Volatility in the markets

The currency markets are rebounding (with respect to the dollar) now that South Korea clarified that it's reserve diversification plan isn't anything new. The Dow dropped 174 points today in earlier trading, for the biggest fall since mid-2003, as traders fretted that the dollar was weakening. Well, that and rising oil prices.

Rumblings about Deep Throat

How tantilizing! Check out this post from MSNBC which starts with:

We might shortly find out who "Deep Throat" was.

John Dean, the former White House Counsel to Richard Nixon, whose testimony unlocked the enigma and the insidiousness of Watergate, wrote in The Los Angeles Times that an impeccable source has informed him that “Throat” is in ill health, that Bob Woodward has notified his colleagues at The Washington Post of this fact, and that an obituary has been prepared— almost certainly identifying the man behind the pseudonym.

We'll see if Deep Throat really gets revealed soon....

CA Secretary of State

Interesting to see who Arnold will appoint to fill the embattled Democrat Kevin Shelley's Secretary of State position (who resigned last week after a series of investigations into misuse of federal funds).

It's said that Arnold has two choices: appoint a "caretaker" (ineffective moderate) or a Republican who has aspirations to actually do the job. Supposedly, the Democrats want a caretaker in order to prevent the creation of a viable GOP candidate. One suggestion by Daniel Weintraub of the Sacramento Bee is:

[Schwarzenegger] should nominate either Gary Mendoza, the state's former Corporations Commissioner, or Rosario Marin, the former U.S. Treasurer. Both are qualified for the job and either would send a message that the Republican Party is open to any and all ethnic groups.

And I wouldn't be too concerned if Latino Democrats caused a ruckus.

Would the Democrats really block a qualified candidate just because he/she is from the other party?