Laura Flanders

Today marks the 79th anniversary of Black Tuesday, the stock market crash that precipitated the Great Depression. Today, we face another crisis both in our economy and stand on the threshold, if the polls are accurate, of a new administration which promises to reframe both our democracy and our economy.

The culture wars may still be raging but will they bring voters to the polls? In 2004, many on the left and right argued that ballot initiatives on gay marriage and abortion helped galvanize the conservative base. So what does the electoral landscape look like this year? There are ballot initiatives in a number of states—from Prop 8 in California to an anti-abortion measure in South Dakota.

If you thought that this presidential election was about the economy, think again. Senator John McCain's campaign is flooding swing voters with "robocalls" putting to question Barack Obama's character. North Carolina representative Robin Hayes at a recent rally accused Obama of "inciting class warfare"and said that "liberals hate real Americans that work and achieve and believe in God."

Coverage of Iraq that we’ve seen here over the past six months has been all about the surge. But in Baghdad over the weekend there was a different kind of surge. Tens of thousands of protesters marched through the streets to oppose a renewal of the Status of Forces Agreement, which would extend the US presence in Iraq for three more years until the end of 2012.

After a final debate performance in which only 10% of viewers responding to an NBC poll found that McCain had advanced his campaign, the Republican Presidential candidate came out this past weekend with the tried and true GOP weapon: he called Barack Obama a socialist for his economic policy. Invoking the image of his buddy from Holland, Ohio, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the unlicensed plumber.

Acorn is destroying the fabric of democracy. John Lewis is out of line. Spreading wealth is class warfare. Senator Government. And Joe, you’re rich. Did Obama defend himself? Then, the economy isn’t getting better anytime soon. Is anyone explaining how we got into this mess and how we might get out of it?

Hailed as the Democrats' answer to the Religious Right after the '04 election -- Where's the religious Left now, in the election of '08? Are right-wing churches just better at politics? Can - should -- the Left learn from the Right? Here to discuss the role of religion in progressive politics are Rev. Jacqui Lewis, Frederick Clarkson, and Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou.

With three weeks to go before the election the subtle and no so subtle racism at McCain-Palin rallies is finally being criticized. Civil rights icon John Lewis recently drew a parallel to the days of George Wallace: Is McCain "sowing the seeds of hatred and division"? And is the anger fueled by economic crisis and anxiety misdirected by the McCain/Palin brand of what Newsweek has called "mindless populism"?

Questions of patriotism and of terrorism—the domestic variety—are now dominating the airwaves. Yes, the economy’s bad but perhaps not bad enough to drown out the guilt by association narrative being trumpeted by Sarah Palin and John McCain. But McCain and Palin have their own baggage. Why aren’t we hearing about it?

How is it possible to unfairly grill a prospective commander in chief on a raging war? After 8 years of Bush, have our expectations for what a top leader can articulate fallen so low as to make a meaningful debate impossible? To answer these questions, we turn to Robert Fisk, Britain's foremost foreign correspondent, who writes for the Independent and author of new collection of essays.