Also, Obama has a particular example to set for the nation. He would do well to pick a shelter dog when fulfilling his promise to his daughters.

I think it’s pretty obvious Lucinda is sweet on me.

Speaking of crappy, I remember that after the previous time we saw Weezer, when they co-headlined with the Foo Fighters, the local paper’s next-day review was down on =w= and high on FF. De gustibus and all that; on that night of the tour Weezer played first and we left before FF started, them being a band I had no interest in and I wouldn’t carp on anyone for having reciprocal taste. In my case I doubt I would recognize any of their songs so I can’t judge them. The problem with that particular reviewer however was that it was exactly unfamiliarity with Weezer that seemed behind his dissing of their performance. In particular he singled out instances in each act’s set where the singer traded places with the drummer. In comparison he had Dave Grohl being far more impressive than Rivers Cuomo. Fair enough, but the point was not for Cuomo to show off this drum skillz; it was for Pat Wilson to show off his guitar playing. And he is an excellent guitar player.

Which brings us back to A&A. Mrs and I wondered who chose them for the tour. Were they pushed on the band by management or their label? Now I know who was behind that decision; I just discovered that the drummer for A&A is Atom Willard, who of course is pals with Pat Wilson and played in his band, the Special Goodness. Who I saw play at Dante’s back in the day, and about whom I would never have guessed that such a talented drummer would end up in such a crappy band. At least when he was with the Offspring he wasn’t embarrassing himself. Some of the time.

The Tree of Swords and Jewels, C.J. Cherryh

Darwin’s Radio, Greg Bear

Post-Mortem, Patricia D. Cornwell

Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig, Jonathan Eig

The Oxford Dictionary of Popes, J.N.D. Kelly

Old Man’s War, John Scalzi

The Damnation Game, Clive Barker

The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement, Susan Ferris & Ricardo Sandoval

The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2006, ed. Ellen Datlow and Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant

Drag dogs down sidewalk

They mourn dropped dirty diaper

But our fear is that by suspending mark-to-market, you are masking the problem. What matters for financial institutions right now is their liquidity positions. If they are unable to make good on something that requires near term liquidity, and they are relying on something they can’t sell in the market as collateral, that just masks their problem. Mark-to-market granted has some merits. So does the SEC saying we’re going to give you some time. The bill provides for a study and report on mark-to-market. If suspending mark-to-market would be effective, that authority is included in the legislation. The last thing we want to do when there is a lack of confidence in financial institutions is to prove an accounting mechanism for them to say “We’re just fine.” The market is going to see right through that, which would breed more distrust. [my emphasis]

I think over the next ten years, the revenue the government will make on the “bail-out” will have a significant effect on reducing the deficit and national debt.  It’ll be an indirect taxation of foolish institutional financial gambles, and the citizen who will therefore avoid (partially) the massive tax increase that must come some day, due to our massive national debt, will be thankful.