Friday, October 31, 2008

FAREWELL, MR. TERKEL

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Terkel dies at 96


CHICAGO – Studs Terkel, the ageless master of listening and speaking, a broadcaster, activist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose best-selling oral histories celebrated the common people he liked to call the "non-celebrated," died Friday. He was 96.

Dan Terkell said his father died at home, and described his death as "peaceful, no agony. This is what he wanted."



96....wow

Sunday, October 26, 2008

ANOTHER PAPER ENDORSES OBAMA......THIS TIME FROM ALASKA

So....now the Anchorage Daily News has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president.

From the ADN via Buzz Flash :

Obama for president

Palin's rise captivates us but nation needs a steady hand

"Alaska enters its 50th-anniversary year in the glow of an improbable and highly memorable event: the nomination of Gov. Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential candidate. For the first time ever, an Alaskan is making a serious bid for national office, and in doing so she brings broad attention and recognition not only to herself, but also to the state she leads."

"Alaska's founders were optimistic people, but even the most farsighted might have been stretched to imagine this scenario. No matter the outcome in November, this election will mark a signal moment in the history of the 49th state. Many Alaskans are proud to see their governor, and their state, so prominent on the national stage."

"Gov. Palin's nomination clearly alters the landscape for Alaskans as we survey this race for the presidency -- but it does not overwhelm all other judgment. The election, after all is said and done, is not about Sarah Palin, and our sober view is that her running mate, Sen. John McCain, is the wrong choice for president at this critical time for our nation."

"Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, brings far more promise to the office. In a time of grave economic crisis, he displays thoughtful analysis, enlists wise counsel and operates with a cool, steady hand. The same cannot be said of Sen. McCain."

"Sen. Obama warned regulators and the nation 19 months ago that the subprime lending crisis was a disaster in the making. Sen. McCain backed tighter rules for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but didn't do much to advance that legislation. Of the two candidates, Sen. Obama better understands the mortgage meltdown's root causes and has the judgment and intelligence to shape a solution, as well as the leadership to rally the country behind it. It is easy to look at Sen. Obama and see a return to the smart, bipartisan economic policies of the last Democratic administration in Washington, which left the country with the momentum of growth and a budget surplus that President George Bush has squandered."

"On the most important issue of the day, Sen. Obama is a clear choice."


Well, I guess not everyone from Alaska wants their guv'ner next in line at the White House at any and all costs. Or is it that they don't want her a heartbeat away from the Oval office should McCain drop dead?


With all this attention on Alaska; and the amount of Federal dollars they get back compared to what they pay in (which I would say is socialism, Sarah) along with Todd Palin and his buddies at the Alaska Independence Party; maybe, just maybe Alaska won't be getting such a big part of the gov't dole and it can go to the states that actually pay in more than they get back.

STUPID VOTERS...YEH THEY'RE OUT THERE

Thought I'd share this with everybody.

Found this phrase on a picture of a sign at Buzz Flash :

A WORKING PERSON voting REPUBLICAN is like
a CHICKEN voting for Col SANDERS

MCCAIN TORTURED? NOT GUANTANAMO STYLE!

By now everyone has heard how John McCain was "tortured" repeatedly by his North Vietnamese captors. Maybe this is all another big republican lie to garner votes.

I can't speak for anyone else but the Vietnamese guy is just as believable...if not more so...then the (lying) republican!

From UK Times Online via Buzz Flash :

‘John McCain was never tortured in my jail’, says Tran Trong Duyet

Tran Trong Duyet, the former prison director who now surrounds himself with caged birds in a house in Hai Phong, first met Mr McCain a year after he had been shot down. He recalls a defiant rule-breaker, the patriotic son of an admiral and a fervent believer in the war. What he does not recall, however, is a victim of torture or violence. “I never tortured or mistreated the PoWs and nor did my staff,” says Mr Duyet in contradiction of Mr McCain’s account and those of other prisoners. “The Americans were dropping bombs on military and civilian targets – so it’s not as if they had important information we needed to extract.” Mr Duyet says that he sympathises with Mr McCain and other PoWs for claiming that they were tortured. “It’s up to the Americans to decide whether or not he counts as a hero. He was very brave, very manly, he dared to argue with me and he was very intelligent. But all the talk of being tortured is for the sake of votes.”


There's more at the link.

Lying Rethuglican Bastards will do anything to get elected!

NEW EMBLEM FOR THE USA

Today's announcement from the Federal Government:


Emblem.jpg


Yup, that pretty much says it all.

Special thanks to Ronald Reagan, G.H.W. Bush, G.W. Bush, AIG, Treasury Dept, Federal Reserve, and of course Wall Street.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

DIVISON IN THE RANKS

....and the finger pointing begins....

From Politico:

Blame game: GOP forms circular firing squad

KEEP YOUR FUCKING RELIGION OUT OF POLITICS

If you want to "follow" some religious belief, or "believe in" someone's religious dogma, that's totally up to you. Just keep it the hell out of politics in this country.

From via Information Clearing House : Keep Religion Away From the Ballot

By Larry Beinhart

October 25, 2008

The Constitution, Article VI, Section 3, states "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution, said, "An alliance or coalition between Government and religion cannot be too carefully guarded against."

Here's Theodore Roosevelt: "If there is one thing for which we stand in this country, it is for complete religious freedom, and it is an emphatic negation of this right to cross- examine a man on his religion before being willing to support him for office."

In 1979, four conservative activists, Paul Weyrich, Terry Dolan, Richard Viguerie (all Catholics) and Howard Phillips (a Jew who'd become an evangelical Christian) were looking for wedge issues to break up the Democratic Party. Right-wing economics and foreign policies had no popular appeal. So they came up with abortion, opposition to gay rights and (thinly disguised) racism, concerns that could be found clustered among religious conservatives. They recruited a minister, Jerry Falwell, funded him with corporate money and started the Moral Majority.

It succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. The Religious Right became the base of the Republican Party, and the GOP gained control of federal government for the first time since the Great Depression.


The rest is here: , or here:http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21085.htm


We don't need our country run by a bunch of religious nuts!
Whenever religion takes control of a government bad things happen.
Wars are started and innocent people die needlessly.
Think about how many wars have been started in the name of "god", or "allah"....now think of how many billions, yes billions, of people have suffered and died because one group didn't believe what another group believed. Gee...kinda like Iran, or Nazi Germany.....or Israel with the Palestinians.

PALIN + DOMESTIC TERRORIST = ANTI-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES

I saw this when NBC broadcast it. Palin all but came right out and said that abortion clinic bombers and doctor killers are not domestic terrorists.

Found this at Buzz Flash:

Sarah Palin Condones Domestic Terrorism by Anti-Abortionists -- Mark Karlin's Editor's Blog

That's to Karlin's post.

This is the link Buzz Flash had up for the video.

"If you don’t believe us, watch the video, as they say."

Neither McCain nor Palin answered straight up. They both skirted the question.

If you agree with what a domestic terrorist is doing, in my book, that makes you a DOMESTIC TERRORIST, SARAH!

Yeh, you, Sarah Palin, a DOMESTIC TERRORIST!

MORE BAILOUT......

Ok....so first it's the banks we taxpayers (not our choice) HAVE TO bailout. Now big insurance companies...."including The Hartford, Prudential and MetLife".....want the Feds to bail them out, too.

So....let's see....more taxpayer dollars for the BIG MONEY PEOPLE. As a taxpayer who is being forced, as all of us are, into this position by big money, "Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson" and "the Federal Reserve," I want to know when it's my turn to get a bailout!

From the Washington Post:

Bailout Expands to Insurers

Treasury to Take Stakes in Firms as Distress Spreads Beyond Banks

Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, October 25, 2008

The Treasury Department is dramatically expanding the scope of its bailout of the financial system with a plan to take ownership stakes in the nation's insurance companies, signaling new concerns about a sector of the economy whose troubles until now have been overshadowed by the banking industry.....

....firms have taken losses from mortgage-related securities and other investments and are struggling to replenish their coffers.

....firms have taken losses from mortgage-related securities and other investments and are struggling to replenish their coffers.

Go to Bailout Expands to Insurers for the rest.

I sure would like my "coffers" replenished...and I'm just as sure you'd like yours replenished, too.

Monday, October 20, 2008

TWO TENS AND A PLUNGE

Here's a triple feature for ya kids.

From Alter Net:

10 Reasons for Democrats to Think Positive Despite the McCain Sleazathon

1. Obama shatters all fund-raising records in extraordinary September outpouring of $150 million.

2. Obama has a massive lead in newspaper endorsements: 94-28 including 18 that endorsed Bush in '04.

3. Sarah Palin is a major drag on McCain.

4. Obama is still strong in the polls -- despite a temporary softening, Obama hasn't really lost any ground.5. Obama is out-advertising McCain 4 -1.

5. Obama is out-advertising McCain 4 -1.


6. Conservatives and Republicans are bailing on McCain.


7. The sleaze isn't working so well.

8. Major Latino vote for Obama.

9. Early voting increases dramatically.

10. Obama's amazing grassroots, on-the-ground campaign to register and get voters to the polls.

....and.....

The 10 Dirtiest Election Tricks the Republicans Have Tried So Far

1. Rush Limbaugh's Racist Tactics

2. Racist Attacks on Immigration

3. Robo-Calls

4. Widespread Voter Intimidation

5. RNC Sends out Preposterous Mailer Suggesting Obama Hates Newborn Children

6. Smears on ACORN

7. Outrage and Barbarism at McCain-Palin Rallies

8. McCain Hires Slimeball GOP Operative Who Sank His Own Chances in 2000 in South Carolina

9. Insider Whispering Campaign That Obama Is Really a Muslim

10. Insinuating that Obama's Gigantic Small Donor Fundraising Operation Is "Dangerous"

....and then the plunge.

Palin's Plunge: Voters Sour on McCain's VP Pick

By Thomas Edsall, Huffington Post
The more voters learn about Sarah Palin, the more wary they become. Her favorability numbers are dropping like a rock. Once the focus of post-convention Republican euphoria, the Alaska Governor is now viewed as a serious liability to the McCain campaign.

As it stands, Palin's polling numbers are daunting: with the unfolding economic crisis, her favorable to unfavorable ratings have switched from a positive 40-30, according to a September 12-16 New York Times survey, to a negative 32-41 in an October 10-13 survey.

DAVID SIROTA ON POWELL ENDORSMENT

Got this from David Sirota and figured I'd just post the whole thing.


The Powell Endorsement

By David Sirota
Campaign for America's Future, 10/10/08

I was on CNN's American Morning today to discuss Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama this weekend. You can watch the clip here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJtI4rCbK5U

I made the point that the endorsement is far more of a blow to John McCain than a big plus for Obama.
For McCain, Powell abandoning the GOP ship shows a significant portion of the Establishment believes he is going to lose, and that sense of inevitability is going to make it even harder for him to climb back into this race.

For Obama, Powell's endorsement gives him a small bump thanks to Powell's incisive criticism of McCain, but it doesn't give him a huge positive boost on deeper foreign policy issues because Powell has destroyed his own credibility with his now-discredited United Nations speech - the one he knew was chock full of lies, the one that led us into the Iraq War, and the one he refuses to apologize for, even as it remains the single most humiliating and destructive act in contemporary diplomatic history.
As I told CNN, what's far more intriguing is what Obama's own embrace of Powell means in terms of policy. Obama used his own opposition to the war - the war that Colin Powell helped start - as a contrast point in the Democratic primary and in the general election. He is campaigning on a promise to end the war. What does Powell's endorsement of Obama say about those promises? According to newspapers this morning, it may actually say a lot.
The Associated Press reports that "Powell will have a role as a top presidential adviser in an Obama administration, the Democratic White House hopeful said Monday." Obama told NBC News Powell will "have a role as one of my advisers" and held out the possibility of a formal White House or Cabinet role. He also asked Powell to publicly campaign with him.
For the millions of Americans supporting Obama because of his opposition to the war, this is troubling, to say the least.
As CNN reported yesterday, Powell remains totally unrepentant both about his own critical role pushing us to war. For instance, he claims to have tried to stop the war, five years after giving the single most important (and discredited) speech in building the public case for war. He now claims he wants to see the war end, but it's difficult to trust the integrity of a man who denies even the most basic facts of his public involvement in creating the crisis in the first place. That Obama now seems to reflexively trust Powell suggests not foreign policy prudence from the Democratic nominee, but knee-jerk ignorance - and worse, a potential to abdicate the very antiwar themes he's run on for so long.
Clearly, Powell is in this for Powell. He sees that McCain is losing, he'd like to be relevant once again, and so he's glomming onto the Obama candidacy. And it's obvious that what's pushing Obama closer to Powell is the Establishment noise machine. Though there is no evidence Powell commands any grassroots following, he is revered among professional pundits, reporters and politicians for his supposed Seriousness and Respectability (whatever that means). Indeed, the Wall Street Journal today has a good rundown of how the commentariat is celebrating Powell's foreign policy "credibility" and writing Powell's humiliating behavior out of history. Even worse, Democratic politicians are claiming - without evidence, of course - that Powell has some huge following in battleground states.
As a journalist, it sickens me that our power-worshiping press corps refuses to report the basic facts of Powell's record (though I give CNN's John Roberts credit - he made this point explicitly this morning). Really - once the Establishment graces a figure with the aura of "credibility," is there anything that figure can do (say, lead us into a war based on lies) to have that "credibility" revoked?
That said, as a progressive, I don't fault Obama for trying to capitalize on those fabricated memes about Powell, and use them in the context of the campaign. He's got 15 days until the election, and any short-term boost is a good thing.
What I worry about is the day after the election. I am concerned about a President Obama internalizing that Establishment fantasy about Colin Powell the Serious and Credible Voice - and ignoring the actual fact-based story about Colin Powell, the Most Discredited Foreign Policy Voice In Contemporary American History. We don't need another president who refuses to live in the "reality-based world" - we need a president who matches his campaign promises on critical issues like the Iraq War with an understanding of which voices will be the most reliable in making those promises a reality.



So, what do you think? Let my here some voices.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

AMERICAN DREAM?....MAYBE....

From Political Cortex:

The Vanishing American Dream!

Ted Miller of Oakland, California in his Letter to the Editors of the New York Times October 15 is placing the blame for the economic meltdown right where it belongs:

"Thomas L. Friedman should not blame the Americans who opposed laissez-faire capitalism, starting with the Reagan revolution, for the current financial mess, nor its innocent victims for accepting houses they could not afford given to them by the un-regulated Ponzi scheme capitalism.

"The blame lies with those still in the White House, and those trying to get there, who foster the belief that government regulation is not necessary because the market will take of itself."

This letter explained the economic destruction de-regulation has brought about. However, I would never classify all of the 2 ½ million people who went along with buying these foreclosure homes as buying something they couldn't afford at the point in time they made their purchases. But they are not necessarily all innocent victims.

Wait... There's more!

Good read!

THAT DAMN BAILOUT THING.....

Here we go again, more news on how we're gonna get screwed.....

From the Boston Globe:

Bailout to swell debt, hit taxpayers

Analysts say hikes almost inevitable



The shape and scope of the Wall Street bailout is finally clear, but a big question remains: How will we pay for it? Propping up the US financial system will require the federal government to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars, adding to a ballooning deficit that will hamstring the next president and eventually require Americans to pay higher taxes, analysts said.

The deficit was already set to soar as tax collections plunge in the face of a likely recession. But the cost of bailing out financial firms, plus an economic stimulus package promised by congressional leaders, could send the national debt to levels not seen since the Reagan administration, analysts said. Economists forecast the deficit will top $700 billion in the current fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, up from about $450 billion the previous year.


....the rest is here: Bailout to swell debt, hit taxpayers | Analysts say hikes almost inevitable


Ok, on three everybody bend over and grab your ankles....and-a-one, and-a-two, and-a-.....

CANDIDATE McCRACKHEAD GETS SOCIAL SECURITY

Got some info from a friend and fellow blogger at Constantly Amazed.
Is there anyone else out there that didn't know Sen. John McCain was drawing Social Security?

During the second debate McCain said, "We are not going to be able to provide the same benefit for present-day workers that present-day retirees have today."

Here's a sample:

SUMMARY OF SENATOR MCCAIN'S ACTUAL (NOT COMMUNAL) INCOME [FROM STATEMENT A OF TAX RETURN]

2006
2007

Senate Salary:
$161,675
$161,708

Book Royalty Income:
$80,390
$176,508

Social Security Income:
$22,104
$23,157

US Navy Pension*:
$56,496
$58,358

* [Non-Taxable and therefore not reported as income on Statement A]

Here's the link to the whole article: McCain's Tax Returns

I want to know WHY this S.O.B. is collecting social security when he's collecting tax $$$$ for being a Senator.

Great thanks to my pal Shea for the link.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!

SUBJECT: PAYBACK'S ARE A BITCH

Here's more on what Reagan and both Bushes have done to the country, us, and the rest of the world.

From Information Clearing House:

Payback’s A Bitch

By David Michael Green

October 18, 2008 "Information Clearinghouse" -- With apologies to Churchill (who owed a few of his own): Never have so many been so wrong about so much.

There are few things you’d less rather be right now than a conservative/regressive, and that is why. It’s like the old Firesign Theater bit: Everything You Know Is Wrong. “Dogs flew spaceships! The Aztecs invented the vacation! Men and women are the same sex! Our forefathers took drugs! Yes! That's right! Everything you know is wrong!”

And, what’s worse, everybody knows it except you. America is turning decisively away from its tragic thirty-year experiment with Reaganism-Bushism, and for very good reason. Regressives have ruled the country more or less unabated (Democrats, the supposed carriers of the liberal torch, were during these last three decades either frightened, centrist or irrelevent – and usually all three at once). Moreover, during the last years especially – the Cringe Decade – the right was particularly forceful, particularly unfettered, particularly successful at having its way, and particularly arrogant in the self-righteous belief in its authority on all things.

Once small problem, though. If you sat down with a pen and paper and tried to invent a more thorough litany of failure on the right’s watch, you’d be hard pressed to top what they’ve actually done. I suppose inadvertently nuking all the major cities of the United States would be worse, but I can’t think of much else. The simple truth is that the regressive movement took a great and proud and prosperous country and ran it into the ditch at 130 miles an hour. Worse yet, for them – and unlike the bad old years of Willie Horton, or invading Panama, or Clinton’s faux scandals – the public isn’t fooled anymore. They had already caught on to the game, in large part, a few years back, which is why Bush has been moribund in the absolute cellar of job approval ratings for almost the entirety of his second term. Things were already tough for the black hats, but then this economic crisis came and walloped people severely, right in the wallet. One thing about Americans – they’re seriously selfish. You take away their reputation and their liberties and their democracy and they might – might! – vote against you. You take away their money, they’ll rip your fucking lungs out, Bro.

And if John McCain seems particularly short on breath of late, that’s why. There’s nothing quite like the total absence of breathing organs to put a crimp in your respiratory function.

But this crackup is way, way bigger than the righteously deserved toilet training of one John Sidney McCain the Third. This is the end of an era, and not a moment too soon. It now looks like Democrats will win a 1932-style, landslide, realigning election (as I predicted one year ago), smashing McCain in both the popular vote and the Electoral College, picking up double-digit seats in the House, and possibly even gaining a filibuster-proof majority of 60 in the Senate. Even Mitch McConnell, a smug horror story of a minority leader for his decrepit party, looks like he’ll be losing his seat, along with such smarmy dreaded incumbents such as Elizabeth Dole and Norm Coleman. This has all the makings of a serious and even perhaps lethal spanking for the hated GOP.


The rest can be found here: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21045.htm

Quite the read, very interesting.

SUNDAY COMICS

Stole these...sorry Granny...from Granny Ann at Is America Burning:

[best+political+cartoon.jpg]

The Foreign Affairs Expert



Thanks Granny, very very much.



POWELL ENDORSES OBAMA

Betcha the Shrub An' Chainman-face shooter are pissed. Maybe Chainman-face shooter will finally have the big one.

Powell endorses Obama as 'transformational'



Retired General Colin L. Powell, one of the country's most respected Republicans, stunned both parties on Sunday by strongly endorsing Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for president on NBC's "Meet the Press" and laying out a blistering, detailed critique of the modern GOP.

"I think he is a transformational figure," Powell said. "He is a new generation coming ... onto the world stage and on the American stage. And for that reason, I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama."

Powell, making his 30th appearance on "Meet the Press," led into that by saying: "We've got two individuals — either one of them could be a good president. But which is the president that we need now — which is the individual that serves the needs of the nation for the next period of time.

"And I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities — and you have to take that into account — as well as his substance — he has both style and substance, he has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president."

Powell, speaking live in the studio, told moderator Tom Brokaw that he is "troubled" by the direction of the Republican Party and statements by the campaign of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and said he does not believe Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is ready to be president.


The rest is here: http://www.politico.com

Saturday, October 18, 2008

RETHUGLICAN VOTER FRAUD

Got this from Buzz Flash :

Huge Republican Voter Registration Fraud Uncovered by LA Times. 80% of People Surveyed Were Dems or Independents Duped Into Registering as Republicans! Where is the FBI on This One?

YPM, a group hired by the GOP, allegedly deceived Californians who thought they were signing a petition. YPM denies any wrongdoing. Similar accusations have been leveled against the company elsewhere.

SACRAMENTO -- Dozens of newly minted Republican voters say they were duped into joining the party by a GOP contractor with a trail of fraud complaints stretching across the country.

Voters contacted by The Times said they were tricked into switching parties while signing what they believed were petitions for tougher penalties against child molesters. Some said they were told that they had to become Republicans to sign the petition, contrary to California initiative law. Others had no idea their registration was being changed.


And the Rethuglicans want all the people ACORN registered removed from the voter rolls!
Fucking bastards are gonna try to steal another election!

DEBT, DEBT, AND...UH...OH YEH...MORE FUCKING DEBT

Can someone explain to me...and the rest of the civilized intelligent world...how it is that the so-called "tax an' spend liberals" are so bad for the country when the "less government conservatives" are the ones who always, ie Ronny Reagan, create a deep gaping hole of national debt?

From the Washington Post:

Spending Surge Pushing Deficit Toward $1 Trillion
(By Lori Montgomery and Dan Eggen, The Washington Post)

Yeh, let's just keep right on fucking over our kids, grandkids, greatgrandkids.......

And there are people I work with that haven't had a raise since Clinton was in office...of course we were not a trillion dollars in debt.

One trillion in digits: 1,000,000,000,000......that's alota zeros, folks.

MIDDLE CLASS?

Ya'll probably seen this already, but I thought I'd post it anyway.

Cindy McCain Reports $4.2M In 2007 Income

Republican Nominee's Wife Heiress To Beer Distributorship

Republican presidential candidate John McCain's wife, Cindy, reported $4.2 million in income for 2007, nearly $2 million less than she reported the previous year, according to tax returns released by the McCain campaign Friday. Cindy McCain, who files her taxes separately from her husband, paid $1.1 million in taxes, a tax rate of about 26 percent. She reported nearly $530,000 in itemized deductions.


By McCrackhead's standards, his poor wife has fallen into the middle-class.

I wish I could make 10% of what she reported in deductions!

JOB SECURITY

From our friends at Center for American Progress :

A much better use for the Shrub's Advisory System.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

IT IS A RECESSION, STUPID!

Got this in my email...

Dow Plummets 733 Points
The Dow tumbles 733 points on the growing belief that the United States is in a
recession or will be in one.


MORE DETAILS: <http://www.channel3000.com/tu/5BB1efvhf.html>


....and then found this.

By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer

The economy lurched deeper into the doldrums Wednesday and took the stock market down with it, sending the Dow Jones industrials to a staggering 733-point loss and erasing any hopes that the convulsions that have shaken Wall Street for a month were over.

The daylong sell-off came as retailers reported the biggest drop in sales in three years and as a Federal Reserve snapshot showed Americans are spending less and manufacturing is slowing around the country.

Piling up losses in a rough final hour of trading, the Dow ended the day down nearly 8 percent — its steepest drop since one week after Black Monday in 1987. The Dow has wiped out all but about 127 points of its record-shattering 936-point gain on Monday of this week.

Earlier this week, after governments around the world announced plans to use trillions of dollars to prop up banks, including a U.S. plan to buy about $250 billion in bank stocks, the market had appeared to be turning around — or at least calming down.

Instead, relentless selling gave the Dow its 20th triple-digit swing in the past 23 trading sessions, an unprecedented run of volatility. The Dow has finished higher on only one day this month. The loss of 733 points is the second-worst ever for the average, topped only by a 778-point decline Sept. 29.

The plunge in stocks put the nation's economic anxiety front-and-center as the two major presidential candidates, Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain, prepared for their final debate Wednesday night in Hempstead, N.Y.

In the meantime, the man they each hope to succeed met with his Cabinet. President Bush predicted "in the long run that this economy will come back."


Yeh, it'll come back Georgie-boy....but it'll be too fuckin' late for a whole lot of TAXPAYERS!

LIMBAUGH, THE LOUDMOUTH RACIST AT IT AGAIN

Found this....and stole (sorry Fixer)......over at Alternate Brain :

"Angry black people!!!! Digby notices the Rethug blowhards aren't even trying to hide it anymore"

The rethuglicans have been keeping our black brothers and sisters down for over 100 years.....well, until they realized they need the votes....and they still try to keep them down.

Ya gotta check this one out Roy.

A BIG THANK-YOU to both Digby and Fixer.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

BAILOUT....OR SOCIALISM?

This is what the conservatives have feared....more government control.

And look who's getting the ol' ball rollin'....a rethuglican administration and it's self-placed cronies in Treasury!

Here's the link for the rest of the article U.S. Forces Nine Major Banks To Accept Partial Nationalization

From the Washington Post:

U.S. Forces Nine Major Banks To Accept Partial Nationalization

Dow Soars 11 Percent; Biggest Point Gain Ever

By David Cho, Neil Irwin and Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 14, 2008; A01

The U.S. government is dramatically escalating its response to the financial crisis by planning to invest $250 billion in the country's banks, forcing nine of the largest to accept a Treasury stake in what amounts to a partial nationalization.

News that European governments also planned to take stakes in their banks and anticipation of new U.S. measures unleashed a tremendous surge in U.S. stock prices yesterday, with the Dow Jones industrial average soaring to the biggest percentage gain since the 1930s, up 11.1 percent. It ended 936.42 points higher, the largest point gain ever, just days after the Dow had its steepest weekly decline in history.

The Treasury Department's decision to take equity stakes in banks represents a significant reversal, coming just weeks after Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. had opposed the idea. In a momentous meeting yesterday afternoon in Washington, Paulson, flanked by top financial regulators, told the executives of nine leading banks that they needed to participate in the program for the good of the national economy, two industry sources said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The government's initiative, which was to be announced this morning before the markets open for New York trading, is part of a wider plan that goes beyond the $700 billion rescue package approved by Congress earlier this month. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is also set to announce today the launch of an insurance fund to guarantee new issues of bank debt. It will provide unlimited deposit insurance for non-interest-bearing accounts, which are widely used by small businesses for payroll and other purposes.

In pressing the bank executives to accept partial government ownership, Paulson's message was clear: Though officially the program was voluntary, the banks had little choice in the matter. In exchange for giving the Treasury minority stakes, the nine firms would jointly receive an investment worth $125 billion. The government would make another $125 billion available for the next 30 days to thousands of other banks and thrifts across the country.

Federal officials set conditions, telling the banks they could not raise their dividends without government permission and could not offer their executives new retirement packages, though the old packages would remain intact.

Paulson told them the moves would shore up confidence in their own institutions, spark lending throughout the system and send a message to smaller institutions that there is no stigma in accepting federal funding. Though some were reluctant, all of the executives complied.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Wow......it's been a long time......

It's been awhile since the last time I was here....almost two and a half years. I guess there's not many, if any, of my old friends and readers showin' up anymore. Can't blame 'em, I'd probably not show either.

Damn! Long time....'lots happened.....gotten older.

Remember that move that I said we were goin' to make? Mary and I moved into the house her parents owned in June '06. We have .992 of an acre, a weathered carriage barn, 54 trees (down from 61), bushes and beautiful wildflowers, and a house.....which the original dwelling was built in 1843 and added onto 4-5 times. Not a level floor in the place....and we love it.

Mary is doing good, cancer free to this point....still puttin' up with me. If there were saints she'd be one.

Mary lost her Dad this year. She was with him when he went, which was a very good thing. We both miss Jim.

I'm a different story...of course we all know that.

In October '06 I was diagnosed with Ruematoid Arthritis and Fibromyalgia. Just wonderful...joints and tendons/muscles. Was refered to a great Ruematologist, and he's got me on a "cocktail" of meds. Works pretty good, usually. I have both in check for the majority of the time. They each will flare-up at times, sometimes together....that's always fun. I tell you what though......if you want to know if it's gonna rain or snow, just ask. I think I've got an 85% rate of correct calls.

Well, now to why I'm back.....and I bet some of you know already.
Politics! Stupid politicians! The SCREWING of the American Taxpayer!
A BAILOUT? BAILOUT WHO? NOT THE PEOPLE WHO NEED IT!!!
We keep bendin' over and expect different results. Now that's insanity!

There will be more on this and much, much more on this wonderful election year. I know, it's a late start....but better than no start at all.

I'M BACK, AND I'M PISSED!