AMERICA IN CRISIS (funeral tune playing in the background)

For the past week or two, the word (from the Bush regime and everyone who makes a living parroting 'the authorities', including 'the media') is that we are all going to die, unless the congress agrees to give a couple of people working for Bush the ability to spend $700 billion, more or less as they see fit.

Why should anyone assume or agree that all these wiseguys who had not a clue and no idea that this was coming, now know exactly what it takes to fix everything and have the ability to predict what would happen if everyone was not following their wise advice?


how do you know that "our economy will implode unless..."?

These are, more or less, the same people who did NOT see this coming until after it happened who now claim that they know exactly what is going to happen if 'we' do A (salvation) or B (possible salvation) or if we do nothing (catastrophe).

Let me suggest some other possible outcomes:

- catastrophe no matter what - such things tend to happen when you owe tens of trillions, keep printing money and consume more than you make for 30 years in a row.
- recovery without state intervention - maybe the crisis is not as big as the scaremongers claim it is (how big a lie would 'you' be willing to tell if the prize was your controlling close to a trillion dollars?)
- recovery and more prosperity through wars - see the great depression/WW2 situation

It's early in the morning so I can't claim that this enumeration is exhaustive. I am only suggesting that the 'you must do what I tell you by tomorrow or you will die/starve/be totally ruined" thing could come out of misunderstanding or some ulterior motives.

I heard this yesterday from a congressman, and there may be some truth in it: "Paulson is not a banker or an economist, he is basically a day trader". Now, how scary is THAT? Would you agree to give $700 billion to a day trader so that he can play with it and maybe make you some money if the deadline to make the decision was 'by tomorrow'?

The McCain Tear-jerkoff

Hey, is everyone aware that McCain was a prisoner in Hanoi - that's Viet-nam, for the geographically-unaware among us? I thought I reminded everyone, just in case.
What impressed me most at yesterday's GOP convention finale was the video that introduced McCain to us. They had this section where the narrator was disclosing that, shortly after McCain got caught and locked up in Hanoi, his loving daddy had no choice but follow the plan and order the carpet-bombing of that very same city.
Ahhh... the humanity of it all!
I was all tears, thinking like a daddy. Can anyone even begin to feel and dare grasp the incredible pain but also the heroic determination that's illustrated by this situation? Having to carpet-bomb a city while your own son is held prisoner inside that city? It's... priceless. It's an Oprah moment but spiced up with Jerry Springer-like energy. One can only begin to imagine all those burning... things, smelly things. I believe they live in huts over there... limbs flying around, those disgusting, bloody, mutilated corpses, all endangering the life and well-being of poor but brave, precious Jhonny McCain, trying to survive in a city that his own daddy is carpet-bombing.
It's tragic and it's inspiring.
Oh, and McCain showed all this moral and heroic qualities. Believe it or not, he did NOT jump the line when it came to get out of the POW hotel and he DID allow the POWs who got caught before him to go home before him. He does tell us that, not taking advantage of his privileged situation, this one time, was VERY hard but... he heroically followed the rules of basic decency. Once.
And that's why, my friends, McCain should be given the job of president of the United States.