David Corn

DC,

Of course he will get away with anything, he is the "Maverick" after all.

The ghost writing of letters to the editor has become commonplace - or at least I've seen it done more than a few times. Not sure if it was as much election oriented as issue oriented but that too will run under the radar.

Thanks!

Capt,

I have signed my name to letters that were sent to newspapers but you are correct, they were issue oriented and were not made up stories. I think that is the big difference.

Flan,

No doubt - A huge difference.

I like the "letter to the editor" tools. I can't remember what issue I was writing about but it was for something local - or the Iraq or Iran military actions.

That stuff about "You can be anybody, a beggar or millionaire" is just crazy and dishonest. I hope that kind of thing just blows up in their faces.

McCain Aide's Husband Headed Trade Group Lobbying on Bailout

It looks there's another John McCain adviser with a personal background that doesn't exactly jibe with the candidate's recent effort to portray himself as a populist crusader for ordinary folks.

[snip]

Allies of Kurt Pfotenhauer have lately been willing to tout his ties to the McCain campaign, through his wife, to bolster his professional credentials. An advanced notice of a speech Kurt was to give last week to the Indiana Land Title Association (ITLA), an ALTA affiliate, published in an Indiana newspaper and seemingly written by the ITLA, noted that he would "provide a public policy update from the nation's capital, with an emphasis on the housing and mortgage finance crisis." It added: "His wife, Nancy, is a senior advisor and national spokesperson for presidential candidate John McCain."

Of course, there's no reason why Nancy Pfotenhauer's career should be limited by her husband's lobbying work. But at the very least, Kurt Pfotenhauer's recent role as an advocate for banking interests that discouraged regulators from paying closer attention to the problems in the housing market raises questions about the backgrounds of the advisers John McCain surrounds himself with -- especially in light of the recent populist turn of his campaign rhetoric.

http://tinyurl.com/4m9lls

*****

If hypocrisy killed?

David, spoken like a true blogger!

We need to see an ad with McCalin facing left, then right, then left, then right. The words are his position on Tuesday, then Wednesday, then Thursday. The background sound is horses hooves going klop, klop, klop, klop.

As far as the debate, it took him 22 hours to get to Washington from New York after he told Letterman he was rushing to the airport. Mississippi is far to long a distance to get to by Friday.

The old McCalin was replaced that day at Madison Square Garden when he kissed Bushes ass for his blessing.

NEW YORK, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Lehman Brothers has hired Jeb Bush, brother of the President of the United States, as an advisor to its private equity business, a source familiar with the situation said.

Lehman hired another relative of U.S. President George W. Bush last year--George Walker, a second cousin, who heads up the bank's asset management business.

Jeb Bush is the former governor of Florida.

Lehman Brothers declined to comment.

http://www.reuters.com/article/fundsFundsNews/idUSN3046902620070830

Any chance that part of this bailout is headed to Lehman Brothers? After all, of the big banks, who didn't get paid off so far.

And Lehman Brothers knew exactly what they were facing on August 30, 2008 when they hired Jeb. Any guesses as to why he beat out any qualified candidates?

The new CEO at WaMu is getting a mountain of $$$$

He has been CEO less than one month.

I read it somewhere this morning - I think it is almost $20 million?

This is what is wrong with the financial industry. They are their own bubble.

Senator Sanders has mentioned on the radio more than once - the top 40 incomes in the US made more than $600 billion last year. Many CEO's and hedge fund managers will make more in an hour than the average income earner makes in a year.

The "Bail out" plan has been worked on for months so they not only knew - they were putting the people in place for the process.

What a crock.

http://tinyurl.com/3tehnj

MR. FRATTO: No, well, look, I think I would reconcile it this way: This is -- this was not a program that was conceived of or put together hastily. There was an enormous amount of analysis and debate and discussion before we came forward with this program. I think we have anticipated a lot of the questions that members of Congress would naturally have about taking this step, but we have had -- some of the policy staff have had months to think about what a program like this would be like and how it would work. Others have had at least weeks to think about it. Members of Congress have had days to think about it. And it's very, very complex and takes time to think through all of the implications of it and why some alternative ideas might not work as well as this one.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/09/20080923-6.html

OMG - Barack is going to drop like a stone, the Michelle "Whitey" video is finally out - it doesn't look very good for BHO on this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65I0HNvTDH4

Capt, you've been punked or something - you linked to a wrong video and when I searched on the words Michelle and Whitey, I still couldn't find an actual video of her saying it, just mentions of it from right wing hate groups.

Capt - you've been used!!!

Flan, you've been Barack-rolled!

It is a little levity as our economy sinks, politicians lie, and the war/occupation goes on.

There is no "Whitey" tape - never was one. (as far as I know)

*gotcha!*

Barack rolled is a variation on "Rick Rolled"

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickroll

I received this e-mail this morning. Do you think it's a scam?

Dear American:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully,
Minister of Treasury Paulson

http://www.baltimoresun2.com/talk/showthread.php?t=163005

McCain Campaign Declares: McCain Wins Debate.
BEFORE THE DEBATE HAS EVEN HAPPENED

So, Remember, how until today 11 am ET, McCain was not going to Debate until the deal went through? Well, if you needed more proof of this blatant political stunt, McCain campaign has web ads out saying he has won the Debate...BEFORE the debate has even happened.

http://tinyurl.com/48j6em

Not likely to get covered in the debates, but it would be interesting to know the candidates' position on women's issues world wide...

Five Women Buried Alive -- and the Media Ignore It

Last month, the U.S. media were full of stories about the resignation of Pervez Musharraf as president of Pakistan. But another event that same week in Pakistan -- that tribesmen buried five young women alive for wanting to choose their own husbands -- got almost no coverage.

According to the Asian Human Rights Commission, the women's "crime" was that they defied tribal elders and arranged marriages to men of their own choosing in a civil court. They were abducted at gunpoint by some men and dragged off to a remote field, where they were beaten, shot, thrown into a ditch, and then, while still breathing, smothered to death with rocks and mud.

Yet not even when a member of the Pakistani parliament, Israr Ullah Zehri, defended these barbaric killings as "century-old traditions" -- when he said that killing women who defy male control by wanting to chose their own husbands is necessary to "stop obscenity" -- was there international outrage.

http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/97796/five_women_buried_alive_--_and_the_media_ignore_it/

While we do not have this kind of treatment of women in our country, how this government deals with other countries who allow this kind of treatment towards women is an indication of how important we think this issue is.

If the media doesn't even cover it though, do you think our government will make this an issue? No. This is why we need real journalism in this country, not punditry.

Rape, Torture and Humiliation in Women's Prisons: A Global State of Crisis

In numerous locations around the world the plight of women in prison is going unheeded.

Conditions of improper touching by persons of authority, sanctioned sexual harassment, unnecessary strip searches, lack of proper medical attention or proper food exists in numerous global prison locations. In addition to this, psychological coercion and/or threats of sexual assault by persons in authority create a constant, unending and intense universal pressure on many incarcerated women.

"Women in prisons all around the world are at risk of rape, sexual assault and torture," said a recent June 2008, Quaker UN Office -- Human Rights and Refugees Publications report.

http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/99987/rape%2C_torture_and_humiliation_in_women%27s_prisons%3A_a_global_state_of_crisis/

This global crisis probably won't be covered either.

Saudi cleric wants death for TV ‘sorcerers’

RIYADH: A senior Saudi cleric has said that purveyors of horoscopes on Arab television should be sentenced to death, a newspaper reported on Sunday, days after another cleric argued death for TV owners.

“The Muslim consensus is that the apostate’s punishment is death by the sword,” Sheikh Saleh al-Fozan told al-Madina daily. “Those who call in these shows should not be accorded Muslim rites when they die,” the prominent cleric added. In their capacity as judges, clerics of Saudi Arabia’s austere form of Islam often sentence ‘sorcerers’ to death. Fozan, a member of the Higher Council of Clerics, was responding to a controversy ignited by a council colleague, Sheikh Saleh al-Lohaidan, who said last week that owners of Arab TV shows should be tried and face death over some shows.

Lohaidan, who is the head of Saudi Arabia’s Islamic shariah courts, told Saudi radio: “I want to advise the owners of these channels that broadcast programmes with indecency and vulgarity and warn them of the consequences. They can be put to death through the judicial process.”

http://tinyurl.com/5ohpec

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert: Mock the Vote

With just five weeks left until Election Day, our favorite pundits discuss the power of Sarah Palin, why TV news is about as credible as Muzak, and whether Barack Obama is going to be ''sworn in on a gay baby''

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20228603,00.html

PALIN AND ORWELL

http://tinyurl.com/4w7pra