In a withering editorial set to be published Sunday that rakes Todd Akin over the coals, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch endorses Sen. Claire McCaskill for reelection. If you read only one thing this weekend, this should be it. Here's a taste:

Ms. McCaskill would be the better choice even if Mr. Akin had worked in a rape crisis center. Even before his revelatory slip of the tongue on Aug. 19 about “legitimate rape” disclosed his bizarre beliefs about reproductive biology, the gulf between these two candidates was so vast as to suggest they come from different planets. On Planet Claire, beliefs are tempered by facts. On Planet Todd, beliefs rule. 

Oof.

What's at stake in the November 2012 elections? Health care. Retirement. Good jobs. American values.

It's your vote - it's your vote. Get out and vote on November 6, 2012.

Today in the Springfield News-Leader, Todd Akin reiterated his opposition to the payroll tax cut which cut taxes on working families by an average of $1,000 because he said it would cut 15% from the Social Security Trust Fund, saying, "I don’t believe jerking the rug out from underneath people that are dependent on it.”

However, a new report from the Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees says that's just not true:

The trustees said the bill passed in February contains a mechanism that transfers money into the trust fund to “replicate to the extent possible” the payments that would have occurred had the tax cut not been passed.

That means the actual balance of the Social Security trust fund will not decrease as a result of the tax cut.

Yesterday, Sen. Claire McCaskill's campaign released three ads showcasing women speaking directly to the camera about their experiences as victims of sexual assault and how Todd Akin's beliefs affect their vote in November. 

But KOMU in Columbia apparently saw a different set of ads than the rest of us did and reported on it accordingly. ThinkProgress has the video:

Unbelievable! Calling rape victims "controversial characters" as they speak out against TODD AKIN (not Claire McCaskill as they would have you believe)? So insensitive and factually wrong.

KOMU went on to issue a correction and apology in their 10pm newscast. Hopefully they'll be more attentive to the facts next time:

Because we are about to decide between presidential candidates grounded in two different philosophies regarding fiscal and monetary policy, I have invited a special guest to write here about supply-side ideology, the concept that continuing to distribute public treasure up toward the already wealthy will "trickle-down" toward those with less wealth, much less wealth, zero wealth, and less-than-zero wealth. 

By less-than-zero wealth I mean people who are sunk in debt. (And we all know how much former Governor Romney hates, really hates, debt. Unless it's the kind of debt he creates for his own personal financial gain.)

Our guest's presentation will especially address the concerns of the moderate Democrats and Republicans among us, those who "just believe that a successful businessman can do more to help the economy" than the current president. 

So consider this post a teaser. Below are three multiple choice questions. When I see that three (or more) people have posted comments with answers to the questions below (or any other remark), I will post our guest's update. As did Dr. DeBunk's from a few posts ago with respect to health care, this Fired Up! exclusive will give you what you need to vote your conscience with respect to the economy.

Question 1*

Ever since Todd Akid uttered those terrible, insensitive, and wrong words, you knew these ads were on their way. Republicans all over the country knew it, too. Republican leaders all the way up to presidential candidate Mitt Romney asked him to drop out of the race against Sen. Claire McCaskill be cause they knew it was only a matter of time 'til these ads hitting Akin on his horrifying beliefs regarding women, women's health, rape, wanting to criminalize emergency contraception, and more would be run night and day.

And here they are: women speaking out about their own experiences of rape, sexual assault, and choice. All communicating the same thing: it's not what Todd Akin said that's the problem, it's what he believes.

Every single year, a certain 4th grade teacher in a classroom in western Missouri has her students collaboratively re-draw the map of Missouri onto a wall. If you look closely, you can see the pockmarks in the plaster. It's a fantastic activity. Inscribing our shared space on the wall makes it very clear just where we are and how we live in relation to each other. We are river people.

And rivers flow.

Speaking figuratively rather than geographically, I live in relation to a nephew who is an evangelical preacher. He is a staff evangelist in Texas. He also travels to places like Zimbawe to preach and heal. My nephew believes that Obamacare "will kill 6,000,000 people in the womb using tax payer dollars." Of course for people like me, 6,000,000 is a loaded number. For this reason, I do not believe it is being used out-of-the-blue by people like my nephew. Apart from this, I of course do not share my nephew's belief. In fact, I believe that there are far fewer abortions when women have access to health care that includes contraception (which Obamacare makes possible). But this is also beside the point. My point is that because we are family, my nephew and I have now and then found ourselves in the same place, for instance at a wedding not all that long ago. He  and I are both present on any map that is drawn of our family. We chat. We celebrate. We share the dance floor.

We go with the flow.

According to Mitt Romney, it's not Wall Street you have to worry about, it's Sesame Street.

At 6:34 p.m. on October 11, 2011, forty-six Republicans and three Democrats in the U.S. Senate voted to dump a recovery plan that would have:

1. reduced the taxes paid by owners of small businesses and middle-income families and;

2.  levied about half a percentage point more tax on people who made more than $1 million a year, money to be spent on public sector jobs: putting teachers, police officers, firefighters, and construction workers back to work.

These nay-voting representatives shot down the idea of cutting nearly half a trillion dollars in payroll tax for business owners (i.e., job creators). The Democrats who voted NAY were Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, and Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut voted YAY. The Republican who chose not to cast a vote at all was Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. It was a 50/49 vote, nowhere near the two-thirds majority required for moving forward.

When the omnibus jobs act was rejected, the president broke it up into pieces. The first piece, S1723, proposed a .5 percent tax increase for people making a million dollars or more a year.  This money would pay for the hiring of teachers, police officers, and firefighters. At 9:55 p.m. on October 20, 2011, down this idea went in a 50/50 vote. This time, Democrat Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Independent Joe Lieberman joined Ben Nelson to vote with the Republicans. Reid and Tester switched to YAY. A two-thirds majority was out of the question.