The financial industry meltdown, and the need for reform as well as improved oversight & regulation, was laid out in even more stark contrast as the investigation in the collapse of Lehman Brothers brought more information to light with regard to their short-term lending practices.

From The New York Times, in an article by Michael J. de la Merced:

Now government regulators have what some lawyers call a road map for further inquiry into former Lehman executives like Richard S. Fuld Jr. and the auditing firm Ernst & Young.

Whether the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission will actually pursue their own legal actions is unclear. But legal experts said on Friday that the examiner, Anton R. Valukas, had provided plenty of material for civil regulatory action at the least with his findings of “materially misleading” accounting and “actionable balance sheet manipulation.”

The article goes on to describe an accounting practice referred to as Repo 105 that "helped the investment bank mask the true depths of its financial woes."

Repo? Shades of "Repo Man" re-cut with "Wall Street" with Tracey Walters & Emilio Estevez working for Michael Douglas in some weird Twilight-Zone like section of suburbia...and perhaps incorporating some elements from the new "Repo Men" movie starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker. But these types of Repo Men -- the folks utilizing the Repo 105 tactic in order to create a façade of financial stability -- actually exist in the real world, and actually engaged in a practice that played a crucial role in masking the meltdown of a major financial institution.

From a WSJ article by Susanne Craig and Mike Spector (subscription req'd, but this bit is the intro):

Six weeks before it went bankrupt, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was effectively out of securities that could be used as collateral to back the short-term loans it needed to survive. The bank's subsequent scramble to stay alive exposed the murky but crucial role that short-term lending, done in a corner of Wall Street known as the repo market, plays in the financial world.

If the repo market keeps getting associated with shady practices like this, it's gonna give the entire industry a bad name.

So, it's Saturday -- what's going on in your little corner of the market? This is an Open Thread.

Hat-tip Dan Miller of DailyKos and of ClimatePlace.org.

The video makes a simple yet powerful point. Help spread it around.

This is an Open Thread.

Hat-tip Becca of DelphiForums.

Tax-time is fast approaching, so expect to see a lot more humor circulating the internet along these lines:

At the end of the tax year, the IRS office sent an inspector to audit the books of a local hospital. While the IRS agent was checking the books he turned to the CFO of the hospital and said, "I notice you buy a lot of bandages. What do you do with the end of the roll when there's too little left to be of any use?"

"Good question," noted the CFO. "We save them up and send them back to the bandage company and every now and then they send us a free box of bandages."

"Oh," replied the auditor, somewhat disappointed that his unusual question had a practical answer. But on he went, in his obnoxious way.

"What about all these plaster purchases? What do you do with what's left over after setting a cast on a patient?"

"Ah, yes," replied the CFO, realizing that the inspector was trying to trap him with an unanswerable question. "We save it and send it back to the manufacturer, and every now and then they send us a free package of plaster."

"I see," replied the auditor, thinking hard about how he could fluster the know-it-all CFO.

"Well," he went on, "What do you do with all the leftover foreskins from the circumcisions you perform?"

"Here, too, we do not waste," answered the CFO. "What we do is save all the little foreskins and send them to the IRS Office, and about once a year they send us a complete dick."

Hat-tip lizart8 of DelphiForums.

I've seen a fair share of IRS-related horror stories, but I've also had the opportunity to work at the IRS, to work with and get to know people who worked at the IRS and who worked with people on taxes, and to work with people at the IRS who work with tax payers who have problems with relation to their returns (late / delinquent / missing returns, etc.), and what I've noted overall is that -- for the most part, in my direct experience, the people at the IRS aren't out to screw the average American taxpayer and will work to help ensure that the average taxpayer with their tax-related issues and responsibilities.

So, enjoy the jokes -- there are some definite dicks running about at the IRS and in nearly every business, government or otherwise -- but don't forget that it's humor. There are many, many hard-working individuals at all levels of the IRS who, like you, are also taxpayers and who take pride in their work. They strive to provide excellent customer service, and often have real reason to be proud in the often thankless tasks they perform. Give 'em a break.

And now, below the fold, please share any stories of success or strife that you may have stumbled across through the years.

This is an Open Thread.

For more information: www.irs.gov

Hat-tip roxy, for a comment in the previous open thread.

A glacial collision in Antarctica may impact ocean currents, and could also result in the reduction of the overall amount of oxygen in the sea. Via MSNBC:

SINGAPORE - An iceberg the size of Luxembourg has broken off from a glacier in Antarctica after being rammed by another giant iceberg, scientists said Friday, in an event that could affect ocean circulation patterns.

The 965-square-mile iceberg broke off earlier this month from the Mertz Glacier's 100-mile floating tongue of ice that sticks out into the Southern Ocean.

The collision has since halved the size of the tongue that drains ice from the vast East Antarctic ice sheet.

[...snip...]

The two icebergs are now drifting together about 60 to 90 miles off Antarctica following the collision on Feb. 12 or Feb. 13, said Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist Neal Young.

[...snip...]

Experts said with part of the glacier gone, the area could fill with sea ice, which would disrupt the ability for the dense and cold water to sink. This sinking water is what spills into ocean basins and feeds the global ocean currents with oxygen.

[...snip...]

As there are only a few areas in the world where this occurs, a slowing of the process would mean less oxygen supplied into the deep currents that feed the oceans.

[...snip...]

"There may be regions of the world's oceans that lose oxygen, and then of course most of the life there will die," said Mario Hoppema, chemical oceanographer at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany.

Major bummer, folks.

Thoughts on this and anything else are welcome in comments; this is an Open Thread.

NASA needs a goal, a destination and objective upon which to focus, else it is going nowhere. That's effectively what US Sentators told the space agency on Wednesday. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden disagreed.

...Bolden said after the hearing that critics were confusing the lack of a specific destination or timetable with the lack of a goal.

NASA has a goal, a big one, Bolden said. It's going to Mars. But Bolden added that getting astronauts to Mars is more than a decade away and NASA needs to upgrade its technology or else it never will get there.

"We want to go to Mars," Bolden said. "We can't get there right now because we don't have the technology to do it."

That is why he said the new NASA plan invests in developing in-orbit fuel depots, inflatable spaceship parts, new types of propulsion and other technology.

Bolden would not even guess when NASA would try to send astronauts to Mars, but said the technology NASA is studying could cut the trip to the Red Planet from three months to a matter of days if it works.

"We're oh-so-close, but we've got to invest in that technology," Bolden testified.

Bolden is correct; the amount of technological, economic and industrial growth that resulted from our push to the Moon resulted in many of the marvelous advances in science that have revolutionized many areas in the public and private sectors.

Another goal -- one that has been "out there" for a while and constantly revived -- is the desire to bring back samples of Martian life for study on Earth:

"At this particular time, I can't provide a date certain for the first human mission to Mars," Bolden told the Senate's science and space subcommittee. However, Bolden recently told the Houston Chronicle's editorial board it was his "personal vision" to put NASA on a path toward a human Mars landing sometime in the 2030s.

That's the kind of talk that could energize further robotic exploration of Mars, including two-way trips. "Non-human sample return would feed very directly into the technology for human exploration," Conley told me.

If Bolden's vision holds true, a lot of questions will have to be answered in the next 20 years. Conley said one biggie is how safe astronauts would be on the Red Planet. A report from the National Research Council, titled "Safe on Mars," outlined a whole list of potential nasties ranging from alien microbes to toxic hexavalent chromium. Some of those risks can be assessed only by up-close analysis of Martian samples, Conley said.

Of course, bringing back samples of extra-terrestrial life has its own inherent risks, as speculated in science fiction fare such The Andromeda Strain, Alien and -- perhaps most appropriate of the three -- Species. From the article cited above by Alan Boyles on MSNBC,

When fresh Martian material is brought back - either by astronauts or by special-delivery robots - it'll have to be contained much more tightly than the Apollo moonwalkers were 40 years ago. The way Rummel sees it, our planet was lucky that the moon was most sincerely dead. "If there had been anything alive on the moon at that time, it would be alive here now," he said. (On the flip side, we may have left something alive on the moon.)

NASA's plans call for Martian samples to be handled as if they were top-priority biohazards, in a containment facility equivalent to a Biosafety Level 4 lab.

Ideally, such a lab would also have the contact numbers for Michael Madsen and Sigourney Weaver.

This is an Open Thread.

The GOP's Anthem, immortalized, and predating their current incarnation by quite a few decades.

Hat-tip LordRag of Delphiforums.

Hat-tip to Lordrag of DelphiForums for the catch.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

...it's Tuesday afternoon evening. Are you in an area under the threat of (or recently hit by) heavy storms? If so, tell us about it in the comments. Also, please keep the South Dakota reservations in mind and help out in any way you can.

This is ...uh... ~checks palm~ ...Ah! Yes, this is an Open Thread.

Good morning.

It's Friday, 5 February 2010 -- welcome to the Open Thread.

NASA and GM have paired up to work on the newest iteration of robotic technology for the space agency, Robonaut 1 -- also known as "R2."

In an article appearing in The Tech Herald by Stevie Smith, the promise of the R2 was described in glowing terms:

Utilising leading-edge control, sensor and vision technology, NASA is looking to create robots capable of providing direct assistance to human astronauts during hazardous space missions. While, on the flip side of the deal, GM sees the robotic creations as potentially helping it to build safer cars and manufacturing facilities.

[...snip...]

“This new generation of robot can use its hands to do work beyond the scope of prior humanoid machines,” offers NASA. “R2 can work safely alongside people, a necessity both on Earth and in space.”

Is it me, or does this R2 unit look a little more like a C3PO...?

Perhaps these are not the droids you seek, after all...but just in case, maybe we shouldn't yell "Who's your daddy, R2" all that loudly at the GM plant or on the space station.

This is an Open Thread.

Hat-tip Claimsman of DelphForums for the heads-up to the video above.

There's a television show called Are you smarter than a fifth-grader which is meant to be fun and entertaining, but in truth it's a rather interesting contrast: do we, as we get older and more experienced, become stupid? Do we incorporate so many facts and figures among our experiences that they turn to mush, taking along with them any sense or sensibility, while the constant screeching of morality and politics from vested interests keep us from taking time out to save our minds?

And yes, that's a leading question, on purpose.

"Children are the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the future"

            -- John F. Kennedy

Our children learn from our examples. We are the guardians of our future; they are the future guardians of our planet. They are a major part of our legacy. But are we taking our responsibility toward the future and as stewards of the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of humanity, as well as the planet and all its resources, seriously?

"I believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside."

            -- Whitney Houston

Here's another outstanding child who also saves her mother by calling 911:

I'd like to think that, for the most part, we're doing a great job for our children: ensuring they have adequate health care and a good education, proper guidance for what is right and wrong, a tolerance and understanding of different people, cultures and religions...but then I look at the world today, and see war, waste, corruption and destruction. I see politics dictating poor policies out of political expedience and sound bytes, leading to cutting children's health care and education or favoring only the children of the wealthy. I see...well, hell -- I see this:

1. 1/3/2007 "Bless the beastly little children of a lesser god than mine." by GreyHawk
2. 11/29/2007 And A Little Child Shall Lead Them by GreyHawk
3. 12/16/2007 Got Kids, Meet Their Future by jimstaro
4. 11/10/2008 Children Go Where I Send Thee: Die. by rba
5. 1/26/2009 Children of a Lesser Allah by Jeff Huber
6. 9/25/2009 Too stupid to be parents by GreyHawk
7. 11/17/2009 Hier, les enfants dansaient by ConnecticutMan1
8. 11/29/2009 Project Omelas - Finding a cause by Unenergy

What kind of a world are we making for our children? What kind of a job are we teaching them about waste, abuse, greed, war, kindness, wisdom and sustainable behaviors? What have we taught them about Justice?

It's a question worthy not only of discussion, but -- ideally -- one that should initiate action(s) toward rectifying any problems with have with the answers.

This is an Open Thread.

One of the key items that every American president has had to keep in mind is the potential to establish -- or buck -- precedent.

The behaviors and practices that a President displays while in office can set the rule-of-thumb behavior for all successive leaders, and those precedents are often hard to ignore or change...sometimes, these can be good for the political party holding the White House but not necessarily good for the nation, and other times they can be bad for the party in office but necessary for the just governance of the nation (to say nothing of how important such precedent may become to the actual pursuit of justice itself). The Republican Party tried to get Clinton to buck some and establish other precedents as part of the whole witch hunt they subjected him to, and inadvertently set the stage for the potential ensnarement of Bush with any of the myriad of corruption and unconstitutional acts his Administration colluded upon with Congressional Republicans.

Now, the GOP has really stepped in it: they invited President Obama to address their annual House Retreat, he accepted ... and it was televised.

That's precedent, baby. Not with the same force as some practices or with regard to legal or Constitutional issues, of course, but it is a precedent for behavior regarding the annual retreat...much to the chagrin of the Republican leadership and advisors, who now -- belatedly -- realize that letting this President bring in cameras to televise the event just pretty much sunk their hopes of using out-of-context sound bytes for political gain. Now, they're on video -- all of 'em -- and they're going to have to engage in the process of government or risk even more substantial damage in the eyes of the citizenry as a whole.

Here's to the Law of Unexpected Consequences.

This is an Open Thread.

You have to love the dry humor in this YouTube documenting how the media does (or doesn't do) its job these days:

Charlie Brooker - How To Report The News

More How To Open Thread stuff form fitted below the fold.

Note: I accidentally tweaked the title with a term I was intending to add to tags, and have re-adjusted back to the original title. Sorry. -- GH

With a hat-tip to Claimsman of DelphiForums for bringing this TPMMuckraker article to our attention, it appears that the lunatic fringe that populates the extreme right is getting even more dangerous:

MT Group Demands Local Leaders Boot Feds, Form Militia, Protect Guns

A group of nearly 200 "extremely concerned citizens" in a small Montana county are demanding that local leaders fill out a "questionnaire" pledging to form a local militia, prohibit mandatory vaccinations, boot the EPA out of town, allow citizens to bear any type of gun, and require federal government employees to get written approval before approaching "any Citizen."

Organized in part by a group called Celebrating Conservatism, which is lead by a woman who quit the state GOP after complaining of "fake" Republicans, the questionnaire was presented this week to the county commissioners and sheriff of Ravalli County, according to the local Republic newspaper.

Wow. Talk about scary-nutz.

What kind of lunacy has popped up in your neck of the woods lately, and is it heavily armed?

This is an Open Thread.

There's an art to not being seen. Whether you're a graduate of the Unseen University or a nanoscale engineer working with meta-materials, invisibility is just one form of not being seen.

Another form, as illustrated in the video, is to simply hide really well. (And remembering not to stand up, or hide anywhere REALLY obvious, particularly when the person(s) searching for you use explosives.)

This has been a public service announcement for no particular reason whatsoever, and also: This is an Open Thread.

This looks messy.

DailyKos diarist bobswern received permission to reprint some elements from Naked Capitalism that purport to conclude that the details surrounding the Fed's bailout of AIG, the majority of which went to three banks (Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and the French bank Société Générale (SocGen)), aren't being kept secret for the reasons given. Worse, the Fed may have lied to Congress.

These banks were holding CDS insurance from AIG on toxic assets, and the bailout saved them from the damage they would have suffered if AIG had gone bankrupt and that insurance had become worthless. The assets in question were then stuffed into a financial vehicle called Maiden Lane III, where they remain to this day, administered by BlackRock on behalf of the government.

The bailout has raised enduring questions about the propriety of US financial system governance.

[...snip...]

Attempts to investigate have slammed into a wall of secrecy.

The AIG bailout marked one of the most stark elements of the financial meltdown that erupted at the tail end of the Bush Administration. While the new Administration was not responsible for the terms and conditions, the current President was certainly muddied by the subsequent appointments of and/or reliance upon Geitner, Paulson and Bernanke.

Now, in light of the emerging information and as part of his ongoing need to repair the financial backbone of the nation's economy, President Obama must address the mess left as part of the initial emergency patchwork that was performed in order to prevent a complete economic meltdown.

As pointed out in a comment to the recent piece analyzing Obama's "year one" triage,

Presidents usually only have 1 year to make a real difference; that's why outgoing administrations -- particularly ones full of corrupt evil bastards bent on world domination and national destruction -- do everything they can to tie the new President's hands for the majority of that time.

Obama and everyone on the Hill knew that going in, and still accepted the mop and broom.

Now they've had the time to lay a foundation and clear out the most damaging and damning of residual crap: how will they do starting now? They slowed the economic collapse with what they did using Bush's stimulus and their own augmentations -- and some of what Obama stuck into his budget was, I think, his way of supplementing the stimulus without giving the GOP one big target.

I want to see how the next 6 mos go, as it'll be a referendum on not only the GOP tactics but also any potential for real progress and accountability.

Let's hope, for the sake of the nation's financial health and the subsequent impact it will have upon people and business in this period of recovery, that the new Administration quickly learns how to take the reins and establish real transparency and accountability while setting up a solid foundation upon which to build our new future.

This is an Open Thread.