god bless president obama

Have any of you read about the latest AP poll?

http://www.newsweek.com/id/159929

It bascially suggest that Obama may lose due to the negetive feelings that white Dem's have toward African-Americans.

And what is presidential candidate Palin's position, oh, I mean Vice Presidential candidate. They're always together, hard to tell which script they're reading from. We have Palin running away from her Alaskan problems, and McCain running away and flip-flopping from position after position on a daily basis.

If this is any clue to how McCain would act as president, and have no worthwhile advice from the lady down the hall, it's hard to fathom why this race is even marginally close.

The republican campaign has been amateurish, we should expect more common sense and basic knowledge from two people running for the highest offices in our contry and one that may shape world affairs for several years to come.

Come on, Americans, we need to exercise some common sense in this election and get Obama and Biden in the White House, our futures depends on it. We screwed up the last two, are we really shooting for a third? I'll take a Harvard grad over a politician who was 4th from the bottom of his graduating class any day, especially now.

This so-called maverick, McCain, is not even popular among his own colleagues in the Senate, from how he describes himself. He couldn't get anything by his conservative congressman, not to mention centrist democrats who look out for the interests of the middle class.

pcgeek2008 on September 20, 2008 at 01:31 PM

How about all the people who have negative feelings about senile rich men?

You know, the ones who take tax cuts they don't need and then gamble them away on the stock market and make the rest of us pay for their losses?

Many of the staunch Republicans I met today while canvassed couldn't think of one reason why they should vote for McCain (and were no longer even trying)...but lots of reasons to vote for Bob Barr and/or Ron Paul. I encouraged them.

If Paul jumps on the ticket with Barr, there is going to be a real mutiny in November. The GOP should have sunk McCain's boat before it took off from port.

Oh, and the Reagan Democrats? They're pissed enough to stay home. That's what the old folks were telling me today. They aren't going to bother with it. They felt betrayed and vunerable.

"After my generation built this country back from the Depression, this is what they've done to it?

McCain = no reason to vote.

Bush's economy = a reason to vote against McCain.

Bush's war = a reason to vote for Obama (really)

There has definitely been a shift on the national security front. McCain started talking about all Americans being Georgians and people started saying, "What in the hell is he talking about?"
(They have been saying that a lot lately about everything that McCain says.

Palin = Hillary voters returning to the fold in droves. Men remembering why they don't vote for women.

He may be part African American, but Obama is now seen as someone they can live with even if they don't vote for him. McSame is not.

Bailout = we'll just have to tolerate an African American

Cheney *ucking up everything = priceless

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 20, 2008 at 11:24 AM

The media hooraw must have been lost in all the bad economic news and Palin lipstick hype. I never heard of this.

How about some links to these hooraw news reports that scared off the Iraqis?

I would think the idea of McCain dropping more shock and awe bombs on them would be a more logical reason why the Iraqis don't want to do business with Western multinationals and Americans in particular.

pcgeek2008

I really question the motives of political writers and "researchers" during an election cycle like now.

Do we really want to get off message with the race card? My mother admonished me not to make the new students uncomfortable...I was south of Indiana and it was 1956. For God's sake, let's be blue together!

god bless president obama

1
dusty2006 on September

Obama is not President, he only pretends to be, with his dopey seal.

The Bush administration wisely refused to do so, but the resulting media hooraw in Iraq led to the cancellation of the contracts, and helps to explain why Iraq is doing oil deals instead with China....

173Dan_A_Cactus** on September 20, 2008 at 11:24 AM

God you people are morons. You just want to believe what republicans say so you do. First of all, what media hooraw, I say nothing mentioned about this, let alone some made up republican excuse of a media hooraw. Did you see the hooraw Catass, of course you didn't cause their wasn't one. 07
newsjunkie on September 20, 2008 at 01:55 PM

Well dumb fug, it was all over the news and on this blog. Was that the week you had your head in a trash can searching for discarded hotdogs?

Sandy, I don't expect much from the regular 8, it is a wonder you can remember to tie your shoes to run down to the soup line each day.

Essie,

My heartfelt sorrow for you and your family. May you take comfort knowing that your mother is now safe in the Lord's keeping.

hello?

Shut up Robert!

No wonder Pammy does not claim you as family.

Happy Saturday, Dems.

Been out at Estate sales and yard sales with my daughter. She is big into antiques, and has been refinishing a bunch of stuff she has bought since she got back East.

Looks like the no-life trolls are still around. Too bad they have no family, no friends, no yards, no lives ! But they are all so hateful, who wants to be around them?

Obviously they never read all the posts I have posted where Chavez has been villianized by Bush and Company! that he is no where near what they want people to believe, in an effort to try and get their Oil too! And do you see Saudi Arabia or any other Oil country, giving discounts to needy American States and their poor and elderly??? Now I don't know about you, but I feel embarassed that a country that likes to brag how mighty they are, are reduced to taking discounted oil for it's citizens. You'd think we were some kind of 3rd world country, for crissakes!

And Stevie boy, let's put your Actions where your mouth is ! Let's say that if you are WRONG in your predictions, and there is not any 60/40 win in this election, then you promise you will disappear and never come back here again! You that sure of your narcisstic self to make the Bet??? What do you say? Let's see !!!!!

Essie,

My heartfelt sorrow for you and your family. May you take comfort knowing that your mother is now safe in the Lord's keeping.
10
SandyH on September 20, 2008 at 02:45 PM

She was an atheist.

And Stevie boy, let's put your Actions where your mouth is ! Let's say that if you are WRONG in your predictions, and there is not any 60/40 win in this election, then you promise you will disappear and never come back here again! You that sure of your narcisstic self to make the Bet??? What do you say? Let's see !!!!!
13
PamB on September 20, 2008 at 02:54 PM

What kind of a bet is that? What are you putting up for your side of the bet?

I can accept credit/debit cards now.

It bascially suggest that Obama may lose due to the negetive feelings that white Dem's have toward African-Americans.

2pcgeek2008 on September 20, 2008 at 01:31 PM

Remember pc, that article say if it is a CLOSE RACE ! I do not think by November, there will be any question----do you want the black man who will fix things, or the two lying a-holes who do not know one single thing about getting this country out of the mess it is in.

Obviously they never read all the posts I have posted where Chavez has been villianized by Bush and Company!

Pammy

===============

I bet the people Chavez has had shot and the ones he has thrown in jail for opposing him don't think much of him ether, dumb ass.

I will say living in the South, and traveling around the South on business, I see very few Obama signs, but tons of McCain\Palin signs. Several Dem friends of mine are refusing to vote for Obama and have bailed to McCain based on what they consider "un-American" things Obama has done. For example, like remove the American flag from his plane, refusing to put his hand over his heart for the Pleade of Allegiance, or some other form of action he has taken. One even said there is no way he went to that church for 20 years and never hear Rev. Wright preach the way he did, so they are convinced he is covering up his true feelings. With attitudes like this I feel it will be a really tough fight in the Southern states. Plus, there hasn't been a Dem that wasn't from the South win the White House in over 40 years.

And stevie boy, if you are not that sure of yourself, well let's say this. SHOULD you win, I shall forever ignore every single post in the future. I shall not address you ever again. I shall take my big thick file of all the run off posts, internet articles, etc, and I shall burn it. You will be gone, as far as I am concerned !!!

This whole Bradly effect is bunk. Think about it, how many people that are rasict will admit to voting for barack in a poll if they are afraid of what other people think.

The opposite would occur, less people would admit they support Obama in public and then when no one is watching, they will vote for him in the booth. So actually the numbers will be higher than polled.

My mother is an example of this, she's 68 and her boyfriend and friends vote republican. There is no way if they called her she would admit over the phone, or in front of these others that she is for Obama. But she will cast her vote for him in the polls.

It's really just common sense, isn't it?

This whole Bradly effect is bunk. Think about it, how many people that are rasict will admit to voting for barack in a poll if they are afraid of what other people think.

The opposite would occur, less people would admit they support Obama in public and then when no one is watching, they will vote for him in the booth. So actually the numbers will be higher than polled.

My mother is an example of this, she's 68 and her boyfriend and friends vote republican. There is no way if they called her she would admit over the phone, or in front of these others that she is for Obama. But she will cast her vote for him in the polls.

It's really just common sense, isn't it?

Here is what some black folks think of Obama and white folks who would vote for him. He describes y'all perfectly.

Sally,

Make sure Pammy takes your life size poster down from her bedroom wall too, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Barack Obama is no ordinary black man and these are no ordinary times.

And stevie boy, if you are not that sure of yourself, well let's say this. SHOULD you win, I shall forever ignore every single post in the future. I shall not address you ever again. I shall take my big thick file of all the run off posts, internet articles, etc, and I shall burn it. You will be gone, as far as I am concerned !!!
19
PamB on September 20, 2008 at 03:04 PM

That is nothing worth betting on. If you forever ignored me I would lose the benefit of responding to your nutty posts. And your "big thick file" is meaningless to me.

Your house maybe? You must have a different one now. As you have not spoken of taking a drink out to the pool, and looking at it like it was a lake, this year.

Dan,

I don't expect anything of the Republican doorknobs that post here. I just thought you'd like to hear what people were saying today in a mostly GOP stronghold.

The Republican natives are restless. They're either in frustrated denial or looking for a way out. None of them are happy (just like you). McCain is not an viable alternative for far too many of them. Ron Paul did a good job of sow seeds during the primaries. McSame and Spunky have done the rest.

If Obama continues to present himself as a calm, conscientious alternative, even George Wallace might have been tempted to vote for him rather than go with that goofball McCain.

I'll keep you apprised of how grave the situation is getting in BushWorld communities as the weeks go on. We keep venturing farther afield into hostile territory and finding more Democrats than we ever dreamed were still there...and some serious recent converts, too.

All it takes is a few here and there. If we stay in touch and stroke them, they will vote with us this election. Can't say the same for your side.

"I don't like either one of them. Do you know how to get in touch with the Dept. of Aging?"

It's really getting fun out there.

You better get off the keyboard and start pushing doorbells. Or hire someone else to do it for you. Make an effort not to hire illegals?

I'm only thinking of you.

I bet the people Chavez has had shot and the ones he has thrown in jail for opposing him don't think much of him ether, dumb ass.

17Dan_A_Cactus** on September 20, 2008 at 03:02 PM

now where do you think that got fabricated from, numbie?

See YOU are the kind of mind that bush counts om!!!

Say what you will, here in the Lehigh Valley of PA, it has been impossible to get an Obama/Biden yard sign. I finally ordered some online. I don't think people planning to vote for "the wrinkly old white-haired guy" are buying them up and I live in a very strong Republican area. More pundits are starting to state what I have been saying all along - the people in control of the Republican party today are not Republicans, not Conservatives, but a completely new and different breed. I hope that all of the dyed-in-the-wool Republicans wake up before the election.

If McCain should win, he is in for a rude awakening. Palin will never take a back seat. She is your ex-wife demanding your blood, your old boss who sent your running out the door in tears, your step-mother who plotted to do you out of your inheritance. Make no mistake; she may not be as intelligent as Obama, but she is as cunning as the wolves she is trying to exterminate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VtF7Ypr1hY&feature=related

This is the wonderful little group that palin supports at her wasilla church, see her pastor in the video. Wow, when America see's this, it is over. I just wish there was someone who had her speaking in tongues, that would be worth millions. Can you picture it. LMAO!

She was an atheist.

14Sally-* on September 20, 2008 at 02:56 PM

There you go again, putting limits on God and our Saviour. you're a mental case.

Did you forget? The lord saves, even on one's death bed.

Dumbass

Did you forget? The lord saves, even on one's death bed.

Esmeralda on September 20, 2008 at 03:23 PM

Is that what happened? You never mentioned it.

Fatty

Make an effort not to hire illegals?
Sandy

Rep. Boyd's son accused of smuggling illegal immigrants

By Alex Leary, Times Staff Writer

In print: Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The son of U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd, a Panhandle Democrat, is facing federal charges of smuggling illegal immigrants after being stopped by Border Patrol agents in Arizona.

John F. Boyd, 30, admitted picking up the passengers in the desert, authorities said. He was stopped Sunday at a border checkpoint near Willcox and a search dog indicated people might be hiding in the bed of the white Ford pickup he was driving.

Agents found two people under a piece of plywood, according to a federal complaint, and two more adults lying on the floorboard behind the front seat. A 6-year-old girl was in the passenger seat.

Methamphetamine and a loaded Beretta pistol were found, according to the complaint.

Yes Sandy don't hire them, charge them $3000.00 a head and regester them democrat. Have them BYODs for the Obama party too. Meth? I thought Obama liked Coke?

And your "big thick file" is meaningless to me.p>

Your house maybe? You must have a different one now. As you have not spoken of taking a drink out to the pool, and looking at it like it was a lake, this year.

Dan_A_Cactus you pretend to be human

do you want the black man who will fix things, or the two lying a-holes who do not know one single thing about getting this country out of the mess it is in.

PamB on September 20, 2008 at 03:02 PM

Pam,

Why do you try to reason with those that actually think the second alternative is a good idea?

Race is just another excuse for those who decided 30 years ago that they could live with a crumbling infrastructure as long as it saved them maybe $100 a year in taxes.

They don't want to fix anything. They just want to complain when they get a flat tire after hitting the pot holes.

They would find something wrong with any Democrat because they are just tightwads who could care less about the common good.

When Obama wins in November, they'll complain that it was reverse discrimination. The sane guy got an unfair advantage.

Obama bin Biden will only get 40% of the vote, others (mainly McCain and the lovely and talented Sarah) will get 60%.

Steve, I rarely blog, dipshit. So when would I mention it?

I hadn't typed about my mother for months, except to a few bloggers off line.

You must have the wrong pictures if you're calling me fatty. I'm no twig, but I'm no heifer either. The carpenter loves me. You don't have anybody that loves you.

it be obama 60 macain 40

You trolls can take over for the weekend.

I'll be back to say hello to my friends in the morning. Miles to go before I sleep...and all that jazz.

Enjoy the beautiful afternoon, everyone.

sally dream alot when november 4 comes hel wake up it be president obama

If you have a case of voter fraud to report, do it. Don't make wild accusations you can't substantiate...as usual.

You do tend to be a drama queen. I suggest you take your talents and study to be a media diva and run for Governor of Alaska.

bbl.

I predict that after the first debate in Mississippi, that Obama will get another 3 point bounce, plus a 5 point bounce in Mississippi.

Katrina still looms in the minds of Mississippi folks.

Why wouldn't they after the ass-hats in the current administration let them drown. And McNuts was a big part of it.

Of course this was alright with Racists like Sally and Dandy Dan, and the Repos administration. They hate blacks to start with.

Good afternoon fellow Democrats.

Yes we can!

Si se puede!

Change we can believe in!

Fight the Smears!

Posted by chassie on September

Shut up Robert!

No wonder Pammy does not claim you as family

Obama, the president of the United States of America is getting ready to speak at his rally. Huge crowd, gee I see a lot of white people not afraid if the whole country knows they are for Obama, I doubt they will all of a sudden get racist once they step in the booth. LMAO you repugs wish.

hi esmeralda

Trolls, here's a head up, Indiana normally wins , by a 15 point margin in favor of your black hate filled Repo Administration. So here is what I'm telling you Indiana is one of the first states that will be reporting on Nov. 4Th. If it comes in blue your thur. get drunk early cuz it will be over. If it goes Red you can wait until Ohio, and Florida comes in, and then you can get drunk late. Either way you can get drunk and eat lots of crow. And i suspect we won't hear anymore out of your cruel mouths, for awhile.

Dan_A_Cactus* who robert your gay lover ?

Barack Obama is no ordinary black man and these are no ordinary times.

newsjunkie on September 20, 2008 at 03:11 PM

news,

You have that right.

He's not ordinary in any sense of the world. He even has a lot of the truly wealthy Republicans fascinated. Old money knows quality.

later.

The only reason Catass and Sally* Neo conartist and the like are so hateful is because their mothers told them that they really wanted to abort them but it wasn't available at the time. They tried at home, but failed. As fetus's they were damaged and hence the mental problems.

Obama, the president of the United States of America
Posted by newsjunkie

Proof, the democrat party is made up of nothing but dopes and loonies.

hi

Dan_A_Cactus* who robert your gay lover ?

Posted by dusty2006 on September 20, 2008 at 04:04 PM

That's right Dusty, but Robert, is not the only one he has several, gay lovers. He plays the field.

well Dan_A_Cactus* the republican party full hate filled old white men that wont except the, poor the black ,hispanic , woman that most of the united states

later.

50SandyH on September 20, 2008 at 04:05 PM

You keep saying later, then keep posting, did your husband lock you in the house, so you would not bother the neighbors?

dan the flaming gay republican he should logcabin republican

Oh god, bush and bin laden attacked a hotel with americans in it too scare the scarable. Is there no low that bush and his friends kids won't go to scare americans. Follow the money, bin laden's family invested in bushes bankrupt oil company. You'd think if the man could bankrupt an oil company, that he could bankrupt america. And he did. I blame every single person that voted republican, and I will not forgive their ignorance for a long time. Get out of my way, morons. I've got no time for you.

dan shold get locked up with robert then can be together

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 20, 2008 at 03:37 PM

The Marriott is bombed in Pakistan, the federal government is taking steps to practically nationalize the financial institutions, the Russian stock market has crashed, two million still do not have power in TX, and you're still harping on some spoiled brat playing taxi driver to illegals for pocket change? No wonder the nation is going to hell in a handbasket due to Republican greed, malfeasance, and incompetence. Y'alls priorities are skewed practically beyond recognition.

54chassie on September 20, 2008 at 04:08 PM

Ahhh, Robert,

The sharp wit and speed, of a dead slug.

I'm just kiding Dusty!!

Sally, and Numbsy Dan, hates GAYS'S.

They hate BLACK'S.

They hate ABORTION.

They hate WOMEN.

They hate DEMOCRAT'S.

They hate Life, cuz their MISERABLE.

They are just hate filled EMBECILES.

They even hate THEMSELVES.

They even hate their MOTHERS.

Hell they even hate the WORLD.

Hell they even hate the UNITED STATES.

hi

they probly hate thier own mom to

Hey Dan i bought 18,000 shares of AIG on Monday for 1.25 on Monday of this week, and sold 12,000 shares yesterday, on Friday for 4.44. I'm going to trade my boat in an get a new one with a transporter, on it. If you'll go fishing with me, i'll beam you down to Hell, which is where you righfully deserve to be.

Polls, polls, polls. Everyone is talking about the poll numbers. Keep in mind that during the past two elections, polls told us that Al Gore and John Kerry would win, and they didn't. Personally, I don't care what the polls say because they seem like nothing but BS, so why doesn't everyone just get off the poll bandwagon.

The truth is this country is split down the middle and no one can tell who is going to will until the end of the day on Nov. 4th.

One for the road:

Bankrupt AIG Underwrote McCain's 'Reform Institute'

By Mark Ames
September 19, 2008

John McCain is making a big show of criticizing the government "bailout" of insurance giant AIG. But it turns out that AIG, which received $85 billion in US tax dollars earlier this week, is one of the largest donors to McCain's pet think tank, the comically named "Reform Institute," which he co-founded in 2001 "in direct response to the millions of Americans who, during the 2000 presidential campaign, expressed profound disillusionment with corrupt fundraising activities."

Apparently, AIG was so troubled over the issue of corrupt fundraising activities that they loaded in as one of the top VIP donors in McCain's nonprofit think-tank, whose website lists AIG in the "over $50,000" donor category--although exactly how much over that $50,000 is still unclear. Nor is it clear why AIG had any business donating so much money to a think tank whose work in no way overlapped with the insurance company's--unless, of course, that money was just meant to gain access to McCain.

The "Reform Institute" has taken a lot of heat as a front organization designed to funnel money to McCain's political career. As Ari Berman wrote, McCain's campaign co-chair, Rick Davis, served as the president of the nonprofit Reform Institute for three years, earning $395,000 in salary. Davis also headquartered his lobbying firm, Davis Manafort, in the Reform Institute's offices at that time...

So when McCain declared this week that "The government was forced to commit $85 billion" to his mega-donor AIG, the question becomes, "What forced you to do it?" The American taxpayers never got a red cent in donations from AIG--but now, they're being forced by people like McCain, whose career profited from AIG donations, to buy his backer's massively indebted trash heap in what can only be described as the worst business deal in this nation's history, or the worst example of crony nationalization. AIG isn't just funding McCain's policy think tank, it's also quite literally thinking for the presidential hopeful. Martin Feldstein, who serves on the board of AIG, is one of McCain's top economic advisers.

Earlier this month, Feldstein gushed in the Wall Street Journal over McCain's plans to cut taxes even further, and to shift healthcare costs from employers to employees in a "tax credit" scheme that many believe will solely benefit insurance companies, at the expense of workers. Since AIG is--or was--the world's largest insurance company, it stood to gain from McCain's policies.

The one thing Feldstein does understand is insurance. Feldstein and his cronies at AIG essentially bought themselves an insurance policy--you might call this type of insurance "in case our insanely corrupt, hyper-leveraged operation should ever go bankrupt" insurance--with donations like the "over $50,000" given to McCain's Reform Institute. That insurance paid off handsomely and like clockwork with the government's $85 billion nationalization. It's exactly the kind of insurance policy deal that every American has dreamed about, but never known. And never will know.

Now that Feldstein and McCain have successfully worked the American public in the AIG scheme, they have a plan for the entire American economy. They're calling it "reform." And the first thing they want to get their hands on is your health insurance, or what's left of it. So if you've been asking yourself lately, "Can it get any worse?" the answer was put best in a horrible '70s classic rock song by Bachman-Turner Overdrive: "B-b-b-baby you just ain't seen nuthin' yet!"

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081006/ames

This McCain health care "reform" scam that taxes health benefits is really the last straw. They are going to tax Medicare and Medicaid benefits, too?

Dividends aren't income but health benefits are?

Posted by BobVADemocratHawk on September 20, 2008 at 04:15 PM

And what is Obama doing about any of it?

He fought regulations on banks, he has Jimmy Carters crappy foreign policy which changes as the wind blows.

Better worry about your own there, Bob.

heah Dan_A_Cactus* it sound like macain his foreign policy which changes as the wind blows.

test

pcgeek2008 on September 20, 2008 at 03:04 PM

Everything south of VA and east of NM is irrelevant and should be treated as such. FL is nothing more than a turd hanging out of the arse of America, GA. The rednecks are too stupid to find their own arses with both hands and a hunting dog. So tell all of your friends named Bubba that finally they are exactly what they are portrayed to be, ignorant jokes.

.

Posted by pcgeek2008 on September 20, 2008 at 04:26 PM

You Sir are wrong, when i see a poll of 2 points in Indiana, for the Repos, that speaks volumes, about the rest of the country. Indiana normally goes red by 15 points.

The Repos, are in deep deep crapola. Check out Indiana for the last 60 years.

I wonder if Obama will go to New York next week?

You know, get down on his hands and knees and tell the Midget from Iran he is sorry. Maybe bring his pastor to shout a few "G** Damn Americas" to show he means it.

test

71BobVADemocratHawk on September 20, 2008 at 04:35 PM

Yes Bobby, the democrats don't need anyone, Obamas going to win, getting all 8 kooky votes from here.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahaah

I wonder if Obama will go to New York next week?

Posted by Dan_A_Cactus** on September 20, 2008 at 04:39 PM

Of course not why would he go to NY? He's got that one sowed up, you know the one with the slightly broad back side is Senator in that state.

You can't even think straight over your hatred, Moonbat.

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 20, 2008 at 04:27 PM

I'll let Sen. Obama respond to this one. These remarks came from today at Daytona Beach, FL.

...I know the anxiety so many of you are feeling right now, as we stand in the midst of the most serious financial crisis of our time. We've seen three of America's five largest investment banks fail or be sold off in distress. Our housing market is in shambles, and Monday brought the worst losses on Wall Street since the day after September 11th.

Everywhere you look, the economic news is troubling. But for so many of you, it isn't really news at all. You've seen your home values falling, gas prices rising, and bills piling up month after month. So you're working longer hours, or working more than one job just to get by. And then there are the jobs you do once the workday ends. Jobs like paying the bills, buying the groceries, making the dinner, doing the laundry, enforcing the bedtimes - the jobs you don't get paid for, but that hold our families together. Jobs that still, even in the year 2008, too often fall to women.

So I know these are difficult days. But here's what I also know. I know we can steer ourselves out of this economic crisis. That's who we are. That's what we've always done as Americans. Our nation has faced difficult times before. And at each of those moments, we've risen to meet the challenge because we've never forgotten that fundamental truth - that here in America, our destiny is not written for us, but by us.

But another thing I know is that we can't steer ourselves out of this crisis by heading in the same, disastrous direction. We can't change direction with a new driver who wants to follow the same old map. And that's what this election is all about.

Yesterday, my opponent, Senator McCain, gave a speech in which his big solution to this worldwide economic crisis was to blame me for it. This is a guy who's spent a quarter century in Washington. And after spending the entire campaign saying I haven't been in Washington long enough, he apparently now is willing to assign me responsibility for all of Washington's failures. I think it's pretty clear that Senator McCain is a little panicked, and that at this point, he is willing to say anything, do anything, change any position, violate any principle to try and win this election. And that is sad to see. That's not the politics we need.

So let's be clear.

There's only one candidate who - just this week - said a line he's repeated 16 times on this campaign - quote - "the fundamentals of our economy are strong."

There's only one candidate who's called himself "fundamentally a deregulator" when deregulation is part of the problem. My opponent actually wrote in the current issue of a health care magazine - the current issue - quote - "Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."

So let me get this straight - he wants to run health care like they've been running Wall Street. Well, Senator, I know some folks on Main Street who aren't going to think that's a good idea.

There's only one candidate whose choice for Treasury Secretary is a man who thinks we're in a "mental recession" and has called the United States of America a - quote - "nation of whiners."

There's only one candidate whose campaign is being run by seven of Washington's most powerful lobbyists.

And folks, it isn't me.

I don't take a dime from Washington lobbyists and special interests. They do not run my campaign. They will not run my White House. And they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I'm President of the United States.

So when John McCain says that lobbyists "won't even get past the front gate" at his White House, my question is - who's going to stop them?

Those seven lobbyists?

His campaign manager?

The economic advisor, who got a $40 million golden parachute when she was fired as a CEO?

Or maybe the 26 advisors and fundraisers who lobbied for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

I mean, give me a break.

The same day my opponent attacked me for being associated with a Fannie Mae guy I've talked to for maybe 5 minutes in my entire life - the same day he did that - the head of the lobbying shop at Fannie Mae turned around and said wait a minute - "when I see photographs of Senator McCain's staff, it looks to me like the team of lobbyists who used to report to me."

Folks, you can't make this stuff up.

So when you hear John McCain talk about taking on the ol' boy network in Washington - know this, on the McCain campaign, that's called a staff meeting.

At this defining moment, when the stakes could not be higher, we need real change - change that's more than just a slogan, change that actually makes a difference in people's lives. And that's the kind of change I'll bring to Washington when I'm President of the United States of America.

The other day, I laid out a few principals for a plan that would establish a real and permanent solution to our economic crisis. First, we have to make sure that whatever plan our government comes up with works not just for Wall Street, but for Main Street. We have to make sure it helps folks cope with rising prices, and sparks job creation, and helps homeowners stay in their homes. That's the kind of help folks need right now.

We also have to make sure that any plan we come up with is temporary and restores tough oversight and accountability on Wall Street. Third, I want to make sure that we're not rewarding some of the very CEOs who helped cause this mess. We're not going to stand for that.

But if we're serious about putting our economy on a firmer footing and lifting up our hardworking families, there are some additional changes we're going to have to make, as well...

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/amandascott/gGgmt9

Obama will win 54 percent to 46 percent, if it was not for the racists, and the so called bradley effect, it would be a trouncing of 59 percent, to 41 percent. And it might be anyway with the Nader effect, which will off set the bradley effect. The nader votes, will come from Repos.

chassie on September 20, 2008 at 04:37

Hi chassie, you've got a pretty good handle on this stuff. I appreciate your insight on the election. But, what I would appreciate more is you giving me some stock tips, you did not buy for 1.25 on mon and sell at 4.44 on friday. Shite, please do share in the future.

The Problem

Increasing Debt: Under President Bush, the federal debt has increased from $5.7 trillion to $8.8 trillion, an increase of more than 50 percent.

Irresponsible Tax Cuts: President Bush's policies of giving tax breaks for the wealthy will cost the nation over $2.3 trillion by the time they expire in 2009.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden's Plan

Restore Fiscal Discipline to Washington

Reinstate PAYGO Rules: Obama and Biden believe that a critical step in restoring fiscal discipline is enforcing pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) budgeting rules which require new spending commitments or tax changes to be paid for by cuts to other programs or new revenue.

Reverse Bush Tax Cuts for the Wealthy: Obama and Biden will protect tax cuts for poor and middle class families, but they will reverse most of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest taxpayers.
Cut Pork Barrel Spending: Obama introduced and passed bipartisan legislation that would require more disclosure and transparency for special-interest earmarks. Obama and Biden believe that spending that cannot withstand public scrutiny cannot be justified. Obama and Biden will slash earmarks to no greater than year 2001 levels and ensure all spending decisions are open to the public.

Make Government Spending More Accountable and Efficient: Obama and Biden will ensure that federal contracts over $25,000 are competitively bid. Obama and Biden will also increase the efficiency of government programs through better use of technology, stronger management that demands accountability and by leveraging the government's high-volume purchasing power to get lower prices.

End Wasteful Government Spending: Obama and Biden will stop funding wasteful, obsolete federal government programs that make no financial sense. Obama and Biden have called for an end to subsidies for oil and gas companies that are enjoying record profits, as well as the elimination of subsidies to the private student loan industry which has repeatedly used unethical business practices. Obama and Biden will also tackle wasteful spending in the Medicare program.

Make the Tax System More Fair and Efficient

End Tax Haven Abuse: Building on his bipartisan work in the Senate, Obama will give the Treasury Department the tools it needs to stop the abuse of tax shelters and offshore tax havens and help close the $350 billion tax gap between taxes owed and taxes paid.

Close Special Interest Corporate Loopholes: Obama and Biden will level the playing field for all businesses by eliminating special-interest loopholes and deductions, such as those for the oil and gas industry.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden's Record

PAYGO: Obama voted in 2005, 2006, and 2007 to reinstate pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) federal budget rules.

No-Bid Contracts: Obama has introduced and helped pass bipartisan legislation to limit the abuse of no-bid federal contracts.

Against Raising the Federal Debt Limit: In 2006, Obama voted against misguided Republican efforts to raise the statutory debt limit at the same time the Republicans were pushing through massive debt-financed tax cuts for the wealthy.

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/fiscal/

I hope that Ralph Nader, campaign's hard, in Indiana, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Michigan, Wisconsin. It will pay dividends to the Dems.

Posted by BobVADemocratHawk on September 20, 2008 at 04:48 PM

Posting the campaign web site crap?

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha....

Did it say that Obama got more money than almost anyone else, except for Dodd, out of Fannie Mae?

McCain's surrogates

David Bossie, who runs Citizens United, has paired with Floyd Brown for years. Bossie and Brown harassed the Clintons throughout Bill Clinton's administration, with even George H.W. Bush calling his behavior in the 1992 presidential election (which included harassing the family of a recent suicide victim) "filthy campaign tactics." After writing a 2000 book about Al Gore that went little-noticed, in 2004, Brown and Floyd Bossie, working as the group Citizens United, made a movie called Celsius 41.11 and ran television ads attacking John Kerry. In 1998, Bossie was fired from his job with the House Committee investigating Bill Clinton. When Bossie selectively released tapes, removing information that exonerated the Clintons, and improperly obtained phone records, even Newt Gingrich said he was "embarrassed for the conference at the circus that went on."

Then-President George Bush: "We will do whatever we can to stop any filthy campaign tactics." [Press Conference, 7/15/92]

Current President George W. Bush sent a letter to 85,697 major donors urging them not to contribute to the Bossie/Brown groups in 1992. [Washington Post, 7/15/92]

George H.W. Bush's campaign, referred to Bossie, Floyd Brown, and their associates as "the lowest forms of life." [Hunting of the President]

Newt Gingrich: "I'm embarrassed for myself, and I'm embarrassed for the conference at the circus that went on" under Bossie in the House investigation of Clinton-Gore campaign finances. [Washington Post, 5/7/98]

Dan Burton, Bossie's Boss in the House: "He released information on Mr. Huang's telephone records without my knowledge or approval. I have told him in no uncertain terms that I do not allow my staff to release any information, including documents, without my approval, and that I do not expect this to happen again." [Roll Call, 11/25/96]

Floyd Brown, the leader of the National Campaign Fund, the Legacy Committee, Citizens for a Safe and Prosperous America and the Policy Issues Institute, once bragged he was part of the "the heart and soul of the right-wing conspiracy," and has a history of surfacing every four years to make right-wing attacks against Democrats in presidential elections. Most infamously, Brown was responsible for the 1988 "Willie Horton" ad against Michael Dukakis. Brown harassed the Clintons throughout Bill Clinton's administration, with even George H.W. Bush calling his behavior in the 1992 presidential election (which included harassing the family of a recent suicide victim) "filthy campaign tactics." After writing a 2000 book about Al Gore that went little-noticed, in 2004, Brown and Floyd Bossie, working as the group Citizens United, made a movie called Celsius 41.11 and ran television ads attacking John Kerry.

USA Today: "[Brown has] established himself as one of the nation's dirtiest political strategists."
[USA Today, 10/26/92]

George Stephanopoulos: "Floyd Brown is a slimy thug for hire."
[Washington Post, 4/19/94]

Mary Matalin: "I'm not a big fan of Floyd Brown...He gave us the Willie Horton ads that the Republican Party has had to eat for two election cycles now."
[New York Times, 4/24/94]

Salon: "If there is a racist odor to the coming general election campaign, it is likely to emanate from his vicinity."
[Salon, 4/25/08]

Bob Perry is one of the biggest Republican donors in the country and was the main financier of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004, giving $4.5 million. The ads produced by the Swift Boat effort were so disingenuous that John McCain himself denounced them as �dishonest and dishonorable.�

In 2006, Perry was again the top contributor to 527 groups, giving them more than $9 million.

His contributions were more than the next two biggest donors combined. Perry even funded an anti-gay ad in Montana that referred to �Brokebank Democrats� and ads featuring the home phone numbers of Democratic candidates.

Craig Shirley, who runs Stop-Him-Now.com, was a McCain campaign consultant and endorser until the campaign was faced with the possible illegal arrangement. Shirley, another member of the team that produced the Willie Horton ads in 1988, harassed the Clinton administration for years, staging the press conference where Paula Jones was introduced. Shirley not only represented �Unlimited Access,� a book described as �second-hand, unsubstantiated sexual rumors about and bitter attacks against President and Mrs. Clinton,� but also represents Ann Coulter�s books.

Bruce Hawkins, the Executive Director of the National Campaign Fund, has been involved in Republican campaigns for 20 years. Hawkins was recently disbarred in Washington state for violating four rules of professional conduct, running a business that promised to reduce credit card debt (but did not), and lying about conflict of interest. The same year, Hawkins was "permanently enjoined" by the justice department "from promoting tax-fraud schemes" after setting up illegal offshore tax shelters.

James Lacy is the treasurer and general counsel of the National Campaign Fund. He was the treasurer for the Legacy Committee; is the contact for the Policy Issues Institute; and is the treasurer for Citizens for a Safe and Prosperous America. Lacy is a "long-time conservative activist" and a "soldier in the conservative movement for many, many years." Lacy, who served as a lawyer for the Minutemen, once said he was "willing to do whatever it takes to preserve the Minuteman Project." Lacy also co-founded the United States Justice Foundation, an organization that got its start in "reverse-discrimination" suits.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/behindthesmears

Meanwhile at the DNC Blog,

Unable to argue any points,
Bob posts copy and paste crap from Obamas web site.

1.25 on mon and sell at 4.44 on friday. Shite, please do share in the future.

Posted by newsjunkie on September 20, 2008 at 04:52 PM

Yes i did News, it was just, cuz i know that the Govt. would not let AIG the biggest insurer in the world fail, they would have been too much fall out if, they had let them fall. And the best part of it is i already made some good money, and still own 6000 shares. And i don't think its to late to get in. Their is a private bunch of investers thats trying to get up the money to buy it back from the Government. If this happens, and that is a if, the stock will go up significantly.

Did it say that Obama got more money than almost anyone else, except for Dodd, out of Fannie Mae?

That statement is not true, McNuts got 169,000 from the Executive officers of that entity. Obama got 16,000.

But the totality of it is about even.

Posted by chassie on September 20, 2008 at 05:07 PM

Too bad it was only play money, Robert. You could have been rich and bought a house on "Park Place".

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 20, 2008 at 04:57 PM

It did not Dan. However, CNN shows how that statement is misleading at best. I know the truth hurts, Dan. I know that your supporting of dishonorable, bought and paid fo,r twenty-six year veteran of the U.S. Senate doesn't bother your conscience, or lack thereof, however, the voters should be interested in the truth.

September 19, 2008

Fact Check: Did Obama 'profit' from Fannie and Freddie?

Did Obama profit from Fannie and Freddie?

The Statement:

Amid "corruption at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," Sen. Barack Obama "profited from this system of abuse and scandal. While Fannie and Freddie were working to keep Congress away from their house of cards, Senator Obama was taking their money. He got more, in fact, than any other member of Congress, except for the Democratic chairman of the committee that oversees them." �Sen. John McCain, at a campaign stop Friday, September 19, in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Get the facts after the jump!

The Facts

Federal law forbids candidates from receiving money directly from companies. The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics tracks donations from employees of various companies. The center's list of contributions from Fannie and Freddie employees places Obama second. Ahead of him is Sen. Chris Dodd,

Democratic chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

The total listed for Obama is $126,349 � a tiny fraction of the approximately $390 million his campaign has raised, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The list shows McCain has received a total of $21,550 from Fannie and Freddie employees. The list includes donations of at least $200 from those who receive paychecks from Fannie and Freddie. It also includes donations from political action committees � pooled contributions from employees. Obama decided early in his presidential run not to accept PAC contributions, but the Center for Responsive Politics' list includes all contributions for members of Congress dating back to 1989 � including Obama and McCain's Senate campaigns.

The New York Times has published a separate list looking at contributions from "directors, officers, and lobbyists for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac" for the 2008 campaign cycle. That list � using figures from the Federal Election Commission � shows McCain receiving $169,000, while Obama received only $16,000.

Explaining the difference, the Center for Responsive Politics said on its Web site that it does not include members of the board of directors because they could serve on boards of various companies. Their contributions are listed along with other employees of the companies they work for. And the center says lobbyists usually represent multiple clients as well, so their contributions are listed under their lobbying firms � except in-house lobbyists, who are included in the center's list.

The mortgage giants Fannie and Freddie became symbols of the nation's economic mess � and, to critics, of corporate greed � after the government recently took them over to bail them out, making donations linked to the company in any way potential political fodder.

VERDICT
Partially true, but misleading. Donations don't come from companies. A list of employee contributions puts Obama second, but a different list including lobbyists and directors shows McCain getting more.

Too bad it was only play money, Robert. You could have been rich and bought a house on "Park Place".

Posted by Dan_A_Cactus** on September 20, 2008 at 05:15 PM

Put your Money where your mouth is jerk, and well see if we can find a go between to hold the money until Nov. the 5Th.

Cactus your a loser, now go and kill some crows.

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 20, 2008 at 05:06 PM

Sen. Obama says it so much better than I do. Besides, the sheeple ought to be listening to the candidates, not us amateur pundits. However, like a typical Republican, you concentrate on the trivialities instead of realizing the gravity of the situation.

So all who read this answer the following question. Are you better off than you were eight years ago? Is the nation as a whole better off than it was eight years ago? If your answer is yes, then Sen. John S. McCain (R-AZ) is your candidate as he voted with President Bush roughly 95% of the time.

But if you are sane or not in the top 2% of wage earners then your answer is no, then Sen. Barack H. Obama is your candidate. He will set this nation back on course for prosperity and independence and the world will be a much better place for it.

CNN shows how that statement is misleading at best.
A list of employee contributions puts Obama second,

Bobby, It shows CNN is running cover for Obama. Yesterday CNN ran a couple of hours of civil rights history in a effort to play the race card, furthermore it does not dispute the facts, it tries to side swipe them.

News if i get a good tip on a stock, that i think is worth its salt, i will share. But the Aig story was just something that i felt in my guts, and took a chance. Opportunities like this don't come along every day.

Are you better off than you were eight years ago?

With another Jimmy Carter in Office, it can be worse. Gas lines, double digit inflation, unemployment rates at 10%. No thanks.

Been there, done that.

Cactus, the thing that you and most Americans don't understand, is if you can't beat who, or whomever is office, you got to join them and play their game, if you want to come out on top. Carter is no different then any other. Like they say when in Rome do as the Romans do. They only way to win and come out on top, is to join them to a certain extent. In other words go with the flow, and leave your hatred behind.

Cactus, the thing that you and most Americans don't understand

Robert

I think (most Americans understand) you are a moonbat.

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 20, 2008 at 05:30 PM

Civil rights history is playing the race card? Nice try.

CNN is running interference for Sen. Obama by noting that the management of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae gave more to the McCain campiagn by a factor of ten? Let the sheeple decide that one.

Anyone with a modicum of sense knows that Sen. McCain has employed more lobbyists on his campaign and those lobbyists, should Sen. McCain get elected, will have, once again, bought the U.S. Presidency. If you think that lobbyists are best qualified to manage the nation's affairs then Sen. McCain is your candidate.

John McCain, the best that GOP money can buy. I'm not Barack Obama and I approve that message.

Cactus you can buck the system, but if you do, no matter what your politics are, You will lose. But if you leave your hatred behind, you can come out on top. YOU GOT TO GO WITH THE FLOW, who ever is in office. If you try to swim up river, your going to lose, its that simple.

Cactus their is no hope for you, you are a loser, unless you make a about face, with your philosophy.

But if you are sane or not in the top 2% of wage earners then your answer is no, then Sen. Barack H. Obama is your candidate.

Bob

When is the last time you got something for nothing?

I have always stayed clear of that sales pitch, and been better off.

Have a good evening, good Dems, I got more important things to do then try and EDUCATE the ones full of Hate.

Have a good evening, and a better tomorrow.

ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) � CNN confirms that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai next week in New York during the opening meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.

The meeting is part of a larger effort by the McCain campaign to bolster Palin's foreign policy credentials in the face of criticism from Democrats questioning her preparedness for the Vice Presidency. Though her running mate is considered a leading voice on military issues and foreign affairs, Palin herself has only traveled abroad to Kuwait, Germany, Canada and, briefly, to an Iraqi border crossing.

According to the Washington Post, which first reported the story, the Karzai meeting was initiated by McCain campaign officials.

At a town-hall meeting in Michigan on Wednesday, Palin expressed confidence in her foreign policy acumen.

"But as for foreign policy, you know, I think that I am prepared, and I know that on January 20th, if we are so blessed as to be sworn into office as your president and vice president, certainly we'll be ready," she told a questioner. "I'll be ready.'...

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/20/palin-to-meet-with-karzai-in-new-york/#more-19563

But the question remains, can she find Afghanistan on a map unlike Sen. McCain who believes Afghanistan and Iraq share a border. Perhaps she will fry up a moose burger for President Karzai.

A list of employee contributions puts Obama second

That is second to Senator Dodd.

Posted by Dan_A_Cactus** on September 20, 2008 at 06:01 PM

--------------------------------------------------

That is a half truth, McNuts got 169,000 dollars from the exective officers, its a wash.

But the question remains, can she find Afghanistan on a map unlike Sen. McCain who believes Afghanistan and Iraq share a border. Perhaps she will fry up a moose burger for President Karzai.

===================

Why post crap off other blogs? I don't have to, why do you?

Do think women are stupid, Bob?

corr: Do "you" think women are stupid Bob?

chassie on September 20, 2008 at 04:50 PM if it was not for the racists, and the so called bradley effect, it would be a trouncing of 59 percent, to 41 percent.

Chassie, there've been a number of races in the last 5 years with black males at the top of the ticket - the polling and exit polling reflected the actual election results within the margin of error.

Remember, the only reason these people post here is to get you upset - they make stuff up - or they repost what someone else made up - they play to fears.

John McCain is starting to do the same thing which means his internal polling must look pretty bad.

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 20, 2008 at 05:58 PM

I hope your candidate espouses that position as well and decides to tell the truth about it. We'll win by thirty on Election Day. Screw the rich (i.e. millionaires), their free ride is coming to an end.

If you want to see a great plan to restore this great nation's economic footing and that gives a tax break to 95% of American wage earners, click here: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/economy/

Posted by chassie on September 20, 2008 at 06:04 PM That is a half truth, McNuts got 169,000 dollars from the exective officers, its a wash.

No it's not a wash - the directors, lobbiests, and officers supported McCain with $169,000 and Obama $16,000.

Non-management donated just like you and I do.

The people posting don't care what they post - they post to get a rise out of you - it's an addiction - they don't feel alive without it.

Oh no Dors, we don't want Robert upset, he will tear up his cage.

I rest my case :)

If you want to see a great plan to restore this great nation's economic footing and that gives a tax break to 95% of American wage earners

================

Didn't Castro say that, before he told the pee ons to get back to work or be shot?

Posted by chassie on September 20, 2008 at 05:59 PM Have a good evening, good Dems, I got more important things to do then try and EDUCATE the ones full of Hate.

They came to tweak - nothing more.

Enjoy the evening, chassie

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 20, 2008 at 06:06 PM

Do I think that women, as a whole, are stupid? The answer is no. Though, just like men, half of them are of below average intelligence.

Do I think that Gov. Palin (R-AK) is nothing more than a piece of virtual video cheesecake and is nothing more than a cheap campaign trick designed to divert attention from the fact that the Republican Party and John McCain has completely mismanaged the nation's affairs for the past fourteen years through gross incomptence, graft, and a fundamentally flawed ideology? The answer is yes.

Have a good weekend fellow Democrats. Keep the Faith and keep the faith. The populist revolution has begun!

Yes we can!

Si se puede!

Change we can believe in!

Fight the Smears!

Posted by BobVADemocratHawk on September 20, 2008 at 06:22 PM Have a good weekend fellow Democrats.

Enjoy the weekend, Bob.

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 20, 2008 at 06:18 PM

There you go confusing President Bush with Fidel Castro again. Then again, I can see how easy that is to made that mistake as they both run their sections of Cuba in pretty much the same way.

Have a good weekend, Dan. See you on Election Day...

Posted by BobVADemocratHawk on September 20, 2008 at 06:22 PM

Good Bob,

call 80% of Alaskas people "stupid", Obama don't need their votes ether, he has 8 moonbat votes on this blog, good luck with that.

Posted by dorsano on September 20, 2008 at 06:13 PM

--------------------------------------------------

Dors i was going out the door, to enjoy a good supper, and caught your post, i'll be back in a couple of hours. But i was just not going to let Cactus get away with his lies. I know its not a wash, i was being nice. But in reality the money is about the same no matter how you cut it.

BBL.

Posted by BobVADemocratHawk on September 20, 2008 at 06:00 PM But the question remains, can she find Afghanistan on a map unlike Sen. McCain who believes Afghanistan and Iraq share a border.

I think McCain's pick already answered that question:

"But as for foreign policy, you know, I think that I am prepared, and I know that on January 20th, if we are so blessed as to be sworn into office as your president and vice president, certainly we'll be ready," she told a questioner. "I'll be ready.'...

Chassie, there've been a number of races in the last 5 years with black males at the top of the ticket - the polling and exit polling reflected the actual election results within the margin of error.

Posted by dorsano on September 20, 2008 at 06:09 PM

Oh yea, Where?

Posted by chassie on September 20, 2008 at 06:28 PM But in reality the money is about the same no matter how you cut it.

The difference is where it comes from - McCain's come from those who actually lobby - Obama's doesn't

and how silly McCain looks in his ad.

Not to mention the fact that it's a drop in the bucket of $390 million Obama raised.

Good night Bob.

Enjoy the evening, Sally.

test

Are the food banks handing out free cheese tonight?

Where are the little asshat dems?

129MarkLof on September 20, 2008 at 07:08 PM

Every time Obama is worried about the polls the Race Card is played, right before the election they will make the threat, if Obama is not elected, the citys will burn.

Evening all good Dems,

Did anyone hear on the news that the new president of Pakistan announced that he will not tolerate any nation going into the western provinces using the excuse that there are "terrists" there.

Guess what, cheney sent in ground Commandos and took out one of their villages.

I fully expect they will attack our forces in Pakistan or declare war on the U.S.

cheney figures that while we are distracted by the circus they are putting on with mcgeezer and palin he will start WWIII. Then he will declare bush dictator. Heil Bush.

It sounds like mcgeezer is going to privatize Medicare if he gets his way.

So that makes both Social Security and Medical care he wants to privatize.

I hope we have better luck with that than with his buddy phil gramm sponsored criminal activities in the fincancial markets.

How much is that going to cost us?

This second financial banking crisis brought to us by the republicans since 1981 promises to cost substantially more than the Savings and Loan debacle.

What will the Social Security and Medicare crisis cost us. I am afraid we will be bankrupted by the current crisis.

Then we have to pay for WWIII. We will not survive as a nation.

ARE WE THERE YET! I CERTAINLY AM.

IMPEACH BUSH AND CHENEY NOW AND SEND THEM TO THE HAGUE!

cheney uber alles.

The Democratic cowards in Congress should be prosecuted for not upholding the Constitution and
impeaching both bush and cheney.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge on Saturday ordered Dick Cheney to preserve a wide range of the records from his time as vice president.

Cheney and the other defendants in the case "were only willing to agree to a preservation order that tracked their narrowed interpretation" of the Presidential Records Act, wrote Kollar-Kotelly.

In response to the ruling, Cheney spokesman James R. Hennigan said that "we will not have any comment on pending litigation."

The lawsuit stems from Cheney's position that his office is not part of the executive branch of government.

Judge orders Cheney to preserve records

Good evening, all.

The CNN financial guru's are doing a live segment tonight. Talk about elitists.

After years of telling people to invest wisely they are now rejoicing that it doesn't really matter any longer since the government is bailing out all investors whether they were being responsible or not.

There are all kinds of greedy people calling up the show asking how they can buy up all this cheap debt from the federal government and make a profit off the taxpayers new $1 trillion burden. And they are treating them as legitimate questions?

While they are still telling callers that they should take a financial literacy course and be better informed, it's pretty obvious that these financial whiz kids think only those who aren't rich need to be responsible.

But if you are rich or work in the financial field, you're off the hook so let's all get back to seeing how the players can score the system again. You can almost see them figuring it out in their minds. What new exciting angles will be played.

The same crooks are going to be back salivating at the opportunity to fleece whomever they can whatever way they can...again.

Why is there no accountability for the people who were involved in inventing all these shady schemes? After Congress signs off on this deal next week, what assurances do we have that it won't happen again in another 20 years? Why is there such haste in putting this behind us?

I'd like to ask a question of the experts: What happened to those involved in creating the Savings & Loan scandal? Nothing. What will happen to the those who created this meltdown? Nothing. Are they the same people. You betcha.

Ali Belchi is saying the government can't fix the housing crisis. It can't fix the sub-prime mortgage problem. It can't fix the unemployment problem. It can't fix the stock market and securities excesses?

Then what is this bail out fixing?

This bailout is just giving the sharks a new lease on life. That just isn't right. It's time to fix the real problem...no regulation or oversight which was mandated by the Republicans.

It's time THEY were held accountable. The voters need to hold them accountable.

McCain was never held accountable for the Keating 5 spinoff of the Savings & Loan scandal. It's now time that he finally gets what he deserved back then.

This election is now about accountability. It's our patriotic duty to throw the Republicans out and save our country from another eight years of irresponsibility and certain economic disaster.

The lawsuit stems from Cheney's position that his office is not part of the executive branch of government.

Judge orders Cheney to preserve records

136

Johne on September 20, 2008 at 08:07 PM

Johne,

Talk about accountability. Why didn't our guys impeach this imperial doorknob as soon as we got the House majority back?

There is no Fourth Branch and everybody knows it.

the citys will burn.

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 20, 2008 at 07:13 PM

So you are a slum lord and worried about the investment? Ask McBush for a bailout.

Krugman's latest column has hit the nail on the head. Hold McCain's feet to the fire on Social Security and Health Care Insurance "reform".

Samdy,

I agree, not impeaching cheney was a serious error.

It just drives me nuts thinking there is any possiblity of mccain winning the election and palin being vice president. She could be worse than cheney.

It appears Palin has laid down the law to McCain already. It looks like we know who will wear the skirt and hold the leash in that relationship...

Palin won’t say whether veep is an executive post

By Kevin Bogardus
Posted: 09/18/08

Vice President Dick Cheney has said his office only partially belongs to the executive branch. Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden disagrees and Republican rival Sarah Palin isn’t saying.

Sen. Biden (Del.) believes the office he is seeking is solely in the executive branch, according to his staff. But aides to Alaska Gov. Palin did not answer the question...

Palin did not say what branch of government she believes the vice president’s office is part of in those remarks. Instead, Palin said she and Republican presidential nominee John McCain had discussed what responsibilities she would take on as his second-in-command.

“My mission is going to be energy, security and government reform and another thing near and dear to my heart: It’s going to be helping families who have special needs and children with special needs,” said Palin...

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/palin-wont-say-whether-veep-is-an-executive-post-2008-09-18.html

Security? As in domestic spying, torture, and witchburning?

Sandy,

Holding mccain's feet to the fire is the way to go especially with the current financial crisis.

Wasn't it mccain who thought bush was right in allowing people to invest their Social Security int he stock market?

This would be a good political ad. We could play mccain's words about privatizing Social Security and Medicare over and over ask the viewer, Is this what you want? Vote Democratic.

call 80% of Alaskas people "stupid", Obama don't need their votes ether, he has 8 moonbat votes on this blog, good luck with that.

80% of Alaska's population are bears and they are all smarter than the Palin clan...which probably explains why she's trying to kill off all the polar bears.

Wasn't it palin who vetoed money for special needs children in Alaska?

Wasn't it also palin who is beholding to the oil companies and has done nothing, nada, and zilch about alternative energy?

Isn't it palin who has no experience whatsoever in security?

Would she be like cheney and pull mccain's strings behind the scenes? bush the first apparently did that with raygun.

With mccain and palin we would have more of the same for four more years and perhaps not survive as a coherent nation.

The entire Indian nation (and it is huge) of New Mexico is endorsing Obama. It seems they have been treated like illegal aliens the last eight years or more.

Leave it to the repubs to discriminate.

It just drives me nuts thinking there is any possiblity of mccain winning the election and palin being vice president. She could be worse than cheney.

Posted by Johne on September 20, 2008 at

Hey Johne, it did drive me nuts to untill I saw his new ads. He can hit pretty hard. With Hillary he had to play nice because he didn't want to alienate her supporters and she was the potential nominee, which is what enraged Obama supporters when she would elevate McCAin over Obama. But I think he is playing nice right now, the fodder these two have is incredible. Just think two weeks before the election doing a scare ad on palin, her church, witch doctors, the teenage recruiting, the "end of the world" beliefs. Trust me that would scare the hell out of anyone and everyone. Game Over!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the palin ad, that should run 1 week before the election, showing her affiliatioin with the AIP. The group that wants alaska to not be a state of the us of a. Now that is patriotic. Alaska First, Alaska Always, she has been bleeding the beast in earmarks, the good ole citizens of the lower 48.

CNN confirms that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai next week in New York during the opening meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.

This is the only world leader that thinks they can be seen with her without losing their credibility? Oh, yeah. He's Bush's puppet, isn't he?

Will she wear a head covering in deference to his religion? Will he burn a witch in deference to her religion?

I'm calling it a night. We're going out for a ice cream in honor of the last official day of summer.

Good night, Johne.

..and everyone else...

...including our resident GOP slumlord who is worried about his investment going up in smoke at the hands of socialist GOP economists? What will happen if President Obama doesn't bail him out? And now AIG only has our worthless government IOUs to pay off any claims?

bye

The people of Alaska, and I'm sure Rove and McCain, had no idea the woman believes in witch doctors, speaks in tongues, thinks alaska is where the christians will come for the end of times. Maybe that's why she wanted that bridge, to get all those hundreds of millions of people over there. This makes Wright look normal and it isn't even nationally known yet. In fact the people of alaska didn't know it either. So much for those poll numbers. Somebody needs to take a new poll.

Oh yeah, palin is an energy expert. I am an energy expert too. I watched them hook up the lines to my neighbors new house. I know all about that now. I even know where the place is where you go in and give them the money and you get electicity. I'm just learning of course, but by Jan. I'll be ready.

When this woman goes back to Alaska, she needs to be sent back as the cartoon character that she is. After alaska has two more years of her, they will be done, washington won't invite her back because she is quail only worse.

And we will never have to see her face again.

NEWSJUNKIE,

Won't it be great pounding mccain and palin just before the election.

Voting for mccain and palin would be like hitting yourself on the head with a hammer or butting your head into a wall at a full run. It would be stupid.

I just can't believe decent Americans would even think if voting for these two.

Goodnight Sandy,

NEWSJUNKIE,

My wife watches entertainment tonight. I can't stand the show.

It seems like every night they have a thing about palin and relate how she is doing, what she is wearing and where she buys her glasses. Talk about shallow people.

Obama hits 50% in gallup daily tracking poll

http://www.gallup.com/tag/Gallup%2BDaily.aspx

Gee Johne, wouldn't their show be soo much more interesting if they showed her in her church talking about her witch doctor, or better yet showing that shocking video of the masters program for teenage recruits, or maybe all of that end of the world planning her church is doing cause, you know, all the christians will be going to Alaska.

Now that is entertainment!

hi

hi again

Hi Dusty

good morning

The Drumbeat of Liberal AssHatism

To "paraphrase" a line from the movie "The Terminator" the drumbeat of cultural Marxism can't be reasoned with; it can't be bargained with; it doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear; and it absolutely will not stop. Ever. Until American capitalism is dead.
Below are excerpts from a great piece written by William Staneski at American Thinker who forcefully lays out the case that not only are we as a society are under constant bombardment from those who would destroy our culture and our way of life but that we are also unaware of its eroding pervasiveness. Please take a few moments from your weekend and read the full article. It is a real eye opener.

The drumbeat. It's always there. Day and night. Rain or shine. Winter or Summer. Sunday or Monday. It comes at you from every direction. It comes over the TV, the radio, at work, at school, in music, in the newspapers, from the politicians, in conversation with others, even in church. It wears you down. It robs you of the will to resist its message. Even short-lived victories, which stop it briefly, leave you with the knowledge that it will return; each minor victory bound to be lost to the redoubled efforts of this patient and persistent force. You can't escape it. It never stops. It never gives up. It never ends. It rains upon you from every possible angle, from every possible source.

It's the drumbeat of the left. It is political, philosophical, theological, and social. It pervades every activity. It is post-structural, post-modern, post-everything in the parlance of the day. It is tolerant, diverse, non-judgmental, non-discriminatory, egalitarian, politically correct, multicultural, globalist, and collectivist. It insists that there are no rights and wrongs, no moral absolutes. It turns everything upside down in its looking glass world. It denies the correctness of all that produced what our culture revered before the deconstruction of the world in accordance with the tenets of cultural Marxism.

It denies God, human exceptionalism, and the soul. We are reduced to Darwinian animals floundering in an amoral sea of meaninglessness. It is a product of the nihilistic, existentialist philosophical movement, which went hand in hand with modern art, atonal music, scientific materialism and modern physics, and the generally discordant nature of the twentieth century.

The main thing that is being ignored in all this is human nature. It is all based upon the arrogant presumptions of the elitist cultural Marxists concerning how people ought to act. It leads to totalitarianism and destruction.

Rep. Foley's Replacement Tim Mahoney (D-FL) Already Caught Up in His Own Sex Scandal

On September 18th, 2008-- The Palm Beach Post reported that disgraced former District 16-FL Congressman Mark Foley would not face charges for his involvement in a Congressional page scandal.

On September 18th, 2008-- the Palm Beach Post also ran a story on Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-FL) (pictured) who ended up replacing Rep. Foley.

The Post reported that the house Mahoney lists as his primary residence and the address he uses on his voter registration card are not the same. The address on his voter I.D. is listed as a barn inside the district, the address he claims as his primary residence is outside the district. This is unusual in that it doesn’t look good to his constituents that he doesn’t live in the district he represents. However, it is apparently legal.
The Palm Beach Post reported:

Mahoney is the second local (democratic) congressman to come under fire over his residency in recent months. In July, Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler was criticized for owning a house in Maryland while declaring Florida residency at his in-laws' house west of Delray Beach. While maintaining he did nothing wrong, Wexler rented an apartment west of Boca Raton to quell the uproar.

Now there's news of a sex scandal...
Apparently, Rep. Mahoney is caught up in his own sex scandal:

The discrepancies in where Mahoney claims his primary residence and the address listed on his voter I.D. card (a barn) are supposedly due to the fact that Mahoney and his wife no longer share the same address.

Apparently, Tim Mahoney, through one of his consultants, has paid a former staffer, Trish Allen, $250,000 in hush money to keep a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by Mrs. Allen against Congressman Mahoney from the public view.

This is the reason for the conflicting addresses.

Mrs. Allen has already sat down with her family and explained to them that there was a good possibility that this may be made public and to be prepared.

Gov. Sarah Palin's Prayer For the Troops Examined (Video)

In this very powerful video Newt Gingrich educates the media elites on Governor Sarah Palin's prayer for the troops and American History:

Despite Week of Race Baiting... Obama Still In Trouble With White Voters

Despite a long, long week of race baiting on the campaign trail and in the media, Barack Obama is still having trouble winning over white voters.
The Political Pulse reported:

Obama faces this: 40 percent of all white Americans hold at least a partly negative view toward blacks, and that includes many Democrats and independents.

More than a third of all white Democrats and independents — voters Obama can't win the White House without — agreed with at least one negative adjective about blacks, according to the survey, and they are significantly less likely to vote for Obama than those who don't have such views.

Dan Riehl also notes that while Democrats vote more on race, Republicans vote more on issues.

Of course... When Obama is caught declaring "white folk's greed runs a world in need" it doesn't help elevate him in the eyes of white voters:

Those racist attacks against whites probably won't help Obama much on the campaign trail.

Here is today's installment of the Hon. James David Manning on obama, (Dr Manning is a Negro) PhD:

A highlight:

Obama's mama is the trashiest thing since the Staten Island landfill!

Dems trash flag -- original photos contradict their new excuses

From: RADARSITE

Don't listen to the latest spin from the Democrats. This photo posted right after the DNC Convention proves that delegates threw their American flags into trash bags after Obama's speech at Invesco Field.

Obama's camp is now accusing the RNC of "stealing" the abandoned flags, but these bags are obviously full of trash. Even if they were meant to be recycled, these flags shouldn't have been, because everyone knows (or so I thought) that US flags must be disposed of in a very particular manner.

Those racist attacks against whites probably won't help Obama much on the campaign trail.
163
Sally-* on September 21, 2008 at 04:05 AM

he has finally been exposed for what he is.

Looks like the no-life trolls are still around. Too bad they have no family, no friends, no yards, no lives ! But they are all so hateful, who wants to be around them?
PamB

PamB, why do you always say that? Looking at the names of people who post on this blog on a regular basis, few as that is, you're name is on here from early morning to late in the evening.

Does you "no life" rule apply to you or are you exempt from you own stupid rules? You might believe so but we others don't.
117
MarkLof on September 20, 2008 at 06:22 PM

Way to go Mark. Pammy lives in her own little world if you haven´t already noticed. She truly believes that she is exempt from any l of lifes rules. Every time she posts, she reminds me of the Rev. Jim Jones.

It’s on: McCain camp hints they’re ready to hit Obama on Wright
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I used to consider Sean Hannity a light weight but he has done more to destroy the candidacy of Hussein Obama then even Rush has done.

Pammy won't bet me anything of value.

That's cool - I don't think she would honor the bet anyway.

McCain/the lovely and talented Sarah 60% - Obama bin Biden 40%.

So shall it be written - so shall it be done.

"I had learned not to care. I blew a few smoke rings, remembering those years. Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though. ..." -- Barack Obama
"...I inhaled frequently. That was the point." -- Barack Obama
#################################################

Is this the kind of person America wants as President? I think not.

"What I value most about Pastor Wright is not his day-to-day political advice. He's much more of a sounding board for me to make sure that I am speaking as truthfully about what I believe as possible and that I'm not losing myself in some of the hype and hoopla and stress that's involved in national politics." -- Barack Obama

"...White folks’ greed runs a world in need..." -- Jeremiah Wright

"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God d*mn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God d*mn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God d*mn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme." -- Jeremiah Wright

sally and neocon are both living in pathetic fanytsy world of hate abama will the be president and macain will go in flame

i dont want a person who help bring down wal street john macain as president either

test

test

testing

Morning Dems......

anybody watch that CNN special last night, "The Next President", where they had 5 former Sec. of States on, and asked them questions about what the next Presient should do???

EVERY SINGLE ANSWER WAS EXACTLY WHAT OBAMA HAS SAID HE IS AND WILL DO!

These guys could not come out and say it, but they all agree with Obama! McCain and his a-hole ideas were wrong in their views!

We MUST talk to other nations, We MUST lead in the Global Warming iniatives, we MUST end this Iraqi occupation, we MUST NOT strut and throw out weight around and threaten other countries!

Gawd, I wish they would have let them all tell who they supported at the end of the show. It would have been Obama without question!

Morning Dems......

anybody watch that CNN special last night, "The Next President", where they had 5 former Sec. of States on, and asked them questions about what the next Presient should do???

EVERY SINGLE ANSWER WAS EXACTLY WHAT OBAMA HAS SAID HE IS AND WILL DO!

These guys could not come out and say it, but they all agree with Obama! McCain and his a-hole ideas were wrong in their views!

We MUST talk to other nations, We MUST lead in the Global Warming iniatives, we MUST end this Iraqi occupation, we MUST NOT strut and throw out weight around and threaten other countries!

Gawd, I wish they would have let them all tell who they supported at the end of the show. It would have been Obama without question!

Morning all good Dems,

President Asshat now considers himself an expert on the economy. He even went to far as to threaten foreign banks and tell them that they had better straighten up their acts.

WRF.

BUSH=MCCAIN=MCSAME=STUPID NEOCON

My heartfelt sorrow for you and your family. May you take comfort knowing that your mother is now safe in the Lord's keeping.

10SandyH on September 20, 2008 at 02:45 PM

Thank you so much. I do find comfort knowing that she is no longer in pain and that someday we will be together again. Right here and now, there is an ache in my heart and memories that have been collected over the years.

My mother was a very beautiful woman; tall, slim, dark haired and dark eyed. She worked hard and was never idle. She taught me many things, but the two that will always stand out are: "work is where it's at." and "a person can be poor, they don't have to be dirty." A very simple life that touched many in our community. My sister got her looks, I got her work ethic.

Her legecy lives on.

Blessings to you and your family.

Morning Esmeralda,

I was really sorry to hear about your mother. May the lord comfort you.

I don't want to hear the trolls extolling how dumb it is to post articles that Truthout draws upon anymore!

Not when their chief Ignoramus consistently sits on his fat can and posts his crapola from Staneski, Am. Thinker, Gingrich, etc !

Like anybody gives any credibility to that stuff?

Oh, and Stevie boy, I have seen Esme's wedding pictures! She is NOT fat. You might be thinking of the fact that she is Buxom, you know, the kind of chest guys like you drool over??? LOL, I get a kick out of you, calling her names, when just a while ago you were sitting there in the night, emailing her, with your fists of fury in full gear! She is a FAR better person than you will ever be, and Remember, God IS paying attention you know, and when you go crawling in and trying to kiss his ass , he will remind you of your actions and your hard, hateful, criminal, despicable, life !

You are too scared to back up your predictions still, I see. that's ok. Just don't post them anymore if all it is is hot air!!! Even the other trolls do not back you up, because they know you are NUTS! It does not take a rocket scientist to see that !

Esme, as always, if you need an ear or shoulder, you know where to find me !

I will be in and out today as usual.

My daughter closed on her new house this week, so today, we will work in the yard, mowing, trimming, and edging sidewalks. The dumpster has been delivered and she is now waiting for the renovations she wants done, before moving in. I shall miss them, but happy to see the animals moved out!

Have a great day, folks.

Looks like the repugs are starting to warm up the race card, it really started with tha "elite" label, the kicker being Lady de Rotschild, her husband the knighted Sir Evelyn de Rothschild.

Who else would name their son, Evelyn, but the English banking family. She's also founder of a private investment firm and a graduate of Columbia Law School, who lives in a calstle and honeymooned in our White House at invitation of the Clintons. SHE IS THE ULTIMATE ELITIST! What does it tell you when a de Rothschild calls Obama an "elitist"? THAT THE REPUGS ARE USING THE RACE CARD!

From Kathy in IN, who is having trouble with loggin in! (so what's new?)

Essie- I lost my father on Friday. We are together in this journey we are taking. My thoughts and prayers for you and your family.

Kathy from Indiana

Good morning, all.

The scam goes on....

Congress asked to act quickly on $700B bailout

WASHINGTON - President Bush says the White House is ready to work with Congress to quickly enact legislation to allow the government to purchase hundreds of billions of dollars worth of bad debt and bail out a troubled financial system that's on the brink of sinking and taking the U.S. economy down with it.

The Bush proposal that would dole out huge sums of money to Wall Street firms and bankers is a mere three pages in length and fails to specify which institutions would qualify or say what — if anything — taxpayers would get in return.

"It's a rather brief bill with a lot of money," said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., the Banking Committee chairman. "We understand the importance of the anticipation in the markets, but we also know that what we're doing is going to have consequences for decades to come. There's not a second act to this — we've got to get this right."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080921/ap_on_bi_ge/financial_meltdown

So Bush is asking us to sign a sub-prime loan contract without knowing the terms and what risk we are taking...I don't think so.

If the Republicans are going to thrust this bailout plan upon us without any explanation of what the consequences would be, there must be an equally swift consequence at the polls in November.

Bloomberg is on TV this morning spinning like a top. He says we need to act now without thinking it through; it's too late to think (he actually said that)....because he's one of the jerks being bailed out?

How much of the bailout is going right into the pockets of rich Republicans like Bloomberg and multinationals corporations that aren't even Americans?

"We don't have time to build in the safeguards...," Bloomberg says. He and the rest of the Republicans don't have the time because they are going to be booted out of office in November.

We are being railroaded by a bunch of crooks and I refuse to accept their haste in doing it. Bull shit.

We the People must DEMAND and deserve a full explanation of the who gets the money, how it will be distributed, and when they will pay us back...or not.

Paulson and Bernake must appear before Congress in a televised hearing and explain...in language that we all can understand...what we are being asked to do. It's the price of this bailout.

If there is an urgency in the markets next week, they better get off their buns and start moving...not on talk shows...but answering questions in the Peoples' House of Representatives.

All I'm hearing from Paulson today is, "Don't let the bill collectors bully us, please, please." Sorry, it doesn't work that way.

While it pretty obvious that the taxpayer will have to shoulder the burden of this financial meltdown, we must not allow anyone off the hook.
The Republicans aren't going to get any check till they deliver some of the goods.

Where is the accountability?

Electing McCain is like electing an aging Andrew Jackson, the western frontiersman, who was all rifle and no bullets. Electing Palin is worse than electing Spiro Agnew, at least he knew something of the western, modern, world.

Really, McCain has had enough "senior moments" to remind us of the last days of the Reagan administration, and that was not long before we learned President Reagan had contracted alzheimers. Why does McCain insist on town hall meetings? So he can get away with short, glib, folksy, uniformed answers that speaks only to his small audiences. At that, he constantly reads and refers to prepared statements which obviously are written for him.

McCain is not the sharp, alert, deep and thoughtful, reliable decision maker we can depend upon at this point of our history. This country has far too many problems to turn it over to an aging right wing conservative, and a VP who brings less than nothing to the ticket, who is the most divisive and out-of-touch VP candidate we've had in a century.

"We can't criminalize this. This wasn't a great conspiracy. This wasn't fraud."

I don't want any of the creeps who were in on the scam involved in the recovery....that includes all the Republicans who have been deregulating our financial system for the past 30 years. They still will not admit their culpability.

They are in denial. We aren't. Apparently, the buck is going to stop in our laps, so we better demand that we get to set the terms of the bailout.

I am so angry at the hypocrisy still being bandied around by the GOP. The bleeding is not going to stop at Wall Street whether this bailout is signed into law next week or next year. It's going to head directly to our hometowns.

We are going to pay for this not only in higher interest rates and taxes, but in our own communities as banks continue to fail and small businesses go under. Scare jobs will just become even more scare.

All the problems that were created by unfair trade deals, outsourcing, and speculation without any federal government oversight are going to plague this country for decades.

There must be some accountability from those asking for redemption. They have to tell us who will get the money and if they are going to be forced to pay any of it back.

Damned them. Damned them to hell.

bbl.

WE'RE IN A PICKLE! LIBERATE US FROM THIS EVIL THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS THRUST UPON US!

Learned yesterday that the retirement program that I rely on, since I'm not quite old enough yet for SS, would have gone belly-up if not for the bail out. The CEO's (overwhelmingly republican) will still get their dough, thanks to their generous salaries and bonuses that garner them 411 times what the average worker earns, and watch out for those generous golden parachutes. When have they cared about the middle class, we're just pieces of property to be traded to the highest bidder, left with no health care and a declining educational system, and discarded at whim as it suits their bottom line?

WHY DON'T WE ACT MORE LIKE PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES AND DEMAND OUR SPLIT OF THE PIE? Its all about profits, and we've learned there is no end to their greed, NO AMOUNT OF PROFIT IS ENOUGH, THEY ALWAYS WANT MORE, AND MORE, AND WE PAY THE PRICE.

This should be the start of the middle class rebellion, who can possibly say that the wealthy corporate heads should get a BIGGER tax break or that the rich should continue to benefit from the Bush tax reductions, much less make them PERMANENT?

THE MIDDLE CLASS HAS CARRIED THIS COUNTRY ON OUR BACKS SINCE THE DAYS OF TRICKLE DOWN, UNION BUSTING, REAGAN, THE "GOD" OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. We in California remember him as an empty, mean sprited hat. He closed mental health hospitals with no community support in its place and the results were sickening. He always told a good story, great personality, but a mean streek a mile long, no sympathy for anyone but his most avid supporters.

WE DESPARATELY NEED OBAMA AND WE SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF OURSELVES AS A COUNTRY IF HE ISN'T ELECTED!

The GOP doorknobs are making it up as the go along...again.

The Republicans want more Executive Branch "flexibility?" And they want American taxpayers to bail out foreigner investors? How stupid and how far is the bailout going to go?

Exclusive: Foreign banks may get help

Mike Allen

In a change from the original proposal sent to Capitol Hill, foreign-based banks with big U.S. operations could qualify for the Treasury Department’s mortgage bailout, according to the fine print of an administration statement Saturday night.

The theory, according to a participant in the negotiations, is that if the goal is to solve a liquidity crisis, it makes no sense to exclude banks that do a lot of lending in the United States.

The legislative outline that went to Capitol Hill at 1:30 a.m. Saturday had said that an eligible financial institution had to have has “its headquarters in the United States.” That would exclude foreign-based institutions with big U.S. operations, such as Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS. The theory, according to a participant in the negotiations, is that if the goal is to solve a liquidity crisis, it makes no sense to exclude banks that do a lot of lending in the United States.

But a Treasury “Fact Sheet” released at 7:15 last night sought to give the administration more flexibility, with an expanded definition that could include all of those banks: “Participating financial institutions must have significant operations in the U.S., unless the Secretary makes a determination, in consultation with the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, that broader eligibility is necessary to effectively stabilize financial markets.”

The major change in the suggested eligibility requirements is the biggest change that Treasury publicly made after a day of briefings and conversations with Capitol Hill, and is likely the first of many...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080921/pl_politico/13690

There they go again. The scam continues to spread. Bush is going to bail out foreigners...multinationals.

Just like he took us into Iraq to protect multinational oil interests, now he wants to protect foreign investors...with higher taxes for Americans?

This globalization crap has to end. How much more are the Republicans going to ask of the American worker?

They already sent our jobs and manufacturing industry overseas, brought in foreign workers with and without visas to take over our jobs and lower our standard of living, compromised our national security to protect foreign-owned oil fields, and crippled our mortgage industry so foreigners can now come in and pick it off for pennies on the dollar our housing assets.

These are the same Republicans who were caught trying to sell off our ports to the UAE.

When the GOP started changing laws and eliminating regulations so that American millionaires could move their assets to foreign banks and American companies to relocate their headquarters overseas....to evade taxes...we should have seen this new bailout outrage coming.

Whose country is this? Do we own it? Or do foreign interests run it? They sure as hell seem to own the Republican Party.

good morning

STOP AND TAKE THE TIME TO THINK.

Stop the rush to bailout...when we don't even know what we are bailing out.

Democrats must take the time to get this right and cut out all the corruption that the Republicans are continuing to support. This bailout is full of it.

We are just beginning to get the details. Paulson is making this up as he goes along as his foreign creditors are calling in their markers.

This plan is crap without the terms being spelled out and fully examined by the American people before Congress signs off on it.

Give us the details...on how this will work and who will oversee it. There must be outside supervision from this administration and clear guidelines. Congress has a responsibility to stop the rush to make more mistakes. Acting without thinking is not responsible.

We've had enough irresponsible governance.

Why did Cheney want Halliburton to move it's headquarters to the UAE? Just think about that for a moment. THINK.

CalDemo on September 21, 2008 at 11:01 AM

CalDem,

Maybe there is no pie left to split? The American capitalists split with the money and sent it overseas. Bush made the pie lower not higher?

The only thing left to be split is how much of the debt will be shouldered by the bottom 98% and how much the top 2% gets off the hook.

We were conned...pure and simple. And McCain (well, at least his rich wife) is going to make out like a bandit. It's the largest shift of wealth in the history of Mankind.

And they are socializing the debt so the rich get the benefits of this bailout for decades. It's Communism were an elite tell everyone else what they have to do...and spies on them to make sure they do what they want.

It's time to bake a new pie and throw the Republicans out of the bakery.

happy to see the animals moved out!
PamB

Does your daughter know how you feel about her?

The ''conservative'' plan

''Free markets''
Private when profitable...Public when failing.

They are all for socialism..who are they kidding? Who gets a handout next? Autos?

Now that the taxpayer is having to foot the bill for corporate greed...who is the market ''free'' for??

The CEOs still walk away with their millions for ineptness! Where's the incentive for them to actually make the company succeed?? They get paid regardless.

The ''conservative'' plan

''Free markets''
Private when profitable...Public when failing.

They are all for socialism..who are they kidding? Who gets a handout next? Autos?

Now that the taxpayer is having to foot the bill for corporate greed...who is the market ''free'' for??

The CEOs still walk away with their millions for ineptness! Where's the incentive for them to actually make the company succeed?? They get paid regardless.

hello

Trickle down misery...

That's what conservative George Wills is saying we are going to experience. The fiscal conservatives are lining up behind Obama... because they don't trust McCain and they'd like to see Obama inherit the mess.

Oh, the hubris.

mammalicious on September 21, 2008 at 11:38 AM

mammalicious,

It's not a plan. It's a cleanup operation for the floor of the NYSE.

It's too late to save anything that has already been gambled away. We the People who live in a reality-based world are going to be hit hard financially. That's a given.

I don't believe for a minute that the mutual funds, student loans, pension funds, and mortgage industry have been saved or even stabilized.

The credit card industry is entering a fire sale mode and it's going to pull us even further into the abyss that the Republicans failed to notice they were driving us into.

Instead of racing to stop the inevitable, let's take stock of the inventory (or lack there of) and face this crisis knowing how far and deep it runs.

I'm sick of being lied to and then having to worry about what they aren't telling us. Giving this Republican administration more "flexible" Executive power is madness.

I'm not going to be panicked into agreeing to something that has not been fully vetted. I'm not going to get angry about it either. I've vented and now I'm moving on.

My parents weathered worse than this...at least their isn't a Hitler threatening us with a massive army. Putin is just sitting on the sidelines watching us implode all on our own.

My parents instilled in me the importance of being smart and strong to deal with whatever comes my way and needs to be done. I'm going to make sure my children have at least half the chance my parents had as they entered the 1930's. That means getting Democrats back in charge of Washington and my State House.

No more Hoovers.

Essie,

Your mother sounds like she was a lot like mine. I know they are both looking down on us and cheering us on to finish what we have set out to accomplish.

I'll be back later, maybe. It's time to get outside to do some yard work. Fall is a comin' in but fast.

All we have to fear is fear itself.

And what we HAD to fear has already been going on for 30 years now. It's coming to its natural end.

mammalicious on September 21, 2008 at 11:38 AM

mammalicious,

It's not a plan. It's a cleanup operation for the floor of the NYSE.

It's too late to save anything that has already been gambled away. We the People who live in a reality-based world are going to be hit hard financially. That's a given.

I don't believe for a minute that the mutual funds, student loans, pension funds, and mortgage industry have been saved or even stabilized.

The credit card industry is entering a fire sale mode and it's going to pull us even further into the abyss that the Republicans failed to notice they were driving us into.

Instead of racing to stop the inevitable, let's take stock of the inventory (or lack there of) and face this crisis knowing how far and deep it runs.

I'm sick of being lied to and then having to worry about what they aren't telling us. Giving this Republican administration more "flexible" Executive power is madness.

I'm not going to be panicked into agreeing to something that has not been fully vetted. I'm not going to get angry about it either. I've vented and now I'm moving on.

My parents weathered worse than this...at least their isn't a Hitler threatening us with a massive army. Putin is just sitting on the sidelines watching us implode all on our own.

My parents instilled in me the importance of being smart and strong to deal with whatever comes my way and needs to be done. I'm going to make sure my children have at least half the chance my parents had as they entered the 1930's. That means getting Democrats back in charge of Washington and my State House.

No more Hoovers.

Essie,

Your mother sounds like she was a lot like mine. I know they are both looking down on us and cheering us on to finish what we have set out to accomplish.

I'll be back later, maybe. It's time to get outside to do some yard work. Fall is a comin' in but fast.

All we have to fear is fear itself.

And what we HAD to fear has already been going on for 30 years now. It's coming to its natural end.

Obama 101

OR

Obama for dummies

McCain Blasts `Lax' Rules, Obama Backs Bush Plans (Update1) By Hans Nichols and Kim Chipman

Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- John McCain condemned ``lax'' regulation and urged the Federal Reserve to ``get out of the business of bailouts,'' as his Democratic presidential rival Barack Obama supported Bush administration plans to resolve the worst U.S. financial crisis since the Great Depression.

While backing efforts by the Fed and the U.S. Treasury to ease turmoil on Wall Street, Obama said he will hold off on crafting his own plan. Obama, who consulted today with top economic advisers, including billionaire investor Warren Buffett, is urging Democrats and Republicans to work out a proposal that protects working Americans

Oh.. new update

Obama was just saying on TV, he is now for President Bush's plan and McCain's plan.

He also restated the lie, he has been fighting for reform in the regulations for years.

When states were starting to experience the forclosure crisis, about two years ago, the govenors and the secretaries of those states went to the sub prime demanding to see their books. What happened next is the sub prime lenders went to bush and paulson for cover and got it. Bush and paulson told the sec. of state that it was a federal issue, not a states issue and protected the crimes they now pretend they knew nothing about. Guess who pays the property tax on homes they own, you betcha, you and me. Have they factored that into the cost? NO

Now paulson and the crooked republicans want the taxpayer to buy millions of defaulting mortgages, bad paper, devalued homes but with no additional rules on the market. The rich will get paid and we will pay for their bad debt. Then as home prices continue to fall, the rich will buy them back at rock bottom prices and start the whole process all over again.

There is no low that a republican won't go. obama said, CatAss, that he hasn't been shown the plan yet, but I'll guarantee you one thing, the dems will take his advice and do what he recommends. He is the leader of our party and your party can't do squat without him. get ready for some RULES to stop republican crooks.

Thank you president Obama!

Never Ending Winter in Some Europe Ski Areas

With skiing and snowboarding continuing at a few European ski areas all year round, it is difficult to know when last winter ends and this winter begins. But some glacier resorts that closed in the Spring or Summer re-open in September and stay open right through to next Spring 2009, so September seems the best candidate for the month of the year in which to declare the new ski season 2008-9 officially underway!

Fortunately, mother nature is playing ball too, with snow in the Alps last weekend. Although it is not yet open, www.Skiinfo.com reported that Val d’Isere received 9cm (just under four inches) of fresh snow at the weekend with more forecast later this week, building up their base ready for the season. It was a similar story across many other ski areas and www.Skiinfo.com works in partnership with the resorts to deliver the latest conditions several times daily.

Elsewhere in the Alps, some ski areas haven’t really closed since last winter, are still open today and will stay open through to next winter. These include the Tux and Kitzsteinhorn glaciers in Austria.

Meanwhile unseasonably cold weather in Poland this week appears to have been curtailing or hampering the Tour of Poland bicycle race.

Uncle Joe's gotta gun.

He's also got a raging case of penis envy. That's the only reason I can think of for some jackass politician announcing to a room full of strangers that he owns a Beretta and no one is going to mess with his gun. Least of all, his running mate, Sen. Obama.

He couldn't get the votes if he wanted to.

Joe Biden = Hedley Lamar

The thought of Uncle Joe owning a gun almost makes you believe in gun control.

Almost.

Hearing Uncle Joe proclaim he owns a Beretta made me have flash backs. John F'n Kerry, orange vest, shot gun. John Kerry catching a football. John Kerry taking a soccer ball to the head. John Kerry wind surfing. John Kerry eating a Philly Cheese Steak. About as natural as tits on a bull.

If Uncle Joe actually owns a Beretta it's probably locked away somewhere collecting dust since Carter was president. Considering how often he shoots his mouth off and misses, you have got to be afraid Ol' Joe might shoot his own toe off or somebody else's head.

Uncle Joe was trying to win his "street creds".

Biden told the crowd that he himself is a gun owner. "I got two," Biden said, "if he tries to fool with my Beretta, he's got a problem. I like that little over and under, you know? I'm not bad with it. So give me a break. Give me a break."

"A little over and under"? Give ME a break. Put your penis back in your pants and stop waving it around, Joe. You're scaring all the little kiddies.

His opponent, Gov. Palin, has nothing to prove. The entire world knows that she owns a gun or two or three and she knows how to use them. She doesn't have to talk about them or prove anything. She walks the walk while Joe talks the talk.

That is the difference between living the life and a wannabe.

Junknews,

Obama Backs Bush Plans

Now paulson and the crooked republicans want the taxpayer to buy millions of defaulting mortgages

.........DUH..

What I'm trying to point out to you, is you are slapping your own man with the same dead fish , dummie.

Obama never leads, he waits to be lead.

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638

Barack Obama (D)

Top Contributors

This table lists the top donors to this candidate in the 2008 election cycle. The organizations themselves did not donate , rather the money came from the organization's PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.

Because of contribution limits, organizations that bundle together many individual contributions are often among the top donors to presidential candidates. These contributions can come from the organization's members or employees (and their families). The organization may support one candidate, or hedge its bets by supporting multiple candidates. Groups with national networks of donors - like EMILY's List and Club for Growth - make for particularly big bundlers.

Goldman Sachs $691,930
University of California $611,207
Citigroup Inc $448,599
JPMorgan Chase & Co $442,919
Harvard University $435,769
Google Inc $420,174
UBS AG $404,750
National Amusements Inc $389,140
Microsoft Corp $377,235
Lehman Brothers $370,524
Sidley Austin LLP $350,302
Moveon.org $347,463
Skadden, Arps et al $340,264
Time Warner $338,527
Wilmerhale Llp $335,398
Morgan Stanley $318,070
Latham & Watkins $297,400
Jones Day $289,476
University of Chicago $278,885
Stanford University $276,038

Hey Stupid, Catass, what is your f-ing point. Companies can't donate directly. So if the ford employees give to the one that will fight for their jobs, obama, $100 bucks person, u add up 20,000 employees and you've got what roughly 2,000,000 you dumb asshats can't multiply or think coherently, your as dumb as Iraq and you are hurting my childrens future. Your little chart is for the uneducated that can't think, you.

Obama will tell paulson, bush and cheney what they can or can not do, the republicans can do nothing without President Obama, GET USED TO IT MORON

O.K. trolls,

What do you think of your leader's new $700,000 plan to bailout the swindlers? So you Republicans are all socialists now?

Here's the House Democrats take on how this is going to go down next week outlined by Barney Frank:

Specifically, to pay for the bailout, which is estimated to cost up to $1 trillion, the government should:

a) Impose a five-year, 10 percent surtax on income over $1 million a year for couples and over $500,000 for single taxpayers. That would raise more than $300 billion in revenue;

b) Ensure that assets purchased from banks are realistically discounted so companies are not rewarded for their risky behavior and taxpayers can recover the amount they paid for them; and

c) Require that taxpayers receive equity stakes in the bailed-out companies so that the assumption of risk is rewarded when companies’ stock goes up.

(2) There must be a major economic recovery package which puts Americans to work at decent wages. Among many other areas, we can create millions of jobs rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and moving our country from fossil fuels to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. Further, we must protect working families from the difficult times they are experiencing. We must ensure that every child has health insurance and that every American has access to quality health and dental care, that families can send their children to college, that seniors are not allowed to go without heat in the winter, and that no American goes to bed hungry.

(3) Legislation must be passed which undoes the damage caused by excessive de-regulation. That means reinstalling the regulatory firewalls that were ripped down in 1999. That means re-regulating the energy markets so that we never again see the rampant speculation in oil that helped drive up prices. That means regulating or abolishing various financial instruments that have created the enormous shadow banking system that is at the heart of the collapse of AIG and the financial services meltdown.

(4) We must end the danger posed by companies that are “too big too fail,” that is, companies whose failure would cause systemic harm to the U.S. economy. If a company is too big to fail, it is too big to exist. We need to determine which companies fall in this category and then break them up. Right now, for example, the Bank of America, the nation’s largest depository institution, has absorbed Countrywide, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, and Merrill Lynch, the nation’s largest brokerage house. We should not be trying to solve the current financial crisis by creating even larger, more powerful institutions. Their failure could cause even more harm to the entire economy.

Do you guys want a little whine to go with the crow you are going to have to eat? It's Hoover all over again and FDR coming to the rescue.

This is why Teddy Roosevelt left the Republican Party. But I still don't see those maverick Republicans Palin and McCain moving off first base of the Bush formula that got us into this economic miracle.

Companies can't donate directly
Your little chart is for the uneducated

211
newsjunkie on September 21, 2008 at 02:56 PM

Junknews,

READ MY POST, STUPID!

It might be above your pay grade, but try.

These contributions can come from the organization's members or employees (and their families).
210
Dan_A_Cactus** on September 21, 2008 at 02:26 PM

I guess all of life is an airplane joke to you, junknews, grow up.

From: Politico.com

FANNIE MAE VET PROTESTS McCAIN AD
By: Politico Staff
September 19, 2008 06:28 PM EST

A former Fannie Mae executive has written to The New York Times in an effort to escalate Democrats' pushback to a McCain campaign ad accusing Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) of guilt by association with former officials of the mortgage giant.

The McCain ad, called "Advice," says: "Fannie Mae collapsed. Taxpayers? Stuck with the bill. Barack Obama. Bad advice. Bad instincts. Not ready to lead."

The former executive's letter, not yet published, was provided to Politico:

To The Editor:

Yesterday, Senator John McCain released a television commercial attacking Barack Obama for allegedly receiving advice on the economy from former Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines. From the stump, he has recently tried tying Senator Obama to Fannie Mae, as if there is some guilt in the association with Fannie Mae's former executives.

It is an interesting card for Senator McCain to play, given that his campaign manager, Rick Davis, was paid by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac several hundred thousand dollars early in this decade to head up an organization to lobby in their behalf called The Homeownership Alliance. ...

I worked in government relations for Fannie Mae for more than 20 years, leading the group for most of those years. When I see photographs of Sen. McCain's staff, it looks to me like the team of lobbyists who used to report to me. Senator McCain's attack on Senator Obama is a cheap shot, and hypocritical.

Sincerely,

William Maloni
Fannie Mae Senior Vice President for Government and Industry Relations (1983-2004)

From: Time.com

September 20, 2008 10:50
THE TRUTH WILL OUT

Posted by Joe Klein

Let it be recorded, as Paul Krugman and Josh Marshall have noted, that John McCain's various camouflages, smokescreens and flummeries regarding the subject of government regulation have been exposed in Contingencies, the magazine of the American Academy of Actuaries. Following the lead of his buddy, and probable Secretary of the Treasury, Phil Gramm, McCain has been a vehement deregulator. Here is the deathless quote:

"Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."

Now, I believe politicians--and journalists, for that matter--should be allowed to change their positions, given new circumstances. Everyone gets it wrong sometimes. But when a politician does change his or her position, the statement should be accompanied by an acknowledgment of a previous mistake: "I used to believe in the deregulation of banking and health care, but I was wrong about that." (This applies to Barack Obama on Iraq: "I was right to oppose the war and to favor a timetable for withdrawal of our troops, but I was wrong about the effect that counterinsurgency tactics would have on violence in Baghdad.")

One of the big differences between the old John McCain and the current edition is that the old one (1) would admit error and (2) would admit there were things he didn't know. That was a good part of his charm. The current edition--a parody of the worst sort of political flim-flam artist--not only lies about his own positions, but attempts to camouflage those lies by mischaracterizing his opponent's positions. It is appropriate, then, that the American Academy of Actuaries--a group devoted to the precise calculation of death rates--has exposed McCain's extravagant fraudulence of the past week for what it was.

ABC News

EXCLUSIVE: NEW DOUBTS OVER PALIN'S TROOPERGATE CLAIMS

Internal Government Document Contradicts Sarah Palin, Campaign
By JUSTIN ROOD

Sept. 19, 2008—

An internal government document obtained by ABC News appears to contradict Sarah Palin's most recent explanation for why she fired her public safety chief, the move which prompted the now-contested state probe into "Troopergate."

Fighting back against allegations she may have fired her then-Public Safety Commissioner, Walt Monegan, for refusing to go along with a personal vendetta, Palin on Monday argued in a legal filing that she fired Monegan because he had a "rogue mentality" and was bucking her administration's directives.

"The last straw," her lawyer argued, came when he planned a trip to Washington, D.C., to seek federal funds for an aggressive anti-sexual-violence program. The project, expected to cost from $10 million to $20 million a year for five years, would have been the first of its kind in Alaska, which leads the nation in reported forcible rape.

The McCain-Palin campaign echoed the charge in a press release it distributed Monday, concurrent with Palin's legal filing. "Mr. Monegan persisted in planning to make the unauthorized lobbying trip to D.C.," the release stated.

But the governor's staff authorized the trip, according to an internal travel document from the Department of Public Safety, released Friday in response to an open records request.

The document, a state travel authorization form, shows that Palin's chief of staff, Mike Nizich, approved Monegan's trip to Washington, D.C., "to attend meeting with Senator Murkowski." The date next to Nizich's signature reads June 18.

In response to inquiries about the document Friday, the McCain-Palin campaign provided a statement from Randy Ruaro, another aide to Palin.

According to Ruaro, Monegan asked for -- and received -- approval for the travel without telling Palin's staff his reason for going. "As a matter of routine, the travel was approved by Mike Nizich ... weeks before the actual purpose was made clear by former Commissioner Monegan," Ruaro wrote.

"When you receive permission to travel, it does not mean that you receive blanket authorization to discuss or do whatever you would like on that trip," he added.

Last week a legislative panel approved a subpoena for Nizich to be interviewed by Stephen Branchflower, the prosecutor hired to conduct the Alaska Legislature's inquiry into Troopergate. The Attorney General informed the Legislature earlier this week that Nizich and other state employees subpoenaed in the matter would not submit to interviews.

Nizich did not respond to a message left Friday afternoon.

In Palin's court filing Monday  to stop an investigation by her state Personnel Board she earlier had requested  her lawyer, Thomas V. Van Flein, included numerous emails from her staff expressing confusion and incredulity over Monegan's planned D.C. trip. None of those emails were sent by or to Nizich, although he was cc'd on several.

Contacted Friday, Monegan confirmed the travel authorization was to pursue funding for the anti-sexual-violence program. He said the travel authorization form was completed in a fashion consistent with practice, even though it showed no expenditures. The signed form approved the travel, he said, and authorized him to use a government credit card or seek reimbursement for expenses he incurred during the trip.

Monegan said he didn't know why Palin's chief of staff approved a trip that confounded her other aides. "It sounds like it's a breakdown of communication internal to the governor's staff," he said.

Posted by SandyH on September 21, 2008 at 03:07 PM

Yes Sandy,

Some Democrats want to load a bill up with pork too, with them it is politics first, country second.

Pundits from both the left and right hate this bailout. Nobody trusts Bush or McCain to get it right.

Many economists skeptical of bailout

Avi Zenilman
Sun Sep 21,
Politico.com

Many of the same economists and opinion-makers who'd provided a bipartisan sheen of consensus to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's previous moves have quickly begun casting doubts on the wisdom of a policy that would allow Treasury to purchase without oversight hundreds of billions of dollars of difficult-to-price assets from financial institutions.

Under the proposal, Paulson would not have to report to Congress until December, and the only safeguard for taxpayers was a provision that the “Secretary shall take into consideration means for — (1) providing stability or preventing disruption to the financial markets or banking system; and (2) protecting the taxpayer.”

Skepticism toward the plan reflected more than the predictable desires of the left to spread the wealth to Main Street or of the right to reject government bailouts, although those sentiments were also expressed...

Zingales fears that the Treasury bailout would effectively turn the entire financial sector into a Government Sponsored Enterprise, complete with the same murkiness and moral hazard that sunk Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...

President Bush is “asking for a huge amount of power,” said Nouriel Roubini, an economist at New York University who was among the first to predict the crisis. “He's saying, ‘Trust me, I'm going to do it right if you give me absolute control.' This is not a monarchy.”...

Paul Krugman... “I hate to say this, but looking at the plan as leaked, I have to say no deal,” he wrote on his blog at 4:46 p.m. Saturday. “Not unless Treasury explains, very clearly, why this is supposed to work, other than through having taxpayers pay premium prices for lousy assets.”...

Yves Smith, a longtime banker and contributor to the influential finance blog Naked Capitalism,... wrote "The administration's demand for a free pass, even if Congress unwisely goes along, is likely to backfire with our foreign creditors."

Gregory Mankiw, a professor at Harvard University and a former chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisers who was the economic guru for Mitt Romney's campaign, favorably linked to Smith's post under the headline "A Blank Check" and approvingly quoted a correspondent who wrote, "Has more money ever been given with fewer restrictions on how it is used? Ever?"

Sebastian Mallaby, the center-right economic columnist for The Washington Post and scholar of the modern financial system, was equally dubious. “The plan is being marketed under false pretenses," he wrote in his Sunday column, rejecting comparisons of the plan to the Resolution Trust Corporation, which the government formed in response to the savings and loan crisis to purchase and sell off the bad loans made by bankrupted thrifts.

“The administration proposes to buy up bad loans before the lenders go bust,” Mallaby noted, keeping the banks alive but doing little to solve the problem infecting the markets. “Bad loans are weighing down the financial system precisely because private-sector experts can't determine their worth. The government would have no better handle on the problem.”

Justin Fox, Time magazine's top financial writer and columnist, also worried about the lack of an upside for the taxpayer. "What I still can't figure out is how Treasury hopes to structure the bailout so there's at least a chance of getting a fair return on that risk-taking," he wrote on his blog.

"How on earth will these things be priced?" Portfolio's Felix Salmon asked about the bad debt Paulson plans to purchase. He also pointed out that Treasury would need to stock its office with bond-trading professionals. "All we know so far is that it's going to be set up as a reverse auction, but that raises more questions than it answers."...

Zingales, though, writes in "Why Paulson Is Wrong" that "For somebody like me who believes strongly in the free market system, the most serious risk of the current situation is that the interest of a few financiers will undermine the fundamental workings of the capitalist system. The time has come to save capitalism from the capitalists."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13689.html

JOHN McCAIN: HIS BIG OIL LOBBYISTS AND HIS BIG OIL POLICIES

Progressive Media USA Research
PUBLISHED: June 16, 2008

"I will oppose any tax breaks or good deals for the gas and oil industry also."

--John McCain at a town hall meeting in Rindge, NH, 11/18/07
McCain Donations from Big Oil

Oil and Gas Campaign Contributions: McCain has Taken At Least $1,069,854 from the Oil & Gas Industry. According to a Campaign Money Watch analysis of campaign finance data provided by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics Center, John McCain has accepted at least $1,069,854 from the oil and gas industry since 1989. [Center for Responsive Politics via Campaign Money Watch]
At Least 22 Top McCain Advisers & Fundraisers Have Lobbied For Big Oil

John McCain has at least 22 people working for his campaign, either as top fundraisers or as senior campaign staff, that have lobbied for Big Oil.

McCain's Big Oil Lobbyists

Number

Name of Lobbyist

Campaign Role

Firm or Company

Oil Clients

1
Rebecca Anderson Women for McCain Steering Committee Williams & Jensen Sunoco

2
Wayne Berman National Finance Co-Chairman Ogilvy Government Relations Amerada Hess Chevron Texaco American Petroleum Institute

3
Charlie Black Senior Political Adviser BKSH Occidental Petroleum Corp. Yukos Oil Chinese National Off-Shore Oil Corp.

4
Carlos Bonilla* Economic Adviser Washington Group Chesapeake Energy

5
Eric Burgeson** Fundraiser Barbour Griffith & Rogers BP

6
Kerry Cammack Fundraiser Cammack and Strong Exxon Mobil

7
Frank Donatelli McCain Pick as Deputy RNC Chair McGuire Woods Exxon Mobil Dominion Resources

8
Melissa Edwards Fundraiser Washington Group Chesapeake Energy

9
John Green Congressional Liaison Ogilvy Government Relations Amerada-Hess Chevon Texaco El Paso Energy American Petroleum Institute

10
Robert Harding Fundraiser Greenberg Traurig Chevron Murphy Oil Phillips Petroleum Company***

11
Richard Hohlt Fundraiser Hohlt and Associates Chevron

12
James "Jim" Hyland Fundraiser Pennsylvania Avenue Group BP America Independent Fuel Terminal Operators Assoc. Occidental Petroleum Corp. Independent Fuel Terminal Operators Assoc.

13
Peter Madigan Fundraiser Johnson, Madigan, Peck, Boland & Stewart Shell Oil

14
Susan Molinari Women for McCain Steering Committee Washington Group Chesapeake Energy

15
Jack Oliver Fundraiser Bryan Cave Strategies Shell Oil

16
Nancy Pfotenhauer Adviser Koch Industries Koch Industries

17
Steve Phillips Fundraiser DLA Piper BP America Occidental Petroleum

18
Elise Pickering Women for McCain Steering Committee Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti Koch Industries

19
Sloan Rappoport Fundraiser Downey McGrath Group Koch Industries

20
Matt Salmon Fundraiser Greenberg Traurig El Paso Energy

21
Randy Scheunemann Defense and Foreign Policy Coordinator Scheunemann and Associates BP Amoco

22
Jeffrey Weiss Fundraiser BKSH Yukos Oil Company

[Senate Lobbying Disclosure Database]

The Wall Street Journal
Sept. 15, 2008

PALIN'S PROJECT LIST TOTALS $453 MILLION
McCain Campaign Says Record Shows Drop in Requests

By LAURA MECKLER and JOHN R. WILKE

Last week, Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain said his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, hadn't sought earmarks or special-interest spending from Congress, presenting her as a fiscal conservative. But state records show Gov. Palin has asked U.S. taxpayers to fund $453 million in specific Alaska projects over the past two years.

These projects include more than $130 million in federal funds that would benefit Alaska's fishing industry and an additional $9 million to help Alaska oil companies. She also has sought $4.5 million to upgrade an airport on a Bering Sea island that has a year-round population of less than 100.
[Gov. Sarah Palin sought more than $130 million in federal funds for the Alaskan fishing industry.] Getty Images

Gov. Sarah Palin sought more than $130 million in federal funds for the Alaskan fishing industry.

Sen. McCain has made the battle against earmarks and wasteful spending a centerpiece of his campaign. He has never sought earmarks for his state of Arizona and vows to veto pork-barrel spending bills that come to his desk as president, saying these projects should go through normal budget review. And he derides the argument that states often make: that they're funding important projects.

"If they're worthy projects they can be authorized and appropriated in a New York minute," he explained on his campaign bus earlier this year, before Gov. Palin joined the ticket. "If they're worthy projects I know they'd be funded."

During an appearance Friday on ABC's "The View," Sen. McCain said Gov. Palin shared his views, and hasn't sought congressional earmarks. "Not as governor she hasn't," he said.

In fact, in the current fiscal year, she is seeking $197 million for 31 projects, the records show. In the prior year, her first year in office, she sought $256 million for dozens more projects ranging from research on rockfish and harbor-seal genetics to rural sanitation and obesity prevention. By comparison, her predecessor, Gov. Frank Murkowski, sought more than $350 million in his last year in office.

The McCain campaign said Sunday that Gov. Palin's overall record is one of fiscal discipline. "Her record is cutting the number of earmark requests from the previous administration sizably," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds, and she has vetoed wasteful state spending.

As for Sen. McCain's televised comments on Friday, Mr. Bounds added, "If he gave viewers a mistaken impression, it certainly wasn't intentional."

In an interview with ABC News on Friday, Gov. Palin herself suggested she no longer seeks earmarks for her state. "The abuse of earmarks, it's un-American, it's undemocratic, and it's not going to be accepted in a McCain-Palin administration. Earmark abuse will stop."

When pressed about her record as governor, she said: "We have drastically, drastically reduced our earmark request since I came into office. This is what I've been telling Alaskans for these years that I've been in office, is no more."

Alaska's success with earmarks is due in part to the power of Sen. Ted Stevens, the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee. The state's earmark requests stand out in part because its state government is among the wealthiest in the U.S. Flush with oil and gas royalties, it doesn't impose income or sales taxes. In fact, money flows the other way: Every man, woman and child this year got a check for $3,200.

The McCain campaign has also come under fire for saying on the stump and in TV ads that Gov. Palin killed the controversial "Bridge to Nowhere," a $223 million earmark linking the mainland to a sparsely populated island. In fact, she supported the project initially and killed it after it was widely criticized and Congress allowed the state to use the funds for other projects.

On the campaign trail, Gov. Palin has repeatedly attacked Sen. Obama on earmarks. "Our opponent has requested nearly one billion dollars in earmarks in three years. That's about a million for every working day," she said at a rally in Albuquerque, N.M.

Sen. Barack Obama requested a total of $860 million in earmarks in his Senate years, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense. That doesn't include $78 million for projects that were national in scope and had been requested by many lawmakers. Sen. Obama halted all earmark requests in fiscal 2009.

It is difficult to compare Sen. Obama's earmark record with Gov. Palin's -- their states differ in size, for instance, and the two candidates play different roles in the process. But using the same calculation that the McCain campaign uses, the total amount of earmarked dollars divided by the number of working days while each held office (assuming a five-day workweek, every week, for both), Gov. Palin sought $980,000 per workday, compared with roughly $893,000 for Sen. Obama.

Mr. Bounds, the McCain campaign spokesman, called this an "apples and oranges comparison" because Sen. Obama sought more than Gov. Palin and because she cut earmark requests.

Copyright 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 21, 2008 at 03:30 PM

I didn't ask you for a critique of Frank's assessment. I asked you for your opinion of the Bush proposal.

What do you think of it?

Note the alarm bells being set up by economic experts on both sides of the aisle. You still trust Bush or McCain to get us out of this mess?

From the New York Daily News
Sept. 16, 2008

PERSONAL TREASON SOILS ALL JOHN McCAIN ONCE STOOD FOR

by Richard Cohen

Following his loss to George W. Bush in the 2000 South Carolina primary, John McCain did something extraordinary: He confessed to lying about how he felt about the Confederate battle flag, which he actually abhorred. "I broke my promise to always tell the truth," McCain said. Now he has broken that promise so completely that the John McCain of old is unrecognizable. He has become the sort of politician he once despised.

The precise moment of McCain's abasement came, would you believe, not at some news conference or on one of the Sunday shows but on "The View," the daytime TV show created by Barbara Walters. Last week, one of the co-hosts, Joy Behar, took McCain to task for some of the ads his campaign has been running. One deliberately mischaracterized what Barack Obama had said about putting lipstick on a pig - an Americanism that McCain himself has used in the past. The other asserted that Obama supported teaching sex education to kindergartners.

"We know that those two ads are untrue," Behar said. "They are lies."

Freeze. Close in on McCain. This was the moment. He has largely been avoiding the press. The Straight Talk Express is now just a brand, an ad slogan like "Home Cooking" or "We Will Not Be Undersold." Until then, it was possible for McCain to say that he had not really known about the ads, that the formulation "I approve this message" was just boilerplate. But he didn't.

"Actually, they are not lies," he said.

Actually, they are.

McCain has turned ugly. His dishonesty would be unacceptable in any politician, but McCain has always set his own bar higher than most. He has contempt for most of his colleagues for that very reason: They lie. He tells the truth. He internalizes the code of the McCains - his grandfather, his father: both admirals of the shining sea. He serves his country differently, that's all - but just as honorably. No more, though.

I am one of the journalists accused over the years of being in the tank for McCain. Guilty. Those doing the accusing usually attributed my feelings to McCain being accessible. This is the journalist-as-puppy school of thought: Give us a treat and we will leap into a politician's lap.

Not so. What impressed me most about McCain was the effect he had on his audiences, particularly young people. When he talked about service to a cause greater than oneself, he struck a chord. He expressed his message in words, but he packaged it in the McCain story - that man, beaten to a pulp, who chose honor over freedom. This had nothing to do with access. It had to do with integrity.

McCain has soiled all that. His opportunistic and irresponsible choice of Sarah Palin as his political heir - the person towhom he would leave the country - is a form of personal treason, a betrayal of all he once stood for. Palin, no matter what her other attributes, is shockingly unprepared to become President. McCain knows that. He means to win, which is all right; he means to win at all costs, which is not.

America has been cheated on too many times - the lies of Vietnam and Watergate and Iraq. So many lies.

McCain was going to fix all that. He was going to look the American people in the eyes and say, not me. I will not lie to you. I am John McCain, son and grandson of admirals. I tell the truth.

But Joy Behar knew better. And so McCain lied about his lying and maybe thinks that if he wins the election, he can - as he did in South Carolina - renounce who he was and what he did and resume his old persona. It won't work. Karl Marx got one thing right - what he said about history repeating itself. Once is tragedy, a second time is farce. John McCain is both.

cohenr@washpost.com

For those of you who voted for George Bush and the Reagan years and if your Union men, and women, there is a way for you to redeem yourselves.

Not that I fault you so much for being lured in by the jingoistic nationalism that the Republican Party propaganda machine produces, in direct conflict with your economic interests; while corrupting your religion at the same time.

In no way can you associate Jesus Christ -- the man and the message -- with the fascist message of the Protestant evangelical. Or the capitalist Wall Street laissez-faire philosophy.

So the working class people duped by the flimflam message of the Republican Party, for five presidential terms have a chance to deliver a correction to the Republican Party.

Quite simply a vote for Ron Paul is a vote for the real message of the American patriot. It's not that I believe that small percentage of misguided union labor who votes for Reagan and Bush`s can reform the Republican Party with a vote for Ron Paul but you could indeed send a message that is so needed at this time.

And that messages that you will not be pandered to any longer by the Republican Party and they're pandering to the religiously devout.

Your trusting faith I'm afraid makes you vulnerable to the Bible salesman.

Of course any vote for Ron Paul will take a vote away from John McCain and of course I'm all right with that -- John McCain is going to lose anyway.

If it's truly your hearts desire that you make the Republican Party look more like you, then the right thing to do would be to be true to yourself.

Vote for Ron Paul!

From: The Anchorage (AK) Daily News
(9/20/08)

EDITORIAL: ABDICATION BY PALIN

When did the McCain campaign take over the governor's office?

Gov. Sarah Palin has surrendered important gubernatorial duties to the Republican presidential campaign. McCain staff are handling public and press questions about actions she has taken as governor. The governor who said, "Hold me accountable," is hiding behind the hired guns of the McCain campaign to avoid accountability.

Is it too much to ask that Alaska's governor speak for herself, directly to Alaskans, about her actions as Alaska's governor?

A press conference Thursday showed how skewed Alaska's relationship with its own governor has become.

McCain-Palin campaign spokesman Ed O'Callaghan announced that Todd Palin will not comply with a subpoena to testify about his role in Troopergate, the Legislature's investigation into whether Palin abused her power in forcing out former public safety commissioner Walt Monegan.

O'Callaghan also announced that Alaska's governor is "unlikely" to cooperate with the investigation by the Alaska Legislature about questionable conduct by Alaska's chief executive.

Monday, he and campaign sidekick Meg Stapleton stood before Alaskans and defended the official personnel decision by Alaska's governor to fire Alaska's public safety commissioner. ABC News reported that Gov. Palin's official press secretary, Bill McAllister, paid by the state of Alaska, didn't even know the McCain staffers were meeting the press to defend his boss.

Is the McCain campaign telling Alaskans that Alaska's governor can't handle her own defense in front of her own Alaska constituents?

Way back when, before John McCain chose Palin as his vice presidential running mate, Palin promised to cooperate with the investigation.

Now she won't utter a peep about it to Alaskans. Nor will her husband, Todd, who definitely needs to explain his role in Troopergate.

Instead, Alaskans have to sit back and listen to John McCain's campaign operatives handling inquiries about what Alaska's governor did while governing Alaska. Residents of any state would be offended to see their governor cede such a fundamental, day-to-day governmental responsibility to a partisan politician from another state. It's especially offensive to Alaskans.

O'Callaghan said Todd Palin objects to the subpoena because the Legislature's investigation "has been subjected to complete partisanship." That's the kind of dizzying spin that Washington has perfected. It is the McCain-Palin campaign that has worked overtime to politicize the entire matter in a transparent attempt to justify the stonewalling.

Futile as the request may be, we encourage Gov. Palin to stand up to McCain's handlers and be personally accountable for her administration's response to Troopergate. She is the governor of Alaska, not John McCain or Ed O'Callaghan.

BOTTOM LINE: Official state business -- like Troopergate -- should be handled by the governor of the state, not by McCain presidential campaign operatives.

chicagotribune.com

Campaign 2008

BEHIND REBEL IS STORIED INSIDER

Lobbyist Charles Black's profile has been raised with his connection to the McCain campaign

By Andrew Zajac

Washington Bureau

12:12 AM CDT, September 21, 2008

WASHINGTON

In selecting little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, John McCain has underscored his determination to run as a reformer intent on ending the cozy deal-making of big-money special interests in Washington.

But an architect of that very strategy is Charles Black Jr., a legendary lobbyist and consultant who has deftly used his connections with business leaders and politicians to influence policy and, in the process, make a good deal of money.

Black, a senior adviser to the McCain campaign, has represented at least 120 clients from more than two dozen countries within the past decade. He has used his clout to help kill tax reforms that could have hurt foreign clients, and he once even pressed a judge to go easy an associate convicted of fraud.

Earlier this year, amid criticism that McCain's reformist message was being undercut by a campaign top-heavy with lobbyists, Black, 60, retired from his lobbying company.

But that hardly marked Black's departure from the Washington influence business, nor from private business dealings directly dependent on the decisions of the federal government.

Black remains a director of Civitas Group LLC, a low-profile consulting firm he set up months after the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security to invest in security companies and give them advice. National security is both the firm's business and the signature issue of the McCain campaign. Neither Black nor the McCain campaign would discuss Black's role with Civitas.

Federal law requires lobbyists to disclose who their clients while consulting firms, like Civitas, are not. But to some, that is a distinction without a difference; a consultant who devises the strategy lobbyists use, for example, is not considered a lobbyist.

Some ethics experts say senior campaign advisers like Black should disclose their consulting clients, so voters can decide whether those clients constitute a conflict of interest.

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers sidestepped questions about whether Black should reveal Civitas' customers. "Mr. Black is fully in compliance with our policy," Rogers said recently. "Charlie is not a registered lobbyist. He's an adviser to the campaign talking about political issues."

Civitas managing director Mark Shaheen declined to discuss the firm's clients. "We are not a lobbying shop," Shaheen said.

Black's position is delicate in part because his post with the McCain campaign could help raise his business profile.

In late June, for example, Black said McCain would benefit politically if there were another terrorist attack in the U.S. "Certainly it would be a big advantage to him," Black told Fortune magazine.

To some observers, he merely was stating the obvious--McCain consistently polls better on national security questions than Democrat Barack Obama--though Black later expressed regret for the remarks.

But by speaking out about terrorism, Black "he "becomes even more visible to clients. They see him as a player," said James Thurber, director of American University's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies.

Both candidates should require their top advisers to disclose all their clients if they are serious about transforming the opaque, money-driven culture of Washington dealmaking, said Bob Edgar, the president of the non-partisan reform group Common Cause and a former Pennsylvania Democratic congressman.

"If you're a senior staff member of a campaign, it's incumbent on you to disclose," Edgar said. "I would think both Obama and McCain would want full disclosure, given the experience of the past six months."

Edgar was referring in part to the resignation of at least five McCain campaign aides following the revelation of lobbying involvements at odds with McCain's campaign policy.

As for the Obama campaign, in June, former Fannie Mae CEO James Johnson, a top Obama adviser charged with vetting vice presidential prospects, stepped aside after reports that he had received a mortgage loan on favorable terms from Countrywide Financial Corp., a bank enmeshed in the subprime mortgage meltdown.

Thurber said lobbying and consulting have the same root reliance on insider influence. Regardless of which term is used, he said, "people are cashing in on political and social networks."

He noted that former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle is a senior adviser to Obama. "I think everyone, including Daschle on the other side, if they're operating on a high level in a campaign, should disclose who their current clients are and who their recent clients have been," Thurber said.

Daschle works as a consultant to business clients at a Washington law firm. He is not a lawyer, is not registered to lobby and does not publicly disclose his clients, according to a spokesman for his firm, Alston & Bird.

When Black set up Civitas in 2003, it was the latest in a series of moves that have kept the North Carolina native on the cutting edge of the influence business in the capital and beyond.

In the early 1980s, Black and two Republican colleagues combined the typically separate vocations of campaign consulting and lobbying. This was an innovative business move; they could help a congressman get elected, then use their relationship with that congressman to attract clients.

The firm they founded, now known as BKSH & Associates, has offices in three European cities and is owned by a $12 billion London-based communications conglomerate--part of a little-noticed aspect of globalization in which top U.S. lobbying shops have been snapped up by multinationals.

In 2003 and 2004, Black was paid $200,000 by his foreign owners, WPP Group PLC, to urge Congress to retain favorable tax treatment of overseas corporations with U.S. subsidiaries.

The Bush administration had proposed narrowing a provision in tax law that allowed foreign corporations to load debt onto their American subsidiaries in order to lessen their U.S. tax obligations. But in mid-2004, after lobbying by Black and others, Congress declined to make those changes.

Black's establishment of Civitas came months after Congress, reacting to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, undertook the largest expansion of the federal government in more than 50 years by authorizing the Department of Homeland Security.

The firm was founded as a joint venture between BKSH and Stonebridge International, a consultancy co-founded by Samuel "Sandy" Berger, national security adviser in the Clinton administration.

Business partnerships between pillars of the Democratic and Republican establishments are common in Washington; they allow firms to offer clients access to powerful members of both parties.

Berger was briefly was in the news in 2005 when he was fined $50,000 for trying to smuggle papers out of the National Archives. Lawyers for Berger said he wanted to study the papers privately in connection with his upcoming testimony before the Sept. 11 Commission.

It's difficult to gauge the scale of Civitas's operations, but Black has made it plain that the flow of government funds for security projects has not met his expectations. "Homeland Security created a lot of new opportunities, but there's still a lot of money stuck in the pipeline," Black told Politico last October.

Civitas, in a 2007 press release, described Microsoft Corp. as a client and partner on a computer security study. A Microsoft spokeswoman declined to comment, citing confidentiality rules governing client relationships.

Civitas is also an investor in Verified Identity Pass Inc., a registered traveler program created by media mogul Steve Brill. The company operates a program that allows subscribers to pay a fee and submit biometric data and other personal information in exchange for expedited screening at selected airports.

Civitas also has had a consulting relationship with e-Smart Technologies Inc. -- a struggling maker of smart cards, or computerized personal information cards --, according to an e-Smart press release. Black has also served on the e-Smart board since 2006, and as a director, he was awarded options on 2.5 million shares of the stock at 18 cents per share. Over the past year, the stock has traded as high as 14 cents and as low as a fraction of a cent.

In 2001, e-Smart was blocked by the Commerce Department from selling its smart cards to the Chinese government under sanctions restricting the sale of U.S. security technology to China. The sanctions were imposed after the 1989 killings of demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Four years later, e-Smart fended off de-listing of its shares by the Securities and Exchange Commission for repeated failure to file the reports that investors use to evaluate company finances. The firm is traded on the Pink Sheets, a quotation service for companies that either do not meet financial requirements or choose not to be listed on stock exchanges.

The SEC recently has begun began another investigation, this one connected to loans made between corporate entities related to e-Smart, according to e-Smart documents.

Black has been involved with e-Smart since May 2003 and, according to court records, has been an energetic advocate for the firm. In June 2005, he accused a federal prosecutor and two postal inspectors of misconduct for what he said was an overzealous investigation that cost e-Smart a government contract.

Black wrote to Glenn Fine--the Justice Department inspector general, or internal watchdog--complaining that "various officials of the U.S. government interfered with e-Smart's contract negotiations and prevented the U.S. government from getting" e-Smart technology, which "could protect the U.S. against terrorists and criminals entering the U.S...."

Black's complaint was dismissed in April 2007, according to someone familiar with the case.

Black also wrote to federal Judge Stephen McNamee seeking lenient probationary terms for Wayne Drizin, a co-founder of e-Smart, who had been convicted in 2003 of two felony counts of wire fraud in an Arizona stock scam unrelated to e-Smart.

E-Smart's CEO subsequently feuded with Drizin and in July 2006, Black signed a letter to McNamee retracting his support for Drizin.

According to e-Smart's 2003 SEC filings, Drizin is a former business partner of Ahmad Chalabi, the controversial Iraqi exile leader, and for several years before the Iraq War, was a client of Black's BKSH firm.

A 2006 Senate Intelligence Committee report concluded that Chalabi provided faulty intelligence to the U.S. about Iraq's weapons programs and links to terrorism. Black has said he did not know Drizin had a business tie to Chalabi.

.

Sandy,

its hard to find your post through RJs nonsence,

John McCain says We should not bail out private company's that fail, Obama and President Bush are all for bailing them out.

Chassie, by the time she is done, hopefully they will not re-elect her and she will be a laughing stock here and we will never have to see her lieing face again.

It appears that the good people of alaska are getting a glimpse of what we have been putting up with for nearly 8 years.

Wouldn't it be something if they voted Obama and Alaska went Blue.

The Huffington Post
September 18, 2008

A NATION OF VILLAGE IDIOTS
by James Moore

Don't let them tell you this economic meltdown is a complicated mess. It's not. Our national financial crisis is readily understood by anyone who has seen greed and hypocrisy. But we are now witnessing them on a profound, monumental scale.

Conservative Republicans always want the government to stay out of business and avoid regulation as long as they are making lots of money. When their greed, however, gets them into a fix, they are the first to cry out for rules and laws and taxpayer money to bail out their businesses. Obviously, Republicans are socialists. The Bush administration has decided to socialize the debt of the big Wall Street Firms. Taxpayers didn't get to enjoy any of the big money profits on the phony financial instruments like derivatives or bundled sub-prime paper, but we get the privilege of paying for their debt and failures.

Let's just consider the money. The public bailout of insurance giant (becoming a dwarf) AIG is estimated at $85 billion. According to one report, that's more than the Bush administration spent on Aid to Families with Dependent Children during his entire time in office. That amount of money would also pay for health care for every man, woman, and child in America for at least six months.

How did we get here?

That's pretty easy to answer, too. His name is Phil Gramm. A few days after the Supreme Court made George W. Bush president in 2000, Gramm stuck something called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act into the budget bill. Nobody knew that the Texas senator was slipping America a 262 page poison pill. The Gramm Guts America Act was designed to keep regulators from controlling new financial tools described as credit "swaps." These are instruments like sub-prime mortgages bundled up and sold as securities. Under the Gramm law, neither the SEC nor the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) were able to examine financial institutions like hedge funds or investment banks to guarantee they had the assets necessary to cover losses they were guaranteeing.

This isn't small beer we are talking about here. The market for these fancy financial instruments they don't expect us little people to understand is estimated at $60 trillion annually, which amounts to almost four times the entire US stock market.

And Senator Phil Gramm wanted it completely unregulated. So did Alan Greenspan, who supported the legislation and is now running around to the talk shows jabbering about the horror of it all. Before the highly paid lobbyists were done slinging their gold card guts about the halls of congress, every one from hedge funds to banks were playing with fire for fun and profit.

Gramm didn't just make a fairy tale world for Wall Street, though. He included in his bill a provision that prevented the regulation of energy trading markets, which led us to the Enron collapse. There was no collapse of the house of Gramm, however, because his wife Wendy, who once headed up the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, took a job on the Enron board that provided almost $2 million to their household kitty. And why not? Wendy got a CFTC rule passed that kept the federal government from regulating energy futures contracts at Enron.

If John McCain gets elected and chooses Phil Gramm as his Treasury Secretary, which many politico types see as likely, they will be able to talk about the good old days when Gramm was in congress and McCain was in the senate and they were in the midst of the Savings and Loan crisis.

The S and L scandal, which may look precious when compared to our present cascade of problems, isn't hard to understand, either. But it is impossible to take John McCain seriously on our current financial Armageddon since he was dabbling in the historic collapse of 747 S&Ls that occurred during Ronald Reagan's era. In the early 80s under the Republican president, congress deregulated the savings and loan industry in much the same way that Gramm made sure there were no laws hindering our current financial malefactors on Wall Street. S&Ls simply lobbied until they had less regulation and then began making rampant, unsound investments.

The guy who was going the wildest with financial freedom was Charles Keating, who headed up Lincoln Savings and Loan of California. Because the S&L industry had managed to get congress to increase FDIC insurance from $40,000 to $100,000 on deposits, the irresponsible investing of people like Keating began to put taxpayer insurance funds at great risk of loss. Keating placed money in junk bonds and questionable real estate projects and because so many other S&Ls started acting the same way the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB) began to push for a regulation that limited these dangerous speculative "direct" investments to 10% of an S&L's assets.

And Keating didn't like it; he called on a private economist named Alan Greenspan, who promptly produced a study saying that there was no danger in "direct" investments.
But that didn't convince the FHLBB and as further scrutiny showed Lincoln Savings and Loan was making even more historically bad investment decisions, a federal investigation was launched.

So Keating called his home state senator John McCain.

McCain and four other US senators (known to history as the Keating Five) met with Edwin Gray, then chairman of the FHLBB. McCain had been hesitant to attend but had reportedly been called a "wimp" behind his back by Keating. The message to the FHLBB and Gray from the Keating Five was to lay off Lincoln and cool the investigation. Gray and the FHLBB did not relent but Lincoln stayed in business until 1989 when it collapsed with the rest of the S&L industry. The life savings of more than 20,000 elderly investors disappeared with the failure of Lincoln. Keating went to prison for five years.

Charles Keating was John McCain's pal. They met in 1981 and Keating dumped $112,000 in the McCain campaign bank accounts between '82 and '87. A year before McCain met with the FHLBB regulators, his wife Cindy and her father, according to newspaper reports at the time, invested about $360,000 in one of Keating's shopping centers. The Arizona Republic reported McCain and his wife and their babysitter took nine trips on Keating's private jet to the Bahamas to stay at the S&L liar's decadent Cat Cay resort. The senator didn't pay Keating back for the plane rides until years later when he was under investigation.

McCain wasn't found guilty of anything but bad judgment, which is an historic understatement. Republicans, who led deregulation of the S&L industry, delayed the bailout until after the 1988 election to make sure George H. W. won the White House. The cost to taxpayers for helping these 747 bad actors in the S&L industry was finally estimated at $1.4 trillion. If the bailout had begun in 1986 instead of after the presidential election, the cost would have been contained at $20 billion.

And now the Republicans who engineered our present crisis and got us into the S&L debacle of the 80s are before us saying the markets need regulation. No, actually, they don't need regulation. Why don't you Republican capitalists who believe in the free markets get out of the damned way and let them work and allow these various financial nuthouses be crushed by the weight of their own stupidity? When it is all over, we'll have sane and sober people create laws to make sure it doesn't happen again, assuming we survive this chaos.

Also, while you are handing out our tax money to idiots on Wall Street, save a little of the long green for the unemployed auto and construction workers and all of the other people who have lost their jobs because you were too stupid to notice what Phil Gramm was doing and you were convinced everything was going to be just fine because the markets work.

These, then, are the people -- the Republicans -- who want to run our government for four more years. John McCain isn't just one of them. He rides their jets. He takes their campaign donations. He makes them his campaign advisors. And he tells us to trust him.

He must think we are a nation of village idiots.

Hell, maybe we are.

Has anybody besides me noticed how Palin, is always Winking at people.

What is this all about?

227Dan_A_Cactus** on September 21, 2008 at 03:57 PM

Well let's see here. He said he was against it on Monday, For it on Wednesday and against it again on Friday, so I'm sure by Monday he will be back in the For It column.

It doesn't matter what he thinks anyway, what matters is what President Obama thinks, he has our true best interest, the middle class, at heart.

Obama 1 house/1 spouse

Trolls, you are heading into a ditch that is right in front of you but you cannot see it. You don't know what those you vote for believe. It appears you have no basis for any of your own beliefs. If you do you have NEVER shown them here.

It's no wonder we got an idiot like Bush!

Well it looks like Robert is going to throw a temper tantrum and copy and paste meaningless drival, for no other reason than he has nothing to say, it runs in Pammys family.

Well let's see here. He said he was against it on Monday, For it on Wednesday and against it again on Friday, so I'm sure by Monday he will be back in the For It column.

It doesn't matter
====================

Thats Obama, changes as the wind blows, so why do you support him?

Posted by chassie on September 21, 2008 at 04:02 PM

Chassie, I've only seen it once in the small part of the Gibson interview I saw repeated on the MSM. Couldn't stomach seeing the whole thing. I guess that is how she endears herself to people, the ole wink, wink. It's what she uses with the lines, "old boys network, ruffeling some feathers, reform, wink, wink, old boys network, ruffeling some feathers, reform, wink wink" Ha!

On Huffington post they had a copy of Olberman doing her interview with gibson in 62 seconds and that is all it was. I tried to find it for you but couldn't find it.

Well let's see here. He said he was against it on Monday, For it on Wednesday and against it again on Friday, so I'm sure by Monday he will be back in the For It column.

=================

Yes thats Obama, no he is not President, idiot.

Cactass you are pathetic, and you are no patriot. Defending the undefendable and crooks. Unless you defend the middle class you are a communist.

dan c you only copy and past drival and who robert your gay lover i trought you hat gay men

but he will be november 5 idiot

dan c is a commie

Junknews,

Obama Backs Bush Plans

Now paulson and the crooked republicans want the taxpayer to buy millions of defaulting mortgages

.........DUH..

What I'm trying to point out to you, is you are slapping your own man with the same dead fish , dummie.

Posted by Dan_A_Cactus** on September 21, 2008 at 02:05 PM

--------------------------------------------------

Try again slowone!

dan cactass is slow and stupid

Its like trying to explain something to Pammy, like Pammy you are wearing your depends, backwards, Duh.

dav slap macain with dead fish

News, i have seen the wink, at least 5 times, during some of the speeches she makes, and i can't stand to watch them, and watch very little of them. So I'm sure i have missed some winks.

She reminds of the in the bar, right before closing, and just about everybody has left except for her, and bartender. She then gives him a Wink and a Nod. Leaves her purse, then comes knocking on the door after the bar has closed, to be with the bartender.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Ohh Dannyyyy, trust me, the middle class will be taken care of with obama, there is no way in hell he backs bushes plan, he will get the people something in the deal. And those fat cats at the top are not going home with a check.

Hey I'm for letting the whole stinking "Let the Free Markets Decide" republican mantra for 8 years go under. I think we should do nothing, let it crash, see if I care. Than those billionares can file bankruptcy and sell their mansions at auction and give everything they've got left to the treasury.

Live by the sword, Die by the sword. Let it crash.

dan what are trying to explain dumbass macain will lose so go home and get your towl to cry on november 5 and o i forgot if you have your wife if you have one to put on your depnds the right way you asshole

Hi Dems. It amazes me how the trolls back right off with no comments on the Articles that are posted showing how corrupt and Criminal their candidates are, How Bush has driven this country into the ground! Here's another one about their Hero, who is not a POW hero, he is a POS!

McCain and the POW Cover-Up
Thursday 18 September 2008

»
by: Sydney H. Schanberg, The Nation

Upon return from Vietnam, John McCain greets then-President Richard Nixon. (Photo: File)
John McCain, who has risen to political prominence on his image as a Vietnam POW war hero, has, inexplicably, worked very hard to hide from the public stunning information about American prisoners in Vietnam who, unlike him, didn't return home. Throughout his Senate career, McCain has quietly sponsored and pushed into federal law a set of prohibitions that keep the most revealing information about these men buried as classified documents. Thus the war hero who people would logically imagine as a determined crusader for the interests of POWs and their families became instead the strange champion of hiding the evidence and closing the books.

Almost as striking is the manner in which the mainstream press has shied from reporting the POW story and McCain's role in it, even as the Republican Party has made McCain's military service the focus of his presidential campaign. Reporters who had covered the Vietnam War turned their heads and walked in other directions. McCain doesn't talk about the missing men, and the press never asks him about them.

http://www.truthout.org/article/mccain-and-pow-cover-up

what do you say about the mighty McCain now?

He is not the same as Bush. HE IS WORSE !!!

Hi Dems. It amazes me how the trolls back right off with no comments on the Articles that are posted showing how corrupt and Criminal their candidates are, How Bush has driven this country into the ground! Here's another one about their Hero, who is not a POW hero, he is a POS!

McCain and the POW Cover-Up
Thursday 18 September 2008

»
by: Sydney H. Schanberg, The Nation

Upon return from Vietnam, John McCain greets then-President Richard Nixon. (Photo: File)
John McCain, who has risen to political prominence on his image as a Vietnam POW war hero, has, inexplicably, worked very hard to hide from the public stunning information about American prisoners in Vietnam who, unlike him, didn't return home. Throughout his Senate career, McCain has quietly sponsored and pushed into federal law a set of prohibitions that keep the most revealing information about these men buried as classified documents. Thus the war hero who people would logically imagine as a determined crusader for the interests of POWs and their families became instead the strange champion of hiding the evidence and closing the books.

Almost as striking is the manner in which the mainstream press has shied from reporting the POW story and McCain's role in it, even as the Republican Party has made McCain's military service the focus of his presidential campaign. Reporters who had covered the Vietnam War turned their heads and walked in other directions. McCain doesn't talk about the missing men, and the press never asks him about them.

http://www.truthout.org/article/mccain-and-pow-cover-up

what do you say about the mighty McCain now?

He is not the same as Bush. HE IS WORSE !!!

dav slap macain with dead fish

Posted by dusty2006 on September 21, 2008 at 04:33

Dusty McCain, prefers his Fish alive, so he can flip, flop, from day to day. Dead fish don't flop.

Make sure you send that McCain screwing the POW to every single military family you know, active or Vet ! I did, with a note that McCain hates the military , and to pass it on!

The Huffy post?

Juke news,

You are just as stupid as Pammy, posting off of them hairball sites.

i think danny put on the depends to tight this morning the blood flow to the brain is been constricted

what post should past of a conservitive sight

Ahh...

Pammy shows up with her preloaded posts after posting under newsjunkie, big suprise, (Yawn).

think danny put on the depends to tight this morning the blood flow to the brain is been constricted

Posted by dusty2006 on September 21, 2008 at 04:44 PM

Dusty your one sharp tack today, your way sharper then the dope's

Robert and Pammy

both liars and fools, it runs in their family.

New Junkie the soooner we can send Palin, back to Alaska on a dog sled, the sooner the better. Never to see her again.

Chassie, I got it for you, its the palin interview with fox in 60 seconds. Gee what did we do before google?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/19/keith-olbermann-does-sara_n_127757.html

Has anybody besides me noticed how Palin, is always Winking at people.
Posted by chassie

Apparently not. Have you asked your psychiatrist about this?

McCain and the Meltdown
By Froma Harrop

"The fundamentals of our economy are strong," John McCain said as Wall Street went into white-knuckle panic over diving investor confidence. Does he believe that? It doesn't really matter, because the Republican has outsourced his economic policy to the ideologues whose opposition to regulations brought the financial markets to their knees.

McCain's former economic adviser is ex-Texas Sen. Phil Gramm. On Dec. 15, 2000, hours before Congress was to leave for Christmas recess, Gramm had a 262-page amendment slipped into the appropriations bill. It forbade federal agencies to regulate the financial derivatives that greased the skids for passing along risky mortgage-backed securities to investors.

And that, my friends, is why everything's falling apart. That is why the taxpayers are now on the hook for the follies of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns and now the insurance giant AIG to the tune of $85 billion.

On Monday, McCain issued a tough-talk statement that he was "glad" that the feds "have said no to using taxpayer money to bail out Lehman Brothers, a position I have spoken about throughout this campaign." On Tuesday, the government did the daddy of all bailouts. It took over AIG, fearing its bankruptcy could set off a cataclysmic chain of events.

And do you know where the problems lay at AIG? They weren't in its main insurance business. They were in its derivatives-trading unit.

Last February, Fortune Magazine called Gramm "McCain's Econ Brain." Gramm lost the official title of economic adviser for making an impolitic remark about this being "a nation of whiners." But Gramm's belief in letting speculators do as they please was never an issue. And even after he left the campaign, Gramm had been mentioned as a possible treasury secretary in a McCain administration.

Another Gramm contribution was the "Enron loophole," which prevented federal oversight of Enron's electronic energy trading. Such favors proved very expensive to consumers but profitable to the Gramms. Enron CEO Ken Lay chaired Gramm's 1992 re-election campaign, and wife Wendy Gramm spent years on the Enron board, earning as much as $1.8 million, according to Public Citizen, a consumer advocate.

So McCain's reassurances to the little people that he won't let what's happening to them happen again is rather unconvincing. McCain now talks about the need for more regulations, but he's been highly stingy with the for-instances. He wants a commission to look into it.

(Too bad he didn't name Mitt Romney as his running mate. A former venture capitalist, Romney knows something about Wall Street.)

The Bush economy was built on baloney. It was built on keeping interest rates low so that people could borrow lots of money to spend on real estate and at the mall. The resulting housing bubble left middle-class people feeling prosperous, even as their earnings stagnated or fell.

The Democrats weren't exactly tigers on containing the housing bubble, but they did try to put the brakes on some of the lending outrages that are the root of the current crisis. For example, Barack Obama sponsored a bill that would have prevented lenders from pressing abusive loan terms onto unsophisticated, subprime borrowers. That went nowhere.

"I certainly don't fault Sen. McCain for these problems," Obama said early in the crisis, "but I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to."

Obama need not be so mild-mannered. McCain's economic philosophy is McCain's fault. He doesn't know much about economics -- and has admitted as much -- so his philosophy became a simple-minded faith in the opinion of others. And look whom he listens to.

Americans will be paying for this philosophy well into the 21st century.

fharrop@projo.com

Hey Pammy,

Is that little steam engine brain working on a come back?

I guess I can run to the store while I'm waiting.

2003 Article-BUSH&MCCAIN TRIED TO REFORM FANNIE, BUT BARNEY FRANK SAID FANNIE'S OKAY, DEMS REJECT!

In 2003, Bush, McCain tried to tell Congress, let's reform Fannie before they go under, but Barney Frank said there is not crisis, you're exxagerating Bush and McCain.

New Agency Proposed to Oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae
By STEPHEN LABATON
September 11, 2003
The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.
Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.
The new agency would have the authority, which now rests with Congress, to set one of the two capital-reserve requirements for the companies. It would exercise authority over any new lines of business. And it would determine whether the two are adequately managing the risks of their ballooning portfolios.
The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt - is broken. A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates.
"There is a general recognition that the supervisory system for housing-related government-sponsored enterprises neither has the tools, nor the stature, to deal effectively with the current size, complexity and importance of these enterprises," Treasury Secretary John W. Snow told the House Financial Services Committee in an appearance with Housing Secretary Mel Martinez, who also backed the plan.
Mr. Snow said that Congress should eliminate the power of the president to appoint directors to the companies, a sign that the administration is less concerned about the perks of patronage than it is about the potential political problems associated with any new difficulties arising at the companies.
The administration's proposal, which was endorsed in large part today by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, would not repeal the significant government subsidies granted to the two companies. And it does not alter the implicit guarantee that Washington will bail the companies out if they run into financial difficulty; that perception enables them to issue debt at significantly lower rates than their competitors. Nor would it remove the companies' exemptions from taxes and antifraud provisions of federal securities laws.
The proposal is the opening act in one of the biggest and most significant lobbying battles of the Congressional session.
After the hearing, Representative Michael G. Oxley, chairman of the Financial Services Committee, and Senator Richard Shelby, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, announced their intention to draft legislation based on the administration's proposal. Industry executives said Congress could complete action on legislation before leaving for recess in the fall.
"The current regulator does not have the tools, or the mandate, to adequately regulate these enterprises," Mr. Oxley said at the hearing. "We have seen in recent months that mismanagement and questionable accounting practices went largely unnoticed by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight," the independent agency that now regulates the companies.
"These irregularities, which have been going on for several years, should have been detected earlier by the regulator," he added.
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, which is part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, was created by Congress in 1992 after the bailout of the savings and loan industry and concerns about regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which buy mortgages from lenders and repackage them as securities or hold them in their own portfolios.
At the time, the companies and their allies beat back efforts for tougher oversight by the Treasury Department, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the Federal Reserve. Supporters of the companies said efforts to regulate the lenders tightly under those agencies might diminish their ability to finance loans for lower-income families. This year, however, the chances of passing legislation to tighten the oversight are better than in the past.
Reflecting the changing political climate, both Fannie Mae and its leading rivals applauded the administration's package. The support from Fannie Mae came after a round of discussions between it and the administration and assurances from the Treasury that it would not seek to change the company's mission.
After those assurances, Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chief executive, endorsed the shift of regulatory oversight to the Treasury Department, as well as other elements of the plan.
"We welcome the administration's approach outlined today," Mr. Raines said. The company opposes some smaller elements of the package, like one that eliminates the authority of the president to appoint 5 of the company's 18 board members.
Company executives said that the company preferred having the president select some directors. The company is also likely to lobby against the efforts that give regulators too much authority to approve its products.
Freddie Mac, whose accounting is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and a United States attorney in Virginia, issued a statement calling the administration plan a "responsible proposal."
The stocks of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae fell while the prices of their bonds generally rose. Shares of Freddie Mac fell $2.04, or 3.7 percent, to $53.40, while Fannie Mae was down $1.62, or 2.4 percent, to $66.74. The price of a Fannie Mae bond due in March 2013 rose to 97.337 from 96.525.Its yield fell to 4.726 percent from 4.835 percent on Tuesday.
Fannie Mae, which was previously known as the Federal National Mortgage Association, and Freddie Mac, which was the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, have been criticized by rivals for exerting too much influence over their regulators.
"The regulator has not only been outmanned, it has been outlobbied," said Representative Richard H. Baker, the Louisiana Republican who has proposed legislation similar to the administration proposal and who leads a subcommittee that oversees the companies. "Being underfunded does not explain how a glowing report of Freddie's operations was released only hours before the managerial upheaval that followed. This is not world-class regulatory work."
Significant details must still be worked out before Congress can approve a bill. Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.

"These two entities - Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac - are not facing
any kind of financial crisis," said
Representative Barney Frank of
Massachusetts, the ranking
Democrat on the Financial
Services Committee. "The more
people exaggerate these
problems, the more pressure
there is on these companies, the
less we will see in terms of
affordable housing."

Representative Melvin L. Watt,
Democrat of North Carolina,
agreed.

"I don't see much other than a
shell game going on here,
moving something from one
agency to another and in the
process weakening the
bargaining power of poorer
families and their ability to get
affordable housing," Mr. Watt
said.

Robert does the same as always,

copy/ paste

copy/ paste

copy/ paste

copy/ paste

copy/ paste

JamesNelson

It is hard, even to spoon feed this bunch.

They don't care about anything, they just "pretend".

Below is the link to Sally's* favorite electorial college map. Shim uses it often. Read em and weep Sally, and all of the commie trolls.

http://www.electoral-vote.com/

Why is it when we link something you can't see it sometimes, sometimes it's white and sometimes it's red, not asking any trolls, don't need your stupid comments.

Posted by newsjunkie on September 21, 2008 at 05:04 PM

Thanks News, the only thing i got out of that was reform, reform, reform, these 2 couldn't reform a dog from chasing cars. No doubt in my mind the dog would get run over, and it would be dog-gone. They wouldn't have enough sense, to put it on a leach. Unless they had a Democratic neighbor do it for them.

Hey Pammy,

Is that little steam engine brain working on a come back?

I guess I can run to the store while I'm waiting.

Posted by JamesNelson on September 21, 2008 at 05:14 PM

Hey Dumb Ass in 2003 you had the house, the super majority senate, and Bush Oval.

Come On do you dumb republicans believe everything you hear or read without even questioning it. And you wonder how bush got elected twice. I didn't know this country had soo many morons in it till 8 years ago.

MORONS ARE TOO DUMB TO KNOW THEY ARE MORONS, THE REPUBLICAN PARTY POSTER CHILDREN

Robert and Pammy

both liars and fools, it runs in their family.

John McCain says We should not bail out private company's that fail, Obama and President Bush are all for bailing them out.

227

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 21, 2008 at 03:57 PM

Dan,

Nobody cares about McCain's opinion about anything least of all the fiscally conservative media like the Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal.

Obama hasn't agreed to this $1 trillion dollar bailout. He has wisely asking his economic experts to assess the final proposal worked out between the House and the White House...especially the fine print.

McCain's chief economic advisor Phil Graham is directly responsible for this meltdown along with the rest of the incumbent Congressional Republicans like McCain who have been voting for over 25 years to irresponsibly deregulate anything that moves.

Again, I asked you for your opinion of Bush's bailout proposal. What do think?

JamesNelson

Its like trying to explain something to Pammy, like Pammy you are wearing your depends, backwards, Duh.

Nobody cares about McCain's opinion about anything least of all the fiscally co
271SandyH on September 21, 2008 at 05:34 PM

Thats just it, YOU DON'T CARE, just something to "whine about".

Here's your chance Trolls, to put your money where your mouth is. Vegas Odds

Bet On: Who will be the next president of the United States?
John McCain +110

Barack Obama -150

In case you don't understand it, it means you can put 100.00 on McNuts, and if he wins you win 110.00 for every one hundred you bet.

To win 100.00 on Obama you have to lay 150.00 just to win a hundred.

I do not think by November, there will be any question----do you want the black man who will fix things, or the two lying a-holes who do not know one single thing about getting this country out of the mess it is in.
PamB

PamB, you posed that question is a rather odd way. So, is what you are saying is that this election is basically coming down along racial lines?

Since you refer to Obama as "the black man" why id you not also refer to McCain and Palin as "those white folks".

That way we could be sure of your racist meaning.

If I were you, I would sell off any real estate holdings in cities with large black populations.

Or insure the hell out of it.

Below is the link to Sally's* favorite electorial college map. Shim uses it often. Read em and weep Sally, and all of the commie trolls.

Posted by newsjunkie on September 21, 2008 at 05:21 PM

What is fund to do on that site is to take 5 points away from Hussein Obama (Due to the Bradley effect) and 5 to McCains to see how many blue states you can flip.

and add 5 to...........

Here's your chance Trolls, to put your money where your mouth is. Vegas Odds

Bet On: Who will be the next president of the United States?
John McCain +110

Barack Obama -150

In case you don't understand it, it means you can put 100.00 on McNuts, and if he wins you win 110.00 for every one hundred you bet.

To win 100.00 on Obama you have to lay 150.00 just to win a hundred.
274
chassie on September 21, 2008 at 05:38 PM

I'll take some of that action. What is the link?

I'll take some of that action. What is the link?

Posted by Sally-* on September

Robert only has play money he took out of his game box.

Posted by Sally-* on September 21, 2008 at 05:56 PM

google vegas odds on preisential race, and you will get plenty of sites, for that action.

Hello all.

Well, Well, Well.....
Not only those 5 past Sec. of States last night agreed with Obama's proposals, Now it looks like Biden's 2 year idea for Iraq is starting to take form!

What more do people want????

Iraq Moving Toward Biden's Controversial Vision

http://www.truthout.org/article/iraq-moving-toward-bidens-controversial-vision

Who wants to lay a bet, that somehow these will all mysteriously disappear, OR Bush will say he has executive privilege NOT to preserve them!

Cheney Is Ordered to Preserve Records

http://www.truthout.org/article/cheney-ordered-preserve-all-records

JamesNelson on September 21, 2008 at 05:14 PM

Where is your source and link? And this is 2008 if you haven't noticed.

You Republicans were in control of both Congress and the White House back in 2003. If you wanted to do something about Fannie Mae or Freddie you had the power to do it then. You didn't because the K Street lobbyists were ruling the roost by then.

Besides, the sub-prime mortgage bailout was two weeks ago. We are now dealing with the latest Wall Street securities crisis. Can't you keep up with the evolving scandals?

And, didn't we go through a similar Wall Street scandal back in 2003 regarding insider trading and the Enron energy futures scandal in 2005? You Republicans have screwed up everybody's 401Ks so many times I guess it is hard to keep up.

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 21, 2008 at 05:38 PM

What do you think of Bush's $1 trillion dollar bailout?

sheesh, no comments from Dizzy Danny or MN Thomass when we post posts that show their party is a Party of Shame and a Party of Fools!

Here Stevie, put your $2. where your big mouth is! If you have the guts that is! Nothing but hot air!!

http://www.intrade.com/jsp/intrade/contractSearch/

You Republicans were in control of both Congress and the White House back in 2003. If you wanted to do something about Fannie Mae or Freddie you had the power to do it then. You didn't because the K Street lobbyists were ruling the roost by then.

Posted by SandyH on September 21, 2008 at 06:15 PM

Geez, don't you pay attention at all?

In 2003 McCain et al had a bill to remove oversite of Fannie May/Freddie Mac from the Congress and put it under the Federal Reserve. Democrats in the Senate blocked it. Unless you get 60 votes in the Senate you cannot get anything through. There would be no problem now had McCain gotten his way then.

PamB on September 21, 2008 at 06:09 PM

Pam,

Biden saw what would happen in Iraq even before Bush insisted that we invade the wrong country.

I saw that special on CNN last night with all the past secretary of states. They were all in agreement about Bush.

and the sally effect mcain lose 15 to add to obama side on november 4

Gee, Americans connecting with Biden Big Time!
He is so much more geniune than Palin, and does not lie like she does!

"Yet somehow, despite an effusive, loose-lipped and emotive manner seemingly better suited to the urban ward-style politics of another era, Biden is proving to be an effective campaigner even as he validates Democratic fears about his undisciplined and garrulous ways.

Attendees at his events report a genuine connection with Biden, saying they feel as if he’s a regular guy, telling it like it is.

“I think he’s speaking for the working man. He really struck a lot of chords with me,” said Todd Wilhelm, a retired air traffic controller from Arizona who moved to Pennsylvania to help his union’s get-out-the-vote efforts there. A Clinton supporter during the primary, Wilhelm said Biden helps Obama by speaking to the concerns of middle-class Americans.

“I love the guy,” he said at an event in suburban Philadelphia.

There’s no question what constituency Biden’s aiming for as he travels to key Rust Belt states and other battlegrounds. He evokes a working man’s ethic, talking about the respect and dignity that is tied up in a job as he paces the stage, microphone in hand.

He grew up in a neighborhood like theirs, “where people worked like the devil,” he told an audience in Green Bay, Wis., an area that’s watched the local paper industry wither away. Even people with college degrees couldn’t get jobs, Biden explained, so his dad moved the family to Delaware in search of work.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080921/pl_politico/13596

macin Due to the Bradley effect) and 5 to obana to see how many red states you can flip.

Sally-* on September 21, 2008 at 06:23 PM

So you are saying the Republicans gave up? That Bush wouldn't have just done what he wanted to do without asking Congress? He is the imperial president.

The Fourth Branch would have shot any Democrats that got in their way as a terrorist if it had been a high priority item on the Republican agenda....or with the K Street lobbyists. It wasn't.

And what do you think about the current Bush $1 trillion bailout of millionaires?

GEORGE W. BUSH WILL GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS THE WORST AMERICAN PRESIDENT IN IT'S HISTORY

Bush’s Legacy Of Squandering Taxpayer Money

Yesterday, President Bush announced his $700 billion plan to buy out troubled financial institutions. Demanding enormous faith in his administration’s stewardship, the plan “would place no restrictions on the administration other than requiring semiannual reports to Congress, granting the Treasury secretary unprecedented power to buy and resell mortgage debt,” and to hire outside firms “to help manage its purchases.” Further, the proposal provides no oversight mechanism:

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/21/bush-legacy-taxpayer-funds/#comments

A look at some U.S. government interventions and bailouts in the past century:

1932 — The Hoover administration creates the Reconstruction Finance Corp. to facilitate economic activity by lending money in the Great Depression.

1933 — The Roosevelt administration creates the Home Owners' Loan Corp. to buy $3 billion in bad mortgages from banks and refinance them to homeowners to stem a rise in foreclosures. The government makes a small profit.

1971 — Congress saves Lockheed Aircraft Corp., the nation's biggest defense contractor, from bankruptcy by guaranteeing the repayment of $250 million in bank loans.

1979 — Congress and the Carter administration arrange for $1.2 billion in subsidized loans to bail out automaker Chrysler Corp., then the nation's 10th-largest company. There ultimately was no significant cost to the government, since the loans were repaid.

1984 — Congress effectively takes over the ailing Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust, which failed with $40 billion of assets. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. injects $4.5 billion to buy bad loans.

1989 — Congress establishes the Resolution Trust Corp. to take over bad assets and make depositors whole. Resolving the S&L crisis takes six years and $125 billion in taxpayer money — roughly equal to $200 billion in today's dollars.

1998 — The government brokers a $3.6 billion private bailout in the collapse of the Long-Term Capital Management hedge fund, although no government money is involved.

2001 — Congress authorizes $5 billion in cash after the Sept. 11 terror attacks to help shore up the airline industry and follows up with $10 billion in loan guarantees.

2008:

March 16 — The Federal Reserve agrees to guarantee $29 billion of Bear Stearns' assets in connection with the government-sponsored sale of the investment bank to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

July 11 — Federal regulators seize IndyMac Bank's assets after the mortgage lender succumbs to the pressures of tighter credit, falling home prices and rising foreclosures. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. says it will cost about $8.9 billion out of its $53 billion insurance fund.

Sept. 7 — The Treasury Department seizes teetering mortgage finance institutions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, temporarily putting them in a government conservatorship with plans to inject up to $100 billion into each.

Sept. 16 — The government announces an $85 billion emergency loan to rescue American International Group Inc., the world's largest insurance company, in return for a 79.9 percent stake in AIG.

Sept. 19 — The Bush administration announces a plan to let the government buy hundreds of billions of dollars of bad mortgages and other forms of toxic debt that have been weighing down U.S. financial companies.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast

sally is a bafoon

Sandy, HERE is what Bush and the Republicans think about us! Screw us, and help out those Corporate Donors! Keep that lobbyist money flowing!

Boehner: Treasury’s Bailout Package Should Help Only Wall Street, Not Main Street

Congress and the administration are currently in negotiations over a $700 billion legislative package to relieve financial institutions of their bad mortgage-based assets. At issue is to what extent the package should also aid Americans facing foreclosures. “We must insulate Main Street from Wall Street and keep people in their homes by reducing mortgage foreclosures,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

On ABC’s This Week today, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) rejected relief for Main Street, labeling it simply “partisan politics” and saying that it doesn’t “need to be part of this package”:

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/21/boehner-main-street/#comments

sally is a bafoon
Posted by dusty2006

Hello dusty. Did you mean buffoon? Have you ever tried spell check? Most browsers have it built right in.

Asia casts nervous eye on US financial turmoilSeptember 21, 2008 2:04 PM ET

All Associated Press newsSEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Han Seung-woo is casting a wary eye on the financial crisis erupting halfway around the world on Wall Street.

From garment makers in southern China to real estate agents in India, businesses across Asia are worried that the turmoil will filter through to them.

"I'm watching nervously," said Han, the president of Sam-A Techno Solutions, a technology services company in Seoul with 10 employees and annual sales of 3 billion won ($2.7 million).

Even before the past week's dramatic events, the economic slowdowns in the U.S. and Europe were dragging on Asia's biggest economies in Japan, China and South Korea. Now, the worry is it could get worse.

The fears highlight the growing realization that Asian economies have not "decoupled" from their longtime dependence on the U.S. market as much as some had previously thought or hoped.

"Right now people somehow conclude that decoupling is a myth," said Citibank Korea economist Oh Suk-tae.

Lending has tightened around the world as Western banks stagger under the weight of billions of dollars in bad loans and mortgages that have accumulated from the wave of U.S. home foreclosures.

Those woes led to one of the most unforgettable weeks in financial history: major U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy, Bank of America bought Merrill Lynch & Co. and the Federal Reserve bailed out troubled insurer American International Group Inc. — sending shock waves through global markets and fanning fears of a worldwide financial meltdown.

World markets rallied Friday on news of a U.S. government plan to rescue banks from billions of dollars in bad debt.

Han, the South Korean businessman, said if the bailout plan stabilizes the U.S. economy and exchange rates, that would obviously be positive.

But whether the worst is over remains to be seen, and the economic outlook is still plenty murky for businesses across Asia, especially smaller ones that lack the financial resources of larger corporations.

"We're OK until the end of the year, but I have no idea what 2009 will look like," said Christopher Fussner, president of Singapore-based electronic equipment distributor TransTechnology, which has 165 employees in nine Asian countries. "My clients are trying to digest what's going on."

Volatile markets also could undermine consumption and investment in Asia. Already, corporate borrowing costs are rising as investors demand a greater premium on corporate bonds, creating a drag on investment in the region.

"We have a perfect storm in the making," said Ifzal Ali, chief economist at the Asian Development Bank in Manila.

He predicts the Wall Street meltdown means U.S. economic weakness will last longer than thought, at least through 2009, seriously hurting exports from Asia, particularly China.

Shrinking demand for India's information technology companies and the withdrawal of global financial services companies from India will weaken property values and hit the outsourcing industry hard, predicts Anuj Puri, India country head of Jones Lang Lasalle, a real estate company.

"The IT sector is going to take a beating," he said, adding that he is going to shift his strategy to focusing more on domestic clients instead of foreign ones.

The pandemonium on Wall Street has added to anxiety for Chinese exporters that already have seen demand in key American markets decline.

"When we first heard the news, we were like, 'Oh, my! Why is the economy doing this again?' You know everyone is waiting for an opportunity to breathe, to recover," said Lu Lingru, trade manager for Tianji Leisure Products Ltd.

The 110-employee company in Zhejiang province in China's southeastern export belt sells gazebos, garden umbrellas and outdoor furniture and depends on the United States for all its sales.

"Certainly, this is going to affect our business," Lu said.

The company will be fortunate to equal last year's sales of 150 million yuan ($22 million), Lu said, and is trying to persuade customers not to demand price cuts.

Likewise, in southern China's Guangdong province, garment exporter Zhongshan Maochang Garment Co. has already been under pressure from higher labor and material costs.

"Now, it's not easy to get orders from other countries because of the worldwide economic crisis," said Duan Zhihui, foreign trade sales manager. "On the other hand, when you do have orders, profits are shrinking," she said.

Not all think the situation for Asia is dire.

Subir Gokarn, chief economist for Standard & Poor's in New Delhi, says the region might not have decoupled but trends in recent years have insulated it from shocks in the U.S. economy.

"There will be an impact but there are forces within the region — domestic demand in India and China and the ability of other countries to tap into that growth — that will partially offset global developments," he said.

Exactly how Asia will ride out the current economic threat remains unclear, but some are bracing for a tough go.

"You have to stay flexible," said Kenneth Yu of Hong Kong. The 55-year-old businessman matches foreign investors with mainland companies looking for funding, an endeavor he says has become harder since the credit crunch began last year.

"I have to respond to different problems and crises ... otherwise you cannot survive," said Yu, who has engaged in various businesses in China. "But surviving is becoming more and more difficult than before."

2008 The Associated Press

and to hire outside firms “to help manage its purchases.” Further, the proposal provides no oversight mechanism

Pam,

That sounds just like the way Bush handled the Iraq occupation with Halliburton and Blackwater making mega war profiteering bucks while our troops took all the risks. How much money have taxpayers thrown down that rat hole?

Can't you just see Bush hiring the very same corrupt CEOs who got golden parachutes swindling investors left and right as the administrators of this bailout.

hmmmmm, and L@@K at this one! Seems like Petreus and his little surge was not the reason for the stop in violence after all!!!

Study: Surge in ethnic cleansing led to reduced violence in Iraq.»

A new study released today by the University of California, Los Angeles concludes that ethnic violence — not the Bush administration’s surge — was the primary factor in reducing violence in Iraq. As FP Passport notes, researchers used satellite imagery from the Pentagon to track “electricity use in Iraq before, during, and after the surge took place”:

“If the surge had truly ‘worked,’ we would expect to see a steady increase in night-light output over time,” says Thomas Gillespie, one of the co-authors, in a press release. “Instead, we found that the night-light signature diminished in only certain neighborhoods, and the pattern appears to be associated with ethno-sectarian violence and neighborhood ethnic cleansing.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/19/study-ethnic-surge/#comments

291PamB on September 21, 2008 at 06:27 PM

========

Blue-collar vote, one gaffe at a time

Victoria McGrane Sun Sep 21, 3:25 PM ET

Media, Pa. — Joe Biden has a “bad habit” of telling voters what he thinks, he told a gymnasium full of Montana supporters recently.

;
But that’s not his only bad habit.

In the four weeks since becoming Barack Obama’s running mate, Biden has been a reliable fount of gaffes, awkward statements and hyperbole. He is a candidate in the highest-profile election in the world, operating under the unrelenting scrutiny of the media Hydra, but he seems constitutionally incapable of conforming his quirky and anachronistic political style to the punishing and unforgiving modern news cycle.

Among other things, the Delaware senator has said that Hillary Rodham Clinton may have been a better vice presidential pick; accidentally referred to his partner as “Barack America”; told a wheelchair-bound man to “stand up”; and called Michelle Obama’s convention speech “the most remarkable speech I have heard in my life.”

=========

Pammy, why didn't you post the whole story?

291PamB on September 21, 2008 at 06:27 PM

========

Blue-collar vote, one gaffe at a time

Victoria McGrane Sun Sep 21, 3:25 PM ET

Media, Pa. — Joe Biden has a “bad habit” of telling voters what he thinks, he told a gymnasium full of Montana supporters recently.

;
But that’s not his only bad habit.

In the four weeks since becoming Barack Obama’s running mate, Biden has been a reliable fount of gaffes, awkward statements and hyperbole. He is a candidate in the highest-profile election in the world, operating under the unrelenting scrutiny of the media Hydra, but he seems constitutionally incapable of conforming his quirky and anachronistic political style to the punishing and unforgiving modern news cycle.

Among other things, the Delaware senator has said that Hillary Rodham Clinton may have been a better vice presidential pick; accidentally referred to his partner as “Barack America”; told a wheelchair-bound man to “stand up”; and called Michelle Obama’s convention speech “the most remarkable speech I have heard in my life.”

=========

Pammy, why didn't you post the whole story?

i hope the deomcrats in power put a very power full oversight mechanism:
in the bill and make the them pay the 700billion back to us tresury

291PamB on September 21, 2008 at 06:27 PM

========

Blue-collar vote, one gaffe at a time

Victoria McGrane Sun Sep 21, 3:25 PM ET

Media, Pa. — Joe Biden has a “bad habit” of telling voters what he thinks, he told a gymnasium full of Montana supporters recently.

;
But that’s not his only bad habit.

In the four weeks since becoming Barack Obama’s running mate, Biden has been a reliable fount of gaffes, awkward statements and hyperbole. He is a candidate in the highest-profile election in the world, operating under the unrelenting scrutiny of the media Hydra, but he seems constitutionally incapable of conforming his quirky and anachronistic political style to the punishing and unforgiving modern news cycle.

Among other things, the Delaware senator has said that Hillary Rodham Clinton may have been a better vice presidential pick; accidentally referred to his partner as “Barack America”; told a wheelchair-bound man to “stand up”; and called Michelle Obama’s convention speech “the most remarkable speech I have heard in my life.”

=========

Pammy, why didn't you post the whole story?

PamB on September 21, 2008 at 06:48 PM

Pam,

I saw Boehner this morning on one of the talking head programs. He was swinging around his golf club just itching to get back on the course and out of the TV studio. Why should he care about Main Street? He's got all those K Street lobbyists looking out for him and his financial interests.

It's the same Katrina GOP disregard for victims.

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 21, 2008 at 06:56 PM

It's a shame the media is more interested in the the gaffes made by the lovely Sarah Palin. Oh, that witchy woman...and her voodoo economics.

Sorry about the posts, Matt must have put on his orange vest and held up his stop sign, so the old cow (pammy) could cross the blog to make her dull witted posts.

i hope the deomcrats in power put a very power full oversight mechanism:
in the bill and make the them pay the 700billion back to us tresury
Posted by dusty2006

Remarkably coherent statement. Go into the kitchen an make note of that combination of pills.

dusty2006 on September 21, 2008 at 06:57 PM

We can hope, dusty.

But Bush and Paulson have been very clear that they only want the additional executive power and the money to reimburse millionaire gamblers...not any of the oversight and accountability to taxpayers.

WarrenCA on September 21, 2008 at 07:06 PM

We are all getting more coherent as the shock sets in. Meds are optional.

hmmmmm, and L@@K at this one!
Posted by PamB

Ohhhhhh! L@@kie there! Humorous text tricks!

made by the lovely Sarah Palin

Oh, that witchy woman...and her voodoo economics.

Posted by SandyH on September

When people tell you to green Sandy, they don't mean green with envy. Yes Sarah is nice looking, get over it.

Here is one for all of the easily lead and easily conned, that believe that the media is actually, LOL, "liberal" click on the blank space below.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24855902/

hmmmmm, and L@@K at this one!
Posted by PamB

Ohhhhhh! L@@kie there! Humorous text tricks!

312WarrenCA on September 21,

=========================

Now Warren,

Be nice, Pammy can copy and paste crap, make up something like L@@Kie and throw up on the computer, thats it, nothing else.

She is forever on the short bus through life.

Palin so stupis, they have to insist on a kindergarten approach !!

The Obama and McCain campaigns have agreed to an unusual free-flowing format for the three televised presidential debates, which begin Friday, but the McCain camp fought for and won a much more structured approach for the questioning at the vice-presidential debate, advisers to both campaigns said Saturday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/us/politics/21debate.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1221991605-C6A4+tiz4OXEvg+pyISQpg&oref=slogin

PamB on September 21, 2008 at 06:54 PM

Pam,

Leave it to those with outside perspective in the foreign press to get it right when the embedded American media can't see beyond the latest RNC copy points and Pentagon news releases.

(Gee, I had forgotten about that Karen Hughes propaganda program directed not toward the Iraqis but at American citizens.)

Anyone who has taken the time to follow what has been going on in Iraq knows that 2 plus million Sunnis left the country and hundreds of thousands more were executed or displaced in refugee camps.

Al Sadr decided that he was sick of seeing a lot of his best militia fighters getting killed and the Iraq infrastructure being destroyed.

The Sunni Awakening got Petraeus to pay them $300 a head to stop blowing up IEUs when our troops passed through roadways in their areas.

The Saudi youth decided to go home and play video games where they didn't have to risk their necks to get a blood-thirsty high.

And the Iraqis built walls around entire communities and set up their own check points to keep out the violence.

It was only a matter of time that these factor and a unannounced truce between the natives would end the violence. They decided to concentrated on their common goal of getting rid of the invaders and Bush's incompetence.

It looks like its working. The Iraqis have even gotten back their groove and are telling Bush to get out with a timetable that they dictate. He doesn't get any of the oil either.

McCain thinks this is a victory?

Palin so stupis, they have to insist on a kindergarten approach !!
PamB

You keep posting like that and you'll find you fat ass wedged into a kindergarten seat again.

You trying out a new duty-like persona?

McCain thinks this is a victory?

Posted by SandyH on September

Thats The American Hating, Military Hating, view of the leftys.

Our service men and women did nothing, right Sandy? You hate them.

Iraq is on it's way to independece, and You hate it.

Here's another "on the money" outside perspective.

Europeans on left and right ridicule U.S. money meltdown

Fears Grow For Economy As Shares Continue To Plunge

By Sebastian Rotella and Janet Stobart,
Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
September 20, 2008

LONDON -- It's a rare day when finance officials, leftist intellectuals and ordinary salespeople can agree on something. But the economic meltdown that wrought its wrath from Rome to Madrid to Berlin this week brought Europeans together in a harsh chorus of condemnation of the excess and disarray on Wall Street.

The finance minister of Italy's conservative and pro-U.S. government warned of nothing less than a systemic breakdown. Giulio Tremonti excoriated the "voracious selfishness" of speculators and "stupid sluggishness" of regulators. And he singled out Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, with startling scorn.

"Greenspan was considered a master," Tremonti declared. "Now we must ask ourselves whether he is not, after [Osama] bin Laden, the man who hurt America the most. . . . It is clear that what is happening is a disease. It is not the failure of a bank, but the failure of a system. Until a few days ago, very few were willing to realize the intensity and the dramatic nature of the crisis."

In an interview Thursday in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Tremonti drew a comparison to corruption-ridden Albania in 1997, when a nationwide pyramid scheme cost hundreds of thousands of people their savings and ignited anarchic civil conflict...

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-euromood20-2008sep20,0,7535469.story

No wonder McCain is so keen on Georgia. Our current financial meltdown is just like the Albanian one. Sound familiar?

We have another pyramid scheme gone bad in this country because of corrupt deregulation by incompetent, greedy Rightist politicians.

Hey Sandy,

Why don't you call up Hugo Chavez, he hates the world too, maybe he will let you go live with him?

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 21, 2008 at 07:40 PM

You hate our troops.

You put them in harm's way unnecessarily. You lied about the WMD. You supplied them with unreliable equipment. You voted to deny them veteran's benefits. You forced them to return for multiple tours without any rest. You back doored them and made them stay longer than their commitment when it was time to return home to their families.

And you sent our wounded and disabled to inferior, rat infested rehab veterans hospitals.

You are despicable. You care nothing about our national security or military strength. All you care about is multinational oil interests and war profiteering.

Victory in Iraq will be getting them home without any more casualties.

And you never even tried to catch Bin Lauden.

Hang you head in shame, troll. You and McCain are two of the same lamebrains and opportunists.

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

mccain is making an asshole of himself lying when he was told that the American people are unanimously against the war he said "I don't care what the American people think."

He thinks palin would make a great president. Asked how long he knew her before she was picked, he said he talked to her a couple of times but has been following her for some time.

He also said that "palin is the most popular governor in the nation".

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

What a f**king loser.

You hate our troops.

You put them in harm's way unnecessarily. You lied about the WMD. You supplied them with unreliable equipment. You voted to deny them veteran's benefits. You forced them to return for multiple tours without any rest. You back doored them and made them stay longer than their commitment when it was time to return home to their families.

And you sent our wounded and disabled to inferior, rat infested rehab veterans hospitals.

You are despicable. You care nothing about our national security or military strength. All you care about is multinational oil interests and war profiteering.

Victory in Iraq will be getting them home without any more casualties.

And you never even tried to catch Bin Lauden.

Hang you head in shame, troll. You and McCain are two of the same lamebrains and opportunists.

Posted by SandyH

Cactus, you are quite the powerful person. Like dusty says...

"i tought yuo wer justh a trool"

Posted by SandyH on September

Don't lie Sandy, just be honest, you hate this country and every thing about it.

You want a well fare state like Cuba, but old girl, nothing is free, Castro will make you work or you will not eat.

We have another pyramid scheme gone bad in this country because of corrupt deregulation by incompetent, greedy Rightist politicians.

Posted by SandyH on September 21, 2008 at 07:41

That's exactly right Sandy, deregulation, was like turning a Heroin addict loose with a ton of Heroin, and expect him not to shoot it up.

324WarrenCA on September 21, 2008 at 07:53 PM

Yes I must be, next she will say I knocked her up on prom night 40 years ago.

Obama is really laying it on mcgeezer. He is great.

The CBS moderators are asking all the right questions and making mcgeezer look like a spiteful old f**ker.

Pammy, why didn't you post the whole story?

dizzy dan, you want to hang around with the big boys? then try and keep up!

THE STORY WAS ABOUT HOW DESPITE HIS GAFFES, EVERYBODY LOVES BIDEN!!!!!

You got it now, Old Slug???????

What a f**king loser.
Johne

What's with the asterisks Johne? Did Matt email you off this site and tell you to cool it with the effenhiemers just in case the communist posts on here hit the front page of the New York Times?

We all know that raygun was a fucking loser. Johne on July 16, 2008 at 09:25 PM

Then we have President Asshole threatening to veto the mortgage rescue plan. What a prick. Why doesn't he just mind his own fucking business and let Congress do their job. This prick has totally fucked up our economy and he still thinks he is the decider. FUCK YOU BUSH!
Johne on July 11, 2008 at 09:13 PM

So many such wonderful quotes to be found out on the permanent record of the "internets".

In His Own Words
Posted by Matt Ortega on September 20, 2008 at 12:59 PM

THE WORDS AND WISDOM OF JOHN EDWARD BEST

What an appropriate blog subject title.

The Truth Will Out

Let it be recorded, as Paul Krugman and Josh Marshall have noted, that John McCain's various camouflages, smokescreens and flummeries regarding the subject of government regulation have been exposed in Contingencies, the magazine of the American Association Academy of Actuaries. Following the lead of his buddy, and probable Secretary of the Treasury, Phil Gramm, McCain has been a vehement deregulator. Here is the deathless quote:

"Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."

Now, I believe politicians--and journalists, for that matter--should be allowed to change their positions, given new circumstances. Everyone gets it wrong sometimes. But when a politician does change his or her position, the statement should be accompanied by an acknowledgment of a previous mistake: "I used to believe in the deregulation of banking and health care, but I was wrong about that." (This applies to Barack Obama on Iraq: "I was right to oppose the war and to favor a timetable for withdrawal of our troops, but I was wrong about the effect that counterinsurgency tactics would have on violence in Baghdad.")

One of the big differences between the old John McCain and the current edition is that the old one (1) would admit error and (2) would admit there were things he didn't know. That was a good part of his charm. The current edition--a parody of the worst sort of political flim-flam artist--not only lies about his own positions, but attempts to camouflage those lies by mischaracterizing his opponent's positions. It is appropriate, then, that the American Association Academy of Actuaries--a group devoted to the precise calculation of death rates--has exposed McCain's extravagant fraudulence of the past week for what it was.

http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/09/the_truth_will_out.html

Dear Friend,

Congress is on the brink of making a one-sided deal to give George W. Bush a blank check to bail out his pals - offering nearly (or perhaps more than) a trillion taxpayer dollars to Wall Street to cover its bad debts. That works out to somewhere between $2000 and $5000 from every American family. So what do the taxpayers get in return?
Nothing. No new regulation or oversight to help avoid this kind of crisis in the future. No public interest givebacks to help people whose homes are in the hands of the banks. Perhaps most shockingly of all, the taxpayers get absolutely no share in the profits if and when these finance giants bounce back, even though we are now assuming a great deal of the risk.
This is worse than a bad deal - this isn't a deal at all. This is a blank check to some of the richest companies in the world.
I just signed a petition calling on key members of Congress to impose a few sensible conditions to this bailout in order to protect the American people -- I hope you will too.
Please have a look and take action.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/no_blank_check/?r_by=912-1451548-IKm02cx&rc=paste
Thanks!

dizzy dan, you want to hang around with the big boys?

Posted by PamB on September 21, 2008 at 08:07 PM

Did you save up and have a sex change, Pammy?

I saw your picture, it is understandable.

THE STORY WAS ABOUT HOW DESPITE HIS GAFFES, EVERYBODY LOVES BIDEN!!!!!
PamB

Oh?

Joe Biden’s just a barrel of gaffes

By Jonathan Chait
February 04, 2007

DELAWARE Sen. Joe Biden has been telling people for months that he’s going to run for president, as if nobody could actually believe it. Even when he formally announced last week, I still didn’t believe it. In fact, I’m not quite sure what it would take to make me believe it. If I turned on the television and watched Biden formally accepting the nomination at the Democratic National Convention, I might believe it then. (On the other hand, I’d probably figure I was suffering some hallucinatory episode and check myself into a hospital.)

I’m not saying Biden shouldn’t be president. I have tons of respect for him, and I think he’d do a terrific job if he could get it. I just find it amusing that he thinks there’s some chance he could actually become president. It’s a case study of that bizarre mental affliction that strikes so many senators. They see younger, less-experienced Senate colleagues – who are far less esteemed than they are – running for president, and they’re offended. If the 100 senators were the only ones who could vote, Biden would probably beat Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Unfortunately for Biden, that’s not how it works.

Biden’s charming cluelessness was on display in a recent ABC news interview. The famously verbose senator was asked to state in 25 words or less why Democrats should nominate him. His response was 45 words. I suppose that, by Biden’s standards, coming in at just under twice his allotted length counts as a victory of sorts. Biden then explained why he could win: “If people learn my story, learn my record, I think I can compete. The question is, can I raise the money?” This is sort of like me saying that I think I can compete for a starting NFL quarterback job, but the question is, can I avoid injuries? It’s a question, but it’s certainly not the question.

In addition to his uncontrollable verbosity, Biden is a gaffe machine. He ran for president 20 years ago but had to abandon his campaign when it was discovered that he had plagiarized speeches from a British politician, substituting in key details to make the story his own.

In his latest effort, Biden wasted no time subverting his already microscopic chances. On the day of his announcement, he mused about Illinois Sen. Obama: “I mean, you got the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”

In Biden’s defense, the quote was widely misunderstood. Having listened to it, it’s obvious that Biden was not saying Obama is the first mainstream African American candidate who is also articulate and so on. He was saying he’s the first mainstream candidate – meaning ideologically mainstream, unlike Carol Moseley Braun, Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson – and that he’s articulate and so on. He wasn’t calling Jackson or the others inarticulate. To be sure, this is still a pretty cringe-inducing way for white people to talk about African Americans. There’s a famous Chris Rock routine in which he complains about how people describe Colin Powell as “articulate,” as if it were a surprise that a secretary of State can speak well.

And, of course, last summer Biden attempted to endear himself to an Indian American supporter by telling him that in Delaware, “you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.” Not only was this an offensive line, it didn’t even make any sense: The observation, familiar to anybody who watched a comedian on cable television 15 years ago, is that Indian Americans are the only ones who work in convenience stores, not that they’re the only ones who shop there. The man can’t even keep his condescending cliches straight.

Biden looks as if he’s the product of a laboratory experiment designed to create the world’s worst presidential candidate. If the Obama gaffe doesn’t knock him out of the race, something else will. I doubt he makes it to Iowa.

Yes, Biden’s very knowledgeable and dedicated. But to win the presidency, you actually have to be good at mass politics. Why is Biden not smart enough to recognize that?

Pam there discussing this bail out on CNBC, right now.

McCain thinks this is a victory?

317SandyH on September 21, 2008 at 07:26 PM

Sandy, have you noticed when asked, McCain REFUSES to say what Victory is??

He has no freaken idea , it just sounds good to the sheeple who they have filled with fear again, that those big bad terriorists are going to come and get them and slit their throats in the night! idiots!

and did somebody say "Independence in Iraq"???

bwhahahahahahahahahahaha

Remember when Colin Powell sat with those little white filled vials and it was gonna be for WMDs?

Remember then when they were shown to be liars, it was because there was some old Al Qaeda training camp in Iraq, and these were the people who caused 9/11??????

THEN when all else failed, they decided to say it had to do with liberating Iraqis! And the Iraqis have said "Bullshit ! Go Home! We don't want it! We want you out! We will fix our own country and keep our own Oil! "

So don't give us any of that Crapola "Independence" bullshit. Try and remember, WE ARE SMARTER THAN YOU. We paid attention to what went on. We do not vote with our wallets, we use our heads.

So pull your old balding, fat head out of your arse, danny! Your ignorance is appalling !

I believe greed has taken us only so far. Have you ever heard about stages of society: about Imperialism being the last one of Capitalism? Well, I got news for you!!! We are heading to a Socialist society, or economic model if you wanna call it like that. Nothing wrong with it, but I bet that is kind of evil swirling around conservative, narrow minds. The problem with humans is that we always push things to limits where sometimes we really don't want to go, then when there we fail and we get spooked. Take for example the old U.S.S.R. From an ancient economic model, Feudalism, they jumped to "Socialism" back in 1917. What happened? Misery, destruction, and everything else is history. A social and economic model not strong enough to support the masses, the working class, etc, had to fail, and so it did. While we enjoyed smooth changes of economic models, USSR rushed in and lost. Nowadays, our country, our economy is strong enough to support the masses, the working class. And so our Government has saved a couple of companies along with AIG. It is not about accepting corporate mistakes, it's about preventing pain for those janitors, secretaries, cashiers...the masses, that really makes the whole of the working class. I believe time is ripe for our society to jump to the next level, to an economic model that closely resemble most of the European Community, with the difference that our great nation has the resources and the people to go for it. The world is ready to witness and experience the next level in human history, and our country once again will lead by the "power of its example"!!!

Biden has done 84 interviews palin TWO.

The moderator asked mcgeezer if they were withholding palin because she is such an idiot. mcgeezer said he didn't think so.

Biden on Meet the Press in 2007, on Hussein’s WMDs: “Well, the point is, it turned out they didn’t, but everyone in the world thought he had them. The weapons inspectors said he had them. He catalogued — they catalogued them. This was not some, some Cheney, you know, pipe dream. This was, in fact, catalogued.”
=============================

On Meet the Press, November 27, 2005: “I’ve been calling for more troops for over two years, along with John McCain and others subsequent to my saying that.”

mcgeezer looked like a total idiot on 60 Minutes. I love it. Obama looks great. He is very decisive and has the answers. mcgeezer was clearly at a disadvantage.

I can't wait for the debates. mcgeezer will probably blow his cool and tell Obama to fuck himself.

Obama in North Carolina 20,000 - 30,000 turn out per fire department estimates.

McCain/RNC have significantly increased spending these last couple of weeks in both North Carolina and Virginia.

Posted by PamB on September 21, 2008 at 08:22 PM

You have to be the most unimformed half wit on this blog or any other.

But always good for a laugh, do you get paid by the DNC for making such dopey posts?

PamB on September 21, 2008 at 08:22 PM

Pam, I remember when bush was trying to get re-elected all of the bought and paid for, pre-screened, republican right wing wacko radio jocks saying that the guy, was it, ottah, who flew one of the planes, was in Iraq. Therefore Suddam had to be working with Al queda.

All of the listening republican sheeple (love that) are like, yes, yes, that is true.

What I thought was, well he was in the US too. He was learning how to fly airplanes. If you took their reasoning, then I guess George Bush taught them how to fly the planes.

She is forever on the short bus through life.

315Dan_A_Cactus** on September 21, 2008 at 07:20 PM

Is this something you would say about your vp's son as well?

So you are saying the Republicans gave up? That Bush wouldn't have just done what he wanted to do without asking Congress? He is the imperial president.

The Fourth Branch would have shot any Democrats that got in their way as a terrorist if it had been a high priority item on the Republican agenda....or with the K Street lobbyists. It wasn't.

And what do you think about the current Bush $1 trillion bailout of millionaires?
293
SandyH on September 21, 2008 at 06:34 PM

Bush Called For Reform of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac 17 Times in 2008 Alone... Dems Ignored Warnings

For many years the President and his Administration have not only warned of the systemic consequences of financial turmoil at a housing government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) but also put forward thoughtful plans to reduce the risk that either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac would encounter such difficulties. President Bush publicly called for GSE reform 17 times in 2008 alone before Congress acted.

Unfortunately, these warnings went unheeded, as the President's repeated attempts to reform the supervision of these entities were thwarted by the legislative maneuvering of those who emphatically denied there were problems.

The White House released this list of attempts by President Bush to reform Freddie Mae and Freddie Mac since he took office in 2001.
Unfortunately, Congress did not act on the president's warnings:

** 2001

April: The Administration's FY02 budget declares that the size of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is "a potential problem," because "financial trouble of a large GSE could cause strong repercussions in financial markets, affecting Federally insured entities and economic activity."

** 2002

May: The President calls for the disclosure and corporate governance principles contained in his 10-point plan for corporate responsibility to apply to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (OMB Prompt Letter to OFHEO, 5/29/02)

** 2003

January: Freddie Mac announces it has to restate financial results for the previous three years.

February: The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) releases a report explaining that "although investors perceive an implicit Federal guarantee of [GSE] obligations," "the government has provided no explicit legal backing for them." As a consequence, unexpected problems at a GSE could immediately spread into financial sectors beyond the housing market. ("Systemic Risk: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Role of OFHEO," OFHEO Report, 2/4/03)

September: Fannie Mae discloses SEC investigation and acknowledges OFHEO's review found earnings manipulations.

September: Treasury Secretary John Snow testifies before the House Financial Services Committee to recommend that Congress enact "legislation to create a new Federal agency to regulate and supervise the financial activities of our housing-related government sponsored enterprises" and set prudent and appropriate minimum capital adequacy requirements.

October: Fannie Mae discloses $1.2 billion accounting error.

November: Council of the Economic Advisers (CEA) Chairman Greg Mankiw explains that any "legislation to reform GSE regulation should empower the new regulator with sufficient strength and credibility to reduce systemic risk." To reduce the potential for systemic instability, the regulator would have "broad authority to set both risk-based and minimum capital standards" and "receivership powers necessary to wind down the affairs of a troubled GSE." (N. Gregory Mankiw, Remarks At The Conference Of State Bank Supervisors State Banking Summit And Leadership, 11/6/03)

** 2004

February: The President's FY05 Budget again highlights the risk posed by the explosive growth of the GSEs and their low levels of required capital, and called for creation of a new, world-class regulator: "The Administration has determined that the safety and soundness regulators of the housing GSEs lack sufficient power and stature to meet their responsibilities, and therefore…should be replaced with a new strengthened regulator." (2005 Budget Analytic Perspectives, pg. 83)

February: CEA Chairman Mankiw cautions Congress to "not take [the financial market's] strength for granted." Again, the call from the Administration was to reduce this risk by "ensuring that the housing GSEs are overseen by an effective regulator." (N. Gregory Mankiw, Op-Ed, "Keeping Fannie And Freddie's House In Order," Financial Times, 2/24/04)

June: Deputy Secretary of Treasury Samuel Bodman spotlights the risk posed by the GSEs and called for reform, saying "We do not have a world-class system of supervision of the housing government sponsored enterprises (GSEs), even though the importance of the housing financial system that the GSEs serve demands the best in supervision to ensure the long-term vitality of that system. Therefore, the Administration has called for a new, first class, regulatory supervisor for the three housing GSEs: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banking System." (Samuel Bodman, House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Testimony, 6/16/04)

** 2005

April: Treasury Secretary John Snow repeats his call for GSE reform, saying "Events that have transpired since I testified before this Committee in 2003 reinforce concerns over the systemic risks posed by the GSEs and further highlight the need for real GSE reform to ensure that our housing finance system remains a strong and vibrant source of funding for expanding homeownership opportunities in America… Half-measures will only exacerbate the risks to our financial system." (Secretary John W. Snow, "Testimony Before The U.S. House Financial Services Committee," 4/13/05)

** 2007

July: Two Bear Stearns hedge funds invested in mortgage securities collapse.

August: President Bush emphatically calls on Congress to pass a reform package for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, saying "first things first when it comes to those two institutions. Congress needs to get them reformed, get them streamlined, get them focused, and then I will consider other options." (President George W. Bush, Press Conference, The White House, 8/9/07)

September: RealtyTrac announces foreclosure filings up 243,000 in August – up 115 percent from the year before.

September: Single-family existing home sales decreases 7.5 percent from the previous month – the lowest level in nine years. Median sale price of existing homes fell six percent from the year before.

December: President Bush again warns Congress of the need to pass legislation reforming GSEs, saying "These institutions provide liquidity in the mortgage market that benefits millions of homeowners, and it is vital they operate safely and operate soundly. So I've called on Congress to pass legislation that strengthens independent regulation of the GSEs – and ensures they focus on their important housing mission. The GSE reform bill passed by the House earlier this year is a good start. But the Senate has not acted. And the United States Senate needs to pass this legislation soon." (President George W. Bush, Discusses Housing, The White House, 12/6/07)

** 2008

January: Bank of America announces it will buy Countrywide.

January: Citigroup announces mortgage portfolio lost $18.1 billion in value.

February: Assistant Secretary David Nason reiterates the urgency of reforms, says "A new regulatory structure for the housing GSEs is essential if these entities are to continue to perform their public mission successfully." (David Nason, Testimony On Reforming GSE Regulation, Senate Committee On Banking, Housing And Urban Affairs, 2/7/08)

March: Bear Stearns announces it will sell itself to JPMorgan Chase.

March: President Bush calls on Congress to take action and "move forward with reforms on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They need to continue to modernize the FHA, as well as allow State housing agencies to issue tax-free bonds to homeowners to refinance their mortgages." (President George W. Bush, Remarks To The Economic Club Of New York, New York, NY, 3/14/08)

April: President Bush urges Congress to pass the much needed legislation and "modernize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. [There are] constructive things Congress can do that will encourage the housing market to correct quickly by … helping people stay in their homes." (President George W. Bush, Meeting With Cabinet, the White House, 4/14/08)

May: President Bush issues several pleas to Congress to pass legislation reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before the situation deteriorates further.

"Americans are concerned about making their mortgage payments and keeping their homes. Yet Congress has failed to pass legislation I have repeatedly requested to modernize the Federal Housing Administration that will help more families stay in their homes, reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ensure they focus on their housing mission, and allow State housing agencies to issue tax-free bonds to refinance sub-prime loans." (President George W. Bush, Radio Address, 5/3/08)

"[T]he government ought to be helping creditworthy people stay in their homes. And one way we can do that – and Congress is making progress on this – is the reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That reform will come with a strong, independent regulator." (President George W. Bush, Meeting With The Secretary Of The Treasury, the White House, 5/19/08)

"Congress needs to pass legislation to modernize the Federal Housing Administration, reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ensure they focus on their housing mission, and allow State housing agencies to issue tax-free bonds to refinance subprime loans." (President George W. Bush, Radio Address, 5/31/08)

June: As foreclosure rates continued to rise in the first quarter, the President once again asks Congress to take the necessary measures to address this challenge, saying "we need to pass legislation to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac." (President George W. Bush, Remarks At Swearing In Ceremony For Secretary Of Housing And Urban Development, Washington, D.C., 6/6/08)

July: Congress heeds the President's call for action and passes reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as it becomes clear that the institutions are failing.

In 2005-- Senator John McCain partnered with three other Senate Republicans to reform the government’s involvement in lending.
Democrats blocked this reform, too.

hit the front page of the New York Times
Posted by WarrenCA on September 21, 2008 at 08:07 PM

Posted by WarrenCA on September 21, 2008 at 08:07 PM

Listen here you little pussy, only republicans are afraid if anyone knows what they say. I wish they would come here and see the scum republican morons that represent your party. FO

Is this something you would say about your vp's son as well?

345Esmeralda on September 21, 2008

No, its not, but I'm sure you will, you like that kind of thing, to get your jollys.

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 21, 2008 at 07:55 PM

I hate our country because I don't like your incompetent Republican policies and leadership? Obama hates our country because he thinks he can do a better job than Bush? Biden hates our country because his model for Iraq is the one the Iraqis have choosn over the PNAC model?

No, we Democrats love this country and will defend it against those who don't know what they are doing and done their best to destroy it in the last 30 years.

You hate your own Republican leadership. You hate that your Republican Party's ideology has been proven not to work. You hate that the only way your Republicand can fix the mess they made of our economy is trade capitalism for socialism.

You hate that the only way you can stop equal opportunity is to impose tactics used by Communism which gut our Constitution's balance of power and Bill of Rights. You hate that your Republican greed, incompetence, and perversions have corrupted anything good your Party ever used to represent.

YOU hate the country your Republican Party has created in the last eight years and still can't face the fact.

Stay in denial. I enjoy reminding you of all the treasonous acts, corrupt excesses, and policy failures your Party now represents...every chance I get.

Here Sandy read this,

In 2005-- Senator John McCain partnered with three other Senate Republicans to reform the government’s involvement in lending.
Democrats blocked this reform, too.

Posted by Sally-* on September

I thought you got mad and left Sandy, did you just need to takea short nap?

gotta go, Dems.......

Not enough hours in the day. Wonder if there is time for a drink by the pool, with that Harvest Moon in the background? We shall see !

:)

Blog ya tomorrow...............

Stay in denial
349SandyH on September 21, 2008 at 09:04 PM

Your the one in denial old girl, Dodd, Hilary, Kerry and Obama were all in on the money to block any new regulations from going through, face facts.

Posted by Sally-* on September 21, 2008 at 08:52 PM

some more republican garbage, don't you see, we dems are the party of fiscal conservatism. We don't leave trillions in deficits like, reagan, bush 1 and 2. We help the poor, elevate the middle class, and balance our own budget. The crap you posted is just that, crap. We only took congress back in 2006. You don't have a source for your stupid made up crap. If you want to be taken seriously we are a much smarter critics than your republican friends, we demand a source. We don't say, "I got papers"

IF THE CROOKS GAVE A DAMN THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING ABOUT IT FROM 2000 TO 2005

WarrenCA on September 21, 2008 at 08:17 PM

You're really frightened that Biden's clicking with blue collar workers, Independents, and the Undecided in the Rust Belt states that your side has to win.

Wait until Hillary and Bill join him out on the road for Obama.

We are building up for a big finish in all the swing states. Sarah's already peaked with the fundies and has everyone else is wondering what she's doing on the ticket much less serving as the Governor of Alaska.

McCain isn't attractive to any voter demographic now that he made a fool of himself over the economy this past week.

Even older veterans are disgusted with what they saw. McCain panicked. He pandered. He hid behind a woman's skirt. He's not fit to serve and is hardly able to function.

Hey guys, I wonder what the polls will bring this week. We are in the home stretch of a long, long agonizing presidency. It's almost over. We have put up the one we believe and know is best. Joey is great too. Whenever Rove attacks something about you, it is what he fears. He fears how joey can relate with the average joey.

McCain looks insane and palin looks, well like an unknown.

The timing of the republican house of cards could not have come at a better time. There is plenty of tape on McCain saying all sorts of stupid stuff and the stuff on palin is just out of this world crazy.

It should be an interesting next couple of weeks.

don't you see, we dems

Posted by newsjunkie

With the information available to you, all I see is you are a bunch of brass monkeys unable to see, hear or speak evil of the democrat party line, its sad.

You don't have a source for your stupid made up crap. If you want to be taken seriously we are a much smarter critics than your republican friends, we demand a source. We don't say, "I got papers"

newsjunkie on September 21, 2008 at 09:23 PM

Duh, the source is the White House, the article says so. Duh!

Wait until Hillary and Bill join him out on the road for Obama.
ion.

354
SandyH on September 21, 2008 at 09:29 PM

Yeah that is going to be a hoot. Bill will be cutting Obama's throat while pretending to help him. I wonder how many times he will have to apoogize or say he was misquoted.

Michelle Obama appeared on the Paula Dean show on the Food network. Paula asked her if she could cook for them when she and Barack are in the WH.

Don't you just love that southern cookin'gal?

348Dan_A_Cactus** on September 21, 2008 at 08:58 PM

yeah, right. you put down everyone and make fun of others with every post you make. you have from the start and I doubt you will quit.

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 21, 2008 at 09:19 PM

Your guys in the Senate just couldn't perform.

All the Yellow Dog Democrats should have been easy to turn. Zell could have gotten them in line if your leadership had thought it was a big priority. They didn't.

Whenever a Republican wants to "reform" something it's because they want to manipulate it.

Whenever a Republican wants to "regulate" something it's because they are trying to cover their tracks after the fact...as in accessory after the fact whether it be criminal or just unethical.

Bush could have made those changes at Fannie Mae or Freddie with a single signing statement. Or he could have just told his regulators to change the rules like Phil Graham's wife did. Spunky didn't make the effort because it wasn't a big priority.

You know it. I know it.

Now, you still haven't answered my question. What do you think of Bush's $1 trillion bailout socialist solution?

yeah, right. you put down everyone and make fun of others with every post you make. you have from the start and I doubt you will quit.
Posted by Esmeralda

Whoa! Waitta doggone minute there! You mean that's not the way this thing is supposed to work? Oh oh oh !

Somebody better tell the rest of the crew, no more Mr. and Mrs. Grumpy no more!

yeah, right. you put down everyone and make fun of others with every post you make

Posted by Esmeralda

No, just the dopey ones.

Everything south of VA and east of NM is irrelevant and should be treated as such. FL is nothing more than a turd hanging out of the arse of America, GA. The rednecks are too stupid to find their own arses with both hands and a hunting dog. So tell all of your friends named Bubba that finally they are exactly what they are portrayed to be, ignorant jokes.

71BobVADemocratHawk on September 20, 2008 at 04:35 PM

You know Bob, being born and bread down in the above mentioned area, I take great offense at your comments. It is attitudes like this that cost elections. Remember, Kerry made a statement on ABC during the last election where he basically said the South didn't matter. It amazes me the name calling and attitudes people have towards other people on this blog.

Not enough hours in the day. Wonder if there is time for a drink by the pool, with that Harvest Moon in the background? We shall see !
PamB

That's not "the pool" but your septic system leaking and the "Harvest Moon" you are admiring is the fat old broad next door pulling up her bloomers.

Get back in the house with your glass of rubbing alcohol.

You know what you are saying Sandy,

The democrat Senators set on their hands said nothing, did nothing, voted for nothing, voted against nothing, for years.

If you think that, why would you vote for one of the worthless asshats?

Back to 12 hour workdays tomorrow. 44 days until the election.

have a trolly good night, everyone.

Duh, the source is the White House, the article says so. Duh!

Posted by Sally-* on September 21, 2008 at

Your source is the white house. HA You mean GW is telling people that is what he did and you believe GW. That is your first problem.

AIG shareholders want to get equity back from government
Posted Sep 20th 2008 9:40AM by Douglas McIntyre
Filed under: Amer Intl Group (AIG), Federal Reserve

The government's efforts to save the economy may help AIG (NYSE: AIG) save itself. It has cut a deal to give the Federal Reserve 79.9% of the company in exchange for an $85 billion two-year loan. AIG has drawn down $28 billion of that money.

According to The Wall Street Journal, a fight over the ownership of AIG may be brewing. "Major shareholders are trying to help pay off the federal government's loan to American International Group Inc. in time to avoid having Washington take an 80% stake in the company."

With all the money the government is going to have to put into the system, the Fed may prefer to be rid of its huge loan obligation to AIG. Taxpayers should hope that the agency allows the current amount of the loan to be paid back and walk away. The Fed could force the issue by saying a deal is a deal, but owning a piece of AIG is a complication in a rescue that is about to become a hundred times more complex.

The Fed should take AIG investor money and run. What is it going to do with an insurance company anyway?

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.

Posted by pcgeek2008 on September 21, 2008 at 09:52 PM

Oh that's right it was one statement Kerry made and the southeners said, that's it, he's lost my vote.

They voted their "values" and lost their stupid jobs, homes and integrity. All the southerners could think of was gay marriage and abortion, that was it. How far did that get them. You dumb republicans, the republicans are the last people to make abortion illegal, cause then, gasp, they would have to set up social programs to get pre natal and post natal care for all of the forced pregnancies of teenagers. You know how much you republicans care about babies, surely they deserve medical care. They Used You like the pawns and sheeple you are. Now look at what you got.

We vote our morals, value is what your house was worth before you voted your "values."

What do you think of Bush's $1 trillion bailout

Posted by SandyH

Tuff call, but it should be noted Obama is for it too, I think a business should stand or fall on its own, but this time they are holding hostages.

I think Dodd needs to be investigated for taking money while sitting as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

Face fact, McCain was one of the few calling for more regulation on this.

looks like mccain leads obama, 13:1

And based on public vehicle-registration records, here's the score. John and Cindy McCain: 13. Barack and Michelle Obama: one car.

most americans are lucky enough to have one running and gas to put into it.

i sure love this country, but the repub's choice of a man that has 7 houses and 13 cars is not in touch with middle america.

Face fact, McCain was one of the few calling for more regulation on this.

Posted by Dan_A_Cactus** on September 21, 2008 at 10:22 PM

McCain is the king of deregulation. You know CatAss, Fannie and Freddie aren't the only ones going under, it's all of them. The fact that McCain was just picking on fm and fm, if he even did, which I doubt, is because they helped poorer people and his friends couldn't make money on it. Period.

newsjunkie on September 21, 2008 at 09:31 PM

news,

I saw a story today where one of the female English Ministers said that Palin wasn't doing any favor for the rest of the women in the world seeking office.

Posted by newsjunkie

Showing that sharp wit, of a dead slug again?

choice of a man that has 7 houses and 13 cars is not in touch with middle america.

372america1st on September 21, 2008

How many did Kerry have again?

Posted by Dan_A_Cactus** on September 21, 2008 at 10:34 PM

Thank you CatAss, I know you loved it.

I wonder, did Obama get in touch with middle America, while in Hollywood?

Maybe his wife and Axlerod did when they were throwing the poor out of that hospital in Chicago.

Face fact, McCain was one of the few calling for more regulation on this.

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 21, 2008 at 10:22 PM

When and where? Obama actually helped sponsor a bi-partisan bill last year.

So you agree with Obama...for exactly the same reasons he gave.

You're making progress even though I had to pull it out of you with a pliers.

So you feel like you are being held hostage by he practices and performance of your own Party leadership? You actually were proud of the way McCain acted this past week?

He looked lost and more than a little upset with his own staff? Maybe he's not so out of it after all. I would have fired them not Cox.

Maybe his wife and Axlerod did when they were throwing the poor out of that hospital in Chicago.

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 21, 2008 at 10:44 PM

Source and link?

SandyH, Apparently the Obama team is right when they think they have a better chance with FL than OH. Palin is a turnin'em off. I don't know why my links don't show up, but if you click on the invisable space it will work?

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/state/article818181.ece

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 21, 2008 at 09:59 PM

Did nothing? If it wasn't for equal opportunity legislation I would never have had a chance to reach higher in life. Didn't you listen to your lovely Sarah? She too thanked the Democrats for giving her a leg up.

It's just one of many reasons Democrats deserve another chance to show the world what we can accomplish as a nation with the right policies and the right leader.

Your side had complete control for eight years after more than 25 years of dividing the country with wedge issues and lies. Look at how low it has taken all of us.

Do you really like being a banana republic and treated like easy pickings for the likes of terrorists, Communists, and even other banana republics?

You're McNuts.

Posted by chassie on September 21, 2008 at 10

What does it mean chassie? I guess that will raise the price even further if the "word" tomorrow morning is that people are scrambling to buy it, right? The one thing I have no luck in is the stock market, I despise it. My first forray, I lost 1700 bucks. You have to really keep up with it and I, obviously, didn't have a clue.

CHICAGO, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Michelle Obama's job at the University of Chicago Medical Center included responsibility for a program to steer the uninsured away from its emergency room.

The wife of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is now on leave from her position. She was earning $317,000 a year as vice president of the hospital.

Some top Obama advisers are also involved with the Urban Health Initiative, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Dr. Eric Whitaker took over the program when the hospital hired him in 2007, and the hospital contracted with a company owned by David Axelrod, Barack Obama's top strategist, for a public relations campaign.

Another Obama adviser, Valerie Jarrett, heads the medical center's board and approved the hiring of Whitaker's company.

Hospital officials say uninsured patients seeking treatment for minor illness and injury were overwhelming the emergency room. The program tried to find doctors in the neighborhood for those patients and says they will get faster treatment elsewhere.

"Senator Obama sees community health centers as a vital part of efforts to invest in prevention and reduce costs," said Ben LaBolt, a spokesman..

Chicago Alderman Toni Preckwinkle said some doctors and nurses have complained to her that the medical center is dumping patients.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/08/23/Michelle_Obama_oversaw_contentious_program/UPI-30591219528480/
=====================

I had an older story in file, Sandy, but I can't find it right now.

How many did Kerry have again?

Posted by Dan_A_Cactus**

kerry isn't running. and had he been running, 5 estate homes would have been an issue in this climate too.

last i looked it's obama vs mccain.

even if obama has a mansion, most people would say that's 1 and different from 7, doesn't serve mccain very well, nor does his frequent lapses in memory. raises questions in voters' minds.

so mccain leads obama in two polls:

cars...13:1

homes...7:1

i'd venture a guess that mccain leads in other polls too?

Did nothing?

Sandy

Must not have, it was not in the senate record, maybe them republicans, burned the evidence years ago, just to make the democrats look bad now.

hahahahahahahhahahahaahahahahahahah

enough for today, good night.

Posted by Dan_A_Cactus** on September 21, 2008 at

Geez, this is nothing. Yes the uninsured are putting hospitals out of business, especially when they go to the emergency room for a cold and minor things. It costs you and me, the taxpayer, more in higher medical costs. They redirected the people to more appropriate means of care, cheaper and more fitting. I am having some kind of Deja Voo here.

You know my dads best friend is this hell bent repuke. My dad said, yeah but the dems have all the social programs. I said, Dad, if we don't have clinics for these people to go to with contagious disease, then they spread it to other people and they spread it and so on and so on. It cost the US billions in dollars in loss of work and everyone now going to the doctor that caught it. It is soo much cheaper to let them go to the clinic for 20 bucks and get some antibiotic. You have to think Macroeconomically. Why are you people soo angry over programs that are humane and save us Billions. Let's face it the dems are smarter and the republicans have conned the sheep with their right wing radio and fox. You have lost the ability to reason.

newsjunkie on September 21, 2008 at 10:56 PM

news,

Thanks for posting the link to that article.

If the Undecided in Florida and other must-win states for Republicans find Palin so offensive, I can only imagine what they thought of how strange McCain acted this week.

Obama won over a lot of voters including older people during this crisis by staying calm and confident. He assembled a panel of advisers from all political persuasions and showed us how a true leader approaches a problem.

McCain is going to use Palin as his scapegoat when he loses...you can already see how uncomfortable he is with her at rallies. They have not bonded and he feels upstaged. For a man with as big an ego as his you know what that means.

I used to be angry about how he was using her to gain some clout with the Far Right and then unload on her when he needs someone to place all the blame.

But after seeing how she's conducted herself since McCain asked her to be his V.P., it's obvious that she is a serial liar and must inflate her own resume to have any credibility.

She's the kind of female that still hasn't figured it out. You must earn respect not demand it. Some men may like her swagger, but they aren't going to trust her handling their money or military...especially the military.

Obama has Biden and all the retired generals as his war room advisers. Palin will be McCain's national security expert?

That's what she said. She will head up energy and security. She has no expertise in either and is too stupid not to know it. And McCain is too stupid not to know it, too.

He's the goof ball who has Phil Graham as his chief economic adviser...the man who caused this economic meltdown. Wonder of wonders.

Fox's Megyn Kelly Works Over McCain Flack

This morning, Megyn Kelly roadblocked several of Bounds' attempts at glib explanations, ordering Bounds to "stay on point," relating that "every independent analyst who took a look at" McCain's contention that Obama would be raising taxes on the middle class noted that "that's not true," suggesting that McCain "level with the American people," and even providing pushback on the McCain camp's misleading contentions on an age-appropriate sex-education bill that Obama voted for in the Illinois State Senate.

Palin's transparency proposal already exists in D.C.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (CNN) – Sarah Palin likes to tell voters around the country about how she “put the government checkbook online” in Alaska. On Thursday, Palin suggested she would take that same proposal to Washington.

...

There’s just one problem with proposing to put the federal checkbook online – somebody’s already done it. His name is Barack Obama.

Watch the video clip where McCain's VP pick says "Obama hasn't lifted a finger".

This ticket is getting loonier by the day.

Kerry is not running for President. Neither is Dodd, Gore, or any of the others that the trolls constantly attack because they can't lay a hand on Obama's maturity and knowledge of how to get legislation enacted.

So they will play the race card and try to start a war/incite a terrorist attack.

It's the same old song but they don't have a cowboy singing it any longer. McCain's rendition of Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran didn't win any awards or sell any CDs.

Thank You John McCain

This ticket is getting loonier by the day.

dorsano,

not to be to sarcastic... sorta does look like loonie toons...

mc(elmer)fudd and a cheerleader.

mccain mumbled while looking somewhat lost on 60 minutes tonite. no way presidential.

Dan_A_Cactus** on September 21, 2008 at 11:17 PM

Thank you for the link.

It proves that the medical center was addressing a problem not allowing it to become a crisis. And by finding other clinics where patients could receive better routine medical services, it was freeing up the emergency for real emergencies...for the poor and everyone else.

How is that throwing people out on the streets?

You can't recognize real leadership or problem solving skills when you see them. No wonder you are so happy with the current administration's performance and the prospect of McCain over-reacting us into more crisis situations.

You obviously like to gamble and live recklessly. It could cost you a lot someday. I wouldn't be so glib about it. Seconds could make a real difference when you're wheeled into an emergency room with a life threatening condition.

Good try, but no cigar.

Who's leading our country? Bush's Overseas Policies Begin Resembling Obama's

On a range of major foreign policy issues over the past year, Bush has pursued strategies and actions very much along the lines of what Sen. Obama has advocated during his presidential race, according to the Illinois Democrat's campaign and many diplomatic and security experts.

america1st on September 21, 2008 at 11:48 PM

america1st,

Oh, heck. I missed that. We were watching the Yankee game and I completely forgot.

I guess I'll see all the highlights tomorrow on 24/7. So McCain did his usual POW re-enactment and blamed everything on the FEC and Cox?

Watch John McCain tell 60 Minutes that he's still proud of his vote to deregulate

Scott Pelley: In 1999, you were one of the senators who helped pass deregulation of Wall Street. Do you regret that now?

John McCain: No, I think the deregulation was probably helpful to the growth of our economy.

"Probably"? Hmmm ... Maybe there's some doubt in his mind - but he doesn't realize yet that his ideology is dead Merrill Lynch.

Posted by america1st on September 21, 2008 at 11:48 PM not to be to sarcastic... sorta does look like loonie toons...

Is it sarcastic if it's true?

I'm not sure when it was that our country last asked that question?

New Doubts Over Palin's Troopergate Claims

An internal government document obtained by ABC News appears to contradict Sarah Palin's most recent explanation for why she fired her public safety chief, the move which prompted the now-contested state probe into "Troopergate."

Alaska town opens 'road to nowhere'

Still without a bridge, Alaska town gets its 'road to nowhere,' thanks to US taxpayers

The road to nowhere opened when the current GOP ticket was nominated.

sandyh,

didn't miss much w/mccain. he repeats the surge and his war pow cards. obama looked presidential.

you must see where obama hugged a woman in the crowd that lost her husband of 70(?) yrs. touching moment.

still like those poll numbers:

cars ... 13:1
houses ... 7:1

dorsano on September 21, 2008 at 11:52 PM

dors,

Reality bites...Bush in he ass?

You get the feeling that Bush I and his crowd finally stepped in realizing that things had gone too far. Maybe Bush wasn't happy with the somber mood that met him everywhere he traveled in the world and gave in to Poppy?

Cheney seems to be operating like, well, the Fourth Branch lately. He isn't cooperating with Rice and traveling around to places that can only spell trouble down the road for this country.

Do you think he's laying down cable so he can continue broadcasting after the show is canceled? What's Rumsfeld up to lately? I don't like it when we aren't sure what they're doing.

Halderman says that Cheney was shut down by Bush on The Surge. I wonder what he's been doing in retaliation besides baiting Putin and starting up the Cold War again. What contact does he have with McCain on a regular basis?

Well, I'm turning in, too.

Good night, all.

Your source is the white house. HA You mean GW is telling people that is what he did and you believe GW. That is your first problem.
368
newsjunkie on September 21, 2008 at 10:11 PM

The White House wouldn't put it out if someone could check it and prove it wrong ya dope.

Is it sarcastic if it's true?

dorsano,

suppose it's a little bit of both. i'm trying not to be too negative i guess. having we put up with a buffon for 8 yrs, sure hate for us to get saddled with a fudd for another 4.

Posted by SandyH on September 22, 2008 at 12:16 AM Reality bites...Bush in the ass

One can only live in ideological dreams for so long before the laws of the creation set off the alarm clock.

Good night, Sandy.

off and away. see you folks another day.

mccain leads obama in

two polls... 13:1 and 7:1

america1st on September 22, 2008 at 12:21 AM suppose it's a little bit of both.

Well, it's true - the ticket is beginning to look pretty looney - I don't know the answer as to whether or not truth constitutes sarcasim - maybe it's creation's form of sarcasim.

i'm trying not to be too negative i guess. having we put up with a buffon for 8 yrs, sure hate for us to get saddled with a fudd for another 4.

Most people in the country aren't looney so we are in good shape.

dorsano on September 22, 2008 at 12:03 AM

Do you honestly think McCain understands what deregulation is? Even if he did once, would he know now?

I'm not being smart ass here. I really don't think he knows what's going on with the economy just like he admitted earlier this year.

He's showing signs of not even knowing for sure what's going on with his own campaign. They send him places and give him scripts which he doesn't seem to recognize as he delivers the speeches.

It's almost a form of elder abuse of an old soldier that Rove is orchestrating this time. If McCain hadn't been such an obvious opportunist his whole of his political life, I would almost feel sorry for the old coot. But I hear he's a mean task master and doesn't treat others with respect.

Perhaps he's getting exactly what he deserves. I hope we end up with something better. We've had one fool for a president for the last eight years. I don't need another Alzheimer victim with anger issues commanding our armed forces.

What a mess. The Republican Party is the decline and fall of Western civilization. I can only think of maybe one or two of their leadership that you could rely on in a crisis and neither of them have any clout within their Party any longer.

One that sad note, I'm outta here.

bye.

Posted by america1st on September 22, 2008 at 12:23 AM off and away. see you folks another day.

Goodnight, all.

The fundamentals of looniness in our country are not as strong as John McCain is making them out to be.

You dumb republicans, the republicans are the last people to make abortion illegal, cause then, gasp, they would have to set up social programs to get pre natal and post natal care for all of the forced pregnancies of teenagers. You know how much you republicans care about babies, surely they deserve medical care. They Used You like the pawns and sheeple you are. Now look at what you got.

We vote our morals, value is what your house was worth before you voted your "values."

370newsjunkie on September 21, 2008 at 10:22 PM

Newsjunkie, you make my point. It seems you just called me a Repub. My point was that as I Dem of the South, I found his statement insulting. All you did is make my point that nothing goes on here except a bunch of name calling. You jumped the gun and made an assumption. We all know what happend when you assume!!!!!!!!!!!

Loan Titans Paid McCain Adviser Nearly $2 Million

Senator John McCain’s campaign manager was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say.

ABC's This Week on McCain: "Un-presidential behavior."

George Will: "I suppose the McCain campaign's hope is that when there's a big crisis, people will go for age and experience...The question is, who in this crisis looked more presidential, calm and un-flustered? It wasn't John McCain who, as usual, substituting vehemence for coherence, said 'let's fire somebody. And picked one of the most experienced and conservative people in the administration, Chris Cox, and for no apparent reason... It was un-presidential behavior by a presidential candidate."

Posted by pcgeek2008 on September 22, 2008 at 12:54 AM We vote our morals, value is what your house was worth before you voted your "values."

Do you really vote your "morals"?

Gay Americans aren't American?

Women who are raped or impregnated by their father or brother and choose to have an abortion are criminals?

Give me a break.

Republicans for Choice

You can join hereMr. PcGeek.

Here's the mission

To ensure that the Republican Party's Statement of Principles is equally applied: The Republican Party wants "[a]n America with a smaller less burdensome government that trusts its people to decide what is best for them ... [a]n America where freedom of expression, individual conscience, and personal privacy are cherished and respected."

They don't vote their "values" I assume.

The "values" guacamoli is Rove speak for "You elect Republicans and we'll do nothing for you".

Tell it to FOX and Rush - it will play well there.

The old Rove coalition died with our current President, friend - best form a new one.

If you don't - don't expect me to help you form one.

New World on Wall Street: And then there were none

Federal regulators converted Wall Street's remaining stand-alone investment banks - Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley - into bank holding companies Sunday night.

...

"The separation of investment banking and commercial banking has come to an end," said Bert Ely, an independent banking consultant.

I wonder if the architect's of McCain's economic policy are awake. Wake up and smell the coffee McCain advisors.

Mad as hell - taxpayers lash out

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- "NO NO NO. Not just no, but HELL NO," writes Richard, a reader from Anchorage, Alaska.

"This is robbery pure and simple," Anna from Denver posted on CNNMoney.com's TalkBack blog this weekend.

Yep - it's the Reagan brand of free marketeering at work - and everyone knows it.

410pcgeek2008 on September 22, 2008 at 12:54 AM

The southern states didn't matter then. Did you see the percentages that went republican over dem. Please, it's not that they don't care, they just don't get it. Why would you be offended by the truth. You know as well as me they voted their "values." You were offended, give me a break. You can't believe the name calling here, try going to a republican site, or surely you've heard the right wing wack republican radio's insults over the air every day seven days a week. Please.

Goodnight, newsjunkie

Ruh-Roh... PALIN DRAWS 60,000 At Florida Rally!

Obama draws crowd of 20,000 in North Carolina...
Meanwhile- Sarah Palin draws crowd of 60,000 in Florida!

Thousands of Floridians lined up to see Sarah Palin today in Florida. 60,000 people showed up to see Governor Palin in a community of about 75,000. (WPTV)

Women supporters filled the stands at Governor Palin's campaign stop today in Florida.
The Palm Beach Post reported:

More than four hours before Palin arrived, cars and golf carts jammed nearby roads and thousands of people clogged the Disneyesque Sumter Landing town center area to wait in the baking heat for a glimpse of Palin.

Palin T-shirts, buttons and hats - most of them making reference to lipstick, pit bulls, hockey or some combination of those elements - were everywhere. There were also people wearing McCain items, but usually with Palin's name on them somewhere.

Deborah Abriola came from Orlando and wore a button that said "Don't Let The Lipstick Fool You - Pitbulls for McCain-Palin" because she said she feels kinship with Palin as a fellow "lipstick mom."

...Abriola described herself as a conservative Democrat who sees Palin as a role model for mothers.

Her friend, Cheryl LeDuc, said she's a Republican but wants to see a shakeup in the GOP. She said Palin "is conservative and she's going to clean up Washington, including the Republicans."

Unlike their competition, it doesn't look like the McCain-Palin camp had to offer beer or Marxist rock bands to lure the supporters.

More... A plane flew overhead with a banner declaring, "The South is Palin Country."

Sarah Palin Is As Popular as Princess Diana

What's there not to like?

The Daily Mail reported today that America's most popular governor is also as popular as Princess Diana in the hearts and minds of Americans.
No wonder the Obama supporting Far Left liberals hate her so much.

USS Neverdock adds that unlike Obama and his terrorist, anti-American, and anti-Semitic friends- Palin is not just a breath of fresh air, she's like an oxygen tank.

What Should Be Done with the 9/11 Hijackers' Remains?

So, we've got some pieces and bits of 13 of the 9/11 hijackers.

The question is, what do we do with them?

Seven years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the remains of 13 of the 19 men responsible have been identified and are in the custody of the F.B.I. and the New York City medical examiner's office.

But no one has formally requested the remains in order to bury them.

"Politically, one can understand that this is a hot potato," said Muneer Fareed, secretary general of the Islamic Society of North America and a former professor of Islamic studies. "People don't want to identify with the political equivalent of Jeffrey Dahmer."

What would happen if someone asked for the hijackers' remains is not clear.

Neither the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which holds the remains of the nine hijackers whose planes hit the Pentagon and crashed in a field in Somerset County, Pa., nor the New York City medical examiner's office, which holds the remains of 4 of the 10 hijackers who flew planes into the World Trade Center buildings, has policies to deal with such a request.

"If and when it comes up, we'll address it then," an F.B.I. spokesman, Richard Kolko, said.

The bureau could turn down such requests, Mr. Kolko said, because the Sept. 11 investigation is an open case.

The medical examiner's office, which, like the F.B.I., refuses to say where exactly the remains are being kept, will eventually put together a committee to come up with a policy, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the office.

Groups representing the victims of Sept. 11 are not sure what should be done with the remains.

"It would be sadly ironic if they ended up being properly buried or sent to a Muslim country when many of the remains of the victims remain buried in a garbage dump," said Kurt Horning, a founder with his wife, Diane, of the group WTC Families for Proper Burial. "I know we'd feel very distressed."

The Hornings' son, Matthew, 26, was working at the World Trade Center and died there on Sept. 11. Their group has been advocating for excavation of the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island where ash and other debris from the World Trade Center site was buried. The group believes the debris may contain identifiable remains.

The identified remains of the victims of Sept. 11 are regularly returned to their families upon request, after officials have made positive identifications.

I have an idea for the remains of those asswipes, they should cast them into those round disks that they put into urinals. Or they could mix them into the plastic fabric of Depends.

That way, after being pissed upon many many times, they will always remain sewage.

Or they could intermingle their remains with hog feed so that those remains will eventually be discharged in a hog manure settling pond.

Posted by Sally-* on September 22, 2008 at 04:34 AM

what about squirrel feed?

Obama's Social Security Whopper
September 20, 2008
He tells Social Security recipients their money would now be in the stock market under McCain's plan. False.
www.factcheck.org

Scaring Seniors
September 19, 2008
Updated: September 20, 2008
An Obama-Biden ad says McCain supports "cutting benefits in half" for Social Security recipients. False!

factcheck.org

"Obama's Radicalized Mind (Part Two of Two) [incl. Rashid Khalidi]

by Candace de Russy
Family Security Matters
September 18, 2008
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.1204/pub_detail.asp

Two Decades of B.L.T. ‘Mentor' Wright

What of Obama's widely reported, now former membership in Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, led by Rev. Jeremiah Wright of "'God D*** America!'" renown, and whose mission is rooted in radical and racist "black liberation theology" (B.L.T.)?

Jerome Corsi shows that how this ideology refashions the biblical history and message of Jesus Christ in order to put forth a revolutionary racial call. Hence black liberation theology per se, the work of black theologians such as James Cone and Dwight Hopkins, actually originates in the thought of black political radicals, including Stokely Carmichael, Malcolm X (who, recall, greatly impressed the younger Obama), and Frantz Fanon. Cone, notably, stated that black power entails "'emancipation of black people from white oppression by whatever means black people deem necessary.'"

It was this "B.L.T." zealot Wright Obama called his "spiritual mentor." It was to this extremist congregation, dedicated to a warped ideology of "black values" which demonizes whites, that he became a committed member and to which he donated substantially. Obama was married and had his children baptized by this minister. Obama and Wright took it on themselves to visit dictator Muammar Khadafy in Libya, and the pastor presented a lifetime achievement award to the Nation of Islam's Louis Farrakhan. In the sermon from which Obama took the title of his second memoir, The Audacity of Hope, Wright admits to having been a militant Black Muslim in the mold of Malcolm X. Wright has also blamed whites for starvation in the world, defamed black Republicans, and claimed that the U.S. government created the virus which causes AIDS.

Yet Obama and his wife Michelle stayed on at Trinity, remaining silent for over 20 years in face of what they could not have failed to recognize as their minister's hateful tirades. Only after his ravings had been made public, and out of rank political expedience, did Obama finally break his silence on the matter. In a botched attempt to bury the scandal, he defended Wright, all the while feebly distancing himself from his diatribes.

Most disquieting, however, throughout this affair, and for the two decades Obama attended Trinity, the Democrat Party's now presidential nominee never condemned black liberation theology. Voters should demand that he do so."

John McCains campaign managers 2 million ties to prevent market rules. Click blank space below.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/22/rick-davis-mccains-campai_n_128183.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-wilson/sarah-palins-churches-and_b_124611.html

Above is a link to palins witch church, Republicans you need to see, cause they are not going to tell you on fox or republican radio. If it is blank space click anyway.

Can't wait until two weeks before the eletion when obama springs this one in a commercial. This makes Wright look perfectly normal.

Posted by neo_con on September 22, 2008 at

He is on tape saying he is for privatizing social security. Please, that is all we need, coupled with palins scary church and the fact that McCAin is as dumb as iraq, I'm feeling pretty good about the election.

bush wanted to pritize ssi and macain was his cheerleader so it true to not false that he wants to cut ssi

YOU hate the country your Republican Party has created in the last eight years and still can't face the fact.

349SandyH on September 21, 2008 at 09:04 PM/p>

Herein lies the problem with these guys, Sandy.

The FIRST time one of them admits that this is not the Republican party they originally signed up for, that this neo-con government has ruined their party, that they should have worked harder getting McCain as their candidate back in 2000 when he still had some honor, that this administration has ruined the image of their fiscal responsibility party of old, THEN I shall give them grudging respect for at least acknowledging that there is a problem here!

But I doubt I shall see the day, that they would admit such a thing, because to do so takes a big man, and there are no REAL men trolling here.

good morning

The White House wouldn't put it out if someone could check it and prove it wrong ya dope.

403Sally-* on September 22, 2008 at 12:21 AM/p>

bwhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaha

SEE, this is why you remain so stupid, Stevie boy!

You BELIEVE that the White House would not dare tell lies! that for almost 8 years, NOTHING but lies have come out of this White House. That their Press Sec stands up every single day and lies and slants and distorts! And that between the Right Wing media too afraid to throw it back in their faces , and stupid people like you who believe their bullcrap they have gotten away with it!

So I guess you think that every statement that came out of Clinton's administration was the truth, and nothing but the Truth??? Thanks!

who is necon

dusty, neo con is our German visitor, who none of this is any of his business, but like the others must have a place to spew his hatred from his gut! Like the others, he is dumber than dirt!

.

I guess the neo con finally got a glimpse of that tape of palins church, cause he/she is gone. Just like McCAin will be when the world sees this. A reporter from Alaska was on Olberman and she said this was not common knowlegdge in alaska and yes, it would freak alaskans out.

Just thank the good people of the US for vetting.

bb after breakfast.........

Good morning, all.

by Candace de Russy

Family Security Matters

Hi, Pam.

Well, isn't this special? It's always fun to see what droppings the trolls have left during the night.

These kinds of organizations are sponsored and in most cases created by right wing think tanks. Their sole mission is to distort facts and cause controversy so voters don't focus on real problems that that the Republicans can't or won't fix.

I love their simplistic names like Family Research Council. What a bunch of BS.

Every time somebody appears in the media affiliated with one of these front groups, it's a given that they are not experts on anything except propaganda. It's a testament to a lazy, sensationalized yellow journalism in America that they are welcomed much less allowed to manipulate and monopolize the political discourse in this country.

They are funded by the very same ultra rich authoritarians who think they have the divine right to push everyone else around and steal from the poor.

Our trolls either work for them or find it a lot easier to parrot anything these creeps dump on the internet and airways than do their own research and maybe actually have some credibility.

Being part of the Far Right movement I suppose satisfies the same urge that juveniles get from belonging to a high school sorority.