3-29-2009—[The basketball coach of Butler] is a believer in statistical analysis, which after heavily influencing baseball is making its way into basketball. NYT D2
--Yet despite thronging primary races across the US, true tea-party candidates have stumbled at the polls. WSJ A1
--Jesus Christ, Benedict said in his homily, guides the faithful “towards the courage that doesn’t let us be intimidated by the chatting of dominant opinions, towards patience that supports others. WSJ A19 [yeh, these butt fucked little boys do nothing but chatter, and we need to support the pedophiles—rah rah Jesus!!]
--The secret of survival is a defective imagination. The inability of mortals to imagine things as they truly are is what allows them to live, since one momentary, unresisted glimpse of the world’s totality of suffering would annihilate them on the spot, like a whiff of the most lethal sewer gas.” John Banville, quoted at 18 LRB 11 March 2010
--In today’s money, the entire cost of the Apollo program was spent in 540 days of the war in Iraq. 14 LRB 25 Feb. 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
weekend update--PS
3-27-2010—The Legion of Christ, a Catholic religious order whose late founder was revealed to have molested young seminarians, formally apologized to his victims.—A1
--Homophobia is the norm throughout Africa.—NYT A4
--Research suggests that women from countries with healthier populations prefer more feminine looking men. WSJ W1
--Even the optics [of Obamacare] must be irritating. A woman (Nancy Pelosi) pushed the health care bill through the House. The bill’s most visible and vocal proponents were a gay man (Barney Frank) and a Jew (Anthony Weiner). And the black man in the White House signed the bill into law. It’s enough to make a good old boy go crazy. ... A Quinnipiac Universitiy poll released on Wednesday took a look at the Tea Party members ... they were disproportionately white, evangelical Christian and “less educated ... than the average Joe and Jane Six-Pac k.” NYT A17
--Homophobia is the norm throughout Africa.—NYT A4
--Research suggests that women from countries with healthier populations prefer more feminine looking men. WSJ W1
--Even the optics [of Obamacare] must be irritating. A woman (Nancy Pelosi) pushed the health care bill through the House. The bill’s most visible and vocal proponents were a gay man (Barney Frank) and a Jew (Anthony Weiner). And the black man in the White House signed the bill into law. It’s enough to make a good old boy go crazy. ... A Quinnipiac Universitiy poll released on Wednesday took a look at the Tea Party members ... they were disproportionately white, evangelical Christian and “less educated ... than the average Joe and Jane Six-Pac k.” NYT A17
weekend update
3-28-2010—The sin-crazed [Cardinal Ratzinger] was so consumed with sexual mores—issuing constant instructions on chastity, contraception, abortion—that he didn’t make time for curbing sexual abuse by priests who were supposed to pray with, not prey on, their young charges. –NYT, Dowd
--In the long run, the project of measuring “intelligence” probably did more than eugenics to stigmatize and hold back the nonwhite.—NYT BK, 9.
--Two lower courts have ruled that 2007 Texas law, which imposes a $5per-visit on people who visit the state’s roughly 170 strip clubs, is unconstitutional.—WSJA3
--“Whose career do you admire?” Craig Ferguson: Let’s see. I guess, the early death of Albert Camus was tragic. But I liked the act that he played goalkeeper and was also a troubled existentialist. ... “Which are you more accomplished at, sports or philosophy?” CF: Oh, existentialism, no doubt. When I see a ball coming towards me I wonder if it’s really a ball. WSJ W2
--But for the moment [with the passage of Obamacare] our federal overlords have ruled. We better start adjusting to our new status as Europeans. --Ind. Gov. Mitch Daniels WSJ A19 [oh Mitch, we wish!!]
--If Republicans don’t want America to follow Britain and Canada down the road to socialized medicine... –Phil Gramm Ibid. [please, GOP just follow your leaders to hell...]
--Do we want to go the way of Western Europe?—La. Gov. Jindal Ibid. [see above; go back to India, pal...]
--In the long run, the project of measuring “intelligence” probably did more than eugenics to stigmatize and hold back the nonwhite.—NYT BK, 9.
--Two lower courts have ruled that 2007 Texas law, which imposes a $5per-visit on people who visit the state’s roughly 170 strip clubs, is unconstitutional.—WSJA3
--“Whose career do you admire?” Craig Ferguson: Let’s see. I guess, the early death of Albert Camus was tragic. But I liked the act that he played goalkeeper and was also a troubled existentialist. ... “Which are you more accomplished at, sports or philosophy?” CF: Oh, existentialism, no doubt. When I see a ball coming towards me I wonder if it’s really a ball. WSJ W2
--But for the moment [with the passage of Obamacare] our federal overlords have ruled. We better start adjusting to our new status as Europeans. --Ind. Gov. Mitch Daniels WSJ A19 [oh Mitch, we wish!!]
--If Republicans don’t want America to follow Britain and Canada down the road to socialized medicine... –Phil Gramm Ibid. [please, GOP just follow your leaders to hell...]
--Do we want to go the way of Western Europe?—La. Gov. Jindal Ibid. [see above; go back to India, pal...]
Thursday, March 25, 2010
of war and peace
3-25-2010—As little as 30,000 years ago, it now appears, there were five human species in the world –NYT—[four down, one to go]
--Democratic lawmakers have received death threats and been the victims of vandalism because of their votes in favor of the health care bill... NYT A16
--It is now [for the people of the USA] to demonstrate to the world, that those who can fairly carry an election, can also suppress a rebellion—that ballots are the rightful, and peaceful, successors of bullets; and that when ballots have fairly, and constitutionally, decided, there can be no successful appeal, back to bullets; that there can be no successful appeal, except to ballots themselves, at succeeding elections. Such will be the great lesson of peace; teaching men that what they cannot take by an election, neither can they take it by war—teaching all, the folly of being the beginners of a war.—Lincoln, July 4, 1861
--March 24, 2010—NYT, on page A16
College Breaks a Tradition of Silence Before Games
By SUSAN SAULNY
GOSHEN, Ind. — At the small liberal arts college here known for its pacifist Mennonite traditions, sporting events have never begun with the same pregame routine as almost everywhere else — cheering hoopla for the home team, complete with a ritual salute to the flag and the playing of the national anthem. Usually, the Goshen College Maple Leafs just huddle and head out to play.
But a baseball double-header on Tuesday broke with generations of tradition as the school made peace with “The Star-Spangled Banner,” playing it over the public-address system.
The players, standing alertly, turned their eyes to the flag, and most of the spectators cheered in the bleachers. Then, in another twist, the announcer said, “Let us pray.” Almost everyone joined in and recited the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, beginning with the words, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.”
Then they played ball.
The new pregame program is an effort to come to terms with reality: almost half the student population is non-Mennonite, and patriotic fervor is running high here in northern Indiana and across the country.
But for many Mennonite students and other pacifists on campus, the change is a heart-wrenching disappointment, as they hold to the church’s traditional belief that the words to the anthem — Francis Scott Key’s paean to the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812 — glorify war and exalt a kind of nationalism that they say has been so problematic throughout the world’s violent history. They say they want their only allegiance to be to God, not a flag.
As a compromise, the college administration chose an instrumental version of the anthem, thus omitting all mention of rockets and bombs bursting in air — though people may sing if they want.
Even that was too much, some students said. About a dozen protesters among the 100 or so spectators remained seated in the bleachers during the anthem. In keeping with pacifist habits, they did not yell or carry signs.
“We want our silence to be the power,” said Josh Miller, 22, a junior from Harrisonburg, Va., who is Mennonite. “It’s a challenging time to try to live Christ’s peace.”
In contrast, Taylor TenHarmsel, 20, and Sean Doering, 21, — who are Christian, but not Mennonite — painted “U.S.A.” in red, white and blue across their bare chests along with stripes and whooped it up at the end of the song. They said they were relieved to be able to show their spirit. “I respect some of the beliefs people have here, but I think the freedom of the flag is what allows us to be here,” Mr. TenHarmsel said. “People fought to give us the freedoms we have, and that should be respected.”
The plain-living Mennonites are Christians who descended from the same 16th-century Anabaptist group as the Amish, although they are typically more worldly, having evolved over the centuries into conservative and more progressive communities.
Goshen College, with about 1,000 students, would fall into the increasingly liberal category, much to the chagrin of students like Mr. Miller. “What does it mean to be Mennonite in 21st-century America?” he said. “It’s about integrating and not recognizing the value of being a separate and unique church.”
But James E. Brenneman, the college president, said he could not disagree more, calling the decision “a whole new kind of peace movement.”
“I am committed to retaining the best of what it means to be a Mennonite college, while opening the doors wider to all who share our core values,” he said.
Goshen’s board of directors and college administrators had debated the merits of this change in policy for years. There was precedent: Mennonite colleges in Kansas, Ohio and other states played an instrumental version of the anthem. The Goshen News called the decision “a gesture worth embracing.”
Still, some wondered if the move, to be reviewed in a year, was not prompted more by pressure from outside groups and critics, particularly a conservative talk-radio host who singled Goshen out for ridicule three years ago, prompting a flurry of angry calls and e-mail messages to the college. There was also the issue of a declining Mennonite student population and the need to recruit beyond members of the peace church.
Paul Hershberger, class of 1958, said he remembered a student body that was nearly homogeneous in religion makeup. He stood for the anthem on Tuesday, with his friend Stan King, class of 1961.
“I feel O.K. about it,” Mr. King said. “At first I didn’t particularly like it, but then I listened to the other side. I feel there was not much lost.”
As for the Maple Leafs on the field, they lost their first game to the Siena Heights Saints, but rebounded to win the second game. Joel King, a player, said, “We seemed a little nervous in the first two innings with the added distraction.”
--Democratic lawmakers have received death threats and been the victims of vandalism because of their votes in favor of the health care bill... NYT A16
--It is now [for the people of the USA] to demonstrate to the world, that those who can fairly carry an election, can also suppress a rebellion—that ballots are the rightful, and peaceful, successors of bullets; and that when ballots have fairly, and constitutionally, decided, there can be no successful appeal, back to bullets; that there can be no successful appeal, except to ballots themselves, at succeeding elections. Such will be the great lesson of peace; teaching men that what they cannot take by an election, neither can they take it by war—teaching all, the folly of being the beginners of a war.—Lincoln, July 4, 1861
--March 24, 2010—NYT, on page A16
College Breaks a Tradition of Silence Before Games
By SUSAN SAULNY
GOSHEN, Ind. — At the small liberal arts college here known for its pacifist Mennonite traditions, sporting events have never begun with the same pregame routine as almost everywhere else — cheering hoopla for the home team, complete with a ritual salute to the flag and the playing of the national anthem. Usually, the Goshen College Maple Leafs just huddle and head out to play.
But a baseball double-header on Tuesday broke with generations of tradition as the school made peace with “The Star-Spangled Banner,” playing it over the public-address system.
The players, standing alertly, turned their eyes to the flag, and most of the spectators cheered in the bleachers. Then, in another twist, the announcer said, “Let us pray.” Almost everyone joined in and recited the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, beginning with the words, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.”
Then they played ball.
The new pregame program is an effort to come to terms with reality: almost half the student population is non-Mennonite, and patriotic fervor is running high here in northern Indiana and across the country.
But for many Mennonite students and other pacifists on campus, the change is a heart-wrenching disappointment, as they hold to the church’s traditional belief that the words to the anthem — Francis Scott Key’s paean to the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812 — glorify war and exalt a kind of nationalism that they say has been so problematic throughout the world’s violent history. They say they want their only allegiance to be to God, not a flag.
As a compromise, the college administration chose an instrumental version of the anthem, thus omitting all mention of rockets and bombs bursting in air — though people may sing if they want.
Even that was too much, some students said. About a dozen protesters among the 100 or so spectators remained seated in the bleachers during the anthem. In keeping with pacifist habits, they did not yell or carry signs.
“We want our silence to be the power,” said Josh Miller, 22, a junior from Harrisonburg, Va., who is Mennonite. “It’s a challenging time to try to live Christ’s peace.”
In contrast, Taylor TenHarmsel, 20, and Sean Doering, 21, — who are Christian, but not Mennonite — painted “U.S.A.” in red, white and blue across their bare chests along with stripes and whooped it up at the end of the song. They said they were relieved to be able to show their spirit. “I respect some of the beliefs people have here, but I think the freedom of the flag is what allows us to be here,” Mr. TenHarmsel said. “People fought to give us the freedoms we have, and that should be respected.”
The plain-living Mennonites are Christians who descended from the same 16th-century Anabaptist group as the Amish, although they are typically more worldly, having evolved over the centuries into conservative and more progressive communities.
Goshen College, with about 1,000 students, would fall into the increasingly liberal category, much to the chagrin of students like Mr. Miller. “What does it mean to be Mennonite in 21st-century America?” he said. “It’s about integrating and not recognizing the value of being a separate and unique church.”
But James E. Brenneman, the college president, said he could not disagree more, calling the decision “a whole new kind of peace movement.”
“I am committed to retaining the best of what it means to be a Mennonite college, while opening the doors wider to all who share our core values,” he said.
Goshen’s board of directors and college administrators had debated the merits of this change in policy for years. There was precedent: Mennonite colleges in Kansas, Ohio and other states played an instrumental version of the anthem. The Goshen News called the decision “a gesture worth embracing.”
Still, some wondered if the move, to be reviewed in a year, was not prompted more by pressure from outside groups and critics, particularly a conservative talk-radio host who singled Goshen out for ridicule three years ago, prompting a flurry of angry calls and e-mail messages to the college. There was also the issue of a declining Mennonite student population and the need to recruit beyond members of the peace church.
Paul Hershberger, class of 1958, said he remembered a student body that was nearly homogeneous in religion makeup. He stood for the anthem on Tuesday, with his friend Stan King, class of 1961.
“I feel O.K. about it,” Mr. King said. “At first I didn’t particularly like it, but then I listened to the other side. I feel there was not much lost.”
As for the Maple Leafs on the field, they lost their first game to the Siena Heights Saints, but rebounded to win the second game. Joel King, a player, said, “We seemed a little nervous in the first two innings with the added distraction.”
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
happy 30th
No soldier is obliged to obey an order contrary to the law of God. It is time that you come to your senses and obey your conscience rather than follow sinful commands.—Archbishop Romero [spoken 3-23-80, assassinated the following day—USA lawyers, of course, continue to enjoy the right to justify whatever they want]
3-24-2010
3-23-2010—A retired US Army colonel became the latest and highest-ranking officer to plead guilty in an Iraq War contractor-corruption scandal.—WSJ A1 [a guy dressed as a pimp tricked him into confessing]
--[Conservative member of Parliament, speaking about the “relative ghastliness of people in standard-class train cars:] “They are a totally different type of people... There’s lots of children, there’s noise, there’s activity. ...” NYT A1 [to be fair, I don’t think Republicans are human..]
--[Conservative member of Parliament, speaking about the “relative ghastliness of people in standard-class train cars:] “They are a totally different type of people... There’s lots of children, there’s noise, there’s activity. ...” NYT A1 [to be fair, I don’t think Republicans are human..]
Monday, March 22, 2010
3-22-2010
3-22-2010—Europe’s stragglers find villain: Germany’s competitiveness. ... That doesn’t mean German labor comes cheap. Their manufacturing wages and benefits are among the highest in Europe, at about 34 euros an hour... WSJ A2
--French opposition scores a victory. ... Mr. Sarkozy was elected in 2007 on the promise he would bring France out of a prolonged economic malaise and cut unemployment in half by introducing more free-market policies. But last year’s recession and a sharp rise in joblessness have led him to call for giving state administration a bigger role. In Sunday’s regional vote, the opposition Socialist party won control most regions through coalitions with Communist and green movements. –WSJ A13
--French opposition scores a victory. ... Mr. Sarkozy was elected in 2007 on the promise he would bring France out of a prolonged economic malaise and cut unemployment in half by introducing more free-market policies. But last year’s recession and a sharp rise in joblessness have led him to call for giving state administration a bigger role. In Sunday’s regional vote, the opposition Socialist party won control most regions through coalitions with Communist and green movements. –WSJ A13
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
big day
3-19-2010--Banking regulators rewarded: report finds government gave bonuses to auditors who may have missed warning signs of trouble. SBT A3 (AP)
--Excuse [as in throw out] for the rest of the year any player who is not clean in his play.—James Niasmith, founder of basketball—WSJ W11
--Looking back Greenspan says Wall Street needs a tighter rein. NYT B1
--Arizona drop’s children’s health program. NYT A17
--Two former high school teachers running for governor in Georgia were suspended from their jobs in the past for sexual misconduct involving students, according to state documents. [Georgia TRIES to match NY and ILL...]
--The German archdiocese led by the future Pope Benedict XVI ignored repeated warnings in the early 1980s by a psychiatrist treating a priest accused of sexually abusing boys that he should not be allowed to work with children, the psychiatrist said Thursday. NYT A1 [he was being groomed to run for governor of Georgia]
--[British Conservative think tanker Philip Blond argues for three big areas of reform]: remoralize the market, relocalize the economy and recapitalize the poor. NYT A23
--[the insurer] had a systematic policy of revoking its clients policies when they got sick. In particular ... it targeted every single policy holder who contracted HIV looking for any excuse, no matter how flimsy, for cancellation. In the case that brought all this to light, Assurant Health used an obviously misdated handwritten note by a nurse ... to claim that [an insured’s] infection was a pre-existing condition that the [insured] had failed to declare, and revoked his policy. NYT A23
--Excuse [as in throw out] for the rest of the year any player who is not clean in his play.—James Niasmith, founder of basketball—WSJ W11
--Looking back Greenspan says Wall Street needs a tighter rein. NYT B1
--Arizona drop’s children’s health program. NYT A17
--Two former high school teachers running for governor in Georgia were suspended from their jobs in the past for sexual misconduct involving students, according to state documents. [Georgia TRIES to match NY and ILL...]
--The German archdiocese led by the future Pope Benedict XVI ignored repeated warnings in the early 1980s by a psychiatrist treating a priest accused of sexually abusing boys that he should not be allowed to work with children, the psychiatrist said Thursday. NYT A1 [he was being groomed to run for governor of Georgia]
--[British Conservative think tanker Philip Blond argues for three big areas of reform]: remoralize the market, relocalize the economy and recapitalize the poor. NYT A23
--[the insurer] had a systematic policy of revoking its clients policies when they got sick. In particular ... it targeted every single policy holder who contracted HIV looking for any excuse, no matter how flimsy, for cancellation. In the case that brought all this to light, Assurant Health used an obviously misdated handwritten note by a nurse ... to claim that [an insured’s] infection was a pre-existing condition that the [insured] had failed to declare, and revoked his policy. NYT A23
big day
3-19-2010--Banking regulators rewarded: report finds government gave bonuses to auditors who may have missed warning signs of trouble. SBT A3 (AP)
--Excuse [as in throw out] for the rest of the year any player who is not clean in his play.—James Niasmith, founder of basketball—WSJ W11
--Looking back Greenspan says Wall Street needs a tighter rein. NYT B1
--Arizona drop’s children’s health program. NYT A17
--Two former high school teachers running for governor in Georgia were suspended from their jobs in the past for sexual misconduct involving students, according to state documents. [Georgia TRIES to match NY and ILL...]
--The German archdiocese led by the future Pope Benedict XVI ignored repeated warnings in the early 1980s by a psychiatrist treating a priest accused of sexually abusing boys that he should not be allowed to work with children, the psychiatrist said Thursday. NYT A1 [he was being groomed to run for governor of Georgia]
--[British Conservative think tanker Philip Blond argues for three big areas of reform]: remoralize the market, relocalize the economy and recapitalize the poor. NYT A23
--[the insurer] had a systematic policy of revoking its clients policies when they got sick. In particular ... it targeted every single policy holder who contracted HIV looking for any excuse, no matter how flimsy, for cancellation. In the case that brought all this to light, Assurant Health used an obviously misdated handwritten note by a nurse ... to claim that [an insured’s] infection was a pre-existing condition that the [insured] had failed to declare, and revoked his policy. NYT A23
--Excuse [as in throw out] for the rest of the year any player who is not clean in his play.—James Niasmith, founder of basketball—WSJ W11
--Looking back Greenspan says Wall Street needs a tighter rein. NYT B1
--Arizona drop’s children’s health program. NYT A17
--Two former high school teachers running for governor in Georgia were suspended from their jobs in the past for sexual misconduct involving students, according to state documents. [Georgia TRIES to match NY and ILL...]
--The German archdiocese led by the future Pope Benedict XVI ignored repeated warnings in the early 1980s by a psychiatrist treating a priest accused of sexually abusing boys that he should not be allowed to work with children, the psychiatrist said Thursday. NYT A1 [he was being groomed to run for governor of Georgia]
--[British Conservative think tanker Philip Blond argues for three big areas of reform]: remoralize the market, relocalize the economy and recapitalize the poor. NYT A23
--[the insurer] had a systematic policy of revoking its clients policies when they got sick. In particular ... it targeted every single policy holder who contracted HIV looking for any excuse, no matter how flimsy, for cancellation. In the case that brought all this to light, Assurant Health used an obviously misdated handwritten note by a nurse ... to claim that [an insured’s] infection was a pre-existing condition that the [insured] had failed to declare, and revoked his policy. NYT A23
Thursday, March 18, 2010
3-17-2010
3-18-2010—Local marine in Afghanistan shot to death by private security contactor supported by US government.—SBT B5 [free enterprise at work]
—Files kept secret for decades that detail hundreds of claims of child sexual abuse by troop leaders of the Boy Scouts of America are at the center of a civil court case that began here Wednesday.—NYT A21 [call the Pope! Call the Pope!!]
—Files kept secret for decades that detail hundreds of claims of child sexual abuse by troop leaders of the Boy Scouts of America are at the center of a civil court case that began here Wednesday.—NYT A21 [call the Pope! Call the Pope!!]
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
3-16
3-16-2010--Ms. Roslaniec called mall girls the daughters of capitalism. “Parents have lost themselves in the race after a new washing machine or car and are rarely home,” she said. “A 14-year-old girl needs a system of values that can’t be shaped without the guidance of parents. The result is that these girls live in a world where there are no feelings, just cold calculation.” According to a recent study commissioned by the Ombudsman for Children in Poland, 20 percent of teenage prostitutes in Poland sell their bodies for designer clothes, fancy gadgets or concert tickets. Girls on average enter the sex trade at age 15; boys at 14. NYT A8 [no stupid regulations to contain the working of the marketplace in Poland...]
--Moody’s says US debt could test triple-A rating—NYT B1 [they did so well rating the banks...]
--Moody’s says US debt could test triple-A rating—NYT B1 [they did so well rating the banks...]
Monday, March 15, 2010
ides of March 2010
3-15-2010--To begin with, there’s Steve Eisman, who had started out “a strident Republican” and was on his way “to becoming the financial market’s first socialist” as he grew increasingly convinced that “an entire industry, called consumer finance,” basically “existed to rip people off.” Mr. Eisman and his team “had a from-the-ground-up understanding of both the U.S. housing market and Wall Street,” Mr. Lewis writes, and by performing the sort of nitty-gritty credit analysis on mortgages (that should have been done before the loans were made in the first place), they realized that they could make a fortune by shorting the worst of the worst.
Then there is Michael Burry, a doctor with Asperger’s syndrome, who’d become obsessed with investing and started a fund with money from a small settlement his family received when his father died after a medical misdiagnosis. Dr. Burry immersed himself in studying the bond market in 2004 and became convinced that lending standards had declined so alarmingly that he could make money by shorting subprime mortgage bonds; by the end of 2007, Mr. Lewis reports, “he would have realized profits of more than $720 million” for his fund.
Finally, there is the “garage band hedge fund” started by Jamie Mai and Charlie Ledley in 2003 with a Schwab account containing $110,000 and housed in a shed in the back of a friend’s house in Berkeley, Calif. Mr. Ledley believed, Mr. Lewis writes, “that the best way to make money on Wall Street was to seek out whatever it was that Wall Street believed was least likely to happen, and bet on its happening.” In this case, his contrarian instincts told him, in Mr. Lewis’s words, that “the markets were predisposed to underestimating the likelihood of dramatic change.”
Four and a half years later the American economy was in trouble, and, Mr. Lewis says, the fund run by Mr. Ledley, Mr. Mai and their partner, Ben Hockett, would net more than $80 million.—NYT –Review of Michael Lewis’ THE BIG SHORT (author of LIAR’S POKER)
Then there is Michael Burry, a doctor with Asperger’s syndrome, who’d become obsessed with investing and started a fund with money from a small settlement his family received when his father died after a medical misdiagnosis. Dr. Burry immersed himself in studying the bond market in 2004 and became convinced that lending standards had declined so alarmingly that he could make money by shorting subprime mortgage bonds; by the end of 2007, Mr. Lewis reports, “he would have realized profits of more than $720 million” for his fund.
Finally, there is the “garage band hedge fund” started by Jamie Mai and Charlie Ledley in 2003 with a Schwab account containing $110,000 and housed in a shed in the back of a friend’s house in Berkeley, Calif. Mr. Ledley believed, Mr. Lewis writes, “that the best way to make money on Wall Street was to seek out whatever it was that Wall Street believed was least likely to happen, and bet on its happening.” In this case, his contrarian instincts told him, in Mr. Lewis’s words, that “the markets were predisposed to underestimating the likelihood of dramatic change.”
Four and a half years later the American economy was in trouble, and, Mr. Lewis says, the fund run by Mr. Ledley, Mr. Mai and their partner, Ben Hockett, would net more than $80 million.—NYT –Review of Michael Lewis’ THE BIG SHORT (author of LIAR’S POKER)
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Sunday papers
3-14-2010—Although the idea of [expanding the NCAA basketball tournament from 64 to 96 teams] has been panned by fans and criticized by pundits, the promise of more TV money and greater aces to the tournament has made change conceivable.—NYT,Sports, A1-- [place your bests, ladies and gentlemen...]
--Life is wasted on the young? Life is wasted on – people. Roger Baumbach NYTAR9
--Small company to run for office; Firm says Supreme Court gave businesses the same rights as individuals.—SBT A6
--New Fraud Cases Point to Lapses in Iraq projects. NYT A1 [you can put lipstick on a pig, but...]
--Vatican defends pope against allegations of sexual abuse cover-up scandal [tell friends to sit down before reading that one] NYTA8
--Utah’s house majority leader [confessed to] sitting nude in a hot tub with a minor 25 years ago... [ditto] NYT A19
--Life is wasted on the young? Life is wasted on – people. Roger Baumbach NYTAR9
--Small company to run for office; Firm says Supreme Court gave businesses the same rights as individuals.—SBT A6
--New Fraud Cases Point to Lapses in Iraq projects. NYT A1 [you can put lipstick on a pig, but...]
--Vatican defends pope against allegations of sexual abuse cover-up scandal [tell friends to sit down before reading that one] NYTA8
--Utah’s house majority leader [confessed to] sitting nude in a hot tub with a minor 25 years ago... [ditto] NYT A19
Friday, March 12, 2010
3-12-2010
3-12-2010—Last week, the conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck called on Christians to leave their churches if they hear preaching about social or economic justice, saying they were code words for Communism and Nazism.—NYT A14
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
NYT 3-10-10
One of the world’s foremost experts on comparing national school systems told lawmakers on Tuesday that many other countries were surpassing the United States in educational attainment, including Canada, where he said 15-year-old students were, on average, more than one school year ahead of American 15-year-olds.
A report last week in The Chicago Tribune said that the Big Ten had hired an investment firm to study Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Missouri and Notre Dame. The study found that if the Big Ten decided to expand, the league’s current members would be able to make more money.
A report last week in The Chicago Tribune said that the Big Ten had hired an investment firm to study Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Missouri and Notre Dame. The study found that if the Big Ten decided to expand, the league’s current members would be able to make more money.
which do you love more, this country or its patriots?
3-10-10—Wall Street has received fees exceeding $1 billion in less than a year selling “Build America Bonds.” WSJ A1
Monday, March 8, 2010
weekend update
3-8-2010-Joan Laporta. .. is stepping down after a successful tenure as president of the Barcelona soccer club, and speculation is that the 47-year old lawyers will enter politics. While Mr. Laporta has said “nothing is decided,” he did release a book with a title that bears an uncanny resemblance to that of another formerly young soon-to-be-politician lawyer. Mr. Laporta’s books is titled ... “dreams for my Children.” WSJ B8 [more than just a club]
3-6-2010-The [banking] crisis spurred a series of demonstrations from usually phlegmatic Icelanders, who recited poetry and tossed yogurt pots and rocks at government buildings to protest what they deemed the greed, ineptitude and spinelessness of the government elite. NYT A4 [wanna riot of my own!!]
3-5-2010—Vatican enmeshed in gay sex allegations NYT A6 [this is news?]
3-6-2010-The [banking] crisis spurred a series of demonstrations from usually phlegmatic Icelanders, who recited poetry and tossed yogurt pots and rocks at government buildings to protest what they deemed the greed, ineptitude and spinelessness of the government elite. NYT A4 [wanna riot of my own!!]
3-5-2010—Vatican enmeshed in gay sex allegations NYT A6 [this is news?]
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Wellesley, testing, and the decline of empire
Diane Ravitch, the education historian who built her intellectual reputation battling progressive educators and served in the first Bush administration’s Education Department, is in the final stages of an astonishing, slow-motion about-face on almost every stand she once took on American schooling. ... Once outspoken about the power of standardized testing, charter schools and free markets to improve schools, Dr. Ravitch is now caustically critical. She underwent an intellectual crisis, she says, discovering that these strategies, which she now calls faddish trends, were undermining public education. She resigned last year from the boards of two conservative research groups. ...Among the topics on which Dr. Ravitch has reversed her views is the main federal law on public schools, No Child Left Behind, which is up for a rewrite in coming weeks in Congress. She once supported it, but now says its requirements for testing in math and reading have squeezed vital subjects like history and art out of classrooms. ...In 2005, she said, a study she undertook of Pakistan’s weak and inequitable education system, dominated by private and religious institutions, convinced her that protecting the United States’ public schools was important to democracy. ... She remembers another date, Nov. 30, 2006, when at a Washington conference she heard a dozen experts conclude that the No Child law was not raising student achievement. ... Testing had become not just a way to measure student learning, but an end in itself. “Accountability, as written into federal law, was not raising standards but dumbing down the schools,” she writes. ...Dr. Ravitch is finding many supporters. She told school superintendents at a convention in Phoenix last month that the United States’ educational policies were ill-conceived, compared with those in nations with the best-performing schools. “Nations like Finland and Japan seek out the best college graduates for teaching positions, prepare them well, pay them well and treat them with respect,” she said. “They make sure that all their students study the arts, history, literature, geography, civics, foreign languages, the sciences and other subjects. They do this because this is the way to ensure good education. We’re on the wrong track.” ... “We totally agreed with what she had to say,” said Eugene G. White, superintendent of the Indianapolis Public Schools. “We were amazed to see that she’d changed her tune.”
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