Gotta love the Letterman

Game 3

We finally won a game. Yay for us!!! We must be really good coaches . :) The kids finally figured out how to play soccer as a team rather than as an individual sport. Way to go guys!! Drew finally found a position he likes playing. He didn't let any balls through on his watch. Wish us luck for Saturday.

Happy Birthday.

Sorry babe, I'm 2 weeks and 3 days late. Thanks for working all day, coaching soccer and then taking us out to dinner and to the climbing park on your birthday. You are truly the best!

What is wrong with us?

Right now, CNN Headline News is showing live footage of the latest, greatest OJ Simpson trial.

Meanwhile, the federal government is seriously considering a $700 billion bailout to huge multinational financial firms that recklessly went for profits at the risk of killing our economy. (I'm not sure I can adequately address the complexities of this crisis so I won't try, but this is basically Enron times 100 or more.) Some of that money will surely fund huge payouts (golden parachutes) to the CEOs of these failed companies. The government admits that some of the payouts will go to foreign banks. The money is to be administered by the Treasury Department with no oversight.

I have opinions as to what politicians are responsible for this, but this is bigger than politics. This is theft on a grand scale. You'd think that the fact that every man, woman, and child in America is getting signed up to pay $2000 to bail out these clowns would get our attention away from the OJ trial. This is an issue that all Americans of any political stripe should be outraged about. I hope you'll educate yourselves and then call your senators and representatives right away.

Here are a few quotes about this crisis that I think are right on.

Alan Grayson, candidate for U.S. House from Florida:

String 'em up.

In the last two days, the U.S. stock market has gone up by $1 trillion. That's because of a $700 billion direct transfer from taxpayers to financial corporations like AIG and, I guess, the expectation that another $300 billion will find its way into the deal before it's over. So tax dollars are being used to prop up the stock market, something that never happened even in the deepest depths of the Great Depression. It's corporate communism. That's the context.

Here is more context. $700 billion is over $2000 for every man, woman and child in America. For a family of seven, like mine, it's over $15,000. Someone just took $15,000 from me and my family, and gave it to anonymous bondholders whom I've never met, who have done nothing for me, to whom I owe nothing and -- right now -- I really don't like.

More context: you could take one percent of that amount -- one percent! -- and pay off the delinquency on every home mortgage in arrears in America. And keep people from losing their homes. But ordinary people get nothing from this Administration except grief.

Al Franken, candidate for U.S. Senate from Minnesota:

It is simply unacceptable to hand this much money to the Treasury Secretary and then just sit and hope we see it again. If we're putting our tax dollars -- $2,000 for every Minnesota taxpayer -- on the line, we should demand independent oversight to make sure our money is being used well. A good start would be telling CEOs of companies involved with this bailout that in the public sector, there's no such thing as a golden parachute -- so all excessive compensation, bonuses, and severance agreements are hereby cancelled. But we also need to restore the regulatory framework dismantled with George W. Bush in the White House and Norm Coleman in the Senate so that this doesn't happen again. And after eight years of an economic policy that's put Wall Street first and ignored Main Street, we need real relief for struggling homeowners and better regulation of financial products.

Edit to add a quote for party balance from South Carolina senator Jim DeMint:

This plan will not only cause our nation to fall off the debt cliff, it could send the value of the dollar into a free-fall as investors around the world question our ability to repay our debts," said DeMint. "It's also very likely that this plan will extend the cycle of bailouts, encouraging other companies to behave in reckless ways that create the need for even more bailouts, triggering an endless run on our treasury.

The plan caused the dollar to take a nosedive today, resulting in oil prices increasing $18.