
We accept advertising through Blogads. If you're interested, click the "Advertise here" link above, or go here to place your ad through Blogads. For assistance, e-mail me here; I'd be glad to help. Reach lots of viewers -- we're up to about 3,800 unique visits a day, and more than 61,000 page views a week (as of November 4). Our rates are dirt cheap for the exposure you'll get!
As a lawyer/blogger, I get
to be a member of:

Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007
Cameron, Chardonnay
B.R. Cohn, Cabernet, Silver Label 2006
Graffigna, Cabernet 2005
Palo Alto, Reserve Red 2008
Menguante, Garnacha 2008
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Felsina Berardenga, Vin Santo 1997
Anne Amie, Pinot Gris 2009
McKinley Springs, Bombing Ramge Red 2007
Vieux Papes Red
Dionysius Chardonnay 2009
Haden Fig, Pinot Noir 2009
Vega Montan, Mencia 2008
Chateau la Vernede, Coteaux du Languedoc 2007
Mount Defiance, Hellfire (White) 2008
Root: 1, Cabernet 2008
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Pinot Grigio 2009
Columbia Crest, Two Vines, Vineyard 10 White, 2008
Columbia Crest, Two Vines, Vineyard 10 Rose, 2007
Abacela, Grenache Rose 2009
Avia Cabernet 2004
Lemelson Pinot Noir, Thea's Selection 2007
Chateau de la Roulerie, Rose d'Anjou 2009
Casal Garcia, Vinho Verde Rose
La Ferme Julien, Rose 2008
Cana's Feast, Bricco Red, 2006
Hogue, Genesis Merlot, 2008
Owen Roe, Sharecropper's Cabernet, 2008
Kim Crawford, Unoaked Chardonnay 2008
J. Scott, Pinot Noir 2008
Edmunds St. John, White, Heart of Gold 2008
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2006
Stevenot, Cabernet, Sierra Foothills, "Stanford" 2000
Portuga, Vinho Rose 2009
Taylor Fladgate, First Estate Reserve Porto
Franciscan, Cabernet, Napa 2006
Chaparral de Vega Sindoa, Garnacha 2008
Quinta da Aveleda, Vinho Verde 2008
St. Francis, Chardonnay Sonoma 2008
E. Guigal, Cotes du Rhone Blanc, 2007
Edmunds St. John, Bone-Jolly, Gamay Noir 2008
St. Innocent, Pinot Noir 2006
Jigsaw, Pinot Noir 2007
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Merlot, Indian Wells 2007
Charles Shaw, Chardonnay 2008
Edmunds St. John, Bone-Jolly, Gamay Rosé 2009
Cameron, Willamette Valley Chardonnay
Il Valore, Sangiovese, Giovane, Puglia 2008
Duck Pond, Chardonnay, Wahluke Slope 2007
Kim Crawford, Marlborough Pinot Noir 2008
Domaine du Pesquier, Cotes du Rhone 2005
Cantina Zaccagnini, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2006
Domaine Matrot, Chardonnay, Bourgogne 2007
David Hill, Oregon Sparkling Wine, Brut
Chandler Reach, Monte Regalo 2006
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2008
Kirkland, Columbia Valley Merlot 2008
D'Aragon, Old Vine Garnacha 2008
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2005
Pavin & Riley, Merlot 2006
David Hill, Estate Pinot Noir, Barrel Select 2006
Castle Rock, Paso Robles Cabernet 2006
Magnificent, Cabernet, Steak House 2008
Conundrum 2008
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1998
Saint Cosme, Cotes-du-Rhone 2007
La Granja, Tempranillo 360, 2008
Santa Rita, Mendalla Real Cabernet 2006
Columbia Crest, Grand Estates Merlot 2006
Andezon, Cotes-du-Rhone 2007
Collegiata, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
Troon, Druid's Fluid 2008
La Granja, Tempranillo 2008
Monte Antico, Toscana 2006
Vieux Papes, Blanc de Blancs
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Miles run year to date: 26
At this date last year: 15
Total run in 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (10)
Looks as if Mr Simplot took it with him.
Posted by Allan L | May 25, 2008 9:16 PM
The spike is largely the result of the Term Auction Credif Facility (TAF), which was the Fed's response to the liquidity crisis. The Fed stepped into the gap created by financial institutions that were unwilling to lend to each other as they shored up their own balance sheets.
http://www.financialweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080502/REG/138458739
Here's a more representative chart of where we stand versus recent history of bad loans.
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/USLSTL?cid=93
It's not the beginning of the end of our banking system; it is the Federal Reserve Chairman's LOUD ANNOUNCEMENT that he's willing to flood the market with easy money in order to avoid a panic induced crisis.
Posted by Mister Tee | May 25, 2008 9:23 PM
What's worse, government economic figures may be way too rosy, according to this guy:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/25/BU6K10JTEF.DTL
Posted by Gil Johnson | May 25, 2008 9:29 PM
It's not the beginning of the end of our banking system; it is the Federal
Reserve Chairman's LOUD ANNOUNCEMENT that he's willing to flood the market
with easy money in order to avoid a panic induced crisis.
In other words, that inflation is going to go through the roof. Stock up on tuna fish and get ready for $10 a gallon gas.
Deregulation works so well.
Posted by Jack Bog | May 25, 2008 9:53 PM
Er ... thanks for catching up to my March 17 post. (see link) I'll be glad to forward them to you in future, if you can use 'em. ;-)
Posted by Hart Williams | May 25, 2008 11:37 PM
Didn't we all promise to hold hands and never look down as we might discover our monetary system is an art form.
Posted by Abe | May 26, 2008 6:57 AM
Congress works so well.
Congressional Problem Creation
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=26488
Posted by Howard | May 26, 2008 7:56 AM
A David Wu glossy last week touts his support for the "Comsumer Oil Price Portotection Act" which prohibits trading in energy futures unless the buyer can accept physical delivery of oil.
This moves Congress to yet a new and higher lever of stupidity. Only the most ignorant of the ignorant can have such a lack of understanding as to support such a cockamamie idea.
Wu is a the perfect member of the dumb club who would champion this stupidity.
Posted by Howard | May 26, 2008 10:08 AM
As long as our GDP growth rate is 1/3 to 1/2's the growth rate of China, India, and Brazil, the U.S. Dollar will continue to depreciate.
Greenspan kept post 9/11 federal funds rate too low, for too long, which helped the banks/brokers to pump out the housing bubble.
You can blame Bush for Greenspan's decisions (Bush agreed with the necessity to pull all the stops to avoid a recession), but I don't know how you blame Bush without blaming the Congress for being asleep at the regulatory switch.
America's dependence on imported manufactured products is as much Clinton's fault as Bush's. The trade deficit has as much to do with our falling dollar as money supply.
Posted by Mister Tee | May 26, 2008 10:57 AM
Congress could always fix the loophole for pass-through deposit insurance for brokered deposits. Setting a maximum of 100 grand in guaranteed deposits, in aggregate per natural person depositor, seems amply equitable to me.
Anti-Capitalist risk-avoidance-transference games never seem to go away, they just get refined and expanded.
(What to do? . . . pause . . . Blame China, Blame Oil, Blame _____.)
Let's not forget the politics about capital gains tax cuts, as asset prices hyperinflate (in lock step with effective wage deflation) by reason of loose money (loose money equivalents, and options and the like) and risk-transference rather than by reason of anything remotely related to entrepreneurship.
On the bright side: Be thankful the flood of overpaid MBAs did not become Doctors; like Doctor Death who should have instead become an MBA where anomalies could just be framed as accounting problems.
Creating artificial reasons to have "confidence in the banking system" to induce deposits, guaranteed deposits, is a problem in and of itself that masquerades as a cure.
Posted by pdxnag | May 26, 2008 11:44 AM