Kool Kid
Madeleine before football camp. A cold front has brought winter cold+frost this morning, so I force the kids to bundle up before taking them to the pitch. In these troubled times, it is good to learn that Manchester United has no fear of losing its best players and that is because AIG, despite being bailed out by you and me, will continue its €25 million per year sponsorship. It is nice to know that our tax dollars go straight to WAGs row, Manchester, where new-money and guaudy mansions exist in their little gated community. Eitan anyway thinks this to be excellent investment - he would sooner eat eggplant than see Rinaldo leave Old Trafford.
Madeleine slugs away at reading - this morning it is Katie Morag, a can-do gal who lives on the Island of Struay (author: Mairi Hedderwick). Katie is continually harassed by unwitting family or embarrased in front of friends; she finds herself in predicaments requiring cool resolve and clever calculations - always she perserveres and we are the better for it. Morag reminds me of The Great Brain or Harriet The Spy but less developed - afterall, it is meant for early-stage readers and that is Madeleine whose sentences stumble from her mouth with little aid from me. She uses her sounds to work through more challenging words and I give her 5p for every time she says Ā instead of AH - she must pay me the same in reverse. At the end of today I give her a high-five for work well done.
"$250,000 over a lifetime? I bet they're stealing that every day in Washington."
A salty Alaskan on NPR re Senator Stevens' guilty verdict (presumably she will vote for Stevens next week)
"This thaw -- took a while to thaw, it's going to take a while to unthaw."
George W. Bush, on liquidity in the markets, Alexandria, La., Oct. 20, 2008
"There's no question about it. Wall Street got drunk -- that's one of the reasons I asked you to turn off the TV cameras -- it got drunk and now it's got a hangover. The question is how long will it sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments."
George W., speaking at a private fundraiser, Houston, Texas, July 18, 2008
"The economy is growing, productivity is high, trade is up, people are working. It's not as good as we'd like, but -- and to the extent that we find weakness, we'll move."
W., Washington, D.C., July 15, 2008
