AIG options soared today on the company's vow to repay us (among other things), and investors also convinced themselves of other good news regarding manufacturing, leading a generally fine damn day on Wall Street.

Wheee! Can we go again, Daddy? Please? The Dow industrials climbed 71 big points; it didn't matter than unemployment claims were surprisingly higher and second-quarter mortgage delinquencies set a record — 13 percent of borrowers were either foreclosed on or missed at least one payment.

In the spate of good news, it looks as if the FDIC is backing off from the capital requirements it threatened to place on private equity firms if they want to take over failed banks. Good news all around, for those who have jobs.

Oh, and Tom Ridge lied about those Homeland Security alerts he flashed at us during the 2004 campaign. Which means that Howard Dean was right when he accused the Bush-Cheney regime of political manipulation of terror alerts. But that's just old news, right?