I can’t think of a cute zed/ned spiel to get this started with.

Can I be selling a concept that elections should last no longer than 90 days at most, from hat in the ring to final voting day?

That is publicly funded, full equal free media access for all candidates, no political parties allowed. First and second choices on ballot, first past post (50%+1) the winner.

I hope the media continues its discovery that McLame is not a maverick but a loose cannon that is a danger to all on-board.

Bob in HI

I think what Joe and John discussed over 4 star dining was how much money AIPAC could throw at 527 slime ads against Obama. The Huff Post picture reveled a viscious person. I wasn’t awares of McCain’s soul before that close up. He is one mean hombre.
He wants Isreal to bomb Iran, He wants to bomb civilian populations in Central Asia, He wanted Geordia to host Ireali Air force to stage raids. These folks are diabolical. What other false flag operations they have in store…who knows.They have worked outside of the government before and will again.
The neocons are hard to reigm in and often seem treasoness. They have a lot of money, power and influence. While winning elections is a huge bonus as Naomi Klein points out in Shock Doctrine they have desatabilised regimes without the direction of government. Please read Dr. Bernard Lewis

They also could have discussed throwing Palin under the bus and adding Joe tp the ticket.

The bailout will have such a limiting impact on Federal government policies and not much positive on a Miriam Fractal Spiralling economy. I believe that Neocon think tanks are hard at work planning multiple options to keep the progressive agenda off of the table. The dem leaders are playing that game also. I do not have a clue unless it is extortion.

[T]he campaign will press two arguments as forcefully as possible in the coming days. One is that Obama is not ready to be commander in chief and that, in a time of two wars, “his policies will make the world more dangerous and America less secure.” Second, he said, McCain will argue that, in a time of economic crisis, Obama will raise taxes and spending and “will make our economy worse.”

how bout this;

“McCain has STARTED a war that was based on lies, and NOW the war against the enemies that attacked us is being lost, Obama will win the wars McCain, his president and their polices has failed miserably

McCain has RAISED taxes, LOWERED services, CAUSED deficit, CAUSED the banking collapse we see today and he has the NERVE to criticize obama’s plans which WILL recover this nation

the man is completely out of touch

vote Obama, return this nation to sanity, sanctity, security and economic success”

me likey

Only fear will produce those results, victims cowering before authoritarian masters to the exclusion of reason. I have nothing in my experience to otherwise account for the display and actions seen by otherwise powerful and independent people. It is the purpose of authoritarian policy to terrorize and dominate others not of their ideology.

Later…..

Morning attaturk. Morning firepups.

What O’Bama doesn’t seem to understand is Bailing Out…Coot McCain OTOH has lots of experience with that-numerous aircraft he crashed, his first marriage, the first debate(almost)-so, will he bail-out of the bail-out or ride it all the way down and crash the Economy in some lake in Viet Nam after making his 2nd bomb run? Btw, does anybody think JoeBlows Liebermann comiserates with Coot’s 1st wife…both were thrown over for a younger, prettier “partner”?

the democrats are afraid to own the bailout, they want bush’s name on it, that’s why they are trying to get this done while he’s in office

I say allow the bailout with about 100 billion, if it doesn’t work, bush owns the failure, if it does work the dems can fine tune it as it goes and they own it

a no lose proposition

long drive ahead, will see everyone in a few

Palin Claimed Dinosaurs And People Coexisted

Morning, pups -

Wapo blows off the U-tube of the insane witch hunting preacher…….ie. can’t we all just stop talking about nutso ministers for the remainder of the campaign?

http://newsweek.washingtonpost…..oblem.html

Yeah, right! And the reich wingers are still b*tching about O’s preacher. GAG!

Why would you spend the equivalent of a MOAB every year on a Department of Defense of which it could be said:

America’s defense budget is now larger in inflation-adjusted dollars than at any point since the end of World War II, and yet our Army has fewer combat brigades than at any point in that period; our Navy has fewer combat ships; and the Air Force has fewer combat aircraft. Our major equipment inventories for these major forces are older on average than any point since 1946 — or in some cases, in our entire history.

It’s like the old joke about being poisoned in small portions. Or bankrupted twice, as it were. Someone should ask a candidate or two about that.

Can’t I interest anyone in going over to whatreallyhappened and watching those two videos?

For those who are just arriving this morning…scroll down to the videos by Rep. Burgess and Rep. Marcy Kaptur.

Kaptur warns there are domestic enemies to the Republic in reference to the bailout bill.

Burgess says,”I understand that we are under Martial Law as declared by the Speaker last night.” I cannot tell if he is joking or not.

The wonders of privatization coupled with Republican accounting rules.
Coming soon to an economy near you.

Palin has already thrown herself under the bus.
The only remaining question is whether McCain can extricate himself.
LIEberman would be a great running mate.
Really fire up the base.
The “Let’s help Israel bring Armageddon sooner” base.

Has anyone developed a “financial deregulator score” yet? Very important index to hang around the necks of the evildooersss in these coming hard times.

well said.

Need a badge of dishonor. Thinking of a big red “D” superimposed on a big nasty looking red devil with little imps holding up “Our deregulator” signs floating around. Maybe too religious, I dunno. Need a symbol of their evil deeds. Unfurtunately many dems deserve it.

i watched them both. i even confirmed on of them on the cspan archive. i have no idea what was being talked about…. but here is what i found at cspan:

I UNDERSTAND WE’RE UNDER MARITAL LAW AS DECLARED BY THE SPEAKER LAST…

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/…..7&n=1

from chris floyd:

The crisis of Wall Street’s financial meltdown has demonstrated, once again, that although the Bush Faction thugs are criminals, killers, torturers, and thieves, without even the slightest competence in governing, they remain brilliant political tacticians. They may be willfully ignorant and brutally stupid in almost every other area, but when it comes to advancing their own narrow interests — at the expense of the political opposition — their low cunning cannot be denied.

Just look how they have made the Democratic leadership the face of the Administration’s bailout plan — which is perhaps the most virulently unpopular government action in the last 100 years. This unconscionable giveaway to the greedy rich was cooked up in the poison kitchen of the Oval Office, long before the late summer collapses that triggered the public crisis — yet at every turn, before every camera, who do we see fighting hard for the plan? Why, Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank, front and center, day after day, talking it up, defending the President and his wise counselor, the rapacious Wall Street profiteer Henry Paulson. When the bailout goes through, and ordinary Americans see that their own lives and livelihoods are still collapsing all around them, who are they going to blame? Why, the Democrats, of course.

Good morning! How’s the supply of gas in NC? Yesterday I went to the local QT station at 6:45 am and returned home about 8 am. A few folks tried to cut in and one fairly large person in a pick-up cut across another parking lot to try to get in line. A 5′ petite lady got out of her car and convinced him to leave the area. The local Atlanta news stations have maps on line showing where to buy gas.

Good morning, pups. It’s [gag] Kristol, Cohen and Krugman this morning. Wrong Way Billy thinks he’s figured out “How McCain Wins.” He “thinks” (and I’m using that word VERY loosely) that the only chance John McCain has to win the presidential election is if he overrules his aides who are trapped by conventional wisdom. Mr. Cohen writes about “The Most Dangerous Job on Earth,” and says that if Pakistan is the most dangerous country on earth, then Asif Ali Zardari has taken one of the world’s least enviable posts as president. Mr. Krugman’s column is titled “The 3 A.M. Call,” and he says the next president will likely have to deal with some major financial emergencies. Barack Obama seems well informed. John McCain, on the other hand, scares him. You’re not the only one he scares, Professor.

http://mgpaquin.wordpress.com/

The coffee and tea are ready, and the biscuits are out of the oven. I heard on the radio today that early voting has been quite heavy here. Me, I’m a poll-goer. That way I get to grouse about being forced to show a picture ID… Have a great day.

Wow Attaturk! Good catch this morning! I couldn’t see the difference but you did! ;-)

Was it me or did John Boner last night look half-crocked than he usually is?

Nancy tried to drag the repukes into this so the blame would be on CONGRESS not the dems.

The plan is going to do nothing for main street that MANY MANY other simple plans would do WITHOUT saving the casino on Wall Street.

The people need to demand that ANY “plan” by congress address Main Street and let it trickle up to Wall street… if it does.

There is no need to rush into this, the sky is not falling. The only problem is the guys in Wall street are skeered to gamble because many of their investors want out. The crisis is that the casino is rigged and the people at the tables are leaving.

From an e-mail from Michael Moore in my comment on the prior thread (avoiding copying again)

http://firedoglake.com/2008/09…..nt-1655345

A long e-mail against the bailout in its entirety was the source. fwiw

No video at link for me selise. If we have marshall law are they keeping it a secret? Frankly I do believe they are looking for a way to put the military in the streets. There is no doubt we are no longer (if we ever were) in a democracy.

I bet the bill gets shot down today by members of both parties. If I was in Congress, no way in hell would I vote for this bailout especially when there are no guarantees that the American taxpayer will benefit!

This is all a sham. There is no emergency (except by the Wall Street companies who want their free quick money rather than change their own policies to get back on track)!

We could do with people like you in Congress and maybe we would not be in this bloody mess now. I have yet to run into one person, gooper or real person, that is in favour of this damn blackmail.

speaking of “no rush” the first item on schedule for the house today

Senate Amendments to H.R. 3997 – Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (Rep. Frank – Financial Services/ Ways and Means) (Subject to a Rule)

the rule you ask?

that was reported out of committee late last night after an emergency meeting of the house rules committee:

NOTICE OF ACTION
Sunday, September 28, 2008
11:45 P.M.
_____________________________________________

H. Res. 1517 Financial Services

Providing for the consideration of the Senate amendment to the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 3997, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

The Committee granted, by a non-record vote, a rule providing for consideration of the Senate amendment to the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 3997, the “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.” The rule makes in order a motion by the Chairman of the Committee on Financial Services to concur in the Senate amendment to the House amendment to the Senate amendment with the text of the House amendment printed in the report of the Committee on Rules.

The rule waives all points of order against the motion and provides that the Senate amendment and the motion shall be considered as read. The rule provides three hours of debate on the motion equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Financial Services. The rule provides that the Chair may postpone further consideration of the motion to a time designated by the Speaker.

the house is scheduled to begin this morning at 8 am. as usual, to be carried live on cspan.

nope, no rush.

i think we are learning, once again but this time more forcefully, that the constituents either party leadership care about are not us – Rs or Ds.

Here is how British “Conservative Leaders” are handling their bailout

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7641055.stm

Conservative leader David Cameron said nationalisation should be a last resort. He told the BBC the Tories would not sign “blank cheques” for the taxpayer to bail out failing institutions.

the one’s in the US are behind the heist of public treasure.

i forgot. we have fdl diaries now. i should put the house rules, schedule for today etc in one.

Joe tp

does the tp stand for toilet paper?

anybody here?

Nope ;)

Mornin’ all!

I’m just arriving. What two videos are you talking about? Scroll down where?

Definitely NOT good! Was in the SW corner of the state last week; Asheville was awful. Two small towns had limited deliveries to assorted stations (others empty) with lines forming and supply running out within hours. Followed Hwy 74 across southern side of state to SE corner on Friday. Waited in line one hour in Marion (near Charlotte) again with most stations out. That particular station had lots of people out directing traffic to try to prevent the sort of thing you’ve described. Pumps run insanely slow because everybody’s pumping at same time. Going out today in hopes of replenishing but when I came on the island Friday it looked like same situation here.

morning, McCain’s insane

here’s what’s coming up on Washington Journal:

7:30-8:00 PETER COOK
Bloomberg Television
“Money & Politics” Anchor http://www.bloomberg.com/media/tv
Topic: As Congress is in session this weekend continuing to negotiate and compromise over the financial markets bill, our guest will give us an update on the current status of this bill as well as the details of the legislation.

8:00-8:45 ALAN REYNOLDS
Cato Institute
Senior Fellow http://www.cato.org
Topic: Discuss the market’s reaction to the government’s proposed intervention. Our guest, a leading economist, will also discuss the end of Wall Street as we know it and the value of government intervention in the financial sector situation.

8:45-9:30 SHEILA KRUMHOLZ
Center for Responsive Politics
Executive Director http://www.opensecrets.org

Top Wall Street Contributors to Sen. McCain Campaign http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/con…..=N00006424
Top Wall Street Contributors to Sen. Obama’s Campaign http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/con…..=N00009638

Topic: Presidential Candidates’ Funds to Wall Street: Both Senator’s McCain and Obama have received contributions for Wall Street. Our guest discusses how much they have received, & whom the money came from.

9:30-10:00 Newspaper Articles/Phones

Was it the gun in her hand that convinced him to leave? *g*

There is no “mortgage crisis” to “bail out” that said there is definitely a credit crisis. People will always need somewhere to live so the housing will never get to (the theoretical) zero, property will find the level at which people, with their meager earnings, will be able to pay. Credit card debt, on the other hand, can get to zero. If people cannot pay their cc debt and if they cannot declare bankruptcy under the Biden Law they can just say fuck it and walk away from the debt. No amount of cajolling by the banks or rulings by the courts can get blood out of a stone or money out of people who are broke ergo cc debt can go to zero and this what the banks and “financial institutions” are worried about. The mortgage thing is a red herring.

This is a debt run society, with no debt to earn money on interest there is no society. We have little or no manufacturing, the service industry does not pay anywhere a living wage there are few natural assets, little oil and dirty coal is about it. The farming industry has been so chemicalized as to make it a useless industry without applying tons and tons of toxic chemicals into the atmosphere. There is, to coin and expression, “no there there”.

Only the financial industry is left in this country and that exists on creditors borrowing money to lend money, money that has to have interest rates ever increasing or there will be no “profit”. Of course the problem is the rich do not need credit and the poor cannot pay for credit as their wages have been reduced to subsistence level. According to the Biden Law we need to allow usurious interest rates and no bankruptcy protection to keep the scheme alive and kicking. And now we have reached the limit of the peoples ability to borrow…the scheme has to crash.

The way to solve the problem is to pay people a living wage, cap interest rates and write down the present cc debt by forcing the banks to re-write existing loans. Of course the best way would be to reduce all debt but that would surely collapse America as, I said before, there is bugger all else that this country has to offer, no manufacturing, ever degrading farming practices, few natural resources. There is no there there.

If we had more democracy the critters would pay attention to their constituents. I wonder how many are clamouroing to rush this fix through? Oh I fergot… the lobbyists are.

We need more accountability and elections are not working. We need term limits. Wanna serve? Do you stint and be gone and make room for other citizens to serve. You wanna serve MORE, then work for a NGO or teach at a university.

Government is a cesspool of entrenched interest sucking our taxes and promoting agendas AGAINST the interest of the people.

Wow, just a quick drive-by before work this morning and there’s so much to comment on, but not enough time. So I’ll just say hi.

Oh, and we’re getting a giant Obama sign painted on our barn in less than two weeks — they’re rounding up volunteers now.

The only leverage that the banks have on CC debt is screwing your credit rating… access to more debt.

If you live without a credit card – a debit card works… with your bank account then screw them and they know it.

Millions walked away from their debt the banks would be screwed and everyone would have the same credit rating as the banks D hahahahaha.

Why can’t Congress pass the version of the bill they wanted, one that George Bush threatened to veto? If the situation is so dire, then it would be on George Bush for vetoing the bill.

I just don’t get it.

Congress can send a strong signal to George Bush that it’s all his fault. The administration knew this was going to happen and waited till the last minute.

hey, man. mornin’.

here was my situation with the debate. i had signed on for camping with the scouts this weekend. so i missed it. maybe this comment on the debate is a few days behind, but I’m a few days behind. I was jonesin’ for some deate info Friday night. A guy came up Saturday morning. He’s a Republican who’s leaning towards McCain but says he doesn’t like either guy. He said he expected Obama to crush McCain but he thought McCain was very confodent and made some good points. He also said Obama made some good points, called ot a draw and it didn’t help him decide for sure. Talked to somebody else Saturday night who’s a big-time Barack supporter and she said pretty much the same. McCain was better than she thought; Obama did well; draw. She was of the view that like on baseball a toe goes to the runner, here the tie in a foreign policy deabte goes to Obama. I taped it and watched it last night and thought pretty much the same. it was hard for Barack to refute all of McCain’s bullshit but i think that was part of the McCain strategy–if he’s refuting my bullshit all night he doesn’t make his won case. I thought Barack played the camera really well when McCain was speaking. Little shaking the head. Little smiling. Mouthing the word “bullshit” if I read hios lips correctly. Pretty much a tie but if i had to pick a winner, I’d sday McCain, just barely. Some people here are expecting McCain to come out and be senile. Not happening. He really knows how to push the right buttons. Doesn’t have substantive knowledge worth shit. But knows rtghe language to use in that format. The upside for Barack , I think, is that he can do better but I don’t think McCain can. The post here says he’s gonna attack. The comments about the debate i saw say quite a few people didn’t like him acting like such a prick (acting???) so that might not play. As for the next debate, I was saying not to underestimate Palin because in the 1/2 of time she has she can do the same as McCain – push the bottons–victory, honor, reform, leadership, cut spending; fuck the poor. I’m beginning to have second thought because she is just soooooo completely inarticulate.

That’s my take on the debates.

Morning pups. I actually glanced at the Kristol Crapola column this morning thinking (silly me) that he might have an angle. Just the same knuckle-dragging mouthbreathing spew that is the only stuff his feeble-minded fellow-travelers seem to be able to hold in their brains. I am driven to this rant by having watched one of my reactionary colleagues (and surprisingly, friends) rant the other night on the teevee that the financial crash and bail-out was all the dimmycrats’s and foreigners’ fault. He blamed the dimmycrats for overregulating the markets, and the evil foreigners for saving too much, forcing the American consumer to go into debt to prevent the rest of the world from falling into a deep recession (that’s actually Bernanke’s view, too).

They are working night and day to establish a new myth to explain why neo-reactionary economics is the solution, not the problem. It’s like what Krugman said. Some say the world is round, others say it’s flat. Opinions differ.

the house is scheduled to begin this morning at 8 am. as usual, to be carried live on cspan.

nope, no rush.

The chairwoman of the Rules Committee is, I am ashamed to say, Louise Slaughter,
who was my representative for many years.
Allegedly a liberal, but her actions on this stickup, and FISA, suggest otherwise.

then I revise the Washington Journal schedule…

elliot – looks like washington journal is being preempted at 8am for the house of representatives (i don’t ever remembering them starting work so early). schedule details above (and in one of those new fangled diaries).

kabuki. the dem leadership are not on our side.

would like to have reason to conclude otherwise.

I dunno. But remember FISA and immunity? Bush said even if you give me everything else except for the immunity I’ll veto it, even though he was also saying that without a bill the country would be at grave risk. And the Dems caved. They just don’t have the balls to do what you (correctly, in my view)suggest.

Good take, except you forgot to add all the lying McCain did during the debate. He may have been ‘forceful’ but it’s because he was forcing the lies through his asshole! Tight squeeze. ;-)

It was funny. She chewed him out with words and he turned around and had to leave rubber just to show how tough he was. They are saying that it will be another week before they can get all the gas stations up and running. The Atlanta economy has to be suffering. Yesterday I took my 30 year old baby to brunch for his birthday. A popular brunch place was about 1/4 full at noon.

On the crawl on MCNBC -

A bank in Iceland failed.

McCain has been on the attack throughout. Yesterday on Face The Nation, Obama said something to the effect that McCain kept stating that he didn’t understand. Barack said that he certainly didn’t understand McCain’s plan.

I’m glad you put up a diary! Oxdown is going to be fun, but I’ll never EVER get anything done now. Hard enough keeping up with all the blogs here now but what a lot of good stuff up all ready.

There is no there there

That is the sanest economic observation outside Ian yet in these comments, particularly the observation on actual economic function. The distinction between the “financial” edifice and the economic edifice is crucial to economic understanding and being able to grasp the problem and come to a resolution. The house of cards which is the financial edifice, built upon knavery and fraud, will collapse regardless what is done. That collapse will bring down with it, all those interests which have brought about this problem. It will be necessary to disjoin these of great wealth from their ownership of economic means of production if any plan is to succeed in reestablishing economic order.

What Did McCain Mutter At The Debate?

and Asian markets are down because of the Bush bailout bill. I thought this bill was supposed to help.

i heard the fox guys were giving Obama some credit friday night. here’s how it worked in 2004. First debate-much handwringing about how Bush lost; second debate–Bush much better; good job. Third debate– Bush hits it out of the park & creams Kerry. i expect the same 1,2,3 again this year from those idiots.

you get stuff done? *g*

off to get coffee. see you all back here shortly after 8 for the house debate.

I sorta toughed on the lies when I said that barack couldn’t respond to tjhem all or he would have had enough time to put forward his own ideas. I expect that to continue.

correction dep’t:

should be— I sorta touched on that……………………

and them not tjhem.

Palin didn’t do badly in the Alaskan Governor’s debate and it’s my understanding the VP debate format won’t allow followups so you’re probably right about her performance.

Here’s hoping there were cheers all around as he turned tail and ran. *g*

Two weeks is the time frame I heard someplace in the last day or so. Yeah, the problem touches everyone; wonder how truckers are managing to keep their wheels on the road…. seemed fewer of them than usual on the stretch of I-40 west of Asheville.

how do you think he’ll deal with the “new” attacks?? alot of people said he was too laid back at first. mccain gained in the polls but it’s hard to tell if that was a Palin bounce or from the attacks. i think the Palin bounce and that is most definitely over.

BT’s upstairs swimmin’

I saw the alaskan governor deabte on c-span a few weeks ago and thought she did pretty good. but she’s having trouble spitting out the talking points or moving 1 inch beyond them. we’ll see. i don’t expect any major gaffes from her and the bar is being set really low.

Over at HuffPo, RJ Eskow offers tips to Obama for next debate. Here’s some of what he thinks Obama should say:

When your credit card rate jumps up to 28% and you can’t understand why, that’s because of the policies put in place by Bush and McCain.

When you can’t pay your mortgage and there’s nowhere to turn, that’s because of the policies put in place by Bush and McCain.

When you can’t afford to fill your gas tank or heat your house, that’s because of the policies put in place by Bush and McCain.

When your health plan covers even less of your costs and won’t provide treatment that you or your kids need, that’s because of the policies put in place by Bush and McCain.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..29895.html

ditto…

I’m just arriving. What two videos are you talking about? Scroll down where?

Anyone want to help clarify the link on the video?

Obama won the debate Friday night because he has a command of the issues and looked presidential. Most independents are waking up to the fact that we need somebody bright to take charge. (I hope) On the trail he mocks McCain’s points and I think that he will continue to do so. The only concern that I have is that he should have been able to end the primaries sooner and he didn’t.

Look, I can find all kinds of video of others stating we are under Martial Law and that Pelosi is responsible. This looks like more politics in play seems it is only coming out of the mouths of Reps?

How many more tactics will they pull?

I can find NO documentation on Pelosi declaring it.

This is pure politics.

I can find a YouTube posting of it being said by a Rep from TX, Burgess. if I hear from Dennis K — then, I’ll believe it.

Another Evel McFeeble stunt

Sadly, this one’s not a joke:

Nationalize our foreign debt.

It’s only a matter of time before one ruthlessly demagogic fake populist or another hits upon this favorite ploy of banana republicanism when faced with a debt crisis. And a debt crisis is where we’ll be soon if this $1.2+ trillion bailout gets approved, and maybe even if it doesn’t.

I see no reason why that ruthessly self-serving fake populist can’t be McCain. Si, se puede. His campaing is sure desperate enough.