Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Obama on the resolving this financial crisis

Obama spoke in Reno today about the House's rejection yesterday of the financial rescue plan and why we need action now:

This financial crisis is a direct result of the greed and irresponsibility that has dominated Washington and Wall Street for years. It’s the result of speculators who gamed the system, regulators who looked the other way, and lobbyists who bought their way into our government. It’s the result of an economic philosophy that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else; a philosophy that views even the most common-sense regulations as unwise and unnecessary. And this economic catastrophe is the final verdict on this failed philosophy – a philosophy that we cannot afford to continue.

But while there is plenty of blame to go around and many in Washington and on Wall Street who deserve it, all of us now have a responsibility to solve this crisis because it affects the financial well-being of every single American. There will be time to punish those who set this fire, but now is the moment for us to come together and put the fire out.

This is one of those defining moments when the American people are looking to Washington for leadership. It is not a time for politics. It is not a time for partisanship. It is not a time to figure out how to take credit or where to lay blame. It is not a time for politicians to concern themselves with the next election. It is a time for all of us to concern ourselves with the future of the country we love. This is a time for action.

I know that many of you are feeling anxiety right now – about your jobs, about your homes, about your life savings. But I also know this – I know that we can steer ourselves out of this crisis. Because that’s who we are. Because this is the United States of America. This is a nation that has faced down war and depression; great challenges and great threats. And at each and every moment, we have risen to meet these challenges – not as Democrats, not as Republicans, but as Americans. With resolve. With confidence. With that fundamental belief that here in America, our destiny is not written for us, but by us. That’s who we are, and that’s the country we need to be right now.

This is no longer just a Wall Street crisis – it’s an American crisis, and it’s the American economy that needs this rescue plan....

Full remarks here.

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The latest Brave New Films McCain video

McCain on Osama Bin Laden in 1998

I'm not quite sure what McCain was trying to say in this 1998 interview with Mother Jones magazine:

MJ: You not only have had combat experience in Vietnam, but you were also a prisoner of war. When you look at terrorism right now, with people like Osama bin Laden, do you have any reservations about watching strikes like that?

JM: You could say, Look, is this guy, Laden, really the bad guy that's depicted? Most of us have never heard of him before. And where there is a parallel with Vietnam is: What's plan B? What do we do next? We sent our troops into Vietnam to protect the bases. Lyndon Johnson said, Only to protect the bases. Next thing you know.... Well, we've declared to the terrorists that we're going to strike them wherever they live. That's fine. But what's next? That's where there might be some comparison.

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Palin makes the case for Obama

(Though she doesn't realize it!)

(Video link)

MEANWHILE, one of the witnesses in the Troopergate investigation has changed her story now that she's testifying under oath, admitting that she was pressured by the governor's office. Video background from the Anchorage Daily News here.

AND GUESS WHAT? Sarah Palin reads all of the newspapers. "All of 'em!"

(Video link)

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Obama ad: Same Path

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Inflight chat on Virgin American

How funny... on our flight this morning from Vegas to SF, someone in seat 11B tried to chat with me on Virgin's inflight chat system.

I ignored the message. :-)

Then we look out the window of our 15th floor room at the beautiful new Intercontinental tower in SOMA, and see an ad for the service!

LOL: Palin humor

Jimmy Kimmel:

"John McCain showed up without running mate Sarah Pain, which is a shame because she actually has a lot of experience with financial matters. You know, she lives right next to a bank."

:-)

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Jack Cafferty calls Palin "pathetic"

Debate, the day after

(Video link)

(Video link)

Debate reviews here and here and here. Post-debate polls here.

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Friday, September 26, 2008

Where's Palin?

While Joe Biden has been making a round of post-debate interviews, Sarah Palin has been noticeably absent...

Fact checking the debate

Here we go: the debate! (live blogging)

I am on the couch, wearing my most over-the-top Obama shirt (the one Victor won't let me wear in public :-) and ready to go!!! All afternoon I've found it hard to concentrate on organic chemistry...

5:58pm - I didn't think that Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann were being allowed to anchor live political events anymore, but they seem to be on right before and right after the debate. Interesting.

6:08 - McCain seems to be wandering a bit already in his first answer to the question, where does he stand on the bailout?

6:11 - Obama seems on top of his game tonight. Clear, focused, concise. Forceful. And much stronger than some any of the Democratic debates.

6:14 - McCain just said that we were the biggest exporter and the "biggest importer." ??? Importing is good, lol?

And now he is saying that "we Republicans came to Congress to change government and it changed us." That's right! WE=YOU, John McCain.

Now he is bringing up an earmark which spent money on moose DNA in Montana... and I'm quite certain Sarah Palin had a similar project in Alaska. :-)

McCain has now made three references to being old. Weird.

6:16 - Obama cites figures: earmarks amount to only $18 billion annually and notes that McCain's plan cuts taxes for the wealthy by $300 million a year.

6:18 - Now McCain is bring up corruption.

6:19 - Obama interrupts McCain as he begins to misrepresent Obama's plan to cut taxes.

6:22 - McCain just said "divident" when he meant "exemption" while talking about taxes.

Obama is clearly far better prepared than McCain... he's backing up everything he says and is keeping it focused on what matters to Main Streeet.

And Obama is reminding America that McCain wants to tax employer healthcare benefits.

6:24 - McCain just repeated his "dividend" mistake. ???

6:26 - I have a feeling McCain is now wishing he hadn't grandstanded on the debate and returned to Washington... he's not prepared. And that weird grin doesn't cover it.

6:29 - Lehrer just asked Obama and McCain about their fiscal priorities given the financial crisis. Obama gave a long list of clear priorities: education, our infrastructure, new energy sources, etc.. McCain just said "cut costs" and gave two examples: ethanol subsidies and bad defense contracts.

6:37 - McCain keeps saying he knows how to cut spending. But what evidence is there of that? Obama is pointing out the same thing: it's George W. Bush who has gone on this "orgy of spending" and McCain has voted with him 95% of the time.

6:39 - "What are the lessons of Iraq?" McCain seems to hesitate in answering and only comes up with "a bad strategy" may get in the way of success. He's been taking lessons from Palin, lol.

6:43 - McCain finally gets to mention The Surge and use it against Obama. And he's energized by it.

6:44 - Obama deftly deflects that old "committee issue" by pointing out that the Foreign Relations Committee handles the issue that McCain thinks should have been handled by Obama's subcommittee, calling it "inside baseball," and returns fire on McCain. He reminds McCain that the war began in 2003 and not not 2007.

6:48 - In my opinion, McCain hasn't laid a glove on Obama so far.

6:53 - Unlike Sarah Palin, McCain blinks a lot.

6:56 - First Read notes that Obama is wearing a flag pin but McCain isn't!

6:58 - McCain's approach to the debate: look to the past and play up his record. But he's not saying much about his judgment.

7:01 - McCain looks mad. I think Obama is getting under his skin... he just addressed McCain directly, and he is responding through gritted teeth!

7:06 - Obama responds to a question about Iran by pointing out that Iran is stronger today than five years ago and that our current policy has had exactly the opposite effect as what is desired.

7:07 - Obama: "This notion we have that not talking to people is punishing them is a mistake."

7:10 - Obama is hammering home on the foreign policy failures of the last eight years, such as North Korea.

7:14 - The debate is almost over, and Obama is still relaxed. McCain is uptight. Obama is referring to some of McCain's statements as "ridiculous."

7:21 - Yes, I'm wearing an Obama t-shirt. But Obama is just heads and away the more presidential of the two tonight. By comparison, McCain seems like a small man.

7:23 - Obama makes the point that we can't drill our way out of our energy situation and makes the connection between our economy, our national security, and global warming.

7:26 - McCain seems annoyed that his "long record" isn't enough for him to be winning this election.

7:27 - McCain says we have to make sure that we never torture a prisoner again yet he voted against a bill that would prevent the CIA from doing so.

7:33 - Obama: "There has never been a nation on earth that has seen its economy decline and yet maintain its military superiority."

7:34 - McCain wraps up by saying that Obama doesn't have the experience to be president and compares Obama to George W. Bush in terms of stubborness! LOL

7:35 - Obama casually mentions that his father was Kenyan (which explains the name :-) and tells the story that his father wrote letter after letter so that he could come to America. Obama wants to restore our standing in the world so that tomorrow's children view us as favorably.

7:36 - McCain: Reminds us he was a POW.

TONIGHT WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT of the four debates (three presidential, one vice presidential). The first debate is normally the most watched, and that's likely especially the case this year with the current financial crisis. And Obama has simply outperformed McCain on this critical night.

Andrew Sullivan's comments here.

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Creating a clearing for a powerful debate tonight :-)

Head of Skate

Hilarious! Check out this "trailer" for the new Disney flick, Head of Skate. It's based on the life of Sarah Palin. ;-)

Thanks, Stefan!

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Will you contribute a day?

Have you heard or seen any of the "Almost Gave" public service announcements?

Well, the election is little more than a month away. How will you feel on November 5th if McCain and (shudders) Palin are the winners in this election? Will you remember that you almost made a contribution? Almost volunteered?

Will you look back a few years later and think about what almost might have happened had America taken a different path?

Don't almost participate. Make a contribution. Volunteer some time.

I just contributed and scheduled volunteer time on November 1st and 2nd. I hope you'll join me!

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On a lighter note...

John McCain has recently spent nearly $5600 on a make-up job... but from pics I've seen of him, he's looking craggier than ever. His make-up artist also works for American Idol; maybe she offers a money-back guarantee!

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A McCain video

This video was put together by a McCain supporter, presumably one who believed that McCain means what he says. But, as it turns out, while McCain said that he would suspend his campaign until the financial crisis was resolved, he neither completely suspended it nor kept his word about the debate. He's given in and has flown to Mississippi for tonight's debate.

As it turns out, it's been widely reported that he spoke for less than a minute at yesterday's White House summit.

Well done!

(Video link)

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Watch it: A Stronger Economy

If you haven't seen this message from Obama on the economy, watch it:

(Video link)

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Veterans for Obama

Tax returns

Where are Sarah Palin's tax returns? She's the only one of the presidential/vice-presidential candidates to not release her? (Though unlike Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, we haven't seen Cindy McCain's... and don't forget, she's worth $100 million.)

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A little history on McCain and the Keating Five

Guess who was right in the middle of the last "worst financial scandal in U.S. history" and "the worst ethics scandal in the history of the Senate"?

John McCain!

(Video link)

Now that McCain has decided to show up at the debate after all, maybe Jim Lehrer will ask him if it was wise to inject himself into this financial crisis given his history with the savings and loan debacle!

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Are you better off today than eight years ago?

Hell no! I saw this chart over at Ezra Klein's blog... check it out (click on the chart to see it full-sized):

Click to see a full-sized version

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"Suspended" his campaign indeed...

The Obama campaign documents the many and varied ways that John McCain did not, in fact, suspend his own campaign while he "rushed back" to Washington and gummed up tried to help resolve America's financial crisis.

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Toles for the day

Human CO2 output hits a new record

Despite the economic slowdown, we pumped more carbon dioxide than ever into the atmostphere in 2007.

Obama and McCain both spoke about global warming at the Clinton Global Initiative.

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Palin has accepted $25K in gifts while governor

Such a reformer!
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has made a crackdown on gift-giving to state officials a centerpiece of her ethics reform agenda, has accepted gifts valued at $25,367 from industry executives, municipalities and a cultural center whose board includes officials from some of the largest mining interests in the state, a review of state records shows.
More from the Washington Post.

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Thursday, September 25, 2008

Obama's Thursday press conference on the financial crisis

More on McCain's gamble

From the New York Times:

Senator John McCain had intended to ride back into Washington on Thursday as a leader who had put aside presidential politics to help broker a solution to the financial crisis. Instead he found himself in the midst of a remarkable partisan showdown, lacking a clear public message for how to bring it to an end.

At the bipartisan White House meeting that Mr. McCain had called for a day earlier, he sat silently for more than 40 minutes, more observer than leader, and then offered only a vague sense of where he stood, said people in the meeting.

In subsequent television interviews, Mr. McCain suggested that he saw the bipartisan plan that came apart at the White House meeting as the proper basis for an eventual agreement, but he did not tip his hand as to whether he would give any support to the alternative put on the table by angry House Republicans, with whom he had met before going to the White House.

He said he was hopeful that a deal could be struck quickly and that he could then show up for his scheduled debate on Friday night against his Democratic rival in the presidential race, Senator Barack Obama. But there was no evidence that he was playing a major role in the frantic efforts on Capitol Hill to put a deal back together again.

On the second floor of the Capitol on Thursday night, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and one of Mr. McCain’s closest confidants, complained to a throng of reporters that Democrats were using Mr. McCain as a scapegoat for the failure of the rescue package. But Mr. Graham was met with a barrage of questions on why Mr. McCain never explicitly said he favored the bailout proposal....

Still, as a matter of political appearances, the day’s events succeeded most of all in raising questions about precisely why Mr. McCain had called for postponing the first debate and returned to Washington to focus on the bailout plan, and what his own views were about what should be done. Those political appearances are a key consideration for Mr. McCain less than six weeks from Election Day and at a time when some polls suggest he is losing ground against Mr. Obama, especially on handling the economy.

The substance of the financial crisis aside, it was already proving a tough stretch for Mr. McCain. Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, his running mate, struggled through questions about her foreign policy credentials during an interview with CBS News. Mr. McCain was lampooned on television by David Letterman.

Mr. Obama might not have fared much better. He had come to Washington only reluctantly, opening himself to criticism by Republicans that he was putting his election bid ahead of the need to resolve the Wall Street crisis, and prompting concern among Democrats that his reaction to the events was simply too measured, considering the stakes.

Still, by nightfall, the day provided the younger and less experienced Mr. Obama an opportunity to, in effect, shift roles with Mr. McCain. For a moment, at least, it was Mr. Obama presenting himself as the old hand at consensus building, and as the real face of bipartisan politics.

“What I’ve found, and I think it was confirmed today, is that when you inject presidential politics into delicate negotiations, it’s not necessarily as helpful as it needs to be,” Mr. Obama told reporters Thursday evening. “Just because there is a lot of glare of the spotlight, there’s the potential for posturing or suspicions.”

“When you’re not worrying about who’s getting credit, or who’s getting blamed, then things tend to move forward a little more constructively,” he said.

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Way to go, John McCain!

If the reason McCain pretended to suspend his campaign was to move the bailout forward in Washington, exactly the opposite seems to have happened!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26884523/

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I still don't agree with the approach...

But if we're stuck with buying these bad mortgages from the financial companies, at least these principles are moving in the right direction...

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Obama: "A stronger economy"

"Instead of prosperity trickling down, pain has trickled up."

(Video link)

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What is Bill Clinton's frickin' problem???

He is pissing me off again, all week long! Here's what Chris Rock has to say.

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Demand the Debate!

Sign a petition stating your preference that the debates take place as schedule here.

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No wonder they don't let Palin speak to the press!!!

What a train wreck! Watch Palin respond to a question about the bailout:

(Video link)

Huh???????????????????????

Here's more of the interview:

(Video link)

Here she is talking about Russia and why her proximity to it matters, lol:

(Video link)

I think it's pretty obvious why the McCain camp has suggested delaying the vice presidential debate!

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Playing chicken with Pakistan

Why is Bush provoking Pakistan less than six weeks before the election???

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David Letterman sans John McCain

The fun begins around the three minute mark. :-)

(Video link)

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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

What a day: McCain camp wobbles, Obama remains grounded

MCCAIN CANCELLED on Letterman but not Katie Couric or a rich fundraiser.

Obama responded to McCain's grandstanding and proposal to postpone the debate (during a press conference, how novel!) by saying that the debate is "more important than ever" given the financial situation and Americans desire to know where the candidates want to take the country:

(Video link)

More here, as well as some historical perspective on what has happened on September 24 of some election years from the past when the country was in difficult times.

McCain is "rushing" back to Washington... hope he remembers what it looks like! He's missed more votes than any other senator this year.

IN THE FACE OF CLAIMS from the McCain campaign that Obama has ties to Fannie and Freddie, the New York Times reports:

One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month from the end of 2005 through last month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain’s campaign manager, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement.

The disclosure undercuts a remark by Mr. McCain on Sunday night that the campaign manager, Rick Davis, had had no involvement with the company for the last several years....

Freddie Mac’s payments of roughly $500,000 to Davis Manafort, the people familiar with the arrangement said, began in late 2005, immediately after Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae disbanded an advocacy coalition that they had set up and hired Mr. Davis to run.

From 2000 to the end of 2005, Mr. Davis received nearly $2 million as president of the coalition, the Homeownership Alliance, which the companies created to help them oppose new regulations and protect their status as federally chartered companies with implicit government backing. That status let them borrow cheaply, helping to fuel rapid growth but also their increased purchases of the risky mortgage securities that proved to be their downfall.

The payments that Mr. Davis received for leading the Homeownership Alliance were reported in Monday’s issue of The New York Times. On Sunday, in an interview with CNBC and The Times, Mr. McCain responded to a question about that tie between Mr. Davis and the two mortgage companies by saying that he “has had nothing to do with it since, and I’ll be glad to have his record examined by anybody who wants to look at it.”

Such assertions, along with McCain campaign television advertisements tying Mr. Obama to former Fannie Mae chiefs, have riled current and former officials of the two companies and provoked them to volunteer rebuttals.

BREAKING NEWS: Bush misleads speaks to America about the financial crisis. Who cares!

SARAH PALIN NEED NOT FEAR Samantha Stevens... watch this 2005 video (Palin appears at the seven minute mark):

(Video link)

AND IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, here's the report on Sarah Palin's "Road to Nowhere" (built at $8 million a mile with your tax dollars!):

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More transparent by the minute

First McCain proposes postponing Friday's presidential debate.

Now his campaign is suggesting that it could be rescheduled to next Thursday, the date for the one-and-only vice presidential debate. That debate would then be rescheduled to an undetermined date in the future.

Hmmmmm... do you think that maybe Palin's debate preparation isn't going so well???

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A long, dreary future

I am more depressed about America's future than I have ever been.

In the last week we have witnessed a China Syndrome of sorts--a financial meltdown on Wall Street, and increasing worries that the foreign nations, like China, which have helped to finance our debt spending will come to think of the U.S. as a less and less appealing investment.

The administration's solution? An unprecedented expenditure about which there is widespread skepticism among economists as to whether it takes the right approach to the problem. And another request to "trust us (and act now!)" from the people who brought you the Iraq War and the Patriot Act. Newsflash: I don't trust you!

I suspect we'll end up spending a lot of money, and I doubt that it is going to improve our long term economic prospects. We've lived too long beyond our means, invested too little in education and infrastructure, and imagined that others would continue to support our behavior because we're, after all, the U.S. of A.

I read on The Daily Dish today that Bush is likely to add $1.5 trillion to the debt this year. For some perspective, the total debt of the U.S. in 1979 in today's dollars was only $1.5 trillion. So this year alone, we're adding to the headwind that we'll face in the years to come--and that the generations that follow us will be forced to drag along behind them--an amount equal to the nation's entire debt just 30 years ago.

The next president will be stepping into a White House that's underwater--paying dearly in interest each year and facing a period of stagnant asset values (home prices, stocks on Wall Street, American credibility in the world)--and will be severely crimped in effecting in real change. I suspect that Obama will have a tough time getting his plans enacted; he'll have to focus on damage control.

A McCain presidency, on the other hand, I have come to fear even more than an actual Bush third term. His cynicism, propensity for lying, and secretive, conspiratorial behavior during the campaign fill me with outright terror about what actions he'd take while seated in the Oval Office. Sarah Palin qualified to be vice president? Like hell she is!

On TV there is nothing but blather... absolute inanity from the most pompous, hypocritical, predictable blowhards imaginable. Alas, it's what passes as public discourse.

Americans have become a soft people. Not a nation of whiners... just a society that has come to feel so entitled to things that they've forgotten the most simplest truths about where true happiness and satisfaction actually come from.

And speaking of things, there's news out that a chemical used in the manufacture of plasma televisions just happens to be one of the most effective greenhouse gases known... a measly 17,000 times as bad as CO2. Buy that new television, incinerate the world...

Can people make a difference? Yes, we can.

Yes, we can. I mean that. But here's the rub: it's sometimes insanely difficult to even communicate with the person you share a bed with each night. And there are nearly 7 billion people in the world... that's a lot of conversations and a lot of inertia to overcome.

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO the world worried about a nuclear holocaust. It was a terrible, nightmare scenario, but it had one redeeming attribute: it was relatively quick and then it was over.

What we face now is likely a long, slow decline, not only as a nation, but perhaps as species. If we can't apply the brakes on our destructive behavior, we're going to initiate a real meltdown. And unlike Paulson, Mother Nature won't even bother with a sketchy bailout plan.

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More B.S. from the McCain campaign

Now John McCain wants to suspend "campaigning" in order to return to Washington and address the nation's financial mess. (More from FirstRead.)

Where to even begin...

How about this: do you, for even a minute, believe that McCain's motivation in talking about suspending his political campaign is anything but... political in nature??? Whatever principles this man might once have had, he's discarded them along the way in his pursuit of the White House. Everything he once stood for has been trampled by his ambition and his willingness to say anything to get elected.

And this: he wants 1) to oversee the nation's economy, 2) be the leader of the free world, 3) serve as commander-in-chief of the largest military the world has ever seen, 4) occupy the bully pulpit, and, while he's at it, 5) knock a few heads against each other in DC, but he can't run his campaign and work towards a bipartisan solution to our fiancial woes at the same time? He can't multi-task? Doesn't he recognize that we now live in a continuous campaign... whoever is leading America has to be able to lead the country and work for what's best for our future at the same time as campaigning for re-election or his party's prospects? The president doesn't get the luxury of being able to separate the two!

What is John McCain scared of? Why won't he just proceed with the long-planned debate on Friday? Is he worried that the economy will come up, even though the focus of the debate is supposed to be foreign policy?

What is John McCain scared of? Why doesn't he let the press interview and ask unfiltered questions of Sarah Palin?

Unbelievable.

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Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Due diligence on the bailout

Congress had some tough questions for Paulson and Bernanke today... as they should!

I also suggest reading Bob Herbert's op-ed "A Second Opinion?" in today's New York Times.

And make sure your representation in Washington knows where you stand!

Contact your Senators/

Contact your Representative

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40 days and nights...

Since John McCain held a press conference.

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Palin and the Alaska investigation

Or is it investigations? Apparently two different entities are looking into Troopergate. One is run by the legislation; the other the state personnel board. From the AP:

Less than a week after balking at the Alaska Legislature's investigation into her alleged abuse of power, Gov. Sarah Palin on Monday indicated she will cooperate with a separate probe run by people she can fire.

An attorney for the GOP vice presidential nominee met with an investigator for the state Personnel Board to discuss sharing documents and schedule witness interviews, McCain spokeswoman Meg Stapleton said. Neither she nor McCain spokesman Ed O'Callaghan had further details about the meeting and said they did not know if the governor or her husband would be interviewed.

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George Will on John McCain

Conservative columnist George Will had this to say about John McCain today:

Under the pressure of the financial crisis, one presidential candidate is behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high. It is not Barack Obama.

Channeling his inner Queen of Hearts, John McCain furiously, and apparently without even looking around at facts, said Chris Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, should be decapitated. This childish reflex provoked the Wall Street Journal to editorialize that "McCain untethered" -- disconnected from knowledge and principle -- had made a "false and deeply unfair" attack on Cox that was "unpresidential" and demonstrated that McCain "doesn't understand what's happening on Wall Street any better than Barack Obama does."

... For McCain, politics is always operatic, pitting people who agree with him against those who are "corrupt" or "betray the public's trust," two categories that seem to be exhaustive -- there are no other people. McCain's Manichaean worldview drove him to his signature legislative achievement, the McCain-Feingold law's restrictions on campaigning. Today, his campaign is creatively finding interstices in laws intended to restrict campaign giving and spending.... (For details, see The Post of Sept. 17, Page A4; and the New York Times of Sept. 20, Page One.)

Conservatives who insist that electing McCain is crucial usually start, and increasingly end, by saying he would make excellent judicial selections. But the more one sees of his impulsive, intensely personal reactions to people and events, the less confidence one has that he would select judges by calm reflection and clear principles, having neither patience nor aptitude for either.

It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?

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The top five problems with the proposed bailout

Ezra Klein echoes some things I've already written in his excellent summary of what's wrong with the administration's proposal to get us out of the current credit crisis.

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Monday, September 22, 2008

Oil prices shoot back up

You better fill your tank today, lol.

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The wrong intervention

Paul Krugman argues that the administration is proposing the wrong intervention: rather than trying to deal with the bad assets on too many banks' books, we should be ensuring that they have sufficient capital to begin lending again. He calls the administration's proposed legislation "unacceptable." (I voted "no" on this proposal a day earlier. ;-)

Make sure your representation in Congress knows what your priorities are as they go to work on crafting final legislation. (Senate, House) Time is of the essense, as they say...

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Reaction to the administration's proposed bailout

A few things I've read yesterday and today:

  • Ezra Klein notes that Paulson seems to have misjudged this crisis every step of the way.
  • One of Andrew Sullivan's readers is also wary of the administration's "trust us" message.
  • Ezra also has a couple of posts which put the credit crisis in laymen's terms: one and two.

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Sunday, September 21, 2008

More changes on Wall Street

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the last two U.S. standalone investment banks, have received approval to become holding banks. The move will allow them to accept deposits, essentially transforming themselves into more traditional commercial banks.

As a former Morgan Stanley customer and someone with friends working there, I have to admit to a bit of sadness watching it happen.

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Rent

If you've never seen a live performance of the musical Rent, this weekend you have the chance to catch the next best thing. After more than a dozen years, Rent closed on Broadway earlier this month, and the final performance was filmed. It will be broadcast at some 500 theaters across America September 24-28.

One of those rare occasions when I largely agree...

With Pat Buchanan. He has this to say, and more, about our economic situation:

For years, we Americans have spent more than we earned. We save nothing. Credit card debt, consumer debt, auto debt, mortgage debt, corporate debt — all are at record levels. And with pensions and savings being wiped out, much of that debt will never be repaid.

Our standard of living is inevitably going to fall. For foreigners will not forever buy our bonds or lend us more money if they rightly fear that they will be paid back, if at all, in cheaper dollars.

We are going to have to learn to live again without our means.

The party’s over

Up through World War II, we followed the Hamiltonian idea that America must remain economically independent of the world in order to remain politically independent.

But this generation decided that was yesterday’s bromide and we must march bravely forward into a Global Economy, where we all depend on one another. American companies morphed into “global companies” and moved plants and factories to Mexico, Asia, China and India, and we began buying more cheaply from abroad what we used to make at home: shoes, clothes, bikes, cars, radios, TVs, planes, computers.

As the trade deficits began inexorably to rise to 6 percent of GDP, we began vast borrowing from abroad to continue buying from abroad.

At home, propelled by tax cuts, war in Iraq and an explosion in social spending, surpluses vanished and deficits reappeared and began to rise. The dollar began to sink, and gold began to soar.

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Phonebanking for Obama, right from your easy chair

Here's how you can participate in the campaign from your own home.

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For email subscribers

The service I use to deliver Torqopia via email has been a bit unreliable recently. I don't believe an email went out to subscribers on Friday night. I've published a lot about the economy and the election over the last few days, so if you want to make sure you didn't miss anything, follow these links for economic posts and election posts.

Did we learn our lesson?

After the Iraq War, it would be nice to think that we'd learned some lessons about taking the Bush administration's view of the world at face value.

Obviously I don't know the full extent of the credit crisis gripping America, but if I were a member of Congress and told that we faced an "imminent danger" and had to essentially give the president a blank check to resolve the problem, I would be plenty wary.

It's not clear if anyone in Washington is, however.

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SNL takes on McCain's ads

Obama expresses some skepticism over Paulson's proposal

Obama seems to share some of my concerns about the administration's proposal to resolve the mortgage and credit crisis:

The era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and in Washington has led to a financial crisis as profound as any we have faced since the Great Depression.

But regardless of how we got here, the circumstances we face require decisive action because the jobs, savings, and economic security of millions of Americans are now at risk.

We must work quickly in a bipartisan fashion to resolve this crisis and restore our financial sector so capital is flowing again and we can avert an even broader economic catastrophe. We also should recognize that economic recovery requires that we act, not just to address the crisis on Wall Street, but also the crisis on Main Street and around kitchen tables across America.

But thus far, the Administration has only offered a concept with a staggering price tag, not a plan.

Even if the Treasury recovers some or most of its investment over time, this initial outlay of up to $700 billion is sobering. And in return for their support, the American people must be assured that the deal reflects some basic principles.

• No blank check. If we grant the Treasury broad authority to address the immediate crisis, we must insist on independent accountability and oversight. Given the breach of trust we have seen and the magnitude of the taxpayer money involved, there can be no blank check.

Read the full statement here.

THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DIFFICULT CRISIS to resolve. No living leader has any experience dealing with anything similar to what we're facing today, and both Obama and McCain have a huge challenge in crafting a response to a problem that is, for now, largely a task for the Bush administration and the current Congress.

McCain, however, has a unique challenge: he has championed deregulation during his long years in Washington and voted in favor of the very legislation that has led us to this crisis.

McCain's current talk is more of the proverbial "lipstick on a pig." I can't afford a McCain White House. Neither can you.

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To ER or not to ER

Some tips on whether or not your injury requires emergency treatment.

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Summerlin Centre update

Missed this story last month but Summerlin Centre, the new shopping center near our house has been put on hold for a year. No surprise!

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Obama in Florida

"Now it's our turn."

(Video link)

A quote on John McCain and the economy:

There's only one candidate who's called himself "fundamentally a deregulator" when deregulation is part of the problem. My opponent actually wrote in the current issue of a health care magazine - the current issue - quote - "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." So let me get this straight - he wants to run health care like they've been running Wall Street. Well, Senator, I know some folks on Main Street who aren't going to think that's a good idea.

(Video link)

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Saturday, September 20, 2008

Voting "no" on the bailout

I don't claim to be an economic expert, but the more that I learn about the administration's proposed $700 billion solution to the mortgage crisis, the more I find myself thinking that this is a poorly conceived idea.

I am liberal on social issues, a bit more moderate on economic ones. But it's clear to me that government's role is to regulate capitalism, not to wade in to the markets in this fashion. What the administration is proposing is rife with risks, the most significant being that it may not actually resolve the situation. But as it's currently envisioned, it carries substantial risk to today's taxpayers as well as for the long term viability of the American economy. And it also appears to offer ample opportunity for someone other than the American taxpayer to benefit, and that's irregardless of whether the proposal succeeds in reviving our credit markets.

I make that last point because Treasury Secretary Paulson has proposed having private entities administer the government's portfolio of mortgage securities, and with a portfolio valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars, you're going to have a hard time convincing me that there won't be an incredible temptation for those private entities to make decisions that aren't necessarily in the public's interest.

If this is the best plan for America, the taxpayers need to be told why that's the case and why alternative, less draconian solutions are inadequate. Here's one example of another approach:

Raghuram Rajan and Luigi Zingales of the University of Chicago suggest ways to force the banks to raise capital without tapping the taxpayers. First, the government should tell banks to cancel all dividend payments. Banks don't do that on their own because it would signal weakness; if everyone knows the dividend has been canceled because of a government rule, the signaling issue would be removed. Second, the government should tell all healthy banks to issue new equity. Again, banks resist doing this because they don't want to signal weakness and they don't want to dilute existing shareholders. A government order could cut through these obstacles.

Meanwhile, Charles Calomiris of Columbia University and Douglas Elmendorf of the Brookings Institution have offered versions of another idea. The government should help not by buying banks' bad loans but by buying equity stakes in the banks themselves. Whereas it's horribly complicated to value bad loans, banks have share prices you can look up in seconds, so government could inject capital into banks quickly and at a fair level. The share prices of banks that recovered would rise, compensating taxpayers for losses on their stakes in the banks that eventually went under.

THINK ABOUT THE SITUATION AGAIN: the administration is proposing that Congress pass legislation by next Friday that authorizes the greatest single expenditure in the history of the world, some $700 billion. What are the chances that they're going to get this wrong? If the banks and other financial institutions don't have any idea how much these assets are worth, how is the government going to possibly make that determination and avoid overpaying with taxpayer money?

Joe Nocera at the New York Times has this to say:

Most of the assets in the [late 1980s] S.& L. crisis were real estate — which are always going to have value. And the government didn’t have to acquire them; it simply took them over and, over time, sold them. This time, the assets are complex derivatives of uncertain value that the big firms will actually be selling to the government.

But how is the government going to assess these securities — and what price will it pay for them? In many cases, these securities aren’t being sold because they are still overvalued on a firms’ books. That is, their mark-to-market price is unrealistically high. Will the government buy it at the too-high price? If it does, the firms won’t have to take additional write-downs — but it will constitute a huge, unjustified bailout of Wall Street. (More moral hazard.)

But what if the government drives a hard bargain, and gets the securities for what they are really worth — 20 cents on the dollar, say, instead of 50 cents? In that case, the firms would have to take yet more enormous write-offs, which would further damage their balance sheets, and they would have to raise billions more in capital. Maybe the removal of these bad assets would allow the firms to raise the capital. But maybe not — meaning one or more could conceivably have to file for bankruptcy, creating yet another spasm of financial turmoil. It’s a huge roll of the dice by the government.

Finally, there is the question of how much it will ultimately cost. “Institutions so far have written down $550 billion globally of bad debt,” said Daniel Alpert, managing director of Westwood Capital. “We think that when you add up all the problems in the residential housing market still to come — further erosion of housing prices, mortgage foreclosures and so on — we are going to need another $1 trillion of write-downs.”

WHATEVER THE CASE, the current financial crisis has to be understood as a wake-up call to the American people. If something is too good to be true, it is. If it doesn't seem like it can go on forever, it can't. We have lived too long thinking that we can simply borrow our way to prosperity. You can only live beyond your means for so long. We are learning that as a nation with respect to our economy. Recent years have also begun to tell us that this is true in terms of the finite resources available to us on this planet. We ignore these facts at our own peril, as well as that of future generations.

At dinner tonight, a metaphor occurred to me as Victor and I discussed the economy and our addiction to cheap money. To the fish living in a fish bowl, the limitations of that environment seem to simply be the way things are. You swim in a circle, stop, swim the other direction. Occasionally some food appears. Sometimes the water gets stagnant, only to mysteriously improve. Life goes on.

But a fish that was able to pop his or her head up above the surface for a moment would realize that that world wasn't designed for the benefit of the fish.

We, in turn, live in a world dedicated to consumption, even if that requires borrowing. It certainly isn't a world designed for our benefit. And if it's not clear to you who is actually benefiting, ponder that question the next time you are paying your credit cards, mortgage loan, and other bills.

HERE'S THE TEXT OF THE LEGISLATION that the administration is proposing. I've added a few comments in italics:

LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL FOR TREASURY AUTHORITY TO PURCHASE MORTGAGE-RELATED ASSETS

Section 1. Short Title. This Act may be cited as ____________________.

Sec. 2. Purchases of Mortgage-Related Assets.

(a) Authority to Purchase. The Secretary is authorized to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, on such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary, mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the United States.

(b) Necessary Actions. The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without limitation:

(1) appointing such employees as may be required to carry out the authorities in this Act and defining their duties;

Who are these deputies? Why wouldn't this function be carried out by a department or agency of the federal government? Isn't this introducing a huge potential for decisions to be made that benefit someone other than the citizens of the U.S.?

(2) entering into contracts, including contracts for services authorized by section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, without regard to any other provision of law regarding public contracts;

What laws are being circumvented here? Why does this have the ring of "no-bid" contracts?

(3) designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Government, and they shall perform all such reasonable duties related to this Act as financial agents of the Government as may be required of them;

(4) establishing vehicles that are authorized, subject to supervision by the Secretary, to purchase mortgage-related assets and issue obligations; and

(5) issuing such regulations and other guidance as may be necessary or appropriate to define terms or carry out the authorities of this Act.

Sec. 3. Considerations.

In exercising the authorities granted in this Act, the Secretary shall take into consideration means for—

(1) providing stability or preventing disruption to the financial markets or banking system; and

(2) protecting the taxpayer.

Take into consideration? If these are not the primary and only objectives of this legislation, then why aren't any others explicitly stated?

Sec. 4. 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.

Semi-annual reports to Congress? That's it? No other oversight? After a lack of adequate regulation got us into this mess, it's imperative that Congress has a much stronger watchdog role. We're talking about $700 billion here!

Sec. 5. Rights; Management; Sale of Mortgage-Related Assets.

(a) Exercise of Rights. The Secretary may, at any time, exercise any rights received in connection with mortgage-related assets purchased under this Act.

(b) Management of Mortgage-Related Assets. The Secretary shall have authority to manage mortgage-related assets purchased under this Act, including revenues and portfolio risks therefrom.

(c) Sale of Mortgage-Related Assets. The Secretary may, at any time, upon terms and conditions and at prices determined by the Secretary, sell, or enter into securities loans, repurchase transactions or other financial transactions in regard to, any mortgage-related asset purchased under this Act.

(d) Application of Sunset to Mortgage-Related Assets. The authority of the Secretary to hold any mortgage-related asset purchased under this Act before the termination date in section 9, or to purchase or fund the purchase of a mortgage-related asset under a commitment entered into before the termination date in section 9, is not subject to the provisions of section 9.

Sec. 6. Maximum Amount of Authorized Purchases.

The Secretary’s authority to purchase mortgage-related assets under this Act shall be limited to $700,000,000,000 outstanding at any one time Sec. 7. Funding.
For the purpose of the authorities granted in this Act, and for the costs of administering those authorities, the Secretary may use the proceeds of the sale of any securities issued under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, and the purposes for which securities may be issued under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, are extended to include actions authorized by this Act, including the payment of administrative expenses. Any funds expended for actions authorized by this Act, including the payment of administrative expenses, shall be deemed appropriated at the time of such expenditure. Sec. 8. Review.

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.

The decisions of the Secretary of the Treasury are "non-reviewable" by any court of law? We're throwing out the whole notion of checks and balances upon which our government was founded?

Sec. 9. Termination of Authority.

The authorities under this Act, with the exception of authorities granted in sections 2(b)(5), 5 and 7, shall terminate two years from the date of enactment of this Act. Sec. 10. Increase in Statutory Limit on the Public Debt.

Subsection (b) of section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by striking out the dollar limitation contained in such subsection and inserting in lieu thereof $11,315,000,000,000. Sec. 11. Credit Reform.

The costs of purchases of mortgage-related assets made under section 2(a) of this Act shall be determined as provided under the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, as applicable. Sec. 12. Definitions.

For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:

(1) Mortgage-Related Assets. The term “mortgage-related assets” means residential or commercial mortgages and any securities, obligations, or other instruments that are based on or related to such mortgages, that in each case was originated or issued on or before September 17, 2008.

(2) Secretary. The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of the Treasury.

(3) United States. The term “United States” means the States, territories, and possessions of the United States and the District of Columbia.

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Around $233,333,333,333 per page

The Bush administration has submitted an outline of their proposed plan for this massive bailout of the American financial system. It's less than three pages long but talks about spending $700 billion dollars.

Now that's some expensive paper.

The Bush administration on Saturday formally proposed to Congress the largest financial bailout in United States history, requesting virtually unfettered sweeping authority for the Treasury to purchase up to $700 billion in mortgage-related assets from financial institutions headquartered in the United States.

The proposal was stunning for its stark simplicity: less than three pages, it would raise the national debt ceiling to $11.3 trillion. And it would place no restrictions on the administration other than requiring semi-annual reports to Congress, allowing the Treasury to buy and resell mortgage debt as it sees fit.

I'm alarmed by the minimal oversight that this calls for... isn't a lack of regulation how we got into this mess???

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McCain and Social Security

Obama has a new ad out.

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Ah... Keira Knightley

Ever since I saw Keira in Bend It Like Beckham, I've been a fan. She was on NPR this week talking about her new film, The Duchess.

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Friday, September 19, 2008

Bush, swift action, and executive power

Those three things--George W. Bush, swift action, and increased executive power--are an alarming combination. Reading this article about the proposed bailout as a solution to the credit and mortgage crisis gives me a sinking feeling... I don't trush Bush or his administration, and it's frightening to contemplate the magnitude of what we don't know about what's going on:

The Bush administration, moving to prevent an economic cataclysm, urged Congress on Friday to grant it far-reaching emergency powers to buy hundreds of billions of dollars in distressed mortgages despite many unknowns about how the plan would work.

The outlines of the plan, described in conference calls to lawmakers on Friday, include buying assets only from United States financial institutions — but not hedge funds — and hiring outside advisers who would work for the Treasury, rather than creating a separate agency. Democratic leaders immediately pledged to work closely with Mr. Paulson to pass a plan in the next week, but they also demanded that the measure include relief for deeply indebted homeowners, not just for banks and Wall Street firms....

People involved in the discussions on Friday said that Mr. Paulson said he did not want to create a new government agency to handle the rescue plan. Rather, he said, the Treasury Department would hire professional investment managers to oversee what could be a huge portfolio of mortgage-backed securities.

He indicated that he wanted to buy securities only from United States financial institutions, a decision that could anger legions of foreign institutions that poured hundreds of billions of dollars into the American mortgage market in the housing boom, and have customers located here.

Basic questions remained unanswered as of Friday evening, including how much of the mortgage market the administration hoped to buy up. The broader economic questions were even more daunting. What were the dangers in letting the government borrow another $500 billion — which ultimately might have to come from foreign investors — at the same time the deficit was already skyrocketing?

Where is all of this money coming from?

Who are these "investment professionals" who will be running this incredibly huge, taxpayer-funded portfolio?

Why wouldn't the government directly manage it?

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McCain skirts federal spending limits

Facing a close race, John McCain is doing his best to get around the very campaign reforms that he championed just six years ago. More evidence of his willingness to do and say anything to get elected.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26799209/

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A busy weekend ahead for lawmakers

This weekend Congressional leaders will be working with Bernanke and Paulson to craft legislation to prevent an unprecedented meltdown of the U.S. financial system.

But think about this: they are writing this legislation over the next two or three days... and it's going to authorize more spending than any law in world history. Frightening.

More on the story from the New York Times, including this story about how Congressional leaders were notified of the critical need to take action:

Mr. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. had made an urgent and unusual evening visit to Capitol Hill, and they were gathered around a conference table in the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“When you listened to him describe it you gulped," said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York.

As Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut and chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, put it Friday morning on the ABC program “Good Morning America,” the congressional leaders were told “that we’re literally maybe days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system, with all the implications here at home and globally.”

Mr. Schumer added, “History was sort of hanging over it, like this was a moment.”

When Mr. Schumer described the meeting as “somber,” Mr. Dodd cut in. “Somber doesn’t begin to justify the words,” he said. “We have never heard language like this.”

“What you heard last evening,” he added, “is one of those rare moments, certainly rare in my experience here, is Democrats and Republicans deciding we need to work together quickly.”

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Sarah's latest gaffe

Apparently Sarah Palin is now pledging to open up the federal government if elected. She wants to create a website that shows all federal spending.

Problem is, a piece of legislation that does just that passed a couple of years ago, and it has Barack Obama's name on it! (Here's the website.)

Maybe Palin should take a look and refresh her memory about all of those Alaskan earmarks she lobbied for!

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Congratulations, Randy!

My friend Randy here in Las Vegas has been honored by the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada (what a mouthful!) for his ongoing service to our community. He'll be recognized with a Lifetime Achievement award at The Center's 14th annual honorarium dinner on November 1st.

Randy works at Clark County Social Service which provides services for needy residents who are not assisted by other state, federal, or local programs. Their primary mandates are to provide financial and medical assistance for the community as well as protective services for seniors. The mission is to provide a safety net, and the vision is to assist those at risk in becoming or remaining self-sufficient. In these difficult economic times, they've been very busy.

Thanks for making a difference for all of us here in Southern Nevada, Randy!

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NewScientists videos of the week

Equal pay for equal work

A new ad featuring Lilly Ledbetter:

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Asleep at the wheel

I just heard on MSNBC that Bush's Council of Economic Advisors has not met since March!

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Palin and the subpoenas in Alaska

I love how Palin is trying to weasle out of cooperating with the Troopergate investigation in Alaska by claiming that she is running for office and that Alaska law says you can't investigate someone in the middle of a campaign. Never mind the fact that she wasn't yet a vice presidential candidate when the investigation was initiated!

Her husband, and potentially other witnesses, are ignoring subpoenas related to the investigation and breaking the law:
Ignoring a legislative subpoena is punishable by a fine up to $500 and up to six months in jail under Alaska law. But courts are reluctant to intervene in legislative matters and the full Legislature must be in session to bring contempt charges, Wielechowski said. The Legislature is not scheduled to convene until January.
She's not even in Washington yet and already thinks she's above the law!

More on her husband, Todd Palin, here.

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What kind of leaders should we elect?

Democracy is not average people selecting average leaders. It is average people with the wisdom to select the best prepared.
-- David Brooks

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McCain: blames Wall Street on Obama, flip-flops on Social Security

Today McCain boldly tried to lay blame for the current financial crisis on... drumroll, please... Barack Obama!

OMG, you can't make this stuff up. McCain is clearly trying to deflect attention from his own role in this disaster.

More from First Read, which also notes that Obama has reminded voters of McCain's flip-flop on Social Security privatization:

(Video link)

Given what you've seen on Wall Street this year, would you want these financial companies taking over your Social Security???

More here.

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Jill Derby signs the Pickens Pledge

Jill Derby is running to unseat Congressman Dean Heller in northern Nevada, and her campaign has announced that she has signed the Pickens Pledge:
The Pickens Pledge represents my commitment for investment and innovative thinking that will help lead our country towards energy independence," said Derby. "It is very clear that our country needs an aggressive plan to help reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and a major part of that plan must be investing in alternative energy resources."
The most recent poll has Derby trailing Heller by only two points, within the poll's margin of error.

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Mental health break: so the candidates think they can dance

I've never seen So You Think You Can Dance (and don't plan to watch it ever now!), but this spoof is hilarious. Don't miss John & Cindy "gettin' jiggy'." :-)

(Video link)

Thanks, Randy!

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A video summary of Obama's economic plan

Ron Paul: "I could never endorse McCain"

(Video link)

KARL ROVE, MEANWHILE, had this to say about Sarah Palin [my emphasis]:

Rove said Palin was a "political pick" just as Sen. Barack Obama's choice of Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden was, and that she is not the most qualified candidate. Biden, well-versed in foreign policy issues after more than three decades in the Senate, makes up for the Illinois senator's lack of experience in that area. Palin has been governor for less than two years, and was mayor of small-town Wasilla before that.

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San Diego Union-Tribune now supports same-sex marriage

The San Diego Union-Tribune has had a change of heart and now supports the rights of gays and lesbians to marry:

The right of gay and lesbian couples to wed on an equal legal basis with heterosexual couples has long stirred opposition not only among social conservatives but also among a much broader swath of society. But in the four short months since a landmark California Supreme Court ruling legalized gay marriage, a significant social shift seems to have occurred.

As gay couples have gone to the courthouse and entered into matrimony, usually surrounded by champagne, family and friends, the worst fears of gay marriage opponents suddenly seem greatly inflated. For instance, Christian conservatives have asserted for years that allowing gays to marry would undermine heterosexual unions – hence, such laws as the Defense of Marriage Act. In truth, however, there has been no discernible impact on traditional marriage between a man and a woman now that gay couples in California have the same right.

With gay marriage a fait accompli, society has not crumbled. The long-standing institution of marriage is not in crisis. Californians have taken this change in stride. Indeed, there appears to be a marked shift in public opinion toward acceptance of gay marriage....

In the past, this page has advocated civil unions for gay couples rather than marriage. But our thinking has changed, along with that of many other Californians. Gay and lesbian couples deserve the same dignity and respect in marriage that heterosexual couples have long enjoyed. We urge a No vote on Proposition 8.

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Repower America

(Video link)

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One more reason to love Brad Pitt!

He donated $100,000 this week to defeat the anti-gay marriage amendment in California:
Because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn't harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8.


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Fundamentally wrong

Obama's latest ad takes a look at where McCain is getting economic advise:

(Video link)

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Overuse of antibiotics in factory farming

At the end of July I wrote Congress about the overuse of antibiotics in factory farming. This practice has helped to increase bacterial resistance to antibiotics, which ultimately makes these medications less effective at curing human illness. I asked my reps in Washington to support the Animal Drug User Fee Act which has since become law.

Here's the response I received from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid:
Thank you for contacting me about renewing the Animal Drug User Fee Act (ADUFA). I appreciate hearing from you.

As you know, the ADUFA user fee program funds the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) premarket review of new drugs used on animals. As you discussed in your letter, concerns have been raised about ensuring that renewal legislation protects against the overuse or misuse of antibiotics that could contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistance-thereby decreasing the number of effective medicines available to combat bacterial infections.

Accordingly, during the House Energy and Commerce Committee's recent review of ADUFA legislation (H.R. 6432), Health Subcommittee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) introduced an amendment that would require drug sponsors to report annually to the Department of Health and Human Services regarding the amounts of active antimicrobial ingredients included in their drugs. This amendment was included in the final version of H.R. 6432, passed by the House of Representatives on July 30th, as were provisions creating a separate user-fee system for the review of generic animal drugs. Following Senate passage of H.R. 6432 on August 1, President Bush signed the legislation into law (P.L. 110-316) on August 14.

Again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me. For more information about my work for Nevada, my role in the United States Senate Leadership, or to subscribe to regular e-mail updates on the issues that interest you, please visit my Web site at reid.senate.gov. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

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