technoninja: November 2008

http://unitedsexaddicts.com/video/gallery/Heather-Brooke-handjobs-in-the-aggressive-1-GOTO-172-167-79-4-fuck-paying-for-porn-Get-the-movies-for-free-Asian-Jenna-Teen-Pre-Deep-Porn-Blow-Job-

girl who knows howto fuck

http://unitedsexaddicts.com/video/gallery/culoepileptico

crooked stilo collegias

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iHA74_C_ZU&feature=related

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

another 10

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

oh shit I had forgotten about space 1999

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMEZuaguuCU&feature=related

TV sucks now 1980s buck rogers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qok-MJ8r38U

LESBIANS RULE

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

IDEA: PORN + DIGG COMB0?:

COMBINE POPULAR THINGS
OR TAKE POPULAR TO ANOTHER AGE GROUP

YEAH
MONEY MAKING

MAKING COOL THINGS COOLER!

YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE COME BACK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjCyZ2P9bCA

http://valleywag.com/5099321/which-founders-frolicked-in-cancun-while-you-cleaned-out-your-desk

Last weekend, around 60 entrepreneurs under age 35 flew to Cancun for a retreat informally dubbed Summit Series. CNET reporter Caroline McCarthy was one of the press attendees who agreed not to name names. Nice try. The list of attendees identified below includes Dave Morin from Facebook, Joe Green who roomed with Mark Zuckerberg in college, and Sam Lessin who just got back from lip-dubbing Journey at Camp Cyprus. Tony Hsieh just laid off 8 percent of his Zappos staff. Ex-Googler Chris Sacca may or may not be rich, but I'm jealous of him anyway.

Dustin Moskowitz, Facebook co-founder with Mark Zuckerberg
Tony Hsieh, Zappos, CEO
Sam Lessin, Drop.io, CEO and co-founder
Chris Sacca, Venture Investor and former Google BD/M&A
Michael Chasen, Blackboard, CEO and co-founder
Garrett Camp, StumbleUpon, CEO
Jud Bowman, Motricity, CEO
Jia Shen, RockYou CTO and co-founder
Duke Chung, Parature, CEO and co-founder
Josh Abramson, Collegehumor.com, co-founder
Ricky Van Veen, Collegehumor.com, co-founder
Kamo Asatryan, LOLapps, CEO
Catherine Levene, DailyCandy, COO
Ben Leventhal, Curbed, Founder
Ben Lerer and Adam Rich, Thrillist Founders
David Karp, Tumblr, Founder
Ben Kaufman, Kluster, Founder
Lin Miao, Tatto Media, CEO and Founder
Sean Mills, The Onion, President
Kevin Colleran, FaceBook, Director of Media Sales
Dave Morin, FaceBook, Platform Manager
Josh Spear, Undercurrent, co-founder
Shawn Fanning, Napster, co-founder
Nikki Laffel, Gotta Mentor co-founder
Tim Ferris, Author and Entrepreneur
Charles Forman, Iminlikewithyou, founder
Maggie Grace, Actress on LOST
Joe Green, Casuses, Founder
David Hauser, GotVmail co-founder
Scott Harrison, Charity: Water, Founder
Graham Hill, Treehugger, CEO and Founder
Joel Holland, Footage Firm, CEO and Founder
Rob Jewell, SocialCash, CEO and Founder
Brian Monahan, People Search Media, co-founder
Mike Mothner, Wpromote, CEO and founder
Blake Mycoskie, Toms, CEO and founder
Liane Mullin, Modelinia, President and co-founder
Summer Rayne Oakes, Supermodel and Entrepreneur
Josh Peterson, Adteractive, President
Hilary Rowland, Hilary Magazine, Founder
Keith Richman, Break.com, CEO
James Siminoff, Phonetag, CEO and founder
Alex Zhardanovsky and Joseph Speiser, Epic Advertising, Founders
Eric Stotz, Karma Foundation, President and CEO
Neil Vogel, Webby Awards, CEO and co-founder

Read More: Summit Series, leaks, Camp Cyprus

http://www.gstreamer.net/

canada rocks

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081125/deficit_report_081125/20081125?hub=Canada

tomcat goodies from the AWESOME jasonB

If only all free software people made it this ez:

http://www.webdroid.org/archives/tomcat-package/

http://examples.oreilly.com/9780596101060/

jasonb: Also, the package's source is designed to be highly customizable. And, it all builds via ant. If you want the source code, I can tell you how to pull that from svn.
(12:43:56 AM) jasonb: Feel free to blog all of it. :)
(12:44:25 AM) jasonb: Pull the source tree of the Tomcat package like this:

svn co svn://www.webdroid.org/repo/tomcat-package/trunk tomcat-package

jasonb: For example, if you want to customize the default install path, or customize the name of the package, or customize which files it includes, or add in your own customized configs for Tomcat.. you can pull this source, make those changes, and easily rebuild a customized Tomcat package just for you.
(12:47:14 AM) jasonb: All it requires to build it is ant and rpmbuild, really.
(12:48:41 AM) jasonb: So, for example, if you had 4 machines where you needed to deploy Tomcat, and you wanted them to, by default, be installed with a custom configuration, then you could build a single custom package, and every time it's installed, Tomcat's already all configured and ready to start.
(12:48:55 AM) jasonb: (no matter how many machines you need to put it on)
(12:49:18 AM) jasonb: Also, if you're shipping your product that runs on Tomcat, you can customize your Tomcat installation package for it this way.
(12:50:00 AM) the_unmaker: sweet
(12:50:05 AM) jasonb: And, none of this conflicts with any distro-bundled Tomcat package that may already be installed in the OS.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Mitsubishi LaserVue HDTV

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/gadgetreviews/multimedia/2008/11/pr_10best?slide=5&slideView=10

#163 John Arnold

#163 John Arnold
$2.5 billion
Source: hedge funds

The second-youngest member of the Forbes 400 keeps getting richer. Wunderkind's Centaurus Energy hedge fund said to be up 70% in first half of 2008. Energy trader diversifying into hard assets: power plants, storage facilities. Father was a lawyer, mother an accountant. Raised in Dallas, graduated in 3 years from Vanderbilt U. Became an oil trader at Enron in 1995; said to have generated $750 million of the firm's profits in 2001. Founded Centaurus on heels of Enron's bankruptcy. Returns said to exceed 200% a year since 2002.

40 richest indians

http://www.forbes.com/business/2008/11/12/richest-Indian-billionaires-biz-indiarichest08-cx_nk_1112indiaintro.html

swazoo webserver smalltalk squeak

http://www.swazoo.org/

WHOS THE MAN?

http://www.forbes.com/2008/09/15/400list08_all_slide_2.html?thisSpeed=15000

ten roads to riches

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/wiley-ems/ten-roads-map.gif

http://www.amazon.com/Ten-Roads-Riches-Wealthy-Investments/dp/0470285362/ref=pd_cp_b_1/180-6003111-2511722?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_r=1SBSZZEHC142VS7V63S9&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=413864201&pf_rd_i=1591842050

media again helps obama w sex allegations WOW

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0406240383jun24,0,5972661.story

Obama lets opponent do talking
By David Mendell, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune political reporter Rick Pearson contributed to this report
June 24, 2004

Divorce file unsealed
Republican U.S. Senate nominee Jack Ryan's ex-wife, TV actress Jeri Ryan, accused him of taking her to sex clubs, according to records released from the couple's divorce file. Jack Ryan denied the allegations when they were made in 2000. (Tribune photo by Candice C. Cusic / June 22, 2004)

Barack Obama, who penned a 403-page memoir at age 33 and has a special skill for giving intricate answers to questions, has never been a man short on words.

But this week, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate finds himself at a strange place in his political career: trying to say as little as possible.

Obama's greatest challenge in the coming days is keeping his public comments in check as he watches Republican opponent Jack Ryan manage a political firestorm after the release of divorce files. They show Ryan's ex-wife accused him of pressuring her to have sex with him in sex clubs while others watched.

"You're probably going to hear me say the same thing over and over," Obama cautioned reporters as he opened a question-and-answer session amid a Tuesday evening fundraiser on Navy Pier.

Related links
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Shaken again, GOP forced to control damage
Ryan's ruin: He figured all the angles save one
GOP supporters tout Gidwitz bid
Ryan quits race
Divorce records can be a minefield
With successor in mind, GOP plots Ryan's exit
Obama lets opponent do talking
Ex-wife stands by allegations
GOP leaders say they felt misled on Ryan file
Ryan file a bombshell
Statement of Jeri Ryan
Excerpts from the U.S. Senate candidate's divorce records
Ryan won't appeal ruling on files
Court sets release of Ryan's divorce file
Obama, Ryan debate about debates
Ryan aide to give Obama more space
Ryan's ex-wife signs on to keep divorce files sealed
Ryan, Obama side by side in race for election funds
Obama routs Democratic foes; Ryan tops crowded GOP field

Indeed, if keeping his words concise and repetitive is Obama's biggest challenge between now and the November election, perhaps no candidacy has been more blessed than the Democrat's current run for the U.S. Senate.

In the Democratic primary, Obama found himself the overwhelming beneficiary when the campaign of former securities trader Blair Hull crashed in the aftermath of Hull's release of court files from a messy divorce. Though Obama has been a passive beneficiary of Ryan's latest problems, the Democrat's campaign worked aggressively behind the scenes to fuel controversy about Hull's filings.

Now, with 4 1/2 months left until the general election, Obama is facing a severely wounded Republican foe who not only has the embarrassing sexual allegations to cope with, but also has a severe credibility problem with leaders of his own party. Illinois GOP Chairwoman Judy Baar Topinka and former Gov. Jim Edgar have publicly said they believe Ryan misled them about the contents of the divorce papers. And on Wednesday, U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert leveled similar charges.

On Wednesday, Obama insisted that he has delivered a convincing message to voters and has worked tirelessly on the campaign trail. But he also conceded that fortune is smiling on him lately: "We've gotten some good breaks in this campaign, no doubt about it."

Indeed, Obama has been the beneficiary of several Ryan stumbles, including the Republican's much criticized decision last month to dispatch an aide to trail Obama closely and continually with a video camera. Ryan also drew criticism for misstating a vote Obama took in the state Senate.

Obama's candidacy has also been buoyed by special attention he has gotten from national and international media outlets ranging from the New Yorker to the New Republic to the Economist of London. The unusual attention on his candidacy is generated by the possibility he could become the Senate's only African-American member, and the intense coverage should prove helpful in raising campaign cash outside of Illinois.

All of that has helped Obama gain a comfortable lead in the public opinion polls.

Though Ryan's latest troubles would only seem to make it that much harder for the Republican to catch up, Obama says he worries that it could lead to overconfidence among supporters. If potential donors perceive him to be a shoo-in, Obama said, fundraising could dry up.

"Four months is an eternity in politics and this election is of such importance, not just for Illinois but for the country, so I will be running scared all the way through Nov. 2," he said.

Obama himself has avoided personal controversies in the campaign, in large part because he has long been open about some of his own problems. In a 1996 memoir, Obama recounted heavy drinking as a teenager as well as experimenting with cocaine and marijuana during those years. Though he was already weighing a political career when he wrote the book, Obama said he divulged such potentially damaging information to provide an example for young black men that it is possible to steer away from self-destructive behavior.

Obama's strategy amid the Ryan revelations has been to appear to take the high ground, confining his rhetoric to issues like shrinking wages and rising health-care costs and avoiding anything that could drag him into the divorce controversy.

As the Ryan files were released on Monday, Obama was in the midst of a two-day tour around the state to emphasize his message that the middle-class is being squeezed out of the job market. Still, as he traveled from Carbondale to Peoria to East Moline to Rockford, Obama faced questions from the media about Ryan's divorce files, Ryan's political viability, Ryan's character and even the sexual proclivities of human beings in general.
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#8 The Police 115m

#8 The Police
06.11.08, 6:00 PM ET

< Previous: Jay-Z Next: J.K. Rowling >

© OLIVIER LABAN-MATTEI/AFP/Getty Images
Power Rank 8
Pay $115 mil
Category: Musicians Pay Rank 7
Web Rank 15
Press Rank 20
TV/Radio Rank 51

The late-1970s rock band, famous for not getting along, reunited at the 2007 Grammys performing its hit "Roxanne." The Sting-fronted group then set off on a world tour, selling out stadiums and arenas on five continents. They sold

kiss the monkey

http://www-scf.usc.edu/~klochko/img/MyFavouriteMonkey.gif

more ARMs set to expire

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/10/15/the-next-housing-catastrophe-waiting-to-strike.aspx

Monday, November 24, 2008

gforth 0.7 out, manual too

http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/forth/gforth/Docs-html/index.html#Top

http://www.gnu.org/software/gforth/#TOCintroduction

http://news.scotsman.com/world/A-nearriot-and--parliament.4722970.jp ICELAND is fucked LOL

ceo of gilette got 165m for merging w proctor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_M._Kilts

U.S. Pledges Top $7.7 Trillion to Ease Frozen Credit Nov. 24

U.S. Pledges Top $7.7 Trillion to Ease Frozen Credit (Update2)

By Mark Pittman and Bob Ivry

Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government is prepared to provide more than $7.76 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers after guaranteeing $306 billion of Citigroup Inc. debt yesterday. The pledges, amounting to half the value of everything produced in the nation last year, are intended to rescue the financial system after the credit markets seized up 15 months ago.

The unprecedented pledge of funds includes $3.18 trillion already tapped by financial institutions in the biggest response to an economic emergency since the New Deal of the 1930s, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The commitment dwarfs the plan approved by lawmakers, the Treasury Department’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. Federal Reserve lending last week was 1,900 times the weekly average for the three years before the crisis.

When Congress approved the TARP on Oct. 3, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson acknowledged the need for transparency and oversight. Now, as regulators commit far more money while refusing to disclose loan recipients or reveal the collateral they are taking in return, some Congress members are calling for the Fed to be reined in.

“Whether it’s lending or spending, it’s tax dollars that are going out the window and we end up holding collateral we don’t know anything about,” said Congressman Scott Garrett, a New Jersey Republican who serves on the House Financial Services Committee. “The time has come that we consider what sort of limitations we should be placing on the Fed so that authority returns to elected officials as opposed to appointed ones.”

Too Big to Fail

Bloomberg News tabulated data from the Fed, Treasury and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and interviewed regulatory officials, economists and academic researchers to gauge the full extent of the government’s rescue effort.

The bailout includes a Fed program to buy as much as $2.4 trillion in short-term notes, called commercial paper, that companies use to pay bills, begun Oct. 27, and $1.4 trillion from the FDIC to guarantee bank-to-bank loans, started Oct. 14.

William Poole, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said the two programs are unlikely to lose money. The bigger risk comes from rescuing companies perceived as “too big to fail,” he said.

‘Credit Risk’

The government committed $29 billion to help engineer the takeover in March of Bear Stearns Cos. by New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co. and $122.8 billion in addition to TARP allocations to bail out New York-based American International Group Inc., once the world’s largest insurer.

Citigroup received $306 billion of government guarantees for troubled mortgages and toxic assets. The Treasury Department also will inject $20 billion into the bank after its stock fell 60 percent last week.

“No question there is some credit risk there,” Poole said.

Congressman Darrell Issa, a California Republican on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said risk is lurking in the programs that Poole thinks are safe.

“The thing that people don’t understand is it’s not how likely that the exposure becomes a reality, but what if it does?” Issa said. “There’s no transparency to it so who’s to say they’re right?”

The worst financial crisis in two generations has erased $23 trillion, or 38 percent, of the value of the world’s companies and brought down three of the biggest Wall Street firms.

Markets Down

The Dow Jones Industrial Average through Friday is down 38 percent since the beginning of the year and 43 percent from its peak on Oct. 9, 2007. The S&P 500 fell 45 percent from the beginning of the year through Friday and 49 percent from its peak on Oct. 9, 2007. The Nikkei 225 Index has fallen 46 percent from the beginning of the year through Friday and 57 percent from its most recent peak of 18,261.98 on July 9, 2007. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is down 78 percent, to $53.31, on Friday from its peak of $247.92 on Oct. 31, 2007, and 75 percent this year.

Regulators hope the rescue will contain the damage and keep banks providing the credit that is the lifeblood of the U.S. economy.

Most of the spending programs are run out of the New York Fed, whose president, Timothy Geithner, is said to be President- elect Barack Obama’s choice to be Treasury Secretary.

‘They Got Snookered’

The money that’s been pledged is equivalent to $24,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. It’s nine times what the U.S. has spent so far on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Congressional Budget Office figures. It could pay off more than half the country’s mortgages.

“It’s unprecedented,” said Bob Eisenbeis, chief monetary economist at Vineland, New Jersey-based Cumberland Advisors Inc. and an economist for the Atlanta Fed for 10 years until January. “The backlash has begun already. Congress is taking a lot of hits from their constituents because they got snookered on the TARP big time. There’s a lot of supposedly smart people who look to be totally incompetent and it’s all going to fall on the taxpayer.”

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal of the 1930s, when almost 10,000 banks failed and there was no mechanism to bolster them with cash, is the only rival to the government’s current response. The savings and loan bailout of the 1990s cost $209.5 billion in inflation-adjusted numbers, of which $173 billion came from taxpayers, according to a July 1996 report by the U.S. General Accounting Office, now called the Government Accountability Office.

‘Worst Crisis’

The 1979 U.S. government bailout of Chrysler consisted of bond guarantees, adjusted for inflation, of $4.2 billion, according to a Heritage Foundation report.

The commitment of public money is appropriate to the peril, said Ethan Harris, co-head of U.S. economic research at Barclays Capital Inc. and a former economist at the New York Fed. U.S. financial firms have taken writedowns and losses of $666.1 billion since the beginning of 2007, according to Bloomberg data.

“This is the worst capital markets crisis in modern history,” Harris said. “So you have the biggest intervention in modern history.”

Bloomberg has requested details of Fed lending under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and filed a federal lawsuit against the central bank Nov. 7 seeking to force disclosure of borrower banks and their collateral.

Collateral is an asset pledged to a lender in the event a loan payment isn’t made.

‘That’s Counterproductive’

“Some have asked us to reveal the names of the banks that are borrowing, how much they are borrowing, what collateral they are posting,” Bernanke said Nov. 18 to the House Financial Services Committee. “We think that’s counterproductive.”

The Fed should account for the collateral it takes in exchange for loans to banks, said Paul Kasriel, chief economist at Chicago-based Northern Trust Corp. and a former research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

“There is a lack of transparency here and, given that the Fed is taking on a huge amount of credit risk now, it would seem to me as a taxpayer there should be more transparency,” Kasriel said.

Bernanke’s Fed is responsible for $4.74 trillion of pledges, or 61 percent of the total commitment of $7.76 trillion, based on data compiled by Bloomberg concerning U.S. bailout steps started a year ago.

“Too often the public is focused on the wrong piece of that number, the $700 billion that Congress approved,” said J.D. Foster, a former staff member of the Council of Economic Advisers who is now a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington. “The other areas are quite a bit larger.”

Fed Rescue Efforts

The Fed’s rescue attempts began last December with the creation of the Term Auction Facility to allow lending to dealers for collateral. After Bear Stearns’s collapse in March, the central bank started making direct loans to securities firms at the same discount rate it charges commercial banks, which take customer deposits.

In the three years before the crisis, such average weekly borrowing by banks was $48 million, according to the central bank. Last week it was $91.5 billion.

The failure of a second securities firm, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., in September, led to the creation of the Commercial Paper Funding Facility and the Money Market Investor Funding Facility, or MMIFF. The two programs, which have pledged $2.3 trillion, are designed to restore calm in the money markets, which deal in certificates of deposit, commercial paper and Treasury bills.

Lehman Failure

“Money markets seized up after Lehman failed,” said Neal Soss, chief economist at Credit Suisse Group in New York and a former aide to Fed chief Paul Volcker. “Lehman failing made a lot of subsequent actions necessary.”

The FDIC, chaired by Sheila Bair, is contributing 20 percent of total rescue commitments. The FDIC’s $1.4 trillion in guarantees will amount to a bank subsidy of as much as $54 billion over three years, or $18 billion a year, because borrowers will pay a lower interest rate than they would on the open market, according to Raghu Sundurum and Viral Acharya of New York University and the London Business School.

Congress and the Treasury have ponied up $892 billion in TARP and other funding, or 11.5 percent.

The Federal Housing Administration, overseen by Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steven Preston, was given the authority to guarantee $300 billion of mortgages, or about 4 percent of the total commitment, with its Hope for Homeowners program, designed to keep distressed borrowers from foreclosure.

Federal Guarantees

Most of the federal guarantees reduce interest rates on loans to banks and securities firms, which would create a subsidy of at least $6.6 billion annually for the financial industry, according to data compiled by Bloomberg comparing rates charged by the Fed against market interest currently paid by banks.

Not included in the calculation of pledged funds is an FDIC proposal to prevent foreclosures by guaranteeing modifications on $444 billion in mortgages at an expected cost of $24.4 billion to be paid from the TARP, according to FDIC spokesman David Barr. The Treasury Department hasn’t approved the program.

Bernanke and Paulson, former chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs, have also promised as much as $200 billion to shore up nationalized mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a pledge that hasn’t been allocated to any agency. The FDIC arranged for $139 billion in loan guarantees for General Electric Co.’s finance unit.

Automakers Struggle

The tally doesn’t include money to General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC. Obama has said he favors financial assistance to keep them from collapse.

Paulson told the House Financial Services Committee Nov. 18 that the $250 billion already allocated to banks through the TARP is an investment, not an expenditure.

“I think it would be extraordinarily unusual if the government did not get that money back and more,” Paulson said.

In his Nov. 18 testimony, Bernanke told the House Financial Services Committee that the central bank wouldn’t lose money.

“We take collateral, we haircut it, it is a short-term loan, it is very safe, we have never lost a penny in these various lending programs,” he said.

A haircut refers to the practice of lending less money than the collateral’s current market value.

Requiring the Fed to disclose loan recipients might set off panic, said David Tobin, principal of New York-based loan-sale consultants and investment bank Mission Capital Advisors LLC.

‘Mark to Market’

“If you mark to market today, the banking system is bankrupt,” Tobin said. “So what do you do? You try to keep it going as best you can.”

“Mark to market” means adjusting the value of an asset, such as a mortgage-backed security, to reflect current prices.

Some of the bailout assistance could come from tax breaks in the future. The Treasury Department changed the tax code on Sept. 30 to allow banks to expand the deductions on the losses banks they were buying, according to Robert Willens, a former Lehman Brothers tax and accounting analyst who teaches at Columbia University Business School in New York.

Wells Fargo & Co., which is buying Charlotte, North Carolina-based Wachovia Corp., will be able to deduct $22 billion, Willens said. Adding in other banks, the code change will cost $29 billion, he said.

“The rule is now popularly known among tax lawyers as the ‘Wells Fargo Notice,’” Willens said.

The regulation was changed to make it easier for healthy banks to buy troubled ones, said Treasury Department spokesman Andrew DeSouza.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said he was angry that banks used the money for acquisitions.

“The only purpose for this money is to lend,” said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat. “It’s not for dividends, it’s not for purchases of new banks, it’s not for bonuses. There better be a showing of increased lending roughly in the amount of the capital infusions” or Congress may not approve the second half of the TARP money.

To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Pittman in New York at mpittman@bloomberg.net; Bob Ivry in New York at bivry@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: November 24, 2008 13:26 EST

china's richest man missing

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5221230.ece

Huang Guangyu, China's richest man, disappears amid corruption investigation

(AFP/Getty Images)

Huang Guangyu, who was the subject of a police investigation
Jane Macartney in Beijing

China’s richest man has disappeared. Chinese media say Huang Guangyu is under police investigation for alleged share trading violations. His company says they have not heard from the tycoon in days.

Trading in shares Mr Huang’s Gome Electrical Appliances Holdings was halted today on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The company issued a statement saying it was making “necessary enquiries” to try to find out what had happened to its founder and controlling shareholder.

It said business was continuing as normal and the company had received no legal notice from the Chinese authorities about the whereabouts of Mr Huang.

One source close to Gome told The Times that no government department had contacted the company and they had received no notice of any legal investigation into its activities.
Related Links
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“It is business as normal. The CEO, Chen Xiao, is in charge and telling suppliers that everything is under control,” the source said.

Chinese media reported that Mr Huang was being questioned by police for alleged share price manipulation linked to Shandong Jintai Group Co, a medicine maker with shares listed in Shanghai that is believed to be controlled by his brother, Huang Jinshi. Trading in the financially troubled company was suspended in Shanghai today.

Mr Huang’s disappearance, reportedly since last Wednesday evening, highlights the opacity of the Chinese justice system.

It is not the first time that he has faced such questioning. He was investigated in late 2006, along with his brother, for alleged financial irregularities involving the use of a loan to speculate in real estate. Mr Huang was released.

The 39-year-old, popularly known as the Price Butcher, topped China’s Hurun Rich List this year with wealth estimated at 6.3 billion US dollars, deriving from his shares in one of China’s biggest electronics retailers and his growing property empire.

you live in the poor world

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_wires/2007Feb09/0,4675,HarrahapossBuyout,00.html

Golden Parachute Cradles Harrah's CEO

Friday, February 09, 2007
By RYAN NAKASHIMA, AP Business Writer
ADVERTISEMENT

LAS VEGAS —
Gary Loveman, the chief executive of casino giant Harrah's Entertainment Inc., will receive about $94 million in stock options and other rights if the world's largest casino buyout deal is consummated, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Loveman would collect on stock options worth $80.3 million, stock appreciation rights worth $8.8 million, and restricted shares worth $4.9 million, according to a preliminary proxy statement filed Thursday with the SEC.

Loveman would receive an additional $18.9 million in severance pay if he leaves the company under certain conditions, including if he voluntarily quits a year after the buyout is completed.

The board of Harrah's, the world's largest casino operator by revenue, on Dec. 19 recommended that shareholders approve a $90-per-share, $17.1 billion buyout of the company by private equity firms Texas Pacific Group and Apollo Management Group.

It would be the largest going-private deal ever for a publicly held casino company and, excluding debt, the seventh biggest leveraged buyout deal of any kind of company.

Although Loveman spoke with prospective buyers, he was not directly involved in decision-making by a special committee of the board that excluded management in evaluating the deal since Sept. 20.

The SEC document also describes how close Wyomissing, Pa.-based Penn National Gaming Inc. came to merging with Harrah's to become a colossal casino player that would have owned or operated more than 70 casinos, horse tracks and off-track wagering facilities mainly in the U.S., Britain and Canada.

And it offers a detailed look at how the casino giant's board came to grips with competing multibillion-dollar bids in a short time span.

Apollo and Texas Pacific approached Harrah's separately in August about taking the company private before teaming up in September. The pair offered $81 per share, which the company announced Oct. 2.

Shortly after, Penn, referred to in the document as "Company B," called Harrah's financial adviser UBS to express interest in submitting a bid. The two companies have never publicly discussed Penn's interest, but it was confirmed by sources who did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the talks.

Although it backed out of the process Oct. 23, about two weeks after Apollo and Texas Pacific raised their offer to $83.50 in cash, Penn was back in early November, asking for more information.

In mid-November, Penn chief executive Peter Carlino talked on the phone with Loveman several times, met with Loveman in Atlantic City, N.J., and had dinner with Harrah's directors Frank Biondi Jr. and Stephen Bollenbach in Los Angeles, according the document.

Penn submitted its own bid on Nov. 27 for $71 in cash plus a stock swap it said took the offer to $87 a share. The bid prompted Harrah's to set a deadline of Dec. 12 for final offers from both sides.

Apollo and Texas Pacific raised their offer to $88.50 in cash on Dec. 12, while Penn's proposal was worth $86.92, with $71 of that in cash and the rest in stock.

In meetings at UBS' office in New York, the special board committee discussed both offers over the next few days but expressed concern that a merger with Penn could raise antitrust concerns with authorities. Penn operates 12 casinos, seven race tracks and seven off-track wagering facilities in locations from Ontario, Canada, to Pennsylvania, Illinois and Mississippi.

Harrah's management even proposed a blockbuster third option, a leveraged recapitalization plan that would borrow a whopping $6.3 billion and spread the proceeds to shareholders in a special dividend of $33 a share.

The committee told Apollo and Texas Pacific on Dec. 14 that the group had a deal if it bumped the price to $91 per share. The group came back saying $90 was its "best and final" price, and the two sides finally agreed after also agreeing on hefty breakup fees if the deal collapsed.

The Associated Press reported Dec. 18 that the final touches were being put on a deal between Harrah's and Apollo/Texas Pacific at $90 a share. That afternoon, Penn raised the cash portion of its bid by $2.13 a share, to a total $89.95, conditioned on insurance receivables it might receive on a separate matter.

After talks with UBS and Harrah's director R. Brad Martin, Penn made a last ditch effort a day later, agreeing to add another $200 million in cash, or $1.03 a share, if Harrah's agreed to cut future capital spending by the same amount, with an offer that potentially reached more than $90 a share.

But the Harrah's committee noted the deal had too many conditions that did not seem likely to come to pass and went ahead with the deal with Apollo/Texas Pacific, the document showed.

Meanwhile, Penn's chief executive seemed burned out by the whole process.

In a Thursday morning conference call, Carlino told analysts that while Penn is still looking to expand, the cost of buying casinos might have gotten too high.

"Clearly, we have stated publicly that we'd like to be in Atlantic City. We'd like to be in Las Vegas. We'd like to be in a couple of other major cities where we've poked around from time to time," he said. "It's not clear at all that there are properties in any of those markets, frankly, at prices we'd want to pay. And we may not."

"We have to look a lot more carefully and cautiously at what's out there," he said. "So, is it tougher today than it was previously? Absolutely."

___

On the Net:

Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: http://www.harrahs.com

Penn National Gaming Inc.: http://www.pngaming.com

Kanye West 30m

#27 Kanye West
06.11.08, 6:00 PM ET

< Previous: 50 Cent Next: Celine Dion >

© Kristian Dowling/Getty Images
Power Rank 27
Pay $30 mil
Category: Hip-hop impresario Pay Rank 50
Web Rank 8
Press Rank 28
TV/Radio Rank 28

The pink-polo-wearing rapper and producer released his third solo album last September. Graduation went double platinum and won four Grammys. His cash cow: a lucrative list of production credits. He's written hits for Jay-Z, Alicia Keys and Diddy.

forth day 2008

http://jasondamisch.net/forth/forth-day.html

50 cent made 150M in 2008 WTF

#26 50 Cent
06.11.08, 6:00 PM ET

< Previous: Jerry Seinfeld Next: Kanye West >

© Kristian Dowling/Getty Images
Power Rank 26
Pay $150 mil
Category: Hip-hop impresario Pay Rank 3
Web Rank 69
Press Rank 68
TV/Radio Rank 88

50 Cent has come a long way from his early days dealing drugs in Queens, N.Y., and getting shot nine times. The reigning king of hip-hop wealth banked $100 million after taxes last summer when his stake in VitaminWater parent Glacéau was bought by Coca-Cola as part of a $4.1 billion deal. Fiddy's portfolio also includes the popular G-Unit clothing line and record label, plus films, videogames and a slew of platinum albums, including last year's Curtis.
Magazine Feature: 50 Cent
Video Profile: 50 Cent

read and learn

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockbuster_Inc.

jay Z made 82M god bless usa

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/53/celebrities08_Jay-Z_WRB5.html

taxation without representation

fed is taxation without consent

so is bailout

wtf

when can citizen reign in the communism?

citygroup gets 306B in guarantees WTF

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/24/business/citibank.php
Banking executives said the decision to support Citigroup, while necessary, could draw a firestorm of criticism from smaller institutions that were not considered big enough to warrant a government rescue.

Citigroup bailout came at a cost

By Eric Dash
Published: November 24, 2008

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NEW YORK: Citigroup will halt dividend payments for the next three years and agree to restrictions on executive compensation under terms of the U.S. government rescue of the struggling bank, it was revealed Monday.

Citigroup had to make the concessions in return for the U.S. government's direct investment of about $20 billion in the bank and an agreement to back about $306 billion in loans and securities.

Investors reacted positively to the rescue, sending stocks higher on Wall Street, the big European exchanges and in Japan. The Dow Jones industrial average was 280 points higher in midafternoon trading, extending its 300-point rally Friday as financial shares began to recover. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 4.7 percent. The Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50, an index of blue-chip shares, closed up 9.9 percent, as did the FTSE 100 in London.

Shares of Citigroup - perhaps the market gauge most widely watched Monday morning - were 53 percent higher and traded above $6 a share for the first time since Thursday. A year ago, the shares were trading at about $30.

Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch were all up about 15 percent in New York on Monday. JPMorgan shares gained 9 percent and Morgan Stanley was up 23 percent.
Related Articles

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Today in Business with Reuters

U.S. approves plan to help Citigroup deal with losses

Barclays investors agree to fundraising plan

Deutsche tries to prove itself an exception to the bailout trend

Banking executives said the decision to support Citigroup, while necessary, could draw a firestorm of criticism from smaller institutions that were not considered big enough to warrant a government rescue.

The ultimate cost of the deal depends in large part on whether the government has to cover losses on those assets, which are mostly residential and commercial real estate loans.

The rescue, announced late Sunday after a harrowing week in the financial markets, is the government's third effort in three months to contain the deepening economic crisis and may set the precedent for other multibillion dollar rescues in the financial sector.

President George W. Bush said Monday that more such rescues could be arranged if they become necessary.

In pledging similar assistance, Bush said, "We have made these kind of decisions in the past, made one last night, and if need be we're going to make these kind of decisions to safeguard our financial system in the future."

Speaking from the steps of the Treasury Building, with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. beside him, Bush said Paulson was working closely with the transition team of President-elect Barack Obama, and that the new president would be kept informed.

"It's important for the American people to know that there is close cooperation," Bush said.

With more than $2 trillion in assets and operations in more than 100 countries, Citigroup is so large and interconnected that its troubles could spill over into other institutions. Citigroup is widely viewed, both in Washington and on Wall Street, as too big to be allowed to fail.

Citigroup executives presented a proposal to U.S. government officials Friday evening after a weeklong plunge in the company's share price threatened to engulf other big banks. In tense, round-the-clock negotiations that stretched until almost midnight Sunday, it became clear that the crisis of confidence had to be defused immediately or the financial markets would plunge further.

Whether this latest rescue plan will help calm the markets is uncertain, given the stress in the financial system caused by losses at Citigroup and other banks. Each previous government effort initially seemed to reassure investors, leading to optimism that the banking system had steadied. But those hopes faded as the economic outlook worsened, raising worries that more bank loans were turning sour.

Obama's choice for Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, played a crucial role in the negotiations Friday but took a less active role once news of his appointment was circulated. While the initial focus of government officials was to help the embattled company, they may also seek to draw up an industrywide plan that could help other banks.

The Citigroup plan could herald another shift in the government's financial rescue. The Treasury Department first proposed buying troubled assets from banks but then reversed course and began injecting capital directly into financial institutions. Neither plan, however, restored investors' confidence for long.

"By intervening, they are giving the market some heart to temporarily stave off some fear - but you can only push that so much," said Charles Geisst, a financial historian and professor at Manhattan College.

Under the agreement, Citigroup and regulators will back up to $306 billion of largely residential and commercial real estate loans and certain other assets, which will remain on the bank's balance sheet. Citigroup will shoulder losses on the first $29 billion of that portfolio.

Jerry Seinfeld 85M holy SHIT

#25 Jerry Seinfeld
06.11.08, 6:00 PM ET

< Previous: Alex Rodriguez Next: 50 Cent >

© AP Photo/Ariel Schalit
Power Rank 25
Pay $85 mil
Category: Actors Pay Rank 9
Web Rank 79
Press Rank 72
TV/Radio Rank 38

This year the former sitcom star went Hollywood, writing, producing and starring in DreamWorks' heavily promoted animated flick Bee Movie. Much of his income still comes from Seinfeld syndication. Offscreen, the stand-up comedian grabs big laughs—and cash—on the road.

Phil Mickelson made 45m golfer

#20 Phil Mickelson
06.11.08, 6:00 PM ET

< Previous: Kobe Bryant Next: Madonna >

© AP Photo/Matt Slocum
Power Rank 20
Pay $45 mil
Category: Athletes Pay Rank 20
Web Rank 87
Press Rank 12
TV/Radio Rank 23

Playing in the shadow of Tiger continues to be lucrative work for Phil the Thrill. The world's second-ranked golfer won $10 million on the course in the last year and pulled in another $35 million from appearance fees and sponsorship deals.

non tippers unite

lol

tax hollywood 90% to help mortgage crisis

judge judy made 45mil wtf is wrong with usa?

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/53/celebrities08_Judge-Judy-Sheindlin_ZIEX.html

Sunday, November 23, 2008

smalltalk squeak vs haskell python lisp

(7:04:38 PM) me: so squeak more fnu than haskell lisp or python
(7:04:41 PM) me: fun
(7:04:41 PM) me: ?
(7:06:59 PM) tiesje [n=user@202.51.72.181] entered the room.
(7:07:58 PM) smalltalker: easily
(7:12:02 PM) me: really?
(7:13:55 PM) smalltalker: code as fast as you can think of things to do
(7:14:08 PM) smalltalker: language you can actually read
(7:14:34 PM) smalltalker: tools galore, refactoring testBrowsers scm all built in
(7:14:41 PM) smalltalker: graphics
(7:14:50 PM) smalltalker: loads of packages
(7:15:11 PM) smalltalker: and lots of nice people who know what they are doing
(7:15:40 PM) smalltalker: some of whom have been coding in st for almost 30 years!
(7:16:05 PM) smalltalker: people who wrote the fist vms, invented graphics
(7:16:46 PM) smalltalker: its the only environment that isnt a pain to use
(7:16:53 PM) smalltalker: and I have used a few
(7:17:04 PM) smalltalker: ok I might be used to it by now
(7:19:24 PM) me: wow
(7:19:27 PM) me: kik butt

a blonde 10

http://btis.brazzers.com/167p/?t=4&nats=MjU1OTo0MzE6MTEx,0,0,0,132663

software to avoid: atg dynamo jira greenplumb sugarcrm

I see greenplumb using lots of postgresql instances and they got 65m startup capital and they completely suck

software to avoid: atg dynamo jira greenplumb sugarcrm

to all you out there if you want to waste time and money buy these products

they have contributed to massive fails at movielink.com fox audience network myspace teampcs.com and the list goes on

You were warned.

a 10 yet again

http://gallys.karinahart.com/pics/002.KarinaHart.23115/?nats=MTIyNjgzMzo0OjYx,0,0,0,

#321 Alfred James Clark net worth 1.5B

#321 Alfred James Clark
09.17.08, 6:00 PM ET

< Previous: Leon Charney Next: Bharat Desai & family >

Sort List By:

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* Name
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Net Worth $1.5 billion
Source Engineering/Construction, Self made
Age 80
Marital Status Married, 3 children

Hometown Easton, MD, United States
Education University of Maryland, Bachelor of Arts / Science

Chief of Clark Enterprises builds the stadiums sports fans cheer in: Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium (Baltimore); FedEx Field, Verizon Center and Nationals Park (Washington, D.C.); Miller Park (Milwaukee); Petco Park (San Diego). Company also builds museums, theaters, airport terminals, jails. Sales: $4 billion. Real estate arm owns millions of square feet of office space in Washington, D.C. area, plus 15,000 residential units. U. of Maryland home to A. James Clark School of Engineering.

bruce lee plays ping pong with a nunchuck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QHslHpK4-Q

http://www.gigliwood.com/abcd/abcd.html dvorak type

http://antoniocangiano.com/2007/03/13/haskell-eye-for-the-ruby-guy/

Saturday, November 22, 2008

cabal install gitit happs

cabal install gitit

haskell fastcgi

http://mult.ifario.us/p/wiring-haskell-into-a-fastcgi-web-server

mustang ranch

http://thewildhorse.com/wh-menu.php

Brothels See Job Applications Surge

http://vodpod.com/politics/watch/1183739-brothels-see-job-applications-surge

Edmund Ansin another crazy rich d00d

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/54/400list08_Edmund-Ansin_J02G.html

#321 Edmund Ansin
09.17.08, 6:00 PM ET

< Previous: John Abele Next: Andrew Beal >

Sort List By:
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© Courtesy of WSVN
Net Worth $1.5 billion Source Media/Entertainment, Inherited and growing

Age 72
Marital Status Divorced, 3 children, 1 divorce Hometown Miami Beach, FL, United States
Education University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, Bachelor of Arts / Science

Shoemaker's son used proceeds from Florida real estate investments to buy Miami TV station for $3.4 million in 1962. Eventually added 2 competing Boston stations. Nabbed a third Boston broadcasting unit in 2006; purchased CW Television-affiliated WLVI from Tribune Co. for $114 million. Also owns gobs of real estate.

no wonder why this country is going to hell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vxzIamlzoA

The Austrians Were Right

The Austrians Were Right

by Ron Paul
by Ron Paul

Save a link to this article and return to it at www.savethis.comSave a link to this article and return to it at www.savethis.com Email a link to this articleEmail a link to this article Printer-friendly version of this articlePrinter-friendly version of this article View a list of the most popular articles on our siteView a list of the most popular articles on our site
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Before the U.S. House of Representatives, November 20, 2008

Madame Speaker, many Americans are hoping the new administration will solve the economic problems we face. That’s not likely to happen, because the economic advisors to the new President have no more understanding of how to get us out of this mess than previous administrations and Congresses understood how the crisis was brought about in the first place.

Except for a rare few, Members of Congress are unaware of Austrian Free Market economics. For the last 80 years, the legislative, judiciary and executive branches of our government have been totally influenced by Keynesian economics. If they had had any understanding of the Austrian economic explanation of the business cycle, they would have never permitted the dangerous bubbles that always lead to painful corrections.

Today, a major economic crisis is unfolding. New government programs are started daily, and future plans are being made for even more. All are based on the belief that we’re in this mess because free-market capitalism and sound money failed. The obsession is with more spending, bailouts of bad investments, more debt, and further dollar debasement. Many are saying we need an international answer to our problems with the establishment of a world central bank and a single fiat reserve currency. These suggestions are merely more of the same policies that created our mess and are doomed to fail.

At least 90% of the cause for the financial crisis can be laid at the doorstep of the Federal Reserve. It is the manipulation of credit, the money supply, and interest rates that caused the various bubbles to form. Congress added fuel to the fire by various programs and institutions like the Community Reinvestment Act, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, FDIC, and HUD mandates, which were all backed up by aggressive court rulings.

The Fed has now doled out close to $2 trillion in subsidized loans to troubled banks and other financial institutions. The Federal Reserve and Treasury constantly brag about the need for “transparency” and “oversight,” but it’s all just talk – they want none of it. They want secrecy while the privileged are rescued at the expense of the middle class.

It is unimaginable that Congress could be so derelict in its duty. It does nothing but condone the arrogance of the Fed in its refusal to tell us where the $2 trillion has gone. All Members of Congress and all Americans should be outraged that conditions could deteriorate to this degree. It’s no wonder that a large and growing number of Americans are now demanding an end to the Fed.

The Federal Reserve created our problem, yet it manages to gain even more power in the socialization of the entire financial system. The whole bailout process this past year was characterized by no oversight, no limits, no concerns, no understanding, and no common sense.

Similar mistakes were made in the 1930s and ushered in the age of the New Deal, the Fair Deal, the Great Society and the supply-siders who convinced conservatives that deficits didn’t really matter after all, since they were anxious to finance a very expensive deficit-financed American empire.

All the programs since the Depression were meant to prevent recessions and depressions. Yet all that was done was to plant the seeds of the greatest financial bubble in all history. Because of this lack of understanding, the stage is now set for massive nationalization of the financial system and quite likely the means of production.

Although it is obvious that the Keynesians were all wrong and interventionism and central economic planning don’t work, whom are we listening to for advice on getting us out of this mess? Unfortunately, it’s the Keynesians, the socialists, and big-government proponents.

Who’s being ignored? The Austrian free-market economists – the very ones who predicted not only the Great Depression, but the calamity we’re dealing with today. If the crisis was predictable and is explainable, why did no one listen? It’s because too many politicians believed that a free lunch was possible and a new economic paradigm had arrived. But we’ve heard that one before – like the philosopher’s stone that could turn lead into gold. Prosperity without work is a dream of the ages.

Over and above this are those who understand that political power is controlled by those who control the money supply. Liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats came to believe, as they were taught in our universities, that deficits don’t matter and that Federal Reserve accommodation by monetizing debt is legitimate and never harmful. The truth is otherwise. Central economic planning is always harmful. Inflating the money supply and purposely devaluing the dollar is always painful and dangerous.

The policies of big-government proponents are running out of steam. Their policies have failed and will continue to fail. Merely doing more of what caused the crisis can hardly provide a solution.

The good news is that Austrian economists are gaining more acceptance every day and have a greater chance of influencing our future than they’ve had for a long time.

The basic problem is that proponents of big government require a central bank in order to surreptitiously pay bills without direct taxation. Printing needed money delays the payment. Raising taxes would reveal the true cost of big government, and the people would revolt. But the piper will be paid, and that’s what this crisis is all about.

There are limits. A country cannot forever depend on a central bank to keep the economy afloat and the currency functionable through constant acceleration of money supply growth. Eventually the laws of economics will overrule the politicians, the bureaucrats and the central bankers. The system will fail to respond unless the excess debt and mal-investment is liquidated. If it goes too far and the wild extravagance is not arrested, runaway inflation will result, and an entirely new currency will be required to restore growth and reasonable political stability.

The choice we face is ominous: We either accept world-wide authoritarian government holding together a flawed system, OR we restore the principles of the Constitution, limit government power, restore commodity money without a Federal Reserve system, reject world government, and promote the cause of peace by protecting liberty equally for all persons. Freedom is the answer.

Friday, November 21, 2008

an other 10 yep

fed is destroying economy and now a fed guy to be new treasurer?

the fed is taxation without representation
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081121/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_cabinet

milf

another 10

gay is the new straight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0jFSQp-Kw8

university of phoenix apollo group

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/54/400list08_Peter-Sperling_RQWL.html

The 400 Richest Americans
#301 Peter Sperling
09.17.08, 6:00 PM ET

< Previous: Herbert Simon Next: John Abele >

Sort List By:
Rank
Name
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Age
Residence
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Net Worth $1.6 billion Source Apollo Group (quote: APOL), Service, Inherited and growing

Age 48
Marital Status Married, 2 children Hometown Phoenix, AZ, United States
Education University of California Santa Barbara, Bachelor of Arts / Science
University of Phoenix, Master of Business Administration

Father, John: Cambridge-educated humanities professor at San Jose U. Left academia to start for-profit University of Phoenix 1970s. Became Apollo Group; public 1994. Today enrolls more than 300,000 students in more than 100 programs for associate, bachelor's, master's degrees online or in classroom. Peter serves as senior vice president. Company faced numerous lawsuits; allegedly violated Higher Education Act by paying its recruiters based on number of students they enrolled; fined $10 million. Securities fraud: estimated $270 million damage award against company for misleading investors recently overturned.

wait another 10

http://www.free6.com/index.php?content=http://free6.com/gallery.php?url=www.boobsview.com%2Fsc15%2Fdaphnerosen2%2F13.html&galleryDescription=Big%20round%20tit%20whore%20hooker%20toys%20both%20holes%20big%20round%20boobed%20hooker%20strips%20spreads%20and%20toys%20both...&lid=2335764

Stephanie Meyer Twilight

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_Meyer

Thursday, November 20, 2008

celebrity pay

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/53/celebrities08_The-Celebrity-100_EarningsPrevYear.html

forbes celeb 100 WTF

http://www.forbes.com/2008/06/11/most-powerful-celebrities-lists-celebrities08-cx_mn_0611c_land.html

monty python lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K8_jgiNqUc

ozzy wow commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT8maUTzE48

tcl 12 rules

http://wiki.tcl.tk/10259

don't bailout auto makers

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081120/ap_on_go_co/congress_autos

fun is contagious

haskell microthreads outperform linux threads?

http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~lipeng/homepage/unify.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPTL

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

herbet simon rich bastard

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/54/400list08_Herbert-Simon_PRZO.html

music hard rock rammstein lordi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfHlA3fmJG0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdItwaLrv1U

outlaw reinsurance

marc battyani fractal concept lisp web

http://prog.vub.ac.be/events/2005/BADL/framework-presentation.ppt

http://prog.vub.ac.be/events/2005/BADL/ilc2002-marc-battyani.pdf

kpax lisp web framework

http://homepage.mac.com/svc/kpax/#status

aolserver database access

http://panoptic.com/wiki/aolserver/Accessing_A_Database

sortable columns

http://www.kryogenix.org/code/browser/sorttable/

The U.S. government has now thrown more money at this “credit crisis” than it did fighting the entire Second World War.

http://www.agorafinancial.com/5min/which-more-expensive-credit-crisis-or-wwii-the-2009-reflation-what-smart-moneys-buying-and-more/

CORRECT: Modified mortgages often re-default

CORRECT: Modified mortgages often re-default
By Alistair Barr, MarketWatch
Last update: 4:34 p.m. EST Nov. 18, 2008
Comments: 132
(This is an update to correct a previous version. Lender Processing Services' data on re-defaults of modified mortgages refer to the industry generally, not to IndyMac home loans specifically.)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., has proposed modifying millions of mortgages to prevent foreclosure.
However, changing home loans like this doesn't always prevent problems, according to Lender Processing Services (LPS:
lender processing svcs inc com
News, chart, profile, more
Last: 20.41-1.08-5.03%
4:00pm 11/19/2008
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LPS 20.41, -1.08, -5.0%) , which processes mortgage payments and tracks roughly 39 million of the 50 million outstanding home loans in the market.
Bair said the FDIC's modification plan would cost $24.4 billion and proposed that some of the Treasury's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program be used to pay for it. See related story.
The FDIC has already modified more than 5,000 delinquent mortgages owned or serviced by failed lender IndyMac (IDMCQ:
IndyMac Bancorp Inc
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Last: 0.04-0.01-16.00%
3:54pm 11/19/2008
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IDMCQ 0.04, -0.01, -16.0%) and Bair's broader proposal is modeled on those efforts.
Under the IndyMac program, eligible homeowners have been offered more affordable monthly payments through reduced interest rates on the loans, extended amortization and deferred principal payments.
Lender Processing Services told analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods that the results of such modification are often uninspiring.
"Industry evidence indicates that in a majority of instances loan modifications simply delay the timeline from default to foreclosure but don't prevent them from taking place," Nathaniel Otis and William Clark, analysts at KBW, wrote in a note to investors on Tuesday.
For the industry in general, after mortgages are modified roughly 25% go delinquent again after just one post-modification payment and more than half end up delinquent after several post-modification payments, Lender Processing Services told the analysts.
The FDIC's broader modification proposal assumes a re-default rate of roughly 33% -- about 2.22 million mortgages would be altered to avoid 1.5 million foreclosures, according to the plan. The government would share up to half of the losses from re-defaults with lenders and investors.
To qualify for the plan, borrowers would need to make six consecutive payments. This eliminates early-payment defaults - a trend that has inflated industry-wide default data, FDIC spokesman Andrew Gray noted.
Bair said on Tuesday that the FDIC's IndyMac efforts have already prevented "many foreclosures that would have been costly to the FDIC and to investors."
Under the FDIC, IndyMac has mailed more than 23,000 loan modification proposals to borrowers, and will mail over 7,000 more soon, Bair added. That's in addition to more than 5,000 mortgages that have already been modified.
On average, the modifications have cut each borrower's monthly payment by more than $380, or 23% of the monthly payment on principal and interest, she reported.
"Over the next two years, an estimated 4 [million] to 5 million mortgage loans will enter foreclosure if nothing is done," she said. "The stakes are too high to rely exclusively on industry commitments to apply more streamlined loan modification protocols."
The internal models of Lender Processing Services suggest that the number of foreclosures will continue to rise through 2010 before peaking in 2011, the KBW analysts reported.
Foreclosures six months ago were mostly associated with bad loans, but now job losses are increasingly the cause in newer foreclosure notifications, Lender Processing Services also noted. End of Story
Alistair Barr is a reporter for MarketWatch in San Francisco.

what does haskell NOT do well?

http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lang.haskell.cafe/47491

amazon cloudfront

http://aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/

asking what a perfect 10 looks like?

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

the enemy: insurance and reinsurance

the enemy: insurance and reinsurance

my pet theory called private market inflation covers this: you make money by inventing money out of thin air, thus inflating the money supply

insurnace can't be for profit: if you pool money in case something goes wrong, you can't then have a profit sliced from it; it has to be government run; meaning money must be allocated to unlucky without having "profit" sliced from it

This is huge. Look at AIG and Freddy mac.

prediction: internet ad money is a scam

rich aon corp founder patrick ryan

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/54/400list08_Patrick-Ryan_VI8R.html

peter schiff talks about more capitalism outside usa asian stocks cheap

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coaI3d89kuA&feature=related

new york government doomsday

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/11/18/2008-11-18_mtas_planned_cuts_include_everything_fro-2.html

$5000.00 Gold By 2012 - Dollar Never Recovers - Game Over

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iax_BsNICes&feature=related

$5000.00 Gold By 2012 - Dollar Never Recovers - Game Over

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iax_BsNICes&feature=related

steve forbes and peter schiff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGdj3Gx4A8w&feature=related

jim rogers rock bernanke wrong for 2 years under oath

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49SYpcaWHTE

Ronald Reagan was AWEsome

http://www.conservapedia.com/Ronald_Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan
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Ronald Wilson Reagan
40th President of the United States
Term of office
January 20, 1981 - January 20, 1989[1]
Political party Republican
Vice President George H. W. Bush
Preceded by Jimmy Carter
Succeeded by George H. W. Bush
Born February 6, 1911
Tampico, Illinois, USA
Died June 5, 2004
Bel Air, California
Spouse Jane Wyman
Nancy Davis Reagan
Religion Presbyterian

Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911- June 5, 2004), United States President and considered by some to be one of the greatest American Presidents, was the 40th President of the United States of America severing two terms from 1981 to 1989, following Democrat Jimmy Carter and preceding Republican George H. W. Bush. Ronald Reagan is credited with leading America peacefully through the Cold War, lowering taxes, promoting a free economy, and helping bring about the end of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. He was known affectionately to Americans as "The Gipper," harking back to a film where he was cast as All-American George Gip.[2]

In one of his most famous challenges to Soviet communism in Europe, Reagan gave a speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin in which he said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." Reagan's economic policies became known as "Reaganomics" based on the idea that tax cuts will spur savings and investment. Reagan was strongly opposed to the concept of big government, advocating a reduction in the size and budget of the federal government. During his terms in office, he faced a divided Congress split between Republican and Democratic control for six of his eight years as President. Reagan was known for forging alliances with the Democratic Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill, among others, to effectively pass legislation.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Early Life
* 2 Governor of California
* 3 Presidency (1981-1989)
* 4 Domestic policy
o 4.1 Economy
o 4.2 Supreme Court Appointments
o 4.3 War on Drugs
* 5 Foreign policy
o 5.1 Soviet Union
o 5.2 Containment and the Iranian initiative
o 5.3 Cold War victory
* 6 Post-presidency
* 7 Family
* 8 Miscellaneous Facts
* 9 Quotes
* 10 See also
* 11 Further reading
o 11.1 notes
* 12 Bibliography
o 12.1 Biographies
o 12.2 Reagan before 1981
o 12.3 Politics and Domestic issues
o 12.4 Foreign affairs
o 12.5 Rhetoric, media and values
o 12.6 Primary sources
+ 12.6.1 Primary sources by Reagan aides
o 12.7 Government documents
* 13 References
* 14 External Links

Early Life

Reagan was born and raised in Illinois and attended Eureka College, where he quickly developed a reputation as a "jack of all trades", excelling in the areas of athletics and theater. In his first year at Eureka, where Reagan earned a degree in economics, the president of the college tried to cut back the faculty. Reagan immediately helped organize a student strike. Reagan enlisted in the military during World War II, but his eyesight was not good enough for combat duty. He used his acting skills to make military training films and promote the sale of War Bonds.[3]

Reagan became a radio sports announcer, and then a famous actor, leading the Screen Actors Guild. Ironically, Reagan was thus the only president to lead a labor union, traditionally considered bastions of liberalism. Reagan himself was a registered Democrat well into the 1950s, but as head of the Screen Actors Guild he fought against Communist infiltration. Peggy Noonan wrote, "Even in his zeal to purge the communist influence from Hollywood, he fought those who engaged in witch hunts and defended those who had been falsely accused of involvement." Reagan met his second wife, actress Nancy Davis, when she came to Reagan for help as she was concerned because another actress with the same name ended up on the "black list."[4][5]
Governor of California

In 1966, he was elected the 33rd Governor of California, succeeding Pat Brown. In 1970, he was re-elected. But in 1974, he chose not to seek a third term and was succeeded by Jerry Brown. Events and achievements during his terms included:

* Called in the National Guard to restore order when People's Park protesters began attacking police, and restored order to California's chaotic university campuses.[6] Reagan authorized the use of violent force against the peaceful protesters in Berkeley,[7] saying, "If there has to be a bloodbath, then let's get it over with."[8] In the resulting chaos, police fired buckshot into the crowd, fatally wounding one bystander and blinding another, and injuring hundreds of others.

* Led a comprehensive and far-reaching revision of California's massive public assistance programs, actually increasing benefits to the truly needy.

* Worked well with the Democrats to forge consensus on a variety of issues.

* Opposed the Dos Rios Dam.

Presidency (1981-1989)
President & Mrs. Reagan with their extended family.
President & Mrs. Reagan with their extended family.

In 1968, Reagan was a late candidate for president in the Republican primaries. However, Richard Nixon easily won that nomination. In 1976, Reagan challenged Gerald Ford for the Republican nomination, before withdrawing his name from consideration. Reagan knew if he continued, he would take the nomination away from Ford, and forever be branded as a Party spoiler. This he did not want, so he signaled his wish to be removed from consideration, and gave a very effective speech at the convention in support of Ford. Then, in 1980, he beat George H. W. Bush in the Republican primaries, and went on to oppose Jimmy Carter (incumbent) in the general election with George Herbert Walker Bush as his running mate. A poor economy and the incumbent's failing to deal with several international crises aided Reagan. As he put it, "I'm told I can't use the word depression. Well, I'll tell you the definition. A recession is when your neighbor loses his job; depression is when you lose your job. Recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his." In the general election he received 50.75% of the popular vote, beating Jimmy Carter by almost 10%, and also won 90.9% of the electoral vote. Riding his strong showing, the Republicans won enough seats in the United States Senate to take control of that chamber for the first time in decades. The results were a shock as polling had been showing a close contest heading into the day of the election.

Once in office, Reagan showed he was playing hardball. When the Federal Air Traffic Controllers struck illegally, Reagan gave them 48 hours before he fired all who hadn't gone back to work (11,359).

In 1984, Reagan won 49 out of 50 states' electoral votes, and the largest public vote in almost 100 years, 58.77%. During his second term, he helped end the Cold War with the help of Margaret Thatcher and some assistance from Pope John Paul II and Mikhail Gorbachev by recognizing the weakness of the Soviet economy, and spent them out of existence by not being able to compete with defense spending.[9]

March 30, 1981 there was an unsuccessful assassination attempt on President Reagan at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. John Hinckley, Jr. shot Reagan and injured 3 others. Reagan survived and was able to recover quickly.
Domestic policy
Economy
President Reagan working at his desk in the oval office, 05/06/82.
President Reagan working at his desk in the oval office, 05/06/82.
As President, Ronald Reagan enacted his theory of "Reaganomics." His four major policy objectives were the following[10]:

* Reduce the growth of government spending.
* Reduce the marginal tax rates on income from both labor and capital.
* Reduce government regulation of the economy.
* Control the money supply to reduce inflation.

Fueled by an over spending Congress that steadfastly refused Reagan's budget proposals, the national debt increased 160% during his two terms in office. However, the economic growth that resulted from tax cuts made deficits as a percentage of GDP lower than what they had been in during the previous decade of stagflation. The period of high inflation and unemployment when Reagan took office was over after eight years of his Presidency. In 1986 Reagan signed the Tax Reform Act, which obtained an overhaul of the income tax code and eliminated many deductions and exempted millions of people with low incomes. The income tax rates of the top personal tax bracket dropped from 70% to 28% in 7 years. At the end of his administration, the Nation was enjoying its longest recorded period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression.[11]
Supreme Court Appointments

Ronald Reagan had maintained the promise he made in his 1980 presidential campaign to appoint the first women to the U.S. Supreme Court. On July 7, 1981, President Reagan nominated Superior Court judge Sandra Day O'Connor as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, replacing the retiring Potter Stewart. There were some concerns by social conservatives and Pro-Life groups over whether she would overturn Roe v. Wade. Nevertheless, she was confirmed by the Senate by a 99–0 vote on September 21 and took her seat September 25.

In 1987, Reagan nominated Washington circuit judge, former Solicitor General and former acting Attorney General Robert Bork to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell. Senate Liberals attacked Bork as being too conservative. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), criticized him, saying,

"Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom the judiciary is -- and is often the only -- protector of the individual rights that are the heart of our democracy."[12]

Kennedy had voted for Bork's appointment to the Appelate court just a few years before.

On October 23, 1987, the U.S. Senate rejected Bork's confirmation on a 42-58 vote. Anthony Kennedy was then nominated for the seat, where he was confirmed on a 97-0 vote.
War on Drugs

As President, Reagan declared a "war on drugs", which would be policies put forward by the United States and other countries to reduce illegal drug trade. In 1986, President Reagan signed the very prominent Anti-Drug Abuse Act which granted $97 million to build new prisons, $200 million for drug education and $241 million for treatment. Overall, $1.7 billion to fight the drug crisis.[13] First Lady Nancy Reagan started a slogan, "Just Say No" to drug use. The term was used in television advertising, and today there are many "Just Say No" drug clinics. As a result of the policies, marijuana use went from thirty-three percent of high-school seniors in 1980 to twelve percent in 1991.[14]
Foreign policy

Reagan's 1983 Strategic Defense Initiative became popularly known as "Star Wars", the name given to it by critics because they thought it was pure fantasy like the popular George Lucas films. This plan was never fully instituted. Although billions of dollars was spent on development, no space-based missile defense was tested successfully during Reagan's terms in office. However, technologies were developed from the program that had practical uses in society. For instance lasik eye surgery came about through developments generated by the SDI program.

While many academics claim SDI gave the United States a large amount of leverage in its standoff with the Soviet Union, many political scientists and historians believe that Star Wars played a secondary role in the calculus of Soviet policy-making, where internal structural problems were paramount. However, it should be noted that the threat the Soviet Union felt from the initiative was instrumental in making them step-up negotiations, according to many involved with diplomacy at the time and can be seen by following Gorbachev's repeated public insistences that the SDI program be discontinued. Henry Kissinger wrote: I know it's an axiomatic view of the Left around the world that missile defense is sinful, and that it's desirable to keep each nation as vulnerable as possible. But that's a debatable premise. The U.S. must defend itself against whoever has missiles that would threaten the United States. And you don't have to be able to name an enemy.[15]
"Mr.Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
"Mr.Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

Reagan was president at the time of the shooting down of Korean Airlines Flight 007 by the Soviets on September 1, 1983. He termed the shootown of an innocent straying passenger plane with 269 passengers and crew a "massacre" and the ensuing rage over the tragedy both world-wide and in the U.S. provided support for the deployment of cruise and Pershing ll missiles in West Europe- just six minutes flying time from Moscow.

Upon his death, Margaret Thatcher commented: As Prime Minister, I worked closely with Ronald Reagan for eight of the most important years of all our lives. We talked regularly both before and after his presidency. And I have had time and cause to reflect on what made him a great president. Ronald Reagan knew his own mind. He had firm principles - and, I believe, right ones. He expounded them clearly, he acted upon them decisively. When the world threw problems at the White House, he was not baffled, or disorientated, or overwhelmed. He knew almost instinctively what to do. When his aides were preparing option papers for his decision, they were able to cut out entire rafts of proposals that they knew 'the Old Man' would never wear. When his allies came under Soviet or domestic pressure, they could look confidently to Washington for firm leadership. And when his enemies tested American resolve, they soon discovered that his resolve was firm and unyielding. Yet his ideas, though clear, were never simplistic. He saw the many sides of truth. Yes, he warned that the Soviet Union had an insatiable drive for military power and territorial expansion; but he also sensed it was being eaten away by systemic failures impossible to reform. Yes, he did not shrink from denouncing Moscow's 'evil empire'. But he realized that a man of goodwill might nonetheless emerge from within its dark corridors. So the President resisted Soviet expansion and pressed down on Soviet weakness at every point until the day came when communism began to collapse beneath the combined weight of these pressures and its own failures. And when a man of goodwill did emerge from the ruins, President Reagan stepped forward to shake his hand and to offer sincere cooperation. Nothing was more typical of Ronald Reagan than that large-hearted magnanimity - and nothing was more American.[16]
Soviet Union

Shortly after taking office in 1981 Reagan issued National Security Decision Directive 11-82, (NSDD 11-82), that explicitly made U.S. defense spending a form of economic warfare against the Soviets. The directive was known more unofficially as the Reagan Initiative.
Reagan and Gorbachev at Reykjavik
Reagan and Gorbachev at Reykjavik

The United States would "exploit and demonstrate the enduring economic advantages of the West to develop a variety of [arms] systems that are difficult for the Soviets to counter, impose disproportionate costs, open up new areas of major military competition and obsolesce previous Soviet investment or employ sophisticated strategic options to achieve this end. Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), or "Star Wars" as the media referred to it, was a costly high tech research and development program designed to make arms spending a "rising burden on the Soviet economy."[17] The Reagan Initiative was also concerned with aiding nations in active conflict with the Soviet Union. One such group was the mujahideen of Afghanistan who were given anti-aircraft missiles to fight the Soviet invaders.

A report by the CIA of the critical domestic economic problems and social discontent Soviet CPSU General Secretary Gorbachev provided a look what the sources of his principal dilemma-the very reforms needed to deal with the problems would threaten preservation of the nomenklatura and put at risk Gorbachev’s ability to maintain the power to bring about Perestroika.[18] Gorbachev requested a Summit with Reagan in Reykjavik in October 1986 to discuss the stresses competition from the Reagan’s defense posture was having on Soviet military spending and economy, and Gorbachev’s ability to carryout his plans of restructuring Communist control. Gorbachev told the Politburo in preparation for the Summit, "Our goal is to prevent the next round of arms race. If we do not do this ... will pulled into an arms race beyond our power, and we will lose this race, for we are presently at the limit of out capabilities."[19]

By the late 80s, the Soviet Union began unilateral force cuts and troop withdrawals from Eastern Europe, and by May 1989 an unprecedented series of disclosures by senior Soviet officials revealed actual reductions in defense spending for the 1986-1990 and 1991-1995 Five Year Plan periods.[20] Genrikh Grofimenko, a former adviser to Leonid Brezhnev, said "Ninety-nine percent of the Russian people believe that [the US] won the Cold War because of your president's insistence on SDI".[21]
Containment and the Iranian initiative
President Reagan being sworn in for second term in the rotunda at the U.S. Capitol, 1/21/85
President Reagan being sworn in for second term in the rotunda at the U.S. Capitol, 1/21/85
In 1985, after Reagan won reelection to his second term, the focus turned from reviving the domestic economy to several foreign policy matters which had been lingering throughout the decade. One such matter involved Iran, a long time ally of the Western Allies since 1941 that had experienced an Islamic Revolution in 1979 after President Carter announced Human Rights had superseded Containment as the primary focus of American foreign policy[Citation Needed]. Since 1980, Iran had been enmeshed in a brutal trench war with neighboring Iraq which was emerging as a potent military threat in the region to other allies. Members of the National Security Council staff, along with CIA Director William Casey, persuaded Reagan much could be gained and several problems could be addressed simultaneously with an overture to Iran to restore relations.

The objective of the plan was fourfold:

1. Take steps to restore good relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran which was becoming increasingly hostile to the West;
2. Take measures to convince Iran that Israel could become a friend and ally;
3. Insurance against Iraq becoming too strong which would become a threat to Kuwait or Saudi Arabia;
4. Provide funding for other operations to continue the policy of containment in the Western Hemisphere, most notably Nicaragua, and the violence the Soviet/Cuban/Nicaragua connection was creating in El Salvador and Honduras.

There were humanitarian aspects to the proposal as well; (1) the Iran-Iraq War had stalemated for nearly six years and Reagan was advised that he was in the unique position as President to help facilitate bringing a senseless war with much suffering to an end; (2) the suffering of the people of the Central American Republics at the hands of Soviet-inspired subversion which had in the decade of the '80s established a beachhead in North America; (3) Iran perhaps could be persuaded to use its good offices to influence hostage takers in Lebanon who had held several Western prisoners, many of them Christian Missionaries, for several years.

Reports had filtered back to Reagan that children as young as nine years old had been used by Iran to clear minefields.[22] In weighing Iraq's delicate Sunni/Shia balance and the growing threat of Iranian-sponsored terrorism, the NSC staff and Casey recognized the dangers of an Iraqi collapse as well as the urgent need to dissuade Iran from continuing its ruthless and inhumane tactics.[23]

The Boland amendment, a Vietnam era-style Congressional impingement on the legitimate foreign policy prerogatives of the Executive via the power of the purse, was used to deny Reagan's recommitment to the Truman Doctrine which had been adhered to by every President, Democratic and Republican alike since Truman, with the exception of President Carter whose human rights policy had brought one of the active belligerents, the Ayatollah Khomeini, to power[Citation Needed]. In three of the active Soviet fronts, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, some Congressional Democratic leaders were openly sympathetic to Soviet foreign policy.[24][25] So the decision was made to fund Containment of Soviet objectives on an active front in North America with sales of TOW missiles to Iran. Israel provided the TOWs because the Boland Amendment forbade direct US funding and it was a welcome opportunity for Israel to build bridges to a much needed friend in the Middle East.

The operation was known as the "Iran-Contra affair." After word got out about the operation in November 1986, investigations were made, leading to the convictions of several members of the Reagan administration. President Reagan himself testified before the Tower Commission that he had poor recollection of the details of the operation due in part to the heavy pain medications he had been on in that period.
Cold War victory

Reagan is credited for ending the Cold War in victory for the United States. Historian Tony Judt in Postwar credits Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, while the political scientist Jan Kubik presents a viewpoint that credits Pope John Paul II.[26] Other historians contend structural weaknesses within the Communist bloc meant Reagan's actions were inconsequential to the end of communism. This is the view adopted by Russians themselves, and many political historians, citing perestroika and glasnost as beginning an inevitable slow fading of central power, and a collapse by irreconcilable differences between the central Soviet Politburo and the constituent republics, especially the Ukraine.[27] In the end, the consensus seems to point to all of the above, that hastened the demise of the Soviet Union; Internal factors, religious pressure brought by the Pope, Gorbachev's "Perestroika" and the united front of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, leading NATO and the West to embed a missile defense system in Western Europe, and the economic superiority of Capitalism, which simply out-spent and out-performed that of the Communist one. One thing that cannot be quantified is Reagan's ability to give hope, his never-ending optimism that good would indeed triumph over evil. Many see that as key to bringing extra confidence to those locked behind the "Iron Curtain" to press even harder for reforms.

Columnist Cal Thomas wrote about it like this: He proved he was right about the big things. Faced with editorial denunciations at home and massive demonstrations in Europe against his plan to put missiles there to offset a Soviet threat, Reagan went ahead and did it anyway. The Soviets could not keep pace with the buildup or Reagan's proposed missile defense system (derided by critics as "Star Wars"). When those critics could not bring themselves to admit they were wrong, they unpersuasively claimed the Soviet Union fell under its own weight. More accurately, Reagan pushed it onto "the ash heap of history," with the able assistance of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II. What Reagan did more than anything else - and it will be his lasting legacy - is replace despair with hope. Most people, even his detractors, felt a glow from being in his presence. He was the kindest, most gracious president I have met, and I have met them all since JFK. In his presence you felt he was interested in you and not himself. He was a good man.[28]

Brian Mulroney, the Canadian Prime Minister, said of Reagan: "Some in the West during the early 1980s believed communism and democracy were equally valid and viable. This was the school of "moral equivalence." In contrast Ronald Reagan saw Soviet communism as a menace to be confronted in the genuine belief that its squalid underpinning would fall swiftly to the gathering winds of freedom. Provided, as he said, that NATO and the industrialized democracies stood firm and united. They did. And we know now who was right."[29]

* Former Reagan speech writer Peggy Noonan paid tribute to the fallen president in a recent Wall Street Journal editorial. In it, Noonan noted: "Ronald Reagan told the truth to a world made weary by lies. He believed truth was the only platform on which a better future could be built. He shocked the world when he called the Soviet Union ‘evil,’ because it was, and an 'empire,' because it was that, too. He never stopped bringing his message to the people of the world, to Europe and China and in the end the Soviet Union. And when it was over, the Berlin Wall had been turned into a million concrete souvenirs, and Soviet communism had fallen. But of course, it didn’t fall. It was pushed. By Mr. Know Nothing Cowboy Gunslinger Dimwit. All presidents should be so stupid."[30]

Post-presidency
President Bush presents the Medal of Freedom Award to Former President Ronald Reagan in the East Room of the White House, 01/13/93
President Bush presents the Medal of Freedom Award to Former President Ronald Reagan in the East Room of the White House, 01/13/93
Reagan retired to California. He would occasionally involve himself in politics, including a speech at the 1992 Republican National Convention. On January 13, 1993 President George H. W. Bush awarded Reagan the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1994, he announced that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, a regenerative nerve disorder that annihilates the victim's mental capacity. He died at his Bel-Air home on June 5, 2004 at age 93, making him the second-longest lived president in history.
Family

Reagan married actress Jane Wyman in 1940 and together they had three children: Maureen Reagan, Michael Reagan, and Christine Reagan. Christine was prematurate and died in infancy. Maureen has passed away from cancer and Michael is a famous conservative talk show host. Reagan's marriage to Jane ended in divorce in 1948. In 1952 he married Nancy Davis his wife until the time of his death. Together they had two children, Patti Davis and Ron Reagan Jr both of whom are still living.
Miscellaneous Facts

* Reagan was the first and only labor leader and former President of an AFL-CIO union ever elected US President.
* Reagan was the first and only divorced president.
* Reagan was a lifeguard for seven years growing up, and was said to have saved 77 people.[31]
* Reagan was the first president to break the so-called "Curse of Tippecanoe", ie, the first president elected in a twenty year cycle who did not die in office (although an attempt was made on his life in 1981).
* At 69, Reagan was the oldest man elected to the presidency for a first term.
* The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum is located in Simi Valley, California.[32]
* Reagan's 1994 announcement that he had Alzheimer's Disease brought large amounts of public attention to the disease.
* Reagan loved jelly beans.[33] The blueberry flavor was made in his honor. Jelly Belly even created a Ronald Reagan portrait out of jelly beans.
* His speech writer Peggy Noonan is a columnist for the Wall Street Journal.
* After his death, some of his closest supporters wished to put him on the $10 bill[34]

Quotes

* "The house we hope to build is not for my generation but for yours. It is your future that matters. And I hope that when you are my age, you will be able to say as I have been able to say: We lived in freedom. We lived lives that were a statement, not an apology." - January 20, 1981
* "...peace is the highest aspiration of the American People. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it, we will never surrender for it, now or ever." - January 20, 1981
* "We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look." - January 20, 1981
* "I've learned in Washington, that that's the only place where sound travels faster than light." - December 12, 1983
* "The challenge of statesmanship is to have the vision to dream of a better, safer world and the courage, persistence, and patience to turn that dream into reality." - March 8, 1985
* "I have only one thing to say to the tax increasers: Go ahead, make my day." —March 13, 1985, in a speech threatening to veto legislation raising taxes.[35]
* "A leader, once convinced a particular course of action is the right one, must have the determination to stick with it and be undaunted when the going gets rough." - December 5, 1990
* "If you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here, to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." —Speech at the Berlin Wall, June 12, 1987[36]
* "...I know it's hard when you're up to your armpits in alligators to remember you came here to drain the swamp." - February 10, 1982
* "There is no question that we have failed to live up to the dreams of the founding fathers many times and in many places. Sometimes we do better than others. But all in all, the one thing we must be on guard against is thinking that because of this, the system has failed. The system has not failed. Some human beings have failed the system." - June 21, 1973
* "The work of volunteer groups throughout our country represents the very heart and soul of America. They have helped make this the most compassionate, generous, and humane society that ever existed on the face of this earth." - Oct. 16, 1973
* "In America, our origins matter less than our destination, and that is what democracy is all about." - August 17, 1992[37]
* "It is freedom itself that still hangs in the balance, and freedom is never more than one generation from extinction." - Commencement address to The Citadel, 1993

See also

* How Ronald Reagan won the Cold War
* Ronald Reagan's Speech on KAL 007
* Korean Airlines Flight 007

Further reading

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Friday, November 28, 2008

Thursday, November 27, 2008