The 1951 sequel to Father of the Bride, Father's Little Dividend, has never had the classic status of its predecessor, but as a case-study in postwar consumerism and sociology, you can't beat it. There is a scene in which Liz Taylor's character and her and huby move from to the suburbs after she gets knocked up. The house is a pristine Leitown-style rancher, and Spencer Tracy proudly displays a gleaming white window unit he has installed in his future grandchild's room. it's serious product placement - the camera lingers on the unit for an eternity, although I forget the brand. The rest is history.

Something about listening to republican cheer outright lies and absurdities is like everyone saying the sky is green and thinking you must be crazy.

When Palin said "That's what we have to make sure that we are praying for -- that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan," she was basically echoing the words of Lincoln, who said "Let us not pray that God is on our side, let us pray that we are on God's side"

Palin is evil and must be stopped, but the line in question is actually quite acceptable.

What inspires all this talking, texting, intant messaging? How do people have so many words? What are they saying? Where do they find the time to have experiences to discuss later?

Maybe a mcCain victory is for the best. This country is probably too far gone for Obama and the ever-fractured democratic party to save. Better we just finish it off. bring on the rapture.

The woman scares me, but she did pretty solid on these questions. WWIII here we come!

It bothers me that our livelihoods depend on the morons with MBA degrees on Wall Street. We are too reliant on play money and paper gains rather than tangible production.

The ad is nice but it should say:

I will deliver tax cut for the middle class. McCain promises more tax cuts for the rich and debts our children will have to pay.

I will fix our healthcare system so that every American can have affordable insurance. McCain wants to tax your health benefits. Under his plan, 20 million Americans will lose their health insurance and many will pay more for less coverage.

I will develop American-made alternative energy solutions. McCain wants to turn over our coastlines to the oil companies, with no guarantee that they will even sell the oil here in America.

Eight years of Bush have wrecked our economy and mortgaged our future. We can't afford four more years of Republican rule.

Aparently the retail banks are able to weather the storm and buy the investment banks because they have lots of cash in the form of deposits from you and me. Anybody see a potential problem here? As Bank of America and Wachovia use depositor money to cover losses in their new investment banks, we could see an even bigger collapse, all FDIC insured. Before this is over, the USA will probably have to devalue our currency, and when that happens, we will be in for a long goodbye.

The new Coen Bros. movie Burn After Reading was a disapointment, but one of the best lines sums up our current mess when a CIA boss played by JK Simmons says says to his underling "Report back to me when this makes sense."

Black voter turnout will give Obama the popular vote by a indisputable margin, but because those votes will be in the south and in a few blue states, Obama will lose the electoral college after failing to take Ohio and Florida. It will be uglier than 2000.

Is it just a coincidence that $700 billion is damn close to out annual trade deficit witht he rest of the world? How long can we keep spending more as an economy than we earn? Who exactly is going to buy $1.3 trillion in US debt this year?

Anybody remember that 80's Tom Paxton song, I'm Changing My Name to Chrysler?

Oh the price of gold is rising out of sight

And the dollar is in sorry shape tonight

What the dollar used to get us

Now won't buy a head of lettuce

No the economic forecast isn't right

But amidst the clouds I spot a shining ray

I can even glimpse a new and better way

And I've demised a plan of action

Worked it down to the last fraction

And I'm going into action here today

CHORUS:

I am changing my name to Chrysler

I am going down to Washington D.C.

I will tell some power broker

What they did for Iacocca

Will be perfectly acceptable to me

I am changing my name to Chrysler

I am headed for that great receiving line

So when they hand a million grand out

I'll be standing with my hand out

Yes sire I'll get mine

When my creditors are screaming for their dough

I'll be proud to tell them all where they can all go

They won't have to scream and holler

They'll be paid to the last dollar

Where the endless streams of money seem to flow

I'll be glad to tell them what they can do

It's a matter of a simple form or two

It's not just renumeration it's a liberal education

Ain't you kind of glad that I'm in debt to you

CHORUS

Since the first amphibians crawled out of the slime

We've been struggling in an unrelenting climb

We were hardly up and walking before money started talking

And it's sad that failure is an awful crime

Well it's been that way for a millenium or two

But now it seems that there's a different point of view

If you're a corporate titanic and your failure is gigantic

Down to congress there's a safety net for you