H/T The Big Picture:
Citi-Morg
That’s what you get when you merge Citigroup and Morgan Stanley . . .
Category: 40yrs
In the End, it All Comes Down to Pr0n.
It appears that members of the adult entertainment industry, including Larry Flynt, are looking for a federal bailout.
I think that they should just become a bank holding company.
They could give out something much more interesting than toasters to new account holders.
Not Enough Bullets: Weekend at Bernie’s
Madoff, that is.
The prosecution wants his bail revoked. It appears that he has been transferring a significant amount of valuables to 3rd parties.
It appears that he has mailed in excess of $1million in items to friends and relatives:
The decision by Bernard Madoff and his wife to ship jewelry and others valuables to family and friends may land him behind bars sooner rather than later.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Litt of the Southern District of New York told a magistrate judge Monday that Madoff and his wife Ruth mailed in excess of $1 million in valuables late last month despite a court order in a related civil case requiring the accused mastermind of a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme not to dissipate assets.
Most of the material has since been returned and handed over to federal authorities, but Litt said the transfer amounted to changed conditions that warrant Madoff detention as he awaits trial or a guilty plea on one of the largest frauds in history.
Defense attorney Ira Sorkin of Dickstein Shapiro said the mailing of the valuables, which included watches, a pair of cuff links and even a $200 pair of mittens, had nothing to do with allowing Madoff to remain free on bail.
$200 mittens?
My Mouth Writing Checks…..
So, I was at an Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) event.
The SCA is a medieval living history group, and the event was Day of Dance II & Bardic Bachanal.
It was potluck with dancing and bardic (music and story telling).
At the end of the evening, someone publicly thanked the musicians, and we all applauded, and then I shouted out, “Play Freebird.”
And damned if they did not start to play “Freebird”, on a guitar, a mandolin, a tenor recorder, and a bowed psalter…The lyrics were a filk, rather than the original, but the tune was there.
My life is complete now.
Afghan Erection Update
Not a typo. They CIA is using Viagra to win friends and influence tribal leaders in Afthanistan:
The Afghan chieftain looked older than his 60-odd years, and his bearded face bore the creases of a man burdened with duties as tribal patriarch and husband to four younger women. His visitor, a CIA officer, saw an opportunity, and reached into his bag for a small gift.
Four blue pills. Viagra.
“Take one of these. You’ll love it,” the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam.
The enticement worked. The officer, who described the encounter, returned four days later to an enthusiastic reception. The grinning chief offered up a bonanza of information about Taliban movements and supply routes — followed by a request for more pills.
At least this cannot be turned into an IED.
No, this is not the Onion.
A Christmas Card from a Hedge Fund Manager
Courtesy of The Big Picture
ROTFLMAO
On face the nation, Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), said the following, “You know, Rembrandt was a great artist. His brother Murray, on the other hand, Murray Rembrandt wouldn’t paint a house”
Quote of the Day..
Well, it appears that David Vitter has been doing celebratory dances about his role in killing the auto bailout, and some people beg to differ:
“I don’t know what Sen. Vitter has against GM or the United Auto Workers or the entire domestic auto industry; whatever it is, whatever he thinks we’ve done, it’s time for him to forgive us, just like Sen. Vitter has asked the citizens of Louisiana to forgive him, ” said Johnson [Morgan Johnson, president of the UAW local for GM in Shreveport], president of Local 2166. Otherwise, Johnson said of Vitter, it would appear, “He’d rather pay a prostitute than pay auto workers.”
When You Get Blasted as Know Nothing Ideologues by Dick Cheney…
It’s official we are bizarro world:
Bush personally lobbied recalcitrant Senate Republicans after Vice President Dick Cheney failed to round up support Wednesday during a contentious two-hour meeting.
“If we don’t do this, we will be known as the party of Herbert Hoover forever,” Cheney told them, according to a Senate Republican aide, evoking the president whose inaction is widely blamed for helping trigger the Great Depression in the early 1930s.
Dick Cheney was right…I can’t believe that I said that.
Funniest State Bond Issue Addendum Evah!!!
Yeah, I know, small data set, but still, this is just too good not to share:
According to the source (at link), this is not a joke.
Too Funny
I support the auto bailout, because the consequences would be too dire, but I also agree with this, and it’s funny enough to suspend my usual #@$ing of swear words:
The Onion is a National Treasure
I’m Really Gonna Miss Systematically Destroying This Place
Oh, America. Eight years went by so fast, didn’t they? I feel like I hardly got to know you and methodically undermine everything you once stood for. But I guess all good things must come to an end, and even though you know I would love to stick around for another year or four—maybe privatize Social Security or get us into Iran—I’m afraid it’s time to go. But before I leave, let me say, from the bottom of my heart: I can’t think of another country I would’ve rather led to the brink of collapse.
Brilliant.
Quote of the Day
The ever entertaining Barney Frank:
“I’m a great fan of the president-elect, but I think it’s probably the case that he’s going to have to be more assertive than he’s been,” Frank said, addressing the Consumer Federation of America’s annual financial services conference. “And I know what he says is ‘Well, we only have one president at a time. My problem is, at a time of great crisis and [massive] mortgage foreclosures. … I am afraid that overstates the number of presidents.”
(emphasis mine)
I need to clean my screen now.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) Gets Call From Barack Obama, and Hangs Up on Him
No, it wasn’t a Republican being rude. She thought that Obama, and later Emanuel were pranking DJs trying to punk her.
I really don’t blame Ros-Lehtinen, but it is way too funny not to mention.
This is Not the Onion
It appears that the The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has issued a statement commending the US and UK central banks for following its lead: See also here):
As Monetary Authorities, we have been humbled and have taken heart in the realization that some leading Central Banks, including those in the USA and the UK, are now not just talking of, but also actually implementing flexible and pragmatic central bank support programmes where these are deemed necessary in their National interests.
That is precisely the path that we began over 4 years ago in pursuit of our own national interest and we have not wavered on that critical path despite the untold misunderstanding, vilification and demonization we have endured from across the political divide.
Yet there are telling examples of the path we have…For instance, when the USA economy was recently confronted by the devastating effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as the Iraq war, their Central Bank stepped in and injected life-boat schemes in the form of billions of dollars that were printed and pumped into the American economy.
(emphasis in original central bank statement)
I don’t know about you, but I’m very relieved that a bank that has engineered a 231 million percent inflation rate (and that’s just the official number) has endorsed our monetary policy.
Atlas Shrugged Updated for the Current Financial Crisis.
Full disclosure: I have not read Atlas Shrugged. I do not intend to do so, The Virtue of Selfishness in high school was enough unpleasantness for me.
All I have read is the Wiki, and a few excerpts.
That being said, this made me laugh to hard that I think that I broke something.
Atlas Shrugged Updated for the Current Financial Crisis.
BY JEREMIAH TUCKER
– – – –1.
“Damn it, Dagny! I need the government to get out of the way and let me do my job!”
She sat across the desk from him. She appeared casual but confident, a slim body with rounded shoulders like an exquisitely engineered truss. How he hated his debased need for her, he who loathed self-sacrifice but would give up everything he valued to get in her pants … Did she know?
“I heard the thugs in Washington were trying to take your Rearden metal at the point of a gun,” she said. “Don’t let them, Hank. With your advanced alloy and my high-tech railroad, we’ll revitalize our country’s failing infrastructure and make big, virtuous profits.”
“Oh, no, I got out of that suckers’ game. I now run my own hedge-fund firm, Rearden Capital Management.”
“What?”
He stood and adjusted his suit jacket so that his body didn’t betray his shameful weakness. He walked toward her and sat informally on the edge of her desk. “Why make a product when you can make dollars? Right this second, I’m earning millions in interest off money I don’t even have.”
He gestured to his floor-to-ceiling windows, a symbol of his productive ability and goodness.
“There’s a whole world out there of byzantine financial products just waiting to be invented, Dagny. Let the leeches run my factories into the ground! I hope they do! I’ve taken out more insurance on a single Rearden Steel bond than the entire company is even worth! When my old company finally tanks, I’ll make a cool $877 million.”
Their eyes locked with an intensity she was only beginning to understand. Yes, Hank … claim me … If we’re to win the battle against the leeches, we must get it on … right now … Don’t let them torture us for our happiness … or our billions.
He tore his eyes away.
…..
There is more, go read.
Those Bastards!!!!!!
So, my kids are watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, and they have a “Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends” float.
On the float, Rick Astley singing “Never Gonna Give You Up”.
They Rickrolled me!!!!!!
Update:
The Youtube:
Another edit:
The Wiki for Rickrolling.
Quote of the Day
I am starting to get the sneaking suspicion that the same people who planned the war in Iraq and the occupancy are now hard at work, planning for the Federal credit crisis bailout . . .
Not Good for Chambliss
Doesn’t anyone remember what happened the last time Palin was in close proximity of a large turkey?
OK, This is Just Creepy
Think Progress notes a bit of parody that came distressingly close to reality, a cover of Life magazine based on a movie in which Tina Fey was John McCain’s running mate.
I hate living in an era where parody consistently predicts reality.