October 27, 2008 archive

Bush Decides To Blackmail Iraq

Believing He Hasn’t Wrecked

The Country Enough

End of Battle Centers on Turf Bush Carried



By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JEFF ZELENY

Published: October 26, 2008

Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama are heading into the final week of the presidential campaign planning to spend nearly all their time in states that President Bush won last time, testimony to the increasingly dire position of Mr. McCain and his party as Election Day approaches.

With optimism brimming in Democratic circles, Mr. Obama will present on Monday what aides described as a summing-up speech for his campaign in Canton, Ohio, reprising the themes he first presented in February 2007, when he began his campaign for the presidency.

From here on out, Mr. Obama’s aides said, attacks on Mr. McCain will be joined by an emphasis on broader and less partisan themes, like the need to unify the country after a difficult election.

Asian stockmarkets crash again

apan’s Nikkei index falls 6.4% to its lowest level since 1982 amid panicky selling

Graeme Wearden

guardian.co.uk, Monday October 27 2008 07.58 GMT

Stockmarkets around the world crashed again today as the prospect of a deep worldwide recession continued to haunt investors.

Fears that the financial crisis is spreading to emerging nations sparked another day of panicky selling, despite speculation of another round of interest rate cuts to try to stimulate the global economy,

As the current crisis sparked by the failure of Lehman Brothers entered a seventh week, Japan’s Nikkei index fell 6.4% to its lowest level since 1982, extending its recent slump. It has now lost 20% of its value in the last week.

Hong Kong also saw shares routed, with the Hang Seng index plunging almost 12% in late trading – putting it on track for its biggest daily fall since 1997.

USA

Gun Sales Thriving In Uncertain Times



By Fredrick Kunkle

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, October 27, 2008; Page A01

Americans have cut back on buying cars, furniture and clothes in a tough economy, but there’s one consumer item that’s still enjoying healthy sales: guns. Purchases of firearms and ammunition have risen 8 to 10 percent this year, according to state and federal data.

Several variables drive sales, but many dealers, buyers and experts attribute the increase in part to concerns about the economy and fears that if Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois wins the presidency, he will join with fellow Democrats in Congress to enact new gun controls.

No.

“Is that a real question?” Biden continues.

“That’s a question.” West said.

With a chuckle, Biden firmly tells West, “He is not spreading the wealth around. He’s talking about giving the middle class an opportunity to get back the tax breaks they used to have.”

“We think middle class tax payers should get a break, that’s what we think,” Biden added. “That’s a ridiculous comparison with all due respect.”

The dKos diary is based on Blue Tidal Wave and you know how these things are.  I have no experience with them as a source, but I only deal in the most reprehensible rumors anyway.

The boycott controversy has been on all day on Faux.  I’m surprised to find so little on the web except the Recommended diary from dKos because in my humble opinion it’s a big deal.  I saw somewhere that Drudge agrees, but dang if it turns up on teh Googles.

Hmm… more diligent research suggests this is a source-

Obama campaign cuts off WFTV after interview with Joe Biden

posted by halboedeker, Orlando Sentinel

Oct 24, 2008 11:12:15 AM

“This cancellation is non-negotiable, and further opportunities for your station to interview with this campaign are unlikely, at best for the duration of the remaining days until the election,” wrote Laura K. McGinnis, Central Florida communications director for the Obama campaign.

Still, I’d be very interested in meatier sources because Faux is frothing at the mouth ACORN style.

source

The story of United States research into and use of biological weapons remains a huge blank spot in the known history of this country. There have been attempts to document this history, but much remains classified or has been destroyed. The use of biological weapons dovetails with U.S. research into drugs and mind control against prisoners, as the revelations about MKULTRA or the Edgewood Arsenal experiments make clear (see this fascinating story by Michael Ignatieff in the New York Times Magazine, April 2001).

This posting is the first in a series I hope to publish over time looking at the controversial question of U.S. use of biological weapons, and its links to MKULTRA and other covert CIA or military programs. It examines the origins of the U.S. program in biological weapons research, as it grew out of the ashes of the horrific program in the same, started by the Japanese Imperial government in the 1930s. It is best known by its bureaucratic moniker: Unit 731.

You have to be hiding under a rock to be unaware that at this point in the race, Senator Obama is leading.

What I cannot for the life of me understand, though, is complacency as a result of seeing, say, that FiveThirtyEight.com has a projection of a 94.9% chance for Obama versus 5.1% chance for McCain. Because the same site says that there’s less than a 50% chance of a Landslide win by Obama.

We gotta think about victory like Republicans (even as we refrain from acting like Republicans in pursuit of victory). After bare victory, with the substantial public good that John McCain is not President and had not right to come near to the “Nuclear Football”, comes a strong enough victory to be seen as claiming a mandate, and after that comes a landslide, driving the Republicans into a likely circular firing squad.

Consider the possible fruits of victory. Then go out there and fight for the landslide that we need.