From: Carolyn Talarr [owlsgarden@comcast.net]
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2004 11:03 AM
To: rule-comments@sec.gov
Subject: S7-23-03

I'm writing to express my concern that with the succesful lobbying of the SEC to "extend" 
the deadline for compliance with the NASD's new short selling requirements.  The Market 
Makers are continuing to get away with avoiding the law again by pleading "technological" 
dificulties, or the NASD is actively helping them do it by covering for them with this 
obviously weak explanation.

As the SEC showed it recognized by creating the rule change in the first place, the Market 
Makers are *destroying* an orderly market with their actions, definitely not creating one.  
The longer they're allowed to play the SEC for fools like this (unless of course, as I 
said, the SEC is colluding with them to play *investors and traders* for fools), the more 
people will continue to lose trust in and desert the market.  The SEC has a chance to take 
a strong stand  and change the market for the good--it should not be strongarmed into 
losing the courage of its convictions.

I hope the SEC will issue a public statement on this delay that is more convincing than the 
one issued yesterday, making clear that 4/1 is indeed a hard-and-fast deadline, not a ploy, 
and that the Market Makers have run out of time to play the naked-short-selling game.

Carolyn Talarr