MLK Jnr RIP

Martin Luther King, Jr. January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968.

Is Mark To Market Sounding Alarm Bells?

European Union is looking to follow US "mark to market" accounting that was adopted here by the FASB [Financial Accounting Standards Board] on April 2.

Mark to market was the kind of accounting ENRON used. Should we be letting banks and corporations set the value of future assets and investments?

Will Geithner keep a better eye on things? Will the Obama Administration add safeguards? I'm sure you can spin these accounting changes any way you want. Let's see if we have learned from our mistakes.

Source: Bloomberg

Job Losses Match Reagan's 1983

As job losses mount, matching 25-year records from 1983, sure makes those Reagan memories a little more humbling. Ronnie pulled out of Lebanon inspiring Osama Bin Laden, raised taxes, set record deficits at the time, pretty much forgot what he was doing the last years of his Presidency ["I don't recall"], sold arms to Iran, funneled money illegally to the Contras, AND had record unemployment. We seldom remember all these details.

But boy, did his dyed black hair look good.

The good news is starting to come in, though.

Stocks rose yesterday for a fourth day as Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said measures to unfreeze credit markets were working.

Source: Bloomberg

Panorama Of New Yankee Stadium

Cool interactive panorama of new Yankee Stadium at NYT. You can pan from home plate, center field and the stands.

Why is the first game an exhibition game against the Cubs today?



Source: NYT

Iowa One-ups California On Same-sex Marriage

Iowa enters the 21st century. Imagine, Iowa is more progressive than California.

Iowa became the first state in the Midwest to approve same-sex marriage on Friday, after the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously decided that a 1998 law limiting marriage to a man and a woman was unconstitutional.

Source: NYT

MLK Jnr: April 3, 1968

Martin Luther King Jnr speech given on this day, April 3, in 1968. It was the day before he was killed.

"Abraham, Martin And John"

Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
You know, I just looked around and he's gone.

Anybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked around and he's gone.

Anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked 'round and he's gone.

Didn't you love the things that they stood for?
Didn't they try to find some good for you and me?
And we'll be free
Some day soon, and it's a-gonna be one day ...

Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walk up over the hill,
With Abraham, Martin and John.

Dion performing the song:

Colin Powell Not Off The Hook

Colin Powell. Unforgivable. You worked with torturers. You knew. You got played. Your name influenced the rest of the world to let Bush and Cheney ruin our country.

The Principals Committee will all meet their fate. Your semantics won't save you.

Michelle Obama: First Among Ladies

Laura Bush killed a man. Michelle Obama killed at the G20. London is agog with our First Lady.

"Now we've met, will you please keep in touch?" - her Majesty the Queen, to Michelle Obama.

An inspiration to the world, let alone the young girls she spoke with yesterday:

"I am an example of what is possible when girls from the very beginning of their lives are loved and nurtured by people around them.

I was surrounded by extraordinary women in my life who taught me about quiet strength and dignity.

Whether you come from a council estate or a country estate, your success will be determined by your own confidence and fortitude."

Source: Telegraph

House And Senate Pass Obama Budget

That's teamwork on behalf of a party who wants to overhaul health care, energy and education. The Democrats said the budgets reversed what they portrayed as the failed economic approach of the Bush administration and Republican-led Congresses. It's getting harder and harder to argue with pragmatic liberalism. Do you have a teleprompter or iPod "outrage" you want to report on, conservative media?

"It's going to take a lot of work to clean up the mess we inherited, and passing this budget is a critical step in the right direction," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said. "Staying true to these priorities will help turn around the economy for the many Americans who are underwater right now."

It figures real change will come without any GOP votes. Conservatives want to "conserve" what they already have. Any change in the stacked deck or status quo is an attack. They see suffering and unsustainable situations and immediately figure on how a tax break for a super wealthy person would be the solution.

Source: HuffPo

New Bruno Trailer [Sacha Baron Cohen]

Popping up on myspace, http://www.myspace.com/trailerpark.

Obama Leadership: Priceless

Imagine oxygen thief Bush, or better yet Grampy McCain or Freedom Fries Palin, trying to do this:

"The G-20 economic summit reached a final agreement to restore the world's economy Thursday only after President Barack Obama personally intervened and negotiated a compromise between France and China, White House officials said.

It was a remarkable stroke of personal diplomacy by a new president who's making his debut this week on the world stage."

Between Barack and Michelle, the Obama brand as of late, the global popularity, is priceless.

Source: McClatchy

Cramer: Depression Over

CNBC's Jim Cramer, "the depression is over". Goes on to praise the Fed, Geithner and Obama in helping the markets stabilize.

World leaders committing to new financial rules and $1.1 trillion for trade measures and guarantees and loans for poor countries didn't hurt. Still in a tough recession but we are seeing a bottoming.

Shep Smith Goofing On Glenn Beck

Shep Smith goofing on Glenn Beck a few weeks ago before Glenn's big 9/12 announcement. Not enough fake tears.

Dow Passes 8000

The first time in weeks, the Dow Jones passes 8000.

Maybe Fox News will report on how Obama used the wrong salad fork at a G20 luncheon.

The conservative populism mirage in America must be stewing nicely on this news.

"Makers" And "Takers" Misses Creating Value

Wrote about this faulty conservative populism yesterday. Then saw this post on Andrew Sullivan from one of his readers:

"I'm a professor at a state university. My education was paid for by the government, my salary comes from the government, and most likely I'll retire on a government pension. I guess that means that I primarily rely on government to get me through my life, putting me solidly on the "taker" side of the ledger. If the shoe fits I'm willing to wear it, but I can't see how the world would be a better place if I moved to the private sector. Through my government funded research and the government subsidized training I give my students, I believe I support the long-term health of our economy much more than I could as a scientist in private industry focused on product development and short-term profits.

Everyone takes something from the government, and everyone makes something for society. To pretend that's not true by setting up a simplistic divide between makers and takers just obscures the real questions we should be addressing."

With all the Madoff-style frauds, paper profits of the finance world and Wall St. scams, there is a difference between producing "wealth" and producing "something of value."

There are quite a few more letters on his site, I suggest checking the link below.

Source: Andrew Sullivan

Right Wing Media Get Queen iPod Story Wrong

Conservatives in media are dicks. The latest? The Queen of England had an iPod from 2005 is their "embarrassing" fact. God knows nothing has changed with in iPod in 4 years. They defo had the iPod Touch 32Gig video with Wi-fi back then. I'm sure she can access the AppStore with her 2005 iPod.

Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity and the rest are complete dicks about it and completely in over their heads about simple iPod features. Something, as they would say, a 5-year old or someone with Google would know. Makes their freak-out and "outrage" so trivial. 100% made up story reported as news.

You had 8 years of Bush acting and speaking like a jackass and this is what your report on as "embarrassing"? You have our President leading the G20, the market is up massively, the global outlook is picking up, America is getting its standing back in the world and you run with this bullshit?

Watch the video and see the Queen requested it, and the Queen's former spokesman said the Obamas "scored a hit". Besides the iPod she also received a signed copy of Rogers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma, her favorite show.

Somehow that missed the Fox News hacks.



Source: DailyKos

Holder Abandons Bush Era Political Prosecutions

Attorney General Eric Holder calls off the Fed dogs on convict Ted Stevens. Unlike the Right Wing ideologues, the libs have some integrity. Holder makes clear that he appreciates the gravity of the damage done to the department’s reputation during the Bush era.

Attorney General Eric Holder has decided that the Justice Department should abandon the corruption conviction secured against former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. The bombshell decision has nothing to do with the merits of the case against Stevens–it stems from a recognition that the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section behaved unethically in the conduct of the case—withholding vital evidence from the defense, among other things. Holder is himself a former Public Integrity prosecutor. He made the right call in the Stevens case.

Would Alberto Gonzales overturn a conviction on a Democrat from the Clinton years?

Other Justice Department political prosecutions under investigation are the Gov. Siegelman case in Alabama, the prosecutions of Paul Minor and two Mississippi judges, and the prosecution of Cyril Wecht in Pittsburgh.

Source: Harpers