Workers prepare the stage for the VP debate {AP Photo}

I’ll be tap-tap-tapping away on the typer, live blogging the VP debate from my working man’s castle in North East Baltimore beginning at 9 p.m. EST.  Drink ‘em if you’ve got ‘em.  The rules are simple:

1. Every time Palin gives a response that sounds like it was run though a free online language translator, I’m going to have myself a sip of a crisp, refreshing adult beverage (from the Land of Pleasant Living).

2. Every time Biden harps on the Alaska governor’s lack of experience, I will also take a nip.

It’s a good old-fashioned debate party, friends, and you’re invited. But remember: the first rule of Debate Party is, you do not talk about Debate Party…without a beer in your hand.  Let the bloodletting begin.

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Introducing Chris

Hi, everyone — Christopher Nelson here. I’m happy to be a new contributor to bthesite. I just wanted to take this opportunity to let you know a little about me.

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Felix, an African elephant at the Maryland Zoo, which has free admission Wednesday {thanks, The Baltimore Sun}

From today’s b, the paper

We’re all about getting cultured. But the money we usually have to spend to do so — not so much.

Which is why we pray to the altar that is Free Fall Baltimore.
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Remember those rebate checks every BGE customer got earlier this month? Well, we’re now getting word that they’ll cover the expected rate increase this winter, with barely anything left over.

The rebate checks were for $170. As The Sun reports, the expected rate increase from Nov. 1 to March 31 will be about $110. Break out those calculators, braniacs. That leaves about $60 left over.

Gee, thanks.

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BGE’s parent company, Constellation Energy, has announced it will sell the company for $4.7 billion.

Aside from the fact that our area will lose one of its two Fortune 500 companies, why should you care?

First of all, it’s a clear indication that our area businesses are suffering in the slumping economy. Stocks on Wall Street have lost — get this — $1 trillion in value this week, according to a live report just aired on CNN.

You may remember a post here back on August 13. We reported then what came true now — Constellation was in danger of getting its bond rating downgraded even more, meaning they would have been forced to post some collateral that they didn’t even have.

It might actually be good news to us, in the end. Read the rest of this entry »

$92.

That’s the only number you really need to know. For the first time in who-knows-how-long, a price for a barrel of light, sweet crude oil dipped below $92 yesterday. That’s a drop of $10 in yesterday alone.

Today, prices are up a tiny bit. But, they’re still hovering around that figure, according to Bloomberg.

So, why are gas prices at the pump continuing to climb for the eighth straight day? And, more importantly, why are we continuing to debate about drilling off-shore?

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El douchebag {Brian Krista, b}

From today’s b, the paper

You know them. You see them. Maybe one’s a neighbor, a friend. Maybe one just served you an espresso with a double shot of haughty. Maybe you’re one.

Yeah, we’re talking douchebags. They’re out there, walking among us, looking down on us, driving an IROC-Z while blasting T-Pain’s latest. They practice pursing their lips and have totally DVRed Dane Cook’s latest comedy special because it will be “f—ing rad, brah.”

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The news about our horrible economy just got even worse.

You know that saying about how bad things come in threes? It’s proving true again today.

Number one: a Wall Street icon, Lehman Brothers, filed for federal bankruptcy protection when hopes to take over the troubled bank failed.

Number two: Merrill Lynch says it is allowing Bank of America to buy the company for $50 billion.

And, finally: the government announced that it is going to help bail out the world’s largest insurance company — AIG.

At midday, stocks are down nearly 300 points. And things may not get better any time soon.

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As previously noted here two days ago, Maryland needs to find another $432 million in budget cuts because of slumping revenues.

Well, today the O’Malley administration announced its decision. As The Sun reports, the cuts will come from the transportation sector.

The cuts will total $1.1 billion over the next six years. They’ll come from planned upgrades to the MARC system, which will now be pushed back. In addition, improvements along U.S. 29 in Howard County will be stalled.

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The economy is still gloomy not just for you and me, but also for the state in which we live. Oh, not to mention the country, too.

Sobering reports are running today in newspapers and on television stations all across the country. First, about the U.S. budget.

The federal government will run a near-record deficit for the budget year, which ends this month. The deficit will be, get this, $438 billion. According to the Associated Press, that amounts to 3% of the total size of the economy.

According to the AP: Read the rest of this entry »