Houston 29 Miami 28

Miami could have stole this one but decided that a loss would be the perfect way to end a day in Houston. The Dolphins rushing attack was decent, and Pennington performed quite well, but it still was not enough to take out the Texans. Some fans wanted Sage Rosenfels to be the starter after last week's performance but Matt Schaub proved why he is QB1, leading the team down the field for the game winning touchdown (which he ran in). The Texans defense held and got the W. So, now Miami joins the ranks of the enigmas, playing great one week and losing a head-scratcher the next.

Tampa Bay 27 Carolina 3

Talk about laying a gigantic egg, Carolina. Way to not show up at all. A total of 40 yards rushing is all the Panthers could garner the whole game. The passing retreat (attack would be an injustice) led by Jake Delhomme was garbage, due to 3 INT. The Bucs need to choose a starting quarterback. This week it was Jeff Garcia who played the whole game and not Brian Griese. Pick one! It looked as though Carolina would become an NFC power but noooope! Once again, we're left with questions. No team is that great in the NFL. Should be interesting as time goes on.

Indianapolis 31 Baltimore 3

Kudos to me for picking two teams that only managed 3 points in their games. I am truly honored to have such a despicable record grace the pages of this blog. First off, it is about time the Colts won a game at home. Took way too long. Both teams rushing dropped a deuce and stunk it up. Peyton Manning looked like he should have the first 5 weeks. Joe Flacco looked like he should have the first 5 weeks, a rookie. Flacco got intercepted-o three times and did not throw any touchdowns (obviously as the score of 3 tells you). The Ravens need to pick one RB and not use Ray Rice, Willis McGahee, AND Le'Ron McClain. McGahee should be the starter and finisher. You don't pay him the big bucks to ride pine and let rookies play instead of him.

St. Louis 19 Washington 17

This is probably the happiest I have been after getting a pick wrong. I told everyone the Redskins were average and this proved it. They can beat Dallas and Philly all they want, but if you cannot defeat a WINLESS team, there is a huge problem. Everybody can now jump off the 'Skins bandwagon. Sure, they put up good stats but they didn't get the most important thing - the win. You can tell me all day Clinton Portis had 129 yds rushing and 2 TD! That's fine for me for my fantasy team with Portis on it but it did not help your team at all win now did it? HA. Calm your nerves now Washington fans. Welcome back to Earth.

Jacksonville 24 Denver 17

Fairly even game here so not really any people I can go off on, unfortunately. I really thought Denver could be a great team, but now they are really sucking it. No spectacular stats here, just a hard fought Jaguars victory. Although, the Broncos need to get better on rush defense and not allow Jones-Drew 125 yards and 2 TD (but it helps my fantasy team! If you are keeping tabs I have Portis and Jones-Drew). Denver needs some consistency in their life and not flip-floppyness like John Kerry.

Need a laugh in the meantime?

The SNL Clinton/Palin clip can be found here. It is hilarious! So well done!

Check it out.

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=305938528597493

"Hardest-hit by the mortgage foreclosures have been the citizens that Democrats always claim to help most — inner-city residents who fell victim to low or no down payment schemes, unexpected adjustable rates, deceptive loan applications and commission-hungry salespeople.  Now we're having to bail out at huge cost Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the very agencies that were supposed to stabilize the system. In time, this should improve the situation. But the party of Carter and Clinton that midwifed our mortgage mess now wants to be trusted to take over and have the government run our entire system of health care!"

I watched this character when the plumber asked him what he would have left after his tax increases and Obama said he did not want to punish him for his success, just make sure everyone behind him had a chance for success and that would be good for his business. Don't these A-holes understand that if he has to pay more he will have to charge more and it becomes a zero sum gain with the government just taking more and more control? That is the goal of socialist leaning Barrack Hussein Obama and the Demorat Party.

"SPREADING THE VIRUS
HOW ACORN & ITS DEM ALLIES BUILT THE MORTGAGE DISASTER"

"By STANLEY KURTZ"
"TO discover the roots of to day's economic crisis, consider a tale from 1995.

That March, House Speaker Newt Gingrich was scheduled to address a meeting of county commissioners at the Washington Hilton. But, first, some 500 protesters from the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) poured into the ballroom from both the kitchen and the main entrance.

Hotel staffers who tried to block them were quickly overwhelmed by demonstrators chanting, "Nuke Newt!" and "We want Newt!" Jamming the aisles, carrying bullhorns and taunting the assembled county commissioners, demonstrators swiftly took over the head table and commandeered the microphone, sending two members of Congress scurrying."

"Yet ACORN had only just begun. Two days later, 50 to 100 of the same protesters hit their main target - a House Banking subcommittee considering changes to the Community Reinvestment Act, a law that allows groups like ACORN to force banks into making high-risk loans to low-credit customers.

The CRA's ostensible purpose is to prevent banks from discriminating against minorities. But Rep. Marge Roukema (R-NJ), who chaired the subcommittee, was worried that charges of discrimination had become an excuse for lowering credit standards. She warned that new, Democrat-proposed CRA regulations could amount to an illegal quota system.

FOR years, ACORN had combined manipulation of the CRA with intimidation-protest tactics to force banks to lower credit standards. Its crusade, with help from Democrats in Congress, to push these high-risk "subprime" loans on banks is at the root of today's economic meltdown."

"So ACORN's Democratic friends in Congress moved to force Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to dispense with normal credit standards. Throughout the early '90s, they imposed ever-increasing subprime-lending quotas on Fannie and Freddie."

"Requests to the Capital Police to release the activists from Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-Mass,) failed. Then Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) showed up at the jail and refused to leave until the protesters were released; the Capital Police relented."

"Instead, Democrats like Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Reps. Kennedy and Waters allied with the Clinton administration to broaden the acceptability of risky subprime loans throughout the financial system, thus precipitating our current crisis.

ACORN had come to Congress not only to protect the CRA from GOP reforms but also to expand the reach of quota-based lending to Fannie, Freddie and beyond. By steamrolling the GOP that March, it had crushed the last potential barrier to "change.""

"HOW does Barack Obama fit into all of this? Obama has been a key ally of Chicago ACORN going back to his days as a community organizer.

Later, as a young lawyer, he offered leadership training to the activists who were forcing Chicago banks into high-risk subprime loans. And when he made it on to the boards of Chicago's Woods Fund and the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, he channeled money ACORN's way.

Obama was perfectly aware of ACORN's intimidation tactics - indeed, he oversaw a Woods Fund report that boasted of managing to fund the radical group despite its shocking behavior.

And as a lawmaker, in Illinois and in Washington, he has continued to back ACORN's leglislative agenda."

"ACORN's alliance with the Democratic Party is at the root of the current financial meltdown. And Barack Obama has stayed true to ACORN's ways."

Read the rest of this great article here and by all means tell everyone you know:

 http://www.nypost.com/seven/10132008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/spreading_the_virus_133375.htm

Disgusted with Obama and Acorn?

http://obamaimpeachment.org

What has roiled the markets for nearly the last year (and especially the last few weeks) is the loss of credit trading between companies.  This credit has been termed as "the lifeblood of capitalism" which allows companies to operate at maximum efficiency throughout their product cycle.  But how did that happen?

Let's start from now and work our way back.  I'm sure you all know the song, up until the last verse or two, so sing along with me as long as you can.  The credit crisis was caused by the unraveling of the mortgage market.  Too many people (the sub prime market) were loaned money that should never have been.  Many of the mortgage brokers that preyed on hopeful homebuyers predicated the "safety" of said loan based on an assumption of rising home values and rising income.  But we all know that not every market goes up in perpetuity.  (DON'T WE?)  Ok, so these mortgage broker scumbags made their dime off of these poor unsuspsecting purchasers but something within the system ALLOWED them to do this.  They stuck to the system that was put into place by none other than Fannie and Freddie!

"Wait!" you say.  "You mean the quasi-governmental agencies that were put in to place by Congress to help facilitate liquidity in the mortgage market?" Yes, those guys.  "But, but, shouldn't they have known better?"  Yes, actually, they should have and probably did.  But these publicly-traded, government-created spawns of a bizarre Frankenstinian/Keynsian laboratory aren't without ties back to their creator.  And in 1999, our democratic President Bill Clinton put enough pressure on Fannie and Freddie that they bent (hell, they flat out broke) the rules as to who can qualify for a mortgage that can be underwritten by entities that sell mortgages to them.

Bill continues to leave his legacy for us.  We once had jokes about "Bubba" and blue dresses by which to remember his presidency, but his biggest contribution to our society may just be one that doesn't get the credit that it deserves (no pun intended).  Bill, if someone can't afford a house, don't dangle one in front of them with promises of their American Dream coming true.  It's not fair to them (especially those in foreclosure) and, obviously, to the rest of us who may end up paying the real price of government interference.

For more on this, reference the September 1999 article in the New York Times here.

So what's your opinon?  Who's really to blame for the "global meltdown"?

Senza rete. Sempre più difficile. McCain rilancia la sua storia. Nytimes e Washington Post possono permettersi anche di tornare sugli aneddoti del soldato John, più o meno da salvare, ma certamente da raccontare.

Senza rete. Ecco il carrozzone delle meraviglie. E come ogni compagnia di giro è itinerante per definizione, gira anche la campagna elettorale.

Girano i politici e girano i cronisti. Da qualche settimana le testate più importanti hannno concentrato l'attenzione sui singoli Stati. Quando spesso si racconta la campagna elettorale americana, si pensa solo al circo massimo di convention e dei grandi eventi mediatici. Ma se i candidati avessero il tassametro, il conto alla fine sarebbe davvero salato. Forse colleghi e commentatori nostrani dovrebbero ricordarsi di questa lunga strada verso la Casa Bianca, prima di bollare le campagne elettorali "all'Americana". Ma è meglio tornare sul sentiero.
Si diceva, cronache dalle province.

Si passa così dalla camaleontica Louisiana, pronta a cambiare colore e virare dal rosso al blu (pro Obama), alla Virginia, dove i repubblicani aumentano il livello dello scontro e associano Barack a Bin Laden. In Pennsilvanya, invece, tornano in scena i Clinton. Accanto a Joe Biden ecco di nuovo su un podio l'ex presidente del rilancio economico e first husband della candidata che fino all'ultimo ha conteso a Obama la candidatura democratica.

Alessandro Cappai per CO Obama

This is a pretty awesome speech.

(Towleroad)

(AP) WASHINGTON - Republican John McCain vowed today to "whip" Democratic rival Barack Obama's "you-know-what" when the two presidential candidates meet Wednesday in their final televised debate. McCain made that pledge as top advisers said he is weighing new economic proposals to help the nation weather the financial crisis.

The Arizona senator refused to answer a reporter's question today about what plans he might be considering. Addressing several dozen volunteers at his campaign headquarters outside Washington, McCain promised some of his signature "straight talk" about the state of the race. National and many battleground state polls have shown him trailing Obama amid the deepening market crisis.

"We're a couple points down, OK, nationally, but we're right in this game," McCain said to cheers. "The economy has hurt us a little bit in the last week or two, but in the last few days we've seen it come back up because they want experience, they want knowledge and they want vision. We'll give that to America." McCain said he and running mate Sarah Palin would continue campaigning hard in the three weeks left before Election Day, in places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado.

The two planned a joint appearance Monday in Virginia, a Republican stronghold turned battleground this time. "We're going to spend a lot of time and after I whip his you-know-what in this debate, we're going to be going out 24/7," McCain said. The two men will debate Wednesday at Hofstra University on Long Island, N.Y. CBS News anchor Bob Schieffer will moderate the 90-minute forum.

Still, McCain promised to run a "respectful" campaign in the weeks to come. "I respect Sen. Obama, we will conduct a respectful race and be sure everyone else does too. But there are stark difference between us," McCain said. Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said McCain was considering policy proposals that would cut taxes on investments.

"I think it goes along the lines of now's the time to lower tax rates for investors, capital gains tax, dividend tax rates, to make sure that we can get the economy jump-started," Graham said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "It will be a very comprehensive approach to jump-start the economy by allowing capital to be formed easier in America by lowering taxes." McCain already has laid out proposals to address the crisis, including a $300 billion plan for the federal government to buy distressed mortgages and renegotiate them at a reduced price.

The Arizona senator has said his plan is necessary to get thousands of bad mortgages off the books in order to stabilize home values and open up credit. But critics said the plan would do little more than reward financial institutions that made the bad loans to in the first place.

On Friday, McCain called for legislation that suspends for one year the requirement that investors age 70 1/2 begin to liquidate their retirement accounts. The Arizona senator said it would be unfair to force seniors to sell their stocks when stock prices have tumbled so severely. Obama aides said the Illinois senator favors a similar effort.

Obama also has offered plans to address the fiscal crisis but nothing as sweeping or controversial as McCain's mortgage proposal. On Friday, the Illinois senator announced a $900 million plan to temporarily extend an expiring tax break that lets small businesses write off investments up to $250,000 immediately, rather than over the course of several years.

Aides said Obama also wants to extend the Small Business Administration's disaster loan program to help small businesses that cannot access other sources of capital, as well as eliminate fees on SBA loan guarantees and increase the size of loans that could be covered. They put the cost at $5 billion. Both candidates voted for the $700 billion bailout proposal Congress passed and President Bush signed into law earlier this month.

- Sen. Hillary Clinton
October 12, 2008

Senator Hillary Clinton once again has turned up the heat. In a speech in Scranton, PA, she made this declaration that will certainly be the soundbite of the week.

The truth is in the message - raw, uncensored and clear. We have seen the faults of war, economic strife and increasing domestic problems. The errors of the Bushes plagued us in the early '90s and plague us again today.

Just as in 1992, it will take the election of a Democrat to clean up this mess and once again exercise the fiscal responsibility, clearheaded decisions and sound judgment to put us on the renewed track of global respect, economic soundness, domestic strength and a belief that freedom and democracy are tools for good, not weapons of evil.

When the primaries were over, Obama was declared the presumptive nominee and Clinton had ended her long and arduous fight to the top, I must admit that I initially had some buyers remorse. There was never a point in the primaries that I doubted my desire for Obama to be president, he was clearly a strong candidate with the ability to unite a large segment of individuals. The policy differences between himself and Clinton were minor, mainly circling around their differences on health care reform, but the citizens of this great nation found it hard to choose and narrowly provided Obama with the victory he needed to enter the general election.

When the days of the main campaign began and websites like electoral-vote.com and fivethirtyeight.com started compiling polls, it began apparent that Obama was narrowly ahead and could very well become subject to The Bradley Effect. It was at this time that my buyers remorse set in and I began to regret voting for him, and began strongly wishing I had supported Clinton. I don't think that this feeling was driven by some hidden racist tendency or a strong desire within myself to select anyone with a D next to their name regardless of their integrity, I think it was driven by a stronger desire for change. The last eight years of Dubya have been disastrous for this country as a whole and I doubt there are less than 70% of Americans that would agree we need to take a different course to return us to where we belong.

Hillary Clinton would have provided the same necessary change as Barack Obama and would have inevitably reshaped the election that we are seeing today. John McCain would have never selected Sarah Palin as Vice President but I imagine he would have picked an African American Vice Presidential nominee to try and reach out to the disaffected Obama supporters. Clinton managed to poll higher against McCain in the post-primary and very nearly post-primary match-ups and his strategy would have had to have been dramatically different to defeat her.

Thankfully we are not in the same position we were at that time, the economy has slipped into a recession and we have had to pass a bailout bill just to keep things afloat (or not, depending on your opinion of the situation). Obama is seen as strong on the economy and has a slew of proposals that would appear to be capable of dragging us back onto our feet and putting the ship that is America on calmer seas. Therefore his lead has increased exponentially, and coupled with the myriad of gaffes committed by the McCain campaign he has seen any hindrances created by the color of his skin entirely erased.

There are still political pollsters and commentators that say The Bradley Effect could still be a very evident problem in this election, that those polled who proclaim support for this man of non-white origin could very well vote entirely differently inside the voting booth. I feel that they forget one very important line that seems to be even more important now than when it was written, "It's the economy, stupid."

We can have long drawn out conversations about latent racist tendencies within rural America and even more direct representations of racism. We can talk about how long time straight ticket Democrats will vote McCain, or not at all, because that darn Obama is a colored! We can converse about the fact that a majority of Americans have a negative opinion of "the blacks" and would never select one to lead them. The unfortunate fact is that were it not for the economic situation at hand this would be true.

Civil rights did a lot to improve the situation for African Americans but hasn't done enough. There are still discrepancies in pay for equally qualified individuals and a tendency to hire individuals with white sounding names as opposed to African American sounding names, and this has been proved through multiple independent studies. We require things like affirmative action, and additional legal reforms, to bridge the gap of opportunity in this nation. The unfortunate thing is that even if we did that (and we appear to be working towards it) racist thought wouldn't disappear. The people that feel uncomfortable when an African American passes them in the street or scowl when a black couple move into their neighborhood are the same ones that felt a tad uncomfortable with an African American nominee. I'm sure that there were many occasions where they had begun to lean towards McCain or at least considered not voting at all.

Fortunately for Obama, the economic condition degraded and these same people had to revisit their decisions. They had a very hard choice to make, whether to see the economy improve, see their jobs return and their gas prices fall at the risk of seeing a black guy in the oval office, or continue the same policies of the last eight years at the expense of being pretty comfortable with the white guy they selected. It was easy to pretend Obama was an incapable leader before things got bad and to come up with a myriad of excuses for why they were breaking years of Democratic tradition to vote for McCain, but they were slapped in the face by reality and had to return to the party they loved.

So while the pundits proclaim the possibility of a Bradley Effect, I claim it to be dead. New economic and political realities have eradicated it's existence from this political landscape and Obama will finally be given equal footing against McCain. The only problem facing him now is his re-election in 2012. Will he serve as an effective leader who can decisively reform our economy and health care systems? Will history remember him as a great leader who can be likened to Jack Kennedy? Will he be re-elected with a landslide by an electorate that wants to see a continuation of the positive reforms he will bring? Only time will tell, but Obama has the opportunity with a successful administration to permanently reshape American opinion on race. It's unfortunate that such a heavy burden be placed on his shoulders, but I hope sincerely that he succeeds in doing so.

There will always be direct racism in America, people that have no problem using the "n" word or people that remember fondly the days before near equality was reached, but for those average Americans who don't embody a complete racist mindframe, just a minor discomfort, I think Obama can make a tremendous difference. May his administration reshape opinions on racism, create a glimmer of hope for impoverished African American youth to pursue careers in politics and bring us closer to reforms that can create equality in the workplace not only for African Americans, but also for latinos and women alike. As they say at the Obama rallies, "Yes we can!"

1. கலைஞருக்கு போட்ட மாதிரி புஷ் குடும்பத்திற்கும் க்ளின்டன்களுக்கும் family chart போட முடியுமா? (இருவரையும் கோர்த்து விட்டுடாதீங்க :)

கலைஞருக்கே நிறைய ஆட்டோ வந்தது. கிளிண்டனுக்கு dotted line relationship போடணும். புஷ் கதை என்னதோ. இரண்டு பேரும் சேந்து வீட்டுக்கு ஆளுக்கு ரெண்டு ஹம்மர் அனுப்பவா.

வேண்டாம் சாமீ. நான் நல்லா இருக்கறது உங்களுக்கு பிடிக்கலையா. ஆனா Sr. Obama சுவாரசியமான ஆளா இருப்பார் போல.

Political Punch :: Barack Obama's Branch-y Family Tree

2. ஒபாமாவும் மெகயினும் (ஹில்லரியும்தான்) சேர்ந்து ஏறக்குறைய முக்கால் பில்லியன் டாலர்களை இதுவரை தேர்தல் களத்தில் செலவழித்துள்ளார்கள். இது செஞ்சிலுவை சென்ற வருடம் மீட்புநடவடிக்கைகளில் செலவழித்ததை விட பன்மடங்கு அதிகம்.அமெரிக்காவை கடன் கடலில் இருந்து மீட்பிக்க எவர், எது தேவை?

ஒரு வேட்பாளர் மொத்தமாக எல்லா பணத்தையும் செஞ்சிலுவை சங்கத்துக்கு கொடுத்துவிட்டால் மக்கள் எல்லோரும் புளகாங்கிதப்பட்டு ஓட்டுப்போட்டுவிடுவார்களா?

மாட்டார்கள்.

பொதுமக்களுக்கு தேவை வேடிக்கை. அதைக்காட்ட பணத்தை வாரி இறைத்தே ஆகவேண்டும். இது அரசியல் கட்டாயம். எந்த நாடாக இருந்தாலும் இது மாற வாய்ப்பேயில்லை. அமரிக்காவை கடன் கடலிலிருந்து மீட்க அடிப்படை மாற்றம் தேவை. தனியொரு ஜனாதிபதியோ மத்திய வங்கியோ இதை சாத்தியப்படுத்தவிடமுடியாது

பொருளாதாரத்தின் மிக அடிப்படையான,

• மக்களின் செலவுகளை கட்டுப்படுத்தவும், சேமிப்பை அதிகமாக்கவுமான பொருதாளார வழிமுறைகளும்
• உற்பத்தியை பெருக்கவும், இன்னும் குறைந்தவிலையில் உள்நாட்டில் தயாரிப்பதற்கான கட்டுப்பாடுகளும் தேவை.

இவையிரண்டு ஒன்றோடு ஒன்று சேர்ந்து கடனை குறைக்க உதவும்.சொல்வதற்கு வேண்டுமானால் சுலபமாக இருக்கலாம் செய்ய வேண்டியது மிக மிக அதிகம்.

1. போரினால் ஏற்பட்ட இழ்ப்புகள்
2. திரும்பி வரும் படை வீரர்களுக்கான சேவைகள்
3. மருத்துவ காப்பீட்டு திட்டங்கள்
4. முதியோர் காப்பீட்டு திட்டங்கள்
5. ஒய்வு கால மற்றும் சேம நிதிகளின் ஓட்டைகள்

என்று செலவுகளுக்கான பட்டியல் மிக நீளமாக இருக்கிறது.

எனக்கு தோன்றும் ஒரே பதில் அடுத்த பத்தாண்டுகளுக்கு அமரிக்கா வாலைச்சுருட்டிக்கொண்டு தன் வேலையை மட்டுமே பார்த்துக்கொண்டிருந்தால் மட்டுமே தேறும். இல்லையென்றால் ஆண்டவனே வந்தாலும்...

3. சாரா பேலினை தமிழில் மொழிபெயர்க்க உங்களைத் தேர்ந்தெடுக்கிறார்கள். அவரின் கேட்டி கௌரிக் பேட்டியையோ சார்லி கிப்ஸன் செவ்வியையோ தமிழாக்கிக் கொடுக்கவும்.

- சத்யா

SCRANTON, Pa. — The Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., sharing a stage with Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton for the first time this year, said the campaign of Senator John McCain was stooping to stunts and “ugly inferences” because it was losing and was out of ideas.

Rousing a crowd estimated by the police at 6,000 on an otherwise quiet day on the campaign trail, Mr. Biden said Mr. McCain’s campaign had become erratic, a reference to Mr. McCain’s changing positions on the financial crisis and his decision two weeks ago to suspend his campaign briefly to deal with it.

“Presidents have to supply steady leadership,” Mr. Biden told the friendly crowd in this northeastern Pennsylvania city where he spent the first 10 years of his life. He said Mr. McCain had become increasingly desperate and negative because he saw the presidency “slipping from his grasp.”

A spokesman for the Republican National Committee dismissed Mr. Biden’s remarks as “standard stuff” from the Democratic ticket. He declined to comment further.

The Scranton event drew a larger-than-usual crowd for Mr. Biden because of the presence of the Clintons. Mr. Clinton remains popular in this heavily Democratic, blue-collar city, and Mrs. Clinton’s father grew up and is buried here. The Clintons were in Scranton on Sunday to attend the christening of her brother Tony’s newborn son, Simon Joseph Rodham.

“We’ve done it before, and we’ll do it again. America will once again rise from the ashes of the Bushes.” Hillary Clinton

In the Democratic primary in April, Mrs. Clinton trounced Senator Barack Obama 74 to 26 percent in Lackawanna County, which includes Scranton. Mr. Obama has deployed Mr. Biden here and in other white working-class enclaves to try to win those voters who preferred Mrs. Clinton by such huge margins.

Mr. Clinton, in brief remarks at the beginning of the program, spoke as much about his wife as about the Obama-Biden ticket. People close to Mr. Clinton say he remains bitter about suggestions by Mr. Obama’s supporters that he incited racial animosity during the primaries in support of his wife’s candidacy.

Mr. Obama has been sparing in his use of the former president as a campaign surrogate, although Mr. Clinton left Scranton immediately after speaking to campaign for Mr. Obama in Virginia, a state, Mr. Clinton noted, that had not gone Democratic in a presidential contest for 40 years.

Mr. Clinton said Mrs. Clinton had already made 50 appearances on behalf of Mr. Obama. “She has not only done more to support him than any runner-up in the Democratic primary process in my lifetime,” he said, “she has done more than all the other runners-up combined.”

He spoke warmly of Mr. Biden, whom he has known for more than two decades. He said the choice of vice president was more crucial this year than in the past because the next president would be consumed by the global financial emergency.

“I hope you know that the next vice president for the first two years will be relatively more important in the larger world than has ever been the case because the president is going to have to close the door to the Oval Office and get this country out of the ditch,” Mr. Clinton said.

But he did say that in their televised debate 10 days ago Ms. Palin said she was not certain that global warming was caused by human activity.

“How in the hell — heck — are you going to change it,” Mr. Biden said, “unless you know what caused it?”

In her remarks, Mrs. Clinton offered an updated version of an applause line from her own campaign, saying: “It took a Democratic president to clean up after the last President Bush. It’s going to take a Democratic president to clean up after this President Bush.” (In the primaries, it was “It took a Clinton ...”)

She then added a new coda: “We’ve done it before, and we’ll do it again. America will once again rise from the ashes of the Bushes.”

Mr. Biden barely mentioned his Republican vice-presidential rival, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. But he did say that in their televised debate 10 days ago Ms. Palin said she was not certain that global warming was caused by human activity.

“How in the hell — heck — are you going to change it,” Mr. Biden said, “unless you know what caused it?”

The Democratic ticket is leading in Pennsylvania, according to recent polls, although the McCain campaign is devoting a significant effort to trying to narrow the gap.

Source: NYT

Senior members of the Republican party are in open mutiny against John McCain's presidential campaign, after a disastrous period which has seen Barack Obama solidify his lead in the opinion polls.

And as disputes raged within the McCain camp yesterday, Democrats took another symbolic step towards healing the party after their bitter primary battles, as Bill and Hillary Clinton made their first joint appearance in support of Mr Obama.

From inside and outside his inner circle, Mr McCain is being told to settle on a coherent economic message and to tone down attacks on his rival which have sometimes whipped up a mob-like atmosphere at Republican rallies.

Two former rivals for the party nomination, Mitt Romney and Tommy Thompson, went on the record over the weekend about the disarray in the Republican camp. And a string of other senior party figures said Mr McCain's erratic performance risks taking the party down to heavy losses not just in the presidential race but also in contests for Congressional seats. Mr Thompson, a former governor of the swing state of Wisconsin, said he thought Mr McCain, on his present trajectory, would lose the state, and he told a New York Times reporter he was not happy with the campaign. "I don't know who is," he added.

Mr McCain's erratic performance risks taking the party down to heavy losses not just in the presidential race but also in contests for Congressional seats.

Some Republicans seeking election to Congress have begun distancing themselves from Mr McCain. In Nebraska, a Republican representative, Lee Terry, ran a newspaper ad featuring support from a woman who called herself an "Obama-Terry voter".

The McCain camp was reportedly considering launching a new set of economic policies last night, on top of the plan for government purchases of mortgages which he unveiled in a surprise move at last week's presidential debate. Possible options include temporary tax cuts on capital gains and dividends. Mr Romney said he should "stand above the tactical alternatives that are being considered and establish an economic vision that is able to convince the American people that he really knows how to strengthen the economy".

With just over three weeks to go to election day, a new Reuters/Zogby tracking poll showed the Democratic candidate gaining momentum during the past week. From a two-point lead four days ago, the latest reading has Mr Obama up 6 points. A Gallup poll yesterday put him at plus-7 per cent.

The Clintons took to the stage yesterday in Scranton, a down-at-heel Pennsylvania town that has taken on outsize significance in the presidential election. The town, which has become symbolic of the decline of industrial America, was childhood home of Joe Biden, Mr Obama's vice-presidential running mate, and is where Hillary Clinton's father grew up and is buried.

"This is an all hands on deck election," Mrs Clinton declared, adding that only a Democrat could put the interests of struggling working families at the centre of policy. John McCain sees the middle class as "not fundamental, but ornamental," she said.

"This is an all hands on deck election," Mrs Clinton declared, adding that only a Democrat could put the interests of struggling working families at the centre of policy. John McCain sees the middle class as "not fundamental, but ornamental," she said.

Her husband praised Mr Obama as having the best ideas, best instincts and best team for the White House. However, he focused most of his speech on his wife and Mr Biden, and quickly disappeared for a campaign appearance in Virginia, raising eyebrows among those who worry he has still not fully reconciled himself to the Obama candidacy and is still smarting from the bitter reaction against his contributions to the primary race.

McCain campaign staffers lashed out at the media for focusing on a minority of supporters at some rallies in the past week who have gone beyond booing and hissing at Mr Obama's name, and begun calling out "terrorist" and "kill him".

Senior Republicans have sharply conflicting views about the direction the McCain campaign should take, with some arguing that their candidate has not hit Mr Obama hard enough on the shady associates from his past. The issue of the Rev Jeremiah Wright, Mr Obama's former pastor, whose incendiary speeches about white racism almost derailed the Democrat's primary race, should be brought back on to the table by Mr McCain, many are counselling. Mr McCain, however, has ruled that issue off-limits, for fear of being accused of playing a race card.

The Republican candidate appeared keen to cool the temperature at rallies over the weekend, at one point snatching the microphone from a woman in Minnesota who declared Mr Obama was an "Arab". He chided her, and another man who said he was "scared" of an Obama presidency, and told a booing crowd to be respectful. "He is a decent family man, a citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues," said Mr McCain.

McCain campaign staffers lashed out at the media for focusing on a minority of supporters at some rallies in the past week who have gone beyond booing and hissing at Mr Obama's name, and begun calling out "terrorist" and "kill him".

Reining in the party's supporters may be harder. A minister delivering the invocation at a rally on Saturday asked Christians to pray for a McCain win. "There are millions of people around this world praying to their god – whether it's Hindu, Buddha, Allah – that his opponent wins, for a variety of reasons," said Arnold Conrad, the former pastor of Grace Evangelical Free Church in Davenport. Those comments earned a rebuke from a McCain spokesman, and both sides this weekend had to slap down supporters for stirring issues of religion and race.

The Obama campaign disassociated itself from comments by Democratic congressman John Lewis who compared Mr McCain to the late Alabama segregationist George Wallace. "Senator McCain and Governor Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division," he said. "George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights."

Source: Independent London

ARTÍCULO SACADO DE LA GACETA DE LOS NEGOCIOS

Bill y Hillary Clinton participaron, por primera vez juntos, en un acto en favor del candidato demócrata, Barack Obama, en una señal de que la acritud de las primarias ha quedado atrás y en un momento en el que el tono de la campaña presidencial en EEUU se endurece.

El ex presidente y su esposa, la principal rival de Obama en las primarias, presentaron ayer al candidato demócrata a la Vicepresidencia, Joe Biden, en un acto en Scranton (Pensilvania), donde está enterrado el padre de Hillary y de donde es originario el propio Biden.

"Vamos a luchar por el futuro y vamos a ganar", aseguró la ex aspirante a la Presidencia en el mitin, en uno de los Estados que más se disputan Obama y su contrincante republicano, John McCain.

En una admisión de lo disputado del voto en las zonas rurales de este Estado, Clinton agregó: "Barack y Joe no les están pidiendo (a los pobladores de esta región) la mano en matrimonio, les están pidiendo el voto en favor de ellos y de ustedes mismos".

Es la primera vez en que los Clinton han comparecido juntos para hacer campaña en favor de su antiguo rival. La senadora, que ha acudido a varios mítines en favor de Obama, participó junto a su colega en un acto en Unity (New Hampshire) en junio, pero su esposo se había mostrado más renuente.

Ante la cercanía de los comicios, que tendrán lugar el próximo 4 de noviembre, ambos han optado por guardarse cualquier resentimiento que aún pudieran albergar y sumarse sin reservas para lograr la elección de un presidente demócrata.

Tras su intervención en el mitin en Scranton, la pareja seguirá caminos separados, y mientras Hillary encabezará un acto para recaudar fondos en Filadelfia, su esposo participará en nuevos mítines hoy en Virginia, para acudir a otros en Nevada y Ohio en los próximos días.

La participación de los Clinton se produce en un momento de particular crispación en la campaña electoral, después de que esta semana algunos partidarios de McCain se mostraron muy agresivos contra Obama en diversos mítines, lo que obligó al candidato republicano a defender a su rival.

El congresista demócrata John Lewis acusó el sábado a McCain de "sembrar las semillas del odio y la división" racial y de una posible incitación a la violencia ante el tono de su campaña, que esta semana acusó a Obama de "juntarse con terroristas" por su relación con William Ayers, miembro de un grupo violento en los años 60.

"Como figuras públicas con el poder para influir y convencer, el senador McCain y la gobernadora Palin están jugando con fuego, y si no tienen cuidado ese fuego nos va a quemar a todos", denunció.

McCain reaccionó con ira, y aseguró que las declaraciones de Lewis "se pasaron de la raya".

Obama y McCain se verán las caras por última vez el miércoles, tres semanas antes de los comicios, en su tercer y definitivo debate, en la Universidad Hofstra de Nueva York.

Ambos, mientras sus "números dos" participaban en mítines, dedicaron la jornada a preparar su debate, McCain en Virginia y Obama en Ohio.

El candidato demócrata se encuentra por encima en las encuestas y la página RealClearPolitics, que elabora una media de los principales sondeos, le otorga una ventaja de 7,3 puntos porcentuales, el 49,7 por ciento frente al 42,4 de su rival republicano.

Los analistas atribuyen esta ventaja en buena parte al mal clima económico, que favorece al demócrata y perjudica al republicano.

Para hacer frente a esta situación, McCain propuso en el debate anterior, el último martes, un plan para que el Gobierno adquiera y rebaje el valor de las hipotecas de los propietarios con dificultades para pagarlas.

Los asesores del candidato republicano indicaron hoy que McCain considera anunciar un nuevo plan económico de gran alcance para hacer frente a la actual crisis financiera.

En declaraciones a la cadena CBS, el senador Lindsey Graham, de Carolina del Sur, afirmó que el plan que se plantea McCain considera que "ha llegado el momento de rebajar los tipos impositivos a los inversores, rebajar los impuestos a la plusvalía, a los dividendos", y asegurar así que se da un espaldarazo a la economía.

"Será un proyecto muy amplio para despertar la economía, para permitir que se cree capital más fácilmente rebajando los impuestos", aseguró el senador.

Then, the general election came along. And with it, this:

... This is surely small of me, but if Obama wins, I plan on giving him as much of a chance as the Democrats gave George Bush. I will gleefully forward every paranoid anti-Obama rumor that I see, along with YouTube footage of his verbal missteps. I will laugh and email heinous anti-Obama photoshop jobs, and maybe even learn photoshop myself to create some. I'll buy anti-Obama books, and maybe even a "Not My President" t-shirt. I'm sure that the mainstream bookstores won't carry them, but I'll be on the lookout for anti-Obama calendars and stuff like that. I will not wish America harm, and if the country is hurt (economically, militarily, or diplomatically) I will truly mourn. But i will also take some solace that it occurred under Obama's watch, and will find every reason to blame him personally and fan the flames...

Funny, but I was just thinking the same thing yesterday.

Oh, and don't forget these, the "Sarah Palin is a c*nt" t-shirts.

Boy, this Messianic Post-Partisan Bringer of Hope and Change is really working miracles, isn't he?

In fact, the very aura that he is imparting to the nation is actually starting to look like his record.

What a joke this Obama character is. Or a fairytale, maybe?

Along the same lines:
Earmarks and GOP Hypocrisy
Sage advice from Ross Perot

The Democrats own this collapse, lock, stock and barrel.  McCain should be relentlessly pounding away at whose daddy this baby belongs to.  Instead, he has permitted Obama to establish the conventional wisdom, i.e., Republicans believe in deregulation, Republicans enacted regulation, and THIS is what deregulation gets you.

Thank God for the Internet and YouTube.  Pop in the keywords "Fannie Mae", "Frank" (as in Rep. Barney Frank), and "Waters" (Maxine), and take your pick from among all the clips available.  Republicans calling for more regulation and stricter oversight, and Democrats blocking the effort, responding that "it ain't broke so it don't need fixing".  While you're there, pop in "Bill Clinton" and "Financial crisis", and check the clips of the former President telling the interviewer that , in his opinion, the Democrats are responsible for "resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was President to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac"

But apparently, the Republicans' supposed concern for effective regulation was just a cover for their racism and hatred of poor people.  I shoulda known.

Stanley Kurtz at NRO has a devastatingly detailed account of how ACORN and it's Congressional allies created the sub-prime mortgage fiasco. Sebastian Mallaby in the Washington Post explains the fallacy and danger of attributing the problem to deregulation.  Thomas Sowell lays out more of the facts, but then has to wonder- "Do Facts Matter?".

To which I'd have to answer "It doesn't appear so".  It appears at this point that Americans are on the verge of putting the arsonists in charge of the Fire Department.  Lord, have mercy!

The conventional wisdom, trumpeted by every available media outlet and apparently being accepted by the majority of Americans, is that the Bush administration's policies are responsible for the economic situation Americans find themselves in.  The state of Michigan is in the economic sub-basement, it must be Bush's fault, therefore support for the Republican Party has fallen so far that Sen. McCain has entirely pulled out of the state and ceded it to Obama.

Excuse me, did I miss something while I was sleeping?  When did America become a kingdom?  What happened to city mayors, Assemblymen, State representatives and governors?  How is it that the Democratic mayors and city/county assemblymen aren't responsible, the Democratic state representatives aren't responsible, the Democratic governors aren't responsible... none of the overwhelmingly Democratic Party politicians that folks keep re-electing at the local and state levels, who have implemented overwhelmingly liberal economic policies in their cities and states... they're not responsible for the results of the policies they implemented, but Republican President Bush, in far off Washington, D.C., he somehow IS responsible.

Can someone help me understand how that works? Folks, if you've been electing Democrats to your city, county, state and congressional offices over and over, if the liberal economic policies they've implemented have not worked, if you yearn for real change, might it make sense to consider electing some conservatives to those offices and give conservative policies a try?

Could they possibly do any worse than the liberal "champions of the People" you've been re-electing time and again? If you really want change, how can you possibly continue voting for the people whose policies got us where we are now?

I have at times described myself as a "short term pessimist and a long term optimist". More and more these days the definition of "short term" seems to be expanding to include everything this side of the grave. By the grace of God I remain optimistic about what comes after that.

It was just May 30th, 2008, that 22 SD tribal leaders endorsed Senator Clinton. The Argus argreed with that sentiment. Obama was elsewhere, inferring that Clinton was somehow promulgating his assassination, when she discussed RFK’s death.

Tim Giago wrote a piece about Native American Day last year:

 (Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, was born, raised and educated on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in the Class of 1991 and founder of The Lakota Times and Indian Country Today newspapers. He founded and was the first president of the Native American Journalists Association. He can be reached at najournalist@msn.com)

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tim-giago/native-american-day-came-_b_66642.html

An early endorser of Clinton, he looks like he might be a PUMA to me, and has just re-registered as an independent.

So it is an interesting touchstone, portent or whatever, that the Pine Ridge Reservation recently resurfaced in Bud White’s interview of Thurston Clarke, regarding his book entitled: “The Last Campaign” about RFK. If you have never tried a podcast, here is a perfect chance. They take a little while on dial up, but are very worth the time.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nqr/2008/10/07/Hidden-Agenda-Bud-White-interviews-Thurston-Clark

The history of RFK brings the cycle back full circle to Pine Ridge, what the historian Clinton knew about SD, and Obama turned against her as a blunt race card. If he were truly in the Kennedy mold, he would have not done it.

For the rest of you, Happy Columbus Day!

Or if you're Canadian, Happy Thanksgiving!

Or, for another viewpoint, check out sm77's HERE.

I Own My Vote, PUMA, The Denver Group, Just Say No Deal