October 16, 2008 archive

A post excerpt (reprinted by permission) from our managing editor at THE ENVIRONMENTALIST:

John McCain missed the single greatest opportunity to address his most dangerous supporters directly and to repudiate their threats of violence after Senator Obama brought up the threats in the debate. McCain chose not to do so, calling them “fringe” while lauding ALL his supporters as “patriotic.”

This came after Senator John McCain made a point during the debate that Barack Obama should repudiate John Lewis’ Wallace comparison, which Senator Obama had done already, while pointing out that Lewis’ concern about violence, given the congressman’s first hand experience, was a valid consideration.

Senator McCain was not impressed. Nor was he impressed when Senator Obama directly brought up the vitriol from McCain and Palin’s rallies, citing words like “terrorist” and “kill him,” which John McCain dismissed as coming from fringe supporters, after which the Republican senator went on to laud all his supporters as “patriotic Americans.”

More below the fold…

The spin machines work long and hard and fast nowadays. Email boxes around the country are filled with “fact sheets” and other material from campaigns during presidential debates and in the hours afterwards. Among other things, the Obama campaign produced “John McCain’s 26 Lies Tonight“. Lie #16:

RENEWABLE ENERGY: McCain claimed to support renewable energies, but his record shows otherwise. He has voted 23 times against investing in renewable energies and opposed a bipartisan effort to remove tax breaks for oil companies in order to invest in renewable energy.

23 times? Wow, that seems pretty bad … except that the real story is worse than that. On at least 50 occasions, John McCain voted against clean energy or (14 times) simply didn’t bother to show up.

Friday is Iraq Moratorium day, a day set aside each month to interrupt your usual routine and do something to stop the war and occupation.

One of the great things about the Moratorium is that you can observe it wherever you are, whether there is a group action planned or not.  For example, here’s a report from Paul Krehbiel, a Pasadena, CA activist:

My wife and I were in France in September and took a break from our routine on Moratorium Day to support the Iraq Moratorium and call for an end to the war and occupation of Iraq while we were at the world-famous Notre Dame Cathedral. My wife lit candles for all those who have suffered and all those who have lost their lives in this horrible war, and I held a sign — made from the inside of a gift bag, which said, “Iraq Moratorium” with the peace sign. Hundreds of people watched silently. Some were praying.  

Whether you do it in Paris or in Podunk, do something on Friday.

You’ll find a list of events and ideas for individual action on the Iraq Moratorium website.

A long time ago, in an economic universe far, far away, people cared about the trade balance. When the U.S. trade deficit passed $100 billion for the first time, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Doomsayers warned of an imminent ”hard landing” in which a crashing dollar would precipitate economic crisis. Even calmer types regarded the unprecedented red ink as a warning sign.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the 21st century: people lost interest in the trade balance. In January, the Commerce Department announced last week, the United States set a new world record: the biggest monthly trade deficit ever. (Is this a great country, or what?) Measured as a share of G.D.P., last year’s current account deficit (the broadest measure of the trade gap) was wider than ever before. But the markets couldn’t have cared less. They were more interested in the accounts of MicroStrategy (a high-flying tech stock that lost two-thirds of its value in one day when it adopted a new accounting standard) than in those of the United States.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/f…

The Pony Party is an Open Thread.  Please do not REC the party!