Friday, August 04, 2006

Grasso Soap Opera - Continues! I haven't written this blog for several months, but I'm thrilled to see cue ball Dickie is still hogging headlines. Why is this pox on our house so difficult to eradicate? Here's the question: was the $200 million for his last four years equitable? Here's the answer: not in two hundred million years. On to next story.

Hillary Kicks Ass! No wonder Rumsfeld didn't want to appear before the Senate. After Hillary scarred and bloodied him with snick and snee thrusting she got out the big cleaver for the piece de resistance: “Yes, we hear a lot of happy talk and rosy scenarios, but because of the administration’s strategic blunders and, frankly, the record of incompetence in executing, you are presiding over a failed policy. Given your track record, Secretary Rumsfeld, why should we believe your assurances now?” Help! Help! Medic! Medic!

Anti-Concurrent Causation Clause? Quick, have you got one? Don't know the answer? Have you got homeowners insurance? Then you probably have an anti-concurrent causation clause, and it's not a good thing. Here's the deal: you insure for wind damage, the wind blows your house down, but at the same time (concurrent causation in insurance mumbo-jumbo) you also get flooded and buried in mud (risks insurance companies won't cover); NOTHING IS COVERED; NADA, ZIP. It's a bit like having an anti-concurrent pregnancy clause that says if you get pregnant as a result of having sex, you're not covered. CHECK YOUR POLICY. Know your coverage. It might not be fixable, but at least you won't get blindsided.

Wyly, Pretty Darn Wyly It seems billionaire brothers Sam and Charles of the wily Wyly Texas clan have been shtupping Uncle Sam by dumping boatloads of options in offshore trusts that then cashing them without all that nastiness of paying hundreds of millions in federal taxes. The brothers two were invited to testify but said they'd plead the Fifth, you know, that provision of the US Constitution designed to protect criminals.

And Speaking of Wily – Those pesky Republicans tried to saddle the minimum wage increase bill with a tax cut for the rich, but the Dems, who don't want the Republicans riding off into election year sunset on shiny saddles, said bareback boys, or not at all. So far, the working poor aren't getting their much needed raise.

Castro Convertibles? So 79 year-old Fidel is out, temporarily according to the official Cuban line, dead according to some Washington and Miami hopefuls, and 75 year-old Raoul is in. What is this? A CBS reality show?

Quack! Quack! The Sound of Paradox? Now read this carefully: Wealthy campaign donors in New York are legally using limited liability corporations to illegally give money above the maximum allowed by law.

Advertising Industry Dead? Concern is seeping noisily (hey, we are talking advertising here; what did you expect? Silence?) into the media that Internet amateurs will replace professional ad people. Stupid me. I thought that had happened years ago.

You Got Mail, er, Pink Slip! The good folks at AOL are axing another 5,000 jobs, 25% of their current workforce. That only leaves 15,000 still sucking blood from this dying body.

Cuban Missiles? Question: If Cuba has missiles capable of reaching the US, wouldn't fleeing Cubans settle a lot further north, like Canada, than in Miami and environs, only 90 miles distant? Well yeah, I suppose there is the winter climate thing.