American Vignettes: Portrait of an Idea

A continuing series of original essays of what it really means to be an American and the people who made it happen....

HANGING HALE

"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country" are among the American Revolution's most famous words."

The story leading up to this passionate cry is murky at best. After the disaster of Long Island, George Washington desperately needed intelligence on where the British planned to attack Manhattan Island. Hence, he employed a network of spies.

A twenty-one-year-old captain volunteered for the mission. A graduate of Yale, Nathan Hale had spent time teaching before joining Washington's army. Thus, he naturally employed the cover of a schoolteacher when he arrived at Long Island as a spy.

What happened next is not clear. Hale was captured, but how is a mystery. Some historians claim Maj. Robert Rogers of the Queen's Rangers met Hale in a tavern and befriended him. Rogers pretended to be a patriot. When Hale confessed his true intentions, he blew his cover. Rogers arrested him.

Historian William Jackman had a different explanation for how Hale was taken: "He (Hale) passed to the island, obtained the knowledge desired, notes of which he took in Latin. As he was returning he fell in with a party of the enemy, and was recognized by a Tory relative," Jackman wrote.

However they caught him, the British took Hale to General Howe. After questioning him, Howe ordered Hale hanged the next morning, September 22, 1776, 232 years ago this week.

Historians describe Hale's experience the night before his death as cruel. Caught in a shark's grip, he received no mercy. The British denied Hale access to a clergyman. They ignored his request for a Bible. They ripped his letter to his mother into pieces. The reason for the denials was to prevent the patriots from rallying behind a martyr. One historian quoted the officer in charge of Hale as saying, "The rebels should never know they had a man who could die with such firmness."

But the Continentals did learn of Hale's brave steps to the gallows. Hale's resoluteness could not be kept secret. A British soldier reported his story to William Hull, an American officer. The intellectual Hale took his final phrase from a play called Cato: "How beautiful is death, when earn'd by virtue! Who would not be that youth? What pity is it that we can die but once to serve our country." Hull publicized Hale's bravery and honored him as America's first spy.

Today, the CIA's Langley, Virginia headquarters features a statue of Hale. He is also remembered in stone on the Yale University campus and at the Tribune Tower in Chicago. Nathans Hale's bravery continues to remind others of the value of service, sacrifice and strength. God Bless America.

Walter

Further Reading:
http://360degrez.blogspot.com/2008/08/american-vignettes-portrait-of-idea.html
http://74.125.45.104/search?q=cache:Soe2gQ4WULAJ:town.huntington.ny.us/permit_pics/233.pdf+hanging+hale&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/today/sep22.html

The 2008 State of the Union: The Real Numbers

I should preface the sobering numbers of the startling truth by saying I'm a Conservative - being a patriot who believes in the Founder Father's idea expressed in the primary documents of our country. Many fault the president, but it is our additional elected leaders, both Republicans and Democrats - congressmen and senators - who have not acted in the best interest of this country, its people, its citizens, it future. Electing a new president will make no difference if the same lazy, pork-barrel-minded, arrogant officials are elected time and time again. But it is not the government that is totally at fault. WE are at fault for allowing outside entities to dictate policy to our government. WE allowed this to happen. Our country requires more than just talk of change from a podium, it requires a revolution to take our country back to the basics that make it great.

HOUSING AND INCOMES

Inflation-adjusted median household income in 2000	$49,158
Median household income in 2006	$48,201
8-year increase in median household income in 2001	$6,000
6-year decrease in median household income in 2007	$1,100

Historical Income Tables - Households, H-6 Tables, U.S. Census 2000 and 2006

The salary of a full-time minimum wage employee without vacation, 2007	$12,168
The average salary of a CEO of a Fortune 500 company	$15.2 million

CEO Compensation, Forbes Magazine. May 3, 2007

Number of Americans living in poverty in 2001	31.6 million
Number of Americans living in poverty in 2008	36.5 million

[U.S. Census Bureau, Aug. 2007]

Amount more Americans earned than spent in 2001	+2.3 percent
Amount less Americans are earning than spending in 2008	-0.5 percent

[Bureau of Economic Analysis]

Total consumer credit debt in 2001	$7.65 trillion
Total consumer credit debt in 2008	$12.8 trillion

[Insurance Information Institute]

Decline in median income from 2000-2006 in White American households	$745
Decline in median income from 2000-2006 in Hispanic households	$1,043
Decline in median income from 2000-2006 in Asian households	$1,381
Decline in median income from 2000-2006 in African-American households	$2,766

Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2006. Current Population Reports, Consumer Income. August 2007

White American household median income, 2006	$50,673
African-American household median income, 2006	$31,969
Asian household median income, 2006	$63,900
Hispanic household median income, 2006	$37,781

Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2006. Current Population Reports, Consumer Income. August 2007

Percentage of White Americans living in poverty, 2006	8.2
Percentage of Black people living in poverty, 2006	24.3
Percentage of Asians living in poverty, 2006	10.1
Percentage of Hispanics living in poverty, 2006	20.6

Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2006. Current Population Reports, Consumer Income. August 2007

Percentage increase in home foreclosures, November 2006-December 2007

68

"Foreclosure Activity Decreases 10 Percent in November." RealtyTrac. December 19, 2007.

JOBS

American manufacturing jobs in 2000	17,263,000
American manufacturing jobs in 2006	14,197,000

U.S. Department of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Current Employment Statistics

Yearly average number of new private sector jobs created from 1992-2000	1.76 million
Yearly average number of new private sector jobs created from 2001-2008	369,000

[Bureau of Labor Statistics.]

Unemployment rate among White Americans, December 2007	4.4
Unemployment rate among African Americans, December 2007	9.0
Unemployment rate among Asians, December 2007	3.7
Unemployment rate among Hispanics, December 2007	6.3

U.S. Department of Labor. Employment Situation Summary. January 4, 2008

ENERGY

Average price of home heating oil on January 3, 2000	$1.40/gallon
Average price of home heating oil on January 7, 2008	$3.39/gallon

United States Energy Information Administration. "U.S. Weekly No. 2 Heating Oil Residential Prices-cents per gallon." December 24, 2007.

Average price of a gallon of gasoline on January 3, 2000	$1.59
Average price of a gallon of gasoline on January 7, 2008	$3.14

United States Energy Administration. Retail Gasoline Historical Prices

Percentage increase in the average price of home heating oil since January 2000, percent	142 percent
Percentage increase in the average price of gasoline since January 2000,	98 percent
Inflation-adjusted price of a gallon of home heating oil, winter of 2001-2002	$1.36
Projected price of a gallon of home heating oil, winter of 2007-2008	$3.32

Selected U.S. Average Consumer, Table WF01, Energy Administration, January 2008

Percentage of U.S. liquid fuel consumption that was imported in 2001	52.75 percent
Percentage of U.S. liquid fuel consumption that is imported in 2008	60.38 percent

[U.S. Energy Information Administration]

Exxon Mobil profits in 2000	$7.9 billion
Exxon Mobil profits in 2006	$36.1 billion
Exxon Mobil's profit during the second quarter of 2006, per second	$1,318

CNNMoney.Com, Fortune 500 2006; Exxon Mobil; CNN.com, "Exxon Mobile makes more than $10 billion." July 27, 2006.

COLLEGE COSTS

Average cost (tuition, fees, room, and board) at a public four-year college in 2000, annual	$10,153
Average cost for public four-year college in 2006, annual	$13,089

College Board. "Trends in College Pricing." 2007.

Most expensive college tuition, 2006-2007

$37,820 at George Washington University

"America's Most Expensive Colleges," Forbes.com. January 19, 2007

Average percent change in yearly tuition costs for public four-year college students since 2000	Up 29%
Average percent change in median household income during same period	Down 2%
Average debt shouldered by 2006 college graduates	$21,000

The Project on Student Debt. Student Debt and the Class of 2006. September 2007

HEALTH CARE

Percentage of Americans receiving employment-based health insurance, 2000	64.2
Percentage of Americans receiving employment-based health insurance, 2006	59.7

U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2006. August 2007

Inflation-adjusted annual cost of a family health insurance premium in 2000	$7,643
Annual cost of a family health insurance premium in 2006	$11,480

Employer Health Benefits 2000 and 2006, Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust

The number of Americans without health insurance in 2000	38.4 million
The number of Americans without health insurance in 2006	46.9 million

U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2006. August 2007

Decrease over 2 years in the number of uninsured Americans in 2001	4.5 million
Increase over 6 years in the number of uninsured Americans in 2008	8.5 million

[U.S. Census Bureau, Aug. 2007]

Percentage of Republican presidential candidates with universal health insurance plans	0
Percentage of Democratic presidential candidates with universal health insurance plans	100
Percentage of White Americans uninsured in 2006	10.8
Percentage of African Americans uninsured in 2006	20.5
Percentage of Asians uninsured in 2006	15.5
Percentage of Hispanics uninsured in 2006	34.1

Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2006. Current Population Reports, Consumer Income. August 2007

Percentage of total world military spending spent by U.S. 47%

-Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, "National Security Spending."

Total U.S. military expenditures (including for Iraq and Afghanistan) requested for fiscal year 2008	$644 billion
Total military expenditures of the 10 next top spenders combined	$446.1 billion (Includes 2006 expenditures for China ; 2005 expenditures for Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, India, and Brazil)

Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. "U.S. Military Spending vs. the World." February 5, 2007.

U.S. military base budget, fiscal year 2001	$297.1
U.S. pending military base budget, fiscal year 2008 (not including money budgeted for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan)	$481.4

White House Office of Management and Budget. "Budget of the United States Department of Defense FY2008." February 5, 2007.

Percentage of federal discretionary budget spent on the military, not including Iraq, fiscal year 2007, percentage	50
Percentage of the fiscal year 2007 federal budget spent on education	6.2

White House Office of Management and Budget. "Table S-3. Growth in Discretionary Budget Authority by Major Agency." February 6, 2006.

Number of active duty army divisions rated at the highest readiness levels in 2001	All
Number of active duty or reserve brigade in the U.S. considered fully combat ready	0

[Speaker of the House, Nov. 29, 2007]

DEBTS AND DEFICITS

The national debt in 2001	$5.7 trillion
The national debt in Jan. 2008	$9.2 trillion

[U.S. Dept. of the Treasury]

U.S. trade deficit in October 2000, monthly	$33.8 billion
U.S. trade deficit in October 2007, monthly	$57.8 billion

U.S. Census Bureau Foreign Trade Statistics. December 12, 2007.

Value of one euro in dollars, January 2000	$1.01
Value of one euro in dollars, January 2008	$1.45
Loss of value of U.S. dollar relative to the euro, January 3, 2000-January 2, 2008, percentage	45

Federal Reserve Statistical Release. H-10 Historical Rates for Euro Area

Value of an ounce of gold in 2000 (Adjusted for inflation.)	$319
Value of an ounce of gold, 2008	$892

"Hike Interest Rates, Lower the Hold Price?" National Review. March 30, 2006; GoldPrice.org 22 January 2008

U.S. budget balance in fiscal year 2000	$236 billion surplus
U.S. budget balance in fiscal year 2007	$354 billion deficit

House Office of Management and Budget. Historical Tables; White House Office of Management and Budget. "Table S-1. Budget Totals."

IMPORTS

Percentage increase in number of U.S. imports, 2000-2006	30
Percentage increase in the Consumer Product Safety Commission's budget, 2000-2006	9

Testimony of Rachel Weintraub, Director of Product Safety and Senior Counsel, Consumer Federation of America, Before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection. May 15, 2007. See also U.S. Trade in Goods: Balance of Payments Basis vs. Census Basis. November 27, 2007.

Percentage increase in number of Food and Drug Administration food inspections, 2000-2006	8
Percentage increase in number of agricultural imports, 2000-2006	39

U.S.DA. Economic Research Service. "Foreign Agricultural Trade of the United States." July 1, 2006. FDA Inspection Data compiled by the Coalition for a Stronger FDA.

Number of cases of foodborne disease outbreaks, 2006

25,659

Center for Disease Control. Summary Statistics for Foodborne Outbreaks, 2006.

WORLD OPINION

					Percentage of people abroad who viewed America favorably in 2001	58.3
					Percentage of people abroad who viewed America favorably in 2007	39.2
					Percentage of people in Great Britain who viewed America favorably in 2001	83
					Percentage of people in Great Britain who viewed America favorably in 2007	56
					Percentage of people in Indonesia who viewed America favorably in 2001	75
					Percentage of people in Indonesia who viewed America favorably in 2007	30
					Percentage of people in Germany who viewed America favorably in 2001	78
					Percentage of people in Germany who viewed America favorably in 2007	37

[Pew Research Center]

JPMorgan Buys WaMu Deposits as Regulators Seize Failed Thrift

If you remember on Monday, I posted that there will be more to come....

JPMorgan Chase & Co. became the biggest U.S. bank by deposits, acquiring Washington Mutual Inc.'s branch network for $1.9 billion after the thrift was seized in the largest U.S. bank failure in history.

Customers of WaMu withdrew $16.7 billion from accounts since Sept. 16, leaving the Seattle-based bank "unsound,'' the Office of Thrift Supervision said late yesterday. WaMu's branches will open today and depositors will have full access to all their accounts, Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said on a conference call.

WaMu is the latest casualty of a financial crisis that drove Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and I out of business and led to the hastily arranged rescues of IndyMac Bancorp, Merrill Lynch & Co. and Bear Stearns Cos., which was itself absorbed by JPMorgan. WaMu in March rejected a takeover offer from JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon that the savings and loan valued at $4 a share.

"This is a fabulous franchise,'' Dimon, 52, said in an interview. "We think we got this at a price that protects us, where if we were wrong, it still protects us.''

WaMu collapsed as its credit rating was slashed to junk and its stock price tumbled. Facing $19 billion of losses on soured mortgage loans, the lender put itself up for sale last week. WaMu fired CEO Kerry Killinger on Sept. 8 and replaced him with Alan Fishman, who was awarded a $7.5 million signing bonus and $1 million salary.

WaMu's Decline

In most bank seizures, little or nothing is left for shareholders. WaMu, down 95 percent in the past year, dropped to 45 cents in extended trading following the announcement, which came after the close of regular trading.

David Bonderman's TPG Inc., which led a $7 billion capital infusion for WaMu earlier this year, lost most of its initial $2 billion investment. TPG, based in Forth Worth, Texas, said in a statement yesterday it was "dissatisfied with the loss'' and that the WaMu investment was a "small part of assets.''

New York-based JPMorgan, which separately announced plans to raise $8 billion by selling common stock, had its outlook lowered to negative by Moody's Investors Service. Moody's left its Aa2 rating on JPMorgan unchanged.

JPMorgan won't acquire WaMu's liabilities, including claims by shareholders and subordinated and senior debt holders, the FDIC said. JPMorgan paid $10 a share for Bear Stearns in March as the New York-based securities firm teetered on the brink of bankruptcy.

'They're Going to Win'

"This is one of the reasons I own JPMorgan: They're going to win from all this,'' said Anton Schutz, president of Mendon Capital Advisors Corp. in Rochester, New York. "They're taking on credit risk, but they're not taking on any debt obligations.''

JPMorgan will add branches in California, Washington and Florida, among other states, and will have 5,400 offices with about $900 billion in deposits, the most of any U.S. bank. The branches and credit cards will carry the Chase brand and will be integrated by 2010, JPMorgan said.

JPMorgan had 75 people involved in the transaction and "bid to win'' because it wanted WaMu's assets, Dimon said on a conference call yesterday. JPMorgan used its own investment bank to value the mortgages, he said.

"We don't know and we don't care'' about rival bids for WaMu, he said.

Dimon also said on the conference call that he's in favor of the government's proposed $700 billion plan to prop up the banking industry, but didn't rely on it to complete the deal. The plan was jeopardized yesterday as congressional Republicans failed to agree on its details.

Write-Offs

JPMorgan is taking on $176 billion in mortgage-related assets and writing down the value of it and other portfolios by about $31 billion, the company said. The bank will make a one- time payment of $1.9 billion to the FDIC as part of the deal.

Citigroup Inc., which had been among five potential acquirers, elected not to bid for WaMu because presumed loan losses outweighed benefits from the deposits, said a person familiar with the situation. Wells Fargo & Co., Banco Santander SA and Toronto-Dominion bank had expressed interest in buying all or parts of WaMu, said a person with knowledge of the process.

The acquisition may add 50 cents a share to earnings in 2009, JPMorgan said in a statement yesterday. The firm said it may save $1.5 billion in pretax costs by 2010, offsetting the $1.5 billion it will take in merger-related charges. JPMorgan will close less than 10 percent of the combined retail shops.

Customer Deposits

WaMu had about 2,300 branches and $182 billion of customer deposits at the end of June. Its $310 billion of assets dwarf those of Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust, previously the largest failed bank, which had $40 billion ($83 billion in 2008 dollars) when it was taken over in 1984.

JPMorgan rose $2.96, or 7.3 percent, to $43.46 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading before the deal was announced. It is little changed for the year.

WaMu has $28.4 billion in outstanding bonds, with Capital Research and Management the largest debtholder, Bloomberg data show. All three major credit agencies rate WaMu junk, the only company in the 24-member KBW Bank Index that's below investment grade.

During the past three quarters, WaMu lost $6.3 billion. It kept skidding even after joining a list of financial companies the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission protected from short selling in an effort to stabilize stock markets.

'No Mystery'

"It's no mystery to depositors that WaMu shares have collapsed over the past couple months,'' said Sean Egan, president of Egan-Jones Ratings Co. in Haverford, Pennsylvania. "The FDIC is primarily concerned about the deposit base and that's been safely transferred.''

WaMu was the second-biggest provider of option ARMs, behind Wachovia Corp., with $54 billion held in its portfolio in the first quarter, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. Of the $230 billion in loans secured by real estate at the end of the second quarter, $16.9 billion were subprime mortgages. WaMu, which ranked sixth among U.S. mortgage companies last year, was the 11th-biggest subprime lender in 2006, according to Inside Mortgage Finance.

WaMu estimated losses of as much as $19 billion in the next 2-1/2 years. Standard & Poor's cut the bank's credit rating twice in nine days, leaving it at CCC. Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service cut WaMu to junk this month and have BBB- and Ba2 ratings, respectively.

"There were extreme liquidity pressures on this institution exacerbated by some ratings downgrades,'' FDIC's Bair said.

Rise of WaMu

Killinger, WaMu's ousted CEO, joined Washington Mutual in 1982 when the company bought a securities firm. He was promoted to president in 1988 and CEO two years later, assuming control of a company with about $7 billion in assets.

Beginning in 1995, Killinger went on a shopping spree, making at least 14 acquisitions in the next seven years and boosting assets to more than $300 billion.

Between 1990 and the end of 2006, Washington Mutual shares jumped almost 20-fold, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index quadrupled. Then the subprime rout started and defaults hit a record, as falling home prices and rising mortgage rates left borrowers with the weakest credit unable to repay their loans.

"There's a lot of sadness and a lot of people are hurt,'' Lee Lannoye, 71, who was chief credit officer at WaMu from 1988 to 1998, said yesterday. ``Having worked with Kerry Killinger for 10 years, I still absolutely cannot fathom where or why he went wrong, and what caused him to lead the company into taking the kinds of risks that they did.''

Walter

Sources: Wachovia Securities, Leer Financial

#3 Georgia (4-0) vs. #8 Alabama (4-0)

BB&T Chief Takes Issue With Bailout

For John Allison, the high-risk rollers on Wall Street are getting too much of the ear of Congress and having too much say in resolving the financial nightmare that they created. That's why Allison, the chairman and chief executive of BB&T Corp., submitted a 14-point letter Tuesday to all 535 members of Congress with a simple message regarding the proposed $700 billion bailout.

"There is no panic on Main Street and in sound financial institutions," he wrote. "The problems are in high-risk financial institutions and on Wall Street."

He said that it is important that "Congress hear from the well-run financial institutions, as most of the concerns have been focused on the problem companies. It is extremely important that the bailout not damage well-run companies." Allison's opinion is seconded by local community-bank officials and community-bank trade groups.

"Community bankers did not create this financial crisis, but our banks and communities are clearly feeling the impact," the Independent Community Bankers of America said in a statement. "As the fundamental drivers of local economies -- we could be in a strong position to help resolve this crisis."

BB&T, the nation's 14th-largest financial institution with $136 billion in assets, hasn't strayed far from its beginnings as an Eastern North Carolina community bank. BB&T and Allison also hold fast to a value system that extols such virtues as trust, respect, integrity, pride, reason and justice.

And compared with some of its rivals, such as Wachovia Corp., which was aggressive with alternative-mortgage products, BB&T kept its bottom line fairly immune from the recent roller-coaster ride of many major banks. BB&T posted net income of $428 million in the second quarter despite having to take a $330 million provision for credit losses in the quarter.

"Community bankers did not create this financial crisis,

but our banks and communities are clearly feeling the impact,"

- Independent Community Bankers of America

Among the points that Allison made in his letter were:

□ Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are the primary cause of the mortgage crisis.

□ The market-correction process eliminates irrational competitors, such as Countrywide Financial Corp., a subprime-mortgage lender that's been bought by Bank of America Corp.

□ A significant and immediate tax credit for buying homes "would be a far less expensive, and more effective, cure for the mortgage market and financial system than the proposed rescue plan" that Allison said would primarily benefit Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

□ "This is a housing-value crisis. It does not make economic sense to purchase credit-card and automobile loans as part of the bailout."

□ Protecting the banking system is an established government function. "It is completely unclear why the government needs to, or should, bail out insurance companies, investment banks, hedge funds and foreign companies," he wrote.

Allison said that he disagreed with efforts to limit executive compensation. This is not the first time that Allison and BB&T have taken a stand on a controversial economic plan. In January 2006, BB&T said that it would not make loans to commercial developers planning private projects on land seized from private homeowners by local governments.

Buddy Howard, an analyst with Equity Research Services, said that Allison is "dead right on some points, wrong on others." He particularly agreed with Allison's position on the housing-value crisis. Howard did disagree with Allison on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae being the source of the financial crisis.

"They are convenient scapegoats, and certainly they had many problems," Howard said. "But the real culprit that led to the underpinning of the real-estate market was the huge inroads made by investment banks and other nongovernment-sponsored enterprises into the subprime market."

Edward Zajicek, an associate economics professor at Winston-Salem State University, said that many of Allison's points "are well taken."

"The government is trying to prop up two to three large investment banks at a cost to taxpayers and significant weakening of healthy commercial banks who are almost forced to take over those doubtful assets," Zajicek said.

"The role of the Federal Reserve System is to protect the soundness of the banking system, and not to bail out investment bankers."

Walter

Sources: Wall Street Journal, LEER Financial Wealth Management, Flower

Online Dating Helping Pathetic Women (Even Men, Too!) Get Their Hopes Crushed More Efficiently

Walter

Video courtesy of the Onion News Network

360 News & Comment

The world's largest atom-smasher has been shut down for two months following a helium leak, just ten days after it was switched on amid great fanfare to probe the secrets of the universe.

"There has been an incident in a test. One section of the machine will have to be repaired," James Gillies, a spokesman for the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), told the AP. A CERN spokesman said in a funny, high squeaky voice that a fault resulted in a "large helium leak into the tunnel.”

Is it just me or did all the wild weather, volcanoes and earthquakes just suddenly stop when they turned off the atom smasher? It’s so quiet, weather-wise. You know, almost a little too quiet when you hear this next story....

(PhysOrg.com) -- Abrupt climate change has occurred on earth many times over the past millions of years. Climate scientists hypothesize that these sharp transitions may be caused when the earth system reaches a tipping point, or a critical value, resulting in a change of several degrees. These abrupt transitions have caused, for example, the formation and melting of glaciers throughout the earth, North Africa’s change from savannah to desert 5,000 years ago, and various other changes.

Now, a recent study has shown that there might be an early warning signal that heralds climatic tipping points. By analyzing the geological records of eight ancient abrupt climate shifts, scientists have found that each shift is each preceded by a period of relative calm.

Like the calm we’re experiencing right now. Anybody else want to join me in cheering for just a little earthquake right now just to shake things up? Or maybe we should turn that atom-smasher back on!

(PhysOrg.com) -- Why does it seem many people begin with political preferences and then try to find reasons justifying their inclinations? Why is it so difficult to sway people who care deeply about politics no matter how compelling the facts or persuasive the prose? University of Nebraska-Lincoln research may help to answer these questions.

By monitoring people's physical sensitivities to things like sudden noises and threatening visual images, political scientists were able to conclude that physiological reactions help predict variations in political beliefs.

For the first time, political scientists show that people who are physiologically highly responsive to threat are likely to advocate policies that protect against threats to the social unit: favoring defense spending, capital punishment, patriotism and the Iraq War. In contrast, people who are less startled by sudden noises and threatening visual images are more likely to support foreign aid, liberal immigration policies, pacifism and gun control.

I’m so curious to find out if that’s true-right-wing-religious-conservatives are that way because they’re more easily startled. So maybe the first question at the first presidential debate should just be, “Boo!” And then we’ll know whether McCain really is the conservative he says he is!

And there is other new research into the differences between Republicans and Democrats.

Half of all Americans believe they are protected by guardian angels, one-fifth say they've heard God speak to them, one-quarter say they have witnessed miraculous healings, 16 percent say they've received one and 8 percent say they pray in tongues, according to a survey released Thursday by Baylor University.

The wide-ranging survey of 1,648 adults, who were asked 350 questions on their religious practices last fall, reveals a significant majority who are comfortable with the supernatural.

“Mystical experiences are widespread,” said Rodney Stark, co-director of Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion.

The survey, which has a margin of error of four percentage points, also revealed that theological liberals are more apt to believe in the paranormal and the occult - haunted houses, UFOs, communicating with the dead and astrology - than do conservatives.

Baylor researchers also criticized a much-ballyhooed “new atheism” as a barely discernable trend, saying the number of Americans who are atheists has stayed at 4 percent since 1944.

Why? Atheism is a “godless revolution that never happened,” the survey said, adding that irreligion often is not effectively transmitted to children who, when they reach adulthood, often join conservative religious denominations.

Peter Fenwick has been doing some amazing research on stuff just like for his book, “The Art of Dying.” What percentage of Americans have been visited by the dead? It’s all in the book. Plus a whole chapter on how to die a good death.

Maybe Microsoft’s marketing department ought to read that.

Two weeks ago there was a weird two-minute commercial with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld all about shoes and edible computers? It lasted two days before the whole campaign was yanked.

Now, in their latest battle against the surging Apple products, the Microsoft marketing geniuses decided to hire a look-a-like actor for the Mac “I’m a PC” commercials. Except there’s a hitch.

(Computerworld) Several digital images that Microsoft Corp. has posted on its Web site to trumpet its new "I'm a PC" advertising campaign were actually created on Macs, according to the files' originating-software stamp.

Four of the images that Microsoft made available to the press display the designation "Adobe Photoshop C3 Macintosh" when their file properties are examined. The images appear to be frames from the television ads which just started running.

Once more the Microsoft marketing department just might be hitting Ctrl + Alt + Del and having to reboot all over again.

Walter

Morgan, Goldman Seek Deposits; Eat Banks for `Lunch'

Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Inc., the two largest remaining independent U.S. securities firms, may add to the $81 billion of financial services deals unveiled during the past week as they morph into banks.

Morgan Stanley plans to sell as much as a 20 percent stake for $8.4 billion to Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan's largest bank, to shore up capital. Goldman Sachs said that its new status as a bank will help it purchase assets.

Stock market declines of the past 10 days helped push Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. into bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch & Co. into a takeover by Bank of America Corp. That's helped financial services leapfrog the mining industry to become the most active for mergers and acquisitions this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Regional banks probably will become ``lunch'' for larger institutions, JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst Steven Alexopoulos told clients yesterday.

``We are seeing deals that are highly opportunistic and speedily arranged, where targets are distressed,'' said Marco Boschetti, co-head of global mergers and acquisitions at the Towers Perrin consulting firm in London.

Eyeing `Attractive' Assets

Goldman Sachs, granted permission Sept. 21 to transform into a bank holding company, may raise capital to buy assets assuming it finds the right opportunities, said company spokesman Lucas van Praag in New York.

``If we see assets that are attractive, we might raise capital in order to be able to acquire them,'' he said yesterday, adding that Goldman has ``no immediate plans to raise capital.''

Goldman, now the sixth-largest U.S. bank by market value, is more interested in buying deposits than in buying entire banks, according to a person familiar with the firm's thinking. The firm sees opportunities to buy deposits in the wholesale market and also to buy deposits of failed institutions, such as IndyMac Bancorp Inc., that are under the control of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the person said.

Morgan Stanley, which already has more than 3 million retail brokerage accounts, said yesterday it plans to ``pursue initiatives to expand the retail banking services it offers its retail clients and build a stable base of core deposits.''

Reluctant Bidders?

Morgan Stanley's deposits amounted to about 4 percent of the firm's liabilities at the end of August, while Goldman's amounted to 2 percent of liabilities, CreditSights Inc. analyst David Hendler wrote in a note to investors yesterday. At larger banks, deposits typically account for between 40 percent and 60 percent of liabilities, he wrote.

``We cannot rule out that these companies could pursue bank acquisitions in order to increase their deposit funding more in- line with a typical bank,'' Hendler wrote. Yet their depressed stock prices may make Goldman and Morgan Stanley reluctant to enter deals ``until some premium has been restored.''

Goldman fell $6.41, or 5.3 percent, to $114.37 at 1:21 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Morgan Stanley dropped 41 cents to $26.68.

Washington Mutual Inc., the Seattle savings and loan that put itself up for sale this month, has at least five companies mulling takeover bids, said a person familiar with the matter yesterday. They include Toronto-Dominion Bank, JPMorgan in New York, Well Fargo & Co. of San Francisco and New York-based Citigroup Inc., the second-, third- and fourth-biggest banks.

Window Opening

The next several weeks present a ``window'' for financial firms to issue new capital or merge, said Michael Mayo, a New York-based analyst at Deutsche Bank AG. The U.S. Treasury's plan to buy troubled assets, disclosed Sept. 18, and a temporary ban on short-selling make it easier to shore up capital, he said.

Morgan Stanley and Goldman probably will increase deposits by targeting retail and corporate banking customers by selling products such as certificates of deposits, said Richard Bove, an analyst at Ladenberg Thalmann & Co. in Lutz, Florida.

``There's a whole bunch of small banks in the United States that might be willing to sell out to them, but not big banks,'' Bove said. ``Why would they want to link up with a company which is struggling to stay alive?''

Lloyds TSB Group Plc, the London-based bank that's acquiring HBOS Plc, Britain's biggest mortgage lender, may put about 9 billion pounds ($16.6 billion) of assets up for sale, including the Scottish Widows money management unit, analysts said. Lloyds TSB agreed to buy Edinburgh-based HBOS for 12.5 billion pounds last week after the bank lost almost half its market value on concern it was cut off from funds for loans.

Danish Bank Mergers

``Whilst we anticipate higher levels of M&A activity in financial services than many other sectors, we expect a return to the fundamentals of how good deals get done,'' Towers Perrin's Boschetti said.

In Denmark, Ebh Bank A/S put itself up for sale yesterday as it cut its full-year pretax profit forecast to zero and removed Chief Executive Officer Finn Strier Poulsen after bad real-estate related loans were larger than expected. Two regional Danish lenders, Forstaedernes Bank A/S and Lokalbanken i Nordsjaelland A/S, also received bids last week from rival Scandinavian banks.

Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov agreed yesterday to buy half of Renaissance Capital to inject funds into the Moscow- based investment bank. Prokhorov's Onexim Group holding company will pay $500 million for 50 percent minus one share of Renaissance Capital, he told reporters in Moscow.

Flowers, Lone Star

Edward Eyerman, head of leveraged finance at Fitch Ratings in London, said J.C. Flowers & Co. and Lone Star Funds are among leveraged buyout firms that will scour the market for distressed financial services companies.

``We may see the private equity guys coming into the market,'' said Frederick Lane, a former co-head of mergers at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, who now runs Boston-based Lane Berry & Co. in an interview.

CVC Capital Partners Ltd., Europe's biggest private equity firm by assets, started a team this month to scour for financial-services investments. Dallas-based Lone Star agreed last month to buy IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG, Germany's first casualty of the subprime mortgage crisis, for about 150 million euros ($220 million). In the U.S., Bain Capital LLC and Hellman & Friedman LLC are jointly negotiating to acquire Lehman's asset-management unit, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Walter

Sources: CNBC, WSTR, AP