THE WORLD'S STUPIDEST BANK - kfW BANK; US ECONOMIC WOES AND BAILOUTS

So what is the world's stupidest bank? The answer is kfW Bank in Germany of course. The state-owned German bank transferred 300 million euros ($ 435.2 m) to Lehman Brothers on the day the later filed for bankruptcy protection. Two management board members were promptly suspended for the embarrassing fiasco. Oh yes?

US ECONOMIC WOES AND MORE BAILOUTS

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." - Thomas Jefferson

Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin (1802)

courtesy: alby711 Youtube

The United States has a bailout plan for other banks involved in the credit crunch and automakers are also asking for some financial relief to the tune of $ 25 B. It remains to be seen whether it would be granted or not. And if those problems aren't enough the jobless claims are also on the rise.

It will be the U.S. taxpayers who will bear the brunt of these bailouts but doing nothing would cripple their economy.

A crippled US economy would be a disaster to our exporters and remittance senders.

JOSH HOWARD CAUGHT MOCKING THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER

the controversial video

"The Star Spangled Banner’s going on right now and I don’t celebrate that [expletive]. I’m black"

This unintelligent stunt (to put it mildly) embroiled Josh Howard (J.Ho) of the Dallas Mavericks into controversy. It has become fashionable in the land of the free and the home of the brave to do stupid things with the camera on so BWAHAHA what a ---- ---. It just so happens most Americans believe the lyrics of the song and sing it with all of their heart (whether in tune or not it doesn't matter. No Spanish version tolerated). They love it so much that coming from their own it must be a huge shock! Now, he is being bashed both by some racists and his own people (read Youtube comments).

Nice J. Ho. Keep up the good work!

Keeping it in the 'hood bro! Daym you're stupid!

Here is Josh Howard's side of the story:



Few weeks ago, two NBA rookies were caught allegedly with women and smoking pot in their hotel room during the NBA Rookie Orientation program. Though they apologized the players denied drug use. The NBA doesn't need these controversies right now after the league is still reeling from the Tim Donaghy officiating scandal. It does reflect on the NBA whether we like it or not for Howard works and represents that institution. For objectivity's sake it doesn't have to be, but perception is all that matters most of the time and most people know Josh Howard as a NBA player.



Josh Howard admits NBA players smoke Marijuana - an echo of Dennis Rodman's statement a long time ago.

Wherever there's money, there's drugs, so to say drugs don't exist in the NBA would be stupid.

Back in the days of the Metropolitan Basketball Association, Matt Mitchell, an American, was booted out of the country for dancing while the Philippine national anthem is being played. Recalling the incident make me want to reconsider the answer to my earlier post.

TAEKWONDO JIN KICKS REFEREE

the infamous kick

Yesterday, Angel Matos of Cuba kicked Swedish referee Chakir Chelbat out of frustration for what the former thought was a bad call.

full video of the incident

Matos was winning 3-2, with 1:02 in the second round, when he fell to the mat after being hit by his opponent, Kazakhstan's Arman Chilmanov. He was sitting awaiting medical attention when he was disqualified for taking too much injury time. Fighters get one minute, and Matos was disqualified when his time ran out.

Matos angrily questioned the call, pushed a judge, then pushed and kicked referee Chakir Chelbat of Sweden. Matos then spat on the floor and was escorted out.

"He was too strict," Gonzalez said, referring to the decision to disqualify Matos. Afterward, he charged the match was fixed, accusing the Kazakhs of offering him money.

"This is a strong violation of the spirit of taekwondo and the Olympic Games. The sanctions are the following and are effective immediately: Lifetime ban of the coach and athlete in all championships sanctioned by the (World Taekwondo Federation) and at the same time, all records of this athlete at the Beijing Games will immediately be erased," said the announcer, reading a WTF release.

Source

Attention, Mr. Jacques Rogge - International Olympic Committee president - are you reading this? What a shame! What are you going to do about it? Stop picking on the little guys. I'll be really shocked if TKD is still in the Olympics come 2016 with all scandals it brought to be Games.

Steven Lopez, a recipient of controversial calls in the past, got a dose of his own medicine.

With taekwondo already rumored to be on the brink of Olympic elimination, the sport was doing everything it could to avoid even the slightest shock of controversy.

On Friday, it was struck by lightning.

In a chaotic episode that might ultimately prove to be the tipping point to Olympic doom, American two-time defending gold medalist Steven Lopez was eliminated from gold-medal contention on a controversial referee’s decision. Lopez would go on to win bronze in the 80-kilogram weight class, but not until after his team leader, Herb Perez, had filed a protest and then ripped the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) for intimidation and gross mismanagement of the sport’s rules and oversight.

“When (poor judging) happens to you, you’re told to shut up and not say anything because of what will happen to you, or what will happen to the sport,” Perez said. “If this is truly what taekwondo is about, maybe taekwondo shouldn’t be in the Olympics. Maybe they should fix it.”

For Full Story

How convenient. Fix the scoring maybe scoring protests will lessen.

The US taekwondo team protested to no avail, although member countries of the World Taekwondo Federation had earlier signed a document pledging not to make a protest, US team leader Herb Perez said.

"We feel if we force the World Taekwondo Federation to raise their standards then this would be a better Olympic sport. It should be fair for all athletes," Perez said.

"There is a chance that I will be sanctioned, but I'm not concerned about myself," Perez said.

Source

If Perez's assertion is true, then it's plain and simple intimidation. Tsk. The WTF officials had all the time in the world to fine tune their scoring system but didn't make one. The officials are to blame if TKD gets eliminated as an Olympic sport not the athletes.

SWIMMERS RIP SUITS NOT RECORDS!

Hawaii-based Christel Simms and Ryan Arabejo swam with badly-torn swim suits and missed a chance to break their own marks, but the attempts were merely shades off the standard times as they capped a week-long record romp by the young, US-based five-member squad in the toughest, fastest Olympics ever at the Water Cube here last night.

Simms, born to a Filipino mother and an American lifeguard in Hawaii, ripped her suit at the buttocks as she bent at the starting block. She was given the option to change suits but decided against it to avoid disqualification.

She had a clocking of 26.64 seconds, a shade off her mark of 26.31 in the 50m freestyle.

“She could change her suit, but that would have taken time and the sixth heat was to begin,” said swimming president Mark Joseph.

If she did not take her place at lane 5 at the start of the race, she would have been marked with a DNS (did not swim) in the official results.

“Water entered the suit and that caused a drag, which affected her swim,” said Joseph, a former Olympian...for full story

Are these swim suits made in China?

The free swim suits issued by the Beijing organizers are like the free raincoats given out to media on rainy days. They get torn easily at the seams, so journalists just throw them away after each use...for full story

Inconclusive. This is not the fault of our hardworking athletes but they are the ones getting embarrassed. People at Philstar say this is nothing but another excuse from sports officials.

This is not the first case:

As I’ve chronicled here last November, you don’t show up at a world championship a day or two before, with uniforms that don’t fit and aren’t even, well, uniform. These are little problems that distract the athletes from focusing on the job at hand. Imagine trying to box your way to an Olympic berth while your shorts are falling off. What self-respecting nation would allow its athletes to suffer that?

The funding is there, the government support likewise. We can compete with other countries on even terms. So why do we have to shoot ourselves in the foot? We know what it takes. Why not bring the psychologists, nutritionists and masseurs that our athletes need when they need them, if the Philippine Sports Commission and private sponsors are willing to pay for them, anyway? For full story

I expect more of these from happening in the future if no drastic changes be done. It is hard being an athlete in this country that's why I don't disrespect them. I can only admire them for the sacrifices they are doing for the country and the occasional embarrassment they encounter playing abroad.

TO PAU GASOL

credits: Man Man the Sox fan

"I didn’t find it offensive, either. I guess some guys didn’t mind. To me I don’t want to be that way, I guess, to be doing that stuff"

“If you put it in the wrong context and put it with the wrong people or a different kind of people, you could take it that way,” he said. “But not with our group and not with our people. I would find that a wrong read.”

Pau Gasol defending his team's actions over the slit-eye commercial.

Source

Of course Pau you numb skull - you wouldn't get offended because you are not Chinese. But if the entire China suddenly shouts "VIVA CATALUNYA! VIVA ETA!" they wouldn't find anything wrong with it but I'm sure some of your countrymen would be offended. Its called perspective Pau have a little empathy. Oh yeah you are a Spaniard therefore you have none.

Funny just as the whole world is getting enlightened Spain is stuck in the Treaty of Tordesillas times when they think they own the planet.

Your defense of your actions reminded me of your "defense" in the NBA finals - weak and soft. PAU GASOFT!

I first saw this guy playing against Tim Duncan and David Robinson back in 1999 I think. He fought the two centers courageously and I was impressed. He led his team then, the Memphis Grizzlies, to its first win against San Antonio - I'm not sure about the details but the game was memorable. Pau kept on challenging Tim and David singlehandedly, even getting a dunk on both on them - a rare occurrence really. From then on Pau became one of my favorite players but after this incident my respect for the guy just disappeared.

BOBA ESPANA

Spain's Basketball Federation has published a good luck advert for their men's team, the world champions, in which they stand pulling at the sides of their eyes in a slit-eyed gesture.

There is no obvious intention to upset their Olympic hosts in Beijing, but the irresponsible picture is likely to cause controversy and could be interpreted so as to lead to accusations of racism.

Spanish sport has been mired in rows over racism in the last few years. In November 2004 black English footballers were subjected to relentless racial barracking from home supporters in a match in Spain. Source

Defeated the Spaniards in Iloilo and established a Visayan Republic independent of Agui. My ancestors were smarter than the Spaniards give them credit for!

Just imagine living with these people for 333 years, our poor ancestors! I hope the Americans will teach them how to play basketball this Saturday.

UNBELIEVABLE ERROR-FILLED REPORTING

The "journalist" doesn't even know where she was when a simple look at the map will reveal she's actually in Mindanao. Obviously, Television Egnorante (TVE) I mean Espaniola doesn't do fact checking hehe. If the supposedly intelligent Spanish reporter couldn't get her facts straight then their jocks are hopeless.

US NETWORK DELAYS OLYMPIC OPENING CEREMONY TELECAST

The rest of the world might have been dazzled by the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony but angry US viewers clamoring for a glimpse of the spectacle on Friday were made to wait after a media blackout.

US network NBC, which owns exclusive rights to Olympics coverage in the United States, refrained from showing the opening ceremony live, preferring instead to delay coverage by 12 hours for a prime-time evening slot.

A spokesman for NBC, which paid nearly 900 million dollars for Olympic broadcast rights, said the decision was taken to maximize viewing figures.

"It's a business decision," the spokesman told AFP. "It protects our affiliates, our advertisers, and shows it to the largest number of viewers possible," he added.

Bizarrely, the co-hosts of NBC's breakfast television show barely mentioned the ongoing ceremony during their broadcast, which was reportedly pre-taped...for full story

Hehehehe....

Last night, to my surprise the local television network covering the games came back to life after a two-year hiatus. The sound is weak but at least most of the people in my city got to see the opening ceremonies LIVE (beating the Americans)!!! I thought my grandparents were going to miss the entire Olympics. Most especially the basketball tournament grandpa and I endured poor reception and almost saw Lithuania defeat USA in men's basketball at the Sydney Games. We both saw Argentina beat USA twice in two years (World 2002 - Olympic 2004). I can't bear him not see Olympic basketball. The sport is special to both of us (even though I love football more). I'm happy that we could see the games live. Thank you very much Solar Sports!

AMERICANS ARE NOT STUPID!

Australian show destroys the stereotype that Americans are "stupid and don't know anything about the world".



CNN begs to differ however....

I remember after 9-11 some "patriots" began shooting at Sikhs mistaking them as Muslims probably because of the turban. Ignorance and guns are a dangerous mix.

Frankly speaking though, USA became a superpower because it is run by geniuses (not necessary their Presidents) willing to waste lives to maintain power and control.

BATMAN THE JOKER

Christian Bale, the controversial star of the new "Batman" film, which weighs good and evil, said Tuesday he saw some truth in the evil logic of the film's villain the Joker.

In "The Dark Knight," which shattered box-office records in the United States, the late Heath Ledger plays the Joker, who questions whether Batman is ready to kill a villain like him in order to save thousands of others.

"The thing about the Joker that's so good is that he's an agent of chaos and destruction and claims that these are the only two things he can trust and believe in," Bale said at a news conference in Tokyo to promote the film.

The Joker "mocks society's idea of order without having any faith in order. There is a certain amount of truth to what he says, and he's incredibly intelligent," the Welsh-born star said.

"He really knows how to get underneath Batman's skin to the point where he is questioning his own ethic."

Bale was arrested last week for allegedly attacking his own mother and sister in a London hotel after the film's opening in the British capital.

Bale, who frowned throughout the Tokyo news conference and rarely looked up when answering questions, declined to discuss the arrest, replying tersely: "It's a private matter."

source

Another Hollywood star drunk with too much fame. Hollywood Freaks. If he wants people to concentrate on the film and not his actions then he should've thought of that earlier. You want a routine press conference avoid doing silly things beforehand.

CANADA: TREATED LIKE A DOORMAT?

brotherly love - Canada vs USA

Exhibit A.

Canadian fans won't soon forget the opening ceremony, however, where the Canadian flag was initially not displayed along side the American and English standards. The sold-out crowd booed the U.S. anthem and then proceeded to roar through an a cappella version of "O, Canada."

That passion might have been a bit too much for MLS execs, who hurriedly got a Canadian flag onto the field, played the anthem and then kicked off the game.

Exhibit B

On October 18th, during the pre-game ceremony for the second game of the 1992 World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Atlanta Braves, a U.S. Marine Corps colour guard mistakenly presented the Canadian flag upside-down.

The Toronto Blue Jays went on to win the game 5-4 to even the series at one game each.

Exhibit A happened during the Major League Soccer All-Star game held in Canada today. It is the organizers fault (who are probably Canadians themselves). I wonder what really happened?

The explanation:

Instead of bringing the Canadian flag onto the field along with the American flag and the English flag (for the visitors from West Ham United), organizers waited until several minutes after the other two anthems were played to showcase the Maple Leaf, leading to an ugly scene as fans belted out O Canada and booed while the Star Spangled Banner was being played...for full story

I can't really blame the Canadian fans who probably traumatized by perceived slights from the Americans as what happened in '92 or maybe they are waiting for any opportunity to get back at their southern neighbor.

HIGHEST PAID ACTORS

Forbes' magazine Hollywood's Highest Paid Actors, full list:

1. Will Smith - 80 million dollars

2. Johnny Depp - 72 million dollars

3. Eddie Murphy - 55 million dollars

4. Mike Myers - 55 million dollars

5. Leonardo DiCaprio - 45 million dollars

6. Bruce Willis - 41 million dollars

7. Ben Stiller - 40 million dollars

8. Nicolas Cage - 31 million dollars

9. Will Ferrell - 31 million dollars

10. Adam Sandler - 30 million dollars

source

prime example

I've got the impression that most Hollywood stars because of massive fame and fortune turn into locos. Christian Bale showed us yesterday - he allegedly beat up his SISTER and MOTHER. I read years ago some Hollywood contracts have weird clauses. For example, this actor will not act unless all his nose hair are removed. I'm only kidding but preposterous clauses like that are normal in their contracts.

ASK THE DUCK

Why is Po's father a duck? Ask his mother...

The Chinese artist who launched a sensational protest against Dreamworks' "Kung Fu Panda" has filed a lawsuit against the Hollywood studio asking for an apology.

Zhao Bandi, a painter and designer who features pandas in his works, brought the suit to the Chaoyang District People's Court in Beijing on Wednesday.

"I want Dreamworks to explain to me why the panda Po has green eyes," Zhao wrote on his blog. "A green eye is evil, and that's definitely not a Chinese panda." He also wanted an explanation as to why Po's father is a duck instead of a panda.

Zhao questioned Dreamworks' intentions in making "Kung Fu Panda," and asked the court to order Dreamworks and the film's distributor, Paramount Pictures, to make an official apology via Chinese and American media.

The Beijing court will decide whether to accept the case this Friday, Zhao says.

"Kung Fu Panda" opened in China on June 20 to strong box office demand. But Zhao has been calling for a boycott of the film, saying it "exploits China's 'national treasure' and its martial arts."

SOURCE

My initial reaction BWAHAHAHAHAHA! How do you say "you are a joke" in Mandarin? That's what this article is - a huge joke. Ask the Duck why his son is a Panda. Beats me. I don't know the answer myself but I don't want to dwell on it since it is a freaking cartoon. This question is usually raised by kids in my country since adults are supposed to know better.

BEAUTY CONTESTS' BLOOPERS

In the spirit of beauty contests, allow me to relive some of its greatest moments.

translation of the incident above

Here's fatso... I mean a "comedian's" take on the incident.

BUMP!

This is the very definition of PRATFALL. TOINK!

Another pratfall Ms. USA style 2 - BOINK!

WE NEED MORE BABIES

Meet the new idiot Debbie...I mean John Gibson. Fear of being overrun by Hispanics prompted this guy to encourage his people to procreate more. He should have left out the Hispanic report part so he wouldn't be misunderstood. Tsk.



However with videos like these, Hispanics will always win the procreation race. Nice try John.

BAD HAIR DAY AND ALL.....THE DRAGONBALL MOVIE

Wapanese...er Ben Stiller as Goku - just kidding

Based on the popular Japanese manga created by Akira Toriyama, whose work spawned best selling graphic novels, video games and a phenomenally successful television series, Dragonball centers on the heroic Goku, a powerful warrior who protects the Earth from an endless stream of rogues bent on dominating the Universe and controlling the mystical objects from which the film takes its name.Dragonball stars Justin Chatwin as Goku, James Marsters as Piccolo, Emmy Rossum as Bulma, Chow Yun-Fat as Master Roshi, Jamie Chung as Chi Chi, and Park Joon as Yamcha. The movie arrives in theaters on April 3rd, 2009.

source

Why is Goku white? This must be Kung Fu the Legend Part II when Bruce Lee conceived The Warrior but it was retooled by Hollywood as Kung Fu The Legend series and was given to a white guy KUNG PAO (seen the movie?) Carradine (as alleged in the movie The Bruce Lee Story). It was hilarious - the discrepancy is so stupid and I can't help but laugh.

Hollywood is doing it again with Dragonball (more like Dragonbull)- with a white guy as Son Goku. It is like making a movie on Confucius and cast Jack Nicholson as the Great Thinker (he would be Confused - sorry I can't resist). I hope this movie goes the way of Speed Racer - a huge BOMB at the box office. Look at the picture - Goku is supposed to be a nice Asian hero not an angst-ridden white boy with self-image issues (I hope the storyline isn't like this). What's with hair? Did he get electrocuted minutes before the photo shoot? The guy looks like Ben Stiller. The actor isn't even muscular and he looks like a wimp. Man, he has this lazy eyes - it's scary.

Photo credits: Firstshowing.net

Wapanese - white guy trying hard to be Japanese like Tom Cruise in the Last Samurai.

I EXERCISE MY RIGHT TO IMPLICATE MYSELF

Today we’ll look at some fun-loving dumb people who took some disturbing images and smart enough to put their faces in. Told you there’s a God of Justice.

The people in this video are self-styled fun lovers.

“For fun let us upload this video on Youtube and we could take the credit! Let’s show our faces so we too can be famous ya-ha!”

(To the tune of Beethoven’s Symphony No.5 yeah the one in Standard appliance commercial) Du-du-dumb!

“I’m the man I just took some can out of this guy’s azz. Yeah veyveh!” How does it feel to be well-known? Thank you for providing evidence. For good taste, I will not embed the video. You may thank your lucky stars!

However this guy isn’t so lucky.

But as always it is U.S.A. all the way – No.1. Check this video out. It is about a U.S. Marine throwing a puppy off a cliff. The marine was identified later as David Mortari – he appears prominently on the video and having fun about his act.

“Sir, I’m going to throw some puppy off the cliff, sir!” (When I was in the ROTC, I remember an officer telling a cadet “Gardemit, cadet! Sandweetsh your sentence with ser” Ahhh Military English is a different subject in itself.)

I’m not surprised at his conduct at all. There are people on Youtube defending the guy and some are even saying he’s cool. All I can say he is dumb for taking the video in the first place so he was identified. I don’t know if he was punished and I’ll not be surprised if he wasn’t. Even if it’s false, he’s dumb enough to insinuate something despicable to most Americans. For some, this is more disturbing than killing people and starting a war.

HOW TO MAKE YOURSELF LOOK...

Bill O'Reilly is the host of a top rated current affairs program (The O'Reilly Factor) in the United States and his conservative leanings has clashed with liberal thinking of comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
There was a time the three gentlemen had on-air scuffle (Jon and Stephen vs Bill). In this clip, Bill managed to arrange an interview with Colbert and the result was Colbert 1 O'Reilly 0. It is not advisable to mess with a quick thinking comedians for they have the talent of making one look like a fool in a subtle way. O'Reilly's staff can't help themselves and one can hear their snicker on-air! Man, Colbert has a great talent of reversing O'Reilly attack and use it against the host. I see Bill trying hard to contain a laugh - he should have known better.