En Passant

Imagine the TV news coverage

if Ted Kennedy and Michael Jackson had died at the same time.

So how does 'The Paper of Record' play the Lockerbie story?

While The Wall Street Journal and many other papers rightly have a page 1 (above the fold) pic of the Lockerbie terrorist getting a hero's welcome, The New York Times today plays the story on page A4, with no homecoming pic, and only a one-column-inch reference on the bottom left of page A1.  Also, while The Journal and other papers refer to the convicted terrorist as a "terrorist," The Times refers to him as "the Lockerbie convict."

Thank you, Sarah.

If it were not for Sarah Palin, CNN and FoxNews would have been 100% Michael Jackson this weekend.

Now that Portfolio Magazine has finally got it right,

its publisher, Conde Nast, is closing it down.

I wish The Wall Street Journal would be less like The New York Times

and more like The Wall Street Journal.

Actual Headline on Online Edition of Today's New York Times:

Punxsutawney Phil Sees Shadow; Winter to Continue

Why is there more media coverage this week

of the losing VP candidate than of the winning VP candidate?

General Electric must be desperate for advertising revenue.

What other explanation is there for CNBC running Fox Business commercials that ridicule CNBC and its outspoken investment guru?

If you watch nothing else on TV this year,

watch the Fox News special, "Saving Our Economy."  It is, to say the least, enlightening.

One advantage of being behind in my reading is that I can read with the value of hindsight.

A typical quote from Richard Lehmann's column in the June 2, 2008, issue of Forbes Magazine:

"Floaters are issued by many corporations and financial institutions, but with the current loss of faith in credit ratings, I'd recommend only those from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Not that those two organizations are pillars of strength, but they do garner their AA-- ratings from their implicit guarantee by the U.S. Treasury and the fact that a huge financial panic would follow if they were allowed to fail."

Lehmann then recommends the purchase of Fannie Mae preferred, at $47.00.  Today it sells for $1.88.