Why It's A Bad Bill

There's been quite a bit of commentary on the Bailout Bill. Whatever else one might think of the politics that have unfolded in the past week, one thing is for certain: the bill under consideration won't solve the problem.

Probably the best single commentary on the problem and the proposed solutions currently under consideration happened on the Charlie Rose show tonight. It led off with a conversation with Martin Feldstein. He explained that it's the falling values of home prices, and the typical terms of a home mortgage that allow a borrower to walk away from an upside-down mortgage without the lender having any other further recourse against the borrower than to take possession of the house. This encourages mortgage default, which leads to further depression in home prices, leading to more defaults.

Following this segment, Rose conducted an interview with Mort Zuckerman and Andrew Ross Sorkin, who basically agree with Feldstein and note that without a rational response - which throwing $700B at worthless assets in an attempt to free up liquidity in the credit markets is not - there will likely be a long-term recession.

Simply buying securities that no one wants right now won't provide balance-sheet stability. Rather, it will lock in the losses and wipe out shareholder equity. Once that happens, the only way creditors of the company will get paid is to force the company to declare bankruptcy, and that's what we're trying to avoid. See this blog entry from Paul Krugman for an example.

Moreover, if we avoid this problem by paying a premium for the worthless securities, the American Taxpayer is essentially taking the loss on the investment risk with the possibility of an upside later reduced to maybe breaking even, but most likely, not even that.

Other problems include the lack of effective Congressional oversight (Paulson gets all the money unless both houses can override a Presidential veto of Congress withholding the second half of the appropriation), allowing the suspension of mark-to-market pricing of these securities (which means firms can say they're worth whatever they want them to be worth instead of what the market says they're worth), an insane attempt to limit executive compensation that will only punish stockholders, and a provision to revisit the question of whether the financial industry still owes the government something in five years. An excellent review of the provisions, which will most likely survive in the next attempt, is here.

This bill remains, quite simply, an attempt by Bush to bail out his constituency on Wall Street using the American Taxpayer's money. Conservative Republicans were right to vote against it, although most did so not because they have a good plan themselves to offer, but rather because they wanted the Democrats to own a bad bill they could later bludgeon them with when it's shown that all that's going to happen under this plan is to cover the losses of financial gamblers while typical Americans continue to wind up with houses worth less - much less in many cases - than they owe.

BTW - way to take credit for the bill's passage while campaigning on Monday, John McCain. I'm sure your colleagues in Congress know they couldn't have done it without you.

What Needs To Be Done

Everyone agrees that Congress needs to take action to address the problems in the credits markets. Institutions are so reluctant to lend money right now, less they never get it back, that overnight borrowing is running as high as 20%. It takes a helluva business model to be able to make money when you have to pay that kind of interest to cover your cash flow.

The problem as it stands right now, however, is that what's on the table is the product of taking an extremely bad plan that originated in the Bush White House with Treasury Secretary Paulson and letting immediate short-term political haggling massage it at the edges for appearance sake. Real leadership in Congress would have scrapped Paulson's plan entirely and started with a blank sheet.

What needs to happen is a plan that acknowledges that home prices will continue to fall until they get back to realistic levels that people can truly afford with long-term fixed mortgages secured by those realistically priced assets. This plan needs to give homeowners an incentive to choose to stay in their homes rather than abandoning them by offering low-interest government-financed mortgage adjustments that are paid to the mortgage holders, thus turning non-performing loans into ones with value, and, in turn, requiring a homeowner who uses this relief to place all his assets behind his mortgage rather than just his house. This is Feldstein's idea, and it attacks the core of the problem directly, targets average Americans directly rather than hoping investment banking relief trickles down, and has the added benefit of improving the balance sheets of firms with currently non-performing loans.

In addition, any capital infusions made to banking institutions need to follow the Warren Buffet model of getting equity in return for cash, as he did with his investment in Goldman Sachs. Buffet would never buy worthless securities for a premium just because he's a nice guy. Why should the US Treasury? Buffet knows that the only way to make money on this situation in the long-term is to put up cash now without locking in a price for those securities and then share in the profit when the value of those securities rises as the mortgage failure problem is addressed. Of course, Buffet could be mistaken that the value of the securities will eventually rise, but that's the essence of the risk/reward ratio. And having to choose between Buffet's long-term investment approach and Paulson's short-term bailout of his friends on Wall Street, we have much more confidence that Buffet's the one who knows what he's doing.

What we fear is that Congress will cave to the pressure of election year politics and the urgency to appear that they're doing something and pass the Bailout Bill pretty much in its current form. If that happens, the American Taxpayer is going to wind up holding the bag for the bets of the Masters of the Universe with nothing to show for it except a huge amount of additional debt responsibility (the hallmark of the Bush Administration) and millions more of households declaring mortgage default. And sometime after the November election, the call will be made for even further action by the government, since the core problem will remain.

This bill must be defeated again. Only then will it be possible for Congress to step back and give our nation a solution that addresses the problems of mortgage defaults, credit market illiquidity, and using taxpayer dollars in a financially responsible manner.

Quote of the Day

Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right.
   - Anonymous

How's McCain's Health?

Here's a post from the Daily Kos comparing two video clips of John McCain; one from the RNC and one from just before the debates. The second clip shows him looking run-down, with his right eye bulging noticeably.

Why won't John McCain release his medical records? Why were only a handful of reporters allowed to look through approved files for three hours without taking any kind of notes? What's John McCain hiding?

McCain's Executive Experience

Andrew Sullivan compares the executive experiences of the two presidential candidates.

We forget that McCain has no executive experience, just as Obama has no executive experience. But in terms of judgment, of selection of a running mate, of calm in crisis, of a smooth operation, it is McCain who is revealing his total inexperience and unreadiness for the job, not Obama. In fact, there is no comparison. One campaign is chaotic, secretive, impulsive, unpredictable and losing. The other is supremely well-run, as transparent as a campaign can be, unflappable, very predictable, and winning. I know which man I'd prefer to be runing the country in a crisis. Not hotheaded, mercurial, impulsive, gambling McCain.

Quote of the Day

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
   - Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

McCain's Next Trick

So we're wondering what the McCain campaign has in store for us this week. After all the drama of the week just past, it's getting to be like watching a prime time soap opera. Slate makes some McCain predictions.

1. Returns to Vietnam and jails himself.
2. Offers the post of "vice vice president" to Warren Buffett.
3. Challenges Obama to suspend campaign so they both can go and personally drill for oil offshore.
4. Learns to use computer.
5. Does bombing run over Taliban-controlled tribal areas of Pakistan.
6. Offers to forgo salary, sell one house.
7. Sex-change operation.
8. Suspends campaign until Nov. 4, offers to start being president right now.
9. Sells Alaska to Russia for $700 billion.
10. Pledges to serve only one term. OK, half a term.

There's a story making the rounds and covered by The Mudflats that, if true, would be one to top them all: the Bristol Palin wedding.

In an election campaign notable for its surprises, Sarah Palin, the Republican vice- presidential candidate, may be about to spring a new one — the wedding of her pregnant teenage daughter to her ice-hockey-playing fiancé before the November 4 election.

Inside John McCain’s campaign the expectation is growing that there will be a popularity boosting pre-election wedding in Alaska between Bristol Palin, 17, and Levi Johnston, 18, her schoolmate and father of her baby. “It would be fantastic,” said a McCain insider. “You would have every TV camera there. The entire country would be watching. It would shut down the race for a week.”

Ah, those Republican family values of pimping your daughter out in front of the entire nation just so the media will stop focusing on your own utter lack of qualifications. There's nothing like a shotgun wedding to stir the passions of the base right before election day.

We expect plenty more of McCain's impetuousness, instability, and drama over the next five weeks, but will they really go this low?

Free Sarah Palin!

Campbell Brown has had it with the sexism of the McCain campaign. She has a message: Free Sarah Palin!

Tonight I call on the McCain campaign to stop treating Sarah Palin like she is a delicate flower that will wilt at any moment," said Brown. "This woman is from Alaska for crying out loud. She is strong. She is tough. She is confident. And you claim she is ready to be one heart beat away form the presidency. If that is the case, then end this chauvinistic treatment of her now. Allow her to show her stuff. Allow her to face down those pesky reporters... Let her have a real news conference with real questions. By treating Sarah Palin different from the other candidates in this race, you are not showing her the respect she deserves. Free Sarah Palin. Free her from the chauvinistic chain you are binding her with. Sexism in this campaign must come to an end. Sarah Palin has just as much a right to be a real candidate in this race as the men do. So let her act like one.

Quote of the Day

Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.
   - Anonymous

Will Palin Debate?

Ed Schultz reports.

Capitol Hill sources are telling me that senior McCain people are more than concerned about Palin.

The campaign has held a mock debate and a mock press conference; both are being described as "disastrous." One senior McCain aide was quoted as saying, "What are we going to do?" The McCain people want to move this first debate to some later, undetermined date, possibly never. People on the inside are saying the Alaska Governor is "clueless."

Next up on the debate schedule - next Thursday - are the VP candidates. Last night, Joe Biden delivered an exceptional response to the first presidential debate. Sarah Palin was nowhere to be seen.

Will Palin show up to debate Biden? Will she still be the Republican VP nominee next Thursday? What's the answer to the question about what to do?

We think at this point the best move for the McCain campaign would be to dump Palin, bring Mitt Romney on board (even though McCain despises him as much as he does Obama), postpone the VP debate until later in the month, and argue that McCain's the kind of maverick who's willing to admit a mistake and correct it. It's hard to imagine a scenario that includes Palin that won't be a complete, horrific train wreck if she actually takes the stage with Biden.

Here's What Didn't Change

Whatever one thinks of last night's debate, here's the one, most important thing that didn't change.

John McCain remains a 72-year-old cancer survivor whose body suffers from extensive war injuries and subsequent surgeries to repair them and whose temperament generates stress. In spite of being shielded from the press and the public, his VP nominee has repeatedly proven herself to be utterly incapable of executing the duties of President of the United States.

Until John McCain pairs himself with someone who could do the job he's asking America to elect him to, he forfeits serious consideration for the office.

Quote of the Day

Our lives would run a lot more smoothly if second thoughts came first.
   - Anonymous

Calling It A Draw

The first presidential debate is now over. We're scoring this one as a draw.

Fortunately for the country, John McCain reversed himself yet again and decided he'd show up after all even though negotiations continue in DC over the bailout package. It's important Americans get to see the candidates side-by-side so they may judge for themselves whose intelligence, temperament, and judgment will better serve them going forward.

From a rational, intellectual perspective, we think Obama dominated McCain. Obama clearly has a deeper and more nuanced grasp of the issues and their ramifications. McCain sees everything in terms of good guys and bad; white hats and black. He isn't more complicated than that, although the world certainly is.

On a emotional level, however, we're disappointed that the knockout punch we know Obama can land never came. To be sure, he was forceful and direct without being disrespectful. But he let McCain own the emotional, visceral space of the evening, and for many, it's on that plane they'll ultimately decide for whom to vote. Perhaps it's that we just want to see McCain put out of his misery as soon as possible.

We suspect Obama's approach to tonight was part of a deliberate strategy that owes as much to timing as anything else. This was the first of three debates, and the one focused on the area that's supposed to be McCain's greatest strength. With two more to go, as well as six more weeks of campaigning, Obama has plenty of time to convince voters he'll be the better leader. Right now, the most important thing is to demonstrate he's someone people can have confidence in and can trust the future of our country to. Even at this late date, he's still introducing himself - as himself and not the caricatures he's been portrayed as - to many undecided voters who will consider him for President as long as they can feel comfortable with him.

The easiest person for white America to dismiss is the angry black man. It's a reality Barack Obama has confronted his entire life. He knows all too well that before some people will give him credit for his intellectual brilliance and extraordinary ability, he must first assure them he's motivated by something other than personal grievances. We think he accomplished that tonight, and that this will open the door for him to convince people over the next 40 days to vote for him - an act many now on the fence wouldn't have even entertained a year ago.

The Cafferty File on Palin

Jack Cafferty joins the ranks of those who have found the courage to tell the emperor he's not wearing any clothes. His responses indicate that, thankfully, people are paying attention. We wonder how long it will be until we see the same thing on Faux News.

McShame Declares Victory

With the first Presidential debate still hours away, the John McShame campaign has already declared it a decisive victory for the person who only 24 hours ago wasn't even going to attend. Chris Cillizza reports, complete with a screen shot, on the ads already out on the Internet.

Although the fate of tonight's presidential debate in Mississippi remains very much up in the air, John McCain has apparently already won it -- if you believe an Internet ad an astute reader spotted next to this piece in the online edition of the Wall Street Journal this morning.

"McCain Wins Debate!" declares the ad which features a headshot of a smiling McCain with an American flag background. Another ad spotted by our eagle-eyed observer featured a quote from McCain campaign manager Rick Davis declaring: "McCain won the debate-- hands down."

No reality - including the future - is too big for the campaign of John McShame to bend, twist, and spin into whatever narrative they think the American electorate will fall for. When your whole strategy is to simply create your truths out of thin air, who cares what order events come in? Each day gets more bizarre in the alternative universe of McCain-Palin.

Quote of the Day

It is better to debate a question without answering it than to answer a question without debating it.
   - Mark Twain

A Palin Theocracy

The more we read and see of AK Gov. Sarah Palin's religious activity, the more we become alarmed that she is a member of the radical religious right, a movement every bit committed to a theocratic state as Islamic fundamentalists are. We were pointed to the website Talk To Action, which tracks and discusses what's going on in religious right-wing circles. The analysis and commentary on Palin is more frightening than we imagined. Here are excerpts from one rather lengthy explanation.

What our research tells us is that both of Palin's Assembly of God churches are deeply involved in a movement called the Third Wave or New Apostolic Reformation, a religious movement in Christianity that's been gathering force for the last several decades and which rejects denominationalism completely.

It's a movement that claims, under the rubric of Christian unity, that all Christian denominations are invalid--their members aren't true Christians or, at least, they aren't truly saved. This is a sort of hyper-fundamentalism which thinks that not only all Protestant denominations, but the Catholic Church as well, aren't valid expressions of Christianity. And, not too surprisingly, the movement thinks all other religious and philosophical belief systems on earth are invalid too and even under demonic influence.

They believe in raising up an "end-time" last-generation army that will cleanse the world of evil, as they themselves define it. They also say that believing Christians can develop the power to raise the dead. And, they're not waiting around for the rapture.

We've heard a lot about this theology in recent years with the attention to the Left Behind Series and televangelists like John Hagee. But Palin's churches, particularly Wasilla Assembly of God where Palin has spent most of her adult life, have a much more aggressive theology. They haven't completely discarded some of the narrative of the Rapture but they have a very different spin on it. In their version, the end time church is going to be a great conquering power -- sort of like the Tribulation Force in the Left Behind books -- but they are starting now [here on earth through seizing governmental power].

They reject separation of church and state altogether. They're working to bring about a Christian theocratic government which, writes head of Morningstar Ministries Rick Joyner, "may seem totalitarian at first."

Third Wavers believe that God is anointing them with special powers in order for them to battle the ungodly themselves, and that Jesus can't actually return until they have finished conquering the world. This is actually a much more aggressive endtime belief than the one that people are attributing to her.

This is also one of the most aggressive movements in the push to tear down the wall between church and state. They actually go further than many in the Religious Right and believe that their Apostolic structure will become the new authority in the United States and the world. Furthermore, their obsession with driving out demons means that the end always justifies the means. If you are against them, you are working for the devil. The New Apostolic Reformation has a current campaign called Seven Mountains. This is about their efforts to take control of society and government and they blatantly state their intent to do so. The seven mountains are religion, family, education, arts, media, government, and business. They believe that once they take full control of these seven mountains they will be well on their way to conquering evil in the world.

In addition to the full text of this interview, there's much more information about Palin's religious beliefs and how they inform and dominate her behavior on the Talk To Action website. Read this information and then ask yourself if you want someone as extreme as Sarah Palin a John McCain heartbeat away from becoming President. We know her fellow religious radicals certainly do.

Putin Rears His Head

After wondering why she's been mocked, Republican VP nominee AK Gov. Sarah Palin expanded on her original comment that she has foreign policy experience because Russia can been seen from Alaska during a conversation with Katie Couric.

It's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where — where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is — from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to ... to our state.

One can only imagine how much we're looking forward to 90 minutes of this at the VP debate on October 2nd.

McCain's Latest Farce

It's not even October yet and John McCain is in such a panic over his cratering poll numbers and the universal criticism from his former base - the fourth estate - that his latest stunt is nothing but a farce that will be hard to top. Something tells us, though, his campaign will find a way. On that score, they have yet to disappoint.

As John McCain's no-value-too-big-to-be-sacrificed crusade to become President careens across the political highway like a crazy drunk behind the wheel, his handlers realized they couldn't let their candidate stand next to Barack Obama on national television and engage in a serious discussion. McCain, they know, will get creamed. He's old, angry, unstable, and showing serious signs of dementia, just as Ronald Reagan did during his second term. Obama, on the other hand, has proven once again that his calm, steady, measured response is what our country really needs.

Instead, the McCain campaign rolled the dice once again on yet another Hail Mary play, arguing that the best thing for America would be suspending the campaigns and postponing Friday night's presidential debate. This would allow John McCain to return to Washington - a town he hasn't been spotted in for months - and rescue our country from financial disaster. Nothing could be further from the truth.

First of all, the last person anyone wants near a discussion of the economy is John McCain. His one week of regulatory populism stands against his 26 years of championing deregulation at every opportunity and exposes him as nothing but a cynical fraud who would insist with self-righteous anger that the moon is made of green cheese if he thought it would get him elected President. He's admitted he doesn't understand our economy, and the people he turns to for economic advice - notably Phil Gramm - are the very people responsible for laying the groundwork of the current fiasco.

Secondly, those in Washington working around the clock on putting together a package that can win enough bipartisan support for passage see John McCain for what he actually is: a political opportunist who's attempting to steal the limelight and take credit for their difficult efforts. They know all John McCain is going to do is gum up the works and possibly derail things. Where was John McCain when this problem came to a head almost two weeks ago? He was standing before hand-picked sympathetic audiences telling America he's against regulation and that the fundamentals of our economy are strong.

Finally, and most importantly, this latest tactic by the McCain campaign is nothing more than yet another stunt designed to shift attention away from where it should be. Barack Obama is correct that if there was ever a time our country needs to hear a serious discussion of the issues from the two people who will stand for election in 40 days, it's now. But McCain's handlers know that John McCain is unprepared and incapable of convincing our nation he's the better candidate and that if the debate goes forward on schedule, his poll numbers will fall to a point beyond recovery.

The McCain campaign has never been about 'County First'. Every decision it has made, from wrapping itself in a flag of vile, divisive nationalism to selecting a person for VP so unqualified it challenges comprehension to continuously repeating a plethora of lies easily and immediately refuted to adopting positions deemed currently fashionable but in direct conflict with personal history has proven that the only thing John McCain cares about is John McCain finally becoming President.

John McCain's campaign is in serious, serious trouble. He's shown himself to be unstable, addled, opportunistic, and badly informed in a time of crisis. He's hidden his running mate away from the press and the American people. His advisers have engaged in vicious attacks against anyone who refuses to flatter the Republican ticket with praise and deference. His campaign's contempt for the intelligence and common sense of the American electorate is displayed daily.

What John McCain has demonstrated so far as a candidate for the Presidency of the United States, at every turn and opportunity, is just how completely unqualified he is to lead. If he had any honor left and any concern whatsoever for his country, he would withdraw and retire, and hope the shame he's brought upon himself will eventually be excused as the excesses of a desperate old man whose time has long since passed by.

Quote of the Day

There are people who strictly deprive themselves of each and every eatable, drinkable, and smokeable which has in any way acquired a shady reputation. They pay this price for health. And health is all they get for it. How strange it is. It is like paying out your whole fortune for a cow that has gone dry.
   - Mark Twain

Pathological Palin

Conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan has devoted some of his time and blog to documenting the litany of lies told by AK Gov. Sarah Palin. He collects and reviews them in this post, The Twelve Lies Of Sarah Palin.

Just for the record, I asked an intern to go back and double fact-check the twelve documented lies that Sarah Palin has told on the public record. These are not hyperbolic claims or rhetorical excess. They are assertions of fact that are demonstrably untrue and remain uncorrected. Every single one of the lies I documented holds up after several news cycles have had a chance to vet them even further.

I know the MSM demands that we move on from the fact that someone who could be president next January has a list of public lies so extensive and indisputable that the McCain campaign has still not been able to rebut or even address any one of them, while fencing her off from the press and refusing to hold a press conference to clear the air on so many murky questions of fact that get to the core of whether this person is fit to be vice-president or president.

So for the record, let it be known that the candidate for vice-president for the GOP is a compulsive, repetitive, demonstrable liar.

What is particularly troubling about the lies of Sarah Palin - as if the lies themselves are not enough - is that several of them are completely gratuitous and unnecessary. They clearly were made solely for the purpose of rewriting her personal narrative, and the substantive difference between the truth and Palin's revisionism is nil. IOW, she's a pathological liar.

Having had the 'pleasure' of working for someone who demonstrated this pathology on a daily basis, we recognize a pathological liar when we see one. Sullivan is spot on when he concludes, "You cannot trust a word she says. On anything."

Quote of the Day

I think the one lesson I have learned is that there is no substitute for paying attention.
   - Anonymous

Call Congress

Considering the Bush Administration has proposed to give Henry Paulson $700B of taxpayer money to spend in any manner he wishes - that's $2,000 for every man, woman, and child in the United States - if there was ever a time for citizens to stand up and demand their Congressional representatives start behaving like representatives of the people, it's now.


Call your Senators and Representative and insist on the following.

• No bailout under the Bush terms, which would give the Secretary of the Treasury the authority to hold at any one time as much as $700B in worthless debt with no oversight and no judicial review.


• Equity for cash. Instead of simply buying worthless debt at inflated prices, thus guaranteeing American taxpayers take the loss on Wall Street gambles, whatever plan is passed should require that firms who participate give taxpayers equity shares in return for cash. This will enable investment firms and banks to address their liquidity problems and give taxpayers the opportunity to be rewarded in the long-term. No individual investor would except anything less. Why should American citizens?


• An abundance of ironclad Congressional oversight. The Bush Administration has ignored Congress for eight years, and for eight years Congress has acquiesced. This must stop. No Bush signing statements. No refusal to acknowledge Congress' proper role in making sure the Executive branch behaves as Congress intends. And certainly, the proposal to explicitly strip both legislative and judicial review of whatever Paulson decides is completely unacceptable and must be completely rejected.


• Leadership by Congress. For much too long, Congress has allowed the Bush Administration to ignore it, to lie to it, and to make it irrelevant. The Democrats have been especially complicit in this; as the opposition party they have, by design, the responsibility to stand up to this gross abrogation of power. As the voice of the people, Congress is supposed to be the most important branch of government. It's time Congressional leaders grow a spine and return it to its proper place. If they continue to refuse to stand up and lead, then it's time they all be replaced, regardless of party affiliation. It's the complete lack of leadership in Congress that has allowed the Bush cabal to bring us to where we are today, and no solution will be successful if this doesn't change.

As usual, the Bush Administration is pressing for swift action instead of a studied, measured response. It's imperative that the American people stand up and demand their representatives fulfill their responsibilities for a change. Call Congress today!

Quote of the Day

Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things that escape those who dream only by night.
   - Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849)

The McCain-Palin Contempt for the Rule of Law

One very important consideration of what kind of behavior we might expect from a McCain-Palin administration can be discerned right now by the manner in which the Troopergate investigation is unfolding. Where Palin once promised her full cooperation and assured everyone she wanted the truth to be known, the McCain-Palin campaign has now decided to do a full Cheney. They've instructed everyone to ignore subpoenas requiring testimony and have asserted they alone will decide what is legal and what is not.

Glenn Greenwald offers an outstanding analysis of this issue.

It is illegal in the State of Alaska to fail to comply with legislative subpoenas. But Todd Palin has announced he will do exactly that which the law prohibits for one simple reason -- because nothing can be done about it until after the election, and even then, it's unlikely much will be done to punish him for breaking the law. Sarah Palin has similarly ordered all of her aides to refuse to comply with these subpoenas even though doing so is illegal, because she, too, doubts there will be consequences for this illegal behavior. Or, as Bill O'Reilly put it in his righteous Rule of Law tirade: "I'm going to do it anyway. I dare you to come get me."

There is no doubt that the Legislature has the right to investigate and that these Subpoenaas are lawfully issued. Before Palin was selected as McCain's running mate, virtually everyone in Alaska -- including her -- agreed that the Legislature could and should investigate these allegations.

But now, with the heavy involvement of the McCain campaign, Gov. Palin has embraced core GOP "principles" -- political officials can unilaterally exempt themselves from the rule of law and the people, through their elected representatives in the legislature, are powerless to learn what their political leaders have done. That, of course, has been the guiding principle of the Bush administration -- as one Bush official after the next has simply refused to comply with Congressional subpoenas as part of investigations into serious allegations of lawbreaking and other wrongdoing -- and the McCain campaign and the Palins are leaving no doubt that they are full-fledged believers in these corrupt and lawless prerogatives.

This sort of lawless arrogance doesn't merely insulate political officials from any accountability, though it does do that. It also destroys the crux of representative democracy. The ability of a legislature to investigate what the Executive Branch is doing isn't some ancillary Congressional function, but is as important -- arguably more so -- than the legislative power to enact laws. It's how the people ensure that Executive Branch officials are accountable and are required to adhere to the law.

These are the vital safeguards, the core democratic functions, which the Bush administration and now the McCain/Palin campaign are flagrantly subverting.

All of this unmistakably signals that a McCain/Palin administration would mean a continuation of the worst abuses of the Bush/Cheney administration. Worse, it signals their commitment to the ongoing disappearance of Congress from how our country is governed, in lieu of all-powerful and unchecked Executive leaders.

McCain-Palin had the perfect opportunity to demonstrate what we could expect from their 'real change'. What they've done is proven that it's all just cynical chatter for the mob.

No Blank Check

The proposed bailout of investors holding grossly overvalued mortgage securities by the Treasury is unacceptable for a number of reasons. From a financial perspective, the primary reason to oppose it is that Paulson intends to buy these securities at prices that are far greater than they're worth. This will leave the American Taxpayer with a guaranteed loss on the deal, when, in fact, he should be receiving an opportunity to make a profit in the long run for having put up his own money in the first place. We'll be covering these kind of details in the future.

From a political perspective, however, there's an even greater reason to vehemently object to the absolute powers Bush seeks for the Treasure Secretary. The blog nakedcapitalism.com has an excellent analysis of the bailout proposal and why it punishes taxpayers to the benefit of the very people who created this crisis in the first place. What Bush wants, now that we're in yet another disaster on his watch, is a blank check from the United States Treasury for Paulson to spend in any way he chooses, with no oversight or approval from anyone.

But here is the truly offensive section of an overreaching piece of legislation:

"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."


This puts the Treasury's actions beyond the rule of law. This is a financial coup d'etat, with the only limitation the $700 billion balance sheet figure. The measure already gives the Treasury the authority not simply to buy dud mortgage paper but other assets as it deems fit. There is no accountability beyond a report (contents undefined) to Congress three months into the program and semiannually thereafter. The Treasury could via incompetence or venality grossly overpay for assets and advisory services, and fail to exclude consultants with conflicts of interest, and there would be no recourse. Given the truly appalling track record of this Administration in its outsourcing, this is not an idle worry.

Even if the Bush Administration had established a track record of competence in previous crises, the idea of the Treasury Secretary as some sort of imperial monarch who may spend the kingdom's purse in whatever manner he alone chooses would be highly objectionable. The record under Bush, however, tells us we would be abject fools to expect anything other than decisions that reward avarice, greed, incompetence, and corruption.

Whatever plan Congress eventually approves, it must start with ironclad guarantees of legislative oversight, control, and transparency and the explicit understanding that the courts may do whatever is required to force the Administration to obey. Anything less is just begging for yet another looting of the Treasury by Bush and his cronies and yet another bill for future generations to pay.

No News Here

The AP headline on its story about Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin wasn't news at all, nor was the information provided.

Palin's first Fla. campaign stop a safe one

Sarah Palin played it safe Sunday on her first trip as John McCain's running mate to the battleground state of Florida.

She went to perhaps the easiest place in Florida to get a large Republican turnout, stuck mostly to the themes she's hit since the Republican convention and took no questions from reporters or the crowd.

As usual, AK Gov. Palin is hiding from the electorate, all the better to prevent someone from having the temerity to ask her a question - any question - that will easily expose her for the fraud she is. And this is in front of partisan supporters. God forbid she be made to face voters concerned by her utter lack of qualifications to be anywhere near a position of authority.

The American public must demand that all candidates for the most important offices in the world face hard, intense questioning from every and all sides of the political spectrum, especially considering the economic and foreign policy challenges our nation currently faces. We know why the Republicans are hiding Gov. Palin. What we don't understand is why so many people are putting up with it.

Quote of the Day

The best things in life aren't 'things.'
   - Anonymous

A Fair And Realistic Proposal

Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) has published a well-considered op-ed concerning how the middle class of our country has been under assault from the Bush Administration and what needs to be done regarding the proposed bailout of Wall Street by Main Street. The entire piece is worth reading. Here is the most salient part.

The people who can best afford to pay and the people who have benefited most from Bush’s economic policies are the people who should provide the funds for the bailout. It would be immoral to ask the middle class, the people whose standard of living has declined under Bush, to pay for this bailout while the rich, once again, avoid their responsibilities. Further, if the government is going to save companies from bankruptcy, the taxpayers of this country should be rewarded for assuming the risk by sharing in the gains that result from this government bailout.

Specifically, to pay for the bailout, which is estimated to cost up to $1 trillion, the government should:

a) Impose a five-year, 10 percent surtax on income over $1 million a year for couples and over $500,000 for single taxpayers. That would raise more than $300 billion in revenue;

b) Ensure that assets purchased from banks are realistically discounted so companies are not rewarded for their risky behavior and taxpayers can recover the amount they paid for them; and

c) Require that taxpayers receive equity stakes in the bailed-out companies so that the assumption of risk is rewarded when companies’ stock goes up.

Is there anything that Bush has touched during his eight years that hasn't been a disaster? Talk about King Midas in reverse. The last person we trust to solve this crisis is George W. Bush and his coterie of advisers.

So far, the only details of Paulson's bailout proposal has been that his plan will give him unlimited authority to spend as much as one trillion of American Taxpayer dollars to buy worthless debt at inflated prices - nothing else. The accumulated debt of the US Government will rise to well over $11 trillion. How many generations will it take to pay that off? Or do the acolytes of fiscal responsibility intend to unharness inflation to do the job?

The answer to this current plan must be a resounding "NO!" and an insistence that those who engaged in this reckless behavior lose their equity and be prevented from practicing their chicanery in the future. The phone lines to Congress are open.

Republiconomics

Elite Fundamentalism

The Anchorage Daily News has an enlightening article about how AK Gov. Sarah Palin used the Troopergate firing of highly respected Walt Monegan to prove her street cred with elite religious fundamentalists, in spite of the fact the person she hired to replace Monegan had been reprimanded repeatedly for sexual harrassment while a police chief.

Subsequent events suggest that the price of support for McCain by the fundamentalist Christian leadership would be a vice presidential candidate of their liking. Gov. Palin was a logical choice for Franklin Graham (Billy Graham's son), whose ties to Alaska include a palatial, by Bush Alaska standards, second home in Port Alsworth: a community that has often served as a retreat for Christian fundamentalist leaders.

In firing Monegan and hiring Kopp, Palin would have gained a controversial measure of revenge in a family dispute and established her standing as a Christian conservative politician.

Palin's connection to what Jeff Sharlett has called "elite fundamentalism" is of interest now that she is an election and a heartbeat away from the presidency. Franklin Graham has been the keynote speaker for the Alaska Governor's Prayer Breakfast the past two years. According to their Web site, the organizers believe, "God directs the affairs of Man and is the ultimate authority over human events."

Elite fundamentalists believe, according to Sharlett, not only in religious determinism but that they are personally chosen by God to be in positions of power. By claiming divine legitimacy of their political power, elite fundamentalists relegate the opposition to being the devil's tool. They are making a frighteningly close return to the pre-enlightenment concept of rule by divine right, which our founding fathers rejected as anathema to democracy and established, instead, the separation of church and state lest decisions be made on the basis of good versus evil rather than wise versus unwise.

Whether or not Sarah Palin pandered to the Christian fundamentalist right on the back of a good man's career and believes she was chosen by God only she can say. Likewise, only John McCain can say whether he sold his political soul and selected the least prepared vice presidential candidate in United States history for the sake of political gain. The electorate deserves some answers.

Christian fundamentalists are doing the same kind of damage to this country that Islamic fundamentalists are doing to theirs. They are anti-knowledge, anti-liberty, anti-democratic charlatans claiming a special pipeline to the one, true God swimming in a sea of otherwise false divinities, and because of this, they alone are qualified to lead the rest of us.

We're finally coming to the end of eight years of utterly incompetent leadership at the hands of someone who believes he was chosen by God. The absolutely last thing America needs is to replace him with another elite fundamentalist who disdains knowledge-based ability and instead relies on hocus-pocus mythology for guidance.

Quote of the Day

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
   - R.W. Emerson

Pop The Corks!

For the second year in a row, the Chicago Cubs are the National League Central Division Champions. It's the first time since 1908 they've won back-to-back division championships.

There's still plenty of work to be done for the best team in MLB. Last year, the Cubs postseason ended abruptly with a 3-0 first round playoff sweep at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Cubs last World Series title and expectations are high for ending baseball's longest Series drought.

October can't come soon enough. Go Cubs Go!

Republican Values

Firefox Downgrade

We've been using the latest version of the Firefox web browser for the past couple of months. While we remain of the opinion that Firefox is a significantly better browser than Microsoft Internet Exploder Explorer, our experiences with Firefox 3 have left us with no choice but to recommend sticking with Firefox 2. Users who have upgraded to Firefox 3 and are experiencing odd behavior while browsing should downgrade to version 2.

Accordingly, we've updated the link on the sidebar so that it opens to the version 2 page. Mozilla says they'll be maintaining version 2 through the end of the year, so we'll take another look sometime next year.

Quote of the Day

The elevator to success is out of order today. You're going to have to take the stairway, one step at a time.
   - Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

The Conservatives' Legacy

Barry Ritholtz writes the following on his blog, The Big Picture.

I am having a hard time keeping up with all of the bailouts and special facilities created for dealing with this crisis. Am I missing any?

- Bear Stearns
- Economic Stimulus progam
- Housing Bailout Program
- Fannie & Freddie
- AIG
- No Short selling rules
- Fed liquidity programs (Term Lending facility, Term Auction facility)
- Money Market fund insurance program
- Special Loans for GM & Ford
- New RTC type program

If you are a fan of irony, consider this: The conservative movement has utterly hated FDR, and his New Deal programs like Medicaid, Social Security, FDIC, Fannie Mae (1938), and the SEC for nearly 80 years. And for the past 8 years, a conservative was in the White House, with a very conservative agenda. For something like 16 of the past 18 years, the conservative-dominated GOP has controlled Congress. Those are the facts.

We now see that the grand experiment of deregulation has ended, and ended badly. The deregulation movement is now an historical footnote, just another interest group, and once in power they turned into socialists. Indeed, judging by the actions of the conservatives in power, and not the empty rhetoric that comes out of think tanks, the conservative movement has effectively turned the United States into a massive Socialist state, an appendage of Communist Russia, China and Venezuela.

On That Palin Executive Experience

Timothy Egan reminds us that the truth of Palin's 'executive experience' is really about what a poor job she's done.

People should stop picking on vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin because she hired a high school classmate to oversee the state agriculture division, a woman who said she was qualified for the job because she liked cows when she was a kid. And they should lay off the governor for choosing another childhood friend to oversee a failing state-run dairy, allowing the Soviet-style business to ding taxpayers for $800,000 in additional losses.

What these critics don’t understand is that crony capitalism is how things are done in Alaska. They reward failure in the Last Frontier state. In that sense, it’s not unlike like Wall Street’s treatment of C.E.O.’s who run companies into the ground.

Palin’s Alaska is a cultural cousin to this kind of capitalism. The state may seem like a rugged arena for risky free-marketers. In truth, it’s a strange mix of socialized projects and who-you-know hiring practices.

But, hey. She's ready because, as she assured a crowd concerned about her skills to lead a nation confronting a financial meltdown, she "has the confidence and the readiness." What more could she possibly need?

Who Is This Guy?

Gail Collins describes the latest incarnation of John McCain, a man who is leaving no doubt he'll say absolutely anything in order to be president, even if he doesn't have the slightest idea of what he's talking about.

Nobody had warned them that he had just morphed into a new persona — a raging populist demanding more regulation of the nation’s financial system. And since McCain’s willingness to make speeches that have nothing to do with his actual beliefs is not matched by an ability to give them, he wound up sounding like Bob Dole impersonating Huey Long.

Really, if McCain is going to keep changing into new people, the campaign should send out notices. (Come to a rally for the next president of the United States. Today he’s a vegetarian!)

Count The Lies - 2008-09-18

The DNC has created a McCainPedia's "Count the Lies" page to track the lies of the McCain-Palin campaign and document their debunking. We'll be posting periodic updates to the count. Any guesses as to the over-under?

Quote of the Day

Self-respect is the cornerstone of all virtue.
   - John Herschel, scientist (1792-1871)

The Old Boys Network

While on the campaign trail yesterday in Nevada, Barack Obama summed up the McCain campaign in a nutshell.

Yesterday, John McCain actually said that if he's president that he'll take on, and I quote, 'the old boys network in Washington.'

Now I'm not making this up. This is somebody who's been in Congress for twenty-six years, who put seven of the most powerful Washington lobbyists in charge of his campaign.

And now he tells us that he's the one who's gonna' to take on the old boys network. The old boys network? In the McCain campaign that's called a staff meeting. Come, on!

Here's a video clip of his remarks.

On The Road To Nowhere

Quote of the Day

When you're through changing, you're through.
   - Bruce Barton (1886-1967)

Never Gonna Give You Up

Barack shows John McCain and the RNC how it's done.

Happy Birthday, U.S.A.

Today is the 221st birthday of the United States of America and is now celebrated as Constitution Day. If there was ever a time our country needed to be reminded of the document that gives our government its powers and what those powers are and are not, it's now. As this will be Dubya's last Constitution Day as The Decider, perhaps he can slip out during lunch and visit the document at the National Archives. He really ought to take a look at it just once while he's president.

The Ownership Society

Thanks to the enormous generosity of the Fed, every American citizen can now say he's a shareholder. Along with such treasures as Glacier National Park and 2/3 of Alaska, just under 80% of AIG now belongs to We The People. The 'A' really means American now.

Of course, by the time AIG unwinds its positions insuring failed mortgage-backed securities and sells off its assets to repay its $85B loan from you and me and everyone from sea to sea, it's not going to be worth much, if anything. But that's not really the point. The point is the US government has gotten into the business of socializing the losses of failed companies as well as actually buying them, and this has got to stop.

Why is it that Republicans can never live up to their mantras of free-markets and free-enterprise when it's time to suffer the consequences of their mistakes? They're always more than happy to reap the rewards. Once again, the chickens of greed have come home to roost, and once again, it's the American taxpayer who winds up covering the lost bets instead of those who made them. How convenient it must be to be able to change into a socialist whenever the need arises.

What's even more ludicrous is that John McCain wants to privatize Social Security and turn our government's promise to every retiree over to these same greedy financial wizards to manage. We know how that story would end someday. American taxpayers would wind up bailing the private funds out - after hefty management fees have been skimmed away - so that what started out as a government program would wind up as one, albeit with a lot less money left to distribute.

Isn't it interesting how it's ok to socialize the losses from failed bets made by financial experts on Wall Street, but we can't afford to socialize the cost of keeping American citizens healthy? Let there be no doubt about who really owns this country and who it exists to serve.

McCain's Blizzard of Lies

Paul Krugman writes in the NYT this op-ed about the McCain campaign's blizzard of lies.

Dishonesty is nothing new in politics. I spent much of 2000 — my first year at The Times — trying to alert readers to the blatant dishonesty of the Bush campaign’s claims about taxes, spending and Social Security.

But I can’t think of any precedent, at least in America, for the blizzard of lies since the Republican convention. The Bush campaign’s lies in 2000 were artful — you needed some grasp of arithmetic to realize that you were being conned. This year, however, the McCain campaign keeps making assertions that anyone with an Internet connection can disprove in a minute, and repeating these assertions over and over again.

Why do the McCain people think they can get away with this stuff? Well, they’re probably counting on the common practice in the news media of being “balanced” at all costs. You know how it goes: If a politician says that black is white, the news report doesn’t say that he’s wrong, it reports that “some Democrats say” that he’s wrong. Or a grotesque lie from one side is paired with a trivial misstatement from the other, conveying the impression that both sides are equally dirty.

Still, how upset should we be about the McCain campaign’s lies? I mean, politics ain’t beanbag, and all that.

One answer is that the muck being hurled by the McCain campaign is preventing a debate on real issues — on whether the country really wants, for example, to continue the economic policies of the last eight years.

But there’s another answer, which may be even more important: how a politician campaigns tells you a lot about how he or she would govern.

What it says, I’d argue, is that the Obama campaign is wrong to suggest that a McCain-Palin administration would just be a continuation of Bush-Cheney. If the way John McCain and Sarah Palin are campaigning is any indication, it would be much, much worse.

McCain's Economics

Jonathan Cohn has a chilling article on TNR about just how destructive John McCain's economic plans really are.

Hard as it may be to believe, after the mounting debt and rising inequality of the Bush era, McCain has indicated he wants to preserve Bush's conservative legacy on economic policy--and then take it even further.

Whether it's ambivalence, ignorance, expediency, or conviction that has propelled McCain to the right, there's no reason to think his behavior will change after Election Day.

Dismissing McCain's declared agenda as empty rhetoric would be a huge gamble--one this country can ill afford.

Read the entire article - and don't say we didn't warn you should McCain win and name Phil Gramm as Secretary of the Treasury.

Quote of the Day

We do not stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.
   - Anonymous

Herbert Hoover for President

John McCain proved once again on Monday just how out of touch he is with what's going on in America when he declared, "The fundamentals of our economy are strong."

This will come as quite a surprise to to the tens of millions who have been whiplashed by huge increases in energy and food costs, the national mortgage crisis, record personal debt, stagnant wages, and shrinking retirement account values.

In John McCain's world - the one where he doesn't even know how many houses he owns - there may be distant rumbles of trouble, but those with whom he surrounds himself are all fat and happy, so what he proposes to do if elected President is to not only continue Bush's economic programs, but to actually expand them.

This report from ThinkProgress tells us exactly what's in store for our nation's economy should John McCain win in November.

THE WEALTHY WILL CASH IN: If elected president, McCain plans to double down on Bush's corporate and individual tax cuts. His plan calls for reducing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent, a plan that would save corporations $175 billion per year, with $45 billion going to America's 200 largest companies as identified by Fortune Magazine. The five largest U.S. oil companies would save a grand total of $3.8 billion per year. The wealthiest Americans would also cash in. McCain's tax plan will increase after-tax income of the richest 3.4 percent by more than twice the average for all households -- and offer no benefit to the poorest taxpayers and minimal savings for the middle class. At the same time, McCain has not offered any specifics on how he would pay for these massive cuts. In fact, McCain's plan would produce the highest federal deficit in 25 years. After inheriting Bush's $407 billion deficit, yearly deficits under McCain would increase sharply, beginning with at least $505 billion in FY2009.

The current state of our economy would make a South American dictator blush. George Bush's irresponsible tax cuts - which John McCain originally opposed - coupled with unchecked Republican spending and borrowing have left most Americans in dire straights and our country awash in debt. McCain thinks things are fundamentally sound and wants to give these Americans more of the same. The only change John McCain offers is a trip down the Herbert Hoover drain.

Quote of the Day

We could have another Great Depression if we work at it, and Phil Gramm may be just the guy to do it.
   - Paul Krugman

Abandoning The Ship Of Honor

Politico has an article out about McCain's decision to run a highly negative campaign and why we can expect to see little else from him. His morphing into Bush is now pretty much complete.

McCain seems to have made a choice that many politicians succumb to but that he had always promised to avoid — he appears ready to do whatever it takes to win, even it if soils his reputation.

“We recognize it’s not going to be 2000 again,” McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said, alluding to the media’s swooning coverage of McCain’s ill-fated crusade against then-Gov. George W. Bush and the GOP establishment. “But he lost then. We’re running a campaign to win. And we’re not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it.”

Rogers, who hung tough with McCain through the dark days of the primary and has lived through every high and low of this turbulent and unpredictable race, argues that they tried to run a high-ground campaign and sought to keep the candidate in front of the media in the fashion he enjoys. His point: No one paid any attention.

“We ran a different kind of campaign and nobody cared about us. They didn’t cover John McCain. So now you’ve got to be forward-leaning in everything,” he said.

So that's what we're calling a strategy of repeated lies and petty faux squabbles now, 'forward-leaning', eh? And they don't care what the media has to say about it? We think McCain's going to discover what a dangerous approach that may turn out to be.

Andrew Sullivan Reacts

Andrew Sullivan, the well-known and well-regarded libertarian conservative who blogs via the The Atlantic, published his reaction to the McCain-Palin ticket on Sunday.

For the past two weeks serious commentators and columnists have been asked to take the candidacy of Sarah Palin for the vice-presidency of the United States seriously.

Formerly sane people have written of the McCain campaign’s selection of this running mate as if it represents a new face for Republicanism, an emblem of can-do western spirit, a brilliant ploy to win over Clinton voters, a new feminism, a reformist revolution, and a genius appeal to the religious right.

I’m afraid I cannot join in. In fact I cannot say anything about this candidacy that takes it in any way seriously. It is a farce. It is absurd. It is an insult to all intelligent people. It is a sign of a candidate who has lost his mind. There is no way to take the nomination of Palin to be vice-president of the world’s sole superpower - except to treat it as a massive, unforgivable, inexplicable decision by someone who has either gone insane or is managerially unfit to be president of the United States. When, at some point, the hysteria dies down, even her supporters will realise that, by this decision, McCain has rendered himself unfit to run a branch of Starbucks, let alone the White House.

John McCain's first decision as the potential next President of the United States was unconsidered, cynical, impulsive, and simply crassly self-serving. The candidate who asks us to believe he puts country first has clearly demonstrated he is doing anything but. The dangers to America of placing this man and his grossly unqualified running mate in the White House are profound and many. Our country deserves, and must demand, better.

Meet The New Boss

Meet the new bosses. And to no one's surprise when it comes to John McCain, they're the same as the old bosses: corporate lobbyists. The website McLobbyist.com spells it all out in stark detail how John McCain is anything but the independent maverick he's trying to sell himself as to low-information American voters. Instead, it's Republican politics as usual, and the big money lobbyists who actually pull puppet McCain's strings.

John McCain has had at least 177 lobbyists running his campaign and raising money for him. The McCain Seven — all lobbyists — control the campaign, filling roles from senior foreign policy advisor and finance co-chair all the way up to head of command, campaign manager. The McCain Seven make sure special interests come first.

Particularly galling is that the architects of the financial markets deregulation that's directly led to the current mortgage meltdown - Phil Gramm and his wife Wendy - provide his economic advice, an area that even John McCain himself has admitted he knows little about.

Take a look at the website and then ask yourself if America can afford to be run by these people for another four years?

Quote of the Day

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
   - Chinese proverb

What's Sarah Thinking?

Who knew that in addition to bringing home the bacon and frying it up in a pan, planning Bristol's wedding, keeping an eye on Russia, and learning about what the Vice President does, Sarah Palin also finds time to blog.

Get the latest musings straight from the source at What's Sarah Thinking?.

To The Barricades!

Let's take a break for some humor from the Obama campaign.

Quote of the Day

Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him.
   - Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)

Gov. Soprano

The NYT has published an article, based on public records and interviews with 60 local officials, that shows AK Gov. Palin's 'executive experience' is one rife with secrecy, nepotism, and personal vendettas.

An examination of her swift rise and record as mayor of Wasilla and then governor finds that her visceral style and penchant for attacking critics — she sometimes calls local opponents “haters” — contrasts with her carefully crafted public image.

Throughout her political career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance, according to a review of public records and interviews with 60 Republican and Democratic legislators and local officials.

Interviews show that Ms. Palin runs an administration that puts a premium on loyalty and secrecy. The governor and her top officials sometimes use personal e-mail accounts for state business; dozens of e-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that her staff members studied whether that could allow them to circumvent subpoenas seeking public records.

The Wasilla High School yearbook archive now doubles as a veritable directory of state government. Ms. Palin appointed Mr. Bitney, her former junior high school band-mate, as her legislative director and chose another classmate, Joe Austerman, to manage the economic development office for $82,908 a year. Mr. Austerman had established an Alaska franchise for Mailboxes Etc.

“She is bright and has unfailing political instincts,” said Steve Haycox, a history professor at the University of Alaska. "But," he added, “her governing style raises a lot of hard questions.”

So far, however, she's pretty much refused to answer those hard questions, except, of course, for that one interview with ABC's Charlie Gibson, during which she showed the nation just how little she knows, how little she's done, and how little she appreciates the magnitude of the office to which she now intends to claw her way into.

Instead, she's hidden behind teleprompters filled with lines of lies she repeats over and over, as if that will make them true. She's surrounded herself with a bevy of Republican lawyers in an attempted to squash the abuse-of-power Troopergate investigation with which she once promised to fully coorperate. And the record shows that, like her running mate John McCain, her election will only perpetuate and worsen the divisive, partisan rancor and incompetence that's infested the Executive Branch for the past eight years.

The Gentleman from AZ

John McCain's anger is legendary amongst those who have worked with him, especially toward women. This is the guy, after all, who called his wife a trollop and the c-word after she joked about his thinning hair.

Fellow Republican Senator Thad Cochran of MS, who has served with McCain in the Senate during the latter's entire 22-year tenure, said of the gentleman from AZ,

The thought of his being President sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper, and he worries me.

For those who know John McCain, the following video of him at a Senate hearing comes as no surprise. His parting words to his female witness, though, are especially revealing.

Palin In Her Own Words

Here's a collection of quotes from the Republican Vice-Presidential nominee, AK Gov. Sarah Palin, courtesy of TNR.


"But as for that v.p. talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it, exactly, that the v.p. does every day?"

--July 31, 2008, CNBC's "Kudlow & Company"


"It kind of cracks me up. It is so far out of the realm of possibility and reality."

--August 14, 2008, Financial Post on the prospect of becoming a candidate for vice president


"I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice, and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place."

--March 21, 2007, Alaska Business Monthly


"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [American soldiers] out on a task that is from God. That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

--June 8, 2008, Wasilla Assembly of God Church


"I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that."

--June 8, 2008, Wasilla Assembly of God Church


"A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I'm not one, though, who would attribute it to being man-made."

--August 29, 2008, Newsmax


"Growing up with being so privileged and blessed to be given a lot of information on, on both sides of the subject--creationism and evolution. It's been a healthy foundation for me. But don't be afraid of information and let kids debate both sides."

--October 25, 2006, gubernatorial debate on teaching 'Creationism' in the public schools


"What would your response be if I asked you to remove some books from the collection?"

--October 1996 conversation with librarian Mary Ellen Emmons, Anchorage Daily News


"Your party plays an important role in our state's politics ... keep up the good work, and God bless you."

--2008 video address to the secessionist Alaskan Independence Party's convention


"It's not rocket science. It's six million dollars and fifty-three employees."

--October 1996, Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman on being Mayor of Wasilla, pop. 5000


"We want to see Ivana because we are so desperate in Alaska for any semblance of glamour and culture."

--April 3, 1996, Anchorage Daily News on an Ivana Trump appearance


"I will unambiguously, steadfastly, and doggedly guard the interests of this great state, as a mother naturally guards her own. Like a Southeast Eagle and her eaglets, or, more appropriately here in the Carlson, like a Nanook defending her cub."

--December 4, 2006, AK gubernatorial inaugural address


It should be pointed out that the last quote is indicative of her reported racism, especially toward the indigenous people of the state she governs. Calling someone a 'Nanook' is like calling a black a 'Sambo' (which she's referred to Obama as) and describing an Inuit's baby as a cub further demonstrates where she feels the people who populated the Alaskan territory long before her family moved in from Idaho fall in her pecking order.

In the hands of a talented Hollywood writer or The Onion, the national candidacy of Sarah Palin could be laughed off for the comedy even she (see above) knows it to be. But unless the Republican party and John McCain get serious about their claims of "Country First" and replace her with someone actually capable of assuming the Presidency of the United States, hers is a tragedy of epic proportions in the making.

Quote of the Day

Enthusiasm finds the opportunities, and energy makes the most of them.
   - Henry S. Haskins

More Wars

Here's a YouTube video showing what we can expect for our country should John McCain become president. It's a collection of Republican politicians, military experts, and McCain himself telling us that he will keep America at war, in Iraq as well as new locations. Can our country really afford a president whose bellicosity may well cost us an entire American city, not to mention thousands of more lives and hundreds of billions of dollars? Is this the person you want with his finger on the button?

Quote of the Day

The best preparation for tomorrow is to do today's work superbly well.
   - Sir William Osler

McCain's Voter Fraud

The Dirty Tricks Committee of the John McCain campaign has swung into full stride. As reported by several bloggers while listening to the Thom Hartmann Show, the McCain campaign has mailed out millions of absentee ballot applications to registered Democrats in purple states that, if used, will be rejected for a variety of reasons as invalid.

"Misleading" absentee ballot applications are being mailed out by the McCain campaign to registered Democratic voters in purple states. The return addresses are inaccurate, as well as other information. "Misleading, lying" mailers are going out in Florida and other purple states. It's a caging tactic.

Calls are coming in verifying that this is happening in small towns, as well as larger ones.

If the past two presidential elections have taught us anything, it's that Republicans will do anything to prevent people from voting if there's any chance they won't vote for their candidate. Disenfranchisement seems to be one of this party's most important values. And this is just another of example after example that reveals how a McCain presidency will be nothing but a continuation of the crimes and corruption of Bush's eight years in control.

The immediate impact of this information is clear. Take the time to make sure you're registered to vote; don't assume that you haven't been scrubbed by Republican operatives. And if you intend to use an absentee ballot, be sure the application comes directly from your Board of Elections and that they agree the application is valid.

The Shadow

Deepak Chopra has published an article on the Huffington Post that's quite insightful as to what AK Gov. Palin represents in this year's presidential election.

She is the reverse of Barack Obama, in essence his shadow, deriding his idealism and exhorting people to obey their worst impulses. In psychological terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides out of sight, countering our aspirations, virtue, and vision with qualities we are ashamed to face: anger, fear, revenge, violence, selfishness, and suspicion of "the other." For millions of Americans, Obama triggers those feelings, but they don't want to express them. He is calling for us to reach for our higher selves, and frankly, that stirs up hidden reactions of an unsavory kind.

We think Chopra's pretty much nailed it. Palin's mocking, sneering address at the RNC convention was an appeal not to our better selves, but rather to those human impulses we, in rational, dispassionate times, recognize are almost always destructive.

This tracks well with what's been revealed about Palin's governing style. She's divisive, petty, and obsessed with having the absolute, unquestioning support of those under her. In many ways, she reminds us of the current occupant of the White House, a man who doesn't bother with facts, rejects the value of analysis and debate, and punishes those who dare to speak truth to power.

Our country needs a leader - badly - who will speak to those values that tie us all together as Americans, pulling as one to rebuild our nation after the disaster of the past eight years. Gov. Palin is not this person, and must not be placed in a position that may allow her personality the free reign she's made clear she's proud of and will use to the detriment of us all.

Quote of the Day

There are three kinds of men: the ones that learn by reading, the few who learn by observation, and the rest who have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.
   - Will Rogers

Palin's Earmarks Reform Lies

AK Gov. Palin has been trying to lie her way to a national reputation as a maverick who reformed the use of earmarks to benefit her state and own political career. As TalkingPointsMemo shows in this video, the truth is completely different.

McCain Calls the NYT

Here's a spoof from 23/6 of what it would be like for John McCain to leave a vm for the New York Times. All comedy is based in truth, and there's plenty here to consider.

Japan First

Over on the Daily Kos, Kagro X reports how the Republicans, so anxious to drill any piece of land they haven't already mined, logged, or otherwise exploited, want to ship Alaskan natural gas off to Japan. Here's part of a letter from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) to Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman.

On June 3, 2008 and July 30, 2008 respectively, your Department issued and affirmed an order pursuant to Section 3 of the Natural Gas Act that will allow two major integrated oil companies – ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil – to export 98.1 billion cubic feet of Alaskan natural gas to Japan and other Pacific Rim countries. This order, which will allow the export of as much natural gas as is used by 1.4 million American families in a year, comes at a time when the President had demanded that the moratoria on oil and gas drilling along our environmentally-sensitive coastal areas be lifted and Americans are being warned that their winter heating bills are going to be dramatically higher. The Administration is trying to have it both ways – arguing that we need to drill everywhere because we don’t have adequate energy supplies, while finding that we have so much energy that big oil companies can export it overseas and keep prices here at home higher than they would otherwise be.

For those that love Big Oil's control of our government thanks to their agents currently occupying the White House, they can rely on John McCain to provide more - much, much more - of the same. As ThinkProgress reports,

Since his presidential campaign began in 2007, Sen. McCain received over $1 million in campaign cash from oil and gas interests. Previously, he raised only $300,000 from oil and gas interests over 16 years, from 1990-2006. This is an average of just $33,000 per election cycle.

So the next time someone claims that Sen. McCain is new kind of conservative, it just means it took him awhile to climb aboard the Big Oil campaign express. But now he rides it with gusto, and steers his positions accordingly, with special access and special favors for petro-polluters.

So what's it going to be, John McCain? Country first, where American natural gas stays in America, or McCain first, where American natural gas goes to whichever country Big Oil can wring the most money from and rally the cold, supplicant sheep to bleat, "Drill! Drill! Drill!" while paying you off with fat contributions to your campaign to be their American viceroy?

Welcome to the Mudflats

Those who wish to get a boots-on-the-muddy-ground perspective of Alaskan politics and the media's latest celebrity, AK Gov. Sarah Palin, would be hard-pressed to do better than peruse the blog Mudflats.

Here, one can find a plethora of links to all sorts of documentation regarding Palin's Troopergate scandal, her various lies about her record, a universal review of Wasilla as the home of white trash meth labs and prefab roadside fundie churches complete with pictures, and tons of illuminating insights from fellow Alaskans who know the real Sarahcuda and fear for our country that she may actually wind up a McCain heartbeat away from being POTUS.

The Big Lie

So now we know what the campaign strategy is for the Republican ticket of McCain-Palin: lie, lie, lie. And then lie some more.

Anyone who's followed the Bush/Cheney/Rove playbook over the past eight years will have absolutely no trouble recognizing this strategy. And now that Karl Rove has come out of the closet and admitted he's an adviser to the campaign - after lying about his involvement - it's going to be more of the same of his handiwork.

John McCain is giving speeches telling audiences that Barak Obama is going to raise their taxes and McCain's going to lower them. Nothing could be further from the truth, unless he's standing in front of a gathering of CEOs from the Fortune 500. Obama's tax plan will actually lower the income tax burden for 95% of American taxpayers - those making less than $250k per year. We realize that John McCain doesn't actually know many people who make less than that, but surely he's aware that he's lying about Obama's position on taxes. And as for lowing taxes, he's now a supporter of the disastrous Bush tax cuts (which he originally opposed) as well as tax cuts for big businesses.

The McCain campaign has also just released an ad accusing Obama of supporting comprehensive sex education for kindergartners (and using a picture that attempts to make him look like a chimpanzee) when they know full well that the legislation in question demands nothing of the sort, but rather allows for age-appropriate education and, regarding young children, the ability to warn them about inappropriate touching and sexual predators. Again, it's just another lie designed to stir up fears about what a black man might do if elected.

As for Palin, she repeats her lie about rejecting the infamous Bridge To Nowhere every chance she gets. She clearly continued to support the project even after it became the subject of national ridicule and only decided against going forward with the project when it became clear that she, not Congress, would be the one taking the hit for spending the money on the bridge. The money for the bridge was still appropriated for Alaska, but rather than being specifically designated for that particular project, it was added to a block grant to be spent as the state wished. Only then did Palin decide to withdraw her support, and then, only reluctantly, given she'd pushed for it by doing things like sporting a tshirt about Nowhere, AK while telling voters she was still going after that money.

There's also her lying about her involvement in her Troopergate scandal that Republican operatives have rushed to AK to try to quash before the election. She's repeatedly lied about firing her chef, who was simply given a new job title and who continued to cook for her kids on the AK government payroll. She's repeatedly lied about cutting taxes as Mayor of Wasilla, a bustling metropolis of 5,000 during her reign. In fact, most of what's been packaged and presented for public consumption about Palin as some kind of reformer who took on the corruption of Alaska is a lie. She didn't take on Alaska's Republican corruption - she merely took it over.

Barak Obama desires a national debate on the issues, and should John McCain actually allow this to happen, the country will discover just how similar John McCain and George W. Bush are. But Karl Rove and his deputies aren't about to let such a thing happen. Instead, they intend to feed the populace and the media a steady diet of lies, over and over and over again, and count on people forgetting that this is what he and the Republicans have been doing ever since W. lied about McCain's adopted daughter in the 2000 primary. Oh, and the sleazeball who created that lie? He's on the McCain team for this election, too.

Quote of the Day

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
   - Samuel Johnson