the bailout is about healthcare per sarah palin

i've watched this thing three times and i still have no idea what she is talking about.

the scary thing is, neither does she.

here's another one.

here's another one.

here's another one.

this is painful. dan qualye seriously looks like alex trebek right about now. speaking of sean connery, he's got some domestic ideas he'd like to share.

before and after

this will be my last mention of hurricane ike. but i forgot i took the bottom picture just before sundown on friday evening. the top picture was taken the next morning after the hurricane. you can't see from the picture, but there are two more huge trees blocking the street. both pictures are facing the same direction. in fact, you can see the chase building in the bottom one.

i wonder if that car was out there all night? that was a bold move.

saturday in the city

the bailout passed and the texans still suck. some thing's change, some don't. we'll see what happens in the following weeks.

check out this quote from hank paulson, then ceo of goldman sachs, in 2000. so let me see if i have this straight, we help goldman today by destroying our financials tomorrow? is that right? do i have that right?

energy star appliances seem all too common now.

watched a really good movie last night called "talk to me" about dj petey greene in washington during the 60's and 70's. not sure how good the movie would have been without don cheadle. man, that dude is awesome.

the 12 pics of rod stewart.

new video from the fleet foxes.

here's some tips on growing a beard. it's going to happen soon.

the days of wine and booze

been listening to one song repeatedly off of the minus 5 album "down with wilco."

"one day, when i'm old or dead
one day, can't get out of bed
i hope and pray the night before
we were out of our heads
cause i never want to lose
no i, never want to lose
the days of wine and booze"
- the minus five

i'm also obsessed with the pernice brothers. check this one out.

i wonder if anyone in the world is watching wings right now.

i momentarily love the los angeles dodgers. the cubs are going down.

rack me

the whole article is here, but i couldn't help but post some of this from rolling stone:

"The defining moment for me came shortly after Palin and her family stepped down from the stage to uproarious applause, looking happy enough to throw a whole library full of books into a sewer. In the crush to exit the stadium, a middle-aged woman wearing a cowboy hat, a red-white-and-blue shirt and an obvious eye job gushed to a male colleague — they were both wearing badges identifying them as members of the Colorado delegation — at the Xcel gates.
"She totally reminds me of my cousin!" the delegate screeched. "She's a real woman! The real thing!"

I stared at her open-mouthed. In that moment, the rank cynicism of the whole sorry deal was laid bare. Here's the thing about Americans. You can send their kids off by the thousands to get their balls blown off in foreign lands for no reason at all, saddle them with billions in debt year after congressional year while they spend their winters cheerfully watching game shows and football, pull the rug out from under their mortgages, and leave them living off their credit cards and their Wal-Mart salaries while you move their jobs to China and Bangalore.

And none of it matters, so long as you remember a few months before Election Day to offer them a two-bit caricature culled from some cutting-room-floor episode of Roseanne as part of your presidential ticket. And if she's a good enough likeness of a loudmouthed Middle American archetype, as Sarah Palin is, John Q. Public will drop his giant-size bag of Doritos in gratitude, wipe the Sizzlin' Picante dust from his lips and rush to the booth to vote for her. Not because it makes sense, or because it has a chance of improving his life or anyone else's, but simply because it appeals to the low-humming narcissism that substitutes for his personality, because the image on TV reminds him of the mean, brainless slob he sees in the mirror every morning.

Sarah Palin is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the modern United States. As a representative of our political system, she's a new low in reptilian villainy, the ultimate cynical masterwork of puppeteers like Karl Rove. But more than that, she is a horrifying symbol of how little we ask for in return for the total surrender of our political power. Not only is Sarah Palin a fraud, she's the tawdriest, most half-assed fraud imaginable, 20 floors below the lowest common denominator, a character too dumb even for daytime TV — and this country is going to eat her up, cheering her every step of the way. All because most Americans no longer have the energy to do anything but lie back and allow ourselves to be jacked off by the calculating thieves who run this grasping consumer paradise we call a nation."

wow.

fancy plans and pants to match

when warren buffet, or as i like to call him "w.b.", speaks, i listen. he's got a fix for the economy.

here it is.

big time hate piece on john mccain from rolling stone. big time.

best sportswriter going: jason whitlock.

pigs on the wing

this is the real worry behind the massive congressional bailout. maybe it will help, maybe not. all i know is that penguins are some funny looking birds.

bailout 101. good time reading.

what is the libor?

who wrote "pigs on the wing"?

and did anyone know brian wilson has had a new album out for a couple of weeks? it's actually really good.

bill maher's got a new documentary out. check it out.

derivatives

warren buffet calls derivatives "financial weapons of mass destruction." i can't begin to explain what derivatives are because i only understand part of it. but when you have warren buffet saying that about something, it begs notice.

phill gramm was a senator from texas. he was also john mccain's campaign co-chair before he said something amazingly stupid. he also sponsored a bill adamantly denouncing regulation of our financial institutions. he also authored an act to allow consolidation of commercial and investment banks. the gramm-leach-bliley act has been highlighted here before.

isn't it amazing how one man who most of us never heard helped to create the situation we're currently facing. he's not our president, so he won't get blamed. but his stamp of approval is all over this mess. and he was john mccain's close advisor, probably still is, just without a title. john mccain has admitted openly he knows nothing about the economy. and he's got this man talking into his ear. and he could be our next president. and our next vice president is even more amazing. i'll wait until after the debate to discuss that. wow.

picks

mlb postseason picks are in for 2008. here are the league divisional rounds:

national league

chicago cubs vs. los angeles dodgers: i have the dodgers in this one. i like the way their staff has come together. i really like what manny has done to that lineup. and i think the cubs are coming in to the playoffs with a real lack of momentum. dodgers in 4.

philadelphia phillies vs. milwaukee brewers: i like the phillies here. i can't understand why this team underachieves as much as they do, but i think this year they get their act together and get to the 2nd round. hamels, moyer and myers with lidge closing will do better than c.c. and a busted up ben sheets. phillies in 4.

american league

tampa bay rays vs. chicago white sox: tampa bay is my team this year. i love the way this team is put together. i love the way they took it to the yankees and red sox and won the division. i love jerry hunsicker who is an advisor. and i absolutely hate the white sox. go rays! rays in 5.

los angeles angels of anaheim vs. boston red sox: isn't that name the most ridiculous thing in sports this side of al davis? i like them anyway though. i think they finally get over that hump with boston. boston is banged up. beckett will throw, but who knows how much he's got. lowell is hurt and jason bay is weak. texeria, lackey and k-rod will steamroll this red sox team. angels is 4.

once these predictions hit their mark, which they're guaranteed to do, i'll be back to pick for the league championship series.

u.s. saves europe....for now

aig was propped up, while lehman's was cut loose.

here's the reason.

alphabet soup is doing us in

are CDS the next card to fall?

that's the $55 trillion dollar question.

we need glue and scotch tape

check out a link from paul kedrosky's blog that's a link to michael lewett's column.

let's recap

i have to wonder what value a system has that generates value of physical assets by emotion. are some of these companies really worthless? maybe. probably not yet, but they're moving that way, if we're talking about financials. are the others really worth less today than they were yesterday? yes. but why? why are these companies who do not trade in financials worth less? is it because they are low of cash, therefore steps away from insolvency? possibly. i'm not an expert.

but what to make of the term "market fears?" how can we calm the fears of wall street? because they sure seem like a bunch that is easily rattled. today's dip was huge. it was the single largest one-day drop in the dow. ever. can you believe that? we just witnessed the largest one-day drop in the dow ever. it's never happened before.

so how will injecting $700 billion into the market help the market? will it really hit the market? because buying worthless assets in the hopes to sell them in the future does not seem like a way to turn this market around. by doing so, i suppose we're taking bad assets off the books, allowing banks to rid themselves of these subprime mortgages and stay afloat. i think that's what the plan is. that and then to sell them later on for a profit, if a profit can be had.

but who are buying from first? how much are we going to buy from each bank? will this reach into international bank books? will banks start lending to each other again if we take these bad assets off the books? will some sort of oversight be added back into the equation? because i cannot sit back and watch greed and arrogance run entire industries into the ground. we all sit back as long as we're making money. but think for a second. do you know what a future trend is? do you know bankers/investors/financial experts look at these future trends and convince themselves a trend is indefinate? why do you they do this? because the current trend is full of cash. and if something is too good to be true, then we'll make it true.

anyway. it's not the end of the world. it's not the end of this country. sometimes i wonder just how far we'll go to make money. to earn revenue. to boost earnings per share. corporations have no responsibility. they're whole existence is to make money. if you rely on them for anything, anything at all, you're a fool. stay smart. smarter than them. stay ahead of them.

we need a change.

swing and a miss

house defeats bill.

america, this is hunger and disease.

hunger and disease, this is america.

you two get to know each other.

the end of pax americana?

there was the romans. there was the british. there was the americans? found out here.

also, there's a plan in place to help/slow our financial meltdown. it will be voted in. we should probably read it.

hey did anyone watch the debate the other night? why won't john mccain look at barack obama? he kept looking down at jim lehrer. i found that somewhat strange. and what is with republican smiles? john mccain's smile is eerily similar to george bush's weird smile. and there's this guy.

"lighten up henry. it's only vomit."

and finally, brad ausmus played his last game for the astros today. in the last few years, craig biggio, jeff bagwell and now brad ausmus, have all retired. i remember seeing all these guys play at the astrodome, including ken caminiti.

my favorite brad ausmus memory will be that 18 inning game against the braves in the nlds. lance berkman had hit a grand slam to pull us back within one run. but the bottom of the ninth came and we were at the bottom of our lineup. brad ausmus connected on a pitch and sent it over 400ft. to tie the game. it was the most improbable home run i think i've ever seen. we went on to win that game and the series. that game was so long, i woke up and it was already the fourth inning. i went to work and it was still on the radio. i got to work and proceeded to sit and watch every pitch for two and a half hours before we finally won. i can't imagine what it was like to have been there that day.

good luck brad.