Kickoff Sunday Open Thread
I'm sitting here watching the Seahawks play like a AAA team. I guess Sulla will have some company in football purgatory this year.
In other news, Boeing workers have gone out on strike and the Large Hadron Collider will fire up and begin operation on Wednesday.
What's going on in your corner of the world?
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Recent Diaries
Roger Federer defeats Andy Murray 6-2, 7-5, 6-2, winning his 5th consecutive US Open, his 13th major title - putting him but one away from tying Sampras's record of 14 - and becoming the first man in the history of the game to win five consecutive grand slam titles at two separate events (USO & Wimbledon).
It's been odd seeing a more, well, human Federer this past year, but his 'bad' year (semis at the Australian, finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, champion at the US Open) is one that all the other male players - save one rather notable exception - would take in a fraction of a heartbeat.
While there's more tennis to be played this year (Davis Cup & Masters Championship), there's a lot to look forward to for the 2009 ATP tour: Federer's chase of Sampras looks to come to a head; a more competitive field on hardcourts than we've seen in some time (with Murray ascending to the #4 spot, and with plenty of new-ish faces coming up from behind); Nadal's push to keep his newfound #1 ranking, while going for an unprecendented fifth consecutive French Open - and then there's the small matter of Wimbledon. Would Nadal/Federer part IV be too much to ask?
--Brevis esse laboro, obscurus fio.
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)Why I'm an agnostic rather than an atheist:
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)We'd be making our own hadron soup if the Superconducting Supercollider hadn't been canned. Now we get to read about in in CERN journals instead.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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)heh-
“You know, this whole résumé contest that's been going back and forth is not what the American people are looking for.”
OK then, he's familiar with the first rule of holes. Rambobama also thought about joining the military, but not as much action there as in community organizing I guess-
“And I actually always thought of the military as an ennobling and, you know, honorable option. But keep in mind that I graduated in 1979. The Vietnam War had come to an end. We weren't engaged in an active military conflict at that point. And so, it's not an option that I ever decided to pursue.”
If you say so. I knew I was joining when I was as young as 8, it was a calling for me much as I expect teaching (or any other profession that you aren’t terribly well rewarded for) is for others. That may not be the case for everyone, but when you compare what you’re giving up to what you’re putting in I would think your payoff has to be slightly more than being ennobled, but maybe not.
--"That Sam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am!"- Dr. Seuss
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)LINK
This is why you shouldn't want your next door neighbor to be President. Sorry if that is disrespectful to small town America.
--But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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)You'll say that a bailout is a guarantee, and that a guarantor is not the primary obligor. I'll say that that's an accounting point, not a practical one here. And ask you to name the last time a government-operated enterprise of any kind didn't operate at a deficit. And whether you think these bailed out five trillion-plus debtors are likely to lose money in the next year.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )the current debt is pushing $10 trillion, so we only increased it 50% and that's only if the assets that were seized are completely worthless, which is not the case.
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| parent )That's the gross debt. The publicly-held debt is $5.4 trillion, and the rest is money owed from one part of the government to another in the form of "trust funds", the largest being Social Security. Generally speaking, it's the publicly-held debt on which we should focus (in particulary, publicly-held debt as a percent of GDP), in conjunction with projected revenues and projected spending, to gauge our fiscal health and outlook.
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| parent )The "trust funds" are intra-government, but they back up a number of implicit and explicit liabilities (i.e. Social Security)
--The ultimate result of shielding man from the effects of folly is to people the world with fools. -Herbert Spencer
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| parent )oh boy, maybe I shouldn't have opened this up. Don't know if I want to take the time to make things clear to everyone.
Yes, the trust funds represent amounts of money that we are obligated to spend in the future on those programs. The Social Security Trust Fund, for example, is around $2.2 trillion. That just means that we must eventually spend at least that much on Social Security. So what? No one imagines, and certainly no one projects under any plausible scenario, that we would spend anywhere near that little in the future on Social Security. If Defense had a "trust fund" of, say, $1 trillion, meaning we had to spend at least that much in the future on Defense, of what significance would that be if everyone assumes under any plausible scenario that we would spend anywhere near that little anyway?
So if one wants to gauge how good or bad our fiscal outlook is (and it's quite bad under current policies), one should look at projections for total spending, total revenues, and thus total deficits, as well as interest expense and total publicly-held debt ("debt held by the public"), all as a percent of GDP.
The reason current policies are literally unsustainable is because interest expenses are projected to grow so great that eventually we would no longer be able to service our debt (pay the interest expense), or perhaps that great inflation would result, and it is the publicly-held debt on which that interest expense is based. http://www.heritage.org/research/features/BudgetChartBook/fed-rev-spend-...
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| parent )....that she's right on both "too big" and "too expensive to the taxpayer". You do realize that you've been, in theory, on the hook for FNM and FRE's debts since they were created, right? That's one of the drivers of this mess; they have usually been able to borrow more cheaply than fully private competition by virtue of the implicit (now sort-of-explicit, though Hank has managed to keep a little flexibility) guarantee. That credit arbitrage has arguably gotten a number of banks (and the FDIC thereby) further in a hole, too, and you're gonna be on the hook if FDIC gets hit with another couple of Indymac-sized blow-ups.
So "too big" looks like a slam sunk for her. "Too expensive to the taxpayer" is arguable, given that direct costs have as yet been minimal, but the conservatorship is being put in place precisely because not doing so would have been massively expensive to the taxpayer and the taxpayer has already been on the hook for screwups by the GSEs for some time.
--The ultimate result of shielding man from the effects of folly is to people the world with fools. -Herbert Spencer
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| parent )I may be misreading you but you seem to be saying that Palin thinks the government should get out of the mortgage business. Is that it?
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| parent )in a very big way with the subprime borrower bailout plans making the rounds with both candidates' backing. That bailout is guaranteed to lose enormous amounts of taxpayer money regardless of the specifics, for reasons I assume are obvious and have nothing to do with the bailout being discussed here.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )....what Palin's views on the long-term outcome for Frannie or government guarantees or even government lending are. The quote appears to speak to why the bailout/wipeout (depending on whether you are debt, equity or in-between) had to happen. She might well be in favor of phasing out FNM and FRE in favor of a single true governmental agency, or of breaking them up into non-guaranteed private entities, or who knows what.
My only point here was that they are, in fact, pretty damned big, which is forcing Treasury's hand, and they were about to get pretty damned expensive. One might fault her for the tense, though I think even that is arguable depending on why you think things have developed as they have. Consider that a government guarantee appears to be worth something in the market (on the order of 100bps on a trillion bucks, as it happens). I'm not a big believer in free lunches, are you?
--The ultimate result of shielding man from the effects of folly is to people the world with fools. -Herbert Spencer
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| parent )She is speaking in the past tense.
She also doesn't seem to realize that without Freddie & Fannie mortgages would be more expensive. So I don't understand how these two institutions have cost the American people anything. Even if there is a big bail out, F&F have been around for nearly 40 years. I would think their benefits will outweigh the costs of a bailout by quite a bit.
--But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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| parent )into the causes of the $20+ billion losses the two realized last year? And into the book-cooking that went on over the last several years to game executive bonuses? And into why performance bonuses continued to be given out at Fannie Mae even when it was performing poorly?
There is no way I know of to put a dollar figure on the benefits the "guarantees" gave American homebuyers over the last several decades, meaning it is impossible to compare it to bailout costs. And while those costs have yet to be paid, do you have any doubt that they will be enormous?
The failure of a government entity that holds $5 trillion in mortgages merits a major investigation to find out if wrongdoing was involved, and to avoid a future repeat. this is orders of magnitude beyond Enron, after all.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )Accountability is for poor people.
--It's impossible to debate if people simply hold beliefs that have no grounding in reality.
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| parent )That is part of my elitist coastal culture. Find out what went wrong and fix it. Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae are important institutions. If they can be run into the ground by lax oversight by the Bush Administration then I want that fixed ASAP. The American people and the next President deserve better. I hope a lot of people get jail time if the accounting fraud was a rampant as has been reported.
Not as enormous as the benefits we have gotten from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. You can't look at one side of the ledger and then tell us what something costs. Palin is talking about getting rid of FNM & FRE because they costs too much. That is just plain ridiculous. She should be talking about addressing their problems not getting rid of them completely.
--But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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| parent )them, before you blame this debacle solely on Bush.
I agree that it's impossible to get rid of either institution, nor is thre any reason to. It was a house of cards, but one that held together for decades because it was never subjected to stresses like these.
Hasn't anyone told you that you can't simply call yourself an elitist? The name has to be pinned on you by someone else. And don't ask me to do the honors, either, bub.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )We are trying to make elitism a cultural thing. When you think of grits and fried okra you think of those things as part of southern culture. Pretty soon when you think of a baby spinach salad with a maple balsamic drizzle and a goat cheese foam as part of our elitist coastal culture. It is a work in progress for sure but we are one day closer to cultural acceptance.
--But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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| parent )"Goat foam"? I don't know . . . Maybe in California. If elitist coastal culture includes softshell crabs, than I am as soft on it as they come.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )There ought to be laws against such things. A sort of cultural kosher which ought to prevent such things from happening. I don't care about what people do behind a closed kitchen door, but it should not be found on respectable menus where small children or high school students with a passing knowledge of the French language might be tempted.
Like Justice Potter said of pornography, I know it when I see it. Gustatory abominations of this sort must be repressed.
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| parent )....if you get rid of a government guarantee to back them. But that has nothing to do with what they're actually doing to FNM or FRE, which is designed to keep them in the market. For the moment, anyway.
Here's an article from a self-proclaimed member of the "reality based community" that covers some of the points I was talking about:
http://brontecapital.blogspot.com/2008/09/reality-based-community-and-fr...
It basically goes into some detail on a calculation of what letting FNM and FRE continue to raise capital in their damaged state has been and would have entailed in terms of costs to the Treasury. This doesn't even begin to address the market-distortion issue or anything of that nature, it's just an exposition on why Paulson is moving now.
Of note:
Given this the government was eventually going to have to pay the Frannie senior debt. Over the next couple of years then Frannie was effectively going to raise over a trillion dollars in US government debt – but at spreads 100bps or more higher than necessary. The cost to the Federal government of delay is thus more than 10-20 billion annually over the life of that debt. If the debt had five year maturities on average then the cost just of delay could edge 100 billion.
This basically developed over the last 6 months. Spreads shouldn't have blown up if people were buying the quasi-guarantee, but they weren't, so.....
--The ultimate result of shielding man from the effects of folly is to people the world with fools. -Herbert Spencer
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| parent )FNM & FRE didn't cause the problems in the credit market. Therefore for Palin to say that these two organizations have cost the taxpayers too much money is incorrect. The bottom falling out of the credit market has cost taxpayers money.
I didn't get a sense from Palin's comments that she understands this. I looked on McCain's webpage but I couldn't find much about his position on the mission of FNM & FRE.
--But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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| parent )FNM & FRE didn't cause the problems in the credit market.
That, sir, is rather open to debate. At the very least, they were major league enablers of the bubbly prices for prime-to-near-prime borrowers, which make up the vast majority of the borrowing public. The list of problems is a large one, not limited to the market distortions of a big quasi-monopolist subsidized lender, the nasty feedback loop inherent in having a government supported institution with a split charter lobbying said government, the fact that the credit arb portion of their business more closely ressembles a hedge fund than anything else, massive leverage included, etc.
RE bubble -> RE bubble popping -> Credit crisis, and they were deeply in the middle of the former.
--The ultimate result of shielding man from the effects of folly is to people the world with fools. -Herbert Spencer
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| parent )Neither had anything to do with subprime loans, low interest rates, or subprime CDOs. How do you figure they had anything to do with the credit mess?
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| parent )residential mortgages, and the risk-passing that enabled, the key backstop that allowed banks to issue mortgages to what were in essence unqualified borrowers? Would the banks have made those loans if they couldn't simply pass the risk on to the government?
Don't subprime CMOs (I assume that's what you meant) simply consist of aggregated mortgages that individually are backed by FM?
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )Subprime mainly means mortgages that FN/FM wouldn't touch. They only deal with credit worthy buyers.
The banks developed the subprime market around these two not through them.
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| parent )bring down both FMs if they had no subprime default exposure?
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| parent )(but haven't followed it closely) that as the real estate bubble burst the value of of the FM's assets dropped, just like a lot of other assets dropped, even though they were not directly linked to the original subprime loans.
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| parent )I think that was the basic problem with the credit market. FNM & FRE weren't buying up interest only mortgages. If Bear Sterns and its ilk were still around I don't think we would be having a problem with FNM & FRE right now.
--But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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| parent )of an old saying about software - it doesn't do what you want it to do, it does what you told it to do.
FNM & FRE were designed to enable the mortgage market to operate smoothly and provide liquidity to it. They did that very well, the problem was that their very reason for existence amplified already bad trends in financing. They didn't cause the RE bubble, but they provided the method by which it could smoothly and efficiently poison a huge amount of debt.
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| parent )Do you seriously doubt that the Mae/Mac bailouts will be funded by taxpayers when their stock values are already down 80%? If not, you're reduced to arguing tense.
Since you say above that you expect competence in your public servants, what's your take on teh fact that Obama doesn't even know that Russia has veto power over UN Security Council resolutions? (This is the third time I've asked that question without a response.)
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| parent )Really?
When?
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| parent )It's pretty famous:
That wasn't an off-the-cuff gaffe, either; it's from a statement Obama read.
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| parent )http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=184100&title=momen...
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| parent )But nowhere in your link do I see Obama saying that Russia doesn't have veto power.
Just because he wanted to push for a Security Council action doesn't mean he doesn't know Russia has veto power.
Is that what all this is based on?
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| parent )via a resolution. That obviously and inevitably would be an attempt to stop Russia from fighting. How are you going to use the UNSC to force Russia to do anything?
AFAIK even the Obama campaign hasn't defended the statement; they've just pretended it never happened. Instead of trying to engage in the parsing and guesswork that you do.
Is that what all this is based on?
You bet. A statement from the candidate that shows an ignorance of the workings of the UN will get caught every time. This isn't a Mccain cross-in-the-dirt, supposed plagiarization from something Solzhenitsyn never wrote type of story like the one that had liberals here entranced for weeks.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )from Bush and Cheney won't accomplish anything either. Does that mean Bush, Cheney and McCain don't understand how the world works? I don't think so. They are both talking for domestic consumption since no one wants to speak the truth that there is really nothing we can do about the situation.
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| parent )This diplomatic approach (having a UNSC vote even when you know you can't win) has been used by the US for decades and by both parties. There's nothing new here. Maybe you think this approach is not useful but it's hardly an indication that Obama doesn't know how the UNSC works.
Also, at the time Obama said that the US government, Bush's administration, was in fact pushing for a UNSC resolution. Are you saying they don't know about Russia's veto either?
If that's all this is based on, no wonder I hadn't seen it. It's completely ridiculous.
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| parent )August 11:
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| parent )Here is the full quote from Mccain's website:
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| parent )Really, I am having a hard time following what it is that Obama is accused of. As I and others have shown both McCain and the Bush administration were asking for a UNSC resolution at the same time Obama was.
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| parent )(the part U left off his quote) while Obama acted as if it didn't exist. C'mon.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )if he acted as if we could get a resolution out of the UNSC or said something to that effect, you'd have a point. Simply because he didn't mention it doesn't mean that he doesn't understand it.
--I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )Why, if Russia will simply veto it? Answer: Beats the hell out of me.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent ).
--It's impossible to debate if people simply hold beliefs that have no grounding in reality.
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| parent )Take a guess. Why do you think the US would want Russia to veto a UNSC resolution?
Maybe if you answer that we can see why you are confused about this and help you understand.
--But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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| parent )but McCain & Co. help set the table.
--"Making sure your tires are properly inflated, simple thing, but we could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling, if everybody was just inflating their tires and getting regular tune-ups. You could actually save just as much." Ob
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| parent )Presidents call for UNSC resolutions all the time, and they usually don't go into detail about who's opposing it. The act of voting against it highlights a countries intransigence and isolation on an issue. You're just playing word games now.
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| parent )Direct quotes from the two candidates = "playing word games". Whatever.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )direct quotes from the two candidates + assumptions about what they understand based on what wasn't specifically mentioned in their quotes = word games.
You know, when you talked about building your own amplifier you never mentioned that it's fairly easy to get electrocuted if you're not careful. Therefore you obviously don't understand that people can get electrocuted.
--I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )you have to look at the feelings.
--"Making sure your tires are properly inflated, simple thing, but we could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling, if everybody was just inflating their tires and getting regular tune-ups. You could actually save just as much." Ob
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| parent )this is one of those times I wish we were having the conversation live, so I could better understand what the other guy is saying.
Are you really saying that because Obama did not make explicit what McCain did (in that sense Obama's statement is identical to what the Bush administration did) that's proof that Obama doesn't know how the UNSC works?
Really? I mean, that borders on the ridiculous. I have to think we are somehow miscommunicating.
Getting a UNSC vote, even when you know a veto is almost certain, is a US bipartisan policy that goes back decades. What Obama said is nothing new, it's what the US has been doing for decades, and what they actually did in this case.
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| parent )The statement without the qualifier is to me meaningless. Spending time and effort on a UNSC cease-fire resolution is meaningless with the Russian veto; I think the fact that Obama didn't mention that means he wasn't considering it. and I think that's the plain meaning of what he said. All he had to do was add "even though we know the Russians will veto it" or words to that effect to show where he was going with this, just like McCain did. Without that, you have a statement that something should be done that would be futile, with no explanation of what he hopes to accomplish. Please remember that this was a written statement issued by Obama, presumably after the words were considered carefully. And that he's been criticized for not knowing how things work at diplomatic levels.
That said, I accept your position and interpretation as equally valid; I do, however, think that leaving the last sentence off of the para in McCain's written statement was disingenuous.
I wish we could discuss stuff like this face to face - winner buys.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )First, I didn't quote McCain. In any case I don't think the full quote makes much difference but I will try to stick to what I wrote.
Let me try one more time. The Bush administration spent time and effort trying to get a UNSC resolution and at no time did they add the "even though we know the Russians will veto it" part. Does that mean you think that the Bush administration and our UN ambassador don't know how the UN works?
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| parent )I don't know what the Bush WH said about their strategy w/r/t the Russian veto. (I'll follow a link if you have one.) But I do know what the candidates to replace Bush said. said.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )If even an open-minded and well-informed conservative can view Obama's statement not simply as the wrong policy approach, but as proof that Obama doesn't know how the UNSC works, even when what he said is no different than what every other US government has done in the past, then how in the world will political myths ever die?
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| parent ):)
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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| parent )This is basic diplomatic maneuvering.
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| parent )How often do states vote to censure themselves or halt their own activities in major international forums where they have defacto control over the outcome? Let us give Barry the benefit of the doubt, he just didn't seem to realize what Russia's ability to veto meant.
--The ultimate result of shielding man from the effects of folly is to people the world with fools. -Herbert Spencer
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| parent )That's the whole point. Bringing it up on an international forum and forcing the other side to defend it. That's what the US did for decades during the Cold War, even when we knew the USSR would veto it.
I'm not sure if you and tomsyl are making a political or an analytical point, if you are saying that this is something that can be used against Obama or whether you actually believe he doesn't know Russia has veto power.
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| parent )The only point being made is that no one would be saying these things if Obama had a R after his name.
--It's impossible to debate if people simply hold beliefs that have no grounding in reality.
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| parent )It's just a WAG.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )...we've started to acquire quite a dataset.
--It's impossible to debate if people simply hold beliefs that have no grounding in reality.
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| parent )Tonto, of course.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )McCain said exactly the same thing, and of course, no one is saying these things about him.
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| parent )See my correction of your McCain quote above.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )who understands the import of his words and chooses them carefully. McCain's statement less so, and as far as I can tell, appears to have been needlessly confrontational and intentionally so for purely domestic political purposes, without regard to the consequences for policy or international relations.
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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| parent )nothing more, nothing less
--"Making sure your tires are properly inflated, simple thing, but we could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling, if everybody was just inflating their tires and getting regular tune-ups. You could actually save just as much." Ob
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| parent )Why am I not surprised.
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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| parent )and I'm not surprised that you don't understand.
--"Making sure your tires are properly inflated, simple thing, but we could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling, if everybody was just inflating their tires and getting regular tune-ups. You could actually save just as much." Ob
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| parent )and your further explanation leads me to believe my original assessment was correct.
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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| parent )are having any impact on the situation either? Do you feel that we are "All Georgians now"? They're all bloviating about a situation that we have very little influence over. The comments are for domestic consumption on both sides.
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| parent )and when Talking Points Memo or Andrew Sullivan pick this up you can expect a diary on it.
--"That Sam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am!"- Dr. Seuss
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| parent )and expect to see "hits it as usual" and "money quote" in the diary, too.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )You may not be bothered by the fact that a VP candidate doesn't seem to know what Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae do, but rest assured, in all fairness, that bothers me.
So please respect my coastal elitist culture. We expect public servants to actually be qualified for their jobs. If Palin doesn't like F&F then she can at least make a thoughtful argument against them. If there is a better solution I would like to hear it.
--But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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| parent )one line not offered in context, yeah, that's completely fair. I'll go out on a limb here and guess that neither you or I have a real clear idea how much Palin knows, or doesn't know, about Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae. The line in question seems to be trying to score political points more than anything, and deriving anything meaningful from it requires a great deal of speculation. However, deriving outrage from it requires only a small set of preconceived notions.
--"That Sam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am!"- Dr. Seuss
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| parent )Up until Palin uttered her ridiculous statement about Freddie/Fannie you were correct. I didn't have a clear idea about her knowledge on the subject. After her comment, however, I do have an idea, and it seems to me she is misinformed about those two institutions.
What has Palin said/done that makes you think she has a clear idea about the roles of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae?
--But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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| parent )Just because I think you're grasping at straws to discredit Palin doesn't necessarily mean I think she has any understanding about Fannie or Freddie.
--"That Sam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am!"- Dr. Seuss
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| parent )and her own public statements prove that she doesn't, what's wrong with discrediting her with that fact? After all, she's not running for prom queen.
In respect to Palin's comments on Fannie or Freddie I'm reminded of the admonition from Lincoln:
"It is better to be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt"
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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| parent )I'll go out on a limb here and guess that neither you or I have a real clear idea how much Palin knows, or doesn't know, about Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae.
In fact we don't have a clear idea about what she knows about anything.
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| parent )Her first interview is lined up for this week, and from what I've seen the meme from the heads that exploded over this pick has gone from outrage over her not being interviewed to outrage it took her 2 weeks to be interviewed. What is the over/under that they will be outraged from something coming the interview? It's about as close as you can come to a lock.
--"That Sam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am!"- Dr. Seuss
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| parent )told them that keeping her away from the press until Nov 5th was a bad idea. To tell you the truth I would not be surprised if she did just fine in the interview. I would also not be surprised if it was a softball interview and ABC was told that was one of the conditions for getting her exclusive. What would be really interesting would be seeing her go on Olberman.
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| parent )cooperate with Michael Moore on a documentary.
--"That Sam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am!"- Dr. Seuss
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| parent )Obama went on O'Reilly but somehow I don't think we'll see Sarah on Olberman.
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| parent )it's McCain that should appear on Olberman, but I understand Palin in something of a phenom right now so that's who'd everyone like to see.
--"That Sam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am!"- Dr. Seuss
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| parent )here's the wiki entry
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| parent )I really do dislike children-
Even though he's just 52 pounds and 49 inches tall, Drew Gray wasn't hard to spot at Yorktown Golf Club last Sunday: He was the golfer celebrating his first hole-in-one -- at age 5.
--"That Sam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am!"- Dr. Seuss
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)and was surprised by the score when I saw it flash by. Yesterday's Lions game was about as sure as things come in the NFL- rookie head coach, rookie quarterback, franchise going in a new direction, the stars were aligned for a Lion win. Yet they were absolutely shredded. I can not put into words how bad they played. The only reason the Falcons didn't score 60 points is because they are rebuilding. Strangely, however, I wasn't too upset by it. My girlfriend has commented before that when the Lions play poorly I shouldn't get so upset, it's only a game. I guess I feel I have I stake in the outcome though because when the Lions play poorly I usually do get upset, but not yesterday. I just calmly watched that debacle in morbid fascination then went about my business for the rest of the day after it was (mercifully) over. I don't think I've grown out of my passion for the Lions, it's just that they were so bad I never felt invested in them. Things went so wrong so early any hope I has for the season was extinguished by the middle of the first quarter. I'm sensing a #1 or #2 draft pick in April, which is unfortunate for the kid who they take, he'll have to wallow in obscurity until he can escape this mess.
--"That Sam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am!"- Dr. Seuss
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)no snark, if you can detach your emotions from a losing team you're better off than I am. I was still ticked off to see such lousy playing. The problem here is that other than the Seahawk game, we get what seems to be a completely random choice for the other Sunday games. If you want to see good football and the Seahawks aren't the ones playing it, it's difficult to find a good game. And I don't want to switch to DirectTV and pay a hundred extra bucks or so to have a better selection of games.
--I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )My Vikes play tomorrow night. Strange season last year, that's for sure. And of course, I cursed them out at the end. But now I'm back for more abuse.
Second Super Bowl I remember watching was Vikes-Dolphins I chose to root for Vikes because they were the underdog, and just stuck with them ever since. So I got to see them lose a couple more super bowls in the 70s. Felt sorry for myself but now I feel sorry for Bills fans. And speaking of which, a girl I know, a big-time Bills fan originally from Buffalo now in NYC, has a (great) band called "Wide Right".
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)Since '71 in my case. But over the years since so many Pittsbugh residents have moved to the DC area that's now our second team--we even have our own sports bars.
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)...there are two Steelers bars on the west side alone. They show every game. Standing room only during important games. Both look like normal bars, one upscale, one downscale, but when the Steelers are playing....they're madhouses.
--Me: We! -- Ali
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| parent )And Favre looking good. Please oh please don't let the Pats lose to the Jets the first game they play after I've moved from NE to NY.
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)As I was driving home from my inlaws, celebrating my mother in laws birthday (and missing the god damn game! I have only myself to blame.) I was listening to a favorite album of mine.
Lounge-a-Palooza.
It is a great various artist collection of all covers that I can listen to over and over. And I got to thinking how many of these covers, in my estimation, are much better than the original.
Ben Folds Five's cover of the Flaming Lips "She don't use jelly" is a good one, but my favorite is,
Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme's cover of Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun. (mp3)
What covers do others feel are better than the original?
--~At times like these I am reminded of the immortal words of Socrates when he said...."I drank what?"
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)Sweet Thing (v morrison) - Kai Martin
Red, Red Wine (n diamond) - UB40
Sexual Healing (m gaye) - Ne-Yo and also Kate Bush
Hey Yah (OutKast) - Obiadiah Parker
No Ordinary Love (sade) - Deftones
Where is the Love (flack-hathaway) - Black Eyed Peas
Time After Time (c lauper) - Miles Davis
These off the top of my head. Lots more. Of course there are the re-mixes many of which exceed the original also. The Verve Remixes are stunning. Well, a half-dozen, anyway. My favorite "unknown" remix, which completely re-purposes the little Doo-wop ditty, is Little Star, by the Elegants, and as remixed by the Static Revenger.
Edit: Oops. I knew I'd do this. IMO, the best cover of an American pop song is......
Alone Again Or (love) - Calexico - although UFOs version is also pretty good. This is a note for note, lick for lick copy of a '60's acid rock classic that is executed perfectly.
--Me: We! -- Ali
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| parent )Wonderful poetry, lovely compositions, great players.... hideous, hideous singing.
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| parent )Here's a tough call: All Along The Watchtower. I LOVE both original Dylan and the Hendrix remake. If I had to pick, I'd take the remake, but I'm damn glad I don't have to be without either.
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| parent )Dylan's version helped get me thru high school, and Hendrix's version helped get me thru Viet Nam. And yea, if I'd spent a minute or two more on my list, it'd be there too.
--Me: We! -- Ali
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| parent )NIN's original was very good, but Cash took and gave it poignancy that just slays me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go
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| parent )we had an earthquake on Friday evening. Not a big one, but close enough that it manifested as a single huge jolt here at the house (none of the shaking and rolling I'm accustomed to).
We had a raccoon and her three kits in a tree in the back yard last night. That's about all the excitement our Border Collie (who's now almost 14 and has to get around on 3 legs) can handle.
Finally; the weather "cooled down" to 98 degrees today.
All in all, pretty standard stuff considering we only have until Wednesday before we're all sucked into the black hole the LHC will create!!
How's things where you are?
--Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. - W. Somerset Maugham
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)
--~At times like these I am reminded of the immortal words of Socrates when he said...."I drank what?"
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)