"The Jews didn't want to read books anymore. They wanted to finally do something substantial: Fight."

Imagine if the Israelis decided to build schools for those who live in the occupied territories.

How much cheaper would that be, both in shekels and to Israeli society? How much more effective would that be in the campaign for hearts and minds?

...Dan

Let's be honest, the right wing nuts are using "soft on terror" and "Osama/Obama" as code words for what they can no longer get away with -- namely, pointing out he's Black.

If the New Yorker were intellectually honest, they'd have a caricature of Obama as an African spear handler with a bone though the nose -- that's what Rush is really thinking. The arguments still work, but it's so much less palatable with a (slightly) more gross caricature, isn't it?

I suppose we should look forward to a caricature of McCain (or Bush) as Hitler on their next cover!

What the New Yorker did, and is trying to justify is pure bullshit.

...Dan

I agree with the HTWW assessment, and think Rockstar8989's emphasis is well placed, too.

I'm surprised no one references the NYT's article, "Main Bank of China Is in Need of Capital" though. A big piece of the puzzle is now fitting right in.

Back in the boom from 04 to 06, there were times when I saw real estate being advertised with monthly payments of $1500 for $500k houses -- I knew this was unsustainable and couldn't figure out where the money was coming from to induce this mortgage frenzy. Now that S&P reports that the central China bank has invested something like $340 billion in Freddie and Fannie, I finally inderstand!

It's a supply/demand issue, if money like that is being poured into the mortgage buying market, mortgages will increase until that mortgage buying market is satisfied, independent of quality.

...Dan

John McCain has already proved the color of his stripes -- on behalf of Charles Keating, a campaign contributor and friend, he had been part of an effort to reduce the federal oversight pressure on Keating's Lincoln Savings and Loan. Of course, they had put money into all sorts of risky loans, and finally failed big time (though the amounts seem puny compared to today's headlines).

Sounds familiar, eh?

You'd think Obama could make hay of that -- maybe the people running the campaign don't know about it.

...Dan

I disagree, the problem with these toxic assets is that there currently is no re-sale market for them -- that's all.

Why buy them up at all? The holders can wait 5 years while many are retired through regular sales, foreclosure sales, or they may just make payments on them and establish a payment history.

I don't see why the taxpayers should be forced to create a market if that market doesn't naturally exist. For those who are so heavily invested in those that they can't pay payroll -- tough shit! They should have diversified. For those who aren't on the brink, tough shit, take the payments and the mortgage retirements as they come and shut the hell up.

...Dan

He has no choice, Palin's, "pal around with terrorists" comment necessitates an appropriate response, it was the perfect response.

When he did the "Christian" commercial, it was an appropriate response to another smear campaign of "Obama's a muslim".

We all saw what happened when Rove high-jacked 2004 with SwiftBoat, I believe Obama learned well from SwiftBoat, and not going to let it happen to him.

Fight fire with fire.

...Dan

During the last debate, it was asked of both candidates if medical care was a right or a commodity, neither answered.

You touch on those who need care the most; last week, I saw the other side of the debate, the very old, very feeble, and incapacitated with Alzheimer's. We should acknowledge that the last year of life draws inordinate (unfair?) amounts of health care.

I wish we would try to answer the question. Personally, I think it is sometimes the correct thing to ration health care, the final stages of Alzheimer's is a very ugly thing, why start cancer treatment at that point? Maybe, that wouldn't be called rationing, maybe it should be called "common sense", or "compassion".

It doesn't have to be all talk, there are many countries with higher standards of living and better medical coverage (for less money) than we have in the US. Maybe we should examine what they do, and learn.

...Dan

I'm old enough to remember John Belushi's parody of Joe Cocker, with Joe Cocker joining John in song on SNL.

Now, Joe Cocker isn't as polarizing a figure as Palin, but why couldn't we have a Palin VS: Palin segment on SNL; with a little "Dueling Banjos" played as background music. The separation between Palin and Fey was too much (understandable, but still too much).