Sunday morning humor

Go see Razib's post on some funny investing books and their raving reviews. Among them:

"Dow 30,000 by 2008" Why It's Different This Time
Why the Real Estate Boom Will Not Bus - And How You Can Profit from It: How to Build Wealth in Today's Expanding Real Estate Market
The Rules for Growing Rich: Making Money in the New Information Economy (written of course at the peak of the dot.com bubble)

I guess every genius is misunderstood in its own time.

He sure proved them wrong

He might have been old, but he sure as hell was not cranky.

DAKAR (Reuters) - A 70-year-old man opened fire with his hunting rifle on a rap group at a concert in northeast Senegal at the weekend because he felt their song lyrics were insulting him, police and local media said on Monday.

Five young people were wounded in the shooting incident at Lobali village in the Matam region on Senegal's border with Mauritania, some 700 km (440 miles) from the capital Dakar.

The man told the rappers to stop when they started singing about a "cranky old man", and when they did not, he opened fire with his rifle, a local police officer said.

Not the smartest fish in the pond

Sometimes, it is better not to say anything at all.

The insurgents were invisible, hidden behind the thick mud walls of the compounds, their rifles poking through narrow slits.

“Small arms have no effect on the walls, and that’s what we were carrying,” Colonel Baluch said. “We did not know where to fire back.”

The attack came from three directions, but the guerrillas made a mistake.

“When they shouted, ‘God is great,’ it was helpful to us,” Colonel Baluch said. The voices gave away their location. -NYTimes (Jane Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah)

Oui nous pouvons!

These posters were not made by Sarkozy. They're still pretty funny.

The root cause of the financial crisis

al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has the answer:

The American economy was afflicted by a downturn and loss of investor confidence in the market following the events of Sept. 11," he said.... Zawahri then called on the American people to "embrace Islam to live a life free of greed, exploitation and forbidden wealth.

I think al-Qaeda is getting desperate or its some form of twisted humor, I'm not sure which.

Hat tip: Steve Benen

Today in the World: Ahmadinejad the humorist

Ahmadinejad is giving us some brilliantly insightful economic analysis:

Iran's President Ahmadinejad has said his country will not be damaged by falling oil prices.

This is despite the fact that the country relies on oil for the vast majority of its export earnings and government revenue.

He insisted the fall in oil prices would not cause major problems, even if it dropped to five dollars a barrel.

Gotta give it to him, he can be funny.

Arggggg maties! Pirates flair new opportunities

From the Globe and Mail:

The Somali pirates, renegade Somalis known for hijacking ships for ransom in the Gulf of Aden, are negotiating a purchase of Citigroup.

The pirates would buy Citigroup with new debt and their existing cash stockpiles, earned most recently from hijacking numerous ships, including most recently a $200 million Saudi Arabian oil tanker. The Somali pirates are offering up to $0.10 per share for Citigroup, pirate spokesman Sugule Ali said earlier today. The negotiations have entered the final stage, Ali said.

"You may not like our price, but we are not in the business of paying for things. Be happy we are in the mood to
offer the shareholders anything," said Ali.

The pirates will finance part of the purchase by selling new Pirate Ransom Backed Securities. The PRBS's are backed by the cash flows from future ransom payments from hijackings in the Gulf of Aden. Moody's and S&P have already issued their top investment grade ratings for the PRBS's.

Via Andrew Sullivan

"Yes America is like Jessica Simpson, sometimes it's so stupid it embarasses you, but on the other hand..."

Money quotes:

Go away!

Stop following me around with your car in parking lots in the hope of getting my parking spot. I don't even have a car, I'm just wandering around because Obama won and I'm on acid

Via Ataturk

Welcome to Obama's America

Money quote: "There's gonna be a new flag. It's just a white flag with a picture of a burning American flag on it."

Via Rising Hegemon