The real reason for the financial meltdown

Bud and Lou teach math.



Who's in charge?

McCain and Bush may have even more in common than we thought

Pickles Bush, that is. Interesting story on Huff Post about McCain possibly being involved in a traffic fatality.

News Orgs Investigate Possibly Fatal McCain '64 Car Crash

For the past two months, a major American magazine and an allied news service have been engaged in a legal battle with the United States Navy over records that they believe show that John McCain once was involved in an automobile accident that injured or, perhaps, killed another individual.

Vanity Fair magazine and the National Security News Service claim to have knowledge "developed from first-hand sources" of a car crash that involved then-Lt. McCain at the main gate of a Virginia naval base in 1964, according to legal filings. The incident has been largely, if not entirely, kept from the public. And in documents suing the Navy to release pertinent information, lawyers for the NS News Service allege that a cover-up may be at play. (story on Huff Post)

Gumb O bama

via FranIam. This video is great.

Xmas comes early to the Palins

RNC appears to shell out $150K for Palin fashion
($150,000 will buy a f*ck of a lot of mukluks)
By JEANNE CUMMINGS | 10/21/08 7:47 PM EDT
From Politico via Huff Post

The Republican National Committee appears to have spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

Politico asked the McCain campaign for comment, explicitly noting the $150,000 in expenses for department store shopping and makeup consultation that were incurred immediately after Palin’s announcement. Pre-September reports do not include similar costs.

Spokeswoman Maria Comella declined to answer specific questions about the expenditures, including whether it was necessary to spend that much and whether it amounted to one early investment in Palin or if shopping for the vice presidential nominee was ongoing.

“The campaign does not comment on strategic decisions regarding how financial resources available to the campaign are spent," she said.

The business of primping and dressing on the campaign trail has become fraught with political risk in recent years as voters increasingly see an elite Washington out of touch with their values and lifestyles.

In 2000, Democrat Al Gore took heat for changing his clothing hues. And in 2006, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) was ribbed for two hair styling sessions that cost about $3,000.

Then, there was Democrat John Edwards’ $400 hair cuts in 2007 and Republican McCain’s $520 black leather Ferragamo shoes this year.

A review of similar records for the campaign of Democrat Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee turned up no similar spending.

But all the spending by other candidates pales in comparison to the GOP outlay for the Alaska governor whose expensive, designer outfits have been the topic of fashion pages and magazines.

What hasn’t been apparent is where the clothes came from – her closet back in Wasilla or from the campaign coffers in Washington.

The answer can be found inside the RNC’s September monthly financial disclosure report under “itemized coordinated expenditures.”

It’s a report that typically records expenses for direct mail, telephone calls and advertising. Those expenses do show up, but the report also has a new category of spending: “campaign accessories.”

September payments were also made to Barney’s New York ($789.72) and Bloomingdale’s New York ($5,102.71).

Macy’s in Minneapolis, another store fortunate enough to be situated in the Twin Cities that hosted last summer’s Republican National Convention, received three separate payments totaling $9,447.71.

The entries also show a few purchases at Pacifier, a top notch baby store, and Steiniauf & Stroller Inc., suggesting $295 was spent to accommodate the littlest Palin to join the campaign trail.

An additional $4,902.45 was spent at Atelier, a high-class shopping destination for men.

Elitists! $150,000?! And who said you couldn't put lipstick on a pig, that is if said sow can lift her snout out of the trough. On the plus side, a $400 haircut now sounds like a bargain.

Do I sound a little bitter? I'm in the middle of figuring out how to pay for more schooling so I don't get outsourced, laid off, or down sized in the republican depression. $150,000 would more than cover what I have in mind. I doubt I've spent that much on clothes in my whole existence on this planet.

Look Todd . . .

From Huffpost

Look Todd, a bald eagle. Get my shotgun...

Also reminds me of a restaurant that I went to one time. The facilities were marked "Pointers" and "Setters". Does this mean Todd is the setter?

Is this the man?

From the Huff Post

Is this the man you want steering the ship of state?

YES ! ! !

Who is plumber Joe?

from http://bluebuddies.com

WTF? I am tired of hearing about Joe.

And didn't the rethugs have enough trouble with plumbers back in the Nixon years?

Daily Kos has more.

Restoring dignitude to the campaign

REUTERS/Jim Bourg

Game. Set. Match. John, please go back to the home and have a pudding cup.

Waiter!!!

There's a hare in my swamp!

Go see the complete sequence at the Telegraph. Mother nature is tough.

Flyers fans fail Palin

Broad Street Bullies bully pitbull with booing. Does this rise to the level of a "Man bites dog" story? And that coat? Looks like a bad attempt at a cow costume, udder failure.

Betty White on Palin!

Mein Gott, she is a funny woman. I remember watching her on Password ages ago.

pssssst

Pass it on, fellow prisoners...

Sarah looks slightly taken aback.

I knew ...

REUTERS/Anil Dayal

I knew the debate drinking game was a bad idea.