IRS to the rescue!

the solution to the AIG executive bonus problem seems to me to send the IRS after them. audit the fuck out of those executives. you may not get all $165 million back, but you're bound to get some of it. and who knows? maybe a few of those guys will be sent to jail for tax fraud or evasion or perversion or inversion or some other thing, which would be a bonus on the revenge front and may ebb the nation's bloodlust.

i have to say, while these people clearly do not deserve another penny, $165 million in taxpayer money really only comes to about 50 cents per person, which isn't so bad... unless, of course, you add to that the hundreds of billions that were given to the company as a whole. in the end, as i'm sure we're all aware, this completely idiotic managerial move isn't really the problem. i think joel achenbach said it well:

The eruption of outrage over AIG is understandable given our innate need for a satisfying narrative—one in which bad things are caused by bad people, and the bad people get caught and punished. It offends our narrative sensibility when the problems are disproportionate to the number of villains.

on the portland front, many things are afoot. M & T bought a house, which it seems i will be moving into sometime in the next month or so. i'll be migrating from NE to SE, near a Pix Patisserie and the revered Pok Pok and their delectible fish sauce chicken wings. there's also a swell little bike shop, food co-op (repleat with neighboring year-round bit-sized farmer's market), and a new seasons grocery within walking distance.

i've also joined a couple of co-ed soccer teams and have miraculously turned into a goal-scoring machine this season. i think i slotted in one during the fall indoor session, but i've managed at least seven this session. players are only allowed two goals maximum per game and i've reached that limit thrice. honestly, i don't know what to do with myself. (no, really, once i get two goals i just wander around the field aimlessly—my defense is for shit. more goals get scored against us when i'm in the back than when i'm not. and i seem to have a propensity for getting in the way of and injuring our keeper.) the outdoor team gets rolling soon and that should be a good time too.