Morning News – Natasha Richardson Dies (UPDATE – Autopsy Information)
Starting on a sad note — Natasha Richardson has died. UPDATE: according to this AP report, an autopsy revealed that “Richardson died from bleeding in her skull caused by the fall she took on a ski slope…The medical examiner ruled her death an accident, and doctors said she might have survived had she received immediate treatment.”
She’s one of those actresses that everyone seemed to absolutely adore on and off stage. I saw her perform in ‘Cabaret’ just before the show opened to rave reviews; she was amazing to watch. An appreciation of her life is here.
Pope Benedict XVI has folks up in arms because, speaking about the AIDS epidemic in Africa, he said, “You can’t resolve it with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, it increases the problem.” Cathy Lyn Grossman at USA Today has an intriguing post in their Religion section titled, “Could choosing condoms mean choosing life?” Interesting idea.
The way everyone is carrying about the Jon Stewart / Jim Cramer kerfuffle (and really, what is it if not a kerfuffle?) you would think that their “feud” actually had some effect on the world at large. Or that more than 2.3 million people actually watched it. I’m not saying that’s not a good number, but it’s not exactly Earth shaking. Anyway, Jeff Zucker, the head honcho of NBC Universal, is all up in Jon Stewart’s grill, saying that Jon is like, being unfair and stuff when he blames the financial crisis on CNBC’s reporting. (That’s not an exact quote; you can read Zucker’s full quote here.) The thing is, that’s not really what Stewart was saying. To me, the most important line from the interview he did with Cramer was, “It’s not a f**king game, man.” Cramer seemed to be telling Stewart that it was perfectly OK to say something under the guise of financial advice that wasn’t entirely accurate as long as it was entertaining. Frankly, that pisses me of as well. For Stewart to question the worth of a network’s reporting is a good thing, or it should be. Disagreeing with him is fine as well. Sing it with me now — ain’t that America, you and me
I’ll fix my account of the skiing accident, thanks for the correction.
I’m with BBBGMOM, I’m quite sure she didn’t hit a tree. I live in Quebec where the very sad thing happened, so I’ve heard a lot of people involved speak in the media, and their take is that she had a seemingly meaningless fall while taking a ski lesson. Two ski patrollers helped her, she was talking and joking and walking afterward, didn’t seem hurt at all. They took her back to her hotel room, suggested that she see a doctor, which she shrugged off. Then an hour later she crashed.
What Leahsmom said, but I think what you’re wondering is why anyone in their right mind would buy BAD debt, debt that will never be repaid. The answer is that no one would, which is why the Fed is stepping in… they’re trying to keep our broken economy chugging along a little longer.
I think there are a few reasons you might want to buy debt – most of which have to do with earning money on your investment. One is, you can charge a high enough interest rate that you can be reasonably confident of earning a profit even if the borrower doesn’t pay the whole thing off. Another might be the way it interacts with other investments you have – for example, if you purchase a company’s debt and are short its stock.
I don’t think she hit a tree – at least according to most accounts. From the NY Times: “Ms. Richardson, who was not wearing a helmet, had fallen during a beginner