deadissue.com

Looks like people at the McCain rallys are being asked to leave when they look like they don’t belong.

Elborno said after seeing the people who were asked to leave, she was concerned that McCain’s staffers were profiling people on appearance to determine who might be a potential protester.

“When I started talking to them, it kind of became clear that they were kind of just telling people to leave that they thought maybe would be disruptive, but based on what? Based on how they looked,” Elborno said. “It was pretty much all young people, the college demographic.”

Elborno said even McCain supporters were among those being asked to leave.

“I saw a couple that had been escorted out and they were confused as well, and the girl was crying, so I said ‘Why are you crying? and she said ‘I already voted for McCain, I’m a Republican, and they said we had to leave because we didn’t look right,’” Elborno said. “They were handpicking these people and they had nothing to go off of, besides the way the people looked.”

McCain doesn’t thave that many supporters as it is, should he really be trying to piss them off. Part of the problem for the republicans is that they have managed to exclude almost everyone but white America over 40. My guess is that is not enough people to win many elections, so as a dedicated liberal I hope the republicans keep doing what they are doing.

Watching McCain steer the SS Republican into an ice berg has been fun. In fact you can argue that the captain who should go down with the ship is George Bush but somehow like always Bush gets out at just the right time leaving someone else holding the bag.

Republicans as a political party have some real problems, their economic message of “deregulate and don’t tax” has been shown to lead to financial meltdows. Their national security message of “bomb them until they like us” has also been shown to be a failure in practice.

The only message that seems to resonate with anyone, is that we should turn the US into a christian theocracy, at least that seems to be the purpose of Sarah Palin. I think the last time the world saw a christian theocracy they called it the dark ages, but it is probably the only model that makes the republican party viable as a large minority party. The new fund-raising model of getting small contributions from a large amount of donors only works if you have a message that appeals to a large number of people. At this point the only people that still support the republican party in large numbers are christian socialists, so it seems likely that the republican party will go more towards christian socialism. This means an even more right wing position on reproductive rights which will appeal to the Dobsons of the world but no one else.

My guess is you will see some of the more hawkish Democrats start to drift towards the Republican party, as a holy war might sound good to many people, and would certainly increase the bottom line for some defense contractors but other than that if Democrats can manage to avoid corruption they may be able to maintain control of the country for a very long time; much like they did after the last depression.

Credit cards and more specificaly the banks that are counting on people to pay them back may be the next crisis. I don’t know whether or not credit card debt is sold the same way that mortgage debt is sold, but I doubt it will have the same effect on investors as the mortgage meltdown did, unless of course you happen to own bank stock.

I have argued that people need to give up their credit addiction looks like just in time for christmas Americans may be going cold turkey on easy credit.

Latest pollo from ABC shows most te country is not impressed with Sarah Palin, nor do they want to talk about a 60’s radcal. For some reason it seems that certain politicians on both sides of the aisle are obsessed with reliving the sixties, personally I think the clothes were bad and the movies were stupid.

Sorry about the Red Sox.

McCain may be just smart enough to offend republicans, for example in last nights debate when he said “womens health can mean anything” or something to that effect. That is the logical conclusion of most anti-abortion rhetoric, but it is not something the anti-abortion crowd likes to talk about and most people who vote republican don’t want to think about the idea that they are depriving women of the right to make their own health care decisions if they outlaw abortion. McCain on the other hand seems to understand the implications he just doesn’t care.

Like with foreign policy, McCain understands that our current neo-con policies will require the US to have a troop presence in almost every country for hundreds of years, and he seems to think that is a good idea. Bush may have thought it was a good idea as well but, he acted like it wasn’t.

I guess in an odd way I am giving McCain a compliment, he is the first republican candidate to be honest about the implications of republican policies and in the end it will probably cost him the election. Apparentely they need to package the bad ideas in a cutesy form with no explanation as to what will happen if implemented. Look for Palin/Jindahl in 2012

I’m familiar w/ the type…crybabies

If Palin talks to reporters ever again, hopefully someone will ask who built her house.

This Palin scandal may not go away in that it is easy to understand and involves money, unlike the somewhat questionable parentage of her youngest; which one can argue is a family matter. How she paid for her home is just straight corruption if it was built by contractors as a favor for big projects thrown their way.

I am a bit of a Cardinal fan and it is great to see them expose the Cowboys for the farce they are.

Plus, how long before Cuttler becomes known as the latest Shanahan quarterback bust?

A while back I saw the CEO of GM on the Colbert show. It seemed pretty obvious the guy didn’t know much about cars. I wonder how many other CEO’s out there are just as clueless about whatever company they happen to be running.

Given the level of incompetence at the highest levels of management is it any wonder stock in these companies is losing value. It seems that some people forgot that the stock of a company is only as good as the company and some of these businesses are pretty clueless.

While no amount of government regulation can make companies hire competent management, government can pass regulations that at least require companies to disclose the real risk and value of the company and most certainly make sure social security is never invested in the largest most rigged casino on the planet.

I don’t think McCain recovers from his debate performance this evening.

First, the only zinger of the evening came when McCain was trying to lecture Obama on the need to speak softly. Obama rightly pointed out McCain is the guy singing “bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran” and other war mongering threats. Obama did it in such a way that it should get replayed on news shows until Sarah Palin Says something stupid and knocks it out of the news cycle.

Next, McCain left right after the debate ended, Obama stayed around for quite some time mingling with the audience. McCain is supposed to be the guy who thrives in a townhall format, but he couldn’t wait to get away from the unwashed masses. McCain’s quick exit will get noticed and talked about.

Finally, McCain wants to add more money to the bailout plan to buy bad mortgages and renogotiate them. The idea might have some merit but I think most conservatives hated the bailout and throwing more money on top of the 700 billion already approved seems like a non-starter to me.

All and all McCain managed to be arrogant, pandering and rude all in one evening. The real McCain is not a pretty sight and the country saw him in all his glory tonight.

I wonder if tonight is the night McCain loses his temper. His campaign is tanking and trying to deal with all the gibberish that comes out of Palin would probably make a sane person lose their temper.
At a minimum I wonder if will look at Obama tonight. I am sure his advisors have told him he needs to make eye contact and be less troll like, but I doubt he can help himself.

I don’t know a whole lot about the stock market other than it seems to be tanking. My guess is that tomorow some bargain hunters will swoop in and push the DOW back up around 10,000 where it will stay until the election.

One thing that is worth mentioning is that more regulation and more enforcement of existing regulations may bring stock prices down. At least part of the stock boom came about because businesses have not been following existing laws when it comes to enviroment or worker safety. This may have made business more profitable but at the cost of enviromental degradation and injured workers. These costs were carried by society and maybe these costs are going to start going to the businesses that caused some of the problems that society has been paying for over the last 30 years.

Update:
I wonder if part of the problem is that America is starting to look a little third world in some areas, and the rest of the world is starting to treat the US like a third world country for investment purposes. Amazing what eight years of neglecting a countries infrastructure can do to the financial side of things.

Conservatism does not work, but the right wing keeps trying to re-package it and sell it to an unsispecting public. First, conservatism was packaged in the form of a loveable albeit senile old grandpa. The result were high deficits and the now unwinnable quagmire on drugs. Next it was packaged in the form of a likeable but not too bright cowboy. The result is a huge deficit, a quagmire in Iraq, and attempts to create a quagmire in Iran.

Now, conservatives are trying to package their failed policies in the form of a hockey mom, who seems a little dim, who knows what the results of a Palin presidency would be, but I bet it will be huge deficits and a quagmire somewhere.

At least she did very well attacking and changing the subject. Most of us know someone like Sarah Palin if they don’t know something or feel threatened they attack everyone around them. It is not surprising that Palin has surrounded herself with loyalists anyone else would run away from her.

Plus, did anyone else notice the way she handles the baby with downs syndrome, that is supposed to be hers, she looks like she can’t wait to hand that kid to her daughter. Maybe she is just happy to see the child with his mother.

I have a feeling the media will focus on some of the mistakes Palin made, but I think the average person watching the debate might focus more on her meaness

At this point with the election a little more than a month away it makes sense to leave the bailout for after the election. The enviroment is too politicaly charged to get anything done that doesn’t pander to almost everyone.

After the election no one has to worry for at least 2 years, maybe they can take a long term view and actually try to fix the problem.

Looks like the bailout is in need of its own bailout. I thought McCain was going to suspend his campaign untl the situation was resolved.

I think in the end the bailout failure will be looked at as the time when America finally put down the credit crack pipe, but it might also turn out to be the time America re-lived the dust bowl.

I have been trying to get my head around the bailout and the mortgage mess I have a feeling that some people who read this blog and the guy who created it, understand the financial industries better than I do; but my take on it, is that the mortgages are tied to assets that exist just not at the value they were at when the mortgages were issued.

Many people bought homes planning on them increasing in value and probably paid a premium for them, also people probably used loans they didn’t understand, to buy these homes. I know when I bought my home the mortgage people kept pushing interest only loans, the sales pitch was “they give you the most flexability” or “over time they consistantly have the lowest interest rates” I got a fixed rate and I sleep better because of it, but is sounds like many people went with the interest only loans, maybe that is why Ambien has been such a success.

I don’t see how buying all these mortgages at inflated prices fixxes the problem. People are still stuck in houses that they bought not because it was a place they wanted to live, but because it was a place they thought would make them some money. People will still have mortgages that the principal balance never goes down and in some cases increases every month. It doesn’t matter if the bank owns the loans or the government the loans homeowners situation is still bad.

It seems like it would make more sense to set up an agency for people who want to stay in their home, where they can get a low fixed rate loan up to the amount of the other loans on their home, regardless of their credit score; or some other plan that allows people a chance to keep their home but lets the speculaters on both sides of the issue pay the price for speculating in the wrong direction.

The other thing about the bailout is why not wait until after the election, right now either John McCain or Barack Obama will be the next president and we will know which one in 40 days. Why not wait until we know who will be the next leader of the country before we rush into a solution that may have long-term effects and hamstring the next president for their entire first term.

I am watching Bush’s press conference. He is saying that we will get most of the money used for the bailout back when the economy improves. This sounds like “liberating Iraq will pay for itself”.

It also seems that easy money, in the form of low interest loans, creates consumption which may be good for the economy in the short term, is not sustainable for a long period of time.

It might be better to end the nations credit addiction now rather than a few years from now.

In the past few weeks the US government has taken over some of the worlds largest companies. These companies should have been shining examples of what a free un-regulated market can accomplish, instead they have become examples of short term greed winning out over long-term viability, and the government has had to step in to save them.

Much like an eighteen-year-old. College student who needs their parents to wire a few thousand to pay-off their gambling debts, these companies thought they knew what they were doing and they got spanked.

I doubt the teenagers will learn from this but, hopefully their parents will hide the credit cards from them in the future.

UPDATE:
It looks like the bailout is little more than the government buying all the bad debts of a few corporations. While this will help poorly managed companies to stay afloat it will do little to end the crisis.

I just saw Robert Lutz, the chairman of GM, on Colbert and at one point he said GM’s new electric car had a 1.4 liter engine which he said was equal to 70 cubic inches. I am not much of a car guy but I am pretty sure 1.4 liters is equal to 84 cubic inches. That may seem trivial but this is the chairman of what was once the biggest car company in the world. He should at least be able to convert liters to cubic inches.

I can see why GM is in trouble, but the new electric car sounds good depending on the price.

I finally got a chance to watch the season premier of the Terminator on fox. Why is it Fox news sucks so bad but their series are head and shoulders above the other networks.

Anyway, it looks like the Terminators are finding religion, and the sole reason that Cameron does not go bad is that she is an atheist. At least that is what I take from the scene in the church where she says the jesus thing is not part of her wiring. This was part of the theme in Battle Star Galactica as well, where the Cylons were also religious. I wonder if the moral of these machine versus human shows is that machines are fine until you give them a irrational propasition like religion and then they destroy man kind because no one can live up to the standards set by religion.

Whatever you take from the show the season premier was awesome.

BTW if you liked “6” in Battle star Galactica the actress who played her has a recurring role in Burn Notice. Yeah, I watch too much TV.