Current Events

Did I once say everthing’s going to hell in a handbasket? Yes, I think I did, in this post. Well, that was then! Look what’s happening now!

• Jobless claims jump unexpectedly to 7-year high
• OECD says developed world in recession
• Foreclosure rates up 25 percent year-over-year

And yet, and yet, I see this this morning: S&P 500, Dow futures jump on Wal-Mart optimism. I guess everybody’s going to their local Wal-Marts these days to save money. Hey, when the barrel’s almost empty, why not scrape the bottom of it? So, let’s see what the new day brings. How low can things go? Pretty awful low! Way more to go? I think the world’s going to hell in a hand basket. HA HA?

Here’s a two minute trip through an Obama phone bank in Chicago where people are sitting on the floor using cell phones to call places across the USA, like Indiana, Pennsylvania, you-name-it. Pretty exciting stuff. For further details see this Talking Points Memo report.

No, he’s not taking an aphrodisiac to avoid choking later on a Viagra pill, he’s just confused about who Zapatero, the Prime Minister of Spain, is. He evidently thinks he’s one of those South American bad guys. Josh Marshall proves this quite nicely in this video of the confused repartee between McCain and an interpreter from a Spanish language radio station:

Josh points out that Randy Scheunemann, McCain’s top foreign policy adviser and full fledged neoconservative, says McCain was not confused at all, and was simply refusing to commit to a White House meeting with Zapatero as part of policy. So, who is running the McCain campaign, McCain or his handlers? Does McCain know what’s going on? Does the rain in Spain fall mainly on McCain? (I read that on somebody’s blog comment today.)

I’ve just been reading in Mudflats and Talking Points Memo about the latest Republican voter suppression efforts, this time in Michigan. The GOP plan there is to deny voters with foreclosed homes the right to vote, or in other words, lose your home, lose your vote!

The Obama campaign is filing suit against this and seeking an injunction to prevent the GOP in Michigan from carrying out this suppression technique. The suit is worded in such a way as to invite the court to recognize that this is just a local instance of a state and national campaign of voter suppression on the part of the GOP. Here is the link to the Obama campaign’s filing.

Mudflats also references a 501-type organization called Black Box Voting funded by citizen donations. This a nation-wide elections watchdog group which has been growing fast. Here’s a key paragraph from Mudflats:

The election watchdog group Black Box Voting, has sent out the following request. If you are not familiar with this group, you should be. The website is extensive, and there’s also a great documentary Hacking Democracy (available on Netflix) which tells the story of this organization and the amazing woman who started it all. This is possibly the single most important issue facing our country, because without preserving the integrity of the vote, we have nothing.

Hey, the world seems to be going to Hell in a Handbasket what with the financial world shaking at its roots and in its boots, and the right-wing political world going insane (note their presidential pick) and bizarrely corrupt (note their VP pick), in fact, it’s so crazy everybody might just as well start wearing purple! In fact, Gogol Bordello already advised this some time ago:

I know, I’ve already posted this before. But the appropriateness of it seems to keep coming up.

Oh, and incidentally, Debi in Hawaii has spotted a person wearing purple now. I think it’s catching on fast!

Mudflats nails it again, let us hope. Check her yesterday’s post Palin Throws Alaska Under the Bus. She leads in with the lead in paragraph from the Anchorage Daily News for yesterday morning:

GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is effectively turning over questions about her record as Alaska’s governor to John McCain’s political campaign, part of an ambitious Republican strategy to limit embarrassing disclosures and carefully shape her image for voters in the rest of the country.

Here’s what I think is her key paragraph epitomizing the mood — backlash against Palin — in Alaska today.

This is not going over well in Alaska. I’ll use my usual caveat that there are lots of Alaskans who happily subscribe to the “Sarah right or wrong” mentality, and will continue to do so. However, the progressive take on this whole latest mess is only slightly short of taking torches and pitchforks and surrounding the Attorney General’s office, demanding an end to the stonewalling. I’ve watched Alaskan progressives that I personally know go from saying, “Wow! I can’t believe I voted for a Republican!” to, “She’s doing OK. I don’t agree with everything, but I don’t regret my vote” to being so furiously seething angry they just can’t say anything.

Let’s hope she’s right. But it’s likely she does have her finger on the pulse of what’s going on in Alsaka.

Mudflats latest post is a storm warning! A legal blizzard is hitting Alaska. Suddenly five Republicans on the Legislative Council, consisting of eight Republicans and four Democrats, are bringing suit against the other members and the Council itself to delay the investigation until after the November 4th election, plus they are suing to remove two of the Democrats. This is the investigation of Palin’s dismissal of the Public Safety Commissioner, Walt Monegan. Originally, the Council had voted unanimously to perform the investigation. Here’s what Mudflats says about Walt Monegan:

Walt Monegan was, in a word, beloved. He was beloved by the troopers he lead, the people he served, and basically anyone who had the privilege of working with him. He cared about people, the important issues, and he was the real deal. There are many Alaskans today thinking, “Who do these people think they are to come here, and tear down the likes of Walt Monegan?” You have to remember, the rest of the country is “outside”. We are “inside”. That feeling defines Alaskans. We don’t like the government coming in here and telling us how to run things, dammit. And we don’t like outsiders ripping apart respected public servants in our town.

Read the whole thing. It’s fascinating, very well written, and humorous to boot in spite of everything, or maybe because of it. There are already 133 371 405 responses.

See the typical moose below from which Sarah makes her burgers! This great moose picture comes from a Garrison Keillor article today, A liberal in moose country.

UPDATE: For a great slide show with music of the 50 photos taken at the anti-Palin rally in Anchorage on Sunday, Sept. 14, see here.

How about some non-US spin on General Petraeus leaving Iraq? Ajazeera is a good place to start. Here’s a video discussed by Juan Cole this morning. Instead of the happy talk of victory that the US media would spin, Juan Cole quotes a more realistic statement by Gen. Petraeus himself:

‘ In a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Sunday, Petraeus said experience in Iraq shows it will take political and economic progress as well as military action to tackle increased violence in Afghanistan. “You don’t kill or capture your way out of an industrial strength insurgency,” he said.’

Click on the YouTube and watch the heavies! There’s quite a bunch there. Also, what sounds to Juan Cole (and me) like realistic reporting. Worth a three minute watch.

Listen to how this MSM guy named Dan tries to make an issue out of General Clark’s remarks! It’s a theatre of the absurd! This MSM guy Dan won’t give up trying to extract a story out of this, trying to prove that General Clark attacked MSM darling John McCain’s war record. What lengths won’t the MSM go to to pitch Repuglican talking points! Absurd! I is pissed again. HAHAHA

Down here in front of my computer I watched the entire debate last night at the U. of Texas between Hillary and Barack. Cynthia didn’t want to watch it on TV upstairs because she wouldn’t be able to stand it, she said. She’s strongly for Clinton. So she stayed upstairs and read.

I’m liking Obama more and more, not only because I think he has a better chance of beating McCain, but because he’s proving himself presidential more and more, like he did in the debate last night. Hillary did well in the debate, too, and her closing remarks were nothing short of magnificent. I’m not one of those who subscribes to Hillary’s public persona as rigid and fake. I’ve read that in private she’s likable and outgoing, and I believe she probably is.

But of course, she’s a politician, just like Obama. Politicians have to be actors on the public stage. And they get interpreted and stereotyped by the media and the talking heads. That’s why I turned the debate right off at the end rather than listen to the talking heads discuss it, but I did scan their opinions this morning.

Most say it was a draw and I agree. The negatives were the bit about plagiarism, which, with Obama, I agree is just silly, and the bit about the Obama speeches being Xerox copies, which is also ridiculous. The rest of the debate, the large majority of it in fact, was very civil and stuck to discussion of issues.

On the health care issues, although I see the point many make about mandates, Obama may be right in that mandates are not all they’re cracked up to be (witness Massachusetts) plus getting them through congress will be daunting even if a Democratic majority gets elected. Obama’s approach, being more flexible, might actually get something passed in the way of significant health care reform.

So, to conclude, I thought they were both great, that the debate was civil for the most part, and that it was probably a draw. Actually, Hillary may pick up a few points because of her Eureka moment at the end. We’ll see.