Good morning BT. Thanks for the linkfest.

Goog morning.

ABA hack on WJ keeps repeating the matra that 95% of U.S. banks are welll capitalized. I had to switch to cspan2, he’s such a jerk. BTW he was in Treadury during the early part of the W Admin in case you have any doubts.

He lives in Fantasyland

You are much more polite than I would be.

Couldn’t be any worse than naked partisan media hack joe scar bemoaning naked partisan media hacks. This very morning. The stoopid made my head hurt.

I’m curious about how a secret memo between the two campaigns binds the moderator in any way.

In fact, even if it tries to do so, I’d love to see Bob Schieffer metaphorically tear the thing up and ask whatever he thinks appropriate, including followup questions that start, “Thank you for your comments, but it wasn’t an answer to the question that I asked. So let me ask it again . . .”

What are they going to do — say he can’t moderate again in 2012?

JPL9 (from downstairs) -

That story about mcpalin running into the W premier people complete with red carpet is a hoot!

eCAHN @ 2 -

ABA hack on WJ keeps repeating the matra that 95% of U.S. banks are welll capitalized.

Ergo, 95% of US banks are terribly UNDERcapitalized. :-(

I just heard a soundbite on NPR headlines from McSFB on tonight’s debate:

“I’m gonna do as well as Sarah did against poor ol’ Joe Biden.”

I kid you not. I can wait, but hardly.

I interpret his comment to mean that small banks are just fine, and the 5% of banks that are large and probably account for the vast majority of lending, are where the trouble is. But I had to switch channels before finding out if anyone challenged him, otherwise I would have thrown a shoe at the TV.

Russia’s interest in building out pipelines to the lower 48 has been an abiding one.

It’s a shame Obama does not have a worthy adversary to run against. It would make victory much sweeter. Alas, the respectable wing of the GOP have left the building. They’ll sick the party’s dogs on Obama as soon as he takes office, tho, if the Carter and Clinton years are anything to go by.

Geez! That’s roughly equivalent to his comment about “We’ve got them right where we want them”.

Are there meds available for delusion? Anybody in this country who heard him say that has got to wonder why he hasn’t been pumped full of an extra heavy dosage.

Meanwhil, Jean-Claude Trichet (European Central Bank prez, Mr. Price-Stability-at-all-Costs) is blathering on cspan2, a replay of his speech yesterday. I’ve never heard a central banker say anything of consequence.

If he weren’t so pathetic it would be funny. I’m almost to the point of feeling sorry for the old man. Almost.

I just saw a headline in the last 24 something about small banks NOT wanting any of the government money but may be forced to take it. Can’t remember where and didn’t stop to read; have you seen any such?

never heard a central banker say anything of consequence.

Maybe because they don’t know anything of consequence?

That “we’ve got them where we want them” remark reminds usof Marine General “Chesty” Puller’s famous similar statement when he was informed that the N.Korean army had them completely surrounded.

No I haven’t seen it, but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised. It is, after all, a W program, the short version of which is ruin everything you touch.

Give it up (even the “almost”), Dragon! As the big orange one says, “Tie an anvil around their necks.” *g*

Unfortunately, during a financial crisis central bankers are some of the few people who actually know what’s going on. But they are never honest about it.

Did Custer make any statements to that effect?

S’truth. Gimme a good credit union any day and aren’t the few of those that have folded been ones that had some sort of religious ties?

I’ve been tryin’ to remember where I’d heard something similar. Thanks.

Good Morning Blue Texan and Firedogs,

the “more slime” link – brought to you by …some info on the sponsoring PAC
SourceWatch

g’head, click on the Howard Kaloogian link – the idiot who brought us pics of Instanbul and told us it was “peaceful” Baghdad

also a force in removing a sitting California governor. and Sourcewatch doesn’t reference his work with gal pal Melanie Morgan and their little wagontrain of hate in Crawford

Nah, his comment was, “JHFC, where’d all these f*kin’ Indians come from?”

here ya go

WaPo

Trichet: Bretton-Woods represented “discipline” and abandoning it meant abandoning discipline. Financial markets need discipline and that’s what euro-zone reinstates.

More ideaology instead of opinions formed on evidence. The real answer is right-sizing discipline and right-sizing market freedom, neither the straight jacket nor anything goes.

Geez, they’ve already got an albatross or two hangin’ around their necks. I’d love to be a fly on the wall of a McSFB staff meeting. I imagine it’s sorta like a Chinese fire drill.

Earlier this morning I came across a comment about “Palin in the VP slot …”, which momentarily read VP slŏt, maybe safer to stick with bimbo after-all. (atŏm, wŏrk, wŏrd) ;-)

So many good spoofs on Sarah, but I didn’t bookmark any of them. Hoping that they’ll soon be irrelevant.

Blast from the past. The beginning of a politician bashfest.

The Russians made sure that Sarah was out of town before they arrived. There has been a lot of negative and funny articles about her in Pravda.

If there was something wrong with the bill of sale, I bet they would only take back Alaska if she moved somewhere else!

Sarah is not interested in selling to the lower 48. She gets twice as much money from Asia.

The lawn sign wars have begun here in CT (I think people are amped up in certain places since 2006). It is impossible to get an Obama lawn sign or even proper bumperstickers. One has to improvise, e.g. putting bumper stickers on local candidates signs. I am told by Dem HQ there are severe Obama lawn sign shortages. This sucks.

Good morning, my wonderful FDL friends. I want you to know — need you to know — that my kind and gentle David died yesterday afternoon. If I keep writing the words and living them, it will eventually sink in or fly out and be real. The last couple of weeks were beyond painful, by every definition. But here’s the thing. The cancer is dead and somewhere, somehow that I may not ever fully understand, David has ultimately won. Please keep us, keep me in your hearts. I am going to need you more than ever before once I can get back here more often. Just . . . doing what you do, what we do together. Blessings on this healing site fer sure.

Thankee; the Lake always supplies. :-)

In another vein, wouldn’t it be nice if this were the election that kills the meme that negative campaigning always works?

Irrelevancy indeed. I’m thinking that too.
I’m not one to be over-confident about the poll numbers, but I’ll also be glad when I don’t have to hear about how many millions of dollars have been spent on this campaign.
How much does a lie cost? Just look at the Iraq Occupation for example.
Hi Ecahn.

((((((barbara))))))
I am so sorry for your loss, and for all the agony that preceded it. I hope your healing can begin soon.

I do so hope you are correct. Sometimes teh dyslexia has its moments. ;-)

Barbara my thoughts are with you. Please take care and anytime you need to share your thoughts please do.

Oh no. Barbara, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what else to say. You are certainly in my heart and I’ll be thinking of you.

(((Barbara)))

{{{{{barbara}}}}}

Oh, barbara. Much love to you, and to David.

((barbara))

Peace to you and yours.

Oh my dear Barbara. I’m so sad for you. Know that you are in our hearts during your time of loss.

oh barbara, I’m so sorry.

Hugs and hugs and hugs to you. May you find comfort in your fond memories. And know how really lucky he was to have you by his side through it all.

((((barbara))))

Barbara,

So sorry for your loss and like others have said our thoughts are with you.

Hi demi. *waving*

Oh, Barbara. I’m so sorry for your loss. If I were with you, I’d sing for you. For now, know that this community will always say…
(((Barbara and David))).

(((((Barbara)))))

also so sorry for your loss of David, that suffering is now ended, he did win.

oh ((((barbara)))) so very sorry for your loss and all you have been through

your strength and grace has leapt through the screen and inspired me so often as you have shared with us here. you are indeed in my heart

Barbara,

I am very sorry for your loss, but trust that David’s love will last forever in your memories of him.

Peace.

and hello demi – so good to have you join us and to see that you and yours are safe.

barbara, may you and David receive all the blessings. It’s hard to believe when someone is gone. I’ve been there as well. I guess that’s why some Buddhist traditions have a two week period where it’s crucial to make sure the soul makes a good passage.

Deepest and most heartfelt condolences, Barbara.

Barbara, I am saddened to hear of your loss. Nothing I can say is adequate, but you are in our thoughts and prayers.

March 24, 2008
Two McCain Moments, Rarely Mentioned
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain never fails to call himself a conservative Republican as he campaigns as his party’s presumptive presidential nominee. He often adds that he was a “foot soldier” in the Reagan revolution and that he believes in the bedrock conservative principles of small government, low taxes and the rights of the unborn.

What Mr. McCain almost never mentions are two extraordinary moments in his political past that are at odds with the candidate of the present: His discussions in 2001 with Democrats about leaving the Republican Party, and his conversations in 2004 with Senator John Kerry about becoming Mr. Kerry’s running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket.

There are wildly divergent versions of both episodes, depending on whether Democrats or Mr. McCain and his advisers are telling the story. The Democrats, including Mr. Kerry, say that not only did Mr. McCain express interest but that it was his camp that initially reached out to them. Mr. McCain and his aides counter that in both cases the Democrats were the suitors and Mr. McCain the unwilling bride.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03…..ref=slogin

um… well; if I recollect correctly, she rather decisively lost against “poor” Joe Biden… but was only reckoned by some I have done “well” given even lower collective expectations. If this is Insane’s bar for success tonight, then we should be just fine. if he doesn’t score a knockout he’s toast. heck, even if he does he’s probably toast anyway.

((((Barbara)))) So sorry for your loss – David is in a better place

Good to be here. How’s about you, dear?

we’re fine and grateful we aren’t dealing with a housefire – y’all are ok ?

Dan Quayle history . . .

Barbara,

May peace be with you, and those who knew and loved David.

Off to swim in the great capitalist cesspool.

(((Barbara)))

Be good to yourselves, and all other living things.

Namaste

Best to you barbara.

eCAHNomics

was trying to find this yesterday when we were talking about Schumer – it’s Pres. Clinton’s September interview in Businessweek in which he discusses repeal of Glass-Steagall.

turns out what I was really looking for was WSJ’s take on it wherein they state – “Schumer’s support was the most fulsome”. yeah, I know, I’m shocked as well :D

BusinessWeek

Perfect. Sarah could have the same fate as Quayle & that would make me happy. Did see someone on TV yesterday who argued that she’s now one of the most important national figures and will not go quietly into the night, more’s the pity.

Deepest sympathy.

We are fine. Even the cat, who took off in all the chaos was waiting for me on the porch, screaming to be fed.
No houses in my immediate community burned, but the land all the way around the perimeter was burned, scorched right to the curbs. I’m feeling blessed.

If you can’t get a sign make your own. Use some of that cardboard you have saved to recycle. Use some of that scrap wood you have laying around. Buy posterboard. Post temporary no trespassing signs to avert it from someone stealing it. Remember all those “Impeacment” signs we saw. Now is the time to go work.

Barbara, my thoughts go out to you and your loved ones. Virtual hug.

Demi, I was worried about you, Petro told me you were okay yesterday, my thanks to him, but reading you makes it all real. Happy to see you back. How bad is the smell??? Cool cat!

Barbara, You have my most sincere condolances. Hugs to you and your family!

Great link. Thanks for that. Clinton’s first answer is completely incoherent.

I just learned, via a virtual canoe ride through the rightwing fever swamp, that anti-Black racism has been eradicated in the US and the only racism left is that of anti-White racism on the left.

Learning new things every day.

Jeebus…….They are frthing at the mouth these days.

-G

Such swings are common in politics, but for Mr. McCain, Mr. Daschle said, “those swings have been far more pronounced and far more frequent.”

In the spring of 2001, Mr. McCain was by most accounts still angry about the smear campaign that had been run against him when he was campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination in the South Carolina primary the previous year. He had long blamed the Bush campaign for spreading rumors in the state that he had fathered a black child out of wedlock, which Bush aides denied. Mr. McCain was also upset that the new White House had shut the door on hiring so many of his aides.

“Very few, if any, of John’s people made it into the administration,” Mr. Daschle later wrote in his book “Like No Other Time.” “John didn’t think that was right, that his staff should be penalized like that.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03…..ref=slogin

Smell is pretty bad. It’s not healthy and the odor restimulates the fear memories of that awful evacuation. It was like every disaster movie you’ve seen.

Demi, so sorry. Are there groups that are being most helpful in your area? Have been thinking about putting together a post on things folks can do to help — but it’s tough to know which groups are good for donations, etc., and which aren’t. Any thoughts on that would be much appreciated if and when you get time…

Whatever transpired, Mr. Downey raced home and immediately called Mr. Daschle. It was the first step in what became weeks of conversations that April between Mr. McCain and the leading Democrats, among them Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and John Edwards, then a senator from North Carolina, about the possibility of Mr. McCain’s leaving his party. One factor driving Mr. McCain, Mr. Downey said, was his bad relations with the Republican caucus.

“They had booed him once when he came in,” Mr. Downey said. “It was bad stuff in the caucus. He didn’t see his future with these guys.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03…..ref=slogin

Off to chores, bbl.

odor restimulates the fear memories

Smell is a powerful sense, keep your head up.

He’s been wishy washy for several years now. Maybe it’s a sign of old age?

Mark Salter, one of Mr. McCain’s closest advisers, said that Mr. McCain, although flattered, never took the idea of leaving the party seriously. The topic was in any case overtaken in May when Senator James M. Jeffords of Vermont abandoned the Republicans and changed the balance of power. By June, when Mr. Daschle spent a long-planned weekend with Mr. McCain at Mr. McCain’s Arizona ranch, the question of changing parties was moot.

But less than three years later, Mr. McCain was once again in talks with the Democrats, this time over whether he would be Mr. Kerry’s running mate. In an interview with a blog last year, Mr. Kerry said that the initial idea had come from Mr. McCain’s side, as had happened in 2001.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03…..ref=slogin

The Guardian is doing a Black History month, here is a historical timeline, etc. they have produced

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/i…..h-timeline

it is worth the time to explore in depth.

was thinking of you when I saw this yesterday Aftermath in Postville

Christy’s upstairs with
Stevens Trial: Why Is Ted Ducking Behind His Wife? Follow The Yellow…

As things settle down here, I will research who was doing what in our town and let you know.
The firefighters were so incredibly awesome. As the Santa Ana wind conditions continue here, the fire folks told me last night they would stay here through today.
After we unpacked the van, I ran to the market, bought fudge bars and gave them to the workers in the neighborhood. Gave me a chance to thank them individually.

blessed indeed – relieved for (((ya))) and kitteh too

Ha! Imagine me, very carefully driving the van full of wedding and baby pix, instruments, clothes, two boys, the hound dog, the turtle down the hill. I was calm and cool until I pulled into my mother’s driveway, then I allowed a few grateful tears.

i call him Morning jackass.

The commercial mortgage debt is rarely talked about. WHY? Commercial buildings that cost millions. How many home mortgages would it take to add up to one new commerical building that has weither been stopped in the middle of building it or sits there empty with no buyers or leasers?

I think the Bear Stearns thing was necessary. And it worked. It just didn’t stem the tide because of the underlying massive amount of unsustainable debt in the real estate market, both residential and commercial.

Part of the problem is in the laws that were changed, laws that weren’t inforced and the new laws that were implemented.

And somethings are just so simple. The government taxed our income and then began taxing interest on our savings and then found ways for them to get their hands on our money by making up retirement and college saving accounts accounts so that we could “rescue” our money from being taxed again.

STEPHAN FITCH, “FORBES” MAGAZINE: Hi there. How are you?

LISOVITCZ: I’m fine, thanks. And you think REIT’s are fine as well. But…

FITCH: Well, yes, it’s been an interesting year, because they’ve performed so well. and I’m never a fan of buying, you know, stocks that are rising but there’s still value here.

LISOVITCZ: Do you separate them from commercial versus residential REIT’s? For instance, there’s plenty of vacancies, as we are well aware in Silicon Valley, Silicon Alley here in New York City. FITCH: Absolutely. And that’s important. I definitely separate them. You’ve got office REIT’s, and shopping mall REIT’s, and strip center REIT’s, and then there are apartment REIT’s, and apartment REIT’s are the more residential REIT’s obviously, and they are probably not doing as well as everybody else because the housing market has been so hot, that in a lot of ways, you know, the customers for apartments are buying homes instead. So it’s — that sector is a little out of favor. Maybe those stocks are a better deal now, if you’re looking at the future.

http://74.125.95.104/search?q=…..#038;gl=us

Transcript Sept 7, 2003 and they knew there would be problems. Just wait it out 20 or 30 years I guess.

CAFFERTY: How much attention should investors pay to that, one, interest rates have begun to rise, and there is probably we are off the lows in interest rates, won’t see them again for who knows how long, and two, we’ve been looking at 15 percent, 20 percent escalation in real estate prices, almost across the board in this country for the last several years.

Has the sweet spot already faded into the woodwork here? How should individual investors take a look at those conditions?

FITCH: I’m glad you’re asking that question, because, you know, when you see stocks going up for a long time, and now, jeez, you start to see those vacancies, and interest rates rising, it’s not going to be as easy these next couple of years. But I’m a long-term person. I hope your viewers are as well. And so you kind of dip your toe in, and you spread it around a little bit. A good way to maybe deal with, well, I don’t know which company’s going to come out on top, hire a professional. Get a REIT mutual fund. Let the mutual fund manager sweat the details. He’ll spread you better around in 20, 30 stocks. And get ready for a little bit of volatility in the next year or two.

But long term, you know, this sort of temporary moves in interest rates and stuff, I mean over the next 20 years, people are going to forget there were interest rises this year

.

http://74.125.95.104/search?q=…..#038;gl=us

A few years later Stephane Fitch writes
July 21, 2008

The Other Real Estate Disaster
Stephane Fitch 06.26.08, 6:00 PM ET
Forbes Magazine dated July 21, 2008

Your state’s employee pension fund is probably (a) doing badly with recent real estate pools and (b) working very hard with the private equity operators of these pools to keep you in the dark. By Stephane Fitch
Scott Lawlor and the managers at Pennsylvania Public Schools’ $63 billion pension fund had a beautiful relationship. From an office on New York’s Park Avenue Lawlor and his firm, Broadway Partners, ran real estate “opportunity funds,” fat with capital from the teachers’ pension and other institutions. He had invested the funds in a $10 billion pool of glamorous office properties like Boston’s John Hancock Tower. Lawlor delivered profits–or so the Pennsylvania fund managers reported–of up to 40% a year. The state fund managers kept capital flowing, both to his funds and to his pocket, in the form of fees.

Everything was private. No Wall Street analysts, no regulators, no outsiders and no interference. No ordinary Pennsylvania pensioner got to see Lawlor’s quarterly financial reports. The managers in their pension plan’s Harrisburg headquarters had all signed nondisclosure agreements with Lawlor.

The picture turned grim by March. Lawlor was struggling to keep his buildings, purchased with as much as 90% debt, from falling into the hands of lenders. He owed $1.2 billion of short-term “mezzanine” debt to New York investment bank Lehman Brothers (nyse: LEH – news – people ) and other lenders. (The debt has since been extended.) The funds’ previous gains? Mostly, if not entirely, gone. It will be months before Pennsylvania’s 500,000-plus public school employees and retirees know how much of their $196 million in principal in Lawlor’s funds is left.
[~~snip~~]

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0721/064.html
more at link
[Mod Note; Edited by Mod for length. To help keep the FDL servers running smoothly and to avoid any copyright issues, please do not post entire articles. Thank you. ]

Now my question is does “leaning blue” Pennsylvania know this? They lost their money not in the last 2 weeks like they might think because of the market downturn, but in the last few Republican controlled years. They have clouded this issue up and people are thinking they lost their money because of the market downturn this past 2 weeks and that they will recoup some or all this money. Are the ads running in Penn state? If not, why not? Where is Obama spending his money? I wrote a few weeks ago that some one on faux news said they wanted Obama spending his money defending himself rather than on issues. This is what he should be talking about and I want to hear about it tonight big time.

The retirement plan “has seen some decline in value this past quarter,” says Charles Spiller, head of private equity and real estate investments at the Pennsylvania teachers’ fund. But he refuses to comment on Broadway. Last September he valued positions in 58 private real estate investment funds at a total $3.6 billion. What’s this pot of money worth now? That’s a secret for a few more months, and Spiller isn’t releasing any of the communications he’s had from the fund operators about their recent results.

This needs to be made short, simple and personal and they need to know they lost their money before the market downturn/crash not just because of it. Simplify the fuzzy math. WHere is the ad? If the Obama camp doesn’t do it maybe Move on?

I just had a thought. Who lost more money in this mess Democrats or Republicans? Is most of these pensions they were gambling with from unions?