Dear Senator McCain,

Do you REALLY want to be
the next President of the
United States of America?
This is your last chance.
You will not get another op-
portunity.

Then please tell me, Sir,
why you took the day off?
Why are you in Arizona
with only 30 days to go?
Why have you pulled out of
Michigan?  Do you not want
my vote?  We have suffered
long and hard at the hands
of the worst governor in our
state's history!  A Democrat
no less!  If ever there was a
state that needed a friend in
Washington, it is us.

Why, good Sir, are you so
adamant about not raising
your opponent's associations?
His long, twenty-year history
with a vile, anti-Semite who
preaches hate?  With a man
who bombed our nations
institutions and spilled honest
mens' blood?  Or with a group
of corrupt politicians and busi-
nessmen who looted the hard-
earned money of everyday
Americans?

This is not a time to retreat.
This is not a time to rest.
This is a moment in which
our nation is challenged.
I have two suggestions for
you, Senator McCain.

First, FIGHT!  Light the fire
in your heart and soul! This
is no time to be nice to the
enemy.  If you truly believe
what you said during the first
debate, that Senator Obama
is naive, inexperienced and
dangerous, then how can you
now stand there and allow
him to be victorious?  Let
slip the dogs of war and
CRY HAVOC!!!

Secondly, REFORM!!!  That
should be your sword, and
mighty it is!  You have the
track record as a reformer.
Many of us may not agree
with your past causes, but
we all recognize that you, and
ONLY YOU, have the talent
to reform our government.

Our system is damaged, we
all see that now more than
ever.  People do not want
CHANGE, they long for
REFORM!  They want our
government fixed.  Restore
it's honesty and purpose.
Rebuild trust in our leaders.
Unburden our brows of the
daily despair in headlines.

You have done well in your
choosing a running mate who
is ready to fight and knows
how to reform.  Now, good Sir,
you must lead the charge!
Please, tell us plainly that
you are the one who can
reform our system.  And tell
us often!  Every minute of
each remaining day.  Every
state, every city, every town.
Let the word ring out loudly
and continuously!

REFORM! REFORM! REFORM!

Thursday night's debate be-
tween Governor Sarah Palin
and Senator Joseph Biden
was a set-piece battle.  Each
accomplished their missions.

Palin was her feisty self once
again.  She even checked the
host, PBS's Gwen Ifil, a couple
of times, answering what she
wanted to answer.  While she
clearly has a lot to learn, Palin
acquitted herself well, stressing
her reform and energy experi-
ence, as well as her middle-
class life-style.  

'Fighting' Joe Biden also did
very well, showing his famous
passion and avoiding any gaffs.
He turned his sword towards
Bush, Cheney and McCain
and did not confront Palin at
all, except to defend his own
and Obama's positions on the
issues.

This debate is much harder to
score than the first presidential
debate of last Friday.  Both did
what they needed to do.  Since
neither made any mistakes,
we'll rule this one a draw.  But
strategically, Palin probably
fared better.

After weeks of bad press and
being misrepresented by two
TV interviews, many people in
the GOP were beginning to
have their doubts about Palin.
The Hockey-Mom-Sarah of
the Republican convention got
lost along the way,

Palin herself commented on
how she enjoyed speaking
directly to the American people
instead of through a media fil-
ter.  Indeed, both the Gibson
and Couric interviews were
some two hours long each,
but only edited segments were
aired on television.  You have
to wonder what was left on the
cutting room floors!

How this will help the McCain
campaign remains to be seen.
The economic crisis has hit
his campaign hard, giving the
Obama campaign momentum
with the clock winding down.
News that McCain is pulling
his resources out of Michigan
today was not a good sign.

However, after an initial bump
in favor of Obama following the
McCain missteps of last week,
the race is once again settling
back towards an even match.
While Obama still holds a 4 to
6 point lead in the national
polls, the internal data still
shows weakness in how the
public views his leadership
skills.  The Boston Herald,
which usually endorses the
Democratic candidate, came
out Wednesday and is backing
John McCain.

Tuesday will be the next debate
of the principles.  The formats
for the last two debates will
favor McCain's style.  So if
tonight's performance by Palin
has stopped the bleeding, it
could set the stage for another
swing back in McCain's favor.

Remember Antoin "Tony"
Rezko?  I'm sure Governor
Rod Blagojevich recalls who
he is.  Maybe even Barack
Obama.

Well, unless you live in
Chicago, or keep an eye on
the Chi-town Tribune, you
probably have not heard in
the national Main Stream
Media that Rezko is singing
his big head off to the Feds.
YEP!  According to the Trib,
Rezko, who is scheduled
for his sentencing appearance
on October 28th, is quite the
chatty-catty now.  The IceMan
who said nadda-word for these
many months is makin' like a
canary.

Why?  Well, the courts keep
turning down his appeals for
mistrials and retrials.  His op-
tions have all but run out and
he's facing a very long time in
the stripe-y-hole.  According to
the Trib, Federal prosecutors
have recently begun whispering
that Governor Blagojevich will
be the indicted soon, and that
they have a ton of evidence
against him.

As I have been explaining in
several articles here and at
my other other blog on Yahoo!,
Rezko was just the most re-
cent of a long series of arrests
resulting from a Federal investi-
gation known as "Operation
Boardgames."  Evelyn Pringle's
5-part series of articles at
opednews.com goes into extra-
ordinary detail on Boardgames
and the Illinois Combine, a
group of politicians and busi-
nessmen who worked at rip-
ping off the public.

Most of the others who have
been netted thus far by the
Feds have been the small
fish.  Rezko is slightly larger
as he seems to be a major
conduit between the big fish,
including Blagojevich and
Nadhmi Auchi.  You may be
asking who Auchi is?

Meet Nadhmi Auchi, an
Iraqi-born petro-player who
was said to have been the
financial advisor to none
other than Saddam Hussein!
Now residing in Britian, our
friend Auchi headed a com-
pany formerly known as ELF
Oil.  Based in France, ELF
was the primary oil company
for selling Iraqi oil in Europe,
as well as other sources.
In 1994, ELF got popped in
the largest fraud investigation
since The Marshall Plan.
Some $500 Million dollars
were spread around bribing
politicians and feathering
the beds of ELF's execu-
tives.  Auchi was convicted,
but received only a two-year
suspended sentence and a
$2 Million dollar fine!  Nice!

Auchi began playing games
in Chicago, with the help of
Rezko.  Using a Belgium
bank, Clearstream, and a
French bank, BNP, Auchi
helped launder food for oil
money for Saddam.  Some
of which went to many of
Rezko's schemes, such as
the Chicago Riverside Park
Project, a 62 acre develop-
ment near the heart of The
Loop. Riverside was seized
by the Feds in 2005.

This was just one of many
schemes Rezko and the
Illinois Combine were in-
volved in.  My own esti-
mates put the amount of
their activities somewhere
in the $7-8 Billion dollar
mark, with much of the
money coming from state
pension funds.  They even
went international, scam-
ming some $200 Million
from Uncle Sugar for recon-
struction projects in Iraq!

Rezko, as we all know, is
also tied to Barack Obama.
While Obama denies any
criminal involvement with
Rezko, or the Combine's
activities, he was certainly
in the right place at the
wrong time, and very often
so at that!   This now brings
me to my second point of
the evening.

Two blog postings have come
to light.  One at the blog,
littlegreenfootballs, where a
posting from Glen Reynolds
of Instapundit of an email he
received from an 'insider' of
a major news organization.
"Off the record, every suspi-
cion you have about the MSM
being in the tank for O (Obama)
is true.  We have a team of 4
people going thru dumpsters
in Alaska and 4 in arizona. Not
a single one looking into ACORN,
Ayers or Freddiemae. Editor
refuses to publish anything that
would jeapordize election for O,
and betting you dollars to donuts
same is true at NYT (New York
Times), others.  People cheer
when CNN or NBC run another
Palin-mocking but raising any
reasonable inquiry into obama
is derided or flat out ignored.
The fix is in, and its working."

Then there is this next com-
ment which was posted at
the website by Philip Berg, the
Philly lawyer (and life-long Dem
activist) who is suing the DNC
and the Obama campaign to
disclose his questionable
citizenship.  Berg claims that
Obama may have been adopted
by his mom's 2nd husband and
is in fact Indonesian, legally, and
not eligible to be president. The
first attempts by the DNC and
Obama to have the case thrown
out of Federal court failed. The
website is obamacrimes.com

The post is in the comment
section from "Anne" written on
September 28th.  "I know a "top"
person in the MSM quite well.
I was very fortunate to catch her
at a party and discuss this
(the Berg lawsuit) for a few
minutes (I asked about the
citizenship angle).  A little
alcohol loosens the tongue.
"we're hoping Obama wins and
then we'll haul in the ratings
ten times better than the
Clinton affair.  There's a lot
more out there than you
know, and whether Obama wins
or not, you will definitely be
shocked at the aftermath.
At the moment, I see nothing,
I say nothing, and I know
NOTHING.  But really, I do
know that our investigators
have a s___load of evidence
that's probably gonna put this
guy in prison."

Sooo, we have a couple of
members of the MSM who
say they are in the tank for
Obama, actively working to
have him win the election.
One suspects that he needs
to be investigated, the other
already apparently knows
enough to see Obama being
imprisoned at some point
in the future.

With all that is going on in
the world now, with the wars,
financial meltdown and just
our national sanity at stake,
is the Main Stream Media
really hoping for a big fat
juicy scandal???  Something
they can profit from while
the nation goes through dire
trauma???  Is this what free-
dom of the press is for???

It all comes down to ratings
and advertising dollars?

Late this afternoon, the U.S.
Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives negotiated a final
version of the bail out deal.
It varies from the original 3
page proposal submitted by
Treasury Secretary Henry
Paulson in many ways, but
still may amount to the $700
Billion dollar request he asked
for last weekend.  There are
many components in the 110
page plan, some good, mostly
bad.

Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chris
Todd and Barney Franks all
hail the plan.  They say it will
end greed on Wall Street and
protect the taxpayers on Main
Street.  Where, I'm not sure?
Pelosi was right about one
thing, it is less a bail out as a
'buy-in'.  Paulson will get some
$250 Billion dollars immediately
to start buying up the 'toxic'
mortgages and securities held
by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
and private investment banks
and institutions.

With just a simple written note
from the president, Paulson
may draw on another $100
Billion when needed.  With an-
other written note from the pre-
sident, he may draw the rest of
the $350 Billion in one lump
sum.  However, on this last
chunk of change, the Congress
gets 15 days to think about it
and MAYBE, vote to refuse
him.  I suppose that's providing
the Congress is not on one of
it's many holidays!

There are to be several layers
of oversight.  Paulson will head
one layer with the Fed Chair-
man, Ben Bernanke, along
with the heads of the SEC,
FHA and HUD.  Both houses
of the Congress will also have
oversight, as well as an inde-
pendent Inspector General.
But, basically, it will be Hank
Paulson running the whole
show.  

He will have extraordinary
powers in hiring staff for the
new division of the Treasury,
known as the Troubled Assets
Relief Program (TARP). He
will also be able to contract
outsiders to manage aspects
of TARP, as well as determine
what assets to buy.  Quite a
bit for one guy to do!

There are some good gems
in the plan.  The accounting
practice, known as 'mark-to-
market', which played a major
role in causing the recent
bank failures, may be sus-
pended and subject to re-
view before being reinstated.
Paulson will have to report
regularly, on every $50 Bil-
lion dollars he spends. The
buying activity will be made
public, posted on the Internet
for all to see.

While the plan calls for relief
for home owners with bad
mortgages, there are no de-
tails on how they will be as-
sisted.  Actually, there are
not many details on how much
of the plan will be carried out!
Most of the bill delves mainly
on the structure of the plan
and not it's mechanisms.

Another major flaw in the plan
is that it does not specify any
actions to add true liquidity to
'Main Street' banks and other
small or regional lending insti-
tutions.  TARP appears to be
geared mainly for dealing only
with Fannie and Freddie along
with large institutions holding
securities for them.  In other
words, if you think this plan
will result in getting home, auto
and small business loans any
easier, think again!  Sure, the
language calls for help to in-
crease consumer and commer-
cial lending, but there is no
guarantees that any money
will be spent for such!

There are provisions for forcing
institutions that are helped with
monies from the TARP to limit
executive pay to no more than
$500,000 per year.  Congress
even excludes itself from any
members of the various over-
sight committees from receiv-
ing addition pay as a result of
being on such committees, al-
though, they may still be reim-
bursed for travel and other ex-
penses resulting from serving
on such committees.  How nice
of them to do that for us!

The TARP plan does require the
FBI and Justice Department to
launch investigations into the
whole meltdown.  Congress will
also conduct hearings, however,
it would seem that they will be
headed by the very same people
who helped caused the mess in
the first place!  Namely, Todd
and Franks!  So do not look for
any real culprits to be found.

In short, TARP will give the U.S.
Government $700 Billion dollars
to buy into the investment world.
How this will all play out is way
too soon to predict.  But given
that it's the government's fault
that we are in this mess, and
that it festered for so long, I am
less than optimistic.  Which is
why the title carries question
marks.  Perhaps TARP will do
some good and stabilize the
markets and loosen up lines of
credit downstream?  Or, perhaps
this is the beginning of a new
round of big government and
more Socialism?  While there
may be some short-term bene-
fits to TARP, I suspect it may be
years to come before we realize
the true impact of today's action.

Friday night at Old Mississippi
was the place to be to see the
first of three presidential de-
bates between Obama and
McCain.  Jim Lehr moderated
a free-flowing discussion which
initially was supposed to focus
on foreign policy.  But with the
recent financial issues, the 1st
two rounds of questions were
on the economy.

Essentially, McCain and
Obama fought a draw for the
first segments.  Obama went
on the offensive attempting
to tie the mortgage meltdown
to George Bush and McCain.
I'm sure that the average
American, unfamiliar with the
history and nuances of eco-
nomics, were more support-
ive of Obama during this
phase.

McCain tried to steer the
discussion towards budget
issues.  He missed the op-
portunities to hammer away
at Obama, and the Demo-
crats, for perpetuating govern-
ment largess with institutions
like Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac, as well as the Socialist
policies that brought about
the creation of so much 'bad
paper' into the financial world.

Obama beat his drum on how
his tax policy would reduce the
taxes for 95% of Americans, a
puzzling number since the
lower 40% of adult workforce
pay no income tax.  McCain
tried to emphasize how his tax
policy would stimulate growth,
but failed to connect.  However,
he did score on his own track
record of fiscal restraint and
how the system encourages
corruption and irresponsibility.

The latter hour then shifted to
the intended subject on inter-
national matters.  Here, where
McCain could have done much
better, he drifted for nearly 30
minutes.  Obama and he went
back and forth over Iraq and
who was to blame.  McCain
could have proclaimed that it
was he who essentially con-
fronted the Bush Administra-
tion and taken credit for the
replacement of Donald
Rumsfeld as the war's chief
manager.  He did question
Obama's judgment for oppos-
ing 'The Surge' and for still
denying it's success.  He
also challenged Obama on
time-tables and a policy of
defeat.

Obama continued his argu-
ment on his initial opposi-
tion of the war, but failed to
land a serious punch.  But
once the discussion turned
to more current issues, like
a nuclear Iran and a newly
aggressive Russia, McCain
literally woke up and began
landing solid punches.

He took Obama to task for
his position on meeting with
errant leaders without any
preconditions.  Obama tried
to counter but McCain then
jabbed back with probably
the best quip of the night.
McCain said that as he was
not yet president, he was not
going to start scheduling the
White House social calendar.
McCain added that, "I don't
even have my own seal yet!"
HAHAHAHA!!!

Obama got his cage rattled
and the remaining 20 minutes
he was clearly on the defen-
sive.  McCain called him
naive several times as well
as inexperienced.  Obama
even said some seven times
that he agreed with McCain's
take on certain matters, but
McCain did not return the
favor once.  

All in all, I would call this ex-
change a draw.  Obama had
a good start but weakened
midway.  McCain snoozed
through nearly the first half
but finished strong and fiesty.
It will be interesting to see
how the remaining two de-
bates play out, as the format
will change to each sitting
at a table opposing each
other more directly.

Obama was well rehearsed
and this was probably his
best debate performance yet
after being roughed up in
most of the Democrat primary
versions.  McCain was McCain.
He pretty much preformed as
he always does.  Starting off
slow and finishing with one or
two solid punches.  Neither
had any major gaff that will
haunt them in You-Tube
video-bites.  So I'll give them
both a B+ for effort and a
C- for content.

There was really nothing new
learned from either candidate.
Both stuck to their usual
stump speeches and talking
points. Jim Lehr seemed some-
what frustrated when neither
would answer his question
about how the current financial
crisis would impact their respec-
tive campaign-promised pro-
grams.  Obviously, there will be
adjustments but neither would
offer any specifics.

Just as the Obama campaign
attempts to regain some points
now that issues are again im-
portant, the Far Left and his
campaign throws more mud.
It is to be expected as that's
"the Chicago Way".

This last episode of "Saturday
Night Live" sunk to new depths
during a sketch about the New
York Times.  Under the cover
of allegedly poking fun at the
"Gray Lady" of journalism, it
was in fact an opportunity to
smear the Palins.  The sketch
went ugly and lurid alleging
incest between Todd Palin and
his daughter, Bristol.  How did
that get past the folks at NBC?
They obviously encouraged it.

The Obama campaign is play-
ing every card.  It demeaned
women, first Hillary Clinton and
now Sarah Palin.  It claimed
that Bill Clinton was a racist.
It's called McCain everything
from dishonorable to retarded.

Confederates in the Media
play along.  NBC/MSNBC is
the worst offender of the Main
Stream Media.  New Media
websites, like The Daily Kos
and Huffington Post take the
smearing to even lower levels.

Even 'fluff' shows like "The
View" play their role.  Last
week, while John and Cindy
McCain were on, they were
called liars and harshly treated
by most of the hosts.  When
Obama was on, they called
him "sexy" as they fawned
all over him.  Bill Clinton was
on "The View" Monday and
was likewise schmoozed by
the ladies.

Meanwhile, Obama is still
having trouble "closing the
deal".  While the Gallup
Daily Tracking Poll shows
him up a few points over
McCain, since the Wall
Street debacle began, a
closer analysis of the data
shows something altogether
different!  Is Gallup 'weighing'
the numbers in Obama's
favor to appease the MSM??

At WizBangBlog, writer DJ
Drummond wrote on the 19th
that if you look at how the
data breaks down along
party and idealogical lines,
Obama has actually LOST
ground and McCain gained!
For example:  between Sep-
tember 4th through the 18th,
Obama's support among
Democrats who call them-
selves Liberal and Moderate
has remained constant. But
among those who call them-
selves Conservative, he has
LOST some 11%!  

In the past month, Obama
has LOST 2% among the
Independents and 6% from
Republicans who call them-
selves Liberal and Moderate.
Among Conservative Repub-
licans, Obama went from
only a mere 4% to 3%.  The
Gallup Poll appears to indi-
cate that in the past week,
McCain went from leading
48% to Obama's 44%, to
reversing the numbers with
Obama leading 48% to
McCain's 44%.

BUT, as Drummond points
out, when you examine the
data, Obama has not gained
in ANY group at all this past
week.  In fact, he has LOST
ground!  And yet, the MSM
could not wait to herald the
new numbers as a sign of
Obama gaining strength as
'the Palin Effect' subsides.

In reality, according to
Drummond, McCain has
actually GAINED ground!
In the past week, he has
gained 1% amongst the
Conservative Republicans
and 7% amongst Liberal
and Moderate Republicans.
Even better, McCain has
GAINED 4% amongst
Independents in the last
7 days!  Amongst the
Conservative Democrats,
McCain GAINED 4% as
well.  He remained steady
at 12% amongst Moderate
Democrats, but oddly e-
nough, McCain GAINED
1% amongst Liberal Demo-
crats!!!  How did he do that?
LOL!!!

So, while Obama lost ground
in nearly every party identifi-
cation grouping, and McCain
gained in nearly every group,
how can Gallup report that
in the last week there was
an 8% shift in Obama's
favor???  Drummond explains
that Gallup increased the
'weight' of the Democrats
they polled.  All things being
equal, the trend still seems
to be indicating that McCain
is increasing his lead on
Obama.

Conspiracy theory?  I have
a few.  The recent AP-Yahoo
poll among Democrats show
that nearly 40% will not vote
for Obama merely due to his
race.  There are also rumors
floating about Joe "The Gaffer"
Biden withdrawing as the VP
candidate the day after the
VP debates on Oct. 3rd.  This
would allow Obama to bring
Hillary on the ticket as a last
ditch effort to win.  Rush
Limbaugh is even thinking of
starting a campaign, Save
Our Biden, to prevent that
from happening.  LOL!

So the excuses are already
being prepared.  Obama did
not win because America is
still a racist country.  Or it's
because Biden was a bad
choice for a running mate.
Or the Clintons did not do
enough.  On David Letterman,
comedian Chris Rock, who
appeared the same night
that Bill Clinton did, noted
how odd it was that Bill
never mentioned Obama's
name.  Hmmmmm???
LOL!  Yep, it's C.Y.A.
time.  The Democrats can
not blame this one on
Karl Rove.  So if you have
any good excuses, like
Obama's dog ate his real
acceptance speech, I
suggest you send them to
his campaign.  They may
need them in six weeks!

You are probably wondering
what this past week means
in financial terms?  After a
wild roller coaster ride, with
bail-outs and bankruptcies,
the infamous Dow Jones ended
the week breaking even.  Does
this mean all is well???

NO!!!  Oddly enough, yesterday
was an important date in history.
On September 18, 1791, our
U.S. Congress voted and had
Alexander Hamilton go hat in
hand to the Bank of New York
and the Bank of North America
to borrow money.  It was the
first Congressional act that put
the United States of America
in debt.  The amount was some
$197,000 dollars, 1791 dollars.

For what did purpose, you may
ask?  To build a road?  A fleet?
Some noble project?  NO!  It
was borrowed to pay their
salaries!!!  LOL!!!

So it seems fitting that 217
years later, our government
plunge us deeper into debt.
Estimates are vague, but the
amount will be in the ball-
park of $900 to $1500 Billion
dollars.  2008 dollars, worth
considerably less than those
of 1791.

Our central bank, the U.S.
Federal Reserve, a quasi-
private corporation, will run
the printing presses late
into the night to produce
the cash needed for all of
these new bail-outs.  They
have been pretty busy at
printing for the last 2 years.

There are three indicators of
our money supply.  The M1
consists of actual green-backs
in circulation, held in private
hands (you and me) and in
private banks.  That amount
is roughly $1200 Billion dollars.

The M2 consists of M1 cash
plus money, bonds and notes
held in 'commercial banks' in
the form of securities, IRAs,
etc.  That amount is roughly
$7800 Billion dollars.

The M3 is the more interesting
one.  It consists of everything
in the M2, plus cash, bonds
and other financial instruments
in American and Overseas
central banks.  In 2006, the
Federal Reserve stopped
publishing daily reports on the
M3 money supply.  Way back
then, it was a meager $5,000
Billion dollars.  In 2007 it topped
$7,000 Billion.  The M3 today
is closing in on the $15,000
BILLION dollar mark!  More
than double in twelve months.

In 2000, the M3 was nearly
$6,000 Billion dollars.  Much
of that money had been put
out after the 'Asian Contagion"
which rocked the financial
markets in the late 1990s.
The Mexican peso had first
failed and we helped to shore
it up.  But shortly after that,
a wave of central banks began
to feel the pinch from various
pressures, mostly in South-
East Asia.

Thailand, South Korea, Indo-
nesia, Japan, and others,
suffered from over-heated
economies and over-priced
real estate.  A lot of new
wealth from the Dot-Com
era had helped fuel high
rates of growth.  Our old
M3 supply went from some
$2,250 Billion in 1993 to
over $9,000 Billion by 1999.

Pumping the extra cash into
the system helped stabilize
markets, and by 2001, our
M3 had gradually declined
to under $7,000 Billion.  All
the indicators looked good
for it to continue to stabilize
and the dollar strengthen.
That is, up till September 10,
2001.  The next day, the
world changed again.

By the summer of 2002, the
M3 had shot up to more than
$12,000 Billion dollars.  A level
last reached during the infla-
tionary days of the late 1970s.
But, thanks to tax cuts and
other measures, the M3 had
been brought back under
control and by 2005, was
below $9,000 Billion.  Things
were starting to look bright
again.

During the next year and a
half, there were some bumps
in the road.  The M3 began to
bounce between $9 Trillion
and $10 Trillion dollars.  By
mid-2006, the M3 had dropped
to around $9,250 Billion.  But
since then, it has been on the
rise.  Indeed, from July '05 to
January '06, it topped the $10
Trillion dollar mark and has
never looked back!  Within a
year, it topped $11 Trillion
dollars.  That's when the REAL
fun began!

In the span of 21 months, the
M3 has inflated nearly FOUR
TRILLION DOLLARS!  The
impact of the sub-prime de-
bacle has brought extraordi-
nary pressures on our econo-
mic system.  With this week's
actions, expect another trillion
or more to be added in the
next few months.

What does this all mean?
Well, there is roughly about
150,000 tons of gold in the
world.  The whole planet!
At today's spot price of about
$850 an ounce, that would
translate to about $3,060
Billion dollars.  The gross
M3 supplies globally is
around $60,000 billion in
'paper money'.  

In 1791, the U.S. dollar was
fixed at $20 per ounce of
gold.  If the entire world's
supply was just here in
the U.S., and we backed
the M3 today in gold, the
spot price would be some
five times more than it is
today, about $4250 an
ounce.  Add the world's
M3 to the mix and you
would multiply that spot
price by a factor of four to
a whopping $17,000 an
ounce!  But who cares about
the rest of the world?  LOL!

The value of the dollar has
deteriorated 0.0047% in
the last 217 years.  Actually,
in the last 75 years, as gold,
and the U.S. dollar, more or
less maintained a consistent
buying power from 1791 till
1933.  So, in 75 years from
the start of Big Government
thanks to the New Deal, our
buying power has declined
some 99.5%.  Is everyone
truly ready for another round
of New Deals, new agencies,
and more government?

The past week or so has had
some interesting results in
the world of finance.  All of
which were bad!  Naturally,
the Democrats, led by The
One, Barack Obama, made
it a point to blame George
W. Bush and his administra-
tion, as well as John McCain.

But when we dig deeper into
the cause and effect, we see
the real culprits are our good
friends in the Democratic Party.
Let us step into our Way-Back
Machine and set the dial for
1997.

In the August 8th issue of
"The Village Voice" from
2008, we read about how in
1997, Andrew Coumo, son
of former Democratic NY
Governor Mario Coumo,
has been appointed by the
then president, Bill Clinton,
as secretary of HUD. The
Department of Housing
and Urban Development
was responsible for over-
sight of the the Federal
Housing Administration as
well as Freddie Mac and
Fannie Mae.

Under Coumo's leadership,
he allowed the two major
lenders to delve into the
now infamous subprime
market.  He also turned the
FHA into a money machine,
throwing money into risky
mortgages to people with
poor or no credit.  Coumo
also allowed brokers to
earn extra kickbacks for
their over-priced and unsup-
portable loans.

Coumo's objective was to
be a nice guy with the tax
payers money and encour-
age minority home owner-
ship.  The end result was
encouraging the subprime
market to go into hyper-
drive.  This fueled the Great
Housing Bubble, which
finally burst two years ago.

Phase Two of our Blame
Game comes in the forms
of Senators Charles Schumer,
Chris Dodd and Congressman
Barney Frank.  These three
idiots have played fast and
loose with the banking indus-
try for years.  Especially in
the past six months!

Schumer, as you may recall
from a previous posting here,
single-handly caused a
bank-run on IndyMac, when
his staff deliberately leaked
a letter on an investigation
his Senate committee was
conducting.  The letter was
a request to bank regulators
to dig into IndyMac and called
them insolvent.  The letter was
leaked to an activist group,
The Center for Responsible
Lending, which in turn leaked
the letter to the media. In
the following days, IndyMac
bled cash as depositors made
a mad dash to pull out their
money.  The FDIC could not
keep up and IndyMac is no
more.  Schumer denies delib-
erately leaking the letter to
the group, which, by the way,
donates money to him, and
he managed to skirt an inves-
tigation by the State of
California.

Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae,
under pressure from the sub-
prime debacle, turned to the
heads of the House and
Senate Committees oversee-
ing them, led by Barney
Frank in the House and Chris
Todd in the Senate.  The bail
out was encouraged by them
to the Treasury Department
and the Federal Reserve.

Now, to be fair & balanced,
three Republicans are also
involved in the financial
meltdown.  Former Senator
Phil Gramm, and Congress-
men James Leach and
Thomas Bliley.  The Gramm-
Leach-Bliley Act of 1999
knocked down the regula-
tory wall known as Glass-
Steagall.  This wall prevented
mortgage banks from dabbling
in the investment banking
world, and vice-a-versa.

It should be also noted that
GLBA got bipartisan support
and was signed into law by
Bill Clinton.  Glass-Steagall
had been the law of the land
since 1933, and prohibited
the two major types of banks
from engaging in each others
territory.  During the 1990s,
about 1000 banks had gone
under.  GLBA was seen as a
way to let free-market forces
play out and reward well-run
institutions.

But, needless to say, the
bank lobbyists, like Hunter
Biden, son of Joe Biden,
were not going to let them
fail.  Tougher bankruptcy
laws were passed and the
bailouts continued, as in
the most recent case of
Bear-Steyrns.  But banks
like IndyMac, who did not
have well-connected allies
in the Congress, were left
to fail.  Lehman Brothers
came to the table too late,
the Treasury is tapped dry.

It should also be noted, as
the Obama campaign makes
an issue of how many lobby-
ists are on the McCain staff,
that Obama has his dead-
wood, too.  James Johnson
had been with Countrywide,
America's Number One
underwriter of subprime loans.
Johnson was forced to resign
his position as an economic
adviser to Obama. Johnson
also served as a CEO with
Fannie Mae, along with still
current Obama adviser,
Franklin Raines.  So for
Obama to claim purity is very
laughable.  Between them
and Biden's baggage, they
should not be careful throw-
ing stones at McCain.  I
also found it very amusing
that Chuck Schumer was
on both "Meet The Press"
and "Hardball" and was never
questioned about his hand
in disrupting our financial
institutions.

Two new TV commercials have
popped up on the airwaves.
One from each campaign. The
media is complaining loud and
strong over the McCain ad that
replays portions of a speech
Obama gave to Planned Parent-
hood on July 18, 2007.  

Obama was telling them about
how Alan Keyes made an issue
of an Obama position when they
ran against each other for U.S.
Senate.  "I remember Alan
Keyes...I remember him using
this in his campaign against
me.  Barack Obama supports
teaching sex education to kin-
dergartners.  Which...I didn't
know what to tell him."

After Obama and the audience
chuckle over how backwards
such criticism is, he adds this:
"But it's the right thing to do,
to provide age-appropriate sex
education, science-based edu-
cation in schools."  The McCain
ad only uses the first part, "But
it's the right thing to do..."

This caused quite the outrage
from the media and the Left in
general.  How dare McCain be
so mean-spirited!  This isn't
the same McCain from 2000!
But the fact remains that
Obama DID say he thinks
teaching sex-ed to kindergar-
teners is, "...the right thing
to do..."!  As a dye-in-the-
wool Liberal, Obama supports
the full agenda of Left Wing
causes, including allowing
babies from botched abortions
to be tossed in a corner and
left to die!

The Obama campaign ran a
new ad of it's own, describing
how 'out-of-touch' McCain is
because he's so old.  Why,
McCain is so old, he knows
nothing about computers and
can't even send an email!
Images from 1982, when
McCain was elected to the
Congress are shown, such
as a disco ball and a woman
holding an early, huge mobile
telephone.

The media had few issues with
this ad, though some pundits
who are a bit more rational are
concerned about this direct at-
tack on McCain's age.  After
all, a significant portion of the
voting public, especially those
who ACTUALLY DO VOTE,
are senior citizens.  

But there are two substantial
problems with this ad.  First,
the reason McCain does not
use email or computers much
is due to his handicap.  His
disability from being shot
down and suffering from two
broken arms, neither of which
were properly set by North
Vietnamese doctors, make
using a keyboard difficult
and painful.

But the second reason this
ad is ridiculous is even simpler.
John McCain probably has a
better understanding of tech-
nology than 99% of the popu-
lation.  Why, you may ask?
Because, HE FLEW SUPER-
SONIC JET FIGHTERS FOR
A LIVING!!!  While your aver-
age American in the 1960s
had trouble adjusting the
rabbit-ear antenna on their TV
sets, John McCain was flying
high-performance aircraft at
speeds over Mach One!

The U.S. Navy does not let
anyone fly a jet fighter unless
they know how to do calculus
and have a firm grasp of the
principles of aerodynamics.
Not to mention state of the
art electronics systems for
communications and naviga-
tion.  John McCain is no
dummy!

When he was the same age
as McCain was when flying
jets, what did Barack Obama
fly?  An electric typewriter?
I suppose it is true that he
knows a few things about
more modern technology.
After all, we all know that
Obama can use his Black-
berry to exchange text mes-
sages with Scarlett Johans-
son.  LOL!  It's probably a
good thing that McCain can
not text or email himself, one
less possible way to get into
a sex scandal.  Plus, it's
not like McCain will not have
a staff to handle emails.  It
is a silly ad and one that is
very mean-spirited.  But I
suppose Obama is allowed
to make ads that are demean-
ing to women and the elderly.
Who in the MSM will challenge
him?

The campaign of Hope is now
turning into one of retreat!  A
new series of polling data has
shown major shifts in the
past two weeks since
McCain had selected Sarah
Palin to run with him.  If the
trend shows continues, it
could spell a disaster not
only for Obama, but for the
whole Democratic Slate!

The Gallup Daily tracking
poll has become level at
giving McCain a consis-
tent 4-5% lead over Obama
nationwide.  Among likely
voters, the lead is around
10% points!  A new and
interesting poll, from the
Insider Advantage, shows
that Obama's dominance
in the 18-29 age bracket
has shrunk.  He now leads
McCain by only 49% to
44%, a major loss for the
Obama campaign.  Kerry
lost to Bush with 52% of
the much vaunted 'youth'
vote.

Insider Advantage also
conducted polls of likely
voters to two key states,
Georgia and Michigan.
Georgia, a state that the
Obama campaign had
once hoped to 'steal', is
now clearly going for
McCain, 56% to 38%.
In Michigan, a state that
most Democrats had once
been confident of winning,
McCain now leads Obama
45% to 44%.  Other polls
for the Great Lake state
have Obama in the lead,
but only 3-4%, well within
the margins of error.  So
Michigan is now clearly a
toss-up, and could be the
decisive state in this year's
election.  I'll bet Obama is
wishing now he did not
'dis' Michigan as much as
he did during the primaries
and the delegate seating
squabble!  LOL!  The recent
developments have forced
the Obama campaign to
suspend ad buys in the
state of Georgia and pull
staff out of the Peach state.

There have been major
shifts towards McCain na-
tionwide in key demograph-
ic groups of women and
Hispanic voters.  The addi-
tion of Palin has solidified
the GOP base and money
and volunteers are pouring
in to help the cause.  So
much so that state and
national GOP fund raising
is blowing away the com-
bined fund raising efforts of
Obama and the DNC.

Other key states that Obama
had hoped to win, like New
Mexico, Pennsylvania,
Virginia and Colorado have
all evened up to margin of
errors.  Obama could very
well wind up with winning
less than 200 electoral
college votes.  Hopes of
cutting into the South and
Western states are in de-
cline.  But what the Dems
fear most is a rout in the
'Rust Belt'.  Michigan,
Pennsylvania, Ohio and
Indiana are all too close
to call at this point but
trending towards McCain.
Even Wisconsin is now
in play!

As Obama's election hopes
wither away, so too goes
the rest of the slate!  New
polls show Congressional
and Senate races tighten-
ing.  For over a year, it
looked as though this
November would be a
"Perfect Storm", with the
Democrats winning the
White House and making
gains in both houses of
Congress.  But with the
worst approval ratings of
all time, hovering between
15%to 9%, and plenty of
bad policies, especially
on oil drilling, the Democrats
have blown a double-digit
lead in other races.  The
RealClearPolitics tracking
poll of "generic" Democrats
against Republicans has
slipped from 12% lead to
only 3.6% since the addi-
tion of Palin to the ticket.

The "Perfect Storm" for
the Democrats may turn
out to be one for the GOP,
named Hurricane Sarah!
The Obama campaign,
which used to regularly
brag about it's fund raising
abilities, has become unus-
ually quiet the past month.
This had begun when the
take for July was just over
$54 million dollars, when
they had expected to rake
in over $100 million.  The
silence can only mean one
thing, the check books are
closing!  The 50-state stra-
tegy has now officially been
abandoned and Obama must
now focus his remaining re-
sources to hang on to what
remains left in key states
like Michigan and Pennsyl-
vania.  If he loses either one,
he has lost the election!

As any hockey fan knows,
what ever happened during
the regular season becomes
irrelevant when the play-offs
begin.  The previous 82
games, while important for
weaning out the refuse, are
not as critical as the last
16 games a team must win
to claim the Stanley Cup.
In the post-season race,
while offensive is necessary,
it is defense that wins the
championship.

With 55 days to go, the
race to the White House is
heating up.  Nearly every
poll now shows McCain
ahead of Obama.  Some by
only one or two points and
others, like Gallup's poll of
'Likely' voters, show McCain
leading Obama 52% to 41%!
An ABC News poll shows
that McCain is now, for the
first time, leading among
White Women voters, 51%
to 42%!  A shift of 20% in
two weeks.  How did this
happen?

Needless to say, the addi-
tion of Sarah Palin to the
McCain ticket has been a
major factor.  The entire
Obama campaign, and the
Main Stream Media, are in
a 'tizz'.  Everyone is scram-
bling for cover, trying to
figure out how to handle her?

The fallout has been brutal.
The Obama campaign has
no clear path to victory any-
more.  MSNBC blow-hearts,
Chris Matthews and Keith
Olbermann lost their anchor
jobs for debate and election
night coverage.  Oprah is
catching flak as well as a
whole bunch of other media
types for their attitudes and
spewings.

Alaska is now ground zero
for muckrakers trying to
dig up dirt on Palin, but so
far, nothing they've come up
with is having any legs.  I
believe, given the backlash
against the foul attacks on
her family, that anything
will stick to her now!

Hillary Clinton is making
good on her promise to
campaign for Obama, but
she has refused to throw
any mud at Palin.  Why
should Hillary do so? It's
not like the press and
Obama didn't abuse her
during the primaries. Who
can blame Clinton for be-
ing reserved?

The key for the McCain
campaign now is to stay
on the offensive.  They
need to keep it clean, go-
ing after Obama on issues
like tax policy.  They do
not have to get personal.
Obama's friends are doing
enough of that themselves!

Jeremiah Wright, Obama's
'former' pastor, is back in
the news again for causing
a woman, Elizabeth Payne
of Texas, to lose her job
and her marriage.  The 37
year old woman told the
New York Post that she had
a sexual affair with the 67
year old preacher.  Payne
had met Wright while work-
ing as a secretary to Rev.
Frederick Haynes III, a
long-time associate of the
Rev. Wright. Her husband,
Fred Payne, 64, told the
Post that he discovered some
80 emails from Wright, who
promised to leave his wife
for Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Payne has been
banished from Friendship-
West Baptist Church in
Dallas.  She has filed a
wrongful dismissal suit for
being fired over the adulter-
ous affair. Wright will also
be releasing a book soon,
though he may wait till
after the election to spare
Obama any further embar-
rassment.

So the McCain campaign
just needs to keep things
clean and keep scoring
points on a couple of key
issues, like taxes and oil
drilling.  The Obama cam-
paign has shown through-
out the entire season they
do not have a good defen-
sive game.  With the clock
winding down, and the de-
bates coming up, a format
Obama does not excel at,
the recent bump could be
the beginning of a major
blow-out.

Key battleground states
like Ohio and Florida are
looking better for McCain.
He's ahead by as much as
10% in Ohio in some polls
and 2-3% in Florida.  Even
Missouri now has shifted
towards McCain, despite
Obama 'owning' the state
through most of the sum-
mer.  Obama's leads in
Wisconsin, Colorado,
Michigan and Nevada are
also slipping away.  The
electoral map, should the
trend continue, point to
McCain scoring big with
300 electoral votes or more!

Many Democratic insiders
are already shaking their
heads wondering what has
happened?  Kristen Powers,
columnist for the NY Post
and a regular on Fox News
(as the liberal counter-
weight) wrote on Tuesday
that "Obama blew it".  She
is not alone.  Plenty are
whispering why did they
not vet him more?  Why
did they not push him to
run with Hillary?  Why in-
deed???  Many are ques-
tioning if a "community-
organizer" is truly quali-
fied to be the President
of the United States.  It's
a little too late to be ask-
ing these questions now!
There's only 55 days left!

The Internet has played an
important role in politics for
many years now.  Primarily
as a means to put out infor-
mation 'outside' the Main
Stream Media.  The first
major example of this was
when Matt Drudge revealed
the Monica Lewinsky story
to the world at large.

Since then, the MSM now
relies heavily on Internet
sources, as we have seen
in the last two weeks. The
Left-Wing blog site: The
Daily Kos, unleashed a
horrible lie about Alaskan
Governor Sarah Palin's
youngest son, Trig Paxson,
not being her own child, but
that of her eldest daughter,
Bristol.  Within hours, many
MSM organs, from cable news
networks to newspapers, be-
gan reporting on the story as
if it were factual.  "US Maga-
zine" even went to press with
a selacious cover, while the
story inside the pages was
lacking any hard facts to sup-
port the title of the cover.  It
should be noted, that "US
Magazine" is owned by the
same corporation that owns
"Rolling Stone", which is bla-
tantly left-of-center in their
politics.

Viral emails have become all
the rage of late for spreading
falsehoods and downright lies.
There have been many exam-
ples of these, one of which I
wrote about earlier.  That one
was allegedly from a Captain
in the U.S. Army stationed
in Afghanistan, commenting
on Obama's visit.  That email
was proven to be a hoax.

Two new ones have emerged
that are not hoaxes.  One
from a CPA In Maryland,
Bruce Riddle, who claims that
Senator Joe Biden "stiffed" him
on some $15,000 in fees for
preparing a financial statement
needed when Biden ran for
President in 1988.  Riddle
goes on further stating that
Biden refuses to pay some
$150,000 in private jet rental
fees to a company which
Riddle sits on the board of.
This tab was run-up during
Biden's latest attempt to
become President.

On the other side of the coin,
we have an alleged, "ordinary
housewife" from Wasilla, AK,
who claims to know Governor
Palin very well and is very
critical of her tenure as both
mayor and governor.  Anne
Kilkenny has quickly become
a 'rock star' in the MSM due
to the email she 'intended'
to only be circulated to her
friends and family.  

This is always the case in
these viral emails.  They are
always 'intended' to just be
read by people the writer
actually knows.  Or, at least,
that is always the author's
claim!

Needless to say, Anne
Kilkenny is a Democratic
activist in Alaska, who has
waged fights against a wide
range of issues, including
preventing a Walmart from
being built in Wasilla.  She
was one of a hundred locals
who protested against Mayor
Palin when she requested
the resignation of the town's
librarian.  Kilkenny charges
that this was over Palin's
objections to controversial
books available in the library.
The truth is more functional,
the librarian was only one of
seven city officials appointed
by Palin's predecessor whom
Palin wanted to replace with
her own people.  After a 45
minute conversation with the
librarian, Palin decided to
keep her on the payroll. A
sign of someone who makes
EXECUTIVE DECISIONS!

The MSM has made a big
deal out of the story which
Palin tells about putting the
corporate jet bought by the
previous governor on eBay.
The story is essentially
true.  The jet was placed on
eBay three times, with the
highest bid around $1.6
Million dollars.  But the jet's
'reserve price' was $2.5
Million.  After which, an
aircraft broker sold the jet
for $2.1 Million to a busi-
nessman in Alaska.

While the MSM is making
hay out of Palin and her
"Trooper-gate" and other
non-issues, they are com-
pletely ignoring those of
Obama and Biden.  Very
little vetting or investigating
was done on Obama prior
to the beginning of the pri-
mary season.  Biden is
getting a complete free
ride on his family issues.

Today, on "Meet The Press",
for example, Tom Brokaw
had the opportunity to ask
Senator Biden about the
fraud lawsuit filed against his
son, Hunter and his brother,
James.  Both men were in-
volved in a take-over at-
tempt of Paradigm
Companies LLC,  a hedge
fund investment firm.

Hunter was named president
of LLB Holdings, with a salary
of $1.2 Million dollars annually,
despite having ZERO experi-
ence in hedge funds or invest-
ing!  The job was arranged
to get Hunter out of his previous
position as a lawyer who was a
lobbyist for a major bank in
Delaware, at the same time that
bank was pushing for new laws
on credit card bankruptcies.
Biden, who co-sponsored the
new law, could be seen as in
their pockets, if one wanted
to look!

Hunter and James are being
sued by their former partner,
Anthony Lotito Jr.  Lotito claims
that James called him in Jan.,
2006 to arrange a job for Hunter.
He claims that James voiced
concern that his brother, Joe,
was worried about how it may
look to have a son as a lobby-
ist when he runs for President
in 2008.  The deal was to create
a new company, LLB Holdings
USA, and buy 54% of Paradigm
for some $21.3 Million dollars.

Lotito charges in his lawsuit
that the Bidens crafted a
secret deal to create another
company to buy him out of
his Paradigm shares.  In a
second lawsuit, Stephane
Farouze, an executive with
Deutsche Bank, claims that
LLB promised to buy his
shares of Paradigm for $10
Million dollars and then
reneged.

Another interesting twist on
this tale is the involvement
of SimmonsCooper LLC,
a law and lobbying firm based
in Illinois.  They agreed to put
up some of the the cash for
the Paradigm purchase, about
$2 Million dollars.  What is so
interesting about Simmons-
Cooper is that they are one
of the leading law firms doing
cases related to asbestos.
They were major contributors
to the Obama campaign as
well.  As you may recall, one
of Obama's 'claim-to-fame' is
fighting Chicago landlords as
a 'community organizer' on
the removal of asbestos from
housing projects.  Surely,
more investigation is needed
here on this connection.  We
certainly won't get any from
Tom Brokaw or the rest of the
MSM!

So, in short, the smearing of
Palin is permitted by the MSM.
They were very quick to jump
on her religious background,
making her appear to be some
sort of nut.  Yet, the MSM did
nothing for over a year about
Obama's church affiliation!
Is it any wonder why major
newspapers, news magazines
and TV networks are losing
viewers and readers.  How many
of the recent job losses this
past August were from the
MSM?  Clearly, not nearly
enough!  LOL!!!!

"Stand Up!  Stand Up And
Fight!  We're Americans! We
Never Lose!  We Don't Run
From History!  WE MAKE
HISTORY!!!"

Tonight, while making his
acceptance speech as the
GOP Presidential candidate,
Senator John McCain was
once again the Happy
Warrior.  Once more the
Reformer.  The Straight
Talk Express is hitting the
road at full throttle!

McCain's speech went
through stages, first, thank-
ing the many who make up
his family and friends.  He
thanked also those who had
stuck with him during the
lean days of last year.  When
his position on Iraq seemed
so backwards and destruc-
tive.  A position that has
since shown to be the right
choice, the right judgment!

McCain only mentioned our
current President once, and
not by name!  He did thank
Laura Bush for being a great
First Lady, though.  McCain
continued biographically on
his many battles and differ-
ences within his own party.
He put "Country First", a
major slogan of his campaign
now.

At times, the cheering crowd
seemed to trip up his momen-
tum.  About mid-way through
his speech, there was one
Code Pink protester who tried
to disrupt McCain.  But he
actually worked it into his
advantage.  

McCain spoke of his plans
for reforming Washington. He
declared that education was
now the civil rights movement,
and the need to fix our broken
public school system.  He
drew the clear distinction be-
tween Obama and himself.
Obama wants to let the tea-
cher unions run the schools,
McCain wants the parents
and children to run it.

Encouraging and expanding
choices was a major theme.
Freedom and the American
Way are constructed on the
ability to freely choose.  He
punched away at Obama on
his plans to raise taxes, re-
strict free trade and expand
the power of Washington.
With Palin as an ally, McCain
vowed to reform and reduce
the power of Washington.

In the end, McCain went back
to his own biography.  He has
been reluctant to talk openly
about his experiences as a
guest of the Hanoi Hilton. But
McCain put it in a new light.

He began on the flight deck
of his carrier.  A typical self-
absorbed, over-confident arro-
gant fighter jock.  McCain
then finds himself floating
down towards an angry mob,
with two broken arms and
one broken leg.  At first, he
was left to die alone in a
dark cell.  When his captors
learned his father was an
admiral, they gave him what
medical attention they could,
which was not much.

Down to a hundred pounds
and still unable to feed him-
self, McCain was placed into
a cell with two other downed
pilots who cared for him and
saved his life.  It was here
that McCain learned to love
his country.  He took the
beatings.  When he was of-
fered the chance to go home
early, he stuck with his code
and stayed an extra four years!
During which time, he was
beaten and tortured even more.
He stayed five and a half years
in North Vietnam, for the love
of his fellow Americans, for
the love of his country!

McCain was in rare form to-
night, showing that he is
eager and ready to take on
Obama and the Democrats.
He drew upon his knowledge
of the world, warning of the
Russians, Iran, and Al Qaeda.
He promises to make America
energy independent by deve-
loping all options and all
resources.  McCain promised
to double the tax exemption
for children to help middle-
class families.  To expand
job training and to cut taxes
on businesses to keep jobs
here and grow more.  And
to make health care more
affordable with no bureau-
crat between us and our
doctors!

He truly wants to be the next
President of the United States.
Not for his own ego, but to
keep the nation he loves safe
and secure.  John McCain
is The Maverick once again,
and he's ready to bring
REAL CHANGE to America!

Four days in Denver.  That was
how much time wasted by the
DNC.  During it's national con-
vention, the Democratic Party
had the spotlight to accomplish
several key goals.  Most impor-
tantly, to rebuild the momentum
the Obama campaign had lost
since March.

March was his last good month.
Obama won a series of small
state caucuses and along with
the primary in his own home
state of Illinois, put him well out
in front of Hillary Clinton.  A lead
she came close to closing.

After March, a series of set
backs occured.  Hillary won
key victories in Texas and in
Ohio, keeping her campaign
alive.  Hillary had doen very
well in state primaries, where
actual votes mattered.  Then,
shadows from Obama's past
appeared.  Reverend Wright
and his inflamatory sermons.
Old friends like Bill Ayers and
Antoin 'Tony' Rezko.  All began
to cast doubts about Obama's
much lauded judgement.

It was his judgement that put
him in the lead.  He claimed
to be the only ONE of the DNC
presidential candidates who
was against the War in Iraq.
Clinton, Edwards and Biden
all voted to authorize the use
of force to make Saddam
Hussein comply with those
19 UN mandates.  Remember
those???  Obama did not cast
a vote.  He wasn't a US Senator
at the time.  But he did make a
speech as a Illinois state sena-
tor someplace, and that justi-
fied his position.

In the summer and autumn of
2007, the Far Left wing of the
DNC was rabid over Iraq.  They
saw the war as a lost cause.
They saw the proposed troop
surge to stem the violence as
doomed before it started.  They
saw America had already lost
and wanted an immediate
withdrawl.  Obama was the only
ONE who they believed could
deliver the goods.

But a funny thing happened on
the way to the Parthenon in
Denver.  The surge worked! It
now seems clear that irregard-
less of who wins in November,
American combat forces will
be removed from Iraq by 2011,
if not sooner.  Between the
improved situation in Iraq, the
past acquaintences of Obama,
and other issues rising to the
fore front (such as the econo-
my, gas prices, etc.), Hillary
began performing better.  She
had found her voice with Joe
Six-Pack, demonstrating her
bowling and drinking skills in
Pennsylvania.  Despite all of
this, she did lose the nomi-
nation, thanks to the rules of
the Party machinery.

In Denver, a major objective
was to unify the Democrats.
While the delegates, mostly
party hacks, did appear to do
so, it remains unclear how
well the staged event will now
play in middle America.  The
nation in between Washington
and Hollywood.  Hillary, who
still has some ambitions, did
what she had to do, as did her
husband.

Obama had selected Joe Biden
to run with him to add some
gravitas to his campaign.  After
all, what has Obama ever done?
Where is the body of legislative
achievement?  What battles has
he won?  I suppose in some
corners, passing laws in Illinois
that prohibits gang-related killers
from being executed or allowing
babies born by accident from
botched abortions to dies in
trashbins is considered a good
thing.  But not so in middle
America!

So the One who would bring
change used his incredible
judgement to tie his fortunes
with the quint-essential Wash-
ington Insider, Joe Biden. Not
exactly a daring, bold move.
It's about as safe as milk
toast, and just as exciting!

Obama appeared in Denver
at his Parthenon Thursday
night.  A speech that was
promised to be styled for the
Average American, based on
past speeches of JFK and
Ronald Reagan, turned out to
instead be 51 minutes of
McCain bashing, vague pro-
mises, and more of his usual
lofy rhetoric.  No details, no
specifics.  No red meat.  It
was a salad bar of speeches.

Oh sure, his cacklers at
MSNBC described the Great
One's speech as a symphony.
But steadier minds like the
AP's Charles Babbington and
Maureen Dowd took it to
task.  Even some on the Far
Left, like Dr. Cornell West,
a civil rights advocate, admo-
nished Obama for "running
away" from the legacy of
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Meanwhile, John McCain was
plotting!  Word was floating
that he would short-circuit
Obama's post-convention
news cycle with his pick for
a Vice Presidential running
mate.  Instead of playing it
safe as Obama did, McCain
selected a true reformer, a
woman with a real track record
of accomplishments!  Alaskan
Governor Sarah Palin was his
selection.  The Old Maverick
chose a Young Maverick!

Palin is the ideal running mate
for McCain.  She completely
turned Alaskan politics upside-
down within her first weeks in
office, passing sweeping ethics
reforms.  Her conservative
credentials are in tact, even
border-line Libertarian!  She
immediately won the favor of
talk-radio guru, Rush Limbaugh!
If she won over Rush, she'll
win over the rest of the GOP
and conservative movement.

Obama is back on the defen-
sive.  He's been there practi-
cally since March.  While it's
still his game to win or lose,
given the mood of the nation,
winning just became much
more difficult.  His bottom-
heavy ticket now must con-
tend with a pair of mavericks
who have both the experience
and moral fortitude to be
genuine agents of change.
As Bill Clinton said on Monday,
who do you vote for?  Candidate
X who you agree with but does
not appear able to get the job
done?  Or Candidate Y who
you may not agree with com-
pletely, but has proven himself
to have the ability?

All early indicators are that the
addition of Joe Biden to the
Obama campaign has not de-
livered any zing to the ticket.
In fact, some polls actually
show McCain inching ahead!
It is still too soon to tell, but
all in all, it would seem that
selecting Biden was more
fizzle than sizzle!

The choice was an odd one.
Already, the McCain campaign
released new ads featuring
Biden being very critical of a
very inexperienced and smug
looking Obama during the
early debates.  One segment
even had Biden praising his
old pal, McCain!

Biden only earned a meager
9,500 votes during the entire
primary process.  Even Dennis
Kucinich blew him away!  As
for Hillary Clinton and her 18
million+ votes, they, and she
do not matter much in the
World According to Obama!

I have not watched much of
the DNC convention.  I am
taping Tuesday's antics to
see how Hillary behaves.
The opening ceremony did
make me laugh.  A group of
children sang the national
anthem, and the last scene
was a close-up of a young
Oriental girl, with braces. I
guess the DNC are not as
picky as their pals in China.
LOL!

The buzz this afternoon was
all about Bill.  Bill Clinton
gave a speech where he more
or less diss'd the presumptive
nominee.  Bill's upset that the
Obama campaign is trying to
restrict his speech for this
Wednesday.  Rumors are now
also flying about whether the
proposed deal to permit a roll
call vote on Wednesday will
still take place.  The DNC may
just use a written ballot and
read the states in such an
order as to make certain that
Hillary never is shown to have
a lead in delegates.  Talk
about being petty!!!

In other news, Nancy Pelosi
has decided to challenge the
Catholic Church.  She told
Tom Brokaw last Sunday that
she is a qualified theologian
(just kidding) and that the
Church is just plain wrong
about it's stance on abortion.
This prompted two major
bishops/cardinals to public-
ly denounce her remarks.
More, I'm sure, will follow.

The funniest moment I've
thus far seen is that of old
Chris Matthews, having to
contend with rowdy Far-Left
kooks while doing his "Hard
Ball" broadcasts.  They were
sining and shouting and bang-
ing drums.  Poor Chris had
to nearly yell with his guests
just to be heard.  Matthews
looks like he needs some
oxygen, too, his face was
getting pretty red.  Maybe
Keith Obermann will give him
some mouth-to-mouth if
needed?  LOL!