John McCain and Sarah Palin--and the countless campaign surrogates who pepper the airwaves and print media--have taken to saying and/or insinuating that Obama's policies are "Socialist." It's pretty obvious that the McCain campaign made a conscious decision that the only remaining chance for McCain & Palin is to brand Obama with some label that makes voters jerk their voting hands back: he's a "Socialist," he's a "terrorist," he's a Muslim," he's a "traitor."

On today's Hardball, Repub Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota actually said this, in the course of a rambling accusation that appears to equate :liberal" to "leftist" and "leftists" to "anti-American":

I'm very concerned that he [Obama] may have anti-American views.......the American media should...take a great look at the views of people in congress to find out are they pro-America or anti-America.

Among the statements I never expected to see, without at least a few bolts of lightening hurtling earthward: Ken Blackwell saying On Laura Ingraham's radio show that "Voter fraud is the worst crime against democracy."

Monday's historic point rise in the ow Jones Industrials came at the beginning of a week in which many economic reports are due, including earnings from some major corporations. But, hey, why wait for reports that so indirectly indicate the health of our economy when recent news has been full of the real economic indicators for a while.

Wonderful headline from the Fresno Bee: Entrepreneurs see upside in downturn. And what would that upside be?

The fictional Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy has two words printed in large type on it's cover:

DON'T PANIC!

I think some need to make that understood and damned fast...

The long awaited Ethics Report from the bipartisan Alaskan Legislative Committee has been issued and made public after a long session in which the Committee discussed the 260+ page report. The conclusion: Palin had every right to fire Walt Monegan from his Public Safety post, but violated the ethics law of Alaska prior to the firing by using her office to pursue personal gain (the firing of her ex-brother in law).

I talk to a number of registered voters every week as a volunteer for the local Democratic Party. One thing that's pretty clear is that many of them really don't understand the mortgage meltdown or the broader financial meltdown. And in talking to these voters, it became clear to me that I didn't understand it all that well, either.

So I spent a little time trying to understand it better (I think a "thorough" understanding is beyond me, and may well be beyond any single person). This isn't complete, by any means, but here's some information that might help with the basics.

I talk to a number of registered voters every week as a volunteer for the local Democratic Party. One thing that's pretty clear is that many of them really don't understand the mortgage meltdown or the broader financial meltdown. And in talking to these voters, it became clear to me that I didn't understand it all that well, either.

So I spent a little time trying to understand it better (I think a "thorough" understanding is beyond me, and may well be beyond any single person). This isn't complete, by any means, but here's some information that might help with the basics.

I talk to a number of registered voters every week as a volunteer for the local Democratic Party. One thing that's pretty clear is that many of them really don't understand the mortgage meltdown or the broader financial meltdown. And in talking to these voters, it became clear to me that I didn't understand it all that well, either.

So I spent a little time trying to understand it better (I think a "thorough" understanding is beyond me, and may well be beyond any single person). This isn't complete, by any means, but here's some information that might help with the basics.

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