Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Gifts and Loans

The NYTimes editorial page (which endorsed the $700 billion bailout one month ago) now bemoans the behavior of recipient banks.
Now, lo and behold, with $250 billion in bailout funds committed to dozens of large and regional banks, it turns out that many of the recipients of this investment from taxpayers are not all that interested in making loans.
Shockingly, the banks are not using the government's gift to extend loans, but to... wait for it.... buy up smaller, more profitable banks. That way, if JP Morgan Chase fails, an even bigger chunk of the banking industry goes down with her. Banking executives naturally want to protect their own futures, and ensure that everybody in the industry keeps getting a paycheck. Getting a big fat check from Uncle Sam is not going to turn them into philanthropists.

As I wrote to my Congresswoman last month,
Remember, what brought on this crisis was exuberant lending. No amount of bailing out is going to make bad loans look good to bankers now. An unsound business model is still going to be unsound, even if a government handout allows it to be solvent for a few extra weeks or months.
Banks behavior is perfectly rational. And perhaps politicians' behavior is also rational: they want to protect their jobs and benefit those who donate to their campaigns.

Will voters be rational next Tuesday, and throw out da bums? Here's a clarion call to voters of both parties: if the incumbents in your district and state voted for the bailout, vote against them on Tuesday. Let them know that we disapprove in real polls, not just the ones pollsters conduct.

Just a Pretty Face

It's a shame. An American vice-presidential candidate has been muzzled since nomination; hasn't given a press conference since September 7; hasn't met voters in a town-hall setting since September 10; has spewed inane talking points and canned rhetoric. Dana Milbank has the scoop (on Joe Biden, of course).

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Obamiana



I'm not the first to carve a jack-o-lantern supporting Obama, and I won't be the last. But let's just remember that pumpkins - like acorns - don't have the vote in New York State, and I'll be voting against Obama.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Bias Part II

Orson Scott Card isn't the only Democrat journalist furious with the flagrant pro-Obamitude of the media. Kirsten Powers of the NY Post notes that Biden is getting a free pass from the press:
Barack Obama's choice of Joe Biden as his running mate prompted a small wave of warnings about Biden's propensity for gaffes. But no one imagined even in a worse-case scenario such a spectacular bomb as telling donors Sunday to "gird your loins" because a young president Obama will be tested by an international crisis just like young President John Kennedy was.

Scary? You betcha! But somehow, not front-page news.

Again the media showed their incredible bias by giving scattered coverage of Biden's statements.

There were a few exceptions. On MSNBC's "Morning Joe," co-host Mika Brzezinski flipped incredulously through the papers, expressing shock at the lack of coverage of Biden's remarks. Guest Dan Rather admitted that if Palin had said it, the media would be going nuts.
I would add to Powers' remarks that Biden didn't get the kid-gloves treatment from the media when he was running against Obama, back in the primaries. His comment about Obama being "articulate and bright and clean" was heavily covered at the time. During her campaign against Obama, Hillary Clinton also felt (unfamiliar) opposition from the press.

Will the media be willing to hold an Obama administration accountable after they help elect him? Or will every economic failure and military snafu for the next eight years be blamed on George W. Bush?

Hat tip to James Taranto at BOTWT.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Card on the Media

Orson Scott Card is a novelist - Ender's Game, etc. - and (apparently) columnist. His sci-fi books focus on thorny ethical dilemmas, and characters act out their own salvation or destruction in the mode of Greek tragedy.

Card is angry now, principally at the media, and secondarily at his own party. Drudge links to the piece. Here are some excerpts.
An open letter to the local daily paper — almost every local daily paper in America...

[The credit crisis] was completely foreseeable and in fact many people did foresee it. One political party, in Congress and in the executive branch, tried repeatedly to tighten up the rules. The other party blocked every such attempt and tried to loosen them.

Isn't there a story here? Doesn't journalism require that you who produce our daily paper tell the truth about who brought us to a position where the only way to keep confidence in our economy was a $700 billion bailout? Aren't you supposed to follow the money and see which politicians were benefiting personally from the deregulation of mortgage lending?

I have no doubt that if these facts had pointed to the Republican Party or to John McCain as the guilty parties, you would be treating it as a vast scandal. "Housing-gate," no doubt. Or "Fannie-gate."

Instead, it was Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, both Democrats, who denied that there were any problems, who refused Bush administration requests to set up a regulatory agency to watch over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...

These are facts. This financial crisis was completely preventable. The party that blocked any attempt to prevent it was ... the Democratic Party. The party that tried to prevent it was ... the Republican Party.

If you who produce our local daily paper actually had any principles, you would be pounding this story, because the prosperity of all Americans was put at risk by the foolish, short-sighted, politically selfish, and possibly corrupt actions of leading Democrats, including Obama.

If you who produce our local daily paper had any personal honor...

If you had any principles, then surely right now, when the American people are set to blame President Bush and John McCain for a crisis they tried to prevent, and are actually shifting to approve of Barack Obama because of a crisis he helped cause, you would be laboring at least as hard to correct that false impression.

If you had any personal honor...

...Honest people tell the truth even when they don't like the probable consequences....

Is getting people to vote for Barack Obama so important that you will throw away everything that journalism is supposed to stand for?

You're just the public relations machine of the Democratic Party, and it's time you were all fired and real journalists brought in, so that we can actually have a news paper in our city.
Congratulations to Card for taking on his own party and profession. And kudos to Bill O'Reilly for taking Barney Frank to task. Harshly.

Monday, October 20, 2008

A Vicarious Victory

So the Red Sox lost a pitcher's duel last night. Our best wasn't as good as the Rays' best. The comeback in Game 5 preserved our dignity; the victory in Game 6 set up as exciting a baseball game as you can ask for. And our loss in Game 7 sent the best team in the AL to the World Series. Even I can admit that the Rays were the better team, both in the long haul and in a short series. It all boiled down to better starting pitching, game in, game out.

Why am I so comfortable with the loss? In no small part because during last night's 6th inning a woman dashed into the lounge where a few other fans and I were watching and breathlessly asked how the runs had scored. She was a Tampa Bay fan - and had been since going to Opening Day in 1998. Her family owns season tickets. She suffered through 10 seasons of ignominy. And she didn't really believe her team would pull it off. She said, in the 7th or 8th inning, "Even if they blow this, they've given us more than we could have imagined."

Watching a real fan take in the victory was good for the soul. She called her parents and planned for flying home to see Thursday's game in St. Petes. She was close to tears, hugging herself, hugging her friend, just staring at the bouncing mass of Tampa Bay players on the TV screen.

So for the real Tampa Bay fans - the ones who remember Fred McGriff... the ones who cheered Scott Kazmir when he was young and unproven... the ones who own ugly green-and-black gear, the ones who cried last night - GO RAYS!

Friday, October 17, 2008

Funniest. Candidate. Ever

THE RED SOX WIN!

THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN! THE RED SOX WIN!

And I went to bed early. The shame.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Announcing

Over the Monster has a humorous take on the annual suffering serious baseball fans undergo at the hands (voices?) of the unserious, uninformed national announcers. If you've been frustrated by Chip Caray and co. this week, you'll enjoy this.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox have the Rays right where they want them. In elimination games since 2003, the Sox are 11-2, and twice won the ALCS after trailing 1-3 (or worse). Tremble, Tampa Bay fan(s?)!!

Bob Schieffer for President!

Last night's debate was so much better than the previous three, I was left wondering who had abducted my candidates and replaced them with interesting, intelligent human beings! Schieffer had permission to be more intrusive than the previous moderators, and he used his power well. Several times (but not too many) he interrupted one candidate to get the other's rebuttal on a characterization. Schieffer remained warm and avuncular throughout, and let the candidates free to go overtime when things really got interesting. Both seemed more on-the-ball and presidential than before.

Bob Schieffer's running mate should (of course) be Joe the Plumber. Joe "the Plumber" Wurzelbacher was mentioned 22 times in the debate, much to his surprise. While watching last night, I said, "there should be a t-shirt for this". Sure enough, as of this writing CafePress features 289 different "Joe the Plumber" designs.

Schieffer-Plumber 2008: Avuncularity, Anonymity, Apposity.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Lady In Red

Columbus Day weekend, Amsterdam and Lake George, New York.

Blog Action Day: Poverty

Today is Blog Action Day; thousands of bloggers are highlighting poverty issues to create awareness and stir action.

Better than anything I can contribute, check out my sister's blog, which chronicles her service in the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation. A recent post introduces us to new children at the home where she lives:
The older child was a 4 year old boy in the beginning stages of kwashikor, a protein deficiency malnutrition where the child's lower limbs become swollen, his hair turns orange and his skin begins to flake off. This boy only had the swollen legs. We prayed about him and talked it over together, but we decided not to take him. Dorothy's mission is supposed to be for infants and 4 years is a pretty long way beyond infant. I gave them peanut butter to feed the boy 3 times a day and we told the mother that we would talk to Dorothy and to other people that we know and see if we can find another solution for him.

We did take Miltha, the 9 month old girl. She is in a general state of malnourishment, simply because her mother is very malnourished so the breast milk she has been drinking has not been sufficient or abundant enough. She is strong enough to drink from a bottle, so we're going to start chunking her up!
Also, check out Inos' brief discussion of his stay in Muqattam, Egypt, a neighborhood where I've also worked.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Mighty Mouse

The best laid plans of mice and men: Firefighters in Taiwan who were looking after the snake... thought that the live mouse would make a perfect lunchtime treat. But the furry creature had other ideas.

In the grand tradition of Brian Jacques' Matthias, the mouse won a thirty minute cage fight by slaying the viper.

Hat tip to BOTWT.

One Less Reason to Vote McCain-Palin

Tina Fey says she'll quit her show-stopping rendition of Sarah Palin if the real one wins the Vice Presidency in November. That's one less reason to go McCain-Palin (we're running thin here!)

Friday, October 10, 2008

Bedeviling Rays

The Red Sox are about to open the ALCS at Tropicana "Field" in St. Petersburg. Studious fans know that place is haunted by catwalks and a history of bad baseball and bad blood. But what about the visiting team's accommodations? Apparently, the Vinoy Hotel is haunted. Read all about it:
[Scott Williamson:] "I looked, and someone was standing right where the curtains were. A guy with a coat. And it looked like he was from the 40s, or 50s, or 30s – somewhere around that era."

[Coach Frank Velasquez:] "The fact that it lined up with someone’s story that I never knew anything about just kind of helps me know that it was real."

Coach Gerald Perry... swears to this day that on the team’s third night in the hotel, he awoke to find his room door wide open when he knew he had bolted it shut before retiring to bed...

In the mid-1990s, the paper ran a story about a painting crew that fled their job site at the Vinoy after returning from a break to discover buckets of paint knocked off their scaffolding and splattered on the walls...

Thoroughly spooked, [John Frascatore's] family fled without their luggage. When they transferred to a room in the new wing of the hotel, front desk staff told them "that stuff happens all the time" in the old wing...

...coach Cito Gaston, whose hotel room door, which he’d locked and chained shut, kept opening in the middle of the night and then slamming. "Then I go check and nobody was there. Nobody was in the hallway. Nothing."

[Jay Gibbon] set the alarm clock on the bedside table, then washed up and prepared for bed. As he reached for the lamp, he noticed the clock he’d just set was now off. He sat up to reset it and discovered the cord draped over the dresser with the prong resting over the clock. “It kind of freaked me out” says Gibbons, "because the outlet was near the floor. How the hell did the plug get from down there to the top of the dresser and just stay there? Because I didn’t even move the clock."

It was at that moment Jon and Dana [Switzer] believed they saw the artwork hanging above their bed come to life. The painting depicted a garden scene with a woman in Victorian dress holding a basket with her right hand. According to John, her left hand, which had been by her chin, was now scratching the glass desperately to get out...

Gift shop workers... report frequently finding store items broken or moved when they arrive in the morning.
Ghosts or no ghosts (if this was Philadelphia, I'd assume it was fans causing mischief), the article concludes, the visiting team clubhouse at Tropicana Field is full of jumpy, bleary-eyed ballplayers in need of a good night’s sleep.

Hat tip to the CHB, Boston's own specter of the newsprint.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

NO WAR FOR CHICKPEAS!

Life imitates Zohan. From the AP:
"It is not enough they (Israelis) are stealing our land. They are also stealing our civilization and our cuisine," said [Fadi Abboud, president of the Lebanese Industrialists Association]...

He said his group... seeks to claim [hummus,] the eggplant spread baba ghannouj and tabbouleh, a salad made of chopped parsley and tomatoes, as Lebanon's own.
The headline? Hummus War Looms Between Lebanon and Israel.

Hat tip to James Taranto at BOTWT

I Told You So

The Dow is down another 350 550 650 points today... after drops every day this week. The index has been down every single day since the bailout passed, by over 2000 points, or over 20% of the its September 30th value.

In the time it took me to write this, the reported value of the Dow dropped another 300 points.

Maybe the bailout didn't "rescue" the economy or "restore confidence" to Wall Street. Funny, huh?

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

"The Worst Debate Ever"

Politico does not think much of last night's Nod-off in Nashville.
Place the gravity of the moment next to the blah-blah-blah artifice of the rhetoric and overall insubstantiality of the evening and this is what you get: The worst presidential debate ever.
I can't claim as much expertise on the history of the debates, but apparently the rules and expectations have evolved toward the talking-point fests we've witnessed over the last few weeks. Sarah Palin has differed from the men in the race only in the transparency of her ignoring the questions.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Gonaives

My sister in Haiti posted a series of photos from the island of Gonaives, showing the devastation left over there from Hurricane Ike.

NBC Explains the Bailout

Video of the SNL bailout conference is here.

Bring on the Rays!


Sox v. Rays: The Rumble in the Trop IX!

Introductions

Two new blogs on the roll today: Free Convection, by reader and friend inos, and Kick-Boxing Rhinos by reader and old friend emily grace.

Free Convection yesterday noted the Pope's wise comments about the state of the global economy. Kick-Boxing Rhinos recently highlighted... yeah, that was immodest.

A question for Inos: what does "Free Convection" mean? Is that 'free' like, "Free Mandela!" or like "Free Donuts!"? And a question for emily grace: what was the word Madeleine L'Engle coined/used to refer to dragon excrement in A Wrinkle In Time or its sequel? Or am I misremembering something from my childhood?

Friday, October 3, 2008

Change

To an electorate hungry for change, the current consensus in Washington is odious. The sitting President, both would-be successors, the Speaker of the House, Senate Majority Leader, Senate Minority Leader, House Minority Leader all agree on the single most important piece of legislation to cross the Capitol in decades.

A venerable professor in my department calls the $700 billion bailout "the worst Federal decision of my lifetime". Not a single Economics professor here is in favor. Four hundred economists wrote an open letter to Congress asking for patience and delay, at a minimum.

And yet, and yet: not a single of these unpopular "leaders", not one of the hungry presidential candidates, can muster the courage to stand with the American people and the economists against the financial interests? At a minimum, someone could say, "This is too rapid. We need time to digest and discuss the biggest investment of U.S. income since World War II." That would at least buy time for reality to set in!

Instead, the Senate sneakily initiated a taxation bill (this is unconstitutional), and loaded it with 400 pages of pork and tax giveaways to Congressmen's pet interests. The result may be a bill still worse than the first one passing a bribed and corrupt House.

Is there a challenge out to see which party or branch of government can become less popular? Will someone sue to force the Supreme Court to take a stand on Senate-initiated taxation?