And Still I Persist

It seems someone else noticed the resemblance between John McCain and Battlestar Galactica’s Colonel Tigh. It was a nagging worry, but then he selected Gov Palin to be his running mate. Well, she does have at least a passing resemblance to president Roslin from Galactica too.

So what is going on here? Now I get the impression that some of you out there think that Cindy McCain might look a bit like #6.

If you think that the Cylons are influencing top of the Republican ticket, you might want to check out this web site.

Tigh / Roslin 2008

I always wondered if John McCain was a frakk’en toaster….

Today’s New York Times reports that the US government plans to take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:

WASHINGTON — Senior officials from the Bush administration and the Federal Reserve on Friday called in top executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance giants, and told them that the government was preparing to place the two companies under federal control, officials and company executives briefed on the discussions said.

The plan, which would place the companies into a conservatorship, was outlined in separate meetings with the chief executives at the office of the companies’ new regulator. The executives were told that, under the plan, they and their boards would be replaced and shareholders would be virtually wiped out, but that the companies would be able to continue functioning with the government generally standing behind their debt, people briefed on the discussions said.

It is not possible to calculate the cost of any government bailout, but the huge potential liabilities of the companies could cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars and make any rescue among the largest in the nation’s history.

I can’t say I’m surprised. I spent two years as a senior IT consultant at Fannie Mae in the late 1990s, and it was clear even then (and even from my position) that there were some serious disfunctionalities within the organization. Most notable was the drive by top management to achieve (at almost any cost) double-digit growth in earnings, year over year, each quarter. It was a mindset that permeated the company. It helped drive the stock price up from just over $30/share when I arrived there in 1996 to nearly $90/share in 2001 (here’s an interactive stock price chart), and with good reason: Fannie was highly profitable (if I recall correctly, on the order of $1 million in profits per employee per year [before taxes] while I was there in the late 90s).

However, growth like that is hard to sustain quarter after quarter, year after year. The effort to do so appears to have led to the fradulent bookkeeping that eventually got Fannie Mae in trouble a few years back and cost CEO Frank Raines his job. I suspect it also led to Fannie’s flyer into subprime mortgages, which has led to massive losses and the collapse of Fannie Mae stock prices down into single digits (just over $7/share this morning, pre-opening). And now it’s led to the US government taking over Fannie Mae, and a massive bailout by the US taxpayers.

Ouch.  ..bruce w..

P.S. I suspect my co-blogger, Bruce Henderson, may have more to say on the matter.  Or maybe not.

Purple Avenger (at Ace of Spades) posted the following video. Avenger’s not sure if it’s real or a parody, neither am I:

This post over at Reason says that “Syndee L’ome Grace” is a real person, and her name certainly does show up via Google.

But . . . sheesh.  ..bruce w..

Courtesy of the ever-wonderful American Digest:

As Gerard Van der Leun says, “Any questions?”   ..bruce w..

Word from SFGate that during Wednesday night’s speech by Vice Presidential nominee (Gov) Sarah Palin, several members of Code Pink, the fringe / loon troupe that likes to protest Marines, attempted to storm the stage. From SFGate:

On Wednesday, CodePink did it again, as co-founders Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans hit the floor of the Republican National Convention here, unfurling banners and getting arrested in the process.

The two protesters had official guest passes, and managed to get right up to the podium near VP candidate Sarah Palin.

Just as the Alaska Governor hit the line in her speech about hockey moms, the two women, wearing pink slips saying ”Palin Not a Woman’s Choice,” both tried to unfurl a banner that proclaiming, ”We need a Peace VP.”

This raises quite a few concerns, not the least of which: how did these nuts get so close? Were the Secret Service aware of them? Sadly in this day and age, you have to wonder if someone as rabid as these people might be packing some kind of Al-Qaeda suicide vest to underscore their protest.

Given the track record of the Secret Service, I find some right-wing site’s reports that Obama big money backer Jodie Evans was running towards the stage a bit tough to believe.

Update - my dear wife informs me that while I was flying cross country (during the McCain speech), another one of these 60’s rejects tried it again during John McCain’s address to the convention.

Word to you folks - try to keep in mind that Gov. Palin is at times heavily armed. I would guess she is at least an adequate shot.