Tickets to a Jets Game…FREE
Tailgating for five hours…$100
New Giants Stadium under construction…$1 billion
Watching Bengals fans walking into the stadium among 75,000 well lubricated J-E-T-S fans…priceless
I didn’t like it when the SEC banned short selling in financial stocks. Well, check this out post from the outstanding blog Crossing Wall Street,
Great moments in government
September 19, 2008: S.E.C. Temporarily Blocks Short Sales of Financial Stocks
Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF) closes at $22.38October 1, 2008: S.E.C. Extends Ban on Short-Selling
Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF) closes at $20.67October 8, 2008: A Debate as a Ban on Short-Selling Ends: Did It Make Any Difference?
Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF) closes at $15.28
Also, don’t miss the Headline of the Day!
Tim McCarver may suck as an announcer, but he’s 100% correct to call Manny despicable. I prefer “complete disgrace to humanity” myself, but this is a start.
Watch this video where Manny says he played hard in Boston.
I have never despised an athlete like I do Manny Ramirez. See here, here and here.
(FULL DISCLOSURE: I suffer from MDS, Manny Derangement Syndrome.)
I’m having a hard time thinking of a more tone deaf corporate decision than this one from AIG,
American International Group Inc. spent $440,000 on a conference at a California resort less than a week after an $85-billion government takeover, lawmakers said.
Before that even sunk in, exhausted and broke taxpayers were greeted with this news,
AIG Gets More Government Bailout Cash
Only one day after it was revealed that AIG had sprung for a $440,000 spa vacation shortly after getting an $84 billion government-loan bailout comes this report: The government is loaning AIG another $38 billion.
AIG, the world’s largest insurer, said it has already drawn down $61 billion on its $84 billion line of credit from the government. AIG’s financial products division got into the mortgage-backed securities market and incurred billions in losses, sending the entire company teetering toward bankruptcy. The $84 billion loan was meant to help prop up AIG.
Portfolio’s Felix Salmon says AIG is paying 12.83% interest on that $61 billion, more or less. It is insane to think that a company with a trillion dollar balance sheet can mismanage its way out of business.
Remember when $37 billion was a big deal? Those were the days. Unfortunately, AIG is not done draining our pockets. Where it ends, nobody knows.
Great question from an emailer overnight,
Where are all the strong leaders when you need them?
I know where they weren’t, and that’s on stage last night.
McCain needed to do something decisive, to press Obama for the entire night. He had no coherent theme or message. McCain had some good minutes within the hour and a half. Clearly it was not enough. He just skimmed the surface of what could have been a great theme for him last night, words versus deeds. Obama talks about middle class tax cuts but has never proposed one. Obama talks about reform but has never proposed one. Obama talks about bipartisanship, but has never reached across the aisle. Obama talks about the housing crisis, but he never did a thing to prevent it. Rather than “just words”, McCain has a record of doing all these things, Obama does not. Yes, McCain may have mentioned this a time or two throughout the course of the evening, but it was not enough.
Here are two examples that stand out from last night, and it just so happens to be the first two questions of the evening. The first question was about the economy and I was floored by McCain’s answer,
I would order the secretary of the treasury to immediately buy up the bad home loan mortgages in America and renegotiate at the new value of those homes — at the diminished value of those homes and let people be able to make those — be able to make those payments and stay in their homes.
This is the kind of shameless pandering that I would expect from Bill Clinton, not John McCain. I watched the debate with friends who I share one thing in common with. Both of us live in houses we can afford. We resisted the urge to keep up with the Joneses and buy a McMansion. My friend asked a simple question, “Is he going to bailout all these jokers who make $200K and bought houses worth $800K? Why should they get any help?” Excellent question. They shouldn’t. Only those truly snookered by corrupt and deceitful lenders should get help.
Second question was about who they would consider for the all important Treasury secretary position. McCain said Meg Whitman. Good grief I thought. McCain likes to rail about greed, fat cats and golden parachutes. Who is a bigger poster child for all this than Meg Whitman? In 2007 alone, Meg Whitman had 17 separate stock sales of at least $10M each time. Let that sink in. Look for yourself. One other small problem with Meg Whitman as U.S. Treasurer, she has zero monetary policy experience. At least he didn’t mention Carly Fiorina!
McCain didn’t change the dynamic, move the needle, what ever you want to call it. This race is all but over as far as I can tell.
I’ve noticed charges of racism all across the political landscape in the past week or so. Four times this week, I’ve indirectly been called a racist. I am sick and tired of people throwing around the race card at the first sign of disagreement. Racism is a serious issue. It should be treated as such. Throwing around the word “racist” when it fits a political need is irresponsible. There is a boy who cried wolf aspect to all this. It is cheapening the term and making it increasingly meaningless in our society. Enough is enough.
Have a problem with Gwen Ifil moderating a debate while she is promoting a book titled, “Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama”? You guessed it, you must be a racist,
Ifill questions why people assume that her book will be favorable toward Obama.
“Do you think they made the same assumptions about Lou Cannon (who is white) when he wrote his book about Reagan?†said Ifill, who is black. Asked if there were racial motives at play, she said, “I don’t know what it is. I find it curious.â€
Upset about the mortgage mess, according to Barney Frank, you must be a racist
Frank says GOP housing attacks racially motivated
BOSTON (AP) — Rep. Barney Frank said Monday that Republican criticism of Democrats over the nation’s housing crisis is a veiled attack on the poor that’s racially motivated…
…”They get to take things out on poor people,” Frank said at a mortgage foreclosure symposium in Boston. “Let’s be honest: The fact that some of the poor people are black doesn’t hurt them either, from their standpoint. This is an effort, I believe, to appeal to a kind of anger in people.”
What an arrogant oaf. Could he evade responsibility any more? Barney, here’s a refresher course of what people are angry about. For starters, you and your incompetence,
â€These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,†said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. â€The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.â€
Have a problem with Barack Obama consorting with unrepentant terrorists? Then you must be racist!
Analysis: Palin’s words may backfire on McCain
WASHINGTON (AP) — By claiming that Democrat Barack Obama is “palling around with terrorists” and doesn’t see the U.S. like other Americans, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin targeted key goals for a faltering campaign.
And though she may have scored a political hit each time, her attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret.
Planning on voting for someone other than Barack Obama? Then you must be a racist.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 (UPI) — Racial backlash against Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Barack Obama could make a difference if the election is close in November, analysts say.
Analysis: Palin’s words may backfire on McCain
By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL
…In her character attack, Palin questions Obama’s association with William Ayers, a member of the Vietnam-era Weather Underground. Her reference was exaggerated at best if not outright false. No evidence shows they were “pals” or even close when they worked on community boards years ago and Ayers hosted a political event for Obama early in his career.”
Unsubstiantiated? Hardly. Even CNN admits Obama is lying about his relationship with Ayers,
Gateway Pundit has an unintentionally funny AP story out today on author Jerome Corsi who was detained in Kenya while allegedly researeching Obama’s background. Here’s the AP protecting Obama from his past once again,
Corsi’s book claims the Illinois senator is a dangerous, radical candidate for president and includes innuendoes and false rumors — that he was raised a Muslim and attended a radical black church.
Raised a Muslim, yes it’s a bogus rumor. What in the name of “God Damn America” are they talking about when it comes to Obama attending a radical black church? False?
Obama called Rev. Wright his “spiritual mentor”. One of his two autobiographies, sigh, is titled after a Rev. Wright sermon, The Audacity of Hope. He was married by him. His children were baptized by him. Obama attanded his church for 1000 Sunday’s, 20 years.
According to Bloomberg, the Obama’s gave very little to charity, less than 1% of their income. That’s one thing he has in common with his running mate Joe Biden. Only one place received substantial donations from the Obama’s, the Trinity United Church of Christ.
The Obamas made their church, Trinity United Church of Christ, one of the biggest beneficiaries of their philanthropy, donating $27,500.
If this isn’t a radical black church, what is?
Who are you going to believe, the AP or your own lying eyes and ears?