You've Got to See This!

Something to tickle your funny bone and relieve the boredom of the Palin/McCain campaign:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03fcGelz8Hw



Humor is wonderful medicine.



graysmoke

McCain's MTP Appearance Today

Only one more week-end of Sunday Morning talk shows before we will no longer be inflicted with J Mc and his warped views....the only redeeming factor about his gig on MTP this morning was that he didn't have Sarah (or Cindi) along for window dressing. So we weren't treated to his lecherous leers when he gets gleeful about his wonderfully perfect choice for running mate.(Pardon me while I gag!) Sad though really, that McCain cannot realize that her experiences are trivial in the political realm.

But maybe she will excel at grooming her daughters for the beauty contest circuit, and the boys for sled dog racing crews. Or snow mobile sales reps.

John is oblivious to the obvious, that being- the mainstream Republicans are embarassed by his pick and by his absence of vetting someone that must be prepared to take over the presidency of the USA. When Brokraw tangentially broached this, McCain professed his pride in his selection and got that lochinvar look on his mug as if saying: see I can still pick 'em!

Then gets the RNC to foot the bill to produce a fashion image that he must imagine enhances her or ?him?

Poor John, the runty, sloped shoulder, Tim Conway shuffling male trying to pass himself off as an enduring/endearing stud.

Disgusting.


graysmoke

THE EMPRESS HAS NO CLOTHES------

Or so it must have seemed before she got to go shopping, (?with Cindi, maybe?) courtesy of the RNC who had been whining about how little it had in its treasure chest.


Imagine, a hockey mom, Josephine-six-packer and a campaign wardrobe to the tune of at least 150,000 smackeroos. Where is Western Costuming, this all doesn't quite fit together, anachronistic maybe, but then McCain has always been swayed by looks, that is numero uno on his list for making a judgement and he says so in reciting why he was attracted to Keating, way back when, and it was further dramatically demonstrated as he serially dropped wife one, then wife two.......except there was a further caveat there, the spouse candidate needed to be very wealthy.......but of course, Palin was in a government job so instead of her meeting the wealth test he palmed that off on the RNC. Ah, such a straightforward guy........aren't you impressed.


Me.....nope......disgusted.




graysmoke

Palin's False Constitutional Interpretations

What bubble is she existing in, anyway? She's given her "understanding" of a vice-president's role three maybe four times, wrong every time. Will someone grab this prevaricator and sit her down somewhere and insist she read the Constitution four times.

And to add to the phoniness, we see now that she has had her fashion and grooming makeovers courtesy of the RNC........What about that lack of funding the RNC supposedly is suffering from?

Dare anyone ask what her concept of being President might be?

Lazy Jounalists.........lol.


graysmoke

The Powell Endorsement

What this really means to me is that at last Colin Powell has stiffened his spine......he rolled over too many times for W for me to have any respect left for him. But the fact that he will endorse Obama has some redeeming value. The fact that he cannot support McCain whom he has known for over twenty-five years should be very informative to those continuing to cling so some mythic style fantasy about McCain.



And the blind still cannot see the issue of judgment in the continued use of Joe the NonPlumber as campaign fodder.



It equates, in my book, with McCain being a sucker for the Chalabi propaganda because it fed into his belief that there is a military solution for every problem. And Johnny still believes that the Iraq mistake can be "WON" without ever defining how that applies or what would constitute "VICTORY".........He very probably doesn't even know that the rewritten field manual and use of cultural training with the troops, which two women anthropologists contributed, had more to do with the change of circumstances in the Iraq conflict than an increase in troop numbers, the increase in knowledge really had more to do with it.......and we still do not know that there is any permanent improvement or rather if once we quit payrolling the Sons of Iraq if they will erupt in domestic violence all over again.

McCain could learn by reading some of the personal accounts by Iraqi citizens that have lived through all of this - and they blog about it. There is a site called Iraqi Bloggers Central where you can sample many of the bloggers postings. There are diverse views and some of the active ones are operating stateside so review enough different ones to get where they are coming from

In a measure it is sad to see the McCain campaign's sick efforts to keep throwing mud....they are bankrupt of ideas and have no vision for either the immediate economic problems or all the other challenges that are going to be dumped on the lap of the next president, courtesy of the Bush Administration and McCain has to bear some responsibility for all of it......after all by his re peated declaratives "he knows how to correct everything" .......think for a few minutes about that campaign regurgitation.


graysmoke

JOE THE NON--PLUMBER

Here's an article by a highly regarded newspaper in Toledo.

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081016/NEWS09/810160418/-1/NEWS


Article published Thursday, October 16, 2008

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP

By LARRY VELLEQUETTE and TOM TROY BLADE STAFF WRITERS


"Joe the Plumber" isn’t a plumber — at least not a licensed one, or a registered one.A check of state and local licensing agencies in Ohio and Michigan shows no plumbing licenses under Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher’s name, or even misspellings of his name.Last night, his name, "Joe the Plumber," came up about two dozen times in the debate between Mr. Obama and Republican nominee John McCain.Since last night Mr. Wurzelbacher who lives alone with his 13-year-old son has been besieged with local and national news media, willingly granting interviews.Mr. Wurzelbacher told reporters Thursday morning that he worked for Newell Plumbing & Heating Co., a small local firm whose business addresses flow back to several residential homes, including one on Talmadge Road in Ottawa Hills.According to Lucas County Building Inspection records, A. W. Newell Corp. does maintain a state plumbing license, and one with the City of Toledo, but would not be allowed to work in Lucas County outside of Toledo without a county license.


'JOE THE PLUMBER' SPEAKS

Mr. Wurzelbacher said he works under Al Newell’s license, but according to Ohio building regulations, he must maintain his own license to do plumbing work.He is also not registered to operate as a plumber in Ohio, which means he’s not a plumber.Mr. Wurzelbacher said he was hired by Mr. Newell six years ago and that the possibility of him eventually buying the company was discussed during his job interview.He said it’s his understanding he can work under Mr. Newell’s license as long as the licensed contractor works on the same site.Mr. Wurzelbacher said he is working on taking the Ohio plumbing contractors’ license test.Mr. Wulzerbacher’s notoriety has raised the ire of Tom Joseph, business manager for Local 50 of the United Association of Plumbers, Steamfitters, and Service Mechanics, who claimed that Mr. Wulzerbacher didn’t undergo any apprenticeship training."When you have guys going out there with no training whatsoever, it’s a little disreputable to start with," Mr. Joseph said. "We’re the real Joe the Plumber."Mr. Joseph said Mr. Wulzerbacher could only legally work in the townships, but not in any municipality in Lucas County or elsewhere in the country."This individual has got no schooling, no licenses, he’s never been to a training program, union or non-union, in the United States of America," Mr. Joseph said.The association has endorsed Barack Obama, according to Mr. Joseph.Questions were raised Thursday morning whether Mr. Wurzelbacher is a registered voter.Linda Howe, executive director of the Lucas County Board of Elections, said a Samuel Joseph Worzelbacher, whose address and age match Joe the Plumber’s, registered in Lucas County on Sept. 10, 1992. He voted in his first primary on March 4 of this year, registering as a Republican.Ms. Howe said that the name may be misspelled in the database.Mr. Wurzelbacher, 34, acknowledged during an interview at his home late Thursday morning that he knows he’s "a flash in the pan," after his fame spread for an impromptu debate he had in front of his Springfield Township home with Mr. Obama last Sunday.Mr. Wurzelbacher said he objects to Mr. Obama’s plans to raise income taxes on incomes above $250,000. He said he makes no where near that much money but he would not say how much he makes or if he ever expects to make $250,000. Court records from a divorce show Mr. Wurzelbacher made $40,000 in 2006.He said, "Is it right to take someone’s money because they work a little harder? It’s taking away from someone’s hard work."Mr. Wurzelbacher said he disagrees with the idea of people being taxed at a higher rate because they earn more."They’re going to take more of your money because you’ve been more successful," he said.In January, 2007, the Ohio Department of Taxation placed a lien against him because $1,183 in personal property taxes had not been paid, but there has been no action in the case since it was filed.Mr. Wurzelbacher was playing football in his front yard with his son, Joey, on Sunday afternoon when Mr. Obama made an unscheduled stop to go door to door greeting voters and asking for their support.In his conversation with Mr. Wurzelbacher, Mr. Obama tried to justify his plan tax breaks to 95 percent of Americans and raise taxes on incomes above $250,000.Mr. Obama said his plan would improve the economy for other people trying to get a start in small business, and "spread the wealth."The phrase was quickly picked up by conservative bloggers and commentators saying it reveals a desire to redistributed wealth on the part of Mr. Obama.During that same conversation, Mr. Wurzelbacher advocated a flat tax to Mr. Obama under which everyone would pay the same rate of tax which was a feature of Mike Huckabee’s unsuccessful campaign for the Republican nomination this year.Mr. Wurzelbacher said he was surprised by the spread the wealth phrase."That’s a pretty socialist comment. Two-fifty ($250,000) is his number now. When is it going to be one fifty ($150,000), when it’s going to be one hundred ($100,000)?"He continued: "If you believe him, I would be receiving his tax cut," adding that he would not want the tax cut.He won’t say who he will vote for on Nov. 4, but did say he likes Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.He said he was born in the Toledo area, lived until he was 13 in the Florida Panhandle area, went to Springfield High School, and then entered the U.S. Air Force. He was stationed at an Air Force base in Alaska from 1992 until 1995. He said he was honorably discharged.Mr. Wurzelbacher also said he lived in Arizona from 1997 until 2000.
'Joe the Plumber' is focus of presidential debate's first few minutes.


From earlier editions of toledoblade.comBy BRIDGET THARP and MARK ZABORNEYBLADE STAFF WRITERS

The story of "Joe the Plumber" - Joe Wurzelbacher of Shrewsbury Street in Springfield Township - became a centerpiece of the early minutes of the presidential debate last night.
And Joe the Plumber became the subject of national and international interest.Mr. Wurzelbacher, 34, was more interested in taking in the debate than in assessing his place in presidential politics.
"Honestly, I'm a small part of it," Mr. Wurzelbacher said. "They're just using me as an example right now for the American public. I think they're discussing more important is-sues."He excused himself so he could finish watching Barack Obama and John McCain debate.
But after the debate, Mr. Wurzelbacher expressed some embarrassment that he was now known across America as Joe the Plumber."There's a lot more important issues than me, and I'm starting to feel a little uncomfortable with it," he said. "Everyone's more worried about what Joe the Plumber has to say than what Obama or McCain has to say."While watching the debate at home with his father, he was interrupted several times by calls from the national media including CNN, Fox News, and Good Morning America. In addition, CNBC, ABC News, the Wall Street Journal, the Houston Chronicle, and the BBC called The Blade in their quest to reach Joe the Plumber.
Mr. Obama didn't win Mr. Wurzelbacher's support on Sunday, and he didn't change his mind last night. ( THE BLADE/LORI KING )

Mr. Wurzelbacher and Mr. Obama had something of a debate Sunday as the candidate walked house to house on Shrewsbury at the start of the candidate's four-day visit in the Toledo area.He told Mr. Obama that he was trying to buy a plumbing business."I'm being taxed more and more for fulfilling the American dream," Mr. Wurzelbacher said Sunday.Mr. Obama said, in part, "It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody that is behind you, that they have a chance for success, too.
"I think that when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."
The exchange was caught on videotape and was broadcast on a variety of news outlets and put on numerous Web sites, including YouTube.
It was the "spread the wealth around" comment that caught the attention of conservative commentators, including Rush Limbaugh, and in discussions on the Internet. Mr. Wurzelbacher was a guest of Fox News' Neil Cavuto on Tuesday.
During the debate, Mr. McCain challenged Mr. Obama: "Joe wants to buy the business that he has been in for all of these years, worked 10, 12 hours a day. And he wanted to buy the business, but he looked at your tax plan and he saw that he was going to pay much higher taxes."
"You were going to put him in a higher tax bracket which was going to increase his taxes, which was going to cause him not to be able to employ people, which Joe was trying to realize the American dream," Mr. McCain said.
Mr. McCain then looked directly into the television camera and said: "Joe, I want to tell you, I'll not only help you buy that business that you worked your whole life for and I'll keep your taxes low and I'll provide available and affordable health care for you and your employees. And I will not stand for a tax increase on small-business income."
Mr. Obama denied that was true.
"Not only do 98 percent of small businesses make less than $250,000, but I also want to give them additional tax breaks because they are the drivers of the economy," Mr. Obama said. "They produce the most jobs."
Mr. Wurzelbacher came up again when the debate turned to a discussion of health-care policies.
Mr. McCain charged that Mr. Obama's plan would fine the company Mr. Wurzelbacher wanted to buy; Mr. Obama said small businesses were exempt.
"Hey Joe, you're rich. Congratulations," Mr. McCain said mockingly.
Mr. Obama didn't win Mr. Wurzelbacher's support on Sunday, and he didn't change his mind last night.
He did allow, "Obama, you can't take away that he's a damn good speaker."
Overall, though, Mr. Wurzelbacher was pleased with Mr. McCain's performance.
"McCain was doing much better this time," he said. "McCain came across with some solid points. I like his tax cuts."
But he said Mr. Obama's health-care plan scares him.
"It's just one step closer to socialism," he said.
He said he hopes both candidates will talk about family and family values before the November election because he believes problems such as education and senior health care should come back to families taking care of each other. "Sense of family has to be brought back," Mr. Wurzelbacher said.
He added: "I believe there was too much emphasis put on me. The debate was more important."
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Contact Bridget Tharp at:btharp@theblade.comor 419-724-6061.

#################

So here's an excellent example of McCain's flawed judgment. Rushing to smear Obama, neither he nor his campaign apparently, took the trouble to find out whether this Joe was genuine or not.

Smelly right? And has a bit of the same odor as the rush to judgment on his running mate.


Worse than "W" IMO.



graysmoke

Fact Checking

McCain has for months been lying about the impact of Obama's tax proposals and health plan on small business owners. In the debate tonite he managed to work the disinformation into the rhetoric by piggybacking it to the Joe the Plumber interaction. Here's a couple of links to throw some sunshine on the truth of the matter.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFC9jv9jfoA



and:



http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/mccains_small-business_bunk.html





graysmoke

DeBAIT FINALE

McCain tried hard but just doesn't have the class that Obama naturally exudes. Poor John, he just can't help it. He squirmed and squirmed and blinked and blinked, all revealing that he was not really confident or comfortable .......there was other body language......smirks, rolled eyes, more smirks, all making him obnoxious. He was out to try to smear Obama some more. I think he just showed how small he is in a way other than being vertically challenged as is said of the men that get short changed in the stature department physically speaking. But it is really his smallness of character and spirit that is problematic. To say nothing of his stale program proposals.

McCain's constant reiterating that "he knows how to do.....this, that, or other, begs for someone to remark What have you waited for, the last twenty some years you have been in Washington?
This makes it seem that he was willing to just let deterioration happen until he became president.

McCain travelled the low road as his campaign does every day.....and it appears everyone is pretting fed up with the rut.

I just can't wait ....wish Nov. 4 were tomorrow. I predict Sarah will be out there tomorrow madly tossing more garbage, and McCain will keep up his denial of what type of campaign he bears responsibility for.

Ta Ta John, please retire......




graysmoke

The Limits of "Goosing"

The Wall Street Casino continues to lack players, everyone now realizes what the house odds are against winning - unless you have enough chips to be a high roller like the hedge crowd.

The injection of the 700B taxpayer dollars is going to be another loss, even if the G7 comes up with some cockamanie "fix".

There is no one to believe, no one to trust, eight years of "W' wiped that out......for me it disappeared that first year. And Georgie hasn't a clue, he keeps getting in the way of a microphone and expects his empty words in have "results".

The foxes are in the chicken house, Paulson and another buddy from GS that has been given the job of filling the IV jugs and opening the flow to those institutions of their choosing.......WOO-WOO.......watch out for that trickle.......they have no idea of what the dosage should be or if it will be toxic too. Them that brung us can't be expected to dance us out of this.....to paraphrase it like the missed Molly would have.

A bit of silver lining in my own personal involvement......maybe. Seems Citigroup has thrown in the legal towel on the FDIC engineered deal for parts of Wachovia, and my understanding is that Wells Fargo's offer is for the whole enchilada. Which would mean getting the brokerages etc as well as the banking entities.........as a very disgruntled A G EDwards/Wachovia client, not shareholder, I feel this just might be the better deal because if this is finalized, the brokerage would then be A G EDward/Wells Fargo, or it might be marketed again.



graysmoke

Everything you didn't want to know about CDS's

The man that McCain selected to be his top finanacial campaign advisor, Phil Gramm, bears responsibility for the major cause of the market collapse. (Another prime (ahem) example of McCain's lack of judgement!!)

The CDS's that few people are knowledgeable about -----so improve your knowledge by reading this column:



http://www.counterpunch.org/bryce10092008.html
Why Are We Surprised?
From Enron to the Current Meltdown
By ROBERT BRYCE

The question that keeps coming to mind amidst the current financial meltdown is this: why is anyone surprised?
I take no pleasure in asking that question. Along with lots of other people, I’ve watched over the past few weeks as my modest stock holdings shrink into nearly meaningless positions.
But the question remains: given the myriad warnings that came via Enron – and the years-long neglect of any meaningful efforts to have serious policing of Wall Street – why are we surprised to find out that the financial engineers have robbed us blind? The warnings from the Enron meltdown could scarcely have been more clear. Indeed, two key lessons were obvious: financial regulators needed lots more funding, personnel and support; and derivatives markets that operate without proper regulatory oversight and reporting pave the way for financial engineers to privatize profits and socialize costs.

First, the lack of regulators. A key problem with today’s financial markets, as it was when Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling were piloting Enron into the dirt, is simple: we have too few cops patrolling Wall Street. That lack of oversight can most easily be understood by looking at the budget of America’s single most important financial regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In 2001, the SEC’s budget was $437.9 million. In March 2002, the General Accounting Office issued a report which said that the shortage of money and manpower at the SEC had forced the agency to “be selective in its enforcement activities and have lengthened the time required to complete certain enforcement investigations.” So what has happened since then? Precious little. Yes, the agency has a substantially larger budget today than it did during the Enron era. For 2008, its spending authority is $906 million. And for 2009, the agency’s budget is projected to increase slightly, to $913 million.

But here’s the number that defies explanation: this year, the number of enforcement personnel, the people who go after the financial engineers, is expected to decline. You read that right. Despite the trillion dollar meltdown now underway, the number of SEC enforcement personnel will decline from 1,209 in fiscal year 2008 to to 1,177 in 2009. In all, the SEC expects to have 3,771 employees for 2009.

How does that compare to other federal agencies? Well, for comparison, the Smithsonian Institution budget for 2009 includes funding for 4,324 employees. That’s not a slap at the Smithsonian. It houses a myriad of the nation’s most treasured objects. But the SEC actually guards the nation’s treasure. And yet, Congress treats it like a bastard stepchild. Congress currently doles out more than five times as much money for corn subsidies ($4.9 billion in 2006, the most recent year for which data is available) as it does for the SEC.

It’s not just about funding. It’s also about rigorous accountability for the regulators themselves. Over the past few weeks, it’s become obvious that the SEC was largely co-opted by the companies it was supposed to be regulating. On September 25, the agency’s Inspector General, David Kotz, issued a report which that it is “undisputable” that the SEC “failed to carry out its mission in its oversight of Bear Stearns” – the investment bank the collapsed earlier this year and was taken over by JP Morgan. The report said that the agency missed “numerous potential red flags” prior to the company’s collapse and failed to require the investment bank to rein in its risk taking. (The full text of the report is available at: http://www.sec.gov/about/oig/audit/2008/446-a.pdf.)

But what’s more telling, according to the report, is the lax approach the SEC had in its handling of what was known as the Consolidated Supervised Entity program, a system set up to oversee the biggest Wall Street firms. There were six holding companies in the program: Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and JP Morgan. The report found that the SEC approved the inclusion of Bear Stearns in the program “prior to the completion of the inspection process.” Thus, the SEC agreed to regulate Bear Stearns before it even knew if the company was in compliance with the standards it was supposed to enforce.
Perhaps even more unsettling is a new report from Kotz, reported on this week by the New York Times and ABC News, which concludes that the top enforcement officials at the SEC quashed an investigation into possible insider trading at Pequot Capital Management, a big hedge fund. Kotz’s report sides with Gary J. Aguirre, a former SEC employee, who was fired in September 2005 after he tried to get testimony from John J. Mack, the current CEO of Morgan Stanley. Aguirre wanted to talk to Mack about the Pequot investigation. (In 2007, Mack’s compensation totaled $41.7 million even though Morgan Stanley’s earning fell by 57 percent.) Kotz’s report makes it clear that Aguirre was wrongly dismissed for being too vigilant in his investigation of Pequot and it says that the SEC gave “preferential treatment” to Mack during the investigation. It further recommends that the agency’s chief of enforcement, Linda Thomson, as well as two other top regulators at the agency, face “disciplinary and/or performance-based action” for their role in the tawdry affair.
This brings us to derivatives. Before it failed, Enron operated a huge – and almost completely unregulated -- derivatives exchange business. According to the Bank for International Settlements, the global derivatives market is now worth some $676.5 trillion. That’s $676,500,000,000,000. That’s a five-fold increase over the value of derivatives that were traded in 2003. Further, that $676.5 trillion is 51 times America’s current GDP.
In 2002, the world’s smartest investor (and my pick for president in 2008) Omaha billionaire Warren Buffett, issued his annual letter to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway. In it, he called derivatives “financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal.”

The most toxic element of the current market meltdown are credit derivatives, a financial instrument that was almost non-existent prior to 2000. And the growth of the credit derivatives business is due largely to one of John McCain’s pals, former Texas senator, Phil Gramm. In 2000, Gramm, who was then the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, sponsored the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, a bill that was passed unanimously by the Senate on December 13, 2001. President Bill Clinton signed it into law eight days later. After it passed, Gramm hailed the measure, saying it “protects financial institutions from over-regulation.” He went on, saying it also “guarantees that the United States will maintain its global dominance of financial markets.”

Global dominance may be a worthy goal, but Gramm’s bill also contained a provision which Congressional aides referred to as the "Enron exemption.” This bit of legislative legerdemain made into law a regulatory exemption on derivatives contracts that was first rushed into place by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 1993 when that agency was chaired by Gramm’s wife, Wendy Gramm.

More than any other piece of legislation, the Commodity Futures Modernization Act paved the way for the financial engineers on Wall Street to buy and sell the infamous derivatives known as “credit default swaps” with virtually no oversight. According to one Washington, D.C.-based expert on derivatives who asked that his name and affiliation not be used, the bill that Gramm sponsored “led directly to the current meltdown. In 2000, the total value of the credit derivatives business was less than $1 trillion. By this year, the credit derivatives business was worth more than $60 trillion.”
Of course, few people listened when Buffett warned of the dangers of derivatives back in 2000. Indeed some of America’s most important financial players dismissed him out of hand. In September 2002, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Harvey Pitt and James Newsome, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, sent a letter to a pair of U.S. Senators in which they declared that financial derivatives were not a danger. Instead, they said that derivatives “have been a major contributor to our economy’s ability to respond to the stresses and challenges of the last two years.” Further, they declared that a then-pending Senate proposal to regulate derivatives could increase “the vulnerability of our economy to potential future stresses.”
Back in 2002, in Pipe Dreams, my book on the Enron disaster, I wrote that reforms were needed to deal with derivatives. I quoted one financial analyst who called derivatives “Wall Street’s dirty secret.” And I recommended that “Derivatives dealers should be required to post agreed-upon amounts of capital to collateralize their trading positions” and that “the derivatives marketplace must be made more uniform, with policing by regulators who can establish price limits, listing requirements and other trading parameters.”
I’m not repeating that to brag or claim any special foresight. Lots of others were arguing for the same types of reforms.
Enron gave Congress and the Bush administration all of the rationales that were needed to justify proper regulation of the financial markets. Enron clearly showed the need for more cops – well paid cops who have the backing of their bosses – to patrol the corporate boardrooms and study corporate accounting practices. Enron’s bankruptcy also demonstrated the dangers of uncontrolled derivatives businesses. But those lessons were merrily ignored by Gramm, Greenspan and their cronies on Wall Street.
So I have to ask again: why are we surprised?
Robert Bryce is the author of Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of "Energy Independence."


So do you still plan to vote for McCain and ensure more of the same but worse?

GOD, I hope not.


graysmoke

DeBAIT Dos

I have been watching the pre-debate televised coverage on C-Span and will continue, hoping to offer a comment on two while in progress.

Given the atmosphere of attacks that is heating up the media on all fronts, this debate should produce some improvement for ninety-minutes or so we can hope.

Right now there are just explanatory remarks by the C-Span moderator. The coin toss for going first went to Obama, that is good, perhaps he can set a tone that will provide elevation of this above the level of mudslinging we have seen this week, especially Sarah Palin's inciting remarks that has resulted in federal agents trying to find who inserted an unmentionable remark at one of her Florida events.

Two and a half minutes and holding........

The setting is a raised chair type stool by a small round table. This is to McCain's benefit and his Napoleonic stature, over which he as always had great sensitivity.

Holding ........

It will be interesting as to how amiable the handshake will be.

If I had been slammed like they have Obama, I wouldn't shake McCain's hand.

Brokaw now speaking, explaining format etc.

The candidates are introduced. Handshake not effusive.

Obama rises to take first question from gentleman, Alan someone.

Answer goes right to placing blame for current economic crisis on past eight years and McCain's support of it.

Question was on what is the rastest way to help people in these economic conditions?

McCain spins it into saying his anwer and plan is energy independence and no further taxing.

M. declares he knows how to do it........(if so, why hasn't he done so in twenty-five years?)


New Question: Who would be your Treasury Secretary?

He addresses his answer more to Brokaw........,.Obama more expansive on who he would consider, says there are several choices, and it must be someone that is willing to not rely on TRICKLE DOWN......while watching McCain - Obama is very serious and unsmiling.

Another question from group chosen to attend:


Oliver asks:How will the Fiscal Recovery Package Help People?

McCain works his support of reining in The Two Freddies.

Obama stating he must correct some of McCain's response, not surprisingly he says...OOOOH

Will continue this in later additions, want to focus more on listening now.


graysmoke

The Myth Busting Article on McCain

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain

Please dare to read the complete article at the link.......it details truths about McCain that reveals why he should never be placed in the oval office........makes it easy to understand why a term under his command would be even worse than what the country has suffered the last eight years under "W".

This should be required reading ......or stay home from the polls Nov 4.


graysmoke

BUTTON, BUTTON, WHO'S GOT THE BUTTON?

We had a kiddie game during my early childhood that was called by the title of this post.

It was a guessing game and used, I think, to develop keeping attention focused in the early grades of elementary school. We all sat in a circle on our chairs in the classroom and the teacher gave a nickel sized button to a student who went around the circle, choosing to pass the button to another student, we sat with our hands palms facing and thumbs upward and as the holder of the button came by each player she would place her hands between your open palms and at her discretion could drop the button or not and the receiver had to not reveal by facial expression or other give-away behavior that they had the button in their possession.Then the guessing part began. It also taught one that others can fake having the button.

As a very disgruntled client for the last several months, ( accounts at this broker for a couple of decades) then along came a new player and bought the brokerage and choices for investment of cash account amounts were restricted. They term this the cash sweep, meaning really that Wachovia the buyer was going to funnel these cash amounts into a selection of four of their various banks that could benefit from the infusion of capital to meet regulatory requirements.

So for the last two week ends I have been guessing just what is happening to this money which against my desires was dumped into the Wachovia Mortgage FSB Oakland CA ( I am in Arizona.)

Last week-end the FDIC stepped in and arranged a deal between Wachovia and Citigroup, so I thought bingo! that's where my cash will be swept, then today, early in the business news of the day, I find that Wells Fargo and Wachovia ignored the FDIC engineered deal and WF was taking over the accounts, Okay I'm getting used to this button game........(not really).....now my broker kept insisting that the brokerage now under the Wachovia management was operating within the permitted restrictions, I did not feel this should be permitted, and at best was a complete repudiation of client service. And yes during this I have been shopping for somewhere to move my IRA, or what remains of it and my cash trust account into more reliable hands, and that is quite a task given the present domino dropping of one shoe after another......I wanted none of this....now FDIC and Citigroup are threatening to sue WF and Wachovia.....such a kettle of fish!!

There is more......I am eighty one years old....I feel my investments must preserve my capital but hopefully achieve enough of a return to keep a bit ahead of inflation.....but in the present conflagration......that doesn't seem likely so am I headed to pauperhood where I will have plenty of company?

Oh button, button, who's got my money?



graysmoke

IMPRESSIONS -- the day after

Sarah's views on the Constitution regarding the Vice Presidency smells Rovian. One thing I like about the Democratic ticket is that both Obama and Biden are contitutional law scholars. They are not likely to behave as if the executive branch is more powerful than the other two, Sarah needs to go back to school it seems or was there an agent at the ranch that indoctrinated her?

That Rovian smell again. We all know it well by now. Sewer gas aroma. Or perhaps out there in Sedona ranch land it's that cesspool scent.

Who is she flirting with? Winking and acting like a juvenile date, same behavior when meeting with the United Nations reps that accommodated her picture ops, wasn't that zany. A cover up for too many gaps in her education? And voters are falling for all that coyness, sexism, anyone

I think Biden bringing up the fact that men know what it is like also to single parent and feel losses of loved ones keenly, showed that he was aware of her use of - shall we say - "wiles" in her demeanor.


graysmoke

Sarah's Ranch Rehab Results

The windup toy is back, maybe they installed a new spring - certainly not a new thought in any answer she gave or for that matter that she avoided giving. She did not demonstrate any creativeness in differentiating McCain from the Bush policies and doctrine, shall we say. She sounded thoroughly scripted and determined not to forget her "place". She is another example of terrible judgement by McCain, Biden needed to find a way to address that maverick history, and how about that "family" exploitation, using the Down's baby for political gain, they hope.



What she did as mayor of a very small town, not a city by any stretch of the population, is not relevant. And governor of a state that receives a major percentage of its revenue from the oil companies, again removes her experience as a governor there out of the mainstream.



She doesn't understand that eliminating terrorism is not a military mission, how could she? She is indoctrinated by McCain. McCain is stuck in a Viet Nam time warp, look how oftern he brings it up.........diplomacy and its application to the global challenges of today doesn't exist in the playbook adopted from the"W" regime.



The naivete of the voting public may be fooled by the bravado display unfortunately.



She showed she could play to the camera, and went unchallenged on her avoidances, Biden had several openings and needed to step in more aggressively, I was surprised at how docile he was, not exactly what I have seen from him over the years.



graysmoke