Bob Harmon, my grandfather, was a newspaper man. He was hired in 1954 to serve as a sportswriter for The Advertiser-Tribune, a small newspaper serving Tiffin, Ohio. In 1976, he moved on to other projects- he coached baseball, worked as a salesman and, later in life, discovered a remarkable talent for painting- but the journalism experience stuck with him. Twenty years later, he returned to The Advertiser to write a lifestyle column that would make him a local celebrity. These columns always ended with his trademark phrase: “At least, that’s the view from here”.

Zach Carter has an article up at The American Prospect detailing how the ratings agencies stand to benefit from the Term Asset-Backed Securities Lending Facility (TALF). TALF is the Fed program announced last winter (but just getting into action) that puts forth $1 trillion in non-recourse loans to holders of AAA rated asset backed securities (the “assets” here being a wide variety of new loans). The problem Carter highlights comes with that “AAA rated” part.

This is a chart of the CDS spread from yesterday, courtesy of Baseline Scenario, and it paints a less rosy picture of Citgroup than the company’s memo (and Wall Street’s reaction). Credit default swaps (CDS) are essentially insurance policies issued against bonds (or bond-like investments) that allow the investor to put most of the risk in the hands of others for a fee. They have serious drawbacks (see: AIG, near collapse of) but have historically served as indicators as which direction things are heading.There are those who think that the market is so broken at this point that CDS spreads don’t offer reliable readings but there are others who think they’re still worth a glance.

It is impossible to name one culprit behind the current economic crisis because there were so many correlated pieces that went into this disastrous puzzle. But collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) -specifically, those of asset-backed securities (ABS)-were, continuing the puzzle metaphor, a large corner piece.

It was brought to my attention earlier in the evening that TMZ had posted a post-assault picture of Rhianna that was taken (presumably by the police) shortly after she was assaulted by her boyfriend, Chris Brown. I thought it was disgusting but expect nothing less of TMZ.

The Geithner authorized bank Stress Tests are the economic equivalent of a high school football coach padding the grades of his players so that they can all play in the next big game. Unfortunately for the team, a few of the players have died. But that doesn’t stop Coach from dressing them in uniform and propping their bodies up on the bench next to the Gatorade cooler.

Well, it turns out the birthers are right-Obama’s birth certificate is a fake.  They were just obsessing over the wrong one.
World Net Daily and various birthers* are very excited because finally, some brave soul has stepped up and anonymously-because he’s afraid for his life-sent in a photograph of Obama’s Kenyan birth certificate.  Or not.
Despite World Net Daily’s assertion that, “The new document… shows none of the obvious traits of a hoax,” many have found a couple hints.  Like the fact that the registration record is from 1964- three years after …

President Obama got it pretty much right the first time, before there had been a huge outcry about our President criticizing a police office.  Officer Crowley acted stupidly-and, might I add, wrongly-when arresting Professor Gates.
The important facts are these- Officer Crowley (white) responded to a potential breaking and entering complaint, found Professor Gates (black) in his own home, where had had id proving who he was and that this was his address, and, after not assaulting or in any other way posing a direct danger to Officer Crowley, was arrested …

Well, close to the hometown since Fort Myers Beach is its own very small town that happens to be directly next to (and was formerly a part of) Fort Myers proper. Via Shakesville comes the story that one of the town’s managers was fired because his wife has a history in the adult entertainment industry.
Fort Myers Beach town council voted 5-0 to fire Scott Janke “without cause” after Mayor Larry Kiker called the Tuesday night meeting.
Kiker said he learned that afternoon that Janke’s wife is an adult film star, and …

I don’t listen to much general pop- let alone dance pop- but Kim Petras is cuter than a basket of kittens, her voice is lovely and she amazingly launched her own career at the age of 15 by uploading to the internet videos she made of herself singing. The videos caught the attention of a producer in her native Germany and the two teamed up to release her first commercial single last fall. Her debut commercial album is forthcoming.
Petras has made the news some in the States because she was …