Amdist a disastrous economic climate where the stock market dropped 733 points, second worst (in points) ever… in the middle we have… the the debate, stupid. The last one, at Hempstead, NY’s Hofstra University. Look, boys and girls: Bob Schieffer is a Republican tool, from Texas no less, whose brother Tom is George W. Bush’s ambassador to Japan (and Bob goes to ballgames with the Bush family). I would refuse to debate if Schieffer were “moderating”… period. But that’s just me. Obama is doing fine anyway. Hence, we have the debate about bulls*** issues like… negative campaigning and attempts to...

It seems that the CIA had written White House approval for waterboarding and some of its other torture enhanced interrogation techniques of suspected terrorists. Slowly I turn…

Well, the first kind appears to be dramatic improvements in the stock market of over 900 points gain in the DJIA and proportionate gains elsewhere in light of concerted efforts of major nations to pour money to shore up their beleaguered financial sectors, after a number of high level meetings over the weekend, including in Washington. Maybe this will be what the doctor ordered and we’ve seen the “market bottom”… and maybe we haven’t. It does strike one that the current financial crisis is far more serious than the simple short-term liquidity problems that have caused the collapse or forced...

As FDR was said to save capitalism from itself, it seems the Bush Administration and its Republican allies in Congress were hellbent on killing capitalism nonetheless, and so, they managed to dismantle most of the capitalism life-sustaining equipment set up by the New Deal (because it got in the way of the unbridled greed of their big business constituents)… and now, after an insane roller-coaster day that saw the first ever 1,000 point intra-day swing in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the 9th straight loss day and the largest one week percentage loss ever, SecTreas Paulson, in conjunction with...

NYU Professor Nouriel Roubini, an economist who has been in the news of late because he has been freaking right with just about all of his doom and gloom projections, and for the right reasons, tells us that the world is facing, in the short term not merely an inevitable and deep recession, but a possible global meltdown of the financial system and market crashes and severe global recession, following days of market panic including yesterday’s over 650 point plunge in the Dow and overnight collapses of over 10% in European and Asian markets. Every day, it seems, more and...

We’ll start with an issue that’s been buried by other events today: a federal judge, U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina of the district court in Washington, DC, ordered 17 Chinese Uighur Guantanamo detainees (detainees that the U.S. government has asserted are innocent) brought to his courtroom by Friday and released within the United States. The government, of course, is working on an emergency appeal, but God bless Judge Urbina for, after nearly 7 years, finally acting to enforce our laws… the most basic right of us all against the might of our government, that habeas corpus be afforded in...

Sure, the financial markets are in wild gyrations, and after being down precipitously (800 points in the Dow), ended the day at a merely very bad day down 350 in the Dow and 3-4% drops in other major markets, amidst wide fears that we are seeing what amounts to the end of days in our financial system. And… these guys are at it again… rearing their heads into our, you know… precious bodily fluids sacred air space. Who will save us? Fear not, citizens…he’s back, with all of his dangeralness.

Forget the polls and the media obsession with “momentum.” Forget his [inconceivably stupid] mishandling of the economic crisis. Forget his choice of a running-mate whose experience makes Barack Obama’s look like Al Gore’s. Forget it all. The American people will come to their senses, and John McCain will close the gap and go on to win. Hugh Hewitt, ladies and gentlemen. He’ll be here all week. In all seriousness, when parsed of its charming left-bashing, Hewitt’s point is that if, somehow, the election gets turned around to “war on terror” issues, as happened in ’02 and ’04, rather than “we’re...

The “historic,” “massive”… pick whatever adjective you want… to describe the over $850 billion “financial bailout” package safely passed the House of Representatives and the President signed it almost immediately. As it is, on high job loss numbers and other economic fears, the stock markets declined (the Dow down around 150 points). For good measure, it seems, Californians who have long believed in the Tax Cut Fairy now get their appropriate comeuppance as Gov. Schwarzennegger prepares to ask the Fed for $7 billion in loans to keep the Golden State operating. Deep sighs. Meanwhile, noted NYU economist Nouriel Roubini notes...

21:40: We’re up to foreign policy, now… Palin continues the incoherence on Iraq… Biden, by contrast, makes sense… I have never seen anything quite like Palin’s incoherence at this level. This is truly remarkable. Palin calls Dems “you’re surrendering! you’re surrendering!” Biden looks so damned reasonable by comparison… I know this will be spun as a Palin win… but really… NUCULAR? That should disqualify her as it is. Honestly. Nothing else. And now… Ahmadididjad… this is right out of McCain’s last bit… does this s*** play? Biden correctly reports that Ahmadididjad is not in control of Iran’s security apparatus… come...