| Councilman MikeK Recalls Knievel Action Figure
Top: Young MikeK playing with Evel Knievel action figure; bottom: MikeK receives inspiration from his childhood friends before leaving for a Coeur d'Alene City Council meeting. I had a classic Evel Knievel motorcycle riding action figure when I was a kid. The stunts my brothers and I would stage for that motorcycle toy were legendary (riding out a second story window, chasing the dog around the house without getting chewed to ribbons, you name it). RIP Evel. I wonder what happened to Steve Austin, the Six Million Dollar Man who played the role of Evel's arch-nemesis in the boyhood action figure wars?/Councilman MikeK. Question: What was your favorite action figure/doll when you were little? .
Plan's on borrowed time Home loan piece of stimulus may be shortlived
A provision in the new economic stimulus package that would make it cheaper and easier to buy or refinance a home a boon in the pricey Bay Area might be terminated almost as soon as it begins. President Bush and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi trumpeted a plan this week to raise loan limits for mortgages that FannieMae and FreddieMac can purchase, a move that would allow lenders to offer many more home loans of a greater amount and with the lowest mortgage rates available. The only problem is the loan limits would expire at year's end if the stimulus package follows the proposal as outlined in the current stimulus package. Some key U.S. senators want to extend the time period for the higher loan limits, perhaps indefinitely. The idea behind the higher limits is to stoke demand for homes in high-priced housing markets such as the East Bay and other parts of the Bay Area.
Big Zell Dis
Educating Mr. Wright: Man, it is a tough job, but somebody's got to bring these eggheads up to speed. ... 6:09 P.M. ___________________________ Mrs. Russert Blogs: Maureen Orth notes that "Elvis's death in 1977 rated two paragraphs in People Magazine." But, if memory serves, that's not entirely because the culture of celebrity wasn't well-developed back then (Orth's point). It's because in 1977 Elvis was not such a big deal. ... P.S.: Why isn't Orth blogging for HuffPo? Memo to Arianna: She seems like a natural fit. Memo to Orth: It's not bloggy to let a few little disagreements get in the way of mutually beneficial traffic-sharing. Enmity is so print. The Web's win-win! ... There, I've brought them together.... 12:56 A.M. ___________________________ Wednesday, August 22, 2007 New Orwell on Offense: Andrew Sullivan excoriates pundits who exhibited "spectacular misjudgment about the war in Iraq," something that he says "should consign the author to irrelevance." Fair enough.** [But Sullivan excludes anyone who "explicitly explained why he was wrong and apologized," and Sullivan has apologized, abjectly--ed.
Kill the competition
With the prospect of competition inquiries in several markets, both Nike and Umbro have underlined the difficulty in defining the market for football products. Estimates show that in 2006 Adidas had a 35 per cent share of football shirts and equipment, Nike had 32 per cent, Umbro 8 per cent and Puma 5 per cent. Sobering move The battle for control of Scottish & Newcastle could be heading to the law courts, says The Daily Telegraph. The UK brewer claims Carlsberg has broken the terms of a joint venture between the two companies. S&N says it had given Carlsberg notice of breaches by the Danish brewer of the agreement governing the companies' ownership of BBH, their Russian joint venture. The move could stop in its tracks a plan by Carlsberg and Heineken, the Dutch company, to table a joint £7 billion bid for Britain's biggest brewer.
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