Geoffrey's Blog: March 2009

Sunday, March 29, 2009

At Citi Field

St. John's hosting Georgetown.

Sent from my Palm Centro smartphone.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Everyone's Outraged But Short on Facts

I'm disturbed at what's going on lately. You could even say that I'm outraged! That was the word of the week last week.

Now people are upset that JP Morgan Chase has plans to spend $135 million to on two jets. OUTRAGE!

Yes, it is true that JP Morgan Chase accepted $25 billion from the government in TARP bailout dollars. But what most people seem to be ignorant of is that the government forced JP Morgan Chase to take the money.

Here's an important section that's buried a New York Times piece:

Mr. Dimon and Richard Kovacevich, the chairman of Wells Fargo, have said that they shouldn’t be criticized for being forced to take bailout money alongside weaker competitors. (Remember that the government last year asked JPMorgan to buy Bear Stearns and chose its bid to acquire Washington Mutual.)

And if you follow that link the Times put in there, you'll read:

Like a growing number of rivals, Wells Fargo is now complaining about TARP, including a provision that lets Congress unilaterally impose new restrictions on recipients.
“Is this America, when you can do what your government asks you to do and then retroactively you also have additional conditions put on?” Mr. Kovacevich said after a speech at Stanford University on Friday, Reuters reports.

Unfortunately, this point is being left out in most media reports (and even when it is there, it's waaaay at the bottom, either below the fold or after the jump). Instead, most of America hears this story: "The bailed out companies that were about to fail are giving their employees huge bonuses and buying new toys!"

I apologize for letting the facts get in the way of a good story.

Friday, March 20, 2009

President Obama and the Special Olympics

The White House thought sending Barack Obama on late night television would be an effective way to spread the president's message on the economy. Instead, what this Jay Leno interview has everyone tlaking about is the president's unfunny joke.

"I've been practicing bowling," Obama told Leno, referring to his much mocked score of 37 last year. "I bowled a 129," he said to a sarcastic applause from the audience. "Oh no, that's very good. That's very good, Mr. President," Leno said, getting another laugh. Obama responded with, "It was like the Special Olympics or something!" (seen here -- with 3:35 left in the video).

That comment was probably not heard by too many as the audience was still laughing at Leno but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be pointed out.

When I first heard that Obama made a gaffe on the show, I figured he didn't denounce some poor joke made by Leno. But nope, he made the comment himself.

Anderson Cooper, who was doing his show live from Hofstra University last night, reported the news. The reaction from the students at this very liberal school was disappointment. "Come on, Obama," one person said. It sounded like they were surprised that their man could make such a poor comment.

It is true that there are important things going on but this still gives us some kind of insight into the man's thinking. Someone who already has a higher level of respect for those with disabilities would not have been able to even think of such a thing. And that's the danger of treating this president like a rock star, having him be the first president in at least four decades go on a late night comedy show. He's actually President of the United States.

Had President George W. Bush made a comment like this, you can be sure the news media would have made it a major story and panel discussions on how terrible it was. But not with Obama in office.

It's a comment you might have expected to hear from Vice President Joe Biden.

And you can be sure you'd never have heard this coming from Governor Sarah Palin.