Chinese comment posts

Just came back here and saw the active comment section.

Not sure if anyone cares to tell me why/how this happened?

I don't mind, and am rather amused.

Just curious.

Follow Me on Twitter

I'm not ready to retire the old blog, but I do get on Twitter from time to time...@dmagan.

Hot Damn, 'Cilla...

I was burning off some Elvis bootlegs the other day, including his final performance, which took place in Indianapolis, and "I Can't Stop Loving You" was hard to get out of my head.

I know that the late Elvis is rather sad, what with the drugs and fried banana sandwiches and all, but it's something I can't turn away from, either.

Weird.

Oh well...enjoy The King from 1970.

Could Not Let Christmas Pass Without the Adam Sandler Classic

I'm Back

Well, glad I didn't shut the door on my little joint here...;-)

I've been reading up on this Madoff character and, as I get more information on how his web seems to have spread, I'm starting to get a more complex opinion of it.

Obviously, I don't condone financial monkeyshines of any kind. If this story is remotely true, Bernie seems to deserve the public scorn and legally-inflicted punishment headed his way.

That said, an article in Saturday's Times lays out how people became involved in this investment scheme. It was not presented as a publicly-available financial product to invest in, but rather a membership in some kind of exclusive club. Friends meeting each other at their synagogues, country clubs and charity events would offer the opportunity to invest as kind of a membership in a clique.

These folks seem to have thought they had one up on regular Joes the Plumber, if you will. They were the smart cats who knew the right people and were not going to invest their dollars in the products that the rest of us might be stuck with...no, they were special and wouldn't offer it to the rest of us.

This is not something that I think merits them getting lied to and screwed out of their fortunes, and I certainly place the recipients and volunteers connected to charity work in a whole different ballpark, but there's a little part of me that has trouble drumming up a great deal of sympathy for people who thought they were more special than the rest of us and reaping benefits of financial relationships not available to everyone.

I'll need to learn more about this, but this is what was going through my mind when reading about this fascinating scheme this shyster was able to pull off.

Maybe It's More Like Hibernation

I'm not sure what it is...nothing bad is going on, but I just haven't had the urge to put things up here lately. I'm not exactly ready to kill this off...I kind of like having the outlet now and then to throw things out there in a semi-anonymous way, but this was always just a hobby, primarily for my own recreation and I don't feel like forcing myself to keep it up.

So that said, who knows...I assume I'll throw something up here now and then when I'm particularly irritated or jubilant, but the frequency of posting has gone down for now.

Talk to you soon...

Hiatus

Heading back to Chi-town for a few days, so won't be posting...I think you can do it from the iPhone, but I have not found it to be all that pleasant to post or read, so probably won't bother.

Maybe I'll pop in on Rod and see how he's doing, or offer to watch the kids for a while so that Barry and Shelly can go see a movie or something.

Yeah, right.

All of a Sudden...

The post below on the goings-on with Chicago politics became much less relevant.

I'm lovin' this story on Governor Blago...

"Bank of America Would Also be Prohibited From Riding the Gravy Train of Pinstripe Patronage"

Here's yet another problem with the government 'bailouts' of the Banks...and it don't bode well for the future.

Bank of America was one of the TARP recipients.

Over the last few weeks, they decided to turn off a line of credit for a Chicago manufacturing plant which was then forced to close its doors.

Its workers, scared they would not get their due vacation and severance pay, have staged a sit-in, which has gotten the attention of lots of attention seekers, like Rep. Louis Gutierrez, who are now stepping in and trying to dictate just how BOA should do business.

I'm not smart or informed enough to know exactly how much BOA is directly responsible for the decision to close the company's doors or how much control it has over money paid out to the employees here, but it seems to me that if this tactic works in the Windy City for employees, we could be in for a very bumpy ride going forward, with lots more ad hoc government intervention in how banks do business.

Buckle up.

Go, Maroons!

A Nod to the Hometown

No, I won't do my version of Go Higher with Dyer...I'm talking about Frank Zappa's hometown, silly.

Here's Uncle Frank doing What's New in Baltimore? from the Mothers of Prevention album. While there were vocals he did live, this is just the instrumental and I rather like it that way...

Cool Photo Pool

Came across The Consumerist's nifty little Flickr Pool...it's kinda neat to browse through.

Douchebagsayswhat?

I'm not the biggest fan of reading The New Yorker...I tried it for a while, and have to concede that they usually have very interesting articles, but given their output, I just couldn't make the time for it in a week and I have to admit it can come off as somewhat snooty for my tastes at times.

But I did enjoy their election seasons podcasts and will occasionally go over to Hendrik Hertzberg's blog.

Bill O'Reilly decided to start going after my boy this week about something he wrote about Newt Gingrich, who I think is the man of Bill's fantasies.

I could care less about his little rants on the show, but this week, they pulled the old 'catch him on camera while walking out of his apartment' routine which is just so low-class. Faux News continues to earn its reputation as the WWF of the news media.

I weep for the future.

That Barney Frank...He's a Funny Guy

I was up early this morning doing some work and C-SPAN was running yesterday's House Financial Services Committee hearings with the boys from the Big Three. One of the members, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, kicked off an exchange that made me chuckle.

She was prefacing her question with a statement about how attached we are to our vehicles and how her family had nicknames for their cars (mine did, too, I guess...we had the White Elephant and the Brown Bomber). One of her family's cars growing up, belonging to her father was "the chick magnet."

Remembering about Chairman Frank's orientation, she offered a joking apology to which he replied, "It's not something I would ever want to drive."

Random Political Funny

I've met more than my share of people on the 'conservative' side who also had shockingly silly beliefs about the world, but here's a little anti-Obama video that is mildly amusing...

It Just Reeks of Class When You Use the Race of a Worker in Your Hotel Review

So, I think I'll get back into this blogging thing again after a quasi-hiatus to take care of some things in the real world.

Next month, I'll be going to Chicago for a friend's wedding. I haven't taken a real, extended vacation in a little while so didn't feel bad about staying at The Allerton...although with the deal I got, it's not pricey at all.

Anyway, in typical Dan fashion, I checked out Tripadvisor after paying for the package. It was there that I found this awesome review. I don't care if the poster is right or wrong, someone who finds it necessary to point out to me the race of a worker he found to be unhelpful is just so Archie Bunker.

Funniest Thing Heard So Far Today

I'm taking the day off to attend to some neglected household tasks and have Morning Joe on...which is where I heard this chuckle-inducing quip.

"My Dad was home watching the Knicks last night; Your Dad was a clue on Jeopardy!"

--Willie Geist to Mika Brzezinski (referring to her father, Zbigniew)

Lest I Forget Before the Week Slips By...

We can't get past T'giving without listening to Alice's Restaurant.

Lazily Linking up Videos

Hoping to not give in and do any real work today, but it's never a bad day for REM's Finest Worksong. This is from the Glastonbury Festival in 2003.

Enjoy this on the Lord's Day!

This Made Me Giggle

If you don't get this, it's because you're lucky enough to not have the Cash4Gold commercials playing in your area...God love ya!

It's Like Deja Vu All Over Again

Sorry for the slow posting...should pick up in the next week or so...life has a way of getting in the way.

But this FNC headline this morning made me think back to the Clinton years...

Funniest Phrase I've Heard All Day

I have Larry Kudlow's CNBC show on now and some panelist just referred to "fiscal nymphomania" going on with regards to the bailout feeding frenzy.

Apt.

Barack Obama Watched The Godfather Closer Than I Did

In an interview last winter, Barack told Entertainment Tonight that The Godfather movies were among his favorite.

Shame on me for letting these few days go by before I realized the real wisdom of getting Hillary locked down in the State Department under his thumb and unable to openly lay the groundwork for a primary challenge in 2012.

Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.

Someone Should Have a Talk With the Headline Writers at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune

How Is a British Accent Supposed to Help You Quit Smoking?

Seriously, Chantix has to cut it out with this annoying Limey narrating.

The March of the Clintonistas Continues

It's not as surprising as it sounds...if President-elect Obama is going to pick people who already know their way around Washington, he's going to be very likely to get people with some kind of connection to a previous Democratic administration.

The Politico and others are calling it a done deal that Monicagate defense attorney Greg Craig is slated to be Barry's White House counsel.

He's notable not only for helping Bubba wrap a legal towel over his torso, but also his notable defection to Team Obama, which included a detailed rebuttal of Hillary's claims of foreign relations cred during the Dem primary.

The Drudge Report is Not a News Site?

At least that's what you have to believe if you listen to Nielsen Online.

They have a posting up on the wire about the increased traffic to news sites during the election season, but Drudge, who certainly gets more traffic than some of the listed sites there, didn't make the top 30.

You can argue either that Drudge produces little original content or that ideology might play into his editorial decisions, but when Google and Yahoo! News, as well as HuffPo made the list, both of those arguments go out the window.

WTF?

Here's Kim Gandy...Bet She's Pissed About Something!

NOW is upset that of the zero cabinet level positions announced so far, none of them are women.

Some McCartney Before Heading Out

I guess it'd be too cheesy to post Cold November Rain on a day like today, so here's something more optimistic...Paul McCartney doing I'll Follow the Sun in Paris, 10-22-2007.

Enjoy!

For the Love of God, Barack, Don't Make Richardson the Secretary of State

Much as my testicles shrivel when I hear Hillary scolding the person who's most recently pissed her off, and for all the times my toes are sure to curl when I hear John Kerry pontificate on world affairs, I would take one right after the other rather than suffering through a month of having Bill Richardson represent us abroad as Secretary of State.

Now, even Richardson would be better than the over hyped, abysmal failure named Condie Rice, but there are so many more ways that Barry can repay the New Mexico governor for his act of betrayal on Good Friday, 2008 than making us suffer through his brainless observations on the world stage.

Let Them Eat Fruitwood-smoked Quail with Quince Gastrique Quinoa Risotto

The Hotline has the menu from last night's G20 summit dinner.

Hats Off to the Cleveland Plain Dealer

I've goofed on the PD's website here, off and on, for some time now, but I have to give them credit for finally coming around and doing a bit of a homepage redesign.

The site is much more friendly to the variety of people looking for different information, it resembles other news sites more, seems to be updated frequently and they've integrated some video which is even embeddable.

Nice job.

The Dream Tream

I'll grant that nightmares also qualify as dreams, so the post's title will be accurate for more than just the Obammies (we need to come up with a good collective noun for his supporters).

Anyway, I came across a picture from Barack's hotel room on election night.
Robert Gibbs, David Plouffe, Barry, David Axelrod.

The Socialist Bickering Continues

I know, I know...the friggin' election is over. And, I should have caught this a little earlier, but I checked out Hendrik Hertzberg's neato blog over at The New Yorker and he's right on the same page with me when it comes to calling the Wasilla Hillbillly out on her socialist oil profit sharing.

Yeah, This is Odd

I agree with Ta-Nehisi Coates....this endeavor can't end well.