Open Thread

I was having lunch with Barry Ritholz, Biff, not a NOONER.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/03/bailout-nation-cover/

What did I miss???

Snaps – the birther story keeps going because 28% of the population believes it! (I don’t know what percent of total US is from Ark., Ala, W.Va., etc.)
Auberon Waugh – a fair-minded vehement anti-smoker – cited several studies that illustrated that 2nd hand smoke is not deleterious. I don’t doubt that it has an impact on people who are genetically vulnerable but statistics can be warped & it is the case that smoking affects different people in different ways. As has been pointed out, a couple of whiffs from someone on the street is not going to do as much durable harm as the general pollution of city atmospheres.

CG ups, McCain was born in Panama, but in the Canal Zone, which at the time was under American sovereignty. There were a few challenges to his status as a natural-born citizen, but they didn’t get as much press as the current birther conspiracists.