instruments. Financial derivatives. . . were described as like putting a mirror in front of another mirror, allowing a physical object to be reflected into infinity." This is a good description of a mechanism with a worldwide value of more than a $1,000 trillion - the equivalent of 20 years' global production - resting on sand.
So far China has been relatively unaffected by the worst insanities of the investment markets. The Financial Times reported a story that did the rounds in Beijing: "At a secret meeting of top Communist officials at the start of this decade, Zhu Rongji, then China's premier, summoned senior academics and finance officials to teach a crash course on complex financial instruments. Financial derivatives. . . were described as like putting a mirror in front of another mirror, allowing a physical object to be reflected into infinity." This is a good description of a mechanism with a worldwide value of more than a $1,000 trillion - the equivalent of 20 years' global production - resting on sand.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
How Prop 8 May Go Down...
Very interesting point about the courts and Prop 8 from one of Andrew Sullivan's readers, quoted in full:
The critical point that is put forward in every brief seeking Prop 8's invalidation is that Prop 8 stands for more than gay marriage: it stands for the premise that any minority group can suddenly be targeted by the majority for discrimination. It essentially eviscerates the Equal Protection Clause of the California Constitution. This because a) the Supreme Court has held (in Perez, some 20 years before Loving) that marriage is a fundamental right and b) in the Marriage Cases, that homosexuals are a suspect class. Unless Prop 8 somehow by implication reversed either of those, Prop 8 means that any time we wanted to be mean to some minority group, we could.
So, just to help you think about this a little more clearly: Prop 8 stands for the idea that we could put on the ballot tomorrow the question of whether Catholics could marry. We could also put on the ballot the question of whether someone with HIV could vote or own property. We could put on the ballot the question of whether mexican catholics can be discriminated against in housing or employment.
You just don't get, do you, up in your ivory tower, that the courts are the ultimate backstop for human rights. Remind me, did desegregation come because of a referendum? No, that was Brown v. Board. Oh, and wait. How about interracial marriage? Nope, that was Perez in California and Loving v. Virginia federally. And I will wager a year's salary that in both cases, had the question been put to a vote, it would have come out completely differently. And if it were put to voters today, I have no confidence that they would vote to sustain them.
That's the point of the Equal Protection Clause. (Aside--do you then also disagree with Romer v. Evans and Lawrence v. Texas?) The rights of minorities aren't subject to extinction by the majority's fiat.
Paul Craig Roberts on the Detroit Bailout
Fantastic article by former Assistant Treasury Secretary Paul Craig Roberts, advocating the bailout of the Big 3 automakers. Read it!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Dummkopfen Sunday Night Blogging
From Rasmussen:
When asked to choose among some of the GOP’s top names for their choice for the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, 64% say Palin. The next closest contenders are two former governors and unsuccessful challengers for the presidential nomination this year -- Mike Huckabee of Arkansas with 12% support and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts with 11%.
When asked to choose among some of the GOP’s top names for their choice for the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, 64% say Palin. The next closest contenders are two former governors and unsuccessful challengers for the presidential nomination this year -- Mike Huckabee of Arkansas with 12% support and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts with 11%.
Lieberman Should Go!
I agree with David Lindorff - the Democrats should show some backbone and kick Lieberman out of their caucus. As Lindorff writes,
The other reason to shun Lieberman, and to cast him into the legislative purgatory he so richly deserves, is that it would be an object lesson to other potential Iagos in the party’s legislative ranks that such treachery will not be tolerated. What, after all, is the point of having a party at all, if its members can be as back-stabbing as Lieberman and get away with it?
The other reason to shun Lieberman, and to cast him into the legislative purgatory he so richly deserves, is that it would be an object lesson to other potential Iagos in the party’s legislative ranks that such treachery will not be tolerated. What, after all, is the point of having a party at all, if its members can be as back-stabbing as Lieberman and get away with it?
It would be a good lesson to the Democrats of the state of Connecticut, too, who voted in a Democratic primary two years ago to oust Lieberman as their candidate for re-election, but who then turned around and joined Republicans in re-electing him when he ran as an independent against a Republican challenger and against Ned Lamont, the Democrat who had bested him in the primary. This was treachery by a class of Democrats in the state of Connecticut that should also not go unpunished. Connecticut voters should no longer have the benefit of a powerful senator with seniority when that senator has so betrayed his party.
However, I will not hold my breath, as Democrats are notoriously lame.Scary Article About the US Economy
Scary news all around! Scary graph:
The notion that consumer prices have to fall because of a recession is pure nonsense. This argument is rooted in fantasy and demonstrates a total lack of understanding of how money works. The more money that is made available, the higher nominal prices will go – regardless of economic growth. We have already gotten one stimulus so far in 2008. It is a good bet another will be in place for the critical holiday shopping season. A shopping hiatus during this holiday season will be catastrophic. If you think the number of Chapter 11 filings is high now, wait until after 1/1/2009. In a $13 Trillion economy, 70% of which is consumer spending a mere 10% cutback in consumer spending (we’re more than a quarter of the way there just in October) will amount to nearly a Trillion dollars yanked from the US economy or a 7% contraction in GDP. And that is just the result of a 10% cutback by consumers. These are the unintended consequences of building an economy on consumption. We’ve already got the recession. When the fresh fiat created to fatten bank balance sheets and lubricate credit markets works its way to Main Street, we’ll have rising consumer prices as well.
The upshot?
How does all this play into the Dollar? Quite simply, in the absence of tangible backing, a currency is backed by economic activity or perhaps implicitly by natural resources as in the case of Canada, Australia, and Russia. US economic growth is fading fast, and as for the full faith and credit of the US Government? Enough said. While there is no official measure of the full faith and credit aspect, the willingness of foreigners to buy debt is a pretty good proxy. And during the past two months, foreigners have been less than inspired to take on more US Government debt. In short, there is no fundamental reason whatsoever for the Dollar to gain value. The current situation is an opportunity to get real. Get real assets and buckle your seatbelts because the currencies of the world are about to play a good old-fashioned game of meet me at the bottom. Lucky for us Gold won’t be participating in the game.
The notion that consumer prices have to fall because of a recession is pure nonsense. This argument is rooted in fantasy and demonstrates a total lack of understanding of how money works. The more money that is made available, the higher nominal prices will go – regardless of economic growth. We have already gotten one stimulus so far in 2008. It is a good bet another will be in place for the critical holiday shopping season. A shopping hiatus during this holiday season will be catastrophic. If you think the number of Chapter 11 filings is high now, wait until after 1/1/2009. In a $13 Trillion economy, 70% of which is consumer spending a mere 10% cutback in consumer spending (we’re more than a quarter of the way there just in October) will amount to nearly a Trillion dollars yanked from the US economy or a 7% contraction in GDP. And that is just the result of a 10% cutback by consumers. These are the unintended consequences of building an economy on consumption. We’ve already got the recession. When the fresh fiat created to fatten bank balance sheets and lubricate credit markets works its way to Main Street, we’ll have rising consumer prices as well.
The upshot?
How does all this play into the Dollar? Quite simply, in the absence of tangible backing, a currency is backed by economic activity or perhaps implicitly by natural resources as in the case of Canada, Australia, and Russia. US economic growth is fading fast, and as for the full faith and credit of the US Government? Enough said. While there is no official measure of the full faith and credit aspect, the willingness of foreigners to buy debt is a pretty good proxy. And during the past two months, foreigners have been less than inspired to take on more US Government debt. In short, there is no fundamental reason whatsoever for the Dollar to gain value. The current situation is an opportunity to get real. Get real assets and buckle your seatbelts because the currencies of the world are about to play a good old-fashioned game of meet me at the bottom. Lucky for us Gold won’t be participating in the game.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Bail Out Detroit?
Good overview of the pros and cons in The New Republic. Estimates are that 3M people would lose their jobs if the Big 3 go under, what with all of their subcontractors going under as well. The social cost of doing nothing would be much larger than the $25B the automakers are after, but would $25B really be enough?
Friday, November 14, 2008
Obama Will Break Your Heart
Sad but true post by Tom Engelhardt. Some interesting graphs:
Finally, President-elect Obama accepted the overall framework of a "Global War on Terror" during his presidential campaign. This "war" lies at the heart of the Bush administration's fantasy world of war that has set all-too-real expanses of the planet aflame. Its dangers were further highlighted this week by the New York Times, which revealed that secret orders in the spring of 2004 gave the U.S. military "new authority to attack the Qaeda terrorist network anywhere in the world, and a more sweeping mandate to conduct operations in countries not at war with the United States."
[snip]
...As head of the New America Foundation Steve Clemons has been writing recently, the economic team looks suspiciously as if it were preparing for a "Clinton 3.0" moment.
Finally, President-elect Obama accepted the overall framework of a "Global War on Terror" during his presidential campaign. This "war" lies at the heart of the Bush administration's fantasy world of war that has set all-too-real expanses of the planet aflame. Its dangers were further highlighted this week by the New York Times, which revealed that secret orders in the spring of 2004 gave the U.S. military "new authority to attack the Qaeda terrorist network anywhere in the world, and a more sweeping mandate to conduct operations in countries not at war with the United States."
[snip]
...As head of the New America Foundation Steve Clemons has been writing recently, the economic team looks suspiciously as if it were preparing for a "Clinton 3.0" moment.
You could scan that gathering and not see a genuine rogue thinker in sight; no off-the-reservation figures who might represent a breath of fresh air and fresh thinking (other than, being hopeful, the president-elect himself). Clemons offers an interesting list of just some obvious names left off stage: "Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, Jeffrey Sachs, James Galbraith, Leo Hindery, Clyde Prestowitz, Charlene Barshefsky, C. Fred Bergsten, Adam Posen, Robert Kuttner, Robert Samuelson, Alan Murray, William Bonvillian, Doug & Heidi Rediker, Bernard Schwartz, Tom Gallagher, Sheila Bair, Sherle Schwenninger, and Kevin Phillips."
Mobilizing a largely Clintonista brain trust may look reassuring to some -- an in-gathering of all the Washington wisdom available before Hurricane Bush/Cheney hit town, but unfortunately, we don't happen to be entering a Clinton 3.0 moment. What's globalizing now is American disaster, which threatens to level a vulnerable world.
Obama Won't be Able to do Much...
From a Der Spiegel interview with British Historian Niall Ferguson. Upshot:
SPIEGEL: So what can Obama do?
SPIEGEL: So what can Obama do?
Ferguson: He can give a great inauguration speech.
SPIEGEL: And what else?
Ferguson: Give more great speeches.
SPIEGEL: He can't do more?
Ferguson: No, because he will have the least latitude of all presidents we can remember. Obama wants to assemble a nonpartisan government, and we will experience a more cautious first 100 days than we did under Bill Clinton. He will be cautious to the point of being boring. This will be precisely his great strength.
SPIEGEL: Where does the problem lie?
Ferguson: With Hank Paulson.
SPIEGEL: What does the current treasury secretary have to do with Obama?
Ferguson: Because of his big bailout plan, Paulson has already spent the money for Obama's healthcare reform and for his tax cuts. The money is gone.
SPIEGEL: Mr. Ferguson, we thank you for this interview.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Sunday Night Psycho Train Blogging
"Psycho" by the post-grunge "Don't Ever Call us a Nirvana Cover Band" Band Puddle of Mudd, sung by a bunch of trains.
Former 49ers' Steve Young's Wife Active Against Prop 8
Interesting story here. Turns out former 49ers QB Steve Young is a Mormon, but not just any Mormon. He is the great-great-great grandson of Brigham Young. And his wife has donated $30,000 to the No on 8 campaign!
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