ThinkFast: October 8, 2008
ThinkFast: October 8, 2008
The Congressional Budget Office’s top budget analyst said that the prolonged downturn in the stock market “has wiped out about $2 trillion in Americans’ retirement savings in the past 15 months, a blow that could force workers to stay on the job longer than planned, rein in spending and possibly further stall an economy reliant on consumer dollars.”
“The federal budget deficit hit a new record in the just-completed 2008 budget year under the latest estimates from the CBO. The record $438 billion shortfall for the budget year that ended last week is up from $162 billion posted last year. The previous record of $413 billion was posted in 2004.” Next year’s deficit was recently projected to be as high as $600 billion.
Nearly one in six American homeowners owe “more on a mortgage than the home is worth, raising the possibility of a rise in defaults — the very misfortune that touched off the credit crisis last year.” So many homeowners “under water” is “likely to mean more eventual foreclosures” and increased pressure on an economy already in a downturn.
Gen. David Petraeus, the soon-to-be commander of U.S. Central Command (not the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs), speaks at the conservative Heritage Foundation today at 11 a.m. ET. You can watch live online here.
On the trail today: Barack Obama will attend a rally at the Indiana state fairgrounds. Joe Biden will host rallies at the University of South Florida in Tampa and at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers. John McCain and Sarah Palin will campaign in Bethlehem, PA.
A U.S. military investigation has concluded that American airstrikes on Aug. 22 in an Afghan village killed 30 civilians — far more than the five to seven casualties that American commanders there has previously acknowledged. The Afghan government has insisted that 90 civilians died in that attack.
The Treasury Department is moving quickly this week to “start outsourcing the management of up to $700 billion in troubled securities, using special contracting authorities that enable it to retain private portfolio managers, custodians and other financial services consultants without following standard acquisition procedures.”
Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte said Tuesday that “American and Iraqi negotiators were close to resolving issues” that have kept to two sides from an agreement “governing the continued presence of American troops in the country.”
In a stinging critique of Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), columnist Tom Friedman compares her energy “expertise” to that of the king of Saudia Arabia: “At least the king of Saudi Arabia, in advocating ‘drill baby drill,’ is serving his country’s interests — by prolonging America’s dependence on oil,” Friedman writes. “My problem with Palin is that she is also serving his country’s interests — by prolonging America’s dependence on oil. That’s not patriotic.”
And finally: Let’s learn judo with Vladimir Putin. After being pictured fishing shirtless and “shooting a tiger in the Siberian forest,” the Russian Prime Minister has now released a 90-minute DVD instructing young people in the Japanese martial art of judo. In the video, Putin, a black belt champion, talks “about the history and philosophy of judo” and demonstrates “moves against a practice partner.”
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The CBO’s top budget analyst said that the prolonged downturn in the stock market “has wiped out about $2 trillion in Americans’ retirement savings in the past 15 months, a blow that could force workers to stay on the job longer than planned, rein in spending and possibly further stall an economy reliant on consumer dollars.”
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Yes, but Wal-Mart will get a labor pool of desperate retirees to hire greeters from.
October 8th, 2008 at 9:57 amY’all have the “$2 trillion in retirement savings wiped out” story twice, just FYI – once before the jump and once after.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:01 am“My problem with Palin is that she is also serving his country’s interests — by prolonging America’s dependence on oil. That’s not patriotic.”
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It’s not like Palin actually knows what she’s saying. I think she honestly believes that Alaska contains enough oil and natural gas to meet ALL of the energy needs of the United States for generations to come, and that if the oil companies drill for it, it will all go to the United States (bringing down the price of gasoline immediately).
And who am I to question her? After all, she’s the “energy expert”! (snark)
October 8th, 2008 at 10:01 amWhy can’t they make an appearance is Sarasota? Why is it always the Tampa Bay area or the Naples/Ft. Myers area?
October 8th, 2008 at 10:02 amhussein toasterhead Says:
Y’all have the “$2 trillion in retirement savings wiped out” story twice, just FYI – once before the jump and once after.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Take it easy on TP, toasterhead. Taking a shot after every “my friends” last night really takes a toll on the old noggin…
October 8th, 2008 at 10:07 amFor those pundits who claimed there isn’t a racist bone in McCain’s body, I beg to differ. John “THAT ONE!” McCain is toast. Undoubtedly toast.
I’d begin a Secret Service/FBI investigation on this campaign for suspicion of trying to incite violence against Obama. Not just the pecker in the crowd.
P.S. — If McCain wants to outrank his father/grandfather so bad he should put on their uniforms and stare himself in the mirror. The presidency of the united states is not his one-stop place to become admiral-in-chief.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:07 amSaturday, October 4 2008 – Other Important News
The Battle Plan II: Sarah ‘Evita’ Palin, the Muse of the Coming Police State
by Naomi Wolf
Huffington Post – September 24, 2008
Global Research, October 3, 2008
Please understand what you are looking at when you look at Sarah “Evita” Palin. You are looking at the designated muse of the coming American police state.
You have to understand how things work in a closing society in order to understand “Palin Power.” A gang or cabal seizes power, usually with an affable, weak figurehead at the fore. Then they will hold elections — but they will make sure that the election will be corrupted and that the next affable, weak figurehead is entirely in their control. Remember, Russia has Presidents; Russia holds elections. Dictators and gangs of thugs all over the world hold elections. It means nothing. When a cabal has seized power you can have elections and even presidents, but you don’t have freedom.
I realized early on with horror what I was seeing in Governor Palin: the continuation of the Rove-Cheney cabal, but this time without restraints. I heard her echo Bush 2000 soundbites (”the heart of America is on display”) and realized Bush’s speechwriters were writing her — not McCain’s — speeches. I heard her tell George Bush’s lies — not McCain’s — to the American people, linking 9/11 to Iraq. I heard her make fun of Barack Obama for wanting to prevent the torture of prisoners — this is Rove-Cheney’s enthusiastic S and M, not McCain’s, who, though he shamefully colluded in the 2006 Military Tribunals Act, is also a former prisoner of war and wrote an eloquent Newsweek piece in 2005 opposing torture. I saw that she was even styled by the same skillful stylist (neutral lipstick, matte makeup, dark colors) who turned Katharine Harris from a mall rat into a stateswoman and who styles all the women in the Bush orbit — but who does not bother to style Cindy McCain.
Then I saw and heard more. Palin is embracing lawlessness in defying Alaskan Legislature subpoenas — this is what Rove-Cheney, and not McCain, believe in doing. She uses mafia tactics against critics, like the police commissioner who was railroaded for opposing handguns in Alaskan battered women’s shelters — Rove’s style, not McCain’s. I realized what I was seeing.
Reports confirmed my suspicions: Palin, not McCain, is the FrankenBarbie of the Rove-Cheney cabal. The strategy became clear. Time magazine reported that Rove is “dialed in” to the McCain campaign. Rove’s protege Steve Schmidt is now campaign manager. And Politico reported that Rove was heavily involved in McCain’s vice presidential selection. Finally a new report shows that there are dozens of Bush and Rove operatives surrounding Sarah Palin and orchestrating her every move.
What’s the plan? It is this. McCain doesn’t matter. Reputable dermatologists are discussing the fact that in simply actuarial terms, John McCain has a virulent and life-threatening form of skin cancer. It is the elephant in the room, but we must discuss the health of the candidates: doctors put survival rates for someone his age at two to four years. I believe the Rove-Cheney cabal is using Sarah Palin as a stalking horse, an Evita figure, to put a popular, populist face on the coming police state and be the talk show hostess for the end of elections as we know them. If McCain-Palin get in, this will be the last true American election. She will be working for Halliburton, KBR, Rove and Cheney into the foreseeable future — for a decade perhaps — a puppet “president” for the same people who have plundered our treasure, are now holding the US economy hostage and who murdered four thousand brave young men and women in a way of choice and lies.
How, you may ask, can I assert this? How can I argue, as I now do, that there is actually a war being ramped up against US citizens and our democracy and that Sarah Palin is the figurehead and muse for that war?
Look at the RNC. This is supposed to be McCain’s America. But you see the unmistakable theatre of Rove’s S and M imagery — and you see stages eight, nine and ten of the steps to a dictatorship as I outlined them in The End of America. Preemptive arrest? Abusive arrest? “Newly released footage, which was buried to avoid confiscation, shows riot cops arresting and abusing a giant group of people for nothing.”
Journalists were arrested — for reporting. Amy Goodman and ABC producers were arrested. Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake and others were forced to lie face down as armed agents tied their hands behind their backs. The riot police wore the black S&M gear of the Rovian fantasy life and carried the four foot batons cops carry in North Korea. All this is not John McCain’s imagery or strategy: it is Karl Rove’s.
In McCain-Palin’s America, citizens who are protesting are being charged as terrorists. This means that a violent war had been declared on American citizens. A well known reporter leaked to me on background that St Paul police had dressed as protesters and, dressed in Black — shades of the Blackshirts of 1920 — infiltrated protest groups. There were also phalanxes of men in black wearing balaclavas, linking arms and behaving menacingly — alleged “anarchists.” Let me tell you, I have been on the left for thirty years and you can’t get three lefties to wear the same t-shirt to a rally, let alone link arms and wear identical face masks: these are not our guys. Agent Provocateurs framing protesters and calling protest “terrorism” constitutes step ten of a police state:
“In what appears to be the first use of criminal charges under the 2002 Minnesota version of the Federal Patriot Act, Ramsey County Prosecutors have formally charged 8 alleged leaders of the RNC Welcoming Committee with Conspiracy to Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism… [they] 7 1/2 years in prison under the terrorism enhancement charge which allows for a 50% increase in the maximum penalty.”
“Paid, confidential informants… infiltrated the RNCWC on behalf of law enforcement. They allege that members of the group sought to kidnap delegates to the RNC, assault police officers with firebombs and explosives, and sabotage airports in St. Paul. Evidence released to date does not corroborate these allegations with physical evidence or provide any other evidence for these allegations than the claims of the informants. Based on past abuses of such informants by law enforcement, the National Lawyers Guild is concerned that such police informants have incentives to lie and exaggerate threats of violence and to also act as provocateurs in raising and urging support for acts of violence.”
Under the Palin-Rove police state, you will see escalating infringements on your access to a free internet:
“Sarah Palin was baptized at Wasilla Assembly of God…Last Sunday our research team released a video, a ten-minute mini-documentary, focusing on the Wasilla Assemblies of God and the video seemed on the verge of a massive “viral” breakthrough when YouTube pulled it down, citing ‘inappropriate content’. At the point the video was censored by YouTube it had been viewed by almost 160,000 people. The short of it is that YouTube has censored a video documentary that appeared to be close to having an effect on a hard fought and contentious American presidential election…”
Under the coming Palin-Rove police state, you will witness the plans now underway to bring Iraqi troops to patrol the streets of our nation. This is not McCain’s fantasy: it is Rove’s and Cheney’s.
Under the Palin-Rove police state, there will be no further true elections. Mark Crispin Miller has done sensational and under-reported investigating t o establish that — as I warned — indeed the GOP staffers on the US Senate Judiciary Committee have been .
The evidence is also buried on the Website of the Majority House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
WASHINGTON — Republican staff members of the US Senate Judiciary Commitee infiltrated opposition computer files for a year, monitoring secret strategy memos and periodically passing on copies to the media, Senate officials told The Globe. >From the spring of 2002 until at least April 2003, members of the GOP committee staff exploited a computer glitch that allowed them to access restricted Democratic communications witho ut a password. Trolling through hundreds of memos, they were able to read talking points and accounts of private meetings discussing which judicial nominees Democrats would fight — and with what tactics.
– “Senate panel’s GOP staff spied on Democrats” By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff | January 22, 2004
Do you think that spying like this will ever end under a Palin-Rove regime? Dream on. If she and McCain are elected, then every single strategy memo and speech and debate prep note from every opposition candidate from now and on into forever will be read by the regime in power while it is still in the computers of the challengers.
Under the Palin-Rove police state, citizens will be targeted with state cyberterrorism. Bruce Fein of the American Freedom Agenda, a former Reagan official, warned me three years ago that the Bush team went after a Republican who had crossed them through cyberstalking: they messed with his email, messed with his phones and I believe messed with his bank account — he became a cyber-pariah, unemployable and haunted. With modern technology, there really is less place to hide from the state than there was in East Germany in the Cold War era. I remember feeling a chill: of course. That is the wave of the future once we breach the protections around citizens of FISA and the fourth amendment. That way lies the abyss for us all.
Am I trying to scare you? I am. I am trying to scare you to death and ask you to scare your Republican and independent friends most of all. How do you know when it is war on citizens? When there are mass arrests, journalists are jailed, the opposition is infiltrated, rights are stripped and leaders start to ignore the rule of law.
Almost everyone I work with on projects related to this campaign for liberty has been experiencing computer harassment: emails are stripped, messages disappear. That’s not all: people’s bank accounts are being tampered with: wire transfers to banks vanish in midair. I personally keep opening bank accounts that are quickly corrupted by fraud. Money vanishes. Coworkers of mine have to keep opening new email accounts as old ones become infected. And most disturbingly to me personally is the mail tampering I have both heard of and experienced firsthand. My tax returns vanished from my mailbox. All my larger envelopes arrive ripped straight open apparently by hand. When I show the postman, he says “That’s impossible.” Horrifyingly to me is the impact on my family. My childrens’ report cards are returned again and again though perfectly addressed; their invitations are turned back; and my daughters many letters from camp? Vanished. All of them. Not one arrived. Try explaining that to a smart thirteen year old. Try explaining it in a way that still makes her feel secure and comfortable.
I am not telling you this because it’s about my life. I am telling you this because it is about your life — whoever you are, Conservative or Liberal, independent or evangelical. Your politics will not protect you in a police state. History shows that nothing protects you in a police state. This is not about my fear and anxiety: it is about what awaits you and everyone you love unless you see this for what it is:
Scharansky divided nations into “fear societies” and “free societies.” Make no mistake: Sarah “Evita” Palin is Rove and Cheney’s cosmetic rebranding of their fascist push: she will help to establish a true and irreversible “fear society” in this once free once proud nation. For God’s sake, do not let her; do not let them.
Naomi Wolf is the author of ‘The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot’ (Chelsea Green, 2007).
Source URLs: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/the-battle-plan-ii-sarah_b_128393.html and http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10429
October 8th, 2008 at 10:09 amSo many homeowners “under water” is “likely to mean more eventual foreclosures” and increased pressure on an economy already in a downturn.
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And yet so many Americans think, “So what? I’m paying my mortgage, and I’m OK. These dead-beats deserve what they get. It’s not my problem.”
Ah, but a glut of foreclosed empty houses in your neighborhood WILL be your problem. In a market where houses aren’t selling, values go down, which affects the value of YOUR property. What’s more, houses without occupants cause a neighborhood to become blighted, lowering your property value further.
Of course, in heavily affected areas, commercial interests can move in, get the neighborhood rezoned, plow everything over and put up big box stores. But in a bad economy, even big box stores might not want to expand as much as they would in a good one.
The more people we can keep in their homes, the better it will be for all of us.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:11 amEvidence that McBane is racist:
1. Voted numerous times against making MLK, Jr. day a national holiday.
2. Refused to look at Obama in the first debate.
3. Refused to shake Obama’s hand at the end of last night’s debate.
4. Repeatedly says Obama “doesn’t understand” as if he is incapable of comprehending what McBane “knows.”
5. Called Obama “that one.”
October 8th, 2008 at 10:13 amI think Pallid and McWars are both virulently racist.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:16 amI’m not sure that McCain had an intent to be racist by calling Obama “That one.”
I think it was pure contempt, emanating from an impotent loser.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:16 amKay Says:
I think Pallid and McWars are both virulently racist.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Merely pointing out potential racism is not racist. BTW, who is “Pallid?”
October 8th, 2008 at 10:20 amPallid is my name for palin.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:20 am“…has wiped out about $2 trillion in Americans’ retirement savings in the past 15 months…”
There is a law is physics that states for every action there is a reaction equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. There is also a principle in double entry accounting that all loses are offset by a gain. My question is, therefore, who stole all the damn money? Next-President Obama said last night that the AIG crooks that took the half-million dollar boondoggle should be made to return the money and put in jail. So should the crooks that stole the retirement money, starting with bushco rot beside them.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:21 amOn the trail today: Barack Obama will attend a rally at the Indiana state fairgrounds. Joe Biden will host rallies at the University of South Florida in Tampa and at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers.
John McCain and Sarah Palin will cry in their beers in Bethlehem, PA as a result of McDepends’ pathetic showing last night …………….
October 8th, 2008 at 10:21 amWell, ‘that one’ is coming to my town for a rally tomorrow, and my boss is not only letting me go, she is too, along with the rest of the staff. Should be a good time.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:22 amAnd the young people who will be unemployed because older people aren’t moving out of the workforce? What of them? Wow, we really are France.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:24 amZooey…I agree, just contemptuous, as McCain seems to be about many people (you little jerk!). Also with Brokaw last night; look at McCain’s face when he says “not you”. Not an iota of humor on his face when he said it, in fact he looked mean.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:26 amSo far, the White House hasn’t declared a national emergency, despite the threats of martial law to members of Congress. But, it’s in their toolkit.
Financial Meltdown Qualifies as National Emergency
The White House produced a National Continuity Policy in May 2007. One of the key essential functions is “Protecting and stabilizing the Nation’s economy and ensuring public confidence in its financial systems.”
http://arisfreedomswitch.blogspot.com/2008/10/financial-meltdown-qualifies-as.html
October 8th, 2008 at 10:26 amthat the prolonged downturn in the stock market “has wiped out about $2 trillion in Americans’ retirement savings
The right is now STEALING the dignity of retirement in America.
The right doesn’t want you to retire on social security. They claim it’s “insolvent.” But that grim outlook didn’t apply to the much-hyped 401(k) and other private accounts. To my knowledge Social Security isn’t losing $2T.
So what are older Americans supposed to do? Retirement, especially with declining health, is expensive, but the funds to cover the ride are dwindling. That means they have to work longer, if they can find the work. What if the employer doesn’t like the cost of the health benefits specified for that employee and refuses to hire him/her? What if it’s plain age discrimination?
People in their 60s-on must either be able to retire comfortably and avoid the jostling workforce, or the government needs to act better to accomodate their presence.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:26 am“That one!” is intended to remove the image of “The One”.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:27 amZooey Says:
I’m not sure that McCain had an intent to be racist by calling Obama “That one.”
October 8th, 2008 at 10:16 am
______
I’d tend to agree – it didn’t strike me as a Perot “you people” moment. It looked to me more like that famous McCain Temper rearing its ugly head.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:30 amPalin is certainly a ‘classic’ racist. You don’t grow up in rural Idaho without being slathered with all kinds of anti-Native racist talking points and imbibing them enthusiastically at the dinner-table along with the Chili Mac. She’s still so much a parvenu that she’s not learned to effectively disguise her contempt and distaste for ‘the other.’
McC(umst)ain, on the other hand, would be immediately recognizeable in “polite” company as what in my life-time I came to recognize (in my own family’s social circle) as “genteel” racism. The little brown guys in the Ward Room could be tolerated as long as they knew and did not exceed their place. His “that one” remark is part and parcel of his upper-class racist raising…
October 8th, 2008 at 10:31 amstate of division… thanks for reminding us about that. The question is how would the state of emergency be configured and implemented? Martial Law? ‘Suspension’ of the election?
October 8th, 2008 at 10:31 amKay Says:
Pallid is my name for palin.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Ah, I see. I would agree with you about Palin. However, I’m still not seeing any “virulently racist” comment by McWars. Care to address that…?
October 8th, 2008 at 10:33 amObama missed his chance in not responding to McSenile’s comment about nailing Jello to the wall. His response should have been: “That is understandable, John, because you must get a handle on it first and you haven’t got a handle on anything.”
October 8th, 2008 at 10:33 amAndrew Sullivan:
This was, I think, a mauling: a devastating and possibly electorally fatal debate for McCain. Even on Russia, he sounded a little out of it. I’ve watched a lot of debates and participated in many. I love debate and was trained as a boy in the British system to be a debater. I debated dozens of times at Oxofrd. All I can say is that, simply on terms of substance, clarity, empathy, style and authority, this has not just been an Obama victory. It has been a wipe-out.It has been about as big a wipe-out as I can remember in a presidential debate. It reminds me of the 1992 Clinton-Perot-Bush debate. I don’t really see how the McCain campaign survives this.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:35 amMy friends, if we don’t begin to act right now the economy may grow even more serious. I know how to fix the economy and put it back on track. On Pakistan, you don’t telegraph your intentions. I have said that I will get Bin Laden, I know how to get him. Only I have the answers, my friends…VOTE BARACK OBAMA THIS NOVEMBER BECAUSE I AM A DIVISIVE SELF-SERVING CORRUPT PHONEY WHO HAS NO SOLUTION TO OFFER THE AMERICAN PEOPLE EXCEPT LIES AND BULLSHIT!
October 8th, 2008 at 10:35 amZooey Says:
Ah, I see. I would agree with you about Palin. However, I’m still not seeing any “virulently racist” comment by McWars. Care to address that…?
Good morning Zooey! I think Kay was referring to McCain as McWars. I could tell as he used his variation of Palin in the same sentence.
You’re very nice to defend, though. Again, good morning.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:39 amCrusty Old Bastard Says:
There is a law is physics that states for every action there is a reaction equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. There is also a principle in double entry accounting that all losses are offset by a gain.
___________
That’s not quite true the way you put it – “all losses are offset by a gain”.
You can go broke. Cash is an asset and the corresponding entry would be to equity. As your cash goes down, equity goes down down too, until you hit ZERO on both sides. Losses can be offset by losses.
As for 2 trillion dollars disappearing, it’s not a loss until you sell your stocks at a lower price. Some of that will come back. It’s just a matter of how much and how long it will take.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:39 amA Patriot Acting Says
October 8th, 2008 at 10:35 am
“My friends…I know how to fix the economy and put it back on track.”
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Hmmm…McSame claims he “knows how to win wars”, too. Except that I can’t think of a single war he’s won, can you? I suspect that fixing the economy probably fits in the same general knowledge category.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:42 amMcWars Says:
Good morning Zooey! I think Kay was referring to McCain as McWars. I could tell as he used his variation of Palin in the same sentence.
You’re very nice to defend, though. Again, good morning.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Good morning, McWars. :-)
That makes more sense now. Thanks!
October 8th, 2008 at 10:43 amWednesday, October 8, 2008
Alex Jones talks to former NASA analyst and author Richard C. Cook about the unfolding global financial collapse which he describes as the biggest bank heist in history.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:44 amI see that Palin’s distortion about Obama’s Afghanistan comment (that the US troops are only killing civilians in Pakistan”–she interjected the only and left out the context of course) has just been refuted by FACT, yet again.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:45 ammisshusseinmolly Says:
“Hmmm…McSame claims he “knows how to win wars”, too. Except that I can’t think of a single war he’s won, can you? I suspect that fixing the economy probably fits in the same general knowledge category.”
Have you ever played McCain in a game of “Stratego”? I hear that he kicks Palin’s cottage cheesy a$$ EVERY TIME! He’s not so good at “Battleship” though. Keeps destroying his own ships.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:48 amMcCain also “knows how to get bin Laden,” but I guess we’ll just have to elect him as president to find out his traitorous strategy.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:50 amThe thrust of Republican government has been enrich the top and some will trickle down. The fallacy of this morally bankrupt policy is that the engine of the economy is consumption and the pillar of consumption is the working family. Squeezing every last nickle out of them through inequitable taxes, union-busting, holding down minimum and all workers’ wages to ever increasingly enrich senior management and those whose political campaigns they bankroll, etc. has driven the economy into the ground.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:56 amMcCain sticks to supply-side economics despite evidence it doesn’t work
October 8th, 2008 at 10:59 amPaulson is already to enrich his buddies through manipulation of the bailout funding–America, you are being ripped off again and again! It is time for prison for the money thieves at AIG, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, etc. Where’s the government? Help! Help! I’m being robbed!
October 8th, 2008 at 11:00 amThe headline in today’s Detroit Free Press Moose Killing Riles Town In UP
My first thought that Sarah Pallin had been in town.
October 8th, 2008 at 11:06 amWitch1,
This link’s for you!
Police: Teacher attacked for The Crucible assignment.
I wonder if the attacker attends Palin’s church?
P B & J
October 8th, 2008 at 11:07 amZooey
October 8th, 2008 at 11:08 amMcCan’t knows “how to win wars, how to get OBL, and how to
fix the economy”
We might as well put him in charge of the whole world.
Obama should ask him why is he keeping this to himself?
McCain’s assertion that he knows how to catch Bin Laden sounds similar to a late night infomercial.
The ones that promise riches, as long as you send money.
Mucking foron!
October 8th, 2008 at 11:12 amAnd voters are proud to display the McCain/Palin signs in their yards. Why?
Turn McCain lose on Putin in a judo match and see who strangles whom–it couldn’t hurt?
October 8th, 2008 at 11:14 amMcCain claims he “knows how” to this and he “knows how” to do that — from the war/occupation in Iraq to the economy to capturing Bin Laden — what the he!! is he waiting for?
October 8th, 2008 at 11:15 amThese false claims are nothing more than braggadocio– if I were a soldier’s mother and I heard that, I’d be screaming at him that if he knows so much why is my son still there?
Marie asks, “Why is my son still there?”
OIL
October 8th, 2008 at 11:16 amI am supporting Cynthia McKinney for president . . that being said . . . McCain/Palin is a complete joke and although I like the man named “Barack” I can’t support him because he is Wall Street’s candidate. His campaign finance manager is Penny Pritzker who has been called “the sub-prime mortage queen”. The bank she ran in Chicago, Superior Bank, was the first bank to be bailed out by the goverment for sub-prime loans back in 2002. [Huffington Post]
June 20, 2008
October 8th, 2008 at 11:26 amDennis Bernstein talks with Catherine Austin Fitts: The first corporate sub-prime con men arrested today; will Obama’s National Finance Chair be next?
My friends. I have to disagree with some of you on the “That One” comment. When I heard that, the first thought that came to my mind was that McTRex just revealed his inner KKK. What else does the “one” mean? It’s not like he said “That guy”, or “He did”. “That one” is another facet of the phrase “those people”.
The Repugs are scared shitless that One of those people will end up as President. There’s a reason they call it the White House dontcha know.
October 8th, 2008 at 11:29 amThat is your right. Most here will find you to be part of the problem because your vote will ultimatly help mccain despite the fact that you say that mccain/palin is a complete joke.
October 8th, 2008 at 11:35 amradiodujour Says:
I am supporting Cynthia McKinney for president
I guess if this was a big deal why hasn’t the McCan’t
October 8th, 2008 at 11:55 amcampaign used this? Your link to the Huffpo article
is from February?
lurker Says
October 8th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Obama should ask him why is he keeping this to himself?
____________________________________________________________
McCain claims that he is “talk(ing) softly and carry(ing) a big stick”, and thinks it’s a bad idea to reveal strategy to the enemy (announcing that you are going to attack someone is verboten, apparently — except in the case of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran). I guess this principle covers not only attacking other nations, but fixing the economy and other problems.
What it really means is “I have no f**king clue, but I’m desperately trying to create the illusion that I do.”
October 8th, 2008 at 12:00 pmPutin, a black belt champion, talks “about the history and philosophy of judo” and demonstrates “moves against a practice partner.”
Let him practice on McIIIrd.
October 8th, 2008 at 12:03 pmclusterphuck Tim; FLAGGED!
you will be flagged with EVERY spamming asswhole!
October 8th, 2008 at 12:08 pmIntrade right now:
Obama 73.5%
McIIIrd 26.3%
Looks like McIIIrd has just about tied himself with Bush’s approval rating!
October 8th, 2008 at 12:10 pmRU; what’s the source for those numbers? Is that about who won the debate? Or who they will vote for/
Give me some context here please.
October 8th, 2008 at 12:26 pmKay Says:
The Battle Plan II: Sarah ‘Evita’ Palin, the Muse of the Coming Police State
by Naomi Wolf
It’s official….I may never sleep again.
October 8th, 2008 at 12:37 pmGood Morning all, Wow! just plane Wow, Your post’s are outstanding, full of info and it will take me to dinner time to digest all your thought’s…Thank’s Kay for the post by Kline…Scary stuff but worth the read..!984 play book of the bull shit bush gang seem’s to be on track…Ugh..
Thank’s for the witchie stuff DRxJ…Odd how few in the world really know about witch’s…All they see is the Hollywood film type junk and the commercialism around all the holiday’s that the christian’s stole to sell their fear and sell more stuff….
In closing may I repeat for the benefit of all witch’s….No war has ever been started by a Wiccan or in the name of Wicca or a witch, ever…The witch creed is ” Do as you choose but harm none”…
Good work all and Thank you for posting, with your help my education is improved daily…..P.B. & J
October 8th, 2008 at 12:51 pmmissmolly,
As I was watching the debate last night, one of the first things mccain said was that he wants the Treasury to buy bad mortgages to keep people in their homes.
I couldn’t help but think of you because you seem to resonate this exact point over and over. Ironically, you note again today.
So whats your opinion on McCain’s proposal? Are you more in favor of McCain on this issue than Obama?
I’ll note, I’m not in favor of it. Way too much government intervention. I have no issue with the gov’t working at a macro level, but to be managing individual mortgages is beyond the scope of the federal gov’t. Plus the financial crisis were currently in has moved far beyond bad mortgages anyway, so it won’t even solve the problem anyway.
October 8th, 2008 at 1:33 pmUncle Ho, the link is http://www.intrade.com.
You’ll find it interesting.
October 8th, 2008 at 1:34 pmdim wit Says
October 8th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
____________________________________________________________
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see or hear that part of the debate, so I can’t really give you any intelligent comments on what either candidate said. As far as McCain’s statement about wanting “the Treasury to buy bad mortgages to keep people in their homes”, I would have to know more details. Would the Treasury buy the bad mortgages and renegotiate the loans with the debtors to decrease the likelihood of default? Would this mean the creation of another government agency to handle this activity?
And, of course, I don’t know what Obama said at the debate, so I had to go to his website to find out his positions on the matter. His website doesn’t really address what to do with the current crisis, although his site contained more content about homeowners than McCain’s did. However, Obama outlined a number of good ideas on how to mitigate this problem in the future, such as making the sub-prime industry far more accountable than they currently are, making the mortgage process easier for people to understand what they’re getting into, and allowing bankruptcy courts to restructure mortgages just like they restructure other debts — which are ideas I can get behind.
But what about the many people who are in a bad situation now? Something needs to be done, and if no private industry steps up to the plate to help out, it may have to be our government. However, I would hope that government intervention would be a temporary condition, until the crisis has passed. And then add more accountability and oversight to the mortgage industry to lessen the chances of us being in this mess again.
So why are people finding themselves unable to make their mortgage payments in the first place? Even people who responsibly buy homes they can afford can fall victim to job loss and/or huge unexpected medical bills — the two biggest reasons for bankruptcy today. The risk of job loss will always be with us, but establishing a universal health care system will remove that factor in wiping people out financially.
October 8th, 2008 at 2:05 pmceltic cynic; thanks for the link, but is this what RU was referring to?
October 8th, 2008 at 2:34 pmUncle Ho:
October 8th, 2008 at 2:42 pmIntrade is found, among other places, here
INTRADE on RCP
Sorry for ducking in and out, damned work anyway…!
October 8th, 2008 at 2:43 pmYes, that’s the link Unky!
October 8th, 2008 at 2:43 pmAnd Obama is climbing as we speak…
missmolly,
I appreciate the response and I can understand your inability to comment on it having not heard it yourself.
McCain just pulled this proposal out for the first time last night. I think he’s just trying to appear like he’s doing something productive.
October 8th, 2008 at 2:52 pmRUCerious, celtic cynic, Uncle Ho…
Here’s anothet betting site, but this one is the actual bets of people putting cold hard cash on the outcome. It is one thing to say how you would like to see it come out, another to put money on it.
Today, these figures translate into a 81.3% for ThatOne and 18.9% for McTRex. Buried in these numbers are the previous bets so the actual $ bet is even more slanted towards Obama.
Sweet!
October 8th, 2008 at 4:20 pm“Nearly one in six American homeowners owe “more on a mortgage than the home is worth…”
David Kay Johnson said on Democracy Now today that he talked with twelve bus drivers in Stockholm and everyone owned two homes outright, free, and clear. An example how they don’t waste their resources on the military and the rich.
October 8th, 2008 at 7:50 pmCould this mess have been avoided Yes. One man found out what was going on and was about to bring the crooks down. He wrote an article in the New York Times and had his team ready. The back ground was the Fed gave Caryle Capital 200 billion dollars without Congress approval knowing this company was closing it’s doors. Yes think Caryle Group and it’s members same ones. The laundring of money has been going on for years in back room deals and the Media helped cover up the stories. This Economic Crisis would have never gotten this far if Gov. Spitzer had stayed in office. The missing link to why the rush to sit up Spitzer and the Media pushed the headlines. Spitzer was on to the White House’s criminal acts and they had to stop him by any means necessary. Spitzer used his personal money and they knew it but all the smoke and mirrors had to take place. Americans fell for the lies and now have the biggest debt ever and the crooks are still stealing. AIG isn’t the only company pocketing the money. Paulson is giving that 700 billion to Goldman Sachs and friends. Not a dime has gone to any banks. The Fed got 900 billion in a back door deal without any accountablity. Bennie is the puppet and they tell him what to do. Now Americans might have been fooled but the World wasn’t. Look for a new leader of the World Market as the US will never recover to it’s greatness or trust. Obama will try but smart people will remember the US Law Makers of 2000 to 2009 were liars, thieves and criminals. Gov. Spitzer did his best to save America and the Stock Maket for the American people. The American people turned their back on him and kicked him out of office. If only we had paid attention to Gov. Spitzer as he was trying to save us from what we see happening today.
October 9th, 2008 at 2:08 am