News Cut: October 14, 2008 Archive
Bush on banks
Posted at 7:00 AM on October 14, 2008
by Bob Collins
(7 Comments)
Filed under: Economy
President Bush just made a statement at the White House at 7 a.m. 7 a.m.? Messages like that aren't aimed at folks like me. It's aimed at Wall Street, unless the people of California have set their alarm clocks for 5 a.m.
Bush announced the government is investing part of the $700 billion bailout to purchase stakes in nation's banks (Wait a minute! Wasn't that money needed to buy up toxic mortgages? Now it's not?), by purchasing stock in the bank. He also said the FDIC will guarantee "most new debt."
The FDIC will also cover "non interest" accounts used by small businesses to cover day to day operations. And he said the Federal Reserve will serve "as a lender of last resort" to buy commercial paper.
According to Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman, several of these actions could've been accomplished weeks ago, but Treasury Secretary Harry Paulson ruled out the suggestion of Federal Reserve boss Ben Bernanke..
The Dow Jones futures suggested a lousy opening on Wall Street, but turned up slightly after the president made his announcement.
"It's not designed to abandon the free market," President Bush said, seeking to calm fears on the right that capitalism is dead.
In an interview this morning, Krugman defended the president's latest initiatives. "A certain amount of public intervention and partial takeover of the financial system is something you have to do," he said. "Leaving the financial system to fix itself on its own was a disaster in the '30s and brought us to the brink of disaster this time. It's not a case for socialism, it's a case for ovesight. We are going to rediscover some of the things Franklin Roosevelt learned years ago."
Krugman also called for more aid to state and local governments and an extension of unemployment benefits.
Not surprisingly, the Wall St. Journal has a somewhat different view. "The Government is Contributing to the Panic" suggests the switch in Paiulson's strategy has created the impression that the administration really doesn't know what it's doing.
Gene Lourey
Posted at 9:31 AM on October 14, 2008
by Bob Collins
(3 Comments)
Filed under: Icons
The metro media gave pretty short shrift to the death of Gene Lourey, whose death I wrote about yesterday.
His was a life story waiting to be told, and today the Duluth News Tribune (registration possibly required) told it. It's as compelling a story as ever existed in Minnesota.
We newsies often think that the only stories are the big weighty world issue stories. Don't get me wrong, they're important. But people who raise a dozen kids, many of them adopted, become the "man behind the woman", and prove that you can run a successful business, provide a living wage for your employees, and give back to your small town community, is big news, too.
When I put out calls here for you to tell me about the interesting people you know living their lives, and leaving a mark, guys like Gene Lourey are the kind of people I'm talking about. I'm kicking myself today for not telling the story when I had the chance.
Update 10/14 10:42 a.m. - I very much appreciate Chuck Haga dropping me a note from Grand Forks, letting me know of a piece he wrote in the Star Tribune in 2006 about Gene Lourey.
Have debates outlived their usefulness?
Posted at 10:44 AM on October 14, 2008
by Bob Collins
(10 Comments)
Filed under: Politics
This has been a pretty tough year to be a moderator or questioner in a political debate. So far Gwen Ifill, Tom Brokaw, and Jim Lehrer have been fairly ineffective -- bordering on disinterested -- in getting the presidential and vice presidential candidates to answer the questions they've been asked. And the questions themselves -- other than "What don't you know what's your plan for knowing it" have been generally lacking in imagination.
In the Minnesota Senate debate on Saturday night, the KARE 11 and Star Tribune questioners wasted almost 90 minutes asking the same questions that were asked a week earlier, and, not surprisingly, they got the same answers.
In most cases, in fact, the best questions have been the ones the audience -- not the moderators -- asked (in the last presidential debate, the majority of questions came from online submissions).
On Saturday night, the best question was one that asked the three candidates what book or film inspired them. Norm Coleman went with the tried-and-true answer: Profiles in Courage. Al Franken selected "A Bright Shining Lie" and Dean Barkley selected "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."
An even better audience question was the one that told us the most about the candidates. Asked what current Supreme Court justice he admires most, Dean Barkley couldn't seem to remember any of them and took a pass.
But what's really surprising is that over three hours of questioning by moderators, only subject areas were approached: The bailout (certainly a significant issue), creating jobs, Social Security, energy independence, nukes in Iran, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
What other issues are still sitting out there? Education? Funding special needs mandates. Immigration. Stem cell research. Or the one issue that the people taking our Select A Candidate quiz have said is their most important issue: health care. Minnesota is, technically, an ag state. There must be issues of interest to agricultural interests other than ethanol.
The next Senate debate is Thursday night in Duluth. In the meantime, MPR's Gary Eichten is giving people the chance to question voters directly. Yesterday it was Norm Coleman. Today it's Al Franken. Dean Barkley was on last Friday.
Generally speaking, the political debates have broken little new ground. Have they outlived their usefulness? Have the negotiations with candidates and debate sponsors wrung the very life out of them?
Spam crackdown
Posted at 11:32 AM on October 14, 2008
by Bob Collins
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Tech
Who says there's no good news anymore?
Federal authorities in Chicago say they've shut down one of the largest spam e-mail operations in the world. They promise details later today.
This could be bad news, however, for deposed Nigerian dictators, dogs with claws that need clipping or men who, well, you know.
Updates to come. Let me know if you notice any reduction in the amount of spam you receive today.
Symantec's State of Spam report says 78% of the world's e-mail is spam. And there is plenty of evidence to suggest you can't beat spammers.
Update 12:34 p.m. - Here's the FTC's news release.
One product called "VPXL" was touted as an herbal male-enhancement pill. Advertised as "100% herbal and safe," it supposedly caused a permanent increase in the size of a user's penis. The agency alleged that not only did the pills not work, but they were neither "100% herbal" nor "safe," because they contained sildenafil - the active ingredient in Viagra. At the FTC's request, the pills were tested by the FDA. According to medical experts, men taking nitrate-containing drugs - which are commonly prescribed to treat diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or heart disease - can experience an unsafe drop in their blood pressure when they also take sildenafil.
The defendants also used spam e-mail to sell prescription drugs. They claimed that the medications came from a bona fide, U.S.-licensed pharmacy that dispenses FDA-approved generic versions of drugs such as Levitra, Avodart, Cialis, Propecia, Viagra, Lipitor, Celebrex, and Zoloft. In fact, the defendants do not operate a U.S.-licensed pharmacy. They sell drugs that are shipped from India. The drugs have not been approved by the FDA and are potentially unsafe. FTC staff made two undercover pharmacy purchases and were not asked to provide verification of a prescription. The drugs they received contained no dosage information or doctor's instructions.
Selling the good china
Posted at 1:40 PM on October 14, 2008
by Bob Collins
(5 Comments)
Filed under: Economy
If you fell on hard times and needed some quick cash, what is the most valuable thing you have that you'd sell, despite what your heart might be telling you?
Duluth has taken its choice -- a Tiffany window -- off the market because "experts expressed skepticism at its $2.9 million appraisal. But nonetheless, it was close to selling off a piece of itself.
I'll go first. I have a life insurance policy that's worth several thousand dollars. It was sold to me in 1963 by my father, who died in 2004. Presently, I can't bring myself to cash it in, but if times got desperate, I'd have to.
Your turn.
The no-sound debate
Posted at 2:27 PM on October 14, 2008
by Bob Collins
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Politics
"For this debate, for part of this next debate, do what I did for part of the last two debates," he told a rally in Delaware. "Literally, turn the sound off. I'm not being...I'm not joking now. Literally, turn the sound off. And just watch. Watch the body language of both men. You can sense it folks. You know it, when there's a command [sic] presence. You know it when someone has the confidence and the certitude about himself and what he believes in."
But just in case this whole White House thing doesn't work out, Biden's got a Plan B:
"Just remember, folks, I am on the ballot. Don't be carried away with this vice president stuff. I am on the ballot running for my seventh term...so don't forget, don't stop at the top of that ticket, walk your way down. You can vote twice for the first time in your life for the same guy and it'd be legal."
Biden made his remarks in his home state of Delaware. In the rush to cover Sarah Palin, little attention has been paid to Biden, who has apparently been put on a short leash by the Obama campaign strategy.
He makes relatively few campaign appearances according to his public schedule, and very few are outside spitting distance of Delaware, allowing him to campaign for his Senate re-election.
Biden's main assignment has been to help deliver Pennsylvania (5 appearances since 9/1), Virginia (4 appearances since 9/1), Ohio (5 appearances since 9/1). According to ElectoralVote.com, Democrats lead in each of those states.
In fact, other than Ohio, and the VP debate in Missouri, Biden has campaigned away from the Atlantic seaboard in only four states -- Colorado and Indiana (he made only one appearance in both), Texas (he attended a fundraiser), and Michigan (twice).
The New Yorker seems to confirm the targeted Biden strategy in a piece this week:
The Obama campaign wants Biden to be seen as a working-class Catholic from Scranton, Pennsylvania, in the hope that he will win over skeptical Clinton Democrats in the Rust Belt and Appalachia.
Meanwhile, Minnesota, once seen as a battleground state, has been relegated to a "spousal state."
"Kill him"
Posted at 3:50 PM on October 14, 2008
by Bob Collins
(9 Comments)
Filed under: Politics
Mary Katharine Ham, a contributor at The Weekly Standard's blog tried mightily today to make the "kill him" controversy go away. Last week, a man yelled "Kill him" at a Sarah Palin rally in Florida. The media suggested the man was referring to Barack Obama. Ham, however, parsed the Palin speech and determined the man was referring to William Ayers:
If someone had wanted to yell "kill him" about Obama, he would likely have yelled it in response to Palin's preceding sentence:
At least then, there would have been a chance it could have been directed at Obama, as both Obama and Ayers are present in Palin's sentence.
But the liberal media, which has at times ignored and at times applauded as high art the assassination fetishism of the last eight years on the Left, is now projecting it onto all McCain-Palin supporters, using several outbursts and one decidedly misinterpreted "kill him" as their hook.
Meanwhile, this live blog of a rally Sarah Palin had in Scranton, Pennsylvania today might be more difficult to dismiss:
1:25 p.m.
Chris Hackett addressed the increasingly feisty crowd as they await the arrival of Gov. Palin.
Each time the Republican candidate for the seat in the 10th Congressional District mentioned Barack Obama the crowd booed loudly.
One man screamed "kill him!"
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