hellooooo!

1?

TRex!

Times like this I’m glad I don’t watch the teevee. I can only imagine what that Faux News program was like. Bah!

anyone who thought the one half news hour was bad, wait until you see the WSJ and NYT in about six months.

‘Unexpected’??? TRex, you’re too naive…!!! ;-)

This morning my Congresscritter Harry Mitchell AZ CD-05 had a Townhall and security was there which restricted who could attend. Heard that the state coordinator of PDA was removed by the police.

Not a good way to start your 08 campaign season by pissing off the voters!

Al The Spook @ 5

anyone who thought the one half news hour was bad, wait until you see the WSJ and NYT in about six months.

Still pissed off about the WSJ…

Yup. Olberman was on that point Tuesday night. “I thought you were doing comedy all along. What was that other stuff all about?” Or something along that line.

Al The Spook @ 5

anyone who thought the one half news hour was bad, wait until you see the WSJ and NYT in about six months.

Damn, Al, ya gotta rain on our parade, eh???

katymine @ 7

This morning my Congresscritter Harry Mitchell AZ CD-05 had a Townhall and security was there which restricted who could attend. Heard that the state coordinator of PDA was removed by the police.

Not a good way to start your 08 campaign season by pissing off the voters!

“Hi! Yes, I know this is the government of the people, by the people. Now, YOU, out of the pool!”

I really wonder what these people think they are doing.

Alfred, 3 inches “significant rainfall”

Your guess is as good as mine.

But… But… my congresscritter is a new freshman DEMOCRAT….. well he is a want-a-bee Blue Dog… he ask to join and they turned him down!

OK. Time for me to get some sleep. Need to be back at work 7 hours from now. Showered, dressed, fed, all that crap.

CTuttle @ 6

‘Unexpected’??? TRex, you’re too naive…!!! ;-)

Uh, sarcasm?

i could been in the single digits

CTuttle @ 10

Al The Spook @ 5

anyone who thought the one half news hour was bad, wait until you see the WSJ and NYT in about six months.

Damn, Al, ya gotta rain on our parade, eh???

I am a believer in the free market. what murdoch has done is sink almost all the loose money he has into buying the biggest horseshoe factory just as henry ford drives by and beeps. (It is worth noting that several of the wsj folk would not take fox stock, they wanted cash. rupe the raper had to sell some tee vee stations to come up with it fast. took a bath on them financially also. hee hee.

in other words, he has just arranged to buy the two sister ships to the titanic as it sails on its maiden voyage.

the wsj and nyt will be irrelevant in five years. fdl will be one of the new ’source of record’ media sits. bank on it.

I want someone to standup and stop the media consolidation. Now Murdock is going after NYT’s.

Where are the Teddy Roosevelt’s when you need some Good Old Trust Busting?

yellowdog jim @ 17

i could been in the single digits

busy with satellite images of the storms?

TexBetsy @ 14

OK. Time for me to get some sleep. Need to be back at work 7 hours from now. Showered, dressed, fed, all that crap.

night TexB!

Yes, what a tragedy. I’m dancing a little jig of despair.

Conservatives and humor are like oil and water.

TexBetsy…. I had better start looking to see where your storm is going…. half the time they end up in Arizona. Yikes…. better go put the pool umbrella down.

g’nite tex, (sorry was on phone with baby girl talking about her first day of college) pain free sleep wishes

TRex @ 15

CTuttle @ 6

‘Unexpected’??? TRex, you’re too naive…!!! ;-)

Uh, sarcasm?

Damn, I gotta mingle…??? ;-)

The worldview of Right-wing, sexually repressed, greed soaked conservatives is poor fodder for humor, save of a ruthlessly parodic kind.

In other news…Water is wet, and Krakatoa isn’t east of Java.

The last two items were presented for the benefit of any FOX viewers reading this

;>)

Alicia @ 21

Yes, what a tragedy. I’m dancing a little jig of despair.

Conservatives and humor are like oil and water.

Like artists and money.

another 6.3 aftershock in peru

Ohh, I thought the kids sketch was gunna be running faggot but that doesnt apply.
Still funny though, even without the fox news laugh track.

TexBetsy @ 19

yellowdog jim @ 17

i could been in the single digits

busy with satellite images of the storms?

no.
i was downstairs and
i gave them the link to here,
Then i read St.TRex,
THEN i watched the Kids in The Hall clip …

how is Erin?
we got to watch out for Dean too.

(colbert re-run on now.)

TRex @ 26

Alicia @ 21

Yes, what a tragedy. I’m dancing a little jig of despair.

Conservatives and humor are like oil and water.

Like artists and money.

And Fools and their wallets…!!!

TRex @ 26

Alicia @ 21

Yes, what a tragedy. I’m dancing a little jig of despair.

Conservatives and humor are like oil and water.

Like artists and money.

Except that very occasionally artists and money meet.

ah, dad just went to sleep and I think i shall do the same. see everyone tomorrow if not flooded out. (poof)

CTuttle @ 6

‘Unexpected’??? TRex, you’re too naive…!!! ;-)

that was snark. TRex has been on the case since the get go.

Suzanne @ 27

another 6.3 aftershock in peru

Hmmm… I need to keep an eye peeled…!!!

Such a shocker! Who Knew?! Fox News half hour news hour, we barely knew ye…

Variation upon a theme.

Maybe Fox’ll get Dennis Miller to work that half-hour… they were quite willing to piss it away once, so twice shouldn’t be any problem for them. :)

Conservatives and humor are like two magnets with the same polarity.

TRex @ 26

Alicia @ 21

Yes, what a tragedy. I’m dancing a little jig of despair.

Conservatives and humor are like oil and water.

Like artists and money.

Hey, artists have lots of money…It just happens to be in other people’s billfolds.

;>)

OT…but what is the topic? An interesting graphic at “Talk Left” on the topic of Army suicide. I think it is meant give the feeling of despair and suicide..when I saw it, I thought of war crimes, Bush and Nuremberg.

CTuttle @ 34

Suzanne @ 27

another 6.3 aftershock in peru

Hmmm… I need to keep an eye peeled…!!!

what’s the latest on your tsunami alert(s)?

Al The Spook @ 32

ah, dad just went to sleep and I think i shall do the same. see everyone tomorrow if not flooded out. (poof)

Nite, AK!!!

I saw it — twice. Well, part of a show twice. Most things, I don’t like to judge unless I’ve seen it. So, I watched it. Twice.

Not only was it NOT funny, it was painful. You could tell they TRIED to be funny. And at this point (when it first started) they had “big names” on — like Coulter. Was she on the whole time?????

Al The Spook @ 5

anyone who thought the one half news hour was bad, wait until you see the WSJ and NYT in about six months.

Al – what do you make of Warren Buffet investing a hunk of money in the Wall Street Journal? Dare I hope he’ll become a thorn in Murdoch’s slimy side?

Fox cutting the unfunny half hour, earthquakes, floods and storms, connected ?

argosfalcon @ 44

Fox cutting the unfunny half hour, earthquakes, floods and storms, connected ?

It’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature?

katymine @ 7

This morning my Congresscritter Harry Mitchell AZ CD-05 had a Townhall and security was there which restricted who could attend. Heard that the state coordinator of PDA was removed by the police.

Not a good way to start your 08 campaign season by pissing off the voters!

Sounds like had high-powered company, who still hasn’t come home.

The Legislative District 20 Democrats Club got a surprise at Wednesday’s monthly Democrats and Donuts gathering in Ahwatukee.

In addition to Congressman Harry Mitchell, the scheduled speaker, they also got the nation’s highest-ranking woman.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi spoke to the group at the Clarion Hotel for about an hour.

“I think it’s very prestigious for our Democrats and Donuts group to have someone like that come speak to us,” said Ted Maish of Chandler. “I think it’s because this group worked so hard for Harry Mitchell.”

argosfalcon @ 44

Fox cutting the unfunny half hour, earthquakes, floods and storms, connected ?

She Almighty was loosening up, just in case they didn’t cancel it.

yellowdog jim @ 40

CTuttle @ 34

Hmmm… I need to keep an eye peeled…!!!

what’s the latest on your tsunami alert(s)?

Fortunately, this is a direct quote:
“THE PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER HAS CANCELLED THE REGIONAL
TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH IT ISSUED FOR OTHER PARTS OF THE
PACIFIC. BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA THERE IS NO DESTRUCTIVE
TSUNAMI THREAT TO HAWAII AND THE ADVISORY FOR HAWAII IS ALSO
ENDED.”

It must be, I have spent the evening driving around in the hut humid night, looking a corn fields a dodging deer listening so soft jazz. A nice break from things.

Now how did that happen u is no where near o, it must be all that fresh air has gone to my hands.

well that the typos for the night tomorrow the revenge of the medicos.

Jeebus on a flagpole, some people drive me nuts. I work at a bank in Red Red troglodyte Missouri, ok? The closet is a permanent fixture of life unless you want to end up like Matthew Shepard. And this clown newhire wants to ask me in front of other coworkers if the girl he saw me with earlier today was my girlfriend. I despise lying to people, but I have to protect life, limb and custody of daughter/granddaughter. Then he asked me how I felt about gay marriage, so I trotted out TRex’s line and hightailed it back to work before I had to listen to the religious righty view, again.

I know, OT, but I had to rant a little. Thank you.

Didn’t Murdoch try that paper war business in Chicago 15 or so years ago, then have to act like he lost interest? Seems to me he needs a long, slow buildup just to position himself in the same rather strange market the NYTimes occupies. But what do I know, I though Daimler was nuts to buy Chrysler.

argosfalcon @ 51

well that the typos for the night tomorrow the revenge of the medicos.

C’mon Argos, you’ve displayed flashes of brilliance before…!!!

This whole “Now Murdoch is going to buy the Times, too” urban legend (see e.g., katymine @ 18) is a fascinating example of how a misinterpretation can become conventional wisdom in a matter of minutes.

Can anyone actually supply a link to an article where Murdoch or anyone close to him actually said that he was interested in buying NYT?

What I believe happened (I’m pretty certain I read this on Monday, but I don’t remember where) is that someone wrote that Murdoch was “setting his sights” on the NYT. What that actually means is that he’s planning on kicking NYT’s ass in the marketplace, by re-positioning the WSJ editorially and aggressively going after advertisers.

But based on his history, there is little doubt that Mr. Murdoch will directly aim at luring both readers and advertising away from The New York Times and The Financial Times, The Journal’s closest rivals. His strategy will probably include aggressively undercutting advertising and investing heavily in editorial content — particularly in Washington and international news — absorbing losses at first to win the longer-term war.

At its most ambitious, Mr. Murdoch’s vision for Dow Jones would establish The Journal as the rival to The Times in setting the daily news agenda of the country.

Richard Skilos, “In Murdoch’s Past, Clues to the Journal’s Future,” N.Y. Times, August 1, 2007. He said substantially that on News Corp.’s quarterly earnings call on August 8.

Gotta love Froomkin!

So if Rove as expected cleaves to his unfailing defense of everything Bush — and if anybody in his party listens to him — he may end up congealing the prevailing wisdom of the last several days: That he was, in the end, a colossal failure.

Then he asked me how I felt about gay marriage, so I trotted out TRex’s line and hightailed it back to work before I had to listen to the religious righty view, again.

Oh, fuck. What’s my line, again?

animation of Erin.

Loo Hoo. @ 56

Gotta love Froomkin!

So if Rove as expected cleaves to his unfailing defense of everything Bush — and if anybody in his party listens to him — he may end up congealing the prevailing wisdom of the last several days: That he was, in the end, a colossal failure.

Ah, congealed conventional wisdom (looks like pigs’ knuckles in jelly and tastes like dogshit). I hope the whitey-tighty-righties find a lot of that in their diet for a long time to come….

TRex@57

“If you’re against gay marriage, don’t marry one.”

Bless you for that!

Shadow, the next time someone asks you if that was your girlfriend, treat the question as if he asked if she’s your, like, omg-girlfriiiiieend. It’s a trick I saw my old roommate Jen do all the time. It’s also kind of a subtle way to tell them that they’re being too personal.

“Oh, yeah, she’s one of my girlfriends, we go way back. We’ve been friends forever.”

And then when they’d inevitably go, “But is she your girlfriend girlfriend?”, she’d smile and change the subject or just wander away like they’d suddenly begun to bore her…

Whoa, CNN, telling Hawai’i to be very wary…!!!

I wanna see some buoy readings before I’m truly concerned!!!

Shadowstalker @ 60

TRex@57

“If you’re against gay marriage, don’t marry one.”

Bless you for that!

I think it was my Dad who I heard say that for the first time. He’s so logical and military sometimes. I watched his brain sort of feel out the issue, then snap like a mousetrap and he said:

“If you’re against, gay marriage, then just don’t marry a gay person. Seems fairly simple to me.”

He’s fairly immovable when he makes up his mind about something, too.

Have I mentioned to you guys lately how much I love my amazing family?

TRex @ 61

Shadow, the next time someone asks you if that was your girlfriend, treat the question as if he asked if she’s your, like, omg-girlfriiiiieend. It’s a trick I saw my old roommate Jen do all the time. It’s also kind of a subtle way to tell them that they’re being too personal.

“Oh, yeah, she’s one of my girlfriends, we go way back. We’ve been friends forever.”

And then when they’d inevitably go, “But is she your girlfriend girlfriend?”, she’d smile and change the subject or just wander away like they’d suddenly begun to bore her…

That’s a good idea. She has been my BFF for a quarter century, in addition to the beloved whose footprints in the dust I worship. I just generally panic when someone asks, since the Ozarks are like the movie Deliverance in so many delightful ways.

PB (peanut butter) @ 8

Still pissed off about the WSJ…

Today’s wsj re-write of history is especially Orwellian…

http://www.opinionjournal.com/…..=110010473

When an aide told Mr. Cheney that another passenger airplane was rapidly approaching the White House, the vice president gave the order to shoot it down.

Here’s Sec. of Transportation Norman Mineta testifying before the 9/11 Commission:

http://www.prisonplanet.com/ar…..nsored.htm

“During the time that the airplane was coming into the Pentagon, there was a young man who would come in and say to the Vice President…the plane is 50 miles out…the plane is 30 miles out….and when it got down to the plane is 10 miles out, the young man also said to the vice president “do the orders still stand?” And the Vice President turned and whipped his neck around and said “Of course the orders still stand, have you heard anything to the contrary!?

Hey, if Rudy Mussolini can be a hero of 9/11, why not Traitor Dick?

CTuttle @ 62

Whoa, CNN, telling Hawai’i to be very wary…!!!

gotta win those overnight ratings yanno

TRex @ 64

Shadowstalker @ 60

TRex@57

“If you’re against gay marriage, don’t marry one.”

Bless you for that!

I think it was my Dad who I heard say that for the first time. He’s so logical and military sometimes. I watched his brain sort of feel out the issue, then snap like a mousetrap and he said:

“If you’re against, gay marriage, then just don’t marry a gay person. Seems fairly simple to me.”

He’s fairly immovable when he makes up his mind about something, too.

Have I mentioned to you guys lately how much I love my amazing family?

it makes me happy to hear that.
i’m glad your dad is a good guy.

Cliff Varnell @ 66

PB (peanut butter) @ 8

Still pissed off about the WSJ…

Today’s wsj re-write of history is especially Orwellian…

http://www.opinionjournal.com/…..=110010473

When an aide told Mr. Cheney that another passenger airplane was rapidly approaching the White House, the vice president gave the order to shoot it down.

Here’s Sec. of Transportation Norman Mineta testifying before the 9/11 Commission:

http://www.prisonplanet.com/ar…..nsored.htm

“During the time that the airplane was coming into the Pentagon, there was a young man who would come in and say to the Vice President…the plane is 50 miles out…the plane is 30 miles out….and when it got down to the plane is 10 miles out, the young man also said to the vice president “do the orders still stand?” And the Vice President turned and whipped his neck around and said “Of course the orders still stand, have you heard anything to the contrary!?

Hey, if Rudy Mussolini can be a hero of 9/11, why not Traitor Dick?

As it barreled into the Pentagon…!!!

TRex @ 64

Shadowstalker @ 60

TRex@57

“If you’re against gay marriage, don’t marry one.”

Bless you for that!

I think it was my Dad who I heard say that for the first time. He’s so logical and military sometimes. I watched his brain sort of feel out the issue, then snap like a mousetrap and he said:

“If you’re against, gay marriage, then just don’t marry a gay person. Seems fairly simple to me.”

He’s fairly immovable when he makes up his mind about something, too.

Have I mentioned to you guys lately how much I love my amazing family?

We love your amazing family too. I’ve often wondered if your parents would adopt me.

Hardball clip that is really nice. Tweety knocks it out of the park here!

That’s a good idea. She has been my BFF for a quarter century, in addition to the beloved whose footprints in the dust I worship. I just generally panic when someone asks, since the Ozarks are like the movie Deliverance in so many delightful ways.

Oh, sweetie. I can tell you’re just like me. You want to please everybody, and when someone asks you a direct question, you feel compelled to answer it fully and completely, don’t you?

Something I learned painfully over time is to never say everything that you know. Especially to a stranger. You have an absolute right to decline to answer.

how’s mamarex?

TRex @ 72

Something I learned painfully over time is to never say everything that you know. Especially to a stranger. You have an absolute right to decline to answer.

It’s odd, in a way–I think, for a long, long time, the two stock phrases in how to deal with others in this country were, “mind your own business,” and, “live and let live.”

Somewhere along the line, that changed. :)

Not sure exactly when, but, it did. :)

TRex @ 72

That’s a good idea. She has been my BFF for a quarter century, in addition to the beloved whose footprints in the dust I worship. I just generally panic when someone asks, since the Ozarks are like the movie Deliverance in so many delightful ways.

Oh, sweetie. I can tell you’re just like me. You want to please everybody, and when someone asks you a direct question, you feel compelled to answer it fully and completely, don’t you?

Something I learned painfully over time is to never say everything that you know. Especially to a stranger. You have an absolute right to decline to answer.

AGAG has a similar notion of enlightenment…!!!

TRex@72

Yup, fully, completely, and honestly. Living here is hard on the soul. Part of why I dash to the Lake every single working night. Not sure how I survived before finding this spot.

Sounds like you have a really loving family, TRex. Good for you all!

Suzanne @ 73

how’s mamarex?

Good. I miss her. I wanted to go down there this weekend, but it’s our radio station’s 20th anniversary concert this weekend. I missed out last year because the concert was on the day that Elissa died.

Evening. Catching up… Now I know about camel toe – Hillarious!

TRex, (raising hand) I too feel compelled to answer questions when asked and always struggle because I won’t lie.

Suzanne @ 80

TRex, (raising hand) I too feel compelled to answer questions when asked and always struggle because I won’t lie.

Bad habit for us that feel compelled to tell the truth, no matter what, tis a shame this Maladministration isn’t compelled thusly…!!! :-(

Loo Hoo. @ 77

Sounds like you have a really loving family, TRex. Good for you all!

All amazing people. I am incredibly lucky. They’re kind and intellectually curious and they listen to people when they talk and they read lots and lots of books. And we’re all animal lovers. Each household has its furry Familiars.

Except my mom’s cat Miles. He’s a little asshole. I think he hates me because he can feel that my mom loves me and it makes him jealous. He runs up and tries to mark me with his chin and then he growls and hisses at me.

SunnyNobility @ 79

Evening. Catching up… Now I know about camel toe – Hillarious!

I seriously enjoy learning such obscure terminology!!!

i saw fox’ 1/2 hour news hr. once.
it was so bad i Would have watched it again if i had it that together.
it was so bad that it was a credit to the american system that they would put such utterly lame dreck on the cable-waves. that they knew so little that they couldn’t tell that they were way too bad to do that in public. they deserved to suck just as bad as they sucked. they were almost perfectly bad, in that gut wrenching way: it was hard to look at, but you couldn’t turn away.

it was as if they stretched themselves so far to try to be funny, that they inadvertently, unwittingly revealed the extremely UnFunny underlying shape of their twisted psyches.

healthy junior high kids could have done much better.
these “adults” didn’t have the sense of humor of fifth graders.

Suzanne @ 80

TRex, (raising hand) I too feel compelled to answer questions when asked and always struggle because I won’t lie.

You guys, man. How did you ever get away with anything in school?

You can totally tell the truth without telling the important parts. I do not, however, recommend these procedures when faced with a judge, police officer, or other law enforcement official.

We leave that to the Republicans.

yellowdog jim @ 58

animation of Erin.

And here I thought you were referring to Tweety’s new leer-interest: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..60156.html

TRex @ 82

Loo Hoo. @ 77

Sounds like you have a really loving family, TRex. Good for you all!

All amazing people. I am incredibly lucky. They’re kind and intellectually curious and they listen to people when they talk and they read lots and lots of books. And we’re all animal lovers. Each household has its furry Familiars.

Except my mom’s cat Miles. He’s a little asshole. I think he hates me because he can feel that my mom loves me and it makes him jealous. He runs up and tries to mark me with his chin and then he growls and hisses at me.

Ya need to define your territory, Trex…!!! *g*

Ya need to define your territory, Trex…!!! *g*

Pffffft. If I walked up and peed on one of my mom’s walls, my brother would be an only child before I got to the squirt part at the end.

More good advice:

Never try to tell everything you know. It may take too short a time.
Norman Ford

TRex @ 88

Ya need to define your territory, Trex…!!! *g*

Pffffft. If I walked up and peed on one of my mom’s walls, my brother would be an only child before I got to the squirt part at the end.

Damn, You’re right, Sorry Dood…!!! *g*

Someday, even in the backwoods Ozarks, a person will be able to proudly announce that they adore their chosen beloved without fear of job loss, child loss, or physical harm. It just won’t be in my current lifetime. And the “progressives” groundwork performed here and elsewhere is why I believe that. It will just take several more generations than it should.

another aftershock – 6.3 this time (peru)

That “Red Eye” show is worse much worse and it is still on. I only watch Fox when CNN is in continuous loop repaly and MSNBC plays the endless jail/courtroom murder case/pedophile shows which I’ve seen a million times already.

Suzanne @ 92

another aftershock – 6.3 this time (peru)

That’s why I love ya so much, the bearer of such joyous news!!! :P

wigwam @ 86

yellowdog jim @ 58

animation of Erin.

And here I thought you were referring to Tweety’s new leer-interest: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..60156.html

i find tweety almost too painful to watch.
this episode i only read about.
and that was too much.

yellowdog jim @ 95

wigwam @ 86

And here I thought you were referring to Tweety’s new leer-interest: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..60156.html

i find tweety almost too painful to watch.
this episode i only read about.
and that was too much.

Tweety’s actually not that bad once you get past his quirks…!!! ;-)

Well, I’m gone for the night, y’all. Until tomorrow!

TRex @ 89

More good advice:

Never try to tell everything you know. It may take too short a time.
Norman Ford

What was that thing you told me one time about CA being God’s Theme Park? Is that the quote?

I don’t watch tweety unless there is someone on his show that I wanna see. he grates my last nerve like chalk squeaking on a chalkboard. i can stand him only seconds longer than i can stand hearing boosh.

Shadowstalker @ 97

Well, I’m gone for the night, y’all. Until tomorrow!

Nite, SS!!!

CT, peru just had a 5.0 and nor cal just had a 3.0 off the coast up by eureka

Please check these out in this order. (Reading them in the opposite order damn near brought me to tears.)

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/081307.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…..183931/749

Here’s some poor soul trying to sue AT&T for invading his privacy, while Nancy Pelosi and company sell him out, pulling the law out from under his feet.

And Pelosi is taling out her ass, when she says we’re going to get right on this:
– Gonzo can approve one-year programs up until this “FISA fix” sunsets, i.e., measures that last to the end of Bush’s term.
– Bush ain’t gonna sign no more-restrictive measure until this one sunsets.

g’nite shadow

hey steve a

Suzanne @ 101

CT, peru just had a 5.0 and nor cal just had a 3.0 off the coast up by eureka

Dang, Mother Nature is acting up today…!!!

Suzanne @ 103

g’nite shadow

hey steve a

Hey Suz

CTuttle @ 104

Suzanne @ 101

CT, peru just had a 5.0 and nor cal just had a 3.0 off the coast up by eureka

Dang, Mother Nature is acting up today…!!!

So, do you guys have a tsunami coming at you, or not?

Suzanne @ 99

I don’t watch tweety unless there is someone on his show that I wanna see. he grates my last nerve like chalk squeaking on a chalkboard. i can stand him only seconds longer than i can stand hearing boosh.

Thanks to digby, once again, this is one of those reasons why I’m perfectly happy to be without television… and without Tweety.

wigwam @ 102

Please check these out in this order. (Reading them in the opposite order damn near brought me to tears.)

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/081307.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…..183931/749

Here’s some poor soul trying to sue AT&T for invading his privacy, while Nancy Pelosi and company sell him out, pulling the law out from under his feet.

And Pelosi is taling out her ass, when she says we’re going to get right on this:
– Gonzo can approve one-year programs up until this “FISA fix” sunsets, i.e., measures that last to the end of Bush’s term.
– Bush ain’t gonna sign no more-restrictive measure until this one sunsets.

Wigwam, at no juncture was it legal, what ever Nancy’s smoking I would greatly appreciate smoking!!!

CTuttle @ 104

Suzanne @ 101

CT, peru just had a 5.0 and nor cal just had a 3.0 off the coast up by eureka

Dang, Mother Nature is acting up today…!!!

I’ve been worrying that we were going to see a whole bunch of activity from those plates this year.

Watch Anchorage and Fairbanks. If Alaska starts shaking, then it may be time to wave goodbye to Tokyo.

World Quake Page fro USGS

Look at the orange – that is from the past 24 hours, including a 5 something off Japan and lots of little ones up in Alaska. Clicking on a region on that map will bring it up closer, for example, the Asia region or the Alaska region.

TRex @ 109

CTuttle @ 104

Dang, Mother Nature is acting up today…!!!

I’ve been worrying that we were going to see a whole bunch of activity from those plates this year.

Watch Anchorage and Fairbanks. If Alaska starts shaking, then it may be time to wave goodbye to Tokyo.

Dood, I’d be a recipient of that too…!!!

CTuttle @ 34

Suzanne @ 27

another 6.3 aftershock in peru

Hmmm… I need to keep an eye peeled…!!!

For a while, CNN was going ballistic about a tsunami, due to strike Hawaii at 2 AM our time. So we had a tsunami warning for a while, but that was canceled at 4 PM, our time, despite the recorded hysteria you might have seen on CNN this evening. A good primary Tsunami source is via the The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

Bob in HI

You can sign up for email notifications from the USGS. I get an email for anything 3.0 or larger in CA, 4.0 or larger in the US and 4.5 or larger world wide.

CTuttle @ 95

yellowdog jim @ 95

i find tweety almost too painful to watch.
this episode i only read about.
and that was too much.

Tweety’s actually not that bad once you get past his quirks…!!! ;-)

well, he’s not as bad as beck and he’s no falafel, but he makes abrams seem like god, and Schuster is the real thing.
but Tweety?
his quirks are what is so wrong.
his shtick is so full of himself,
and it so reminiscent of shrub’s smarminess:
“i am so cool And funny! wheee!”
at least when Olberman goes there he is sending up himself too.
tweety is so stupid and ugly.
but i can tolerate him in small doses.

Bob Schacht @ 112

CTuttle @ 34

Hmmm… I need to keep an eye peeled…!!!

For a while, CNN was going ballistic about a tsunami, due to strike Hawaii at 2 AM our time. So we had a tsunami warning for a while, but that was canceled at 4 PM, our time, despite the recorded hysteria you might have seen on CNN this evening. A good primary Tsunami source is via the The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

Bob in HI

So true, but, there’s new seismic activity to contend with…!!!

Ooh. It looks like Alaska may be starting to move.

Not much going on in Japan, though, that’s good. All those plates are locked together pretty tight.

CT, I’m not trying to be an alarmist or anything, but you do have an emergency plan, right?

Suzanne @ 67

CTuttle @ 62

Whoa, CNN, telling Hawai’i to be very wary…!!!

gotta win those overnight ratings yanno

You saw the same recorded replay that I saw. They really should have enough professional ethics to do more than display the word “RECORDED” on the screen– they should have included the time of day.

Bob in HI

TRex, we gotta hope that ET and Big Mitch do also. Kinda goes hand in hand with living in quake country.

TRex @ 116

Ooh. It looks like Alaska may be starting to move.

Not much going on in Japan, though, that’s good. All those plates are locked together pretty tight.

CT, I’m not trying to be an alarmist or anything, but you do have an emergency plan, right?

Yes’m, but, the last tsunami that took lives originated from the Alaskan Plate…!!!

Easy signup for the quake notification service.

Suzanne @ 120

Easy signup for the quake notification service.

Been there, Done that, Ma Cheri!!! *g*

Suzanne @ 80

TRex, (raising hand) I too feel compelled to answer questions when asked and always struggle because I won’t lie.

There was a saint. She carried bread and leftovers to the poor in her apron; despite her husbands warning.

He confronted her leaving the kitchen, and demanded to know what she carried…

“Roses” she replied, and when she lowered her apron, she carried a basket of petals.

CT, California lost folks due to the Alaksa 64 quake tsunami – up in Crescent City.

Suzanne @ 123

CT, California lost folks due to the Alaksa 64 quake tsunami – up in Crescent City.

I hear ya, Ma’am…

CTuttle @ 118

TRex @ 116

Ooh. It looks like Alaska may be starting to move.

Not much going on in Japan, though, that’s good. All those plates are locked together pretty tight.

CT, I’m not trying to be an alarmist or anything, but you do have an emergency plan, right?

Yes’m, but, the last tsunami that took lives originated from the Alaskan Plate…!!!

not to neglect the devastation on the coast that would affect you, but you and yours would be physically safe tsunami-wise there at 500 feet, right?

Me3, I am no saint – believe me ;)

I know it is a weakness of mine and I work on it – it was much easier to be assertive while on duty than it is in my personal life.

Shadowstalker @ 91

Someday, even in the backwoods Ozarks, a person will be able to proudly announce that they adore their chosen beloved without fear of job loss, child loss, or physical harm. It just won’t be in my current lifetime. And the “progressives” groundwork performed here and elsewhere is why I believe that. It will just take several more generations than it should.

That just breaks my heart. My best friend growing up (whose mom was my first piano teacher) was disowned by his family after they found the stack of Playgirls under his bed. We almost got married right after high school so he could have some kind of ‘acceptance’ from people who should have adored him for the amazing person he was.

He died of AIDS at 32, and I believe in my heart that if marriage was available to him, he’d be happily married and alive today.

yellowdog jim @ 125

CTuttle @ 118

Yes’m, but, the last tsunami that took lives originated from the Alaskan Plate…!!!

not to neglect the devastation on the cost that would affect you, but you and yours would be physically safe tsunami-wise there at 500 feet, right?

Yes, I’m out of the inundation zone!!! *g*

CT, I’m 13 miles (as the crow flies) from the coast and sitting at 627′ elevation.

On purpose. I don’t like quakes and am sure I would dislike tsunami’s even more.

I watched one of the Fox shows. Can’t compete with Jon & Stephen when you’re unwilling to laugh at yourself. ’twas just crude delivery of rewarmed talking points.

They are so disdainful of the citizenry. Like the *alleged* reading contest, where quantity not quality was touted.

Bush rereads the stranger while pickles erotically chokes him. Thats where the twins came from.

smapdi @ 131

Bush rereads the stranger while pickles erotically chokes him. Thats where the twins came from.

Hmmm… The devil’s spawn???

Suzanne @ 129

CT, I’m 13 miles (as the crow flies) from the coast and sitting at 627′ elevation.

On purpose. I don’t like quakes and am sure I would dislike tsunami’s even more.

Suzanne @ 129

CT, I’m 13 miles (as the crow flies) from the coast and sitting at 627′ elevation.

On purpose. I don’t like quakes and am sure I would dislike tsunami’s even more.

I love earthquakes. Never tried a tsunami though.

smapdi @ 130

Bush rereads the stranger while pickles erotically chokes him. Thats where the twins came from.

i feel this topic is not appropriate for this blog.
(*g*)(as in ‘i’m kidding’.)

yellowdog jim @ 125

not to neglect the devastation on the coast that would affect you, but you and yours would be physically safe tsunami-wise there at 500 feet, right?

Probably. In 1969, a tsunami hit the North Shore of Oahu (right around Waimea). The area away from the shoreline there is full of small hills two or three hundred feet high.

That particular tsunami was estimated at about 120 feet high in open ocean, but reportedly dropped to about 80-90 feet as it hit the shallows (there’s some sort of hydraulic friction effect that causes a tsunami to lose energy there). It took out 3′ x 3′ x 10′ chunks of the seawall and pushed them into the roadway, and there were houses damaged about three hundred feet up the hill, due to the surge. Most toward the top of hill were intact, but had the windows and doors blown out and had about four or five feet of mud inside.

Funny was that there was a cheap old bait shack inside the seawall, on pilings, that had been skewed about thirty degrees from vertical, but was still there. I guess most of the water just ran under and through it.

Altogether, I’d say a 90-foot tsunami produced damage up to about 150-180 ft. vertical elevation.

wigwam @ 133

Suzanne @ 129

CT, I’m 13 miles (as the crow flies) from the coast and sitting at 627′ elevation.

On purpose. I don’t like quakes and am sure I would dislike tsunami’s even more.

Suzanne @ 129

CT, I’m 13 miles (as the crow flies) from the coast and sitting at 627′ elevation.

On purpose. I don’t like quakes and am sure I would dislike tsunami’s even more.

I love earthquakes. Never tried a tsunami though.

Such a seismic event, not an event to be missed…!!!

smapdi @ 130

Bush rereads the stranger while pickles erotically chokes him. Thats where the twins came from.

Hill’s “camel toe” i could handle;
THIS is obscene.

(moderator!!)

not really.
really!
nah.
uh huh.
no .
yes it is!

Wigwam, I freely admit I have control issues – and it is the total lack of control and the no warnings that I don’t like. Not a big fan of wondering if I am gonna die or if it is just a little one.

Feel better knowing the little cottage by the creek in the redwoods in on bedrock and survived the 89 Loma Prieta quake – epicenter was 8 miles as the crow flies east of me.

yellowdog jim @ 137

smapdi @ 130

Bush rereads the stranger while pickles erotically chokes him. Thats where the twins came from.

Hill’s “camel toe” i could handle;
THIS is obscene.

(moderator!!)

not really.
really!
nah.
uh huh.
no .
yes it is!

Gah!!! Too much info…!!! *g*

TRex: sending you a very big file.

that’s about it for me tonight, folks. g’nite all

Suzanne @ 141

that’s about it for me tonight, folks. g’nite all

Bon Nuit, Ma Cheri!!! *g*

goodnight, Suzanne

g’nite Suzanne and all you ‘pups

CTuttle @ 115

Bob Schacht @ 112

For a while, CNN was going ballistic about a tsunami, due to strike Hawaii at 2 AM our time. So we had a tsunami warning for a while, but that was canceled at 4 PM, our time, despite the recorded hysteria you might have seen on CNN this evening. A good primary Tsunami source is via the The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

Bob in HI

So true, but, there’s new seismic activity to contend with…!!!

Are you sure? Apparently the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center doesn’t know about it.

Bob in HI

Soltz is handing a Chickenhawk his lunch on ‘Soft Balls’…, He’s my hero…!!!

nite Suzanne

nite, suz

Suzanne @ 138

Wigwam, I freely admit I have control issues – and it is the total lack of control and the no warnings that I don’t like. Not a big fan of wondering if I am gonna die or if it is just a little one.

Feel better knowing the little cottage by the creek in the redwoods in on bedrock and survived the 89 Loma Prieta quake – epicenter was 8 miles as the crow flies east of me.

My first encounter with an earthquake during which I was conscious — previously, a Guatemalan village had collapsed around me while I slept — occurred after my first meal of very hot Mexican food. As I stood up, my knees felt rubbery and the room seemed to be tipping. Instinctively , I ascribed this to the food until someone said “earthquake” and pointed to the swinging chandeleirs.

Bob Schacht @ 145

CTuttle @ 115

So true, but, there’s new seismic activity to contend with…!!!

Are you sure? Apparently the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center doesn’t know about it.

Bob in HI

This is only the 7.9 news, 71 individuals reported dead, not, 17 as reported earlier…!!!
http://news.sky.com/skynews/ar…..75,00.html

Suzanne @ 126

Me3, I am no saint – believe me ;)

The devil won’t argue.

I missed the Asian tsunami by 8 days which, in geological time, is nothing. 8 days earlier and I would have been walking along the beachfront at Phuket. I wouldn’t have stood a chance.

wigwam @ 149

Suzanne @ 138

Wigwam, I freely admit I have control issues – and it is the total lack of control and the no warnings that I don’t like. Not a big fan of wondering if I am gonna die or if it is just a little one.

Feel better knowing the little cottage by the creek in the redwoods in on bedrock and survived the 89 Loma Prieta quake – epicenter was 8 miles as the crow flies east of me.

My first encounter with an earthquake during which I was conscious — previously, a Guatemalan village had collapsed around me while I slept — occurred after my first meal of very hot Mexican food. As I stood up, my knees felt rubbery and the room seemed to be tipping. Instinctively , I ascribed this to the food until someone said “earthquake” and pointed to the swinging chandeleirs.

Yee-haw, it’s for real…!!! 8-)

How very odd. Last night, I watched “Rocky Horror” for the first time in years. I had been looking forward to it with much antici…..pation.

persiflage @ 152

I missed the Asian tsunami by 8 days which, in geological time, is nothing. 8 days earlier and I would have been walking along the beachfront at Phuket. I wouldn’t have stood a chance.

Whoa, life is ephemeral, eh Sheila??? ;-)

stratocruiser @ 154

How very odd. Last night, I watched “Rocky Horror” for the first time in years. I had been looking forward to it with much antici…..pation.

I once saw “Rocky Horror” and pointed out to a friend that I wasn’t much impressed. He said, “You must have gone on a bad night.” The notion of a “bad night” for a film sent me to the floor howling.

CTuttle @ 155

persiflage @ 152

I missed the Asian tsunami by 8 days which, in geological time, is nothing. 8 days earlier and I would have been walking along the beachfront at Phuket. I wouldn’t have stood a chance.

Whoa, life is ephemeral, eh Sheila??? ;-)

It certainly is. Whenever we think we’re powerful, nature reminds us of what real power is.

Me3 @ 151

Suzanne @ 126

Me3, I am no saint – believe me ;)

The devil won’t argue.

Dang, how did I miss this little nugget…??? ;-)

persiflage @ 157

CTuttle @ 155

Whoa, life is ephemeral, eh Sheila??? ;-)

It certainly is. Whenever we think we’re powerful, nature reminds us of what real power is.

So far Mother Nature has been pretty kind to the Big Isle! A 5 pointer rocks her, while a Cat. 2 Hurricane is lashing her, and she still prevails!!! *g*

Uhoh! Crickets are a’chirping!!!

CTuttle @ 159

persiflage @ 157

It certainly is. Whenever we think we’re powerful, nature reminds us of what real power is.

So far Mother Nature has been pretty kind to the Big Isle! A 5 pointer rocks her, while a Cat. 2 Hurricane is lashing her, and she still prevails!!! *g*

Yes, but it doesn’t count without a tsunami. Gotta have one of those too.

More seriously, what a neat place you folks have there. I’ve only been to Maui (three times) and am impress with topography, culture, food, music, etc. Wow.

what time is it there ctuttle?

Sorry, I got lost in the earthquake maps.

My first major was geology. This and immunopathology are fascinating to me.

Alright, off to bed.

Good night!

wigwam @ 161

CTuttle @ 159

So far Mother Nature has been pretty kind to the Big Isle! A 5 pointer rocks her, while a Cat. 2 Hurricane is lashing her, and she still prevails!!! *g*

Yes, but it doesn’t count without a tsunami. Gotta have one of those too.

More seriously, what a neat place you folks have there. I’ve only been to Maui (three times) and am impress with topography, culture, food, music, etc. Wow.

Aah, you’ve only espied the biggest rock on the planet, eh??? Mauna Loa, measured from the sea floor tops Mt. Everest by 10,000 ft…!!!

Hi all. Glad to see other folks as absorbed by quakes & tsunami as me and my sweetie are. We’ve been glued to The Weather Channel, the Hawaii news websites, Big Island webcams, and all the earthquake and tsunami services for the past couple days, ever since the 5.3 quake under Kilauea on Monday night, through Flossie, and now Peru’s 7.9. We were inside the Mauna Kea hotel for the October 15 quakes last year (6.7 with a 6.0 chaser). We live right next to the Hayward fault in Oakland, and aspire to retire on Oahu. For kicks I scan the real estate databases there, obsessing about inundation and run-up issues with every candidate home. We’re thinking way up at the top of one of the valleys, maybe between Diamond Head and Hawaii Kai. Some day Kilauea’s East Rift Zone might have a really sizeable event…

ruffian @ 162

what time is it there ctuttle?

Quarter of Ten…!!!

CTuttle @ 164

wigwam @ 161

Yes, but it doesn’t count without a tsunami. Gotta have one of those too.

More seriously, what a neat place you folks have there. I’ve only been to Maui (three times) and am impress with topography, culture, food, music, etc. Wow.

Aah, you’ve only espied the biggest rock on the planet, eh??? Mauna Loa, measured from the sea floor tops Mt. Everest by 10,000 ft…!!!

Careful. I have colleagues who’d insist on climbing it, were they to know. ;-)

CTuttle @ 150

Bob Schacht @ 145

Are you sure? Apparently the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center doesn’t know about it.

Bob in HI

This is only the 7.9 news, 71 individuals reported dead, not, 17 as reported earlier…!!!
http://news.sky.com/skynews/ar…..75,00.html

What you’re talking about there is updates on the mortality of the last quake. The death toll is never known instantly; it takes a while to count the toll, get to places with poor communication, etc.

Here’s where to go to see the latest quake info.

What it means, I don’t know. But they apparently have not generated tsunamis of any significance beyond the coastal zone of Peru.

Bob in HI

So far Mother Nature has been pretty kind to the Big Isle! A 5 pointer rocks her, while a Cat. 2 Hurricane is lashing her, and she still prevails!!! *g*

————————

I’m so glad you’re safe Chikka. Now I gotta go and have an afternoon nap. I had trouble sleeping last night and I can barely keep my eyes open. See ya later, alligator.

Hmmm. @ 165

Hi all. Glad to see other folks as absorbed by quakes & tsunami as me and my sweetie are. We’ve been glued to The Weather Channel, the Hawaii news websites, Big Island webcams, and all the earthquake and tsunami services for the past couple days, ever since the 5.3 quake under Kilauea on Monday night, through Flossie, and now Peru’s 7.9. We were inside the Mauna Kea hotel for the October 15 quakes last year (6.7 with a 6.0 chaser). We live right next to the Hayward fault in Oakland, and aspire to retire on Oahu. For kicks I scan the real estate databases there, obsessing about inundation and run-up issues with every candidate home. We’re thinking way up at the top of one of the valleys, maybe between Diamond Head and Hawaii Kai. Some day Kilauea’s East Rift Zone might have a really sizeable event…

C’mon, Hmmm… the Big Isle is more accommodating and appealing than Oahu!!! :P

Bob Schacht @ 168

CTuttle @ 150

This is only the 7.9 news, 71 individuals reported dead, not, 17 as reported earlier…!!!
http://news.sky.com/skynews/ar…..75,00.html

What you’re talking about there is updates on the mortality of the last quake. The death toll is never known instantly; it takes a while to count the toll, get to places with poor communication, etc.

Here’s where to go to see the latest quake info.

What it means, I don’t know. But they apparently have not generated tsunamis of any significance beyond the coastal zone of Peru.

Bob in HI

I’m awaiting the Buoy readings…!!!

persiflage @ 169

So far Mother Nature has been pretty kind to the Big Isle! A 5 pointer rocks her, while a Cat. 2 Hurricane is lashing her, and she still prevails!!! *g*

————————

I’m so glad you’re safe Chikka. Now I gotta go and have an afternoon nap. I had trouble sleeping last night and I can barely keep my eyes open. See ya later, alligator.

G’nite, Persi!!! *g*

I know, I actually like the Big Island better, but 10/15/06 really scared us about Kohala and Hualalai. Can’t see Puna or Volcano or Kau. HOVE is not on the menu. Maybe Hilo town. Oahu has a city, which would be good for Sweetie’s biz.

Hmmm. @ 173

I know, I actually like the Big Island better, but 10/15/06 really scared us about Kohala and Hualalai. Can’t see Puna or Volcano or Kau. HOVE is not on the menu. Maybe Hilo town. Oahu has a city, which would be good for Sweetie’s biz.

Okay! This is twilight material…

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqc…..025913.php

For your all’s knowledge, it’s still Aug, 15th, 10:07!!!

BBC reporting world markets down 2-4%

Hmmm. @ 173

I know, I actually like the Big Island better, but 10/15/06 really scared us about Kohala and Hualalai. Can’t see Puna or Volcano or Kau. HOVE is not on the menu. Maybe Hilo town. Oahu has a city, which would be good for Sweetie’s biz.

Hilo, has always been the hub of the Big Isle!!!

smapdi @ 176

BBC reporting world markets down 2-4%

So how many Bil’s will the Fed pump in today? 50 Bil…???

Sorry, it’s getting late and I’m getting dim… what about the M2.6 at 4:36pm your time today? If it’s the date/time, they post it in UTC, and it was already the 16th in London by then. You have to click a link to find it in local time. I wrote them about that once, they didn’t much care.

Hey CTuttle,

Is there a site you go to for buoy readings? NOAA?

Hmmm. @ 179

Sorry, it’s getting late and I’m getting dim… what about the M2.6 at 4:36pm your time today? If it’s the date/time, they post it in UTC, and it was already the 16th in London by then. You have to click a link to find it in local time. I wrote them about that once, they didn’t much care.

True! They hate dealing with us Commoners…!!! *g*

squiddy @ 180

Hey CTuttle,

Is there a site you go to for buoy readings? NOAA?

Roger That, Matey!!! ;-)

All this just so some mortgage companies could stick a bunch of fees and closing costs to poor people with bad credit and little financial acumen. Its just like renting furniture.

Yaaarrhh! Thanky, I’ll be checkin’.
(”my debauchery was my way of compensatin’”)

When is “talk like a pirate day” anyway?
I know it’s comin’ up.

September 19th (every year)

CTuttle @ 178

smapdi @ 176

BBC reporting world markets down 2-4%

So how many Bil’s will the Fed pump in today? 50 Bil…???

No matter how much, they’re just prolonging the agony. Beyond that, it’s basically unappropriated funds, so they’re just buying up hollowed-out CDOs with borrowed money. Sort of the definition of throwing good money after bad….

Great. I can’t sleep, and you all have all gone to bed.

squiddy @ 184

Yaaarrhh! Thanky, I’ll be checkin’.
(”my debauchery was my way of compensatin’”)

When is “talk like a pirate day” anyway?
I know it’s comin’ up.

Here’s a Linky, Matey…!!!

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/

montag @ 186

CTuttle @ 178

So how many Bil’s will the Fed pump in today? 50 Bil…???

No matter how much, they’re just prolonging the agony. Beyond that, it’s basically unappropriated funds, so they’re just buying up hollowed-out CDOs with borrowed money. Sort of the definition of throwing good money after bad….

Basically, printing Dollar bills…!!! ;-)

An unexpected change of tone from Treas. Sec. Paulson (h/t Calculated Risk):

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, in his first public comments since the sharp downturn in financial markets, said the turmoil “will extract a penalty on the growth rate” of the U.S. economy. But he expressed confidence that “the economy and the markets are strong enough to absorb the losses” without provoking a U.S. recession.
…
[Paulson] said that, beyond the steps already taken to encourage more transparency among hedge funds and the like, the ability of the Bush administration to react constructively is limited. It has largely relied on the Federal Reserve and other central banks to fight the financial fire by pumping large amounts of liquidity into parched money markets.

“There is nothing, in my judgment, that we should be doing in terms of guaranteeing market participants against losses or in terms of restraining risk taking,” Mr. Paulson said. “One of the natural consequences of the excesses is that some entities will cease to exist.”

He hesitated to specify areas where he and regulators will focus in coming months as they draw lessons from recent weeks. “Clearly, there really needs to be a focus on mortgages and how the product is originated and sold,” he said. A major source of today’s problems was deterioration of the standards used to issue mortgages, particularly in the subprime market, and the ripple effects when delinquency rates on those loans began to rise.

My emphases. Things have got to where no one really wants to disturb anyone too much, while yelling HELP!!!!

Thank you for your patience.

prostratedragon @ 190

An unexpected change of tone from Treas. Sec. Paulson (h/t Calculated Risk):

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, in his first public comments since the sharp downturn in financial markets, said the turmoil “will extract a penalty on the growth rate” of the U.S. economy. But he expressed confidence that “the economy and the markets are strong enough to absorb the losses” without provoking a U.S. recession.
…
[Paulson] said that, beyond the steps already taken to encourage more transparency among hedge funds and the like, the ability of the Bush administration to react constructively is limited. It has largely relied on the Federal Reserve and other central banks to fight the financial fire by pumping large amounts of liquidity into parched money markets.

“There is nothing, in my judgment, that we should be doing in terms of guaranteeing market participants against losses or in terms of restraining risk taking,” Mr. Paulson said. “One of the natural consequences of the excesses is that some entities will cease to exist.”

He hesitated to specify areas where he and regulators will focus in coming months as they draw lessons from recent weeks. “Clearly, there really needs to be a focus on mortgages and how the product is originated and sold,” he said. A major source of today’s problems was deterioration of the standards used to issue mortgages, particularly in the subprime market, and the ripple effects when delinquency rates on those loans began to rise.

My emphases. Things have got to where no one really wants to disturb anyone too much, while yelling HELP!!!!

Thank you for your patience.

At what juncture does the fact, finally, sink in that the Housing Bubble done ruptured!!! *g*

Hey CTuttle,
I’m at NOAA now, looking at “National Data Buoy Center”
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/dart.shtml

OMG what a f**king great site. Many thanks.

Looks like station 51406 is the buoy to watch. Doesn’t look like much: just a bump 1/10th of a meter or so.

squiddy @ 192

Hey CTuttle,
I’m at NOAA now, looking at “National Data Buoy Center”
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/dart.shtml

OMG what a f**king great site. Many thanks.

Looks like station 51406 is the buoy to watch. Doesn’t look like much: just a bump 1/10th of a meter or so.

Hmmm… It is magnified as the ‘bump’ gets closer!!!

prostratedragon @ 190

My emphases. Things have got to where no one really wants to disturb anyone too much, while yelling HELP!!!!

Thank you for your patience.

Yeah, kind of like whispering, “Fire!,” in a crowded theater… that’s on fire.

There used to be an old soul tune called “The Whisper’s Getting Louder.” That’s where I think we’ve been for a while, actually. Or maybe that samba “Encrespo O Mar, Clementina (The Sea’s Getting Rough, C-).”

Wow, I meant the financial seas! Y’all be careful with those real seas, now. (And again I wonder, just what really is up?)

prostratedragon @ 195

There used to be an old soul tune called “The Whisper’s Getting Louder.” That’s where I think we’ve been for a while, actually. Or maybe that samba “Encrespo O Mar, Clementina (The Sea’s Getting Rough, C-).”

Everybody’s the wiseacre, eh???

montag @ 186

CTuttle @ 178

So how many Bil’s will the Fed pump in today? 50 Bil…???

No matter how much, they’re just prolonging the agony. Beyond that, it’s basically unappropriated funds, so they’re just buying up hollowed-out CDOs with borrowed money. Sort of the definition of throwing good money after bad….

CDOs? please for your less literate friends

prostratedragon @ 196

Wow, I meant the financial seas! Y’all be careful with those real seas, now. (And again I wonder, just what really is up?)

It was short-circuited within the toobz’s, eh??? ;-)

True dat. I seem to remember in “Natural Disasters” course in college, .5 meter open ocean swells were typically when oceanographers start to sweat about tsunamis. Does that jibe with your info?
And as you say, local offshore topography is also key to what’ll happen locally.

Man, this is wild. It’s like viewing the Pacific like it’s a little pond. I love it.

No tsunami expected in HI from the 7.9 in Peru: http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/m…..021055.txt

G’Night, all you geo-fans.

CTuttle @ 170

Hmmm. @ 165

Hi all. Glad to see other folks as absorbed by quakes & tsunami as me and my sweetie are. We’ve been glued to The Weather Channel, the Hawaii news websites, Big Island webcams, and all the earthquake and tsunami services for the past couple days, ever since the 5.3 quake under Kilauea on Monday night, through Flossie, and now Peru’s 7.9. We were inside the Mauna Kea hotel for the October 15 quakes last year (6.7 with a 6.0 chaser). We live right next to the Hayward fault in Oakland, and aspire to retire on Oahu. For kicks I scan the real estate databases there, obsessing about inundation and run-up issues with every candidate home. We’re thinking way up at the top of one of the valleys, maybe between Diamond Head and Hawaii Kai. Some day Kilauea’s East Rift Zone might have a really sizeable event…

C’mon, Hmmm… the Big Isle is more accommodating and appealing than Oahu!!! :P

Well, you have got a lot more molten rocks, and rocky ground. And you have got a grid-locked coastal road, and one cross-island road for daredevils, and you have got both tropical rainforests, desert, and occasional snow on your mountains. All true. All we have is Manhattan with a beach (aka Waikiki), and the highest-priced real-estate in the state. If you like night life, though, you haven’t got anything to compare with Waikiki, do you?
{/snark}

But this seems an odd choice:

“We’re thinking way up at the top of one of the valleys, maybe between Diamond Head and Hawaii Kai.”

I guess it depends on what you want to be near, or if you just want to get away. You’d get something a lot more affordable up in central Oahu near Wahiawa, I think. And if you like horses, North Shore near Mokuleia is where you want to go. It all depends on what you’re looking for, I guess.

Bob in HI

Bob Schacht @ 203

CTuttle @ 170

C’mon, Hmmm… the Big Isle is more accommodating and appealing than Oahu!!! :P

Well, you have got a lot more molten rocks, and rocky ground. And you have got a grid-locked coastal road, and one cross-island road for daredevils, and you have got both tropical rainforests, desert, and occasional snow on your mountains. All true. All we have is Manhattan with a beach (aka Waikiki), and the highest-priced real-estate in the state. If you like night life, though, you haven’t got anything to compare with Waikiki, do you?
{/snark}

But this seems an odd choice:

“We’re thinking way up at the top of one of the valleys, maybe between Diamond Head and Hawaii Kai.”

I guess it depends on what you want to be near, or if you just want to get away. You’d get something a lot more affordable up in central Oahu near Wahiawa, I think. And if you like horses, North Shore near Mokuleia is where you want to go. It all depends on what you’re looking for, I guess.

Bob in HI

And on your tolerance level for sheer numbers of ‘Individuals’ amassed in a small amount of Real Estate!!!

SunnyNobility @ 198

CDOs? please for your less literate friends

A CDO is a tradeable financial instrument short for collateralized debt obligation. There are several kinds, but, basically, an investment bank might buy up a big bundle of mortages, then offer to sell securities to others, based on the value of the mortgages–offering the mortgages as collateral. Those securities can then be bought and sold any number of times, or used to hedge against other debts or can be used as collateral themselves for other loans.

Of course, if the collateral is worth nothing, so, the credit derivative based on the collateral, the securities above, are basically worth nothing. What’s happening now is that these CDOs have wormed their way into a lot of the financial markets that aren’t directly associated with mortgages as part of their business. In that way, debt associated with these bad mortgages has spread virally in the financial world.

CTuttle @ 204

Bob Schacht @ 203

Well, you have got a lot more molten rocks, and rocky ground. And you have got a grid-locked coastal road, and one cross-island road for daredevils, and you have got both tropical rainforests, desert, and occasional snow on your mountains. All true. All we have is Manhattan with a beach (aka Waikiki), and the highest-priced real-estate in the state. If you like night life, though, you haven’t got anything to compare with Waikiki, do you?
{/snark}

But this seems an odd choice:

I guess it depends on what you want to be near, or if you just want to get away. You’d get something a lot more affordable up in central Oahu near Wahiawa, I think. And if you like horses, North Shore near Mokuleia is where you want to go. It all depends on what you’re looking for, I guess.

Bob in HI

And on your tolerance level for sheer numbers of ‘Individuals’ amassed in a small amount of Real Estate!!!

We got low density; you just have to get north of Wahiawa. You know, that’s where the superhighway ends.

G’night, time to saw logs.

Aloha,
Bob in HI

squiddy @ 200

True dat. I seem to remember in “Natural Disasters” course in college, .5 meter open ocean swells were typically when oceanographers start to sweat about tsunamis. Does that jibe with your info?
And as you say, local offshore topography is also key to what’ll happen locally.

Man, this is wild. It’s like viewing the Pacific like it’s a little pond. I love it.

Heh, a body of water that conservatively amounts to 1/3 the world’s span, is relegated to a pond!!! The Atlantic, I can see…!!!

Oay, I’m off to the sleepy benthosphere.
Great to chat, CTuttle. G’night. Night all.
(Everyone else should check out that NOAA buoy site, it’s not just for geeks anymore.)

(or am I just rationalizing?)

About time for the early-bird Right-Coasters to be a’stirring…!!! ;-)

CDOs? please for your less literate friends

Collateralized Debt Obligation.

Finance speak for outhouse.

They’re like bonds, but instead of being written on one nice, easy-to-explain cash flow, they’re “fashioned” out of lots of different slices of different debts and other instruments, which provide the so-called collateral.

Give an example of how complex they are, there’s a Wall Street story that has hit the blogs, to effect that at some house it took a week to evaluate just one of them, and that’s probably a many-hour week for several mathematically gifted folk.

CTuttle @ 209

About time for the early-bird Right-Coasters to be a’stirring…!!! ;-)

“Mmmm…aah. Good morning, honey. Oh my God! SELL! SELL!!!”

Hey CTuttle and Bob – particular interest to you guys-
I have done some technical work for this gal, and she’s heading your way.
She’s worth watching.

newtonusr @ 212

Hey CTuttle and Bob – particular interest to you guys-
I have done some technical work for this gal, and she’s heading your way.
She’s worth watching.

You’re right, she’s a’rowing her way over here…!!! Go, Girl!!!

I bid ya’ll a fond adieu with this timeless nugget:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9KC7uhMY9s

Aloha Oe!!!

A recent entry in my annotated bib that might be useful for mortgage news followers:

Tanta (mostly), The Compleat UberNerd. Calculated Risk blog. An occasional series. Posts by an experienced mortgage professional, in which she explains some of the more technical aspects of the field that lie behind contemporary events. Topics to date: Mortgage servicing; Negative amoritization; FICOs and AUS; Private mortgage insurance; Foreclosure and REO; Mortgage-backed securities; Delinquency and default; Reverse mortgages; and Leverage, ratings, and forced unwinds.

And because there’s such a financial wind blowing, one more little thing for the bookmark file: a faq about the Fed and the kind of temporary open market operations (TOMO) it did last week and might again today or tomorrow.

prostratedragon @ 217

And because there’s such a financial wind blowing, one more little thing for the bookmark file: a faq about the Fed and the kind of temporary open market operations (TOMO) it did last week and might again today or tomorrow.

Interesting explanation of what’s going on with the Fed’s actions.

However, and it’s a big however, the notion that the Fed was only accepting mortgage securities covered under federal insurance means that if the Fed holds `em and they fail, the taxpayer is still on the hook for the loss…. (!)

Not the best of circumstances, by any means. Moreover, if they’re having to inject such large amounts of cash to encourage liquidity–far beyond the usual daily rate–it means the situation is serious.

Wish they were still publishing the M3 reports daily….

“Wish they were still publishing the M3 reports daily….”

This is *why* they stopped publishing the M3’s, so us little people couldnt figure out what’s happening.

And with that, I bid you a cheery good morning :)

egregious @ 219

“Wish they were still publishing the M3 reports daily….”

This is *why* they stopped publishing the M3’s, so us little people couldnt figure out what’s happening.

Yeah, that was the general opinion when they stopped. No one believed the Bushies’ excuse that they weren’t necessary and cost too much to produce and were a waste of their very valuable time….

And, a cheery good morning to you, too.

Montag @205
A CDO is a tradeable financial instrument short for collateralized debt obligation. There are several kinds, but, basically, an investment bank might buy up a big bundle of mortages, then offer to sell securities to others, based on the value of the mortgages–offering the mortgages as collateral. Those securities can then be bought and sold any number of times, or used to hedge against other debts or can be used as collateral themselves for other loans.

Of course, if the collateral is worth nothing, so, the credit derivative based on the collateral, the securities above, are basically worth nothing. What’s happening now is that these CDOs have wormed their way into a lot of the financial markets that aren’t directly associated with mortgages as part of their business. In that way, debt associated with these bad mortgages has spread virally in the financial world.
———–
Prostrate Dragon @210

Collateralized Debt Obligation.

Finance speak for outhouse.

They’re like bonds, but instead of being written on one nice, easy-to-explain cash flow, they’re “fashioned” out of lots of different slices of different debts and other instruments, which provide the so-called collateral.

Give an example of how complex they are, there’s a Wall Street story that has hit the blogs, to effect that at some house it took a week to evaluate just one of them, and that’s probably a many-hour week for several mathematically gifted folk.

————–
Thanks guys,

So the now infamous mortgage backed securities are CDOs. Are these CDOs non-recourse vis a vis
the issuer? (I realize the mortgages carry theoretically, but not practically, recourse).

Are the issuers shell entities that will be bankrupted, thus throwing the realization of the collateral into the courts?

Please tell me that the collateral generally consists of bundles of whole debts (re the individual res mortgages), not just participation interests (”slices”) of the individual debts.

Prostrate, I will check your site.

Thanks very much.

Thanks. So this is what we call the dreaded mortgage backed securities.

egregious @ 218

“Wish they were still publishing the M3 reports daily….”

This is *why* they stopped publishing the M3’s, so us little people couldnt figure out what’s happening.

And with that, I bid you a cheery good morning :)

Lota people been asking where you been!

Raven!

Missed you too. I’ve been on vacation in California with the family, egrDau lives in SF now.

Altogether too much relaxation and happiness. I could get used to this :)

Ok that’s enough relaxation. Back to work, we got names to take and butts to kick.

I did glance at fdl from time to time, and apparently we are supposed to watch our fucking language from now on?

Good morning, pups. The NYT has the odious Ms. Collins (from now on just TOMC) nattering on about Fred Thompson, Roger Cohen on a proposal for Palestinian statehood, and Nicholas Kristof on global warming and the loss of sea ice.

http://mgpaquin.wordpress.com/

Coffee and tea are ready, and the biscuits are out of the oven. Down here we’re very tired of the heat, and would like temperatures that weren’t around 100. Stay cool.

Egregious, seeing as we’re a “foul-mouthed fem blog” it may be that just us fucking broads have to watch our fucking language, but I’m not abso-fucking-lutely sure about that. Oh, fuck it…

SunnyNobility @ 221

So the now infamous mortgage backed securities are CDOs. Are these CDOs non-recourse vis a vis
the issuer? (I realize the mortgages carry theoretically, but not practically, recourse).

I would guess that the problem is in the number of steps removed from the initial mortgage producer. Sometimes there are many, many intermediaries, which, obviously, complicates recourse.

Are the issuers shell entities that will be bankrupted, thus throwing the realization of the collateral into the courts?

Some may, I suppose. But, in the case of mortgage-based CDOs, the mortgages (or, worse, other mortgage-based securities) are themselves the collateral. If there’s no worth to the collateral, recovery during bankruptcy is nearly impossible. The assets (the houses on which the mortgages are written) may be worth much less in appraised value than for what the mortgages were written, and may not be in the direct control of the bankrupted entity higher up the food chain.

Please tell me that the collateral generally consists of bundles of whole debts (re the individual res mortgages), not just participation interests (”slices”) of the individual debts.

I would guess there are as many variants as there are possible financial instruments. May be packages swallowed up whole by a hedge fund (probably the case with the two Bear Stearns hedge funds), and/or tranches.

It always amazes me how creative the staid business types can be when it comes to cutting up the profit and risk pies. That’s probably the root of all this evil–these were–in all their varied forms–very risky instruments, but, by virtue of all kinds of side deals (such as credit default swaps and other forms of risk insurance), they were perceived as–and sold as–safe bets.

So, when the credit protection sellers got their asses handed to them by defaults, they couldn’t cover their obligations to the credit protection buyers, and the ripples just got bigger and bigger…. And, since the hedge funds were major users and traders of these instruments, and, since they simply refused to be regulated in any way shape or form, this is the end result.

That’s my best guess, based on what I’m seeing and reading.

montag @ 226

SunnyNobility @ 221

So the now infamous mortgage backed securities are CDOs. Are these CDOs non-recourse vis a vis
the issuer? (I realize the mortgages carry theoretically, but not practically, recourse).

I would guess that the problem is in the number of steps removed from the initial mortgage producer. Sometimes there are many, many intermediaries, which, obviously, complicates recourse.

Are the issuers shell entities that will be bankrupted, thus throwing the realization of the collateral into the courts?

Some may, I suppose. But, in the case of mortgage-based CDOs, the mortgages (or, worse, other mortgage-based securities) are themselves the collateral. If there’s no worth to the collateral, recovery during bankruptcy is nearly impossible. The assets (the houses on which the mortgages are written) may be worth much less in appraised value than for what the mortgages were written, and may not be in the direct control of the bankrupted entity higher up the food chain.

Please tell me that the collateral generally consists of bundles of whole debts (re the individual res mortgages), not just participation interests (”slices”) of the individual debts.

I would guess there are as many variants as there are possible financial instruments. May be packages swallowed up whole by a hedge fund (probably the case with the two Bear Stearns hedge funds), and/or tranches.

It always amazes me how creative the staid business types can be when it comes to cutting up the profit and risk pies. That’s probably the root of all this evil–these were–in all their varied forms–very risky instruments, but, by virtue of all kinds of side deals (such as credit default swaps and other forms of risk insurance), they were perceived as–and sold as–safe bets.

So, when the credit protection sellers got their asses handed to them by defaults, they couldn’t cover their obligations to the credit protection buyers, and the ripples just got bigger and bigger…. And, since the hedge funds were major users and traders of these instruments, and, since they simply refused to be regulated in any way shape or form, this is the end result.

That’s my best guess, based on what I’m seeing and reading.

Thank you. I’ve fallen into the Calculated Risk link. It’s a goldmine.

SunnyNobility @ 228

Thank you. I’ve fallen into the Calculated Risk link. It’s a goldmine.

I’ll have to look at it, then. But, I’ll bet that, in any analysis of this pot o’ shit, they’re saying that there are a whole lot of people whose exposure to this very risky sort of investment is way, way beyond prudent levels.

Everybody got greedy is probably the very short answer. (!)

Marion, I just left you a fucking message on the f’ing facebook.
Thanks for breakfast!

Just checking here: they lied us into a war that has killed upwards of a million people and devastated the economies of both Iraq and the US, but we’re evil because we swear? Fuck that.

gdmfsob!

Anyone know what I should do w/ my retirement fund? I can switch it to low-low risk and earn about 2%. Right now it’s in moderate risk and until this month was doing quite well. So do I make a call today and switch it over or leave it alone and ride it out?

egregious @ 230

Just checking here: they lied us into a war that has killed upwards of a million people and devastated the economies of both Iraq and the US, but we’re evil because we swear? Fuck that.

Miklazewski telling Morning Joe earlier about the sharp increase in suicides by soldiers on active duty up approx. 30%. The genocidal catastrophe that may have wiped out a Kurdish sect this week.

Heckuva job, Bushie. Cut and ran from the pursuit of bin Laden and al Qaeda to dally in Iraq.

The sins of the daddy president are visited on the children today and for generations. All the Turdblossom and Thunderfoot [Karen Hughes reportedly headed back to the WH] polishing in the world won’t mask this “legacy.”

Fuck that pretty much sums it up, eg.

solai @ 233

Anyone know what I should do w/ my retirement fund? I can switch it to low-low risk and earn about 2%. Right now it’s in moderate risk and until this month was doing quite well. So do I make a call today and switch it over or leave it alone and ride it out?

This is sort of like medical advice by mail. :) What I might do might produce entirely different results than you would expect. Me, I think a major correction is just around the corner. But, what I do, two years before retirement, is not necessarily what you should do if you’re fifteen or twenty years from retirement. Best to talk to your fund manager.

egregious @ 230

Just checking here: they lied us into a war that has killed upwards of a million people and devastated the economies of both Iraq and the US, but we’re evil because we swear? Fuck that.

Good morning all. Egregious if we weren’t FMF’s before we certainly are now.

Right now, I think the market is working. It’s punishing the greedy. Yep, that makes for stress for we in the collateral damage area. But the history of the market tells me to ride it out.

montag @ 205

SunnyNobility @ 198

CDOs? please for your less literate friends

A CDO is a tradeable financial instrument short for collateralized debt obligation. There are several kinds, but, basically, an investment bank might buy up a big bundle of mortages, then offer to sell securities to others, based on the value of the mortgages–offering the mortgages as collateral. Those securities can then be bought and sold any number of times, or used to hedge against other debts or can be used as collateral themselves for other loans.

Of course, if the collateral is worth nothing, so, the credit derivative based on the collateral, the securities above, are basically worth nothing. What’s happening now is that these CDOs have wormed their way into a lot of the financial markets that aren’t directly associated with mortgages as part of their business. In that way, debt associated with these bad mortgages has spread virally in the financial world.

So what happens then to a homeowner who has a mortgage with a company that goes under? Do the lenders just sell those mortgages to another company?

I hate all this layered complexity with finances and the economy. It seems to me like it’s made complicated and difficult on purpose so you feel too stupid to ask questions.

montag @ 234

solai @ 233

Anyone know what I should do w/ my retirement fund? I can switch it to low-low risk and earn about 2%. Right now it’s in moderate risk and until this month was doing quite well. So do I make a call today and switch it over or leave it alone and ride it out?

This is sort of like medical advice by mail. :) What I might do might produce entirely different results than you would expect. Me, I think a major correction is just around the corner. But, what I do, two years before retirement, is not necessarily what you should do if you’re fifteen or twenty years from retirement. Best to talk to your fund manager.

There’s no fund manager. Got paper work from employer and if I joined I basically checked a box. If I remember correctly, I put most of it in Vanguard (on advice from my deceased father). Spread the rest around per his advice and submitted it to HR. Get a report in the mail every few months and that’s it. I’ll need it in 10-15yrs. Know the minimum about financial matters. I’m not really expecting advice unless someone sees real danger and knows that I should get it out immediately.

Morning Pups and Pup-ettes:
Seems there might be a few folks out there in the judiciary who are a mite skeptical about the wiretapping program.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08…..mp;emc=rss

anangryoldbroad @ 238

So what happens then to a homeowner who has a mortgage with a company that goes under? Do the lenders just sell those mortgages to another company?

Someone still paying on the mortgage will always find someone will to take the payments. But, I read an example recently of how some of those difficulties might play out–a woman, I think in CA, refinanced in 1998, to pay off car and credit card debt. Now, the interest rate on the mortgage has jumped and she was looking for someone to renegotiate the terms. Couldn’t find anyone. Her payments went to a company that was hired just to process the payments. The original lender sold her note to a mortgage broker. The mortgage broker bundled her mortgage up with thousands of others and sold them off for a price.

I hate all this layered complexity with finances and the economy. It seems to me like it’s made complicated and difficult on purpose so you feel too stupid to ask questions.

It’s not like the old days, that’s for sure. When savings and loans and local banks were the prime mortgage originators, you could always find someone to talk to and have it all explained to you. *sigh*

solai, I have my charity’s funds with Vanguard and I am ridiculously risk averse about the charity money. This is a moderate fund with about a 5% return currently. Going to 2% seems excessive. If things get to the point where regular low risk Vanguard funds fold, then we are all in a world of pain.

That said, perhaps you could consider having your eggs in more than one kind of basket. Maybe future savings could go to into land, paying down a mortgage, or into a federally insured bank account. I notice my local bank recently asked us to switch to a non-insured account to get higher interest. Wonder how many millions of people think they have FDIC backed bank accounts who really don’t. Let’s find out shall we?

There’s a diary at DKos about the wiretapping case. Money quote from one of the judges “I feel like I’m in Alice in Wonderland”.

Solai – Arrrgh. I can’t find it…linky please?

Must get ready for work. And to watch the market dive this a.m. See all later.

Toby Wollin @ 244

Solai – Arrrgh. I can’t find it…linky please?

Here’s a link to the original Wired live-blogging.

Morning wisdom from Christy Hardin Smith upstairs.

Jabberwocky

CTuttle @ 191

prostratedragon @ 190

An unexpected change of tone from Treas. Sec. Paulson (h/t Calculated Risk):

My emphases. Things have got to where no one really wants to disturb anyone too much, while yelling HELP!!!!

Thank you for your patience.

At what juncture does the fact, finally, sink in that the Housing Bubble done ruptured!!! *g*

There is a fundamental law of the universe: things that can’t go on forever don’t.
montag @ 186

CTuttle @ 178

So how many Bil’s will the Fed pump in today? 50 Bil…???

No matter how much, they’re just prolonging the agony. Beyond that, it’s basically unappropriated funds, so they’re just buying up hollowed-out CDOs with borrowed money. Sort of the definition of throwing good money after bad….

As someone pointed out, our current credit crunch is not a matter of a lack of available funds to loan, but rather a lack of ability to service the debt.

Bassically, we’ve come to the point where people can no longer take out seconds to make payments on the firsts. What on earth?

I saw clips of the first show on Youtube and it was absolutely dreadful. It opened with a crashingly unfunny sketch featuring Pus Limbaugh and Mann Coulter as president and vice-president, and all I remember about the newscast was an extended joke based on Barack Obama’s initials being “B.O.” Hyuk yuk yuk. I was amazed to hear it lasted more than one episode.

montag @ 228

SunnyNobility @ 228

Thank you. I’ve fallen into the Calculated Risk link. It’s a goldmine.

I’ll have to look at it, then. But, I’ll bet that, in any analysis of this pot o’ shit, they’re saying that there are a whole lot of people whose exposure to this very risky sort of investment is way, way beyond prudent levels.

Everybody got greedy is probably the very short answer. (!)

I’ll bet that they got imprudent with OPM (Other People’s Money).

egregious @ 230

Just checking here: they lied us into a war that has killed upwards of a million people and devastated the economies of both Iraq and the US, but we’re evil because we swear? Fuck that.

Not “evil.” Just a “foul-mouthed fem-blog.”

SunnyNobility @ 227

Thank you. I’ve fallen into the Calculated Risk link. It’s a goldmine.

This will probably end up wasting away in EPUville, but, this explanation is a pretty good one on the matter of whether or not these mortgage-backed securities are sold in big lumps or are sliced up into various tranches. I suggested that they were probably used to create as many financial instruments are there are possibilities, and Roubini runs down the process here.

It’s pretty much as I thought. Only worse.

Never saw it. Saw a couple quick clips with no sound (thankfully) of Fathead Limbaugh and ScaryAnn, but they were on other shows that were making fun of them.

Buh-bye, losers!

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-HAA! Great clip!

If only the people at “The Fox News Embarrassing Attempt At A Comedy Show” would’ve watched more Kids In The Hall…

Please remember that name changes can result in being banned from FDL, thanks.

montag @ 228

SunnyNobility @ 228

Thank you. I’ve fallen into the Calculated Risk link. It’s a goldmine.

I’ll have to look at it, then. But, I’ll bet that, in any analysis of this pot o’ shit, they’re saying that there are a whole lot of people whose exposure to this very risky sort of investment is way, way beyond prudent levels.

Everybody got greedy is probably the very short answer. (!)

I’ve heard the CDO situation compared with a bunch of pork chops…some of which are carriers of salmonella. These are green and easily identifiable and detectable to the original vendor. Others are perfectly alright. The original holder decides to sell these off to secondary buyers in a bundle. In other words, he makes sausage out of the porkchops, so now some of the sausages contain the salmonella. And there are more sausages tainted than the original porkchops. Then those vendors decide to use the sausages to make ground meat patties. So now the salmonella is pretty widespread. Anyone who buys those patties are at risk.

Now if the original amounts of salmonella were pretty minimal, then the impact of the disease might be a day or two of food poisoning. But some patties might, by chance, contain more tainted bacteria. But if the rot was pretty widespread, then the toxin is going to be major…and no one will want to buy meat products for awhile.

Thus no one will want to make any loans…because the banks they lend to may be covering their losses from accepting this bad paper…the fear strikes all up and down the banking industry since the bad debts could be hidden almost anywhere.

This is almost like the Asian Financial Crisis of 1998…where Indonesia and Thailand were making lots of loans to corrupt cronies to finance their extravagant lifestyles. When th loans were called up, the banks couldn’t pay…except by reaching into their customers savings accounts. They tried this, but the IMF and World Bank refused to allow it.

katymine @ 7

This morning my Congresscritter Harry Mitchell AZ CD-05 had a Townhall and security was there which restricted who could attend. Heard that the state coordinator of PDA was removed by the police.

Not a good way to start your 08 campaign season by pissing off the voters!

i live in AZ, but not his district. i did do some work for his campaign via the consolidated campaign – where can i learn more? What was the basis for removing the PDA coordinator?