You know it's getting close to Christmas when heartwarming stories like this fill the news.

Boy George is facing jail after being convicted today of handcuffing a male escort to his bed and beating him with a metal chain as he tried to flee after a naked photo shoot.

...

The pair first met in April last year through a social networking site primarily for gay and bisexual men and even though O’Dowd suspected Mr Carlsen had hacked into his computer they parted on good terms. The singer paid the younger man £300 of the £400 they had agreed.

In the next few weeks they exchanged e-mails in which the singer accused Mr Carlsen of breaking into his computer system but then said that he would be “perfectly happy to see you naked asap”. He referred to Mr Carlsen’s “heavenly butt” and eventually they agreed to meet for a second time.

It was when Mr Carlsen returned to the flat that things took a violent turn.

After calling Mr Carlsen into his bedroom, OÂ’Dowd and another man leapt on him, wrestled him to the floor and started beating him.

He told the court that during the attack O’Dowd was screaming “F****** whore! Now you’re going to get what you deserve”.

I think that's enough.

Incidentally, he was convicted of false imprisonment, just like OJ, and also seems to have done this at least partly over a dispute -- George claims the man-whore hacked into his computer.

As he let you know in this video, he really wanted you to vote for Obama, by the way.

Okay, One More Excerpt:

Mr Carlsen [the victim/manwhore] told the court that OÂ’Dowd concocted the story about computer tampering so he could punish him for not having sex during the first meeting.

He said: “I think he couldn’t handle the refusal – me not having sex with him.”

Possible. Imagine the pain of being rejected for sex by a gay male prostitute. How unappetizing do you have to be?

Posted by: Ace at 11:44 AM | Comments (62)
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Good news?

There sure doesnÂ’t seem to be any rest for weary Senate Republican strategists, who are trying to plot a comeback in 2010 for their party after two consecutive miserable election cycles.

They can take some consolation in the fact that the GOP will not have the kind of steeply slanted playing field it had to deal with this year. In the flip side of the partyÂ’s successes in its better times of 2002, the Republicans ended up defending 23 seats to the DemocratsÂ’ 12. That would have made it hard for them to hold their ground, even if the overall political atmosphere had not been so toxic.

The slate of regularly scheduled 2010 races gives the Republicans another defensive chore, though it was not nearly as big: 19 Republican-held seats are scheduled to be up that year to 15 Democratic-held seats. Special elections will narrow the margin further, to 19-17, because of picks President-elect Barack Obama has made for his White House team from among his former Democratic Senate colleagues.

Part of the reason for the Democrats' dominance is that they hold a lot of Senate seats in Republican territory-- Montana, the Dakotas, even blood-red Kansas. I'm not sure exactly what it takes to convince the electorate that no matter how "moderate" or "conservative" a Democratic Senator may talk, he will vote the party line in all the crucial votes, but we have to break through on this message.

The usual trick is to vote with the party on the real vote, usually a vote to close or continue debate (that is, to end or sustain a filibuster), and then vote the constituents' interests on the merits. But by then it's a foregone conclusion -- like scoring a touchdown in the last 30 seconds of a game when you're down by 35. Meaningless and cosmetic.

The GOP needs to educate the public on the power of procedural votes which are really the determinative votes on most contested matters, and then drive that message home.

It might be that the GOP hasn't wanted to do this in the past, due to the fact that their senators, of course, used this dodge as well, but with far fewer vote-splitting moderate senators in the caucus now, it's not a major concern for us anymore, alas.

There's also arranged voting -- conservative Democrats up for reelection will be allowed to cast votes against, say, a liberal judge's nomination, whereas conservative Democrats who were just reelected will suddenly embrace liberal judges... hoping their constituents will forget about such votes in five or six years' time (when they begin casting conservative votes again, and the senators formerly up for reelection now cast liberal votes). Either way, the party decides that the judge (or bill) will get enough votes to pass; they just arrange it so that those standing for reelection don't have to cast the liberal votes. At least not this cycle.

This sort of thing takes a bit of explaining and is hard to get across in an advertisement, but the GOP has to invest money in pubic education of how business actually gets done in Congress. It's pointless to argue this without laying that predicate -- Democrats will merely say "I voted conservatively on x measure when it came up for a vote on the merits," etc. Without the public being made aware of how votes are arranged to both pass a bill and allow endangered Democrats to vote according to their constituents' wishes, it's an argument that always ends in stalemate.

The trick has to be revealed so conservative voters in red states know they're being, what's the word?, bamboozled by their supposedly "conservative Democrat Senator." Run amok. That they been had.

Posted by: Ace at 11:27 AM | Comments (54)
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Consider it an update of my earlier post.

$13 billion in debt and $7.6 billion in assets is no way to go through life son.

"So, how did we get here? It has been, to say the least, the perfect storm," (Owner Sam) Zell wrote. "A precipitous decline in revenue and a tough economy have coupled with a credit crisis, making it extremely difficult to support our debt. All of our major advertising categories have been dramatically impacted."

There's nothing about their craptastic journalistic performance, especially at the LA Times. I wonder why.

Whether it's a media company, a financial institution or an automaker, it's funny how their failed business always seems to be someone else's fault. Maybe the harsh cost of failure will make room for some people who actually keep their eye on the ball and provide products and services at a price people are willing to pay. I'm no business school major but I'm pretty sure that's the key to success. If you can't deliver on that simple idea maybe you need to go away for everyone's long term good.

Posted by: DrewM at 11:00 AM | Comments (59)
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It looks like the Big Rapidly Shrinking 3 automakers are going to get their bailout or at least a $15 billion bridge to the really big bailout they want after all.

It's like the live action version of an Ayn Rand nightmare.

Congressional officials say the lawyer who oversaw the 9/11 victims' compensation fund has emerged as a candidate to be the "car czar" in charge of a bailout for Detroit's Big Three automakers.

Kenneth Feinberg, the special master of the federal Sept. 11 fund, is a contender to run a roughly $15 billion auto rescue and work with the Big Three to restructure their beleaguered companies.

...Under the plan, the carmakers' could get emergency loans on Dec. 15. Then the presidentially tapped overseer — a kind of "car czar" — would write guidelines, due on the first of the year, for a Big Three restructuring. If the car companies hadn't taken enough steps to reinvent themselves by Feb. 15, 2009, the czar could recall the money. That would essentially mean that a person selected by President George W. Bush would set the terms for an auto industry restructuring, but someone picked by President-elect Barack Obama would have the power to decide whether they were being met.

Asked if a deal could be struck for a vote as early as Monday, Perino said, "I think it's very likely." She prodded senior Democratic lawmakers to send their proposal, particularly if they expected initial votes within 24 hours. "It seems pretty soon if we haven't seen the language yet," she said.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the Financial Services Committee chairman, said that he, too, expected a deal by the end of the day on a proposal that would draw emergency aid from an existing loan program meant to help the automakers build fuel-efficient vehicles. House and Senate Democratic aides were finalizing the package, which is expected to provide between $14 billion and $17 billion.

Feinberg seems like a decent and conscientious fellow based on his work administering funds to the victims of 9/11 but can anyone really write a business plan for an industry in three weeks that's going to work? Is anyone appointed by the federal government really going to do what it takes (break the UAW for starters) to even give them a chance to succeed?

Let's just say my level of optimism that this and any future money thrown into this hole will produce a good result is somewhat lower than the ratings for Rossie O'Donnell's recent TV special.

I'm just curious but who looks at the way the federal government has been run for the last say 50 years and says, 'these guys have done such a bang up job we really need to put them in charge of not only the financial industry but the auto industry as well"? Of course, the people actually running these industries haven't done such a bang up job either.

BTW- A late thought on who should be the Car Czar (if you have to have one)...Mitt Romney. He knows the industry, the issues and has a track record of turning around failed and failing enterprises. I'm not saying he'd be able to save them and he certainly won't get the chance but that's who I'd pick.

Posted by: DrewM at 10:39 AM | Comments (49)
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It's almost as if they don't have enough money to support the size homes they purchased or something.

"The results, I confess, were somewhat surprising, and not in a good way," John Dugan, head of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, said in prepared remarks for a U.S. housing forum.

"Put simply, it shows that over half of mortgage modifications seemed not to be working after six months." Dugan said based on data collected from some of the biggest U.S. institutions, like Bank of America [BAC 17.09 1.85 (+12.14%) ], Citibank [C 8.17 0.46 (+5.97%) ] and JPMorgan Chase [JPM 35.46 2.11 (+6.33%) ], home foreclosure starts fell by 2.6 percent in the three months ended in September.

...Dugan said recent data showed that after three months, nearly 36 percent of borrowers who received restructured mortgages in the first quarter re-defaulted.

The rate of re-default jumped to about 53 percent after six months and 58 percent after eight months, Dugan said, without providing an explanation for the trend.

Hmmm, why might people continually default on their mortgages? It seems to me their are two broad categories of choices.

First, they bought homes too expensive for their income and thought they could keep taking cash against their home's 'value' or that real estate price would go up forever and they could sell for a profit before their rates went up. Now that the music has stopped they don't have a chair, just a home they can't afford under just about any conditions.

Or second...Bush, Cheney and the Evil Bankers held a gun to their heads and forced them to take a mortgage they knew they could never afford.

Obviously, it's the latter so let's start bailing them out and forgiving their mortgages entirely. Free homes for everyone!

(h/t Andy in the Illinois thread)

Posted by: DrewM at 09:07 AM | Comments (60)
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This is outrageous. The governor is asking all state agencies to refuse to do business with Bank of America unless BofA extends credit to a failing business!

The Republic Windows & Doors factory closed suddenly last week and the employees got laid off without severance or health insurance. They believe that is a violation of their contracts and state employment law. So the workers stage a sit-in in the factor. So far, so good. And...BofA gets blamed for the closed plant because it refused to give Republic Windows & Doors a loan. The workers promise to continue the sit-in until BofA pays their wages, severance, and health insurance.

Governor Blagojevich just met with the workers at the plant and then announced that he is asking all state agencies to refuse to do business with BofA.

This just happened, so I can't find a news report on it yet. This article will catch you up to this morning.

Blagojevich's announcement is below the fold: more...

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:47 AM | Comments (135)
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Warning: this is breaking now, and there isn't much information available about it.

Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks, and four co-defendants have offered to plead guilty. The five have been in proceedings before a military tribunal since February 11, 2008. The government is seeking the death penalty for all five.

"The accused in this case had decided that they wished to withdraw all motions... and wished to enter pleas in what was termed as confessions in this case," the judge, Army Colonel Stephen Henley, said shortly after the pre-trial proceedings began.

When asked by the judge if he was prepared to enter pleas Monday to all the charges should the commission allow the defendants to withdraw their motions, Mohammed said "Yes."

"We don't want to waste time," Mohammed told the judge.

Note, they haven't pled yet, they're just saying they will plead guilty.

Rusty asks, "I wonder how the 9/11 truthers are going to spin this one?" Easy: they tortured them into this. Poor KSM just. can't. take it. anymore (sob).

UPDATE: My initial skepticism paid off. This isn't quite a guilty plea, although it appears the defendants want to confess. Rather, it looks like they just want a day set aside to grandstand:

The military judge, Colonel Stephen Henley, read aloud a letter in which the five defendants said they "request an immediate hearing session to announce our confessions".

The letter implies they want to plead guilty but does not make clear whether they will admit to any specific charges. It says the men, who are representing themselves, wish to drop all previous defence motions.

According to courtroom reports, the letter appears intended to short-circuit the tribunal process and expedite punishment for the five detainees. Earlier this year, Mohammed said he would welcome being "martyred" by the death penalty.

In-court confessions will certainly speed the process along. But I suspect KSM will spend more time railing against Zionists and the U.S. government than confessing to involvement in 9/11.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:32 AM | Comments (18)
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Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:07 AM | Comments (39)
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Despite public opinion and, uh, the laws of economics, the taxpayer money giveaway continues. Bush, of course, is all for screwing us over, suggesting that a deal may happen today with Congress voting tomorrow.

Unsurprisingly, the "bailout" includes plans for the feds to run the auto industry:

The emerging plan could include a Cabinet-level oversight board and a provision to require immediate payback of the money if the overseers decide the companies are failing to take steps to overhaul themselves. That board would be composed of Cabinet secretaries from the departments of Treasury, Energy, Labor, Commerce and Transportation plus the Environmental Protection Agency administrator to oversee a broad auto industry restructuring.

Update: Redstate notes that Senator Corker has a bailout idea that's actually sensible.

Posted by: Open Blog at 07:05 AM | Comments (35)
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The New York Times seems to be having some cash flow problems.

The New York Times Company plans to borrow up to $225 million against its mid-Manhattan headquarters building, to ease a potential cash flow squeeze as the company grapples with tighter credit and shrinking profits.

...The company has two revolving lines of credit, each with a ceiling of $400 million, roughly the amount outstanding on the two combined. One of those lines is set to expire in May, and finding a replacement would be difficult given the economic climate and the company's worsening finances. Analysts have said for months that selling or borrowing against assets would be the company's best option for averting a cash flow problem next year.

Standard & Poor's recently lowered its credit rating on the Times Company below investment grade, and Moody's Investors Service has said it was considering a similar move. Times Company stock, which has lost more than half its value this year, closed on Friday at $7.64, down 30 cents.

Ah, piling on new debt on during a time of decreased revenue is such a great plan. If they want to see where that leads they can just ask the folks at the Tribune Company, owner of the LA Times and other media properties which appears to be heading for bankruptcy.

Tribune Co. is preparing for a possible filing for bankruptcy-court protection as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the matter, in a sign of worsening trouble for the newspaper industry.

In recent days, as Chicago-based Tribune continued talks with lenders to restructure its debt, the newspaper-and-television concern hired investment bank Lazard Ltd. as its financial adviser and law firm Sidley Austin to advise the company on a possible trip through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, people familiar with the matter say.

...Tribune's latest actions underscore the deepening distress enveloping Tribune and other newspaper publishers. Their businesses are being battered by dwindling advertising sales, and many are carrying debt loads that are unmanageable in current market conditions. Industry insiders expect some papers will need to fold in coming months or seek protection from creditors to reorganize.

I wonder how long it will be until the Sulzbergers, Sam Zell and the rest of the media barons start agitating for federal bailout funds.

In all honesty, much of my joy at the situation these companies find themselves in is tempered by the fact that most people hurt by this aren't the publishers, editors or big time reporters who have done so much to pervert much of our national discourse but rather people much further down the food chain. Still if this aids in the creative destruction of the modern MSM, well choices have consequences as these companies are finding out.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:58 AM | Comments (47)
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