April 6, 2009 archive

Apr 06 2009

Monday Morning Business Update

New News

1 Bankers rage at G20 ‘witch hunt’ against bonuses and buccaneers

Basic pay bumped up as City tries to retain risk-taking ‘talent’, warning it may go abroad

Elena Moya

The Guardian, Saturday 4 April 2009

Bankers and hedge fund managers were furious yesterday at attempts by the G20 to cap their pay and regulate them for the first time, calling it a “witch hunt” by world leaders.

“Regulation is generally bad. You should let the market decide what the people will get paid,” said Matthew Prest, managing director at Close Brothers investment bank. “Sometimes regulation has the opposite effect of what you want and I think bankers’ salaries regulation would fall under that category. I don’t hear anybody calling for Hollywood star salary caps. This is a trendy, fashionable thing to do, it will have bad consequences.”

The end of light-touch regulation heralded by the G20 summit will lead to far-reaching changes to the conduct of business in the City of London.

Apr 06 2009

Late Night Karaoke

Garage Bands Rule

Apr 06 2009

If War Is Hell

What does that make the Bushes?

Photo by Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times

New York Times:

For the first time in 18 years, the Pentagon granted the press access on Sunday night to cover the arrival of a coffin to Dover Air Force Base from overseas.

The coffin, draped in a flag and bearing the body of Air Force Staff Sgt. Philip Myers of Hopewell, Va, was unloaded from a government aircraft by the military honor guard. The 30-year-old Mr. Myers was killed by an improvised explosive device near Helmand Province in Afghanistan on April 4, according to the Defense Department.

A ban on news coverage of returning war dead, which had been in place since the Persian Gulf War in 1991, was lifted by the Obama administration following a review of the policy by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Apr 06 2009

Hours in the Saddle-Spiritual Renovations

We lost it.  When we invented the iron horse we lost our connection to the real ones and part of that loss was our connection to nature.  Sticking a key in the ignition is a far cry from sitting on top of a 1300 pound animal with a mind of his own.  Your car does not shudder at a sudden gust of wind, your car does not lock up at the smell of a suburban brush fire.  He has to trust you enough to tell him it’s OK.  He does because you have fed him, given him treats, cleaned the puss out of his wounds and mucked out his crap.  My job is to understand what they think and prevent them from hurting themselves, each other, or me.  Kind of like taking care of five year olds.  Five year olds though teach us the innocence that is childhood.

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