COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Thursday, October 09, 2008

"Why isn't McCain 25 behind given what is happening in this economy?"


My Guy

Think about it. The debate that we were punished with on Tuesday should have ended two careers. Clearly the wrong anchor at NBC had the fatal heart attack. Tom Brokaw and John McCain reinforced the obvious, both have been around too long. Brokaw is a foolish old bore and can be switched off. McCain is not so easy. We need McCain.

McCain is in a viable position to become President, because there are many people, including this one, who believe Obama is far worse. Why is this race even close?
______________________

Polls: McCain On The Rebound
By Joe Murray, The Bulletin
10/09/2008

The mad dash to the White House has become a horserace again with a new poll showing John McCain closing the gap and coming within striking distance of Barack Obama.

A Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby daily tracking poll, taken before Tuesday night's debate in Nashville, shows Mr. McCain trailing Mr. Obama by a 47 percent to 45 percent margin; well within the poll's 2.8 percent margin of error. Seven percent remain undecided.

"This represents a bit of a recovery by McCain, who had been sliding in some polls before his running mate, Sarah Palin, put in a strong performance in her one and only debate performance last Thursday," the poll read.

This, however, was not the only good news for a McCain camp trying to get out from under a dark cloud.

A CBS News poll released on the eve of the second presidential debate, showed Mr. McCain trailing Mr. Obama by a four-point margin. Mr. Obama led Mr. McCain 47 percent to 43 percent with seven percent undecided.

Among likely voters, Mr. Obama's lead shrinks to a three-point margin of 45 percent to 48 percent. This poll was also taken after last Thursday's vice presidential debate.

"Why isn't he (Mr. McCain) 25 behind given what is happening in this economy?" asked Pat Buchanan while appearing on MSNBC's "Rachel Maddow Show."

"People's nest eggs are gone, jobs are being lost, companies can't borrow, it is a disaster, [President George W.] Bush is unpopular and he (Mr. McCain) is still hanging in there."
Mr. Buchanan, as well as folks at the RNC, credit Mrs. Palin for Mr. McCain's resilience and claim the American voter islooking beyond attempts to define the Alaskan governor as a liability.

"Barack Obama, with the assistance of the mainstream media, would love to caricaturize Gov. Palin to distract voters from her fresh perspective and proven record of reform," said Blair Latoff, spokeswoman for the RNC. "Last week, the American people saw Gov. Palin without the lens and editing of the mainstream media and once again Americans reacted very favorably to her running with John McCain."

But Mrs. Palin cannot win this election for Mr. McCain alone, especially in light of the economic crisis. Other factors, such as perceived economic ability and supporter enthusiasm, are equally pivotal.

Mr. McCain has made inroads rehabilitating his image on the economy, a sore sport for a Republican running during a time of economic crisis unfolding on a Republican president's watch and has continued to distance himself from President George W. Bush in the minds of voters.

Fifteen percent are "very confident" Mr. McCain would make the right choices on the economy, while 38 percent are "somewhat confident," the CBS poll found. Forty-four percent are "not confident" in Mr. McCain's economic prowess. The numbers changed little from the poll taken prior to the first presidential debate.

While Mr. Obama still leads Mr. McCain in terms of economic decision, he has lost some ground since the first presidential debate.

Twenty-four percent are "very confident" the Democrat could handle the economy, down from 29 percent pre-debate, while 34 percent are "somewhat confident." Those "not confident" Mr. Obama would make the right economic decision shot up to 41 percent, a seven point jump from the pre-date numbers.

And while the Obama camp has feverishly been trying to link Mr. McCain to the policies of Mr. Bush, whose approval ratings are now the lowest of any modern American president, the charge does not appear to be sticking among voters, a good sign for the McCain camp.

When asked what Mr. McCain would do if elected president, 38 percent responded he would continue the policies of Mr. Bush. This number is down from 46 percent in mid-September.

Mr. Obama continued to win out in terms of supporter enthusiasm. Though it dropped three points after the vice presidential debate, 58 percent of Mr. Obama's supporters enthusiastically support him, while 31 percent support him with reservations (up from 29 percent on Oct. 1).

Enthusiasm for Mr. McCain, on the hand, remains relatively mild as 38 percent of his supporters enthusiastically support his candidacy, while 44 percent support the maverick Republican with reservations.

Eighty-two percent of Obama supporters and 81 percent of McCain supporters responded their support cannot be swayed between now and Election Day, thus leaving only one in five voters uncommitted. The poll showed the number of uncommitted voters are down from the week preceding the vice presidential debate.

Joe Murray can be reached at jmurray@thebulletin.us


170 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. He is not far behind for a number of reasons.

    The economy is a bi-partisan affair.

    There are about half the folk that will never vote for a Democrat, regardless.

    There are some that will never vote for black guy, regardless.

    And because the National number is meaningless, there are fifty seperate elections, come November, not one.

    State by State McCain is slipping. He may reverse the slide, but not by being himself. Mrs Palin has not gained Team Maverick a single electoral vote.

    Though she is fun to watch.

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  3. I have had a lot of beer and wine tonight.

    Being in Australia I'm a little slow on things. Actually, I'm a little slow on a lot of things. It is 10:40pm Thursday night here. I am off to the Gold Coast tomorrow morning for 6 nights for work. I will be trying my hand at a little blackjack while I'm there as the company is putting us (taking my gorgeous wife with me) up in the casino there.

    Linear,

    Congratulations on the board appointment. You deserve it more than me. For the life of me I can't figure out what I'm doing there other than being around at the beginning. But at the same time I am very grateful. I do love conservatism, I do love McCain and the unbelievable torture he has been through. I do love his service and his heroism. I do love my country and wish I could get back more often.

    Trish once asked me what I stood for in not so many words. Well, I stand for the US trying hard to make the world good and right. Bush loves his country and did what he thought was right at the time. Find the weapons and it's a completely different scenario.

    I do love 2164th and Whit for includinng me.

    Congratulations, Linear.

    Alas, I am humble.

    Time for some more cab.

    Talk to you guys next Friday.

    Adios.

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  4. I am new to all this. I was at another club but I'm not comfortable there.
    Can I ask something?

    When the presidential contenders debate why they don’t each get to pick a number of potential advisors, from the major departments. Say four in all. State, Defense, Homeland Security , and Economics.

    No one person, even a president simply sits down and makes a decision, he gets input. The question should be asked and each candidate should run a eight minute mini cabinet meeting so that the public gets a feel for just who is advising what approach.

    The way it is set up now it is a giant snooze and in the Obama/Biden case a giant liars ball. And they never get called on the lie

    Also why didn't Browkaw simply gavel into submission Obama’s gross time violations. For that matter why don't they hand out those D-day cricket sound makers and when the light turns red the crowd goes to the crickets. Obama must have had a ten minute advantage over McCain by the end and Brokaw just sat there. At minimum they should turn off the microphone. But I like the cricket idea.

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  5. Romney would've brought him Michigan. Which would've been a +.

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  6. Pat C.,

    So what are you saying? You'd like to see a 5 on 5? I don't know, I guess it could work. Kind of sounds like Family Feud to me.

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  7. Does it matter to anyone but me that Obama was a member of a genuine Socialist Party?

    http://politicallydrunk.blogspot.com/2008/10/web-archives-confirm-barack-obama-was.html

    It's alll over the net buy par for the mainstream you'll never see it.

    I got this from Powerline which took me to this other place which has names , dates registration .

    To this day Obama will not release any of his records. If there has ever been a need for a law this is it, Presidential elections. You don't ptoduce certain verifiable records you're out. Period.

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  8. Sam , if you want to characterize it that way ok, but we're voting on the president who runs on advice.

    It wouldn't add that much to the dabate time and would sure give the population a better insight into each mans brain trust, So the debate goes 2hours instead of 1 1/2. I think we'd get ten times the insight.

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  9. I can see your point, pc.
    I always thought that against Clinton, Bob Dole should have rolled out his Team Dole at the Convention, stand up with a dozen or so of his top advisors. Making the point that it is not a man, but a prospective Administration, that is asking for support.

    But no, that is not the historical method and Mr Dole was not an agent of change.
    Neither is Maverick, in any real sense.

    As to the clickers, that'd be "bad form" as the say in Never Never Land.

    The abilitiy to game the system, that counts for something. In that Obama is quite good, smacked ol' Billary about the head, he did.

    I thought he'd be disaster of a candidate for the Democrats, he has not been. Not at all so far.

    We'll see if I misjudged the latent racism in the electorate, in just a few days.

    Ms T, if GWBush strikes at Iran, it'll be post election, not prior to it. So the raid or war would not impact the results.
    But could be instigated by them.

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  10. sam, Right now you get liars feud anyway, Give me Family feud and some cabinet level insight.

    If Obama showed up with Wright, Plegar,Farrakhan,Jackson and Biden I think things would work out differently.

    I guess I'm just not ready for a lying socialist accompanied by Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.

    I have to run. Home schooling time.

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  11. There is no and will not be a required records dump, pc.

    If you or the other voters are not comfortable with a candidates disclosure, or lack of it, don't vote for him/her.

    It seems quite evident that a great number of voters do not give a shit about yesterdays, they want to, as Mrs Palin said:
    Now doggone it, let's look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future.

    In that regard, Team Obama has the edge. Their rhetoric soars, tele-prompted or not.

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  12. Obama and the New Party
    by Erick Erickson (more by this author)
    Posted 06/10/2008 ET

    Two weeks ago at RedState, we documented Obama’s 1996 endorsement by the New Party. A review of the New Party establishes that not only was the party an amalgamation of far left groups, but Barack Obama knew that when he sought the party’s endorsement.
    Most of the New Party’s history has been lost in the digital age. It was established in 1992 and started to die out in 1998, well before Google and the modern web were established. But through lengthy searches of the Nexis archive and microfilm at the local university library, I’ve been able to piece this together.
    The New Party was established in 1992 “by union activist Sandy Pope and University of Wisconsin professor Joel Rogers,” USA Today reported on November 16, 1992. The paper wrote that the new party was “self-described [as] ‘socialist democratic.’”
    The seeds, however, had been sown all the way back in 1988. Quoting John Nichols in the March 22, 1998 issue of In These Times, “The roots of the New Party go back to the aftermath of Jesse Jackson’s run for president in 1988. At that time, Dan Cantor, who had served as labor coordinator for the Jackson campaign, and University of Wisconsin sociology professor Joel Rogers began talking about how to formulate an alternative between the increasingly indistinguishable Democratic-Republican monolith.”
    Joel Rogers sought to use the idea of “fusion” as a way to get the New Party into power.
    Fusion is a pretty simple concept. A candidate could run as both a Democrat and a New Party member to signal the candidate was, in fact, a left-leaning candidate, or at least not a center-left DLC type candidate. If the candidate -- let’s call him Barack Obama -- received only 500 votes in the Democratic Party against another candidate who received 1000 votes, Obama would clearly not be the nominee. But, if Obama also received 600 votes from the New Party, Obama’s New Party votes and Democratic votes would be fused. He would be the Democratic nominee with 1100 votes.
    The fusion idea set off a number of third parties, but the New Party was probably the most successful. A March 22, 1998 In These Times article by John Nichols showed just how successful. “After six years, the party has built what is arguably the most sophisticated left-leaning political operation the country has seen since the decline of the Farmer-Labor, Progressive and Non-Partisan League groupings of the early part of the century …. In 1996, it helped Chicago’s Danny Davis, a New Party member, win a Democratic congressional primary, thereby assuring his election in the majority-black district …. The threat of losing New Party support, or of the New Party running its own candidates against conservative Democrats, would begin a process of forcing the political process to the left, [Joel] Rogers argued.”
    Fusion, fortunately for the country, died in 1997. William Rehnquist, writing for a 6-3 Supreme Court, found the concept was not a protected constitutional right. It was two years too late to stop Obama.
    On December 1, 1994, after the Gingrich revolution swept the Democrats from congress and forced Bill Clinton to triangulate, the Chicago Tribune ran an article by Steve Mills entitled “Looking for the Left: The Old Progressives and Marxists Still Breathe Idealist Fire, but They’re Too Splintered to Generate Any Heat.”
    “‘The Left is in crisis, and it has been for some time,’ said Carl Davidson, the former national secretary for the radical Students for a Democratic Society. ‘I don’t know if it’s even bottomed out yet,’” he reported to Mr. Mills. Mills continued, “The Socialist Workers Party is in this corner; the International Socialist Organization is in this one. The [communist group Committee of Correspondence] is in another. The radicals, or even the liberals with some radical leanings -- so-called ‘soft radicals’ -- seem to find it hard to abandon individual issues for a broader movement.”
    But, Mills reported, “It is amid this political confusion that The New Party would like to step in. ‘If there’s anything that defines the American Left, it’s fragmentation,’ said Dan Cantor, the party’s national organizer.… The New Party aims to change that. By uniting the progressives behind a cohesive ideology, one that, in theory at least, will have room for all the factions that now litter the landscape of the Left, The New Party is confident progressives can again be strong.”
    In 1995, the New Ground, the newsletter of the Chicago Chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, noted, “In Chicago, the New Party's biggest asset and biggest liability is ACORN.
    “Like most organizations, ACORN is a mixed bag. On one hand, in Chicago, ACORN is a group that attempts to organize some of the most depressed communities in the city. Chicago organizers for ACORN and organizers for SEIU Local 880 have been given modest monthly recruitment quotas for new New Party members. On the other hand, like most groups that depend on canvassing for fundraising, it's easy enough to find burned out and disgruntled former employees. And ACORN has not had the reputation for being interested in coalition politics -- until recently and, happily, not just within the New Party.”
    Naturally, Barack Obama was an active part of ACORN at the time, helping it legally in court and helping it organize voters. By 1996, ACORN and the New Party were essentially the same body. Along with the Democratic Socialists of America, the New Party endorsed Barack Obama in his State Senate bid.
    Obama began seeking the New Party endorsement in 1995. He had been running in a four way primary against his former boss, Senator Alice Palmer, herself a far left radical, and two other individuals. But an election law quirk gave Obama the upper hand. In order to get on the ballot, candidates had to collect signatures of voters. Printed names were not allowed. Obama challenged the petitions of his rivals and was able to get every one of them thrown off the ballot. By the time the ballot was drawn up for the 1996 election, Obama’s was the only name in the race.
    Nonetheless, Obama still coveted the New Party endorsement. The New Party required candidates who received the endorsement sign a pledge of support for the party. Obama did not need to support a party that was, in effect, a front group for communists; yet he still chose to. The July issue of the New Ground noted that 15% of the New Party consisted of Democratic Socialists of America members and a good number of Committee of Correspondence members.
    Barack Obama, not needing to, chose to affiliate himself with this band of quasi-communists. As the nation moves closer to the election, it is clear that Obama chose to affiliate with assorted anti-American radicals. Machiavelli once noted that we can know a leader by the people he surrounds himself with. What does that say about Barack Obama, who chose to surround himself with people committed to overthrowing the United States and capitalism?

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  13. Well, I stand for the US trying hard to make the world good and right. Bush loves his country and did what he thought was right at the time. Find the weapons and it's a completely different scenario.

    - sam

    All presidents will do what they think is right at the time. Whatever beef I have with Bush, it is certainly not that I believe he did what he thought, at the time, was wrong.

    Obama, too, will do what he believes is right. As would've McCain. And as before, the national argument, the great debate, will concern the premises that underly those decisions.

    As for the weapons, things would be different if things were different. They are not. We were wrong.

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  14. That he sounds a lot like the current Administration that wants the Federal government to take equity positions in banks.

    A lot like John McCain that wants the Federal government to become a direct lender in the mortgage market.

    A lot like Hillary Clinton that wants the Federals to take charge of the Health Care system.

    Obama fits the current mold of a US politico and their collective wisdom.

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  15. C4 (on BC): You cannot count on this old Senate geezer to pull any bacon out when he endorsed spending 800 billion on Iraq, 760 billion on Homeland security, and tax cuts for the rich that doubled our national deficit in the Bush II Era.(by 3.8 trillion).

    That's over his career. Just during this campaign he worked to tack on another $140 billion on top of the $700 billion giveaway, then during the debate he proposed another $300 billion giveaway to snap up bad loans, without even the possibility of recouping it. He actually makes Obama with his trillion dollars for universal health insurance look prudent. A pox on both their houses. I'm voting for Bob Barr.

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  16. OK, the kids are taking there vocab and arthmetic tests.
    I'm listening to the financial gurus who are still telling the public that it's a great time to buy even though we may not have hit bottom.

    They're actually saying this after literally hundreds of thousands of investors have watched the profits of the last decade and a half vaporize, capitalism disappear and the socialization of our markets and banking system. What jerks.
    These Wall Street guys are a menace, tuly a menace.
    Give AIG 7 billion in juice or whatever the big number was and they party away. I makes you wish there was a Godfather.

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  17. trish the problem with you grouping Obama with the others is that his underlying philosophy is totally counter to the philosophy of all preceeding presidents. he's a radical socialist, documented as such who is being aided as never before by an advocacy press.

    it's like saying castro would try his best to help us. fat chance. teo totally different worlds and goals.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Blogger Elijah said...

    odd how anyone who disagrees with your or your linked authors ideology is stupid or a ditz



    No Elijah, the criticism is aimed at just one specific person. She has repeatedly demonstrated a distinct lack of mental acuity. She seems nice though.

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  19. AIG, first got $85 Billion, then, when that was gone, the Fed of New York loanded them another $35 billion.

    So, to keep AIG in the game they've borrowed $120 billion USD.

    That party for their independent agents, just a $440,000 expense.
    No harm, no foul.

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  20. There cannot be any question as to Obama’s idiological roots and Marxist sympathies. There should be no surprise either, as to the reluctance of Obama’s beholders to so cast him, using the ‘M’ word. They can barely say ‘Liberal’. Only seven letters here; but ‘Marxist’ IS a big word to ignore. Black Liberation Theology is rooted in Marxism; Saul Alinsky is ‘rooted’ in Marxism/Communism. Nation of Islam is rooted in a ‘Marxism’. (Remember the ‘special award for service’ given to Louis Farrakhan by Rev. Wright?) Circulating on the ‘net’ is Michelle Obama’s picture with a ‘lunch-bunch’ (?) that includes Farrakhan’s wife; and not a question asked here. Obama’s radical associations - which also include the New Black Panther Party (for Self Defense) are all rooted in the same ‘Marxist/Maoist bed’.

    Chicago is the home of the Communist Party USA; and it is no coincidence that the roots of American radicalism reach deep here. Chicago Seven brings it’s own memories of ‘Change’. Fast forward to ACORN; Woods Foundation. The easier question to ask: is there ANY association that does not have Marxist/Maost, et al, Communist roots; that Obama is NOT connected to in Chicago? As well, we cannot forget Obama’s mentor/friend/father-figure, Frank Marshall Davis - COPUSA member - his early communist roots in Chicago, before moving to Hawaii where he befriends Obama.

    How else might it have been; that Obama was drawn to Chicago; and so launched his career - as a radical street activist - in the city where the American Communist Party was born?

    While the name of Alice Palmer - and the story of her political ‘mentoring’ of Obama, is now, more often mentioned; what is not included is her associations/allegiance with Communist Party in Chicago. One only has to google Alice Palmer and
    ‘Communist’ to see the bigger picture here*.

    There are MANY questions to ask Obama - (and questions for Michelle, as well; if she can be found that is.) Obama HAS gotten of so easily with his seemingly empty mantra for ‘Change’. We know there is certainly NOTHING new in ‘Marxism’ - or the change it brings - but many have yet to connect the dots here. And lest we forget an old COPUSA motto: First Marxism; then Communism.

    Should there be ANY doubt as to Obama’s ‘CHANGE’ and what it means; just go to COPUSA and read the party platform.** It will sound familiar. You can find the ‘Obama/DNC/Soros’ plan here for solving America’s economic woes and a crafting our ‘new’ future with Obama,Inc.
    *************************************
    * New Zeal: Obama file 23 Alice Palmer-Obama’s Soviet Sympathising ...Aug 23, 2008 ... The article detailed how Alice Palmer had recently attended the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and had been ...
    *************************************
    **/COPUSA/Any plan before Congress must:

    1) Protect homeowners faced with foreclosure by restructuring mortgage rates to be in line with family income.
    2) Create economic stimulus for working people and small business
    3) Provide $100 billion in emergency relief to state and local governments wracked with budget cuts and diminished tax revenue
    4) Bar CEO severance packages and cap the pay of executives receiving a bailout
    5) Regulate banking and finance with transparent public oversight
    6) Maintain public control over monopolies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that have a decisive role in the economy

    7) Control speculation and increase revenues by taxing large financial transactions
    8) Ban predatory lending and cap interest rates on all types of debts
    9) End the war in Iraq, which is draining $700 million a day from public coffers

    Developments are moving quickly and their full impact has yet to be felt, but let’s make sure that American workers—those who made this country rich—do not further suffer at the expense of the financial elites, those who have created this crisis.

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  21. DR: AIG, first got $85 Billion, then, when that was gone, the Fed of New York loanded them another $35 billion. So, to keep AIG in the game they've borrowed $120 billion USD.

    In other words AIG is a big black hole which annihilates wealth.

    That party for their independent agents, just a $440,000 expense.
    No harm, no foul.


    That party might be enough to put Obama in the White House, just like that tank was enough to sink Dukakis. Elections turn on silly little things.

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  22. rish the problem with you grouping Obama with the others is that his underlying philosophy is totally counter to the philosophy of all preceeding presidents.

    - pat

    To the extent that he's a raging collectivist, he won't be the first - nor the last - to hold that office. The American public seems quite comfortable with a shifting admixture of freedom and controls, statism and individualism. What makes it uncomfortable is the general perception at any given time that either of these has overrun its bounds.

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  23. ash

    and when scientist are focusing on one area of a specific disease do they lack mental acuity?

    When Edison tried over then thousand elements attempting to zero in on the one that would world was he lacking mental acuity?
    When the dentist doing your root canal and not paying any attention to ESPN is he lacking mental acuity?
    Point made. Recess for you.

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  24. McCain could have easily targeted Chi-town, hitting Obama with the collateral damage. He chose not to.

    It is one of the most corrupt political machines in the country. But he's let it slide.

    As to asking Michelle questions, you'd have better luck getting Sarah Palin into an unscripted press conference.

    Mrs Palin is a candidate and will not subject herself to that.
    Why in the world would Michelle?

    Or Ms Cindy, for that matter.

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  25. IL has a history of sending radicals to the White House.

    It's how they do it, there.

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  26. I'd certainly like to hear Cindy McCain asked about her interest in the Choice Bank, its' buyout, for cash, by Silver State Bank @ 250% of book value and then the subsequent failure of the combined institution.

    Doubt if anyone will get the chance.

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  27. What happened, did Habu get hit with a nice stick? Did he accept Jesus as Lord?

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  28. OT:

    2 minute version:
    "Barack Obama and Raila Odinga -- Did the Illinois senator violate the Logan Act in campaigning for his 'genocidist' cousin's bid for the Kenyan presidency?"
    http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1P_P8lBCsE

    8 minute version:
    "Barack Obama & Raila Odinga"
    http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=S8QcpdUtxNQ&feature=related

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  29. More than likely not, charles, based upon Mark Davis's work for the Party of Regions in Ukraine.

    McCain Consultant Is Tied To Work For Ukraine Party

    WASHINGTON, DC -- A consultant to Sen. John McCain hired a public-relations firm last year to burnish the U.S. image of a Ukrainian political party backed by Russian leader Vladimir Putin, according to documents filed with the Justice Department.
    ...
    In addition to its work for the Party of Regions, the Davis Manafort lobbying firm has pursued business deals with Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, the Washington Post reported in January. In 2006, Mr. Davis introduced Mr. McCain to Mr. Deripaska, a supporter and confidant of Mr. Putin, according to the Post.

    The Wall Street Journal reported last year that Mr. Deripaska has been barred from the U.S. for allegedly lying to the FBI about his involvement with organized crime.

    Details of Davis Manafort's Ukraine work were contained in a late January filing with the Justice Department. According to those documents, Daniel J. Edelman Inc., parent of the prominent Edelman public-relations firm, was paid $35,000 a month last year to promote the Party of Regions by Davis Manafort International LLC, a Delaware corporation set up in March 2007.

    "Davis Manafort International LLC is directed by a foreign political party, the Ukraine Parties [sic] of Regions, to consult on the political campaign in Ukraine," the filing states.

    Chris Deri, an Edelman employee who worked on the contract, said its work took place in the summer and fall of 2007 and was "almost entirely focused on U.S. media."


    The Logan Act is so irrelevant, I do not believe there has ever been a prosecution, let alone a conviction under that Law.
    Correct me if I'm wrong, please.

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  30. Microwave Beam Stops Cars Dead

    The high-power electromagnetic system (HPEMS) uses microwave energy to disable/damage vehicle’s electronic control module/microprocessors which control engine’s vital functions. The system is capable of (1) high-value asset perimeter protection from approaching hostile vehicles, (2) bringing cars to halt on urban, suburban roads and multi-lane highways, (3) perimeter protection for gas-oil (fueling) platform at sea and (4) day/night, all weather clandestine operations. Figures shown here depict HPEMS’ application for stopping vehicles on highways and perimeter protection of gas-oil fueling platform from approaching boats at sea.
    ==

    No more car chases thru urban jungles.

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  31. That's kinda old technology, mat.

    I do not believe it is cost effective, in most civil situations, at this point.

    Most cities cannot afford cameras to catch and fine redlight runners.

    While cameras and auto triggers are very old and not that expensive a technology

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  32. Yes. But imagine what it can do to a column of tanks and APCs. Or low flying helicopters.

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  33. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  34. Sure, similar to the pulse weapon designed to be used against incoming rockets, the Israelis had signed on, but DoD killed the funding, as I recall.

    Doable, but to expensive to be tactically deployed.

    I forget the details, but I'll betcha elijah does not.

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  35. it's like saying castro would try his best to help us. fat chance.

    - pat

    No, it's like saying that the New Deal and the Great Society are now firmly within the American tradition.

    As "luck" may have it, however, we might not be able to pony up.

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  36. Doable, but to expensive to be tactically deployed.
    ==

    More expensive than that useless f35 they're buying at $200 mil a copy?

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  37. As another sometime inhabitant of Hyde Park I know that Obama choose to be part of the Ayers/Wright sub-culture of radical conspiracy theorists and romantic academic moles. The difference for Obama is that the black community with its history of electing political extremists and the Daley machine with its cynical corruption combined to float this marginal character onto the national stage. The Democrats thought they had built a firewall against this by instituting the Super Delegate system. Thanks to Acorn and Axelrod’s ability to pack the caucuses in Iowa and Texas, Obama built up a head of steam and the party safeguards fell apart.

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  38. That is not the present course of the GOP, trish. We can do it, all!!
    But maintain the level of benefits for Social Security recipients.

    There are new economic realities out there that everyone in this hall and across this country understands that there are going to have to be some choices made. Health policies, energy policies, and entitlement reform, what are going to be your priorities in what order? Which of those will be your highest priority your first year in office and which will follow in sequence?

    Senator McCain?

    MCCAIN: The three priorities were health...

    BROKAW: The three -- health care, energy, and entitlement reform: Social Security and Medicare. In what order would you put them in terms of priorities?

    MCCAIN: I think you can work on all three at once, Tom. I think it's very important that reform our entitlement programs.

    My friends, we are not going to be able to provide the same benefit for present-day workers that we are going -- that present-day retirees have today.
    We're going to have to sit down across the table, Republican and Democrat, as we did in 1983 between Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill.

    I know how to do that. I have a clear record of reaching across the aisle, whether it be Joe Lieberman or Russ Feingold or Ted Kennedy or others. That's my clear record.

    We can work on nuclear power plants. Build a whole bunch of them, create millions of new jobs. We have to have all of the above, alternative fuels, wind, tide, solar, natural gas, clean coal technology. All of these things we can do as Americans and we can take on this mission and we can overcome it.

    MCCAIN: My friends, some of this $700 billion ends up in the hands of terrorist organizations.

    As far as health care is concerned, obviously, everyone is struggling to make sure that they can afford their premiums and that they can have affordable and available health care. That's the next issue.

    But we can do them all at once. There's no -- and we have to do them all at once. All three you mentioned are compelling national security requirements.


    Socializing Health Care is now National Security issue.
    While the Social Security retirement benefits have to be cut from their current levels.

    Get with your Program, please.

    We Can Do Them, ALL!!!

    Yes, We Can!!!

    ReplyDelete
  39. The Obamaoids gamed the system, to a degree that is astounding.

    No fools, but a surplus of knaves, running in that crowd.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Bob,

    Moses describes a race of giants called the Amalekites in the land of Canaan: "And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." (Numbers 13 33)

    ReplyDelete
  41. That is not the present course of the GOP, trish.

    - Rat

    I try not to confuse campaign promises (or State of the Union laundry lists) and likely outcomes.

    ReplyDelete
  42. My friends, we are not going to be able to provide the same benefit for present-day workers that we are going -- that present-day retirees have today.
    ...
    I know how to do that. I have a clear record of reaching across the aisle, whether it be Joe Lieberman or Russ Feingold or Ted Kennedy or others. That's my clear record.

    ReplyDelete
  43. True enough, trish.
    Though the outcomes always seem to be worse than the promises, when the Federals are put into the picture.

    If Mr McCain becomes President, he'll get to be a mortgage lender, too. They'll pass that boondoggle.

    No matter who becomes President, nationallizing Health Care is now a matter of National Security, made so by the agreed expert on National Security. Obama and McCain only disagree on the manner of the nationalization, not the need for it.

    Cutting Social Security benefits for those currently working, also a matter of National Security.

    These are new frontiers for Republicans.

    ReplyDelete
  44. McCain's proposal will make the Federal Government the sub-prime direct lender of choice.

    Think through what he is proposing, the Program will never die, once enacted.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Theoretical physics
    Geometry is all

    Nov 22nd 2007
    From The Economist print edition
    A shape could describe the cosmos and all it contains

    ONE of the mysteries of the universe is why it should speak the language of mathematics. Numbers and the relationships between them are, after all, just abstract reasoning. Yet mathematics has shown itself to be particularly adept at describing both the contents of the universe and the forces that act on them. Now comes a paper which argues that one branch of the subject—geometry—could form the basis of all the laws of physics.

    Physicists are an overbearing bunch. They have long sought a "theory of everything". Such an opus would unite the fundamental forces—gravity, electromagnetism and the two forces that become apparent only at the atomic scale—with the matter on which they act, in a single, overarching framework. It would describe the universe as it existed at the moment of its creation in the Big Bang.

    The nearest thing they have to this—the Standard Model of particle physics—is messy in places and partial, because it omits gravity. Three decades of effort have been expended on string theory, which includes gravity but at the expense of having the universe inelegantly sprout hidden dimensions. Other potential avenues, such as loop quantum gravity, are also proving untidy. That a theory of everything might emerge from geometry would be neat, but it is a long shot.

    Nevertheless, that is what Garrett Lisi is proposing. The geometry he has been studying is that of a structure known to mathematicians as E8, which was first recognised in 1887 by Sophus Lie, a Norwegian mathematician. E8 is a monster. It has 248 dimensions and its structure took 120 years to solve. It was finally tamed earlier this year, when a group of mathematicians managed to construct a map that describes it completely.

    Dr Lisi had been tinkering with some smaller geometries. Soon after reading about this map, however, he realised that the structure of E8 could be used to describe fully the laws of physics. He placed a particle (including different versions of the same entities, and using particles that describe matter and those that describe forces) on most of the 248 points of E8. Using computer simulations to manipulate the structure, he was able mathematically to generate interactions that correspond to what is seen in reality.

    Using geometry to describe the world is not new. Murray Gell-Mann performed a similar trick 50 years ago in an attempt to make sense of the plethora of particles that was then emerging from experiments. He placed these on the points of a geometric structure known as SU(3), and found that, by manipulating the structure, he was able to reproduce the interactions of the real world. Dr Gell-Mann also identified points that had no known particles associated with them—and predicted the existence of particles that would fill those gaps. He was awarded the Nobel prize after they were detected. Interestingly, some 20 gaps remain in Dr Lisi's model. That suggests that 20 particles (or, at least, 20 different identities of particles) have yet to be discovered. If Dr Lisi can calculate the masses of these, he will have made predictions that can be tested experimentally.

    The particles must be relatively massive, because they would otherwise have been discovered already. Detecting massive objects takes energy. (Einstein's famous equation, E=mc2, outlines how energy is equivalent to mass times the square of the speed of light.) When it is completed, the Large Hadron Collider, a machine being built at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva, will create particles with greater masses than have yet been seen. It is due to start its scientific work in the summer of 2008, so a test of Dr Lisi's theory could come soon.

    Although some famous physicists are championing the idea, Dr Lisi, who spends his time surfing and snowboarding and is not employed by a university or research institute, has by no means won the acceptance of all physicists. His work, which has been posted on the internet, has not yet been accepted for publication in any journal, although he has presented his ideas at research institutes and the work on which his paper is based was funded by a grant from a charitable foundation.

    Certainly, there are glitches with Dr Lisi's analysis and some of the truly fundamental problems that plague more conventional work remain. Yet the theory has several appealing facets. It is elegant. It is expected to make testable predictions. Unlike some of the more complicated efforts to devise a theory of everything, this one should either succeed relatively rapidly or fail spectacularly. And that is more than can be said for three decades of work by other physicists.

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    http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10170958
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    ReplyDelete
  46. I think Desert Rat told me to vote for Bob Barr as a protest vote since both major parties have gone totally socialist. I'm going with that advice.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Just for you, dRat:
    ==

    American Royalty: Palin related to Princess Diana and Roosevelt
    2008 10 09

    From: .reuters.com


    Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is distantly related to the late Princess Diana and late U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, genealogy experts said on Wednesday.

    The governor of Alaska and the princess are tenth cousins, while Palin and Roosevelt are ninth cousins once removed, said Ancestry.com, online genealogists based in Provo, Utah.

    The genealogical connections are not the first to gain attention in the U.S. presidential campaign. Last year, Lynne Cheney said she found while tracing her family roots that her husband Vice President Dick Cheney was a distant cousin of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

    Other researchers discovered Obama is distant cousins with actor Brad Pitt.

    "When you've got candidates who have deep roots in America, there's a good chance that they're going to have some famous cousins," said Ancestry.com's chief family historian Megan Smolenyak.

    "We've all got literally millions of cousins. The trick is finding that one little connection that results in something like Sarah Palin being related to FDR or Diana," she said.

    Palin and the late princess descended from John Strong and his wife Abigail Ford, Ancestry.com said.

    Strong was born around 1605 in England and emigrated to the United States, where he died in Massachusetts in 1699, Ancestry.com said.

    alin and Roosevelt share ancestor John Lothrop, who was born in England in 1584 and also emigrated to America, where he died in Massachusetts in 1653, Ancestry.com said.

    Article from: http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE4971HJ20081008

    Obama's Elite Lineage

    From: msnbc.msn.com

    Obama, the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya, can call six U.S. presidents, including George W. Bush, his cousins.

    Obama has a prolific presidential lineage that features Democrats and Republicans. His distant cousins include President George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman and James Madison. Other Obama cousins include Vice President Dick Cheney, British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and Civil War General Robert E. Lee.

    "His kinships are across the political spectrum,"

    Article from: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23797072/

    ReplyDelete
  48. These are new frontiers for Republicans.

    Thu Oct 09, 11:29:00 AM EDT

    Not in basic principle, they're not. Entered that frontier a long time ago. Ever getting out of it again, that's been the impossible part.

    ReplyDelete
  49. I'd have to disagree, trish.

    As one gets deeper into the jungle, each step brings a new frontier.

    But getting out?
    The Republican plan is to push on, even deeper into the socialistic morass.

    Which in and of itself, is a new frontier, from the GOP I remember supporting.

    Yes, Ms T, in Washington State, a vote for Bob Barr sends a message that a new course is required, away from the status que of the DC elites.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Obama will win in Washington State, going away.
    So pick the loser that most closely represents your own beliefs.
    Much better than voting for the loser that does not.

    ReplyDelete
  51. As one gets deeper into the jungle, each step brings a new frontier.

    - rat

    No more than a quarter degree rise in temperature brings a new pot to stew in.

    But our semantics are going to bore everyone and so I'll go forth in search of some news.

    ReplyDelete
  52. That didn't take long. From marginalrevolution.com:

    Houses for Sale! Houses for Sale!
    Alex Tabarrok

    Tyler and I have both suggested that increased immigration would help to increase the demand for housing and relieve some of the financial crisis. Writing in the WSJ Lee Ohanian concurs:

    We should encourage the immigration of prime-age individuals. Beginning in 2007, net immigration fell to half of its level over the previous five years. Increasing immigration would increase the demand for housing and raise home prices. And note that the benefit would be immediate. Home prices -- and the value of subprime obligations -- would rise in anticipation of a higher population base. The U.S. particularly needs highly skilled workers. These workers not only would purchase homes, but would generate higher living standards for all Americans.

    More generally, Ohanian warns that what made the Great Depression great was the misguided policies that Hoover and Roosevelt adopted to fight the depression. Ohanian has an ill-considered swipe at Obama on this score but the general point is valid and worth remembering as we rush onwards.

    October 9, 2008 at 07:15 AM

    ReplyDelete
  53. Chinese Say They're Building 'Impossible' Space Drive
    By David Hambling EmailSeptember 24, 2008 | 10:29:00 AMCategories: Bizarro, Science!, Space

    Emdrive_2

    Chinese researchers claim they've confirmed the theory behind an "impossible" space drive, and are proceeding to build a demonstration version. If they're right, this might transform the economics of satellites, open up new possibilities for space exploration –- and give the Chinese a decisive military advantage in space.

    To say that the "Emdrive" (short for "electromagnetic drive") concept is controversial would be an understatement. According to Roger Shawyer, the British scientist who developed the concept, the drive converts electrical energy into thrust via microwaves, without violating any laws of physics. Many researchers believe otherwise. An article about the Emdrive in New Scientist magazine drew a massive volley of criticism. Scientists not only argued that Shawyer's work was blatantly impossible, and that his reasoning was flawed. They also said the article should never have been published.

    "It is well known that Roger Shawyer's 'electromagnetic relativity drive' violates the law of conservation of momentum, making it simply the latest in a long line of 'perpetuum mobiles' that have been proposed and disproved for centuries," wrote John Costella, an Australian physicist. "His analysis is rubbish and his 'drive' impossible."

    Shawyer stands by his theoretical work. His company, Satellite Propulsion Research (SPR), has constructed demonstration engines, which he says produce thrust using a tapering resonant cavity filled with microwaves. He is adamant that this is not a perpetual motion machine, and does not violate the law of conservation of momentum because different reference frames apply to the drive and the waves within it. Shawyer's big challenge, he says, has been getting people who will actually look into his claims rather than simply dismissing them.

    Such extravagant claims are usually associated with self-taught, backyard inventors claiming Einstein got it all wrong. But Shawyer is a scientist who has worked with radar and communication systems and was a program manager at European space company EADS Astrium; his work rests entirely on Einstein being right. The thrust is the result of a relativistic effect and would not occur under simple Newtonian physics. Many have dismissed his work out of hand, and British government funding has ceased. He has had some interest from both the United States and China. Now the Chinese connection with the Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) in Xi'an seems to have paid off.

    "NPU started their research program in June 2007, under the supervision of Professor Yang Juan. They have independently developed a mathematical simulation which shows unequivocally that a net force can be produced from a simple resonant tapered cavity," Shawyer tells Danger Room. "The thrust levels predicted by this simulation are similar to those resulting from the SPR design software, and the SPR test results."

    What's more, Shawyer says, NPU is "currently manufacturing" a "thruster" based on this theoretical work.

    The NPU have confirmed that they have reproduced the theoretical work, and are building a demosntration version of the Emdrive.

    Needless to say, independent confirmation is a big deal -- though many will want to see it published in a peer-reviewed journal. Even when it is, I doubt the controversy will subside. Prof. Yang has plenty of experience in this type of area, having previously done work on microwave plasma thrusters, which use a resonant cavity to accelerate a plasma jet for propulsion. While the theory behind the Emdrive is very different, the engineering principles of building the hardware are similar. The Chinese should be capable of determining whether the thruster really works or whether the apparent forces are caused by experimental errors.

    The thrust produced is small, but significant. Shawyer compares a C-Band Emdrive with the existing NSTAR ion thruster used by NASA. The Emdrive produces 85 mN of thrust compared to 92 for the NSTAR (that's about one-third of an ounce), but the Emdrive only consumes a quarter of the amount of power and weighs less than 7 kilos, compared to over 30 kilos. The biggest difference is in propellant: NSTAR uses 10 grams per hour; the Emdrive uses none. As long as it has an electricity supply, the Emdrive will keep going.

    The possibilities are phenomenal: Instead of going out of service when they run out of fuel, satellites would have greatly extended endurance and be able to move around at will. (We wouldn't have to shoot them down because of the risk from toxic fuel either.) Deep space probes could go further, faster –- and stop when they arrive. Shawyer calculates that a solar-powered Emdrive could take a manned mission to Mars in 41 days. Provided it works, of course.

    What will China do with the technology? It may be relevant that professor Yang is not unknown in military circles, having published a paper called "Plasma Attack Against Low-Orbit Spy Satellites."

    Meanwhile, what about the American interest? Shawyer told me that "the flight thruster program is on hold for the present. [O]nce the U.K. government had provided an export license for a U.S. military application, the major U.S. aerospace company we had been dealing with stopped talking to us. "

    The company may have decided that the Emdrive could not work. If they're wrong, China has at least a year's head start in a technology that will dominate space and make previous satellites as obsolete as sailing ships in the age of steam.

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    http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/09/chinese-buildin.html
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    ReplyDelete
  54. Let the Venezuleans buy condos and houses and then live in Miami, instead of Panama or Costa Rica?

    Can't be havin' that.

    English only, trish, that's the rule.

    Unless, like Obama, you think there are 57 States United.
    Kinda like Heinz sause.

    ReplyDelete
  55. The continued cooking does not change the pot, but can sure change that stew.

    From a good stew, to goo.
    Una nueva frontera de sabor

    ReplyDelete
  56. Or maybe it's
    Una frontera nueva de sabor

    But either way, there you have it.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Lehman assets go on sale tomorrow. That'll be fun.

    ReplyDelete
  58. "Reuters" faked images of Georgian victims allegedly killed by Russian attacks


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    http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m46819&hd=&size=1&l=e
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    ReplyDelete
  59. There is an even larger point to be pondered than stated below, in re an Obama presidency:

    RE: Most Left Wing Ever [Mark Hemingway]

    Rich, I just addressed this somewhat in a recent column. I think that's true of the leadership certainly. But the Democratic party as a whole? Not really. In the House, they've gained a majority largely through capturing Republican seats in districts that are still conservative. The Democratic party has a ridiculously large gulf between it's most conservative and most liberal members that runs the gamut between Dennis Kucinich and guys that had an ACU (American Conservative Union) rating of 76 last year. Sean Oxendine over at The Next Right actually tried to quantify this by ranking Democrats in order by their ACU rating:

    The most liberal Republican — Wayne Gilchrist — has a lifetime ACU of 60. That's not real conservative — and wasn't conservative enough for the voters in MD-01 — but it is still pretty conservative. Count 15 seats into the Republican caucus — about number 250. That's Todd Platts. Todd Platts has a lifetime ACU of 76. That is not ultra-conservative, but no one is going to mistake him for a liberal. Count in 45 seats, to Latham. He's a member of the class of 1994, with an ACU of 86. (Again, Poole-Rosenthal is different than ACU, but I thought it would be useful to give some type of reference point for people).

    Now take a look at the Democratic caucus. Its most conservative member is Tom Barrow. HIS ACU is lifetime is 47, and has gone as high as 76 last year (well into the Republican caucus). 15 in is John Tanner, who still has a lifetime ACU of 43. Go in 45, and you find Congressman Costello, whose lifetime ACU is 34. Go another 20 in, to 65, and you're at Congressman Ortiz, whose lifetime ACU is 33. You're now a little less than 1/3 of the way into the Democratic caucus, and you have a member who votes with the ACU about 1/3 of the time.

    In other words, well into the Democratic caucus, you have members with some pretty conservative instincts.

    As for the Senate, I think that's a little trickier. With the G.O.P. brand in the toilet they're picking up seats, but again by representing themselves as moderates and/or conservative Dems. Mark Udall is a good example — he may well win his Senate race in Colorado, but as a Congressman from Boulder he has a lifetime ACU rating of eight. Ever since he started running for Senate, however, he's been a been going out of his way to hide his voting record and portray himself as a moderate in a very purple state. If he reverts back to being a dogmatic liberal in the Senate, he's likely to pay a price.

    Anyway, this ideological gulf makes the Democratic majority very hard to govern — how do you please Kucinich and a guy who votes with the G.O.P. three quarters of the time? And means that in time many of these districts/Senate seats might be ripe for Republicans to take back, particularly if Obama wins and they have a very liberal President to run against.

    10/09 11:29 AM

    ReplyDelete
  60. Anyone wonder what Jeb Bush's contract will bring?

    Consultant contracts can be traded amongst bankers, like Sammy Sousa went from the Rangers to the Cubs, or no?

    ReplyDelete
  61. Because, as we all know, a banks real assets, they're its' people.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Those are passages in the Bible I have never understood, Mat. Any insight you can send my way would be much appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  63. Take care, Sam and don't lose all your money!

    Up here in Idaholand the nights are getting downright chilly already. That's got to make it coming on summer, down your way.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Bob,

    Anak means giant.
    Anakims means giants.

    My insight:

    Small = good
    giant = bad

    The theme also occurs in the tower of babel story.

    United States of America = good
    United State of America = bad

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  65. Why isn't McCain behind by 25 points?

    Because in our consumer economy there's still people that have resistance to buying into a total fraud.

    And because, even though the left says Bush is Hitler and we are in the worst times ever, most people don't feel that is true, in their own lives.

    Things could be much much worse.

    ReplyDelete
  66. hmmm,
    I'll mull that over a bit, Mat.:)

    ReplyDelete
  67. Pat C sez:
    Give AIG 7 billion in juice or whatever the big number was and they party away. I makes you wish there was a Godfather.

    Thu Oct 09, 09:34:00 AM EDT


    HaHa. Squinting to get my eyes open over my 2nd cup of joe, I read that as ...makes you wish there was a Goldwater!!!

    Barry, where are you when we need ya.

    -----

    Meanwhile, just catching up here. One thought needs sayin' quickly, though. I'm humbled by the board appointment. There are many who seem to me to be more worthy [they would include the two ladies-T], and as I said to deuce, et al, earlier, "I hope y'all don't regret it."

    Thanks, Sam. Enjoy Australia while you're there. A place I'd someday like to go for a long visit. Just the place names attract me. Who would not be curious about Moolumbimbi? Even if Fosters does taste like piss.

    ReplyDelete
  68. Bobal, you've heard of Soviet soldiers or Nazi soldiers being "ten feet tall". They'd like to paint Chinese soldiers as ten feet tall as well, but that's a stretch. If you're talking about Chinese basketball players that's different.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Linear: I'm humbled by the board appointment. There are many who seem to me to be more worthy [they would include the two ladies-T], and as I said to deuce, et al, earlier, "I hope y'all don't regret it."

    If you know a way to get me back on there with all my original expeditionary medals that would be awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  70. HA!

    Just got my "I Love Sarah" stickers in the mail. Also, my "Palin Power" stickers too.

    Gonna go put one on the car, which will get me in some trouble with the wife. Not that she's against Sarah, just real jealous of the rig she considers her own, even though I make the payments.

    Still waiting to receive my 'one free Obama button'. Thought I'd wear it on Halloween.

    But, then, I didn't send Obama any bucks, while I did for my Lady.

    The letter even has a real "Thank You!" at the bottom, in a real signature, by some nice lady.

    ReplyDelete
  71. Moolahbimbos, Australia, Linear?

    Who wouldn't want to go there, land of money and femininity!

    ReplyDelete
  72. Is ACORN Stealing The Election?

    I think it is fair to say that they are trying to, shamelessly.

    I think this is extremely bad. If we can't count on an upright electoral system, there is really nothing that holds us together.

    I am very concerned about the long term consequences of this.

    Here where I'm at, we've had honest voting and counting my entire life. It's a given here that things are well run. If the other party wins, they have done so, honestly.

    I really don't know what my reaction would be if I became convinced that the votes were stacked, systematically, across the country.

    I'd have to sit and think about it for awhile, I quess.

    ReplyDelete
  73. I'll mull that over a bit, Mat.:)
    ==

    "Switzerland has managed to keep the federal government small and keep large amounts of sovereignty (and most tax revenue) in the cantons. Switzerland has a very strong citizen army. Switzerland has a very active “grassroots” democracy through the federal and kantonal referedums. Switzerland has superb infrastructure. And Switzerland has managed to accomplish this without any oil or other major resources starting from a position as the poorest country in europe at the beginning of the 20th century."
    - KennyB@BC

    ==

    The guys over at BC are only now broaching this topic. I say the ancient Hebrews were way ahead of the curve. :)

    ReplyDelete
  74. Nevada, along with several other key battleground states, requires no ID to vote.

    No ID to vote.

    Just walk on in....

    ReplyDelete
  75. :)

    Mat, my reading tells me the ancient Hebrews wanted to have an empire, but, being scrunched between Egypt, on one side, and those bastards to the east on the other, then, later, the Greeks and Romans, it just didn't turn out well.

    I kinda agree with you that small is good, but we're not Switzerland, and in a modern economy and laws we're gonna need interstate trade.

    Where am I going to get that John Deere tractor? And the parts for it? They're not made in Idaho.

    Plus, if we were all like Switzerland, who would keep the Russian bear and the Chinese panda at bay?

    Small may be good, but large is necessary in some things, I think.

    If it weren't for our military, I have no doubt Pooty would walk right in to Sarahland. Reconquista Alaska.

    ReplyDelete
  76. A vote for Bob Barr is a vote for Obama.

    A vote for Bob Barr wont do squat for anyone except Obama.

    A vote for Bob Barr will not send a message to anyone about anything.

    Ask those who have voted for Perot or Nader what that did from them.

    Squat is what they will tell you.

    McCain/Palin 08

    ReplyDelete
  77. And, in our era, Menachem Begin let slip on occasion with the desire for a Greater Israel from the canal to the Great Rivers.

    In my view, there would be nothing particularily wrong with that, it being a lot better than the crap that is there now.

    ReplyDelete
  78. Right on Gag.

    A vote for Barr is about like a vote cast by one of my cousins, who has never voted in his life, and is proud of it. It seems to him it puts himself above the "herd".

    A vote for Barr is a foolish, wasted vote in the general.

    In the primaries a better argument can be made.

    ReplyDelete
  79. We've made political progress here in my family today, Gag.

    Put the Sarah Palin "I Love Sarah" sticker on the car, and the wife said, well, that looks fine.

    ReplyDelete
  80. Congrats Bob, thats 2 votes in Idaho we know about!

    ReplyDelete
  81. Mat, my reading tells me the ancient Hebrews wanted to have an empire, but, being scrunched between Egypt, on one side, and those bastards to the east on the other, then, later, the Greeks and Romans, it just didn't turn out well.
    ==

    Bob, the first thing the Israelites did when returning from Egypt is break up into cantons. The 12 tribes and their territories. But you're right, Israel had to deal with the superpowers of the day, and therefore a centralized army and cult religion was pursued. Unfortunately, though the religious bureaucracy was talented, it did not allow for independent scientific and philosophical advancement. The religious bureaucracy mummified and calcified society. The solution devised was a parallel decentralized system of synagogues or houses of gathering, of which Jesus was a member. In Hebrew, beit sefer or school, literally means house of the book.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Beware The Polls

    Nice article at American Thinker about why he thinks McCain might just well win.

    ReplyDelete
  83. And, in our era, Menachem Begin let slip on occasion with the desire for a Greater Israel from the canal to the Great Rivers.
    ==

    That's my position as well. I consider what today is Lebanon Syria Jordan Iraq parts of Saudia and Egypt to be Israel. Not greater Israel.

    ReplyDelete
  84. Mat, I've often wondered about the historical truth of the Israelite exodus from Egypt. I think there must be some historical truth behind it, but I'll be doggoned if I have a clue what it is.

    It is such a beautiful story, yet the Egyptians records, so I read, don't mention it.

    It may have happened during the rule of the Hyksos, the foreigner.

    I just don't know, but think it is fascinating.

    It is a beautiful story.

    ReplyDelete
  85. There's got to be some historical truth behind it, otherwise it wouldn't(the story) have arisen in the first place.

    Just like there is some historical truth behind the story of Jesus, otherwise, it wouldn't have arisen in the first place.

    The devil is in those damned details.

    ReplyDelete
  86. It is such a beautiful story, yet the Egyptians records, so I read, don't mention it.
    ==

    That's not entirely true. The archaeological references are there. Much has been covered up by ancient and modern enemies of Israel, but its there.

    ReplyDelete
  87. It is a beautiful story indeed and I believe it to be true, every word of it, as explained in the Bible anyway.

    Egypt lost a whole bunch of slaves in the deal, so I am sure it is not a story they are especially proud of, or would pass on.

    ReplyDelete
  88. A guy walks into a bar with a pet alligator by his side.

    He puts the alligator up on the bar.

    He turns to the astonished patrons.

    'I'll make you a deal. I'll open this alligator's mouth and place my manhood inside.


    Then the gator will close his mouth for one minute.
    'Then he'll open his mouth and I'll remove my unit unscathed.
    In return for witnessing this spectacle, each of you will buy me a drink.'
    The crowd murmured their approval.
    The man stood up on the bar, dropped his trousers, and placed his Johnson and related parts in the alligator's open mouth.
    The gator closed his mouth as the crowd gasped.
    After a minute, the man grabbed a beer bottle and smacked the alligator hard on the top of its head.
    the gator opened his mouth and the man removed his genitals unscathed as promised.

    The crowd cheered, and the first of his free drinks were delivered.

    The man stood up again and made another offer. 'I'll pay anyone $100 who's willing to give it a try.'
    A hush fell over the crowd. After a while, a hand went up in the back of the bar.
    A Blonde woman timidly spoke up..........

    'I'll try it -

    Just don't hit me so hard with the beer bottle!'

    ReplyDelete
  89. That's not entirely true. The archaeological references are there.

    That's interesting.
    ----

    And, as we watch the stock market fall--always in October--we might bring to mind the words of a gay poet from the Western World, in memory of William Butler Yeats--

    But in the importance and noise of to-morrow
    When the brokers are roaring like beasts on the floor of the Bourse,
    And the poor have the sufferings to which they are fairly accustomed,
    And each in the cell of himself is almost convinced of his freedom,
    A few thousand will think of this day
    As one thinks of a day when one did something slightly unusual.
    What instruments we have agree
    The day of his death was a dark cold day.


    and remember that money is not everything.
    ---------
    Sam, you're supposed to be at the Casino!

    ReplyDelete
  90. A vote for Obama is a vote for Obama.

    A vote for Barr is avote for librarian principles.

    Whether a vote for Nader promotes McCain, that's an interesting concept. One that I'd reject, in my State.

    In a micro sense, it all depends upon where you live, gag.

    But for most of us, it is a choice of voting for Barr, or leaving the space blank.

    I'd leave it blank, if the only choices were Obama and McCain.

    If Barr were to amass enough votes, so that Obama wins in Arizona, then McCain was never a viable candidate. Not if, like Al Gore, his home State rejects his bid to be President, knowing him so well. When the folks in TN voted they knew AlGore would be worse than the Texican from New Haven, CT, or anyone else, for that matter.

    In Washington State, McCain will be a loser, so if one is going to vote for a loser, vote for the loser you agree with, in principle.
    In AZ, where McCain should win in a landslide, vote for the principles you believe in.

    If you live in Florida, weigh Obama and McCain, then vote for Barr, or any of the above.

    ReplyDelete
  91. The Book of the Hopi is a wonderful story too, and has some of the very same imagery as the Israelite story.

    It is sad to watch that people covered by the sands of time.

    ReplyDelete
  92. Thanks, Bob. I'll try and hang on to my dough. I'll bet the cold is coming on there. Idaho is one danged cold place. I know. 70' and rain on the Gold Coast today.

    Linear, nobody drinks Fosters here. There is much better beer than that.

    Part of the problem here, I think, is that I'm out of sync. While I'm at work you guys are at home drunk and letting it all hang out.

    My stomach doesn't feel that great this morning.

    Ok, let's see here. If dealer is showing 8 or higher, hit.

    If dealer is showing 7 or below, stay.

    Double down on 10 if dealer is showing 9 or below. Always double down on 11.

    Split 8's and 7's if dealer is showing equal or below. Always split aces.

    Most importantly steer away from deuces!

    Unless of course you've got 19.

    Taxi due in 55 minutes. Think I'll start off with a bloody mary when I arrive at the airport.

    ReplyDelete
  93. 70' and rain on the Gold Coast today.
    ==

    Surfer's Paradise. :)

    ReplyDelete
  94. It is sad to watch that people covered by the sands of time.

    Jim Chee lives on. While Tony Hillerman is still with us, anyhow.

    -------

    I think our Fosters comes in from Canada, anyhow. Apologies to any Aussies that might have been offended. But that's a stupid apology. Aussies could give a rat's ass what I think.

    ReplyDelete
  95. Holy fuck!

    I just turned on Fox News. Dow down 679. What the heck is going on over there!

    T- 40 minutes.

    ReplyDelete
  96. I wish I could hang ten. I can barely get up. But it's fun just the same and I really enjoy being in the water.

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  97. Desert Rat:A vote for Barr is avote for librarian principles.

    I know, and I have a thing for librarians.

    But seriously, now that the crush on Palin is wearing off, Washington State is squarely back in Obamaland. So a vote for Bob Barr sends a message to the Republicans.

    ReplyDelete
  98. D.R. that's the argument you continue to turn to, and all of us here at the EB know you have an unhealthy dislike for McCain.

    Most conservatives I know arent necessarily voting for McCain, but voting against Obama, which is a hellofa lot better than voting for Barr. Bar is a vote for Obama. Need I say it again?

    I am sure you have good reason to hate McCain as you do. Your rantings seem personal, and personal means it's your business not mine. I know you live in Arizona so perhaps you are so close (maybe too close) to the subject matter to have a reasonable view. Yours seems to be beyond the Dem/Rep. thing.

    I grew up in TN and learned to dispise the Gores (jr and sr) early on. Maybe the same thing is happening with you.

    Anyway, I have to chuckle at your use of the word "principle" since there hasn't been anything politically done in this country based on "principle" in a long time.

    Moral victories are for losers.

    ReplyDelete
  99. now that the crush on Palin is wearing off

    Hey, I'm just fallin' in love...

    ReplyDelete
  100. Then why vote for McCain, at all?

    He is not a conservative & he will be the loser. So there is no moral victory to be had, voting for him.

    A vote for anyone but McCain, that is not a vote for Obama, no matter how many times you claim it is.

    Each candidate represents themselves, and by voting for Barr, one can vote against the both of them and the status que.

    Now, if you want to vote for the status que AND against Obama, vote for McCain.
    If you want to vote against Obama and the against the status que, vote for Barr.

    Quite simple really.

    McCain will lose and Obama will win, regardless.

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  101. Sam: I just turned on Fox News. Dow down 679. What the heck is going on over there!

    This sucker's going down, to use the President's language. I just fiddled with my 401-K to reduce my exposure. Dow gets over 10K again I'll set it back.

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  102. By voting for McCain, you validate his positions.

    Now, if that is where you stand, well and good.
    If McCain does not represent where you stand on Immigration, Freedom of Speech, Nato expansion, Banker bailouts, War in Iraq, War in Pakistan, and a myriad of other issues, like Social Security and nationalize Health Care, then to vote for him is a waste of your vote and honor.

    ReplyDelete
  103. "I floated beside myself on the outside and above the bed looking at this black stranger f--- me angrily while I hated myself," she wrote.

    Ayers Forced Woman To Have Sex

    True? Or not?

    I believe it.

    If you can bomb the Pentagon....

    A Vote for Barr is a wasted vote.

    -----

    Wife got a compliment by a nice old fellow in the Wal-Mart parking lot for the Sarah sign, she has just reported.

    ReplyDelete
  104. I think no one has changed their views on anything as long as I've drank at the bar, so we might as well not take each other too seriously.

    Even if Rat's vote means the entire world is going to hell, and it's all his fault:)

    ReplyDelete
  105. Except for me. Whit changed my outlook on global warming.

    ReplyDelete
  106. Oh, I'd say that rufus opened my eyes to alt. fuels and how to generate bio energy without corn.

    How the US could be free of oil from the Middle East in under five years.

    duece convinced me that Obama should be voted against.

    Oh, yeah, Global Warming, another McCain issue that I am in disagreement with and refuse to validate.

    But duece never made the case FOR McCain and the policies he represents.

    ReplyDelete
  107. Carbon Cap & Trade

    That's the McCain way forward.
    More socialization of the economy.

    From some one that tells US he is an unRegulator.

    ReplyDelete
  108. dRat,

    Solar produces 1000x more energy per acre.

    ReplyDelete
  109. Source Miles driven/Acre (per yr)
    Solar Photovoltaics 2,250,000
    Solar Concentrating 2,000,000
    Wind 180,000
    Biodiesel (Algae) 370,000
    Biodiesel (Palm Oil) 31,000
    Biodiesel (Canola/Rape) 6,100
    Biodiesel (Soybean) 2,400
    Ethanol (Switchgrass) 32,500
    Ethanol (Corn) 18,000

    ReplyDelete
  110. Electric cars vs. biofuels: The presidential energy debate heats up
    Jeremy Jacquot | June 23rd, 2008

    Drawing a sharp contrast with his Democratic rival, John McCain today assailed government subsidies for ethanol production and unveiled a set of proposals aimed at encouraging the development and mass adoption of electric vehicle technologies.

    McCain would provide a $5,000 tax credit to consumers who buy zero-emissions vehicles and proportionately smaller tax credits for low-emissions vehicles, like hybrids. In addition, he said he would award a $300 million bounty for a car battery that can “leapfrog” existing technologies.

    .
    .
    http://venturebeat.com/2008/06/23/electric-cars-vs-biofuels-the-presidential-energy-debate-heats-up/
    .
    .

    ReplyDelete
  111. I think you will need to do both. Biofuels for heavy duty trucks, electric for passenger cars.

    ReplyDelete
  112. Well, if there are two votes in Idaho and one in Ohio, someone will have committed a crime, I do believe, gag.

    I do not believe Mrs bobal would stoop so low as voter fraud.

    Sure, bio fuel is solar energy, mat, in liquid form.

    Gotta have batteries that are not lead based that are functional and available, before the biological interface is not required for solar energy, even then, bio fuels are the only way to harness solar power for the existing vehicle fleet, of 250,000,000 vehicles in the United States, alone.

    ReplyDelete
  113. There is a twenty year window, before there could even be 250,000,000 electric cars built.

    Just do the math.
    12,000,000 electric cars, built annually, on average.

    The next two or three years, that number will be zero, even in the test market of Israel. Making the average even higher, really.

    ReplyDelete
  114. McCain's proposal is energy fraud, brought to US from the Sauds, through Mark Davis and Maverick McCain.

    The numbers do not work, unless burning oil is your business.

    ReplyDelete
  115. The manufacturering base, for electric vehicles, will not jump from ZERO to 12.5 million units per year, in a year.

    ReplyDelete
  116. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  117. dRat,

    Battery performance is improving at a pace of 8% per year. My guesstimate for the US is that EVs will have marketshare dominance in new cars introduced within 5 to 8 years.

    ReplyDelete
  118. Gonna be hard to capitalize new plant construction, to reach a goal of 15 million units per annum, soon.

    GM, Ford shares have big drops
    BY KATIE MERX • FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER • October 8, 2008

    General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. stocks posted some of their largest losses in years as they fell to their lowest levels in decades Tuesday.


    The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 500 points Tuesday, when all major indexes fell at least 5%.

    GM shares lost 92 cents, or 10.9%, ending the day at $7.56 -- its lowest closing level since it was $7.56 on Feb. 18, 1954, according to the Center for Research in Security Prices at the University of Chicago. The center adjusts historical stock prices for dividends, splits and other distributions.

    Ford shares fell 77 cents, or 20.9%, to close Tuesday at $2.92 per share -- the lowest price since Nov. 12, 1985, when shares closed at $2.92, the center reports.

    U.S. automakers' stocks have been especially hard hit during the economic turmoil this year, with auto sales at 15-year lows.

    Detroit Free Press

    ReplyDelete
  119. Five to eight years, to a projected or hoped for market dominace, fair enough.

    Then we'll still need liquid vehicle fuels for the next 28 years, at a minimum.

    That is the transition window, like it or not.

    ReplyDelete
  120. McCain's proposal is energy fraud, brought to US from the Sauds, through Mark Davis and Maverick McCain.
    ==

    I know. But I don't think he likes the Sauds all that much.

    ReplyDelete
  121. Mat,
    How can you improve on the Rabbit?
    That'd be like extending infinity.

    ReplyDelete
  122. VIENNA, Austria (Associated Press) -- North Korea moved closer Thursday to relaunching its nuclear arms program, announcing that it wants to reactivate the facility that produced its atomic bomb and banning U.N. inspectors from the site.

    The U.S. said the moves did not mean the death of international efforts to persuade the North to recommit to an agreement that offers it diplomatic and economic concessions in exchange for nuclear disarmament.

    Despite the gloomy implications of North Korea's moves, they could be a negotiating ploy: The year needed to start its reprocessing plant could be used to wrest more concessions from the regime's interlocutors.

    John Bolton, who has served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and U.S. undersecretary of state in charge of the North Korean nuclear dossier, suggested the North's tactics were working.

    Bolton, a critic of what he considers U.S. leniency with North Korea who remains well-connected with senior Bush administration officials, told The Associated Press that Washington was planning to meet the communist country's key demand "within a week" by removing it from a State Department list of nations that sponsor terrorism.

    ReplyDelete
  123. Then we'll still need liquid vehicle fuels for the next 28 years, at a minimum.
    ==

    dRat, I think people will be dropping their old expensive to maintain gasoline vehicles for EVs much quicker than you anticipate.

    ReplyDelete
  124. Biodiesel (Algae) 370,000
    ---
    That's pure BS:
    The infrastructure and energy to power it gaurantees that that figure will NEVER be acheived.

    ReplyDelete
  125. You misjudge Maverick McCain, too.
    He's their toady, bought and paid for.

    He just does not recieve a direct weekly salary, so the corruption does not count, according to the GOP lexicon.

    ReplyDelete
  126. What is your source on those source miles?

    ReplyDelete
  127. How can you improve on the Rabbit?
    ==

    Call it a Gulf? :)

    ReplyDelete
  128. What is your source on those source miles?
    =

    evworld

    ReplyDelete
  129. It is not even demand that will be the limiting factor, mat, but supply.

    Electric vehicles will be in short supply, there just will not be enough capacity to be able to build enough of them, just like Wii's. Or Mini-Morgans.

    It is a question of scale, again, mat. 250 million just to replace the existing fleet.

    Do the math. It is simple enough.
    The US does not produce 20 million vehicles per annum, now. So even if that number were produced, 20 million per annum, it'll take 12 years from the time that production goal is reached.

    Which is going to be more than 5 or 8 years.

    In the mean time, sweet sorghum ethanol, mixed with American oil products can move the existing fleet, just fine and dandy.

    ReplyDelete
  130. "If you know a way to get me back on there with all my original expeditionary medals that would be awesome."
    ---
    Get your partner to join you in voting for Palin/McCain instead of Barr!

    ReplyDelete
  131. I do not believe Mrs bobal would stoop so low as voter fraud.

    You're right there, she won't be voting twice.

    She's an honest girl.

    And sober too.

    I don't know that you will believe this, but it is true, from the moment we got married until now, she's never had a drink of anything alcoholic.

    And she's fun to be around.

    ReplyDelete
  132. (don't have to be emotion-based like 'Rat wants you to be!)

    ReplyDelete
  133. I MEANT THE BUNNY WABBIT, MAT!
    WAKE UP!
    (the Bunny never sleeps)

    ReplyDelete
  134. The US does not produce 20 million vehicles per annum,
    ==

    That is why Warren Buffett is investing in Chinese EV manufacturers and not GM or Ford.

    ReplyDelete
  135. I MEANT THE BUNNY WABBIT, MAT!
    WAKE UP!
    =

    And what did I say?

    Gulf: (figurative) a large difference or division between two people or groups, or between viewpoints, concepts, or situations : a wide gulf between theory and practice.

    ReplyDelete
  136. The Chinese vehicles won't be allowed in, mat.

    The Democrats and the Greens will see to that.

    ReplyDelete
  137. Not emotion at all, doug, but cold hard calculation.

    Vote for McCain, in HI, and vote to validate his policy positions, while knowing he will not win.

    There is not even any honor in that lost cause, to be falling on your sword for positions you disavow.

    ReplyDelete
  138. Perhaps. At any rate, I don't see GM or Ford as being useful or necessary. I'd rather these two die the death they deserve and that something new replaces them.

    ReplyDelete
  139. GM and Ford will not die. Their shareholders will be wrecked. There is no likely way that the present owners of Ford and GM equities will be saved.

    ReplyDelete
  140. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  141. But whatever emerges, going forward, will be shed of their former legacy costs.

    ReplyDelete
  142. McCain can win if he can explain to the American public that the Democrats and political correctness put dogma in the front of good banking practices and GOP efforts to reign in Freddie and Fannie were thwarted by the Black Congressional Caucus and their democratic enablers.

    ReplyDelete
  143. For the FIRST TIME, today McCain Named Names wrt Fannie/Freddie!
    ...forced by the crowds that come to see Palin!

    ReplyDelete
  144. But how can he explain that, when he and his main economic advisor were the folks that made the back office derivative trading out of bounds for Federal regulators?

    If it was only the bad loans, then the $300 Billion would cover it, but the crisis is much deeper. The crisis stems from the $300 Billion being leveraged to $5 Trillion, that occurring due his man Gramm's 2000 Budget Amendment.

    So, as you say, if McCain can sell a lie, or at least a half-truth, he may pull it out. He won't be able to, corporate America will not let him.

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  145. Obama has extended entitlement from home ownership to college education, healthcare and promises income redistribution to 95% of all Americans regardless of income. That is stone cold socialism and it has failed everywhere where it has been implemented.

    Banging the drums for Obama, calling it a song against McCain is nothing more than a waltz to disaster. I am not buying it and neither is anyone else on this blog, save an army of one.

    ReplyDelete
  146. In Dozens of Calls, Palins and Aides Pressed for Trooper’s Removal
    ---
    Alaska’s former public safety commissioner was contacted three dozen times by Gov. Sarah Palin, her husband and seven administration officials about firing one of his troopers, interviews and documents show.
    ---
    Next, the MSM will put equal energy into Obama's ACORN, Ayers, Fannie, and Wright connections.

    My ASS!

    ReplyDelete
  147. More proof that it is a manufactured political crisis of confidence

    IBM sells $3.9B worth of corporate bonds after reporting better-than-expected quarterly profit
    10-09-2008 4:13 PM
    By MADLEN READ, AP Business Writer

    NEW YORK (Associated Press) -- IBM Corp. sold $3.9 billion in bonds on Thursday, a sign that the stalwarts of the corporate world are still finding lenders.

    "The markets were open to us at this time, so we decided to enter," said IBM spokesman Doug Shelton.

    ReplyDelete
  148. In 'Rat's World, ANY GOP Sin makes it all equal, Deuce.
    Therefore Craig's Perversions made the GOP as bad as the Dems.
    ...yet Barney and his Corruption and Perversions BOTH are still in office, thanks to the MSM and folks that don't fight the bias, like your army of one.

    ReplyDelete
  149. The LATime reports that cash is still king, when it comes to politics in the United States

    Barack Obama's campaign goes prime time
    Barack Obama's campaign has purchased a half-hour of prime airtime on CBS, Obama spokesman Jen Psaki confirms. The campaign plans to air a special on CBS at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 29 -- less than one week before election day.

    Psaki would not confirm whether the campaign plans to buy slots on other networks. According to an article in the Hollywood Reporter, the trade industry publication that broke the news, the campaign is in talks to also buy time on NBC and Fox.

    ReplyDelete
  150. $300 Billion is a tiny fraction of the total loss of "value" in Real Estate.
    5 Million homes sold to ILLEGALS alone!

    ReplyDelete
  151. The Christian Science Monitor

    Poll numbers

    New poll numbers from Tuesday’s debate are in – courtesy of Gallup and USA Today.

    Most people polled fell asleep didn’t change their feelings about either candidate. Some 54 percent said Obama’s performance didn’t change their opinion of him, while 53 percent said they felt the same way about McCain following the debate.

    But that’s where the common ground stops. Of those polled, 34 percent had more favorable opinions of the Democratic nominee following the event, while 33 percent had more unfavorable opinions of McCain.

    Not surprisingly, those polled thought Obama “won” the debate, with 56 percent thinking Obama did a better job, compared with only 23 percent preferring McCain’s performance.

    Underdog is here

    News of this poll didn’t seem to deflate the Republican nominee. In fact, it might have just fired him up.

    Speaking in Wisconsin today, McCain dismissed those who have declared him legally dead in the past. And you’ve got to give McCain some credit here. That list is plenty long.

    “Do you know how many times the political pundits in the last two years have written off my campaign?” McCain asked the crowd. “We’ll win the state of Wisconsin and we’ll win this election and you can count on it because we will go to the American people and take our message to them.”


    Just cannot buy the air time on the networks to get it done, hung on his own Campaign Finance petard

    ReplyDelete
  152. The spokesman for the Alaska Independence Party. He says that she is one of them, just has a Republican label glued to her.

    These fellows are just as bad as Mr Wright, calling on GOD to damn the United States

    Meanwhile Mrs Palin asks for God's Blessing to be upon them.

    Interesting comparison, judging which politicians supporters calling for God's damnation of the US are more serious and which candidate really endores those demands for damnation.

    ReplyDelete
  153. Who let the illegals in, doug, who did not support building a fence, first!

    Your guy, John McCain. He's led the Open Border effort, for years and years.

    ReplyDelete
  154. Craig decided not to run for re-election, doug.
    Barney Frank had no such fears of electoral rejection.

    That says more about Idaho and Boston, then it does about either of the faggots.

    ReplyDelete
  155. Five million homes?

    To 12 or 20 million illegals?

    Most of the ones I've seen, they live in apartment buildings, not detached homes.

    But, maybe.
    Where that 5 million number come from?

    ReplyDelete
  156. Do not worry, doug, McCain will refinance those mortgages held by the illegals, with tax or borrowed monies. it'll work out.

    ReplyDelete
  157. Do not worry, doug, McCain will refinance those mortgages held by the illegals, with tax or borrowed monies. it'll work out.
    ==

    Why not buy the homes and sell them to people that can actually afford to buy them?

    ReplyDelete
  158. Doug: Next, the MSM will put equal energy into Obama's ACORN, Ayers, Fannie, and Wright connections.

    If you didn't care what happened to me,
    And I didn't care for you
    We would zig zag our way
    through the boredom and pain
    Occasionally glancing up through the rain
    Wondering which of the buggers to blame
    And watching for pigs on the wing. (Pink Floyd)

    ReplyDelete
  159. 2164th: That is stone cold socialism and it has failed everywhere where it has been implemented.

    And apparently there aren't enough Republicans who believe that, or Obama wouldn't be so close to winning. So let us have four years of Obama, and let socialism fail again. We seem to need catharsis (Clinton, Carter) every now and them before getting back on track.

    ReplyDelete
  160. More than Craig, doug, it was Foley, from Florida, that convinced me. The GOP covered for him until the fat was out of the frying pan and into the fire, to protect that seat.

    They had no compassion, nor protection, for the Pages involved, none at all. But left Foley alone, covered up for him, as he was a solid vote for their the Family Values program.

    ReplyDelete
  161. Ms T said to linear:

    If you know a way to get me back on there with all my original expeditionary medals that would be awesome.

    I don't even know how I got on there, T. :-)

    Ya got my vote, however/whenever it might come up.

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