Coming Distractions-- Who Gets To Name The Next Supreme Court Justice?

To say that Judge Anthony Kennedy's resignation is a blow to the future of progressivism in the US for the next 20 years is to put it mildly. Because of the amount of laws and policies that end up being ruled on and over-ruled by SCOTUS, the next choice is likely to bend the court much further right than the more moderate on social issues Kennedy has allowed.

   With less than three months to decide who will have a majority of or retain the majority vote in the Senate and the House for the remainder of Trump's first (and hopefully only) term is anybody's guess. Of course it is in the interest of conservatives to name Kennedy's successor sooner than later and you will not need to be Nostradamus to guess how Republicans will be playing this. However, given the rulings handed down just this month, it is not in the interest of progressives to let that happen easily. But, since a super-majority is not required to approve a nomination nor to knock down a filibuster, it would seem that Republicans have all they need to do their worst.

   Aha! That is until you consider the Republicans who are retiring in January (Shout out to Jeff Flake and Bob Corker) who could exact revenge on a President with whom they have parted ways or an ailing John McCain who may not be up for a vote on a nominee. This would mean that an embattled Democrat like  Joe Manchin, Jon Tester, or Heidi Heitkamp would have to be pulled into the fracas and arm-twisted to go along with the Republicans. So it will be a drama to the end to see how cards are played and who ultimately wins or gets a stay of execution.

   Then it all gets real when, at best, the Democrats win the Senate and still have to negotiate with Trump for the Kennedy replacement. Or the President lives without the nominee knowing he has a deadlocked SCOTUS for the next two years and runs for re-election on the theme that Democrats are obstructionists. Or, the Republicans use the obstructionist angle now to attempt to win Senate seats outright and then name anybody that Trump or they desire.

   All this points to a challenging scenario wherein the blue line has to hold and the Democrats would need to run the table in November and again in 2020. This also points to a lot of dollars being spent trying to win the electorate over to the narrative each side will be promoting. Let the wedge issue framing games begin.  Note to Liberal SCOTUS members, please stay healthy.

Addendum: Over the weekend Senator Susan Collins said that an opponent of Roe v. Wade would be a deal breaker for her. Sen. Lisa Murkowski may also be in that camp. So there are a number of ways this could go past November.
1) Democrats hold, Murkowski and Collins join to block a nomination.
2) McCain, Flake, Corker  abstain from voting and nomination fails. Even if an embattled Democrat crosses over, the nomination fails.
3) Some combination of 1 and 2, the nomination fails.
4) The Senate leaves the SCOTUS with 8 justices through the lame duck session and Trump has to negotiate a moderate choice come January--if the Senate numbers hold or go slightly bluer.

Yes We Did! President-Elect Obama Headed for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Senator Barack Obama did what twenty-one months ago seemed highly unlikely, he won the presidency of the United States by building a grassroots movement like no other. In soundly defeating Senator John McCain earlier this evening, President-elect Obama becomes the first person of color to be Commander-in-Chief in our storied history. Coupling this with the fact that until the Civil rights Act of 1965, African-Americans could not legally vote in all states, it is truly amazing how far we all have come as a society since the 1960's.

Recapping, when early polls closed on the east coast, voters in Ohio and Pennsylvania pointed the direction that the most of the swing states moved toward--Barack Obama's side of the table. With polls still open on the west coast, Obama had built a 207 to 145 lead in electoral votes. By 10:30 pm, most news reporting agencies were calling the race for Obama. At 1:30 am Central Time, CNN has it 338 EV's for Obama and 160 for John McCain. Only Indiana, North Carolina, Montana, and Missouri are in play.

In one of the most moving moments of his campaign, Senator John McCain said in his concession speech, "I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating [Barack Obama], but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.

Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans. And please believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that."

In his victory speech, Barack Obama said "If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."

He continued with praise for Senator McCain "just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and he’s fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation’s promise in the months ahead."

He completed his remarks with "This is our moment. This is our time – to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth – that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes We Can."

McCain Goes Positive/Palin Gets Punk'd

There has to be some laughter left as the campaigns wind down to election day. Fortunately, and both John McCain and Sarah Palin prove to be good sports.

John McCain went all "Mavericky" on Saturday Night Live last night with the talented Tina Fey reprising her Sarah Palin impersonation. In the meantime, the real Sarah Palin was caught in a phone prank from a couple of Canadian radio personalities called Le Justiciers Masques (The Masked Avengers)who impersonated to be French President Nikolas Sarkozy and his assistant.

Day of the Dead

From Bloomberg News

Republican presidential candidate John McCain goes into the campaign's final weekend a bigger underdog than any victorious candidate in a modern election.

With four days until Election Day, national polls show his Democratic rival Barack Obama leading by an average of 6 percentage points, and battleground polls show Obama ahead in more than enough states to win the decisive 270 Electoral College votes.

``This election is cooked and done, it's in the warming tray,'' said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

McCain ``is as desperate as a candidate can be,'' said Stu Rothenberg, editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report in Washington. ``Less than five days to go and McCain's trailing in half a dozen states of which he can't afford to lose any: Nevada, Florida, Ohio, Colorado, Virginia and North Carolina.''

Illinois Senator Obama yesterday highlighted new government figures showing the sharpest contraction of the economy since 2001, a harbinger of what could be the worst recession since 1981-82. Arizona Senator McCain, meanwhile, was mum on the latest economic news showing the gross domestic product shrank at a 0.3 percent pace from July to September.

Those latest figures, Sabato said, are ``the final nail in McCain's coffin.''

Being that is Halloween, I imagine the McCain/Palin ticket is counting on rising from the dead.

For a different view, check out the Moderate Voice blog.

Ennui the People

With the exhaustion that the brutality national politics produce, I think a group of call center workers in Indiana (a great story at Talking Points Memo), who reportedly chose to walk off the job rather than make incendiary phone calls, have the right idea. If politicians won't knock off the negativism, it's up to us to say "enough is enough" where lowest-common-denominator campaigning is concerned. We deserve politics that respect our higher natures than use fear tactics to scare up the vote.

This election has seen a record amount of fund-raising, not a small portion of which has been used to stoke the fires of damnation for both John McCain and Barack
Obama. Character assassination is a pointless exercise and tells us very little that we can use to make an informed vote.

I wonder what would happen if, at political rallies, the crowd walked away when politicians "go negative" against their opponents or swore off television stations that run ads by political action committees?

Way to go you Hoosier call center workers, Missouri may be the "Show Me" state, but you led us all by setting a good example.

More Endorsemnts for Obama

The Des Moines Register, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Hartford Courant, St. Petersburg Times, the Providence Journal, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Baltimore Sun, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Albany Times-Union and others including the largest newspaper in Alaska, The Anchorage Daily News, joined the growing list of newspapers endorsing Barack Obama for the presidency. According to Editors and Publishers, "Obama still leads by almost 3-1 in all editorial endorsements. Updated with the latest from today his lead stands at 162 to 62. Perhaps most tellingly, the Democrat has now gained at least 35 papers that endorsed George Bush in 2004. That year, Bush and Kerry split the 418 endorsements almost straight down the middle." Here's the longer list.

It is important to say that these endorsements don't always mean victory to the endorsee, as John Kerry's candidacy proved in 2004 when he was endorsed by many more newspapers than George Bush.

Palin: Won't Label Herself or Those Who Bomb Abortion Clinics

In a joint interview with John McCain, Sarah Palin refused to call abortion clinic bombers "terrorists". "I don't know if you're going to use the word 'terrorist' there," she said. She also said she wouldn't label herself a "Feminist"--although she is a member of Feminists For Life of America.

Here is that portion of the interview.



Palin and McCain continue to try to make a connection between Barack Obama and the Bill Ayers of the 1960's (when Obama was an 8 year old). Is Bill Ayers more "unrepentant" than groups and individuals who target, send threats to, and at times bomb health clinics?

According to the 2005 National Clinic Violence Survey:

Almost one in five clinics throughout the country is still being targeted with the most severe forms of anti-abortion violence. Severe violence includes blockades, invasions, arsons, bombings, chemical attacks, stalking, gunfire, physical assaults, and threats of death, bomb, or arson.

A researcher at the University of Indiana in 2006 found eighty-seven percent of U.S. counties, representing more than one-third of the female population aged 15-44, have no abortion providers, and 31 percent of the nation's metropolitan areas do not have a provider.

If Palin is suggesting that domestic terrorists are "better" if they target these clinics, that would truly be elitist.

Rove-Worthy: Unstable Supporter May Cost McCain Pennsylvania

CNN was abuzz early this morning with the story of Ashley Todd, a 20-year-old from College Station who was a phone bank volunteer for the McCain/Palin ticket in Pennsylvania who made a police report following what she claimed was a robbery and assault by a 6'4" black man near an ATM who carved the letter "b" into her face because he didn't like her McCain bumper sticker on her car.

Well, it's a hoax.

Todd has confessed to making up the story and will be charged with making a false report to police, according to the Associated Press.

Police later said details of Todd's story kept changing, prompting police to give her a polygraph test, the results of which were not released.

Other inconsistencies in the woman's story included the orientation of the "B" scratched onto her cheek (backwards, as if self-inflicted) and the absence of video surveillance or bank records backing up her claims.

Bail was set at $50,000 Friday night for Todd who was described as "very cordial, polite, cooperating."

"It's just a lot of wasted man hours," Pittsburgh Assistant Police Chief Maurita Bryant said at a news conference.

According to the AP

Dressed in an orange hooded sweat shirt, Todd left police headquarters in handcuffs late Friday and did not respond to questions from reporters. The mark on her face was faded and her left eye was slightly blackened when she arrived in district court.

Todd was awaiting arraignment Friday on the misdemeanor false-report charge, which is punishable by up to two years in prison. She will be housed in a mental health unit at the county jail for her safety and because of "her not insignificant mental health issues," prosecutor Mark Tranquilli said.

John McCain and John McClane

John McCain has been pitching his maverickiness for many a moon. And it wasn't until today when Joe (the Senator) Biden, while on the stump, had a slip of the tongue and called him "John McClane" that it hit me. When it came to maverickiness in the late 1980's--Bruce Willis as wisecracking, tough cop John McClane in the "Die Hard" movies, was the "bomb"(or as McCain might croon "bomb-bomb-bomb, bomb-bomb-Iran...)". So perhaps it wasn't a slip of tongue, but an homage to the Joe Six Pack-like character that Bruce Willis played with such abandon.

Well, those were the late 80's and Bruce Willis is not quite the hot commodity he was back in the days when:
- Charles Keating was under indictment
- $2.6 trillion in national debt seemed out of hand
- NASA scientist James Hansen told Congress to watch out for global warming
- George Bush, Sr. had nominated Dan Quayle as his running mate (yes, the Republicans know how to pick 'em).
- The only one even talking about "Faith" back then was George Michaels.

But we are in 2008 now. John McCain is trying to use Joe the Plumber and Sarah the Governor to win the election for him. In the 80's, the Ty-dee Bowl man (whose name we never did learn) was still motorboating around in people's toilet tanks in a blue blazer and dickie. Such was the quality of life for plumbers back then. No one knew who the Governor of Alaska was back then.

Today we don't need a John McClane running around--"yippie-yi-yo, Motherf...rs" is not likely to win us back any friends. Frankly when you consider the body count in those movies, McClane was rather a blunt instrument. This is not to say that John McCain would be, but after this current incarnation of Republican rule, why take chances?

Today both John McClane "John the cop" is probably back in one of New York's many burroughs trying to keep his house from being repossessed and his police pension from dwindling to zippo before he retires in a few years (unless they alread offered him early retirement due to departmental cutbacks or the PTSD he must have from his extracurricular activities).

He's also might vote for Barack Obama--after all he did have his back covered by Samuel L. Jackson, Reginald VelJohnson (and the Mac v. PC guy, but seriously, how helpful was he?)and he didn't care much for corporate America.

Of course, Bruce Willis is supporting for McCain (after Fred Thompson dropped out)--it's called "acting" folks.

One thing is for sure, in 1988 Bush/Quayle beat Dukakis/Bentsen in 40 of 50 states. I'm pretty sure that Obama and Biden and their "Die Hard" supporters won't have any of that.

McCain, Palin Call Bank Bailout Not "Socialism"

While beating Barack Obama over the head for saying that increasing taxes for those over $250,000 to allow those earning less to get tax relief(after eight years of paying for the top %5's tax break) is akin to socialism, both John McCain and Sarah Palin refuse to concede that it is more socialistic to hand over $750 to $850 billion in taxpayer dollars to banks, automotive manufacturers, and insurance companies.

"I believe that there are those measures that had to be taken by Congress to shore up not only the housing market but the credit markets -- also to make sure that that's not frozen -- so that our small businesses have opportunities to borrow. And that was the purpose, of course, and that part of the bailout and the shoring of the banks," Palin said. So, to allow small businesses (aka Mom and Pop businesses) to borrow money, we have to make Mom and Pop pay for bailing out the banks they need to borrow money from? I don't know if that is socialism, but it sure is a bizarre form of a free market.

McCain said, "That's the reason why we have governments, to help those who need help, who can't help themselves, and in a time of crisis, to step in and do what's necessary to preserve the lives and futures of innocent people. It wasn't Main Street America that caused this; it was Washington and Wall Street." And yet, it is Main Street that is paying for Wall Street. If it walks like socialism, and talks like socialism, it must be socialism?

The fact is that McCain and Palin represent a viewpoint that says it's okay for the wealthy to get richer by taking it from the rest of us, whereas Obama and others believe its fair to ask the wealthy to pay their share. After eight years of Paul robbing Peter, isn't it time that Pete caught a break?

Read All About It: Obama Endorsed 3 to 1 Over McCain

Update: 10/20: P&E reports newspaper endorsements; Obama 115, McCain 38

Editor and Publisher keeps an ongoing tally about which newspapers are endorsing which candidates. As a frame of reference, by E & P's count, John Kerry barely edging George W. Bush in endorsements in 2004 by 213 to 205. At the moment, the count stands at 94 endorsements for Barack Obama and 28 for John McCain. At the moment only the "trendsetting" Storm Lake Times has made an endorsement in Iowa--for Barack Obama.

Note: in parentheses, the paper's endorsement in 2004 of Bush or Kerry). As of 10/19/08

BARACK OBAMA
94 daily newspapers total
Over 10 million circulation (we are still counting)

ALABAMA

Tuscaloosa News (K):

ARKANSAS
Arkansas Times (K): 34,000

CALIFORNIA
The Argus (Fremont) (K): 26,749
Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek) (K): 183,086
Daily Breeze (Torrance)
Daily Review (Hayward) (K): 30,704
The Fresno Bee (K): 150,334
La Opinion (Los Angeles) (K): 114,892
Los Angeles Daily News
Los Angeles Times (N/A): 773,884
Marin Independent-Journal (K)
The Modesto Bee (K): 78,001
The Monterey County Herald (K): 28,933
Oakland Tribune (K): 96,535
Pasadena Star-News (B)
The (Stockton) Record (B): 57,486
The Sacramento Bee (K): 288,755
San Bernardino Sun (B): 54,315
San Francisco Chronicle (K): 370,345
San Jose Mercury News (K): 234,772
San Mateo County Times (K): 25,982
Santa Cruz Sentinel (K): 23,290
Tri-Valley Herald (B): 29,759

COLORADO
Cortez Journal (K): 6,700
The Denver Post (B)
The Durango Herald (K): 8,870
Gunnison Country Times (N/A): 4,000
Ouray County Plaindealer (K): 3,000

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
The Washington Post (K): 673,180

FLORIDA
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Miami Herald (K):
Naples Daily-News (B)
Orlando Sentinel (K):
Sarasota Herald-Tribune (K)

GEORGIA
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (K)

HAWAII
Honolulu Star-Bulletin (K): 64,305

IDAHO
Idaho Statesman (K):

ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune (B): 541,663
Chicago Sun-Times (K):
Daily Herald (Arlington) (K)
Rockford Register (K)
Southwest News-Herald (K)

IOWA
The Storm Lake Times (K): 3,200

KENTUCKY
Lexington Herald-Leader (K)

MAINE
Bangor Daily News (K)
Brunswick Times-Record (K)

MASSACHUSETTS
The Boston Globe (K): 350,605
The Standard-Times (New Bedford) (K): 30,306

MICHIGAN
Detroit Free Press (K):
The Muskegon Chronicle (K): 41,114

MISSOURI
Columbia Daily Tribune
Kansas City Star
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (K): 255,057

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Concord Monitor (K)
Nashua Telegraph (K)

NEW MEXICO
Las Cruces Sun-News (B)
Santa Fe New Mexican (K): 25,249

NEVADA
Las Vegas Sun (K)

NEW YORK
Buffalo News (K)
The Daily News (B)
el Diario: 53,856

NORTH CAROLINA
Asheville Citizen-Times (K): 50,160
Durham Herald-Sun
News & Observer (Raleigh) (K)
Wilmington Star-News (K)

OHIO
Akron Beacon-Journal (K):
The (Toledo) Blade (K): 119,901
Dayton Daily News (K): 116,690
The (Canton) Repository (B): 65,789
Springfield News-Sun (K): 24,684
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

OREGON
Register-Guard (Eugene) (K):
Mail Tribune (Medford) (K): 30,349
The Oregonian of Portland (K)
Yamhill Valley News-Register

PENNSYLVANIA
The Express-Times (Easton) (B): 44,561
Philadelphia Inquirer (K):
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (K): 214,374

TENNESSEE
Chattanooga Times (K): 71,716
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis) (K): 146,961
The (Nashville) Tennessean (K): 161,131

TEXAS
Austin American-Statesman (B)
Houston Chronicle (B)
The Lufkin Daily News (K): 12,225

UTAH
The Salt Lake Tribune (B):

VERMONT
Burlington Free Press (K)

VIRGINIA
Falls Church News-Press (K): 30,500

WASHINGTON
The Columbian (B): 44,623
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (K): 129,563
The Seattle Times (K): 220,883
Yakima Herald-Republic (B)

WEST VIRGINIA
The Charleston Gazette (K): 48,061
Huntington Herald-Dispatch (K)

WISCONSIN
The Capital Times (Madison) (K): 16,335
Wisconsin State Journal (Madison) (B): 87,930


JOHN McCAIN
28 newspapers total
About 2.5 million daily circulation (we are tabulating)

CALIFORNIA
Bakersfield Californian (B)
Napa Valley Register: 16,283
The San Francisco Examiner (B): 80,000
San Diego Union-Tribune (B)

COLORADO
Mountain Valley News (Cedaredge): 2,000
The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction) (B): 31,349
The Pueblo Chieftain (B): 49,169

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
The Washington DC Examiner (N/A): 100,073

FLORIDA
Tampa Tribune

MARYLAND
The Baltimore Examiner (N/A): 50,000

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald (B): 182,350
The (Lowell) Sun (B): 44,439

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Foster’s Daily Democrat (B): 22,547
Union Leader (Manchester) (B): 51,782

NEVADA
Las Vegas Review (B)

NEW YORK
New York Post (B): 702,488

OHIO
Columbus Dispatch (B)
The (Findlay) Courier (B): 22,319

TEXAS
Amarillo Globe-News (B): 44,764
Beaumont Monitor
Corpus Christi Caller-Times
Dallas Morning News (B):
San Antonio Express-News
Wharton Journal Spectator
Wichita Falls Times Record

VIRGINIA
The Daily Press (Hampton Roads) (K)

WASHINGTON
(Spokane) Spokesman-Review (B): 89,779

WEST VIRGINIA
Wheeling News-Register (B): 12,821

Plumbing the Depths for Truth About Taxes

If I were to tell you that I had an idea that would help out you and 95% of other people and would only negatively affect 5% of the people who I had helped out for years before that (at the expense to you and the other 95%, I might add), You'd probably be okay with that, wouldn't you? Heck, you might even think it was about time that you caught a break.

Now, what if I were to tell you that same idea would help 98% of people like you and only hurt 2%, how would you feel about that? Oh, and there's money in it for you, if you go along with the idea.

"What's the idea," you ask? The tax plan offered up by Barack Obama. It would help 95% of all Americans pay the same or fewer taxes and the same plan as it applies to 98% of all small business people. But you don't have to take this blogger's word for it, check this out.

Under Obama's plan, Joe the Plumber and Joe Six Pack can sleep tonight knowing that his plan to buy any business that nets under $250,000 a year won't be affected by Obama's tax plan. And do you know how it works? Making folks pay into the system who have been given breaks and have figured out the loopholes to avoid paying their fair share.

Leveling the playing field, what a crazy idea!

Last Debate Proves McCain Doesn't Get It

Last night John McCain gave his most animated performance of the 2008 campaign season by trying to paint Barack Obama as being out of touch, overly eloquent, and untrustworthy. But there were three moments in the debate where even the most ardent McCain supporter would have wondered which planet he's on. When he said repeatedly that Barack Obama was trying to "spread the wealth around" with his tax proposals; you could almost hear the Joes (six pack, the plumber, etc.) saying what's wrong with me getting mine when Washington has been giving it to the top 5% for at least 8 years? McCain, it seems, confuses fairness for Socialism.

The second moment was when he raised up on his haunches and declared he is not George Bush and if Obama wanted to run against George Bush he should have done it 4 years ago. Other than the fact that McCain did run against Bush himself 4 years ago and had his hat handed to him, the facts support that McCain has supported Bush's policies more than 90% of the time. The danger of running in 2008 is that it is largely a referendum about the presidency under GWB. McCain, self-proclainmed maverick that he is, did his case no good when he ran back to Washington to get in on a photo opportunity when the bailout bill was being worked out. Like Bush, he has been in the wrong place at the wrong time too often (like taking the meeting with Charles Keating when the savings and loans were failing).

The last moment was when McCain said he would freeze the budget--period. How can anyone, in a time like we are in now, say that freezing the budget would solve the problems we have? Barack Obama got it right, you reallocate monies in the budget to address the needs that are most pressing. But this type of all or nothing thinking shows the limitation of John McCain, he can't seem to more than one thing at a time.

Barack Obama gets it. He showed tough resolve, restraint, and avoided taking the gotcha pot-shot last night. He spoke clearly about how the economy, energy policy, the courts, and education would be better served by his presidency. John McCain demonstrated that "straight talk" doesn't always turn out to be sensible talk. The American public needs a president who makes sense.

Latest Poll Shows Obama Up 10% Over McCain

Reuters reports:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is leading his Republican rival John McCain 53 percent to 43 percent among likely voters, according to a Washington Post-ABC News opinion poll released on Monday [10/13].

Sixty-four percent of voters now view Obama favorably, up six percentage points from early September, according to the poll taken after Tuesday night's presidential debate.

Nearly a third of voters have a better opinion of the Illinois senator because of his debate performance while eight percent have a lower opinion of him, the poll found.

The poll of 1,101 adults, including 945 registered votes, was taking Wednesday though Saturday. The margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points for the full sample and three-point-five percentage points for the sample of 766 likely voters.

The Other Bill Ayers

This was sent to me by my good friend Joe Brisben, who is a terrific writer, soulful musician, and serves, as he puts it "as a simple, country investment counselor for SCI Financial Group, Inc., a division of Wells-Fargo, Inc., where he is a social worker for other people's money and does his best to keep it out of trouble." In 1990, he started broadcasting a weekday morning commentary for WSUI at AM 910. He started writing the "Money" column for The Source in 1998.

I know Bill Ayers. He is married to one of my classmates from the University of Chicago, Bernadine Dohrn. A bunch of folk musicians and singers from our class have rehearsed in their home before we conduct hootenannies at reunions. Bill teaches education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Do you think he could have acquired that position, much less held it, if he were the monster that John McCain and his minions paint Bill out as in the campaign ads against Barack Obama?
Bill and Bernadine have a wonderful family. They have two sons. One is a foster child who came to them with many problems. He grew to become a Rhodes scholar. That indicates some serious, sensitive parenting. As her mother sank into the throes of Alzheimer's disease, Bill and Bernardine cared for her in her later years in their home until her death. How many of us would have the heart and wlling to commit the resources to do that?
If you want to know where Bill stands on education, read his books, Teaching toward Freedom, A Kind and Just Parent, and The Journey of a Teacher. I know what he was like 40 years ago, but to say that he has not evolved into an upstanding citizen is to avoid the evidence at hand. In fact, to say that Barack Obama is a terrorist for associating will Bill Ayers is as idiotic as stating that John McCain is really a left-wing liberal in disguise because he associated decades ago in North Vietnam with Communists.
I am writing this note in the spirit of stopping the snide innuendos and vilification and move on to the real issues of the economy, the war in Iraq, mortgages, inflation, and fossil versus alternative fuels. Furthermore, I am sending this to conservative as well as liberal acquaintances and friends. Let us be the best citizens we know how to be.- Joe

Fear and Loathing in America

Americans are still questioning the character and commitment to America of Barack Obama. As reported on the BBC, one report shows, support sometimes comes from the unlikeliest of places, John McCain, for one. At the same time, in places like my home state of Ohio, there are large numbers of people who are openly afraid of what Obama as president means to them--and McCain's VP candidate Sarah Palin does nothing but throw red meat at them.

Down and Down We Go

As the Chinese proverb goes "May you live in interesting times"--and oh boy, are we. The stock market continues its "correction" to the lowest level since July, 2003 and us folks on Main Street are worried about our last words being "Would you like fries with that." And how far down could we go? Who really knows, but if countries are going bankrupt ("Halló, Góðan daginn"...to the folks in Iceland), it isn't good.

But with less than 30 days to the election, imagine what will happen if the dive stops? If you are John McCain's camp you are going to spin the "recovery" as your guy was right and "that one" (aka, Barack Obama) was wrong. And my friends, stranger things have happened.

On the other hand, whoever ends up being president, they'll have quite a cleanup on aisle America to contend with.

Interesting days indeed.

Sunday on the Links

Here are some new links I have found (or been directed to) over the weekend. Given the quickly approaching election, it might not be a bad idea to check them out, particularly if you are concerned how the next four years might go:

A seemingly accurate National Debt Clock

Estimate your federal taxes under an Obama or McCain Administration

McCain and Obama comparison on the issues.


If you local "Joe Six Packs" and "Hockey Moms" want to get that darn voting out of the way:

A schedule to early voting and satellite locations in Johnson County, Iowa

Open Debate to Debate

With all the drama leading up to the presidential debate last night in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, I was looking forward to the discussion of foreign policy. I was surprised to hear so much of the debate focusing on the economy, and happy it was put on the front burner by moderator Jim Lehrer. In my estimation, neither John McCain nor Barack Obama actually addressed what they would carve away from their federal budget proposals to address the money being loaned to the banks, the automakers, AIG, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and so on--in addition to funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is one reason why I hope, in future years, that presidential debates will be open to, at the very least, to any candidate who is on enough state ballots to win the electoral votes needed to be president--this would have allowed the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, and independent candidates like Ralph Nader to join in the fun and give the American public a chance to hear from candidates who are not debating so cautiously and, therefore, may present more innovative ideas.

For instance, had Cynthia McKinney have been there, we would have heard about her plans for an immediate withdrawal of troops and contractors from Iraq, no war with Iran. and a cutoff for all war funding.

Additionally, McKinney might reinfoce her proposals that Congress:
1. Enactment of a foreclosure moratorium now before the next phase of ARM interest rate increases take effect;
2. elimination of all ARM mortgages and their renegotiation into 30- or 40-year loans;
3. establishment of new mortgage lending practices to end predatory and discriminatory practices;
4. establishment of criteria and construction goals for affordable housing;
5. redefinition of credit and regulation of the credit industry so that discriminatory practices are completely eliminated;
6. full funding for initiatives that eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in home ownership;
7. recognition of shelter as a right according to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights to which the U.S. is a signatory so that no one sleeps on U.S. streets;
8. full funding of a fund designed to cushion the job loss and provide for retraining of those at the bottom of the income scale as the economy transitions;
9. close all tax loopholes and repeal of the Bush tax cuts for the top 1% of income earners; and
10. fairly tax corporations, denying federal subsidies to those who relocate jobs overseas repeal NAFTA.
11. Appointment of former Comptroller General David Walker to fully audit all recipients of taxpayer cash infusions, including JP Morgan, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG, and to monitor their trading activities into the future;
12. elimination of all derivatives trading;
13. nationalization of the Federal Reserve and the establishment of a federally-owned, public banking system that makes credit available for small businesses, homeowners, manufacturing operations, renewable energy and infrastructure investments; and
14. criminal prosecution of any activities that violated the law, including conflicts of interest that led to the current crisis.

If Ralph Nader had been there he'd have likely added: An end to personhood for corporations. repeal of Taft-Hartley Labor Bill, reduction of the military budget, creating a National Initiative system, (i.e., for issues people feel strongly about—health care, the war in Iraq, election laws—people can force a national vote on a proposal for change.

If Bob Barr were invited, he might talk about the National Taxpayer Union study that found his party would be the only one to substantially reduce the federal budget and that the bulk of Barr's spending cuts comes from withdrawing troops from Iraq ($92.4 billion in annual savings) and eliminating the Department of Education ($92.4 billion in annual savings).

Having said this, the debate between McCain and Obama could be seen as a victory for either candidate with Obama benefitting from the lowered expectation based on the perception that foreign policy is McCain's strong suit. Additionally, McCain's energy level was significantly lower than Obama's, giving me the perception that the rigors of the presidency might better be handled by a the younger, more focused Obama.

McCain did have moments of extreme clarity and certainly made his points with the kind of historical knowledge that former US Representative Jim Leach favors. Whether this knowledge was a positive would depend on the age of the voter.

Still, I wondered where was the discussion of foreign aid to areas like Darfur, renewing the commitment to AIDS and malaria aid to Africa, their views on closing Guantanamo, our tenuous relations with governments in Central America, and our conditions for entering into a global climate change reduction compact?

Granted an hour and a half was not much time, but the back and forth on some issues could have been better moderated by Lehrer to allow more time for other important issues.

Economists Favor Obama

Dilbert creator Scott Adams, who claims to "lean Libertarian, minus the crazy stuff" commissioned an independent study by The OSR Group, "a respected national public opinion and marketing research company." of the American Economics Association and learned that economists in this esteemed group, on the whole, tended to favor Barack Obama's policies over those of John McCain's on issues most of importance to them. Most economists are male and registered as either Democrats or Independents. The survey sample was made up of:

48% Democrats
17% Republicans
27% Independents
3% Libertarian
5% Other or not registered


According to the report summary:

By a margin of 60-32%, economists believe Barack Obama would be better than John McCain at making progress on the issues that are most important to the economy. (The remaining 8% see no difference between the candidates on this measure.)

By an almost identical margin (59-31%), economists think Obama would be best for the economy overall, over the long term. (Ten percent say there would be no difference between the candidates.)

If the election were held today, 66% of the economists would favor Obama and 28% would favor McCain. (Six percent would favor someone else.)

The economists surveyed ranked these issues as most important (The percentages indicate how many rated each issue eight or higher on a scale of 1-10.):

71 percent -- Education
67 percent -- Health care
62 percent -- International trade
60 percent -- Energy
58 percent -- Encouraging technology and innovation
58 percent -- Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and homeland security
52 percent -- Mortgage and housing crisis
49 percent -- Social Security
45 percent -- Environmental policy
39 percent -- Reducing the deficit
37 percent -- Immigration
29 percent -- Increasing the proportion of taxes paid by the wealthy
28 percent -- Reducing waste in government
16 percent -- Tax relief for the middle class
15 percent -- Reducing capital gains tax
14 percent -- Extending unemployment insurance
13 percent -- Extending and strengthening the unemployment insurance system
13 percent -- Raising the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation
11 percent -- Reforming bankruptcy laws
9 percent -- Eliminating the estate tax

This is who they felt would do a better job with the highest ranked issues:



Here is the whole report which is in a Dibert-worthy PowerPoint presentation.