The Daily Grill

Blowing My Own Horn

It's rare that I have anything to crow about on a day-to-day basis, yet today, Thursday, March 26, I have TWO items on the ol' agenda. The first is that I'm appearing as a guest on an internet talk show, The Andy Bumatai Show, live from Honolulu, Hawaii. (Which means, of course, that I'm in Hawaii now.) Andy is a terrific comedian and a Hawaiian treasure. You can catch the livecast of his show at 1 PM Hawaiian time, which is 4 pm on the Pacific Coast and 7 pm on the Atlantic Coast.

The second thing is the debut of a new web series, Ogden, The Inappropriate Yoga Guy, which kicks off with Episode One today exclsuively on the Yoga Journal website. I play Marc, the associate editor of the magazine. Yoga Journal is a real and respected magazine and they're making a bold step by poking a little fun at themselves and the yoga world by bringing Avi Rothman's portrayal of the most inane and obnoxious guy to every set foot in a yoga studio to life.

So, if you've got the time, check me out!

UPDATE: If you missed my appearance on last Thursday's online The Andy Bumatai Show, it's been archived and is online. Click through to Andy's show using the link and find the "On Demand" button. From there, click on the The Andy Bumatai Show Online link and then on the March 26, 2006 link. Finally, you'll be able to watch the whole show or the individual segments.

The Defense Twitters, Your Honor

Slugline in this afternoon's NYTimes headline email: "The use of BlackBerrys and iPhones by jurors gathering and sending out information about cases is wreaking havoc on trials around the country." Why is the judicial branch the last dude to the dance when it comes to new tech? Such a shame -- they're still getting used to not have dials on their phones...

AIG To Pay Bonuses - Unbleeping Believable

According the NYTimes and other sources, AIG, the American International Group insurance fraudery, has opted to dole out the biggest chunk of the more than $170 BILLION they got from our bailout money on bonuses. Reportedly, $165 million of it is being handed out as we speak to company executives. Suits who are in the same unit responsible for almost collapsing the company last year. The company mouthpieces are saying that they are "contractually obligated" to pay the bonuses. Holy crap! A job where you get to sign a deal that guarantees to pay you for screwing the pooch? I never planned to take a corporate job but is AIG still hiring?!

Working The System

It was revealed that Bernie Madoff, Wall Street's super-conman who made off with billions of dollars from trusting investors during the past 20 years, is expected to throw himself on the mercy of the court and plead guilty. The charges in the massive Ponzi scheme, to be brought in the trial that begins Thursday, could amount to 150 years in prison time. So he may end up with the equivalent of a life sentence. Talk about the height of irony -- he's been living off other people's hard-earned money for the past two decades and now he may end up living off other people's money for the rest of his days.

Pot Calling The Kettle A Pot

Fed Chairman Ben Beranke, turning slowly on a spit in front of the Senate Budget Committee today, said that bloated crippled hog AIG acted in an irresponsible manner with the way it's handled the bazillions of bailout fundery shoveled into its gaping maw. Harsh words indeed...from the same moron who helped pass out the very same funds with no restrictions, conditions or guarantees on what the insurance giant could do (or NOT do) with our money.

Pre-existing Condition

Today the US governmint is shelling out another $30 billion of our hard-earned moola to insurance giant AIG. Seems the earlier $60 billion loan (on top of another $40B buyout of share AND $50B spent absorbing AIG's "toxic assets") hasn't been enough to keep them from stumbling — this morning they're posting $60B in losses in the last quarter. Gee, do you think the company's dead in the water? After all, that's the kind of bloat consistent with a body that's been in the river for a while. You'd think AIG would have been shrewd enough to take out a policy against this kind of tragedy...