Polls flip: Gays about to lose marriage in California

UPDATE: I'm bumping this post because it's obviously important. You guys have been amazing. Donating $12,000 since only this afternoon. Maybe we can reach $20,000 by morning :-) Seriously, thank you everyone. JOHN

My friend Rex Wockner is on the story, and it isn't looking good. The Christian fundamentalist bigots, in tandem with the Mormon church interlopers, have raised ten million dollars more than our side in their effort to repeal the marriages of gay couples in California. A few months ago the bigots were losing their effort to pass Prop 8, which would repeal the marriages of thousands of gay couples and ban everyone else from getting married. Now they're winning.

I'm hearing from people in the know that this is ours to lose. We will win, I am told, if people step up to the plate and donate. The thing is, where are our rich donors? Some have only given a paltry amount, considering their largesse, others have made their donations contingent matching grants. We don't have time for these matching-grant shenanigans. If marriages are revoked, repealed, in California, it won't just overturn the lives of thousands of Californians, it sets a very dangerous precedent nationwide.

Please click on the blue box to the upper left and donate to Equality for All, the group running the campaign for our side in California. It is completely secure and safe, 100% of the money goes to the good guys in California, and you can give as MUCH as you want, there are no limits - thus the problem with the Mormons now throwing the election.

More from Rex:

A TV ad showing San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom saying California is going to have same-sex marriage "whether you like it or not" is being credited with flipping poll numbers to favor the Nov. 4 ballot proposition to amend the state constitution to undo the state Supreme Court's legalization of same-sex marriage.

"This door's wide open now. It's gonna happen. Whether you like it or not!" Newsom says in a clip included in the ad paid for by forces supporting passage of Proposition 8.

The ad continues: "Four judges ignored 4 million voters and imposed same-sex marriage on California. It's no longer about tolerance. Acceptance of gay marriage is now mandatory....

Gay activists admit the ad is good, even though it contains "lies." But equally important, they say, the pro-8 side has raised nearly $10 million more than the anti-8 side, allowing the forces that want to re-ban same-sex marriage greater access to the television airwaves.

The gay side's current ad shows the parents of a lesbian pleading with voters not to "eliminate" marriage for anyone.

"Our worst nightmares are coming true," Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors said in an urgent fundraising appeal Oct. 7.

Don't even get me started on Newsom... Read the rest of this post...

Study: Nearly all recent McCain ads were negative

Someone's getting cranky. AP:

Nearly every TV ad Republican John McCain ran last week was negative, compared to just 34 percent of those by Democrat Barack Obama, according to an analysis released Wednesday.

Read the rest of this post...

US may partly nationalize banks

Okay, this is just scary. Perhaps necessary (I'm going to wait for Chris in Paris to wake up and give us his two cents (now only worth 1.5), but on its face, we're talking about nationalizing banks. What did the hell did the Republicans do to our country? And John McCain doesn't want to talk about the economy. I guess if you have 12 homes you have that luxury. From the NYT:

WASHINGTON — Having tried without success to unlock frozen credit markets, the Treasury Department is considering taking ownership stakes in many United States banks to try to restore confidence in the financial system, according to government officials.

Treasury officials say the just-passed $700 billion bailout bill gives them the authority to inject cash directly into banks that request it. Such a move would quickly strengthen banks’ balance sheets and, officials hope, persuade them to resume lending. In return, the law gives the Treasury the right to take ownership positions in banks, including healthy ones.

UPDATE FROM ROB: Just a couple of hours ago this article was on CNBC debating whether this move was nationalization or not. The article does a good job of explaining the precarious position we're in.

“We are in the midst of an raging international credit meltdown and we do not have the luxury of waiting for (the bailout fund) to be implemented,” argues Robert Johnson, a former managing director of Bankers Trust and Soros Fund Management executive. “Treasury needs to inject $500 billion of capital as soon as possible into at least the large 19 primary dealer banks and probably some large regional banks as well.”

The direct recapitalization of ailing banks is “high-impact” money versus the “low-impact” approach that Treasury is pursuing through the bailout fund.

The article does a good job of describing the end of free market capitalism in the United States. Read the rest of this post...

Guardian: "Candidates like Palin are the Jews' worst nightmare"

Richard Silverstein from the Guardian (a month ago, but still topical):

Frankly, candidates like Palin are the Jews' worst nightmare. The sentiments she expresses are part of a vestigial memory we internalise about what intolerance and bigotry sounds like. This certainly doesn't rise to the level of flat-out anti-Semitism. But we know when we're not wanted, and as non-believers we're not wanted in the evangelical Christian worldview, except as enablers of Jesus' final coming.

The Politico's Ben Smith reports that only two weeks ago, Palin attended her local church to hear Jews for Jesus executive director David Brickner excoriate Jews for not accepting Him as their Lord and saviour:

...Brickner ... described terrorist attacks on Israelis as God's "judgment of unbelief" of Jews who haven't embraced Christianity.

"Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. It's very real. When [Brickner's son] was in Jerusalem he was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment - you can't miss it."

I'm not going to make the same mistake anti-Obamaites made in attributing the Rev Jeremiah Wright's views to Obama by attributing Brickner's views to Palin. But I think it's entirely legitimate to ask what she was doing there while a speaker Jews view as anathema was expressing such ideas. And it's appropriate to insist that she not participate in such forums in the future and that she dissociate herself from the views she heard that day.

We are a minority who, in a way, lives on the kindness of strangers, to quote Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire. In the evangelical world that Palin embraces there is little kindness for Jews.

Read the rest of this post...

Want a lower mortgage rate? Just default!

UPDATE: A friend pointed out that when the woman's mortgage was reduced 2.2%, her monthly mortgage payments dropped a whopping $1,749.00. In order for them to drop that much, she'd have to have around a $1.2 million mortgage. Now we can debate the merits of whether this woman should be permitted to lose her home or not, but I suspect some people would have a problem bailing out someone with a $1.2 million mortgage, something most of us won't see in our lifetime.

I'm watching ABC News as they broadcast yet another mortgage sob story that just doesn't smell quite right. Last year's sob story was a yuppie couple with Ivy League degrees (I believe) who bought a bigger mortgage than they could afford. They weren't tricked, they were just stupid - they admitted outright that they couldn't afford the ARM once it increased, but they just figured they'd sell in a few years and make a boatload of money. Oops.

Today's person of the weak couldn't afford her loans, though it's not clear, again, that there was any subterfuge by her lender. But guess what? ABC reports that her lender voluntarily lowered her interest rate for her mortgage from 7.0% to 4.8%! How cool is that! She's getting a better mortgage than any of you have, and you pay your bills and settled for a house you can afford, put money aside, didn't spend as much on others things you wanted. As for me, I held off on a number of places because they were just too expensive and I didn't want to gamble. And what rates am I being quoted? Anywhere from 5.5% to 6.25% (depending on the week). A far cry from 4.8%.

So that's the trick, apparently. Get more than you can handle, don't bust your ass and save, don't cut back on things you'd rather buy, default and then get better rates - BETTER rates, not the same rates - than everyone else who played by the rules. Is America a great country or what?

Oh yeah, and we get to pay for the bailout too!

I'm not against a bailout to unfreeze the credit markets and avert a recession. I am against watching practically ever sob story on TV and in the newspaper be someone who wasn't cheated, they were simply gamblers who lost. If so many people were cheated, and I'm willing to believe they were - where are they? Read the rest of this post...

"Keep The N*gger Out Of Office"

After a week of McCain supporters being incited to shout "kill him!" and "terrorist!" and "treason!", a man in Louisiana was arrested for threatening to kill election officials. The Smoking Gun has his arrest report and mug shots. It seems his voter registration card was delayed, and he was insistent that he would bring his shotgun to their office and kill them if they didn't hurry up because he needed to "keep the n*gger out of office."

Look at the photo. Does America really want to be that one? Read the rest of this post...

Planned Parenthood dumps Susan Collins, endorses Tom Allen. The race is tightening.

A very significant development providing further proof that Susan Collins is NOT a moderate via Collins Watch:

In a precedent-setting move with national ramifications, Planned Parenthood has broken decisively with Sen. Collins, and will endorse Rep. Allen's bid to unseat her.

The decision to intervene in the race--coming from the nation's most important and respected pro-choice organization--sounds an urgent warning to pro-choice Collins supporters, admonishing them to take another look at the junior senator's record.

And because Planned Parenthood backed Collins in 2002 (and frequently endorses Republicans) its support for Allen represents a serious, non-partisan challenge to Collins' carefully-cultivated "moderate" image.

Planned Parenthood isn't playing around this cycle.

The Maine Senate race is tightening again. The economic crisis is hurting incumbent Republicans like Collins. A recent DSCC poll found that gap was 8 points, 49% - 41%. Collins is back under 50%. Planned Parenthood's decision to dump Collins will have an impact. Susan isn't the moderate she purports to be.

The ads against Collins have finally gotten tougher. Check out this one from the DSCC:



Collins is close to McCain and has been an ardent supporter of George Bush's Iraq war strategy. McCain and Bush are going to drag her down on. I keep hearing about the massive Democratic field operation under way in Maine. The Republicans can't even come close to matching it. The key question is whether the Obama momentum, the tough new ads and the field strategy can push Allen over the top. It's looking more doable every day. Read the rest of this post...

More on McCain's odd statement calling Americans his "fellow prisoners"

Here's the video, and here's the transcript:

"You and I together will confront the $10 trillion debt that the federal government has run up and balance the federal budget by the end of my term in office. (Applause) Across--across this country, this is the agenda I have set before my fellow prisoners. And the same standards of clarity and candor must now be applied to my opponent! You know, we've all heard what he's said, but it's less clear what he has done, or what he will do."

More from Iraq and Afghanistan vet Brandon Friedman at VoteVets's blog, VetVoices:

We're now left to determine how this affects John McCain as a leader. To be certain, PTSD in and of itself should never disqualify a person from holding any job. If that were the case, no one who's served in combat would ever get hired. What matters is the extent to which it affects each individual. Many people with whom I associate have some level of combat-induced PTSD, whether it manifests itself minimally as insomnia, occasional nightmares, impatience, and emotional distance, or, more severely, in the form of panic attacks and a crippling inability to focus or function. The bottom line is that everyone processes it and handles it differently. That said, when a person refers to Americans in a speech--nearly 40 years later--as "my fellow prisoners," this denotes a level of trauma that simply cannot be ignored.

On the other hand, if we're witnessing some form of dementia unrelated to PTSD, then there's even less flexibility. I'm not aware--and I'll be the first to admit that I'm no expert here--of dementia being very treatable, much less reversible. Perhaps if Americans were granted access to McCain's health records, we'd know where to start.

So this goes to the heart of the question: Where is John McCain's mind? Is it here, with us, focused on the future? Or is it trapped, caught in an endless loop of horror, always focused on Vietnam, to the point that any appropriate sense of time becomes warped--to the point that Vietnam is not necessarily something from the past, but something that is still occurring. It's as if John McCain looked out across his supporters--the people who give him strength--and he saw his fellow prisoners.

Of course, this is incredibly sad. This is probably the sign of a war wound--of mental scarring--sustained on behalf of each and every American. We're talking about a guy who literally sacrificed his own body and mind in the service of his country. And we shouldn't forget that.

But it warrants our full attention. Because that combat injury now has the potential to color John McCain's judgment in ways that we can't predict. It can be the thing that drives his motivations and his decision-making process. For John McCain to make such a statement--regardless of the cause--shows us that his experience in Vietnam takes up so much of his mental space that it affects each aspect of his thought process. And frankly, that's not something we can accept from someone in the position to which he aspires.

More on Brandon Freidman and his service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Brandon served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division in Afghanistan and Iraq. In March 2002, he led a rifle platoon into Afghanistan's Shah-e-Kot Valley in order to engage Taliban and al Qaeda fighters as part of Operation Anaconda—a battle later written about by award-winning journalist Sean Naylor in Not a Good Day to Die. A year later, Brandon commanded a heavy weapons platoon during the invasion of Iraq. He led troops during combat operations in Hillah, Baghdad, and Tal Afar. Brandon eventually left active duty in 2004 after having spent the latter portion of his Iraq tour as an executive officer managing troop movements, security issues, and logistics throughout northern Iraq as the insurgency intensified. He was awarded two Bronze Stars for his service in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Read the rest of this post...

McCain infuriates right with his housing giveaway

McCain's latest erratic stunt is going to go over with his base like a lead balloon. These are the people who blame 100% (or a substantial majority) of this crisis on home buyers that couldn't afford their loans. For the base, Wall Street was almost dragged into this so expect him to lose a few more allies out there.

Senator McCain announced a plan last night for the Treasury to directly purchase home loans from borrowers and servicers at full price and then give the borrowers cheaper fixed-rate FHA backed loans at lower principal values; in other words, give people their overpriced homes for free.

Don’t get me wrong, I realize we are in desperate times, and so we deserve nothing less than desperate measures. This plan is only for borrowers who are underwater on their loans (home is worth less than the loan) and who are delinquent or approaching delinquency. For those of us who acted responsibly in our borrowing and pay our debts responsibly, we get bupkiss—no wait, we get the honor of paying for the bailout with our tax dollars.

Then there’s the argument that if you lower the balances of all these loans to match property values, you’re just preventing foreclosures, instead of establishing a true price bottom for homes. That would delay a housing recovery by taking vast numbers of properties out of the sales market. You’ll note that pending home sales surged in the West in August, up 18 percent, thanks to a 24 percent drop in home prices (National Association of Realtors).

Now I’ll throw in one more of those moral danger issues: Not every homeowner is facing foreclosure, but most homeowners are facing lost equity. Why do you only help those who made really really poor financial choices? And on top of that, how do you stop people from deliberately going delinquent on their loans just to cash in on the bailouts?

Read the rest of this post...

Roubini says recession will last for 2 years

The Dow is down 194 points....

Noriel Roubini is the economist who was slammed by the pro-Wall Street crowd for calling most of the credit crisis problems back in 2004. If you have a chance, follow his blog here as he discusses the economic crisis but today he was interviewed on Yahoo! TechTicker.

The dramatic meltdown of the financial markets has shifted focus from the real economy, which our guest, RGE Monitor chairman Nouriel Roubini, says is where the downturn is truly being felt. The $700 billion bailout and today's global rate cuts may have helped avert a complete financial collapse, the NYU Stern School economist notes. But the recession -- which he says began in Q1 of this year -- is deepening and will last into early 2010.

Retail and personal spending fell sharply over the summer, marking a drop in consumption for the first time since 1991 -- and the Q3 numbers are only going to be worse, says Roubini. Moreover, corporate capital spending is down, which will translate into even fewer jobs in the coming months.

Is Roubini simply being too bearish? "I worry that it'll be worse than I expected," he says in the accompanying video, in which he predicts a slow, possibly L-shaped recovery a la Japan.

Read the rest of this post...

McCain calls Americans "my fellow prisoners"

It has felt that way at times over the past 8 years.

Read the rest of this post...

Conservative writer David Brooks: Sarah Palin "represents a fatal cancer to the Republican party"

Hold that metaphor!

[Sarah Palin] represents a fatal cancer to the republican party. When I first started in journalism, I worked at the National Review for Bill Buckley. And Buckley famously said he'd rather be ruled by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone book than by the Harvard faculty. But he didn't think those were the only two options. He thought it was important to have people on the conservative side who celebrated ideas, who celebrated learning. And his whole life was based on that, and that was also true for a lot of the other conservatives in the Reagan era. Reagan had an immense faith in the power of ideas. But there has been a counter, more populist tradition, which is not only to scorn liberal ideas but to scorn ideas entirely. And I'm afraid that Sarah Palin has those prejudices. I think President Bush has those prejudices.

Read the rest of this post...

New VoteVets ad says McCain isn't putting country first

VoteVets says it's spending $350,000 on the ad in Virginia.

Read the rest of this post...

Dissecting the GOP's new "minorities and Clinton caused the credit crisis" theory

As we listen to blowhards such as Richard Fuld from Lehman or the former AIG CEOs testify in Washington, there's also an active push by the Republicans to blame today's crisis not on the hotshots from Wall Street who made hundreds of millions, but on Clinton (as they always do) and naturally, poor minorities. What else should we expect from those who set in place this Wild West, unregulated system that allowed people like O'Neal, Prince and Mozilo to walk away with wads of cash despite selling trash? There is no doubt there are plenty of people on all sides of this problem who deserve blame, but to promote the theory that it's all the fault of Clinton and the poor is too much. Larry Kudlow floated this half-baked idea a few months ago but now that the credit crisis is getting worse, they're all piling on to move the blame away from themselves. It's beyond sickening.

Here's a small piece of a well done Newsweek article on why the GOP story is false but read the whole thing. We will all be hearing more of Republican nasty lie in the days to come as they launch their racist attack against Democrats and the poor.

The thesis is laid out almost daily on The Wall Street Journal editorial page and in the National Review. Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer provides an excellent example, writing that "much of this crisis was brought upon us by the good intentions of good people." He continues: "For decades, starting with Jimmy Carter's Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, there has been bipartisan agreement to use government power to expand homeownership to people who had been shut out for economic reasons or, sometimes, because of racial and ethnic discrimination. What could be a more worthy cause? But it led to tremendous pressure on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—which in turn pressured banks and other lenders—to extend mortgages to people who were borrowing over their heads. That's called subprime lending. It lies at the root of our current calamity." The subtext: if only Congress didn't force banks to lend money to poor minorities, the Dow would be well on its way to 36,000. Or, as Fox Business Channel's Neil Cavuto put it: "I don't remember a clarion call that said: Fannie and Freddie are a disaster. Loaning to minorities and risky folks is a disaster."

Let me get this straight. Investment banks and insurance companies run by centimillionaires blow up, and it's the fault of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and poor minorities?

These arguments are generally made by people who read the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, and ignore the rest of the paper—economic know-nothings whose opinions are informed mostly by ideology and, occasionally, by prejudice. Let's be honest. Fannie and Freddie, which didn't make subprime loans but did buy subprime loans made by others, were part of the problem. Poor congressional oversight was part of the problem. Banks that sought to meet CRA requirements by indiscriminately doling out loans to minorities may have been part of the problem. But none of these issues is the cause of the problem. Not by a long shot. From the beginning, subprime has been a symptom, not a cause. And the notion that the Community Reinvestment Act is somehow responsible for poor lending decisions is absurd.

Click on the link and read the rest. You can't make this stuff up. Read the rest of this post...

McCain taking "energy" supplement also used for Alzheimer's and dementia

I had this odd thought before going to bed last night. For some reason, I started thinking "John McCain was on something last night." Then this morning a reader emailed me, suggesting the same thing. So I called Joe.

Joe pointed me this morning to a NY Daily News article claiming that McCain was taking "supplements" before the first debate to enhance his memory and energy:

Campaign reps for Sen. John McCain obtained an herbal supplement touted to enhance memory and keep energy levels up for the candidate before his joust with Sen. Barack Obama, a source tells us. Four-time Super Bowl champ Bill Romanowski, whose company Nutrition53 produces the capsule Neuro1, said: "I won't confirm or deny that Sen. McCain is using our product, but it's phenomenal for any person with stress and an overwhelming travel schedule."

And in fact, the Rocky Mountain News confirmed the story - Romo says, on the record, that McCain is taking the supplement:

Former Broncos bruiser Bill Romanowski wouldn't dish to the New York Daily News earlier this week when the newspaper reported that Republican presidential candidate John McCain was taking Romo's Neuro1 herbal supplement to keep his memory sharp and his energy levels up. But the former linebacker talked to me.

"John McCain is taking my Neuro1 to stay sharp," Romo told me Thursday. "He was really sharp for the debate (against Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama) last week. For anyone with that level of stress and that travel schedule (Neuro1) is really helpful."

Here's the supplement's Web site - be sure to watch the video.

This is interesting for a number of reasons.

First of all, McCain is having trouble sleeping - that's why he's on the sleeping pill Ambien. At the same time he's on Ambien, a drug that is not good long term, he's taking supplements to up his energy level. That sounds like a rather scary mix of uppers and downers. Might even lead one to become rather erratic, you might think.

Second, and just as importantly, a number of people noticed that last night saw the return of John McCain's strange facial convulsions where his eyes blink asynchronously. I noticed, simultaneously, that McCain's rapid blinking was back - something that happened the last time we noticed McCain's eyes blinking independently of each other and his mouth pulling up in a seemingly involuntary contraction. This got me wondering if, first, the rapid blinking was associated with the asynchronous blinking and facial spasm. I noticed that in a video I reviewed yesterday, of McCain's speech in Albuquerque the day before, there were only one or two barely perceptible eye problems, and all the while, McCain's rapid blinking was nowhere to be seen.

And if the rapid blinking is associated with the strange facial convulsion, it got me wondering if it was related to medication, perhaps a side effect, or anything else McCain took before the debate. That's when Joe pointed me to the NY Daily News article claiming that McCain was on supplements.

Digging into more articles, we see that these are not your run-of-the-mill Vitamin E supplements, or whatever. Here is how the product, Neuro1, is described:

The ingredients in Neuro1™ have the ability to help people with a variety of challenges, including attention deficit disorder, dementia and Alzheimer’s, as well as depression.

The pills are for, among other things, dementia and Alzheimer's? Anybody think that's relevant? If one were predisposed to lying, what a convenient way not to have to divulge that McCain is on dementia and Alzheimer's medication since officially this is "not" medication - thus no need to divulge.

The plot thickens even more. Bill Romanowski, the guy behind the company selling these products to McCain, got into some major trouble for using steroids and human growth hormone in the NFL. This is the guy McCain is associating with. McCain, who we now know would do just about anything to win this race. Isn't this all very interesting. Read the rest of this post...

"'Intemperate' is an adjective often applied to him, and again McCain demonstrated why."

Sometimes, I really think the Washington Post's TV critic provides the best analysis of the debates. He calls them as he sees them:

During the debate, McCain made another of his seemingly demeaning, nasty references to Obama. Describing legislation that had been backed by President Bush, McCain rhetorically asked, "Guess who voted for it?" and then answered his own question: "That one," he said, gesturing toward Obama. On CBS, commentator Jeff Greenfield thought "that one" would be "the major headline sound bite" of the debate, which goes to show, in part, how insubstantial the debate was.

But the snarled "that one" also contributed to McCain's image as a kind of mean old Scrooge, not so much a battle-scarred warrior as an embittered one. "Intemperate" is an adjective often applied to him, and again McCain demonstrated why.

Read the rest of this post...

John McCain: "Instead of fixing health care, he wants to tax it."

New ad from Obama:

Read the rest of this post...

AP analysis includes "That one" and the refused handshake

After eight years of George Bush, people are looking for an adult in the White House. John McCain acted like a petulant boy. The post-debate chatter is less about the substance and more about the style. These are the images and soundbites that voters remember:

The McCains and the Obamas moved about the stage separately for a little while after their debate, greeting people on the stage, but not each other. Then John McCain tapped Barack Obama's back briefly and Obama turned and reached his hand out. Rather than shaking it, McCain directed him to his wife, Cindy.

If it wasn't clear on TV, photos showed that the two men did shake hands after Tuesday's contest. But that awkward physical moment highlighted a reality that viewers were reminded of repeatedly Tuesday evening: There's no love lost between these two men.

And it was McCain, slipping in the polls and increasingly on the attack in recent days, who appeared to have far more trouble concealing his apparent distaste for his opponent. He even began the evening with a dig.

"Sen. Obama, it's good to be with you at a town hall meeting," McCain said. Obama declined to participate in town hall settings with McCain earlier in the race.

And then there was the comment, likely to be much remarked upon, about Obama's vote on an energy bill. "You know who voted for it?" McCain asked, thrusting his finger in Obama's direction but not looking at him. "That one."

"That one" is reverberating in ways the punditry, like painfully pompous Mark Halperin, will never understand. He was on "Morning Joe" today and actually said he'd go along with the "CW" (that's "conventional wisdom," for all of us who aren't as cool as Halperin) from the debate. No kidding....Halperin thinks he sets the "CW." It's amazing he gets paid for his pablum. Read the rest of this post...

Global coordinated interest rate cut of half percent

This global move is an encouraging sign that governments around the world appreciate the seriousness of this problem. There is no magic wand or miracle cure to the problems that we have but sitting around and waiting for more failures without action is definitely wrong. Nothing is going to stop the market declines but this may be a starting point for getting money flowing again.

Central banks around the world Wednesday cut interest rates amid mounting losses in financial markets, as the credit crunch continued to seize up lending.

The Federal Reserve lowered its federal funds rate a half a point to 1.50 percent. It also lowered its discount rate as well. The Fed, whose decision was unanimous, last cut rates a quarter point in April.

Central banks in the UK, European Union, Switzerland and elsewhere participated in the move.

The action comes after days of growing pressure on central banks to act together to stem mounting panic in the financial markets.

Read the rest of this post...

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Well, that was fun last night. Obama won the debate overwhelmingly. There's no question. This was supposed to be McCain's forum. But, apparently, the town hall format only works for McCain when he's surrounded by adoring Republicans.

I think this is one of those debates where more people will think Obama won as time goes by. The sound bites work against McCain as does his demeanor. He really doesn't like Obama and he doesn't have the temperament to hide his disdain. Not very presidential at all -- and just unlikeable.

So, the Republicans are really going to go thermonuclear now. They've got nothing going for them. Nothing. So, they'll make it even uglier. The traditional media will dutifully report the smears as if it's real news. It won't work. But, that's what we should expect.

Where is George Bush campaigning for McCain today? Yeah, that's another show of how desperate McCain is. Bush has been campaigning for him this week. Monday, Bush was in Ohio. Yesterday, Bush was in Virginia. He's becoming McCain's top surrogate.

Let's get it started. Read the rest of this post...

Chinese government pressuring lawyers, families to stop tainted milk cases

Is the GOP also in charge of "regulations" in China? Sounds like it and the heavy handed push to cancel lawsuits sounds like a Republican dream. It's obvious that the Beijing government could care less about proper oversight so why does anyone want to continue doing business with them? Sure their products are cheap but the health and safety risks are too much. Shame on the Western businesses who continue to shrug their shoulders and act surprised with each new story. We don't need a trading partner like this nor do we need importers who are unable, unwilling and uninterested in providing basic safety to customers who expect more. Again, business can not self-regulate and the Chinese government is an unreliable business partner.

On Monday, the State Council, China’s Cabinet and highest government body, acknowledged the dairy industry was “chaotic” and had suffered from a grave lack of oversight, while pledging to monitor milk products from farm to dinner table.

But the government has also imposed controls on media coverage of the crisis, suggesting it does not want it to become a focal point of public dismay.

At least 14 lawyers from Henan province who have been advising victims’ families were told by officials from the provincial government’s justice department to stop their activities, Chang told the Associated Press in a telephone interview.

“They called me and my boss at my law firm and put pressure on me,” Chang said. “They said that this has become a political issue and that I ought to follow the arrangements set out by the government.”

“If this suggestion is disobeyed, the lawyer and the firm will be dealt with,” Chang quoted the official as saying.

Read the rest of this post...

$2 trillion in retirement savings wiped out

I realize that the much larger problem today is that the lending system is shut down but long term, losing $2 trillion (and likely a heck of a lot more) is unthinkable. We have friends who have lost 20% since opening an IRA at the start of the year, though that was the figure three weeks ago. It's surely much worse now. Will the market bounce back? Probably, but how long is it going to take to recoup those losses? How many lost months, possibly years will it be? Americans rely on the success of Wall Street for their retirement much more today than in the past so whether we like or dislike Wall Street, we're stuck with the results.

I started my business career working with Japan so I've always had the bubble stuck in my head and today I can't help but think about the Nikkei peaking at almost 39,000 at the end of 1989. Today the Nikkei fell over 9% and is sitting barely above 9,200. Japan has never bounced back from the 1980's bubble. The economic dynamics of the two countries are obviously different but even Wall Street stagnated in a tight range of trading for most of the 1970s, offering little growth.

Now that this is very much a world problem, central banks are all offering plans to rescue their system. A global coordinated effort would be ideal though in such a climate of panic, this will be a challenge. This morning the British government announced a new $350 billion plan to back up the banks and (in theory) force them to lend to consumers and small business. The banks will also have to slash (or cut completely) dividends and "take into consideration" executive compensation, for whatever that's worth. Remember, the UK population is only 60 million, so these are substantial figures.

European markets are falling hard out of the gate (5% to over 6%) so we may be seeing the next round of emergency action in the US very soon. Read the rest of this post...

More right-wingers not feeling very mavericky after the debate

More from the National Review Online:

This reader out-Andies Andy:

Well I have gone outside and pulled up my Mcain/Palin sign. This election is over. I will vote for Mcain but I know that come Nov. 5 Obama will be our president-elect.

I feel sorry for Sarah Palin. A once promising career will be permanently connected to the landside loss of John McCain.

I weep for my children and their families.

Steady on. This next month is going to be a long month. Lots of things will happen. But McCain has to make some of them happen. His charge that Obama doesn't know the difference between "strategy" and "tactics" could equally well be leveled at his own campaign.

Yes, poor Sarah Palin. She'd be such a swell peachy candidate if that old guy wasn't holdin' her back. Read the rest of this post...

17 lies

From the Obama campaign:

JOHN MCCAIN’S 17 LIES TONIGHT

1. MCCAIN PROPOSING NEW HOUSING PLAN. McCain today said he had a new plan to allow the Treasury to purchase and restructure mortgages. The truth is that this is not a new proposal and is already part of the rescue plan that was signed into law. It was Obama, not McCain who called for this move two weeks ago.

2. MCCAIN TAX PLAN IS BETTER. McCain said, “It is my proposal not Senator Obama’s” that will “take care of working families.” The reality is that even the Heritage Foundation agrees Obama will provide a middle class tax cut that studies have found is three times larger than under McCain’s plan. In contrast, the McCain plan’s benefits would overwhelmingly go to the wealthiest Americans and would leave out 101 million middle class households.

3. MCCAIN’S PLAN FOR HOUSING CRISIS. McCain said, “We have got to give some trust and confidence back to America” to solve the housing crisis. But Politifact agrees that McCain was taken by surprise by the mortgage crisis and was “a latecomer” to the debate. He even said “I don’t claim to be smart enough” to solve the housing crisis and newspapers have found that McCain “overstates” his past actions on housing regulation.

4. TIES TO FANNIE/FREDDIE. McCain talked about “Senator Obama and his cronies and friends in Washington” and blamed them for Fannie and Freddie, while news accounts have pointed out his “deeper” ties to the companies. His campaign manager Rick Davis fought against greater regulation for years, and then his firm was revealed to be taking $15,000 a month until this summer from Freddie Mac, after denying any recent ties.

5. MCCAIN WILL MAKE HEALTH CARE AFFORDABLE AND AVAILABLE. McCain said “We can do them all at once,” talking about affordability and availability of health care, but he failed to mention that experts say his plan may require some to pay more or get less coverage, that millions would lose their employer-based coverage, and that even he has admitted that his plan will raise taxes on some.

6. SMALL BUSINESS TAXES. McCain said Obama’s plan “will increase taxes on 50% of small business revenue,” when the Washington Post found similar attacks “untrue,” and studies show 97% of small business owners wouldn’t see higher taxes under Obama’s plan. Factcheck.org said the attack used “a false and preposterously inflated figure.”

7. TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY. McCain said “I am not in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy.” While he once said that the Bush tax cuts were “too tilted to the wealthy,” now he wants to make them permanent.

8. 2005 ENERGY BILL. McCain attacked Obama for his vote for the 2005 energy bill, saying it had “billions for oil companies.” The truth is that FactCheck.org called this “an old canard” and a “false attack.” The non-partisan Congressional Research Service said the bill actually raised taxes on the oil and gas industry.

9. 94 VOTES FOR HIGHER TAXES…AGAIN. McCain once again repeated the attack that Obama voted 94 times for higher taxes, calling it “his record.” This attack has been debunked by the Associated Press, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, CNN, the New York Times and FactCheck.org, among others.

10. OBAMA RECORD ON NUCLEAR POWER. McCain said, “Obama is opposed to that,” when the reality is that this attack is “false” according to FactCheck.org. Obama supports nuclear as long as it’s “clean and safe.”

11. HEALTH COVERAGE FOR PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS. McCain said his health care plan would let people cross state lines to get plans, suggesting it would improve care and not telling Americans that it would weaken patient protections and does nothing to require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions. McCain’s plan would create a situation the GOP chair of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners said would cause a “race to the bottom.”

12. HIGHER HEALTH CARE COSTS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES. McCain attacked Obama’s health care plan, suggesting that Obama will fine small businesses and make health care more expensive for them. ABC pointed out that he was “omitting key details about Obama’s plan to mitigate costs” for health care for small businesses. McCain also omitted his record of voting repeatedly against tax credits for small businesses to help with health care costs and that the majority of members of the National Federation of Independent Businesses oppose his plan.

13. JUDGMENT ON IRAQ. McCain said that he had “the judgment” to make national security decisions, ignoring his record of misguided statements during the course of the Iraq war. In 2005 he said the war would be over within 18 months. In 2003 he said “we will be welcomed as liberators,” and that “we will win it easily.”

14. RUSSIA AND GEORGIA. McCain said Obama “was wrong about Russia when they committed aggression against Georgia” when Obama had condemned Russia’s actions and called for an immediate ceasefire.

15. SURGE IN IRAQ. McCain again attacked Obama on the surge, when news accounts show that Obama “said at the time” that the increase “could improve security in certain neighborhoods but that it would not solve the long-term political strife.” Meanwhile McCain said only 10,000 troops would do the job.

16. NEGOTIATIONS. McCain attacked Obama on diplomatic engagement, but the Washington Post has said McCain is “distorting history when he suggests that Barack Obama is bucking American presidential tradition in expressing a willingness to meet with the leaders of countries hostile to the United States” and that McCain is “incorrect.”

17. SOMALIA. McCain held up Somalia as an example of failed American foreign policy, saying “we ended up having to withdraw in humiliation.” McCain ignored the amendment he introduced in 1993 to cut off funding for troops in Somalia.

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Joe's and Rob's post-debate analysis

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Some right-wingers NOT happy with McCain's debate performance

Markos has several of them, but this one is the best, from Andrew McCarthy over at the National Review Online:

We have a disaster here — which is what you should expect when you delegate a non-conservative to make the conservative (nay, the American) case [...]

Great. Memo to McCain Campaign: Someone is either a terrorist sympathizer or he isn't; someone is either disqualified as a terrorist sympathizer or he's qualified for public office. You helped portray Obama as a clealy qualified presidential candidate who would fight terrorists.

If that's what the public thinks, good luck trying to win this thing.

With due respect, I think tonight was a disaster for our side. I'm dumbfounded that no one else seems to think so. Obama did everything he needed to do, McCain did nothing he needed to do. What am I missing?

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