Bailout fun!

Oops.

McCain takes credit for helping pass the bailout bill which didn't pass. Wonder if he'll take the blame like he tried to take the credit?

The GOP lost their balls, it appears. They are blaming hurt feelings about a Pelosi speech rather than own up to their own votes. Up or down doesn't matter, so long as you have a good reason and own up to it. The GOP can't get their own story straight on this bill.

Meanwhile, I got a flyer from Paul Kanjorski today, saying "No Bail Outs" in big letters on the front. He voted for the bailout bill today. Talk about losing political cover. He's probably going to be the only sitting Democrat to lose his re-election bid.

Internet running out of IP addresses?

According to Vint Cerf we better get hopping on getting more numbers.

From "Republican" to "GOP"

Running from the Republican tag.

Sarah Palin on Obama

Funny, funny stuff. You Jews are sure well represented in the funny person category.

Your political yard sign getting stolen? Put up a web cam!

We can all sympathize, I think, with this woman in Oregon who had her yard sign stolen. So she put a webcam on the next one. Nice. I think she'd have more luck if she put a webcam on a regular (i.e., non-homemade) sign, but there you go.

Taking on bad debt

David Kay Cay Johnston with some clearheaded writing:

The Administration has scared the markets and some key legislative leaders, but it has not laid out a coherent, specific and compelling need for this enormous proposal, which is the equivalent of a one-time 55 percent income tax surcharge. (Instead the money will be borrowed, so ask from whom and how this much can be raised so quickly if the credit markets are nearly seized up with fear.)

A very good question: If there is no credit going around and this is what is driving the crisis, how does the government expect to pay for this? Obviously the expectation is that the governement will borrow the money. But if this were commercial paper we're talking about a serious downgrade given that the entity will be using the money to take on huge amounts of bad debt. How high will the government have to set an interest rate to borrow the money to take on this debt?

I think much of this credit squeeze is manufactured--an emotional overeaction by a drama queen industry hoping to get stroked back into dreamland through the infusion of billions of dollars into their pillows.

The truth will set you free

Hardcore lefties: The Rosenbergs were commie spies.

I think Howard Zinn and others are right to concentrate on what the government was trying to do (apparently, they were trying to frame two guilty people). But the Left needs to stop running away from the fact that the Rosenbergs were, in fact, guilty.

Finally, some good news from the Australian reefs

Hundreds of new species found.

Son of Spain

The Spain gaffe seems to be having more life than I would have thought, mostly because the McCain spokespeople seem intent on shooting themselves in the foot, repeatedly, about this:

Email from Randy Scheuneman referring to the Prime Minister of Spain as "President" and saying that McCain meant what he said (whatever that is)

Meanwhile, the interviewer believes he wasn't confused about Spain not being in Latin America, but just wanted to avoid the question. By way of background, George Bush is still pissed that Spain pulled its troops out of Iraq (they are still in Afghanistan) and has refused to meet with the Spanish Prime Minister despite several requests.

I think that this falls into one of those "gaffes on the campaign trail" areas. Happens in a campaign sometimes, and while I would have liked McCain to have boned up on Spain a bit before sitting down for the interview, this kind of thing happens. And Josh Marshall appears to exhaustively believe the same thing. But, like Bush, this refusal to admit a tiny mistake might end up giving much more play to a small thing and could nudge the news cycle in a direction McCain won't want it to go, and at a critical time for him.

McCain staff meeting?

Some nice punching by Obama.

Two Morgan Stanley brokers were under investigation when hired

"Who cares?" It appears MS was saying.

Garfield minus Garfield

Brilliant.

Garfield Minus Garfield is a site dedicated to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle. It is a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb.

Katha Pollit with some questions for Sarah Palin

Last question is just a slap at religion, IMO, but overall a pretty darn good list.

Personal income taxes. Where they stand

This is just personal income taxes, but it is pretty clear where both Obama and McCain's tax policy philosophies lie when they are laid out like this.

They're just making stuff up now

Even the crowd estimates.

Have a vagina? No didgeridoo for you!

Aboriginal leaders in Australia have called for a book [The Australian version of the Daring Book for Girls] teaching girls how to play the didgeridoo to be scrapped.

An author's form letter

Robert Heinlein's form letter.

Paul Reiser on the election

"I think the tone of this whole campaign would have been very different if Senator Obama had accepted my request for us to appear in town hall meetings all over America," the Senator from Arizona tells us.

Am I just losing my friggin' mind? Seriously. I keep looking around the room to see if I'm living in some suddenly altered state where everything we know is now called the opposite, and nobody notices. Or can stop it.

Goodnight Bush

Love this one.

Ohio invalidates some absentee ballots

McCain campaign-printed ballots had an extra box.

This seems to be an incredibly narrow interpretation of the law. So, despite Democrats taking over the office from Ken Blackwell, petty politics seems to hold sway in that office still.

102 Minutes

My wife & I watched the History Channel's 102 Minutes last night. Amazing. Stunning. And it brought it all back. As I said to her: I found myself mentally rooting for the people to hurry to get out of those buildings, even though it happened 7 years ago.

When an "equal time" policy drags down the discourse...

Tom Tomorrow nails it:

Only a matter of time before someone came up with this

What the GOP seed corn looks like

PA student GOP leader resigns over Obama lips flap

Heh. Couldn't resist that title.

I don't know this guy but I know people who do, and they tell me he would have been right at home in the 60's with his confrontational political antics intended, more than anything, do draw attention to himself.

On Vetting

Robert Reich on vetting

Priceless first comment. Gotta love the internet.

Got a grassroots idea for the Obama campaign?

OhBoyObama.com looks like an interesting site. No evidence that the Obama campaign actually looks at it, but there are some good ideas and the exchange of good ideas is all for the good, IMO.

BTW, my idea is here.

What'll kill you?

An interesting chart

Hoover-ball!

Just one of those things you come across while looking for something else.