Anne Pressly
She seemed to be recovering, but Anne Pressly, 26, a news reporter for KATV, who was bludgeoned in her home, has died. Her father said that she fought her attacker, and that every bone in her face was broken.
Pressly played commentator Ann Coulter in W, Oliver Stone’s portrayal of George W Bush.
Police reported that her credit card was used at a nearby gas station soon after the attack.
This little fellow’s Dad was just buried at Arlington, having died from injuries in a helicopter crash in Iraq. The juxtaposition of the three faces - uncomprehending baby, smiling monkey and grieving mom - is striking. After finding it on The Daily Dish, I sent it off to my wife this afternoon, then, as we do, moved on. I was feeling real good after getting some stuff done and listening to some tunes, then she emailed me back and told me they were from Altoona.
A college roommate turned me on to the jazz-rock group Chase. Bill Chase and three members of the band died in a plane crash way back in 1974, but their sound was sweet.
Bill Chase - Get It On
Bill Chase - Get It On (Live)
Bill Chase - Open Up Wide
Chez posted this on Deus Ex Malcontent. Somehow it reminds me of the TPM-aholics chats from about a week ago: Butthole Surfers- The Shame of Life
Ta-Nehisi Coates posted this on The Atlantic: Kool G Rap & DJ Polo - Streets of New York
A friend asked me about another Simon song, Don’t Want to Be Blonde Anymore, and I noticed this: Carly Simon - You Know What To Do
Update: Just ran across this, but she’s good: Diana Krall - The Look of Love
I’ve heard the name, but apparently don’t know enough about her: Tori Amos - Winter
Another Chez recommendation, a catchy tune, and a fun video for anyone that has built models: Guster - Satellite
Like former CIA analyst Tom Whipple, many industry pundits were predicting that OPEC would scale back production to maintain prices:
The peak oil crisis: In the eye of the storm
Currently the world’s attention is focused mostly on the credit squeeze that was precipitated by insolvent banks’ reluctance to admit their condition. Considering that the world’s governments have spent, lent, pledged, guaranteed, promised, or what-have-you, four trillion dollars in an effort to get banks loaning money again, it’s no wonder the markets leap or plunge on every twitch of the London lnterbank Offered Rate. Few commentators as yet seem to really grasp that behind the credit squeeze lies a universe of troubles: unaffordable mortgages, falling housing prices, dropping consumer sales, rising unemployment, defaulting home equity, car and credit card loans. This recession, or whatever it ends up to be, is still in the first inning.
So where does all this leave the world’s oil supply - the life blood of our civilization? Recent reports say world production dropped rapidly in September. As stockpiles seem to be rising, we can presume OPEC will cut production again or be faced with much lower oil prices. Given that nearly all the world’s oil exporters have let their economies become accustomed to six years of steadily climbing oil revenues, they, as well as their customers, are in for some hard times.
And, OPEC did just that. They had planned to meet after the election, but the economy just wouldn’t wait. OPEC’s announcement after the fold:
Michelle Bachmann forgot she wasn’t on Faux News, now she tries, tries, tries to let it ride.
Those comments, made to Chris Matthews on “Hardball” last Friday, alleging that Barack Obama held “anti-American” views immediately lit up the blogosphere, energized the campaign of former Blaine Mayor Elwyn Tinklenberg (great name!) and turned Bachmann’s race from an afterthought into one of the most high profile House races in the country.
Tinklenberg has raised more than $800,000 in the aftermath of Bachmann’s comments and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee communications director Jen Crider has called this a “$1 million mistake” on the part of the Republican incumbent.
D.L.: Well, for starters, you probably like to believe that women think before they talk. Bachmann suggests otherwise. Like me, you probably thought that if women do anything better than men, it’s nuance. Hmm. Not so. Does it comfort you at all that Bachmann’s stupid comments may have helped snatch electoral defeat out of the jaws of victory for her?
A.W.: It does indeed. I have myself donated happily to her opponent. That incident is, I have to say, one of the more enjoyable things that has happened in this election cycle. It might just delude me into thinking that justice is possible.
Russia, Iran and Qatar made the first serious moves Tuesday toward forming an OPEC-style cartel on natural gas, raising concerns that Moscow could boost its influence over energy markets spanning from Europe to South Asia.
"Gas is a regional commodity and oil is an international commodity," Ebel said. "If you want to buy a tanker of crude, you can buy one at today's prices. When you want to build a natural gas pipeline, you have to have two things: enough gas to justify building a pipeline that will operate for 25 years, and ... customers that will agree to buy that gas at a range of prices for 25 years."
Iran resurrected its idea of a "gas cartel" to control gas markets like oil. But even if it succeeds, the U.S. won't be vulnerable. If you wonder why, look to the governor of Alaska.
Gazprom, the biggest Russian energy company, offered to help Alaska increase natural gas supplies to the U.S. mainland, even after Governor Sarah Palin warned against Russian resurgence while campaigning for vice president.
The Russian state-run natural gas company sent eight senior executives to Anchorage for talks Monday with officials from the state Department of Natural Resources and with the ConocoPhillips chief executive, Jim Mulva, state and company officials said.
Gazprom, which supplies a quarter of the natural gas used by Europe, is seeking to increase its reach with projects around the world, including in North America. The courtship of Alaska comes less than a month after Palin criticized Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for "rearing his head" regarding the Russian maritime border with her state.
"The timing is as interesting as the visit itself," said Chris Weafer, chief strategist at UralSib Financial in Moscow. "Gazprom's entire senior management goes into Sarah Palin's backyard during a contentious election. There's a message there."
In NY Magazine, a hedge fund manager burns some bridges, and more than a little hemp:I now have time to repair my health, which was destroyed by the stress I layered onto myself over the past two years, as well as my entire life - where I had to compete for spaces in universities and graduate schools, jobs and assets under management - with those who had all the advantages (rich parents) that I did not. May meritocracy be part of a new form of government, which needs to be established. On the issue of the U.S. Government, I would like to make a modest proposal. First, I point out the obvious flaws, whereby legislation was repeatedly brought forth to Congress over the past eight years, which would have reigned in the predatory lending practices of now mostly defunct institutions.
These institutions regularly filled the coffers of both parties in return for voting down all of this legislation designed to protect the common citizen. This is an outrage, yet no one seems to know or care about it. Since Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith passed, I would argue that there has been a dearth of worthy philosophers in this country, at least ones focused on improving government. Capitalism worked for two hundred years, but times change, and systems become corrupt. George Soros, a man of staggering wealth, has stated that he would like to be remembered as a philosopher. My suggestion is that this great man start and sponsor a forum for great minds to come together to create a new system of government that truly represents the common man's interest, while at the same time creating rewards great enough to attract the best and brightest minds to serve in government roles without having to rely on corruption to further their interests or lifestyles. This forum could be similar to the one used to create the operating system, Linux, which competes with Microsoft's near monopoly. I believe there is an answer, but for now the system is clearly broken.
Many people who can comfortably use "carbon footprint," "global warming" and "energy offset" in a sentence will toss a bottle or can into a blue recycling bin and call it a day. Those who are somewhat more committed may swap incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescents, rely on cloth shopping bags and turn to mass transit.
Then there are people like Ms. Astyk, 36, a writer and a farmer who is trying, with the aid of a specially designed calculator, to whittle her family's energy use to 10 percent of the national average. She and her husband, Eric Woods, a college professor, grow virtually all their own produce, raise chickens and turkeys, and spend only $1,000 a year in consumer goods, most of which they buy used. They air-dry their clothes, and their four sons often sleep huddled together to pool body heat.
They began this regimen in 2002. "My husband and I started to talk about climate change, and oil prices were going up," Ms. Astyk said. "The other factor was a justice issue. There was a great disparity between the resources used by the third world and by us, so we decided we had to cut back." Some people may view Ms. Astyk and her family as role models, pioneers who will lead us to a cleaner earth.
Others may see them as colorful eccentrics, people with admirable intentions who have arrived at a way of life close to zealotry. To others they come across as "energy anorexics," obsessing over personal carbon emissions to an unhealthy degree, the way crash dieters watch the bathroom scale.
Ms. Astyk has heard such talk but says her neighbors' attitudes have softened as energy prices have risen. "People have moved gradually from 'Sharon is a fruitcake' to 'Sharon is a fruitcake who might make some sense,' " she said.
Anne Pressly
Anne Pressly, 26, a news reporter for KATV, was assaulted in her home on Club Road in the Country Club neighborhood last night and suffered serious wounds.
A police spokesman initially said Pressly was “beaten and stabbed” and that her injuries were “life-threatening.” The police do not have a suspect.
4 PM UPDATE: Officials remain mum about Pressly’s condition, but sources say it is critical. KATV General Manager Dale Nicholson issued this statement about Pressly in the late afternoon. A KATV afternoon report confirmed a source’s report to us that Pressly’s injuries seemed due to “blunt force trauma,” a beating so severe that it tore skin. She may not have been stabbed.
-snip-
Pressly has a small role in the current movie, “W,” Oliver Stone’s portrayal of George W. Bush. She played commentator Ann Coulter in the movie, much of it filmed in Shreveport.
Just saw live footage of her on Inside Edition. She’s actually a lot prettier than Coulter. Too soon to draw conclusions, but I hope she pulls through.
Update: According to the NY Times, Pressly was beaten unrecognizable. Police are still calling it a robbery.
Democracy Now puts a face on the mortgage crisis:
Woman loses son in Iraq, then faces foreclosure
FDIC Chair Sheila Bair
Earlier this week, an unlikely critic emerged of the government’s massive bailout of the financial industry. Sheila Bair, the chair of the FDIC, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, criticized the federal government for failing to take more aggressive steps to prevent Americans from losing their homes.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Bair said, “We’re attacking it at the institution level as opposed to the borrower level, and it’s the borrowers defaulting. That is what’s causing the distress at the institution level. So why not tackle the borrower problem?”
Bair said that the financial markets and the economy are unlikely to stabilize until home prices stop falling. In April she proposed that the Treasury Department develop a plan to make loans to as many as one million homeowners to minimize foreclosures. But the plan was opposed within the Bush administration.
Code PINK leads effort to stop foreclosure
Jocelyne Voltaire, mother of deceased Marine
Jocelyne Voltaire, a resident of Queens Village, New York, saw her home go up for auction after a mortgage company foreclosed. She had made a 50 percent down payment 20 years ago, but recently saw her mortgage payments sky-rocket under a predatory loan scam. Her mortgage is controlled by a company called “Litton Mortgage”, an affiliate of the Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs.
Voltaire had fallen behind on her payments in part because she no longer had the support of her son, a former Marine who served in the Iraq war. She was told her of son’s death just weeks after being informed of the foreclosure.
Jocelyne Voltaire’s home was set to go on the auction block on Friday. But a grassroots campaign led by the peace group Code PINK helped prevent the sale. Within hours of an emergency appeal, Code PINK raised more than ten thousand dollars to make a payment on Jocelyne’s home. The auction has been avoided for now, but Jocelyne still faces a crippling mortgage.
I’m guessing the son had gone back to the Middle East as a contractor. My wife’s nephew was considering the same course.
Following: 43
Followers: 59
Posts
Comments & Recommends
