Is anyone really surprised? I'm not. You can't run a $200 Billion trade deficit year after year after year and expect that everyone will magically still have money to shop. Money from where? We don't build anything anymore.

We were able to coast on momentum and home equity debt spending for a few years after our industrial base was decimated by the traitors known as CEOs, but this is it. Without industrial production, there isn't anything to lift this country up.

I guess we'll find balance eventually. The dollar will keep tanking until the CEOs have no choice but to bring manufacturing back. Otherwise there will be no jobs and no money in this country.
Industry IS wealth production. When it leaves, Wall Street dies and the retail sector dies.

And now for something completely different, a music review. Haven't done one in a while.

I picked up the Bon Iver album For Emma, Forever Ago yesterday, and it is excellent.
It's an acoustic guitar singer-songwriter album, minimal accompaniment, recorded in a Wisconsin cabin in the dead of winter. Haunting and sad and beautiful, but with a power. You can feel the sense of isolation, the weight of the music.

Perfect now that winter is coming on, and a great make out album. Grab your better half, a blanket and glass of wine and put it on some snowy evening.

The really funny part of this one to Spud is that the hacks on FOX are STILL trying to pretend that Obama doesn't have a massive mandate despite the fact that Obama's margin of victory supercedes the margin of Reagans 1980 victory and both Bush terms.

I'll give them credit, it takes balls to argue that the GOP didn't really lose because there are no "true" conservatives in the entire Federal Gov't.

That's what Limbaugh argued Wed as he threw Bush's entire Presidency under the bus, along with McCain.
Yep, Bush was just a big 'ol faker.

Which of course begs the question, why did the GOP spend 8 years carrying the water for fake conservatives?

Sorry boys, but I think you're going to find that a Trillion dollar welfare program for CEOs disguised as a war, and a $700 Billion handout to Wall Street are exactly what "true" fiscal conservatism is. Bush did exactly what he said he would. He worked for his base, the haves and have mores.

I don't recall ever hearing the CEO of Halliburton say it was wrong to have taxpayer wealth redistributed to his bank account as he fucked over the American soldier. Do you?

Nevermind then

^^^ What are you talking about? That's not canned and I only posted it once.

I'll give you trite though. I'm sick of Palin and done talking about her.
But boorish? Boorish is exactly what the Palin pick was, crudely insensitive to anyone who wanted effective leadership for this nation.

I've been meaning to post this for a bit, seems like a good spot.

Do you Republicans know how downright insulting the choice of Palin was? Do you?
Jesus Christ, that woman is an idiot. Any remaining chance that I would vote for McCain died the second I Googled "Who the fuck is Sarah Palin?"

It's a vote for Vice President of the United States, not PTA den mother. And it was nausiating to watch people defend her. Every PolSci freshman knows exactly what the Bush Doctrine is. That a sitting Governor wouldn't know what it is, means that her brain wasn't the asset she was elected for.

After 8 years of illiterate redneck country bumpkin "leadership", we were honestly expected to fall for it again? Putting Bush in a dress, lipstick and heels would impress us?

And is a little respect for the office too much to fucking ask for? It's not the shameless marketing that I'm complaining about. You drape the beauty queen across the hood of the car you're selling. It's expected.

What you don't do, is make the beauty queen Vice President!

Yes this is America, land of oportunity, but there are limits. Joe the Plumber wasn't ever going to be a neurosurgeon, and Sarah Palin wasn't ever going to be Vice President. And if by some miracle she was trust into that role, her failure would have been greater than Bush's. How did you not realize that?

How did you not demand her removal from the ticket out of basic self esteem for your country?

I hope that Obama supporters keep their expectations realistic. An awful lot of people really bought into the 'hope, change and unity' rhetoric in a major way. I've got a newflash: They guy can't walk on water. The world is not going to become a more harmonious place simply because Obama won this election.

My expectations have always been tempered. Of course he can't walk on water, who ever claimed he could? But I do have great hope for change, for this one reason:

A fundamental tennet of the Bush administration was to run the Federal Gov't as incompetently as possible, INTENTIONALLY, for the goal of disillusioning the American people against the government to the point where they would vote to drown it in the bathtub.

The change that Obama will bring will be that he wants the Federal Government to actually WORK. That's the difference the American people will see; the difference between a federal government that is trying to be incompetent, versus a government that is trying to succeed.
For 8 years we've been driving around with the parking brake on.

I also hope for a couple of other things:
1. The media comes out of its collective daze and actually scrutinizes an Obama presidency with an appropriately healthy dose of skepticism. Their treatment of Obama during the campaign AND the primaries was not only disgusting, but was actually a bit dangerous. I won't hold my breath.

I'm not worried about this at all. The "liberal" media is going to scrutinize Obama far more than they ever did Bush. Righwing radio carried Bush's water daily, and the Bush administration shamelessly used the war to suggest that any criticism of Bush was treason in a time of war.
You're not going to hear Obama claiming it's treason for the media to do their job.

2. That Obama supporters don't get viscious toward any and all criticisms of Obama that are sure to come as he begins running his presidency. I know an awful lot of you would love nothing more than to make conservative talk radio illegal via a reincarnation of the "Fairness Doctrine".

This is going to depend heavily on the nature of the criticism. Limbaugh had a choice when Powell endorsed Obama. He could discuss policy, or he could race bait and decend into base bigotry and hate. He chose the latter. And if he and Savage and Hanity keep it up, they fully deserve the viscious response they will get.
Will the GOP give the people a reason to vote FOR them? Will they discuss policy inteligently? Or will they just spew hate for 4 years?

If the legacy media continues on with its circle-jerk love-fest for Obama it will be incumbant upon the new media, conservative talk being a major portion of this, to critically examine the Obama presidency and attempt to hold him accountable. I would like to believe that in your hearts you recognize that a critical media is extremely important to the fabric of our Democratic Republic, even when the guy under the lens is someone you adore.

Everyone remembers 1994. If Obama doesn't do what he said he would, I'll vote GOP in 2010 myself, and so will millions of other moderate voters. I expect the media to report the truth, so does Obama.

President of the United States, Barack Obama!

4) A Trillion dollar war for nothing.

5) Repeatedly violating the Constitution while telling us they weren't.

So I've been making a list of the dumbest things the GOP did during Bush's reign. This is what I've got so far:

1) Outsourcing white collar jobs. That's a ton of Republicans who were told they were only worth $2/hr. Not smart. And they all became Democrats.

2) Massive immigration. Yes it gets you cheap labor. For a while. But eventually they become citizens and vote for the party that doesn't treat them like shit.

3) Sucking CEO dick as they steal $2 Trillion of our retirement savings. Pretty self explanatory.

Bottom line, if you live in a Red State and you're not a racist, and you're not a millionaire, you were given no reason to vote FOR McCain.

McCain ran an insulting campaign. Joe the Plumber? Joe the plumber is broke. If he wasn't a hack, he would have voted for Obama. Joe had no reason whatsoever to vote for McCain.
Joe is now starting a charity for poor people like him. Sounds like socialism to me.

Sorry Republicans. When your base is racists and illiterate white guys, this is what you get. Maybe you should rethink all those tax cuts for fat bloated CEOs huh?

On my drive into work this morning I came to an Obama yard sign that had N****r spray painted on it, first time I'd seen one here.

I just wanted to say, it's going to feel so good watching the GOP get its ass kicked, to watch this country reject hate and fear.
The racist freakout will be a sight to behold when Obama wins.

why are republican women so much hotter than their counterparts on the left? Ann...

You got a thing for adam's apples?

Then why not release the video and defuse the situation entirely?

Defuse what situation? The lies? McCain's campaign is wholy built on lies. His supporters swallow them blindly. You think they would accept any evidence that would prove the innocence of someone they've branded guilty since day one?

The American justice system was founded precisely against this sort of fascist bullshit. The GOP doesn't get to spread lies and then demand that Obama prove his innocence.

Especially in a case like this. Obama went to a farewell lunch for a fellow American Citizen. A citizen McCain funded. This is the vilest level of desperation. I honestly didn't think McCain would sink so low as to make associating with a fellow American a crime.

newt's offering a $50,000 reward for the tape. money talks and bee-ess walks.

Why doesn't McCain go buy it from the source? If he can give Khalidi $840,000, I'm sure he can afford it. Maybe he can trade a house for the tape he's grasping so desperately for, as he can't give anyone a reason to actually vote FOR him.

This really is the last straw. The GOP is officially now the party of blind racist hate. Khalidi is an American citizen, born in New York. What did he do wrong? Americans aren't allowed to have independent thought anymore? Got to clear it with Big Brother first?

Can anyone on the right even give a valid reason why Obama shouldn't have gone to a farewell lunch for a scholar leaving Chicago? A scholar that McCain funded to the tune of $840,000??? McCain didn't seem to have much problem with the guy, did he?

Is this really all the GOP has left? This is pathetic. The McCain campaign and everyone who pushes this story is flat out pathetic.

Oh no, Obama went to lunch with the guy McCain gave almost a million dollars to. Run for the hills!!!!!

Palin was hung in effigy, I'm calling it even. The more attention we give shit like this, the more it'll be repeated.

McCain redefined desperation today when he claimed that Obama was wrong to have had lunch with a Palestinian that McCain gave half a million dollars to, because there was a video of Obama at the lunch, and they thought they could get away with it.

How fucking stupid and desperate do you have to be to try and damn your opponent for "paling around with" the same guy you've funded?

McCain deserves to lose in a massive landslide. To say the entire campaign is incompetent is the understatement of the year.

You couldn't have blamed the violent rapist with the carving fetish on Obama. To even attempt it was laughably stupid. Rush and (Matt) Drudge should be ridiculed for months about it.

Do you honestly expect us to believe that if the girl's story was true, if she really was attacked and raped and mutilated by a black Obama supporter for the only sin of being a McCain supporter,

That you would have laughed it off? Just laughed it off, and that's that?

I do not believe you. That is a lie.

If you honestly believe she was PAID TO LIE, then you have blurred the lines.

I go where the evidence points. The facts are, this girl called into campaign headquarters before she called the police. And the McCain camp was off and running with it as soon as they got it.

The McCain camp didn't even bother to get a confirmation of the event before issuing a major press release? You don't find that odd? You don't think they'd maybe want to see how the girl was doing? She was "raped", remember?
They were out to the press before they knew anything.

So you can see how it's not that crazy to think they were in on it, with the speed they moved on it. Or is the McCain camp simply that desperate and reckless? Your choice. Evil, or incompetent?

But it's the corporations and businesses who hire the lobbyist that have the politicians ears. From the city to the State to the Federal level. If I could see that change, I'd be more upbeat, and not so protective of what I've worked so hard for.

You want change? Here's my advice. Vote for Obama, because that's the only thing that will scare the GOP straight.

Then work your ass off to get good decent Republicans elected in 2010 as a counterbalance.
Good decent patriotic Republicans who care about the American worker do exist, they were cast aside by the corrupt Bush regime.

I should know, I used to be one.

and you will be howling once you realize youa re going to pay more tax

Our Chineese Express card is overlimit. We have real needs that have to be paid for, and there's no more home equity, nothing left to borrow. I know you'd just love to pass on all your expenses to your grandchildren, but real adults take responsibility and do what has to be done.
I don't like it, but the alternative is watching more bridges fall into more rivers. Is that your idea of a strong America? A crumbling infrastructure?

be told what to drive

Oil speculators already took care of that one. Gas will be back up to $4 after the election. Who can afford an SUV?

more people gettting handouts

I know, I'd much rather they have a job. How about we bring factories back from Mexico and China?

have a politburo running things from the comfort of their country dachas

You're joking, right? After 8 years of Bush violating the Constitution from the comfort of his Texas ranch? That's your big fear mongering?
And um, Obama doesn't have a country dacha. McCain would have to give him one of his.

Why don't you go vote for Barr?

economic justice
what does THAT mean to you

or what about HYENGIS(SP).........owner of the dolphins telling us that he was in a hurry to sell before obama might be elected.......

He's probably the worst owner in the NFL. He's only in it to pad his own wallet. No one in Miami will miss him. They'd much rather have an owner interested in actually winning rather than using the team as his personal ATM.

Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, who is loved in Pittsburgh, isn't afraid and endorsed Obama.

I actually think that under Obama, we'll get business owners who are much more interested in growing their business rather than racking up the stock options, as they should be.

Zero the corporate tax rate for companies that make or provide goods and services that are wholly USA. Build a car with US parts and labor and no tax. Rebuild infrastructure with American products, no tax. Provide a service that employs Americans, no tax.

Exactly. I have no interest in taking tax money from people who are running American industry employing Americans, paying a wage where parents can take care of their children with dignity.

Work is dignity, and the CEOs have stripped that from us.

The middle class never got a $2,000.00 tax break from Bush in the first place

I got about $600. And then do you know what happened? Because Bush cut taxes for the rich and then cut education funding while passing out tons of unfunded mandates designed to make public schools look bad, we had to raise our property taxes to make up the difference.

And you know what, at least that money goes to teacher salaries, Americans who live in my town, instead of going to China if we'd all just gone shopping at the mall instead.