Wall Street Roller Coaster, And No Harness In Sight

Another down day so far on Wall Street, with all major indexes down big digits so far. The buzzword being thrown around is “fear”. The market is down because people are afraid. They are afraid of recession, falling profits, job losses, and trolls.

Without being a market expert, or an economist, anything I say about this mess is just as an observer. But I do observe that there seems to be no “fundamentals” left in the market. All we get are a series of knee-jerk reactions to random news articles. A specific projection about a sector or specific company is given virtually no weight, only the broader market is of any concern.

I’m a giant fan of graphs, mostly because I love numbers, and graphs have a great way of expressing numbers in a simple visual way. Like this graph:

If you take a look at this fun graph, you can see we might just be at the very tip of the iceberg on how far the stock market can go down. Only time will tell, but a betting man might start to tke out some large shorts right about now.

Let's look a little deeper though. Electronic trading, average people in the market, hedge funds, mutual funds, international soverign funds, the Internet. The list of new entities in the market and new forces goes on and on. We could be in some new world financial market order. Of course the same forces that have always held sway might win the day and the market is in for one HELL of a correction.

When the market does this, I can't stress real investing enough. Don't invest in something that is just a piece of paper. Invest in something real, or something that will pay you, like a bond, prefered stock, or dividend paying common stock. You are still exposed to potential losses, but in the long-term you have very high chance of coming out ahead.

Greenspan Faces Congress

... Greenspan said, he and others are in "a state of shocked disbelief" that "counterparty surveillance" failed. He said he still doesn't fully understand what went wrong.

You won't hear many statements nearly as asinine as that one folks. The great Alan Greenspan doesn't know what went wrong on Wall Street. Give me a F'ing break. You and your moron friends decided to let an industry that makes money based off of commisions and fees taken from playing with other people's money run wild without anyone looking to see what they are up to.

"We have learned that voluntary regulation does not work," said Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission

Now we know, if you hand a bunch of greedy people the keys to the money bin and tell them your leaving and as long as they pinky-promise not to take any money they might end up taking the money and running with it, who knew?

The financial system exists to raise and direct the capital the economy needs to grow and "should not be an end in itself - a baroque cathedral of complexity dedicated to limitless compensation for itself in the short-term, paid for with long-term risk capable of threatening the entire nation's sustenance and growth," Cox said

When I first got into this industry I was shocked to find out how money was being freely invested. Investment companies investing in other investment companies, all in a big circle and liking the fat returns they were getting because the valuations were skyrocketing.

The problem was, and probably still is, that the investments were backed up by nothing. They all invested in each other, which caused the valuations to rise due to the supply/demand concept, but without the revenue to back up the valuations it's all just a house of cards.

Greenspan said he favored strengthening the regulatory structure. "As much as I would prefer it otherwise, in this financial environment I see no choice but to require that all securitizers retain a meaningful part of the securities they issue," Greenspan said.

Amazing! Even with the economy in the tank and Wall Street a mess he still wishes there was no regulation, but will grudgeningly accept it. Absolutly shameless.

If you choose to invest, make sure you're actually investing in something that has real value, not paper value. And buying into a company that makes all their money by buying into companies that buy into companies that buy into companies that buy into companies that buy into compies.... and on and on.... is a bad idea.

Check out CNBC for the full article.

NFL Holds Secret Meeting With Steelers

The NFL is a secretive organization. It often looks like an old boys club from the outside. They always keep problems in 'the family'.

From ESPN:

Tomlin, Ward and Polamalu all questioned the way the league handled fines after Ward was docked $15,000 for two infractions the team felt were unnecessary. Polamalu, who is rarely outspoken, went as far to say the NFL is becoming a "pansy" league.

The NFL has been pretty damn fine happy these past few years, along with increased penalty enforcement. The image of the NFL as the toughest most brutal sport may be having trouble when facing reality.

Anderson also mentioned that the NFL is looking into recent comments made by Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs against Ward and Pittsburgh rookie tailback Rashard Mendenhall. Suggs mentioned on a recent radio interview that the team has a "bounty" on those two players.

"That 'bounty' notion is completely against the rules," Anderson said. "To the extent that someone is engaged in that activity, we will look into it and address it. Yes, we've seen the comments and we're trying to determine the completeness of the circumstances."

This is the crap that is killing the NFL. People WANT to have rivalries, a player declaring a bounty will only increase the ratings and interest. The league making a public show of not wanting this talk only serves to turn people off.

The NFL use to be fueled by controversy, rivalries, and large than life characters, now it's a highly structured game of chess. The gridiron game you remember may be dead.

Full article at ESPN.

Big Bucks Wardrobe

The amount of money spent on Palin's wardrobe has been making the rounds today. Something like 150k is the figure I believe. I really don't care how much is spent as long as it's not coming out of my taxes. If a bunch of damn fools want to donate to the republican party and have it wasted on a trip to the mall, that's their business.

I suppose it is being used to reinforce the fact that the McCain/Palin ticket is out of touch, but they really haven't been using that attack line on Obama anymore. It was one of the biggest blunders of the McCain campaign though, I mean seriously, the guy owns like a dozen houses and has a private jet.

Now we have Fox "News" trying to defend the dresses..... leave it to Fox to just be plane stupid. It's a non-issue, especially this close to the election. Kos has a diary about the fox morons.

On FOX News Channel, they are truly hilarious in their spin on the Palin wardrobe shopping spree, initially spinning that the shopping budget is the reason why she looks so good, and then quickly sputtering themselves into a strange rant on sexism and how TV personalities always get free clothes anyway.

Investing Vs Gambling In The Market With Today's Economy

As I right this the Dow is down somewhere in the neighborhood of 500-600 some odd points. It’s times like these I think people should know the difference between gambling with their money or choosing to invest it. The market will allow you to do either, but make no mistake, most people gamble, and not invest their money.

Let me say that I am no financial expert, and that although I work in the financial industry I am not a broker, and anything I mention here is purely for entertainment purposes. You should seek professional advice before making any financial decision.

When someone tells you that you are investing, take a closer look and see what you are buying into. It’s probably a stock of some sort. A stock is a representation of part ownership in a company. The question is what does that mean for you?

When you buy a stock at a certain price, you hope that it goes up in value so you can sell it and make a profit. Well I have news for you, that’s gambling. You just purchased an expensive lottery ticket in the hopes that it pays off someday.

That share of ownership gives you some perks, you can probably vote for members of the board, and propose items for the board to consider. In all honesty though, you will never own enough for your vote to mean anything.

How can you invest in a company than?
Dividend stocks. You pay a market price for a stock, and the company pays you every quarter. Now you actually own a piece of the company and have a stake in how it does. The best part about dividend stocks is they get slammed just like other stocks when the market panics, like today.

General Electric is a good example of a great dividend stock. The price of its shares have been pummeled lately, which makes its dividend all the more attractive. With the price of GE right now, just before market close, the dividend is yielding 6.54% I don’t see many savings accounts paying that right now.

There is still risk, GE could stop paying it’s dividend to save money, or even maybe go bankrupt; both are unlikely for such an established company though.

You are also still gambling in a way as well. The share price might go down, which means if you sold it right away it would mean a loss for you, or it might go up and you could make a gain. If you hold it for the long term, you will get a nice tidy sum paid every quarter, and the price will probably be higher than what you bought it for a long time back.

If you take the time to do some research and find the great companies that pay great dividends, days like today are perfect opportunities to maximize your yield. It’s one of the easiest ways to make sure you come out ahead no matter what the traders do.

A Bunch of Hot Air About Obama

Let me start by saying the name of the blog says it all, Hot Air. They have a new post up with a pointed analysis of Obama. In the hopes I suppose of having people see the "real" Obama before it is too late and he is elected president. I thought I might respond to their points of attack, as they seemed to be the same tired crap in a lengthier form. Without further ado:

FILE: ABORTION

Barack Obama is out of the political mainstream on abortion. Don’t take our word for it, just listen to Sen. Obama’s own statements. In his final debate with John McCain, Obama asserted that “nobody is pro-abortion.”

The political mainstream is a term thrown around by all politicians when they want to imagine their point of view as the one most Americans share. It's overused and is almost ALWAYS said without any figures to back up the statement, as in this case.

Second, he pledges to a Planned Parenthood gathering that the very first thing he’d do as president is sign the Freedom Of Choice Act, which—according to the bill’s own supporters — would abolish bans on partial-birth abortion and parental notification laws nationwide while implementing tax-payer funded abortions. All three positions are wildly unpopular with the vast majority of Americans, yet they are Obama’s top priorities

Let me say I am pro-choice, not because of any lack of religious conviction, but because I don't think the government should be telling people what to do with their bodies. In this case we have a bunch of conservatives forgetting they are conservatives when it serves their political interests. No one wants government in their lives, but someone else's life is fine. Also they claim Obama's views are unpopular, but don't back it up with any statistics about "our" views on the subject.

FILE: TAXES

As a skilled rhetorical magician, Obama presents himself as a tax-cutter. Even though he’s voted dozens of times to raise taxes, he assures Americans that 95% of us will have our taxes slashed under his plan. The Wall Street Journal isn’t buying it.

Most of the times Obama has voted to "increase" taxes can be attributed to him not voting to renew the ill-timed tax cuts of Bush. Every independent organization that covers taxes has agreed with most of the assertions on taxes the Obama campaign has made. Check out the Tax Policy Center for more.

Second, Obama is challenged by ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson at a primary debate in Pennsylvania. Gibson asks Obama why he insists on raising capital gains taxes (which affect millions of American investors) even after history has proven that raising said taxes actually decreases government revenues from the taxes, and cutting capital gains taxes actually brings more revenue into federal coffers. Obama has no answer, other than to blow off all the evidence, and say that raising taxes is the fair thing to do—practical consequences be damned.

I actually know something about this, being in the financial industry. The only people that an increase in the capital gains tax would effect are the very wealthy. MOST, let me repeat MOST capital gains by your average American go on their income tax, which would be cut anyway under Obama. The only people who really pay that tax are the wealthy, who don't pay any income tax because their income is derived from the money they make off of investing.
So far I'm still in the Obama camp guys, anything else?

FILE: RADICAL ASSOCIATIONS

Barack Obama does not want anyone talking about his radical associations. He’s even sought criminal prosecutions against those who have dared to speak out on issues that make him squirm. Average Americans are judged by the company they keep, and our leaders ought to be held to the same standard.

The same old trick and pony show they have been trying to make stick this entire election. Well how about McCains radical friends no one talks about? JOHN RAKOLTA, G. GORDON LIDDY, REVEREND JOHN HAGE, TERRY NELSON, RICHARD QUINN, GEORGE WALLACE, JR., and that's just for starters. No one in the media talks about those nut job friends of McCain. Oh, and lest we forget current President Bush, the most questionable association of them all.
The guys at Hot Air spend a LOT of time on the connections part, but I wont. Everything has been investigated in detail, and the only people who aren't satisfied by the results are the right-wing nuts.

FILE: FOREIGN POLICY JUDGMENT

Barack Obama gained much of his early traction by speaking out against the war in Iraq. He cites his initial opposition to the war as the crown-jewel example of his judgment on foreign affairs. Although many people credit him for being “right” on the war from the beginning, it’s indisputable that he did not have an actual vote on the war resolution. As a state senator from a liberal, antiwar district, one wonders how much political risk he assumed by speaking out against a Republican-led conflict. Regardless, after he was elected to the US Senate, Obama was faced with an actual vote on a controversial issue: The surge. John McCain and others said the strategy was the only way to salvage the war and recover from our missteps there. History has proven them correct. Obama not only opposed the surge, but actually predicted it would make matters worse. In other words, he was spectacularly wrong on his biggest foreign policy judgment call since joining the Senate. He stubbornly refuses to admit he was wrong. This may be the kind of judgment that’s expected from a partisan rookie Senator, but not a Commander-in-Chief

Let me just say this, the "surge" came long after the war was supposed to be over, so as far as I'm concerned this was a police action in a foreign country. I'm still confused about how so many people can claim the surge was proven to be the correct choice. Many studies have indicated that by the time we sent more troops in the violence was already on the decline because the opposing groups had isolated themselves into islands of ethnicities. And about "stubbornly refusing to admit he was wrong", I seem to remember a certain candidate for president who stubbornly refuses to admit going to war with Iraq was wrong. Hypocrisy, they name is the right-wing nut.

FILE: DISDAIN FOR THE HEARTLAND

Barack Obama was rated the most liberal United States Senator in 2007 by the non-partisan National Journal — farther left than Ted Kennedy, Barbara Boxer, and self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders. He rarely mentions this extreme voting record as he campaigns throughout the heartland, just as he refrains from telling middle America what he really thinks of those who live there. Obama waits until he’s in San Francisco to do that. At a chic fundraising dinner, Obama sniffed that average Americans get “bitter” and “cling” to their guns and religion—as if these were shameful crutches. He may look down his nose at you, but he still wants your vote

This is just asinine. An "extreme" voting record? hardly. There is NOTHING extreme to vote on in congress, other than say maybe the patriot act? I also recall the statement these Hot Air Heads are talking about with the clinging to guns and religion, and he said it to make a point about why a certain segment of people voted the way they did. In fact, Obama is far more religious then McCain, and approves of gun ownership. I have seen few phrases taken out of context and strung together more terribly then this one.

ILE: THE RACE CARD

Millions of Americans oppose Senator Obama’s candidacy for many different reasons. For a small number of bigots, one of them is almost certainly race. That being said, Obama’s surrogates and media supporters have shown very little reluctance to ascribe racism to virtually anyone who supports another candidate. This is shameful. Worse still, Obama has personally played the race card several times, accusing Republicans in general, and the McCain campaign specifically, of whipping up race-based ugliness. When McCain’s objects, Obama has disingenuously denied he was referring to race in his initial comments. Really? On one occasion, Obama accused Republicans of trying to “scare” voters by mentioning that he “doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.” At another rally he made a similar claim, adding “…did we mention he’s black?” to his interpretation of the GOP’s supposed scare tactics. As someone who presents himself as a unifying figure, what does it say that he shamelessly injects racial politics into the campaign, casting aspersions on his opponents’ motives?

McCain HAS whipped up race-based ugliness, you only need to watch some of his political rallies on youtube. Lets also not forget who the KKK has endorsed. But let's be honest here, Obama is half-white and half-black. There are a lot of people who will not vote for him because of his African half. The Obama campaign has done everything within reason to move beyond race, but the right-wing nuts insist on dragging him back into the mud and then scream bloody murder when he splashes some of it on them.

FILE: LACK OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS

After an embarrassing exchange on a talk show, the Obama campaign scrambled to arm its surrogates with talking points about Obama’s grand legislative record. What did they come up with? Two bills—and Obama talks about them endlessly. One deals with securing loose nuclear weapons and was so uncontroversial that it passed on a voice vote in the Senate. The other created a “google for government” system, allowing citizens to track government spending. Both were laudable efforts for a wet-behind-the-ears legislator, but Obama wants to be President. Beyond those two meager accomplishments, what has he done? It’s a question that has baffled official campaign surrogates and regular Americans alike

Obama has sponsored and co-sponsored a HUGE number of meaningful bills in his short time in the U.S. Senate. He has a long history of public service, and I mean REAL public service by directly helping people, not the detached I'm riding in a limo everywhere and think I know how to connect with people kind of public service.

After reading this embarrassment I can say I've never been more supportive of Obama. This “closing argument” is nothing more than the same old, tired, discredited, republican talking points that they insist on puking up almost constantly.

Check out the entire embarrassment here at the Hot Air Blog.

Pollution is Your Fault

Do you live in a hut, mud dwelling, tent, or sleep under the stars regularly? No? Than most of the worlds pollution is because your sitting in your heated/air conditioned McMansion watching your plasma.

Rich countries are partly responsible for pollution from poor ones, including poisonous mining discharge, because they buy many of the raw materials and goods that produce the waste, environmental groups said.

The parts from your Plasma started somewhere, and someone in some country probably wrecked their land to get the raw materials for it.

"We have exported our industry overseas and yet there's no pollution controls in these places or the pollution controls are terribly inadequate."

This is ANOTHER dark side of free-trade bull. We love free trade because we can get cheap junk to buy, but we trade with countries with no workers rights, safety laws, environmental laws, fair wage laws, or any other government oversight. I don't mind trade, and I think competition is the way to go, but you need a level playing field first.

Blacksmith and Green Cross Switzerland, which works to clean up contamination from industrial and military disasters, released a report on Tuesday called "The World's Worst Polluted Places" -- available at www.worstpolluted.org.

It found that artisanal gold mining, contaminated surface water, radioactive waste processing and uranium mining and the recycling of used lead acid batteries, most of which occur in poor countries from Africa to Asia, are some of the world's top 10 sources of pollution dangerous to human health.

Millions of people are poisoned or killed each year by industrial pollution and emissions, it said.

Oh... so by the way, your a murderer too. I hope needing to watch The Amazing race is worth a few million lives..... killer.

This article demonstrates the massive difficulties in stopping pollution. Not only do the rich nation pump the most garbage into the air, third world countries are also destroying their environments to get the raw materials we crave to build our junk that pollutes.

Get the full story over at Reuters

Yahoo Sued By American Airlines

This is the one of worst lawsuits you can imagine. American Airlines is suing because ads for competitors happen to show up next to search results for American Airlines on Yahoo.

Imagine this scenario, you head to a travel agency, and you want to fly to Borneo. The agent happens to have sales ads for northwest Airlines right next to an ad for American Airlines, should the sue the travel agent? BECAUSE IT IS THE EXACT SAME THING!

Any company anywhere could set up a website and wait for their website to show up in a search result with a competitor and sue, it's the worst kind of precedent to set.

Google was sued by American Airlines last year, and settled quietly. I hope Yahoo stands up to this bullying crap. I suppose American Airlines could always instead focus on running its' business and improving its' product?

Eric Goldman, an associate professor of law at Santa Clara University School of Law and director of the school's High Tech Law Institute, said he was surprised by the lawsuit and predicted that the two sides will reach a settlement.

Read the full story at Cnet.

Google CEO backs Obama

I recently defended Google CEO Eric Schmidt for decided to publicly back Obama for president after a large number of people attacked him for it. I'm glad to say the voice of reason is now making the rounds.

This from Chris Matyszczyk over at Cnet:

I understand that some people might be upset that Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, has decided to personally endorse Barack Obama for President.

I have heard echoes that this taints the Google brand, that McCain-supporting Google employees (yes, both of them) are upset and that Mr. Schmidt just might be using this endorsement to foster his company's, or even his own, ambitions in the event of an Obama victory (Gosh, no. Really?).

Here is the news. Every CEO is political. Being CEO is, in its very essence, something of a political position. With a small 'p' and sometimes with a larger 'p'. Most of the time, employees will have a pretty clear idea of which political winds their CEO might be helping to blow.

"Eric Schmidt has endorsed me. That should carry Florida, right?"

But criticism of Mr. Schmidt opens up wider issues.

Do we really think of brands as Republican or Democrat? No more than we think of JetBlue or Marriott Hotels as Mormon brands. Think about it- Tide: Republican or Democrat? (Stain removal suggests Democrat, no?). What about Honda? (Those eight-seater people carriers surely suggest Democrat, don't they?)

And should we really believe that a CEO's political proclivity determines how he or she goes about their daily work?

I wonder if some of the whining at Mr. Schmidt carries with it a suggestion that a CEO's politics determine what kind of company leader he or she might be. Republican-leaning CEOs are frightfully mean authoritarians, while deeply Democrat CEOs are cuddly, feely, people-friendly, all-listening altruists. Didn't you know?

It strikes me that the one thing, perhaps the only thing, all CEOs have in common is a remarkable fondness for amassing money. Their political bent doesn't generally dictate how they view their employees or their brands.

I've seen avowedly Republican CEOs who were immensely sensitive and talented managers and Democratic CEOs who were venal, insensitive numbskulls. And vice-versa. I once encountered a CEO who voted as often as possible for Ralph Nader. She was a very fine CEO.

The truth is surely quite simple: Some CEOs are good, some are not so good. And the performance of their brands reflects their personal performance, not their personal politics.

The fact that Meg Whitman is a Republican doesn't affect in the slightest what people think about eBay.

Neither will Eric Schmidt's admission of Democratic tendency (goodness, he contributed $229,216 to Democrat candidates and a vast $6500 to Republicans, so surprise!) drive millions of Republicans to Yahoo or Ask (wait, they might be run by Democrats too..).

Personally, I am far more concerned about what Mr. Schmidt's company is doing with all the intimate information we are allowing it to collect than about whether he rides a donkey or an elephant.

I have no problem with ANYONE voicing their opinion about a political candidate, whether it be me, you, or the CEO of Google.

Brad Paisley Arrested at Nashville Airport

Brad Paisley was 'arrested' at Nashville airport today. A prank orchestrated by tour mate Jewel. He was arrested and charged with 42 counts of Noodling, and it was at this point that he realized it was a prank.

I wish I could have been there when he was arrested, I'm sure the look on his face was priceless.

Apple Earnings Beat Estimates

Apple has done it again! Amid speculation that the slowing economy would finally put a dent in Apple, results showed more record profits. Apple Inc on Tuesday reported a fiscal fourth-quarter profit of 1.14 billion dollars, or 1.26 dollars a share, up 24 per cent from a profit of 904 billion dollars in the same quarter last year.

Apple incs' forecast for the next quarter hasn't been released yet, but you can be sure that they will continue their conservative guidance. This is a long-term outlook company folks, conservative quarterly guidance keeps them from having to cook the books to make their quarterlies.

Bloomberg has the following:

Fourth-quarter earnings advanced to $1.14 billion, or $1.26 a share, Apple said today in a statement. That beat the $1.11 a share estimated by analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Sales rose 27 percent to $7.9 billion in the three months ended Sept. 27.

Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs updated the iPhone in July to support faster networks and expanded distribution to more than 50 countries, helping Apple take sales from Research In Motion Ltd. Jobs said the economic slowdown presents an ``extraordinary opportunity'' for companies with cash, helping investors look past a forecast that missed estimates.

``I still fully expect the company to gain share even in this turbulent economy,'' said Jim Grossman, an analyst at Thrivent Financial for Lutherans in Appleton, Wisconsin, which owns Apple shares. Jobs's comments on the call, his first appearance since at least 2000, also reassured investors, Grossman said.

Apple rose $10.58 to $102.07 in extended trading after closing at $91.49 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The shares have lost 54 percent this year.

Profit Outlook

Profit this quarter will be $1.06 to $1.35 a share and sales will be as much as $10 billion, Cupertino, California- based Apple said. Analysts had predicted earnings of $1.66 a share and revenue of $10.6 billion, according to a Bloomberg survey.

Time will tell about Apple, it can't win forever.

Prostitution in San Francisco

This a another Drudgereport headline, so take this with a grain of salt, but it appears Proposition K will be on the ballet and forbid local authorities from being able to investigate cases of people selling sex.

San Francisco would become the first major U.S. city to decriminalize prostitution if voters next month approve Proposition K—a measure that forbids local authorities from investigating, arresting or prosecuting anyone for selling sex.

The ballot question technically would not legalize prostitution since state law still prohibits it, but the measure would eliminate the power of local law enforcement officials to go after prostitutes.

Proponents say the measure will free up $11 million the police spend each year arresting prostitutes and allow them to form collectives.

So it would still be against the law, but the police would not be allowed to investigate the case. This is not the way to get this done. I doubt this law would pass the first judicial test that was lodged against it.

Anytime you make a common vice against the law you are inviting a large number of social problems that creep in when the product or service goes on the black market. But having this service still illegal, but forbidding authorities to investigate it could create another set of problems. Confusion on who can do what could cripple law enforcement in trying to address the violent side of the results of the black market sale of sex.

Too Much Going On

Where to begin? Obama opening up a huge lead in a new Pew poll. Large gyrations in the market again today. More tech news. I'll start rolling out the the analysis ASAP!

The Many Messages of McCain

Obama has released a memo outlining all of the themes used by the McCain campaign today. It's clear McCain's people are just throwing everything they have at the wall and hoping something sticks. It has been their only strategy for a while now.

I suppose when all of your policies are terrible and all you can do is spout tired talking points all you can do is throw as many smears at the media and hope for the best.

I do love this list though:

The Erratic John McCain and the Multiple Messages of His Campaign, 15 Days Out:

1) Joe the Plumber Needs More Publicity: ""McCAIN's MESSAGE 'today, tomorrow and every day forward,' per a senior aide: 'On background, we'll be talking about Joe.'" [Politco, 10/20/08]

2) Joe The Plumber is Getting Too Much Publicity: "Joe didn't ask for Senator Obama to come to his house. And, certainly, Joe didn't ask to be famous." [McCain Campaign Rally, 10/20/08]

3) Sounds like Socialism: "At this morning's rally, the first of three today in this toss-up state, [Palin] continued to call Barack Obama's tax plan socialist again couching it behind Joe the Plumber, "Barack Obama calls it spreading the wealth. Joe Biden calls higher taxes patriotic. Joe the Plumber said it sounded to him like socialism. And now is not the time to experiment with that." [FoxNews.com, 10/20/08]

4) ACORN is Threatening the Fabric of Democracy: The RNC has advised three different conference calls today on ACORN. [RNC Media Advisories]

5) A Foreign Policy Crisis Will Test A President: John McCain: "The next President won't have time to get used to the office. We face many challenges here at home, and many enemies abroad in this dangerous world. Just last night, Senator Biden guaranteed that if Senator Obama is elected, we will have an international crisis to test America's new President. We don't want a President who invites testing from the world at a time when our economy is in crisis and Americans are already fighting in two wars." [Excerpted Remarks for a McCain Campaign Rally, 10/20/08]

6) Blame the Press: Top McCain Aide Mark Salter: "There has been a different standard for Obama than there has been for any candidate running against Barack Obama. And maybe this should have set off more warning bells with me. I think much of the media has a thumb on the scale for Obama. I think the thumb has been there the entire time." [The Atlantic, 10/20/08]

7) Blame the Fundraising: Rick Davis: "There are reports that, just already disclosed, $3 or $4 million of Barack Obama's campaign funds just prior to the $150 million fundraising month were not appropriate. Now, I'd love to have that $4 million right now to put into Pennsylvania. It'd be a good thing for our campaign. I think it's a game-changer if I can slap all of that right on Philadelphia media market. It's an expensive place. And, yet, Barack Obama gets away with raising illegitimate money and spending it." [10/20/08]

8) Divided Government: John McCain: "He's measuring the drapes, and planning with Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid to raise taxes, increase spending, and concede defeat in Iraq." [McCain Campaign Rally, 10/20/08]

9) Obama's Baseball Loyalty: RNC Press Release: "After repeatedly saying he would root for the Phillies in the World Series, Barack Obama switched teams while campaigning in Tampa today." [10/20/08]

10) That Washed Up Old Terrorist: Rick Davis: "John McCain tried to point out how people should be informed about Barack Obama's background, including his relationships with domestic terrorists like William Ayers. People are going to form these judgments. It's great fodder for us to debate every day. I think it's fun." [MSNBC, 10/20/08]

Wow.... just wow.

I was one of the few hoping for a 'high road' campaign because of the head players, but I suppose when you use the Rove playbook this is what you end up with.

Head over to CQpolitics for the full article.

Right Winger Switches to Obama

I always love it when a well known republican decides to vote for the opposition. In this case we have Ken Adelman, a virtual life-long die-hard republican in the know.

JammieWearingFool has this to say:

I doubt a single vote will be swayed by this monumental announcement.

I must disagree with you there, Mr. Adelman's vote has been swayed. True conservatives should vote for Obama, unless they like the idea of another opportunist in the White house who is willing to sell themselves to the highest bidder like GWB.

Obama Suspends Campaign

Democratic presidential candidate Barrack Obama has suspended his campaign today to go and visit his sick grandmother who was just released from the hospital.

Check out the Dailykos for the story.

My best wishes go out to Obama and his grandmother.

49ers Fire Coach Mike Nolan

What a terrible job being a head coach of an NFL team must be. Mike Nolan has been fired midway through his fourth season as coach of the San Fransisco 49ers.

There was plenty of drama around Nolan, and he was completely unable to turn the team around. Mike Singletary is expected to take over as head coach for the rest of the season.

Read the full AP story here.

Next on the block, Brad Childress!

Drudge Sucks

I often find myself checking the DrudgeReport, and I don't know why. I hate the damn site. It's ugly, boring, and biased to an extreme. Yet I find myself refreshing it in some effort to be the first person to know something that happens to pop up on his horrendous site.

He presents a politically biased site and tries to pass it off as news. All of his headlines are slanted to the right of the political spectrum, or use quotes taken so far out of context they could be twisted to mean anything.

One of his headlines at the top of his screen right now is a 'news report' about a joke John Kerry made about McCain wearing diapers. Off course he puts a picture of diapers up there and links to some crappy blog post about the joke.

You want a good news site? Stick with the winners like cnn, bbc, msnbc. They can be bad enough sometimes, but at least they don't suck as hard as Drudge does.

Veoh Layoffs, or Not?

Video sharing service Veoh might or might not be laying off up to 40% of its workforce. So far the rumors are being denied by the company, but with how hard it has been for the online video companies to develop a model that makes money, it wouldn't be surprising to see them having to make cuts.
Cnet has the story below:

There seems to be some disagreement over the financial health of Veoh.

The online video-sharing site allegedly laid off 40 percent of its 110-person workforce, according to tech gossip blog Valleywag, which on Monday credited "an online-video industry insider" with the tip.

However, a representative for the company told CNET News that the report was false.

"I have no idea where their sourcing is coming from," spokesperson Gaude Paez said Monday, adding that she was disappointed Valleywag didn't contact the company for comment. "Everyone who was employed here Friday was employed here today, and will be tomorrow."

Veoh had eliminated 15 to 18 jobs based in St. Petersburg, Russia, and was in the process of transferring the jobs to the U.S., Paez said. Paez also told NewTeeVee that a rumor posted to that site saying Veoh would be "$20 million in the hole" at the end of the year was untrue.

The company announced in June that it has received another round of funding, this time for $30 million, from such new backers as Intel and Adobe Systems. Previous investors include Goldman Sachs and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner. The investment brought the company's total money raised to $70 million, giving the video-sharing site a valuation of about $120 million.

However, Veoh, which competes with YouTube and Hulu, hasn't managed to break out of the pack of also-ran video sites.

Hulu is a great site, it's easy to use and actually has content I want to watch. The last time I used Veoh...... well I don't remember because I thought the service was lacking.

Michele Bachmann, a Campaign in Crisis?

By now I'm sure you've seen the clips of Michele Bachmann making a fool of herself on national television. Now today come reports that her challenger, El Tinklenberg, has been the beneficiary of a large cash windfall as a result of the flap. The Bachmann campaign released this memo:

Dear Friends:

We appear to be witnessing an October surprise here in MN-06 and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann needs your help now – before the reporting period ends on Wednesday, October 15th.

I know that the conventional wisdom has been that the Bachmann seat would be one of the safer Republican seats this year. And, for good reason: for months, things have looked extraordinarily good, particularly thanks to strong financial support from people like you.

In contrast, our opponent’s fundraising has been somewhat anemic. And, his inability to raise much on his own helped to ensure that outside money would find other more promising races to fund.

Apparently, he’s only been biding his time.

He released his 3rd Quarter report today and his fundraising has picked up phenomenally. In fact, in the five-week period between filing of the pre-primary report and the end of September, he raised $312,560. That’s double what he raised in the five-week pre-primary period.

In fact, it far exceeds anything he raised in any of the full quarters this cycle.

He’s already attracting outside money. Alliance for a Better Minnesota – a liberal front group – is running television ads smearing Michele Bachmann’s record. And, the NRCC is reportedly shifting money to cover Michele Bachmann’s race.

A Republican victory in Minnesota’s Sixth District is far from a done deal. In fact, this race has become the last line of defense for Republicans.

It can still be a strong win – but we need your help and we need it now! Please go online and make a secure online donation at www.michelebachmann.com or FedEx your contribution to:

Bachmann for Congress
6053 Hudson Road
Suite 360
Woodbury, MN 55125

The end of the Pre-General Reporting Period is Wednesday, October 15th. We need your help to make this a strong one and keep the 527s and DCCC from pouring millions into this race in a final push to turn it from Red to Blue.

Please do not hesitate to call me at 651-735-7512 if you have any questions. Thank you for your prompt reply.

Sincerely,
Zandra Wolcott
Finance Director
Bachmann for Congress

A HUGE amount of money has been pouring into this campaign this past week, and with the polling damn close it is impossible to tell what might happen in the traditionally republican 6th district.

Bachmann always seemed to be a guinea pig for the republican party. They trot her out to test a new line of attack and see if it sticks. But her most resent anti-American shtick might lead to the end of her political career .

Is Google Wrong to Take Sides?

Everyday when I drive to work I see a LOT of small businesses with political signs up on their property. Most are small eateries, and most seem to favor McCain, even though Obama's tax plan would actually let them keep more of their money then McCains.

But Google is different, why? Well it is a massive company, as far as market cap goes you will find fewer larger. Matt Asay over at Cnet says Google CEO Eric Schmidt should stay out of politics because his name is too tied to his brand.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has officially thrown his weight behind Barack Obama in the US presidential race. I find it a bit unseemly and unfair to the employees at Google, even though many probably support Obama.

I felt the same about then eBay CEO Meg Whitman taking a public stand for John McCain, though at least she was on her way out of the eBay CEO chair at the time.

I agree to a point here. I once worked for a company that had its' chairman in the local news almost everyday with his support of George Bush during the last election, and I can tell you I got sick of hearing everyone talking about it.

It would be different if this were Schmidt espousing a particular political cause that has direct financial ramifications for Google, like net neutrality, but this is not the case, and it's unfair to his employees to tie up the Google brand in any political party, because a political party's platform includes all sorts of issues that have no place in the message of a technology company.

How can you assume that his support isn't for financial reasons? History has shown the economy generally does better under Democratic administrations, and if everyone is doing better then Google is doing better.

Far be it from me to say that Asay doesn't have a point, but I'm sure the CEO of one of the worlds biggest companies has his reasons for making his personal opinion known on this years presidential elections.

Full article here.

Thinking About Getting Into the Tech Sector? Think Again

With recent news about more layoffs at Yahoo inc, Cnet has created a nifty scorecard of job losses within the tech sector. Too bad everyone of those numbers is a possible destroyed life and family, but hey, the grid looks great! Of course the tech sector has always been a volatile one, so who knows, maybe people are just shuffling around.

See the full and updated graph at Cnet.

Company Date How many Further reading

.
Yahoo 10/21/2008? 1000+? Don't expect Yahoo gory layoff details yet

.
Wikia 10/20/2008 30% of 43 Wikia lays off 30 percent of staff

.
Veoh 10/20/2008 40% of 94 Veoh lays off 40 percent of staff, still lacks reason for being (Valleywag)

.
Zillow 10/17/2008 25% Zillow lays off 25 percent of staff

.
Zivity 10/17/2008 33% Zivity lays off a third of staff

.
SearchMe 10/17/2008 20% Search engine startup SearchMe cuts 20 percent

.
Heavy 10/17/2008 14% Downturn Strikes Again: Heavy Lays Off 14%

.
Jaxtr 10/17/2008 13 13 Employees Laid Off At VoIP Startup Jaxtr

.
Pandora 10/16/2008 20 Pandora cuts 20 employees

.
Hi5 10/16/2008 10-15% No Hi5's Today

.
Sirius XM 10/16/2008 50 Sirius XM makes cuts to XM in D.C.

.
Adbrite 10/16/2008 40% 'Layoffs are not a statement about performance'

.
Appcelerator 10/15/2008 6 Tough times, tough decisions

.
Tesla Motors 10/15/2008 Detroit office Automaker Lays Off Detroit Office With Blog Post

.
SkyRider 10/15/2008 All P2P startup SkyRider has shut down

.
Jive Software 10/14/2008 33% Jive Software Lays Off 1/3 Of Staff

.
Redfin 10/14/2008 20% Redfin blames economy in layoffs

.
Seesmic 10/10/2008 7 Tough times. Tough decisions

.
Lulu 10/9/2008 24 Lulu cuts jobs as revenues slow

.
eBay 10/6/2008 1000 eBay buys Bill Me Later, lays off 1,000


.
Gawker Media 10/3/2008 14% Gawker Media to lay off 14 percent of editorial st

McCain wears Pampers? Depends

Former presidential candidate John Kerry recently made a joke about current presidential candidate John McCain wearing diapers. I'm sure this will fire up the blogs on the right, but let's be honest, it's an old joke, and a tired one.

Political Punch has the details:

At a business summit on energy, Politickerma.com reports, a prominent supporter of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Mass., made a crack about Sen. John McCain's age.

"These are the exciting last two week moments of the presidential campaign," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., today in Cambridge, Mass. "So it's a very special time. I can't wait for it to be over. I am so tired of the press' silly questions that they ask along the way. And cable television which reduces everything to stupidity - the lowest common denominator of conflict."

"I don't know if any of you know what it's like. I do, obviously," Kerry told the crowd. "I've been asked all of those brilliant questions that were repeated this year...Barack got asked the famous boxers or briefs question. I was tempted to say commando...

"Then they asked McCain and McCain said, ‘Depends,'" Kerry said.

An old joke for an old candidate?

White Powder Being Sent to Chase Branches

Three branches had threatening letters sent to them, some containing white power. It would be almost impossible for them to create a list of possible suspects due to the current financial crises. It could be a disgruntled former employee, or a disgruntled customer. The powder has yet to be identified, although this can definatly be qualified as a terrorist act.

Reuters has the latest:

At least five branches of Chase (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) bank in Colorado and Oklahoma received threatening letters on Monday, some containing an unidentified white powder.

A spokeswoman for Chase said the letters were delivered to three branches in the Denver area and locations in Oklahoma City and Norman, Oklahoma.

Some of the envelopes contained the white powder, Chase spokeswoman Mary Jane Rogers said, and one employee was treated for a rash as a precaution, but it was not clear if the skin irritation was caused by the powder or had already been there.

She identified the Colorado branches as being in Lakewood and Arvada.

Fire Marshal Kevin Ferry of the Cunningham Fire Protection District near Denver said the powder in one package was found to be harmless, though the substance had yet to be identified.

That branch was inside a supermarket in the Denver suburb of Centennial. The supermarket was evacuated as a precaution.

Several bank employees who had close contact with the package were sent to a local hospital for evaluation, he said.

A police department spokesman in nearby Lakewood, Steve Davis, said a white substance found on a parcel there appeared not to be dangerous and resembled talcum powder.

JPMorgan Chase & Co last week surpassed Citigroup Inc to became the largest U.S. bank, and has aggressively acquired other assets as the financial system has weakened, including the banking assets of Washington Mutual Inc.

Rogers said Chase would not release the total number of banks affected until they were sure all the letters had been found.

"We immediately called the FBI and Postal Inspection Service to handle the matter and ensure the safety of our customers and employees," Rogers said.

She did not know the contents of the letters or if they contained return addresses.

More to come soon I'm sure. The powder probably wont be identified for a few more days. By bet is it isn't anthrax, but better to be safe than sorry.

Oprah Winfrey Moving on to Ambassador?

Having never watched the Oprah Winfrey show even once, I would have no idea of how she might function in an official capacity. I can just imagine world leaders being dragged out onto the stage to talk about their feelings before an American audience. She does command a lot of respect, and I even recall some talk of her running for president not too long ago.

Oprah is already wealthy, and I'm sure her business empire could function without her day-to-day involvement. The question is would Obama be willing to draw the kind of fire he would get if he were to make such an appointment?

More from The TV Zone below:

"Of COURSE I'll take the job, Barack...whatever you say..."

Let's let this roll around on our tongues - "Oprah Winfrey, Ambassador to the Court of St. James..."

I do like the sound of it. (Don't you?)

Can you get some sort of honorary knighthood or ladyhood if you take this gig? "Lady Oprah?" or "Dame Winfrey..."

Once again, I'm letting my imagination run away from me, or just maybe Financial Times columnist columnist Gideon Rachman is. He's citing "well-placed sources" that suggest Oprah might get the nod for the most prestigious ambassadorship of them all.

I'm serious.

HE'S serious.

THIS is serious.

I think it could happen. Maybe it could happen. Who knows...?

Reason: Oprah has talked for so long about abandoning the show that one of these days it'll actually happen. What would it take for her to leave? The Court of St. James?

Here's what Joshua Keating is saying in his "FT" blog:

"Rachman acknowledges the idea sounds ridiculous, but there is a tradition of major campaign donors being rewarded with ambassadorships. I have to say, though, this would probably be a worse career move for Oprah than for Obama. If the world's most-powerful celebrity really wants to get involved in international diplomacy, there are probably more effective and enjoyable ways she can go about it on her own."

That's true! Just look what happened in South Africa, and that principal!

On second thought, don't look at what happened with the principal.

Oprah has been trekking the "international diplomacy" route for so long that maybe even SHE'S getting a little bored of the whole thing.

How nice to visit the Queen every so often, or maybe drop in at 10 Downing Street?

The more I think upon this idea, the more I'm intrigued...

Veeeeery intrigued.

I won't comment on the likely hood of such a move by a possible Obama administration, but as the article says, it is interesting.

Encyclopedia Genetica, Your Genes For All To See

You are being asked to have your genes pulled down to your ankles, and have some scientists poke around, sound like fun? Combined with as much personal information as possible, this new project, being led by George Church, hopes to use the Internet to unravel the mystery of our genetic code.

You won't see me volunteering for this project anytime soon, I'm no conspiracy theorist, but I would rather keep that information private until new laws have a chance to catch up with this new information.

U.S. News has the following:

Facebook has nothing on George Church when it comes to sharing sensitive personal details. This Harvard Medical School genetics professor happily posts his family medical history and ailments (narcolepsy, motion sickness) on the Web—and he's telling the world just what's in his DNA. As one of the first 10 people to publish their genomes online, Church hopes to make the point that sharing genes on the Internet can advance science further than the current system, in which DNA databases are protected from public scrutiny and individuals aren't identified.

"In the same way that you have amateur astronomers who help track celestial events, we hope to inspire a whole generation of 'amateur geneticists' to mine DNA sequences," Church says. His Personal Genome Project is recruiting 10,000 volunteers who would be willing to tell all for science, and signed up 10 scientists, who presumably know enough to understand the potential risks of doing so, to be the first guinea pigs. Their genetic data was to be released October 20.

The notion is that linking genetic data and extensive personal information—traits such as height, weight, ethnic background, or a fondness for cheeseburgers—will make it easier to advance research on the genetic basis of diseases such as cancer and heart disease, which have so far eluded discovery. To protect privacy, most genetic databases that researchers mine to unearth keys to our individual idiosyncrasies have been stripped of that kind of personal data, or phenotype, and family histories. Another very 21st-century notion is that making the information open to all increases the odds of collaboration and speeds discovery—a scientific Wikipedia.

But genetic oversharing could be dangerous, Church admits. Participants could find it harder to get health insurance or might suffer discrimination if their genes show they're likely to get a serious disease. "Some of them know they're going to get hurt, like astronauts and mountain climbers," Church says. "But if enough of them see a benefit to themselves, their families, and society, then it will keep growing."

Even Church says you might have a harder time getting insurance if you participate! I hope the government gets off its' hands quickly and addresses the ticking time-bomb before we all find ourselves paying far higher premiums due to a "potential" for a disease you don't yet suffer from.

Albumsaurus?

We live in the digital age, which has come with some ups and downs. One of the biggest problems facing today is the old style of delivering entertainment and the new style of digital delivery. Albums take up space, decay with time, and can be easily broken. Our new digit versions of media take up virtually no space, and some innovative companies have set it up so you never have to worry about misplacing your purchased song/movie/whatever.

More and more artists seem to be coming around to the realities of the digital revolution. Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye blind was interviewed about it over at Cnet:

Stephan Jenkins, lead singer of alternative band Third Eye Blind, is the latest person to agree that the album format is better off dead.

Jenkins, whose band is known for such hits as "Semi-Charmed Life," "Jumper" and "How's it Going to Be," gave the keynote address at the SanFran MusicTech Summit on Monday.

"I don't think it's necessary or useful," Jenkins told several hundred conference attendees. "The album is an arbitrary concept. It's not something that has to exist."

It's important to note that Jenkins wasn't speaking at all about the controversy triggered by remarks made last week by AC/DC. The Australian rockers slammed iTunes in several interviews and suggested that selling individual songs was bad for artists, music, and fans.

I disagreed and wrote the album was, at least in its CD stage, anticonsumer. The album boosted individual transactions and forced consumers to pay a premium for songs they didn't want. A lot of people, mostly music industry insiders and AC/DC fans, e-mailed me to dispute this. They argued that bands couldn't know which songs were hits in advance and it was preposterous to suggest that.

Well if I'm misinformed, so was Kurt Cobain and so is Jenkins. In his speech, he mentioned that he disliked "album filler." This is a term used to describe the practice of loading albums with so-so quality in order to meet the required number of songs for an album. "Everything I do, I mean it," Jenkins said.

Jenkins made another point when said he believes it's better for creative purposes to release individual songs online and then bundle them later if you want.

"Here's what's really attractive to me," Jenkins told the crowd, "we live in the excitement of that song. Let's go record it. And then we upload it and it's for sale for $1 the next day."

Jenkins is putting his money where his mouth is. He said Third Eye Blind plans to release three songs on November 18.

Its great that Jenkins mentions the album filler garbage. The number one turnoff is being forced to purchase an entire album of crap songs when all you are after is a couple good tracks that the band actually spent some time on.

I would love to see bands start releasing songs as they finish them, rather then having to wait for an entire album to be released one every other year or so.

Global Credit Warming?

With all the extra dollars being pumped into the atmosphere, it looks like enough heat is being trapped to bring about the end of the credit ice age. All it took was a large number of governments to guarantee a bunch of loans and viola!
Would you loan out your money if you knew there was no chance of it going bad? Of course, especially if the rate was good enough, which most are historically right now.

From Reuters

Underpinning the new-found relief, lending rates between banks -- at the center of fears about the industry freezing up -- fell significantly. This suggested authorities' efforts to revive the financial system with cash injections were finally starting to work.

With banks starting to lend to each other, and them finding the water isn't as cold as they thought, large corporate lending will quickly follow.

Energy stocks were on fire today, but I would guess those gains will be parred before the end of the week as investors realize the plunge in the energy commodities will hinder the bottom line of a lot of the companies that saw their share prices rise today.

The president of OPEC, Chakib Khelil, said on Monday that non-OPEC producers like Russia, Norway and Mexico should contribute production cuts to help stabilize sagging prices.

This has happened before, I'm sure there will be a decision to cut production, but I doubt real production will go down that much. However, look for the commodities markets to look for any excuse to drive the price of oil and gas back up as the hedge funds jump back in smelling a quick buck.

Tarantino and Brad Pitt

Another Tarantino movie is on the way, starring Brad Pitt as a Jewish-American soldier fighting the Nazis in World War II. I am not the biggest Tarantino or Pitt fan, but I respect both of them for their achievements. I am, however, a huge war movie fan. I'm looking forward to seeing this one in theaters.

People has the following:

In Brad Pitt’s upcoming World War II movie, he plays a vengeance-seeking Nazi hunter – and he looks the part.

The first portrait of Pitt’s character, Lt. Aldo Raine, in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (yes, the misspelling is intentional), was released Monday. Clad in tough-looking fighter gear, Pitt portrays the leader of the "Basterds," a group of Jewish-American soldiers who scalp and brutally kill Nazis.

Pitt’s character is described on Tarantino.info as not "your Warner Brothers 1950's WW2 hero … this is a hillbilly straight from the mountains of Tennessee."

Pitt, Angelina Jolie and their six children recently moved to a Berlin villa while he works on the controversial film.

I'm tired of the controversial phrase being thrown around so much these days. You can apply that label to ANY movie because someone will find it offensive or out of bounds.

Look for a few crazy sadistic scenes to give it that Tarantino edge, and some very powerful emotional scenes to showcase Brad Pitt.

Say Hello to Ed the Dairyman

We all know about Joe the plumber, the now famous kinda plumber who was mentioned more than almost anything during the 3rd presidential debate. Now we have a new nobody the media can circle the wagons around. Apparently Sarah Palin noticed a sign in a crowd being held by someone that identified them as Ed the Dairyman.

There is no way Ed will garner anywhere near the media circus that Joe managed, but you can bet there will be at least a few mentions around the blogosphere poking fun.

Joe the Plumber, meet Ed the Dairyman.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin spoke to a crowd of about 10,000 supporters Sunday in a Roswell airplane hangar, not only making a reference to Joe the Plumber, but alluding several times to "Ed the Dairyman" after seeing someone in the crowd holding a sign identifying himself that way.

The rally was the standard fare for any politician. One of the highlights though is this:

"Friends, now is no time to experiment with socialism," she told the cheering crowd.

Coming from the VP candidate of the party that gave us the Bailout, which lets be frank, is socialism. Last time I checked, when the government takes ownership stakes in a company it sure is hell isn't capitalism.

Full article over at RealClearPolitics.

Coffee Conundrum

A shortage of coffee as worldwide demand strips supply? Looks to be true. Consumption of coffee is rising far quicker than the growing can make it.

The world coffee market will swing to a deficit of as much as 10 million bags next year from a surplus this year as demand growth outstrips production, said a growers group in Colombia, the third-biggest producer.

Global coffee output will exceed demand by 6-7 million bags this year as Brazil, the world's largest producer, is in the more productive phase of a two-year cycle, said Juan Lucas Restrepo, commercial manager at the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia. Lower Brazilian output as demand grows 2 percent will cause the shortfall next year, he added. A bag weighs 60 kilograms (132 pounds).

A drop in supply and a rise in demand only leads to one end, rapid price increases. There is also time to blame the supply problem on the credit crises.

`The credit crunch limits the availability to exporters and cooperatives of working capital,'' Restrepo said. ``We might see problems in coffee supply if it persists.''

I can only image what a supply problem might due to productivity as people have trouble getting their favorite caffeine kick. Of course there is always a silver lining, maybe the tea producers and the soda producers will see increases in demand as people shift their method for caffeine consumption.

The full story is at Bloomberg.

Prayer For Discrimination

The LA Times is reporting that a group of young church goers are holding a prayer vigil in support of the controversial proposition 8. The group holding this vigil are hoping their prayers will be answered and have discrimination enshrined in the California's constitution.

Among the more shocking parts of the story are that these young people have no regular jobs, other than to pray.

But what distinguishes Huff and many of the young people she prays with at Skyline Church here is that after the election, they will not return to normal life.

Praying and fasting are their job.

They have forsaken traditional lives to live in communal homes -- supported by donations --and pray. All day, every day.

This year, the focus of their prayers is ending gay marriage.

There are other religious groups opposed to the passage of proposition 8.

The prayer and fasting have discomfited some religious leaders who oppose Proposition 8.

"I am a person of prayer," said the Rev. Susan Russell, a lesbian and an Episcopal priest at All Saints Church in Pasadena. But she said she does not believe prayer is "a weapon to be used to influence the political process." That, she said, "takes us down a slippery slope from democracy to theocracy."

With a large amount of funding coming in from Utah to help the passage of the proposition, the plight of the gay community cannot be ignored. Even if the vote fails this November you can rest assured it will be back on the ballot as often as the religious right can get a vote for it.

See the full story here.

Yahoo Layoffs

So the once powerful master of search is going into cost-cutting mode due to pressure on its share price. Estimates look to be around 3000 from various departments within the company. You should expect to see a crappy search engine become more crappy over the long-term as these cost-cuts are most likely designed for a short-term boost in company stock. The ultimate goal of course is so a few of the larger owners can sell at a net gain and run off with the cash.

Cnet sees it like this:

Yahoo is expected to announce cost-cutting moves this week as part of cost-cutting moves, including another round of layoffs, according to a report Sunday in the Wall Street Journal.

The exact number of layoffs is unknown, but job cuts are expected to come from all departments in the 14,300-employee company, according to the report. Yahoo, which announces its third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, has reportedly asked managers to identify areas where the company can achieve operating budget reductions of 15 percent. In February, Yahoo laid off an estimated 1,100 employees in a bid to cut costs and trim operations that weren't performing as well as others.

Rumors of layoffs at Yahoo have been circulating for weeks, with Alley Insider's Henry Blodget calling for the elimination of 3,000 jobs at the company.

However, Yahoo's stock has been under tremendous pressure lately, closing at $12.90 on Friday. Just a week before that, the Internet giant's stock traded as low as $11.37, its lowest price since March 2003. Yahoo, as a result, also now has a market cap of $17.88 billion. Last May, Microsoft walked away from its buyout offer of $47.5 billion to snap up all of Yahoo, only later to return with a partial buyout offer of $9 billion to acquire just the company's search assets.

Yahoo's stock price got a goose on Thursday after Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer noted Yahoo's declining stock price in saying that a takeover of the Internet search pioneer still made sense, putting even more pressure on Yahoo executives.

Although Yahoo's shares continue to give up ground, the company's stock performance during recent trading sessions has largely mirrored the broader markets. Indeed, many tech companies have resorted to layoffs recently to stem their financial losses.

More about this will come to light soon. Of course any improvement in share price might sour a Microsoft takeover, which could send the stock into a tailspin.

Debate of the Debate?

Talk politics takes a look at the most recent presidential debate. With just about everyone agreeing that the debates were damn boring, Talk Politics has some interesting suggestions:

Calls for reform have in turn translated into abundant suggestions for how to make the trio of Presidential debates – and political debates in general — more transparent, hard-hitting, inclusive, representative, and technologically connected. They include, but are not limited to:

1. Increasing utilization of the roundtable format as employed in the final debate
2. Polygraphing
3. Dismantling the Commission on Debates entirely and overhauling the process

I watched all three of the presidential debates, and I can say that they were very boring. Nothing was covered other than talking points.

Might I suggest that any time a candidate says something that is a lie they get shocked? Then everyone will know when they lie.

Puppy Power

A feel good story coming out of Iraq about an adopted puppy and an American soldier. From Fox News:

The Iraqi puppy adopted by an American soldier but initially blocked by the military from traveling to the United States is finally en route to his new home.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International says Ratchet was picked up in Baghdad on Sunday and was placed on a charter flight.

It's the third time the SPCA's Operation Baghdad Pups has tried to collect Ratchet on behalf of Army Spc. Gwen Beberg of Minneapolis.

The case gained international attention after Beberg complained she couldn't take the puppy home. U.S. military rules bar troops on duty from having pets or taking them back to the United States.

The military has said the dog is free to leave but troops can't be responsible for his transportation.

Congratulations to Sgt. Gwen Beberg, I hope she makes it back safe with her best friend.

Colin Powell Endorses Obama

One of the most respected figures in America has waded into the current presidential campaign by endorsing the Democratic parties nominee for President. From CNN:

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell announced Sunday that he will be voting for Sen. Barack Obama, citing the Democrat's "ability to inspire" and the "inclusive nature of his campaign."
...
During the campaign, Powell has met with both candidates and said he has a lot of respect for McCain. He said Sunday that he thinks both candidates are qualified to be president.

It's hard to say if this will change the race in any significant way this late in the game. Being the cynic that I am I doubt this will change the race in any way. It makes headlines but I would think most people already have an idea of who they are voting for this late in the game.

Sarah Palin on SNL

It looks like NBC is pulling down this skit anywhere it it posted, so I have provided a link below so you can watch it on from the source.

Palin SNL video



This is the role Tina Fey was born for. Alec Baldwin is the highlight of this skit though, of course he has always been one of the best guest stars for SNL.