My hero, Jon Stewart

I am fortunate enough to have access to high speed broadband Internet at work, which sadly, I lack at home. This means, of course, that I can only watch video streaming at work (while I am busy doing other things - I can listen to it and not necessarily have to watch it). Well, I have rapidly become a big fan of Stewart and his skewed sense of humor, but I am finding that he is also a very sharp and capable interviewer who can really put people on the spot when need be. He's a very smart, capable guy who is obviously very well read and quite informed on any number of issues, and of course, he's broadly partisan as well, but still, that doesn't in any way diminish his ability to interview someone from the opposition. He treats them fairly but also flings sharp questions at them when the occasion calls for it. For the past week, he and CNBC "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer have been engaged in a bit of a war of words (and rightly so, I might add!), so last night, the showdown of the week/century happened on "The Daily Show", where Cramer came on and was interviewed by Stewart, who hammered Cramer over the whole Wall Street mess of recent days and the kinds of things being said on CNBC. It was nothing short of a brilliant interview that showed Stewart at his sharpest and best. Truly, this man is amazing. You would never have known that he's a comedian when he's being such an able interviewer and questioner. He spares nothing and really lays it all on the line. There was nothing funny about this interview. It was dead serious, with a touch of anger on Stewart's part toward careless Wall Street types playing dangerous games with ordinary people's hard earned savings and investments, all in the name of maximizing profits over taking care of people's money. If you haven't seen this interview and you have access to a broadband connected computer, go to The Daily Show site and watch it. Nothing funny about it, folks. It's dead serious and really good. If only I had enough money to afford a new computer at home that I could connect to broadband - I'd doubtless watch this and many other shows online that I can't normally get because I don't have cable TV!

AN APPROPRIATE NAME - MADOFF

In the past few days, Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff (an appropriate name - Made Off, as in, made off with lots of people's hard earned life savings) finally got his day of justice in court. What astounds me is how long he got away with this and how much money he lost and who his investors were: everything from ordinary folk to celebrities to major foundations. Now, I grew up with the maxim that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is, so investing with this guy who never seemed to lose his investors any money and could promise amazing returns on their investments seems like something I would shy away from, given what little I know of such things. But people trusted him because they made a lot of money investing their money with him and now, a lot of folk stand to be wiped out completely, their entire life savings lost. On NPR's "All Things Considered" last night, an retired couple who live in Florida were interviewed and they lost everything - $1.66 million of their retirement savings. They'd invested with him for decades and trusted him implicitly, and now, all they can afford is to live in their RV and do what they can to survive with no money left for their retirement savings. And they're not alone. Unfortunately, it's not likely that any of these folks will receive any restitution, because like any smart money manager, Madoff probably hid the bulk of his wealth in some kind of off-shore bank where it will never be found, so he's probably got untold millions squirreled away somewhere. Like he's ever going to be able to use it, because he will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars, but he's probably thinking about his family's financial security without him there to support them. Still, if he's got enough money to where his wife made a $15 million withdrawal just days before this Ponzi scheme came crashing down, then he's got some serious dough that he could use to pay back some of his smaller investors who have been wiped out. The wealthier ones will survive, but the folks like that Florida couple won't, and they're the ones who deserve to get their money back. Sadly, though, it's not likely they will, so let this stand as a lesson to all: Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it is. No ands, ifs or buts about it.