New York Times' Mark Leibovich: biased, stupid or both?

You make the call.

Number of references to public employee unions in NYT's 8,000-word look at why California is a disaster: Zero.

That would have made Michael so happy

Michael Jackson fans stick it out at Neverland Ranch

A republic, if you can take it back

Happy 4th of July, everybody.

Free-market capitalism has been replaced by a disgusting blend of crony capitalism and socialism, and democracy is on the ropes.

Let's reflect this Independence Day on what America really means, and how we can start taking it back.

Welcome back, GoldmanSachs666.com!

Score one for the little guy.

The cowards at Goldman Sachs who used their army of lawyers to stifle criticism just conceded defeat.

Happy Bank Failure Super Thursday!

Sheila Bair is a rockstar! She took down 7 banks yesterday and that my friends is a new record. 7 in one day! Sheila you are Awesome! Suze, you'll do something special for her tonight won't you?

1. Founders Bank, Worth, IL
2. Millennium State Bank of Texas, Dallas, TX
3. The First National Bank of Danville, Danville, IL
4. The Elizabeth State Bank, Elizabeth, IL
5. Rock River Bank, Oregon, IL
6. The First State Bank of Winchester, Winchester, IL
7. The John Warner Bank, Clinton, IL

By the way, what is going on in Illinois? I would not have imagined they'd have the lead by the 4th of July weekend. My money would have been on CA, FL, or MI.

Here is the current year to date tally:

IL 12
GA 9
CA 6
FL 3
UT 2
CO 2
OR 2
NV 2
NC 2
WA 2
KS 2
MO 1
ID 1
MD 1
MN 1
NE 1
NJ 1
TX 1
MI 1

I guess that exonerates Al Gore's private jet

Greenspan's Body Count hits 100: the Orlando Tragic

John Dillon (J.D.) Wood and his wife Cynthia of the Orlando McMansion suburb of Heathrow had been living the high life since the early days of the Greenspan bubble.

John Dillon Wood, 41, and Cynthia Wood, 40, declared bankruptcy in 2004 and tried for years to pay back money they owed, including more than $100,000 in credit-card bills. As of March, documents show, the Wood family still owed $85,000 to a list of creditors.

[...]

The couple had racked up more than $100,000 in credit-card debt. They also owed $228,000 on two mortgages on their home and loan for their 2002 Toyota Highlander, the documents state. John Wood was listed as unemployed, but how he lost his job was not explained.

A bankruptcy trustee put the couple on a plan to repay their debt, but they failed to make payments. In December 2007, the case was converted to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy: liquidation of assets. A status hearing was set for August.

Greenspan's Body Count readers already know how this ended:

On Monday, the Woods and their two children, Aubrey, 12, and Dillon, 10, were found dead inside their home on Trentwood Court in the Lakeside subdivision. A preliminary investigation shows John Wood shot and killed his entire family, Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger said.

By all accounts, they were a happy, loving family. May they rest in peace.

Alan Greenspan was not available for comment.

Greenspan's Body Count stands at 100.

Kenneth Pinyan, the pride of Enumclaw

Happy Kenneth Pinyan Day, everybody!

Four years ago today, Kenneth Pinyan gave up his life to make tiny Enumclaw, Washington famous:

The dead man was identified as a 45-year-old Seattle resident. According to the King County Medical Examiner's Office, he died of acute peritonitis due to perforation of the colon. The man's death is not being investigated because it did not result from a crime, Urquhart said.

The Seattle man's relatives said yesterday they never suspected he was involved in bestiality. They said they were surprised when they learned he had purchased a Thoroughbred stallion earlier this year. The man told his relatives he boarded the animal with some friends in Enumclaw.

While the man's relatives were unsure how many horses he had boarded at the property, one Enumclaw neighbor said the Seattle man was keeping two stallions there.

Police and neighbors said the people renting the property have also had dogs and bull calves on the farm. Yesterday there were several horses and ponies grazing near a barn.

Two neighbors, a married couple who declined to allow use of their names, said yesterday they had no idea what had been going on at the farm. They said they've known one of the men who live on the farm for years.

On Thursday, police showed the couple videotape seized from the farm showing men having sex with horses. The couple identified one of the horses as belonging to them, Sortland said. The couple also said it appeared at least part of the tape was filmed in their barn, which left them shocked and angry.

"We couldn't believe what we were seeing," said Sortland. "In the rare, rare case this happens, it's the person doing the animal. I think that has led to the astonishment of all of the entities involved."

What a surprise

All of the "ordinary citizens" called on at the ABC Obama infomercial Virginia "town hall" were Obama/left-wing activists:

"The president called randomly on three audience members. All turned out to be members of groups with close ties to his administration: the Service Employees International Union, Health Care for America Now, and Organizing for America, which is a part of the Democratic National Committee. White House officials said that was a coincidence."

Tactics caught on tape. This is your Modern Day Democratic Party

The Video below shows New York Democrats in action. It almost looks like what we sometimes see happen in various 3rd World Nations' "Congressional" sessions. When Pelosi is pushing 309 page amendments to the massive cap and trade bill at 3:30AM on a Friday night, and not allowing her elected colleagues to even read the amendments before she forces a vote on it, you know that the tactics seen in this video are the very same ones being used by Democrats in Washington. Wake up people. We have utter maniacs in control in D.C. 1960's socialist radicals own majorities in both houses and a younger, and even more extremist man occupies the oval office. While you're at it, here's an informative Google search that might surprise you; "The New Party" Obama "Democratic Socialist" Chicago. You could even try adding 1990s, or 1996. You know, the Michael Jordan era. Or perhaps you'd like to read the Mission Statement of the party our President was deeply involved in here in Chicago? Oh, in a way, it's just so cute, how most of the people inside Chicago, and all of the people outside of Chicago had absolutely no idea who it is they were really voting for.

Picture from the Michael Jackson funeral

Hey, don't blame me. It's going around in e-mails today.

That's a big bush

Varones needs to focus. I don't know how he missed this headline from Wednesday's WSJ:

Merkin Art To Be Sold As Hedge In Madoff Case

My NIGAZ!!!

Russia's energy giant Gazprom has signed a $2.5bn (£1.53bn) deal with Nigeria's state operated NNPC, to invest in a new joint venture.
The new firm, to be called Nigaz, is set to build refineries, pipelines and gas power stations in Nigeria.

Happy New (Budget) Year!!! It's the end of the world as we know it!

... at least according to screaming ninnies like Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, who has been keeping a doomsday watch on her blog, counting down the hours to the California budget deadline as "heading toward the cliff."

Well, it's midnight. Are you dead? Are there riots in the street? Is your water and electricity out?

Oh, the horror! The humanity!

(I'm not actually awake now; I wrote this post in advance and set it up to go at midnight. So maybe the world actually did end. Nice knowing ya!)

Matt Taibbi responds

... to a Goldman Sachs hack's non-responsive response to the Rolling Stone article.

Advantage: Taibbi.

No deed, no debt

Watch what happens when a homeowner requests a simple document from the evil, arrogant, incompetent Bank of America that claims without any proof whatsoever to hold her mortgage.

Bank of America lies to underwater homeowners to try to get them to keep paying on horrible loans

This is just disgusting. BlogIT is considering his options on a deeply underwater mortgage. He's been trying to contact both Bank of America and government hotlines to get a mortgage modification.

But the banks got their bailouts; they're not gonna help the borrowers out.

In fact, Bank of America lied to him and threatened him with a huge tax liability in order to intimidate him into continuing to pay. Despite the fact that Congress passed the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act which exempts these cases from tax.

I hope Ken Lewis gets the cell next to Mozilo and trembles when he hears the orange midget's screams in the night.

Good advice

Beebs' financial advice aligns pretty closely with my views:

1. Only buy term life insurance. Life insurance is a bet, not an investment.

2. *Never* buy an annuity of any kind. You convert what would otherwise be lightly taxed capital gains to regularly taxed ordinary income, and your heirs lose the step up in basis upon your death.

3. *Never* buy a limited partnership.

4. You can go broke taking tax deductions.

5. Harvest tax losses on depressed stocks at the end of each year.

6. Save at least twenty percent of each paycheck.

7. Always set aside as much tax deferred [401K, IRA] money as possible.

8. Most people have a thirty year time horizon. So invest in the stock market.

9. Real estate is a place to live, not an investment. Never buy a condo, timeshare, or housing with a homeowner's association.

10. *Never* buy rare coins or stamps. Young people aren't going into the hobbies of stamp or coin collecting, so demand in the future will be much less.