mostly palaver

New regulations

I'm still getting familiar with the new proposed regulations outlined by Paulson over the weekend.  Two thoughts though:

1. I don't trust this structure at all since it began as a de-regulation scheme last year (remember the swirling rationales for the tax cuts?).  It can't be both a de-regulation and a re-regulation plan. 
2. I don't trust this administration to hamper big business in any way.  They are more politicized than any administration in recent memory and I don't see why they'd stop being political at this point in time.  To that point, I'll look to see where they are lying to American people about what the plan will, and won't, do.

Basketball pools

Everybody's in one, everybody's talking about them.  I read a new method for pool scoring today, but can't find the link to where I read it.  I like it though:

Scoring each game is based on the ranking of the winner (if you pick the #13 seed to win, you get 13 points for the game), rounds are weighted as follows: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, so if you picked the #13 seed to go to the elite 8 and they do, you get (13*4) 52 points for that pick.  It rewards those poolees who accurately pick upsets. 

I re-scored the pool I'm in according to this new formula and instead of being narrowly in second, I'm getting killed.

A little humor for a Friday afternoon

Enjoy:

Asked by a reporter if she was participating in an NCAA Tournament pool today, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wowed media members by recalling the magical run the Arkansas Razorbacks made to the 1994 championship – a run Clinton says she fueled by averaging 38 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, good enough to be named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

“The mid-90s were a tough time for Arkansas with Bill and I off to the White House,” said Clinton. “We felt the hard-working men and women there needed something to uplift them. Bill was wrapped up in various things, so it was left to me to go down there and win them a championship. And I did.”

Random thought

If you are a Clinton supporter, or an Obama supporter, who intends to vote for McCain in the general if your candidate loses the nomination, you are an idiot.

Pet Peeve

I hate the phrase "Out of pocket" when referring to a time when someone is unavailable.  It gets on my nerves. It makes no sense.  It sounds stupid.

That's all.

Sound familiar?

Some sobering stats for you:

• In 2004, 50% of all new car loans were made for a 5-year term, but that has fallen to 38% today
• Today, 45% of all new car loans are for terms of 6 years or more

Many new car loans are financing the sales tax on the purchase as well which means that these loans are going to result in cars that are way, way underwater (and if you live in Brooklyn, along the Belt Parkway, I mean that literally).  Wave 2 (3? 4?) of the credit crunch for banks is coming and it's going to be ugly. 

I don't get it

Markets soar based on the fact that home sales increased in February over January.  But they always do.  The bigger news (to me) is that they are down 23% YOY and the median price fell 8% or so YOY.  Could the rise be the beginning of a trend?  Sure, it could.  But nothing in the market has changed so I don't see how it is. 

Are you kidding me?

I try not to read anything Dick Cheney says since everything he says makes my head hurt with the stupidity of it.  This slipped by the bouncers at the door though.  They will be fired:

In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Vice President Dick Cheney was asked what effect the grim milestone of at least 4,000 U.S. deaths in the five-year Iraq war might have on the nation.

Noting the burden placed on military families, the vice president said the biggest burden is carried by President George W. Bush, who made the decision to commit US troops to war, and reminded the public that U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan volunteered for duty.

I have nothing to say in response to this. Even by Cheney's amazing standards, the callousness here is breathtaking.

Fabian the Fanstastic! (Ugh.)

Fabian Cancellara won Milan-San Remo today in an audacious late solo effort.  I'd love him, love rooting for him, if I couldn't get over the nagging feeling that he's not racing clean.  He is very aggressive, wins in all sorts of races and conditions, usually by doing something completely unexpected and pulling it off. 

Hillary's Dukakis Moment?

This is pretty damning stuff.  Hillary's quote:

"I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia, and as Togo said, there was a saying around the White House that if a place was too small, too poor, or too dangerous, the president couldn't go, so send the First Lady. That’s where we went. I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."

Which, you remember, was an account contested hotly by Sinbad.  They got into a pissing match over it.  Today's development:

Now, however, there is video of Clinton running with her head down through the hail of bullets. Except for, um, the running part, and the bullets part, and the part about the greeting ceremony being cancelled. It's worth watching to see the perils Senator Clinton endured. And it does support her story in one respect: as you can see in this picture, she did bend her head down on the tarmac, to hug an eight year old girl who had just read her a poem.

Click on the picture link, doesn't really look like someone fleeing for their lives now, does it?  Turns out Sinbad was right.  Damn. 
Seriously though, with all the emphasis she's put on her experience and her preparedness to lead, to misrepresent that incident by that much, and have video surface now...
I wouldn't be surprised if this is the last straw for some people.