November 1, 2008 archive

Docudharma Times Saturday November 1

John McCain Approves This Message

One So Confused That Only Confusion Could Understand It




Saturday’s Headlines:

High black voter turnout could tip Georgia to Democrats

Miliband flies to Goma as rebels advance

Thabo Mbeki attack on ANC ‘corruption’

Saudis build world’s biggest women-only university

Avraham Burg: Israel’s new prophet

The killing fields of the First World War

Exclusive: SAS chief quits over ‘negligence that killed his troops’

China to tighten control of feed industry: state media

A Warning, a Blast, a Fight to Save an Afghan Life

Specter of Deflation Lurks as Global Demand Drops



By PETER S. GOODMAN

Published: October 31, 2008


As dozens of countries slip deeper into financial distress, a new threat may be gathering force within the American economy – the prospect that goods will pile up waiting for buyers and prices will fall, suffocating fresh investment and worsening joblessness for months or even years.The word for this is deflation, or declining prices, a term that gives economists chills.

Deflation accompanied the Depression of the 1930s. Persistently falling prices also were at the heart of Japan’s so-called lost decade after the catastrophic collapse of its real estate bubble at the end of the 1980s – a period in which some experts now find parallels to the American predicament.

“That certainly is the snapshot of the risk I see,” said Robert J. Barbera, chief economist at the research and trading firm ITG. “It is the crisis we face.”

Is this troubled nation ready for change?

 US correspondent Rupert Cornwell examines the mood of America and asks if the young pretender can really defeat the combative McCain

Saturday, 1 November 2008

Who, back then, could have imagined what would follow? On the glacially cold morning of 10 February 2007, I stood shivering in the crowd outside the Old State House in Springfield, Illinois, as Barack Obama formally declared himself a candidate to be the 44th President of the United States.

The very thought that, for the first time, an African-American and a relative political newcomer to boot, had a small but realistic chance of entering the Oval Office made the moment fascinating enough. There was also a small personal conceit. Back in October 1991, I had travelled to Little Rock to watch a young governor of Arkansas make a similar announcement. Bill Clinton went all the way. So, would lightning strike twice – might I have stumbled on another winner?

 

USA

New Model Is Forged In Bank’s Wreckage

U.S. Reworking IndyMac Mortgages By the Thousands

By Renae Merle

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, November 1, 2008; Page A01


PASADENA, Calif. — Inside the stone-and-glass headquarters of IndyMac Federal Bank, regulators are carrying out an experiment that could change the course of the financial crisis by tackling the home foreclosures that are at its root.

With the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. at the helm of IndyMac, which was seized in July after it became one of the country’s largest bank failures, regulators are attempting to create a model for reworking mortgages and rescuing homeowners.

A few major banks are also trying to tackle the home foreclosure problem, a major impediment to the nation’s economic recovery.

Wall Street’s Great Heist of 2008

Original article, a perspective from Barry Grey, via World Socialist Web Site:

The Wall Street Journal published a front-page article Friday reporting that the nine biggest US banks, which have received a combined $125 billion in taxpayer funds as part of the $700 billion bailout authored by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and passed by the Democratic Congress, owed their executives more than $40 billion for recent years’ compensation and pensions as of the end of 2000.

Connell forced to give deposition re 2004 Ohio election on Monday

Sorry this will be a short but sweet essay, but it is too sweet not to post.  Additional details can be found at The Brad Blog, but here’s the main point:

The BRAD BLOG has learned that Mike Connell, the Republican IT guru whose company, GovTech Solutions, created Ohio’s 2004 election results computer network appeared in federal court today, as compelled, and has been ordered to appear for his deposition on Monday, November 3, just 24 hours before Election Day 2008.

Just in time to put them on notice that they can’t get away with it this election.  And if it leads to a Rove subpoena – how sweet indeed.

Happy Halloween all and good night.

Random Japan

End of an Era

The communications ministry announced that fiscal 2007 marked the first time in history that Japanese people talked on mobile phones more than on fixed-line phones.

An opinion poll by Mitsui Home Remodeling Company found that over 40 percent of married couples in their 60s sleep in separate bedrooms.

The National Police Agency said that money-transfer scams involving ATMs dropped for the first time in a year and a half.

Japan slipped one spot to ninth in the World Economic Forum’s annual list of most competitive nations. The US retained the top spot, followed by Switzerland and Denmark.

In the same survey, Japan scored well in “technological innovation and business environments” but was 98th in terms of “macroeconomic stability,” thanks to its huge fiscal deficit.

November 5th’s Diary Today. What Do We Do Now?

Hey! Remember back when Obama was elected and the Democrats swept?

Well, that’s all in the past now. The future lies before us.

What say you? Let’s have the Dems-in-the-DC-Bubble set how that plays out.

Pelosi, Hoyer, Reid, Blue Dogs, … who can doubt that the Dem Leadership is deeply on our side? Who could possibly be more vigorous in protecting the Constitution? In enacting the people’s will? In protecting the people’s interests?

I dunno. Unless it’s the people. ‘Cause come to think of it, the Dem Leadership ain’t been doing that, in the main. Yep, comes down to us people.

So, bearing in mind that “as the twig is bent, so grows the tree”; recognizing that this very day starts the shaping of our future government; how shall we immediately train the emerging government so it bears a beneficient fruit for the people?

Surely, “business-as-usual” among our Electeds has rendered our nation barren, bleak, and endangered. Whatever has been done in the past, can be done no longer. And chief among those things from the past is…

Well, first things first. Let me digress for a moment…

Overnight Caption Contest (Halloween Edition)

Fright Night

Some of my Halloween images & artwork.

The “LITTLE WITCH”  is my grand daughter`s doll, & she directed me in post production.

DSCN4027

On The Day of the Dead

At some point every Halloween since 2006, I find myself going back and reading an essay by one of my favorite bloggers, Madman in the Marketplace, titled Dia De Los Muertos. Since it gives me such a jolt of inspiration every time, I hope Madman won’t mind if I share alot of it with you today.

First of all, a little background on the Day of the Dead from wiki:

Though the subject matter may be considered morbid from the Anglo Saxon perspective, Mexicans celebrate the Day of the Dead joyfully, and though it occurs at the same time as Halloween, All Saints’ Day and All Souls Day, the traditional mood is much brighter with emphasis on celebrating and honoring the lives of the deceased, and celebrating the continuation of life; the belief is not that death is the end, but rather the beginning of a new stage in life.

Is Obama really a radical at heart?

Original article, by Lance Selfa and subtitled If Obama is acting like a centrist now, it’s most likely because he is a centrist–rather than a radical posing as one to get elected, via socialistworker.org:

WITH LITTLE else to offer on its own behalf, the McCain-Palin ticket has built an entire campaign on ridiculing and demonizing Barack Obama. First, Obama was a neophyte. Then, he was a celebrity. Now, he’s a dangerous radical, even a friend to terrorists.

Friday Night at 8: Ambiguity

Obama speaks of getting past the divisive partisan politics that has sickened this country for so many years.  And he doesn’t only talk the talk, he embodies in his own behavior this philosophy.

Over at Daily Kos, Markos speaks of leaving everything on the road and of crushing the Republican machine.  He also defends being a surrogate in attacking Sarah Palin when both Obama and Biden could not:

I know I harp on this a lot, but it’s an important teaching moment — when Palin was picked, she debuted to sterling approval numbers. Her speech at the RNC was a big hit. She was beloved, and McCain’s numbers skyrocketed as a result. This site and others went on the attack. Republicans were busy trying to build a great story about Palin — hockey mom, “real”, ate mooseburgers, reformer, blah blah blah. We fought back discussing her record, her corruption, her lack of experience, and the results of her brand of “family values”.

Too many counseled that we should lay off her. It’s the curse of the Democrats — instead of trying to move public opinion, we’re constantly trying to “shift the debate to more favorable terrain”. That’s what happened when Democrats sold out our troops and voted for Bush’s war in Iraq. Supposedly, that would shift the terms of the debate from Iraq and terrorism, to more favorable domestic issues. Of course, that didn’t happen. We lost big in November 2002.

Then in 2004, we once again tried to move the debate from national security (Bush is too popular there!), which would be accomplished by nominating a war hero, taking that issue “off the table”. Well, Republicans, masters at this business, went straight after Kerry’s strongest attribute — his military service — and destroyed it via the Swiftboat stuff.

They even tried it this year, going after Obama’s strength — the passion of his supporters — by trying to brand him a “celebrity” on par with Paris Hilton. It wasn’t a bad line of attack until they undermined it with the selection of Palin, their very own “celebrity”.

This is all stuff out of Crashing the Gate and Taking on the System — our fear of targeting our opponents’ strongest points. Yet that’s how you win elections. So excuse me if I belabor the point, because it’s an important one.

People criticized us for taking on Palin, saying that we were ignoring McCain. But she was his biggest strength, and as such, it would be tough to knock McCain down if she wasn’t knocked down first.

Ultimately, we were successful beyond our wildest dreams — the McCain campaign has been forced to stash away Palin in Cheney’s undisclosed location, and even needs McCain to chaperone her during media interviews.

I remember when I, along with many other bloggers, were bitching about the endless stream of Palin diaries … yet many of those diaries, even the badly written ones, accomplished real citizen journalism in showing Palin’s weaknesses, most especially the corruption of her Governorship in Alaska.

Pony Halloween Party

see also:  

Pony Party: Halloween Music Videos

Punkin Pony Party

Pooties and Puppies from SFGate’s Pets In Costume Gallery



by msbugg10weiner



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