Morning Christy – it’s gloomy and raining in Upstate New York. Hope we can all take a moment to send peaceful and loving thoughts to Barbara this morning.

Good Morning Christy, McCranky needed to do a better job than he did. Hopefully Obama stays on his game and has a strong close. Chuck Todd just said that the RNC is going to start spending more money in GA. Saxby seems to be struggling. Yeah!!!

Christy, Good morning. I love your upbeat view. The Mc would be dangerous. Talking about “faces”, what they show, on CNN. Faces that show reactions. McC = angry issue. Yep.

The video cracked me up — someone forwarded the link to me via e-mail and I practically spewed my coffee watching it this morning. It’s the combination of the facial expressions with the background music, I think. *g*

debate called to mind 1960 and a sweating nixon vs a calm collected jfk

I was just thinking about barbara this morning, too, as I was sipping my coffee. Wishing I were there to make her some and a little breakfast. Got to meet barbara in DC at Take Back America this year, and she is such a sweetheart with one of the most beautiful smiles…

(((Barbara)))

Mornin, Christy, Toby

Decided I’d fill out my absentee ballot today and hand carry it to the Supervisor of Elections office. Can’t wait to mark NO on the anti-gay amendment 2. The people who injected themselves into the Schiavo family’s affairs are behind this abomination. Michael has a video urging folks in FL to vote NO.

The split screen really made that clear, too…

Democracy Now! is discussing the debates, including those candidates who were not on the stage.

I saw the DSCC ad last night. They were hitting Saxby on his support of the Fair Tax. Not a great ad, imho.

Have been out Canvassing for Obama and the switched to phone banking. I had come across several people who indicated that they were waiting for the debates before they made up their minds. I wish I could find them again but the program at Obama headquarters (Vote Builder) serves up the contacts randomly. I agree with a lot of the great people here at FDL that Obama is not the perfect but at this point priority #1 is to get him elected then work on the rest.

Huge problem this late in the game for him.

McCrazy has nothing *but* problems.

The “scary Ayers terrist” theme is, I think, a dead issue. (sorry, Sarah, you’re gonna have to learn a brand new speech, dear)

And to try to sell himself as an economic savior, and sufficiently separated from the policies of W, well good luck with that.

P.S. MSNBC showing a PolitiHack.com poll that shows Obama winning by only 49-46%.

P.P.S. for all of those pundits who say this debate was not a ‘game-changer’, I’d say that they’re mistaken. Huge Obama win, and JohnnyMac has no issues left to play with.

Mornin’ Christy and Firedogs,

And the snap polls show that across the board

well, she said dripping with gleeful sarcasm, there is one rather glaring exception:

Politico had Obama by only 3 pts. It was their very first post-debate poll but I’m thinkin it must’ve been Poolboy’s n’er do well brother-in-law or something -

Goin’ Full On Dewey Defeats Truman:

“Perhaps the best news for McCain is the rating he received from independent voters. Among respondents not identified with either major political party, McCain was judged tonight’s winner, 51-42 percent.”

. . .seriously, c’mon, can’t…stop…laughing

i agree, mccain sounded and looked pissed off.

really a shame though that this is the substance we look for in our “debates” – especially at a time when there are so many issues of import to the country and the world that we could and, imo, should be discussing and debating.

the chocolate high of last night has worn off and i am once again frustrated by the campaigns and the campaign coverage. it is no wonder we make lousy choices.

you know, the sad thing about this debate was that whenever obama countered some bogus accusation with facts, mccain looked credibly amazed, which is to say, he seemed upset that he wasn’t prepped better, didn’t have the right info, was, in fact, wrong and suspected obama was telling the truth. Mccain ’s faces of astonishment at obama’s rebuttles are, i think, genuine. Which brings the viewer to the obvious conclusion that Mccain had no idea what he himself was talking about –he took the word of his koolaid-drunk advisors and seemed pissed at himself that he knew so little about the facts. That was really a sorry thing to see in an old man.

One of the funnier moments for me last night was that MCCain’s campaign put Rick Davis on to talk him up after the debate. Maybe it’s because I know so much about him, but he just oozes insincerity on camera. Knowing his background on who his lobbying clients were, and how much of a deregulation pusher he’s been just made it worse.

Of course, it would have been nice if Wolf Blitzer had managed to ask about any of that…

O.o

From bottom of last thread i had a comment:

Re: Barbara

I have to apologize but I don’t know who David is.

No matter, I’ve seen her around and my condolences.

Thanks Christy!

digg

McSFB could use the “n” word repeatedly and the corporate media would ignore it.

Republicans are pulling out all the stops to insure McGrumpy carries Ohio. Ohio Republicans are in the process of challenging 200,000 voters in the state. Is this the tip of the voter suppression iceberg that looms ahead?

I was at FOX for a few minutes and it seemed like after a show of hands on who won or if anybody made up their mind,they wanted to get away from the focus group and mentioned the text message poll – where McCain won 85-12 or something like that.

Her husband.

I had the exact same impression. He had no clue.

it’s actually 600,000. however, I saw something early this morning explaining how Secretary Brunner will get it done to the Court’s if not the RNC’s satisfaction – will try and find it for ya

I would think.

Weird about FL. Nobody’s spending much time here. I guess they can cover more ground hopscotching PA, OH, MI and it’s less money.

The problem for them in that suit, from what I’ve seen of it, is that it’s an almost exact replica of the one they tried to file in 2004 that got laughed out of court and smacked down by a federal judge. The claims asserted that I know of are pretty much identical. Here’s hoping for the same result if it’s just a nuisance suit…

Thanks. That’s what I figured. Shame. I’m very sorry for her loss.

I thought Frank Luntz’s FOX focus group also handily gave the debate win to Obama last night, too…seems I saw a quote from him on that somewhere. Will see if I can dig it up…

From your fingertips to ………………..

Is that a state court RICO suit? Or am I thinking of a different frivolous suit?

That’s the one I’m talking about. They filed an almost identical brief in 2004 that literally got laughed out of court.

Wanted to share this dynamite piece of economic info from tommy mccall at ny times the other day. great chart to give people who think repubs are good for US economy.

http://www.nytimes.com/interac…..038;st=cse

(Daytime) MSNBC seems to be trying to push the idea that the debate was *not* a clear Obama win.

(sigh) well, they’ve still got advertising to sell between now and the election – but hearing the truth would be refreshing.

Oh yeah –

Vote early if you can,

Done.

EPUed:

Prediction #1: Joe the Plumber will be researched more and more in coming days, and he will become less and less of an issue, because he’s going to seem less and less middle class.

Prediction #2: The big gaffe of the night–which both the MSM and the blogs have already noted in various places–was McCain’s line on abortion where he put air-quotes around the “health” of the mother and put the phrase “pro-abortion” in the same sentence. That’s a 10 second sound-bite that you’re going to see over and over again.

no bout adout it

If ya don’t vote strictly Rethug yer an ineligible voter.

I think so too. I don’t stick around at FOX too long. But their snap poll was hilarious. makes me wonder if there are that many swing voters watching FOX. I mean, the reason Hillary and then Obama went on there is because alot of people – Joe SixPack/Plumber types (Have references to Joe the Plumber been banned here? Should be. No more from me.) – watch it. Seemed right to me. But now I wonder if there are really that many persuadable people watching that it’s worth a Dem going on.

on democracy now! this morning they are doing something very clever – they are going through some of the questions that were asked last night and replaying the answers by obama and mcsame. and then answers by nader and mckinney. if only they had been included last night’s debate – that would have been such a good thing for a discussion of real issues.

Amy Goodman yesterday with ACORN and repub wacko touting supposed voter suppression

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/10/15/acorn

I must have missed the notes. Did her husband die? I am so sorry…I knew he had been ill.

As well we should. McSFB validated my thought that the election would be a national referendum on women’s reproductive rights. Dismissing the “health” of a mother was not McSFB’s brightest moment.

Has anyone ever noted that, by definition, Joe six-pack is drunk after he drinks that?

have seen it with my own gimlet eyes

At the liveblog at my shop, the women writing were absorbed by the health care debate, skeptical of both candidates’ fiscal plans, and merciless in the attack section:

Senator Obama objected that he had been labeled as a terrorist. McCain said that the people who came to his rallies were real patriotic Americans. Where is the moderator? Solving 2 wars and the worst economic crisis since the great depression, means that we must work together…must not characterize each other as bad people…McCain now red in the face and now bringing up ACORN in this debate point about negative campaigning. While Mr. Obama speaks, McCain smirks. The women in this room do not like this.

I didn’t see it so much as an amazed reaction from McCain, but more of a “screw the facts, asshole” sort of reaction. Every time Obama refuted an accusation with a substantive response, McCain got annoyed at having to listen to a refutation. But he never seemed to pay attention to the actual substance of what Obama said.

The big tell on that for me was the John Lewis exchange — where Obama pointed out that the campaign and then rep. Lewis himself came out with public statements that the George Wallace reference had come out a bit more strong that Lewis had intended, and McCain just bulled right along with his whining about it rather than realizing that he was whining about something Obama said he’d already done ages ago. “But you didn’t refute it. Waaaaaah.”

You see that a lot in court when you have a lawyer who has prepared questions and keeps asking them instead of listening to the witness testimony itself. If you don’t listen, you often miss some key points that you could draw out further, or clues to pursue a different tack in what you are doing — and when you bull ahead on a dead end, you just end up looking like an idiot. McCain did that over and over again last night — it was really odd, given the stakes, but telling that he wasn’t listening to anything other than what he wanted to hear to allow him to say what he wanted to say.

1,796 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…

Citizen Hardin Smith and the Firepup Freedom Fighters:

Good mornin’ to you Sister Hardin Smith and all the FDL patriots who battle for democracy every day. Today we can see the light of victory and hear the chorus of freedom through the window of enlightenment that was opened jest a smidgeon last night. The victory is not of Obama over Crazy John McCain and the music is not of Democrats over Republicans…no, the sight and sounds are of opportunity for democracy to vanquish fascism in our country, root and branch. The window of opportunity is only open for three weeks, however, so as we join the chorus and celebrate the moment we must continue to work to extend the gift of democracy to all by workin’ to extend the franchise to all eligible and get ’em to the polls.

If Obama is given the mandate that is clearly offered by circumstances today, we can end the culture wars and the 148 year old Civil War in our country and discredit fascism as a legitimate political ideology once and for all. We can do that not simply by electing Democrats, even ”more and better” Democrats, but by increasing the participation of eligible voters in our election and extending the franchise onto an eruption of freedom that will bury racism and classism and irradicate the genes of that sickness from our body politic.

The cure for an ailing democracy is more democracy…

KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION, THERE IS NO COMPROMISING WITH FASCISM!!!

ot – 10:30 this am: Arthur Levitt to testify before Senate Banking Committee

I did some RICO back in the day. You really need your ducks in a row. very complex. but they’ve had 4 years to fix things. Then again, if there’s no basis to it, time won’t change that. I’ll try to follow this but you’ll keep us posted right?

#2: That was so repulsive as if the “health” issue is a phony ploy to have an abortion..what a crazy, mean outlook

Ya think McKinney might have punched McCain?

here is article I was reading earlier

and…

Secretary Brunner files late night emergency appeal

ps – reading the 538 or even the Chuck Todd tea leaves, Senator Obama no longer needs Ohio

She popped on for a sec yesterday morning to let us know that David had passed away on Tuesday evening after his long fight with cancer. {{{barbara}}}

Saw a beat up small pickup yesterday on my commute home that had 2 McCain/Palin stickers on the back window. The driver and his vehicle looked like they were really beaten down. Despite this it would seem as if he wants more of the same. I guess that Republicans and those who follow their bankrupt economic ideology have a strong masochistic streak.

“You see that a lot in court when you have a lawyer who has prepared questions and keeps asking them instead of listening to the witness testimony itself. If you don’t listen, you often miss some key points that you could draw out further, or clues to pursue a different tack in what you are doing — and when you bull ahead on a dead end, you just end up looking like an idiot. McCain did that over and over again last night — it was really odd, given the stakes, but telling that he wasn’t listening to anything other than what he wanted to hear to allow him to say what he wanted to say.”

absolutely dead on, christy. And the media types do the exact same thing. we all sit there asking ourselves “why didn’t they pick up on that?” it’s enough to make you nutso.

I knew the repub wacko in college. She went on to a legislature position and was ultimately defeated when she ran for OK AG. She was something of a nut case then but has progressed in rethug terms incredibly since then.

And who was it that said” A good lawyer never asks a question to which he or she doesn’t already know the answer?

Yeah. And using the fingers to make quotation marks “Health” And McSame:Palin will be an advocate for special needs kids. Obama: If there’s a spending freeze , they’ll get shafted. McSame: I said she’d advocate, I didn’t say we;’d spend any money on them. (Or something like.) Whatta bum.

No doubt about it.

As I hear stuff, I’ll let you know. But, my understanding is that the Secretary of State was already working on the issue in question when the suit was filed — that it was more for publicity filing than anything, and they knew it. Will try and drill down on it a bit more as I can. And I’ll talk with LHP about it, too — it’s really more her cuppa practice than mine. *g*

Thanks, Christy. I really love her spirit. That is such a hard loss. Thoughts with you, too. BL

You are correct. I can vouch for that. And the longer he drinks over time, he doesn’t even need that.

ok. thanks. i’ll follow you guys.

While Mr. Obama speaks, McCain smirks.

I’m of the opinion that advisors sold McCrazy on the “happy warrior” gambit.

So johnny *thought* he was smiling – he just should have practiced in front of a mirror, maybe.

I’m also kinda surprised that the obvious renewed swelling on the left side of McCrazy’s face wasn’t addressed. We need, and deserve, medical records from him – like yesterday.

apparently the McCrazy campaign forgot Rule #1:

Don’t F* with those damn hippies

DKos: Joe is not a registered voter and appears not to be a licensed plumber

Good morning from NH in the heart of the great Northwest!

-G

Autism, however, and Sarah’s “special needs” child have not been acquainted until last night when McSame seemed to introduce them as if they are Siamese Twins.

Selise @ 46
He is on C-Span now

Darrow

don’t know who but that’s law school stuff. and if anyone answers a question with “In what respect, Beerfart?” You say “In any respect, asshole.” Charlie really let Palin off the hook. I don’t see how they people can complain.

Between that “health of the mother” air quote asshollery and the dismissive snippiness about equal pay for women when Obama brought up Lilly Ledbetter? McCain just looked like he could give a shit about women, which comports perfectly with his voting record.

LOL!!

and his marriage record

has that gotten worse? They always try to show his other side I really haven’t seen it much.

You guys have the RCMP, right? *g*

The final straw?

the dismissive snippiness about equal pay for women when Obama brought up Lilly Ledbetter?

You mean you’re not buying his argument that women aren’t entitled to equal pay because it would benefit trial lawyers? *g*

This is why I am not sanguine about the polling. I think that the polls in favor of Obama can easily be wiped out with typical voter suppression techniques.

looked worse to me…..

Frighteningly, absurdly appropriate. Debate ‘Recap’…

Having spent a lot of time dealing with special needs issues, I can tell you that autism can’t even be realistically diagnosed until the child is between 2 and 3 years of age, and then not even definitively but just a “most likely on the spectrum” sort of thing. We’ve got medical folks who read here regularly who could weigh in more definitively, but you can’t get a feel for where a child may or may not be with regard to autism and PDD spectrum until they are speaking and interacting more fully (or not) at that age.

Trig Palin certainly exhibits outward characteristics of down’s syndrome in terms of facial features and such. And he may very well have additional diagnostic issues — but there is no way in hell they can know that at his age and stage of development. That was just incredibly weird from McCain last night, and really ignorant in terms of prep on someone’s part for him, too.

thank you! will listen to it after democracy now! (since i’ve already started with it, and would like to hear the wj interview with levitt from the beginning)

Yes, and the mean spiritedness of Mc’s response. On Ledbetter he snorted and interrution and said something like: suspending statute of limitations, the greatest gift to trial lawyers.

I loved the part when McMad mumbled something about the statute of limitations. I just read the coverage of the case: I do believe THAT was what the whole case was about. Wonder what law school he went to;)

As NH shares a border with Canada, naturally that makes me an expert on Canadian affairs…..

NH has Ghurkas because we were originally populated by Indians.

-G

McCain is very concerned about his campaign props.

-G

I caught that snort, too. He had several of those last night, along with the grimaces. It really was quite the display of open-id.

That’s a good argument. Gotta admit. No? (wink) Is there an abbreviation thing for a wink? Like *g? or /s ? there should be. Winking has gotten real popular lately.

Charle Rose had one of his gasbag get togethers of Establishment pundits on to analyze the debate. It was fairly schizophrenic. OTOH they were spinning McCain and his debate performance like crazy. On the other, even they were admitting that he would have to transform himself into the angel Gabriel or half the states to fall off the map for him to win.

I thought it was pretty brazen of him to be so openly dismissive of women, given that he’s depending on his Sugar Momma and her fundage.

Mc wasn’t talking about Sarah’s baby, he was talking about Alaska funding for special needs kids under Palin. Google turns up articles that say she increased funding and other that say the reverse. I don’t know what the truth is.

All the pundits need it to be a horserace to the finish in order to sustain their viability for bookings. SIGH

I still wish Obama had asked just once, “How are you going to pay for any of this?” By cutting taxes? 25 nuclear reactors? please.

Transparency in govt?

more of the dogwhistle stylings from KlownHall

John McCain did fine at the third debate,… but he benefited mostly because Barack Obama’s ordinariness became more obvious to more people. More people escaped the mass hypnosis tonight. They sat up suddenly, took a deep breath, and as they watched Barack Obama, do you know what they did next?

They patted their pants pockets, or looked around the room to see where they’d set down their purses. They checked their wallets. That’s smart, and it’s good for the McCain-Palin ticket. There’s easily enough time left, friends and neighbors, for enough more people to awake and to do a wallet-check before they cast their votes on November 4th.

hey, aren’t you late for your cross burning ???

Thought I remembered one point where he was talking about Trig and autism together? Although, honestly, I was up late and then up early again this morning, so it could just be lack of adequate coffee at this point…

who said last night here that someone should tell mccain that one winks with only one eye? that was funny

He was having massive, rapid blinking issues again last night, too. I wonder if it’s the lighting, nerves or a lying tell?

Jail all the pundits and “bank” CEOs for fraud!

Dry eye, dry mouth…… hmmmmm

The part I loved on Charlie Rose…the folks, there were at least 2, talking about the depth of the Obama passion even in contrast to his noted cool. That he has the calling and the intelligence in these circumstances to be a truly great, transformative President in the way of FDR and Lincoln. I thought those observations were wise, candid, hopeful….and thinking about that view this morning. Healing, encouraging words. I think the speakers were Al Hunt and Doris Kearns G., but may have forgotten.

At the end of the debate, I thought that McCain’s hand shake and “good job, good job,” good job comment was interesting. What meds would cause his reactions last night?

The other comeback on nuclear reactor that I didn’t hear O make is that they take so long to construct. It used to be 10 years iirc, but presumably it can be done in less time with fed govt greasing the skids wrt environmental problems, but even so, it’s not gonna happen any time soon.

Indian Point, on the Hudson River in spitting distance of millions of people, has no possible real-time evacuation plan. Not only if something goes wrong, but also a terrorist attack. Right after 9/11, when I was trying to learn what to be scared about and what was unlikely, I found the public info on nuke plants to be opaque. They put a no-fly zone around Indian Point, and I calculated that it would take a plane flying 400 mph about 4 seconds from crossing the no-fly border to hitting the plant.

gotta go do chores before the rain comes. get ready to go to a funeral in vermont. weather suits the activity perfectly here. but tomorrow, sun comes back.

hope the dems load up on lawyers at every freakin polling place in Ohio. The only thing that can save mcsame now is an major october surprise. dog save us from that.

I think Mc Cain has done exactly what Kerry did. He’s turned himself over to these “handlers” and he’s fucked because of it.

I think that’s true — he turned himself over to Steve Schmidt, and he’s paying for it in spades.

I listened to those sections pretty carefully because it was so puzzling that Mc brought up autism, when Sarah’s baby has Downs, and all the other stuff about diagnosing autism. Also Mc introduced the subject by saying that the incidence of autism is rising, and I think that is not true of Downs. So I think the whole discussion had nothing to do with Sarah’s baby.

From CBS Marketwatch
Obama remained cool and calm while McCain was the Tasmanian Devil, spinning faster and faster as the night wore on until his arguments became a blur. By the end of the debate, McCain was muttering to himself.
I posted this on Attaturk but I thought the comment was worthy of a repeat.

Listening to McShame last night made my head spin and I didn’t think it was from the wine I drank. His stream of consciousness was absolutely bizarre at points.

And to that end, Mike Murphy had some great thoughts on that exact question pre-debate yesterday. Which McCain clearly, summarily ignored.

i got home too late to see the deabte live but stopped on my way home for a quick pit stop (air quotes around pit stop) so i saw the part here they were talking about health care and coverage vs. costs (dumb question, Bob) and that was the first thing I noticed.

Dry eye, dry mouth…… hmmmmm

Wet diaper.

Anyone notice that Obama flashed a smile every time McCain distorted the truth/lied? While McCain grimaced, Obama smiled.

Disagree with Selise that judgement of the debate shouldn’t be partially based on body language. That language will be representative of what our President projects to the world. In big business, it is called “board room presence”. You don’t get hired into executive positions without it.

I think you are essentially correct. My memory is that autism begins to manifest at about 18 months to 2 years. There are a bunch of developmental milestones as well as social interaction skills which the child begins to veer away from. There are a lot of degrees to this which can mask diagnose. It is particularly devastating emotionally to couples I think because everything starts out normal and as the autistic characteristics begin to show up they have a feeling of losing their child and at the same time trying to adapt to the changed reality.

It’s always like that with these “find more energy” solutions. They take time. Conservation can happen overnight, especially when compared to drilling, or even solar and nuclear.

Obama scored some points earlier this year when he said we should all make sure our tires were properly inflated, and then McCain shot back that that was stupid, and then all the experts blasted McCain for being stupid.

I thought McCain was a worthy contender in 2000. I’m not sure that it’s just his handlers. His mental faculties seem to be in downward spiral.

democracy now! this morning was an especially good one. excellent coverage of the “debate’ – maybe the best there is – not only did amy get answers to last night’s questions from nader and mckinney (who were both excellent), there was a piece at the end on the protest outside the “debate” by the veterans against the iraq war.

The high prices & recession will cut energy usage by an amount that people will find surprisingly large.

I see Palin is gonna be in bangor this a.m. This campaign is on life support and they send their big draw to try to pick off one elctoral vote? Then fly her down to NC for an afternoon event? No wonder the McSame campaign is a laughingstock. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

yup. i noticed that and McCain’s blinking. was it my TV or was the makeup on both guys really bad. mccain looked ghoulish and obama’s lips were blue.

Exactly — the regression is a huge red flag, and it’s often devastating for the parents. But seeing those red flags early can also have a benefit, if you start therapy and intervention early enough. The brain is rather elastic when children are small, and sometimes early intervention can help to mitigate the extent of the symptoms — and not just of autism, but of a range of developmental issues, which can be, in effect, re-programmed if the brain can somehow be taught to forge new pathways to circumvent the problematic circuitry. Which is to say, sometimes the symptoms can be lessened a bit, making the child’s life a bit easier in the long run on the developmental end of things.

But most parents aren’t familiar with any of the symptoms, having not spent an eternity dealing with at risk kids and such. And far too often, pediatricians can take a “wait and see” approach instead of getting something like “Birth to Three” or other intervention services involved when they could do the most good. A lot of times, wait and see is really appropriate, but it’s the few times when it isn’t that are so painful in the long run…

Can you tell this has been a pet issue of mine for a while now?

He was having massive, rapid blinking issues again last night, too. I wonder if it’s the lighting, nerves or a lying tell?

I honestly believe he’s jacked up chemically for these occasions.

It may be that he is *only* taking a concoction marketed by Bill Romanowski, the former ‘mad chemist’ (and dirtiest player) of the NFL (and Romanowski says that Gramps *is* using his latest product), or it may be something more, umm, serious, powerful, illegal?

Romanowski : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Romanowski

Must be a bitch for her to fly from the Northwest all the way down South again!

The critical thinking abilities of many Americans would also seem to be on a downward spiral.

Having spent a lot of time dealing with special needs issues, I can tell you that autism can’t even be realistically diagnosed until the child is between 2 and 3 years of age, and then not even definitively but just a “most likely on the spectrum” sort of thing. We’ve got medical folks who read here regularly who could weigh in more definitively, but you can’t get a feel for where a child may or may not be with regard to autism and PDD spectrum until they are speaking and interacting more fully (or not) at that age.

I’m board-certified in both pediatrics and genetics, and I almost never make a diagnosis of “autism”, which is essentially an impairment of social interaction skills. There are VERY specific criteria that you need to meet to make this diagnosis, and I usually leave it to a developmental specialist to perform all of the necessary behavioral and developmental tests. Unfortunately, the term “autism” is now used to mean just about anything, from mental retardation to specific delays in various areas, various genetic diseases, and even kids who are just a little shy.

As for autism and Down syndrome, I think it’s fair to say that the vast majority of children with autism do not have Down syndrome (which is caused by an extra copy of all or most of chromosome 21), and most children with Down syndrome do not have autism. Most of the children I’ve seen with Down syndrome have been very socially interactive. It’s one of my favorite patient populations to work with, because the kids are usually so nice.

They put a no-fly zone around Indian Point, and I calculated that it would take a plane flying 400 mph about 4 seconds from crossing the no-fly border to hitting the plant.

The technical term for that is Kissing your ass good-bye time. Seems like plenty to me.

watching Joe The Plumber….

He’s a winger. Big fan of the Iraq war, among other things….

Obama’s lips are always blue-black.

LOL. yeah. maine is even further west than NH.

Disagree with Selise that judgement of the debate shouldn’t be partially based on body language.

i don’t object to the body language being part of the evaluation – as indeed it was mine. my objection is that apparently the most important thing we have to evaluate because of the narrowness of the “questions” and the “answers” leave very little for us to analyze or discuss. listening to nader and mckinney’s answers this morning was mind blowing after last night.

Think McCain was on goofballs. He also reminded me a bit of the pothead as portrayed in “Reefer Madness.”

OT to Christy: Did you see the news that Obama is making ad buys in your home state?

Citizen Rev Bev:

You have nailed it Right Reverend Bev…”healing” not only of our dmeocracy and democratic institutions but of our collective spirit as human beings and citizens. We politics of triangulation and marginalizing of citizenship in a democracy can only be overcome by leadership that empowers and protects the common citizen in using the power that democracy gives the individual…and the only worry I have now is for the life and health of our leader. The fascists in our country are well versed in the use of the tool of assasination to secure political power…root and branch, dear Sister RevBev, root and branch…

he’s a scumbag.

Thanks, Frank — I knew there were difficulties in any sort of definitive diagnosis on it. And agree on the Down Syndrome kids as being wonderful to work with…

It’s about damned time. He had radio ads here earlier in the summer, but they stopped for a while. I’ve been badgering them to get the Ralph Stanley ad on the air here, pronto. Do you have a link on the ad buy?

Said Obama’s tax plan looks “socialistic”. A right wing meme. Joe is only “undecided” in the minds of the corporate media that loves these storylines.

wrt the time it takes for nuclear power plant construction – gov can grease the environment regulatory skids, but here in NE, i think it would take a hell of a lot more than that, including tear gas, putting many people in prison, etc. too many people here still who were instrumental or at least involved in the big clamshell actions.

There could be a diagnostic bias in autism rates too. This is too say that if more children receive the diagnosis today than before it may not be because the underlying problem is occurring more frequently but that it is being picked up more.

As for Downs, it is correlated to the age of the mother. I believe most births occur to women who are fairly young, but a percentage of women are having children at an older age. The risk of Downs increases substantially year by year for pregnancies in women over 35.

Exactly — the regression is a huge red flag, and it’s often devastating for the parents…

Soapbox moment: Developmental regression (when a child stops doing something that they used to be able to do) is a major red flag for a serious metabolic and/or genetic disease and needs immediate evaluation by multiple specialists (including a neurologist and a genetics/metabolism specialist). Some of these children have treatable metabolic diseases and need to be on special diets. Newborn screening will catch most of these disorders, but not all of them. If your child was born in a country that doesn’t do newborn screening, their risk of having one of these disorders is even higher.

It’s about damned time. He had radio ads here earlier in the summer, but they stopped for a while. I’ve been badgering them to get the Ralph Stanley ad on the air here, pronto. Do you have a link on the ad buy?

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200…..LaPhms0NUE

It’s a throw-away line, but it’s there.

I don’t think seriously about nuclear power plants because I think it’s just a throwaway line by Rs to use as a cudgel against the Ds. It will be forgotten as soon as the election is over.

“Who could have known” last night’s drinking challenge oughta be every time he mentioned “Joe the plumber”? *g* Guy started sounding totally demented.

On a more pleasant note, James Taylor is playing five concerts for Obama in NC over the next week. Hoping to snag a ticket for the closest one.

Thanks.

WRT to Joe Plumber and McCain:

Has anyone else brought up the unfortunate Watergate association of “plumbers” and “disgraced US President” Nixon?

Didn’t McCain have any other profession to choose from other than a plumber to mention in a Presidential race?

Oh, Dog! She’s coming here? We just got rid of mcpalin last week. :-(((

It will be forgotten as soon as the election is over.

good.

Diagnostic criteria for autism:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/auti…..iteria.htm

Most developmental specialists will use the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) to help make the diagnosis:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A…..n_Schedule

Thanks. Right now, I am not allowing that fleeting, terrible thought any space in my mind. If this election is rigged or if something happens, as you suggest, we, the country, would be in very big trouble. My spirit is determined to be more hopeful and confident. Without sounding like a wierd “new ager”, I think there is something very powerful that is wanting to happen here. We need it; our country needs it. There is the opportunity to heal old racial wounds and many others, as well. That is the thought that I am holding. The man and the moment.

Well, that’s a prediction with all the attendant caveats, so don’t take it to the bank yet. *g*

O man. Can I come? Maybe just in my mind. Thanks for letting us know…humming.

so don’t take it to the bank yet.

these days i don’t think about taking anything of value to bank *g*

Zach was actually kind enough to post the same post on Oxdown the other day. It was one of our highest trafficked posts of the week.

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/546

New thread up.

Having watched my mother’s decline in life to the end of her life, I think McCain is in his twilight years. His stamina is in question. And, the back-up is not a advocate of democracy. Terrifying.