It Ain't Over 'til It's Over

I want to celebrate prematurely. The Gallup tracking poll has Obama up by 11 points and hasn't had the spread below double the margin of error in two weeks. McCain has failed in two consecutive debates to measure up to Obama in either demeanor, content, or presentation. Palin-McCain are still trying to shore up their base by campaigning in places like North Carolina and using tactics straight out of the Jesse Helms School of Political Science and Cross Burning. (I put Palin first because most conservative bloggers are now only interested in her and some are even suggesting "flipping the ticket" and making Palin the presidential candidate.)

I want to celebrate, but I won't. There is too much to do and too much that can still happen.

• Islamic extremists know that Republicans are their strongest allies in their war against civilization. That is why the October Surprise in 2004 was Bin Laden endorsing John Kerry. Al-Qaeda will do everything it can to help John McCain.
• There are concerted efforts by Republicans to rig the elections in several states including Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and of course Florida. Voter intimidation, vote count fraud, election equipment shortages and breakdowns that only happen in Democratic precincts will all occur. Turning those five states through chicanery would change even a landslide Republican loss into a narrow McCain victory.
• Happy, complacent people forget to vote.

We have to win by such a margin that no amount of fraud will change the result. The very first day to celebrate is Wednesday, November 5.

Hate Is All They Have Left

"Terrorist!" "Kill him!" "Sit down, Boy!"

McCain-Palin rallies have begun to sound like KKK meetings. The hate oozing from the candidates is topped by a vile racism evident in the crowds. It is not hyperbole to observe that the crowds now attending McCain and Palin rallies would enthusiastically lynch the Democratic opposition if they had the chance.

It is as if John McCain has decided that the only remaining chance he has to be President is to encourage the assassination of his opponent. McCain and Palin are inciting a blood lust in their true believers. They are going way beyond the not to subtle use of words like "uppity." They have taken off the gloves and put on the pointy hoods.

Read also Black Political Thought.

Watching the Towers Fall

I had a deja vu feeling this morning while watching the stock market in free fall on CNBC. It was like watching the World Trade Center towers falling on 9-11, in super slow-mo.

This time the terrorists are not swarthy foreigners; they are American through and through. They don't wear white robes and attend mosques; they wear $3000 business suits and are members of the most exclusive country clubs. The terrorists today are not radical Islamists but radical capitalists. Their weapons are not hijacked planes but a banking system of their own creation. Make no mistake, these banker-terrorists are wielding a weapon of mass destruction.

Islamic terrorists are motivated by an insanely misguided morality. Banker-terrorists are not so high-minded. They are motivated by pure greed. The story of terrorist Richard Fuld (CEO of Lehman Brothers) is an example. When faced with troubled liquidity Fuld dismissed concerns and passed out $10 billion in bonuses. On September 11, 2008 (not a coincidental date) Fuld was simultaneously begging for a government bailout and passing out millions of dollars in bonuses.

These Wall Street terrorists are quintessentially Republican. It is the white elite golfing/equestrian/yachting set doing this. One of the Lehman Brothers criminals is President Bush's cousin, George H. Walker. While the Twin Towers was a tragedy, it was a one-off with limited scope. It affected New York and Washington and not much else. The banker-terrorist attack is like the Black Plague. It is infecting every corner of the nation. As days pass, as weeks pass, it is just getting worse and worse.

The radical capitalists are more dangerous than a thousand al-Qaedas.

To Answer My Question:No, We Won't Survive

This is what the toilet looks like from the inside, mid-flush. Three months ago, when things looked so bright and cheery and it was a different and more pleasant world, I wrote an entry in this little blog where I ask the question, "whether the nation will survive until January 20, 2009?" I am going to quote me in my entirety (emphasis added) because I hate being so fucking right all of the time.

July 15, 2008
Bush and the Economy
It's as if Herbert Hoover has been reincarnated in the body of a Texas yokel.

With the nation's banking system on the verge of collapse, with scores of banks in financial distress, its president calls things "sound." With food and fuel inflation the only things driving economic statistics, the president believes inflation is the same as economic growth.

When the nation needs decisive action it gets "To the extent that we find weakness, we'll move." And consequence immobility. Bush's press conference today was like the captain of the Titanic whistling a jaunty tune while the wheelhouse floods.

We are six months and five days until a new president is inaugurated. The only remaining question is whether the nation will survive until January 20, 2009.

A Late Show Moment

Here is a gift for all those Alaskans without televisions - the Biden-Palin debate as seen by David Letterman.

Here Come de Mud

When you have the facts on your side, argue the facts. When you have the issues on your side, argue the issues. When you have neither, throw mud as hard as you can. ~ my rewrite of an Al Gore quote

My father, who was born when Howard Taft was president, has been predicting all year that this will be the dirtiest campaign in his life. McCain is on the wrong side of the facts, the issues, and political momentum. All he has left is flinging filth.

He's Black: In each new ad McCain runs Barack Obama's face will get darker and darker while at the same time accusing Obama of playing the race card. McCain will make every effort to remind voters that Obama is black, a Negro, a goddamn uppity n****r.

He'a a Terrorist: McCain will try to tie Obama to some guy nobody has ever heard of (William Ayers) saying it proves Obama is a terrorist. Besides, his name sounds Muslim which proves Obama is a terrorist even more.

Religion: When not accusing Obama of being Muslim McCain will attack him for the Christian church he attended. It being a black church, a goddamn uppity n****r church. Besides, he's really the Anti-Christ.

The plus side for Senator Obama is that voters have been exposed to these smears and lies for over a year now. A certain immunity has set in. Besides, the best attack ads are actually true and speak to the current condition of the nation. And that puts a target directly between McCain's eyes.

Keating Five: The last time the United States suffered a collapse of its financial system due to corruption and greed was the savings and loan scandal in the 1980's. One of the principle corrupt politicians at the time was John McCain.

Sex and the Hemisphere

John McCain, says senior foreign policy adviser Richard Fontaine, knows Latin America because he screwed a Brazilian hottie a half century ago. This is a fascinating concept called Sexual Diplomacy. You can't really understand a country or region until you've had coitus with the locals.

It explains a lot. The case of Sarah Palin flirting with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, the dalliance that earned Zardari a fatwa back home, is just the McCain-Palin way of getting to know the region. Although some rather disturbing images come to mind regarding McCain's close relationship with Georgia President Saakashvili. You see, Newsweek last week said McCain Loves Misha Saakashvili.

Loves? Like in a biological sense? Ewwww!

What's With the Wink?

Debates are impressionistic things. You can never tell by analyzing them what will stick in people's minds and how they will view it. Take, for example, Sarah Palin's winking during Veep debate. How will viewers react?

Winking is a flirtatious act. For religious people there is Psalm 35:19 (Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.). Excessive winking and blinking are clues that someone is lying. Or there may be a benign reason, irritation or a nervous tick.

The question is not what she was doing or why. That is unimportant. It was a strange thing that people most certainly noticed. The question is how will Joe Sixpack and his Hockey Mom wife interpret the strange case of Sarah's left eye?

Two-Faced McCain

John McCain was one of the 74 senators who voted in favor of the Bailout bill on Wednesday. He said passage was vital before voting in favor.

McCain also says that the bill he voted in favor of puts the country "on the brink of economic disaster."

By the way, listening to the clip doesn't it sound like McCain is taking interview technique advise from Sarah Palin? What a bizarre, off point ramble. At least he didn't throw in a "ya' youbetchya'."

Photo was ripped from Firedoglake.

The Senate Bailout Version

Tolstoy did not write War and Peace in two days. Which just proves what a hack he was compared to the Senators who have fattened up the Wall Street Bailout to an amazing 451 pages in less than 48 hours.

I haven't read it nor will I. No Senator has read it cover to cover, not even those who claim to have written it. Anyone who claims to know everything in that bill is a bald faced liar. Nobody knows what might be hidden in all of its various subtle sub-clauses. Simply put, this is legislation run amok.

I didn't like the original Treasury Department text but at least, at three pages, it was comprehensible. The House text, at around 100 pages, was bloated but manageable. It was probably the best possible alternative. Given the choice of improving a bad bill (which is what the House text did) and the threat of a massive contraction of the global economy because of the collapse of financial markets, I'll take the improved bad bill.

I suspect there will be plenty of Representatives in the House, from both parties, who will regret voted no on Monday. The Senate has taught them a painful lesson - he who hesitates gets buried in paper. The Senate text will probably pass the House of Representatives but every Congressman who switches his vote to approve this corpulent bill is a raving hypocrite.

The Veep Debate Preview

Sarah Palin will exceed expectations. That won't be hard given that most people tuning in will be expecting a train wreck. As long as Palin can stand erect, not drool excessively, and speak in a language that sounds somewhat similar to English, she will be seen as exceeding expectations.

Joe Biden will be best served by ignoring Palin. Treat it as a press conference with a spectator standing closer than normal. Look at her when she is talking only occasionally when not taking notes, but don't react. When it is time to attack, attack McCain. Be mean, even cruel, towards McCain.

Palin will likely attack Obama. Biden should dismiss those attacks as "rote talking points" and defend Obama with uplifting prose.

There is a chance that Palin will go off on one of her rambling, semi-coherant policy babblefests. A trick to use once, and only once, is for Biden to begin his response by translating her babble into a simple declarative sentence ("I think what Governor Palin means to say is that Israel is and will always be an American ally.") and then respond. There is a risk of coming off condesending which is why I am not recommending this tactic. But, if done well, it can say that Palin is an idiot while still being gracious.

John McCain = Drama Queen

Just because it's true.

1998

That is the year when the stock markets (S&P, NASDAQ) first reached the levels they have fallen to today. Ten years of up and down going absolutely nowhere.

Bailout Bombs - What Now?

The Wall Street Bailout failed and the stock market has crashed. The original text by Paulson was horrible. The rewrite was better but still distasteful. Passing it didn't seem right but doing nothing is a catastrophe. There are four possible outcomes.

1. The House will take a day to consider the ramifications of their inaction, reconsider the existing bill, and approve it. I expect this is what will happen.
2. Pass a quick and clean stop gap and revisit the whole thing in January (Firedoglake). I don't see that being any easier than passing what was defeated today.
   
3. House Democrats write their own bill, pass it on a party line vote, and let the Senate worry about any bipartisanship. As a practical matter it is too close to the election to do that.
4. Do nothing; Congress goes home. This is the worst outcome. The Fed would have to inflate the hell out of the currency to keep the economy from completely imploding. Congressmen who thought they were doing the public's will by voting "no" will find the public outraged. The public didn't like the Bailout. They won't like not having the Bailout even more. Every down tick of the market will be laid at the Congressmen's feet. It will roil the election in unpredictable ways.

The initial backlash will probably impact Republicans. The House Republican excuse for voting "no" (Nancy Pelosi was mean and hurt their feelings) makes them sound like whiny ass titty babies (Crooks and Liars). John McCain, with the political acumen of a kumquat, took credit for the Bailout bill's victory just before it was defeated. That makes McCain look weak. But, that is today's snapshot.

There is no telling how people will feel in a month. Any congressman or pundit who says he can predict the future on this is a fool. Democrats have to take charge on this issue. If they fail to act they risk being punished as badly as Republicans. For Democrats to do nothing risks allowing Republicans to steal the mantle of leader.

As I learned in typing class so many years ago: Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.

McCain: Compulsive Gambler

Another Maverick reference. John McCain is a gambler. Not in a calculated risk-taking good way. He is a gambler in a destructive, in need of a twelve-step program way. McCain is the kind of gambler who will go all-in with a pair of deuces showing and a seven of spades hole-card.

Like that other former fighter pilot-turned-politician, Duke Cunningham, McCain takes risks just because they are there. The riskier the better and to hell with the odds of success.

Take, for example, his suspending his campaign last week. He had no plan for what to do afterwards. He didn't think ahead, he just rolled the dice. Because he had no plan he ended up looking, and being, meaningless. By crawling back to the debate like he did he embarrassed all of his right-wing supporters who had called the suspension brilliant. McCain was like the husband who, having lost the mortgage money at the race track, asked his wife for her wedding ring so he can hock it.

Sarah Palin was another rash gamble. He made her too important to the campaign, even overshadowing himself. He overplayed the Palin hand like a Texas Hold'em player who overplays a bottom-end straight draw hoping to chase his opponents from the pot. Against a seasoned professional it is a hopeless strategy.

McCain is a reckless gambler. He doesn't study the Racing Form with a betting strategy. He just throws his money at longshot after longshot. It's an adrenaline rush, an old guy version of flathatting. McCain's style of gambling is exciting. You never know when McCain will up and do something insane. However, an insatiable desire for excitement and reckless behavior are not the best traits for a President.

McCain Campaign Is Like an Ionesco Play

As McCain lurches from one farce to another his campaign has taken on the surreal look of absurdist French theater. The latest travesty hitting the rumor circuit (via the London Times) is that the campaign is planning a surprise October wedding of Bristol Palin to swing the election.

Nothing would shift those swing voters better than turning the marriage of a pregnant teenager into a media circus. A shotgun wedding between a self-described "fucking redneck" and his underage bride would be the feel good event of the year. People by the millions would forget their economic woes and the endless Republican wars and race to vote Republican.
What the wedding photo will look like. (from a production of 7 Brides for 7 Brothers)

Blinky McBlink

You can't blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we're on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can't blink. ~ Sarah Palin

Yet McCain blinks a lot. Firedoglake has an interesting video showing John McCain's insensate blinking, averaging better than two blinks per second. Looks like McCain isn't wired right and isn't committed to the mission.

A Little Sarah Time

Since I don't care about the actual content of debates I thought I'd spend a little time on Dear Sarah.

• The Anchorage Daily News has a comprehensive review of Sarah Palin's week from Hell.
• Ezra Klein at American Prospect has the most cogent analysis. Her brain is so overfilled with talking points that she is spouting them in a random series of sentences. A commenter to this article notes, "We see exactly *why* it took Sarah Palin seven years and five colleges to come away with a bachelor's degree in journalism, for God's sake."
• While Joe Biden was all over the news networks spinning the debate Friday night, Sarah was hiding out at an Irish pub in Philly getting foreign policy experience and singing karaoke. (picture source)
• A company is selling life-size wall stickers of Sarah, complete with stick-on hunting rifle, lipstick, and tiara.
  
• She is making such a habit of ending her sentences with prepositions that I am changing my mind. I used defend them against overzealous schoolmarms as a way, occasionally, to avoid painfully awkward sentence construction. Sarah, somehow, manages to enhance the awkwardness of her sentences while still dangling her prepositions for all to hear. ("That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in.")

I put the odds at even money that, come Thursday when the Vice-Presidential debate is scheduled, Sarah will have to cancel. She will catch some illness (cold, flu, beriberi, Dengue Fever), her baby will come down with cholic, she'll trip and crack a tooth. Something will happen and she'll have to cancel.

Surrender Monkey

As predicted, John McCain surrendered. McCain is skiddering off to Mississippi to the debate he said he wanted postponed. In a face-to-face confrontation with Barack Obama, McCain blinked - big time.

McCain's Debate Tale

It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. ~ Shakespeare

McCain will show up for the debate on Friday. To do otherwise would be political suicide. He will try to make his appearance dramatic, as if he is making some great sacrifice being there. If he blunders he will have the automatic excuse that he has been distracted doing the Nation's Business.

Chicken Shit McCain

So, all of this is about really about keeping Sarah Palin in hiding by canceling the Veep debate.

Chicken McCain

It is frequently true in life that a man who commits acts of bravery in his youth becomes a coward in his old age. John McCain is such a man.

With age, the courage of youth is often replaces with fear. Boldness has morphed into imprudence. An agile mind becomes hesitant and unsure. Such it is with John McCain.

In many ways it is sad to see the decline of this man. Sadder still would be if the country places its fate in the hands of this shell of a man.

McCain Wants to Back Out of the Friday Debate

Sen. Obama should regretfully accept the cancellation of the September 26 debate. The remaining two debates (October 7 & 15) and the Vice-Presidential debate (October 2) should be devoted entirely to discussing the economic crisis.

Sen. Obama should also remind McCain that now, in a moment of crisis, is not the time for politicians to hide from the American people. McCain may do as he wishes but Sen. Obama will continue to meet with the American people.

A Price Must Be Paid - Final Thoughts

• I've reached the conclusion that the Paulson Bailout, and its variations, are unacceptable. The stated goal, to create a fluid environment for borrowing, can be accomplished by other means.
  
• Recapitalizing banks by buying debt at inflated prices is an inefficient way to accomplish the stated goal. It is rewarding bad judgment with the biggest prizes going to the most stupid.
• It is obvious the Paulson Bailout was written during a Friday all-nighter with pizza and beer. The evidence of alcohol can be seen in the text. (Hey, you know what would be cool? Why don't we make me God. We can call it Section 8 and see if anyone gets the joke.)
• I am truly impressed that Senator Chris Dodd was able to turn Paulson's vague mess into competent legislation so quickly. It was a legislative tour de'force.
• Still, Paulson's Bailout is a pile of crap and any rewrite is just spritzing perfume on shit. (No, that is not a Sarah Palin reference.)
• While I have gotten used to the Bush Administration panic mode, Paulson's declaration that only he can save the Universe is silly. (Après nous, le déluge.)
• If Paulson had just taken a couple of slow, deep breaths (instead of pissing his pants) and called in a few experts he would have gotten several superior plans.
• Congress should not be stampeded into bad legislation because Hank Paulson is a timorous mouse with delusions of godhood. Dodd and Barney Frank should take the time to do this right. It is probably prudent to leave Paulson out of this process because his high-pitched squealing would just be a distraction.

No, I am not deluded into think this is the last I will write on the Paulson Bailout. But I can dream, can't I?

A Price Must Be Paid - Four

Has anyone else noticed that no CEO has requested the Wall Street Bailout? All of the impetus for this has come from Bernanke and Paulson. The businesses that are to benefit from the Bailout have been silent. Curious, no?

It could be that the requests were made privately and Bernanke and Paulson acting as dutiful servants to the major banks. It is also possible that this "crisis" is fake. That it is a political construct, an October Surprise designed by the Bush Administration to game the election.

It being fake would explain the strange argument that unless the Bailout is made outlandishly sweet the banks might refuse to participate. As if CEOs would prefer unemployment to losing their bonuses for a year or two. It is as if this is being set up to fail so Democrats can be "blamed" for the "failure."

That Little Old Calvinist, Me

I have noticed a certain hardcore compassionlessness has crept into my writing recently.

Partly I'm angry because the Randians whose job it is to rail against any form of public kindness have been strangely silent on the Wall Street Bailout. The same people who complained about the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans after Katrina can't seem to come up with a cogent argument regarding the wholesale bailout of Wall Street millionaires.

Mostly I'm angry because the Robber Barons who profited by the billions (Lehman Bros (2006) and Lehman Bros. (2008), Goldman Sachs (2006) and Goldman Sachs (2005)) bringing the nation into this crisis are now lobbying to profit by the billions through the bailout. (Note: those four reports total $43 billion in bonuses for just two companies for just two years each. Add in all of the hedge funds, investment banks, and commercial banks for the entire length of the Bush Presidency and we would get damn close to the magic $700 billion mark.)

A Price Must Be Paid. The people who are destroying the world's economy must not be allowed to profit by it.

A Price Must Be Paid - Three

To participate in the Wall Street Bailout, all senior management must have first returned all bonuses, including exercised or outstanding stock options, received during the previous twelve months. As long as the Government owns the assets purchased in the Bailout, no senior management may receive any stock options, bonuses, or severance payments.

If management is not willing to relinquish their bonuses, stock options, and golden parachutes then they are not in need of a government bailout.

A Price Must Be Paid - Two

If this abysmal Wall Street Bailout has to be enacted it must be paid for with a hefty surcharge on the dividends and capital gains of everyone earning in excess of $200,000. We are bailing out the rich - the rich should fucking well pay for it.

A Price Must Be Paid

The Wall Street Journal has the text of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout. It is egregious.

Section 4 allows for only vague and infrequent reports to Congress.

Within three months of the first exercise of the authority granted in section 2(a), and semiannually thereafter, the Secretary shall report to the Committees on the Budget, Financial Services, and Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committees on the Budget, Finance, and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate with respect to the authorities exercised under this Act and the considerations required by section 3.

Improvement to Section 4
The Treasury Secretary must submit written reports under penalty of perjury to both houses of Congress on a monthly basis. The reports must be fully public with no information redacted. The reports must list all transactions under this plan, the book value of the debt being acquired, the current market value, and the price the Government paid for the debt.

All sales of assets under this Act must be similarly reported (book value, current value, price paid to the Government). If the price paid to the Government is less than the current value or the price the Government paid to purchase the asset the Treasury Sec. must explain to Congress in detail the reason for this discrepancy.

Section 8 grants absolute autonomous power to the Treasury Sec.

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

Improvement to Section 8
All existing laws apply to the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act. Congress has the absolute right to review the actions and decisions of the Secretary and to appoint such reviewing authorities Congress deems necessary.

(Stiff criminal penalties for defrauding the Government under this program must be stated in the law. Such defrauding to include misrepresenting the book or current value of the debt. Both the corporation and its responsible officers are legally responsible for the information provided by the corporation it must be provided under penalty of perjury.)

Additional Section
The accounting books for any corporation participating in this program are to be open in their entity to examination by the Treasury Department or the United States Congress for as long as the Federal Government holds the debt acquired.
*****
There is more I would like but the above are the minimum changes to make the Paulson Bank Bailout Act acceptable. My wish list improvements are:

• Every corporation participating in this program is restricted to the compensation it pays to all employees, individual consultants, and board members. For five years from first participation no individual may receive total compensation (salary, bonuses, stock options) in excess of twelve times the median household salary for the preceding years. In 2007 the median household salary was $50,233 meaning the highest compensation allowed for 2008 would be $602,796.
• The government is to receive equity in the corporation equal to some percentage (say 20%) of the difference between the book value and the price paid for the assets purchased by the Government. This equity to be used to help homeowners facing foreclosure.
  

McCain's Proposal: Make the Nation's Health Care Like the Banking System

I've known for some time that John McCain wanted to use banking deregulation as the pattern for reforming (by reform he means utterly destroy) health care. It was sort of his secret. He believed it, he'd share that belief with the right ultra-conservative crowd, but I didn't think him stupid enough to chat it up to the broader public. I was wrong.

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. ~ John McCain in Contingencies Magazine Sept/Oct 2008

In one sentence McCain puts himself foursquare behind the policies that have caused the banking industry to dissolve and he has promised to do the very same thing to health insurance. What an astonishing toofer. And it is out there in print, available in many of the finer HMO waiting rooms.

Contingencies Magazine website

I Guess We're All Communists Now

What a week! The government nationalized the mortgage industry when it took control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The government nationalized the insurance industry with the forced acquisition of AIG. Now the government is building a garbage bank where all the lesser banks can sell their worthless bad paper - meaning, of course, that bankers now have absolutely no incentive to use due diligence while writing loans to their wasteful billionaire buddies.

Add in domestic spying and internal passports and we will have created a Communist government of a type Ronald Reagan used to denounce.

The United States government is Communist with a Chinese tint. The rich and connected know the government is always ready to help them if they stumble. It will pick them up and refill their pockets with gold. The poor and what is left of the middle class know they are on their own. Success is impossible. Should they fail, as they surely must, all they will receive is a lecture on Republican Self Reliance.

Call Them 'Bushvilles'

In a echo of the Depression era "Hoovervilles" the AP is reporting on modern tent cities populated by the thousands of Americans made homeless by the economic crisis.

For those people whose high school history instructions was derelict (Sarah Palin), "Hooverville" was the collective name for the homeless encampments that sprang up around American cities during the 1930's. They were named for President Herbert Hoover. Under that Republican president, as now, what assistance that was available went to the wealthy cronies of the politically powerful.

Palin-McCain Times Three

E-Mail:
Way back when e-mail was new and I was an adviser to an elected official I gave her some advice:

Never write anything in an e-mail you wouldn't want to see posted on the first floor bulletin board.

Palin used an insecure, public e-mail account and it got hacked. Of course it did. Grow up. That's why governments maintain highly secure accounts. Palin was stupid to use a Yahoo account.

Questions and Answers:
Sarah Palin actually tried to answer a question at a McCain townhall meeting. As her answer faded into a testy babble McCain had to come to her rescue.

Palin delivers speeches reasonably well but she is lost in a question-answer format. Like Bush, she has a problem understanding the subject-verb sentence structure concept. Unlike Bush she doesn't have a native, childlike wit to fall back on when she has to ad-lib.

Who Gets Top Billing:
Sarah today put herself at the top of the ticket. She's been upstaging Old Man John for some time, she is stealing top billing for herself now too. If they win I expect Sarah will lock John in the Lincoln Bedroom and just take over.

Two Snapshots of the Coming Depression

Maybe it means nothing. Maybe it means everything.

• Fine Dining is Kaput. I drove by Anthony's Fish Grotto here in San Diego at lunch time today. It's a mid-range eatery - somewhat pricey (dinner for two will cost about $60 without wine), but well below the most expensive hashhouses in town. They normally have about 25 cars in their parking lot for lunch. Today there were four.
  
• Empty Grocery Shelves. Later I went to Vons grocery store to buy some fresh vegetables. There were gapping holes in the fresh food aisles. There was no broccoli, no green beans, a slim selection of fresh meats, and the fruit look past its prime. The canned and packaged food aisles were full. It was as if anything with a long shelf life was still abundant while those things that have to be delivered fresh daily was in short supply. As if several suppliers stopped delivering.
  

Maybe I just caught a couple of anomalies. I hope so. Or, maybe I spotted the leading edge of the total collapse of the nation's economy. I hope I'm just being paranoid.

McCain: Deregulation Hawk

One could argue, quite accurately, that John McCain is responsible for the Nation's economic crisis. McCain has worked his entire career to deregulate the financial industry - with disastrous results.

• In the 1980's McCain was a key figure in deregulating the savings and loan industry. McCain parlayed it into highly profitable graft for himself. That led to wholesale theft and the collaspe of many S&Ls. McCain got caught in the the ensuing scandal but successfully used his POW line to wiggle free.
• McCain's economic guru, Phil Gramm, slipped the "Enron Loophole" into legislation in the year 2000. This deregulatory loophole was used by that infamous company to game the electricity markets so egregiously that it led to Enron's own collapse. Since then, McCain has blocked every effort to close the loophole which is now being used by energy traders to game gasoline prices.
• The current banking crisis traces back to the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999. Again Phil Gramm get direct blame for deregulating banks. Again, John McCain followed Gramm like an servile puppy in the effort. The effect is an economic crisis the world has not seen in 75 years.
  
• McCain has said he will make Phil Gramm Treasury Secretary.
• McCain's son, Andrew, ran an Arizona bank into bankruptcy earlier this year under curious, at least, circumstances.
  
• Not content with fucking the nation's economy, McCain is campaigning on a platform of deregulating health care.

It is true that, as of today, John McCain is urging reregulating the financial markets. Of course that would mean undoing his life's work. But, John McCain wouldn't lie, would he? He wouldn't say one thing now to get elected and do another thing after he gets in office, would he?

Black Monday

The stock market is poised to fall off a cliff today. It will be an old fashioned Panic, a blood letting. But everything is okay because John McCain has declared the economy is fundamentally strong and he wouldn't lie, would he?

Palin Is a Chorine

He used to like to take me out and show me off. Ugly guys like to do that.

I've been wondering what Sarah Palin is. Not who she is, I know that, but what role she fills.

John McCain hardly goes anywhere anymore without Palin on his arm. She's more important than mere arm candy. She's more like a brunette chorine. Like a magician's assistant, her job is to wear a tight skirt, flash some leg, smile a lot, and distract the audience from the slight-of-hand going on. And I have to say she is doing a good job. Nobody is paying attention to anything McCain says anymore.

Another celebrity chorine, Roxie Hart.

Hunker Down

Tens of thousands of people are suffering in Houston because they listened to official advise to "Hunker Down."

Of course now those same officials who instructed Houstonians to stay in place because evacuating an American city is too difficult a tack for government to manage are now blaming the victims of the hurricane for not leaving.

Yet another example of government hypocrisy written in innocent blood.

Murdering Straight Talk

John McCain has murdered the concept of Straight Talk. His lies are bold and frequent. He has learned the teachings of a master that if he always lies and repeats the lies endlessly in the face of contradiction people will believe the lies. When caught lying he attacks - it is "disrespectful" to show he has lied.

This is not a ruthless Nazi reference, it is a pathological liar reference. As a liar, John McCain has exceeded the reach of George Bush and is equaling the skill of Hitler's Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels. As Goebbels knew, skillful pathological liars can gain ultimate power.

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."

"The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over."

And one for Sarah Palin. "Intellectual activity is a danger to the building of character."

A Time to Focus

Judging from what I'm seeing I don't think they need it, but here is some advice for the Obama campaign.

• Forget Sarah Palin. She is a meaningless celebrity. The newsmedia is going to spend way too much space on her, she doesn't deserve a breath from the campaign except to denounce her whenever some vile noise emits from her mouth. The opponent is John McCain.
• Ignore the published polls. According to the published polls (Rasmussen, Gallup, etc.) some 90+ percent of the public is solidly behind one candidate or the other. That's hogwash. The truth is 40% of the electorate, mas or menos, is persuadable. The published polls are advertising for the polling companies so they want to appear definitive when accurate polling would show it still a general mishmash.
• Never apologize. Double down on any attack that draws blood. For example: "That lipstick wearing pig I'm talking about is John McCain."
• Fight for the right to vote. Republicans are currently working to prevent Democrats from voting in battleground states like Ohio, Florida, and Virginia. Many states will be won or lost depending on whether or not Republicans succeed in stealing the right to vote from the American people.
  

The Agony of de Feet

On a completely personal note, I am in pain (poor dear). Or at least my feet hurt. The right foot came first with Achilles tendonitis. Not wanting to be ignored, my left foot developed a really nasty case of plantar fasciitis. The result is that walking is a test of creative foot placement to minimizing the sharp, stabbing pain while I wait for my podiatry appointment.

Making Enemies Wherever We Go

Be sure you are right - then go ahead. ~ Davy Crockett

Everyone knows that the Taliban leadership and what's left of Bin Laden are hiding out in the lawless region of Pakistan. The problem with the recent attack by the United States into sovereign Pakistan was it was a monumental cockup. The attack may, or may not, have killed anyone important but it certainly killed a score of innocents.

Obviously timed to coincide with the Republican Convention, the September 3 attack probably failed since there was no bragging about it from the podium the following day. Instead the United States followed the attack by announcing we will be selling nuclear technology to Pakistan's enemy, India.

Clumsy, ham-handed, politically motivated, ill-considered, deadly, and a failure. It was Republican diplomacy at its best.

The Real Original Maverick

They used to say in vaudeville that you never want to follow an animal act. John McCain fell into that trap. Never a compelling speaker he was positively soporific last night following Palin's snarling attack dog performance.
But I don't want to talk about that. I want to talk about Maverick, the REAL Maverick.

The real Maverick was a gambler, an inveterate poker player, and something of a con man. He was lazy and, above all else, a coward. As his Pappy always said, "He who fights and runs away lives to run away another day."

The real Maverick was Bret Maverick as played by James Garner in the 1950's television program. The entire series can be seen weekdays and 6 pm on the Encore Western cable channel.

As my old pappy used to say, 'work is fine for killin' time, but it's a shaky way to make a living.' ~ Bret Maverick

Pit Bull

The reviews are in and Sarah Palin is the new Spiro Agnew.

An attack dog skilled at reading other people's writings (Who will be her William Safire?), she has set her career path. It will be a ugly path never mitigated with pleasant prose. And it will likely end with her serving time in prison. Hopefully, I will not need to spend any additional time thinking about her.

Full creds to Jonathan Singer who saw this potential before anyone else.

Focus Grouping the Republican Convention

As I said earlier, the focus groups for conventions are both party's political junkies.

The reaction to Tuesday was, well, nothing. Virtually nobody, even right-wing blogs like Redstate had anything to say about the speeches. Up until now the Republican Convention is a non-event.

Everyone is waiting for Sarah Palin tonight. It is not that people have low expectations for her, they don't know what to expect. Unlike Dan Quayle, she has to do more than just be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. This is her roll-out for 99.95% of the American people. She has one chance, just this one single chance to impress.

What to expect. The cheering will be so loud early she won't be allowed to finish sentences without being interrupted. Expect her to spend an inordinate amount of time just smiling at the cameras. The cheering often will come at inappropriate moments as the crowd will be trying to protect her from looking lost or hesitant. The words themselves will be completely meaningless. Republicans at the end will be calling it the greatest oration since Cicero. Frankly, they will be thrilled if she doesn't get obvious flop sweat.

People will be watching in the same way they gawk at traffic accidents, hoping to see blood on the streets. Me? I've got the Discovery Channel.

John and Sarah, Sitting in a Tree

Please note in the video how John McCain can't stop staring at Sarah Palin's breasts. (Her eyes are up higher you old fart.) Also note how when McCain approaches Palin to kiss her she keeps backing away. As Rising Hegemon states, creepy.

Unencumbered by the Thought Process

I can't know for sure without getting into John McCain's mind. I'm not going to do that, it's a dark and frightening place. But, my gut is telling me that his veep pick was not a well thought out decision. Apparently McCain, only now, is getting around to vetting Sarah Palin.

McCain's first act as president, the selection of his running mate, was impulsive. He acted without thinking, without considering all of the ramifications. Impetuousness is just the personality trait you want in a man who wants war with Russia and has his finger on the nuclear button.

Throw 'em a Fake and a Finagle

They'll never know you're just a bagel
Razzle dazzle them
And they'll beg you for more ~ Razzle Dazzle, Chicago

John McCain's maneuvers over his veep pick is getting humorous. First its Mitt Romney, St. John's official rumor mill is all over that even though McCain hates Mitt's guts. Then, just joking before, the Chatty Cathys aboard the "Straight Talk Express" were all atwitter that the pick is Tim Pawlenty, a man who couldn't even get reelected in his home state today. But that was so yesterday.

Now the pick is Sarah Palin. Her twenty months experience as governor of Alaska (population 670,000) added to her years a mayor of Wasilla (population 6,000) makes her ideally suited to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Its a straight up play for the Hillaryites on the theory that they don't give a shit about politics and only care about the orentation of a candidate's gonads.

On the Convention(s)

I'm not liveblogging the Democratic Convention. I'm not even deadblogging it. I lost interest in Presidential Conventions decades ago when they no longer played any part in candidate selection. The conventions are just advertising these days, painfully long advertisements. As such they are only interesting in the reaction of the focus groups - both party's political junkies.

• The Clinton's played their parts well. They are both being praised from the left. The right has discarded its phony compassion towards Hillary and is in full Clinton hate mode.
• Joe Biden was a good choice. The left is happy if somewhat disappointed their favorite candidate (take your pick) was overlooked. The right is still hunting around for an appropriate response.
  
• The Hillaryites are grieving. They are still rending their clothes. They are still wailing. Some are still hoping that the entire nation collapses to punish it for the transgression of not worshiping the Goddess. Après nous, le déluge.

We will see about Barack tonight. No, he doesn't have to "close the deal." Whatever he says will be attacked by the right. No matter what he says the Hillaryites will whine that she would have said it better. Barack needs to present an inspiring vision with enough details to suggest there is meat on the bone but not so many that the vision bogs down into a laundry list. He needs to attack George Bush and John McCain with passion. And he needs some really nifty sound bites.

Why Isn't Bill Clinton Worshiped?

I'm reading a TalkLeft entry on how Hillary Clinton should be President, or Vice-President, or...I not sure what it is the Hillaryites want nowadays. It strikes me there are several self-described "older, educated women" who would rather be raped by John McCain than sit down on a bus next to Barack Obama.

Anyhow, I'm reading the comments and I come across this - Reagan is worshiped and [Bill] Clinton is dissed. Why? Good Question.

• Ronald Reagan defined the Republican party in the 1980's, something Bill Clinton never did in the 1990's.
  
• Bill Clinton abandoned party politics after 2000. He made no effort to set the agenda of a party in need of leadership. Never was there a word from him criticizing the illegal actions of the Bush II Administration.
• Bill Clinton shilled for anyone willing to pony up his speaking fee. He reminded me of former baseball great Pete Rose by showing up at any demeaning gathering that promised to cheer him and give him lots of money.
• Bill Clinton spent far too much of the 2000's behaving like George Bush Sr.'s adopted son. They started appearing everywhere together. It hard to be the Hero of the Democratic Party if your BFF is Republican First Daddy.

Political deification is not a right, it is bestowed by the people upon those rare individuals who create a movement that lives after their short time in office. Bill Clinton created nothing. He isn't worshiped because is hasn't earned it.

Is McCain Swiftboating Himself?

John McCain's campaign is quickly becoming a one-note symphony. Vote for me, he is saying with increasing shrillness, because I was once a POW. Every answer to every issue is "because I was in prison."

• He says he is a foreign policy genius because he was once in a foreign prison.
• He's an expert on war because he was once a prisoner of war.
• His personal history of corruption is excusable because he was a POW.
  
• His personal infidelity is understandable because he was a POW.
  
• He should not be expected to understand his own family finances because he was once a POW.
• It's okay if he lies or cheats because he was once a POW.

It's as if his personal history stopped 35 years ago. Hanlon calls it POW Tourrette's.

The Polish Missile Crisis

In 1962 the Soviet Union placed missiles in Cuba that were capable of carrying nuclear warheads. This was a deliberately provocative act responding to the attempted United States invasion of Cuba the previous year as well as the United States placing nuclear missiles on Russia's border in Turkey. The ensuing crisis led us to the brink of World War III.

(Aside: I still remember being in school discussing geopolitics with my fellow third graders. We concluded that the duck-and-cover drills were worthless and were being done so the adults could feel like they were doing something. We knew we could not survive nuclear war by hiding under a desk and even if we did we wouldn't want to.)

The current stimulus for the United States placing (defensive) missiles in Poland is the 2008 Presidential election (the Russian action against Georgia is a red herring). The White House is hoping to generate an international crisis with Russia that McCain can use to campaign for the need for a warrior president.

If this campaign tactic leads to war, well, that's just the price of victory.

John McCain will do anything to win election, even starting a war with Russia.

Dedicated Republican Idiot

I'm having lunch on the sidewalk outside my grocery store. A young guy drops off his wife so she can shop. He's driving one of those big-ass pickup truck that are marginally useful if you habitually have to haul a ton of masonry to the worksite but are worthless if the most you ever carry, beyond your own fat ass, is a twelve-pack of brewskies.

This guy drops off his wife and starts driving slowly around the grocery store parking lot. Lap after lap, for twenty minutes, he slowly tours the lot. It's like he's addicted to the smell of poorly burned hydrocarbons.

I know this dullard is a Republican from his Duncan Hunter bumpersticker. I know this cretin is dedicated because of his personalized license plate that spells "Hoonter." He is either a fan of the corrupt congressman from California's 52nd Congressional District or he loves Duncan Jr., the son of said congressman who is running to replace his daddy, for his massive man-boobs.

Human Organ Mining

The film The Island posits a near future where the very rich can have human clones of themselves manufactured and maintained. It is a form of health insurance, a ready supply of perfectly matched organs for transplanting. Their cloned replicas are kept blissfully unaware of the reason they exist. They don't know their fate is to be cut up for parts. It's a good movie, although frightening.

Friday's Slate Magazine has an article by Sally Satel calling for a commodities market for human transplant organs. Satel is a kidney transplant recipient and I don't doubt she is sincere in her desire to increase the amount of available organs for transplant by offering cash payments for human organs. Unfortunately, the practice of paying for human body parts has a long mostly gory history.

Ghouls
In the 19th Century a thriving industry grew up around communities with teaching hospitals to provide fresh cadavers for the study of anatomy. Body-snatchers, often called ghouls, would dig up the corpses of the recently deceased and sell them to medical schools. These ghouls were willing to resort to murder to provide the freshest, most valuable bodies.

Organ Harvesters
Today, there is a flourishing trade in organs. Will Saletan, also in Slate, described the state of the underground trade in body parts in an 2007 article. Forty percent of people in some Pakistan villages are missing a kidney. Fresh organs extracted from living "donors" have the best chances of successful transplant. Egypt, India, the Philippines, the Ukraine, American prisons, everywhere that jobs are impossible to find there are people willing to sell and buy irreplaceable body parts for money. Often, if a deal can not be made the organ brokers will simply steal it. Forced organ harvesting is happening throughout much of the Third World. In China prisoners are having their organs extracted without consent. In large cities modern ghouls are kidnapping people off the street to steal their organs.

Satel believes that a formal, legalized trade in body parts will end the worse excesses of the underground trade. Perhaps. It will also increase and legalize the gap between the social castes. The rich are no longer simply seeing the poor as a source of cheap labor, the poor are becoming consumables. Less even than slaves, the poorest of our planet are being cut up and consumed by the rich. They are becoming more like cattle than men.

Five Invasive Species in California

I'm sitting at my computer enjoying the cacophony of our local flock of parrots thinking about invasive species. Here are five.

House Sparrow
There's special providence in the fall of a sparrow.

~ Hamlet

In the 19th Century literary societies in the United States got it into their pretty little heads to import all of the birds mentioned in Shakespeare. The birds loved it. House sparrows are now feature performers at every outdoor restaurant in the state.

Argentine Ant
aka grease ant. Another 19th Century import. These are usually the ants that invade your home. The weird thing about these ants is that the trillions upon trillions of them stretching the length of California from San Diego to Ukiah compose a single, gigantic colony.

Eucalyptus
Introduced by ignorant loggers to replace clearcut redwood forests. While eucalyptus grow quickly it takes centuries for the trees to mature into usable lumber. So they are really just California's biggest weed. But they are more than just a weed, they encourage fire. Native redwoods and oaks are fire resistant while eucalyptus are highly combustible. Firefighters call them "gasoline trees." They are also water hogs that are aggravating the effect of California's prolonged drought.

Jumping Frogs
The jumping frogs celebrated in Mark Twain's short story were the California red-legged frog. They are endangered today in large part because of that story. Every year the Calaveras County Fair hosts a Jumping Frog Jubilee. People imported the far bigger eastern bullfrog to compete and then released those frogs into local waters. Where they would eat the smaller red-legged frogs. Local officials are fighting to protect bullfrogs from the little red-legged frog.

Red Crown Parrot
Fifty years ago the only parrots in California were in cages. Today there are a half-dozen species, thousands of birds, flocking throughout much of the state. Nobody really knows why. The most common tale is they are descended from escaped pets. Some believe increasingly subtropical climate in Southern California has sparked an increase in their natural range.

McCain's Poor Ad Messaging

Way back in the day I was working on an underfunded campaign against a Republican incumbent with more money than could be wisely spend in an election. He mailed a 20-page(!) four-color flyer to every home in the district detailing the attacks against him so each could be explained. On the cover of this flyer was a photo of the Republican covered in mud rising out of a bucket of ooze.

I was thrilled. The cover was exactly the image I had wanted to send out in a one-sheet if we had only had the money. No one beyond a handful of political addicts were going to read the whole thing. The only image the voters were going to take was that cover which made him look hopelessly corrupt. The Republican had spent an ungodly amount of money doing our job for us.

On To McCain
I told that story to tell you this one. McCain has an ad running frequently during the Olympics. It starts by saying, "Washington’s broken. John McCain knows it. We’re worse off than we were four years ago.” while showing a black-and-white image of McCain. I love this ad.

Unless a television commercial is funny or has beautiful people in it, most viewers only pay attention until they get the basic message of the ad or until they can find the mute button. The first five seconds sells the basic message - "John McCain, we're worse off." The subliminal meaning of the black-and-white images reinforces the badness message. Except for political addicts, that is all most people are going to take from the ad.

So, McCain is paying good money to attach himself to a "things are horrible" message but few people are going to stick around for his "but I'm not responsible" defense. I love it. Couldn't have done better myself.

If John McCain Were President

The United States would be in a shooting war with Russia before the end of his first term.

The Bible as Porn

If you are of a mind to look for it, the Bible's Old Testament is just brimming with sexy passages. Cracked.com found the Six Raunchiest.

Incest
In Genesis (19:30-36), Lot's two daughters get their old man drunk and have sex with him. Not just any random sex either but Let's Get Preggers by Daddy sex. This is the same Lot who offered up these same daughters for gang rape in Sodom (Gen. 19:8) but the girls were so ugly the mob didn't want them.

Masturbation
Onan's daddy ordered him to marry his own dead brother's wife, Tamar (Judah 38:8-10). Onan did as ordered but chose masturbation over putting a loaf in Tamar's oven. God was so pissed at this he smote Onan. Forget going blind, jerking off can get a guy killed.

More Incest
Tamar, frustrated by the whole Onan affair, dressed up as a whore, went into a brothel, and bedded Onan's dad, her own father-in-law (Gen 38:15-16). From this incestuous hook up begins the line that leads to King David and Jesus Christ.

Biblical Soft Core
The Song of Solomon is all about a guy and a girl having hot, Middle Eastern sex. It is straight up soft core pornography dating back to 965 BC. We don't know who the woman is giving that the author, King Solomon, had 700 wives and 300 hundred concubines.

Gay Incest
Cracked missed this one. After the Flood, Noah tied one on and passed out naked in his tent (Gen. 9:21-25). Noah's youngest son, Ham, entered the tent and saw his naked dad. Biblical scholars disagree on what happened next. At best, Ham fetched his brothers and they played peek-a-boo with Noah's Johnson. At worst, Ham took a more hands-on examination of Noah's pecker. Anyway, Noah was angry and cursed Ham's child, Canaan. The poor kid didn't do anything wrong but he's the one who got the curse.

Note: I am not so much lazy as preoccupied I really don't feel like doing any independent research or political reading so I just stole (that's the right word) from the research done by Cracked.com.

Bush on Unacceptable War

Did you notice the subtle distinction in George Bush's comments regarding the Russo-Georgian War?

Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state...Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century. ~ Bush, August 11, 2008

Invading a neighboring state is bad. Invading sovereign states which are not neighboring (such as, say, the United States invading Iraq) is perfectly acceptable. I don't often praise Bush's elocution but this construction is elegant in its psychopathy.

In Search of the New Hitler

You have to hand it to Republican warmongers, they will keep comparing every country they dislike with Nazi Germany until it sticks and they can have war, any war.

The latest incarnation of Adolph is Vladimir Putin. Dick Morris today draws a direct, albeit entirely fictional, connection between the German annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938 and Russia's attack on Georgia today. Of course, he ends by demanding that NATO troops be sent into the area to fight against the Russians. John McCain has also called for a NATO-Russian war over Georgia.

Putin has replaced Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has for years now been our modern Hitler substitute while Iran was called Nazi Germany. The neo-con solution then as well was urging war with Iran.

Before either Putin or Ahmadinejad there was Saddam Hussein, the Iraq War was supposed to remove that pseudo-Nazi. It worked, not the war removing a new Hitler but using phony comparisons to encourage a stupid and pointless war. But the Iraq War is boring now and so the neo-cons are jonesing for another noble conflict to send other people to die in.

NBC and Bush

If NBC wants me to stop watching the Olympics and do something more productive they only need to continue showing those innumerable clips of George Bush Jr. behaving like the village idiot in Beijing.

Thought For the Day

Needless war. Economic collapse. Assault on basic liberties. Torture.

People who believes the past eight years has been good for the United States of America and the policies that have brought us here should be continued into the future are, by holding those beliefs, Unpatriotic. They have enjoyed seeing the nation suffer this past decade and wish the suffering to continue unabated.

Paris Hilton for Prez is, like, Totally Hot

Paris Hilton has a brilliant reply to John McCain's attack ad.

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

Sturgis: McCain's Appeal to Women Voters

The Obama campaign should make sure every woman from Bangor, Maine to Santa Barbara knows about who John McCain associated with during his appearance at the Sturgis Biker Rally.

How he appealed to the wannabe Hell's Angels gathered there. How McCain pimped his wife to the amateur stripper parade known as the Miss Buffalo Chip contest. How McCain was billed next to the Wet and Wild twice daily oil wrestling matches including porn star Vanessa Harding (not office/child/wife friendly website).

Let every woman in America know what kind woman voter John McCain prefers.
photo source

Petty Thugs in the DHS

The Department of Homeland Security has become a popular employment opportunity for people who used to torment small children and despaired they could never earn a living doing what they love. The DHS has more pure thugs per capita than any government agency since the Stasi. People who used to content themselves joining outlaw motorcycle gangs have discovered that their anti-social personalities are not only welcome in the DHS they are actually in the job descriptions.

Google dhs thugs and you'll find almost a half-million hits. Take this man at DailyKos, who was harassed and threatened for the crime of daytripping to Canada. The DHS "deputizing" Americans to spy against their neighbors. Or even just arresting people because they can, because there are no laws restraining them. Or just threaten people because they can.

What they want is even worse. If the DHS has its way Americans will have to carry internal passports even to enter American National Parks.

Dirty Politics

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. ~ H. L. Mencken

The Obama campaign has opened the Low Road Express website to reveal the slime emanating from St. John McCain. It is going to be a busy site. McCain has nothing to sell but sleaze. McCain will find new ways to call him a gay muslim terrorist who is also a radical Christian and an uppity nigger.

I expect, by October, Jon McCain will be running the most obscene campaign in our nation's history.