The Market, Maria Sharapova, Jon and Kate

• IBD began today still having the market under pressure.  Surprised they didn't flip to correction mode with yesterday's selling and many leaders violating 50dma.  They say the lower volume made the day less than it seemed. 
• Pre-Fed day on the market, as folks sit and wait it out.  Market decides not to do anything today and to wait it out and see if Bernanke waxes on or waxes off on the future, interest rates, etc.
• A fourth-generation nuclear reactor that runs on nuclear waste.  PRISM is GE’s (GE) name for an integral fast reactor, or IFR, and it’s a pretty great technology. The amount of fuel which already exists for such reactors would be enough to power the world for millennia — no new mining needed. Fast reactors also solve at a stroke the problem of what to do with the vast amounts of nuclear waste which are being stockpiled unhappily around the world. They’re super-safe: if they fail they just stop working, they don’t melt down.  Very cool.  Build 'em!
• Insurance companies warn that nationalized health care would dismantle company-provided health care.  Easy call, as companies would be able to dismantle their HR departments that deal with health benefits and just throw it all on the government's shoulders.  Which of course, wink wink nudge nudge, is what the government's goal is. 
• Remember the days when you could just call a doctor and make an appointment and go in?  Paraphrasing Ronald Reagan, the nine-most feared words in the English language are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."  Stay healthy.  Eat well and exercise, and hope your DNA is strong.
• What is the lesson learned from Jon and Kate Plus 8?  Wait until after The Emmy's to file for divorce? They filed for divorce on Monday.  The show presents a melancholy view of the future, while each of them says how they love their kids but basically not each other.
• The folks at Crooked Houses probably got a good deal with viewer eyeballs on Jon and Kate yesterday.  But with the melancholy theme, you wonder if folks were patiently waiting for the interview room rather than the kids and the crooked houses.
• Maybe more interesting going forward, is how the family adapts to divorce.  And how many young hotties Jon dates.
• Ed McMahon dies at 86.

Picture is of Maria Sharapova!

Thursday Randomosity and Britney Spears

• Fannie Mae $FNM asking for $15.2 billion in federal aid, although that number is expected to grow. Nice.
• Did you catch American Idol last night?  Whew, what a bunch of crap that was.
• Octuplets mom Nadya Suleman offered $1 million to do a porn flick.  And the offer does include health insurance for her and her 14 kids.  Now that's the kind of innovative way President Obama needs to tackle health care for the uninsured. 
• President Obama admits to massive deficits, but says they're headed lower. Uh huh.
• Yes, I'm embedding the Britney Spears music video, Circus.  I don't know why.  LOL.
• Sam Farmer's first NFL mock draft.  So you know.  It's never too early to start making that "rookie break out" list for your fantasy football draft.
• Oil prices up over 6% today.  Don't take the eyes off the energy football.  That's going to be the one that comes back and bites us, as we're no better prepared to deal with our own energy needs. Where are the plans to build more nuclear plants for electricity and for a percentage of our vehicle fleet to run on natural gas? 
• Sweden is ditching its ban on nuclear energy.  Italy is embarking on new nuclear energy development.

New Nukular Powah Plants!

President Bush pushing for the real alternative energy choice today: Nuclear energy. It's about time. Even most of the environmentalists are on board with this one. Sure, there will be the hangers-on to the misinformation and scare tactics about the "dangers" of nuclear energy. And there are issues to deal with, because no power source is "perfect." But if we're serious about reducing CO2 emissions and getting off of fossil fuels, this is the best way to go about it right now. Until the next thing comes along.

"Excellent."

clipped from money.cnn.com ATHENS, Alabama (Reuters) -- President Bush Thursday said U.S. utilities could build up to 30 new nuclear power plants and could start construction by 2010 in order to keep up with growing electricity demand without spurring more global warming. "It's time for the country to start building nuclear power plants again," Bush said at the Browns Ferry nuclear plant near Huntsville, Alabama, which is operated by the federally owned Tennessee Valley Authority. Bush said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will likely get 20 applications from utilities to build up to 30 new reactors and said construction could begin by the end of the decade. No new licenses have been filed at the NRC since 1973.