Snapler

March 12, 2010

Reality Check for Bank Investors, Mortgage Investors and Home Buyers



Last week I posted a Bloomberg news article supporting my suspicions that investors are putting bad loans back to the banks at an increasing rate. I used JP Morgan as a specific example -Banks

More...

The Most Important Moment From LAST Week’s Lost

Filed under: News, Original Content — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — Rob Cohen @ 2:14 am
Well, it's been over a week since last week's episode. Crazy how it works like that. If I had a nickel for every time I fell behind on a blog I was semi-invested in, I'd have, well, a quarter, maybe. But it's time to get back on the bandwagon--and at least for this post, I PROMISE to keep it short... 'cause I gotta write another one, ASAP.

Part of why I never posted last week is because it was a great all-around episode, so it was hard to pick out a particular scene. There were a ton of amazing moments, but I couldn't figure out which was the most IMPORTANT.

More...

March 11, 2010

Chinese Media Warns of More Unrest in Xinjiang, But Analysts Not Convinced

China's state-owned Xinhua News Agency warned this week of a third summer of ethnic clashes in the Muslim Uyghur-dominated autonomous region of Xinjiang. But scholars say that recent deployments of thousands of Chinese police could quell a potential uprising.

Information from the remote region, situated on China's western frontier, is hard to come by after the Chinese government's ongoing restriction of Internet and telecommunications after riots last year. Still, international experts say that poverty and tension with ethnic Chinese continue to fuel discontent among Uyghurs.

More...

Joe Biden, East Jerusalem and A Divided Israel

As has been widely reported in the news this week, during Vice President Biden's trip to Israel, the Israeli Interior Ministry announced plans to build 1600 new homes in East Jerusalem. This has been described by some as a slap in the face by the Israeli Government of the Obama Administration's attempt to restart peace negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. However, what many commentators have missed is that the row over settlements during Vice President Biden's trip to Israel is not between Israel and the U.S. Rather, it is between different segments in Israeli society and indicative of a deeper problem.

A small, but vocal, segment of Israeli Jews has asserted its view of Judaism - one in which the most important overriding concern is that God gave the Land of Israel to the Jewish people. This group of Israelis asserts its worldview while the majority of Israelis - secular and religious - have remained quiet in recent years. In the case of East Jerusalem, this plays out so that rather than negotiate the status of Jerusalem as part of a peace agreement, these Israelis who seek control over the entirety of the Land of Israel aim to enclose the Old City of Jerusalem by a Jewish buffer zone of Jewish enclaves between and within Palestinian neighborhoods. This will effectively prevent Jerusalem from ever being divided or from ever being claimed as a Palestinian capital.

More...

Massa’s White Collar Playground

The very first time I ever watched the Glenn Beck show was this week when Eric Massa was his only guest. It was clear from Beck's hilarious set-up, including the questions he had written on a blackboard, that his expectations were high. In fact, there seemed to be salivating involved.

What followed was absolutely unwatchable, except that it was hard to turn away. There was something about Eric and Glenn together that seemed to make them both worse than they already were, if that is possible either theoretically or realistically. Later I saw a set of clips from "the interview" on Countdown and the fabulous Lawrence O'Donnell, in for Keith, was doing a little salivating of his own, thrilled even to introduce such a trainwreck.

More...

Paris Fashion Week’s Catwalk Locks: Which Are Hair DOs? (PHOTOS, POLL)

The hair at Paris Fashion Week was as statement-making as the clothes themselves. From fauxhawks at Gaspard Yurkievich to teased cavewomen manes at Chanel, we rounded up images of our favorite catwalk locks. Which are hair DOs? And which are total don'ts?



More...

‘Soul Of A Citizen’ Excerpt: The Real Rosa Parks

Last week, I began my excerpts from Soul of a Citizen by writing about the costs of cynicism. One reason people despair so easily these days is that we often have little sense of how change has occurred in times past, and of what it took for ordinary people to persist until they prevailed. The Rosa Parks story offers an example that we all think we know, but where the story as usually told omits the key context and blurs the key lessons.


* * *


More...

Alternative Spring Break: College Students Spend Week Off Volunteering

At colleges and universities across the nation, students are ditching plans to relax on sun-drenched beaches, opting instead to spend their spring breaks on service trips both within the U.S. and around the world. Some schools have organized their own 'Alternative Spring Break' trips, while others are sponsored by the United Way. Whether it's rebuilding hurricane-ravaged communities in New Orleans or spending a week volunteering abroad, the popularity of service-based spring break trips has been growing in recent years.

Many students, emotionally affected by January's devastating earthquake in Haiti, were eager to spend their spring breaks volunteering on the island nation. Aid organizations, however, have warned student groups that the situation in the country is too fragile to permit student volunteers to lend a hand.

More...

March 10, 2010

‘Brad Pitt And Angelina Jolie: The True Story’: Jenny Paul Gives Exclusive Details

'Brad Pitt And Angelina Jolie: The True Story' comes out next week and asserts that Angelina slept with Mick Jagger when she was in her early twenties and that she and Brad plan to have 13 children, among other things. There were more than a few inconsistencies in the last Brangelina tell-all, so take what you will.

HuffPost exclusive: Author Jenny Paul gave the following details to Life & Style:

More...

Jane Birkin Beams At Hermes Show (PHOTO)

Jane Birkin attends the Hermes Ready to Wear show as part of the Paris Womenswear Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2011 at Halle Freyssinet on March 10, 2010 in Paris, France. (Photo by Francois Durand/Getty Images)

Birkin, of course, is the muse behind the Hermes Birkin bag, as well as the mother of Charlotte Gainsbourg.

More...
Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress