October 2008 archive

As noted in McCain DisDain for being truthful, the townhall debate actually fostered some good questions.  And, for the first time in the Presidential debates and far more pointedly than has occurred in any traditional TV situation, Ingrid Jackson asked a pointed question on climate change (video):

Sen. McCain, I want to know, we saw that Congress moved pretty fast in the face of an economic crisis. I want to know what you would do within the first two years to make sure that Congress moves fast as far as environmental issues, like climate change and green jobs?

They Are Not Terrorist And Never Have Been

So, Why Not Let Them Go?

Because Bush Wants Them To Be Terrorists

Innocence Be Damned.

U.S. May Take Ownership Stake in Banks

 

By EDMUND L. ANDREWS and MARK LANDLER

Published: October 8, 2008  

WASHINGTON – Having tried without success to unlock frozen credit markets, the Treasury Department is considering taking ownership stakes in many United States banks to try to restore confidence in the financial system, according to government officials.

Treasury officials say the just-passed $700 billion bailout bill gives them the authority to inject cash directly into banks that request it. Such a move would quickly strengthen banks’ balance sheets and, officials hope, persuade them to resume lending. In return, the law gives the Treasury the right to take ownership positions in banks, including healthy ones.

China’s small dairy farmers caught in milk scandal

Consumer anxiety and stricter milk collection rules are threatening their livelihoods. Analysts say it’s unlikely small farmers were involved in the melamine scandal.  

By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 9, 2008  

PANZHUANGZI, CHINA — Before dawn each day, Gao Penghong and his wife join scores of other farmers in this dairy-rich village who must walk their cows to a local milk collection station because of new safety requirements.

A byproduct of China’s deadly tainted-milk scandal, the mile-long walks to the station come as officials push for more critical supervision of dairy farmers. Only weeks ago, farmers were free to milk their cows at home and deliver the product in heavy metal containers.

But now some observers see dairy farmers, who exist at the lowest level of the milk production cycle, as having the most financial incentive to spike milk to boost protein readings. Other food safety experts say it’s unlikely that small-time farmers are behind the scandal, because they generally lack the knowledge to cause such widespread contamination.

USA

U.S. Urgently Reviews Policy On Afghanistan



 By Karen DeYoung

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, October 9, 2008; Page A01  

The White House has launched an urgent review of Afghanistan policy, fast-tracked for completion in the next several weeks, amid growing concern that the administration lacks a comprehensive strategy for the foundering war there and as intelligence officials warn of a rapidly worsening situation on the ground.

Underlying the deliberations is a nearly completed National Intelligence Estimate on Afghanistan and the Pakistan-based extremists fighting there. Analysts have concluded that reconstituted elements of al-Qaeda and the resurgent Taliban are collaborating with an expanding network of militant groups, making the counterinsurgency war infinitely more complicated.

States’ Actions to Block Voters Appear Illegal

By IAN URBINA

Published: October 8, 2008

Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law, according to a review of state records and Social Security data by The New York Times.

The actions do not seem to be coordinated by one party or the other, nor do they appear to be the result of election officials intentionally breaking rules, but are apparently the result of mistakes in the handling of the registrations and voter files as the states tried to comply with a 2002 federal law, intended to overhaul the way elections are run.

Original article, by Lee Sustar, via socialistworker.org:

Tomorrow, tomorrow

I love ya, tomorrow

You’re always

a day away!



– From the Broadway show Annie

SO MUCH for that $700 billion bailout that was supposed to save world capitalism.