Heresy, penalty therefore

NPR just fired Juan Williams. Williams apparently sinned against the doctrine of NPR when he expressed reservations about flying on a plane with Muslim passengers in traditional garb. Plus probably a few other things, I didn't pay close attention to details of the heresy charges.
Wow. NPR is running a very tight ideological discipline these days. Juan was a good solid liberal/progressive. He used his airtime on Fox to good advantage for the liberal cause. I thought he was a nice guy, liberal but not misguided. I didn't agree with him all that often, but that's what freedom of the press is all about.
In the showdown between NPR and Juan, I'm on Juan's side.

Trouble brewing for banks

Remember all those "mortgage backed securities" that triggered off Great Depression 2.0? Well, now the suckers are lawyering up to get their money back. This might mean a $40 billion hit on the banks.
Theory is, say the suckers, the banks selling the mortgage backed securities didn't do their paperwork right. For proof they say, look at the foreclosure mess where the banks don't have the paperwork to prove that they own the mortgages that are defaulting.
Naturally, nothing will happen until lawsuits are filed and get to court, which will take years, but should the banks loose in court it will cost them.

How the mighty have fallen.

Apple posted a profit of $4.31 billion, acing out IBM's measly $3.59 billion. Time was IBM was the bluest of blue chips, the computer maker, so big that the US Justice department tried to break them up. And now, Apple, maker of Mackintoshes and nifty consumer gadgets, makes more money and has a higher market capitalization than mighty IBM.
Apple is run by a new products man, Steve Jobs, rather than a lawyer or a bean counter like GM. This might has something to do with their success.

First Snow

We had flurries on the mountains. Summit of Cannon and Lafayette are white. Just the summits, the ski trails on Cannon turn green at the bottom of the summit chairlift and stay green down to the parking lots in the valley.

Freedom of the Press

Freedom of the press oughta mean the right to print anything, especially political thoughts. Then we got campaign finance laws. Now we have democrats crying unfair when Republican political groups run anti democrat/pro republican ads. It must mean something when the democrats complain about Republican political ads, rather than explaining to the electorate why it should vote democratic.
The democrats are crying that everyone who runs a political ad should make public their name, address, email and phone number. Democrats don't acknowledge that many people are reluctant to furnish their contact information for fear of avalanches of junk mail, spam, and telemarketing. To say nothing of the fear of retaliation. To me, freedom of the press means freedom to print whatever, nothing about having to make yourself vulnerable.
Kinda like secret ballot. We cherish secret ballot so that voters can vote their conscience without fear of retaliation. Same works for running ads, you oughta be able to print what you like, without fear of retaliation.

Reviving Lincoln Part 3

Just noticed a Lincoln ad on TV the other day. It claims the new hybrid Lincoln will do 41 mpg. It was one of those arty ads, all in black and white. Showed a digital gauge indicating 41 mpg. Some voice over. No good picture of the car, no discussion of range or price or cushiness.
Question. Do people with the bread to buy a Lincoln really care about gas mileage? If you want to make a statement about how green you are, why not buy a Prius?
So this morning, a Lincoln ad popped up on one of my favorite blogs. Clicking on it got me a picture of the car, the typical rounded over melted down jelly bean sedan with a corny chrome grill. Best I could say about the styling was "inoffensive". Some clicking got a video Lincoln ad. A young couple sitting in the car, talking it up, as they drove it. No discussion of battery size and life. I don't think this is a plug in hybrid although the web ad was unclear on this. The car name is "Lincoln MKZ Hybrid" which is something of a mouthful. Apparently there is also a plain "Lincoln MKZ" without the hybrid drive.

Coothing up the Minivan

The Wall St Journal has a favorable review of the Honda Odyssey minivan. The reviewer waxes eloquent about the great family values in minivans. He trashes the styling, which is something of a stretch. The pictured minivan looks like all minivans look, abet with a more agressive grill and slanty headlights than most. Then he talks about avoiding "minivan embarrassment" and opines that chicks like guys who drive minivans 'cause it makes the guy look like he is into child raising. Especially if the minivan is full of kids.
The Odyssey must be a fine machine. Sticker price is $44030. Comes with a four valve per cylinder 248 hp V6 and a six speed auto trans.
Consider that a Caddy DTV has a sticker price of $43k and 275 hp V8. That's one pricey upscale minivan.
Back when my children were smaller, I had Dodge Voyageurs. The cost $12K new and came with a 100 hp 4 banger and a five speed manual. They would not win at the stop light grand prix, but as a married man with children on board I was supposed to be above such things. They had double the power of the classic VW microbus and would maintain highway speed all day, unlike the VW's which needed a foot flat to the floor to maintain 65 mph and tended to blow their engines after 45K miles of such driving.
The Voyageurs made fine family cars, each child got his/her very own seat which takes much of the curse off long car trips with small children. They were great for carpooling kids to school, ski trips, going to the lumber yard and bringing furniture home from the auction. We liked them well enough to buy and wear out three of them. Good thing they didn't cost $44K each.