Around The News

Surveying this and that while we wait for the caffeine to kick in:

ANDREW SULLIVAN ON POT:

The dismissiveness toward the question of ending Prohibition as both a good in itself and a form of tax revenue is, however, depressing. His answer was a non-answer....  As for your online audience, Mr president, have you forgotten who got you elected?

Obama has not forgotten who elected him but the stoners will soon forget who they voted for.  Or whether they voted.

IRKSOME MATH METAPHORS:

Members of Congress and the New York State attorney general demanded detailed information Thursday on how tens of billions of taxpayer dollars flowed through the American International Group during its crisis last fall and ended up in the coffers of several dozen big banks, shielding them from losses.

The new inquiries shine a spotlight on a question that is exponentially bigger, in dollars, than the $165 million in bonuses that A.I.G. paid out this month...

"Exponentially bigger"?  Hey, paI, I got something exponentially bigger for you right here.  Geez, this is a real quantum leap in their coverage.  Grr.  Well, we all know what they mean, which is "orders of magnitude", and since we all know, I will move on...

As to the story itself, the fickle finger of populist outrage is pointing in a new direction now that our "leaders" have mastered the spelling of "AIG".  There is a pretty strong Goldman connection here:

Critics have also pointed out that then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who left Goldman in 2006 as CEO, played a lead role in the government's rescue efforts. Meanwhile, the chairman of the New York Fed is former Goldman head Steve Friedman.

BEGGING FOR AGE AND PERSPECTIVE:

A Times story about caffeine as a sports enhancing drugs for athletes tells us this but not that:

Now, Louise M. Burke, the head of sports nutrition department of the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, reports that athletes get the full caffeine effect with as little as 1 milligram of caffeine per kilogram of body weight. Instead of 20 ounces of coffee, a 176-pound man could drink 4 ounces of coffee, or about two 12-ounce cans of Coke.

Every athlete of a certain age knows that Frank Shorter won the 1972 Olympic Marathon quaffing de-fizzed Coke.  C'mon, if they are going to plug Coke anyway, go all in.

THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!  The Times discovers that retention bonuses are pretty common, since it is not always good business to let all the rates desert the sinking ship.

THE REVOLVING DOOR SPINS SO FAST IT BECOMES A BLUR:  Donna Brazile, a vice-chair of the DNC, will be speaking at a Justice Department event.  However, this does not represent politicization of the DoJ, as Ms. Brazile explains:

“During my remarks, I will pay tribute to women who dare, women of courage and the many milestones we have achieved and the path ahead,” Brazile said in an e-mail. “I am going in my capacity as an Adjunct Professor in the Women and Gender Studies at Georgetown University — not as a CNN contributor, ABC news consultant or Vice Chair of the DNC [Democratic National Committee].

So when she outlines "the path ahead", she will be describing the agenda favored by the Georgetown  faculty, not the Democratic National Committee.  So it's all good.

DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU IN THE A** ON THE WAY... OOPS!

KABUL, March 26 (Reuters) - A would-be suicide bomber accidentally blew himself up on Thursday, killing six other militants as he was bidding them farewell to leave for his intended target, the Interior Ministry said.

Is that 72 virgins divided by seven?

MY NEWFOUND RESPECT FOR EZRA KLEIN:

The can't be paying him enough to read this bilge.

[end of thread]

Comments

[narciso]

It's like a seminar in the art of
credentialed idiocy, Sullivan'a cry against prohibition, the Times being totally unaware
of what counterparty transactions involve, and who drinks 20 oz of coffee a day anyways.

[bad]

My mom, the Obama voter, yesterday said, "O is like the Octomom, all wants to do is get his mug on TV."

[Jane]

Wow Bad, I wish my mother was an enlightened as yours.

[bad]

I don't know about enlightened, Jane, but she sure is mad. And after she's done talking about O, she always says, "THEY'RE ALL CROOKS."

[sbw]

Bad, Obama's drug isn't just getting his mug on TV so much as it is being seen to be in charge. That implies, by his own definition, everything he says is correct. It has to be. There is no "no" possible.

Whenever he might say, "Now I might be wrong" he can't conceive of the possibility. That's why he incessantly hides behind, "I've always said..." even when he hasn't.

Anyone sitting across from him at the table will chew him up for breakfast. And, outside the room, he'll claim that he won.

When he reaches his Jimmy Carter dotage, he'll be a very unhappy man with no mirrors in his house.

[bad]

SBW, I KNOW he's good at governing cause he said he is ...

[openmouthedfool]

Couldn't one say that 175 x 10 to the 9th power is "exponentially" bigger than 165 x 10 to the 6th?

[E. Nigma]

The natural log of 175 x 10^9 is 25.8881
(e^ 25.8881 =~ 175 x 10^9)
The natural log of 165 x 10^6 is 18.9215
(e^18.9215 =~ 165 x 10^6)

Strictly speaking, when comparing two numbers, one larger than another, the larger can always be expressed as "exponentially" larger than the smaller number.

A more precise term is "orders of magnitude", in this case.

I'm not an economics expert by any measure, and even I knew all the money was passing through AIG. The general public is a crowd of maroons, being led by imbeciles. What the hell has happened to our Republic?

And now I want a Coke and a smile.

[Jane]

That horrible man is on TV again talking about Pahkis-tan.

Today it is Obama's war. I'm sure he will have bin Laden by nightfall.

[Appalled]

I am puzzled how winding down a business with taxpayer money -- no matter how inefficiently is done -- is somehow a matter that might violate the laws of the State of New York. Any ideas? What's Cuomo doing here that has anything to do with enforcing the actual laws on the books?

[clarice]

Yes, if the stoners and Code Pink wake up to this morning's headlines--an increase in the number of troops being sent to Afghanistan--they'll wish they hadn't.

So far, I haven't seen one thing this President is doing that I agree with..and let's not get into his nominees--esp on economic and legal matters..His DoJ is going to be an assylum for every legal nutcase in America.(Ed:At least that gets them out of Yale where they can continue to harm impressionable minds..)

[clarice]

**asylum**(It's morning and I'm already misspelling--not a good sign.

[P]

You people's glee at the thought of people being jailed for the possession of unpopular plants disgusts me.

Isn't it supposed to be the left that doesn't care about individual freedom?

[glasater]

Weekly Standard twitter on Chris Hill:

Chris Hill, Very Confused: Did Christopher Hill, Barack Obama's nominee to serve as Ambassador to Iraq, lie unde..

oath,

[Charlie (Colorado)]

His answer was a non-answer....

Duh.

[Bill in AZ]

and who drinks 20 oz of coffee a day anyways.

Is that "only" 20 oz per day, or before 8 AM?

Maybe the would-be suicide bomber should have had more... hmmm, or less... coffee.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

"Exponentially bigger"? Hey, paI, I got something exponentially bigger for you right here. Geez, this is a real quantum leap in their coverage. Grr. Well, we all know what they mean, which is "orders of magnitude", and since we all know, I will move on...

Ah, hell, Tom, the problem is that we don't know what they mean, because they don't know what they mean. They think "exponentially" is a superlative adjective, a really strong and impressive version of "lots". Nancy Pelosi clearly thinks "million", "billion" and "trillion" mean "really big number" but isn't clear on how big; people in the Senate end up sounding like a six year old saying "well, I want a million trillion gazillion cherries".

If you try to press them on these things, they give you that look that says "if I were any good at math I wouldn't have gone into politics."

[clarice]

Actually, P, my glee is about dopes who were duped.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

You people's glee at the thought of people being jailed for the possession of unpopular plants disgusts me.

P, just what the fuck are you talking about? The only thing I see that in any way relates to the Evil Weed is a mention that stoners are going to be disappointed in Obama. Which, since the Obama/Holder Justice Department just raided a medical marijuana business in San Francisco, a week after Holder said the DoJ wasn't doing that any more, seems likely.

Hell, Holder's position on medical marijuana was the only and only thing they'd done that I liked and that includes the ties Michelle picks for him.

[RichatUF]

Appalled-

Any ideas? What's Cuomo doing here that has anything to do with enforcing the actual laws on the books?

Hummm, AIG has units domiciled in NY. Martin Act or maybe it is W. 57th St?

[Fresh Air]

Charlie--

Here is a handy reference tool that Nancy can use to help her understand the difference between millions and trillions. It won't help her with facts, unfortunately.

[Mike Huggins]

(might as well post this here) This is really priceless and worthy of comment by the JOM regulars... Mickey Kaus shows that
JournoList is just the kind of reasoned, mature Progressive Journalism forum that one would have expected.
(I did dig all the "love" for Olbermann from his Murrow-esque peers.)

[Mike Huggins]

Oops, Sorry, Porchlight. You got this on an earlier thread (my bad).

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Is that 72 virgins divided by seven?

Boy, that .2857+ of a virgin sounds like a problem.

[MayBee]

Hell, Holder's position on medical marijuana

I despise the farce that are the medical marijuana clinics in California.
Legalize it or don't, but these neon-lighted, club-card giving shops are a mockery.

[Porchlight]

No problem, Mike. I'm glad you reposted it - I'd love to hear others' reactions, too.

It'd be great if TM would write a post about it so we could all discuss more easily. TM snark is so especially delicious when it comes to lefty journo types.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Legalize it or don't, but these neon-lighted, club-card giving shops are a mockery.

I suspect that mockery may be our best weapon.

[Mike Huggins]

It'd be great if TM would write a post about it - Agreed, Porchlight!

For supposed, erudite "journalists" in that group, there sure was a lot of teeth-gnashing about Michael Savage. For Olbermann, it seemed to boil down to, "sure he's a spectacular asshole, but he's our spectacular asshole."

[Tom Maguire]

Boy, that .2857+ of a virgin sounds like a problem.

Problem? Think of it as an opportunity for an innovative derivatives trade.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Problem? Think of it as an opportunity for an innovative derivatives trade.

.29 of a virgin sounds more like a byproducts opportunity.

[Jim Miller]

The New York Times does have problems understanding math terms from time to time. And what I like best about that example is that Maureen Dowd was quoting Andrew Sullivan.

[bad]

Jim Miller, I liked that reminder of Austan Goolsbee in Canada regarding the behind the scenes Nafta reassurances to Canada. Thanks.

As for AS's "logger-rhythm", I'm going to just let it go.....

[Donald]

I truly resent being associated with Code Pink in any way. That is not fair guys.