We're in a depression. More evidence from Wave 3 TV news here in Louisville.

 LINK

 I would add to that the fact that the number of people at the closest "Dare to Care" food bank (free, "fresh" food) has increased from about 30-40 a year ago to over 80 today and gradually clmbing.

McCain will simply make things worse even IF (and it's a big if) he doesn't start more wars we can't win.

Obama must win and carry a lot of Democratic congressional reps with him.

Saturday's Washington Post reports that the John McCain campaign is preparing an aggressively negative campaign against Barack Obama in a last-ditch effort to squash the Democrat's presidential hopes as Election Day rapidly approaches. With scarcely a month to go until Nov. 4, as the Post's Michael D. Shear reports at length, Republicans "are readying a newly aggressive assault on Sen. Barack Obama's character," including any personal associations they can exploit, believing that to win on Election Day they "have to change the subject" away from the economic concerns which have boosted the Democrats in recent weeks (see also Huffington Post).

"Pit bull" Sarah Palin appears to be leading the charge in this effort. In an interview on Fox News Friday, Palin said that Obama is "reckless" and that some of what Obama has said, "in my world, disqualifies someone from consideration as the next commander in chief." Then at a fundraiser on Saturday, Palin accused Obama of "palling around with terrorists," a reference to Obama's tenuous association with '60s militant William Ayers. Obama "is someone who sees America it seems as being so imperfect, imperfect enough that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country...," Palin said, "...This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America." Clearly designed to paint Obama as someone who is "outside the American mainstream" (i.e., exotic, foreign, Other, and dangerous), Palin's comments were described as "unsubstantiated" and "racially tinged" by the Associated Press, who observed also that "John McCain himself may come to regret" them.

In view of their total reliance on negative campaigning, it seems clear at this point that John McCain and Sarah Palin have nothing positive to offer. 

The Barack Obama campaign has unveiled a new website, KeatingEconomics.com, including a new 13-minute documentary video on John McCain's role in the Keating savings & loan scandal of the 1980s and its links to the current financial crisis. As a desperate McCain/Palin campaign resorts to increasingly negative attacks on Obama, relying heavily on fear-mongering and flimsy personal associations, the Obama campaign is hitting back with the undeniable facts of McCain's own corrupt actions and their consequences for the US economy. 

McCain and four other Senators - known collectively as the "Keating Five" - were accused in 1989 of improperly aiding Arizona banker Charles Keating in efforts to hamper regulatory intrusions on the industry's risky investment practices. McCain, who had received over $100,000 in campaign contributions from Keating, was officially rebuked only for "poor judgment," though his true culpability in the matter may run much deeper than the official charge suggests. At the very least, McCain's history in this matter casts doubt on his claims to be a "maverick reformer," though it is a card that Democrats including Barack Obama have thus far been shy about bringing into play.

The Obama campaign broke its silence on the matter late last month in response to whining from the McCain campaign that the news media has been biased in favor of Obama. Obama spokesman Bill Burton invoked the Keating affair while hitting back at the McCain campaign for suggesting that Obama had received a pass from the press, saying that McCain had seen little scrutiny of his association to Keating despite being "centrally involved" in America's "last major financial regulatory crisis, resulting in a huge bailout." Senior Obama strategist Robert Gibbs, meanwhile, had the following to say to reporters asking if the Obama campaign planned to make Keating an issue: "If we're going to talk about what's fair game in terms of people in a relationship, I don't see how... that wouldn't be important" (Huffington Post, Politico).

Back in May, Obama himself said that the Keating scandal was not off limits, but has since said little or nothing directly about it. Speaking recently on the sad state of the US economy, Obama briefly referred to the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s, but without directly referring to McCain or Keating. These more direct comments from the Obama campaign followed statements from Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio strongly suggesting that the Keating affair is indeed on the table:

"It is not so much [McCain's] economic proposals but his economic record.... His main adviser is Phil Gramm -- he was his mentor in the Senate -- and you just tie it all together. Of course John McCain supported the oil industry, he has oil lobbyists working for him. Of course John McCain supported these trade agreements, he has got Wall Street people working for him... It is all wrapped up together. John McCain is a creature of these interest groups in Washington. He is no maverick and, from the Keating Five on, his ethics have been questionable. He's not a maverick and Barack has got to just keep hammering on that."

In a clip from their recent documentary video, THIRD TERM, media group Progressive Accountability also ties John McCain's actions in the savings and loan scandal of the 1980s to his current response to the US financial crisis. More from THIRD TERM can be seen at the Progressive Accountability website.

Spread it around. McCain deserves it. 

John McCain's role in the Keating savings & loan scandal of the 1980s appears to be quietly emerging as a campaign issue in the final stretch of the 2008 presidential race.

McCain and four other Senators - known collectively as the "Keating Five" - were accused in 1989 of improperly aiding Arizona banker Charles Keating in efforts to hamper regulatory intrusions on the industry's risky investment practices. McCain, who had received over $100,000 in campaign contributions from Keating, was officially rebuked only for "poor judgment," though his true culpability in the matter may run much deeper than the official charge suggests. At the very least, McCain's history in this matter casts doubt on his claims to be a "maverick reformer," though it is a card that Democrats including Barack Obama have thus far been shy about bringing into play.

The Obama campaign broke its silence on the matter yesterday in response to whining from the McCain campaign that the news media has been biased in favor of Obama. Obama spokesman Bill Burton invoked the Keating affair while hitting back at the McCain campaign for suggesting that Obama had received a pass from the press, saying that McCain had seen little scrutiny of his association to Keating despite being "centrally involved" in America's "last major financial regulatory crisis, resulting in a huge bailout." Senior Obama strategist Robert Gibbs, meanwhile, had the following to say to reporters asking if the Obama campaign planned to make Keating an issue: "If we're going to talk about what's fair game in terms of people in a relationship, I don't see how... that wouldn't be important" (Huffington Post, Politico).

Back in May, Obama himself said that the Keating scandal was not off limits, but has since said little or nothing directly about it. Speaking recently on the sad state of the US economy, Obama briefly referred to the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s, but without directly referring to McCain or Keating. Yesterday's more direct comments from the Obama campaign follow recent statements from Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio strongly suggesting that the Keating affair is indeed on the table:

"It is not so much [McCain's] economic proposals but his economic record.... His main adviser is Phil Gramm -- he was his mentor in the Senate -- and you just tie it all together. Of course John McCain supported the oil industry, he has oil lobbyists working for him. Of course John McCain supported these trade agreements, he has got Wall Street people working for him... It is all wrapped up together. John McCain is a creature of these interest groups in Washington. He is no maverick and, from the Keating Five on, his ethics have been questionable. He's not a maverick and Barack has got to just keep hammering on that."

In a clip from their new documentary video, THIRD TERM, media group Progressive Accountability also ties John McCain's actions in the savings and loan scandal of the 1980s to his current response to the US financial crisis. More from THIRD TERM can be seen at the Progressive Accountability website.

In the final destruction of all the wonderful laws passed by a thoughtful Congress and Franklin Delano Roosevelt to protect the American people from the excesses and corruption that caused the Great Depression, your totally incompetent governmenthas  taken the final steps to maximize the corruption of our financial system. The last two major independent investment banking/ stock brokerage houses have now officially become commercial banks. Don’t believe me? See:

http://federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/bcreg/20080921a.htm

My parents told me about the abuses of the Great Depression and how the stock brokers owned by the commercial banks robbed people of their life savings by having people buy stocks in failing companies, and that money was then used to pay back the bad loans to the bank that owned the stockbrokers.

Bush is destroying our nation.

In a clip from their new documentary video, THIRD TERM, media group Progressive Accountability ties John McCain's actions in the savings and loan scandal of the 1980s to his current response to the US financial crisis. In his biggest scandal to date, McCain and four other Senators - known collectively as the "Keating Five" - were accused in 1989 of improperly aiding Arizona banker Charles Keating in efforts to hamper regulatory intrusions on the industry's risky investment practices. McCain, who had received over $100,000 in campaign contributions from Keating, was officially rebuked only for "poor judgment," though his true culpability in the matter may run much deeper than the official charge suggests. At the very least, McCain's history in this matter casts doubt on his claims to be a "maverick reformer," though it is a card that Democrats including Barack Obama have thus far been shy about bringing into play. More from THIRD TERM can be seen at the Progressive Accountability website. Spread it around. McCain deserves it.

For months I've been waiting for some leading Democrat to bring up John McCain's biggest scandal to date: his role in the Keating savings and loan scandal of the 1980s. McCain and four other Senators - known collectively as the "Keating Five" - were accused in 1989 of improperly aiding Arizona banker Charles Keating in efforts to hamper regulatory intrusions on the industry's risky investment practices. McCain, who had received over $100,000 in campaign contributions from Keating, was officially rebuked only for "poor judgment," though his true culpability in the matter may run much deeper than the official charge suggests. At the very least, McCain's history in this matter casts doubt on his claims to be a "maverick reformer," though it is a card that Democrats including Barack Obama have thus far been shy about bringing into play. Yesterday, however, Democratic silence on the Keating scandal was broken by Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio:

"It is not so much [McCain's] economic proposals but his economic record.... His main adviser is Phil Gramm -- he was his mentor in the Senate -- and you just tie it all together. Of course John McCain supported the oil industry, he has oil lobbyists working for him. Of course John McCain supported these trade agreements, he has got Wall Street people working for him... It is all wrapped up together. John McCain is a creature of these interest groups in Washington. He is no maverick and, from the Keating Five on, his ethics have been questionable. He's not a maverick and Barack has got to just keep hammering on that."

Back in May, Obama himself said that the Keating scandal was indeed not off limits, but has since said little or nothing directly about it. Speaking yesterday on the sad state of the US economy, Obama did refer to the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s, but without directly referring to McCain or Keating. I hope Sherrod Brown's comments will serve to loosen lips a little and bring the topic into fuller and more open conversation. McCain deserves it.

link

http://blog.franklynch.org/2008/09/08/will-everyone-who-bot-fannie-mae-stock-sue-merrill-lynch/

A few days ago I criticized the Repub for defrauding investors for permiting trading in the stocks of Fannie mae and Freddie Mac.

http://www.democrats.org/page/community/post/franklynch/CxMV

Today its was announced that 9 percent of mortgages are late or delinquent. Astoundingly, One of eleven mortgages are bad.

When those people become homeless, things will get much worse.

The cost to the economy and to us taxpayers for all the bank bailouts that will follow will place the US on the verge of bankruptcy.

Homeprices are going to continue to decline, which means more mortgages will be upsidedown (where the mortgage is larger than the home value). That will result in even more people walking away from their mortages, and HOME PRICES WILL DECLINE EVEN FURTHER

for years. . . .

and revene from property taxes will continue to decline, robbing our already short-changed  schools of much needed revenue, so our children will pay the price of government lack of regulation