Here is a link to a breakdown of expenses (Go mudflats! ).

http://www.themudflats.net/2009/07/08/palins-milllllions-of-dollars/ .

Somebody upstream in this thread posted the 'spreadsheet' earlier.

Also, I think it's important to keep in the mind the role of the Fed in this disaster. There are the ones that allowed the financials to borrow at close to 0% and lend it out at 5%-6% (of course leveraged 30 times, and with CDS's to help make it all appear AAA rated). Higher rates from the Fed would have resulted in mortgages above 7%: likely no feeding frenzy housing bubble.

The last crop of Republicans violated all their self held beliefs of limited government, fiscal restraint (see Dick 'Deficits don't matter' Cheney), and foreign adventurism. They also haven't been doing to well on the family values either.

And AKA Smith, good to see you again. Your prose is always a pleasure to read

I find it rather refreshing. We can't subsist on low brow trolling alone [see Wasilla]. Not enough intellectual fiber there. Leads to digestive problems of the thought processes.

But I find silly the idea that we must remain mute witnesses to the inherent greatness of 'Great Art'. One of the reasons (IM!HO) that Great Art is great is that it touches all of us in different ways, with our different lives, and different experiences. How we view the world is reflected in that art, and I think we learn alot through discussion of the piece, even if we never really define the piece (another silly concept).

For me, I saw the oberservation that mankind gets caught up in organized religion, often out of fear, and that can lead to darkness. I would agree about the innate sense of spiritualism in the film. But I don't get the sense of atheism. Is the appearance of the Virgin just a "Vision", or is it really the Virgin Mary? And where exactly is that dividing line anyway between the real and the unreal for myth making creatures such as ourselves?

For me, the Seventh Seal is also evocative of the Bardo Thodol in the Tibetan book of the dead, though I would be surprised if Bergman knew of that work. The Bardo is the place where the recently dead person views all of the heavens and hells of the mind, and is ultimately drawn to one. Or maybe there is a pleasant equanimity and acceptance about the struggles of life and death and at the conclusion of one's chess game death whisks you away along a cloud into transcendence.

Glad I missed out on years of intellectual rumination before I saw it. Sure it's stylized (or cheap), but it's an excellent meditation on the human mind and the places it travels.

I agree with 2R that Truman as president had a lot on his plate. Most of them do. Thanks to ReaderReader, I'm reading how Andrew Jackson avoided civil war with the Nullifiers of South Carolina. He and others like Henry Clay and Daniel Webster managed to delay the civil war by a few decades. Heady stuff.

Truman was also a veteran of the Kansas City Pendergrast machine; it's probably safe to conclude that he was intimate with patronage politics. I'm sure he would quickly dope out today's mess.

But I feel very safe rejecting this salt of the earth mythology. Formal schooling doesn't automatically equate to an education or intelligence, especially the farther you go back in time. Palin has more schoolin' than Harry, after all. Common sense isn't necessarily gained at a University, but neither is it lost there.

Truman didn't make a virtue of being uneducated, he studied law for two years, and only his financial situation prevented more progress there. He paid his dues before becoming VP. He was a Judge, worked for the state of Missouri, and was a two term US Senator who got things done.

But the idea that they are frivolous is something else.

I'm waiting for Fladad or ReaderReader (Kate, you can jump in if you want -haven't seen you in a bit!) to tell us what they think of Palin using government money for travel for her kids. It's not stealing because she gave it back? (Will that work for Sanford as well?). The IRS disallowed some of her expenses as well. I'd call them excessively creative if I was generous.

Now some Alaska residents have to gall to complain that Palin is claiming a per diem expense while living in her own house?

That doesn't really all add up for somebody trying to market themselves as a mavericky reformer, cleaning out the corruption and restoring fiscal integrity.

Sounds vaguely naughty in a Monty Python sort of way. Don't you know that all these posts are indeed all about ourselves (in the starring role I mind add)? It's amazing how cheap you can get bit players like Obama and Palin and Fey nowdays.

It pleases myself to no end to write about my obsession with two historical documents of the American Revolution, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Most certainly I think a lot about the natural rights of Freedom of Expression and Self Determination (and Over Capitalization like I was back in the 1600's). That's my Castle made of Sand. It'll fall into the Sea. Eventually.

Apparently you are in the Authoritartion wing of the increasingly dwindling Republican Party and enjoy telling other people what to do.

Carry On!