Posts Tagged “Nobel Prize”
- The stock market returned to its wild ride Monday, as news of a global plan for buying directly into banks sent prices surging everywhere–including the US, where the Dow posted a gigantic 932 point gain, it’s biggest one-day bump in history. Brokers everywhere celebrated by taking off their homeless person disguises…
- President Bush said he would announce new plans Tuesday that will use a portion of the $700 billion bailout money for the purchase of stock in major US banks–the same plan adopted in Great Britain and throughout Europe. It must be strange for the president to announce a policy that wasn’t dictated to him while asleep by Karl Rove or Dick Cheney…
- Democratic Congressman Tim Mahoney of Florida called for a House Ethics Committee investigation into his own conduct after an ABC News report that he agreed to pay $121,000 to a former mistress and staff worker after being threatened with a sexual harassment suit. He’s either incredibly confident, insane or calculating–in other words, a politician…
 Princeton professor and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Economics for his work on international trade patterns–making Krugman the best-known American economist to win the award in decades. Krugman has been a relentless critic of the Bush administration’s economic policies, particularly the bailout package–which to much of the world would qualify him as a genius…- Canada is wrapped up in an election campaign as well, with voters going to the polls Tuesday to likely re-elect Conservative Party incumbent prime minister Stephen Harper over Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion. A native of Quebec, Dion’s struggles with the English language have been a campaign issue–you mean like Sarah Palin?
 Wildifres in Southern California are moving into suburban Los Angeles neighborhoods, fanned by the area’s legendary Santa Ana winds, forcing frantic evacuations by homeowners–some given as little as 20 minutes to escape the engulfing flames. There are those trying to put a positive spin on the tragedy–their commute just got a lot shorter…
Tags: ABC, California, Canada, financial bailout, Nobel Prize, President Bush, stock market, wildfire
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- The stock market continued one of its worst months ever as the Dow fell 679 points Thursday, the sixth straight day of triple-digit losses–adding up to 2252 points, or a 20.8% drop. Friday’s trading appears to be continuing that trend–making my 401K about as valuable as my 10,000 shares of Enron…
- And once again, Wall Street’s troubles spread throughout the globe: European markets took substantial hits early Friday; trading was suspended in Austria and Russia; and Japan’s Nikkei Index fell nearly 10% to its lowest level in 5 years. It is ironic–for all the world’s disdain for us, they sure can’t seem to survive without us…
 The Alaska legislature has sworn itself to secrecy in reviewing an investigation of their governor, vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, into charges that she fired a state commissioner in order to settle a family dispute. The report, which will be made public Friday, could prove to be embarassing to Palin–which, frankly, would just be another day on the campaign trail for her…- Election officials in six states–Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and North Carolina–have all defended their registration procedures after a New York Times report suggested tens of thousands of eligible voters in those states were either removed from voting rolls or blocked from registering as voters. The Times report does say that it appears to have been done by mistake, and not part of intentional violations by officials or coordinated efforts by any party–much to Howard Dean’s chagrin…
 US officials are saying that the Bush administration is close to removing North Korea from a terrorism blacklist in order to restart nuclear disarmament talks with them. It seems like a smart move–the longer you look at leader Kim Jong-il, the less seriously you take everything he says…- Former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari will receive the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to achieve lasting peace in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Ahitisaari will receive his honor in Oslo, Norway December 10, where he will likely be considered as a fellow Scandinavian–which is kinda like calling somebody from Ireland a Brit…
Tags: Alaska, Election Day, Financial meltdown, Kim Jong Il, Nobel Prize, North Korea, Sarah Palin, Wall Street
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- John McCain and Barack Obama took to the debate stage for the second time Tuesday night in Nashville, and more or less took turns taking shots at one another. Basically, we learned that each of them plan to do exactly what all of us want them to do, and the other guy is responsible for everything that’s messed up in the country now…
- Wall Street continued its worry about America’s economy with a sell-off that sank the Dow another 500 points and set off a chain reaction around the world, including a nearly ten percent decline of Japan’s Nikkei Index–the largest drop there in a decade. I’m tellin’ ya, that Mattress Stuffing Fund is looking like a smarter investment every day…
 Officials of AIG Insurance–who averted a collapse thanks to an $85 billion federal loan–testified before a Congressional committee Tuesday, where they were asked about a corporate retreat held at an exclusive California retreat just a week after their federal bailout–at a cost of nearly a half-million dollars. Those executives testifying claimed they had no idea it had occured–and are probably ticked off that they weren’t invited…- Vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin surprised reporters on her campaign plane Tuesday when she joined them to answer a few questions, explaining her comments about Barack Obama’s relationship with one-time anti-war radical (and now respected university professor) Bill Ayers as a question of Obama’s judgement, then claiming "nobody has anything to hide" regarding her and huband Todd’s Troopergate controversy (see below) in Alaska–despite the fact that both refused to talk to investigators about it. So were the heels off and the gloves on, or the other way around?
 Officials at NASA are worried that the Mars Science Labratory mission is in jeopardy, as total costs for the program are expected to run over budget by at least 30 percent, which would permit Congress to intervene and shut down the entire project on its own. It could be that the future of the whole effort will not literally but definitely figuratively end up on another planet…- Scientists from the US and Japan have won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for their discovery and development of a jellyfish protein. This breakthrough has wide-reaching possibilities–not only has it helped other scientists understand how cancer spreads, it’s provided sushi chefs with a really cool new ingredient…
Tags: AIG, Bill Ayers, Congress, debate, Financial meltdown, John McCain, Mars, NASA, Nobel Prize, Sarah Palin
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- Investigators say DNA from the anthrax scare that killed 7 people in 2001 helped lead them to an Army lab and the man they believe sent the poison-laced letters. His suicide shortly after being identified as a suspect was a big disappointment–not only will he not be able to explain why he did it, but he won’t be able to receive the kind of punishment he deserves for what he did to his country…
 President Bush leaves today for a trip to Asia, where he wil speak wih leaders in South Korea and Thailand before arriving in China to witness the Opening Ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Beijing. I understand that he’s pretty excited, but also disappointed he won’t be throwing out the first pitch… Texas has been warned to be ready for Tropical Storm Eduoard, which formed in the Gulf Of Mexico Sunday and is likely to graduate to a hurricane when it makes landfall Tuesday along the state’s eastern shore bordering Louisiana. The opposite side of the state’s shore was affected by Hurricane Dolly almost 2 weeks ago–so do you call that equal opportunity destruction or what?- Al-Qaida has confirmed that of one of its top commanders was killed–the individual believed to have trained the suicide bombers who attacked the USS Cole in 2000. CBS News also reported that Al-Qaida’s #2 and Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenant was killed at the same time. I certainly don’t believe that the taking of anyone’s life should ever be celebrated, but I am nonetheless feeling that whole "two-for-one bargain" concept …
- Nobel prize-winning author Alexander Solzhenitsyn died of heart failure late Sunday at the age of 89. He fearlessly recounted his own experiences in Soviet Union labor camps over several books in the 1960’s and ’70’s–and lived long enough to see the end of everything he worte about…
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Tags: 2008 Summer Olympics, al-Qaida, China, Nobel Prize, Norway, President Bush, Texas, Tropical Storm Eduoard
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