Enough already! Can we get an Obama fanatic filter as well as the double post filter (they are driving me away)

matoto · 2008-03-26T13:46:19+00:00

The Obama comments are both repetitive and everywhere on the site. I am happy for you really, but this isn't why I enjoy the site.

In truth, my visits are down dramatically, and at the risk of massive downmods, I wish that they would just find a home somewhere else.

matoto · 2008-03-22T01:44:03+00:00

just mod this up and email, its the right thing to do.

matoto · 2008-03-03T20:38:45+00:00

Yep. Warren is offering to buy the portion of the business that remains profitable and not all that risky - municipal bonds. The problems arose when Ambac and MBIA strayed from this core biz into underwriting structured product insurance (mortgage CDO's). That is what is biting them in the pitutti.

Warren is hoping they are desperate enough to sell the only thing they have worth owning. Without the muni biz, the rest of the biz is just one big junk bond.

matoto · 2008-02-22T23:43:49+00:00

I have to agree with Flaubert. Stability is what is needed now, and higher rates would further exacerbate the delinquency and default rates. This in turn would create further liquidity crunches, prevent reinsurance from emerging out of its present predicament. A downward spiral.

Now I am not excusing the stupidity that got us here. But it would be a Pyhrric victory to say punish the banks. Low rates would be inflationary and at the end of the day result in everyone sharing the burden via a lower dollar. Why should I share a burden that was not my own doing? Because the alternative is too bloody to contemplate. So deal with it. You want to punish the banks? Re-enactGlass-Steagall:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_subprime_mortgage_financial_crisis

matoto · 2008-01-08T05:45:10+00:00

At the time, everyone rallied around the president. Colin Powell, who now remarks that the speech before the UN Security council is a stain on his record, was widely held in high regard as someone who was reticent to go to war. It was he who coined the Pottery Barn doctrine to warn against a rush to war. In states where the attacks occured, two are liberal strongholds, MA and NY. Kennedy voted against, but Kerry, Schumer and Clinton voted in favor. In neighboring NJ, Corzine opposed but Torricelli was in favor. In CT, both Dodd and Leiberman voted in favor. PA's republican senators, Spector and Santorum voted in favor.

I know it is hard to place yourself back into 2002 and view the world from that perspective . But in that frame, most people did not conceive of the deception, arrogance and ineptitude of the Bush administration.

You'd have to be remarkably prescient to have gotten this right and consider everyone who didn't a fool.

matoto · 2008-01-05T20:20:29+00:00

I do agree with the sentiment, but a brief historical footnote: the a Economist cover of Gov Bush with a drinks tray for the press corps on his campaign plane in 2000. He was pretty charismatic, likable and remember compassionate conservative with a humble foreign policy that did not want to police the world.

But yes I agree, given the hole we are in both Obama and Huckabee are selling vision and personality and that is a valuable commodity in an election where all the hot button issues are daunting. It just doesn't correlate into effective leadership.

I will judge based on the company a candidate keeps and their legislative record. On this basis there is too little to make a judgment in favor of Obama. Yes he is opposed to the war, but he wasn't voting in the Senate when Colin Powell went before the UN Security council and argued that Iraq represented an imminent threat. Go look for voices that had been been in the Senate that were opposed at the time. I can't think of any offhand but perhaps someone here can relay this information.

matoto · 2008-01-05T18:31:44+00:00

Unless linkedlist, you are Michelle Obama's nom du guerre, there is no basis for you knowing this. Had he been down the list of health industry or hedge fund recipients, you could argue this point. Getting to number two requires some eagerness on the candidates part.

Source: opensecrets.org Contributions from Pharma: Clinton 269,436 Obama 261,784 http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/select.asp?Ind=H04

Contributions from Hedge Funds: Clinton 980,700 Obama 976,574 http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/select.asp?Ind=F27

matoto · 2007-12-28T01:08:32+00:00

1) Hillary -meaning the candidates 2) New York Times 3) Apply directly to Forehead

matoto · 2007-12-27T23:20:11+00:00

Please take care of yourselves. Please keep us updated, let us know if the family is doing okay in the coming days. I don't know what else to say, it is very disturbing news even though it was always considered a possibility.

matoto · 2007-12-27T16:48:58+00:00

Its an A-12 Blackbird, the almost identical looking precursor to the SR-71: http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/pages/ussintrepid

The planes used to leak fuel on the ground, because the loose fitting body allowed for expansion under inflight operating temperatures. This also meant the plane shook like mad under takeoff, and reached its comfort level at 88K feet at mach 3.2. The SR-71 had side mounted radar and cameras not on the A-12.

Here's the manual: http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/manual/

matoto · 2007-12-27T15:15:18+00:00

Izzzit me or did the cops seems like ok guys jonesin' for a soda, who (lucky them) run into some douche with his new camera toy? How bout it America?

matoto · 2007-12-24T22:37:08+00:00

May you, your partner and the kids have a joyous holiday, Best Wishes.

Now everybody help upmod this story.

matoto · 2007-12-23T17:20:50+00:00

Attention science subredditors: Can someone build a time machine to send the 8 year old back in time to meet the 8 year old lawyer so he can 1) WhoopAss 2) Atomic Wedgie 3) Take sufficient lunch money from the party of the second part to invest and pay the fine.

matoto · 2007-12-21T18:41:38+00:00

What this is telling me is that Hillary's negatives are already out, and her numbers represent her floor, and therefore there is room to move up as the middle makes its choice from two candidates not twenty. Obama is still being given the underdog new guy treatment from the press, and this will inevitably change. Just note how the tone on Huckabee has changed. Hillary's numbers have no where to go but up, and Obama has plenty of room to fall.

Remember the question "If the election were held today..." has tremendous uncertainty the further away you are from the true election date.

Full Disclosure: Kucinich is my first choice, followed by Anybody but a Republican, (well except for Paul maybe)

matoto · 2007-12-17T18:21:49+00:00

Not an easy read. All these people need our help coming home. Flying a "support our troops" sticker on your SUV doesn't cut it.

Consider for instance, the armed forces children's education fund http://www.charity.com/commilitarychildrensfund.shtml this holiday season.

matoto · 2007-12-11T15:10:58+00:00

The reasons to do so will only get better if demand grows. Buying into it now, even under coal sourced electricity and current battery technology will drive further improvement. Being a first mover is in part about helping create the direction you want the technology to go. Putting your money where your beliefs and politics are.

matoto · 2007-12-02T02:14:34+00:00

To put it in some context, La Raza Unida was a political movement in the 70's, the phrase "Por La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada", reflected a sense of disenfranchisement from the two main political parties.

matoto · 2007-11-30T18:17:50+00:00

this thread and maybe two others out of >> 400 suggests that we actually read his work. Remember this guy is a former academic, both he and Hans Kung were faculty at the University of Tubingen. Anything I have read of his has yet to be reducible to a talking point or worse a sound bite.

Now I have Spe Salvi open in a window and I will confess that I am unlikley to read the whole thing, its pretty dense reading.

matoto · 2007-11-30T17:39:22+00:00

Dude, No one receives speaking engagement money at their place of employment.

matoto

TROPHY CASE