My principal dx for McSame. We'll need new ICD9 and CPT codes for proper Medicare billing purposes, so he can be promptly reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses.

Maybe that's why Dobson et al pushed Palin onto the ticket. Anointed/Appointed by God to become our overtly Christianist President.

What’s likely gonna happen is a Bush CODE.BROWN.EXISTENTIAL.THREAT.DO.EXACTLY.AS.WE.SAY.WITHOUT.ANY.QUESTION.OR.EVERYONE.WILL.DIE! v3.0.

v1.0: Saddam’s massive WMD arsenal, locked and loaded and aimed squarely at Des Moines-land;

v2.0: Accede to plenary, unreviewable FISA mods, replete with blanket amnesty NOW, or EVERYONE WILL DIE;

v3.0: Accede to plenary, unreviewable Paulson Power (again replete with blanket amnesty, effectively), NOW, or EVERYONE WILL DIE.

Of course, Battered Spouse Pelosi and The Bantamweight from Searchlight will — after firing off a couple of obligatory Sternly Worded Letters — eagerly hike their skirts and Assume The Position, and provide their own tubes of K-Y.

William Greider:

"...Paulson and the Federal Reserve are trying to replay the bailout approach used in the 1980s for the savings and loan crisis, but this situation is utterly different. The failed S&Ls held real assets--property, houses, shopping centers--that could be readily resold by the Resolution Trust Corporation at bargain prices. This crisis involves ethereal financial instruments of unknowable value--not just the notorious mortgage securities but various derivative contracts and other esoteric deals that may be virtually worthless.

Despite what the pols in Washington think, the RTC bailout was also a Wall Street scandal. Many of the financial firms that had financed the S&L industry's reckless lending got to buy back the same properties for pennies from the RTC--profiting on the upside, then again on the downside. Guess who picked up the tab? I suspect Wall Street is envisioning a similar bonanza--the chance to harvest new profit from their own fraud and criminal irresponsibility..."

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081006/greider

from battered spouse Pelosi and the Bantamweight from Searchlight, before they turn around, hike their skirts, and hand over the K-Y.

From Americablog:

As an emergency physician, if I were taking care of a 72-year-old man with a history of melanoma who was having episodes of confusion I would be extremely concerned. High on my priority list would be to get a brain MRI to look for metastatic melanoma. When melanoma metastasizes it commonly goes to the brain. I do not think the American people should decide whether or not to vote for Senator McCain until he has had a brain MRI and we know the results.

Here's a quote from emedicine.com on melanoma:

"Melanoma has an increased incidence among other systemic cancers in terms of metastasizing to the brain. About 40-60% of patients with melanoma will have brain metastasis. Melanoma commonly metastasizes to the brain. Melanoma cells are closely related to CNS cells due to their embryonic origin and neural crest cells, and they share common antigens such as MAG-1 and MAG-2. After melanoma is detected in the brain, median survival is 3 months. These metastases are poorly responsive to all treatments."

Mr. McCain, Eat Mor Chiken.

I’ll have the pulled pork with a side of lipstick.

I loved Barney Frank’s take on the McCain stunt, say that McCain wanted to “parachute in at the last minute and take credit for a solution, after all the work has been done without his involvement.”

Thanks, but no thanks.

BTW Letterman just tasered the POW:

David Letterman tells audience that McCain called him today to tell him he had to rush back to DC to deal with the economy.

Then in the middle of the taping Dave got word that McCain was, in fact just down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric. Dave even cut over to the live video of the interview, and said, "Hey Senator, can I give you a ride home?"

Earlier in the show, Dave kept saying, "You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves." And he joked: "I think someone's putting something in his metamucil."

"He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sarah Palin. Where is she?"

"What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"

Barney Frank’s take: McCain wants to “parachute in at the last minute and take credit for a solution, after all the work has been done without his involvement.”

Thanks, but no thanks. Nice try, Gramps.

Dude, I worked in subprime revolving risk management from 2000 to 2005 (scorecard modeling and portfolio analytics). We got bought by a Wall St "bad paper" company in 2004, and their marching orders were to turn us into a CDO chop shop. e.g., book 100,000 new VISA accounts at $1,000 line ea, bundle 'em up and sell 'em as a security (nominal "ask" value around $100 million per bundle), take the proceeds ("the best things in life are FEE," our execs would cynically, gleefully chant), book another 100,000...lather, rinse, repeat, lather, rinse, repeat, lather, rinse, repeat, lather, rinse, repeat, lather, rinse, repeat.

You sell the accounts, you've offloaded the risk and don't have to reserve against loss. Some other chump institutional buyer down the line get saddled with it when the music stops.

When this type of practice went metastatic in the mortgage market (and other loan products) starting around 2003, well, we now see the result. Mortgage origination became classic boiler room. All about the fee money. Which, or course, no one will ever give back.

We're lookin' at 10-20 years of unwind litigation (which is why Paulson wanted the "no regulatory or judicial review" piece, so he could protect his peeps).

I quit in early 2005. I predicted this fucking mess.