Ignorance of economics in hard times

The AP posted a story today that Oregon auto dealers wanted the state to prohibit car sales on Sunday. Huh?

The story (read it here) never really analyzed how this would help dealers. AP is not known for getting too far below the surface. But one may assume that the argument is that unless car dealers can cut costs, more of them will go out of business.

This is not economics, it is ignorance. Like the French imposing a 35 hour work week years ago to boost employment. It only seems like a good idea for about 10 minutes.

Basically the dealerships are saying that they want to cut labor costs. Which means that sales and service people will have less income, and therefore less money to spend. Which may do an individual dealership some good, but does nothing for the general population, which would have fewer options when to buy a car.

It is not the job of the state to introduce inefficiencies into the marketplace to support less productive dealers. If there are too many dealers to support the current level of sales, then the less efficient dealerships should close.

In the long run, this will lead to higher wages, more options for the buying public and a stronger industry.

There will be many such "emergency" measures proposed by various interest groups during these hard times. Most should be ignored. The state needs to provide a safety net so that the most disadvantaged can find new opportunities. But proping up failed business models is the wrong solution for the wrong problem.

America works

It's a wonderful thing.

We Americans have voted for a black man, repudiated the divisive fear used by the right-wing (read it here) to seize and maintain power for the last decade, and shown the world that revolution can be made in peace.

Sarah Palin and the ignorance she represents is still a threat to our children. The left, with its hubris that the laws of economics can be suspended for all the right reasons, is still a threat to our children.

But for now the right wing of Bill O'Reilly and Rush and Lars and the xenophobes and jingoists and the hatemongers are banished, after damaging our economy and the country and destroying many lives. In its greed it finally ate its own heart. It will be back, because anger never dies, and it will exploit, because the thirst for power is never sated.

But for now, the greatness that is America has again confounded the world. The "market place of ideas" that Jefferson championed has triumphed. Change has come.

There will be mistakes and missteps and false starts. But for those of us who felt that America had misplaced its values, this is a great day.

Sarah spreads her ignorance

On October 24th, Sarah Palin gave a speech at a Special Needs conference. In her speech, she mocked "fruit fly research." She was apparently referring to a recent study of Drosophila fruit flies revealing that a protein called neurexin is essential for proper neurological function -- a discovery with clear implications for autism research.

Imagine -- mocking scientific research at a conference on problems understanding of which that very research has has proven to be essential!

It’s unclear if Palin is unaware of the central role that fruit fly research plays in modern genetics, or if she was pandering to her fans at Fox News. Suffice to say that “fruit fly research” has enabled us to discover much of what we know about ... congenital disorders.

Every high school biology student knows that identifying genetic patterns in fruit flies has led to genetic discoveries in humans.

Again, it’s not clear if Palin is unaware of the significance of those discoveries ... Palin has a Down’s Syndrome son, and our knowledge of how that syndrome works (as well as its eventual treatment and prevention), comes from fruit fly research. The next round of significant Down’s Syndrome discoveries will not be called significant, until they are first tested on fruit flies.

There is nothing contestable about the above facts. Like Mendel’s discovery of gene pairing rules, they’re just basic science. But regardless of Palin’s motivation for spreading her ignorance, you should watch the clip noted below, especially the moment where Palin utters the term “fruit fly research.” Her contempt and disdain for even these fundamentals of science – is unmistakable. (And juvenile. Her inner Jr. High princess coming out again)

... As if fundamental science can be shouted down by the indignation of a thousand screaming Joes.

Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCXqKEs68Xk and

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/24/palin-fruit-flies/ and

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WSS-4PKGJV3-C&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=fce005ed770e9f7a99f2d55716dbeea7

John McCain's war policies will cost America nearly $1 trillion and with far fewer results than genetic research, including that on, yes, fruit flies.

God bless America and may the power of democracy protect us. We need to fix our economy. We need to fix our roads. We need bridges. We need jobs. We need schools where kids are taught the principles of science if we are to compete with China and India and Russia to raise our standard of living. We deserve to be a country where poor kids like Obama can become president, and not just rich kids like Bush and McCain.

(Most of the above was sent to us as an email. It appears to be valid, but most is not original with EyeonOregon).

Al Qaeda endorses McCain

An excerpt of why Al Qaeda wants John McCain as president (read it here):

"...Yet the endorsement of Mr. McCain by a Qaeda-affiliated Web site isn’t a surprise to security specialists. Richard Clarke, the former White House counterterrorism director, and Joseph Nye, the former chairman of the National Intelligence Council, have both suggested that Al Qaeda prefers Mr. McCain and might even try to use terror attacks in the coming days to tip the election to him.

“From their perspective, a continuation of Bush policies is best for recruiting,” said Professor Nye, adding that Mr. McCain is far more likely to continue those policies.

"An American president who keeps troops in Iraq indefinitely, fulminates about Islamic terrorism, inclines toward military solutions and antagonizes other nations is an excellent recruiting tool. In contrast, an African-American (Christian) president with a Muslim grandfather and a penchant for building bridges rather than blowing them up would give Al Qaeda recruiters fits."

Oregon: Turn in your ballots

Oregon, it is time to vote for Obama. Enough of this:

$150,000 for Palin's wardrobe, make-up

Hey, Joe Sixpack! Your Snow Job Barbie just spent $150,000 on a new wardrobe, hair and makeup. No wonder she looks so good!

"Spending records filed with the Federal Election Commission and obtained by Politico show the RNC paid for "campaign accessories" from upscale department stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, where nearly $50,000 was spent, Neiman Marcus, $75,000, and $4,700 for hair and makeup." (Read it here)

Ah, the common touch. Of course she's one of us.

By the way, the lies she's spreading about "socialism" are silly, though she may not have the horsepower to understand the issue. Obama is trying to give the middle class a tax break. From income taxes, payroll taxes, etc. Bush gave tax breaks to the rich. Obama wants to roll those back a bit, and give a tax break to the rest of us.

That's all. She is utterly unqualified to be president, and if McCain is elected, there is a one-in-five chance she will be, since he is old and has had cancer.

"Joe the Plumber" already owes taxes

Too bad John McCain -- again -- didn't do his homework before the last debate.

(1) "Joe the Plumber" is not a licensed plumber (read it here)

(2) "Joe the Plumber" owes unpaid taxes (read it here).

(3) "Joe the Plumber" even if he was a plumber, and bought the business, probably would not pay any more taxes under Obama's tax plan, and might even have his taxes reduced. (read it here).


McCain has a history of launching off on a half-backed course of action based on shoddy investigation (see Palin, Sarah; Keeting, Charles; Deregulation of banks). This is another example. Or it's another example of McCain campaign fiction, like the Ayer's flap.

Obama's tax plan would give most of us tax breaks paid for by simply rolling back the tax breaks George Bush and John McCain gave to the super rich six years ago (breaks to John McCain by the way, which is why they are hiding Cindy's tax returns). McCain has transferred wealth from the working man to the corporate elite.

It's time for a president who will make America strong, not simply bleed the middle class while denying the rest of us opportunity. We need Obama.

Sarah's rapture

There have been a few -- too few -- opportunities to see Sarah Palin in her natural habitat. A couple were presented last week by Jon Stewart, possibly lifted from UTube, but I can't find them, now.

One that disturbs most profoundly was captured when Palin answered a question about whether she had seen the second debate between Obama and McCain. She wrinkled her nose in what would otherwise be an expression of pain, tossed back her head with her eyes closed and said McCain "did awsome."

This mannerism, "rapture rhetoric," is not uncommon among elements of the right. It is a form of communication not unlike "gangsta speak" of ghetto Blacks. The painful expression indicates total emotional capitulation. It communicates a context more revealing than the words themselves.

We have seen this in a few of Palin's other displays. When she prepares a "gotcha," she tips her head to one side and wrinkles her nose and pretends with a look of disgust to ask a question. She is really making a "holier-than-thou" accusation. She looks and sounds like the middle school girl too popular to ever be wrong.

This is what her handlers (seasoned Bush professionals) are hiding. And for good reason. They know if the world were to see this woman as she is, there would be great dismay about the judgement of John McCain, an old man who has had cancer, for his choice of who to put next in line as president.

Is Palin a bigot ?

Sarah Palin quoted an anti-semite, Westbrook Pegler, in her speech at the Republican convention.

Her speech referred to "a writer," when she spoke of small towns. The writer was Pegler, who talked hopefully of the assassination of Franklin Roosevelt, and of Bobby Kennedy. Pegler, who loved small towns where there were no Jews, few Blacks.

This puts her recent comments about Barrak Obama in a different perspective. It puts her linking Obama (when he was 8 years old) to a Viet Nam "terrorist" (an old hippie now a prof at the University of Illinois active in education) in a different perspective. She is fanning the flames of extremism not just for political gain, but because she quotes anti-semites and says of Obama "This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America," (them's who's different than us) should not lead this country.

Is Sarah Palin a bigot with a pretty smile? We don't need that nastiness with a one-in-five chance at being president (McCain is old, he has had cancer, and Republicans are hiding his health records). We have problems to solve.

We need Obama to give tax breaks to the middle class, not just the rich who own seven hosues like McCain. We need Obama to craft a health care policy that is fair to all Americans, not just those who have jobs with the decreasing number of employers providing insurance. We need Obama to lead America back to its feet economically, an America ready to become again the powerful nation that reflects the American people.

Reagan Palled Around with Terrorists, Too

(Update: Apparently Hekmatyar refused Reagan's invitation.) It was back in 1985 that (Reagan) invited Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, then a key Mujahadin leader (and major Islamo-fascist, as some might call him), at the White House. (Read it here).

"Keep your friends close. Keep your enemies closer."

McCain = Bush,
Palin = Cheney.

Enough = enough.

McPalin make-believe

“I think there have been quite a few reporters recently,” said Mr. McCain’s closest adviser, Mark Salter, “who have sort of implied, or made more than implications, that somehow we’re responsible for the occasional nut who shows up and yells something about Barack Obama.” (Read it here)

After weeks of lies that Obama is "pallin' around with terrorists," after weeks of McPalin saying "it's time Obama told the truth about his relationship with terrorists" (Obama was 8 years old at the time), Salter is now saying McPalin aren't responsible for the hatred they have encouraged? That it's the fault of "reporters?"

What amazing dishonesty. It's on tape, Mr. Salter. Like Palin herself saying yesterday that the Alaska inquiry found she had done nothing illegal or unethical in firing a department head who wouldn't fire her ex-brother-in-law. True, there was nothing illegal. Governors have the right to fire people for any reason they like.

The inquiry did find the ethics questionable. Palin wouldn't recognize that, though, because she has no ethical compass to go by. Taking a man's job because he wouldn't carry out a personal vendetta is unethical in our book, an abuse of power and trust, but she plays by different rules, and always has.

McPalin has no substance at their core. They are mean, angry people. They do mean and angry things. They do little else, and it doesn't matter if they do it with a pretty smile (her) or a weird one (him). Where is their plan? Not their slogans, (it is laughable for McPalin to claim they are the ticket of change) which are lies, but their plan?

They don't have a plan, they have only a strategy, and that is to ask over and over again questions that have already been answered. That is not "Country First." That is "Win no matter what damage we do."

Americans are going to be able to work ourselves out of this crisis if we have the leadership of Obama in the White House. Americans are going to reassert our values if we can restrain the greed that McCain advocated in his Senate career. America will be strong when we are again building our own economy instead of Iraq's, our own roads and our own schools and alternative energy and efficient cars.

We are a great country and Obama will help us remember how to achieve our best.

Fascism, hatred, McPalin

There is something very, very, ugly about the McCain/Palin campaign, now.

They are fanning hatred, bitterness. They are saying things they know are harmful and untrue, whipping crowds into a frenzy, lighting fires in dry grass. Their rallies are taking on a strange angry intensity, almost like those of Nazi Germany, as the natural fear of the American people in these uncertain times is misdirected and focused at the opponent. Right out of the Goebbels playbook.

It is irresponsible and unconscionable to be directing this fear at Obama. It is ugly to imply that there is any real link between Obama and terrorism, or radical Islam. "He should explain," McPalin says, even though the explanation has been given hundreds of times. Everything has been explained. Everything is known.

But McPalin are letting the wounds of the economy fester, and they direct the puss of hatred against their opponent in a crass attempt to score political points.

"Country First?" Nah, that's not what McPalin are about. They are about using an infection of ignorance, fear, hatred, and perhaps inciting violence, to win, "win at all cost."

This is ugly. It is shameful. It is dangerous.

The truth about Sarah

This letter about Sarah Palin from Anne Kilkenny needs to be read by every Republican.

Sarah put Wasilla in debt. Sarah likes big government projects. Sarah raised taxes on the middle class. Sarah doesn't "get" budgets. She is not conservative: The defining characteristics of Sarah Palin are ambition and political opportunism.

Here we present excerpts. The whole is worth reading (The original is here).

I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child’s favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.

She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won’t vote for her can’t quit smiling when talking about her because she is a “babe”.

.... Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents.

During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later–to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.

These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.

In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today’s surplus, borrow for needs.

She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin’s attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

Sarah complained about the “old boy’s club” when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of “old boys”. Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal–loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below).

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he “intimidated” her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska’s top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it’s pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn’t fire her sister’s ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support...

... As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the “bridge to nowhere” after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects–which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance–but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as “anti-pork”.

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative.

Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah’s mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

... McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President.

There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she.

However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it...

...WHY AM I WRITING THIS?

First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.

Secondly, I’ve always operated in the belief that “Bad things happen when good people stay silent”. Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings.

Third, I am just a housewife. I don’t have a job she can bump me out of. I don’t belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that’s life.

Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah’s attempt at censorship.

Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable....

Anne Kilkenny

Sarah's shame

How does a woman who prides herself on "values" tell such a lie in a grab for power? Does it mean her values are a lie? Or that she doesn't have any values, besides raw ambition? What will Sarah Palin tell that grandchild in 20 years, when her lies are dissected in a classroom?

"Our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country," Palin told a group of donors in Englewood, Colo. A deliberate attempt to smear Obama, McCain's ticket-mate echoed the line at three separate events Saturday. (Read it here)

The problems is, this is not true. It is a lie. Obama is not "palling around" with terrorists. He never "palled around," any more than Palin is "palling around" with white supremacists. Certainly not as true as Palin's "palling around" with Alaskan separatists.

America doesn't need Sarah Palin lies. America needs health care. America needs jobs. America needs clean energy. America needs Obama.

The Real McCain

Obama and Biden the true working class heroes

It is so odd the way the Republicans have resorted to class warfare in this election, and claim populist ground they don't deserve.

John McCain, a son of an admiral, privileged his whole life except for that time as a POW, married rich. He can't count his houses. Sarah Palin never really wanted for much, she's ambitious, yes, but ambitious like that popular high school girl who wanted to get on student body council.

Obama was raised poor and worked hard and studied and managed to get into and graduate from Harvard. His story is the American dream. Joe Biden was from tough mill Pennsylvania. Worked hard, went to Congress young, still doesn't have much money but has passion for our country.

The working class have so much more in common with Obama/Biden than with the Republicans. These are men who will fight for the values of the working class, not simply use their fear and bigotry against them.

May the genius of our democracy lead us from the dark illusions of right wing power mongers.

Joe Sixpack for president?

It just keeps coming:

" It’s time that a normal Joe Six-Pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency..." said Sarah Palin of herself this week.

We agree that she represents Joe Sixpack. We disagree that qualifies her in any way to be a heart beat away from leading the free world. It's too complicated for that, now. Joe Sixpack can't understand a financial crisis and credit markets. We need someone who does.

Can it be true? Can it really be true that we have gone from Washington and Jefferson, John Adams and Ben Franklin, to a self-proclaimed "Joe Sixpack?"

Maverick or just unstable?

McCain suspends his campaign. Then unsuspends it. He won't debate. Then he will.

McCain insists on being part of a meeting on the financial crisis at the White House, and then says very little, because he really doesn't understand what's going on, and to him it is not as important as his campaign. Later he admits he knew before hand the meeting was doomed.

He picks Snow Job Barbie to be his running mate, whose greatest qualification is that she can see Russia from her home town in Alaska. Three times now, with Charlie Gibson, Sean Hannity, and with Katy Couric, Sarah Palin has looked and acted like someone uninformed and not overly interested in complicated matters.

Kinda like McCain.

McCain was part of deregulating the banking industry, now grumps that without rules, they tried to make more money! He wants to deregulate insurance and health care in the same way. Still.

McCain said and did things this last week that seems to make it more obvious that he is being run by Bush people and lobbyists for the finance industry that McCain was once supposed to oversee.

McCain is also gambling. Making ill-thought out and sudden moves, hoping, like any obsessive gambler, that there will be a sudden turn of luck if he does something impulsive.

McCain would be dangerous as president.

Republicans play politics with economy

The photo op for John McCain at the White House took us closer to financial meltdown yesterday.

The Republicans blew up negotiations over the bailout. But they got a photo of McCain sitting at the table. Reports say he was silent for much of it. Perhaps he wanted a nap. Perhaps he didn't have any good ideas. Afterword, he said he knew walking in there was no deal.

McCain did much to remove oversight from the banks and Freddie and Fannie that led to the crisis. His top staff member, Rick Davis, was paid $15,000 a month by Freddie so they could influence McCain. Much of McCain's team came from Bush.

So he was part of the problems, and yesterday he took part in a game to seem like they were doing something, to get his photo taken pretending to do something.

It's 7 a.m. on the West Coast as I write this. By noon today we will know a lot more about just how serious this all is, and we will know a lot more about how McCain would rather play politics than find solutions.

More proof that McCain is Bush

Most of the people running the campaign of John McCain and Sarah Palin are from the Bush team. It is unlikely that they will govern any differently if elected. (Read it here.)

Rick Davis was paid $15,000 a month by Freddie Mac until a month ago, now Freddie has been taken over by the Federal government. His job was to tell McCain what to think about regulation. We know how that turned out.

Bushies Mark Wallace, Tucker Eskew, Greg Jenkins, Steve Schmidt all are handing McCain or Palin. McCain advisers were saying we were just a bunch of whiners last month. How would they know what the pain feels like? McCain has seven houses and not likely to lose even one. They want another term running the government.

Folks, we can't afford more years of Bush Cheney, even if it is dressed up in the sheep's clothing of Maverick and May Belle. They broke our country. We need to take it back.

McCain fingered in financial meltdown

John McCain and the people around him in part caused the financial crisis tearing into America.

His campaign manager, Rick Davis, who advises McCain on many topics and presumably would have a role in a McCain administration, was receiving $15,000 a month from Freddie Mac until August. Freddie Mac was using Davis to influence McCain, the result of which was fewer regulations and led to the recent take over by the federal government.

It doesn't stop there. Here’s a quote from John McCain’s article, "Better Health Care at Lower Cost for Every American," in the Sept./Oct. issue of Contingencies, the magazine of the American Academy of Actuaries: “Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.”

It wasn't greater competition. It was taking away oversight and protection.

McCain needs to take responsibility for his actions and honestly admit that what he did to America turned out so badly.

The problem of course, is now he is pretending that he wasn't part of the problem, that he is an outsider. He is not. Nor is his team, which came right from Bush.

McCain is so rich he can't count his houses. He was part of the group that let greed send our jobs away, that spent a $trillion dollars on Iraq, that let the bankers run amok and rip off homeowners and led to a world-wide crisis.

McCain was part of the Bush program. It is time for a change.

The real John McCain

“John MCain has become shameless and dishonorable,” spokesman Brian Rogers said. “John McCain and I have brought the sleazy gutter politics of Karl Rove back to our national stage, exposing the call for "change" as a lie and embarrassing even our own party with the low road campaign we are running.”

No, McCain spokesman Rogers didn't say this about McCain. But this is the type of thing he is saying over and over. See how empty it is? It has no content, can be used to attack anyone, there is no way to respond.

We need to put Americans back to work rebuilding America. We need health care. We need to fix our financial system. We need to build bridges and roads.

And all John McCain's people do is crawl in the mud. That won't change things. That is the same old thing, just like John McCain.

McCain's biggest lie

"Country first."

That's why McCain picked "Snow Job Barbie" to be his vice president. Because of her obvious qualifications. Not because winning is more important than competence. Country First? That is why McCain has fallen so deep into the muck of half-truths and outright lies. Because only if he wins is the country saved. Country First? That is why he has hermetically sealed off the "Straight Talk Express" with a small army of "handlers," and answers every question with a canned piece of his stump speech.

"Country First" is a political phrase and lie that John McCain tells every day. He wants the brass ring so bad he will do whatever it takes to grab it, he will say anything, he will make this election about Obama's name and not about jobs, he will make it about celebrity (that McCain found in Palin) and not about health care, McCain will change his positions daily and lie about what he said yesterday with that scary smile of his.

"Country First?" Those are the words on his lips. But McCain is saying "Country be damned" with his actions.

Country First is electing a president who will put Americans back to work building energy sources for tomorrow, not fattening the oil companies. That's Obama.

Country First is protecting Americans with a health care system that provides affordable care, not sending profits to drug companies. That is Obama.

Country First is protecting the environment, so Americans can eat fish without mercury, so they can have air they can breathe. That is Obama.

Country First indeed. McCain is George Bush. It's time for a change.

What is happening to the markets

The post below is not easy reading. But it captures what has really happened to our economy, without a lot of numbers.

Fisher's Debt-Deflation Theory

Essentially, for too many individuals and society as a whole, "capital has been betrayed into unproductive works."

"Had Fisher observed the Greenspan/Bernanke Fed in action, he might have updated his theory with a revision. At some point, capital betrayed into unproductive works has to either be repaid or written off. If either is inhibited by reflation or regulatory forbearance, then a cost is imposed on productive works, whether through inflation, higher interest, diversion of consumption, or taxation to socialise losses. Over time that cost ultimately hollows out the real productive economy leaving only bubble assets standing. Without a productive foundation, as reflation and forbearance reach their limits, those bubble assets must deflate." -- London Banker

We threw too much of our wealth away on things we didn't need. We borrowed to buy things we couldn't afford. When it came time to pay the bills, there wasn't any money.

Palin is more Bush than Bush

So it comes out now that Gov. Sarah Palin will not cooperate with a probe into her ethics in Alaska.

Why not? If she has nothing to hide, why not lay it all out there?

Last night, her representative said Palin would not be available for media questions until there was a guarantee that she be treated with "... deference."

What, like a queen? If she knows what she is talking about, why not let her answer questions, express her views? I thought she actually did a pretty good job with Charlie Gibson from ABC, though he was so smarmy he made me squirm.

The fact is, Palin is hiding her actions in Alaska because they were unethical. The campaign is hiding her from reporters because she doesn't know anything and hasn't had time to learn as McCain's cram squad has tried to give her a crash course in everything.

The Republicans are trying to hide the fact that McCain made a terrible mistake in cravenly choosing the pretty and very right wing and completely unqualified Palin to be the second in command.

Now their only choice is to hide the past, hide Palin and hide the truth.

Just like Dick Cheney hiding that Enron wrote his energy plan. Like Bush hiding from investigations into why government lawyers were fired for not being loyal enough, or hiding torture at Guantanomo.

Hiding, lying, taking the country to war, throwing away our money.

McCain/Palin is looking more like Bush/Cheney every day. C'mon. Enough was enough.

McCain/Palin = Bush/Cheney

It is becoming a horribly weird instant replay, different and yet the same. A secretive and ambitious vice-president, the darling of conservatives, paired with an ideologue president who doesn't speak particularly well but surrounds himself with viciously protective handlers.

Yes, McCain/Palin is Bush/Cheney all over again. My god, maybe even worse. At least Cheney was calculating and crude when he needed to be. Palin seems to exhale meanness with every sweet sanctimonious breath, calling anyone who disagrees with her a "hater" and firing qualified professionals to put childhood friends on the government payroll.

No one really thinks John McCain understands the economy, or jobs, right? Even he admits he doesn't. With his seven houses bought by his rich wife, an admiral father who John followed through the Navy, the man has never had to work a day in his life. (Okay, he was a hero for five years as a POW. That doesn't qualify him for anything.)

McCain's financial advisor said we were a nation of whiners. I wonder if the collapse of three major banks last week and the government takeover of the two largest mortgage underwriters qualifies as whining?

Palin? No one really thinks she understands the economy, or world affairs, right? Less than two years from being mayor of Wissilla, she has barely been out of Alaska, a lovely and quaint corner of America. She was brought on the ticket for political reasons, to get the vote of the Christian right and white women.

That is a terrible reason to pick a vice president when the nation needs real leadership.

McCain/Palin is the another version of Bush/Cheney, the team that brought us the war in Iraq, the economic meltdown, and unemployment posing as deregulation. They even betrayed conservative values. These guys are clueless. They made this mess. Why in the world would we hire them back?

No more of that. It's time for change. Obama in '08.

The secretive Sarah

One of the cornerstones of good government is transparency. That is what separates governing from politics.

The Bush cabal went farther than any recent administration at keeping public business a secret. Secret meetings, secret emails, destroyed emails, lies spread about opponents.

Sarah Palin would be worse.

Secrecy and vendettas, and jobs for her friends, the firing of those who disagree with her has characterized her political life from the beginning. Baby sitters and classmates put on government payrolls. Enemies black listed. Directions to staff to conduct state business with personal email that hides what is being done and how it is done from voters and taxpayers.

Good government does not work in the dark. That is why we have the first amendment. Voters and taxpayers have the right to know what government is doing, how they are spending our money.

It is almost like Sarah Palin learned how to govern from Karl Rove. She could be very dangerous to this country. She is not qualified to be vice president. She does not know the difference between right and wrong, public and personal.

John McCain asked Palin to be his vice president for political reasons. He made a terrible mistake.

Sarah Palin lies

Sarah Palin did not say "no" to the Alaskan "bridge to nowhere." In fact, she took the money and spent it on something else in Alaska.

Sarah Palin did not "control" the oil of Alaska. She was governor of the state from where the oil was pumped from federal lands.

Sarah Palin knows nothing of Russia, except she could nearly see it from her back door. Yet she threatens to go to war. She says that ignorance is a blessing, that the less she knows, the better she is.

That's what George Bush said. He damaged our country. She is just as reckless, maybe more so. Her church believes the world will end in a war with Russia. The sooner the world ends, the sooner they get to heaven.

Sarah Palin tried to get her brother-in-law fired from his job as a cop when her sister's marriage broke up. She fired former staff who did not agree with her when she was mayor. She billed the state of Alaska to stay in her own home. She puts her personal agenda over the welfare of her citizens.

In other words, Sarah Palin may be corrupt. She certainly should not be vice president.

The Bush/McCain style is back and is worse than ever. Lie to the voters, scare the voters, get the voters to forget that they are losing their jobs, their schools, their ability to afford health care. That is the Bush/McCain legacy. They should be thrown out of office.

But instead, they have found a pretty face and pretend they are starting a revolution in Washington.

They are lying. Just like they have always lied. They are wasting our tax dollars. They are trashing our schools. They are sending Medicare dollars to giant corporations instead of lowering health care costs for the average citizen. Our roads and bridges are crumbling.

They sent our children to a war without purpose. Without armor.

They gloat over $4.50 a gallon gasoline, (the Bush cabinet is FULL of people with ties to the oil industry) and then say the cure is to let the oil companies take MORE oil from federal land and sell us fuel at maybe $4.25 a gallon. While those responsible for overseeing the oil industry are doing drugs and sleeping with oil company people.

We need roads and bridges schools and health care that doesn't cost 25% of our monthly paycheck. We don't need nasty lies from pretty women who pretend they are something they are not.

We need Obama.

About the issues

The other day I got into a discussion about Obama. My friend thought Obama was a lightweight, but he couldn't stomach the idea yet of voting for McCain.

After not knowing the facts about Obama's voting record in the Senate as well as my friend, I did something strange. I started talking about the issues. Which I had mistakenly thought this election was about.

You want the country to invest in universal health care, vote Obama, or else you want more Bush/McCain give-away to giant drug companies. You want cheaper gas? Vote Obama for alternative energy, or vote Bush/McCain for more give-away to Exxon and giant oil companies. You want more opportunity for your kids? Vote Obama, or vote Bush/McCain so Republican elites can send their kids to private schools while your schools remain crappy.

On the issues, the choice is very clear. Obama represents the interests of most Americans. Under Republicans, wages have fallen, the income gap between the rich and middle class has grown, the country has suffered.

Bush is giving $1 billion to Georgia (the country). How about $1 billion to fix some bridges here in Oregon?

The Republicans brag that they can take this election by making it about personality instead of the issues. They call for ordinary Americans to take sides with the party that truly hurts them by saying that Democrats don't respect them. They want to use resentment to steal from the middle class and give to the rich. That is their record, that is what they do.

And we should not let them. It is not what this election should be about. It's got to be about about jobs, health care, energy, schools, the future. These are things that matter, and on these things, the Obama ticket has said all the right things.

The Republicans have said nearly nothing at all, but their record while controlling Congress and the White House speaks for itself.

Why Obama makes economic sense

For too long Republican's have shoveled a load of misunderstandings about education, energy, and health care into the public area. Most of it was put forth by their corporate owners: right wing fringe groups, oil companies and insurance and pharmaceutical companies.

They are wrong. Here's why:

While we pay taxes to fund public education, the money spent is also a national investment. Many of the greatest victories of the United States since W.W.II have resulted from education. We buried the Soviet Union because of our wealth, and our wealth came from a strong, educated productive work force. We put a man on the moon. We developed the computer industry.

From the G.I. Bill to strong state colleges to quality high schools and the elementary and middle schools that feed them, good education builds a strong economy, and a strong economy builds a strong country.

The same is true of energy. The result of our addiction to oil is plain to see: Years of war in Iraq, fuel approaching $5 a gallon and soon inflation because of the cost of trucking food to our tables and shipping T-shirts from China.

Drilling for the few barrels left near our own shores does not break the addiction. We need more electricity and we need it now and it has to come from wind and solar. Instead of giving tax breaks to promising innovation, the nation is giving billions to the wealthiest corporations on the planet, the oil companies. We feed the addiction that way, when we need to break the habit.

Health care is broken in the U.S. It is soaking up too much of our income. Sending the sick to emergency rooms loads up that system, and it is a terribly expensive way to provide health care. We need to focus on keeping people healthy, not making them sicker before we let them get better.

We need change in this country not only from the last eight years. We need a change of thinking about how we invest in America. The sacrifice won’t be easy, and the payoff a generation away, but this is what we need to do for our children.

McCain is the new Bush

John McCain is too old. He can't use email. And he is not very smart. He can't say hello to a crowd without 3 x 5 cards.

Aside from being shot down as a Navy pilot, and surviving, and marrying rich after cheating on his first wife, he has not done much. He wears that Navy hat everywhere, it goes on just after he brushes his teeth in the morning, just to remind you that decades ago he was a prisoner of war.

Was being captured really that heroic? John Kerry was four times the hero John McCain ever was.

The hat should also remind you his father was an admiral in charge of the Pacific at the time and that may have been part of the reason McCain got into Annapolis and why the North Vietnamese didn't just kill him.

McCain has spent a large portion of his life trying to be as good as his father. Just like Bush. And we know where that got us. He can't be as good because he doesn't deserve it. Never did and never will. But he will always try to seem tough. If he was really tough he would have become a Marine. Trying to seem tough is why Bush got us into Iraq.

John McCain doesn't know what it is like to buy a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread. He is so rich he doesn't know how many houses he has. You think he can relate to you guys working in the auto parts store, managing the Safeway, driving truck? He doesn't really even like you. He just wants you to be afraid so he can use you to seize power. He is a tool of the Bush Cheney machine. He wants to make a tool out of you.

McCain believes in tax cuts for the rich because he is rich. He believes in drilling for oil off the U.S. coast because he is supported by companies that want to maintain our addiction to oil. They are giving your money to oil companies and big insurance companies and drug companies, some of which aren't even American, in exchange for campaign contributions and Republican trips to Scotland.

The Bush administration did not create jobs. McCain is just like them. The Bush administration saw wages fall. McCain is just like them. The Bush administration allowed lead-tainted toys to poison our children, allowed credit card companies to charge 25% interest, and allowed handsomely paid bankers to create havoc in our economy. McCain is just like them. Under the Republicans, not only did government not protects us, it turned against us.

Are you better off now than when Bush took office? Blame Bush/Cheney. John McCain is just like them.

Father’s Day letters

On Father’s Day I decided to send a couple of letters to each of my daughters. They will be dated on the twins 15th birthday, 2008.

They are to be opened in 2018, and 2028. I don’t know yet how to hold and send, but there is time to figure that out.

I want the girls to remember, then, the details of today that will otherwise fade. Through their father’s eyes, his joy and worry winding like rivulets down through time, contained within the banks of their lives.

A recall of their wonder and laughter at the smooth-skinned tiny rubber boa snake that was wrapped around a stick, thinking it was hidden because it had stuck its head in a crack. My hope that there was a life lesson there. When I showed them that he thought he was safe in a cave, with most of him outside, they laughed out loud.

When the girls open those letters decades from now, I want to give them a fresher memory about who they were. Hopefully this will give them a better understanding of who they have become.

Will they remember the effort to carry a mattress from one room to the other when their best friend came for a sleep-over? That effort may be important in a future when they think they are too tired to get off the couch.

If we are all at any moment the summation of who we have been, today is a too thin slice of time. We stack these slices, our fears and our joys, days and nights banding like alternating colors, and after a while the pile becomes so high that we can’t go back and see with clarity this day, a day that was unremarkable except for the fact that it was the present then, with fewer bumps and scars and tools and certificates pasted to the outside.

At some point in their future I want the past to come alive. I want to count the number of holes we put in the wall playing darts when we missed the whole board. I want them to remember that some dart holes in the wall were absolutely fine at one point in their lives, that fear of consequence was not the only principal of living.

I imagine them opening the envelopes like they were letters from a friend. But instead of some far away place, the letters were posted from a far away hour, not distant in miles or memory but enveloping them now, whenever that is, tying us together in the timelessness of love.

Seduction of life without consequences

A while back we noted that the current financial and economic upheaval might have long term impact on how we live. Eye wrote about it in August of 2007, and referred to it again in March of this year, and again in May.

David Brooks has just done a far better job than Eye in an outstanding piece on why and how the current downturn affects us socially. (Read it here.) Brooks calls the current situation "The Great Seduction" and notes how our country's prosperity was built on "hard work, temperance and frugality."

Because he is an honest writer, Brooks offers a few solutions, then concludes:

"There are dozens of things that could be done. But the most important is to shift values. Franklin made it prestigious to embrace certain bourgeois virtues. Now it’s socially acceptable to undermine those virtues. It’s considered normal to play the debt game and imagine that decisions made today will have no consequences for the future."

Brooks misses one very important point. It may be necessary to allow greater hardship i.e., consequences, as a result of profligacy. This is the only way to modify behavior. The extent to which society, or government, mitigates consequences is the extent to which the problem will persist.

This is not just human nature, it is biology at its most basic. Why would we not do what we evolved to do, if there is no reason not to do it? That is why Franklin's message was so well regarded. He was offering a suggestion on how to improve life when the consequences of not doing so were dire.

The unpleasant side of this today is that there will be suffering that we are not used to seeing in America for the last couple of generations. And we will want to prevent the worst of this. But to be effective, we need to realize that every effort to reduce hardship above a "hit bottom" level will prolong it, or postpone it and make it worse when eventually the bills have to be paid.

Clintons lie and show disrespect

Bill and Hillary Clinton’s desperation has become repulsive. Their dishonesty shameful. They are now the source of bright light on why the nation needs Obama.

No Bill jokes, here. We all know his history. But the Clintons have now increased the shrillness of their spin, their slant, their denials and their lies. They do it as they breathe. It is time to push back.

As the Clinton machine squabbles and threatens over the votes of Michigan and Florida, more of us need to talk about the fact that last year Clinton, along with other candidates, agreed that disputed delegates should not have full representation if they violated party rules. Obama even took his name off the Michigan ballot. Clinton did not. Maybe because she didn’t mean it.

Now that they are losing, the Clintons want to “move the goal posts,” change the rules in the middle of the game, pretend that it is about the integrity of the process instead of about winning. The lousiest of Kindergarten behavior.

But this is quite typical of Bill and Hillary. Again we are confronted with the incredible arrogance that drove the right wing nearly insane in the late 1990s: It is not just the lies, but the clear belief that lies don’t matter, that the truth does not matter.

They will fan class warfare to get to the White House, by portraying Obama as the elite. By saying critics of Hillary are the elite, saying economists who dismiss her stupid plan to eliminate gas taxes as “elite opinion,” when it becomes clear her policies would make the nation worse off (read it here).

What unmitigated horse crap. What amazing cynicism. The bold, calculating manipulating arrogance of it is simply breathtaking. They are willing to damage the country to get to the White House.

Bill Clinton says those urging his wife to get out of the race don’t worry about jobs or health insurance. (Read it here). Hillary claims she ducked under sniper fire, then says she misspoke when video showed otherwise. Bill pretends to champion the poor while lying to the poor, misleading while pretending to be a friend, having made $100 million since leaving the White House.

At this point it is obvious they would offer help to a blind man to get proper change, then slip a $1 bill in place of the $5. Anything goes if it is for a good cause, and they get to decide what that might be.

They use the uneducated because the educated favor Obama. Does education matter? Yes, it does. It does not make one right, but it matters. The Clintons say the opposite, that education somehow makes one’s opinion less meaningful. This is an odd stance for a Rhodes Scholar married to a Yale Law graduate. But the Clintons will say anything, use anybody.

Clinton is of the old order: Lie when you have to, change the rules when you can, do whatever it takes, dirty politics. Nobody really wants that. A woman in the White House? Sure. That woman? No.

We don’t want people who will do anything to get power to have power. It really is that simple.

It is time for change. Obama in ‘08.

Excessive Force

Portland cops are up in arms over a new "use of force rule." (Read it here.)

The policy is for supervisors to meet with those officers who have used force more frequently than most to determine if there are "... training gaps...issues... or other concerns..."

The policy hit police officers "like a ton of bricks," and caused them to be "upset, distraught and discouraged, to say the least."

Are we sure we want to put such delicate sensibilities on the street, carrying guns?

Aside from standard union posturing, ratcheting up rhetoric and portraying cops as victims, there is little news here, and little will happen.

Here's a study we would like to see: Every cop on the city's payroll should take a blood test once a year on a random basis for steroids. Any "use of force incident" should result in a blood test. If steroids are present, or any psychoactive drug, the cop looks for another job. Period. Zero tolerance. No disability pay, either.

Steroid use is well known in the macho culture of weight rooms, and "Roid rage" is well documented. Many reported "use of force" incidents by cops in Portland simply beg for a blood test for steroids.

It won't happen, of course. The unions are too powerful, the citizens too weak. They have the guns and poorly worded laws on their side, we have a free press and damn little else. We have made a trade-off, whether we like it or not.

Saving money by the gallon

If I am gentle with the throttle and shift into neutral on the way down long hills I can get more than 25 miles a gallon from my car. It is a "sports" car, capable of extreme performance, but mileage is not its strong point. It’s far better than my truck, though, and with gas close to $4 a gallon and diesel at $4.50, I think about it.

One friend, a teacher, has a large V-twin motorcycle. He loves it and rides nearly every day. Another, a professional pilot, rides his BMW motorcycle to work. He gets 50 miles per gallon. But his job is about 50 miles away, he has always ridden motorcycles, and he enjoys it, too.

I asked each of them a lot of questions. Then I sat down and thought about whether I should get a motorcycle.

One day, on his way home from work at more than 60 miles per hour, the pilot hit a deer. He was OK after tumbling and skidding down the highway because he always, always wears the full suit that kept him alive, at least not abraded to the bone, leaving flesh on the pavement, seriously and permanently disabled.

He got another bike and still rides. In truth, that deer could have killed him if he was driving his Honda sedan. But he does not ride at night. Period. Can't ride in winter when there is ice and snow on the road. The suit can be hot, or cold, and things get a little dicey, and miserable, in the rain.

But he gets about double the mileage as I do in my car.

Let's see. Ten miles to town and back for the mail. That is actually about a "20 miles-per-gallon" trip because of the stops and starts. So let's say I'd use half a gallon. A couple of bucks. And to be lazy with the math, let's say it is a buck in gas for the motorcycle.

If someone stood in my garage with a crisp dollar bill as I headed for my car and said, "... give you a buck if you take another five minutes to put on your gear, ride extra carefully a half mile down your gravel driveway, into town to the post office, take off your helmet but leave on the rest of your hot Kevlar suit, get the mail, put on your helmet, go to the store, take off your helmet, buy a dozen eggs to fit into the saddle packs, come home, up that gravel drive and take off all your gear."

My answer would be, um, no. Not that much fun.

And one reason I gave up motorcycles years ago is that I nearly killed myself three times on bikes in the 70s. Even if bikes are faster and better now, I am not.

So I have come to the conclusion that for me, at least, a motorcycle is not the answer to $4 per gallon gas. Not even $10 per gallon. Too much hassle, I don't love it enough, and I won't take my daughters on a bike.

As it is, driving less has cut my consumption way down, and kept my fuel cost to about what it was before the recent run up in prices. I make far fewer spontaneous 40 mile round trips to Bend, planning a little better. I don't make unnecessary "boredom runs" into Sisters for a newspaper or a chat with the local editor. And that leads to my reading more books and to less air pollution.

By 2010 I want a small, enclosed cockpit vehicle that will give me 100 miles per tank of compressed air that I can fill with the compressor in my garage or one under the seat. Three wheels would be fine if two are in front, but full crash cage is required, because I don't want to hassle with a suit or helmet, and I want it to seat three, though two of those can be cramped.

The day has arrived in America when our addiction to oil has driven us to choose between fuel or health care, fuel or food, or roads, or schools. But one of the strengths of this nation has been its ability to innovate our way out of crisis and into the future. It was only 20 years ago we gave the world the personal computer.

It will be interesting to see if we have the will and the brains to do something like that again.

Past her shelf life

Yesterday while one of the twins was at violin lesson I ran into the county clerk's office to vote. Moving to the hilltop meant I had to change the address on my registration.

There is something about Hillary at this point that is just a little rancid. Maybe it's the lies (sniper fire), maybe the pandering (gas tax), maybe the do-whatever-it-takes-to-win (the racist card).

But it is hard to look at her now and not have the same sensation that one has in sniffing the carton of milk of expired date in the fridge. You know it's not fresh, you can't tell if it's sour, and wonder if a taste will ruin your day. Or the off-color burger. It doesn't seem too bad, but you know it isn't good.

It's one thing when it is the only food in the house, the temptation to hold your nose and cook it up and serve it up and deal with it. Kinda like the last few presidential elections, in fact. Politics as usual.

But now there is someone fresh, a natural leader, a very smart man who, though beat up a little by the process, doesn't seem tainted. With that available, why would we vote for Clinton?

Obama '08.

Perfect storms

Yesterday my twin middle school daughters were astounded at the nightly news as the three of us ate dinner. Earthquakes in China, cyclones in Burma, fires in Florida, tornadoes in Oklahoma. "It feels like the world is falling apart," said one.

When all these things threaten us at once, we want to see a larger hand at work, that global warming is ruining our world for human habitation. And it may be.

Or it may just be that many things happen at the same time. Always. Even items that are intertwined can have separate causes, and different solutions.

In a month we have had the home mortgage mess, a banking crisis, recession howling on the horizon, oil price inflation, and the threat of currency collapse.

Bernake said today that the banking system credit crunch, while far from over, may be easing. He may have saved the day, though longer term fixes probably need to be developed that will improve transparency and moderate leverage.

The mortgage mess, while related, is separate in the way it impacts individuals, a resolution may also be working its way through the system. That starts with, "Don't borrow more than you can pay back."

Be wary of quick fixes here from politicians that would reduce the ability of people to aspire to home ownership.

Yes, there is the recession. It is here, and it will be long lasting. The entire baby boom generation has been living beyond their means. The bills will be paid.

But there are many assets lying around, and it is not a bad thing for this group, especially, to learn to live with less. There is a certain joy in finding economies.

And it may be that it is in crisis that empathies sprout, perhaps, for those whose lives have been ravaged by storms beyond their control, those impacted by tectonic shifts in the gloabal economy, those treading water whose standard of living sinks as the price of everything climbs.

Shut up, Peter

Oregon's Peter DeFazio has always been a loose canon, to be sure, and often off target. But he threatens the interests of those who agree with him when he gets it as wrong as he did yesterday.

Introducing Barak Obama, Defazio said of John McCain: "He says we need less regulation," said DeFazio in his introduction of Obama. "Hello! Wall Street mortgage meltdown, Bear Stearns taxpayer bailout, Enron, but, you know, I guess maybe for a guy who was up to his neck in the Keating Five and savings and loan scandal less regulation is better."

Defazio's ignorance of economics is striking. Especially for a member of congress who was in office during each of these issues, even if in the minority party.

Let's deal with Bear Stearns. The Fed did not "bail out" Bear Stearns, which was sold to another company for what, $10 per share and ceased to exist. Investors and employees of Bear Stearns got creamed. That's not a bail out.

By facilitating the sale for pennies on the dollar, the fed did make sure that those who had dealt with Bear Stearns were able to have contracts honored. This in turn helped others know that contracts would be honored. This probably kept the entire banking system from freezing up at a time when there were some serious concerns.

That's the problem with liberals Like DeFazio who are ignorant of economics: They are willing to destroy a system and ruin lives for the sake of their ideology.

Enron? A company run amuck. But as any cop or District Attorney will tell you, sometimes you can't prevent crime, you have to punish it. Especially true when the laws are gray, the economy is changing. There will always be bad guys willing to scam the system.

The American people voted in a president and especially a vice president willing to collude with Enron. Enron too, blew up, evaporated, died. The company got caught, ceased to exist (corporate capial punishment?) accounting standards improved, federal laws were passed.

Pre-regulation may have helped, but it may also have come at a cost even greater than that finally paid. It would have been even worse if great minds in economics like Peter Defazio were in charge.

The mortgage mess? Mr. Defazio, we need transcripts of all the speeches you made identifying the problems with mortgage backed securities and other derivatives when the asset bubble began in real estate. Thank you.

In the mean time, others will be analyzing the actual issues and crafting the minimum laws, probably reserve requirements for investment banks and greater disclosure, needed to deal with it.

Defazio helps no one when he shoots off his mouth, and his tendency toward self-righteousness makes him one of the less effective members of Congress. But right now, it could hurt the best candidate for president the left has had in a generation.

Shut up, Peter.

Obama in '08.

Hillary -- Go home

Hillary Clinton committed two more significant misrepresentations and panderings in the last week. Let's not forget sniper fire.

Recently, she fibbed about a company called Magnaquench, indicating that George Bush was responsible for the loss of those jobs, that industry. Actually, Magnaquench was sold to the Chinese under the watch of her husband, Bill Clinton.

The other foolishness has to do with the repeal of the gas tax. It is bad economics, and it is pandering, and finally we have a significant enough difference between Clinton and Obama so that it is obvious on a policy basis that he deserves the vote and she does not.

When confronted about the fact that not a single significant economist thought the idea a good one, she said she didn't listen to economists. How stupid.

Frankly, we are sick of the excuse "that's just politics." (Better said here). And we are sick of her claim to competence based upon the fact that her husband was president. That qualifies Laura Bush. And if Clinton does want to claim that mantle, then she does not get to avoid credit for the failures.

Go home, Hillary. Your lust for power has twisted your judgment, clouded your bright mind. You have told too many lies, you have tried to become too many people. Get off the stage, and let the others get on with some important business.

Obama in 08.

Financial wisdom

For those of you looking above the trench line, we wrote something last August (read it here) that still applies.

Not that we are all that prescient. This morning, we read something from Todd Harrison that really struck home:

"...There are few opportunities in our lives to literally watch history tick before our eyes. These are the times our grandchildren will study, like we study the Great Depression, puzzling over the bizarre circumstances that came together to form this perfect storm.

"What is most misunderstood is that this not only a financial crossroads, but a societal one as well. The repercussions of government policy and our individual actions will echo loudly throughout future generations.

"We have a choice to make. We can face our mistakes with bravery, accepting consequences as they come, confident we can meet the challenge while rebuilding a more sustainable structure; or we can continue to let fear and greed drag us along the road to ruin.

"The former, while more challenging, is the path of perseverance. It is the only noble road, one that accepts responsibility for our actions and paves the way to better days.

"They say admitting you have a problem is the first step towards solving it. It’s about time that we, the people, practice what we preach."

(Click here for full article).

Hillary is a liar

Oh, crap.

Really didn't intend to get into this, don't want to, but this was ugly, and it's necessary. Silence is what earned us 8 years of George Bush.

Hillary Clinton is a liar who will say whatever it takes to achieve her ambition.

"In a speech in Washington on March 17 Clinton said of the Bosnia trip: 'I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.' " Clinton was quoted by Reuters. (Read it here)

It didn't happen. From the same story:

"Several news outlets disputed the claim, and a video of the trip showed Clinton walking from the plane, accompanied by her daughter. They were greeted by a young girl in a small ceremony on the tarmac and there was no sign of tension or any danger."

In other words, Hillary lied to make herself look like she had experience under fire.

She said she "misspoke." That her memory was different. That she was human.

No, she lied.

This finishes her campaign. Hillary just told one of those despicable lies spouted in bars by guys who claim to be Green Berets or Navy Seals or another branch of a special service when all they did was push paper at Fort Bragg if they served at all.

By claiming she faced a threat to her person, one that did not exist, she earns the disdain of all who did face a threat and paid dearly with arms and legs, forever maimed, the disdain of those who lost comrades, and of course, the disdain of families of men and women who died serving this country, 4,000 so far in Iraq, 58,148 in Viet Nam, the disdain of 170,000 troops facing IEDS and snipers in Iraq, the disdain of soldiers everywhere, in all nations.

She tried to steal the warrior's honor, and use it for political gain.

Even if in the unlikely event she were to beat Obama, Clinton would be finished against John McCain, a true war hero who spent years in a prison camp.

In an effort to change the subject, Clinton is trying to smear Obama with words spoken by the pastor of Obama's church. Terrible words, words that Obama has repudiated.

Her perspective twisted by power lust, Clinton ignores the fact that Obama never spoke the offensive words.

Clinton did. She lied about war zone experience in a claim she was qualified to be Commander in Chief. Thereby proving she is not.

Hillary: Get off the stage. Your time is done.

“No Country for Old Men”

There are many characters in “No Country for Old Men.” Among the most potent is the State of Texas.

This is an intense movie about evil. It is unrelenting. It grinds away at the viewer as evil grinds away at good men. It is a story of struggle, much death, and no reward.

The Devil himself may walk the streets, obeying a code of morality that finds no value in humanity, that finds threads of causation leading to death as meaningful as those leading to any individual.

The angels are tired, and ready to retire. The world has changed, Texas has changed, there are too many drugs and there is too much money and there a man’s courage, even his goodness, is simply not enough. There is no salvation.

No one could have made this film from the Cormack McCarthy book besides the Cohn brothers, Joel and Ethan. Think “Fargo.” But worse. Or better, depending on how you feel about their work.

There are many outstanding performances in this film. The weariness of Tommy Lee Jones as Sheriff Tom Bell makes your bones ache. Javier Bardhem is soulless as Anton Chigurh, a satanic figure who, under McCarthy’s pen and the Cohn brother’s craft, refutes the idea that evil is randomly uncaring but actually targets the good.

Josh Brolin, as protagonist Llewelyn Moss (hero is the wrong word, wrong concept) gives much false hope for an ending in which we could find comfort. Woody Harrelson does his typical work as a bad man we could like, but is insufficient, both in the role and as the character he plays.

There is randomness in this film, call it heads or tails, but within that there is the intent to destroy and there are no scales to bring balance between a good act and an evil one.

Listen to the dialogue. Listen to McCarthy’s words spoken by Jones, by Ellis (Barry Corbin). Those words tell a tale of desperation, of futility, of nobility ground into dust by the Devil himself acting on a people who have lost both the ability to believe and reason to fear.

And look at Texas. It is the stage for this malevolent drama, and no place could have provided a better backdrop. Empty highways, cheap motels, sour coffee in dirty diners.

This is a film, like “The Departed,” that makes no apology, pulls no punch. It is harsh. It is also outstanding art. It is a phenomenally good movie at a time when we need good films.

When the lights came up in the theater, the woman in the row in front of me was incredulous, unsettled. “That’s it?” she asked.

“You wanted more?” I replied, exhausted after slightly more than two hours of mayhem and death. “I actually had quite enough.”

“But I wanted a different ending. I want some closure,” she lamented.

It’s not there. Not in the film, and not in the script, maybe not for any of us.

Go see “No country for Old Men.” Expect to be moved, not entertained.

The banking windmills

Bank of America sent me a wonderful offer the other day. I am sure you've gotten one too.

A low rate loan (9.99%) to CleanSweep® my debt. No collateral. No application fee. No annual fee. Up to $50 grand.

Oh, there's some fine print, of course. The rate is actually between 9.99% and 22.99%. I may be prohibited from using the loan to pay down debt if their company is profiting from my overdue balances. And that low, low rate that they say is "not a variable rate tied to an index..." is actually a rate they can vary "at our discretion."

Makes me want to just bend over and say "please."

The Oregon legislature regulated "payday" loan companies last session. And there are many noises coming from Congress and politicos that something has to be done to "fix" the mortgage crisis. But folks, if they really wanted to address the credit mess, they would start right there, with that little piece of plastic in your wallet.

Default rates of 27.99% used to be the province of crime lord vigorish. "Important account information enclosed" is printed on envelopes when what they are trying to do is help you dig yourself deeper into debt, get a little behind, so they can milk you like a cash cow. They flood your mailbox with these, so when the bill does actually does arrive, it gets tossed with the other junk it so looks like.

Now that the banks issuing these cards have had their puppets in Congress make bankruptcy so difficult, we need a crusader from the left, or the right, it does not matter since this is a bipartisan issue with plenty of moral authority from anyone's ideology, to get these blood suckers off our back. At least get their teeth out of our neck.

Give people a reasonable interest rate. Regulate bank card communications, how they represent their products. Allow people a chance to address their debt without incurring more debt at a higher rate.

We have laws that govern our banks, and we are going to have a few more that govern our mortgages. Misleading representations are prohibited in other banking.

It is time that we regulate in some way what has become the fuzzy concept of our money.

Charlie Wilson’s War

In our world, unintended consequences often define the course of history, yet good intentions can still prevail. “Charlie Wilson’s War” is about this world.

It’s a fine film, in many ways an important film, based on the true and unlikely story of how we “won” the war in Afghanistan.

Charlie Wilson was a hard drinking, womanizing congressman from Texas who may have been more important to the defeat of the Soviet Empire than Ronald Reagan. Wilson funded weapons for tribesmen of Afghanistan who were then able to defeat the mighty Soviet army, causing the Soviet retreat and possibly leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Director Mike Nichols’ resumé goes back to “Who’s afraid of Virginia Wolf” and “The Graduate” of the 1960s and extends to the more recent “The Birdcage” and the disturbing “Closer” of 2004.

Nichols shapes the film brilliantly. He urges the movie right along, propelled by the series of unlikely events it describes. And the events are true, chronicled in the book “Charlie Wilson’s War” by George Crile that describes the remarkable story of how “Charlie did it,” defeating the Soviets from his chair in an appropriations committee and meetings in Israel, Egypt and Pakistan.

The primary cast delivers well, with Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman comfortable in roles that are true in feel to the book.

The profane script was written by Aaron Sorkin, writer of “West Wing” and “Sports Night.” If you follow Sorkin, you will recognize his work: smart, fast and funny.

One review warns potential viewers that the movie contains drug use, drinking, smoking, nudity and strong profanity. True. All true. It was the 80s.

The film also captures why the war in Afghanistan was probably a battle, not a war, for democracy. The war for democracy is never over, and we are fighting other battles today because we failed to see that one through.

When we left Afghanistan, after filling the country with guns and after training its already ferocious people as fighters, we just left.

We left behind guns, we left behind a country torn by war, we left behind poor teenagers expected to fight like men, we left behind mines masked as toys designed to maim children, we left behind tribes with centuries of hatred and no means to resolve conflict, we left behind Muslims who had come from around the world to fight, including Osama bin Laden.

We did not build schools or hospitals or power plants or sewage plants or roads, or courts or democracy. We just left. Possibly nothing would have prevented the Taliban from taking over Afghanistan. But we did not try, we were done, we just left. This may have been amoral, it was definitely shortsighted.

But that is our history in the region, our “can do, mission accomplished,” history. Unfortunately, history has a longer point of view, and will return again and again the phrase, “We’ll see,” when the obvious conclusion is also too easy, a Zen parable, “We’ll see.”

Caveat: This writer is biased: having traveled in Afghanistan and Pakistan five years before the Soviets invaded in 1979, I closely followed the war in whatever news media offered coverage at the time. Yet not until I read Criles’ book did I understand the essential story of how the war played at the highest level of our government, and that of Pakistan.

“Charlie Wilson’s War” is a wonderful film, if you are interested. And you should be. It is important, because it describes why we have today soldiers dying in Iraq and Afghanistan.