The B-Town Boyz

This blog SUCKS!

2010-06-27T11:42:00.000-04:00

Only a Matter of Time

2009-12-01T18:09:00.002-05:00

An animated interpretation of the Tiger Woods Incident.

Pure Genius

2009-11-24T10:14:00.002-05:00

I saw this last night on Jimmy Fallon and thought it was fukkin' awesome. (oh, and don't mind the 14 sec commercial at the beginning.)

Red Meat meets Glenn Beck

2009-11-16T02:59:00.003-05:00

secret knock lock that works

2009-11-04T04:29:00.001-05:00

"hey jude" flowchart

2009-11-02T11:57:00.000-05:00

RUSS: "Zac Can Rip a Horn Off an Anvil"

2009-10-22T10:08:00.003-04:00

I beg to differ...

2009-10-14T16:29:00.001-04:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Like Hiring the Wolves to Watch the Hens or Capitalism at it's Finest

2009-10-06T16:10:00.006-04:00

takes 3 minutes to read.

Firms are getting billions, but homeowners still in trouble

By Chris Adams | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON -- The federal government is engaged in a massive mortgage modification program that's on track to send billions in tax dollars to many of the very companies that judges or regulators have cited in recent years for abusive mortgage practices.

The firms, called mortgage servicers, have been cited for badgering, manipulating or lying to their customers; sticking them with bogus fees, or improperly foreclosing on them.

Mortgage servicers are the middlemen between homeowners and the investors that hold their mortgages, collecting homeowners' checks and disbursing payments for the mortgages, property tax and insurance. They're a necessary player for any modification.

The reliance on such companies points to an ironic paradox for federal regulators: Cleaning up the nation's financial crisis often rewards the firms that helped create the mess. Those Wall Street banks and mortgage servicing companies argue that they're best positioned to repair the damage they've helped cause. In the case of the mortgage program, the firms getting the taxpayers' money are, after all, the firms that control the troubled mortgages.

To make matters worse, the Government Accountability Office, Congress' watchdog, has said that the Treasury Department hasn't done enough to oversee the companies participating in what's known as the Home Affordable Modification Program, which emerged from the bank bailout bill Congress passed last fall.

The modification program has been slow to get off the ground. Since it began this spring, only 12 percent of a potential 3 million delinquent mortgages have begun the process of being reworked, or put into "a trial modification," according to Treasury Department data through August, the most recent available.

"We've consistently been behind this problem," said Mark Pearce, North Carolina's chief deputy commissioner of banks, who works with a state-level group of attorneys general from across the country. "Two years ago, maybe some were caught by surprise. But we still haven't gotten to a point where the servicers have demonstrated an ability to handle the problem."

Although it's early in the Treasury Department's program, housing advocates say the servicer industry for years has resisted helping customers with modifications. Donna and Ronnie Fruia, of Troutman, N.C., learned firsthand how difficult it can be.

The couple was in the midst of a series of health crises, and three members of the family — the couple's son, Donna's mother and Ronnie — were in the hospital.

It was then that Donna got an urgent call that somebody from her mortgage company, CitiFinancial, had just showed up in her husband's hospital room, where he was recovering from a stroke.

"They said, 'Some guy's in there aggravating him,'" she said.

"At the time, I couldn't even really talk that good," Ronnie said. "But he wanted me to sign a bunch of papers."

The Fruias had been trying to get a mortgage modification from CitiFinancial. The company, however, was pushing the Fruias to accept a modification that wouldn't have cut their interest rate, they said.

Only after the episode in the hospital room and the involvement of state regulators did CitiFinancial cut the mortgage's interest rate from 11.5 percent to 5 percent, lowering their monthly payment from $985 to $602. The process took from the start of the year until July.

"They were the perfect candidate for someone with a subprime rate getting a modification," said Henrietta Thompson, who as housing coordinator for United Family Services, a United Way-funded organization in Charlotte, helped the Fruias. "I know if the banking commissioner hadn't gotten involved, it wouldn't have happened."

While CitiFinancial, a unit of Citigroup Inc. — one of the largest recipients of TARP bailout funds — said it couldn't talk about specific customers, it's "pleased" that the case was resolved.

In 2007, an assistant attorney general in Iowa, Patrick Madigan, analyzed the looming mortgage meltdown and found that mortgage service companies have a "highly automated process, spending as little time as possible on an individual loan and preferably no time actually talking to the customer."

"Too many homeowners face foreclosure without receiving any meaningful assistance by their mortgage servicer, a reality that is growing worse rather than better," said a report from the State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group.

Under the Treasury Department's mortgage modification program, three parties can participate: the company that owns the loan, the company that services the loan, and the homeowner. All get a portion of the more than $20 billion that the federal government currently estimates it could spend to keep homes out of foreclosure.

While the Treasury said it's necessary to take in as many mortgage service companies as possible, the GAO found that the department wasn't doing enough to monitor the process.

In a July report, the GAO said that the department had "significant gaps in its oversight structure," and was short-staffed in the office monitoring the modification program. As of July — eight months into the program — the Treasury had filled fewer than half the positions in a key modification office. (Many of those jobs have since been filled, the department said.)

Beyond that, the government had conducted "readiness reviews" of only seven of 27 mortgage servicers the GAO examined; no more were planned. The reviews only included interviews with senior executives — and the information gathered wasn't verified.

"Treasury cannot identify, assess and address risks associated with servicers that lack the capacity to fulfill all program requirements," the GAO said.

Several companies in the Treasury program have been cited by judges or regulators for having engaged in improper behavior with their customers.

They include Select Portfolio Servicing Inc., a Utah-based company formerly known as Fairbanks Capital Corp.; Countrywide Home Loans Inc., now a unit of Bank of America Corp.; Carrington Mortgage Services LLC, based in California; Saxon Mortgage Services Inc., a unit of Morgan Stanley; EMC Mortgage Corp., now a subsidiary of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.; and Green Tree Servicing, a Minnesota company.

Ocwen Financial Corp., a Florida-based company that services more than 300,000 mortgages nationwide, could receive more than $200 million in TARP payments.

"Ocwen has screwed up my finances so bad you can't believe it," said Brad Rhoton, whose rental properties in the Houston suburbs are part of a nationwide lawsuit against Ocwen. "It's been the most maddening process you can imagine."

Rhoton's lawsuit charges that Ocwen constantly misapplied Rhoton's mortgage payments and tacked on unnecessary fees and insurance, causing his accounts to fall behind.

Over the years, Ocwen has lost other lawsuits and has been slapped down by a federal judge for its conduct.

In one Texas bankruptcy case, for example, a federal judge blasted Ocwen after it tried to pass the cost of a $1,000 sanction onto the customer it was cited for mistreating. When the judge found out, he said, "Ocwen's course of conduct in this proceeding bordered on the outrageous." He fined the company an additional $27,500.

The case was far from isolated, however. A jury in Galveston, Texas, ordered the company to pay $11.5 million, and one down the coast in Corpus Christi ordered it to pay $3 million for unfairly foreclosing on homeowners (both cases were then settled in the appeals process for undisclosed amounts).

In both cases, the plaintiffs were on the edge financially, and so when Ocwen added extra fees to their accounts. they quickly fell behind.

That was part of their strategy, plaintiffs' attorneys said. One of the key witnesses before both juries was a former Ocwen account officer who said the company trained its sights on customers who had substantial equity in their homes. In those cases, the company had the most to gain if customers lost their homes in foreclosure.

"We didn't treat the people very well, but the money was pretty good," the former account officer, Ron Davis, testified during one of the trials. (Davis couldn't be reached for further comment.)

The motive, he said, was simple: force people into foreclosure as a way to earn higher bonuses.

"We would call the customers and ask them what bridge they were going to live under," Davis testified.

A Bill Maher New Rule

2009-09-25T20:08:00.000-04:00

from huffingtonpost.com

New Rule: If America can't get its act together, it must lose the bald eagle as our symbol and replace it with the YouTube video of the puppy that can't get up. As long as we're pathetic, we might as well act like it's cute. I don't care about the president's birth certificate, I do want to know what happened to "Yes we can." Can we get out of Iraq? No. Afghanistan? No. Fix health care? No. Close Gitmo? No. Cap-and-trade carbon emissions? No. The Obamas have been in Washington for ten months and it seems like the only thing they've gotten is a dog.

Well, I hate to be a nudge, but why has America become a nation that can't make anything bad end, like wars, farm subsidies, our oil addiction, the drug war, useless weapons programs - oh, and there's still 60,000 troops in Germany - and can't make anything good start, like health care reform, immigration reform, rebuilding infrastructure. Even when we address something, the plan can never start until years down the road. Congress's climate change bill mandates a 17% cut in greenhouse gas emissions... by 2020! Fellas, slow down, where's the fire? Oh yeah, it's where I live, engulfing the entire western part of the United States!

We might pass new mileage standards, but even if we do, they wouldn't start until 2016. In that year, our cars of the future will glide along at a breathtaking 35 miles-per-gallon. My goodness, is that even humanly possible? Cars that get 35 miles-per-gallon in just six years? Get your head out of the clouds, you socialist dreamer! "What do we want!? A small improvement! When do we want it!? 2016!"

When it's something for us personally, like a laxative, it has to start working now. My TV remote has a button on it now called "On Demand". You get your ass on my TV screen right now, Jon Cryer, and make me laugh. Now! But when it's something for the survival of the species as a whole, we phase that in slowly.

Folks, we don't need more efficient cars. We need something to replace cars. That's what's wrong with these piddly, too-little-too-late half-measures that pass for "reform" these days. They're not reform, they're just putting off actually solving anything to a later day, when we might by some miracle have, a) leaders with balls, and b) a general populace who can think again. Barack Obama has said, "If we were starting from scratch, then a single-payer system would probably make sense." So let's start from scratch.

Even if they pass the shitty Max Baucus health care bill, it doesn't kick in for 4 years, during which time 175,000 people will die because they're not covered, and about three million will go bankrupt from hospital bills. We have a pretty good idea of the Republican plan for the next three years: Don't let Obama do anything. What kills me is that that's the Democrats' plan, too.

We weren't always like this. Inert. In 1965, Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare into law and 11 months later seniors were receiving benefits. During World War II, virtually overnight FDR had auto companies making tanks and planes only. In one eight year period, America went from JFK's ridiculous dream of landing a man on the moon, to actually landing a man on the moon.

This generation has had eight years to build something at Ground Zero. An office building, a museum, an outlet mall, I don't care anymore. I'm tempted to say that, symbolically, all America can do lately is keep digging a hole, but Ground Zero doesn't represent a hole. It is a hole. America: Home of the Freedom Pit. Ironically, it's spitting distance from Wall Street, where they knock down buildings a different way - through foreclosure.

That's the ultimate sign of our lethargy: millions thrown out of their homes, tossed out of work, lost their life savings, retirements postponed - and they just take it. 30% interest on credit cards? It's a good thing the Supreme Court legalized sodomy a few years ago.

Why can't we get off our back? Is it something in the food? Actually, yes. I found out something interesting researching last week's editorial on how we should be taxing the unhealthy things Americans put into their bodies, like sodas and junk foods and gerbils. Did you know that we eat the same high-fat, high-carb, sugar-laden shit that's served in prisons and in religious cults to keep the subjects in a zombie-like state of lethargic compliance? Why haven't Americans arisen en masse to demand a strong public option? Because "The Bachelor" is on. We're tired and our brain stems hurt from washing down French fries with McDonald's orange drink.

The research is in: high-fat diets makes you lazy and stupid. Rats on an American diet weren't motivated to navigate their maze and once in the maze they made more mistakes. And, instead of exercising on their wheel, they just used it to hang clothes on. Of course we can't ban assault rifles - we're the first generation too lazy to make its own coffee. We're the generation that invented the soft chocolate chip cookie: like a cookie, only not so exhausting to chew. I ask you, if the food we're eating in America isn't making us stupid, how come the people in Carl's Jr. ads never think to put a napkin over their pants?

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/new-rule-if-america-cant_b_299383.html

best idea ever

2009-09-19T05:06:00.000-04:00

prehistoric frustration

2009-09-13T05:02:00.001-04:00

This Video Just Screams "WTF?!"

2009-09-04T15:57:00.000-04:00

remote control face

2009-08-29T11:40:00.001-04:00

check this out. i'm not sure i like the idea of someone being able to remote control my face so precisely. the dude in the top right does his best not to laugh through most of the clip.

The Virgin Mary Makes Another Appearance

2009-08-24T21:54:00.001-04:00

I Wonder If They Make This For Big 'N Tall Guys?

2009-08-21T10:41:00.001-04:00

flowcharts + music = NERD LOVE

2009-08-19T03:11:00.004-04:00

i stole this from little red posting this on facebook

They Owe Me More Than That

2009-08-15T09:13:00.001-04:00

Finally! Years of drinking is finally paying off!

Drunk C Wants to Play XBox

2009-08-11T12:54:00.004-04:00

I picked up Tiger 10 a few weeks ago and convinced Big C and T to pick it up also. So we've gotten in to the habit of getting drunk and playing "one-ball" on Friday and/or Saturday nights. Last Friday afternoon, per protocol, I get a text message from Big C (also sent to T) setting up a "date" to play XBox later in the evening. I accepted, but Friday evening around 7-ish, Jackie and I decided to go get dinner. I sent a message that I would be home by 9 and we'd play then. Big mistake.

Big C and T had already started drinking and were playing 1 vs. 100 while waiting for me to join them for some Tiger. However, dinner ran later than expected and we also stopped at Meijer to pick up some groceries before going home. Long story short, I didn't make it home 'til 10:30. However, Big C, not being one to let my tardiness go unnoticed, decided to leave me a few drunken voicemails.

The first was promptly at 9PM, my original time to return home from dinner. He then called back at 9:30, at which time I did answer the phone and DID explain to him that I was at Meijer and would be home shortly. He was obviously drunk when I talked to him, but I was certainly enjoying the conversation. Then again, he called back at 10:01 PM to leave another voicemail 'cause I had not yet met them online to play XBox. I find it interesting to note that, while apparently drunk in his first voicemail, he is exponentially drunker in his second, only one hour later. He rambles about jerking each other off in the circle of trust.

Gotta love Big C. And you gotta love the fact that I was sober and have the technology to save and post my voicemails to the web. Enjoy...

EXACTLY!!!

2009-08-09T05:55:00.001-04:00

Top 20 Party Schools

2009-07-28T14:38:00.000-04:00

Props to you Bobcats and Mountaineers.

I Didn't Know a Chorus Could Do That...

2009-07-25T13:35:00.001-04:00

The rain effect is simply freakin' amazing! ...especially when the thunder kicks in. And how about that white-bread beat box?

Who Wants To Move....

2009-07-24T16:44:00.000-04:00

To Rhode Island?

never gonna give up your teen spirit

2009-07-23T09:42:00.001-04:00

i've never really gotten into the mash-up thing, but i had to watch this since i'm a big nirvana fan. i didn't realize rick astley was so grunge. pretty awesome.

For Fans of the "Planet Earth" Series

2009-07-20T10:42:00.000-04:00

Fuck Planet Earth
Uploaded by Nyxem. - Watch funny animal videos.

goals

2009-07-20T04:23:00.003-04:00

i was going to try to get my goals in order, but i couldn't be bothered to download the form. if you can be, you can go here to get the form.

Janet Tavakoli is...

2009-07-15T19:23:00.002-04:00

president of Chicago-based Tavakoli Structured Finance. Her company is a consulting firm for institutions and institutional investors on derivatives, the securitization of assets, and mergers and acquisitions. Her firm has done work for investment banks. Here is her take on the destruction of our economy for personal greed:

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. announced record earnings Tuesday of $3.44 billion for the second quarter of 2009.

Goldman's stock price leapt 77 percent for the first half of 2009, and closed Tuesday at $149.66 a share.

Without an ongoing series of front- and backdoor bailouts financed by U.S. taxpayers, most of Goldman's record profits would not have been possible.

In April 2009, Goldman Sachs' CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, who received record salary and bonus compensation of $68.5 million in 2007, said that bonus decisions made before the credit crisis looked "self-serving and greedy in hindsight." Now, they look self-serving and greedy with foresight.

Goldman set aside $11.4 billion for employee compensation and benefits, up 33 percent from last year. That's enough to pay each employee more than $390,000, just for the first six months of this year.

In June, Goldman bought back its preferred shares, repaying $10 billion it received from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, and setting it free of limits on executive compensation and dividends.
Don't Miss

But pay is not the key issue. U.S. taxpayers deserve a large cut of the profits, not the chump change -- less than a half-billion dollars -- they got from preferred shares in the company and the relatively small amount they could get from warrants in its stock.

U.S. taxpayers should insist that a large part of Goldman's revenues and profits belong to the American public. TARP money was just part of a series of bailouts and concessions that allowed Goldman to prosper at the expense of a flawed regulatory system.

In March 2008, Goldman, a primary dealer in Treasury securities, was among the beneficiaries of a massive backdoor bailout by the Federal Reserve Bank. At the time, Henry Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, was treasury secretary.

In an unprecedented move, the Fed created a Term Securities Lending Facility, or TSLF, that allowed primary dealers like Goldman to give non-government-guaranteed "triple-A" rated assets to the Fed in exchange for loans. The trouble was that everyone knew the triple-A assets were not the safe securities they were advertised to be. Many were backed by mortgage loans that were failing at super speed.

The bailout of American International Group, or AIG, ballooned from $85 billion in September 2008 to $182.5 billion. Of that money, $90 billion was funneled as collateral payments to banks that traded with AIG. American taxpayers may never see a dime of their bailout money again, but Goldman saw plenty.

Goldman may be the largest indirect beneficiary of AIG's bailout, receiving $12.9 billion in collateral, including securities lending transactions, from AIG after the government bailed out the insurance company.

The key question is whether Goldman asked AIG to insure products that were as dodgy as the doomed deal from Goldman Sachs Alternative Mortgage Products exposed by Fortune's Allan Sloan in his October 16, 2007, Loeb Award-winning article: "Junk Mortgages Under the Microscope."

If the federal government had not intervened and if AIG had gone into bankruptcy, Goldman probably would not have received its $12.9 billion from AIG. U.S. taxpayers and the American economy are owed some of the bailout money passed directly through AIG to Goldman.

Wall Street firms also reaped trading windfalls when AIG needed to close out its derivative transactions. This was the most lucrative windfall business in the history of the derivatives markets. When AIG left money on the table, it was U.S. taxpayer money.

Goldman Sachs was granted bank holding company status in the fall of 2008. It already had the temporary ability to borrow from the Fed through the TSLF, which would have expired in January 2009. Now it has permanent access to lending from the Fed.

Goldman can now compete with the largest U.S. banks and borrow money at interest rates pushed as close to zero as possible by the Fed. Goldman gets a further benefit: favorable accounting rule changes. In addition, Goldman issued $30 billion of debt with a valuable government guarantee that remains outstanding.

Meanwhile, the American public faces a rising unemployment rate, falling housing prices, rising unemployment, higher local taxes and a dismal economic outlook.

Interested men with reputations and fortunes at stake rode roughshod over public interest. The American public is owed part of the profits Goldman was able to make because of the largesse of our Congress.

Wall Street's "financial meth labs," including Goldman's, massively pumped out bad bonds and credit derivatives that have melted down savings accounts, pension funds, the municipal bond market and the American economy. Risky assets, leverage and fraud led to acute distress in the global financial markets.

The biggest crime on the American economy may go unpunished with no consequences to the perpetrators. The biggest crime was not predatory lending, but predatory securitizations, packages of loans that did not deserve the ratings or prices at the time they were sold. They ballooned what should have been a relatively small problem into a global crisis.

Wall Street owes the American public for its key role in bringing the global economy -- and in particular, the U.S. economy -- to its knees. Goldman is not alone in owing the American public. It is not the worst of all of the Wall Street firms. But among all of Wall Street's offenders, it is the most well-connected, and Goldman was the firm that cleaned up the most as the result of government bailouts.

dictionaraoke.org

2009-07-11T12:06:00.003-04:00

some of these were shite, but cameo's "word up" turned out well. pink floyd's "another brick in the wall", and nine inch nails's "closer" were good too. ah, MIDIs really do bring back the memories. check out the rest here.

the perils of sex ed

2009-07-09T04:32:00.001-04:00

holy SHITE!!!

2009-07-06T05:03:00.002-04:00

slow at the beginning but you get to see what tornado force winds can do to a train on the tracks.

Train Versus Killer Tornado - Watch more Funny Videos

Duke Nukem Disease

2009-07-03T11:37:00.000-04:00

The Jamie Farr Classic...

2009-07-02T18:54:00.002-04:00

LPGA Tournament in Toledo is happening this weekend. Might have to check out some LPGA.

probably not PC, but...

2009-06-30T05:39:00.001-04:00

hey... it's current events.

from QDB:

Farrah Fawcett dies, and goes to Heaven.
God says to her "You've been such a good sport, I'll let you have one wish."
She wishes for all the children of the world to be safe.
Michael Jackson appears beside her.
God says to Michael "You've also been a good sport for this, you may have a wish as well."
He wishes not to be black in Heaven.
Billy Mays shows up beside him with a bottle of Oxiclean

Denmark: 1973

2009-06-23T22:07:00.010-04:00

Ahead of America: 2009. If U.S. children read more books like this maybe they would understand what it means to be pregnant. And to see how we evolve from fish to human in just 9 months. Yep, books like these would be banned in most of the U.S. Keep scrolling, the best stuff is near the end.

jesus and mo

2009-06-21T05:26:00.001-04:00

Awesome Celebrity Commercials

2009-06-19T17:50:00.002-04:00

Mmm Mmm Mmm... Toasty

2009-06-18T22:34:00.000-04:00

abaconator?

2009-06-18T19:36:00.000-04:00

Oh, yeah!

calculating menstruation

2009-06-08T07:19:00.002-04:00

btw, if you click on the pic to go to the actual webpage, there is a mouseover, telling you the answer. just put your mouse over the pic and don't move it.

Here's Another One, Marie

2009-06-06T22:59:00.004-04:00

Too bad our nation's prison system is too full of non-violent, non-ponzi scheming drug offenders to fill up our prison system with these low-lifes... the real scum of the Earth.

No, I may be mistaken: as someone I know who said to me about the mortgage meltdown (which he used to be a part of the business) and I quote, "It's the niggers fault."

__________________________________

NEW YORK — A former Wall Street broker facing criminal charges linked to the subprime mortgage meltdown has become the target of an international manhunt, federal authorities said Friday.

Prosecutors notified a judge overseeing the case that Julian Tzolov disappeared on May 9 from a Manhattan home where he had been under house arrest since last year after surrendering his passport and posting a $3 million bond. An electronic monitor on his ankle had been removed.

Since then, investigators armed with an arrest warrant have "undertaken an extensive effort to determine Tzolov's whereabouts and apprehend him," prosecutors wrote in court papers.

They asked for a two-month postponement of the Bulgarian-born defendant's trial in Brooklyn as the search for him continues.

Defense attorney Ben Brafman said he lost contact with his client weeks ago.

"We have no idea where he is or what may have happened to him," the lawyer said Friday.

Tzolov, 36, had been set to go to trial on June 29 with former colleague Eric Butler, another former broker for Credit Suisse's private banking division. Both men pleaded not guilty in September to securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy charges.

An indictment alleges Tzolov and Butler duped foreign corporate customers into believing that $1 billion in securities being purchased in their accounts were backed by federally guaranteed student loans and were safe like cash.

In reality, the auction rate securities were backed by subprime mortgages, collateralized debt obligations and other high-risk investments, the authorities said. Because of their higher risk, they brought a higher yield and much larger commissions for the brokers.

Tzolov and Butler deceived clients by sending them e-mail confirmations in which the terms "St. Loan" or "Education" were added to names of other types of securities purchased for the customers, prosecutors said.

As a result, customers were stuck holding more than $800 million in securities that were not easily traded and lost their value when the market for the securities began to collapse in August 2007, according to the SEC.

Credit Suisse has said it notified authorities as soon as it became aware of the fraud, and is cooperating with the investigation. The defendants resigned in 2007.

In convicted, each man each faces up to 20 years in prison and a $5 million fine.

No Duh

2009-06-04T18:12:00.001-04:00

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators on Thursday charged Angelo Mozilo, the former chief executive of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp., and two other company executives with civil fraud.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's civil lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, also accuses Mozilo of illegal insider trading.

Countrywide was a major player in the subprime mortgage market, the collapse of which in 2007 touched off the financial crisis that has gripped the U.S. and global economies.

Civil fraud charges also were filed against Countrywide's former chief operating officer David Sambol, 49, and ex-chief financial officer Eric Sieracki, 52.

The trio "deliberately misled" Countrywide shareholders, SEC enforcement director Robert Khuzami said at a news conference at agency headquarters. While they painted a picture of robust performance, the real Countrywide was "buckling under the weight" of soured mortgage loans, he added.

Mozilo "was actively taking his own chips off the table" by selling his shares to reap nearly $140 million in illicit profits, Khuzami said.

This Generation (NSFW)

2009-06-02T20:27:00.001-04:00

Very Good "New Rules"

2009-05-29T23:48:00.001-04:00

Here Kitty Kitty

2009-05-19T18:00:00.000-04:00

View more awesome pictures at fukung.net

i gotta see this someday

2009-05-19T05:12:00.003-04:00

when i went to australia last year, i spent some time out at sea: diving, snorkeling, swimming, and just generally having a relaxing and enjoyable time. one night after dinner, the crew and guests were on the deck, getting to know each other, and having a few drinks when i looked up and saw more stars at one time than i'd ever seen in my life. it was truly breath-taking.

this is a long-exposure video watching the actual heart of the milky way rise above the horizon. that would be amazing to see.

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

The Irony, The Irony

2009-05-15T13:25:00.004-04:00

Edmund Andrews, the New York Times Economics Reporter, is having his house foreclosed upon. Doesn't sound like a poor black family who was given a loan by a bank which was forced, at gunpoint, by ACORN and the federal government to loan money to low-income people, does it?

Here are some quotes from Edmund Andrews:

"If there is anybody who should have avoided the mortgage catastrophe, it is me. As an economics reporter for The New York Times, I have been the paper's chief eyes and ears on the Federal Reserve for the past six years. I watched Alan Greenspan and his successor, Ben S. Bernanke, at close range. I wrote several early-warning stories in 2004 about the spike in go-go mortgages. Before that, I had a hand in covering the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the Russia meltdown in 1998, and the dot-com collapse in 2000. I know a lot about the curveballs that the economy can throw at us."

"Take a cue from the bank or Wall Street firm that is now trying to foreclose on your house. Don't apologize. They knew what they were getting into far better than you did. They knew they were in a giant Ponzi scheme, and they certainly should have known it would lead to disaster. They knew the housing bubble was a mirage. They knew their loans were absurd. They knew the triple-A ratings were bogus. They knew, they knew, they knew. They deserve whatever losses come their way."

Equal Rights? My Ass.

2009-05-08T16:33:00.001-04:00

If there was equality, would this still be considered sexist? Or would this just be a warranted move?

The Onion vs Star Trek

2009-05-07T14:24:00.001-04:00

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

Poker in the Front

2009-05-05T23:32:00.003-04:00

I was bored today, so I decided to spend 4 hours wasting time designing the official poker chip of the B-Town Boyz.

Economy Schmeconomy...

2009-05-03T12:49:00.002-04:00

Some people have REAL problems. (NOTE: Be sure to watch it 'til the very end.)

Fun With Z

2009-05-02T18:59:00.004-04:00

Play The Newest...

2009-05-01T22:39:00.000-04:00

online game sensation!

This IS the Camera for Me...

2009-04-30T11:45:00.000-04:00

The Final 5

2009-04-28T20:04:00.008-04:00

New Rule: If you acted in a FOX sketch comedy show, and your best character was an ugly woman, then you should never be given an Oscar. Let alone allowed to teach youngsters how to sing. As you can tell by the contestants, anybody can get a record deal... even an Actor.

Three weeks left... Thank Science!

Kris: I think Jaimie wanted to "blow" him "away". Your right, Jaimie... He really does "BLOW". I closed my eyes and imagined if I would consider that a good song. He was mediocre... He'll make it to the finals. Not because of talent, but because he is last of the young, small-town, non-gay acting, non-thick-black-rimmed-prick singers left.

Allison: Did Jaimie say he was going to give Allison "The Shocker"? One more year, to almost the day, till she's legal. She just doesn't stand a chance against all the male egos. She needs to dress more goth, or turn Christian clique; or she will maintain her originalness and lose the show.

Matt: Still got the hat. Can cover up his forehead, but can't cover up his talent. He won't get the votes. Who cares how good he may have sung, it doesn't matter. Danny "big glasses and Christian-safe" Gokey and Adam "Diva-Cross-Dressing" Lambert are Personalities... that is what voters want.

Danny: Jaimie is so full of shit. They do not need 4 judges for this show. Get rid of Randy and Kara. I just want a minute to minute-and-a-half Paula ramble and something constructive by Simon. O.K. He finished that out strong. Pretty Good.

Adam: He should have came out in FULL DRAG with this song. I am sure that there are 3 performers like him singing down in The Short North District this Saturday Night... except they are in high-heals, falsies, fabulous hair, and a ton of makeup.

I am so done with the show.

Who will go: Allison

Who will Win: Adam

Never Gonna Give You Up...

2009-04-23T15:32:00.004-04:00

...INTERNET PHENOMENOM!

Find out what it is, and why it matters.

Then, check this out. (WARNING: Follow this last link only after you've checked out the first two.)

The Super 6

2009-04-21T22:05:00.005-04:00

The Top 6. I sure hope they end the show on time. Matt lives to see another day. Two go tomorrow. Great, to listen to the TWO worst singers tomorrow.

Disco week? You ain't Jive Talkin', they are really going to sing disco?

The Top 6

Lil: look at that ASS!!!! lettin' it all hang out! Let that badonkadonk free!! Singing at Wheeling Island Racetrack and Gaming Resort in 6 months... Lil Rounds. She is Chaka "Gone".

Kris: He should play with more people who have a darker complexion. He did pretty good. I didn't mind it. What is Paula talking about? He likes woman's clothes? Paula is freaking screwed up.

Danny: Cheesy. Cheesy. Cheesy. Twice as Nice 'n Cheesy. All the old ladies are up dancing.

Allison: All she has to do is go more Lady GaGa and teenage girls will vote her the winner. She is real good. America, don't be stupid... keep her over Danny.

Adam: I am anticipating something... Diva-Like. Let's see. He's a man who loves to dress like a woman who is pretending like she is acting like a man. Adam moved Paula to a high emotional state. Paula is so messed up. WTF is up with her?

Matt: I think of the dance scene from Airplane! when I hear this song. I was waiting for him to throw his hat and it fly back at his head. He stayed alive for one more week. America was right last week. Anoop is his only hope now.

Anoop: Anoop! Too pink of a vest, Man! Too non-threatening. Anoop! You shot yourself in the foot! You did yourself in! I was expecting some huge Bollywood dance number with background dancers!

Lil and Anoop are gone.

Adam wins the damn thing.

We Didn't Start the Flame War

2009-04-21T12:49:00.001-04:00

That was good, but here's a link to the funniest thing I've seen all day. Enjoy.

The Best of Rocket Whorse

2009-04-20T15:14:00.003-04:00

Its not Hip Hop Booty Shake, but Rocket Whorse is slated to release an upcoming Greatest Hits album.

Some of the included tracks will be:
Float On (Modest Mouse)
Cool for Cats (Squeeze)
Pretend We're Dead (L7)
Nine in the Afternoon (Panic at the Disco)
That's What You Get (Paramore)
Where Did You Go (Mighty Mighty Bosstones)
Alex Chilton (Replacements)
PDA (Interpol)
I Was Wrong (Social Distortion)

That's Wierd, Wacky Stuff!

2009-04-19T23:19:00.001-04:00

HA HA! You ARE correct, sir.

It's In The Hole!

2009-04-17T16:33:00.001-04:00

Murray's tee shot hits woman in her yard.

This Is Just Wrong...

2009-04-16T19:41:00.001-04:00

but all I have to say is, "Don't worry, India. Anoop is still on American Idol."

The Top 7

2009-04-14T19:59:00.014-04:00

Quentin Tarantino on American Idol? What is wrong with the world today? Has the whole world gone mad? I don't know to think about this one. Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill vol 1 & 2 and ... American Idol?

I missed the last 10 seconds of Fringe last week. I went over 5 minutes on my DVR, but I was still off by 10 seconds. I know something freaky happened those last 10 seconds because it just cut to somebody driving a van and the camera was panning toward a person driving the van. But do I know who that person was? No!

Quentin was on American Idol before? I have lost all respect for him now.

The American Idol top 7:

Allison: Started out a little sluggish. But she really belted it out at the end. I like her. Quentin has a very dimpled chin. I hope she doesn't get voted off. She's the only singer I look forward to hearing. Great! Now I have nothing to look forward to for the next 48+ minutes.

Anoop: He "would fight for you" and "Lie for you"... hopefully he wasn't talking to his God. Anoop-Dog gives decent performances, but he will be in the bottom three again.

Adam: So, Quentin, you enjoy Adam's 'taste'? If he were any more 'diva' he would be named... "The Mona Diva". That was a Performance! What is Paula talking about? If I cared to understand I would re-wind the DVR. It was like watching some "Rocky Horror" knock-off film; Simon was right.

Matt: Is it just me, or does Quentin look like a registered sex-offender? Great job, Matt. Playing piano with an orchestra in the background. What are you going to do next, host Entertainment Tonight? And make the NBA's theme song? And sell music that is only popular in Europe? Go on tour with Yanni?

Danny: "He gets bored"?! F&CK Him! Ah! The great American Idol "capture the singer in the frame of the harp to begin the song and zoom in" shot. I was BORED by his singing. The same old stuff. Same kinda singing. Heard it already.

Kris: ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Wow, that was bad. I started reading a news article about Republicans and Twittering instead of listening.

Lil: I'm protected... I recorded the entire news show after Fringe so I don't miss the last second of it again. This song reminds me of "Napoleon Dynamite." Shut up! Lil, your taking the show over the time limit. But I'm safe, I've prepared.

Allison shined, Danny sounded the same, and Adam went full Diva... all in all a normal American Idol show.

Who will win... Adam

Who should win... Allison

Who will go... Kris

Finally...

2009-04-13T13:22:00.002-04:00

It's about time!

...but if that doesn't do it for ya, check out these Mr. Show clips.

Playoff Hockey in Columbus

2009-04-09T08:09:00.002-04:00

What's that? Ah -- Playoffs? Don't talk about -- playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs?

2.5 Billion Xbox 360 Achievements Unlocked

2009-04-08T15:48:00.003-04:00

Found this on The Escapist. Glad to contribute my 6,381 points.

You think your Gamerscore is impressive? According to Microsoft, Xbox 360 owners have racked up a collective Gamerscore of 52 billion after unlocking a combined 2.5 billion Achievements.

...and that's only counting Xbox 360 units that are hooked up to Xbox Live. Microsoft Director of Product Management for the Xbox, Aaron Greenberg, told Gamasutra that the whopping two-and-a-half billion Achievements unlocked worked out to an average of approximately 150 Achievements per Xbox Live customer.

According to Greenberg, Microsoft originally co-opted the idea of Achievements from the casual space, where they appeared as a way to keep players returning to web portals - but it wasn't until they were implemented with the Xbox 360 that the idea of Achievements truly went mainstream. Greenberg says that as a tool to add stickiness to the console, the Achievement system has been a wild success: the Xbox 360's attach rate of eight games per system "is the highest, ever, for any platform."

Man, it sure would be nice to have an entire Escapist issue devoted to Achievements, wouldn't it? I mean, not like you should come back tomorrow, or anything...

In the meantime, why not play Achievement Unlocked?

The Elite Eight

2009-04-07T19:43:00.023-04:00

Milli Vanilli, Madonna, Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, Ashlee Simpson... say hello to the new team of future no-talents who only get by on a 'look' instead of musical talent. American Idol is back again with another week of excruciating music.

Ever wonder why piracy is as high as it has ever been? Could it be because the people have decided to actually 'pay for what they get'? I have less contempt for anyone who works in the mortgage or financial industry than American Idol, and that is saying A LOT.

Well, let's see what teenage girls will buy in four months... The American Idol Top 8

Oh, the year they were born... this will be fun...

Danny Gokey: What a cop-out... singing a 50 year-old song that was re-done by a guy in 1980. He probably sang this song at every Young Life camp. "Stand by me" when I detonate my bomb, I will take my life to make sure this pompous twat doesn't make a dime. I bet your God didn't see that coming.

Kris Allen: What's wrong with taxi cab drivers? Anoop would take offense to that. That guitar is not plugged into anything. This is a prime example of a no-talent hack who has a look, so he will stay on the show. When a trumpet has to drown out his singing, you know he is bad. All Paula wants to do is 'Dance' between his sheets.

Lil Rounds: What's talent 'got to do with it'? If you wanna sing Tina like Tina, you are going to fail. Like the high-heels. They are hiding the badadonkadonk. That is the best asset on her. Forgettable. I already forgot. Who am I writing about? The black one, yeah. I mean, the one in the black dress. Paula's rambling...that's all I remember.

Anoop: First Kumar commits suicide on House (if I spoiled the plot twist for you, sorry), now Anoop is up for possible elimination on American Idol. I guess FOX is getting rid of all the Middle Easterners, except for terrorists on 24... Are we nearing mid-term elections? Anoop is being political... did he take a job in the Obama Administration? What is with the shirt, Anoop? Those 'true colors' scream, "Jai Ho"! He may survive another week.

Scott: I'm glad he gave up on the whole train conductor thing. But why did he choose singing? His left eye is looking obscenely to the left. Put some glasses on him and sit him at a piano, damn it! He's going to hit his face on the microphone if he doesn't stop hopping around like that. 'The Search is Over', we have our singer who is going home tomorrow.

Allison: Bonnie Raitt, good choice. Is every song she sing involve laying down with someone? How old's she? She 'can't make' America love her, but America should. I will be depressed when she goes.

Matt: Guess the pimple is still there, now he has his hat covering his second forehead. Is that 'part time' Justin Timberlake? Trying to sound like Stevie, but he can't. Must be short on time, the judges breezed through it. Get the show over, Fringe is coming on!

Adam: He loved playing 'dress-up' as a child? No shit! He is dressing up like a male nowadays. 'I find it hard to take' watching this show every week. He is DIVAx2 tonight. All hail Adam! He probably asks for a bowl of green M&Ms and his favorite incense stick be lit before he enters the building.

There were a few performances I didn't want to slit my wrists over this week. Could I be beginning to like some of these singers? Am I looking forward to next weeks songs? Am I rushing to my computer to downloads these songs to put on my Sirius Stilleto 2? NO

Who will win? Adam

Who should win? Allison

Who will go? Scott

why don't ours look like theirs?!

2009-04-07T06:42:00.002-04:00

i never know if it's gonna be 80 degrees or snow when i'm back home in the states. the weather forecasters are BOOOOORING! now, if they looked like these latina and european forecasters, i'm SURE more people would know when to take their umbrellas with them to work.

Z, Don't Fly To This Airport

2009-04-03T18:41:00.001-04:00

Prague's Franz Kafka International Named World's Most Alienating Airport

A New Albumn Release...

2009-04-02T12:59:00.003-04:00

From the band The G-20's featuring Hu Jintao and the Global Regulators.

Albumn Title: "Where'd D Kizash Go?"

Oh, No, Not Again!

2009-03-31T20:05:00.026-04:00

Time for another excruciating week of American Idol. This time, I am doing this without my wife present. I usually like someone to bounce ideas before I type. When she can't stop laughing, I know it is good. Without further ado...

Anoop: Yawn. Slumdog Millionaire came out on Blue Ray and DVD. That is something good to watch. Paula is draining the life out of me. I may go back to working on payroll instead of watching this show. I'm already bored.

Megan: I wanna give you some good lovin'. I wanna keep the light on, though. I need the lights turned on when I break out the video camera. Paula is crazy. Does Paula have an adam's apple? Another boring song. Don't go, Megan. Don't go!

Danny: I hate the fundamentalist, but he is good. But a standing ovation? A long pause for applause? He's no Pavarotti. What's with the woman in the pink standing behind the "Go Go Gokey" sign? Looks like a drag queen hooker, or is that a hooker drag queen... What would be the proper way of writing that out?

Allison: "Don't speak" if you are caught in a back seat of a car with her... she's only 16. She's dressed like a Japanese Anime chick on crack. She shouted a bit. She's got originality. God! This shit is so boring. How can people religiously follow this show?

Scott: Somebody put some sunglasses on him! Looks like they tamed down his fro a little. Why does he keep looking up while he sings? Can't he see there is nothing up there? Another lame-ass song sung by a lame-ass singer. Somebody needs to show his poor-sighted sister the refrigerator; the only thing that is 'thick' on her is her glasses. Paula, one week, says he should get away from the piano. Now she says that playing the piano without the band was a great idea. What is she, bi-polar? No need to answer that one.

Matt: That third eye in the middle of his forehead is still staring at me. Make it go away. I haven't head such good keyboard work since Miami Vice Theme Song. Keyboard, 80's leather jacket, poor skin care... he should have played a Michael Jackson song. Did Paula say the word "aborted"? I'm surprised that wasn't bleeped out on FOX.

Lil: "I surrender" to that badonkadonk. All hail THAT badonkadonk. Who has more muscular arms, Lil or Michele Obama? She did better this week. She is screaming less. Seacrest, get out of the camera shot. Who do you think you are, John McCain. Randy, quit grabbing that little girl's ass!

Adam: One word: DIVA. Will gay-America keep him in the competition another week? I hate to say this, but I'd rather listen to Twice As Nice sing this song. Mick Jagger, Steven Tyler, and Adam Lambert? WTF, Paula? OMG. She is MIA. She must be FUBAR'ed.

Kris: Never trust a man with two first names as a first and last name. "I know, I know, I know" he will be gone soon enough. Show more shots of his beard, I mean, wife. Another bar song.

I don't know what to say about this group. They are all too lame to even be exciting to watch. I wasted 90 minutes watching this show again. I will never get these 90 minutes back. I could have gave my cat an enema 45 times, and I would have enjoyed that more that this show. And I would have less scars, also.

Who will win: Danny

Who I want to win: Allison

Who will go: Matt

2009-03-31T04:41:00.002-04:00

i think this kid

should take up this past time

i never knew hee-haw was so strange. red, is this on the season i got you?

WTF?

2009-03-30T17:22:00.001-04:00

Ain't No Drug To Make Me High Enough...

2009-03-25T20:07:00.032-04:00

to make me think this show is good and the singers are actually talented. I've heard better talent on "Gimme The Mike, Columbus"...I never watched that bad show, but I'm sure there was somebody just as good as these folks.

This is why I decided to get another American Idol review going on. I was going to do one last week, but I was busy. I downloaded the show to review and to write one later in the week, but that just sounded too faggy for me.

This week, and if I remember to for the remaining run of this season, I will be doing a "live" post. After every song is sung by these hacks, I will post my comment on the song. So all can follow along with my view of the show.

Here is my review of the American Idol TOP 10...

1. Matt Giraud: I prefer when he sits to the left of the piano. I thought I was watching the 'inverse of suck' for a moment... then I heard him sing. He's dressed like he just left his day job as IT support at Google. Can that bump in the middle of his forehead get any larger? He's no Justin Timberlake... he hasn't even f%cked a crazy Mickey Mouse Club Alumnus, yet.

2. Kris Allen: Somebody tell him that he is only a bar singer... on a non-holiday weekend... in the valley. "How sweet it is to" have a mute button on my remote control. We need Randy Jackson to thug-it-out and grab that guitar and beat him over the head. That sound might be better than listening to him sing. What's with the numbers printed on the the shoulders of his shirt? Was he in prison? If he was, he took it up the ass A LOT. He probably sucked the biggest guy as soon as he entered the prison courtyard.

3. Scott MacIntyre: "But momma said, 'if you grow up tall, you just have to keep your head down, you may walk into something!'" He was horrible. Just as horrible as his pants. They looked a little 'tight'. Did he see that in the mirro... oh. Why is Randy Jackson dressed like a 1990 female high school teacher? Bye Bye Scott.

4. Megan Joy: Looks like Smokey got a stiffey. And so did I. Just dress like that and she'll go far and deeply penetrate the show. Don't worry, Megan, I got nothing but love for you. 10 seconds of love, but love. Scott stays, Megan goes. Damn!

Side Note: What is with all the damn commercials. I am losing my mojo. Now I know how a Super Bowl player feels, waiting through the commercial breaks and long halftime show.

5. Anoop Desai: He looks like he left his day job as IT Support... for Microsoft. We need the "Soul Patrol" back! Remember the "Soul Patrol"? What the fu$k were we thinking about back then? I mean, come on! All in all, Anoop is good. Is American Idol televised in India? Does Indian government, instead of commercials, inject long song and dance numbers with Bollywood actors in between performances? If so, Anoop has a 3 billion vote head start.

6. Michael Sarver: Why don't you 'take it to church' and swindle unsuspecting folks out of hard-earned money over the false premise that it will get you to an imaginary fairyland. Then I wouldn't have to see you on Fox... Only on FOX NEWS. He's the guy who goes to karaoke night at the local hotel bar in his best clothes to sing it up for 40-something women staying at the hotel. Sad, just SAD. Megan may be safe. Thank GOD!

7. Lil Rounds: FINALLY! A BLACK WOMAN SINGIN! Who looks less like a woman in the face?... Lil or Smokey? That's the soul I've been waiting for. Oh, wait! She sucks like the rest of them. I mistook screaming for soul. Kinda like a Southern Baptist... the more they scream, the more soul they have, the more closer to God they are. I think I am going to download some Tina. Then I can hear some talent for the evening. What is with Paula's ring? How much cocaine does she need to do between songs?

8. Adam Lambert: Twilight came out on DVD this week. There are a lot of wet 13 year-old girls out there ready, and willing, to vote for a vamp. What does he do? GO ELVIS! There isn't enough makeup in the world to fill in the holes in his skin. My earlier prediction may be correct... he may be the winner. Would I buy his CD. F$CK NO! I would change the channel on my Sirius Stiletto 2 if he was on it.

9. Danny Gokey: "Get Ready" for a Christian pop album disguised as 'mainstream'. If he were any safer he would be wearing a whole-body condom. He makes Middle America feel like Bush was in office again: Fun, carefree, no black guy telling me what to do, stem cell research is still outlawed, we are doing God's work in Iraq, evil-doers will be punished, abstinence-only education is the only way to stop the spread of HIV, ...

10. Allison Iraheta: Feel the Funk! I like her. She is original. Originality means you will be eliminated. Cause Middle America needs to feel snug at night, with the same shit that has been pumped into the music market for the past decade+. The same shit that makes them think things are not changing. Don't go to the new restaurant... go to McDonald's or Wendy's or Applebee's... order the same shit.... eat the same shit... don't try anything new... run back to the old shit... like they run back to the old ipod songs, instead of 'going forward' into the unknown...

Who I want to win... Allison Iraheta

Who will win... Danny Gokey

P.S. Barry Gordy is full of shit! I did like The Last Dragon, though. F-in' GREAT film... "Who's the Master?"

Those CRAZY Christians....

2009-03-25T17:49:00.002-04:00

Hey Juddy...

2009-03-20T16:09:00.000-04:00

You might want to consider this.

Happy Birthday

2009-03-19T21:03:00.002-04:00

Here is this weeks' message from Osama bin Laden. He's survived another anniversary of the Iraq war. Yes, Bush's mission was accomplished.

Weird, Yes. Scary, Yes. But a ...

2009-03-17T16:16:00.001-04:00

Dick? I don't know. I've never met one before.

learning how to kick

2009-03-15T05:05:00.002-04:00

Kid Can't Figure Out How To Kick Ball - Watch more Funny Videos

his run-up is either on pause or fast-forward. i couldn't contain an intial laugh watching him try to start running. ah kids!

Another Reason to Hate Rupert Murdoch

2009-03-10T20:39:00.031-04:00

Tonight, American Idol kicked off it's Final 12 with a Final 13. Do we really need one more shitty week of this show? And how fun for it to be "Michael Jackson Week" this week. Here, once again, is my American Idol Finals Review.

1. Lil Rounds:
"You make me feel" like changing the channel. She is as close as there is to a BBW on this year's finals. Where is BBW at this year? We need a BBW!

2. Scott MacIntyre:
Don't fall off the stage! Too bad he'll never see Paula's feathered dress.

3. Danny Gokey:
Jamira-gay. How many pairs of different colored glasses does he own?

4. Michael Sarver:
What the hell are you doing on this show! Your co-workers are making fun of you every night at the local bar where you all go after work.

5. Jasmine Murray:
Looks like her mom bought some new hair for the top 13 performances. Boring.

6. Kris Allen:
He sucks! His Wife's Hot! Why is he playing an acoustic guitar for a Michael Jackson song? That is like playing tambourine during a death metal song, it doesn't look right.

7. Allison Iraheta:
She's only 16? She sounds like a rock veteran who drinks a bottle of whiskey a night. Well, she dresses goth but she is not dark; she doesn't cut herself or anything.

8. Anoop Desai:
Kumar! Is there a part of Hollywood NOT invaded by BOLLYWOOD?! FIrst the Oscars, now American Idol. What's next... Bollywood actors on "Celebrity Rebah with Dr Drew"?

9. Jorge Nuñez:
Carnival Cruise Lines is calling... they want their headline act back.

10. Megan Joy:
I was waiting for Bob Hope to come walking out with a golf club over his shoulder. All she needed was a U.S.O. hat. Can't wait to see the rest of her tattoos in Penthouse in four years.

11. Adam Lambert:
When did Zac Efron turn SUPERgay? You go girl!

12. Matt Giraud:
Why, Why am I still watching this show. Paula's pills are wearing off.

13. Alexis Grace:
Her dad looks like somebody who shouldn't be around kids.

Where is the SUPER-SUPER Gay Sanjaya? Where is the BBW? Where is the weird looking back-up singer with her first shot at the front? Where is the crooning 15 year-old boy?

My prediction for American Idol winner? Adam Lambert

Uroclub

2009-03-10T13:19:00.004-04:00

pentecostals creep me out

2009-03-06T07:03:00.002-05:00

after seeing this, i REALLY need to find one of those buy-in-bulk warehouse churches where they have like 800,000 parishioners every sunday whooping up like the crazies. i'd want to go just to see, seriously, are they all insane. the redhead next to father "YOU'RE DRUNK!" is insane. i thought she had lockjaw at one point.

The Indian Congress Took My Rights!

2009-03-04T21:07:00.001-05:00

Oh wait, it wasn't "J Ho". Nevermind.

That's About It

2009-02-27T21:05:00.001-05:00

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

adam savage from mythbuster... drunk on a treadmill

2009-02-26T07:34:00.000-05:00

Just Some of Them

2009-02-20T23:55:00.003-05:00

There are a few HUGE banks about to fold. Now, to suppress American panic, the names of these banks are not being exclaimed by the media, but I'll tell you who. They rhyme with: "Skank" of America and "Shitty" Bank.

Well, when you make your bed out of shit, you have to sleep in it. Tell me if you or someone you know have heard this or in some way like this, "It's the American Dream, to own a home. Sure, you have no money down. But, we at ___ Bank have an Adjustable Rate Mortgage that will give you the dream everyone else has. Yes, your mortgage rate will reset in 12/18 months, but don't worry.... I will re-finance with you when that time comes."

These banks, especially the C.E.O.'s... actually mostly the chief executives... made millions and millions off these Adjustable Rate Loans. The banks, though, were stuck with these volatile assets. So who came running to their aid? Like Mother Theresa to starving children? The Government. And what did the banks say? "Give us the money, and WE promise to start loaning again." What did the do? Gobbled up all the money like the Cookie Monster stumbled into a Tollhouse factory and bought private jets and continued Executive Bonuses.

How can we solve this problem? Be like China. We may be owned by China, but we do not act like China. When 2 businesses in China supplied, to school children, milk which was tainted with melamine, China sentenced the two company's C.E.O. to DEATH!

Now, am I saying that any person who took part in the SCAM perpetrated on the American people by DICKS who watched "Boiler Room" too many times, and thought they were smarter than they actually were should be put to death? No, not all of them.

Just a few of them. Just like the poem Beowulf, use some the antagonists body parts and place them all around the perimeter of the Wall Street sector. Just as a reminder that "this could be you." Otherwise, the banks will keep getting the bailout money, the jets will still be purchased, the exurbanite amount of raises will remain steady, cubicle-living-creeps will still con a Grandmother into a new predatory loan, and ...

chump in writing

2009-02-19T02:05:00.000-05:00

check this out. let's turn chump upside down and see if it works.

Nascar and Drug Testing

2009-02-18T13:14:00.002-05:00

I found this pic while stumbling. It's an actual reggae album cover. Who knew Joe Gibbs was a reggae/pot fan before coaching and owning a race team.

BTW, you can see the other album covers here.

I Want One! I Want One!!!!!

2009-02-17T22:55:00.000-05:00

Tax-Payer Money To Save Them For This?

2009-02-15T15:44:00.001-05:00

Will downturn put brakes on Nascar?
By Kevin Connolly
BBC News, Daytona, Florida

Daytona International Speedway, Florida Across the states of the Old South, where the first hesitant warmth of spring is starting to make itself felt, the air is filling with the smell of barbecue smoke, burned tyres and brake-fluid.

America's favourite motorsport - Nascar - is back for another season powered as always by a rich cocktail of beer, testosterone and high-octane gasoline.

For 70 million or so Americans, this is car-racing as it should be - a world away from Formula One, which many Nascar enthusiasts find effete, over-regulated and out of touch with driving in the real world.

Nascar is tuned for the American palate.

Cars which are essentially over-muscled versions of the vehicles you drive yourself are packed together on to an oval track and raced over hundreds of miles until a winner emerges.

The speeds are dangerous (over 200mph), the spectacle gladiatorial and the passionate crowds extraordinary.

The Daytona International Speedway, where the season starts with a 500-mile challenge, holds nearly 170,000 - and millions more will watch the opening races of the season on TV.

Sponsors

It is a loyal, largely blue-collar demographic, concentrated in the sport's south-eastern heartland but found throughout the US.

No wonder that sponsors have always flocked to it - and not just the obvious sponsors like Ford and Chevrolet.

Advertisers like sports where it is easy to grasp the profile of the crowds; so they love Nascar. It is a vehicle for selling everything from whiskey and beer to cheese-flavoured crackers and indigestion tablets - at least it always has been until now.

Car sales have plummeted in the US in recent months and the leaders of the big three auto-makers (Ford, GM and Chrysler) have been exploring the chances of a federal bailout.

So can they afford to keep pumping dollars into this money-guzzling sport, when those dollars might come from the American tax-payer?

Jenna Fryer, who covers the sport for the Associated Press, says she doubts it. "It's very hard to justify spending $10m, $15m or $20m a year on a race car going round and round right now... they've got to be very careful how it's perceived in Nascar."

Ailing car industry

American sport in general, for all its astonishing capacity to generate and spend money, will not be exempt from the national downturn - the most serious economic crisis since either World War II or the Wall Street Crash (everyone has their own favourite historical benchmark to fit in at the end of that sentence).

The issue has already surfaced briefly here and there.

"I think the situation is hard on everybody, not just Nascar and F1, but every sport"
Juan Pablo Montoya

Alex Rodriguez, the big-hitting third baseman for the New York Yankees, is probably lucky he got the team's owners to sign his 10-year, $275m contract a few months before it became clear that the national economy was falling off a cliff. (And before it turned out he had been pumping up his batting average on steroids, back in 2003.)

And Citigroup, one of the now bail-out-funded family of humbled American banks, appeared to hesitate before confirming that its $400m sponsorship of the new home of the New York Mets would be going ahead.

But Nascar is particularly vulnerable to recession - its fortunes, after all, are inextricably linked to the fortunes of America's ailing car industry.

In the old days, when the cars you saw racing on the track were basically the same vehicles you saw in your local Ford or Chevy showroom, the link could not have been simpler: "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday", the old-timers will tell you.

There are plenty of cars likes the Oldsmobile 88, the Ford Galaxie and the Chevy Impala 409 that got a flying start in the American imagination through their performances on the Nascar track - and racing success still makes a huge difference to sales. Hence the readiness of the Big Three - and their Japanese rivals - to spend big on Nascar.

But if those car makers aren't shifting product, and customers cannot afford to buy cars - will the flow of money into Nascar dry up?

Recession's impact

I went down to Daytona Beach, Florida, for the season's media launch and put that question to some of the drivers who were wheeled out to meet the media.

To be fair to the star racers, they were really there to answer questions like "Are you looking forward to this season?", but they were polite enough to answer.

Juan Pablo Montoya, who just made the transition from Formula 1 to Nascar, said simply: "I think the situation is hard on everybody, not just Nascar and F1, but every sport... you always hope the grandstands will be full and so far people have come."

Rising star Martin Truex Jr said the sport was resilient even though the economic situation was making itself felt: "I think it's changed drivers, sponsors and owners... but it's still going to be the elite racing series in the world, no matter what."

Those effects are real though. There are rumours that ticket-sales and prices for TV advertising slots are down.

And perhaps the biggest sign of how the economy is hurting is that the winter schedule of testing - a costly ritual that keeps the fans interested during the off-season - was scrapped.

Nascar president Brian France said that decision had been taken for the overall good of the sport - effectively acknowledging the impact of recession.

"Our decisions impact so many people - race fans, track operators, TV partners and sponsors - that has to be reflected," he explained.

As the season proper kicks off with the Daytona 500, how will the downturn affect this vibrantly American, cheerfully consumerist sport?

In the best recent movie about Nascar, Talladega Nights, Will Ferrell plays a down-on-his luck star driver whose team is struggling to attract sponsors - at one point in place of the usual oil company and soft drinks logos on his car, he is reduced to taking personal ads.

No-one is suggesting that Nascar is quite there in real life - but this is going to be a tough season around the oval theatres of dreams.

Genius or Psychotic?

2009-02-12T20:31:00.000-05:00

Please Explain

2009-02-06T18:34:00.000-05:00

It's F%#kin' Distracting

2009-02-04T18:25:00.001-05:00

this kid is on EVERYTTHING!!!

2009-02-04T05:35:00.001-05:00

Stoned Little Kid After Dentist Visit - Watch more free videos

maybe i should go to the dentist more regularly if this is what happens. i've NEVER been that messed up leaving the dentist.

Make That Eight...

2009-01-27T22:05:00.000-05:00

It's making me sick just thinking of eating that.

for the one-pump chump

2009-01-21T08:07:00.003-05:00

and that's not OUR chump. here is a *AHEM* penisometer. it's a cock-ring that has a pedometer of sorts built-in, so you know how many pumps it takes to get to the center of your... well, what it takes to take her to her happy place.

weezer makes good videos

2009-01-15T04:12:00.001-05:00

apparently, we are going through a video posting phase here at BTBz. that's ok, we're trying new things, experimenting. anyways, i like this new weezer video. it took a lot of the internet fads from the past few years and incorporated them into the video, a la, their groundbreaking "buddy holly" video. have a look.

Damn, I'm Tired of Gnats, and Flies

2009-01-12T16:53:00.001-05:00

Another Literal Video

2009-01-11T17:53:00.001-05:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

First Viagra, Then Cialis, and Now THIS...

2009-01-11T17:45:00.001-05:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

It's Worth a Try

2008-12-28T19:01:00.002-05:00

Click here to see a slut.