Amy Goodman on the army brigade sent to the homeland

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2008/10/2/amy_goodmans_latest_column_invasion_of_the_sea_smurfs

McCain defends Obama's character to fellow Republicans.

Before this election season, I used to think McCain was a decent fellow. He fought for his country and stands up for what he believes in no matter what anyone says. I admire that, despite the fact that I do not agree with his policies. However, he has become a very ugly person during this campaign, and I am not talking about his looks. The countless personal baseless attacks on Obama, that keep on being repeated by McCain and Palin despite the fact that they have been proven wrong......for example, he will not raise taxes on the middle class (unless you define the middle class as making over 250,000 a year). He is not muslim. He does not pal around with terrorists and he barely knows Bill Ayers.

McCain is starting to show that he does not like the tone of his campaign and it is a little too late. In recent town hall forums with Republicans, he's had to correct his own supporters from misinformation his own party has provided them with, over and over again, through the rumor mill. http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=27888.

Where McCain went wrong is to have the same political strategists as George Bush, the same ones who started the unethical swift boat attacks against John Kerry, directing his campaign. I believe he himself criticized the swift boat attacks, yet he signed on with them if they could work their wonders to place him in the oval office. Slimy.

Martial Law in America Today

Yikes....on October 1, 2008, the President ordered the an army brigade to be assigned to the homeland to attend to civil unrest (i.e., protests and November 4th election day). Naomi Wolf, feminist, author and historian, has been giving interviews on her fear of martial law and the beginning of the end of democracy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XgkeTanCGI

For more depressing news, see congressman Brad Sherman on Martial Law threat by the President and why this bailout is a terrible idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaG9d_4zij8

Then check out Salon.com, because it is great.

Why is a U.S. Army brigade being assigned to the “Homeland”?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/09/24/army/

This article from salon seems to say that 1 brigade will not greatly affect the election this November 4, 2008, but it is a dangerous precedent........

Subprime Mortgage Crisis caused by REGULATIONS???

Here is an interesting article written by an economist and free market supporter. http://myslu.stlawu.edu/~shorwitz/open_letter.htm. I don't know much about the author, only that a good friend sent my partner this link and it is an interesting approach to the current economic crisis. And the more I think about it, the more convincing it is.

Basically, the point of the article is that the bailout is a bad idea. These giant companies that the bailout is intending to assist, went under because of government regulations. Thus, we should not be asking for more regulations that caused this mess in the first place. He feels that free market competition will eliminate the problems caused by these regulations, which only served to promote unsavory business practices, like requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack to lend to borrowers in low income communities (Community Reinvestment Act of 1977.

I don't completely trust him, but I tend to think that these companies had a say in these regulations as well as unsavory friends in the government who did not have the public in their best interest. I don't think we can do away with regulation, and we certainly have to think more about which regulations to make. That said, I tend to agree with the author about the bailout. That money could be put to better use.

Todd Palin in Maine

Apparently, McCain is pulling out all the stops to grab any electoral votes he can, even if he can't win the state outright. Maine has 4 electoral votes, two are given to the candidate who wins the popular vote. The remaining two depend on how the two congressional districts in Maine vote, for example, if the southern district votes Obama, he gets one, if the northern district votes McCain, he gets the final one.

In the 2004 election, all 4 electoral votes went to Kerry, however the northern district was a close call. For the capture the northern district in 2008, McCain is sending Todd Palin to campaign for him. I have to admit that I was worried when I heard that McCain was going to focus on Maine. I even signed up with Obama's neighbor to neighbor program again, but this time to make calls to the northern district. But, now that I know that the guy who proclams himself "first dude" is coming up, I am not that worried. I feel fairly comfortable that he will not be able to pull to the Republican ticket any Independent or Democrat who cares about the issues.

Soup Glorious Soup

Today I threw together a soup in a few minutes that was healthy and a hit with my 4 and 2 year old. Thanks to Jessica Seinfeld, I have been cooking up veggies, pureeing them and storing them in my freezer to add to anything I can think of; for example, pancake batter, sweet breads, pasta sauce... Well, today I happened to have 3/4 cup of pureed zucchini. I added a few cups of vegetable broth, one whole tomato from a can chopped up small, olive oil, garlic and whole wheat elbow noodles. For some reason, my children love the idea of eating soup. Maybe its the slurping factor, but whatever the reason I am thrilled. Dee, the receptionist at my work, and an amazing person I might add, told me that her grandchildren love tortellini soup, which is just chicken broth with tortellinis. I may try that next and see what else I can slip in there.

FOX NEWS IS INCREDIBLE

I just saw something incredible at Fox news. They were polling independent voters from I can't remember what state. The voters said that Obama won the debate on Healthcare. Brett from Fox then asked, but they thought McCain won on the economy right? The guy with the voters said yes and then turned around to ask the people to raise their hands if they think McCain won....only about 4 people raised thier hands, out of 25, and the Fox guys turned to the camera quickly and said "about half."

Totally fraudulent.......