Obama's grandpa

Barack's 85 year old granny fell very sick yesterday.

Barack is going to suspend his campaign to fly by to Hawaii to be with her.

She and Barack's white grandpa raised him.

Barack's story is possibly the greatest American story ever told up to the present day.

He even beats John Kennedy.

It is truly miraculous.

And he even looks like his white grandpa in a very unique way.

(Hint: The ears.)

OUR HERO

Obama campaign grassroots hero of the day

Just worked tirelessly for 4 days in Western Carolina (Heath Shuler country)

Three cheers

hip hip hooray

Obama has been SURGING in the polls for weeks now.

People are simply fed up with rising gas prices, food prices, unemployment, national debt, bailouts for huge corporations, the Patriot Act, spying on Americans, Karl Rove and everything he represents, and the general evil and shenanigans of the twenty-first century Republican party.

It is time for a change.

We are the ones we've been waiting for!

OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA

He said it

Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan 1987-2007

Colin Powell is a true American hero and statesman. In explaining his pick for Obama, Powell said that McCain is using tactics such as implying Obama is a Muslim.

Powell replies, "Obama is not a Muslim; he is a Christian and has been so for many years. But so what if he were [a Muslim]?"

Powell goes on to talk about the above photograph of one Corporal Khan's mother at his Arlington gravesite, and how Powell was moved by the sacrifice shown by this young Muslim American army corporal.

The ultimate sacrifice: His life.

Corporal Kareem Khan was 14 years old on 9-11. He told his family he wanted to fight in the U.S. Army against the terrorists. He was killed in battle, but not before earning the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

Colin Powell has reminded us all of what it means to be an American.

I hope Obama will appoint Powell to a high position of power.

Economy troubled?

First off, Colin Powell endorsed Obama today. First, Powell criticized McCain's choice of Sarah Palin, saying that the qualifications for the job of vice President is basically the same as President, and Palin is not ready. Second, Powell said America does not need ANY MORE conservative Supreme Court justices (which intrigues me as a student of the judiciary... I wonder which issues Powell is referring to??). Thirdly, Powell described a President Obama as "electrifying for the world." Fourthly, Powell said it was not about race.

(To read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27265369/ )
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The economy... what gives?
Are we screwed?

A poster at Paul Krugman's blog pointed out that from its peak in 1929, right before the fall which started the Great Depression, the stock market did not recover in real world dollars back to its 1929 peak... until... until... any guesses?.... 1954.

25 years later.

So, let me get this straight. The market peaked at 14,000 in 2007, coinciding almost precisely with my entrance into the white collar world... and if history repeats, this "market correction" might not actually correct itself until the year 2032???

President Bush said yesterday, "In the long run, the American people can have confidence that our economy will bounce back."

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/18/we-are-all-dead/

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In the paranoid conspiracy theorist segment of my blog, let me just tell you my latest theory: Big business was 100% behind the so-called "war on terror".

Why do I say this?

One reason: A NYT article points out that one-third of the FBI was PULLED OFF of "white collar crime" detail, to be transferred to the 'war on terror'. Now, these multi-millionaire criminal CEOs are totally OFF THE HOOK.

So for the last few years, these robber baron CEOs have been raiding the till and there's just not enough FBI men to investigate. Even when the FBI KNOWS that crime is taking place.

Apparently, all the FBI men are too busy listening to FISA phone taps.

I just hope those phone taps are for real criminals, and not to find out exactly who is supporting the Republicans or not.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/washington/19fbi.html?_r=2&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

GREED is not irrelevant

This from RCP website:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/09/bailout_blues.html


"As one of my more knowing correspondents put it: "Wall Street loves money but hates free markets, because free markets distribute economic benefits to those who earn them, rather than to those best able to seize them."

The capitalist investment bankers stand accused, rightly, of having invented brilliant kiting schemes -- ultimately to deliver credit to customers who hadn't earned it. Their "greed" is irrelevant -- everyone is trying to make money. The point is that the schemes themselves were basically unsound. The lesson is that when home ownership is considered a "right" instead of a privilege, it is not only the housing market that goes bottom up."

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That first paragraph is SPOT ON.... and then the bastard basically says, "Well, we can't blame the bankers, boys will be boys, its not their fault that they have absolutely no scruples, morals or any inkling of risk restraint."

THEIR 'GREED' IS NOT, IS ABSOLUTELY NOT IRRELEVANT. THEIR GREED IS THE DEFINING FEATURE OF ALL MODERN, MATURE CAPITALIST STATES, AND THEIR GREED IS EVIL.

We must be EVER VIGILANT against that greed. And not blame the poor minorities for the fact that the GREED is running the show and won't even allow any modest and reasonable oversight or regulations.

Tuppence in the bank (DOW dropped 300 points today blues)

Sometimes I have moments of genius... watch this youtube.

Tuppence, prudently, thriftly invested in the Dawes, Tomes, Mousely Grubbs Fidelity Fiduciary Bank...

Bankruptcies! Debtor sales!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt9JpYRulSk

Compare this to the current situation. Wall Street and men getting 9 million dollar "golden parachutes" are asking for $700 billion dollars from the American taxpayer to bail them out.

These investment firms (such as AIG) purposefully and cold-bloodedly and "with malice aforethought" made incredibly RISKY and FOOLHARDY investments, thinking that the housing market would continue to go up at an accelerated rate forever (which anyone knows just simply does NOT happen... everyone knows the market goes in CYCLES)... and as a direct result (I"m not even mentioning the snake-oil ARM loans pushed on poor urban and elderly people... I'm not even mentioning these... its scary to think how much those are a part of it) the banks now have what Paul Krugman called "toxic paper", i.e. the worthless subprime loans.

Krugman belives that the huge banking lobby is basically trying to RAM the 700 billion through Congress, and basically force the American taxpayer to BUY THE TOXIC PAPER for its face value.

Profits are privatized; losses are made public and force-fed down the unwilling and powerless gullets of the American people.

Wow.

America.

Again, America has jumped the shark in 2008.

The creepy, unprecedented, bizarre media shut-down continues

...an aide told the journalists on board that all Palin flights would be off the record unless the media were told otherwise. At least one reporter objected. Two people on the flight said the Palins greeted the media and they chatted about who had been to Alaska, but little else was said.

If you want to know what it's like to live in Putin's Russia, the Republican party is giving you a good taste. This is the most appalling dereliction of duty by the press that I have ever seen in my adult life. If they had any integrity, they would stop covering her at all under these conditions. We're now well into the second week in which someone who could be president of the United States next January has not been available to the press.