Aww, why did you do that, J. P. Morgan!?

Apparently these talent shows take themselves pretty seriously.

Now this is something that I might be interested in watching. It also brings to mind the TV talent shows of old, and I say: bring back "The Gong Show!"

(Source: ONTD)

Aww, why did you do that, J. P. Morgan!?

Apparently these talent shows take themselves pretty seriously.

Now this is something that I might be interested in watching. It also brings to mind the TV talent shows of old, and I say: bring back "The Gong Show!"

(Source: ONTD)

Mitt's Risky Business

The Mitt Romney story just keeps getting more icky and smarmy all the time. Here is a man who swears against government bailouts, but it turns out he depended on a government bailout to save his company. Why hasn't this story been circulating around before now?


_ _ _

Mitt Romney likes to say he won't "apologize" for his success in business. But what he never says is "thank you" – to the American people – for the federal bailout of Bain & Company that made so much of his outsize wealth possible.

According to the candidate's mythology, Romney took leave of his duties at the private equity firm Bain Capital in 1990 and rode in on a white horse to lead a swift restructuring of Bain & Company, preventing the collapse of the consulting firm where his career began. When The Boston Globe reported on the rescue at the time of his Senate run against Ted Kennedy, campaign aides spun Romney as the wizard behind a "long-shot miracle," bragging that he had "saved bank depositors all over the country $30 million when he saved Bain & Company."

In fact, government documents on the bailout obtained by Rolling Stone show that the legend crafted by Romney is basically a lie. The federal records, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that Romney's initial rescue attempt at Bain & Company was actually a disaster – leaving the firm so financially strapped that it had "no value as a going concern." Even worse, the federal bailout ultimately engineered by Romney screwed the FDIC – the bank insurance system backed by taxpayers – out of at least $10 million. And in an added insult, Romney rewarded top executives at Bain with hefty bonuses at the very moment that he was demanding his handout from the feds.

With his selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate, Romney has made fiscal stewardship the centerpiece of his campaign. A banner at MittRomney.com declared, "We have a moral responsibility not to spend more than we take in." Romney also opposed the federal bailout for Detroit automakers, famously arguing that the industry should be forced into bankruptcy. Government bailouts, he insists, are "the wrong way to go."

But the FDIC documents on the Bain deal – which were heavily redacted by the firm prior to release – show that as a wealthy businessman, Romney was willing to go to extremes to secure a federal bailout to serve his own interests. He had a lot at stake, both financially and politically. Had Bain & Company collapsed, insiders say, it would have dealt a grave setback to Bain Capital, where Romney went on to build a personal fortune valued at as much as $250 million. It would also have short-circuited his political career before it began, tagging Romney as a failed businessman unable to rescue his own firm.

"None of us wanted to see Bain be the laughingstock of the business world," recalls a longtime Romney lieutenant who asked not to be identified. "But Mitt's reputation was on the line."

-- Tim Dickinson at "Rolling Stone" Magazine

Mitt's Risky Business

The Mitt Romney story just keeps getting more icky and smarmy all the time. Here is a man who swears against government bailouts, but it turns out he depended on a government bailout to save his company. Why hasn't this story been circulating around before now?


_ _ _

Mitt Romney likes to say he won't "apologize" for his success in business. But what he never says is "thank you" – to the American people – for the federal bailout of Bain & Company that made so much of his outsize wealth possible.

According to the candidate's mythology, Romney took leave of his duties at the private equity firm Bain Capital in 1990 and rode in on a white horse to lead a swift restructuring of Bain & Company, preventing the collapse of the consulting firm where his career began. When The Boston Globe reported on the rescue at the time of his Senate run against Ted Kennedy, campaign aides spun Romney as the wizard behind a "long-shot miracle," bragging that he had "saved bank depositors all over the country $30 million when he saved Bain & Company."

In fact, government documents on the bailout obtained by Rolling Stone show that the legend crafted by Romney is basically a lie. The federal records, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that Romney's initial rescue attempt at Bain & Company was actually a disaster – leaving the firm so financially strapped that it had "no value as a going concern." Even worse, the federal bailout ultimately engineered by Romney screwed the FDIC – the bank insurance system backed by taxpayers – out of at least $10 million. And in an added insult, Romney rewarded top executives at Bain with hefty bonuses at the very moment that he was demanding his handout from the feds.

With his selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate, Romney has made fiscal stewardship the centerpiece of his campaign. A banner at MittRomney.com declared, "We have a moral responsibility not to spend more than we take in." Romney also opposed the federal bailout for Detroit automakers, famously arguing that the industry should be forced into bankruptcy. Government bailouts, he insists, are "the wrong way to go."

But the FDIC documents on the Bain deal – which were heavily redacted by the firm prior to release – show that as a wealthy businessman, Romney was willing to go to extremes to secure a federal bailout to serve his own interests. He had a lot at stake, both financially and politically. Had Bain & Company collapsed, insiders say, it would have dealt a grave setback to Bain Capital, where Romney went on to build a personal fortune valued at as much as $250 million. It would also have short-circuited his political career before it began, tagging Romney as a failed businessman unable to rescue his own firm.

"None of us wanted to see Bain be the laughingstock of the business world," recalls a longtime Romney lieutenant who asked not to be identified. "But Mitt's reputation was on the line."

-- Tim Dickinson at "Rolling Stone" Magazine

Words

“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.”

-- Rudyard Kipling

It's how I get through the day.

Words

“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.”

-- Rudyard Kipling

It's how I get through the day.

Plate Size

What are they trying to say?

Plate Size

What are they trying to say?

Do Not Fuck with Miley!

Miley in a bar brawl? Surely they must be talking about Lilo or some other desperate hanger-on type. And if that somehow was her, you call the cops on MILEY like a little bitch? If she punches you in the face, you never wash that spot on your face again. You do not calll the police! I know, they are really praying that they won the lottery, hoping to draw from the pop-star beauty a cool few million just to make this headache go away. But this is why we can't have nice things.


_ _ _

Miley Cyrus is a suspect in a criminal battery TMZ has learned ... committed Saturday night inside a Hollywood nightclub.

The victim filed a police report early Sunday morning with the LAPD ... claiming he and his friends were sitting behind Miley and her fiance Liam Hemsworth at Beacher's Madhouse at the Roosevelt Hotel when things got rowdy.

The alleged victim claims he and his friends accidentally bumped into Liam's chair and the two camps exchanged words ... an argument that quickly escalated.

The alleged victim claims Liam got in his face and Miley jumped in the middle to break it up -- but not before pushing him away and striking him in the face. There were no visible injuries.

A witness tells TMZ ... he saw the argument but Miley never threw a punch.

Calls to Miley and Liam's camp were not returned.

-- ONTD

Do Not Fuck with Miley!

Miley in a bar brawl? Surely they must be talking about Lilo or some other desperate hanger-on type. And if that somehow was her, you call the cops on MILEY like a little bitch? If she punches you in the face, you never wash that spot on your face again. You do not calll the police! I know, they are really praying that they won the lottery, hoping to draw from the pop-star beauty a cool few million just to make this headache go away. But this is why we can't have nice things.


_ _ _

Miley Cyrus is a suspect in a criminal battery TMZ has learned ... committed Saturday night inside a Hollywood nightclub.

The victim filed a police report early Sunday morning with the LAPD ... claiming he and his friends were sitting behind Miley and her fiance Liam Hemsworth at Beacher's Madhouse at the Roosevelt Hotel when things got rowdy.

The alleged victim claims he and his friends accidentally bumped into Liam's chair and the two camps exchanged words ... an argument that quickly escalated.

The alleged victim claims Liam got in his face and Miley jumped in the middle to break it up -- but not before pushing him away and striking him in the face. There were no visible injuries.

A witness tells TMZ ... he saw the argument but Miley never threw a punch.

Calls to Miley and Liam's camp were not returned.

-- ONTD

Charles Dickens

“From these garish lights I vanish now for evermore, with a heartfelt, grateful, respectful, affectionate farewell.”

-- Charles Dickens, upon concluding his final public reading

“Man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery. He cometh up, and is cut down, like a flower.”

-- Burial service

I am just about done with Claire Tomalin’s “Charles Dickens: A Life”. This morning during my walk to the duck pond, I read of his final days and was naturally moved. Before I chose this biography, I was struggling over whether I should get another one, instead of this newest take on the life, but I am glad that I bet on Ms. Tomalin.

She told the tale straightforwardly, from the beginning of the life to the end, and she spent some pleasant time on the favorite works. She also did not shy from the shadowy side of the life, about how this champion of the poor and downtrodden could be a little cold toward his own numerous sons, and you see how much he would have appreciated the advent of birth control. And then in his older age, he was not able to rise above the temptation that is often afforded to a highly successful older man: one more plunge into the joys of young love. What man can begrudge him this? though it did mean shoving aside his wife. But what a life, rising from child labor to become one of the immortal voices of literature! The Elvis of nineteenth-century literature.

I am thinking that “Oliver Twist” might be my next Dickens book. Although I read that one in my college days, it will be like reading it for the first time, for all that my memory has kept. Or maybe I’ll take my first crack at “The Curiosity Shop”. I have some time to decide. I am going to take a little break from Dickens for now.

Charles Dickens

“From these garish lights I vanish now for evermore, with a heartfelt, grateful, respectful, affectionate farewell.”

-- Charles Dickens, upon concluding his final public reading

“Man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery. He cometh up, and is cut down, like a flower.”

-- Burial service

I am just about done with Claire Tomalin’s “Charles Dickens: A Life”. This morning during my walk to the duck pond, I read of his final days and was naturally moved. Before I chose this biography, I was struggling over whether I should get another one, instead of this newest take on the life, but I am glad that I bet on Ms. Tomalin.

She told the tale straightforwardly, from the beginning of the life to the end, and she spent some pleasant time on the favorite works. She also did not shy from the shadowy side of the life, about how this champion of the poor and downtrodden could be a little cold toward his own numerous sons, and you see how much he would have appreciated the advent of birth control. And then in his older age, he was not able to rise above the temptation that is often afforded to a highly successful older man: one more plunge into the joys of young love. What man can begrudge him this? though it did mean shoving aside his wife. But what a life, rising from child labor to become one of the immortal voices of literature! The Elvis of nineteenth-century literature.

I am thinking that “Oliver Twist” might be my next Dickens book. Although I read that one in my college days, it will be like reading it for the first time, for all that my memory has kept. Or maybe I’ll take my first crack at “The Curiosity Shop”. I have some time to decide. I am going to take a little break from Dickens for now.