Hate first, ask questions later

When protesting first amendment rights, err, I mean a Mosque near Ground Zero one can never be too careful. From NorthJersey.com:

At one point, a portion of the crowd menacingly surrounded two Egyptian men who were speaking Arabic and were thought to be Muslims.

"Go home," several shouted from the crowd.

"Get out," others shouted.

In fact, the two men – Joseph Nassralla and Karam El Masry — were not Muslims at all. They turned out to be Egyptian Coptic Christians who work for a California-based Christian satellite TV station called "The Way." Both said they had come to protest the mosque.

"I'm a Christian," Nassralla shouted to the crowd, his eyes bulging and beads of sweat rolling down his face.

But it was no use. The protesters had become so angry at what they thought were Muslims that New York City police officers had to rush in and pull Nassralla and El Masry to safety.

"I flew nine hours in an airplane to come here," a frustrated Nassralla said afterward.

Can't start happening soon enough

Where is Vegas again?

click to enlarge

Src: Billshrink

Yep, that sounds about right

From Barry Ritholtz's amazing take down of Art Laffer of Laffer curve fame.

That the money losing OpEd page of the WSJ produces its most well read articles goes a long way in explaining one thing: Why 80% of money managers underperfom every year. Filling your head with Ideology, becoming a “magical thinker,” ignoring data, making up your own facts — these are a recipe for under-performing asset managers.

If I were to create a list of questions to ask potential managers of my money, one of them would be: “Do you read the WSJ OpEds?”

If the answer were yes, I would not walk but run in the opposite direction.

Socialism and the Socialists it helps

Lane Kensworthy compares government handouts between the US and two lions of socialism, Sweden and Denmark, and finds that the handouts are similar but the beneficiaries likely aren't. A cliff notes in statistics:










Look out for an upcoming book on these issues from Lane Kenworthy as well.

Tune du jour

The Blues don't get much better than this head bobbing version of "Goin' Down Slow"

Pete Rose used a corked a corked bat

Pete Rose putting himself before the game of baseball and lying about it? Where have I heard this one before.

A few years back, Pete Rose addressed the corking rumors.

"Go up to Steve Wolter and get that 4192 bat," Rose said in 2004. "Take it to an examiner and see if there's any cork in it. I guarantee you there won't be.

"If somebody has a corked bat that has my name on it, bring it on down."

Rose has yet to respond to requests for comment.

But the story behind the bat is an interesting one. (From deadspin)

Where is the US stimulus?

Being more than devoured by the state and local governments. Government spending has been a net drag for the last two quarters.

From Ezra Klein:

Tune du jour

Still raining here.....

Tune du jour

Something in a rainy Sunday. A song that holds up amazingly well over a decade on.