It's been covered today by the Associated Press that John McCain sat on the Board of the World Freedom, many of whose members were staunchly anti-Semitic. What they did not know, however, was the kind of Jew-bashing material they produced in defense of Ronald Reagan's visit to Bitburg, Germany, the burial site of the infamous SS (Hat Tip to TPM).

Palins' Un-American Activities

Imagine if the Obamas had hooked up with a violently anti-American group in league with the government of IRAN!.   By David Talbot

Oct. 7, 2008 | "My government is my worst enemy. I'm going to fight them with any means at hand."    This was former revolutionary terrorist Bill Ayers back in his old Weather Underground days, right? Imagine what Sarah Palin is going to do with this incendiary quote as she tears into Barack Obama this week.   ONLY ONE PROBLEM. The quote is from Joe Vogler, the raging anti-American who founded the Alaska Independence Party. Inconveniently for Palin, that's the very same secessionist party that her husband, Todd, belonged to for seven years and that she sent a shout-out to as Alaska governor earlier this year. ("Keep up the good work," Palin told AIP members. "And God bless you.")

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/200 8/10/07/palins_unamerican/index.html

McCain Camp cannot talk about the economy because their Economics are for the Rich, the well-off and the well connected!

Just a few thoughts looking at today's epic Dow Jones Industrial FAIL:

• The market fell 500 points today
  
• The market fell 375 points yesterday -- nearly 900 points in 2 days.
  
• The market has fallen 1500 points in 4 days.
  
• The market is down nearly 5,000 points in the last year
  
• The market...

...wait, what? 5,000 points in one year?

That's 1/3 of the market's value... in one year?

Christ on a pogostick.

Now, it's impossible to overstate that the Market and the economy are two different things. And frankly, the market may be overperforming the economy still.

The current credit crisis means that in the next few months, we're going to see massive layoffs as payrolls can't be met, massive supply issues as vendors go unpaid. Very few businesses keep enough liquid capital to meet their expenditures during rough times.

Put it another way, if small and medium-sized businesses are the engine of capitalism, credit is the fuel injector.

So, combine these -- businesses unable to borrow. Business worth, as traded on the market, is down 1/3 across the board in a year.

I guess it hadn't really hit me what kind of free fall we were in until I spent some time gazing at the numbers now. But it's uglier than I imagined.

And, to tie this into the election -- I can't be alone in processing this. McCain is toast for a variety of reasons, I've never imagined he'd have lasted this long.

But alot of our faith and trust in the Barack Obama and the Democratic Party are going to be put to the test within minutes of his taking office. I don't know how something like this is turned around -- the banking system in the 1930s was Lincoln Logs compared to the twisted logic pretzels of today's global industry.

In crisis there's always opportunity... but there's little margin for error once Obama takes office. And even a perfect performance by him can be easily lost given the mess he'll be inhereting -- especially since there's only so much even a President and a filibuster-proof congress can do.

I want to believe, as they say. And I have had little doubt since the end of '06 that Obama was best suited to make the best of this bad situation.

But it's hard to have imagined in '06 that this situation was nearly this bad...

The more details of yesterday's Sarah Palin's rally in Florida come out, the uglier it gets. Talking Points Memo spoke to a reporter who was at the scene to witness the infamous exchange between the riled up Palin supporter and an African American sound man. It isn't pretty.

On Saturday, November 1, at 12:00 pm PST (3:00 pm EST), on the same day, at the same hour all across America, mothers, fathers, grandparents and their children will participate in marches and rallies. This event is for women to have their voices heard in their community. Moms for Obama believe that a nationwide rally across America is a tremendous opportunity for mothers and families to gather and share their concern for all of our children. As well as to demonstrate to the American people that mothers will be out in force on Election Day and we will be supporting the Democratic ticket of Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Jump

I know must of us here are focused on the daily horse race.

But according to the gallup poll Obama has been between

48 - 51 for 11 straight days

and McCain has been between
42 - 44 for 11 straight days.

http://www.gallup.com/tag/Gallup+Daily.a spx

I think we can take a break until something happens to change these dynamics,  and talk about governing and how to improve our great country.
---
We need to address the way the  people who run Hollywood are degrading our culture.

Here's my example today:

THIS PROGRAM IS RATED "g" for Everyone: King of Queens
"Swim Neighbors" episode.

Yet, the first scene shows Doug and Carrie in bed during a thunderstorm.  Carrie is reading a book.

Doug:
"Boy, that storm is nasty out there, Let's do something nasty in here".

Carrie:
"I'm reading"

Doug:
"You won't even know I'm there"

After the power goes out, Carrie tells Doug to get a flashlight, but then the camera shows Doug fondling Carrie's underwear.

---
Barack Obama and Democrats should promote legislation to have standards for ratings, and make them truly appropriate for the title.

A "G" rated show should be able to be watched by everyone from Grandma to toddlers in the same room at the same time, with no "cringing" moments.

We all do and should support free speech, but we have an obligation to protect the minds of young people, and also to have a civil society that we can count on.

Unfortunately we have allowed Republicans (when they choose to) to own these type of issues, and label these type of proposals as "conservative".

Yet, all I'm proposing is to mandate that the ratings be accurate to any reasonable person.  This respects everyone and harms no one. That should be the goal of liberalism.  To find ways to improve America where everyone wins.

Craig Farmer
making the word "liberal" safe again!

Sarah Palin and John McCain are out talking about how "greed and corruption" on Wall Street led us into the financial chaos that is hurting us all right now. They say they'll use their "maverick-y" ways to clamp down on these abuses.

That's why the details of the fundraiser in Naples, Florida yesterday that Sarah Palin headlined at a $10,000 per person (closed to the press) is of great interest.

The fundraiser was held at the home of  John "Jack" Donahue, the Chairman and founder of Federated Investors, a massive financial services company. In November 2005, Federated Investors paid $72 million in fines and penalties as the result of a SEC investigation into "unethical trading practices." They paid millions more in refunds to investors and as a settlement with then NY AG Spitzer.