The Pentagon Post gave Bush's former speechwriter David Frum prime op-ed real estate to warn against the possibility of Democratic crony capitalism:

"The government now owns a big stake in the nation's banking system. Trillions of dollars are now under direct government control. It's not wise to put that money under one-party control. It's just too tempting. You need a second set of eyes on that cash. You need oversight and accountability. Otherwise, you're going to wake up two years from now and find out that a Democratic president, a Democratic Senate and a Democratic House have been funneling a ton of that money to their friends and allies. It'll be a big scandal -- but it will be too late. The money will be gone.”

Over at TalkingPointsMemo, David Kurtz writes

Some People Never Learn 

You might think the U.S. attorneys scandal would be enough to make the White House steer clear of voter fraud bamboozlement in the very next election. You'd be wrong.

Kurtz is exactly right - the U.S. attorney scandal has done nothing to stop the White House from engaging in voter fraud.

But the question is: why not? And the answer is simple: no one who engaged in voter fraud has been punished!

McCain's advisors are making a big mistake going after Palin privately with attacks like this:

“She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone,” said this McCain adviser, “she does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else. Also she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: divas trust only unto themselves as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom.” 

Despite Turmoil, Wall Street Bonuses Survive
The Financial Crisis May Yield Better-Than-Expected Bonuses on Wall Street
By Liz Moyer | ABCNews.com

Chaos in the financial system may translate into better than expected bonuses for Wall Street.

Yes, you read right. While the outlook is pretty grim, at least compared to last year's $33.2 billion bonanza, compensation consultants expect a 30% to 50% decline in payouts this year, but billions will still flow.

By Roy Gutman, McClatchy Newspapers

BAGHDAD — Fearing political division in the parliament and in his country, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki won't sign the just-completed agreement on the status of U.S. forces in Iraq, a leading lawmaker said Friday.

The new accord's demise would be a major setback for the Bush administration, which has been seeking to establish a legal basis for the extended presence of the 151,000 U.S. troops in this country, and for Iraq, which won notable concessions in the draft accord reached a week ago.

"No, he will not" submit the agreement to the parliament, Sheikh Jalal al Din al Sagheer, the deputy head of the Shiite Muslim Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, told McClatchy. "For this matter, we need national consensus."

Way back on June 20, I dreamed of an Electoral College map for Obama that rode the I-5 I-90 I-95 expressway to victory:

Of course we're not there yet, but we're getting close!

By Dave Lindorff

I’m ready to call this election. It’s going to be a big win for Barack Obama.

I know this because of a story I heard from an employee of a major
polling organization. He tells of a poll worker who was interviewing
homeowners in a small town in central Pennsylvania, part of that “real”
American hailed by Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
The man knocked on the door, and when the woman of the house answered,
told her he was a pollster and wanted to know how her household planned
to vote in November.

The woman turned and yelled into the house, “Honey, how are we voting this year?”

From inside the house, a male voice yelled back, “I guess we’re voting for the nigger.”

The woman turned to the stunned pollster and, without a hint of embarrassment, said, “I guess we’re voting for Obama.”

Thanks to Joe the Plumber, the battle between Obama and McCain came down to one of basic economic philosophy: whether our tax system should be used to "spread the wealth," which the McCain-Palin-Plumber ticket call "socialism." That battle is now over and "spread the wealth" won.

Of course "spreading the wealth" through the tax system isn't remotely like socialism, which requires government ownership of industry. George Bush has given us that, but only for failed companies - that mutant version of socialism is called "lemon socialism."

By David Swanson

Congressman Brad Sherman said on the floor of the House that a few Congress members had been told there would be martial law in America if they did not pass Paulson's Plunder. Here's video.

Sherman has not retracted that statement. He has not suggested that the Congress members who had told him that didn't really tell him that, or weren't honest, or didn't take it seriously, or that it didn't influence their votes. But he has put out a statement to the media, clearly at the instruction of the leaders of his party, attempting to backpedal. Here's his new statement which begins by quoting his floor comments:

It looks like anger issues are part of the McCain family DNA:

 

By David Swanson

Watch this offensive clip from a recent Virgil Goode rally with remarks by Virginia State Delegate Don Merricks and Congressman Virgil Goode:



I grew up in Fairfax County, in Northern Virginia, and I've lived for several years in the Fifth District, currently misrepresented by Virgil Goode, who I would think would be the last person to want to bring up discussions of real and fake. His solution to disastrous economic policies is to support them and bash immigrants. That's a fake solution. His solution to the related disaster of foreign occupations is to support and fund them but bash Muslims. That's a fake solution. I didn't cease to be a fake person when I moved down here. I just acquired a fake representative in Congress who should be shown a real door on November 4th.

 

By David Swanson

The Huffington Post has dug up, and the Daily Kos and everybody else are commenting on evidence that McCain held a private secret meeting with Chilean dictator and torturer General Augusto Pinochet. But this is not just a story about John McCain's hypocrisy (what a shock that would be!). It's a teachable moment, and in two senses.

By David Swanson

I know this play is powerful from reading the script, so I can only imagine and look forward to how moving it will be to see it performed live. "The Warrior" by Jack Gilhooley is a play performed by two women, one on-stage and one off. The woman off-stage is a documentary film maker asking questions. The woman on-stage is a veteran of both the 1991 Persian Gulf War and two tours during the current occupation of Iraq. The script brilliantly portrays a story focused on the damage her absence has done to her family, but shaded at all times by the damage war has done to her mental health.

I can't recommend seeing this play more highly. But don't take my word for it. The CITY PAPER in Washington, DC, called it "probably the best piece about Iraq" to date. "The Warrior" opened at the Capital Fringe Theater Festival this past July and was a selection of the international theater festival, FringeNYC, in August.

Omigod - John McCain just conceded:

John McCain's election night watch party might be missing John McCain. Instead of appearing before a throng of supporters at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix on the evening of Nov. 4, the Republican presidential nominee plans to deliver postelection remarks to a small group of reporters and guests on the hotel's lawn.

Kos points out what's incredibly wrong with McCain's decision:

McCain knows he's going down, we get that. But there are supporters of his that are still busting their ass, and he's basically telling them that he doesn't give a flying fuck. It's a breathtaking insult to his staff, to his volunteers, to his party, and even to America. It doesn't matter if the bulk of his audience will be watching him on the television, he owes his people (and even the nation), one last rally.

So why doesn't McCain want to give them "one last rally"?