Sunday - December 27, 2008 - Dolphins & Jets To Play The Most Important Game of 2008. Washington Mutual's Crooked Boiler Room Culture, Sat Radio Zero

Why satellite radio has never made a proift and why Howard Stern is no longer influential or talked about on the street

Former head of Wamu, Kerry Killenger, smiling 'cause he took his money and left the building before it collapsed

Capitalist Pigs Gone Mad: Former meth addict broker and others explain how Washington Mutual boiler room culture played the mortgage money game by bending and breaking all the lending rules

Game of the Weekend: Dolphins at Jets with 5 interesting storylines

NFL: Schedules for tomorrow, Standings, Updates

Scam artists taking advantage of desperate homeowners

Hospitals in Gaza overflow with wounded and dying from Saturday's airstrikes by Israel

Media making baby steps in China

Rival Islamist Militias Clash in Bloody Struggle for Somalia

Cuba says it has suffered one of the most difficult financial years since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Raul Castro calls for more work, fewer handouts

A suicide bombing in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, has killed at least five members of the paramilitary civil defence force

Saturday - December 27, 2008 - The Coming Demographic Asset Bomb, Kate Winslet Should Win Best Magazine Cover Oscar,

RNC Chairman condemns "Barack the Magic Negro" song

Scottish woman spent more than week locked in trunk

Phoenix, Arizona opens new $1.4 Billion, 20 mile long, light rail system in the desert

Where the jobs are: US Military having no problems with re-ups or finding new recruits

Apple shooting to expand its cellphone marketshare: Wal-Mart greenlighted to sell the iconic iPhone

Festive goat burned down in Sweden for the 23rd time since 1966

Bank Robbery Plot Halted by Savvy Hostages, Trooper

3D Live Events Are Coming To a Theater Near You. Do You Care?

Swift justice: Chinese firms tied to milk scandal are to make amends to 300,000 families with small children affected by the tainted product

The Coming Cash Tsunami

Good old German know how invents "Passive Heated" homes which use 1/20th the energy of a normal same sized home with the exact same appliances.


Shoplifting dog had a Merry Christmas with a clean getaway

Man shoots talker at movies, police say

At least 20 die in Baghdad car bomb blast

An 850 pound emerald said to be worth $370 Million, is in the hands of Los Angeles Police as dispute to ownership heats up

Shark attacks and takes snorkeling Australian father

NFL: Scores, Schedule, Standings before tomorrows last week of the regular season ends
Late surge leaves Celtics stunned . . . Warriors hand champs 2d straight loss

NBA: Scores, Schedule, Standings

AIG's rescue has a long way to go. When will the government's costly bailout of the deeply distressed insurance giant be over? Don't expect it to be anytime soon.

Oil finishes the week a tad above $36 a barrel

3 out of 4 Americans glad to see Bush go

Stocks that beat the market meltdown of 2008

What happened to the American Dream?

Retailers cut loose unsold inventory with blowout fire sale type prices, and yet crowds still not forming in post-Holiday shopping

Want to save money commuting and get some exercise? Wired gives 2 thumbs up to Giant's latest version of "The Hybrid Bicycle"

Breaking: Israel launches air strikes on Gaza, at least 195 dead

Barron's this weekend: Coming in 2009: Stockpickers' Paradise

The US Madoff suicide investor (there was another big Madoff investor who committed suicide last week in Britain) was totally ruined by the Ponzi scheme as he had not invested money for clients, but for himself and family

Vanity Fair cover of Kate Winslet with 11 photo slideshow: After five nominations, Kate Winslet may get the Oscar she deserves, doubling down with back-to-back tours de force in The Reader and Revolutionary Road.

How to shoot better low light photos with that digital camera you just got for Christmas

Former Governor of Alabama who has bipartisan support of 54 States Attorneys to overturn his conviction says, "Karl Rove Destroyed My Life"

Post holiday shopping in Florida was quiet

Bargain hunter shoppers sink gift card sales, which are major profit generators for Retailers

Must read. As retiring Boomers sell off assets, it's time to duck and cover: MSNBC's Jon Markman: An ugly, unrecognizable Recession - Most of us haven't seen an economic decline like this one before, and as the slowdown gets slower, few will be unaffected. Are you ready for the 'frugal future'?

Christmas tree farmers began their work in earnest yesterday preparing for next year's crop

Islamorada, Florida Keys: Man's body with gunshot wound to head found inside a trailer which was burning from "suspicious" fire

Saturday - December 27, 2008 - Slip Sliding Away on Chicago's "Black Ice" on Highways, Kickers Kick Ass, Psycho Santa Melted His Uniform Into His Skin

The new breed of NFL kickers who like to tackle

Krugman: Mortgage rates still too high

Psycho Santa Bruce Pardo only took his own life because he was careless with jet fuel used to ignite the fire at his killing scene

A doctor helps children change their gender

Building boom in NYC crashes

The Mormons are locked and loaded and will not go hungry during Hard Times

Here we go again: Storm blankets Midwest and Northwest

... with Washington under a State of Emergency
...and Chicago freeways so frozen with ice that chain collisions are happening everywhere

Oahu, Hawaii experiences Key West disease . . . power failure . . . and President-elect Obama's neighborhood there is in the dark tonight

Down on her luck mom smothers her 8 year old son in motel room in Port St. Lucie, FL on Christmas Day

Friday Evening - December 26, 2008 - Glut forces producers to store oil on tankers off shore,

Real Homes of Genius: The Five Figure Zip Codes are Growing. A $62,000 Median Home Price in Southern California?

"We're running out of places to store crude oil. We're already storing oil in large oil tanker ships. OPEC's cuts will not be enough to stem rising inventories."




100 year old man goes to the gym 6 days a week

Six men have gone on trial in China accused of making and selling the chemical at the centre of the tainted milk scandal.

Six Iraqi policemen and seven detained militants have been killed in the city of Ramadi as the prisoners attempted to escape from a police station

Iranians throw shoes at pictures of Bush in support of shoe throwing journalist

Great Britain's Economy shrink more than any quarter since the Recession of 1990

Now the ethanol makers want a bailout

CEO of Fedex says he believes the current financial crisis was caused by tax laws which favored financial institutions in the USA over manufacturing and service sectors

Woman claims she was fired for answering the phone, "Merry Christmas", at vacation rental firm in Florida

Bush's War on Terror is more costly than expected, now pegged at over $1 Trillion (and that doesn't include veteran's healthcare, etc.)

Not all retailers are suffering: Online giant,Amazon claims this Christmas was a record season
New York Times: TVA flood of coal ash, mud and water is three times larger than originally thought

Friday - December 26, 2008 - Santa Shooter Toll Now at 10 (including himself)

New death total from the Santa Shootings in California has risen from 3 . . . 6 . . . .8 . . . 9 . . .to 10 (including the shooter) and police discover he had booby trapped his rental car with a bomb and that he was carrying $10,000 cash and a plane ticket out of the country

Pardo, the shooter, was an usher at Sunday mass.

He was living alone without the kids and wife, and had lost money and the dog in a divorce

Friday - December 26, 2008 - EXTRA Edition -

Detroit replaces New Orleans as most beleaguered city in America 

Note: be sure to see A1A News video on Detroit from yesterday's news (click here)

SALUTE! University of Michigan giving three tractor trailers of Nike gear to veterans and soldiers!

Where the jobs are: Fast food supplier to expand plant in Lenoir, NC, adding 123 jobs

A SUBURBAN Kansas City woman pleaded guilty on Monday to killing a woman whose sexual torture and suffocation were videotaped.

Canadian government gets warrants for their part in GM/Chrysler bailout 

Friday - December 26, 2008 - The New Quid Pro Quo in Afghanistan: Viagra for Intel, Happiest Dog in the Whole USA on Christmas Day

WARNING! Hazardous Winter Weather Outlook (8 to 12 inches of snow) for Central New York, Southeastern New York and Northeast Pennsylvania

Infrastructure dream back on the table: Anaheim to Las Vegas train doesn't have to be maglev

The Fort Myers-Cape Coral market saw a 64 percent jump in Realtor assisted sales for single-family homes in November, but the median sales price for single-family homes declined 53 percent to $106,100 in November, down from $228,100 a year ago.

British economists predict their housing prices will fall another 10% in 2009

Asia marks Fourth Tsunami Anniversary

The EIU votes Vancouver, B.C. as the No. 1 Best City in the World to live

Lawsuit filed over the use of the words "Conch Republic"

Progressives peeved with many of Obama's appointments

Israel has opened border crossings with the Gaza Strip to allow humanitarian aid to enter the supply-starved Palestinian territory.

Tension between 2 nuclear powers grows: Pakistan taking troops away from the Afghan border to send to the border with India

Once Trusted Mortgage Pioneers, Now Pariahs

Obama drops in on Marine Corps Base Hawaii

'Death midwife' as funeral alternative

CIA dispenses Viagra to Afghan warlords who, loving the diamond blue pills, tell the CIA everything about Taliban movements.

The Happiest Dog in the Whole USA on Christmas Day (play video above)

British animal activists guilty in hate campaign which employed blackmail and other dark tactics

Tear gas kills five in packed Peruvian nightclub

Mike Connell, the chief IT consultant to Karl Rove, reportedly asked for protective custody from the government before he died.

Hobbyists are trying genetic engineering at home

NBA Scores, Schedules and Standings

LA Lakers stop Boston Celtics 19 game winning streak cold 92-83

3 Chinese ships join other countries in patrolling coast off Somalia to control pirates

7 Islamic militants with large cache of explosives arrested in Bangladesh

Western USA digs out from Christmas storms

Christmas day spent camped out in airports for many

U.S. Embassy in Seoul has received a package containing a suspicious white powder

"'Tis the season for losing your job" by Rodger Rafter on Motley Fool board

Snowzilla comes back from the dead

JAPANESE AUTO PRODUCTION MARKS WORST DROP IN 41 YEARS

A former Utah state trooper named as a suspect in several Dallas-area roadway shootings died Wednesday night.

Thursday - December 25, 2008 - Christmas Day - Buffett Outperforms the S&P 500 by 7% This Year, The Worst Predictions for 2008, Detroit Depression

Santa Baby takes home Eartha Kitt at Last Call. She dies at 81

The German navy says it has foiled an attempt by pirates to hijack an Egyptian cargo vessel off Somalia.

Bush Has Built Foundation for Improved Health Care

Man in Santa suit murder count now upped to 6 from 3 earlier this morning. Others injured. Shooter kills himself at his brother's house later today.

The Sounds of Christmas Mass in Iraq

Least competent burglar of the week: one, Randy Lee Shoopman, who played Hansel and Spittle at crime scenes

PC Magazine: 12 steps to help you get maximum peformance in your new PC

Alan Taylor's Big Picture Blog: 2008, the year in photographs (part 3)

Has the SEC fallen down on the job? NYT: Federal Cases of Stock Fraud Drop Sharply

An interesting Motley Fool thread devoted to "Trust in the Global Economic System" and worth your adding your two cents

23 year old Univeristy of Miami Hurricane Antonio Dixon still stutters severely but he has overcome this social impediment and is now a star at college and especially the homeless shelter where he once lived with his mom

"Warm" Christmas day predicted for Winnipeg, Canada of up to -22 when the sun comes up

Gunman in Santa suit attacks party, kills 3 in Covina, California

Two frostbitten horses saved in the mountains of British Columbia!


TSHTF . . . DEPRESSION Now Hitting DETRIOT! Average home price $18,513 - Unemployment rate 21% (click on video above)

4 Us military sons are reunited for Christmas for the first time in 15 years, making their mom ecstatic (video included)

CNNMoney/Fortune Magazine: "Apple stock should shine again" Anaylst says the biggest risk to Apple is Steve Job's health and his lack of successor

Rural Ontario woman buried for three days in snow found alive

Bruised Berkshire Hathaway shares are still outperforming the S&P 500 benchmark by about 7%

The Worst Predictions for 2008 . . . and here's one of our faves at A1A News ------> 5. "No! No! No! Bear Stearns is not in trouble." —Jim Cramer, CNBC commentator, Mar. 11, 2008
Five days later, JPMorgan Chase (JPM} took over Bear Stearns with government help, nearly wiping out shareholders.

Boston Globe's "The Ink Tank" - Roundup of Daily Cartoons from Around the Nation

Tourism Recession: Have you been to Vegas recently? Has the strip gone too high end?

Thursday - December 25, 2008 - Christmas Day - The Environmental Disaster in Tennessee

Videos (above): Environmental disaster 48 times bigger than the Exxon Valdez spill took place last week. EPA says the cleanup could take weeks and that the site in Tennessee could be declared a Superfund site. Coal ash can contain toxic wastes such as mercury, arsenic and lead.

TVA spill destroys wildlife

Is the national media ignoring the TVA disaster?

As the US economy heads south, growing ranks of New England students are looking north to Canada as a college destination.

Anarchy: Pay attention to what is happening in the Greek riots, there is more than meets the eye as youth unemployment runs 25-30% in Greece These young people now have the ability to instantaneously organize themselves through text messages and other new media, without waiting passively to be informed by traditional newspapers and television.

2008 will be remembered as the year investors learned to disbelieve in almost every type of investment

US Travel gets back to normal after winter storms close highways, bus terminals, air terminals, train stations and more



How to cut down on noise and keep the air clean as we commute around our towns: 8 scooter which don't need gasoline

Wednesday - December 24, 2008 - EXTRA - An Overview of the Housing /Credit Crisis and Why There is More Pain to Come, Mexico's Gorgeous Gun Lover

Weapons, ammo, pants seized at Super Bowl Champ's Plaxico Burress' NJ home

Auto lender GMAC Wins Fed Approval to Become Bank as U.S. Seeks to Aid GM

U.S. retail store traffic fell 24 percent last weekend from a year earlier as deepened discounts failed to entice consumers to spend during what may be the worst holiday-shopping season in four decades.

Jumbo Mortgage Shoppers Get Little Relief From Rates

2 Snowmobilers killed in Utah avalanche

Slackers rejoice! Lack of sleep linked to heart problems

Police detain Mexican beauty queen, seize weapons

Shop sign in window of Short Pump Shopping Center store in Richmond, Virginia's West End Suburbs

Retailers selling a second "Black Friday"



Outstanding 116 page chart filled PDF sent to A1A News by Motley Fool Poster: An Overview of the Housing/Credit Crisis And Why There Is More Pain to Come

Poster on Yahoo message board for GM posts a Grinch like prayer

Avoiding the Ax: Where the Jobs Are

Wednesday - December 24, 2008 - How a Priest Stole Christmas, Rush Limbaugh's Crazy Conspiracy Theory, Giving Thanks Bush Never Died in Office

TV on demand for iPhone owners

Opinion piece in the WSJ today: Get Ready for a Lost Decade

SoCal law school tempts students with free tuition

Jobless rate swings to the highest in 26 years

Cheney's Shocking Admissions on How Close He Came to Nearly Destroying the Country

Chinese official who oversees $200 Billion of China's $2 Trillion in holdings says "“Be Nice to the Countries That Lend You Money”

Why one great investor passed on investing with Bernie Madoff 11 years ago

Sign 'O the Times: Now, first stop at mall is often to sell gold

Business Week: Real Estate forecast is one where the Housing Crash will spread into wealthier neighborhoods in 2009

Is your chocolate costing more? Cocoa prices hit a 23 year high

Saudi judge refuses to anul marriage between an 8 year old girl and a 47 year old man

What the price of oil is telling us

Casey Research on the eBay Index: The one place which shows you how much gold is really worth

Economy deflated 0.5% while Economists feel the current quarter will be even worse

When will the government's long, costly bailout of the deeply distressed insurance giant AIG be over? Don't expect it to be anytime soon.

37 year old former Utah State Trooper tries to take his own life, after which authorities hold him for one of yesterday's highway shooting deaths in Texas

Recession making for a dark Christmas

As the Economy continues to tank, more PadDay lenders sprout in suburban middle class strip malls

Miami police release sketch of woman found dead in a trash truck two weeks ago, seeking her ID

Motley Fool blogger near Wall Street says "Housing is a mess: anecdotal & statistical evidence"

90 year old Janesville GM plant closed yesterday: Not even the Federal bailout could save one of the 3 last remaining SUV plants in America

Q & A: Somali pirate explains how you steal a ship

Equifax Credit Bureau states US Consumers are falling deeper into debt

Holy smokes! Authorities in Arizona seize 25,600 pounds of marijuana, one kilogram of coke, $769,000 and says the drug smugglers just busted had moved 900 tons of pot into the USA

Russia expects its first defecit in over a decade

A New New Deal? It is time to invest in America: A must read one day after the giant water main burst in Bethesda, MD

Disgusting report on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: Texas welfare officials now say that nearly 2/3rds of the familes in Polygamist sect had abused children. A dozen girls 12-15 were "spiritually" married to adult men with seven of them having one or more children. Another 262 children were sexually abused which parents neglected.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu says threaten Mugabe of Zimbabwe with force

US and other countries step up their fight against corporate crime

Nation's First 'Underwater Wind Turbine' Installed in Old Man River

Two Hamas militants die after mishandling explosives

Living to tell about Madoff

How We Can Live with Less and Still Feel Rich

Rapper Rosco P. Coldchain, signed to the Neptunes' Star Trak label, has been arrested for his alleged involvement in a double homicide.

Young Turks Poke Fun At Rush Limbaugh and His New Conspiracy Theory By Replaying His Latest Show: Which Leads the A1A News Team to Ask, "Rush, are you on oxys again?"

How to enrage rich investors even further: Cereberus (owner of Chrysler) Caps Withdrawals From Hedge Fund After Loss

Forensic accountant who predicted 1994 crash of Orange County says up to 10 municipalities will go bankrupt in 2009

SEC may charge Bruce Bent, inventor of the money market fund, with violating securities laws in the collapse of its $63 billion Reserve Primary Fund

Italian Priest ruins Christmas for kids by telling them there is no Santa

Now retailers want President-elect Obama to add sales tax-exempt shopping days to his stimulus package

Real estate developers chase away iconic charter boats and captains from their docks in the Upper Keys

A rebelious student body in Jordan returns to the past and embraces the Koran

WSJ: The Next Wave of State Taxes

US tells China they are not getting the 17 Chinese Guantanamo prisoners soon to be released

Bomb explodes in Pakistani city killing one, injuring four

Tuesday - December 23, 2008 - Hard Times in the Florida Keys, Evangelicism Packs 'Em In As Economy Sours, Madoff Related Suicides, Housing Sales Fall

Helicopter and boat used to rescue stranded motorists on city street flooded by huge broken water main in Bethesda, Maryland today

Wal-Mart will pay as much as $640 million to settle 63 federal and state class actions claiming the company cheated hourly workers and forced them to work through breaks.

Massachussetts man using blowtorch to melt snow sets his house on fire instead

Layoffs: World's largest casino in Macau, owned by Las Vegas Sands, lets 500 workers go

Median Home prices drop record 13.2% year over year . . . the largest drop since the Great Depression

Frozen Ports in Long Beach, Singapore Mean Bleak 2010

Head of Access International Advisors Hedge Fund Invested in Madoff Said to Commit Suicide in New York City

HSBC Banker's nude body found hanging in London is an apparent suicide who might have had ties to Madoff Ponzi Scheme

Hard Times in the Florida Keys

A new construction nightmare comes to light in Southeast, Florida: Chinese Dry Wall.

Nearing the First 100 Days of the TARP: Three Major Trends that will Crush the 2009 Marketplace: Bank Hoarding, Resilient States now Being Dragged Down, and Losing Focus.

Chicago man survives 125 foot fall after crashing on an overpass, being ejected from his car, and flying over a guardrail onto railroad yard below.

Madonna embraces Jesus . . . . the photographer

NYC homeless numbers hit 25 year high

The rate of modified home loans re-defaulting is rising ever faster

"2009 will be the toughest year of this downturn," said Jack McCabe, a Deerfield, Florida-based real estate consultant. "It will exceed anything we've seen in 2008. There will be many more business failures, and unemployment will reach 10 percent statewide."

Saving Capitalism No Sure Thing as Statism Undermines Economy

Reeling South Carolina City of Columbia Is a Snapshot of Our Economic Woes

November Housing Sales in U.S. Probably Fell to Nine-Year Low


Super model "Face of Asia", Sahar Daftary, dies in tragic fall from 12th floor of ex-beau's London apartment

Krugman says we are in for months, maybe even another year, of Economic Hell . . . and then he answers, "...but what comes next?"

Parents of 127 Schoolchildren Killed in China Quake Confirm Lawsuit

Deflation in UK Economy speeds up

Putin says the era of cheap natural gas is coming to an end

Australian hedge fund loses billions and halts redemptions after losing over 99% of its worth. Shares now trading at 4.7 cents a share.

Mish: Consumer demand for nearly everything plungesConservative radio ready to go on the offensive now that Dems are in control of the White House

Newspaper ignores putting its stories on the web and thrives

Foreign car makers in the US are cutting back, postponing plants, and hoping the Economy turns around soon

Snow, freezing rain and sleet Tuesday in the Midwest could delay holiday travelers in sunny South Florida.

Where the jobs are: Careers in nuclear power offer good pay, benefits

The IRS says Ausaf Umar Siddiqui, a vice president of Fry Electronics chain, cut side deals with some suppliers that netted him more than $65 million.

Holiday travelers are stranded in bus terminals, train stations, airports, and highways by winter storms

Unions sue Schwarzenegger over mandatory days off

Afghan Taliban member and "narco-terrorist" sentenced to life in prison by a US Court yesterday












In God They Trust: The Evangelical Business is Booming during the Recession

China calls for return of 17 Guantanamo Bay inmates. In a "Say what" move, US officials explain they worry the Chinese will torture the prisoners if they are sent back to China

President Karzai of Afghanistan attends funeral for 3 Aghans killed in US raids, asks for investigation

Shoplifting arrests soar all across America as the Economy worsens

Where's the bank bailout money?

States federal money as more down on their luck people seek Medicaid

Clinton Administration lawyer pleads guilty to child porn charge in San Diego court yesterday

Catching up with "the Last House Standing" in Gilchrist, Texas




(Photo #8 out of 40 for Part 2 of 2008 the Year in Photos)
Alan Taylor's "Big Picture Blog" Gives Us Part 2 of 2008 the Year in Photos