tvashtarkatena

On one hand consolidation amortizes the risk of a bank run across a larger pool of deposits. Given the failure of several enormous finance houses recently, however, I don't think anyone can argue that gargantuan size is any protection against collapse. Not that I have that problem. Consolidation creates even more powerful entities to lobby for deregulation, as well as a larger houses of cards that may take greater chunks of the economy down with them. We might just see the nationalization of the investment finance industry in the near term. Interesting.

The Carter days are long over. With our huge debt, the presidency, which codifies not only how we see ourselves but how other countries see us, is more important than ever to the international psychology that determines whether or not the rest of the world will continue to fund us or cut bait. Your focusing on the president's statutory power, not his 'star' power, which, after all, has a much, much greater impact on all of us.

I don't agree at all. The rest of the world funds us. They want Obama, not McCain. Maintaining international investor confidence means the difference between our economic survival (tenuous as it will be) and collapse. Our choice of president will play a huge role in that confidence. If McCain is elected, I'd have some gold stashed somewhere safe and a big 'victory' garden alread in place.

That's exactly what I was thinking when he said that, although I think Hitler's a bit of a stretch. Kissinger is some kind of conservative hero now? Um...OK. Ironically, TR is McCain's hero. You know, the man who sought to reign in the unchecked power of big business? Um...OK.

Gotta love the name's phonetics. Will it swamp the FDIC, as WAMU would have?

Which is the biggest threat to Americans now? McCain is clearly a war junky, both from his past voting and statements about how to handle present and future crisis. By his own admission, he knows nothing about economics, nor is he interested in the subject. His economic advisors are rabid deregulators; fringe thinkers at best. Obama, on the other hand, will choose to focus militarily on Afghanistan, where the bad guys actually are. The rest of the world wants to engage with him; and is just plain afraid of McCain, which they consider to be just another incarnation of Bush. Domestically, he's well versed in economics and is surrounded by some of the best minds in that area around. Who's better for the country going forward?

Clearly, it's time we teach this alternative theory in religious and home schools. More information is better than less; let the kids decide.

"We.are.sooooooooo.aw-sum!"

Walkabouts

If McCain is elected, I predict world confinence in the American economy will evaporate, and our economy will collapse as a result. We will have proven that, as a people, we are unwilling to address the fundamntal problems that plague our country. The primary reason the world want's Obama to be elected with that they don't want follow us down to the depths. The unilateral rhetoric of McCain and Bush is laughable, considering we're completely and helplessly dependent upon on the rest of the world to fund our excesses. Essentially, we're a big, helpless baby that needs to be fed, and fed, and fed....

We're already fucked. They've been ass raping it for 8 years now.

Palin's belief is understandable, considering that her running mate is a dinosaur.

No switch out, but this just in: Biden's getting a sex change operation.

Turn on your heartlight.

It's amazing and impressive that the RNC actually came up with someone dumber than Bush. They have such a deep cesspool to draw such candidates from, but it must have taken a real long-handled ladle to dredge her up.

I've caught a few lake cutthroat and rainbows, but I'm pretty much a fish dumbshit. I'm pretty sure, though, that that's the first time I've seen a Dolly Varden, which makes the trip even cooler.

Along with the duty of voting comes the duty of being informed. That's not to say I don't occasionally abstain voting for judges about whom I know nothing, but it's not that hard to vote for just about everything and everybody else somewhat intelligently.

No one even so much as farts on this board without a counter argument. You don't get a special hall pass. No one really cares that much how you'll vote. I doubt what is discussed here changes many votes; most people here are already secure in their basic political philosophies. What does happen here on occasion is the exchange of a new way of looking at an issue. Jesus Christ did preach love, but his was not a passive love, it was an active one. One cannot just feel love, one must prove it with action. It seems to me that voting to create a better world is the kind of action the Holy Hippy would have approved of. Most of the time you vote for people, not issues, and trust that they'll fight for what you believe. That's just the way it is. If you're against something like gay marriage, you will get shit here. Many of the posters here hold personal freedom dear, so they regard this as a basic human rights and equality under the law issue. In addition, many people on this board, as non-PC as our language often is, frown upon discrimination. Not allowing a certain segment of consenting adults to marry is certainly that. Then again, if you're for gay marriage, you'll probably also get shit. Less shit, and from a different peanut gallery, but you'll still get it. If you don't like how much shit you get here for your beliefs, well, participation is, after all, voluntary.

3 things: An incumbant usually has the advantage, so such a strategy would be unwise. Elections are too expensive to throw. The RNC actually thinks its been doing the right thing.

You know what they say, Big Newspaper, Big.... I just read a good editorial in the ZOG TIMES on this issue. It contended that the very real threat to a free press in America was the result of media consolidation (all industries have been consolidating in America), leading to less diversity in information and viewpoints presented, a greater influence of fewer individuals over news, and the shift from objective news as a public service to dumbed down intertainment/news as a profit making business. Probably a cover up...

Regarding voting: It's a civic duty. A lot of folks over the centuries fought and died for basic rights like this. If for no other reason than in appreciation of their sacrifice, everyone who can should vote. The health of our democracy depends on a politically active public; it's our only real protection against totalitarianism. Anyone interested in the health of the demcracy should contribute to that health by, at the very least, voting. It's also a moral obligation. Like it or not, those we elect will decide the major moral issues of the day. None of us agree with our candidate's viewpoints 100%, nor can we predict with certainty how they will decide issue by issue, but none the less one is always obligated, when granted to the power to do so, to act to affect moral outcomes rather than sit idly by. I would think God would judge a person more harshly for ignoring such a responsiblity and doing nothing rather than acting to mitigate a harm or, in the best of circumstance, perform good works by casting a vote. If a building is burning with two trapped people inside, and you can only save one, you are still morally obligated to save that one, regardless of how horrible is it to leave the other behind. Sometimes you just gotta take it personally in the shorts and suffer some emotional turmoil for the greater good. Finally, reality requires you to vote for the lesser of two evils every day. Nearly all moral decisions involve known or unintented negative consequences. 'Pure' choices between right and wrong are few and far between. To wait for them is to be a fortress of inaction, and as I recall the Good Lord did not preach inaction. We are flawed creatures living in a flawed universe, but we're still responsible to make it a little less flawed whenever we're presented with the opportunity, and voting is certainly one such opportunity. Jesus Christ certainly put his followers at risk of persecution, even death; certainly a violation of his principles of loving one another, yet he apparently felt that the greater good of his movement was worth this negative outcome.

After reviewing my still photos and the video, it seems that Heinrich is correct in his ID of the fish as a bull trout, not a salmon. The aforementioned combination of spots and a the white leading edge on the pelvic fin make for a pretty positive call on this. Good 'catch'. TR edited accordingly.

You're working on a breathy-lizer?

Palin's a gem, for sure. Unfortunately, it doesn't substantially matter to voters who the VPs are. If McCain is defeated, you'd think the poor woman would go live on an Aleutian island in seclusion after the bitch slapping the country's given her, but it won't work out that way. Her kooky Christian base undoubtedly loves her more than ever, and that will probably work in her future political favor. Plus, she must certainly be imprevious to criticism by now, considering her less than stellar job performance to date. Senator Palin? Don't discount it.

I thought this was about the stock market.