OT: US politics talk - who are you voting for and why? - Page 28

This pretty much summarizes what McCain offers:

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/toles_main.html

Priceless, keepthefaith, and oh so very true.  A vote for McCain is a vote for 4 more years of the same and the further decline of the country. His stand on Iraq alone negated any thoughts I ever had of voting for him. 

Yes, Blitzen - I am still waiting for someone to tell me a few specifics about where McCain's policies will differ from that of Bush on important policy issues. If McCain is not going to be Bush 3, then it should be easy to identify the differences.

Palin has clearly aroused the base of the Republican party - what I am waiting to see is to what extent her selection will have the effect of alienating the independent vote who have always been sympathetic to McCain. I am pretty sure that the Hillary women voters who may have been on the fence about Obama will reluctantly vote for him given the Palin nomination.

The notion that Palin, whose positions on women's issues are right of Attilla the Hun would be able to attract Hillary women voters is such a joke. Can you imagine someone who is opposed to abortion even cases of rape or incest, an advocate of creationism being taught in schools, opposed to any sex education other than abstinence, appealing to Hillary voters? I read somewhere that Palin is really a recycled and more personable version of Phyllis Schafly - a pretty astute observation.

This weekend, Obama, McCain and Biden are all appearing on the sunday talk shows. Guess who is not - Palin, about whom the least is known! I get the impression that the McCain campaign are terrified of having her face tough questions from an objective interviewer.

Keepthefaith, one of our local political analysts has already said that he thinks we won't be seeing much of Palin as the Reps will keep her hidden away from any non-scripted public appearances. Looks like he's right.  I've heard one person say that Palin will wipe up the floor with Biden. I can only hope they were making a joke and not serious.

Have a good one..............

A couple of articles worth reading.

Tom Friedman is no idealogue - he is about as middle of the road as they come

www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/opinion/14friedman.html

American International Group (i.e.: A.I.G. Insurance) is calling for an immediate, emergency $40-billion bailout from the U.S. Government. In lieu of that, it's now announcing a fire sale of some of its most important assets. Bye, bye A.I.G.


Lehman Brothers, one of the four remaining major investment houses on Wall Street will declare bankruptcy at the stroke of midnight, last night. Bye, bye Lehman Brothers.


Merrill Lynch, one of the three remaining major investment houses on Wall Street, after Lehman announces its going under in the day (yes, this is not an exaggeration), is announcing a $44 billion buyout from Bank of America, a price which is less than half of its book value, per its financials from less than a year ago. Bye, bye Merrill Lynch.


Washington Mutual, the nation's largest Savings and Loan, is expected to follow suit, and will go into some form of receivership or bankruptcy, probably before the week's out. Bye, bye Washington Mutual.


National City and Fifth-Third Corporation, among (literally) hundreds of other regional and smaller banks are expected to follow suit. Bye, bye National City and Fifth-Third, and hundreds of other regional and smaller banks.

LOL !!LOOK!! LOOK!! Lehman Brothers For Sale on eBay!!        put the item # in the search bar at ebay
Item number: 110289318047  

mean while ... on the House Floor   ~   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUTOBdxkmJM

Washington Mutual Failing will WIPE OUT FDIC.

And 1000 More Banks are expected to fail..  

Cnbc.com CLICK HERE
In an exclusive interview with CNBC.com, Wilbur Ross, chairman and CEO of WL Ross & Co., says he sees possibly as many as a thousand bank closures in the coming months.

"I do think a lot of the regional ones will (close), just as they did in the last savings and loan crisis in the 1990s," Ross said. (Watch the full CNBC.com exclusive interview with Wilbur Ross on the left)

The good part of it, is that we are just getting started.   Im sure glad we have a federal government & a Federal Reserve Bank that we can trust..

Got Ammo?

BREAKING NEWS: "PRESIDENT BUSH CONFIDENT THE U.S. ECONOMY IS STRONG ENOUGH TO WEATHER 'ADJUSTMENTS' IN FINANCIAL MARKETS"

The above is the headline on ABC.com. I can understand Bush's wish to calm the markets but given that he has lost just about all credibility, will anyone take him seriously especially when one has someone like Alan Greenspan saying "this is a once-in-a-half-century, probably once-in-a-century type of event" and that it "still had a long way to go and would continue to effect home prices in the United States"

afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i6u55aefaUf_RXJC4-5kcva-gyWQ