We're probably in a bear market now, Doug McIntyre says in the latest edition of StockWatch: Between the Bells. The editor of financial news site 24/7 Wall St. and prolific BloggingStocks contributor cites two factors that demand investors' attention: the rising, record price of oil -- underscoring the falling value of the dollar -- and an increase in homeowners defaulting on their mortgages in the coming year.

Plenty of investment guru's have suggested buying on fear and selling when greed reaches its pinnacle. Well I think the fear side is self evident but I'm not hearing about many analysts who are brave enough to buy right now. As a matter of fact I only hear that this would be a very foolish time to invest in the financial sector, in particular, any stocks with sub-prime or "Alt-A" mortgage exposure.

For this reason, contrarian that I am, I thought I would speak out about my recent BAD CALLS, or at least very premature calls, and start tracking them for all to see -- accepting the ribbing, tomato-throwing and blunt comments about the error of my ways.

I own four of the five stocks I will be following for the next year, Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC), IndyMac Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: IMB), Popular Inc. (NASDAQ: BPOP), and Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM). I wrote favorable comments on each and in the case of WM, more than once. Needless to say, I am under water on all of them. I do not own Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) but it will make for a fine pace car in the middle of this storm.

Earlier today Douglas McIntyre posted Dow 13,000? -- Stocks to put in the dumpster. Then Georges Yared posted Rebuttal to Dow 13,000: Stocks for the dumpster which got me thinking about what the numbers say. What are the fundamentals? Do they matter? Georges is on record supporting Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) growth stories and Doug took them both down a notch today.

Before I even begin I must share that among my colleagues, I hold these two in the highest esteem. They offer market and stock opinions that are very worth considering and often give me ideas. Georges disagrees with Doug about Google being overpriced and the market has tended to agree with him. I think Doug however, is simply reminding investors that sometimes when such euphoria takes hold it might be worth taking pause. I often like to make my stock decisions on the week end when the market is closed for exactly this reason.

Since I am a value investor I would have a natural tendency to lean toward Doug's slant on the subject but the interesting thing to me is that nothing Georges has said is inaccurate. But what do the numbers tell us, if anything about these ideas.

A Mr. Barry Peters wrote, what to me was the funniest comment of the week on bloggingstocks.com, "Give people something unique, not another celebrity (whom they can't see; the Pamela Anderson deal on Sirius rates amongst the stupidest things that any company has ever done in the entertainment industry!!! $5 million dollars pissed down the toilet."

I'm still laughing. Barry thank you for taking the time to comment. This week Peter Cohan, Doug McIntire, and I all wrote about the limited potential of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) / XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:XMSR) to succeed from an investment perpsective, regardless of the mergers ultimate outcome or whether subscribers enjoyed the service. Barry supported our positions in great detail outlining the wonderful benefits of Sat-Rad if you live in remote places or are traveling cross-country or just hate commercials. Then he explained why the economics do not work and will not work and added the comment above.

I cannot help but think how often we are awash in news tidbits that are not newsworthy, but Ms. Anderson on a radio 'show', now that's hysterical. Her television show 'Stacked' (yes, that is what Fox TV called it) lasted 1.5 seasons. If people would not watch her, how could Sirius think anyone would want to listen? How serious can they truly be?.

If you have any interest in the original stories and comments see the following:

• Mel's Mega Merger: XMSR and SIRI combine! or Time for Sirius selling? and SIRI/XMSR: Calculating the antitrust odds - by Peter Cohan
• Companies management can't fix: Sirius & XM - by Doug McIntyre
• GM/Chrysler or Sirius/XM: Two losers don't equal a winner: and Sirius and XM: Two losers -- A follow-up - by Sheldon Liber

Check out my other posts for BloggingStocks here.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for design and research at an architecture & planning firm.