My friend and I in happier times (aka the beginning of our wait).

One of the stories of inauguration day that seems to be quickly gaining steam is the plight of the purple ticket holders, including SanFranLefty and your very own Homofascist.  Truth be told people from the blue and silver areas had trouble getting in as well, but the Purple People as we have been dubbed seem to be the most covered and seemingly the most vocal.  Of course we also seem to be the group of whom only about 50 out of thousands got onto the Mall.  We got some play from Maddow and stories have been popping up all over the place, including this pretty definitive account (at least from my perspective where I was stuck) from The Huffington Post.  There is also a Facebook group called Survivors of the Purple Tunnel of Doom.  They are pissed and seeking reparations.  You can even take a Washington Post poll to put in your 2 cents about what we should get for our hassles.  And as is the sign of the times we have a Wiki page (I was not in the tunnel) and our own merchandise!

I wanted to give you a first hand account of my experience and give you my thoughts about all of the hubbub.  Warning:  it is long.  But includes a picture of Homofascist with a celebrity, so read on!

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Maybe I can pay off my student loans after all:

A US student has put her virginity up for auction in order to pay for a masters degree.

Bidding for a one-night stand with 22-year-old Natalie Dylan has reached £2.5 million ($3.7 million), rising from offers of £162,000 ($243,000) made when the auction first appeared last September.

Dylan, from San Diego, has a a degree in Women’s Studies and is in the middle of a Family and Marriage therapy masters. She disclosed that her sister Ava convinced her to go through with the auction because she paid for her own degree by working as a prostitute for three weeks.

And yes, I would, in fact, hit it.  I just wouldn’t pay for it.

Student’s Virginity Auction Hits $3.7 Million [China Daily]

Yesterday I posted on the Satyam fraud – Satyam is an Indian outsourcing company.  Pricewaterhouse Coopers is Satyam’s auditor.  And because PwC missed the $1 billion elephant in the room, they might have a problem:

PwC said it was examining [Chairman and CEO] Raju’s statement but could not comment further due to confidentiality issues.

The fraud could cause problems for PwC. Since Satyam was listed in the US, investors can turn to the courts there for recompense, and there are legal precedents for holding auditors accountable.

I love the smell of litigation in the morning.

$1 Billion Fraud at India IT Group [FT]

First it was the banks. Then Fannie and Freddie. Then AIG.  Then Shittybank. Then the automakers. Then the former millionaires created by Bernard Madoff. Then CRE.  And now?  Larry Flynt.

Turns out that even this vice industry — which has weathered many other economic downturns — has gone limp under Bush. Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis and Hustler magazing publisher Larry Flynt have asked Congress for a $5 billion bailout, arguing that their industry is also one of the “nation’s most important businesses“.

I can’t even begin to speculate who the next supplicant will be.

And I can’t wait to hear David Vitter’s floor speech.

Porn Industry Goes Limp: Seeks $5 Billion Federal Injection [Think Progress]

The contract jobs I work on have been outsourced in part, mostly to India.  That’s why this warms my cynical black heart:

NEW DELHI — Satyam Computer Services, a leading Indian outsourcing company that serves more than a third of the Fortune 500 companies, significantly inflated its earnings and assets for years, the chairman and co-founder said Wednesday, roiling Indian stock markets and throwing the industry into turmoil.

Sweet.

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First it was the banks. Then Fannie and Freddie. Then AIG.  Then Shittybank. Then the automakers. Then the former millionaires created by Bernard Madoff.

And now the Donald Trump contingent wants in:

From the NY Times: A Wish List for Commercial Real Estate

Commercial real estate groups have been meeting with members of Congress, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as well as Mr. Obama’s transition team, to press their case. And they say they have a compelling one.

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Well … maybe not so much.  At least from my point of view (NYC) there’s not nearly as much going on as last year.

With that out of the way, I have to ask you a question – isn’t this just awful?

Now that Walter Noel is in trouble for steering $7.5 billion into the Bernie Madoff abyss, the pristine reputations of his five gorgeous daughters – Corina, Lisina, Alina, Alix and Marisa – are getting tarnished, too.

Do you give a shit about these people?

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