VP Debate

Let's see what I've heard in my very limited perusal of commentators:

- Palin stood toe-to-toe with Biden
- Palin was confident and comfortable
- Palin won the first half, Biden the second

Really? Fuck me, Palin was an embarrassment and did nothing but cause my stress level to rise. It seemed to be the case with every tweet and IM from others that I read too.

I'll go through the transcript and translate... maybe I'm wrong. I was going to avoid commentary, but just can't. This is going to be loooooong.

Q1.- Bailout didn't pass - was this the best or worst of Washington that we saw?

Biden - (pleasantries), neither best nor worst, but it reflects that the Bush administration fucked up huge and this is the result. All the deregulation and such is a disaster. Obama has laid out his plans - oversight, focus on homeowners, protect taxpayers, CEO pay control. We look at middle class, McCain/Palin want to help wealthy.

Palin - (pleasantries), go to a kid's soccer game and ask parents how they feel about the economy. I bet they'll be afraid about a bunch of family-related financial concerns. Government has failed with oversight , we need to reform. McCain represents reform, he pushed for Fannie and Freddie reform 2 years ago, but nobody listened. Now he's bringing people together this last week, even suspending his campaign and will bring greater oversight.

Me - So they both agree with the obvious that the economy is messed up and the government is to blame for lack of oversight. Obama has a defined plan, McCain is a reformer, and we're supposed to swallow the "suspending his campaign" line as believable.

Q2.- How would you shrink the gap of polarization in Washington as VP?

Biden - I've done that my whole career on many controversial issues. I've reached across the aisle and and made friends on both sides. Oh, but now I'll go back to the previous stuff Palin was saying - McCain said the fundamentals of the economy were strong, and praised Bush's policies 2 weeks before that. In two hours, the economy went from strong to a crisis according to McCain. He's not a bad guy, just out of touch. Those parents on the sidelines knew that 2 months ago.

Palin - McCain was referring to the American workforce when talking about the fundamentals being strong. The workforce is the greatest in the world (praises workforce some more). As governor and mayor, I have a track record of reform, joined the mavericks of team McCain, putting partisan politics aside. Obama has only voted along party lines, 96% of his votes have been with his party, this shows he's not putting partisanship aside, and special interests, and stuff. Tired of old politics as usual, people want something new and different and not Biden, but a maverick like McCain.

Moderator - Neither really answered the question.

Me - True, but they at least pointed out how they feel they've shown this ability in the past. Kind of. Biden brings it back to a rebuttal to Palin's previous statement by saying McCain is out of touch. Palin defends her running mate as she should (although it came off a bit weak), and begins the maverick run. Obama voting with his PARTY 96% of the time just says he agreed with them. I mean, McCain voted with the president, what, 95% of the time or something? Then she stumbled with some verbal diarrhea, and suggests that McCain is somehow "new" and Biden is "old"... really? Putting McCain up as new politics these days is nuts. He's 72 years old! He's been in government nearly as long as Biden!

Q3.- Subprime lenders - who was at fault? Greedy lenders? Risky home-buyers who could't afford a home? What should you be doing about it?

Palin - "Darn right it was the predator lenders..." They fooled Americans into spending way more than they could afford. We need to stop that corruption, McCain and I will do that. Then a "stirring" bit about Joe Sixpack and Hockey mom's saying "never again", to not be exploited by those managing our money, we need strict oversight from the federal government. Don't live outside our means. Personal responsibility... but totally not our fault.

Biden - Obama warned about subprime two years ago. McCain said he was surprised about the problem shortly after that. McCain was all for cutting regulation when Obama was warning. McCain's a good man, but likes deregulating. 20 different occasions of McCain pushing for deregulation, and wants to do the same for health care industry. Story about a guy who can't fill his gas tank.

Me - Both seem to be on the same side here. Blame the deregulated industry, but Biden turns it on McCain while Palin attacks "Wall Street". I've ranted endlessly about where I stand on this - personal responsibility. Yes, there were liars and predatory lenders, but if you're going to borrow $200k, you damned well make sure you can afford the costs. But I'm not in the debate. The fact that Palin so vehemently blames the lenders and then ends with saying people can't let this happen again is a mixed message. This is also where she starts pouring on the "folksy" with "Darn right" and "Joe Sixpack". I personally found this endlessly annoying. Biden turns it into an attack on the McCain campaign, which wasn't the question, but is standard fare for a political debate. He's old school. Oh, and isn't "never again" usually said about the Holocaust?

Moderator - Palin - respond re: health care.

Palin - "I would like to respond about the tax increases." "darn right we need tax relief" to create jobs. Obama and Biden voted for largest tax increases in history... Obama 94 times. We need the private sector to keep more of what we earn and produce. Lean government, but tax relief. Obama supported increasing taxes last year for families only making $42k.

Me - UGH. What the fuck are you responding to? Nobody's mentioned tax increases! Are you reading another debate transcript as you go? Biden mentioned that people need tax relief in one sentence. The private sector keeping more of what we earn rankles me. I'm a firm believer that the private sector works for 99% of things, but certain areas shouldn't be subject to profit-driven motives. On top of that, I don't think the private sector should keep any more of what I earn... neither should the government... *I* should.

Biden - Totally not true, Obama didn't vote to raise taxes. McCain voted the same way as Obama in the vote she's referring to - it was a budget procedural vote. Using that standard, McCain voted 477 times to raise taxes - but it's a bogus standard... she also didn't answer the question about deregulation or defend McCain's stance on it because she can't.

Me - great turnaround by Biden. This is where his debating acumen starts to come through. He's put her on the ropes and refocused on his attack on McCain.

Palin - "I'm still on the tax thing because I want to correct you on that again." She then goes into a rundown of what she did as mayor and governor. May not answer the questions the moderator or Biden want to hear, but will "straight talk" to the American people. I reduced taxes every year as mayor, and suspended state fuel tax as governor, knowing that was how to strengthen our economy. As for McCain and deregulation - look at this shiny penny! No.. wait, baseless rhetoric on him being known for pushing for harder and tougher regulations and holds up non-economic industries for example (tobacco and campaign finance).

Me - "I don't want to talk about that because I can't and you've beaten me, so I'll change the topic to something else entirely and sound good while talking about my resume." I'm sorry that this is getting so one-sided, but just reading this is pissing me off. Palin is floundering but covering well with distraction and topic changes. She's been trained reasonably well to survive, knowing that she can't outdebate a 3-decade senator. But for fuck's sake, you don't admit to dodging questions after being called out on dodging the questions, and then KEEP DODGING THE QUESTIONS.

Q4.- Taxes - Obama/Biden want to raise taxes on $250k+ earners, and McCain/Palin want to tax health employer benefits, which largely affects the poor. Why isn't this class warfare?

Biden - It's called fairness. Middle class is struggling. McCain's plan helps nobody in middle class. Obama's plan doesn't affect anyone making less than $250k, and if you're earning under $150k, you get a tax break. Middle class is the engine, blah, blah. McCain wants to give $300 billion in tax cuts to corporate America and the super-rich. Our plan has the rich paying no more in tax than they did under Reagan.

Me - Not exactly specific on what those breaks are for the sub-150k class. Amazed it was the democrats who first invoked the name of Reagan. Only kind of answers why it isn't class warfare (because it's "fair")... but rich get more taxes, middle class get breaks... not sure if that's fair.

Palin - You neglect the millions of small businesses that fall into Obama's plan, which would mean fewer jobs. Also don't agree with your idea of wealth redistribution. You said that paying higher taxes is patriotic, but my husband and I have always been middle class, and taxes isn't patriotic. Patriotic is telling the government to get the fuck out of your life and tax us less. Also, Obama will spend nearly a trillion dollars in new spending.

Me - Hey, nice rebuttal from Palin re: small businesses. Smacks Biden right in his "middle class engine". The patriotic spiel would be more impressive if the Republicans hadn't grown the government into a monolith that invades everyone's lives and weren't currently talking about a $850 Billion bailout package for Wall Street.

Moderator - want to defend McCain's health care plan?

Palin - McCain has good detailed plan. Here's some details. $5k credit for families so they can buy their own coverage. Doesn't cost government anything opposed to Obama mandating coverage and having a universal government program, and we know the federal government sucks at running things. McCain also wants to erase those pesky invisible state lines so you can shop around.

Biden - "I don't know where to start." McCain wants to give Exxon another $4 billion cut this year, I want to give it to the middle class family so they can send their kid to college. 95% of small business owners make less than $250k a year and therefore zero increase in taxes. Health care - mixes up Obama and McCain for a second (whoops!) - McCain will tax your employer benefits for that $5k and it will go straight to the insurers, not you. You're swapping a $12k employer package for $5k, and 20 million people will be without employer coverage all of a sudden. "Ultimate bridge to nowhere" (laughter from audience)

Me - And advantage right back to Biden. I have no idea if any of these stats are true, but by the time people find out or not, it'll be too late. Corporate tax cuts = BOOOO (especially right now, although I believe they serve a purpose). Most small businesses are safe from tax increases. The health plan will cost you MORE in the long run for less coverage. He took each of Palin's points and broke them. Once he made the bridge crack, I knew he was feeling pretty sure of himself. Palin very blatantly didn't mention why the $5k was budget neutral for an obvious reason. She also bashes the current government (fine, everyone's pissed with them) and lauds the erasing of state lines... wait, isn't she pro-states?

Q5.- What promises can't you keep now that there's this bailout plan?

Me - Good question.

Biden - Going to cut back foreign assistance. No tax cuts. But we will pursue energy policy, education, health care. Eliminate waste, especially the tax dodge (move a non-residency address off-shore to avoid taxes) - which is unpatriotic.

Palin - McCain doesn't "tell one thing to one group and ... tells something else to another group". Will make bailout plan even better! Obama voted for energy plan in '05 that gave oil companies tax breaks. I told those companies "no" in Alaksa and stopped greed. Kisses oil CEOs asses and then says they don't like her because she broke up a monopoly. We're giving those taxes to the people of Alaska... I'm an expert in energy.

Moderator - umm... so you wouldn't take any promises off the table?

Palin - Nope. I've only been here five weeks and haven't promised much except do what is right for Americans. McCain will keep all his promises too.

Biden - Obama voted for the bill because it supported alternative energy. When the tax breaks were separated, he voted against them, McCain didn't. Good job on the tax windfall in Alaska, I'd like to see that everywhere, but McCain doesn't support that. I think that proves my point, and hope Palin can convince McCain to support our shared goal.

Me - As soon as the question was asked, I said "Palin won't drop any promises of course!" Biden picked some easy targets to pull and spent more time talking about what wouldn't be cut. Palin misdirected with the two-faced implication towards Obama and talked up herself. Again, I don't know how true that is, but it sounds good and the truth won't matter tomorrow, but I'd hope after her Bridge to Nowhere snafu, she's toeing the honesty line about what she's said "no" to in Alaska. Biden then once again takes the heat off her attack and PRAISES her past efforts, and points out it's at odds with her running mate. The guy is smooth.

Q6.- Congress passed a bill that would make it harder for debt-strapped mortgage-holders to declare bankruptcy. McCain supported it, would you Palin?

Palin - Yup! But there's been so many changes and we know more about the greed and corruption on Wall Street. Praise McCain for the Fannie/Freddie stuff 2 years ago. In fact, this is a practically verbatim rehash of what she said at the start of the debate. Gotta make sure credit markets don't seize up.

Moderator - Biden - same question, kind of, except you DID vote for the bill and Obama voted against it. Mortgage-holders suffered.

Biden - Naw they didn't. 10% affected by switch from chapter 7 to 13... it's complicated. Obama was a pessimist, I was an optimist. But Obama was right. I and Obama think courts should be able to readjust the interest rate and the principal you owe to stay in your home. I don't think McCain supports that, but not sure.

Me - It was like Palin was reciting from a script again. Seriously, she said the same shit at the start. Credit markets are seized up, but will open up eventually, albeit with higher rates. As for Biden - he seemed unprepared. Gave the impression he got it, but there wasn't time to explain it all. This readjust the principal and rate stuff though? Fuck that. Readjust amortization periods, payment schedules, and MAYBE the rate SLIGHTLY, but don't bailout homeowners simply because they can't afford their place they never could (different story for those who have extenuating circumstances like death, injury, etc..).

Palin - Not true, and now that I answered that, I want to go back to my record on energy vs your record on energy. We have to do all we can to be energy independent - we need to drill!! Fuck the East Coast politicians! We're giving $700 billion to foreign oil! We aren't giving oil companies tax breaks.

Me - What. the. fuck? Hello tangent. Drill! yah, that'll help... no, wait, it won't... but at least ANWR will be fucked up, wait, that's bad.

Q7.- What's true and false about climate change?

Me - What a dumb fucking question.

Palin - I'm the governor of Alaska, and it's the only Arctic state. Climate change is real. I don't blame every activity of man though... there's also cyclical changes. I don't want to argue about causes, but how we fix it. We need to clean up the planet and get other nations to come along with us. I was the first governor to form a climate change sub-cabinet. Got to reduce emissions. McCain agrees. So we need to become energy independent so other countries won't use our money to pollute.

Me - How can you fix something without knowing what causes it? Then you go on to propose fixes that ALL focus on human impact on the environment. Try not to trample all over that line you're trying not to cross. But okay... other than that bit of stupidity, a reasonable answer.

Biden - Thinks it's manmade. If you don't know the cause, you can't fix it. (hey, I said that!). 3% of world's oil reserves... we consume 25% of the world's oil. McCain has voted 20 times against alternative energy. Obama will support safe nuclear and clean coal. China sucks for polluting and we should export clean coal tech to them. This will create jobs. Drilling will take 10 years for a drop of oil to come out.

Me - I'd be wary of bringing voting records into play after bashing Palin for doing so earlier...

Moderator - Clears up that McCain supports caps on carbon emissions, and Obama supports clean coal, but Biden hasn't always.

Biden - I always have.

Palin - McCain does support caps. Corrects Biden that it's "drill, baby, drill." and they hear it everywhere at rallies because people want oil! Biden and Obama have opposed domestic energy independence, even environmentally friendly drilling. McCain supports alternative fuels... like nuclear. And Biden said there was no such thing as clean coal.

Me - Biden doesn't support his stance of always supporting very well. More of a "take my word for it"... and we all know politicians can be trusted. Palin is fine here, except she pronounced it "nuculer"... what is it with Republicans and that word? Maybe it's just her accent.

Biden - reiterates that he's supported clean coal for 25 years and McCain only supports alternative fuels if the government isn't footing the bill.



Okay... I need to take a break here. Which is good, because this is about the halfway mark.

Re-reading to this point, Palin actually did better than I originally thought. She still avoided topics and dodged and weaved, but did answer a few questions and didn't really fall on her face. But she didn't come close to Biden's debating ability and when she got off a successful attack, he parried and nailed her right back while defending himself and attacking McCain. I was mildly surprised that Biden kept attacking McCain instead of Palin. She was certainly aggravating and vacuous, but I've seen far, FAR worse. She was also obviously, understandably, nervous. Her "folksy" attitude doesn't sit well with me at all, and does nothing to inspire confidence in her as a leader, but it WILL play well with a lot of people, and was possibly a good contrast to Biden's polished politician for those sick of politicians. The rah-rah rhetoric and resume-reading was also transparent to me, but I imagine plays well in some areas.

I can see why some people liked her in the first half, Biden was staid and prepared, but not attacking or that emotional. I wish he didn't praise McCain so much though, I mean... he's running against that guy! Considering Biden's history, he seemed to be on a pretty tight leash himself here.

I'll pick this up when I wake up. It starts with same-sex marriage...

Hell, it just came back on TV, and that line about McCain being "new and different" cracks me up every time.

Words Fail

From the tweets being relayed to me, and the girly chats going on...

just... wow. McCain is rolling over in his grave over Palin's performance.

Heroes Quickie

It's already Thursday, so I'm late on this week's Heroes. I liked it plenty. Goat is right about them hoping we forget some things, but it was a quick-moving episode that moved things along nicely and was generally enjoyable. Sylar and HRG still rock, and the "stupid moments" were actually believable this time. Plus, no Mohinder.

Are You Ready?

20 minutes until the VP debate!
20 minutes until the English Canadian Leadership debate!

Oh which to watch!

-----

Re: Kentucky. I figured out what's bugging me most about it (and there's so much to choose from):

"Kentucky allows gambling at horse tracks and bingo halls and operates a state-run lottery. Blocking gambling Web sites, Beshear said, will protect those operations from online competition."

Once again, the attitude of "the free market is great... as long as it works for me" comes to the fore. Pathetic, really, really pathetic. But then, it's Kentucky, and who gives a shit about Kentucky other than during the Derby and when eating fried chicken?

-----

I'm watching "Hole in the Wall"... there's a host that despises his contestants. It's kinda awesome in a totally stupid, trashy, talentless way. Put people in skin-tight silver outfits, make them contort, and get them wet if they fail... good formula.

Of course, it helps that most of them would find chewing gum a mental challenge, and can't think 3-dimensionally or outside the box.

-----

Oh, and poker is back to sucking. Actually, poker is fine, I'm just sucking at it.

It's Late, I'm Wired

I'm also a bit out of touch with the economic and political world, what with the Bash and Birthday and vacation and all. Who wants to flip on the news when you get to sleep in until 2pm?

But I'll post a thought I had not too long ago re: the failure of the bailout package on Monday (it was Monday, right?).

$700 Billion seems to be the answer to the question: "What will it take to wake up the American public?"

From what I saw and read, the phones and faxes of many a congressman and senator were flooded by citizens opposing the bailout. Pelosi's "hyperpartisan" (please, spare me) speech swayed the vote, the losers claim. The fact of the matter is that the President pushed for the package, the Treasury and Fed pushed for the package, but the people, their bosses, didn't like the sound of it one bit and made their voices heard. On top of all that, it was the REPUBLICANS who voted it down! Against ol' Bushy.

Maybe elections should always be 5 weeks away to keep representatives listening to those whom they represent.

Gone Fishin'

I'm on vacation. 2 weeks off with not much planned. There was The Bash, which I will obviously post about. There was my birthday the day after The Bash, which involved walking around my fair city with my best friend and then having dinner with my family ("Chef's gone home, it's a slow night..." - I was tempted to ask if I could step in, but damned if I'm cooking my own birthday dinner). A day of not much happening, and then (please Kat, don't kill me) I went and saw Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds tonight, after Kat mentioned they were playing this week. Met the scalper out front, grabbed me some grub, and enjoyed a rocking show. My ears are still foggy and ringing. Tomorrow? Nothing planned. Friday? Late birthday drinks and dinner with friends. Saturday? More late birthday dinner, drinks, and then some wandering around Nuit Blanche (all-night art festival throughout the city) with other friends.

After that? No clue. Maybe Niagara for wine, maybe nothing.

In the meantime, I have a lot of blogs to catch up on.

Can $700 Billion Save Poker?

This is pure speculation and wishful thinking on my part, nothing more. Read nothing into this. Unless I'm right, then I'm a fucking prescient super-genius you should all bow down to.

Congress is getting close to approving this asinine (I've used that word a lot recently) bailout proposal. They're sticking in some changes, likely caps on executive pay (meaning the troubled companies will never be able to hire a top-tier exec), mortgage relief (meaning personal responsibility goes out the window), and perhaps some vague "taxpayer protections" (I still have no idea how ANY of this plan will protect taxpayers). So that's $700 billion being used to buy shitty asset-backed securities that nobody can price. The government WILL overpay for these, and the taxpayers won't see much, if any, profit. I also strongly doubt it will buoy Wall Street for an extended period of time (getting rid of the bad debt will reopen lines of credit, but those will just be used to increase leverage again... causing another overload).

So if the economy's still in trouble, a major tax raise will be out of the question. Any government that does so will find themselves on the street fast. So they'll need an alternate source of tax income. Enter the sin taxes. Increases taxes on things like cigarettes and alcohol are... unpopular. On top of that, too much of an increase will cause people to find other sources - bootleg/stolen cigarettes, homemade booze, pot, etc.. But what about gambling? Gambling winnings are already heavily taxed in the US. You win big at a casino, you get a chunk taken away. Same for Powerball winners. But right now, online gambling is verboten. Realigning the "games of skill" section to allow poker would bring back billions of dollars of taxable revenue streams. They might have a hard time allowing online craps or slots or the like (too easily rigged), but poker already has the infrastructure. Online sports betting might come into play as well, since it's already legal and wide-spread in a brick-and-mortar context.

So maybe this bailout will save poker. Maybe the need for capital will cause a rethinking of the UIGEA... "well, if we regulate and tax it..." Stranger things have happened, that's for sure.

MOOOOOOOOKDAY!

So let's see... I need to do laundry, clean up a bit, see what needs to be done before packing for the Bash (packing happens tomorrow). Load up the MP3 player for the drive, charge all necessary batteries.

Oh, and the PLAY THE MOOKIE! Poor Waffles needs 80 players to sign up in order to have a shot at 1st on the leaderboard, where he will then win bets against Tragedy, Bayne, and LJ. So let's do what we can and sign up! Even if you can't play, just donate! Waffles is even adding a $109 overlay for 1st place! That guy is so break-even, he's putting that up!

Now here's the beauty of that overlay. In order for Waffles to take the lead, he needs to win. If he wins, he owes only himself the overlay, so it ceases to exist! If someone else wins, it means Waffles doesn't get the leaderboard spot AND has to shell out $109! He loses twice!

Imagine actually getting 80 people signed up, and then having a non-Waffles winner? So now you have two options : Sign up to help out Waffles, or sign up to help screw over Waffles. Entirely your call. Just SIGN UP!

Ron Paul Is My Hero

Watching the Senate hearings with Bernanke about the bailout. Ron Paul is nailing it, bashing everyone, and speaking as plainly as you can about how stupid this whole thing is.

ie.- "Where is the money coming from?" "Nobody's smart enough to figure out a price, so how do you do it?" "You don't have the constitutional power to create credit out of thin air." "A collapse in the housing market means the market was too high and it should come down."

Bernanke responded admirably ("federal reserve act confers the powers of congress to them to coin money", "we will try to set prices via auctions and other means"). The "try" worries me of course.

Now Klobuchar just compared Wall Street to a casino, with Paulson and Bernanke as the floor managers.

Good times.

Ol' Kentucky

Anybody read this guy? He's been linking to some articles about Kentucky comandeering domain names of online gambling sites. LOTS of them.

How could a state claim control over internationally held domain names? How can it have control over any for that matter?

Ah Kentucky, you should be proud of your state government and courts that just continue the stereotype of your state being a backwater hole of stupidity with a good horse race.

The rhetoric is what really gets me, and the blatant "I don't care about the rest of the world, just Kentucky" attitude. Give me a fucking break, you're just protecting local gambling interests.

Sigh. I think I'll need a drink or two this weekend. I wonder if they'll even let me across the border...

Gimme a B!

3 days. In 3 days I should be pulling into the Mainstay Inn and pre-apologizing to my liver. In 3 days, many a drunken donkey will descend on the "where the fuck is that?" town of Phoenixville to be... well... drunken donkeys.

It appears I'm on team Otis for the Pub Olympics... I'm SO the low man on that totem.

Otis, BigMike, BamBam, Pebbles, BobbyBracelet, CK, DrChako, Falstaff, Spaceman, and... me? Well, every team needs a luckbox :).

I'm psyched for The Bash.

What's That Creaking Sound?

Why, it sounds like the gears of government actually turning! Is the do-nothing Congress getting ready to... umm... well.. do nothing, I guess, but effectively?

It's starting to look like Paulson won't get quite what he wants with the $700 billion. There are rumblings of the Democrats none too happy with the lack of oversight, zero REAL regard for the taxpayer, lack of conditions for mortgage easement for homeowners (which I think is stupid anyway... just because you were too proud and greedy to realize you couldn't afford a home doesn't mean you should be bailed out), and the attitude of "please rubber-stamp this", and want to actually investigate and explore and analyze the bailout plan before okaying it.

Bra-fucking-vo! Maybe they'll even stumble across some alternatives that are floating around out there rather than buying up all the bad debt and holding it until it's good debt.

Let's Talk Heroes

But first - I played in the LPR game last night. I came in late as the 3rd player... why is nobody showing up? Is it because nobody knows it's actually at 10:00 ET? Anyway, I made short work of Tragedy and Osssssuuuuuuuuuuuuuu and took home my $28 in about 24 minutes. I rock.

Wait... math time. $10+1 entry. $2 KO bounty. 3 people... one place paid. $10-2=8. 8x3=24 (first place). I knock out 2 people for $4 in bounties. What the hell happened to MY $2? Since I don't get knocked out, should I get that back? So, in fact, shouldn't 1st place be $26? I do believe I got ripped off. Fuckers.

Okay, Heroes, season 3 started tonight. Just in case you didn't catch the 3000 ads being run on every NBC network for the past few weeks. I skipped the (I'm assuming) lame pre-show. This is a show that wowed me in the first season, and easily had the best hour of TV that year for the episode where Bennett flashes back to his early days in the Company. But it ended with one hell of a whimper and left me disappointed for the summer.

Season 2 was a disaster from the get go. Terrible new characters, the asinine idea of stripping all the cool characters of their powers so we could be reintroduced to them or something. LAMELY killing someone in flashback who they LAMELY saved at the end of the 1st season. Throw in possibly the worst romantic subplot ever written, and Season 2 is best forgotten.

So, after the creators apologized for season 2, would they finally rediscover the magic that made 90% of season 1 so great?

They certainly tried. The first 15 minutes once again felt like an hour of any other show... in a good way. The fact it was 2 hours long was boding well. They answered questions from season 2 immediately, without drawing out the "suspense". Everyone was still themselves, and even Sylar was getting back into form. They had some shocking moments, deaths, and some surprises. They even had a little bit of sexy. So far, so good.

But then Mohinder showed up.

I was one of the people that liked Suresh in the beginning. Great, they had a guy who DIDN'T have powers trying to discover the secrets of these people. He was naive, but brilliant. But he developed a stupid streak comparable to Claire's. He'd be moving right along and then do some brain-dead, makes-no-sense thing that derailed any momentum. He and Claire were the fall guys for "we need to move the plot along, so we'll sacrifice the character we've built for this implausibly stupid thing they need to do because we can't write ourselves out of this corner."

He still is. My GOD he's a tool. It took me out of the show with how stupid he was. Even Claire seemed relatively even-keeled this time, Suresh goes and does the moron-boy cliche thing.

And Hiro does something EVEN MORE idiotic... this is the best way the could move his story forward? He's shown naïvité in the past, but this was outright idiocy, followed up with paranoia.

There were also some pretty blatant rip-offs. I realize the mutant story is somewhat limited, but could your pyrokinetic maybe NOT have Liz Sherman-like blue flames? And a villain with control over magnetism? Well, Kring wanted that in season 1. And I get the feeling David Cronenberg could sue for one developing storyline.

Seeing Bruce Boxleitner and William Katt was cool though. Alan Bradley and The Greatest American Hero in the same show... awesome.

*spoiler*
Really? Did they think nobody saw The Fly? Mohinder has super-strength and agility, and can seemingly stick to walls. I was thinking direct Spider-Man rip-off until he started peeling skin from his back. Then it was obvious that Jeff Goldblum wasn't available.

The return of Lindermann was surprising for about 2 seconds, when I realized he wasn't really there, and very likely a figment of Nathan's psyche. Or he's being caused be someone else.

And Nikki's new character is kind of boring. But now that she's learning about her forgotten past, and has freezing abilities, she could grow. Although why'd she have to kill Katt??? WHY???

So in the end, there's a lot of promise here. They've got some villains (which I'm pretty sure will be a maguffin and wrapped up fairly soon). Some heroes in interesting positions (again, these will be wrapped up I think), and another end-of-the-world plotline. But there's still the HUGE problem of seemingly intelligent people doing completely out-of-left-field STUPID things, which if it continues, will turn me off this show permanently. Also, the totally unsubtle product placement is still grating... will Sprint be this season's Nissan Versa or Rogue?

For the plot and start of the season, it gets high marks. For originality and stupidity, it gets low ones. So I guess that puts it in the middle.

$1.8 Trillion

That's how much the government has pledged or spent on this crisis. That's a fuckton of interference, and if you pay the IRS every year, than it's all YOUR money.

They've got the breakdown over at CNBC

—Up to $700 billion to buy assets from struggling institutions. The plan is aimed at sopping up residential and commercial mortgages from financial institutions but gives Treasury broad latitude.

—Up to $50 billion from the Great Depression-era Exchange Stabilization Fund to guarantee principal in money market mutual funds to provide the same confidence that consumers have in federally insured bank deposits.

—The Fed committed to make unspecified discount window loans to financial institutions to finance the purchase of assets from money market funds to aid redemptions.

—At least $10 billion in Treasury direct purchases of mortgage-backed securities in September. In doubling the program on Friday, the Treasury said it may purchase even more in the months ahead.

—Up to $144 billion in additional MBS purchases by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.The Treasury announced they would increase purchases up to the newly expanded investment portfolio limits of $850 billion each. On July 30, the Fannie portfolio stood at $758.1 billion with Freddie's at $798.2 billion.

—$85 billion loan for AIG, which would give the Federal government a 79.9 percent stake and avoid a bankruptcy filing for the embattled insurer. AIG management will be dismissed.

—At least $87 billion in repayments to JPMorgan Chase [JPM 42.80 -4.25 (-9.03%) ] for providing financing to underpin trades with units of bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers [LEH 0.19 -0.0251 (-11.67%) ]. Paulson said over the weekend he was adamant that public funds not be used to rescue the firm.

—$200 billion for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Treasury will inject up to $100 billion into each institution by purchasing preferred stock to shore up their capital as needed. The deal puts the two housing finance firms under government control.

—$300 billion for the Federal Housing Administration to refinance failing mortgage into new, reduced-principal loans with a federal guarantee, passed as part of a broad housing rescue bill.

—$4 billion in grants to local communities to help them buy and repair homes abandoned due to mortgage foreclosures.

—$29 billion in financing for JPMorgan Chase's government-brokered buyout of Bear Stearns in March. The Fed agreed to take $30 billion in questionable Bear assets as collateral, making JPMorgan liable for the first $1 billion in losses, while agreeing to shoulder any further losses.

—At least $200 billion of currently outstanding loans to banks issued through the Fed's Term Auction Facility, which was recently expanded to allow for longer loans of 84 days alongside the previous 28-day credits.

1.8 Trillion. Most of it in less than a month. Just... wow. I can think of a few better ways of spending that kind of cash than bailing out companies that got themselves into a quagmire by doing idiotic things that a child with a 4th grade education could figure out were bad ideas.

Just When You Think They Can't Get Dumber

Remember the good ol' days, when the Fed, the President, and everyone else who was hoping nobody was paying any attention kept lying about the US economy being solid? Seems like only a couple weeks ago. Oh yah... IT WAS.

Of course, now Paulson and Bernanke go to Congress and talk about how the economy is just days away from a collapse and they need fast, decisive action... to the tune of $700 billion to buy bad debt instruments from failing banks.

Now, this is a sliding $700 billion. It isn't to exceed $700 billion, but as soon as they sell off some of the bad debt, they can replace it.

But that's not the kicker. The proposal has a line that says the money is to be used solely at the discretion of the Fed, with NO POSSIBLE COURT OVERSIGHT OR POWER. In other words, "trust us with the money, we'll know what to do."

Is that even fucking legal?

Except these fuckers have proven time and again that they don't have a damned clue! It's like backing a losing poker player with everything you've got after he nearly bankrupt you, and not having any say over how he spends it!

Then you've got morons like Barney Frank talking about how they'll be able to forgive mortgages and stop foreclosures because the government will OWN ALL THE BAD MORTGAGES! For fuck's sake! What are these people on????

And Chris Dodd suggests the bailout should extend to CREDIT CARD DEBT?? Hey! I lent a buddy $50 once and he didn't pay me back, can we include that too? What the fuck happened to personal responsibility? Let's make ALL debt go away! Americans are debt free and it only costs a few trillion dollars of taxpayer money!

Of course, the country is swimming in debt, devaluing the dollar again, and shooting themselves in the face.

There is ZERO reason for the fed bailouts and this $700 BILLION proposal. They'll have spent over a TRILLION dollars on bailouts, most of it in less than a month! But Congress is about to end for the election, so they have to rush through these plans without thinking about them! It's like handing your drunk friend your credit card as you run out the door because you don't have time to think about it. And I don't think anybody other than the government is that idiotic.

Toss in Goldman and Morgan now becoming BANKS to have access this money, and it was another interesting weekend. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley can now take deposits and be your local branch apparently, instead of just investment banks. This puts them under Fed regulation, which will limit their ability to lose money... and conversely MAKE money with higher risks.

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Here's the problem. These companies all have stockholders, they all have bondholders, and most have preferred shareholders as well. If you buy stock in a company, you are an OWNER of that company. You take on the risks and rewards of that company when you buy in. You can get out whenever you want by selling your stock. If you have a bond in a company, you own nothing, but they owe you before anyone else. They've promised a certain payout, and if they go belly-up, you get first dibs at their stuff to get paid.

And when you buy these instruments, you take on the risk that they might not work out. When a company starts to fail, the burden should lie squarely on the shoulders of the shareholders and bondholders, NOT the taxpayers.

It's bullshit - Bernanke, Paulson, Bush, and everyone else who speaks keeps blabbering about how these plans must "consider the taxpayers". Yah, the consideration goes like this - "Will this fuck the taxpayers? Yup."

So you stayed away from these companies. You don't have any interest in them, and now you're on the hook as a taxpayer. This should be a big deal for people.

As for the line of "taxpayers are better off with this than the alternate" is bullshit. "Taxpayers" wouldn't be affected at all by the alternate. The economy would be in trouble, companies would fail, and investors would get torched, but it wouldn't cost a dime in taxes. Yes, "Americans" MIGHT be better off with this than the alternative, but not from a taxpayer standpoint.

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This government intervention is pure, undiluted crap. They own your house now... you realize this right? They own your insurance. They will slowly own you bank. One of the CNBC commentators today was talking about how they know people who are literally taking their money from the bank and storing it in a strongbox. You know who else did this? Russians during communism. They hoarded their rubles in mattresses, under floorboards, etc.. They couldn't trust the banks or the government with it because it would just disappear. Then, when the curtain fell, the government came out with "the old rubles are worthless, here are new ones" and set a limit to what people could exchange. Millions of personal savings were lost in one swoop.

No, I'm not actually saying the States is turning into communist Russia, but this is an insane power grab that is going unchecked and it scares the shit out of me... and I don't even live there!

Plus, it does nothing to help the economy or the markets in the long-term. Even today, the DOW is back down, the dollar is down, and it's only been a weekend. It's the goverment fumbling around trying to staunch the bleeding without dealing with the all the shrapnel inside. It's a short-term stabalization that will backfire HUGE not that far down the road, and take even more good people with it.

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And of course, our news starts putting up headlines like "Harper says Canadian banks won't receive US-like bailouts." Well NO FUCKING SHIT! We're not bloody insolvent up here! Our banks aren't in imminent danger of collapse! We don't NEED a bailout, but that headline sounds like we're doomed and nobody will throw us a line.

Okay, I'm done for now. How was your weekend? Mine was actually great.

Cold Revenge

Returned to my regular home game today. I was in 1st place in the ToC standings for it after winning the biggest tournament they'd had during the year, and taking second to a donkey in the last one (and a couple final tables in between those). $20, 700 chips, and rebuys for the first 4 levels.

I bought in once, and rapidly built a massive chip lead. At the break I had 80 BB and close to double the 2nd biggest stack. That stack barely dwindled as people slowly dropped. My stack and loose-yet-catching image was enough to scare off the usual calling stations, and I was able to bully my way around. When we got heads-up, it was versus the same donkey I'd lost to previously. It was time to revenge myself.

I look down at the first hand (on the button), and it's snowmen. I minraise (600 more), he re-raises twice my bet (2400 total), I give him an incredulous look and say, "okay, I'm all-in", with a dismissive wave of my hand. He briefly agonizes over his cards (I'm obviously ahead), and calls... he flips over K9o and I blink in disbelief. He hits his 9 on the flop, but a glorious 8 comes on the river and he's done in one hand, and I have a pretty much insurmountable stranglehold on the ToC standings with only one game left before the ToC itself. I don't think being 1st gets me anything but respect, but I want that image at the ToC.

Toss in a pretty good cash (4+ BBs) in the blogger cash game on Friday, and it wasn't a bad weekend for poker at all. About time I had one.

ARRRRRRRRRRR!!

I did nearly forget! It be TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!

ARRR! Be sure to shiver ye some timbers of the scurvy bilge-rats ye encounter in yer travels this finest of days! For on the morrow, there shan't be a speck of buried gold to be found!

Indeed, tonight's Donkament shall involve much drinking of the finest RUM! YO HO HO!

Every Silver Lining Has a Grey Cloud

It's looking like it'll be one hell of an open for the market thanks to the US Fed futzing around where they don't belong. *update - and it was.

Somewhere down the road, this is going to bite people in the ass. The proposal for the Fed to provide financing for banks in exchange for equity (ie.- government can buy bank stocks), and that the government gets paid out first and foremost is disasterous. I say "hello!" to my comrades in the south! Not only does this mean further government ownership of formerly independent financial institutions, but that all other stakeholders in those companies can be royally screwed.

The herd needs to be thinned, and instead the Fed is going to feed them bad carbs and fight off the natural predators for them.

Don't Stick a Fork in It

'Cuz the market ain't done.

RTC-like clearing house?
Temporary BAN on short selling by the SEC?

You know how there's that little scribble on a bag of chips? "Filled by weight, not volume. Contents may have settled." It explains why you have a big giant bag that's mostly empty.

The market's about to be very similar. Lots of empty space making it look a lot better than it really is. That's what a short-selling ban will do.

Fucking idiots.

Panic in the Streets!

Some global financial news off the top of my head:

- Russia pumps $20 Billion into their liquidity pool to boost their economy
- China starts buying stock to keep its stock market level up
- UK BANS short selling until they revisit it in January
- Major central banks set up US dollar swaps in the billions just in case they need them
- Morgan Stanley maybe isn't as great as it claims and is looking to be bought
- Goldman Sachs still seems in pretty solid shape, but the stock's taking a beating due to panic
- Nobody in Congress has a clue what to do... neither does anybody else

Well, I do. Leave it all the fuck alone. Russia's doing the same thing the US Fed is doing, China's market is going to be a mess due to the government artificially inflating it, the UK ban on short selling will just kill liquidity in the market and will look nice short-term, but will smack them in the face down the road. Goldman Sachs will probably come out of all of this in fine shape.

Oh, and of course the US gubmint is now the biggest mortgage company in the world AND the biggest insurance company in the world after taking over Fannie, Freddie, and AIG. But don't elect the democrats, because they'll socialize everything! Oh... wait... umm... nevermind that argument.

This stopped being about bad mortgages a while ago. Now it's becoming apparent it's due to bad regulation enforcement. The 5 big investment firms were able to over-leverage due to ridiculous exemptions. So, now in an attemp to fix the crisis, more regulation is being suggested.

Fill a bowl with glue. Tell someone there is one rule - don't put your fingers in the glue. Every time they ask if they can touch the glue, say no. Finally, let them do it "just this once". Now they're stuck in the glue, and need to put their other hand in there to free the first. Now they're more stuck. They cry for help because they're stuck in the glue. Once you start mucking around trying to get them out, you get stuck too. The problem just gets worse the more you try to help and fix the problem.

Or think of Homer trying to free himself from the Springfield tar pits. "I'll just pull my legs out with my arms, and my arms out with my face.... glub, glub, glub." I don't think Stampy's gonna help here.

More regulation just complicates things more. They need simple, clear, and ENFORCED rules.

Funny, I thought I was going to write about something else entirely. Next time I guess.