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Apple's iPhone is 5 years old today and in that short period of time it has changed the information ecosystem.  I wonder what Apple TV will do?
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A recent court decision may pretty much end the building of any future coal-fired power plants. Natural gas is the likely winner.  Buy UNG?  Money quote:

 "The agency is also preparing to issue first-ever standards for carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants, which are likely to spur utilities to opt for cleaner natural-gas burning plants instead."

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Stockton CA is bankrupt. Retirees are screwed. "My prediction is that retiree health care is cut. I wouldn't be surprised to see it cut to zero," says a bankruptcy attorney.  Is Illinois next? Watch out for Muni bonds.


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Merkel is adamant that she will not bail out the PIIGs. "Not as long as I live." Could this be the bottom?  I wouldn't short this market.


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Disclosure: I own AAPL and UNG, among other long positions. I have covered all shorts.

Links to Drink By: Wednesday AM

I know this is the lazy man's way to blog, but this is what I'm reading:

Newt Gingrich took $1.6 million from Fannie and Freddie.  What, you mean it's not Barney Frank's fault!!?

Six reasons why young people leave Christianity, especially in Ireland...

God's power presented graphically.

Businessweek: Americans won't do dirty jobs.

"Fathoming Amazon"

Charles P. Pierce: 2012 election field is an embarrassment to democracy

Jimmy Fallon as Jim Morrison

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Irish billionaire goes bust: the biggest individual loser of the current financial meltdown.  Why didn't he just buy bonds and retire 20 years ago?

John Corzine is another case for the rich just buying municipal bonds and retiring: now Corzine's fortune is up for grabs.

John Feinstein: Paterno is not the victim, and...

Jeffrey Pollard: What Paterno could do now to promote healing

Former Vice-Chair of the Federal Reserve Alan Blinder: The Folly of the Flat Tax

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David Foster Wallace was a dick...or had a very dry sense of humor.

112,000 owners make the Packers unique.

The illusion of skill, read Kahneman's entire piece.

Qadaffi, just another dead asshole who spent his nation's wealth.  Take my word for it, don't even bother with the link...it's too depressing.

No due process for American citizen Awlaki, or his 16-year-old son.

Spain's stolen babies.

Links to Drink By: So much negative news...

...it must mean something good is about to happen!!!

Only Tony Blair has a worse legacy than George W. Bush.

Increasing Antarctic sea ice is consistent with global warming thesis.

Eventually we will need to increase the gas/oil consumption taxes.

Is the "Mosque" kerfuffle actually a demonstration of our tolerance? (I don't buy it.)

Wiki-leaks' Julian Assange is an alleged rapist-- or not. Something is very strange about this affair.

Is Tiger Woods Finished?

Mom and Pop investors are leaving the stock market...

...even Fortune Mag is losing their shit...

... as domestic LEI's portend sluggish US growth.

Yet Caterpillar (CAT) sees economic strength...

... from strong Asian economic growth in this cycle...

..thus, materials on the long side makes sense.

Pat Tillman bio-flick is out. See how your government lies to its heroes' family; but reviewer calls film fair to both sides.

Israel banging the war tom-tom (again).

Keyne's biographer says he would call for more regulation and stimulus. (Duh.)

Good News: AIG paying back some (tiny amount of) TARP.

Ozzie Guillen not happy with his White Sox.

Regardless, I still like my Sox:

(No, that is not me.)

Weekend Links: From Orwell to Palin to the Grateful Dead

Would George Orwell have defended Mao and Stalin?

Having died in 1949, George Orwell avoided the choice that many leftists faced during the Cold War. As a young man, he had fought as a pro-Marxist in the Spanish Civil War, but was not faced with the dilemma of defending the totalitarian scourge that Marxism brought to Asia.

(h/t TV)

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Is Germany just a nation of 80 million Tea Partiers?

Fifty-three percent of Germans want Greece thrown out of the Eurozone, and two-thirds were against any bailout of the troubled country. What would Germany do about cost-effective solutions to the impending civil unrest in Greece?

Or, is Greece predictive of the West's 60-year failed experiment with the welfare state?

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Do engineers make good public officials? I found one candidate who stands opposite to me on every single issue-- except maybe gun rights: but does it really need to be the #1 issue? Is the government really ready to take away your .22? (One side note: nearly every single housemate I had in college was an engineering major; I will maintain that they tended to be very disciplined and regimented in their studies and lifestyles.)

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Is Medicare Advantage (MA) a cost-benefit disaster? The 20% who have MA plans are healthier and wealthier, yet their care is relatively more costly to the taxpayers.

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Glenn Beck: national savior or just another humorous dry-drunk?

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Your retirement portfolio is still all about asset allocation and, yes, cash is a valid category.

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Most dangerous opinion piece I read this week... and the rational response.

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Gallup says that Sarah Palin is the #2 choice for Republican Presidential candidate, and the generic Republican candidate trails Obama by a mere 44-42% margin. Yikes.

Future President (?!) Sarah Palin on the Daytona 500: "Haven’t thought a darn thing about the politics of this. I’m thinking about this good, active, speed-loving event that a lot of Alaskans, too, are really into. We’ve got our snow-machine races up there, and this is, of course, on a much greater scale, same type of sport though, same type of breath-taking, speed-loving, All-American event that we like to see up north.”

WTF?

And then we have "her public" relishing in her ignorance. It's not so much that Future President Palin wrote on her hand... it's that she had to write tax cuts, as if that were new and a novel Republican talking point! And she didn't even get it right and had to cross off budget first. WTF?

One more on Palin: Why is she even concerned about a cartoon? Why is she (again) using her family to run interference for her? Or is she feeling maligned because the disabled have jobs? Note to Future President Palin: they were making fun of you, not your son.

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Management secrets of the Grateful Dead. With apologies to Oscar Wilde: "Once they’re not dangerous anymore, it’s okay to discuss them in serious ways."

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Grab a beer... here's what I've been reading and watching:

If you see a dollar in the street, kill it.

All the lovely medical experts amongst us.

Look who says the Oath Keepers are *right*

Alan Grayson is the new star of the progressive left. Here's why. (discussion regards ACORN).

I suppose any job can put you to sleep.

The biggest f*&king reason to watch the World Series.

How did our oil get under their sand?

Frontline episode on the "dark market" (when you have an hour to spare)

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Michelle Malkin, the self-appointed moral arbiter, on The View. Watch Whoopi's face.

That evil terrorist black Muslim president wants to kill Grandma!

Weak economy = hotter waitresses: is it leading or lagging?

Richard Wolffe and conflicts of interest at MSNBC

AP and other media outlets get the health care reform numbers wrong.

Travolta leaving Scientology? Probably not.

Product alert: Don't use Scotch Magic 810 sticky tape to make your tinfoil hat.

Health care reform: too much cost, not enough control?

Debunking yet more birther idiocy. Is there no end?

The Seinfeld gang is coming back!!